There was only darkness around her – no sight, no smell, no sound. She ran through it, feeling nothing but her own heartbeat. It raced, as if she were being chased, pounding through her with every step.

Suddenly, bright light hit her and her speed increased. She felt the wind combing through her fur, the sounds of crows cawing overhead. The smell of blood hit her and she stopped, pinning her ears back. There were footsteps coming from behind her and she whirled around, unsheathing her claws.

His golden eyes met hers and she realized this was not the first time she'd had this dream. The white rims narrowed and he circled her, fangs flashing. She tensed, the instinct to kill rising within her.

"Nightchaser," she snarled.

"Always chasing the dark," he hissed back. "But what is it that you're chasing? What is it that you seek?"

"I seek revenge," she roared, leaping forwards. She landed where he had been moments before, but the black tom had disappeared. Instead, she found herself face to face with a small tabby, his copper eyes bright.

"Is it?" Reedpaw asked softly.

Her eyes widened. "Reedpaw?"

The tabby nodded sadly. "What is it that you seek?" he asked again.

"I seek..." Her mind searched for the proper words. "I seek justice."

He tilted his head, considering her answer. "Do you truly?"

She looked around at the scenery, the forest before her and the moors at her back. They stood in the heart of DarkClan territory, yet she did not feel at home. The sunlight bathing them began to dim until the cold wind picked up and she shivered. She longed for the sun to return.

"I seek the light," she finally said.

This time, Reedpaw bared his teeth in a grin. "Don't lose your path."

When Lightpaw woke, she could still feel his nose pressed to her own, and remembered the exact shade of copper of his eyes.

The world outside was bathed in sunlight, much like in her dream, and Lightpaw got to her paws, though every inch of her longed to remain in her nest. There would be more training today, undoubtedly, and more grief as she remembered Reedpaw and Yewpaw and all those she had left behind in DarkClan, who she may not ever see again. Sprucetail knew about their spying and, after being confronted by her, Lightpaw knew she and Beetlepaw did not stand a chance if they were to run.

Do I even want to run? Lightpaw found herself thinking as she emerged from her den. If she returned she would be forced to lead a life of no emotion, to mate with a cat chosen by Dawnstar, and to live out her days as a cold-blooded killer. Here, at least, she was free to do as she pleased; train, hunt, speak with all members of the makeshift camp. There was a hierarchy, but it was loose in comparison to DarkClan's rigid structure.

And, most of all, that feeling of fear she'd often felt back in the DarkClan camp simply did not exist. Now that her paranoia at being discovered had eased, Lightpaw found herself much more relaxed.

"Off to training," Flea said as she passed by. "Would you like to walk with us?" Penny nodded enthusiastically from her side.

"Sure," Lightpaw replied, brightening considerably. Perhaps some more training would help her focus her thoughts.

When they arrived at the usual training spot, she was surprised to see Dewpaw already there. He'd been on the patrol last night and had run in to Smoketalon. Though she had not seen Hazel's injuries, Lightpaw knew the DarkClan patrol would not have taken it easy on her.

Jaystrike, Roxanne, Killian, and Sprucetail sat waiting for the rest of the trainees to arrive. Lightpaw noticed that Sprucetail seemed to be keeping her distance from all of them; Jaystrike gazed at her longingly and Killian shifted ever closer to her. Roxanne looked slightly dejected, but listened to Jaystrike attentively whenever he spoke. Something about the arrangement reminded Lightpaw of Webpaw and Hazel whenever Leo was around.

"I never thought I'd see someone pining after a she-cat so obviously," Webpaw said in an undertone, joining them. Without Hazel, who she usually followed around, Lightpaw supposed she had nowhere else to go.

Olive furrowed her brows. "Don't be mean, Jaystrike's one of the sweetest toms in the camp."

"Not to mention your own pining after Leo is quite obvious," Beetlepaw cut in, throwing a pointed look at Webpaw. The grey she-cat bared her fangs but did not say anything more.

Flea shrugged. "At least he's not being quite so obvious as you and Gannet are." Lightpaw thought she had never seen Beetlepaw so embarrassed and positioned herself to protect Flea, just in case.

"Enough chatting," Sprucetail called. "I'm here today to see how far you've come in your training." From her tone, Lightpaw knew she was here to check if they were ready to battle DarkClan. The doubt in her that the trainees would ever stand a chance against DarkClan rose again.

Lightpaw found herself opposite Dewpaw. Her back legs twinged with the ghost of pain as she remembered how he'd taken them out from beneath her the day Nightchaser killed Reedpaw. She would have to take special care to prevent it from happening again.

As they started their mock fight, she found herself tiring much more quickly than usual when fighting Dewpaw. His blows were better-timed and more matched to hers. Once or twice, she found herself slipping up and nearly letting him past her defences. She managed to land a couple of blows on his sides, but never close enough to anything that would be considered lethal in battle.

And then, even though she'd promised herself to watch out for his trick, Lightpaw found herself on the ground with her paws wiped out from beneath her. She felt his weight on top of her.

"I fought Stormpaw at the border," Dewpaw said before Lightpaw could fight back. The she-cat froze.

"S-Stormpaw? Is he okay?"

"He told me to pass on a message," Dewpaw continued. "He told me you shouldn't return to DarkClan. That life is not worth living there once you've had a taste of freedom."

Lightpaw's eyes widened. The thoughts she'd had earlier returned and she acutely felt that lack of fear once more. It intensified as she realized Dewpaw, too, knew her secret.

