I scrambled to my paws as soon as I returned to consciousness, breathing a bit hard and wondering what had just happened in my head while I'd been sleeping.

Was that all it had been? Just in my head?

Without thinking, I turned around and prodded Midnight with a paw, who was sleeping soundly just a few paw-lengths away next to Aspen.

"Midnight," I hissed urgently, as she blinked wearily through the gloom. I was at least glad that it was still night, and that everyone else would stay sleeping from the tiredness of trekking through snow all day.

"What's going on?" She meowed while trying to blink sleep away from her eyes, then jumped up with her fur bushing out.

"Is it the wolves? Have they found us again?!" Midnight's black head was a shadow against the dark background behind her, as she turned this way and that, trying to locate any source of danger.

I shook my head, beckoning for the little black cat to follow me farther to the side of our sleeping pride-mates as Aspen twitched an ear and curled his tail closer around his nose. How he hadn't noticed the cold air flowing onto his side where Midnight had been curled up, I would never know. The tom often slept soundly and snored in his sleep.

"A cheetah came to me in my dreams," I meowed quietly as soon as we were out of ear-shot.

Before Midnight could respond, I swept on to avoid questioning that my statements would have answered anyways.

"She told me: 'Accept your fate, for once paws have been set in their path they cannot be changed,' but what could she mean? I've already accepted my fate. Do you think there's something she's not telling me?" I could feel the worry reflecting in my gaze as my head reeled with confusion. Midnight sat still for a moment, her breathing small and quiet as she observed the ground in front of her.

"Did she have blue eyes?"

I was taken aback. How would Midnight have known that?

"Did you walk my dreams again?" I asked, wondering because it'd happened before. Midnight, in every other mysterious dream I'd had like this one, had been there all along, either out of sight where I couldn't see her or right in front of my eyes with the rest of the dream. Either way, she had always known about the dreams I had.

"Yes, and a long tail and legs like me. I thought she was the Sky-cat," I said reluctantly, and wondered if I still believed it. Why would the Skycat speak to me? And if not, what other cheetah could it have possibly been?

I absent-mindedly heard my belly grumble for food, but ignored it and paid attention to Midnight's words as she opened her jaws to speak again, her gaze still fixed on her paws.

"She has spoken to me before." Midnight's purple gaze finally lifted, her tail twitching to and fro.

"She came to me a few days before I met you and told me you were going to come to me. She'd said you were coming and that I was supposed to go with you."

"I never knew that," I said, a little disappointed that the kit had never mentioned that until know. Why hadn't she told me? Midnight never kept secrets.

As far as I knew.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't think it was important- I didn't know who the cheetah was, where she came from, or if she was real."

"Tell me about it," I muttered, thinking back to the cheetah's round face and ears, and sleek pelt that'd held no scars. Who was she, and why did she care about whether I knew the warning or not?

"You don't think it could have been the Sky-cat, do you?" I asked because I had to be sure.

"Like the literal Sky-cat?" Midnight mewed, and I gave a small nod. She stared at me for a long moment.

"I don't know. It seems unlikely. But we should be more worried about what this warning means," the kitten said with a glance at the brightening world up above. I shivered, only now realizing we'd been sitting in snow and that I was chilled, my paw-pads half frozen.

"Everyone will be waking up soon- it's almost dawn," Midnight advised as I fluffed out my fur.

"But I think she was saying you're not fulfilling the parts you are supposed to. That you're missing something, and if you don't find it soon, everything is going to turn out bad. But then, why would she have said you need to accept your fate?"

"But I'm doing the same thing I've been doing!" I said, exasperated. What could I possibly have missed?

"The two dogs left that are supposed to join us as companions are not here. Perhaps we were meant to find them by now." I felt my ears beginning to warm up a bit from the weak sunlight warming in the clearing, thinking hard. Midnight was right- they were the only ones left to find. But how, and where? It didn't seem to make sense, so I looked at Midnight with confusion, sinking my claws into the earth in exasperation.

"I'm trying so hard. I can't just take the pride going in a completely different direction, but we will look around and investigate any possible places where they might live." I decided that was the only thing to do for now, then remembered the dogs had looked tame, not wild.

"The golden one had a collar around it's neck with a rose on it," Midnight murmured as Storm began to stir across the clearing, lowering her voice.

"So we should really be watching for any signs of humans that we can see."

I tore up a mound of dried, frozen shrubs just a tail-length away, wondering why everything had to be so hard. If the cheetah from my dream really had been the Sky-cat, why hadn't she told me more about what I needed to do? I didn't want to go wandering around the mountains, having to investigate human nests if I saw any. That was hare-brained!

