duskhoney jumped onto the tree, and cried out when his paw pads touched the hot sparks.

the tree was extremely hot, and duskhoney wanted to give up. he wanted to jump back down and die with his brother.

but he couldn't. he had to do this, for leopardstrike. for his dead parents. for his clan.

his clan. it felt weird, referring it to that. duskhoney was deputy now- and hopefully leopardstrike would survive, and duskhoney wouldn't have to become leader anytime soon.

no time to waste.

duskhoney prepared himself to jump, when he noticed the tree under him catch on fire.

in a mix of fear and desperation, duskhoney threw himself over the fire, and he landed on the other side, in a flail of paws.

as his paw hit the ground, a sharp pain shot through his leg, and he cried out in pain.

a cat grabbed his scruff and pulled him up. looking up to see who it was, he met citrinedazzle's gaze.

her gaze that was usually bright were now dim with a deep grief.

both of her parents were for sure dead- tangerineberry slept in the leader's den with flamestar, and that den was the first to go.

"is anyone else coming?" the large molly asked, her voice trembling.

"n-no, the tree got caught on fire as i jumped."

citrinedazzle nodded. "follow me, wildflowers told me where she was going to go, so we could meet."

duskhoney nodded, his legs shaking.

leopardstrike was still back in camp.

leopardstrike would be dead by the time the sun would rise.

duskhoney would be alone.

so, so alone.

citrinedazzle was moving so fast, and had no signs of slowing down. his leg hurt badly, but he kept up so he wouldn't get swallowed by the flames.

"wait! wait, wait for me!" a cat called, and duskhoney spotted ashstumble racing toward them.

ashstumble was one of the few cats he could consider a friend, and was so happy that he was alive.

now the three cats ran through the hot forest, following citrinedazzle. she seemed set on where she was going, and didn't slow for anything.

finally, after what felt like ages, they burst into a small clearing. it was unaffected by the fire, and the small little pond was clear and clean.

the temptation to get into it was high. duskhoney was very hot, after escaping from the fire. but he turned his attention to wildflowers, who sat near the pond.

she looked up immediately, her silver eyes wide with suprise. "is... is this all that's left of orcaclan?"

a silence swept the clearing as the four cats looked at one another.

"oh, thank starclan i found someone!"

duskhoney gasped and turned to see starlingdash, his white fur now speckled grey with ash.

wildflowers jumped up. "is there anyone else out there, starlingdash?"

starlingdash looked back the way he came from, before turning back to the other four. "buzzardsnow. he was just with me, but he turned around because he found some type of herb that would be useful for burns."

after starlingdash finished talking, buzzardsnow appeared from the same place starlingdash came from.

he sat down a bundle of herbs he carried, and looked at everyone. "well... no one survived but us. the camp... it's completely gone. and this is the only part of the forest that wasnt affected by the fire."

buzzardsnow's voice was somber. "so, how do we move on from here? what do we do now?"

duskhoney wasn't usually the cat to speak up, but things were going to be different from now on.

nothing would ever be the same.

"i know just what to do."