Edited ✔️

It's been half a moon since Icepaw went to his first gathering.

He lay comfortably in his den beside Dawnpaw and Dewpaw and Volepaw. Today, it was their day off. Brightstar had seen how hard they worked and allowed them for a day's rest. Icepaw was thankful.

Dawnpaw poked him with her nose. "Hey," she whispered. "Are you awake?"

Icepaw yawned. "Yes."

Dawnpaw sighed. "It's so warm out. Want to go out and doze in the sun or something? It's not gonna last for leaf-bare."

Icepaw yawned again and opened his eyes, to see Dawnpaw standing right over him. The apprentice she-cat looked tired too, but she seemed right. Today was such a sunny day. He got up from his nest—Dewpaw stirred, Volepaw twitched. They seemed to be relaxing well.

He stretched out his muscles luxuriously and crawled after Dawnpaw out of the den. He could immediately see that the camp looked deserted. Most warriors were out border patrolling, and some were out hunting. Sparrowheart was sharing prey with Brightstar in the leader's den, discussing matters with each other. The elders were resting right outside their den.

Even Vinetail was in camp today.

"Such a nice day," murmured Icepaw, looking up into the clear sky. There was not a cloud in sight, and the bright rays of light beemed into his eyes. He averted his eyes from the painfully bright light.

Bluewing picked a vole from the fresh kill pile and nodded in agreement. "There won't be any more days like this for a while," the warrior she-cat commented. "Hey Icepaw, I know you're on a break, but can you give this vole to Ripplefur?"

"Sure," he said, taking it from Bluewing's jaws. He padded to the nursery with Dawnpaw at his heels. He could see the queen laying down in the back of the nursery, her eyes wide open in pain. Grayfur was crouched right by the queen.

"Hi, Ripplefur," Icepaw mewed gently. "Is everything okay?" He set down the vole in front of the queen.

"Everything's fine," said Grayfur. "It's just that Ripplefur is having some cramps. That happens to she-cats when they are expecting kits."

"Oh," Icepaw murmured. "Well, I brought you this vole. Bluewing thought you might be hungry." He nudged the fresh-kill towards Ripplefur.

"Thank you . . . " she said. "I'll eat it later. I haven't been feeling hungry."

Dawnpaw walked up to her sister, and sniffed her lightly. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked. "Maybe you're close to kitting. Maybe that's why your back must hurt so much."

"If it is the kits, we should probably get Vinetail," said Grayfur. "Tell him that Ripplefur is having her pains again. He'll know what to bring for this." She looked down to the queen and sighed. "I hope it really is the kits this time. They're due any day now."

"Come on, Dawnpaw," said Icepaw, padding out of the nursery.

"Do you think it's time?" she asked eagerly when they were out of earshot from the nursery. "If it is, then I can't wait!"

Icepaw nodded and walked into the medicine den. Vinetail was sorting out his large herb supply. He was preparing for the leaf-bare since it was near, and he said that he wanted to make sure that he had enough supplies for the long and cold season. He waited until the medicine cat noticed him.

"Yes?" Vinetail asked.

"Ripplefur is in pain. Her, err, cramps are back," Icepaw informed the medicine cat. He didn't know why but he always felt awkward talking about she-cat topics—things such as kits and whatnot. "She looks bad. Can you please check on her?"

Vinetail nodded. "Yes, of course."

The went back to the nursery, this time with the medicine cat. Vinetail checked onto Ripplefur, his paws kneading over her belly after he finished sniffing around her pelt. "Hmm . . . it seems that you are in a very close stage to kitting," he said. "We'd better be very prepared."

Ripplefur nodded. "I feel it," she grunted. "Get Skypelt!"

"Didn't Skypelt go on a hunting patrol?" asked Dawnpaw.

"Yes, he did," said Grayfur. "Please, go find him. It's a mission—but just do it for Ripplefur. I think the kits are really coming." She sighed. "Take Bluewing with you. They went near the StreamClan borders, I think." She dipped her head.

StreamClan . . . I don't think that's far. "Come on!" Icepaw said to Dawnpaw. "We have to hurry." Skypelt wouldn't want to miss this!

Dawnpaw nodded and raced out of the nursery, straight to Bluewing, who was eating a small mouse. "Bluewing! I think Ripplefur is kitting, and she wants us to get Skypelt. Can you come with us to find him?" Dawnpaw asked.

