Blossompaw gazed up at the five leaders, their eyes glowing in the silver light. She, Rockpaw, Treepaw and Skunkpaw stood a few tail-lengths from the Leaders' Tree, cats swarming all around them. From above her, Deadstar nodded to Redstar to announce first.

Redstar walked to the tip of his root and meowed loudly, "SunClan have been blessed with plentiful prey and barely any droughts this Greenleaf. We are proud to welcome two new apprentices: Marshpaw and Mistypaw." He looked somewhere behind Blossompaw.

Most of the cats started cheering, "Marshpaw! Mistypaw! Marshpaw! Mistypaw!"

Blossompaw followed Redstar's gaze and spotted two small cats with their heads down, directly behind her. One was a a brown tom with black paws. The other a blue-grey she-cat with a silverish muzzle that sparkled in the moonlight. As the cheering died down, she looked back up. Blossompaw saw that one of the blue she-cat's green eyes, was pale and dull. It was blind. Blossompaw whipped back around, not wanting to meet the she-cat's gaze, or hers to see Blossompaw's fear.

"We also have also had a new litter of kits born to Ivycloud." Redstar continued. Blossompaw saw an unnatural amount of pride in his green eyes, for a leader to be showing towards regular Clan kits.

"May StarClan bless them, Redstar." Flowingstar mewed.

"Thank you, Flowingstar. That is all from SunClan - would you like to proceed?" the ginger tabby proposed.

Flowingstar nodded and announced, "LakeClan is as full fed as ever. The heatwaves have not managed to lower the lake at all, and we have plenty of fish on out fresh-kill pile. We too have cats that have gained new ranks. we have a new warrior: Nettlestem." She paused for the Clans to cheer, while an ungroomed ginger tom, near Rockpaw, stared at his paws. Flowingstar mewed, "However, there is also some grave news. A few days ago, a dog attacked a small patrol near the stepping stones. Most of them were unharmed, except for one... Jaguarface now... hunts with StarClan." She choked out the last few words.

The gathered cats burst into gasps of shock and dismay. Blossompaw heard Treepaw whisper to Rockpaw and Skunkpaw, "He was LakeClan's deputy! Oh, StarClan... I bet Flowingstar's heartbroken."

Heartbroken isn't the right word. Blossompaw thought. She sensed Flowingstar's regret and anguish from where she stood. It flew off the tabby in waves, circling through the air like mourning doves, singing their dawn songs of sorrow and hurt. Blossompaw stared up at the Flowingstar, until she saw the leader's blue eyes glittering with emotions.

Something passed through Blossompaw, a shiver of a feeling unknown to her. It rattled her body until Treepaw nudged her gently. Pheasantstar was now speaking, her furry tail swishing calmly through the crisp night air.

The tortoiseshell spoke in a deep, slow voice, that had echoed in Blossompaw's ears, "My Clan is strong and well-fed. We have two new warriors and three new apprentices. Silentbird and Breezerustle are now warriors of LeafClan."

Blossompaw noticed, that as the Clans congratulated the new warriors, Rockpaw called as loudly as he could. She felt a strong passion burning under his fur, an unexplainable desire for something. No, someone.

"Cedarpaw, Windpaw and Patchpaw are now apprentices!" Pheasantstar added - the Clans yowled their names - then nodded to Owlstar.

"AirClan's mountains have not failed to give us prey. There have been a few minor floods, especially near the Thunderpath on the far side of our territories, but nothing to be worried about. We have also been blessed with many kits and apprentices that show great promise. The two apprentices, who couldn't make it last time, are here today, and AirClan celebrates their growing skills. Rockpaw and Skunkpaw!"

This time, Blossompaw applauded, but however hard she tried to cheer, the noise she made was the same as all of today. Quiet, flimsy and slightly croaky. Rockpaw heard it and turned to her. Blossompaw felt the beginning of anger in his look, but it soon turned to understanding and then empathy. He nodded, smiled and looked back up at the leaders.

As soon as the cats stopped, Owlstar opened her mouth to say more. Yet, Deadstar stepped forward and cleared his throat. He snorted derisively, "Now, if you've quite finished your nonsense, NightClan have something much more important we want to discuss."

Owlstar stared at him, as did the other leaders. But before they could react, he yowled to the gathered cats, "All this talk about AirClan having enough prey is a lie!" he didn't stop when some of Blossompaw's Clanmates gasped with outrage, "AirClan's 'sacred' mountains must be failing them, because they have been stealing prey from our territory!"

Blossompaw could barely see a single AirClan cat who didn't look furious. Even some cats from the other Clans looked angered by these accusations.

As Owlstar started to mew, "But, Deadstar, I-"

"No, Owlstar, we have scented your cats many times on our territory. The same cats every time. Always surrounded with prey scent and blood."

The fawn she-cat stammered, "I swear, Deadstar, I haven't sent a single cat to hunt on your land!"

Deadstar shook his mighty head, "Why should I believe you, when I have all the proof I need? Any cat who sets a paw inside out border, that doesn't belong to NightClan, will be attacked and punished! Do you understand?"

Treepaw moved onto Blossompaw's other side, to more easily see Owlstar, so did Skunkpaw. Blossompaw was now sitting next to Rockpaw. A small, calico tom sat farther down. Faintly, very faintly, Blossompaw heard him mutter, "Kittypets. Rogues. Traitors. Frog-brained fox-hearts, they are. A disgrace to the warrio- Eeeee!"

