Fire blazed across the frost-bitten moor as the kits bobbed up and down, swinging from their mother's jaws. The two little things were four moons old, one a golden tabby she-kit, the other a dark ginger tom. Their mother's legs pummeled the ground as she ran, carrying them away from their home.

The golden she-kit squeezed her eyes shut and swallowed against the bile that threatened to come up. Betrayal had a bitter taste. She had been forced to realize the reality that the world was a bittersweet place way too early. She had been starved, tortured, and isolated from her family, all because of a long-fought war between two groups of cats over prey and territory.

But it had become more than just a war over territory. When both sides started taking prisoners and kidnapping innocent cats, a much more vicious motivator than greed had entered the picture- love.

That was why the kit's mother had to end this. She had freed all the prisoners the Clans had kept over the moons. This leaf-bare, the war would end. The kit's mother had told the kit that she would negotiate with the leaders of their group to liberate the prisoners they had kept and make peace with the Clans. But first, the three cats had to actually succeed in escaping the Clans.

The tall grass brushed against the kit's fur as they sped through it. The snow had yielded to wind and storms this leaf-bare, drying out the landscape and making the moors vulnerable to lighting, which caused fires. It was just their luck that an electrical storm had rolled in as they were escaping, and lightning had struck the moors.

The kit sneezed. The scent of the fire singed her nostrils and clogged her throat.

She could hear a small gasp in between the labored breaths of her mother as the fire chased them toward the gorge. She swerved to avoid it, then stopped to think of some other escape route. She set the kits down, and they huddled next to each other, trembling in the crisp night air.

The golden kit froze with fear as a yowl penetrated the constant roar of the fire. "There they are!" It was a Clan apprentice summoning more warriors to finish the trio off. The kit's mother looked around frantically. They were trapped on one side by the fire, another by the gorge, and a third by the Clan cats.

This is the end, the she-kit thought miserably, huddling into a ball. Her short life had not been very pleasant. And now it was about to end. Perhaps for the better, for whatever was after this life had to be a much happier place. Closing her eyes, she revisited her most joyful memory to comfort her.

The golden kit was not aware of much that was going on around her. She was warm and safe, snuggling next to her mother and brother. She could smell a milky scent; that had to be her mother. And the sweet smelling creature next to her could only be her brother. She could hear soft mews coming from her mother as she talked to her kits. She could also hear a squeaking sound. What was it? Oh, wait a minute. She was making the squeaking sound. Her brother made a frustrated noise, so she closed her mouth and stopped squeaking.

The first emotion she had known was curiosity. She could not see, so she was always wondering what everything looked like. She couldn't even imagine it. She didn't even know what she looked like.

She could see light through her eyelids, though. She started squeaking again when the light source was blocked momentarily. Then she heard the voice of her father.

"How are they doing, Ash?" His tough voice had a softness to it, the kit could tell.

Her mother spoke in a loving tone. "They're doing fine. I just hope this war ends soon, so we can be together." Her father was silent after that.

The tiny kit wanted to see so badly, oh how she wanted to know what things looked like! She concentrated on that thought, and slowly opened her eyes, blinking the sleep out of them.

Her mother was a dark gray, with amber eyes. Her brother was probably ginger; it was hard to tell since he was wet from being licked by their mother. Her father was ginger too! She looked at her paws and realized she was a golden tabby.

The curious kit then surveyed her surroundings. The den walls were made of dirt and brambles. It seemed they were underground.

Once she had satisfied her curiosity about what things looked like in the den, the only world she had known, she cuddled up to her brother and purred loudly. Her whole family was here with her, a rare occurence in this kit's messed-up life.

Thinking about her family jolted the kit back to reality. Her father had betrayed her a moon ago. She emitted a low growl at the thought. And her brother and mother were in danger! She couldn't give up.

But there wasn't exactly a way she could help either...

She got up and padded toward her franctic mother, who was still searching for an escape. The kit let out a startled mew as her chin thumped on the ground. She had tripped over the entrance to one of WindClan's tunnels. She licked her chest fur in embarrassment.

The tunnels! That was their best hope for safety. She called to her mother and pointed them out.

"Good job, dear! Yes!" Her mother was relieved. She nudged the kit into the hole. "You go first." The she-kit scrambled down into the tunnel, but froze when she heard the pawsteps of the Clan cats outside the tunnel.

"Stop right there!" The kit crawled to a place where she could view the scene. Her ears were flat against her head and her whiskers quivered with fear. She watched as her mother shoved her brother into the tunnel, but the Clan cats pushed her aside and dragged him back out.

"Where is the other one?" a black and white tom growled. The she-kit shrunk back into the tunnel in fear, hardly daring to breathe. She knew she had to escape, but she couldn't leave her family.

Her mother's fear was evident in her timid mew. "She- she perished. In the fire." The Clan cats mistook the fear for grief and thankfully did not question her. The kit heard a scuffle, and the sounds of a fight breaking out as her mother tried to escape.

She inched slowly forward to watch, flinching with every blow that was dealt. It seemed like her mother was winning. They'd be free! Then, the kit's eyes widened as the unexpected happened.

"NO!" The earsplitting yowl coming from the kit's mother as her son was tossed into the raging inferno of heat threatened to break the she-kit's heart. She spectated, helpless, as her mother flung herself at the Clan cats, too outraged to even know what she was doing.

The kit inwardly whimpered. The Clan cats easily overpowered the rogue, and dragged the still wailing cat away.

The kit gasped when the wailing suddenly stopped. She knew what that meant.

Her world crumbled around her. She was alone. She had no one.

So when the group of rogues she had never met before came to take her to safety, she set her jaw and froze a part of her heart to a point where even the roaring fire could not melt it.

Nothing could.

Or so she thought.