Me, Midnight, Storm and Aspen all stared up at the Great Spot, seemingly larger now that we'd all hit the top of the mountain. The wind rustled our ears and brought with it a chill, though I was glad that it was not as cold as yesterday and that the snow under our paws had become firm enough not to send any cat slipping down, down, down the rocks to a swift death.

Midnight looked over at me, and gave a small smile. Storm joined in on it and Aspen took in the entire sight with wide yellow eyes that swallowed up every detail of the landscape. Behind us, I could hear Diamond mewling for food again and felt a twinge of regret that none had been found since this morning, when I had been the only one to find a scrawny bird and given it to the kit. Storm had managed to track down a very young rabbit, and shared it with the three of us which he was closest to, afterwards even offering a bite to the sullen Fallan. She had returned with frozen whiskers, shivering and saying quietly that she had snow stuck between her paw-pads and claws. Hannah, still angry about my sister stealing Diamond's food, had simply turned her head away with a snort and ignored the cheetah all-together.

"It's alright, Fallan," I had come to say to her before the cheetah started bawling in failure. These were the only words I had spoken to my sister in a long time, but Fallan had simply sniffed, flattened her ears sadly, and turned away. Now she stood behind us, stiff-tailed with her eyes down. I didn't have to take a second glance to know that she would've sat down in exhaustion from being out for so many hours during the morning.

Eventually Hannah had let out a hiss and explained to Blaze she was going to go out in search of prey- but came back with nothing.

Fallan hadn't returned until mid-day, and after that the rest of the time had been spent traveling. It was night now, the sky dark and unwelcoming. My fur stirred with unease as I smelled more snow on the way; the crispness of it filled my nostrils, but I hadn't wanted to stop until we made more progress.

Right now, I was letting the pride rest to take in the view and lay down for a minute. Storm's eyes looked dull, and Aspen's pelt had begun to cling to his frame like it was in danger of falling off.

The tom's flanks had shrunk to almost the same size ours had, and I let out a feeble cough to try and let some of the tightness out of my chest.

Yesterday had been long, cold, and harsh but yesterday we hadn't been traveling at night. As I beckoned for everyone to rise to their paws again, Fallan moaned as if in pain but I knew better. The cheetah's paws and muscles must have been very sore, but otherwise she was, and would be, fine.

I shivered with cold as we started heading down the mountain, and took a few paces back to grab Diamond's scruff lightly in my teeth. Hannah said nothing, but looked away without gratitude and fell farther behind next to Blaze. I simply shrugged, for I didn't need any thanks, and hunched my shoulders against the wind.

The night dragged on uncomfortably, until I felt like I might collapse from exhaustion. We made it down this side of the mountain faster than we had come up, because there was less rocky outcrops and more smooth stones. I found that there was a bit more undergrowth; even a few spindly trees without leaves, dead from the wind. My neck ached from Diamond's little body weighing it down.

"Spirit, c-can we stop?" Fallan meowed from behind me, her teeth chattering. I gave a small nod the cheetah's way, scanning the landscape and deciding the best luck we had was sleeping under one of the low-sweeping trees- pine ones, that had needles to block a bit of the wind.

I led all the cats over to it, and placed Diamond far under the branches so she could curl up and sleep. Hannah pushed herself under, her ear-tips brushing the pine needles.

Fallan took the other spot under the tree before anyone else could reach it, curling her nose into her tail. Her fur was less than a whisker's away from touching Hannah's, yet they didn't share warmth still. I said nothing, but sighed and then turned away.

"Let's sleep," Midnight murmured quietly, as if she didn't have the strength to speak louder. Even Storm had already stretched out, giving up on offering to hunt as his did every night. I doubted we would have found anything anyways, because the prey wanted to curl up out of the cold just as much as we did.

With a sigh of relief I slid my haunches onto the ground and set my head on my paws, thankful that the route had at least been easier today- which was why I'd pushed everyone so far. Plus, hours of the morning had been wasted hunting in a desperate effort to feed ourselves but there was never enough to go around.

I didn't think about training anymore, and the dogs had been pushed to the edge of my mind because survival seemed like the most important thing for now.

Tonight, I decided to curl up closer to Midnight and wrapped my tail around the almost-grown kitten. Aspen slept soundly, his paw strewn over my tail-tip, twitching now and then. I let myself be lulled to sleep by the tom's gentle snores and Midnight's tiny warm body against mine.

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I opened my eyes, blinking as they adjusted to the shining rays of the Great Paw up above. Heat flustered my head and back, bearing down almost uncomfortably. Nothing was around but the grass-fields that were always there in my dreams- the waving fronds stirred lightly in the wind, as if saying hello.

"Spirit," I heard a voice say, and turned my head this was and that with a startled jump until I realized it was Midnight, and she was right beside my foreleg. My friend looked up at me with wide, intense purple eyes, and then angled her ears forward.

The image was a bit distorted and wavy, like the heat was warping the two cats in front of us. However, it didn't fade or disappear, and I could clearly see what was happening with a twinge of embarrassment deep in my belly.

One of the two cats was me, with broader shoulders than I had now and a glossy golden pelt that shimmered over the muscles as I moved. My tail, seemingly longer than my body, swished playfully in a way that it had done only a few times before.

