The sky was empty, not a single star, just darkness. Dawnstar's eyes searched the sky for any sign of StarClan, but Silverpelt had seemingly vanished. The only thing in the sky was the half-moon, but it wasn't glowing very brightly. Dawnstar removed her eyes from the sky and tried to figure out where she was. Without the light of the the stars and moon, she could barely make out any of her surroundings. She extended her claws and learned she was standing in grass, she sniffed the air but couldn't smell anything familiar.

Dawnstar took a cautious step forward, dead grass crunched under the weight of her paws. With a flick of her tail, Dawnstar moved forward making sure to test every step. There was no sound other than her breathing and pawsteps which she tried to keep quiet just in case any cats were lurking around. Dawnstar kept herself low to the ground, unease prickled up her spine. Something wasn't right.

"Scared, Dawnstar?" A voice whispered in her ear. Dawnstar lept forward in alarm, claws extended and teeth bared. A cat she had never seen before stood before her, he was a large cat with a long winding scar down his foreleg and another one across the bridge of his nose. His amber eyes were dark and full of malice.

"Who are you?" Dawnstar demanded, standing up tall. She had no idea who this cat was, but he had the same pale brown pelt as Thornstar.

"I thought you were supposed to be smart." He sneered. "It should be obvious, you named your kit after me."

Dawnstar's ears flattened. "Falconclaw." She growled his name, the name that had been avoided in SunClan.

"So hostile." He flicked his tail. "I figured you'd be happy to see me, you did name your son after me afterall."

"We named him that so SunClan could forget your name!" Dawnstar spat, jumping in defense of her son.

The scene around Dawnstar and Falconclaw changed, they were suddenly in the SunTree, Dawnstar saw herself curled up with Lionclaw, Honeykit and Falconkit were lying on top of each other as they always did. "Your son is young, but he could choose any path he wants. Maybe he'll realize that his mother is a fool."

"Stay away from my kit!" Dawnstar swiped at Falconclaw, he quickly ducked out of the way. She noticed Falconkit twitch, as if he had heard her shout.

"Calm down, Dawnstar." He chuckled. "Don't want to wake your son." Dawnstar stood protectively over her two kits, Falconclaw shook his head. "Watch your back Dawnstar, because just as your precious Flowerstar said...there's a storm coming and I'd hate to see you fail so miserably." Falconclaw's body began to fade, and Dawnstar was sitting up in her den. Her eyes instantly went to Honeykit and Falconkit, both were sleeping soundly. She let out a quiet sigh and pulled her kits closer to her, Falconkit let out a mew of complaint but didn't wake up.

"Don't worry, Falconkit..." She whispered. "I won't let anything touch you, I promise. Not Thornstar, not Falconclaw...no one. I'll protect you." She nuzzled her son and fell into a restless, and dreamless sleep.

Dawnstar slept for a while more, and when she woke up she heard Honeykit and Falconkit playing outside, Lionclaw had already left the den. She stood up and stretched her limbs, letting out a yawn. Her dream with Falconclaw still pricked at her pelt, but she tried to shake it off. She made her way out of her den and looked into the camp. It was just before sunhigh and the camp was lively, the warriors den had been completely repaired and even expanded to welcome the AshClan warriors into it. They had been welcomed and accepted into SunClan and even seemed like normal members. Cherrypaw and Briarpaw also fit right in, they were glad to be back with the friends they had as kits and their mentors were training them well.

Briarpaw was still a bit skittish, but she was being a lot more friendly with the other apprentices, Dawnstar knew she had picked Yarrowtail well. They already had a bit of training in AshClan, but they were taught to be ruthless and they had to learn how to fight in SunClan, Cherrypaw struggled more so with that but she was coming along well.

Dawnstar spotted Squirreltail sitting outside the medicine cat den with Brackenclaw at her side, her eyes were no longer sealed shut by herbs but they were glossy and still had the burn marks around them. Squirreltail wasn't completely blind, but everything she saw was blurry. Dawnstar still wasn't sure what to do with Squirreltail, she couldn't hunt or fight with her vision but Dawnstar didn't want her to feel useless. Squirreltail had kept a very high spirit however, she was a respectable cat. In the half-moon that Cherrypaw and Briarpaw had been living in SunClan Applespots had returned to normal warrior duties, she was finally happy again.

Dawnstar looked over her Clan with pride, they were thriving even after the fire. The camp still bore burn marks, and the nursery would still need some time to be built but prey was running again, even with the slow approach of leaf-bare. Leaf-fall had officially arrived, but they were gathering as much prey as they could.

"Dawnstar!" Dawnstar turned and saw Lionclaw bounded over to her, she let out a purr when she saw him. "Good news, Pebblestep cleared me for patrols and hunting." His eyes glowed brightly, he had been restricted to camp for so long, Dawnstar knew it was driving him crazy. Lionclaw flexed his claws. "I'm so excited to get back into the forest!" He announced.

