Jaypaw peered around him. He was standing in the lake, the cold water lapping gently at his paws. His clear blue eyes rose to look at the sky. Stars glittered brightly in the heavens above him. Jaypaw blinked. They were unusually close . . . That's when he noticed it. The stars . . .

. . . They were falling . . .

Rays of light rained down from the dark sky and splashed down in the water around him. He watched in horror as the light of his ancestors drained out of the them. The water had begun to grow dark now. Fewer and fewer stars fell by the second, as if the sky had run out of them. The water darkened. It grew darker and darker . . .

. . . .dark, hot, and sticky . . .

Panic rose in Jaypaw's chest. It was blood. The lake was turning to blood.

Suddenly, a voice came out of the darkness. A terrified, helpless voice. On that Jaypaw had never heard sound that weak before.

"Help! Jay . . .Jaypaw!"

Jaypaw whirled around, blood splashing across his fur from the sudden movement. His eyes feverously sought the source of the voice. He knew that voice . . . That voice was . . .

Then, he saw him. Flailing helplessly in the red torrents . . .was Breezepaw. "Jaypaw!!!" he screamed, desperately trying to keep his head above water.

Jaypaw raced through the red water, "Breezepaw!" It was getting deeper, and the medicine cat soon found his paws could no longer touch the bottom. As he began to swim out towards the center of the lake, he felt complete panic grip him. Breezepaw's head dipped once, twice beneath the waves, and disappeared.

"NO!" he yowled. Without even thinking, he dived into the torrents of blood. Desperatly, he pushed on, searching. Then, blindly, his nose touched fur. He wrapped his paws around the other cat, pleading in his mind, "don't die . . . You- we can't die here . . ."

He began to push up towards the surface. But it was so thick, and it began to drag him down. Heavy and sticky. It pushed against him and he let go of the last bit of air he had left. Blood rushed into his mouth, he gagged, but only more blood touched him. Seeping into his lungs . . . They were going to drown . . . Drown in this lake of blood . . .

Jaypaw's eyes wrenched open. In the darkness he could hear his own ragged breathing mixed in with that of those still sleeping around him. The pounding o his heart reverberated through his ears, and he felt that he cold still taste the horrible tang of blood in his mouth. It had been only a dream. But he'd never had a dream like that before. A dream that was solely his. Could it be . . .

. . . A message from Starclan? No, it couldn't be . . .

A slight fear rose in him at the thought. He got to his paws and padded across the cave floor, stopping next to the sleeping form of a cat. He could distinguish him form the other's around him by scent. The sound of his breathing was familiar too. This cat . . .

The same cat he'd been unable to save only moments before. His throat tightened around that thought, and his eyes glazed over as anguish gripped him.

He lay down at Breezepaw's side, pressing himself against the other, fur brushing fur.. Breezepaw raised his head, blinking sleep filled eyes, "nnn? Jaypaw?" he yawned, "what's wrong? Are the rouge cats back?"

"No . . ." Jaypaw whispered, "I . . . I just had a bad dream . . ."

"A dream from Starclan?"

"No . . .It's nothing . . . Can I sleep here with you tonight?"

Breezepaw smiled, "Yeah, sure."

Jaypaw buried his face in the fur of Breezepaw's side. Even sightless, he could still feel the warmth in Breezepaw's smile. Curling his tail around him, he felt the words come unbidden to his mind.

Please Starclan . . . Don't take him away from me . . .

RANDOM AUTHOR RAMBLE

Okay, this fic was written between Outcast and Eclipse. Because Eclipse and Long Shadows came out unusually close together, a friend of mine and I (who've been with warriors since the day Rising storm came out, and know from experience) thought that the fast release dates foretold a death. (and we were right . . . Sorta) one of the top guesses on our list was our precious Breezepaw, and being weird little slash loving JayBreeze fans, we panicked. And I wrote this. Aaannnnggssstttt . . . So, even tho I took ages to type it up, having no home computer, and just doing in while waiting for new Tsubas and xXxHolic chapters (homg, I need to check that!) I hope you liked it. But now my brain is dead waiting for Sunrise (sunrise, sunset? Wah?) so probably no more recent inspiration for this subject until after I find out if they're full brothers or not . . . ^- -^