Bluewing gulped down her last bite and her eyes widened. "Wow, really? Sure! Where to?"

"StreamClan borders," Icepaw said. "Let's go!"

He raced out of the camp entrance. He could already smell where the patrol went. Each day of apprenticeship, his senses were becoming more refined. Bluewing came right after Icepaw and opened her jaws to scent the air. She seemed to have caught something. Dawnpaw trudged out of the entrance next.

Bluewing began to lead the way towards the path that lead to the StreamClan borders. The sun was at it's highest position, the prey scents all around smelled good and fresh in the air. Cats swarmed the forest—Icepaw could scent them. Amongst the jumble of trees, he could smell faint tracks of earlier that day where Skypelt and his patrol passed by. The others obviously smelt it too, which was indeed headed near StreamClan borders.

Icepaw's paws pounded hard onto the forest floor. He was excited, nervous and scared. He wondered what the worse possible thing that could happen to the kits or the young queen, since Ripplefur was so young. He was very nervous.

He raced as fast as his paws could take him, with Dawnpaw following behind. He hoped that he would find Skypelt in time—it would sure help Ripplefur.

"I can't believe Ripplefur's kits decided to come now!" Dawnpaw said. "They should of come sooner when I wasn't relaxing."

Icepaw nodded of agreement. All he wanted to do was relax too, after all.

"You can't choose when the kits will come," said Bluewing with disapproval. She kept on running, sniffing the air eagerly to see if she could find Ripplefur's mate. Icepaw began to sniff the air too, wondering if he would find Skypelt. Finally, he caught the warrior's scent.

"I found him!" Bluewing and Icepaw almost said in unison. They looked at each other. "Lead the way, Icepaw. It'll be better if you do it since it's your mission."

"It's my mission too!" Dawnpaw retorted.

"Let's go together," he said, beginning to run again.

A light breeze stirred and the trees and bushes rattled. Icepaw froze. Dawnpaw ran into his rump, and Bluewing stopped as well.

"What's wrong?" asked Dawnpaw.

Icepaw growled under his breath. "It's the wind. I lost the scent as soon as the breeze stirred," he replied in frustration.

Bluewing began to walk forward. "I think I may be able to still scent it. Keep following me," said Bluewing, beginning to trot forward.

Icepaw and Dawnpaw followed, side by side. Bluewing concentrated deeply into the air, and the scents around her. Icepaw wondered if her nose was really that strong to withstand such winds. Finally, she nodded. "I certainly scent him. Come on!"

Bluewing began to run again towards the StreamClan borders. Icepaw and Dawnpaw kept up with the warrior, both of them excited. They could see Skypelt in the distance, finally. Icepaw began to run harder towards the warrior. His white pelt was ruffled, his amber eyes alerted.

"Skypelt!" Dawnpaw called.

He began to trot up to them. Sedgetooth began to trot up as well. "What's wrong?" he asked before Skypelt could say anything. Softpelt looked over from the two toms.

"Ripplefur. It's Ripplefur," panted Bluewing.

Skypelt tensed. "What's wrong? She's not kitting, is she?"

"She is," exclaimed Icepaw. "You have to get back to camp!"

"Let's go!" said Skypelt with worry, though he sounded eager at the same time. He began to pound into the forest, Dawnpaw after him. Bluewing looked at Softpelt and Sedgetooth.

"Wanna come too?" she asked.

"Sure," said Softwing. "We finished patrolling so we'll be fine. We were going to go back anyways."

Sedgetooth nodded of agreement. "I can't believe the kits are coming!"

"Follow me, then," said Bluewing.

She turned and began to lead Softwing and Sedgetooth away from the StreamClan borders.

Icepaw remained where he was. The wind blew into another direction, bringing a putrid scent to Icepaw's nose. A soft but cruel voice whispered in his head: fate, darkness, blood . . .

He didn't know why but something was holding him back. A voice, he thought. Someone was holding him back, not something. Icepaw suddenly felt spooked, like the two dreams he had about the Twilight Warrior. His fur rose up on his back, but he forced it to lie flat as a new tingly feeling reached his paws. He could see the cave of mosses. The first time he went into the cave of mosses, it was for his duty. This time it was calling for him.

