The full moon was shining bright in the sky above the ThunderClan camp, the moonlight brightening the nursery as I peered my head past its entrance, watching as my Clanmates began to disappear through the gorse tunnel, leaving our home for the night.

And yet again, I had to push back my desire and antsy paws, wanting to so badly to join my new friends as they left for their Gathering – the same place that the BloodClan battle had been fought in, and the same place where I would have potentially been able to witness the truce that occurred between the four Clans.

Of course, since the battle, I had been more than curious to see what the dynamic of the four different groups would be like since they had all fought to the death together. However, unfortunately, I knew that I wouldn't be doing this for at least four more moons.

I couldn't help but let out a long sigh at this thought. Ah, well... I then said to myself. Even if it's not now, at least I know it will come some day.

And I continued to try to stand tall and lift my own spirits as I then saw a flame-colored pelt appear out of the corner of my eye, and I gave a flick of my tail in greeting to Firestar as I saw him pass by the nursery.

He almost simultaneously noticed me, returning my nod in greeting with kind green eyes. "Goodnight, Mistpelt," the ThunderClan leader meowed, raising his tail in farewell.

I nodded back. "You too, Firestar." Please don't have too much fun, for my sanity.

Biting back those last words, I simply blinked as the flame-colored tom gave me another farewell flick of his tail, then joined the rest of the Clan, him being the last one to leave. And as his ginger tail disappeared through the gorse tunnel, I sighed and finally turned around and padded back into the nursery.

And, of course, as soon as I walked in, all of my problems, frustrations, and worries seemed to all be incompetent as my eyes immediately fell on Wrenkit's brown tabby-and-white pelt.

She had been trying to fall asleep once I'd began my cat-watching session, and now it appeared as if she'd finally been successful – her small flank slowly rising up and down, and her beautiful hazel eyes closed and covered with her tail.

I let out a quiet purr as I then trotted forward, calmly joining my daughter in our moss nest and wrapping myself around her. And almost immediately, my heart felt like it suddenly grew three sizes as Wrenkit almost seemed to sense that I was now beside her, letting out a sweet purr and nestling her little body deep into my flank.

I shook my head, almost in amazement, as I took a moment to bend my head down and give Wrenkit a gentle lick on the head, figuring and hoping that the she would get a full night's sleep. She'd had a pretty exciting day full of exploring the camp, and even having a chance to spend plenty of time playing with Leafkit and Squirrelkit. While a simple day, for a kit, I knew that was enough.

And as she continued to fall deeper into sleep, I couldn't help but simply watch her as I waited to grow drowsy myself. And as I watched her, I still found that I was overwhelmed with love for the tiny little scrap – it's impossible to feel anything less, I then thought. No wonder Chrissy and Sparrow lost their minds whenever I did something even remotely dangerous...

I then found myself pulling Wrenkit just a bit closer to me, simply letting my eyes close with my head still upright as I tried to bask in the silence that had now spread across the ThunderClan camp, with Wrenkit's breathing being the only noise that occupied the nursery.

Typically, there would be several other sleeping cats here by this time, but making me feel more antsy and lonely was the fact that Sandstorm and her two kits were not in the nursery. Conveniently, earlier that day, Leafkit had been trying to take a nap in her side of the moss nest in the nursery, but was surprised to instead be lying down in a nest of thorns.

Sandstorm and Firestar actually came to find out that the placement of these thorns was no phenomenon, and actually, Squirrelkit had been the one to put them there, to my complete amusement. And it is situations like this where I have to admit that I am so thankful that Wrenkit doesn't have a sibling.

Sandstorm had immediately taken Leafkit to the medicine den, and was still in there with her as Cinderpelt tried her best to pull out all of the thorns and make sure Leafkit wasn't more severely punctured anywhere. And, of course, Squirrelkit was having to watch the entire process as she basked in her guilt.

So, with that, it was just me and Wrenkit in the nursery tonight. That had felt lonesome enough.

But now that ThunderClan was gone for the Gathering, an assembly between all four Clans, I felt more alone than ever. Of course, Wrenkit was all that I needed to feel like I had company, but now that she was asleep that of course wasn't an option for me.

So, now, the camp was quiet, and I couldn't hear any scampering from the clearing. The nursery was completely silent as I continued to sit there with my daughter.

And actually, it wasn't long after I lied down in the nest with Wrenkit that I also felt my head begin to lower down in the nest, and I felt myself beginning to drift off into sleep. Good, I told myself as I then felt my lids begin to lower. Time to sleep this weird night off, and look forward to hearing the news of the Gathering in the morning.

