Darkblood felt his heart speed up, the closer he neared to the CreekClan border.

I'll have to see if she's out on patrol... He thought as his pawsteps slowed.

The sounds of the sparse forest around him reached his ears. From the leaves rustling in the trees, to the bushes, and even the nearby river.

Darkblood halted his pace completely and stood still for a moment.

There's nothing I can really do except wait. He thought, looking around.

Then, all of sudden, Darkblood's mind shifted.

With a glance at Pinepaw, Darkblood turned to follow his clanmates.

But something stopped him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Darkblood saw something. As he turned fully to face it, Darkblood's eyes widened as they fell upon a dark brown tom with white stripes, scars, icy blue eyes, and twisted claws, that both cats recognized.

Wildtalon.

The Dark Forest tom's gaze flickered between mentor and apprentice, to the formerly fighting cats surrounding them. Wildtalon's eyes moved back to Pinepaw and studied him for moment.

"Darkblood!"

Darkblood jumped and glanced over his shoulder to see Stormhawk calling to him from where the FoxClan cats were beginning their trek back to camp.

Swiftly, Darkblood turned his head back to where Wildtalon was.

Except he wasn't there.

Darkblood and Pinepaw shared a look, with the same unanswered questions burning in them.

After a few calls from clanmates, mentor and apprentice turned away from each other. The two cats padded slowly over to where their clanmates were, unaware of the darkness closing in on them as the day turned to dusk.

Darkblood squeezed his eyes shut, his claws coming out and digging into the ground, he could feel his heart beating fast in his chest.

Stop. He told himself. Stop.

Shaking his head and opening his burning eyes, Darkblood took a deep breath the best he could.

The FoxClan warrior focused his gaze, looking across the CreekClan border. Darkblood, almost without another thought, took a few steps until he was across the border with CreekClan.

Fighting to keep his mind clear, he caught sight of a small stream that led deeper into the sparse territory. His decision made, Darkblood followed the trail that he hoped would lead him to Silverpaw.

Darkblood came to stop at the crest of a small hill. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the stream flowing down the hill and back the way he had come.

I haven't seen any CreekClan cats on patrol. He told himself, turning around to glance in front of him.

His amber eyes caught sight of small bush, a few pawsteps away from the stream.

Giving the area another look, Darkblood stepped forward and folded his body under the bush, so he was hidden from view by the branches and leaves. He laid his head on his paws, keeping his ears open, while the stream ran over the stones nearby.

Darkblood opened his eyes as new voices reached his ears. Raising his head, Darkblood crept forward so he could peer out from his hiding place.

Down the other side of the hill, was a patrol of four cats, an orange tom, a brown and white tabby she-cat, a gray striped tom who looked to be the leader, and... Silverpaw!

Darkblood straightened as his eyes landed on his apprentice.

As the patrol dispersed along the bank, Darkblood's eyes followed Silverpaw. Her head was angled down, and she walked slower than the rest of the patrol. Even from where he was laying, he could see that her light blue eyes were dim, and her shoulders were hunched.

"Silverpaw, what is going on with you lately? You've missed the last two pieces of prey that you've tried to hunt." The gray tom spoke up, his eyes focused on the apprentice.

Silverpaw flicked an ear and glanced up at her mentor.

"You know this could set you back in your training if you keep this up." The gray striped tom said, matter-of-factly.

Silverpaw opened her mouth to reply but at first no words came out.

"I know." Was all Silverpaw said, her voice just above a whisper.

Darkblood watched as she met her mentor's gaze, before her eyes flickered to the ground, and she padded past him.

Darkblood watched her go, as the gray tom turned to his clanmate.

"It's difficult with her." He sighed, talking to the orange tom in front of him. "Especially with us not knowing who one of her parents is. Or from where."

The big, orange tom shrugged, sitting back on his haunches.

"She works hard to prove herself. She's a good apprentice, the clan knows that."

"I know. I know that." The tabby tom replied. "She's just been different lately."

The two toms' conversation dropped as they spread out to hunt, their brown tabby clanmate already crouched at the stream's edge, near Silverpaw.

