The sun's rays flickered through the dark, grey clouds; faintly lighting up the camp's clearing. Few cats basked in the sunlight trying to grab the last of its rays before the clouds finally swallowed it up. Jayfeather laid his body partially sticking out of the den; he was resting his head on his fore leg, bored. There wasn't much to do now that the dark forest was finally beaten. The clans seemed to be at an everlasting peace with the dark forest dismantled after their lost. Life was hardly exciting anymore, few cats ever came to the den for any treatment, and if they did it was usually for something extremely minuscule such as a splinter in the paw or finding ticks. And now that the prophecy was fulfilled, there wasn't anything to work towards or anything to discover. Life would go on normally, nothing new, no more adventures. And it made him feel useless now.

Not that he felt that he wasn't important anymore to the clan, but it seemed like he didn't matter anymore to the clan outside his medicine cat duties. This is so dull! Jayfeather thought angrily. These aren't duties that a medicine cat should be doing, I should be healing wounds or fever not removing splinters for cats too stupid to pay attention to where they were going!

The only thing that came slightly above the normality of clan life was Briarlight, as she required special treatment for her chest infection. He had to make sure every day that she was getting the proper exercises and stretches to keep her healthy and, hopefully, fight off the infection. She was also a great help around the den, helping him sort out the herbs and other necessities for the den. She even knew how to heal minor cuts and wounds. But her back legs greatly hindered her in gathering the herbs and plants, so it was usually up to him to gather the plants. However, she was able to keep him company in the usually lonely den.

He listened as she dragged herself towards where he was lying, her breathing slightly labored. He turned his blind blue eyes onto her, "Are you okay?" He meowed, even though he knew how she would already answer.

"I'm fine," she replied, slightly annoyed, "Why are you trying to be my mother or something?"

Mille, Briarlight's mother, was over protective of her ever since the accident and every day she came into the medicine cat den and fretted over her. She thought she was helping her, trying to cater to her every need, but in reality it actually made her feel worthless, a burden to the clan. Which she wasn't, at least not to him, she was a great help around the den and, as much as he wouldn't accept it, she was a great friend and companion. She was able to fight off the feeling of loneliness, which had been following Jayfeather ever since his mother, Leafpool, became a warrior after revealing her forbidden affair with Crowfeather, a cat from a different clan. Sure, he had his brother, but he was usually too busy providing for the clan with his warrior duties, and would only be able to spend time with him for a short while. Now, he even spent less time with him because his mate, Cinderheart, a grey tabby she-cat, was pregnant with his kits and he fussed over her every need, which Jayfeather knew was annoying her.

"No, I was just asking," He meowed, not trying to frustrate her, "I'm just doing my duty."

"Whatever," she meowed in reply, "Anyway," she continued, changing the subject, "Beautiful day isn't it?"

"Yeah," Jayfeather snorted, "If you count rain as something beautiful," he meowed, remembering the time when he was still an medicine cat apprentice trapped in the tunnels running underneath Thunderclan, trapped while the underground river swarm, threatening to drown him, his brother, sister, Heathertail, Breezepelt, and a pair of Windclan kits, who were the reason they were in the tunnels in the first place. They had found it after spotting Lionblaze and Heathertail secretly meeting in them at night. They had all nearly drowned that day and since then he has had a small fear of water.

"Why are you so negative, Jayfeather!" she meowed, frustrated at his bitterness at everything.

"You'd be negative too if you could never see anything," he meowed angrily, "the constant unending darkness, never being able to see anything. I didn't even want to be a medicine cat; I was forced by my disability to be one!"

"You have to look for the positives in life, Jayfeather," Briarlight replied, trying her best to diffuse the situation and calm him down.

But it was too little avail, his fur rising and claws sliding in and out quickly. "What would you know?" he growled, "You've need had to deal with the dark or the feeling of loneliness, you always had family there for you! You never really had to deal with any dark secrets kept by the ones who are supposed to be dear to you!"

