They waited until the moon was high in the sky to slink from the medicine cat's den into the cold air. The icy stone under his paws stung his pads, and Ravenpaw flinched with every step. Soon, though, they were numb enough that he couldn't feel anything.

"I'll get Eagleclaw," Mossrain meowed, heading for the leader's den. A sudden thought struck Ravenpaw.

"Where's Acornstar?" he asked, a little worried.

"She's in the leader's den as well, sleeping on the stone floor. She hasn't moved much since Eagleclaw told her about Rain. She's very angry about it. It happened while you were sleeping." Ravenpaw nodded in response to the jumbled answer. He had decided to take a few hours to himself before having to explain the truth to the three cats he trusted the most outside his family, and fell asleep curled in his nest. Mossrain had woken him not long ago.

Leaving his mentor to get Eagleclaw, Ravenpaw padded over to the nursery. He spotted the cat on guard and recognized it as Oakcloud. Of course, he would want to be close to Goldenpool tonight, as a stranger was in the den with her. The darkened shape nodded his head to him, brown eyes shadowed in the night. Nodding back, Ravenpaw slipped into the den. Instantly, Goldenpool's head rose to meet him, golden gaze dull. It seems she had been too worried about her new denmate to sleep. Rain, meanwhile, had fallen deeply into unconsciousness, Maple curled at his stomach. His muzzle was stained slightly with blood, and Ravenpaw was glad he had been fed.

"I've been waiting," Goldenpool meowed softly, licking the closest the head of the closest kit to her, which happened to be Heatherkit. She mewled and shifted, but then fell still again.

"Mossrain is getting Eagleclaw, and once they join us we can talk. Rain can talk." With soft paws, he padded over to the sleeping tom. "Rain? Rain, wake up." When the tom didn't stir, he touched his cheek with his nose.

Instantly, Rain was awake, eyes wide with fear and protective nature. His claws flashed, and he slashed his paw out. Ravenpaw flinched, shutting his eyes and waiting for the blow. When it didn't come, he slowly peeled open his eyes to see Rain had stopped himself just in time. "S-sorry," he gasped, retracting his claws and curling his leg back up. "You surprised me."

Goldenpool let out an untrusting hiss, obviously upset he had almost injured Ravenpaw. "It's okay," he said to her, then looked at Rain. "Truly. I understand."

Rain blinked in gratitude, just as Mossrain and Eagleclaw entered the den. They both seemed to sense the tension from Goldenpool, but decided to say nothing. They sat together in the center of the nursery. "Mossrain won't tell me what this is about," the deputy said as she settled.

"Because I don't know what it's about!" he said quickly.

"It's about me," Rain meowed.

"Obviously." Goldenpool stood up carefully, avoiding stepping her kits and sniffing each one before joining her friends, nodding to Mossrain before sitting right next to him, then all three looked at Rain and Ravenpaw.

After watching Maple for a few moments, Rain got up from the nest with as much care as Goldenpool had, then settled into a sit next to his kit. Ravenpaw decided to stay next to him, so Rain didn't feel alone, and just in case he had to help explain something.

"I guess I should start from before I was born, tell you about my home. But first, I should tell you my name, my true name. For the last few moons, I have been calling myself Rain, but before that I was Rainshadow, a warrior of MothClan."

Goldenpool stifled a gasp, Mossrain widened his eyes, and Eagleclaw stuttered out a jumbled mess of words. She swallowed, and managed to say, "You mean... there's a fifth Clan out there?"

Rain nodded, and Ravenpaw said softly, "it would be better if questions waited for the end of the story, or at least at a break."

Mossrain, it seemed, thought his question was too important to wait. "So you knew, about this new Clan? This is what you were hiding?"

"I only found out today," Ravenpaw couldn't help but explain. "Last time I visited the Moonstream, Maple's mother, Violet, or Violetfrost as she known as in MothClan, told me about Rainshadow, and where to find him." He looked at the tom to allow him to speak. He nodded to Ravenpaw in thanks.

"I already kind of explained to Ravenpaw how the Clan works, but not really how we started. Before we were a Clan, countless moons ago before I was even close to being born, we were just a group of rogues, protecting a territory with no real boundaries, with no real rules to control us. Then a stranger came. He showed us the ways of his home, but throughout many moons it became more of a myth that he came from another Clan. I don't know his name before he became our leader, but after it was Firestar, and he named the Clan FireClan."

