Almost a day he had been sitting there. She almost threw the fake Twoleg fur back over the body. But she forced herself to examine every part of her former leader under the dark, night sky.

His whole body was surrounded in scrapes and dried spots of blood. His jaw, almost completely ripped from his head, was missing every tooth. His snout hung limp against the ground. Both his eyes had been stabbed in; one remained, full of puss and swollen outside of his head. All four of his legs were broken in different directions. His once black-striped grey fur was almost lost under a deep shade of red. Half his tail looked as if it'd been chewed off.

His body was unrecognizable. It was no longer Longstar. Littlestar dropped the Twoleg fur when she was finished, immediately hacking up her meal next to her slain leader. Every muscle in her body shook. She tried to forget the gruesome image. Nothing worked.

How... how could they do this, she thought, unable to contain herself. It wasn't even that long. They didn't even have that long! How could any cat even think of doing this to another cat? Even if they are wildcats.

She held her thoughts again as she coughed up what was left in her stomach. Barely anything came up, but she couldn't move or speak. She just stood there, shaking, faced away from Longstar's covered body.

This is pure cruelty only worthy of... of no one. No cat could ever do something like this unless they came from the Place of No Stars itself.

Littlestar ran around the corner. She felt her heartrate soar, but her shaking stop. She felt a little more at ease away from the mangled body.

"I think you'll be fine not telling Panzer what you saw." She did not even notice Fleetheart was standing, waiting to move on the patrol. She had the Twoleg patches tightly strapped to her sides.

"I don't want to tell anyone about that," Littlestar said. "No one here deserves that to be their final memory of Longstar."

"I agree," Fleetheart responded. "Panzer thought it'd be important for me and the senior warriors to see what happened to him. Specifically, how he died such a brutal death in the end for the clan."

Littlestar felt a paw rest on her back. She jumped around, her fur on end and her claws bore. She barely hissed at the small, white cat before recognizing Whitestar. He had Christa and Karl by his side.

"We are going to make this right," Whitestar assured. "And we are here to help you do so."

He, again, reached out his paw to comfort Littlestar. Her whole body shrieked away from it, her own paws moving to counterattack it. Deep breathes could not regain her composure. She continued trembling, keeping her distance from the group. The BreezeClan cats remained quiet, keeping their attention on her.

"I guess we should go now," Fleetheart finally said. "Let the group here bury him. Panzer said it was the last thing she wanted to see..." She trailed off before saying anything else. The group remained silent, but Littlestar was getting herself back after her friend's words.

"Let's go," she said.

The others nodded. The group quickly padded out of camp and into the darkness of the blowing ash. Littlestar took one look back at the white Twoleg fur that rested over his body.

There's so much of it, she thought. There's so much blood. And I can't smell any of it... has my nose just stopped working? Maybe it's the smoke. Or is the scent of death and ash just too familiar ?

~

The fires in the Lower Territories slowed the cat's advance, though they were well out of sight. Littlestar was careful not to get too hot while walking though the thin clouds of smoke. The other cats were careful to hold their breath when they scented thicker smoke, but she was too busy trying to stay calm to do so.

We just have to find the rouges, she thought, trying to keep her mind at ease while walking in the heat. If his boasting was accurate, he should now have more cats than our clan... hopefully, he's still alive.

The group rounded a corner of one of the thunderpaths, arriving in an area that was still untouched by the attacks. The Twoleg nests were still abandoned and falling apart, however. In the center of the path was a massive hole. Littlestar noticed it did not come from the sky-monsters, but was dug by the Twolegs themselves. All the stuff that she normally saw under thunderpaths was taken out and away.

There were holes in the debris large enough for rats to crawl through. But she could not find anything moving.

"This is where Burn's camp last was," Littlestar started, "near our old camp. But that was before the big sky-monster attack. I don't know if they're still—"

"Move, yell, and we'll kill you!" Another cat leaped onto Littlestar. She began thrashing into the air as the larger cat forced his weight on her neck. She fell to the ground, crying out in pain from her wounds.

