"Skypaw, do you see anything?" Skypaw perked her ears as she strived to hear her mentor's voice. Her eyes scanned over the terrain around her as she sat perched on a high, but sturdy, branch. Her claws stung tremendously from holding onto the branch so hard, for she was afraid of slipping on the frosted wood and plummeting to the frozen ground below.

"No, everything is white! Even the bushes just look like piles of snow!" She called back. Gazing directly down below her, she saw the black pelt of Hazelflower staring up at her, along with the light gray fur of her sister, Rainpaw. Skypaw couldn't help but feel sorry for her mentor, because it was obvious hunting in leaf-bare was not the easiest task for her. Her dark pelt could be seen from what seemed like fox lengths away.

Skypaw could see Hazelflower's shoulders raise as her mentor sighed. The she-cat's head turned to Rainpaw, and it appeared the two discussed a few words before Hazelflower's voice reached Skypaw's ears once again. "Okay, you can come down now!"

Skypaw didn't need to be told twice. Although she loved climbing, she was scared out of her fur to do so in leafbare. The branches were always covered with a sleek layer of frost and ice, making it ten times easier for her to fall. And that was without snow. When there was snow accompanying the icy dangers that were already there, it became extremely difficult for Skypaw to leap between branches. As the snow piled on the cold wood, it made them look thicker than they actually were, therefor nearly impossible for her to tell which branches were actually thick enough to stand on. One wrong move and she was crowfood.

Skypaw took her sweet time desending down from the tree. She made sure to study every part of the branch she was planning to jump to next, trying to avoid dangers at all costs. She remembered the time she fell from the Sky Oak as an apprentice, and how boring it was to stay in the medicine den for days at a time. She didn't want to go through that again, especially in leafbare. If a cat were to get hurt, she wouldn't want it to be her. Willowleaf needed to save her herbs for cats who needed them more than Skypaw did.

Before long, Skypaw was able to leap to the ground. Her landing caused snow to fly up as her paws roughly made contact with the ground, and she shivered when the fluffy flakes showered her pelt. She shook her fur immediately, for she was already cold enough.

"I would never be able to climb as high as you just did in leafbare," Rainpaw commented as Skypaw finished ridding her pelt of snow. It didn't take long for Skypaw to notice that Rainpaw was shivering.

"It's not that bad," Skypaw lied. It was terrifying. "You just have to be extremely careful. Plus, I don't see why you would have to climb a tree any time soon anyway. It's almost completely useless - all you see is snow everywhere."

"Petalheart might make her for training," Hazelflower meowed. "But that's up to her. We should get back to camp and report to Russetsky that we saw nothing unusual."

"Not like that's a huge surprise," Rainpaw muttered. "Who would be out in this weather besides ThunderClan? I can't believe Sunstar's making us patrol in this weather!"

"I heard from Stormpelt that he wants to make sure ShadowClan stay within their own territory," Hazelflower replied. "I mean, they've attacked us twice in five moons. Plus, their leader kind of did die in our camp."

"They attacked us," Skypaw chimed in. "and we didn't kill her. StarClan did because they didn't approve of their attack."

Hazelflower nodded, "That is true. However, that doesn't mean they're happy about it. I mean, their leader dying in their own attack isn't exactly something to take pride in. It's never good for any cat to die in a territory that isn't their own."

~*~

The patrol eventually made it back into camp. Frozen from nose to tail, the three she-cats quickly reported their results to Russetsky, the ThunderClan deputy, before rushing to get something to eat. Together, they ate three small mice, which wasn't nearly enough for three grown cats. But, ThunderClan was reserving as much prey as possible. Featherfur and her kits needed to be fed first, as well as Flowermoon.