He padded towards it.

The moss scents were already swelling over his nose as he approached the cave. Finally, Icepaw reached it. The entrance was still the same—small and suffocating—but he knew he could go through. Icepaw squeezed his growing body through the entrance.

Enter, the voice whispered. Within darkness you will meet fate in the midst of blood.

Icepaw shivered, but knew that it was what he had to do. The urge to listen to the strange voice was strong. He made sure he held his breath deeply. Then, he began to crawl through swiftly. He didn't know how to hold his breath for too long. If he lost his breath in the middle of crawling through, he could suffocate and die. There was nobody else here to help him.

Through that fear, Icepaw quickly made it to the other side and took a deep breath. He glanced around. It looked the same as usual. The mosses were glowing against the deep, dark cave, and the floor was moist. Water droplets could be heard from the back of the cave. He could also hear something else.

There's more? he thought. The new sound sort of echoed, and the cave was too small to echo. That means that there must be something else coming from the back of the cave! He padded to forward. The mosses' dim light shone enough for him to see a small black hole. It was the size of his paw.

Icepaw stuck his paw into the hole and felt what was under. It was another tunnel! He began to move his paws so that he could break the thin surrounding rock. It crumbled like dirt under his legs as he tried to make a big enough hole for him to fit through.

Finally, Icepaw had done the job. The voice praised him, and told him to keep moving forward. Icepaw did so.

He crawled into the small space he had made himself, and under paw he could feel coarse grass. The soil was rocky with tiny patches of heather. The air smelled faint of other creatures, possibly other cats as well. It was very faint, but he could smell it.

Icepaw began to walk deeper into the tunnels. Beside the grass and heather and stones under paw, he could also feel paw prints. Had cats before Icepaw walked in these tunnels?

"I wonder what's down there?" murmured Icepaw to himself as he began to go deeper into the tunnel. His heart raced. It was pitch black and not being able to see anything hurt his eyes, which were accustomed to moon and light. His eyes were not as strong as his Clanmates, but they were progressively becoming better-sighted.

A loud echoing squeak sounded. Icepaw's fur bristled, and he froze in his tracks. A mouse scurried right from his paws and into another dark crack in the wall. Icepaw could smell its fear scent. He began to pad deeper into the cave again, and this time, he was more curious. The voice stopped speaking, and he was nervous all at the same time.

After a few moments, he could see something shimmering up ahead. Icepaw realized that it was light. Excitement surged through his belly as he began to run towards it. The light illuminated and moved on the wall, and it had a tang of the color crystal blue. He realized that the light was shining water. Bright water.

He reached the reflection of the water, turned, and saw a large underground clearing. It wasn't grass anymore. Now, the underpaw was rock and so were the walls. In the middle of the clearing, a huge, bright pool of water shone. He padded closer and gazed down into his reflection. The water looked the most crisp and clear he has ever seen.

It made him a bit thirsty.

Icepaw leaned up and took a few laps of the water. But suddenly, he felt himself loose his footing. Icepaw gasped, and he fell into the cold, clear, shining bright water.

"No!" shrieked Icepaw. "Help!"

He suddenly wished that when he was coming back from patrol that he'd accepted Rosepetal's offer to learn how to swim. He said no since he didn't like water. He cursed himself for listening to that voice as well. I'm such a fool!

Icepaw began to swim towards the ledge he fell from but it was too late, he couldn't reach it. Icepaw felt his head sink under water. When he looked down, he saw how deep it was. He could see fish swimming away from him at the bottom of the pool.

He held his breath under water, hoping that he would figured out how to swim. Panicked, he paddled his paws and legs and got to the surface again. He took a deep breath and sunk right back down.

I don't think I can get out of here! thought Icepaw with complete fear.

He stopped struggling and held his breath. But suddenly, it did not feel that he was in water anymore. He felt like he was in thicker, warmer water. His eyes opened, and he realized that he was in no place similar to a lake. He was in a lake of blood! Icepaw's mouth opened, and he immedietly tasted the blood. He shut back his eyes and kept holding his breath. It was what the voice instructed him, about going through darkness and also something about being in the midst of blood. Was he also going to meet his fate here—a fate of death?

Please, let it be a dream! Let it be a dream! Let it be a dream! Icepaw pleaded in his mind. He was scared out of his guts and had not a clue what to do.

