The sound of multiple pairs of pawsteps pattering against the floor made Hero look up abruptly. His gaze was greeted by the sight of Thistlestar leading the way towards them, Sunshine a step away from overtaking her and Whiteshadow trailing behind them on the Clan leader's other side.

   Thistlestar's expression was unreadable, whilst Sunshine's face held a note of triumph, along with relief, as if he was glad of something's settlement, immediately telling Hero that they had reached an agreement.

"I have decided that the promise our first leader made is, indeed, real. We will honor that promise in respect of Ashstar, and join the East Faction in fighting the other Factions," the AshClan leader began, sweeping her sharp green gaze through the group.

   Hero noticed Sunshine's ears twitch annoyedly as Thistlestar continued, and he assumed that this was one of the points that they had argued over. "If the battle appears to become hopeless, and we would achieve nothing other than losing more cats by continuing to fight, AshClan—and the other Clans, if they choose to join us— have the right to withdraw from the battle, but only upon mine or another Clan leader's command. I won't have my cats turning tail and running like cowards."

   Hero could see why this agreement would have been difficult to come to. On one side, the Factions had no way of knowing whether the Clans would simply retreat as soon as the fight turned dangerous. On the other paw, Thistlestar couldn't squander the lives of countless Clan cats merely so that they could die as a united front with the East Faction cats, especially since it didn't directly benefit the Clan.

   "With your approval, we would like you to join our allies in the West Faction, where we think you will be the most useful. You needn't travel all the way to the West Faction, just to the train tracks for planning, and then the battle itself. Does that suit you, Thistlestar?" Sunshine asked.

   The Clan leader glanced at her Clanmates, taking in their encouraging looks before nodding sharply at Sunshine. "It does."

   "Excellent! I understand you have a fair trek back to your camp, and, despite the many preparations that I'm sure you need to make, we would be happy to house you for the night, though we are rather short on prey at the moment."

   Thistlestar cast a quick glance back at Whiteshadow before responding, and Hero knew what she was thinking: she wanted her son home and out of the city as soon as possible. "Thank you for the generous offer, but we should be able to make it back before nightfall. We wouldn't want to waste a second of time for preparation tomorrow anyways."

   "As you wish," Sunshine replied, dipping his head. "I'll have a few of my cats escort you to the edges of Faction territory." 

   "We'll get going then," Thistlestar began, and she held the other leader's gaze for a second.

   Sunshine pulled himself up to his full height, gazing down on them, his yellow eyes taking in the entire group of AshClan cats. "Farewell, then, and I hope we shall be able to meet once more under less arduous circumstances." The moment of solemnity swelled in the air for a while longer before it abruptly burst and the black tom turned to his fellow Faction cats. "Zero? Bravo?"

   The cats who'd been called out rose to their paws silently, stepping forwards. Zero hung back, and Bravo came forwards to lead the way, stopping a few pawsteps away from the nearest Clan cat.  The AshClan cats stirred too, those of them who'd sat rising and turning towards Bravo. The small black tom took a few more steps forwards, glancing back at the cats. 

   Hero stepped forwards, and the other cats seemed to make way for them. He was once again reminded that they'd come to think of him as a leader during the quest. The one who'd showed them the way. 

   But he pushed those thoughts to the back of his head as he stepped out of the way for Thistlestar. Their quest was over. They'd found Whiteshadow. Hero didn't need to be a leader anymore.

But they hadn't quite reached the end of the road yet. Now, many more cats had joined in on their journey, and much more was at stake.

Hero only hoped that they would succeed.

<------>

   Hero blinked awake as light stole into his eyes. He picked himself up, sitting upright as he shook his head like a dog ridding itself of water before squinting at the sunshine stealing through the opening of the warrior's den. 

   The memories of the day before hit him suddenly, and images of the faces of Sunshine and Thistlestar flashed in his mind, along with remembrance of the journey back to camp last night. The moon had creeped up high in the sky by the time they'd arrived, and he'd been too tired to do anything other than lay down and sleep. 

   Hero rose to his paws and began to pad towards the den entrance. Nobody else was in the warrior's den. He'd apparently been the last to awaken.

   "Hero!" came a cry as soon as he stepped out, squinting against the glare of the sun. He waited a second for his sight to adjust before turning in the direction of the voice. 

   Many of the cats of the Clan were gathered under Thistlestar, who seemed to have called a meeting. Lilypool had called his name. The she-cat rose gracefully to her feet and came to where he was. 

   The meeting paused for a second as the cats stared at him before they turned their attention back to their leaders. Hero scanned the crowd, finding each member of the party that had journeyed with him in turn. Smokewhisker, sitting a little ways from being directly under Thistlestar's branch. Jayflight, to his side. Swiftpaw and Snowpaw by each other, the respective apprentice's kin gathered next to them.

   His gaze snagged on Roach. He narrowed his eyes. She was certainly fitting in quickly. The small Faction she-cat was sitting far closer to Foxspring than any normal recently acquainted cat should be, but the warrior didn't seem to mind very much.

   "Hero," Lilypool's voice came once more, much lower in volume and closer to him, and he snapped his head over to meet her warm gaze. 

   "Lilypool," he responded as way of greeting. "Why'd nobody wake me?"

   "Honestly? Nobody had the heart too. You looked half-dead last night anyways, and we figured the meeting could go without you for a while." She jerked her head towards their leader. "Thistlestar's already told everybody about the Factions and the fighting. Come along." She began to pad towards the crowd, and Hero trailed after her, flitting his gaze up to focus on Thistlestar.