In one swift movement, Rockpaw leaped onto the small tom and grappled him to the ground. The cats all around them shrieked and backed away from the tumble of brown, ginger, black, and white fur. Blossompaw saw Rockpaw dig his claws into the other tom's shoulder, while the calico buried his fangs into Rockpaw's throat. They fought ferociously for a few moments, fur and small spatters of blood raining down on the grass. Blossompaw's mind was swirling with their emotions; anger, adrenaline, hunger for vengeance, along with the crowd's surprise, fear, shock and shame.

As soon as her head started throbbing with the pain, Blossompaw edged into the fray. She grabbed a scruff of fur she thought was Rockpaw's and hauled it away from the other tom. Too late, she realised it was the calico. His pale amber eyes burned with a fiery rage for a moment before they fixed on Blossompaw. Some of the flames died out, leaving an empty, burned-out husk of swirling emotions. Blossompaw dropped the tom and ran up to Rockpaw. She started licking his wounds, too many for her to count, only to jump as two booming voices screeched.

"ANTPAW!"

"ROCKPAW!"

Owlstar and Deadstar leaped off of their roots and rushed towards the two toms. Crystalwing and Hawkscreech following. Crystalwing nodded to Blossompaw and smiled gently.

Owlstar demanded, "What were you doing?! Attacking another apprentice at a Gathering! How could you?"

Deadstar growled, "You should be ashamed of yourself, Antpaw! This Gathering is over!" He grabbed the bleeding Antpaw by the scruff and pulled his away towards a gap between two of the hills. His Clanmates followed him. Blossompaw saw a few cats that she knew. Streamingmist and Crackedclaw from before. Grasstalon and Longpelt from a previous gathering. Hawkscreech whom she had met at two half-moon meetings and a few other faces she couldn't quite remember the names of.

Scarclaw bounded through the crowd and snarled at Rockpaw, "You- We- I- Oh!"

Owlstar lead the AirClan cats back to camp, all of them discussing the fight between Rockpaw and Antpaw. Blossompaw padded next to Rockpaw the whole time, refusing Crystalwing's offers of help, she took care of her younger brother all the way. When they arrived in camp, Owlstar went off into her den with Scarclaw, and Blossompaw led Rockpaw into the medicine cat den.

She added a few dove feathers to an empty nest and nosed him into it. He lay there, grumbling, while she licked his wounds.

After a couple of minutes, Crystalwing told Blossompaw, "Go on to your nest. Shoo! We can take care of his in the morning. At least it'll give you some more experience with herbs."

Blossompaw, her paws feeling like they would drop off any moment, snuggled deep into her moss nest and fell asleep in heartbeats.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the few hours before dawn, Blossompaw dreamt of many things, but one in particular remained in her mind.

She was padding along the bank of a river, small bushes and rocks surrounding her. Blossompaw realised she was on the other side of the river, in a small clearing that she had seen of her way to the Gathering. Yet, it was different. Not only was the Sun in the sky instead of the moon, but everything was in shades of grey. From the deepest inky black, to a pale pewter colour. There was no wind, no movement, no sound. Blossompaw also noticed, that she couldn't feel anything. The dull grass underneath her paws made no crunching sound, and something even more alarming caught her attention.

Blossompaw could see through her paws and onto the ground beneath. She looked around to see that the clouds showed through her tail and her whole body was semi-transparent, like a clear mist, floating through the air. Insects hung in the air, unmoving, and a fish sagged, immobile, in the middle of a jump, over the foaming water that wasn't exactly foaming. Ahead of her, Blossompaw saw a horrific scene.

Three cats and a dog looked like they were frozen in time, in the strangest positions. The dog was in mid-leap, aiming for a she-cat that crouched over a body. A body of a cat Blossompaw knew well. Flowingstar was staring, petrified, at Jaguarface's body. It was strange to see the tom's normally brown fur in shades of grey. He lay limply, claws scratches and bite marks scattered all over him. Flowingstar gaped at him, her blue eyes, shining with remorse, gazing into Jaguarface's holly-leaf-coloured ones. Blossompaw saw another cat she knew, standing behind the mourning she-cat. Ravenstorm crouched with his teeth bared, but no hostility glowing in his green eyes. His eyes and the other cats' looked strange in comparison to the rest of the scene.

Then Blossompaw realised that the only colours that she could see, were the cats' eyes and the blood on Jaguarface's dead body. Everything else was some shade of grey. Almost everything.

Another pair of blue eyes was gleaming in the darkness of a bush near Ravenstorm. A tortoiseshell was looking over the spectacle, glee shining in her water-blue eyes. Next to her, a different tortoiseshell, with darker patches, was saying something, as her mouth was half-open. The darker tortoiseshell's eyes shone a vibrant orange.

As Blossompaw circled the scene, she glanced at Flowingstar again. The once-blue-tabby was still staring at the bloody, twisted mass that was Jaguarface. Her blue eyes sparkled with pain. Pain that Blossompaw knew was the loss of a loved one, because she had seen Owlstar's yellow eyes haunted with it.

Next, two things happened at the exact same time. Just as Blossompaw realised that what she was seeing was Flowingstar's memory, the fawn she-cat was sucked into a swirling black pool. It licked at the frozen world and swallowed it in its raven-coloured wings. She was thrown around in a whooshing whirlpool of shadows, before thumping hard onto something soft.

A second later, Blossompaw jerked awake, flailing in a pile of moss. She jumped up and looked around.

Word Count: 1967
I'm proud that I got it out so quick (even though it's really short - sorry)!
Hope you like it!