However, ever since they started talking about the previous battle with ShadowClan, Skypaw couldn't stop thinking about it. She remembered the way Dapplestar's body lit up in flames as she fell dead. A storm quickly came after the lightning struck, and harsh rains poured down as if it hadn't rained in moons. This obviously put Dapplestar's fire out, and Skypaw remembered the way every cat in the clearing stood frozen with their jaws dropped to the ground. Even Sunstar had a look of pure shock on his face as he stared at his, as Skypaw learned just moments before, dead ally.

Moondust was in a panicked frenzy, and Appleleaf quickly let her go from his grip. The elder had been fighting in that battle, something he shouldn't have been doing but was amazing at. Every cat watched as Moondust ran to her dead leader's body and wailed. The other ShadowClan warriors slowly followed suit, grieving in the rains that fell over ThunderClan's camp.

Although the ShadowClan cats took a few long moments to grieve for their leader, they knew they were not welcomed there. They quickly got Dapplestar's body, the tips of her fur scorched black, and left without another word to the few ThunderClan cats that watched them go.

Much to Skypaw's surprise, Sunstar didn't stop the enemy Clan as they left as quickly as they had came. He simply watched as they padded out of ThunderClan's camp. However, Skypaw knew it was not out of respect. If what Dapplestar had said was true, about Sunstar being her ally, then he must have been grieving as well. Even dark hearts have to grieve, don't they? Is what she had wondered that night.

The patrols soon returned, bloody and wounded, signalling ShadowClan had attacked all over the territory. No cat was seriously injured from ThunderClan, but the news spread like fire of what had happened to the ShadowClan leader. However, much to Skypaw's dismay, the news didn't last very long. It slowly faded away as normal Clan life returned.

Skypaw herself had even tried beyond belief to rid that battle of her memory. The way that her dear friend, Willowleaf, was pounced upon like a mouse underneath a warrior's claws by Dapplestar had haunted her. The thought of losing the ThunderClan medicine cat during an arising prophecy was a terrifying thought, and Skypaw had done her best to rid herself of it. Much to her dismay, she had been successful, focusing intently on training for her warrior assessment. She had been able to be a normal apprentice for the first time in moons, and it felt like a breath of fresh air to her. She enjoyed not having any thoughts of the evil alliance lurking in the back of her mind, and the fact that ThunderClan was half-starved due to the lack of prey had kept her mind occupied. One thing and one thing only was important to the majority of the Clan: to bring home prey.

Suddenly, Skypaw was snapped out of her thoughts. "Skypaw, you okay?" Rainpaw and Hazelflower had worried eyes as they gazed at her. Shaking her head to clear it, Skypaw quickly replied.

"Yeah, I'm just thinking about that battle with ShadowClan. How weird the whole thing was." Skypaw couldn't help but relive the battle as she thought about it. Dread made her paws feel heavy as the impact of remembering the prophecy hit her full force. Why can't I be normal all the time?

Hazelflower nodded in agreement. "Definitely one of our most memorable battles. Even though it only happened half a moon ago, there's no doubt that it's going to be passed down in nursery tales."

Skypaw flicked her tail in acknowledgement as she finished off her scrawny mouse. "I think I'm going to go sleep," she meowed, glancing up at the darkening sky. It definitely got darker earlier in leafbare, but Skypaw didn't mind. She appreciated the longer nights, for she had more time to sleep when she was scheduled for dusk patrols.

Hazelflower and Rainpaw said their goodnights as she padded off to her den. She had to admit, she wasn't used to climbing into her nest before Rainpaw, so she missed the warmth of her sister as she curled up, her tail wrapped neatly as it rested on her paws.

Letting herself slowly drift into sleep, she let her mind wander as she fell into a slumber.

Author's Note: Yay! It's finally here!

I don't know what I think about this chapter, but here it is. Vote, comment, and share! I'd love to hear what you guys think, especially since I kept you guys waiting for so long. Thank you for staying with me and reading this!

You guys don't even know what I have in store for the following adventures to come. I seriously have so many plot twists it just makes me so happy. Anyway, stay tuned for Chapter 2!