The large cat continued to grapple her. Christa jumped onto him, claws unsheathed, trying to get him off. Being raked in the back was enough for him. Littlestar scrambled to her paws and spun to face her attacker. The large tabby had patches of his fur missing from burns. He glared into her green eyes before arching his back and turning to the side, appearing twice Littlestar's size now.

Before she and Christa could leap onto him, Karl stepped in the way. "Wait! We don't have to fight like this. It's not what we need right now."

Both cats anxiously glanced between the tall, black tom and each other. Whitestar and Fleetheart looked around for more cats; Whitestar stood in front of the medicine cat.

"What do you want?" Another voice asked. A yellow-eyed brown cat emerged from the edge of the hole. Littlestar focused on his many pink bald spots, still curling her neck from pain.

"I've come seeking your help," she responded.

Burn spat a loud hiss in her direction, circling the group as his tail twitched side to side. Littlestar froze in place, knowing what his response would be. Several more rouges emerged from the large hole behind Burn and stood directly in front of the clan cats.

"Again? You ask for my help again? After what I already did for you? First I want what rightfully belongs to us. Unrestricted access to your territory. We want to hunt it."

Whitestar and Karl glanced eagerly between the rouges and the StoneClan leader, trying to make a connection.

"You two know each other?" Karl said. "But I thought the rouges were enemies with everyone."

Burn turned his gaze towards the BreezeClan warrior. "Surprise, kittypet, they aren't. Not anymore. Not since this little one made a promise to me asking me to kill wildcats in exchange for food. So where is it? The territory access, we want it. And we'll have nothing more to do—"

"Listen to me, Burn. The wildcats are—"

"Nothing more... to do with your business with LeafClan. You say they'll kill us after they flatten you. But they can't even find our camp. You only know because it was where your clan's camp once stood! To get to us, they'll have to go through you."

Littlestar shook her head. "They already know where your camp is. And you trust us to keep you safe from them?"

"Look," Burn said, "when we see you going down, we'll pick up and move again. We've been doing it since the sky-monsters came. That was three leaders ago. So we'll manage, without you or your clan."

Fleetheart stepped forward to her friend's side. "First, I want to hear about this deal you had with our leader." She leaned into her Littlestar's ear. "When did you do this, again? I don't remember it?"

"Your new leader thought it'd be... wait a minute. Where's the long-tailed grey one? Isn't he your leader? Is he dead or something?"

Littlestar felt her unsheathed claws scrape at the stone below her paws. She tried to hold her tone back. "He died. Valiantly defending our clan. And took Eaglestar with him... something you couldn't accomplish, obviously."

The rouges whispered loudly amongst themselves. "You mean he killed a wildcat? And their leader at that. Easy?" one of them asked.

"He killed five of them, actually," Whitestar answered. "LeafClan will be waiting to make a move while they reorganize their leadership, again."

"Hah!" Burn turned back towards his group, stopping just a pawstep away from Littlestar. "If what you say is true, then what do we have to fear from the wildcats? They'll be busy getting their leaders all in order. While they do that, we just move again. And this time far from your territory. I mean really far away. Things were already hard enough around here with the sky-monsters. We don't need to get more involved in clan antics while we're at it.... you know how little Twoleg nests are left, and sky-monsters still attack. There's a bunch of dead Twolegs in this rubble we're hiding in, want to see them?"

He dipped his head in respect. "Anyway, consider our agreement cancelled, Littlestar. We're leaving before those wildcats make up their minds. And, if we do it right this time, you won't see us again. Once the sun rises, if we have to."

Burn turned towards his cats and motioned them back towards the large hole. The fires glowed along the black skies, fueling the ash clouds that continually blew through the cat's pelts.

A loud crash took their attention. Before they could even look in its direction, a fire had already overtaken a whole den in one of the nearby Twoleg nests. Its bright glow penetrated the ash and lit the surface below.

"And I defiantly won't miss that. Do you know how many cats we've lost to those 'flash-fires'? This place wasn't fit for dying Twolegs. Was foolish to think it was fine for living cats."

