He was standing in the middle of camp and he had no injuries.

Adderheart looked around, a sudden wave of terror surrounding him. How had he gotten here? He didn't remember anything from the days before... how long had it been since he'd been out? He assumed that he was better now. But why was he in camp?

And then he turned momentarily and there, upon the highrock, was Cougarstar.

The leader was staring down at him furiously, glaring and hissing at him, but no words escaped his muzzle. Beside him stood the healers and his heir, all of which were studying the senior warrior with critically sharp gazes. He stumbled back and then looked around once more, and suddenly the entire camp seemed to be crowding around him.

But not actually around him. Rather just... it was as though they were observing a caged animal. But he didn't understand; he wasn't and hadn't done anything wrong. Why was everyone so upset? Did they figure out my lie? Did I not cover my tracks? He opened his muzzle to speak but no words came out, and his ears pinned to his skull.

"Adderheart!"

Cougarstar's brash voice split the clearing and the warrior turned around, and in that moment, he remembered exactly what had happened before he'd feigned passing out. And he knew exactly what had happened to get him in this situation. Panic rose and clamped a paw around his throat and his breathing swiftly deteriorated.

"Willowdapple!"

What?

The she-cat looked surprised but she was shoved forward by a snarling cat in the crowd.

"My heir and I have discovered you to be going against rules that I have set in place for specific reasons!"

Cougarstar looked to Willowdapple and Adderheart watched as terror consumed her expression. She, involuntarily, shifted closer to him, to the point where their fur brushed and he felt a strong urge to get away from her. He needed to, it wasn't allowed, he couldn't... he couldn't... but he simply swallowed and let his form go rigid.

"Willowdapple," Bearpatch began. His voice was a lot stricter and overall simpler than his father's as he continued, "you've named your kits after cats that have broken our code, and you know what they did was not allowed. Why would you do this?"

"To preserve their memories," she blurted, shaking.

"They need to be forgotten," Cougarstar snapped, his figure rising as to ensure he appeared tall and strong. "But if you rename them, you'll get off with a warning."

That's not fair!

"What will I rename them?" She asked softly.

"You will rename them after the excelling warriors of this Clan," Palewhisker spoke up. His voice was firm and hard, emotionless and rude. "Myself and Cougarstar."

"I'm not calling them Palekit and Cougarkit," she murmured, shaking her head.

No. No. No.

"You will not; those names are for far better warriors," Cougarstar interrupted, "but you will find a way to relate their names to us, understood? We will hold a re-naming ceremony tomorrow, and nobody is to refer to those kits as their current names. And the dead ones, too. You must rename them too."

"After who...?"

"My brother and mate," Cougarstar decided, whipping his tail. "Speaking of my brother..."

What? What? No. No. No.

"Recently, it's been discovered that a certain warrior has been following the actions of the elders that Willowdapple's kits have been named after," Cougarstar continued, turning to face Adderheart with a malicious smile rising on his features. "And I think I have the perfect punishment. Pantherleap?"

The healers leapt off the highrock in unison. Confused, he followed them with his dark gray gaze and what he saw made him want to vomit and then leave the entire world. The healers dragged him out of their den and laid Pantherleap down on the ground.

He was bleeding from a million cuts and scratches. Even his throat had a small gash upon it as if someone had tried to slit it but failed, and his tail was in ruins. His ears were shredded and his paws just looked like little fleshy masses at the bottom of his legs. Adderheart squeezed his eyes shut and turned sharply away, though when he opened them, he was face-to-face with Cougarstar.

"Kill him."

The senior warrior upon the ground let out a strained noise: "N-no..."

"Kill him or you die."

Adderheart wanted to vomit all over everything. He couldn't kill Pantherleap. How long had it been since he'd figured it out? It had to be a dream. It was a dream, right? Right? This couldn't be real. It couldn't be. He bit sharply down on his tongue and soon found that blood was flowing from his muzzle. Shocked, he stumbled back.

Cougarstar lifted a paw and suddenly his bones felt old and weak. And suddenly he felt like an elder. And suddenly it felt like an elder was next to him, too, who had equally weak and old bones. Stiffly, he turned around to face his bleeding lover, and the feeling disappeared.

"D-don't... Adderheart, pl-please don't..."

I have to. I have to.

He padded over to Pantherleap and unsheathed his claws. At this noise, the warrior convulsed, blood exiting his maw with a spurt. Adderheart stopped breathing, hating the smell of blood that clouded the air from his injuries. He wanted to lick them all clean and ensure he could never be hurt again. But he had to kill him. He had to live.

Lifting a paw, he brought it close to Pantherleap's throat. The senior warrior convulsed again and he vomited, whereupon Adderheart jumped back and accidentally sliced the tom's neck.

"A-Adderheart!" He yowled, convulsing again on the ground. His neck was now completely soaked in blood. "H-help! Help!" He screamed again, voice going raw for the ground around him was now also soaked in blood. Everything was bloody. He looked down at his paws and found them bloody. And his legs were bloody too.