Rain paused for a moment, ready for a cat to comment. After a few moments, Eagleclaw said, "I don't remember any warriors with the name 'Fire', especially not one that left."

"Not a warrior," Mossrain meowed softly, his eyes widening in surprise. But Ravenpaw didn't need to wait for his mentor to speak. He already knew.

"Firebreeze."

"Firebreeze?" Rain questioned. "You think this cat was the creator of my Clan?"

"I'll be severely worried if he was," Goldenpool meowed softly.

"He was a medicine cat," Ravenpaw explained softly to Rain. "He fell in love with a she-cat who didn't love him back, so he poisoned her mate, then killed her kits." It was a simple explanation, enough for Rain to understand.

Surprisingly, shockingly, Rain didn't seem phased at all. "Sounds a lot like MothClan."

"You say MothClan, but he named it FireClan?"

"Every time a new leader takes over, it is the law that they rename the Clan after themselves, to show they are the complete ruler and must be listened to. It is a way of showing that whatever might've happened under the last leader, it doesn't matter. When I was born, the leader was Nightstar, leading NightClan."

"Tell them how he died," Ravenpaw prompted softly. Rain nodded in simple understanding.

"I will, but some things need to be explained first." He told them how deputies were chosen, raised from a young kit to a powerful warrior. He explained kit-watchers, how queens left their kits at a moon old, and how it was forbidden for them to know their parents' identities. Goldenpool, the only one with kits, seemed most affected by this new information. He explained the sad life of kit-watchers, how they were beaten down by their Clanmates, allowed only one mistake or they would be killed. He talked about arranged mating pairs, where four or five queens would be chosen by how powerful and skilled they were to give birth near the beginning of the greenleaf season.

"The kits born would be divided between the current kit-watchers, usually about three to four kits to a cat. I had three nestmates, one who was my sister, Leafkit." His voice broke at the name, and memories flashed through his eyes. Even more pain flooded him when he muttered, "Violetfrost was my nestmate as well, but I know she wasn't my sister. Ryefang, I think, was her brother. Three other kits were in the den as well, but they were from a different nest. I only know Leafkit is my sister because she found out who our mother was."

He sounds so broken, Ravenpaw thought during his depressed pause. He looked so down, so depressed. His eyes screamed pain and love that had been hidden away for moons.

"I couldn't tell anyone, I would get in so much trouble. Affection isn't allowed, no matter who for. You can't care for your family, your friends, not even an apprentice or mentor. Some cats, it seems like they really didn't have any emotions, but others, me included, we're just very good at hiding it."

He looked up, eyes glistening.

"You know, cats once started to revolt? It was when I was an apprentice, and cats started meeting, planning, training to overthrow Mothstar. I was even going to join, me and Violetpaw. But then they were discovered, and there was chaos. The Purge of the Impure, it was called in the future. All cats who joined the rebellion were forced to choose a side. Those who regretted their involvement in the rebellion were forced to kill those who did not regret it. Many cats died that day, mostly the ones with an actual heart."

"Killing your own Clanmates..." Eagleclaw whispered. "They sound like monsters..."

"They were," Rain responded. "Mothstar especially. She was... demented, honestly, but I guess the Clan liked that in her. She was an awful cat, a cold-blooded murderer, but she knew how to lead, how to keep cats in line. When she was Nightstar's deputy, she did almost everything for him, for he was getting older and weaker and softer, I guess. It was the day of my apprentice ceremony, and she decided that she really wanted Ryekit as an apprentice, as her own deputy. So... she killed Nightstar during the ceremony, right in front of the Clan. But, because of the laws, because she proved him unable to lead as well as he used to, it was okay. Allowed. She immediately became leader, and took Ryekit as an apprentice. He turned into a monster just like her."

Eagleclaw, Goldenpool, and Mossrain were silent for quite a while, just looking at her paws. Ravenpaw couldn't find anything to say either. He was so grateful for living in EchoClan, and not MothClan. He couldn't imagine being born there, forced to be a cat he wasn't. There was no question--he would never survive there. If he had been born in MothClan, he would've already been dead.

"You..." Eagleclaw finally managed to say, "you talk of these... laws. Are they like our warrior code? Things to follow, to live by?"