"So that's it?" Littlestar approached the rouge leader, causing the other rouges to move in closer to her. "You're just going to run again? You know that won't work against clan cats."

"What, you're going to intimidate us again?" he growled. "Going to try and force us to work with you, is that it? Well it's not going to work. We've bent over for those star-eyed breeze cats. We've been running from wildcats. We've been told by your clan to stay away from others. Each time on the threat of death. I don't underestimate any clan's strength. Clan cats are stronger than us. You've wanted us to leave so badly, so we're leaving."

Littlestar continued to walk towards Burn. He flicked his tail across her face and continued walking away. "Goodbye, clan cats. Have fun with those savages."

Littlestar bore her fangs and claws, her fur spiking. She hissed and leapt through the air, landing right on Burn's back. The rouge leader rolled over and tried to kick her off. Once he did, Littlestar slammed her paw on his neck. He hacked up clots of ash into her unrelenting snarl.

The other rouges hissed and bore their fangs, closing in on the StoneClan leader. Burn struggled to motion them away.

"She won't kill me. Let her threaten me. Let her try." He looked directly into her green-eyed scowl. "Go on. Tell them you'll kill me. Do it if you have to. Give me a reason to stay here and risk the lives of those cats who left me in charge to protect them? I'm waiting."

Littlestar leaned close, bearing her fangs directly into the burned cat's face. Her neck began throbbing in pain, threatening to bleed once more.

Calm down, Littlescent... Longstar wouldn't resort to this. As if it'd even work on this rock-brained thorn of a cat.

She sighed, loosening his grip on Burn's neck but keeping him pinned under her claws. He sat still under her pin, waiting for her to speak.

"Listen to me," she started, "why did your original leader come to this area in the first place?"

Burn waited to respond, thinking of his answer. "The first of us was Elke. She wanted to help Bonbon out, tired of being hunted and pushed away by LeafClan. Food was also harder to find, with the Twoleg warriors coming into this place. So she convinced other kittypets to join her cause. But they aren't here now. They all died during or after the war."

"Was that the only reason she helped?" Littlestar asked.

"You know that's not true," he responded. "Elke and Bonbon were friends. It's just that Elke didn't believe in StarClan. But that has nothing to do with what we're doing here and now."

"It does." Littlestar eased herself off Burn, waiting for him to pounce back. He did not; he stood, shook the ash from his pelt, and began to look around. Littlestar did the same.

"There's nothing left for us here," he said. "You can see that. Random fires in the Twoleg dens, entire nests creaking all day and night as they weaken. The fact that we're living in a giant hole, surrounded by Twoleg corpses and the shells of war-monsters.

"This is no place to live, Littlestar. Thinking towards the future, this is no place to raise kits or to grow peacefully. We were all born after Elke and Bonbon's war. We don't hate wildcats. They hate us. They want to kill us. So we defend ourselves best we can. If that means running as far as we can from them, so be it. We won't fight if we don't have to."

"But you do have to," Littlestar responded. "When you decided to move into our territory, you also decided to put up with the wildcats. Despite how dangerous they are, you still came here willingly."

"We were starving," Burn growled. "The Twolegs got defensive of the river again. They built stuff in it, chased us out. It was also the first place hit by the sky-monsters. I assume they're done with it, so we're going back. Without them keeping us out, there should be enough birds there to last until we decide where to go from there... all while avoiding your war. What's so hard to—"

"Littlestar, behind you!" Karl twirled around to face two rouges as they emerged from one of the Twoleg nests. Burn waved his paw at them, and they approached him.

"And here comes the news now. You'll see." He continued to signal the cats. As they emerged into the light of a fire, Burn stopped waving. None of the other rouges approached them. The two cats, both toms, were covered in bald patches. Their pelts clung to the bones underneath. Each limped towards their leader, their eyes half closed and their breathing rapid.

Burn slowly approached the two exhausted toms. "What happened? Were you attacked by... where's Reiz?"

Before they could respond, a muted sound cried in the distance. Littlestar's ears perked at the cry of the sirens. She slowly turned back towards the group, suppressing her instinct to run. She took deep breaths. The memories of that night began to flood back into her head. Her breathing became faster. Red closed in around her eyes She imagined the intensity of the fire.