Storm was the other cat, and was heavier now with thinner fur. I could see the ovals making up his under-skin, showing more around the tom's face and legs, but only barely. There was a lot of scars on him, but the most noticeable ones were a long one down his side, criss-crossed by others, and a chunk torn off the tom's ear as if something had tried to dislodge the whole thing. My pelt held scars as well, including a faint one on my tail.

That's the one that Slamble gave me the night of the fire! I realized with a jolt.

Me and Storm were not only content in the strong light, but playing together as if we were kits. I would bat my paws at his ears lightly, run around and pounce once again. Storm played gently, and cuffed my ear with affection as if I were the most breakable thing in the world. It was nowhere close to how lethal both of us could actually become.

I noticed there was no glint beneath either of our paws; the claws were sheathed in a mock play-fight simply meant for fun.

My fur tingled beneath my skin at what I was seeing. Why was Midnight here with me, in my dream, for this?

I looked around but there was no other Midnight or cat there but the one who was standing right at my feet. Midnight watched the scene in front of us without expression as Storm broke off from the play-fight, shook out his fur and bent forward to nuzzle then lick my muzzle. The she-cat I was seeing in front of me, such a strong image of the same one I'd seen looking back at me from puddles, had shining blue eyes full of happiness.

She stepped forward and touched noses with Storm.

So unlike me.

"This can't be a real thing," I said as my pelt grew hot and prickly. I felt sweat staring to form underneath my pads, and shifted my paws uncomfortably as Midnight's eyes widened to almost twice their size.

"Spirit, I know what it is!" She made an exited bounce, fuzzy black tail stuck in the air as I started at her, bewildered.

"This is what the cheetah was talking about. She was saying that you're meant to be with Storm- it's going to save you, and maybe the whole pride in some way!"

I stared, feeling the heat bearing down my neck and my own heartbeat pounding more than anything else. No way was I going to accept such a ridiculous conclusion.

"No. There's no way having a mate could help the pride in any way right now. I need to focus on hunting and taking care of them!" I said, my voice raising. Midnight's looked taken aback, and retreated one step.

"But-"

"I don't care," I meowed, my voice solid as ice as the words dripped off my tongue.

"Surely this is what the cheetah-"

"There's no way I have to get closer to any cat just because some stupid dream told me to," I meowed, stiffening in rage. So stupid, that Midnight thought this was the answer out of everything!

"This," I said, flicking my tail to the image in front of us-

"Is not the answer! It's not going to help the pride, and it's not going to help me."

With a violent crack from the sky, the ground began to shake, tossing the world this way and that until all that could be heard was a loud ringing in my ears. I cowered on the ground, trying to get rid of the noise and the movement, not daring to open an eye and see what had happened. So fast, yet so violent had the lightening struck.

"Spirit," Midnight whispered, so close to my head. I stood up on shaky legs as my eyes adjusted to the sky. With awe, I looked up and saw countless lights flickering on the Skycat's pelt- all of the deceased cats that had died before me.

There was almost more than there had been the night when the blue-eyed cheetah had visited my dreams, telling me that I must accept my fate or it would mean my doom.

With a pang of unwillingness, I realized that Midnight had been right. The only thing I hadn't accepted was the fact that Storm was supposed to one day be my mate.

"She is here," Midnight meowed again, so I turned around slowly, afraid of what I might see.

The golden-pelted cheetah with beautiful spots and markings was approaching, almost upon us. Her fur rippled under the starlight as she moved, parting the long grasses around her gracefully.

I wish I could move like that one day, I thought as I envied the cheetah's beautiful stance and figure. Even her black tear-lines framed her face in a beautiful way, though the cat's muzzle was not as small and dainty as Hannah's was.

This time, I didn't say anything, but let the cheetah speak first. She stopped just a tail-length away, and leaned her muzzle forward until it was close to mine. No breath washed over my nostrils.

Creepy.

Weird. Are the cats that walk dreams dead, or simply not real?

"Your friend is right," the cheetah said in a soothing upper tone that surprised me as much as it had the first time I'd heard her speak. Midnight was staring up at the cheetah in awe, her eyes as huge as the Great Spot. Her head swiveled from this cheetah, to me, and back to her, as if she couldn't decide if the cat was standing in front of us right now.

"You need to accept what we have shown you, for it's the best for you and the pride now."

Who was we? My gaze dropped to the ground, because I couldn't be sure about that. I saw no way that the pride could be helped by me doing such a thing. And what if I just didn't want to?

I didn't like Storm like that, and it seemed like I never would. Such a thing had crossed my mind only when my dreams had shown me it, and then, I had always denied it.

"I don't feel like I need-"

"It's not so much what you need but what you must do for the sake of your happiness and others," the cat meowed matter-of-factly, her dark blue eyes glinting as she raised her head. Her eyes looked thoughtful but impatient, though the cat's gaze was calm.

There was no fire as I'd seen it the night that she'd first come to visit. Who was this cheetah?

"What is your name?" A tiny voice said from below, hushed and full of awe. I only realized it had been Midnight when the cheetah's emerald-blue eyes turned on the little black feline.

"Quri," she said in one small sentence, and at that, turned to walk away. I felt the wind pick up, telling me that soon, me and Midnight were going to return to the cold stone and snow laying beneath our pelts.

"Wait!" Midnight called, but it was too late. The cat had already disappeared, blending in with the tall grasses all around, swallowed up by darkness.

Shadows began to fall, heavy all around us, pulling us into it's cold claws of fear.