   "The West Faction have allied themselves with those of the East Faction, but even with our Clan aiding them, they will be sorely outnumbered, with three of the enemy' cats to each one of our own," she was saying, her sharp light green eyes switching from warrior to warrior. 

   Lilypool stopped besides Jayflight and sat, curling her tail over her paws. Hero followed her example, his neck craned up to keep his gaze fixed on the black-and-white she-cat above him.

   "And for that reason, I have decided on another course of action. We will request the help of the other Clans."

   A low muttering spread through the assembled cats, but none rose their voices in defiance. All of them knew that Thistlestar's solution was the only achievable one.

   "I have decided to grant the task of rallying our fellow Clans to two of the finest amongst us," Thistlestar continued, and her gaze landed on two cats. "Swiftpaw and Snowpaw. Do you accept this task?"

   Hero turned his attention to the two apprentices. There was a flash of something in Swiftpaw's eyes, but it was gone before he could make it out. Snowpaw rose slowly to his feet.

   "I'm grateful beyond words that you trust us enough for this, Thistlestar," the white tom said slowly. He cocked his head to the side. "But will the other Clans be convinced by us? We're just apprentices - what's to say that they'll take us seriously?"

   Thistlestar opened her mouth to speak, but she abruptly hesitated. A moment passed, and the leader seemed to run an idea over in her head before she spoke. "Just apprentices...why so? Why should you just be apprentices?" She drew herself to her full height. "The journey you took is just as good an assessment as any. And you most definitely did succeed - you are most certainly ready..." she trailed off for a moment before speaking up again, her voice fierce, "...to be warriors. To become warriors of AshClan."

   Triumph entered Swiftpaw's expression and reigned there. Snowpaw's filled up with amazement and gratitude both at once, as if he couldn't decide on one. 

   "Really?" Swiftpaw asked, a note too loudly. Hero could see her run her tongue over her teeth before she spoke again. "We can really become warriors? Now?"

   "Yes," Thistlestar said, her voice steady. "You can. Silentpaw." She inclined her head towards the mute she-cat that was Snowpaw's sister. "Your assessment was given and passed whilst Snowpaw and Swiftpaw were absent, was it not?"

   The she-cat gave a nod of assent in response, glancing over at her brother. 

   "Then all three of you are ready to have your warrior ceremonies. Step forwards, apprentices of AshClan." Thistlestar's voice rang out clear and loud.

   As the apprentices took a few steps forwards, Hero turned his attention onto Swiftpaw's siblings, Crimsonpaw and Brackenpaw. Swiftpaw was abnormally young to become a warrior - would her littermates be jealous?

   But as he sought out their faces in the mass of cats, he realized that their expressions held nothing but pride and happiness over their sister, and he was free to turn back to the three becoming warriors.

   Hero sat back and watched, the same smile that curled over Jayflight and Lilypool's faces emerging on his as the apprentices took on the rank of warrior. Snowpaw beamed, and Swiftpaw lifted her chin high as both cats uttered the final words, "I do." Silentpaw nodded in her own way of saying them besides her brother.

   "From now on, you will be known as Silentcry, Snowfeather, and Swiftstorm," came Thistlestar's steady words, and the Clan erupted in cheers of the three now warriors' names. 

   Snowfeather turned towards the other cats who'd gone on the quest, and Hero gave him a beaming smile. 

   "We'll go now," Swiftstorm called out loudly, and the cats quieted. She raised her chin, her expression fierce. "And we'll bring the other Clans." 

<------>

   The sound of many thrumming paws made Hero look up. He was in the medicine cat den, depositing the herbs that he'd gathered along with Lilypool in preparation for the oncoming battle.

   He ducked out of the entrance to the den. Cats around him were doing the same, coming out of whichever den they were in and heading towards the camp entrance. 

   The sound stopped, and a moment later, a group of cats ducked through the entrance of the camp. Hero picked up his pace until he was standing almost directly across from the entrance. Behind the cats and the entrance, he could see a large group of cats, too big for him to properly make out through the entrance, all waiting.

   With a jolt, he realized that the other Clans had come to aid them. He'd known they would - Swiftstorm and Snowfeather had raced back with good news on the tips of their tongues - but for some reason, it seemed to strike him anew, that all the Clans were coming together and allying themselves with the Factions. Two vastly different pieces of his world, the city and the wild, were coming together in unlikely alliance.

   "Thistlestar!" one of the cats from the group that had come in called, and Hero recognized him to be Hawkstar, leader of BreezeClan. The cats around him were the other leaders, each standing next to their respective deputies.

   "Hawkstar?" came the voice of Hero's own leader, and he turned to see that her slipping out of a group of senior warriors, who'd been planning strategies. She stopped in front of the group, her gaze focusing on the cats that waited outside for a moment before fixating on their leaders. "Silverstar, Duststar. I am glad beyond words to see you here - and along with all of your warriors, it seems."

   "We must honor the promises that our ancestors have made," Duststar said, straightening. The old tom's eyes had a twinkle that belied his age. 

   "Indeed we must," Hawkstar responded, raising his own sharp pale yellow gaze to hers. "BreezeClan will stand with you."

   Silverstar cut in. "As will WildClan."

   Duststar dipped his head. "Along with MossClan."

   An emotion flashed in Thistlestar's expression before being tucked away and replaced with professionalism. "My Clan is ready, and I assume yours are too." The she-cat raised her chin high, her expression fierce.

"Let us go now, and fulfill the wishes of our ancestors."

Hola, people. Apologies 'bout this being extremely late. Annco wrote about the first four-hundred words or so, and Duskie wrote the rest. Adios.