And conveniently, surely just heartbeats before I fully fell asleep, my restless brain seemed to almost be looking for something to keep me awake, and I felt as if I had to lift my head as what seemed like a strange scent flooded through my nose.

I narrowed my eyes and gaped my mouth open, listing off possibilities in my head of what the heck this could be.

It certainly couldn't be any Clan cat - it wouldn't make any sense, I would think. Clan cats would either be gathered at Fourtrees or guarding their camps. And if some stray Clan cat was for some reason wandering on our territory, it would be pretty stupid of them to do so.

And it didn't smell like a rogue or kittypet either – I certainly would be able to detect that.

And, fortunately, I could also be certain that it wasn't any kind of BloodClan or Twolegplace cat – it would be quite bold of them to show themselves her right now.

And as I crossed off all of these possibilities, I couldn't help but narrow my eyes and tilt my head in confusion. That means... I thought nervously, this is some other creature. But what is it? A fox? A badger?

I sniffed again and stood up in my nest. Wait a moment...

"Mother?"

I then flinched and gasped with surprise, which was then followed with a frustrated groan as I realized that my franticness had woken Wrenkit up.

And I looked back down at her to meet her wide, worried hazel eyes. "What's the matter?"

I didn't immediately reply, my attention abruptly brought back to the scent as another strong gust of it flooded through my nostrils.

And then, as I finally realized what it was that I was smelling, I still didn't answer. I couldn't, as I was suddenly overwhelmed with fear.

To my dismay, it was something that was completely familiar to me, just something that I'd had the fortune of not smelling for quite a long time, and something that I'd hoped that I'd never smell again, even after ThunderClan first noticed them on our territory. A Twoleg!

I began to shiver with fear, knowing that a Twoleg could be as scary or dangerous as any furry creature. And, of course, it was hitting me like the biggest Twoleg truck that this meant that these idiotic Twolegs that had been spotted around Tallpines had finally decided to make their way deeper into our territory.

And what could a Twoleg be doing in ThunderClan territory in the first place? I wondered to myself, unsheathing my claws and gritting my teeth together. I even felt a growl rising in my throat. With brains as dense as theirs, what do they want with our forest?

My heart began to beat faster as the scent continued to get stronger. I nearly held my breath as I realized I now could hear distant footsteps coming from behind the nursery where I had been resting.

With that, I stood up, still feeling Wrenkit's fearful gaze burning into my fur. The poor thing still hadn't received an answer to me, but formulating that answer was the last thing I felt I should do.

Right now, I had to protect her, and I had to warn the rest of ThunderClan!

But, before I could do that, or even move another muscle, I let out another gasp of alarm as the nursery's roof was suddenly ripped open.

And with the moonlight that now seemed to flood through the entire nursery, I felt my heart sink as time seemed to freeze.

I stared up wide-eyed to see that it was indeed a Twoleg that I'd been able to scent up until now, its horrifying hairless face staring down at me and my daughter.

And although I was used to the forest looming over me, this creature seemed as tall as any tree I'd ever passed.

And with the sight of it, I instinctively wrapped my tail tightly around my daughter and began to slowly back away towards where the nursery entrance had been – having no idea if I should run, or stay put in the hopes of it giving up and walking away.

But I had no time to make a decision when, without hesitation, the Twoleg reached in and grabbed me as if he had no care in the world.

Suddenly, I was filled with more rage than I had felt since I had first come to ThunderClan as I scratched and clawed at the Twoleg, but it wouldn't let go no matter how hard I tried. Its grip seemed to become tighter and tighter the more that I fought. Then, as I had feared, the Twoleg reached down and grabbed my little kit. I almost felt my heart break as I heard her mewl with fear. No!

I hissed and attempted to rake my claws down the Twoleg's arm. Let her go, you piece of fox-dung! Shockingly, this Twoleg seemed to stupid that he didn't even seem phased by the clear pain that I was likely inflicting on his arm.

And as the Twoleg then began to pad away from camp with both me and Wrenkit in his grip, I attempted to whip my head around to see if I could call to any cat in the camp to come and help me, but to my dismay, I knew that I was already too late. Although I could hear the fearful yowls of some of my Clanmates, the ravine was already becoming lost to my view. No, no, no!

However, just moments later, I felt the smallest bit of hope when I then I saw two of my Clanmates, Brightheart and Sootfur, burst from the camp entrance, yowling and hissing as they got closer, but the Twoleg seemed to notice and broke into a run.

And, as I had already half-expected, that small bit of hope quickly disintegrated into nothing as Sootfur and Brightheart began to disappear from my sight too.