"H-help! Help! H-help m-me, I'm g-going to d-die—!" The screeches of the warrior hurt him and so he lunged forward, pressing against Pantherleap's figure.

Let this be a dream. Please... please let this be a dream. This can't happen. This won't. Can't.

"Y-you aren't, I swear... you won't die, Pantherleap, just... just get up and w-we'll get you to the healers..." He stumbled over his words, gaze blurring with tears, and the laughs of nearby warriors reached his ears. Shame heated up his pelt but he pressed a paw against Pantherleap's throat, trying to stop the bleeding. And then a claw slit his own.

Cougarstar, laughing maniacally, backed up, his paws clouded with the crimson liquid. Adderheart tumbled backward, gasping for air, trying to breathe and talk to Pantherleap, trying to stay alive, but the world was fading. Laughing filled his senses until a cat raced over and pressed paws over both of his ears.

"W-Willowdapple...?"

And then he woke up.

It was a dream. It was a dream. It was a dream.

The world wasn't spinning but it wasn't exactly stable, either. He was still in the healer's den and the pain from his injuries was just a dull ache now. Panic climbed a staircase within him and he shook his head fiercely. It had been fake. It wasn't real. Willowdapple and her kits were okay. Pantherleap was okay. Nobody was dead or in pain.

He looked around, ears pinned tightly to his skull. His fur was rigidly stiff and it felt uncomfortably warm as if greenleaf had suddenly arrived without telling anyone of its arrival. The air of the healer's den felt rigid and stale as if some sort of leaf-bare chill had infected the pleasant greenleaf's homecoming.

Was that really all a dream?

His eyes brimmed momentarily but he whisked the blurriness within them away with the back of his front paw, ears flickering sharply. He rose to his paws unsteadily, lurching forward to the exit of the den. He peeked out of the den, noting that the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon.

Carefully, he lifted himself so that he could walk easier, and with that, he made his way out of the healer's den.

He had to check in on everyone. He had to see if Willowdapple was okay, if her kits were doing well; he had to check in on Pantherleap, too, they had to discuss things and get it over with... and maybe I should go see Finchpaw. That one wasn't necessarily sprung from the dream but he recalled her to be around when he'd arrived.

He probably would have to think of a story to tell the healers too. Had Willowdapple been around for his episode? Pantherleap surely had... everyone was bound to hate him. He'd made a scene...

The warrior pushed himself forward and toward the nursery, recoiling at the faint and somewhat fleshy scent that drifted from its entrance. With a critical movement, he managed to enter, and the sleeping Willowdapple suddenly lifted her head.

"What do you want?"

She appeared frightened as if he would and could lash out with his strange movements at any time, with his inability to breathe at that very moment, with his weird episode right at that time. Her ears were pinned and her tail was wrapped tightly around her kits. He couldn't shake off the notion that something was wrong.

"Don't tell anyone about your kits," he mewed, voice quiet and drifting. "You're going to get in trouble because of them."

"Wh-what? Has someone figured it out?" She asked immediately, staring down at the bundles of fur with a fiercely lit gaze.

"No, nobody has. But you need to be careful, Willowdapple... you and your kits are in danger if anyone finds out."

"Are you trying to tell me that you're going to tell someone?" She accused. "Because I told you not to tell anyone, or have you already spilled my secret?"

Adderheart's ears flicked and threatened to pin. "No! I haven't, I swear, I wouldn't do that. That's certain death for me, you, and your litter."

Her muzzle, which had drawn back into a snarl, now appeared to be morphing swiftly to normal. "But why are you warning me now? Did something happen?"

He really wasn't willing to tell her about the dream he had... it would just expose him further and he wasn't willing to tell her about liking toms. If he had to pick anyone to tell about it, he would tell her, but he wasn't going to tell her. He couldn't. It was too fresh discovered to tell anyone besides the parties involved.

So he shook his head at a reasonable pace, not wanting to appear stressed. "No, but I was just thinking. If someone finds out, Cougarstar will kill you, Willowdapple."

Her ears pinned before she forced them to perk once more and she narrowed her eyes. "Then he won't find out, simple as that."

"It's not that easy," he started, sniffing, catching the strange scent from earlier.

"But you've not told anyone and neither have I, so how could anyone find out?" She pressed.

"Because it's kind of obvious," he mewed, ears flicking. "Stagkit and Featherkit are the parts of her name. Well, one's disguised a little, but if anyone finds out you had a litter of four and the names of the rest of your litter, then it's all over, and if you tell them I knew, then..."

"It's not that obvious," she answered, sweeping her tail sharply over their figures. "My kits are completely fine. I think you're just overreacting... you always have done so."

"I haven't!" He protested, sitting down closer to her, and she bared her teeth at him, though she made no effort to get him away.

"You think I've not heard what happened?"

"I figured that you did but that's not relevant," he said with a dismissive flick of his paw. Willowdapple's ears twitched and she narrowed her eyes.

"So? What happened? Was it the rogues? Everyone thought that it must've been."

Feeling suddenly defensive, he answered with a light edge to his tone, "Why do you want to know?"