"Littlestar!"

She snapped out of her thoughts, bringing her breathing, and her spiked fur, back under control. Fleetheart walked in front of her. "Should we head back to camp?"

Littlestar stared up towards the sky. It was still blocked by the low-bearing ash clouds that flowed between the structures. But she could still make out the low hum of the sky-monster's noses as they flew across the sky.

They're much lower than usual. The ash clouds must be pretty thick if even they can't see through them.

"No," she finally responded. "We came here to do something. It does us no good if we run every time they show up."

Burn looked back towards his exhausted cats. "So? Where's Reiz"

"Reiz is dead," the smaller tom said, collapsing where he stood. "Not wildcats... poison... poison killed her!"

Burn took a few steps back, his eyes wide. He fell back on his rear legs, staring blankly at the ground below. Littlestar stepped back towards her clanmates. The sirens continued to wail in the background, partly drowned out by the sound of the low flying sky-monsters.

The larger tom stepped forward. "We... we made it to the river. By the massive Twoleg storage nests, just like you said. They were gone. I mean completely gone... they fell into the waterfront. Even the large, stone ones used to make the fish-monsters have collapsed.

Burn continued to stare at the ground. His eyes had gone back to normal, and his breathing was soft.

"Reiz is... dead?"

"Yes she... she took some of the water. We were so thirsty, and no nest had their water-things working. But we saw so much worse than that. The ground was warped, some of it melted; the thunderpath was on fire! Our paw pads were burned so badly, we got thirsty. That fire is different from the others... far more fowl. The waterfront, though... the river—"

The tom began to hack up ash and blood as he dipped his head away from the others. His breathing became fast. "Can't breathe... there was something other than... smoke and ash in that air."

The smaller rouge sat his head up where he lay. "The top of the river was completely black and still. It was like nothing I've ever seen before... nothing any cat's ever seen. You could stand on some parts. When Reiz pushed the black mess on top away, she found the water underneath was completely brown. And it smelled terrible... like the Twoleg dirt had gotten into it. Worse, even."

The large rouge shook his fur out as the small one collapsed again. "She put her paw in it, but a drink... it was too much to resist. She spent the entire night coughing up blood. We watched her paw swell to the size of her tail! Her screams... I'll say no more. It's too much.

"There was nothing we could try. No herbs, no Twoleg healing-stuff, nothing to use... I'm sorry, Burn. The thunderpaths were moving. They were melted and moving and we had so little time... we left her. We had to take the opening in the fires to leave, or we would've—"

"No more," Burn shouted. He took a deep breath as he continued to stare at the ground below. "You did what you had to in order to survive. I'm glad to see you safe. Reiz would've wanted that."

Littlestar waved her tail in the air, approaching Burn once more. "We can treat these two to the best of our abilities if you'd like."

Burn did not respond. His tail curled around his body. His ears dropped to the sides of his head. "Reiz," he whispered, "I'm so, so sorry. I wanted to tell you earlier."

He lifted his head to the StoneClan leader. Littlestar looked into his eyes, seeing them red and puffy from exhaustion. His paws were shaking, and his ears were twitching in different directions.

"Burn?" Littlestar asked. He continued to stare at her blankly. "Fleetheart, do you have anything in those pouches?"

Fleetheart shifted around the Twoleg pouches on her sides. "There's not much in here. I can at least treat their burns. They'll have to come back to camp for whatever they've been breathing."

"It was sludge!" the larger rouge shouted. "The air, the river, the thunderpath, all covered in that black paste. It's not safe to breathe that air, let alone live—"

He resumed his coughing fit. Fleetheart walked over to him, waving Karl over to help with the treatment. Christa and Whitestar stepped closer to Littlestar, who was still trying to get Burn's attention.

He suddenly looked up, his ears facing the sky. He took in the hums of the sky-monsters, louder than ever, and the high-pitched sirens in the distance. All the noise around him returned.

"Then that's it, I suppose," he said, letting the falling ash cover