"You should go get yourself on a patrol then." Dawnstar touched her muzzle to his forehead and the golden tom bounced off to find Sandfoot. Dawnstar had been starting to miss hunting and patrols more, she had been staying in camp with her kits, and she loved her kits but she also missed hunting with Lionclaw. She let out a small sigh and looked at her playing kits, but she wouldn't give them up for anything.

After speaking with Lionclaw, Sandfoot padded up to Dawnstar. "I wanted to ask you about the gathering tonight, who are we going to be taking?" She questioned. Dawnstar had completely forgotten about the gathering, this would be her first gathering as leader. ""Uh," she stammered suddenly nervous. "I don't want to take Cherrypaw or Briarpaw just because I don't want AshClan to cause any problems but we can take the other three apprentices. Then Snakewhisker, Lionclaw, Turtleblaze, Applespots, Willownose, Adderstrike, Bramblepelt, and Snowtail and Flamepetal can come. I don't want to leave the camp undefended, I still don't trust Thornstar not to attack."

Sandfoot nodded. "I don't think any of us do, I'll let those cats know." The tortoiseshell deputy turned away and left Dawnstar to think. She was suddenly nervous about the gathering, she would be leading the gathering and making all the announcements. Giving a Clan meeting to SunClan was one thing, but announcing things in front of all four Clans gave her chills. Especially since she would be up there with Thornstar who she hadn't seen or heard anything from since Cherrypaw and Briarpaw came home. Dawnstar sighed, she knew she would have to do it; and she would also have to announce the death of Flowerstar; the only leader who didn't already know, however was Jaggedstar. SunClan and LichenClan never really interacted due to how far their borders were. Dawnstar shook her head, the gathering wasn't for a while yet, she had some time to clear her mind.

Clearing her mind included batting around a moss ball with her kits, she realized just how much she loved playing with them. Honeykit and Falconkit worked together to beat their mother and Dawnstar of course went easy on them, they played for a while and before she knew it; it was time for the gathering. Lilyclaw agreed to keep an eye on Honeykit and Falconkit while Dawnstar was gone.

"I wanna go to the gathering!" Falconkit complained.

"You're not old enough." Dawnstar had told him, trying to keep him from making an escape to come to the gathering. Lilyclaw promised to keep them busy, Dawnstar admired Lilyclaw, she knew that she loved and missed her own kits; but Dawnstar couldn't take her kits away from AshClan, not when they were born there.

Dawnstar left Lilyclaw with her kits and gathered her patrol for the Gathering. After every cat was ready, they set off. Lionclaw walked on one side of Dawnstar, Sandfoot on the other side. She felt like leader, guiding her Clan to the Gathering Hollow, perhaps this wouldn't be so difficult after all. They crossed the river, reaching the makeshift camp they had lived in after the fire. It already seemed like forever ago. The gathering hollow rose in the distance, she could see the four trees rising high above the rest of the hollow. Tonight, Dawnstar would be taking her place on the SunClan tree.

SunClan were the last Clan to arrive, but she didn't think that the other Clans had been here much longer. Thornstar was conversing with Jaggedstar, but Shadowstar didn't seem too keen on talking with Thornstar, maybe Shadowstar actually understood that Thornstar was trouble. As Dawnstar approached the other leaders, Shadowstar spotted her.

"Dawnstar!" He called out. "Welcome!" He padded up to her, clearly grateful to have another leader to talk to.

"Dawnstar?" Jaggedstar echoed. "What happened to Flowerstar?" His amber eyes grew sad for a moment.

Dawnstar lowered her head. "We lost Flowerstar unfortunately." She said, recalling the death of her leader and suddenly missing her. Her fears about the gathering swarmed her once again, she dug her claws into the soil. "I'll explain more when the gathering starts."

"Then I suggest we start." Shadowstar said, the other three leaders agreed and headed to their respective trees. Dawnstar looked up at the SunClan tree, taking a deep breath she quickly climbed it. Sitting in the top branch, so she was level with the other three leaders. The AshClan tree was right next to the SunClan tree, and Thornstar wasn't making eye contact with any of the other's leader, but something burned in his eyes, Dawnstar grew uneasy. "Dawnstar." Dawnstar's attention was snapped away from Thornstar, she looked at Shadowstar. "Since you're the new leader, why don't you start?"

Dawnstar nodded and looked out over the hollow, cats from all Clans were gazing up at her. She swallowed her nerves and began to speak. "Well, as you can see--"

"Speak up!" Fieldfoot, a LichenClan elder shouted, Barksong nodded beside him. Dawnstar lifted her head and tried to speak louder.

