Jaypaw unsheathed his claws, a loud growl rumbling in his throat. Shallowstream, Redriver, Reedstorm, and Splashpaw were in the WindClan patrol. "Get off of ThunderClan territory!" Jaypaw snarled.

"Why should we?" Splashpaw snapped, leaping towards the gray tabby tom with his claws unsheathed. Jaypaw yowled angrily as the white-and-gray patched she-cat landed flat on his face. Splashpaw leapt back in surprise, obviously not expecting to land on Jaypaw's face. Jaypaw lashed his tail furiously, and raked his claws across Splashpaw's muzzle. The she-cat doubled back in surprise. Jaypaw suddenly felt like he was being watched, and turned around to see an unfamiliar tabby tom staring straight at him, his amber eyes locking with Jaypaw's.

Jaypaw felt a paw thump the back of his head, and fell, unconscious onto the forest floor.

***

Jaypaw blinked open his eyes, everything was a blur as he let himself be dragged into camp. As he was dropped onto the floor, he noticed new scratches on his fur... Splashpaw must've taken him being unconscious as an advantage to beat him up. Jaypaw moaned as Swiftheart ran her paws through his pelt, sniffing his stinging wounds and rubbing herbs onto them. She gave him tiny round seeds and instructed him to eat them and said something about sleep. The tom lapped up the seeds, and with a sudden wave of tiredness, drifted into the depths of sleep.

***

A large tabby tom—the one Jaypaw had seen earlier, was sitting down in front of a large rotting tree. Jaypaw took a step forward. Mist swirled around his paws as he did so.

"Who are you?" He asked with a twitch of his ear. The tabby looked down at the apprentice with blazing amber eyes.

"Heh... Well, many cats are furious when they hear my name.... But I'm Tigerstar." The tom meowed icily.

Jaypaw stared up at the tom, narrowing his eyes. "But you faded away." He said bluntly. "You were killed by Firestar."

"Yes, I was." The tom growled smugly. "But it took.... A bit of competitive attitude to get myself back to this place. might even be able to come back to life one of these days..." Tigerstar seemed to be talking to himself now as he stood up confidently. "Come." He said with a flick of his tail, beckoning Jaypaw to follow. Jaypaw took a hesitant pawstep forward, then shook his head and began to follow the large tom.

They wove through many of the Dark Forest trees it seemed a lot more peaceful than what the nursery tales had told of it. When Tigerstar finally pulled to a stop and Jaypaw looked over the tom's shoulder, he saw somebody he thought he'd never see again.

"Gorsepaw!" He exclaimed.