Suddenly, a thick dark voice sounded, much different to the first voice. It felt as if it were whispering in his ears. The darkness was never meant to be—

A pair of claws hooked into his scruff.

Icepaw felt himself being dragged out of the lake. The sight of blood slowly faded into water, and he realized that it was not real. Thank StarClan it was not real!

He was plopped onto the cold rock, and he coughed up a lot of water. Icepaw felt the bad taste of bile through all the coughing. The apprentice's lungs were stinging and so were his eyes. Even his fur felt uncomfortable, for it still felt that the blood of the lake was clinging to his skin. When his breathing settled down, he looked up to who had saved him. It was Flamepaw!

"Flamepaw . . ." gasped Icepaw, coughing a bit. "You—how—thank you!" Icepaw did not know why he was stuttering.

"It's no problem, Icepaw," replied Flamepaw. "What were you doing in there anyways?"

"Oh, you know, just drowning," snapped Icepaw. He sounded more harsh than he had meant to. "Err . . . sorry. Wait, why are you here? I came from a cave on my territory to down here. Don't tell me you trespassed into MoonClan!"

Flamepaw shook his head. "DarkClan cats have access to a cave, too," he said. "There's a tunnel that leads here and many other places. If you don't tell your Clan you have access to DarkClan, I will not tell my Clan that we have access to MoonClan."

"O-okay," said Icepaw. "Well, I really do have to go back up! My Clan must be waiting, there are kits being born and I was on this mission to find the father from patrol—urrgh, never mind, I have to get going!" Icepaw stopped himself from telling Flamepaw all about his life story.

"Okay," said Flamepaw. "Well, you'd better hurry then."

Icepaw gave a curt nod and dashed away. Just as he was leaving, he thought about the voice in his mind when he was drowning in the blood. When all of the pure lake water turned to the scarlet, deadly red. He also remembered the terrifying voices; the first one that instructed him to go to that dreadful place, and the second that recited the scary darkness. I shouldn't go there again, he decided.

But I should tell some cat about it . . .

* * *

Icepaw had made it to camp.

Everyone looked at him as soon as he walked through the entrance. The sun was at its highest peak, beating down onto Icepaw's drying flank. He wanted to return sooner when his fur was all dry, but it couldn't be helped. If he had been any sooner, Brightstar might have sent out unnecessary search patrols.

Featherbreeze was the first to run up to him, her expression extremely worried. "Oh, my poor kit! Where have you been?" she demanded. "Bluewing told me that one moment you were with her and the next, you disappeared!"

"I—" he began.

"Why are you all wet, too?" she asked again.

"I sort of fell into a lake," said Icepaw. "But I pulled myself out and I made it back to camp just in time. How are Ripplefur's kits?"

Featherbreeze sighed and looked down to her paws. Volepaw trotted up from the group of cats surrounding the nursery. "The kits are so cute!" he said. "Oh, and Ripplefur said she wanted to see you."

"Okay," said Icepaw.

He began to go to the queen's den. He squeezed past the group of cats and crawled into the nursery. Icepaw was surprised at how much he had outgrew it. He immediately saw Ripplefur huddled around three kits, Skypelt right besides them. He looked happy.

"Hi," Icepaw mewed softly. He felt like an intrusion since his pelt was damp. He didn't want to bother anyone, but they didn't seem to mind.

Ripplefur looked up weakly. "Icepaw," she said. "You came just in time. I already named them."

Icepaw nodded. "What are they called?"

Ripplefur pointed to one with black fur and white patches she looked like a mix of both of her parents. "This little she-kit is named Spottedkit." Then, she turned to a tom kit with dark gray fur. "His name, we decided, would be Squirrelkit, because his fur resembles a gray squirrel." She turned to her final kit. It was a silver she-kit. "And this is my darling Silverkit."

Icepaw's eyes widened. Silverkit. . . . ?

Something about that little she-kit sent a shiver up his spine. The tiny little silver kit squealed, pressing close to her mother's belly for more milk. This kit looked awfully familiar, but he did not remember who she resembled. Icepaw really badly wanted to remember, but perhaps something deep down inside was holding him back from receiving memories.

He kept his eyes on her. Silverkit . . . where do I know you from?