"As you can see, Flowerstar has joined the ranks of StarClan. SunClan suffered a fire in our territory and Flowerstar didn't make it out." The four Clans lowered their heads, giving a moment of silence for the fallen leader, when they all lifted their heads Dawnstar began speaking again, she wanted to make SunClan seem strong despite the loss. "Despite everything, SunClan still remains strong. Prey is running well and our camp is coming together again."

"I'm glad to hear that things are going well." Shadowstar purred kindly, he was being very welcoming and Dawnstar was incredibly grateful.

"I also want to thank the MoonClan warriors that came to our aid when we needed it, SunClan is forever thankful." Dawnstar saw the MoonClan warriors lift their heads in pride and joy.

"MoonClan was happy to help." Shadowstar mewed. "Now, Thornstar, would you like to go next?"

Thornstar shook his head. "I'd like to go last actually, if none of the other leaders mind." He made eye contact with Dawnstar, something was brewing in his gaze, Dawnstar dug her claws into the branch she was sitting on.

"Very well..." Shadowstar said awkwardly. "I suppose I will go next," He stood up. "MoonClan is thriving, Pigeonpelt has retired to the elder's den and Ebonywing just had three healthy kits." The Clans cheered kindly for the new kits and the retired elder. Shadowstar turned to the LichenClan leader. "Jaggedstar?"

Jaggedstar stood up and began to speak. "We welcome two new apprentices; Foxpaw and Rosepaw." The four Clans cheered the new warriors, Dawnstar felt warm knowing all the Clans were being civil tonight.

"Now it's my turn." Thornstar stood up before Jaggedstar could sit down, the old leader shot a glare but sat down anyway. Dawnstar's set her eyes on Thornstar, wondering what he had to say. "My fellow warriors," He spoke. "Leaf-bare is approaching fast, and with leaf-bare comes great struggles for all four Clans. Prey is low and sickness is high, no matter the Clan; we all struggle."

"What's your point, Thornstar?" Jaggedstar questioned.

"My point, Jaggedstar, and is that if the Clans are going to keep surviving these harsh leaf-bare seasons then we need to work together." Thornstar spoke, Dawnstar dug her claws deeper into the branch. What was he even suggesting. "I have come up with a plan, that all four Clans band together and work to live through this season with plenty of prey and no deaths."

"The Clans have survived many leaf-bares on their own." Shadowstar pointed out. "We always do, leaf-bare is just another struggle we have to face, it's part of being a warrior." Many cats nodded in agreement.

"AshClan was nearly wiped out by greencough last leaf-bare, and I won't allow that to happen." Thornstar said boldly. "It's my plan to come together as one Clan, that also eliminates battles and border disputes, it will be an era of peace!" Dawnstar clawed her branch harder, she wanted to speak out but she held her tongue, the other leaders wouldn't go for this crazy plan.

"Who would lead us? You?" Jaggedstar challenged, clearly annoyed by his antics.

"All of us of course." Thornstar's response was a purr.

"Liar!" Dawnstar spat, no longer able to hold herself back, the rest of the Clans looked directly at her. "There's no way you would lead an in unison with the other leaders."

Thornstar shook his head. "Dawnstar, you're only a new leader; you wouldn't understand."

"I may be a new leader but I know you." Dawnstar growled. "Probably better than any other cat and I know there's no way you would lead alongside three other leaders. You were willing to break the warrior code to become leader, there's no way you would throw that away to share a leadership."

"You're talking nonsense, Dawnstar." Thornstar shook his head, Dawnstar's rage burned intensely inside her.

"You're a murderer! I know once I agreed to this insane plan of yours, you would kill me. You've threatened me enough." She met the gaze of Thornstar, behind him she could see Jaggedstar and Shadowstar sharing uneasy glances.

"You have no proof of that fact, Dawnstar." He turned his nose in the air, was he really acting this nonchalant.

"I watched you try to murder my leader! You killed Lionstar!" Gapsp spread throughout the cats.

"Why would you even think that?" Thornstar demanded.

"Riverstorm told me! The four cats that you drove out of their own Clan because you're such a murderous leader. Not only did you kill Lionstar but you killed Moonwhisker and Sharptongue. AshClan doesn't even have a medicine cat! Skypaw, Ravenpaw and Puddlepaw were made apprentices before six moons old so were the three kits you stole from SunClan. You're a disgusting leader and horrible excuse for a cat!" Dawnstar unleashed all her anger onto Thornstar. "That's just in AshClan, I could go on and on about what you did to SunClan."

"Enough of your nonsense, Dawnstar." Thornstar turned away, facing the other two leaders. "Since she so rudely declined me, what are your answers."

"Your plan is idiotic." Jaggedstar shook his head. 'I've been leading LichenClan for many moons just fine myself, and there have always been four Clans."