"Morning," Storm meowed with a wide stretch of his jaws, padding over lightly now. He plopped next to me and Midnight, then stretched out a thick back leg to begin stroking it with his tongue.

"I'll get Aspen up," Midnight said calmly as she walked away. Storm gave up on washing himself and stood up, the fur on his neck ruffled from sleep.

"Do you want to go hunting?"

I looked away, not knowing if I was in the mood or not but knowing that this was the best time as any and we ought to do it now, before the day got too far in.

When was the last time any cat ate? I didn't remember, and rose to my paws as Midnight approached with a tired-eyed Aspen dragging his tail along.

"Let's go," meowed Midnight, flicking her ears as she walked past to take the lead. I stretched out my fore-limps, weary from the little amount of sleep I'd gotten last night. When we'd gotten a reasonable distance and tasted the air, the only thing around was stale scent and snow.

"This is pointless," Midnight meowed. "Me and Aspen should hunt together farther off, and you guys go in the other direction to try and find something. Splitting up will give us more of a chance."

Storm simply grunted in agreement, while I silently resented hunting alone with the tom. It would probably awkward, or I'd mess up a catch or something. But what could I say?

With a nod, Midnight and Aspen took off the other way, their paw-steps leading them even farther still up the side of a mountain. I decided to go down- where prey would likely be hiding in the cracks of rocks. However, we would have to pick our way down the slick-looking stone.

"Let's go that way."

Storm's dark green eyes traveled down the way my ears were angled, as he made a sharp turn on his heels.

"Okay- but be careful."

I don't need any cat to tell me I need to be careful, I almost shot back but kept my muzzle clamped shut. There was no point in starting anything- Storm wasn't the arguing type, and just would have backed off anyway.

Plus I didn't want to see a flash of hurt in his eyes again like yesterday.

With ease, the tom jumped down onto a smooth rock and winded around another one, his paws finding firm holds to keep him from slipping. With a jolt, I realized they were too big to get stuck in cracks and also wide and flat- the perfect kind for maneuvering around mountain rocks.

"Your paws are flat like the mountain-cats," I said as my own slipped off the rock and into a crevice, wrenching it free with a small jab of pain.

"Yes. I don't know why it feels natural moving around them- but there's a scent of rabbit coming from down there."

I peered over the edge of a sharp, wide stone to look down the steeper rocks. Just under one, I could see a young rabbit's ears sticking up and angling toward the sound of Storm's paws, that were sending grit showering down.

"Slow down or it will hear us!" I hissed, keeping low and lifting my tail above the rocks. My maneuvers were slow and careful, but it would be worth it for a decent meal. Storm crossed the rocks slower, picking his way down until he'd come up on the left side of the rabbit on level ground. I was not far behind as Storm began stalking forward, keeping his ears and tail low.

"Help!" A shriek split the air, causing the rabbit to lift's its head, glance back and see Storm, then dissapear under the rocks.

"Go help them. I'll try to flush it out!"

Opening my mouth to say it was pointless, I felt my words falter and just shrugged. Maybe by the small, tiny chance that the rabbit would come back out might give us a meal today. There was no harm in trying.

Then the shriek sounded again, and I recognized the voice to be that of Midnight. Turning, I bunched my shoulders to leap up the rocks, claws scrabbling in the effort not to slip and tumble back down.

So worried. What could've happened to Midnight? What if the mountain cats had come back and put her in some terrible state of pain? Aspen had been with her, but even he couldn't hold off such powerful beasts. Could the dream I'd had last night somehow relate to the terrible accident I was about to see?

I yowled as I slipped and a sharp rock smacked my shoulder, sending jarring pain searing through my limb. There was no time to falter over pain, so I put more weight on my back legs and heaved myself up over the last crest.

"Aspen's in trouble!" Midnight meowed, her fur ruffled and eyes wide with fear. She'd been waiting on me, and now the small black cat turned to pelt in the other direction.

Kicking up snow, I followed her on unsteady paws and almost smacked my shoulder against the ground again getting a paw caught under stone. The uneven rocks winded up-ward to a ledge where Aspen stood, his neck twisted strangely up and to the side against a skinny bare tree.

Did he break his neck?

If so, why was he standing upright still?

Aspen's orange-and-white fur was bushed out and ruffled all over. His yellow eyes bulged as he pulled backward, away from the rock-face and closer to the cliff. That's when I realized what was actually causing the tom to remain uncomfortably trapped against the dead tree and cold rock.

The twine on his neck had gotten wedged in the tree- a branch was stuck in-between the bright red material and his neck-fur, which was chafing from the branch rubbing against it. I imagined how painful it must be to have the branch stabbing the soft part of his neck, dislocating fur and digging into his skin.