"So much bitterness," a voice said in his head, "Only a loving embrace can fix such anger."

Jayfeather stood up and shook his blind gaze around the den. The voice sounded so familiar, but he couldn't quite put his paw on where he had heard it before. "Did you hear that?" he asked Briarlight, hoping she may have heard it as well and could help him determine the owner of it.

"Oh, I heard it Jayfeather," Briarlight said, anger and sadness mixed into her meow. "And I see how you feel about your family and… and me!" she cried angrily. Rising onto her front legs, "I'm leave you be because you like your loneliness so!"

"Wait! What?" he meowed quickly, but too little avail, as she dragged her way through the crack in the rock that led into and out of the den. He listened, mouth a gap, as she continued to drag her way through the middle of the clearing and towards the fresh-kill pile. What did I do?

"You drove her further away."

"Who are you and where are you!" Jayfeather said aloud, still trying to pin-point the mysterious voice.

"Oh, Jayfeather it surely hasn't been that long that you've forgotten me now?"

"Show yourself then!"

A compact, white she-cat, with dark green eyes appeared before him. "Oh, Jay Wing, how I've missed you," she purred happily.

"Half- Half Moon," Jayfeather meowed in surprise. He wasn't sure rather to be shocked at the fact that he could see her or that she was even in the den in the first place. He hadn't seen her since the battle with the dark forest, and why she was doing here now was confusing to him, but that didn't bother him now. He was just happy to be seeing her right now. "I thought you had forgotten about me."

She rubbed her muzzle against his, "I never could forget about you, Jay's Wing," she purred, slightly amused, "I said I'll always wait for you."

"Yeah, but you didn't come to me in any dreams lately and I thought you had forgotten me," Jayfeather replied, returning her affection. "Why didn't you appear to me?"

Half Moon's face became suddenly grim and almost appeared heartbroken. Her deep, dark green eyes closed half way and sadness radiated off her star covered pelt. She licked Jayfeather's ear swiftly before backing away from him, until she stood a fox-length away from him.

"What's wrong, Half Moon?" Jayfeather asked, confused at her sudden change of temperament. She was just happy a moment ago, so does she seem so depress now?

"I can't come see you anymore," she meowed after a moment's hesitation.

Jayfeather's heart stopped and his brain stopped processing common thoughts, though it seemed to be working enough for him to continue to breathe normally. His thoughts were all jumbled up into one big concoction of gibberish; it was almost like his brain completely went insane from the words spoken by Half Moon; it felt like he was going insane. Finally, he was able to get it back under control, however; her words still struck deep into his mind. "What?" Jayfeather choked out, finally able to speak.

"I'm sorry, Jay's Wing," she meowed sadly, "but with me in your thoughts it prevents you from being able to fix yourself."

"What do you mean?"

"There is another who loves you," she meowed, staring him directly into his blind blue eyes.

Jayfeather stared at her, his eyes widen and mouth slightly opened. There's no way anyone in the clan could love me! He thought unhappily, I'm a medicine cat for Starclan's sake! It's forbidden for me or anyone else to fall in love with me! But he couldn't sense any discreet in her voice and why would she try to lie to him? She loved him, so why would she tell him if there was someone else who felt the same.

"Why are you telling me this?" Jayfeather inquired, hoping that, in fact, she was only playing a horrible joke on him. That she was only messing with him. But her blank face showed no signs of falsehood or humor.

"Because, Jay's Wing," she meowed, sadly, her eyes drooping, "I went to see you happy.

"But I'm happy when you're around," Jayfeather whined, sounding like a new-born kit, but he didn't care, he only wanted to know why she was saying all this.

She grimaced slightly at his words, almost like there was another cat's claws cutting into her. She frowned and blinked her eyes sadly at him. "I can't keep coming to see you, Jay's wing," she meowed, "I am only an artifice to your true happiness and I'm dead, Jay Wing, we won't be reunited until your passing, and Starclan still has a long life planned for you."