Rain shook his head. "Likely not. They are more things for the leader to remember, most of the time. Rules you must follow, things you must do... ways to punish those who don't listen. Firestar still controlling us, even from his Forest."

"His Forest?" Mossrain questioned. "What's that?"

"Firestar's Forest," Ravenpaw answered for the tom. "It's like their StarClan. But, their ancestors don't visit them, don't care about them. They're more a myth, it seems." He looked at Rain, and the tom nodded to show it was true. "They have medicine cats, but they are low down in the ranks, only for healing those injured. They aren't like us..."

"But Firebreeze started MothClan, or NightClan or whatever," Eagleclaw meowed in confusion. "Wouldn't he put medicine cats high up?" She didn't seem to be asking Rain.

"That doesn't matter," Mossrain whispered, then raised his voice to be heard better. "What matters is that these cats are far away from us, and don't know we're here." He looked up at Rain. "But you knew, didn't you? You were looking for us. How? Why?"

Rain waited a moment before answering, slow and uncertain.

"As warriors, Violetfrost and I continued to get closer, and though we had to pretend we were just Clanmates, faking a tense relationship like everyone else, but we went out many times during the night to 'hunt' where we just sat and talked, and enjoyed each other's company. Eventually, we were in love, and all I wanted was to father her kits. But we couldn't, not unless somehow, someway, we were chosen as a mating pair. But nature has a sense of humor, I guess. Violetfrost was chosen to mate with Sleekleg, who had been a warrior for quite a while before she had even been born. I was terrified for her, and I didn't want her to be with him. But just a little before that, we had captured a group of four cats, a venturing group. I knew they have had to come from somewhere, so I listened to them for quite a few nights, until I finally heard something useful. They talked about their home, BatClan, and how they regretted trying to find help. They talked about the direction they came from, and that's all I needed. I got Violetfrost and we left. We didn't stop for days, just walking and walking and walking, sleeping for the shortest breaks before continuing on, trying to get as far away as possible. But I found out she was expecting my kits, and I was terrified she would die without a medicine cat. I left her in a cave, telling her to be safe, then got back home as quickly as possible.

"I was sneaking through the territory when I found, somehow, my sister. But she turned me away, hardened by moons without any friends. I had begged her to come with us originally, and I asked her to again, but she refused. She was trying to get me to leave when we were found by a patrol, but she managed to save herself from being titled as a traitor by attacking me, dragging me to where they held all prisoners, an old badger's den with one opening surrounded by thorns and guards. I was trapped there for two moons before my sister realized her mistakes and managed to free me. But she still refused to come with... I raced back to Violet, faster than I ever thought possible, but it was too late. I found her dead in the den, with our kits nowhere in sight. I buried her, and was waiting for death to take me to her when Ravenpaw came, and saved me, brought me to my darling kit..."

He looked back at Maple with broken eyes.

Everybody was silent, watching the tom with sadness and sorrow. They were feeling his grief, the emptiness in his soul.

"Thank you," Eagleclaw finally managed to say. "Thank you for sharing, and giving us a warning of this threat. Hopefully, this enemy will never come here."

Ravenpaw gasped suddenly, and everyone looked at him. Fear flooded every vein of his body. Those simple words were so similar to something he had heard before. The Clans must be ready...an enemy will come and they all must be ready. That's what Echo had told him.

That's what she meant. Not the dogs, not the Twolegs, but MothClan. MothClan is coming for us... He noticed everybody still looking at him. He almost told them, but like every time, he hesitated. Not yet, he decided. He wouldn't tell them yet.

"Sorry," he apologized quietly to his Clanmates. After a moment, Eagleclaw nodded and looked not at Rain, but instead Goldenpool.

"You haven't said anything yet. What are your thoughts, Goldenpool?" the deputy asked softly.

Goldenpool hesitated before answering, looking at her paws. "You come from such an awful, dark place, where cats killed without a second thought. I want to know..." She raised her head and stared down the tom in front of her. "How many cats have you killed?"

Rain lowered his head, eyes breaking. He sighed, quiet and full of grief. "Five. The first one was when I was an apprentice, just a few moons in. A young rogue had entered our territory, and my mentor made me attack her. She had no idea how to fight, and I hurt her so bad because I knew I had to... I pretended to fall away, trip or something, to let her get away. But Hawkmist, my mentor, he saw what I tried to do. He grabbed her, pinned her to the ground. The fear in her eyes..." He swallowed heavily, then let out a shaky breath. "He made me kill her, to 'harden my heart' he had said. I felt her blood on my paws for moons..."

