The darkness seemed to last forever. I stayed where I was, trying to breathe as little as possible. I had to conserve the air I had, and that meant barely breathing. I had to keep Stripekit alive, whether I lived or not, and that meant allowing the she-cat to have as much air as she needed. She stares at me in horrer, taking in what had just happened.

"I want my mom!" She whines, tears forming in her eyes.

"You will see her again," I assure Stripekit.

Obviously not comforted, she starts crying louder. At this rate, the whole mountain would hear her. Wait, that's a good thing! If we can attract the attention of one of our clanmates, they can help get us out. I start yelling for help too, but not in a frightening way that would make Stripekit feel worse. After a while, no one comes to our aid, and I feel like it's a lost cause. Then, I see light, and some weight is lifted off of me. I peer up, and see a pure white she-cat with red ears and red paws, and deep blue eyes, from what I can see. She looks surprised, but says nothing.

"Thank you so much!" I gasp fresh air, and Stripekit does the same, stopping from her pitiful whine.

"No problem," the she-cat says, helping us out. When we emerge from the snow, all I can see is as white, nearly blinding from the sunlight, and a few cats from WingClan roaming around.

Taking in the scene, I inquire, "Who are you?"

The white she-cat, who I can now see also has a red tail, red specks around her lower back, and red wings with white specks, replies, "Oh, just a loner. I actually heard about a group of wild cats living in the mountains, and that they had wings like me! I wonder where my friend came up with that!" The she-cat chuckles.

When she doesn't see me laughing, she stops and looks at me. Her eyes grow wide, and she whips her head around, and looks at the other cats around us, that are slowly coming toward us.

"Oh. My. Gosh."

"Yes?" I meow, inquiringly.

"You-you-you are one of them!" She gasps. "My friend wasn't lying!"

I nod in realization of what she means. Obviously, word has spread about us, somehow...

Before I can say anything, she says, "Can I join your clan? My name is Brokenflight, and I think it would be totally awesome!"

I scrape the snow with my claws. What do I tell her? I have no idea what to answer with, so I just say, "We'll see," and walk toward the cats that are coming ever closer to us. Goldenleaf, Sparrowpaw, Rainbowblaze, Brownfur, Snowbreeze, Pondripple, Streampaw, Splashmoon, all the queens, all the kits, including Stripekit, who runs to her mother, Rowenpelt, Squirrelheart, and Grayfoot. Those are the only cats that I see. Fear pulses through me as I realize hardly anyone is above snow, from what I can see. I bound up to Goldenleaf in a flurry, fear gripping my heart.

"Where is everyone else?!" I almost screech.

Goldenleaf looks at me. "Tallfoot, Emberpelt, Leafpaw, Ivyfang, Bluepaw, Rainflight, Firelight, Raventail, Dappledwhisker, Honeycloud, Dovepaw, Hollyjay, and Foxfur were assigned to go on patrols earlier today. We are missing Tempestclaw, Whitewillow, Fastpaw, Brambleberry, Hollyspeck, and Grassfur."

My heart pounds. 6 cats missing, including my deputy, and 13 cats that are supposed to be on patrols. What was I going to do?! Goldenleaf suddenly notices Brokenflight.

"Who's she?" Goldenleaf questions.

Before I can say anything, Brokenflight snaps back with, "She AKA, Brokenflight is a new member of WingClan!" Brokenflight puffs out her chest in pride.

I shake my head. "Brokenflight, I haven't decided whether you can join us yet. I have to talk it over with my missing deputy." I sigh.

"We need to dig through the snow!" I call out to our partial clan. "Listen for calls for help, and dig!"

Cats immediately start digging, and listening, intent on finding our lost clanmates. I hear wailing, and turn to find Squirrelheart crying, with Rowenpelt and Grayfoot trying to calm her. I walk over to them, and hear Squirrelheart's sobs.

"He was right there!!" She cries hysterically. "I tried to help him, but I just couldn't!"

"It's OK..." Grayfoot assures Squirrelheart.

Nevertheless, Squirrelheart keeps on sobbing at the fact that Grassfur was missing, possibly suffocating right now.

"But it's NOT!" Squirrelheart continues. "He was right HERE! And I couldn't save him!"

I add in a question, urgently. "Can you show me where he was?"