With his weight lifted, she dazedly got to her paws. For the first time, she registered the wound on his shoulder with clarity and realized Stormpaw must have injured him.

"I'm sorry you had to fight him," she said.

"He was sorry he had to fight me too," Dewpaw replied with a twitch of his whiskers. "I think he would have left with us if he'd had the choice."

Lightpaw shook her head. "He wouldn't leave Rainpaw behind." Not the way I left Reedpaw behind.

Something in Dewpaw changed. Lightpaw couldn't quite place whether it was his stance, his expression, or the light in his eyes, but suddenly, it felt as if he was seeing her in a completely different light. As if, somehow, knowing Stormpaw wouldn't leave his friend behind gave the cats of DarkClan a conscience and, by extension, made Lightpaw less terrible in his eyes.

"I'm not seeing very much training over here," Sprucetail said dryly, eyeing the two of them.

Lightpaw opened her mouth to respond, but Dewpaw beat her to it. "My shoulder started feeling very stiff and Lightpaw offered to ease up on me. Turns out she's not so bad." He looked over at the tortoiseshell, an almost conspiratory twinkle in his eye.

Sprucetail twitched her whiskers. "It's great that you're getting along but we need to be ready for – "

She was cut short as a frazzled Mira burst into the training area, white fur standing on end. Immediately, everyone froze.

"DarkClan," she managed to gasp out. "They – they're getting ready to attack. They've had a spy here the whole time."

Lightpaw's eyes met Beetlepaw's. The confusion in them mirrored her own; neither of them had passed on any information. She felt more than saw Dewpaw's gaze harden, that newly earned trust disappearing in a heartbeat.

Sprucetail, surprisingly, did not look at either Lightpaw or Beetlepaw. "I know who it is. Roxanne, Bronco, Jaystrike, with me. Lightpaw, Dewpaw, I leave you in charge of getting the trainees back safely."

The older cats disappeared, leaving Lightpaw frozen in shock. Dewpaw's defensive stance had not changed, nor had the distrusting stares of the other trainees around her.

"Was it you?" Dewpaw hissed softly.

Lightpaw met his eyes, shaking her head, willing him to believe her.

"It wasn't us," Beetlepaw backed her up as the other trainees closed in around them. "You just saw Sprucetail run out, claiming to know who it is. If it was us she would have stayed."

"Why should we trust you?" Webpaw snarled. "For all we know, DarkClan never ran you out. Maybe Sprucetail's too blind to see what's under her own nose."

Lightpaw looked at Beetlepaw, wondering what was going through her littermate's head. For the first time she wished they were closer, that they could read each other well enough to pull through. Beetlepaw's questioning look seemed to wish the same thing.

The tortoiseshell cleared her throat, turning to the trainees. Beetlepaw followed her lead, standing proud and strong. Perhaps it was finally time to come clean. If DarkClan really was planning an attack they needed these cats to trust them.

"We admit: we were sent here by DarkClan," Lightpaw said quietly. Some of the trainees gasped. It took all Lightpaw had not to look away from the disgust in Crisp's face, or the hurt in Oats' eyes. Flea and Penny backed away from her, filling Lightpaw's chest with pain.

"We were sent here to spy as part of our warrior assessment," Beetlepaw continued. "We thought it was an honour, that it made us important. The truth is, Dawnstar would have killed us if we had refused."

The truth in Beetlepaw's words jolted through Lightpaw. "In fact, she almost killed our own littermate when he returned from his failed assessment." This time, she looked at Dewpaw. His hard gaze had softened slightly. Webpaw still looked defensive, though some understanding had filled her face; something in Flea had changed too.

"We had every intention of returning to DarkClan," she confessed. "But the two moons we have spent here..."

She looked over at Beetlepaw, wondering if her littermate felt the same way. If, after the time spent with the rebels, she, too, had realized just how limiting their life in DarkClan had been and how terrible it was to live in fear.

"The two moons we've spent here have been the best I've ever had," Beetlepaw finally said. "And neither I, nor Lightpaw, would do anything to hurt anyone here."

"Not after the battle training together," – Lightpaw looked from Webpaw to Dewpaw – "or the trust," – from Oats to Crisp – "or the friendship." – from Flea to Penny.

"We can't go back there – we won't go back there," Beetlepaw finished. "We're going to stand beside you in this fight, even if it costs us everything."

None of the trainees said anything for a long time.

Then, Dewpaw stepped forward. "I believe you."

"Me too," Flea said.

"I do as well," Olive replied.

Lightpaw let out a sigh of relief, as did Beetlepaw beside her.

"But what do we do?" a worried Finch said. "We're nowhere near ready to take on DarkClan." Some of the trainees nodded in agreement, the fear spreading through their ranks quickly.

Beetlepaw stepped up. "Their numbers are smaller than our own and we've learned how to work together; I cannot say the same of DarkClan. Partner up, keep each others' backs. Split their attention and take them on in packs. DarkClan's skills may be better but, if we combine our strengths, we have a much better chance of defeating them."

The trainees were now nodding along, taking Beetlepaw's advice to heart. Even Lightpaw found herself inspired by her littermate's words.

"There are others in DarkClan who don't believe in the way Dawnstar treats the Clan," Lightpaw continued. "Some of those cats are on our side too – Thistleshade, Oakshade, Stormpaw, Rainpaw, and more."

"We stand more than just a fighting chance," Beetlepaw crowed. "So who's with us?"

They were racing back to camp within moments, the idea of battle filling their heads and blood pulsing hot with the desire to fight beneath their pelts.