And although the Twoleg's grip was strong, I tried for one last time to wiggle myself free of its strong grip. "It's not worth it!" I yowled out, not even knowing if Brightheart and Sootfur could hear me anymore. "Save yourselves! I'll be okay!"

I growled with all of my might and continued to claw at the Twoleg, but became weak with exhaustion and grief as it carried both of us away from the ThunderClan forest.

It all seemed to happen within just a single blink of an eye.

Just moments ago I had been safe with my daughter in the ThunderClan nursery, and now, I was finding that none of the territory around me was familiar as the Twoleg padded very quickly through the forest.

On the other side of the Twoleg, Wrenkit was letting out fearful yowls that felt more painful to me than any physical wound I could ever receive, and I wished more than anything that I could slice this Twoleg's arm off and press my daughter right against my own flank once again.

"It's okay, sweetheart!" I shouted out to her, hoping to StarClan that I was telling the truth. "I'm right here!"

"Mother!" I then heard her call back, making my stomach practically feel hollow with dread and discomfort. "What's happening? Where are we going?"

"I don't know, Wrenkit," I replied with exasperation as I continued to weakly scratch back at the Twoleg, knowing very well at this point that it was a lost cause to try and get away. "But don't worry, I'm still here with you. It will be okay!"

"Okay," I then heard Wrenkit sigh, sounding just as exasperated as I was. I then flicked my ears as I heard her gasp. "What are those?"

"What are-" I then flicked my ears, cutting myself off as I looked ahead, gasping myself as I tried to process what was now in front of me.

And I felt my heart sink with dread as I recognized what I thought was two very large monsters that I'd only seen in the Twolegplace scarcely. The fronts of the monsters looked like any other, but their behinds were significantly larger, simply looking like a large rectangle-shaped box that was almost as large as a small Twoleg nest.

The backs of these rectangles were both wide open as they sat right next to each other, and the closer that the Twoleg brought us to them, the more quickly that my heart began to pound.

This was because I was sure that there was no way that this Twoleg was simply showing us his neat monsters. By the dozens of animal crates that I could see on the inside of these monsters, I could tell that he most definitely had other plans.

And I didn't like it at all. "No!" I then yowled at the top of my lungs as I began to scratch at the hairless creature with full force again. "You're going to regret snatching the two of us, I swear!"

But I also could swear that this Twoleg had had to carry cats like this before, as he seemed to not be phased no matter how much I tried to fight back. Clearly – he had a mission, and the other Twolegs that I was no noticing gathered around the two large monsters had the same one.

Wrenkit and I were carried over to one of the trucks. Now, we were close enough to where I was able to see inside.

What was inside? Well, it was nothing that surprised me. However, it didn't make me feel any less horrified with me being able to anticipate it.

I was now able to see that some of the crates in this monster were not empty.

And actually, I don't think I had ever felt so heartbroken at what I saw, which was several young cats and kits filling these crates, all of their eyes wide and so full of confusion and fright as they simply had to stand in the darkness, trapped.

And as all of this began to sink in, my sadness quickly turned to rage all over again as I realized what this meant.

And as I realized that there was now nothing that I could do to prevent it.

I began to hiss with indignancy as I felt the Twoleg's grip on me tighten significantly, and I could do nothing but flail like a maniac as Wrenkit suddenly came into my sight as the Twoleg stretched out the paw that held her in it.

Another Twoleg pelted forward and practically leaped into the large monster, also ignoring me as he opened up the closest empty crate.

No!

Now, the Twoleg holding me was gripping me so hard that it was harder to yowl, and more difficult to breath, making sure that there was no way I could move as he then placed Wrenkit inside of the crate, quickly pulling his paw away as the other Twoleg shut it and locked it.

My heartbeat now seemed to be pulsing out of my ears as I watched Wrenkit scrambled around the cage, and I suddenly never had felt like more of a failure. I had never, ever hoped that Wrenkit would ever have to feel this much helplessness or fear in her life.

And there was nothing that I could do to fix it.

"Mother?" Wrenkit cried out. "Mother!"

And with my daughter's cries, I had truly never felt so guilty, terrified, or frightened as the Twoleg holding me then began to pad away in the opposite direction, pulling me farther away from the love of my life. "My love, I am so sorry!" I called out to Wrenkit, my voice now a full whimper as I continued to wriggle in the Twoleg's grip. "I will come back for you and find you! I promise!"

Already, Wrenkit felt like an entire earth's distance away by the time that the Twoleg stepped out of the rectangle monster. "Until then," I then practically wheezed out to my daughter, "Stay alive!"

Then, it felt as if my entire world was cut off from me as the door to the back of the monster was suddenly shut, the last thing I'd been able to see from the inside being my daughter's frightened hazel eyes staring back at me.