"Change is coming, Jaggedstar." Thornstar sighed. "I suppose what I'm saying is that the Clans will come together. If you don't want to lead with me in peace...then there will be no peace. Any cat who rejects this idea, will die at my claws." He raised his voice. "To any cats interested in my era of peace, you don't have to follow your leaders cluelessness. In three days I want to meet back here with the answer of every cat." Thornstar turned back to Dawnstar, his gaze digging deep into hers. "I hope you're prepared to say no, because I have a force with me and I promise that any cat who joins will live with a strong, safe, Clan and any cat who refuses will live in terror before they die."

"You're threatening every cat in the Clans if they don't join you? You really expect them to listen?" Dawnstar questioned.

"Yes, I do, Dawnstar. Some of these cats are actually smart enough to know what's good for them and their Clans." Thornstar explained. "And they will be rewarded greatly if they take my side; the most honorable warriors."

"I refuse to listen to this any longer." Jaggedstar jumped down from his tree. "You're spouting nonsense, Thornstar. LichenClan is leaving."

"I expect the three other Clans to meet back here in three days with your final answers, if any of you refuse then it will be the last day you breathe." Thornstar shouted. "I'm expecting great things."

Shadowstar jumped down as well. "You're clueless, Thornstar." He swiftly led his Clan away, leaving Dawnstar and Thornstar alone in the trees.

"Chose wisely, Dawnstar, but it seems as if SunClan will be completely falling to me. Such a shame." He shook his head and jumped down, Dawnstar looked up at the full moon; not a single cloud in the sky. Why didn't StarClan stop this?

Dawnstar led her warriors home and the news was instantly buzzing around camp, Thornstar's proposal spread like fire. She had to make an announcement to her Clan, Dawnstar jumped into the SunTree and didn't even have to summon the Clan.

"What's going on?" Icepteal asked.

"Did Thornstar really challenge all three Clans?" Rainears demanded.

"Give me a moment to explain, please." Dawnstar said, silencing her Clan. "Yes, it's true. Thornstar said that all the Clans should band together into one Clan to make survival easier. None of the leaders were having it; but he wants us to go back to the Gathering Hollow in three days with our answer."

"What's your answer?" Adderstrike questioned.

"Absolutely not, SunClan will not be joining in with him because I know that Thornstar would try and kill me no matter what, almost any cat from SunClan as a matter-of-fact." Dawnstar explained. "SunClan won't be joining him."

"So what are we going to do?" Bramblepelt asked, flicking his tail.

"Fight obviously." Lionclaw stepped forward. "Thornstar said that any cat who didn't join would regret it, so he's looking for a fight."

"Lionclaw's right, any cat who doesn't join will be put into a fight." Dawnstar mewed. "And we must meet this fight."

"If all the other Clans refuse, it's three Clans against one." Redclaw pointed out. "How does he expect to stand a chance."

"Loners and rouges." The Clan turned to Lilyclaw, the first of the AshClan warriors to speak up.

"Loners and rouges?" Crowfur echoed.

"Yes, before I turned away from Echoheart I knew she had been recruiting loners and rouges around the forest to join AshClan; they've been planning this for a long time. That's when I knew that I couldn't stay in AshClan anymore." Lilyclaw explained.

"I never knew that." Riverstorm stepped forward. "Then again, Echoheart stopped trusting me a while ago."

"On that subject..." Rustpelt stood up. "What are we going to do about the AshClan warriors? Can they really fight their own Clanmates? Their brothers and mates?"

"Ashblaze would never stand beside Thornstar in this kind of fight." Silvermoon mewed. "And neither would my brother, when the time comes they will stand beside us."

"What if they're too scared?" Rustpelt demanded.

"They really won't have anything to lose, do they?" Haresong mewed. "The ones with true hearts will step forward and fight with us."

"And Dawnstar," Riverstorm looked up at the SunTree. "You have our completely loyalty right now. I will fight until the death to restore peace and harmony to my Clan." Dawnstar felt a jolt of admiration for Riverstorm and her fellow warriors, they were willing to give everything for their Clan.

"SunClan thanks you for your loyalty, and I personally trust each and everyone of you." Dawnstar spoke boldly, her words seemed to affect the other SunClan warriors because each of them nodded.

"We will fight too." Cherrypaw spoke up from the back of the ground, even Briarpaw held her head high.

"I don't want the rest of the forest to have to deal with my father's tyranny." Briarpaw's voice was loud.

Feeling empowered, Dawnstar lifted her head and raised her voice. "SunClan will not be joining Thornstar, and we will emerge from this fight victorious. We will fight Thornstar and his forces until death if we have to. SunClan will never fall!"

SunClan jumped up and cheered loudly, Dawnstar had inspired them. This was the storm she had been warned about, but just like the fire SunClan would not fall.