"And the others? Were you forced to kill every time?" Eagleclaw asked.

Rain slowly shook his head. "Not... exactly. The... the second time I killed was at my apprentice ceremony, during the fighting assessment. I was put against this old rogue, gray around his muzzle, blind in one eye. But he was a fighter, a good one." He rolled his shoulder, and Ravenpaw noticed the light tint of a scar there. "I guess you could say I had no choice of killing him because he didn't give me a choice. Usually, Mothstar will call a halt to the fight once she deemed the cat having fought well enough." His eyes flashed with sadness at a memory he didn't decide to share. "But I never heard it, the call of the battle ending. Maybe she said it and I didn't hear, I don't know. Blood was just pounding in my ears, and I wasn't thinking clearly. I had him backed up against this bramble bush in the clearing, blood washing into one of my eyes because he had scratched right above it. Then I saw an opening, and I went forward and bit his throat." Rain gagged slightly. "His blood... it tasted awful, disgusting. It was warm and... it filled my throat, choked me. But I held on until he collapsed onto the ground, and suddenly I was named Rainshadow."

Eagleclaw and her medicine cats looked horrified, and Ravenpaw couldn't help but shift away from the tom. He noticed, of course, and sunk lower to the ground. But yet, he continued on.

"I was a warrior the third time. Out in the forest with... with my sister." How many times had he simply said 'sister' instead of her actual name? Ravenpaw decided the name hurt him too much, that it caused him more pain then just referring to her as 'sister' and not whatever her warrior name was. "I left her for a moment to hunt a mouse, and when I went back she was being attacked. I thought it was a rogue, but then I realized it was a Clanmate. Nettlepool. I never learned why she attacked, I just know it was awful. There was blood everywhere. Before I knew it, I had Nettlepool pinned, and I killed her. The fourth cat I killed was a Clanmate again. Adderstrike. He was guarding me, when my sister helped me escape. It was my only way out, to kill him. I grabbed him by the back of his neck, twisted and pulled until he fell still."

"And the fifth?" Eagleclaw pushed.

"A few days ago. When I was returning to Violet. I found this tom, a pale tabby. It looked like he had gotten into a fight rather recently, with a bad bite on the back of his neck. The moment he saw me, he attacked. But it was uncoordinated, weak. And even though he was falling out, barely standing, he continued to attack. I tried to leave him, but he was following me. Then... He just begged me to kill him, to put him out of his misery. And... I did." His eyes seemed lost.

The nursery fell into silence, only broken by the light snoring from Dustkit. Then: "Ravenpaw, the grown-ups need to talk. Please, go back to your den," Eagleclaw ordered him.

Instinctively, he looked at Mossrain. The tom nodded. "Go on, I'll be in soon."

Getting to his paws, Ravenpaw said, "goodnight, Rain. Goodnight, Goldenpool." Then he slowly padded from the den. He felt a little bad for not wishing goodbye to Eagleclaw, but forced it behind him and padded through the moonlit clearing, paws soft over the cold night grass. He slipped into the den, and found himself staring at Blossompaw.

And she looked absolutely terrified.

You might recognize the name "Leafkit" from me mentioning Leafkit's Agony a little before, a Special Edition I would like to write. I didn't say her warrior name because it would spoil her book, also why it's called Leafkit's Agony, and not Leaf(full name)'s Agony. But, an important question for those reading:

Question #1: Would you like to know a little about Leafkit (I.e. her warrior name/future) in this story, or wait for her Special Edition to reveal it, and have some extra surprises in the writing?

Question #2: Was learning about MothClan interesting for you? Or was this chapter a little boring?

Question #3: While focusing on this story, there are two Special Editions I'm enjoying the thought of, that might help me get into writing this story a little more. As I mentioned, one is Leafkit's Agony, while another (I've also mentioned this one) is Acornstar's Misery. I probably wouldn't release them until they were like half-way done or something, but I would like to choose one to focus on more, so I wanted to know--would you be more interested in hearing about Acornstar's life, or Leafkit's? I honestly think both are interesting, and reveal a lot.

Also, this book went a slightly different direction than I planned in the beginning, so I changed the description so it fit better.