"We have to help him- I think he's losing his airflow!"

I pushed off with my hind-paws without thinking, and clung to the rock-ledge with front paws while my back ones churned helplessly through the air. Panicking, I dug my claws in hard and heard them squeal against the rock.

Thank the Sky-cat.

I took an uneven breath, steadying myself and looking straight ahead rather than down. Midnight was following me, and I was thankful she hadn't made the reckless decision to jump over the rocks and try to cling to the ledge like I had.

"It's okay, Aspen," I meowed as I took a deep breathe and edged my way closer to the tom. His eyes focused on me, though I could see the tom was more frightened than even Midnight had been. He had his claws out, and was breathing wildly like it was hard to draw in air.

"How did he get up here?" I yowled down to Midnight, who was picking her way up the rocks on careful paws. She yelled back but didn't look up yet, making sure her toes didn't slip.

"He was chasing a bird!"

With that, I examined the twine around his neck, which had become tighter from the young tom's struggling and the stick working it's thicker parts through.

"Don't struggle, it makes it worse!" Midnight screamed from behind me as the orange cat tried pulling his head away from the tree, bell jingling wildly. His breath was coming out in uneven rasps now. I had to act quickly.

"Midnight, sink your claws into the tree limb and try to tug it out from the twine. I'm going to try and snap his-- this twine."

Aspen's eyes widened even more as I stepped forward and set my paws down carefully on the side of the ledge. Just one step back and I'd be tumbling down the steep rocks below.

I decided to try and use my claws first, because they were sharper, and hooked them around Aspen's neck-twine. It was soft and woven, but already very tight around the tom's throat. With effort, I tried pulling the twine this way and that and digging my claws in- but that only tightened it. With an exasperated sigh, I moved back down only all four paws and slipped my bottom jaw between the twine and fur as the smell of blood hit my nostrils.

My face was uncomfortably smashed into Aspen's fluffy neck-fur, but there was no time to feel unsettled or worried about it. Midnight had put her jaws around the the twig and was pulling desperately.

"Hey!" Storm's yowl sounded from below, but I ignored it, gripping the red thing harder in my jaws and bracing my paws.

With a heavy jerk, I pulled back with all of my might and felt Aspen shudder as the twine made a muffled snap and broke free. The recoil of it sent Aspen hurling off the rock, into the air where he would drop down to hard stone and jagged edges below.

I heard a gasp and looked down quickly to see Aspen fall directly on top of Storm, who'd been stretching his fore-paws up toward us in an effort to climb the rocks to help.

Good thing he was there, I thought as they bounced once, twice, and a third time off the rocks. I heard Storm grunt as his leg hit a rock and twisted, feeling a pang or worry that the tom might've seriously hurt his leg.

"We've got to make sure they're okay!" Midnight yelled back as I turned and bounded down the trail leading to the sharper stones below. I winced as my pads dug into rough jagged rock, but leaped down the expanse of them anyways.

Midnight reached them first, and pulled Aspen to his paws by grabbing his scruff which was ruffled and unkempt from the incident. I leaned over to grab Storm's scruff, copying Midnight and feeling a huge strain in my neck while I tried to pull the heavy tom up. He must've weighed more than a motherly boar.

"Thanks," Storm huffed when he stood on all four paws again. I spat out a few of his hairs and twitched my ears.

"My leg is a little twisted, but it'll be alright," Storm said as he put his back paw on the ground lightly, wincing. I turned away and shook out my pelt, trying to tame all the ruffled fur. This had definitely been enough excitement for today.

"Hopefully Hannah and Blaze caught something because-"

"Mrowwr!" Midnight and Aspen laughed together, their eyes sparking with amusement. Me and Storm exchanged a bewildered glance at their interruption simply for laughing.

"Well, I'd say you look a lot better now, plus you can hunt without that annoying bell," Midnight meowed to Aspen, who was licking the fur on his shoulders now. There was an angry red mark around the cat's neck, and a small tang of blood from where the stick had pierced his skin.

I stared at Aspen, who looked so much older without the red twine around his neck- and more, well... Feral.

"That was quite a fall you made," Storm meowed, joining in on their good mood while I stared at Aspen's large white paws he was growing into. The tom-cat's tabby stripes rippled under the weak sunlight, and underneath I could see a growing layer of muscle.

"I'm glad I got rid of that thing," he said teasingly, pressing his muzzle against Midnight's. I noticed how much more natural it looked, and how much better the cat would be without the bell and twine dragging him down, causing dangers and scaring off prey.

He is one of us now.