A/N: I'm sorry, but when I read your review, sasunaru-lover1029, I was like, 'No way.' Me: Literally oo Allan pike: Yeah, I was planning to make it a BIT short overall (not going past 15 chapters), AND it's obvious that the story's coming to a close. Time to think of how to write the finale. :O

Chapter 10

"Spiritstorm, it's time to go!" When she raised her head from her new nest in Jaggedstar's old den, she saw Pantherheart waiting outside with his tail raised. The sun was shining; it was hard to imagine that their cruel leader was gone at last. When Spiritstorm didn't reply, Pantherheart meowed impatiently, "We have to leave for the Moonstone for you to receive your nine lives. Have you forgotten?"

No. "I'm sorry, Pantherheart, but can it wait?"

The black medicine cat was struck, and his incredulous voice squeaked, "But that's against the warrior code! What if the wolves come back, and you die before you receive your nine lives? What'll happen to ForestClan then?"

"Jaggedstar had more than one life when the wolves came. I'm pretty sure nine lives won't protect me." She shook her fur of the moss that clung to it, and padded towards the camp clearing, brushing past Pantherheart. "I don't plan on leading ForestClan for long, anyways," she added with a whisper.

His great amber eyes were confused, and the confusion turned to anger. "This was your dream, wasn't it, Spiritstorm?" he snarled savagely. "You wanted to make ForestClan great again, and you won't even listen to StarClan, just as Jaggedstar did! How are you any better?"

Pantherheart's words stung, but they weren't enough to sway her resolve. "I'll tell you why, if you can keep a secret."

"It depends on what the secret is. If it endangers the Clan, then I can't keep it a secret, can I?"

Spiritstorm nodded. "It'll be a bit… hard to believe. Remember Stormspirit, the cat who died running away from the Clans with an EarthClan warrior? Your sister?"

At first the black tom drew back in surprise. "How did you know that she was my sister?" He thought for a moment, then murmured, "I remember, I told you once that my sister died. It must have been a bit easy to guess, if you knew her name… And how could I forget my own sibling?"

"And have you ever heard of cats coming back, reborn, instead of joining StarClan?"

As she expected, Pantherheart was even more confused than before. "N-no. I don't think that can be possible… I mean, it would be terrifying to see another Jaggedstar, come back for revenge, don't you think?"

Do I have the courage to tell him? If he doesn't believe me, he'll just think I've gone mad. Finally, she reasoned, I'm going to die anyways! Do I really care what others think about me as of this moment? "I thought it hard to believe at first, but last night, when Jaggedstar and Shadowstripe died… It all came back. How our parents believed in Jaggedstar's mad dreams, how Stormspirit… no, how I died."

At mention of his parents and Stormspirit, Pantherheart started to bristle, and his eyes turned cold. "Stop messing around with me. Maybe something's not right with you since yesterday—"

She cut him off. "I was killed by wolves when Shadowstripe discovered that Jaggedstar was going to silence me. Our parents didn't care. I don't care whether you believe whether this is true or not. Whatever the truth is, you have to decide for yourself." Sadly, she touched her muzzle to Pantherheart's flank and exited the den. She had a lot of work to do.

"Hey, Rockcliff!" A golden-brown tabby tom with a white muzzle approached Rockcliff, a sturdy broad-shouldered brown and gray tom. "Want to go hunting?"

Rockcliff felt unease, just as he always did when someone called him by his warrior name. The feeling that their leader—or rather, deputy—had given him a warrior name, while she still refused the name of –star. What could it mean? Did it mean that he wasn't a warrior in the eyes of StarClan? Were they breaking the warrior code, just as Jaggedstar did? "Sure, Tawnystripe."

"I was thinking about that place near the EarthClan border. I haven't hunted there for ages!"

Rockcliff followed the enthusiastic Tawnystripe, as they left camp. For some time there was a disturbance in the ForestClan camp; Rockcliff didn't know the details, but it seemed that their leader was gone since last night. Rockcliff was pretty sure Spiritstorm was just off sulking; her relationships with that EarthClan warrior were no real secret in the Clans, not anymore.

They were sniffing the air for prey, but all Rockcliff could scent was EarthClan. "Hey, what's that?"

There was a familiar smell, one hostile and so disturbing that it made the two cats' hackles rise. "Isn't that a wolf scent?" Rockcliff whispered. "I thought they were gone for sure!"

"Wait. There's something over there! Let's check it out, Rockcliff!"

"H-hey, wait a sec! That's going into enemy territory!"

"Don't be such a worrywart; we're only on the border." Tawnystripe was sniffing around a small clump of white flowers, a kind Rockcliff had never seen before in his life. They rustled in the breeze, sending a few petals brushing past his pelt. The flower patch was shaped strangely too; it almost resembled a cat lying on its flank… "Hey, these smell pretty nice. It feels like… home, almost. Weird, isn't it, Rockcliff?"

They stood there, not saying anything as they gazed at the flowers. It seemed like an unspoken rule, that this was a sort of monument, StarClan knows what for. He felt it was important to just… stand here, not speaking. Rockcliff finally broke the silence with an awed mew. "…What happened here?"

The End