Author's Note: Good evening everybody, and welcome to our regularly scheduled programming. It's been a long time since I've updated a story on FFN, and now I'm back. If you look at my profile, you'll see that Desperate and It's Gotta Hurt to Heal have been taken down. Desperate will be revised and reposted. IGHTH will not be put up again. It's up to the original author if she wants to update it, but I am going to pretend I never adopted that story. I received credit for a chapter I didn't write, so that's why I deleted it. Also, I cleared my entire profile bio because I realized it was cynical and rather discriminative. I changed my penname from forever banishing sorrow to Glittering Copper Penny. Apart from that, my story Angel will be updated. I don't know when, but soon. Now, that is enough of my rambling. Let's get on with the story.

Every day, a group of siblings trade places watching over the ever-so wonderful world below their paws. While night reigned for most of the time, the groups of cats that lived at the lakeside did get to bask in the glory of the sky-cat and her forever changing fur. Hawkstorm lay in the lush, green grass, staring up at the millions of stars above. The cats in StarClan were clearly upset, for Silverpelt was dim on this shadowy night.

Hawkstorm turned as he heard the grass rustle, and his torn ears twitched. A lithe silver figure inched towards him, and the look on her face was grim. "Is everything alright, Cloudwing?" he croaked, wincing at how broken his own voice sounded. Cloudwing slowly shook her head, her one amber eye dull. "We have suffered a horrible defeat tonight, Hawkstorm. Pigeonstar is severely injured and is still losing lives as we speak. You'll have to take your position as leader and repair what is left of this broken Clan," she meowed quietly. Hawkstorm rose from the grass, shaking the dust out of his dark red pelt.

"Cloudwing, I respect you as a medicine cat. But I simply cannot leave WindClan behind when Pigeonstar is as weak as she is. Too many warriors have lost their lives in this battle for me to just leave it all behind. Lives or not, I can lead this Clan. A true warrior wouldn't need extra lives," Hawkstorm meowed. Cloudwing's amber eye glowed with anguish, and Hawkstorm could not meet her gaze. Cloudwing was unpleasant to look at since her right eye was caked with blood, but seeing her upset strangled him and tore his heart out of his chest. After a long moment of silence, Cloudwing spoke. "You're making a mistake, Hawkstorm. These are darker times now. You need your lives. Without them, WindClan will lose every last one of their warriors in a millisecond."

Hawkstorm brushed past Cloudwing, an austere look on his scarred face. "Please, Cloudwing. Enough about this. Bring all the dead warriors and apprentices out for their vigil and care for the rest of them. I need to have some time to myself to think about things. I'll call a meeting in the morning."

Cloudwing looked even more melancholic than before, and now an aura of fear was forming around her. "I hope you are making the right decision, my dear brother," she choked out before dashing off into the shadows of camp.

Her eyes fluttered open, and she immediately felt pain shooting through her body. Groaning, Petalmask struggled to pull herself up into a sitting position. Immediately, Snowpaw dashed over to her, gently pushed her back down. "No, no, no. Don't move, Petalmask. Cloudwing told me to keep an eye on you and Briarheart. Your shoulder is broken and you will never heal if you exert yourself like that," the white she-cat whispered. Petalmask sighed, wishing she could get up and shake out her stiff legs.

At this point, Petalmask registered the fact that Snowpaw had said that she was supposed to keep an eye on Briarheart. Petalmask's green eyes flickered to Briarheart, and she gasped when she saw that all of the she-cat's legs were bent at an odd angle and her tail was torn. The gruesome sight almost made Petalmask vomit.

Petalmask's gaze immediately went back to Snowpaw, and she twitched her ears. "Did we at least win?" she asked. Snowpaw's eyes flooded with solemnity and sorrow. "I'm afraid not. ThunderClan was victorious, and they seized most of our territory. We've lost many strong warriors tonight," she murmured. A moan suddenly came from the corner, and Snowpaw's eyes widened. "We'll talk later. Pigeonstar's awake and I have to give her more herbs."

Petalmask watched the white she-cat dash towards the gray tabby leader, and then her gaze floated around the den once more. Amberpool looked the healthiest out of all the warriors, and even so, she was covered in deep gashes. What was left of WindClan was suffering. Apart from Snowpaw, Bramblepaw was the only living apprentice. The elders were all dead now, and Rainkit and Rabbitkit were the last survivors of the seven kits that bounced around happily in the nursery. Sorrelkit had just died from a belly wound.

Petalmask could feel her neck getting stiff now, and she lifted her head slightly to ease the pain. These slight movements made her shoulder ache though, and she figured it was better just to be as stiff as a stone. Tail twitching, Petalmask lay her head down once more on the stone floor. She forced her eyelids shut, and she fell into a deep, dreamless slumber.

Her loud, shaky breaths would shake the den if it were any quieter than it were now. Mistysky curled her tail around her kits, purring to soothe them. She knew they wouldn't hear her soft noises now, but she knew that the vibration of her belly would stop them from crying out in distress. Mistysky was glad that her kits didn't see the horrible battle that had occurred that night. It would certainly traumatize them for moons to come.

Mistysky reached down and started to groom the black-and-white fur of one of her daughters, who squealed in response. "Oh, my dear Ivykit and Shadekit. You're safe and sound now. You'll be great warriors. The best ev-"

Her sentence was cut short, and her head dropped to the ground, revealing a deep neck wound.

Author's Note: Are you interested yet? More will come very soon. You'll be able to read more about the lives of Ivykit and Shadekit, and maybe there will be a chapter about Hawkstorm or two. Until then, enjoy these free cupcakes for reading. If you want a second cupcake, please review!

-Penny