Darkblood crept forward, his eyes scanning the clearing. He pushed his head out and whispered to Silverpaw.

"Silverpaw..."

The silver apprentice raised her head, looking around after a moment.

"Silverpaw..." Darkblood whispered again.

Silverpaw's gaze landed on Darkblood and a look of shock crossed her face.

"Darkblood..!" She meowed, almost automatically.

"Huh?"

Darkblood flattened himself quickly against the ground, as Silverpaw's tabby clanmate looked over at her.

"I'm just going to check over here for some prey." Silverpaw replied, calling back to her mentor.

Her mentor looked up and nodded. "Alright. That's fine, Silverpaw."

As Silverpaw turned and started up the hill, Darkblood backed out of his hiding spot and headed down the opposite side of the slope, so he was out of view of the patrol.

Darkblood turned around at the bottom, as Silverpaw slowed to stop in front of him, her chest rising and falling as she looked at him.

They both stood still for a moment, not saying anything.

"What are you doing here?" Silverpaw asked finally, her eyes full of emotion.

"I..." Darkblood paused. "After everything that happened. After the Dark Forest, and Pinepaw, I didn't know who else to turn to." His voice sounded low to his ears, and he stopped.

Silverpaw glanced down at her paws, and after a moment, she sat down, curling her tail around herself.

"Yeah..." She nodded, slightly. "Exactly..."

Darkblood watched as Silverpaw slowly raised her head to meet his gaze.

Despite his best efforts, Darkblood felt his heart twist. For Silverpaw. For Pinepaw. For himself. For all of it.

"How have you been doing?" He asked after a moment, sitting down as well.

"It's been... hard..." She replied, keeping her eyes on his face. Darkblood thought she looked small. "And I... I don't know..." Silverpaw trailed off, her head slowly angling downward. She sighed, closing her eyes. "It's a mess. Everything." She finished.

Darkblood waited, his tail coming around to rest on his paws.

"I don't really know what to say besides that... I can't explain it... Pinepaw..." She murmured, her eyes opening to look at her paws.

Darkblood looked at her.

"How do you..." Silverpaw lifted her head, looked as if she bit her tongue, as she met Darkblood's gaze. "How do you deal with it? Or how did you?"

Darkblood took in her words, both thoughts and memories begin to surface. He took a deep breath. "I don't really know. I didn't talk much about it either. About any of it. Things just continued to change. It seemed to just happen, almost on its own."

Silverpaw looked thoughtful, her tail tip twitching.

"Well, things have definitely changed." She meowed, simply.

"Silverpaw, I'm sorry." Darkblood replied, feeling his heart beat in his chest.

Silverpaw took a deep breath and looked at Darkblood with her blue eyes, seeming like she was going to say more, like in the Dark Forest that night.

"Silverpaw!"

Both cats looked toward the source of the noise.

"Have you found anything? Any prey?"

Silverpaw opened her mouth to reply, but turned back to look at Darkblood.

"Go." He meowed, raising his head to her.

Silverpaw looked at him for a moment before calling to her mentor over the hill.

"I'll be back over soon."

Turning back to Darkblood, Silverpaw rose slowly to her paws, her tail brushing the grass.

"What now?" She asked, looking at Darkblood curiously.

Darkblood looked down at his paws for a moment, coming to stand as well.

"I'm glad I got to see you, Silverpaw." He replied.

"Me too. It meant a lot." Silverpaw answered, letting the question drop. "Until the next gathering then?" Her voice shook the slightest bit, that Darkblood could barely catch.

He nodded. "Until then, Silverpaw."

Silverpaw ducked her head, meeting Darkblood's gaze for a moment. Then she turned and padded slowly up the hill behind her, where her clanmates were waiting.

Darkblood watched her go, his eyes blinking. At the crest of the hill, Silverpaw looked over her shoulder and gave Darkblood one last look. Darkblood flicked his tail in response, and then Silverpaw turned and headed down to join her clanmates.

Everything is changing now... Darkblood caught himself thinking.