Squirrelheart points with her paw to right in front of her. I rush over, and start digging ferociously. Seeing  no signs of the dark brown tom, I bow my head.

"I'm sorry..." I mutter.

The sobs instantly increase, and are not just from Grassfur's littermate, Squirrelheart. Rowenpelt and Grayfoot join the mourning. Just when our hopes are lost though, I see a small tuft of brown fur. My heart leaps, and I dig further into the snow. A large dark brown tom is revealed, appearing to be unconscious. Seeing my discovery, Squirrelheart attempts to pull Grassfur out. Seeing her struggle, I grab Grassfur's scruff with my teeth, and heave. We manage to pull the tom out of the snow, who doesn't appear to be breathing. Goldenleaf and Sparrowpaw rush over to aid us.

"Get out of my way!" Goldenleaf shouts. Everyone backs away from Grassfur as Goldenleaf does her work on him.

"Sparrowpaw, go tend to the others," Goldenleaf continues without looking up. Sparrowpaw obeys instantly, understanding the seriousness of the situation. Goldenleaf puts her head to Grassfur's chest for a moment, then pulls up. She then starts pouncing on his chest.

"Please save him!" Squirrelheart cries.

Goldenleaf doesn't reply as she continues to do her work. After a while, she steps back, and bows her head.

"I'm sorry, he hunts with StarClan now..." Goldenleaf says solemnly. Tears prick my eyes, and Squirrelheart's sobs become more intense. I understand how she must feel. I too lost a littermate, however, not in the same way. At least Squirrelheart could know that she would see Grassfur again. When my sister and I died, we would likely go opposite ways, unless Nightshade corrected her wrongdoings. I see Grayfoot escorting Squirrelheart away from the scene to comfort her, and I raise my head. Many cats had already seen what happened, but I announce it anyway.

"Cats of WingClan, tonight there will be a new star in the sky. Grassfur hunts with StarClan now, and we will pay our respects for him. However, we must continue our search, so we need to hold off the paying of our respects. I hope you understand," I call.

In reply, many cats howl their sadness at the loss of a clanmate. They slowly gather toward Grassfur's body, but then disband, as they know that they have to continue the search.

A while passes before anyone reports anything. Then, Ivyfang calls out.

"SILVERSTAR! I FOUND SOMETHING!!!!!!!!!" She calls.

I rush over to find some tabby fur. I dig ferociously, and find Tempestclaw. I yowl for Goldenleaf to come, and after pulling him out, she declares that he was still alive.

"A miracle has befallen upon us," She meows. "He is alive, but is unconscious. Lay him on his side in a soft pile of snow, but make sure he's not suffocating."

Ivyfang lays him on his side, and I continue to dig in other places.

After a while, we have found Whitewillow and Fastpaw, whom where huddling together, and both alive and conscious, as well as Brambleberry, and Hollyspeck who were also alive and well, just a little cold. Well, it wasn't a total loss, I say to myself. All three cats were weak, but Goldenleaf and Sparrowpaw declared that they should all recover. All the patrols come back too, with all the members in their patrol. That night we grieve for Grassfur, his body lying in the middle of our camp. Our camp was almost completely destroyed and covered in snow, but we managed to salvage what little we had. The patrols caught little to no prey, so we went mainly hungry for the night, but we could manage. My den had been saved, as it stood pretty high up, and facing the opposite way from which the avalanche came from. This night, Tempestclaw, the apprentices, and some of the elders would sleep there, as a temporary nest. Tempestclaw remained unconscious, but alive.

We stood around Grassfur's body, whispering our last words to him, and paying our respects. He was a very good cat. Kind, loyal, brave, and so much more. Our clan would miss him, and his skills, but we also knew he was in a much better place. Squirrelheart took all of this the hardest, Grassfur being her closest littermate, and all she had when she joined WingClan. Sparrowpaw gave her poppy seeds for shock, and to help her sleep. After we say our last words of thanks to Grassfur, Rowenpelt, Squirrelheart, and Grayfoot took his body to be buried, as a custom. Mourning cats settle down for the night in little dips in the snow that had been dug out. I settle into one of the dips, thanking StarClan for not letting the avalanche be worse. I look up into the sky, and see a new star shining brighter, and smile. That was Grassfur, our wonderful clanmate.

"May StarClan light your path..." I whisper, and drift off to sleep.