She opened her muzzle to speak but then paused, narrowing her eyes momentarily. "Because you're my Clanmate," she replied carefully, "and I think it's important to know so we can launch more attacks on them. Bearpatch thinks he's found a camp of them, and he thought he found the elders' scents woven in."

They're alive?

"Wait, what? Really? How?" His tail wrapped around his figure and she rolled her brown eyes.

"He was exploring to found out what happened to you but could only find trails of blood all around. He wasn't able to directly trace back the bloody trails to the place where he thought the camp was but he was able to find other pawprints to them," she explained. "Everyone thinks the rogues ambushed you when you were hunting alone."

She paused to let silence settle over them and she motioned at him impatiently as if expecting him to confirm or deny what she'd said. Her ears pricked and he shifted, unsure of whether or not to tell the truth. Would it be safe to tell her at least that it wasn't the rogues?

And if the elders were there... that probably meant Cougarstar knew and was planning an attack on them soon enough. Or maybe Bearpatch hadn't told his father yet, which really wouldn't make sense. Or maybe everyone knew but Cougarstar had claimed it to be a lie... perhaps he wasn't ready for a battle.

Though that didn't fit his character. Cougarstar was always ready for a battle. But considering the death of Brindlebreeze, maybe he would think it better to let them attack him first. If they could hold up against the rogues, he'd surely launch an attack sooner or later, though.

"Hello?" Willowdapple prompted.

"Nothing, sorry," he mewed with a shake of his head forming. "I've got to go."

"Adderheart, you didn't answer me at all," Willowdapple interrupted, appearing suddenly distressed that he was rising to his paws. "Wait, don't go!"

"Come on, Willowdapple. I've got to go." He glanced over his shoulder as he approached the den's entrance and she flicked her tail sharply, thumping it against the ground as she shook her head.

"I said don't go, just... just stay for a little longer?" She asked, glancing up toward him.

"Sorry... I can't. I can get something for you to eat, though," he offered, ears flickering in a guilty manner. He had to check up on Pantherleap, though of course, he had to actually find the warrior first, which he assumed would provide a challenge.

"Yes, please."

The pale tom leapt swiftly from the den, his ears flickering still. He felt bad that he wasn't able to stick around longer, but he was a little confused from the interaction. Since when had the she-cat wanted to speak with him and wanted him to be around? He'd thought she'd hated him, but now she was acting all flustered around him.

Anxiety swirled up within him at a possibility that rose in his mind, and he was swift to get rid of it. He didn't need to be concerned with her right now. He had to focus on Pantherleap. Quickly, he headed for the fresh-kill pile and grabbed the first thing on it, which happened to be a plump bird.

He turned and headed back for the nursery, slipping inside, and he was shocked to find that Willowdapple was fiddling with something at her belly. It looked as though she was patting her kits though in a specific manner, and he padded over, peeking over her tail.

Horrified, she pulled back and wrapped her tail around the bundles, and he counted them.

One, two... three, four.

"Why did you keep them?" His muzzle dropped, and the plump bird did so too, falling upon the ground with a light slap. She pulled further back into the nest, worried and frenzied, sweeping her tail around her alive and dead kits.

"D-don't tell anyone, please," she whispered hoarsely, looking down at her half-alive litter. "I c-can't lose them. Don't let them d-die, let them st-stay here and maybe they c-can live..."

He carefully approached her, a shiver running down his spine, and she continually pulled back away from him. Her head swung rapidly in a back and forth motion and he placed a paw on hers.

"Let me see them."

"N-no, I c-can't, you'll t-take them from me..."

"Willowdapple, I'm not here to take them from you. I just want to see them." A lie.

She carefully uncurled her tail from the kits at her belly and revealed them.

The two kits that were alive pressed against each other with little mews forming as their mother removed her tail. Warmth seemed to be lost and they snuggled in closer to her belly. But two of them didn't move. Two of them stayed where they were, splayed but somehow managed to be in a sort of curled figure. Their tails lay askew from their figures, and their eyes were shut.

Gently, he swept one up within his paws and quickly took the other. "W-w-wait, Add-Adderheart, I thought you s-said you wouldn't—!"

"I'm not going to tell anyone," he mewed softly, patting her with his tail. She recoiled with her lips drawing back, and she, shaking, rose to her paws. "Hey, hey. Sit down, I'm not going to do anything with them." Another lie.

It slipped off his tongue in a rough way that he despised. Just another secret to keep.

"Wh-why— just p-put them down, I w-want my kits..." She lifted a paw as if to reach for her dead kits, but she laid down, still trembling.

"You can't keep them—"

"Y-yes I can! I've k-kept them this far— y-you lied to me! Give me Whitekit and Sn-Snowkit! Come here, c-come to mother little ones..." she cooed unsteadily, as if she was really talking to them.

But after a moment, she seemed pleased once more, murmuring something that sounded like "Snowkit, be n-nice to your siblings" before she wrapped her tail around the two kits once more.

He turned and mewed a quick "See you later" and with that, he left the den.