Sparrowflight slowly, groggily opened and closed his eyes. He felt a stinging pain coursing through his body and heard a loud buzzing in his ears. His vision was blurry, and he was not able to distinguish who all of the cats in front of him were

He felt pressure on his throat. Like something was pushing down on it. His eyes slowly rotated upwards to see what the thing was without moving his head. A strong scent of blood hit his nostrils, and it looked like some strange sort of rock was on his neck, holding him down

However, when Sparrowflight looked more closely, finally, after minutes of being in a confused, fuzzy, yet awake state, he came to his senses.

His yellow eyes narrowed in a concentrated manner at whatever was on his neck. When he looked closely, he realized it wasn't a rock. Instead, it was a paw, placed firmly on his throat, claws digging into his fur as the brown tabby and former deputy lay beneath the paw.

The fur on the paw was red. No, not red. It had blood on it, but it wasn't red. It was....white. White and black. His head slowly tilted up to look at the cat who was holding him down. Badgerstep.

The tom hadn't noticed him, as he was looking ahead at something else. More specifically, someone else. Once again, Sparrowflight turned his head, cheek laying flat against the dirt. Badgerstep was looking ahead at Blazestar, and in front of him, he recognized his Clanmates: Batfeather, Icesplash, Falconwing, and others. The result of the battle was now clear. WindClan had lost.

Blazestar was giving some kind of speech, but all Sparrowflight saw was a moving mouth, and all he heard was a buzzing in his ears. However, his attention was drawn away from Blazestar when he saw a shimmering figure that had not been there before. A cat with stars in their fur. A face he immediately recognized, and one he hadn't seen in moons. "Dustbreeze..."

His mother gave him a warm smile. Time seemed to stop as she wove through cats on her way over to Sparrowflight "Sparrowflight, my son." She purred, leaning down and nuzzling against his cheek. Sparrowflight purred softly, but then he noticed cats standing behind his mother. Antfoot! Stormheart! Hawkstar! And is that?

A small, ginger apprentice wove under the legs of the larger cats, before sitting down in front of Sparrowflight "Miss me?" She asked. Sparrowflight smiled widely. "Of course I did, Gingerpaw." Sparrowflight couldn't believe she was here "I'm so sorry about—" Gingerpaw interrupted him by slapping her tail over his mouth "There's no need for that." She whispered. "There's others you need to see." Gingerpaw then stepped aside, revealing two more cats.

Sparrowflight's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. There she was. Looking even more beautiful, with stars in her ginger fur "Tigerlily!" He purred loudly. Tigerlily smiled, staying silent as she looked down, underneath her, where there was a small, white kit. "Blizzardkit?" Sparrowflight whispered. Tigerlily nodded "We're all here for you, Sparrowflight." She whispered

Sparrowflight looked around. All of his former friends and family, all here to support him. "But why?" He asked, looking at Tigerlily. Then, Hawkstar stepped forward. "To tell you what you already know. You are destined to lead WindClan. I know I was wrong about Blazestar." He meowed, looking away for a moment in shame "But now you must right my wrong. You must restore WindClan to its former greatness, and the only way you can do that is by getting up!"

Sparrowflight felt himself shake at the power of Hawkstar's words. "We are all with you, Sparrowflight." Sparowflight looked to find the cat who spoke, his gaze landing on Tigerlily. He stared into her eyes for a moment, before turning his attention to all of the cats "Thank you, everyone. I won't let you down." The Starclan cats all smiled, warmth in their gazes as they began to fade away

Time began to resume once more as the pressure on his neck returned. He looked back up at Badgerstep, then at Blazestar. He took a deep breath, waiting for the right moment.

He thought of a plan in his head. He would spring up to his feet, taking Badgerstep by surprise and pushing him back. Then, Blazestar would attack him from behind, but Sparrowflight would be ready. He would drop down to his belly, causing Blazestar to miss. Then, Sparrowflight would leap on him and pin him, delivering the death blow. The motions played repeatedly in his head. That was the plan. Now, he just needed to execute.

Sparrowflight was finished planning. He was done thinking. He needed to act. With the strength of a full grown badger, Sparrowflight pushed himself up, the push so powerful, it sent Badgerstep reeling back in shock. But, just to be sure, once Sparrowflight was back to his feet, he shoved the black and white warrior to the ground, the deputy too astonished to fight back.

Sparrowflight pricked his ears, hearing footsteps behind him. Sparrowflight smirked, knowing this was Blazestar. He knew that Blazestar was going to leap, so he dropped down to his belly. But he felt nothing. The leap never came. Instead, he heard yowling.

Sparrowflight turned around to see the Clan and the rogues fighting once again. Sparrowflight had unintentionally lit a fire within them. He then saw a white flash of fur, realizing that it was Icesplash who was fighting Blazestar. She must have attacked him before he could leap!

Icesplash had taken down Blazestar, and was pummeling his stomach with blows. However, Sparrowflight knew that wouldn't last long. He tried to help Icesplash, but Badgerstep had leaped on him from behind, pinning him down. "You thought that was a good plan, didn't you?" He hissed tauntingly

Sparrowflight was forced to watch as Icesplash and Blazestar fought "You kílled Tigerlily!" Icesplash hissed. But in her rage, Icesplash had forgotten one thing. Blazestar's hind legs. They were free, and Sparrowflight could only stare on in horror as a hind leg lifted, slicing open Icesplash's belly. The white she-cat dropped dead, her entire stomach sliced open, her white fur stained dark crimson with blood. Blazestar had rolled out from under her, staring down at the body "Pathetic." the leader growled.

