Quick warning: I'm typing this chapter on my phone rather than my computer, so I'll look it over a few times but if you see any typos, I apologize.)

Skypaw saw light instead of seeing usual darkness when she normally closed her eyes. She was expecting this to be the end, for the light would be StarClan. Her life was over and she hadn't even earned her warrior name!

Just when she was about to scream at the starry cats she had yet to see that it wasn't fair, her eyesight was plunged back into darkness and she heard voices.

"I caught Ratscar just before he suffocated her," Skypaw heard the usual voice of Nightflare. She started to panic. Had ShadowClan taken her hostage?

StarClan, help me! She screamed inside her head.

"He still got her neck though," Skypaw let out a breath that she hadn't known she was holding when she heard the comforting meow of Willowleaf.

Wait, so if both the ShadowClan and ThunderClan medicine cats were together, where were they? She knew neither medicine cats would go to the other one's camp. Opening her eyes, her head ached as she waited for her vision to focus.

She was surprised when she didn't see the sky or trees above her. Instead, she saw wood. Not the usual kind of wood she was used to on the tree trunks, but a wood she usually avoided for safety reasons.

She gasped. They were in the abandoned Twoleg nest across from the old Thunderpath!

Skypaw sat up slowly, deciding to take in the rest of her surroundings. The ground was soft and fuzzy, and she rubbed her paw against it. Whatever this colorful substance was, she definitely preferred it under her paws rather than the forest floor.

She cringed when she took a closer look at her paw. Her claws were still unsheathed and they were stained a crimson color from the amount of blood she had taken from the ShadowClan invaders.

Her silver fur was matted and stained a reddish brown color. Skypaw assumed she had been laying in mud until the cat, who she guessed had been Nightflare, dragged her away from the battle that could have very well been her last. Blood and mud with a tint of silver and gray stripes wasn't a pretty sight.

Looking at the walls that surrounded her, she noticed they were a green color. But not the inviting green color the ThunderClan forest brought. Or ShadowClan forest. Straining her ears, she didn't hear any more cries and screeches that signaled spilling blood. The battle had ended, but who had won?

For the first time, her eyes darted around the strange area. There were multiple cats in the room, ThunderClan and ShadowClan both. She recognized the sleeping pelt of Duskwave. However, other than the ThunderClan warrior, Skypaw couldn't find any more familiar pelts. This sent a triumphant wave through her, thinking that ThunderClan had kicked ShadowClan tail, but once again the young ThunderClan apprentice felt out of place and alone.

"You're awake," Skypaw jumped. Bright blue eyes of a dark brown pelt loomed above her. Hawkpaw.

"Can you tell me what in StarClan am I doing here with ShadowClan?" Skypaw's voice was hoarse and raspy. It didn't come out more than a whisper.

"Nightflare, she needs water," Hawkpaw called over his shoulder. Turning back to Skypaw, he started to tell the story.

"Nightflare and I didn't know ShadowClan would attack when we were in your territory, I promise," he meowed. "After we heard the battle, Willowleaf lead us here to shelter. It looked bad out there, so we dragged the most injured cats here for treatment," Hawkpaw explained.

Skypaw cringed when she thought of herself one of the most injured. Certainly that couldn't be true.

"Am I really one of the most injured?" Skypaw asked, her voice cracking a few times.

"Judging by the fact that you got knocked out on the battle field by Ratscar's fat-tail laying on you, yes," humor glimmered in the ShadowClan medicine cat's eyes. "You also had wounds untreated from a previous battle that became inflected from dirty claws touching them,"

Skypaw moaned. She thought it was no big deal!

"Here's the water you requested," Nightflare's voice was muffed as she carried soaked moss in her mouth. She dropped it near Skypaw.

"Thank you," she muttered and bent down to lap at it. Her tongue felt refreshed as she licked up the ice cold water.

"Hawkpaw-" Skypaw was about to ask a question when she was interrupted.

"Hawkspirit," He corrected, pride shining in his eyes. "Nightflare gave me my full medicine cat name during the battle."

"Congratulations," Skypaw muttered. She didn't need to know about this enemy medicine cat's name change! The more she thought about it, the more wrong it seemed to be receiving care from the ShadowClan medicine cat apprentice, even if the medicine cat boundaries went over Clan borders. "Anyways," Skypaw continued in a louder voice, changing the subject quickly. "Who won the battle?"

"S-" Hawkspirit was about to say when the sleeping Duskwave awoke.

"ThunderClan successfully ridded our territory of the evil foxhearts," she meowed, her voice heavy with sleep. "Sunstar had cats remark the trees directly after. I would tell you what happened after, but I don't even know myself. I blacked out while remarking, Willowleaf said it was from weakness from exhaustion."

Skypaw sighed with relief. We showed them! She thought to herself.

Skypaw was about to congratulate her Clanmate of their victory when Duskwave sighed. "Hawkeye was killed, though."

Skypaw drew in a gasp. "How?"

"Stoneclaw trapped him against two trees and bit his throat," Duskwave broke down with a wail. Skypaw realized that Hawkeye had been her littermate.

"I'm so sorry, Duskwave," Skypaw tried to comfort the ThunderClan warrior when her voice cracked once more.

Seeing her for the first time since before the battle, which seemed like moons ago, the familiar tortiseshell pelt of the ThunderClan medicine cat came walking towards her.

"Here, eat this," Willowleaf instructed.

"What is it?" Skypaw hadn't even finished her sentence before she was gobbling down the substance. It tasted sweet, and a soft purr erupted from her as the warm liquid slid down her throat.

"Honey," Willowleaf replied. "I'm going to have to redo your scratches, too," Willowleaf added on. Skypaw suspected she was talking to herself again.

Willowleaf brought over an unusual bundle of herbs. Deciding she didn't want to know what it contained, she closed her eyes as the ThunderClan medicine cat applied them to her infected cheek scratches and her neck. Ratscar had left his mark on her pelt, that's for sure.

"It was this throat wound that got you," Willowleaf meowed as she added more herbs to the gashes on Skypaw's flank.

"What do you mean?" Skypaw asked, her voice filled with pain. Whatever Willowleaf was putting on her fur, it sure stung.

"That wound is the one that caused you to black out. You were already dazed from his weight on you, but you would have recovered. Ratscar gave you one last slash to the throat to try to finish you off. Good thing Nightflare was there."

Skypaw did nothing but nod. It amazed her how smart Ratscar was, planning his moves so quickly and confidently as he did so against her, but it disgusted her that his mind functioned in such an evil way.

Duskwave was on her paws now. Willowleaf took notice of this and nodded briefly.

"We should get going," The ThunderClan medicine cat meowed. "Sunstar will be expecting us."

"Okay," Nightflare touched noses with Willowleaf. Duskwave and Skypaw both felt uncomfortable. Medicine cat or not, it certainly wasn't right to exchange gestures like that between cats from different Clans.

"You better be out of here before sunhigh tomorrow," Willowleaf ordered the ShadowClan medicine cat. "Otherwise Sunstar will have your tail."

Nightflare nodded. "Thank you for letting us shelter here,"

"You're welcome. We're a team when it comes to saving lives." Willowleaf hesitated for a moment before saying, "Goodbye, Hawkspirit."

The ShadowClan medicine cat apprentice nodded a brief farewell before returning on the cat he was treating. Skypaw climbed to her paws and muttered a thank you and goodbye to the ShadowClan cats before joining her Clanmates at the exit.

The quarter moon shone bright over the forest as the three she-cats walked alone in the rain.