Sparrowflight growled loudly, thrashing around to try and escape Badgerstep, but it was no use. Badgerstep only applied more pressure to his pin. "Coward!" Sparrowflight hissed "You know you couldn't beat me in a fair fight, so you had to attack from behind." Badgerstep grinned "That doesn't matter. I'll be deputy while the crows will pick at your corpse. It's a good thing Tigerlily had kits with me. Yours would be pitiful, just like you."

This made Sparrowflight even angrier. He pushed up with all his might, and the weight on his back disappeared. However, this wasn't of Sparrowflight's doing. Falconwing had tackled Badgerstep and the two were rolling around in the dirt, before Falconwing got the upper paw, pinning him down

"You're gonna pay for how you treated my sister!" Falconwing hissed. Badgerstep's eyes then narrowed with anger "No! You will pay! This is all your fault!" He yowled, using his hind legs to kick Falconwing off before spinning back to his feet, the two warriors facing each other. "This is all your fault because you were born!" Badgerstep hissed "My sister died, but no one cared because Icesplash was pregnant with you! Blazestar was the only one who cared. I knew I had to make your family pay, so I did what I did to Tigerlily. If you wanna blame someone, blame yourself!"

Falconwing looked shocked at Badgerstep's confession, before Badgerstep leaped at him and the two of them resumed their fighting. Sparrowflight was about to join in, but was attacked from behind once again, except this time it wasn't Badgerstep. It was Blazestar.

Sparrowflight struggled and thrashed, but it was no use. Blazestar was too strong. Was this how he was going to die? Struck down by Blazestar? Would he be forced to watch from Starclan as Blazestar destroyed the Clan he loved?

No. He wouldn't give up. He couldn't. After everything he'd been through, he would not die like this. For all the cats he'd lost, and all the ones he still had. He would fight. He would fight for his Clan.

Sparrowflight let out an ear shattering yowl, a new energy surging through him as he reached back with his head, gripping Blazestar's scruff with his teeth, throwing him off powerfully, where Blazestar hit the side of the high ledge before falling back down to the ground.

Blazestar weakly attempted to stand, but Sparrowflight wouldn't let him. He clawed at Blazestar again and again, razor sharp claws slashing through his sides, face, chest, everywhere. Blazestar was bleeding everywhere when Sparrowflight grabbed him by the scruff. He would win the right way.

Sparrowflight then tossed Blazestar's alive, yet limp body to the center of the clearing, all of the fighting cats immediately separating, a circle forming around Blazestar's body. All cats, of WindClan and the rogues, turned to face Sparrowflight. They all stared for a moment before forming a path for him.

Sparrowflight walked into the center of the circle before the path closed. Sparrowflight stared down at Blazestar, both of them surrounded by cats, silence filling the air.

Blazestar grunted as he weakly staggered back to his feet, legs shaking, with dried blood covering him. Sparrowflight didn't look much better, with clumps of fur missing, while also having blood on his fur, but not as much as Blazestar.

"Leave WindClan." Sparrowflight growled "And take the rogues with you." Blazestar looked down at his paws for a moment, seemingly deep in thought. "Fine."

Sparrowflight flattened his ears, and heard surprised murmurs from his Clanmates. He didn't think Blazestar would give up so easily. But, he nodded "Leave now, and we will spare you and your rogues. Don't think about coming back."

Blazestar nodded, not meeting Sparrowflight's eye "Of course..." he whispered. Sparrowflight looked at Blazestar more closely. Something definitely wasn't right.

Suddenly, something flashed in Blazestar's eyes and he leaped at Sparrowflight's throat. Sparrowflight's eyes widened and he let himself fall onto his back, his hind legs using Blazestar's momentum against him and sending him flying, where he went head first into the high ledge, his body immediately falling limp and dropping down to the ground. Blood trickled out of his nose and the corner of his mouth. He was dead.

The rogues let out a collective gasp, exchanging shocked glances, before they all bolted out of the camp entrance, leaving Blazestar's body behind. The only cat left was Badgerstep.

"Blazestar can't be dead.." the black and white Tom whispered, standing over the leader's body before slowly turning his head to look at all of his Clanmates "What? I'm allowed to mourn." He then looked around "Where's Sparkstorm? It's time for me to go to the moonstone."

Sparkstorm stepped out from her den with a scowl on her face "I'm not bringing you anywhere." She growled. Badgerstep then looked around frantically, searching for someone to take his side. No one would.

"Badgerstep, I'm officially exiling you from WindClan." Sparrowflight growled. "Come back and I will give my Clanmates permission to kill you." Badgerstep gulped audibly, looking around to only see scowls and looks of anger. He then looked back at Sparrowflight and nodded, whispering something inaudible to Blazestar before turning and running out of camp.

The dust had settled. The fighting was over. For now, WindClan was at peace. Sparkstorm began to treat everyone's wounds. Sparrowflight then realized that the clan was looking at him to give them orders. He cleared his throat before speaking "Sunpelt and Mudpool, I need you both to bury the dead." They both nodded and began dragging the bodies out of camp "And we need food. Batfeather and Stonepaw, you both can hunt by the Shadowclan border. Falconwing, take Goldenpaw and Hareleap to hunt by the Thunderclan border." The cats all went off their separate ways.

Sparrowflight watched over the clan, taking it all in. They did it. They defeated Blazestar, and now he was WindClan's leader. He then felt someone nudge him. He turned to see Sparkstorm, who surprisingly, didn't look angry. "I'll treat you wounds, then we can go to the moonstone." She whispered. Sparrowflight nodded, looking up into the sky, now filled with stars, while Sparkstorm treated his wounds. He was leader and WindClan was finally safe. Are you watching me, Tigerlily?

~~~~~~~~~~THE END~~~~~~~~~