"I can wait," he meowed, regaining some of his previous composure, but still sounding like he could break out into the shrill crying of a kit any moment.

She shook her head, the muscles in her shoulders straining under her fur, "That's the problem, Jay's Wing; I want you to be happy now, not until you die. I want you to long for living, not longing for your time to come." Half Moon meowed. Closing her eyes, "That's why this will most likely be one of our last meetings together."

"But I need you," Jayfeather meowed weakly.

"It will seem that way for a while," she replied, "but when you fall in love again, you'll forget about the pain from this meeting."

"But medicine cats can't fall in love," he meowed, fixing his gaze on her, "It's against the code."

"Do you think I care about the code?" She growled so furiously that even Jayfeather flinched a little. Shaking her head to regain her composure, she continued: "I only want to see you happy and no code is going to get in the way of that. It's where your heart lies and not a code written many moons a go."

Jayfeather found himself at a loss of words. He couldn't believe what he was hearing; betray his own set of morals for love? And this was Half Moon telling him this, the cat who loved him, but here she was telling him to love this unknown cat to fix himself. Fix himself from what?

"You're bitter at everything, Jay's Wing," Half Moon meowed, answering what exactly what was on his mind. "And even more so now since the prophecy is completed."

Jayfeather opened his mouth to retort against her claim, but no words came out as he knew she was right. He's always been bitter since he was born, being attributed to his blindness and having a short temper, but it has almost seem to be more susceptible now since the battle was finally over.

"And I feel the only way to heal such damage, is for you to find who your heart belongs to," she continued, her eyes boring into his pelt, regret radiating off her.

It suddenly struck him that this was hurting her as much as it was hurting him; she was pushing him away for his happiness, but, as a result, was punishing her own to help the one she loved. "But, Half Moon," Jayfeather mewed, trying one last time to convince her to change her mind, but to little avail.

"No, Jay's Wing," she meowed, closing her eyes to stop anymore tears from coming out, "this is what I want for you," she began to breath quickly, sounding like she could break out into tears any moment now, "It's for your own good."

"But what if I don't want it?"

"Sometimes it isn't what you necessary want, but what your heart wants, what you desire. I mean," she added, a small smile spreading across her face, "look at us, did you ever think you would fall in love with me?"

Now that she said it, it was very true. He never meant to fall in love with this she-cat from the past, he only went back to guide the ancients to the mountains and assign the Stoneteller, never to meet someone and fall in love. But what would happen if I do find the she-cat that loves me, would I feel the same way as I do for Half Moon?

"But what if I don't love this cat?" he meowed, putting his thoughts into words.

"Excuse what I'm about to say, Jay's Wing, but that will only happen if you're blind to your feelings, like how you're blind to the world around you. I've seen the ways you two interact anyway, there's no mistaking what is happening between you two and you're just denying it."

He stared once again into his true love's eyes, but they didn't show anything but sadness and love for him, but she wasn't going to budge from her standpoint. She wanted this for him no matter how much it hurt her. She wanted him to be happy at her own cost, and no matter how much he tried to beg, it was futile, she wasn't going to change her mind. Her green eyes lifted away from his blue gaze and fell to the ground of the medicine den; she closed them, trying to stop any tears from falling from them.

"Who?" Jayfeather asked, wanting to relieve some of her pain; it pained him to see her crying at his expense. He had already hurt her once in the past by deciding to name her Stoneteller, so he didn't want to see her in pain again.

"That's for your heart to decide," she replied, not lifting her head to look at him.

Oh, so she can come here and tell me someone in the clan is in love with me, but she won't reveal it in the end.

"You should probably fix the issue you started with Briarlight," She meowed, changing the subject, "You hurt her pretty badly."

Before Jayfeather could reply she began to fade away, "Wait!" He yowled too little avail, as she quickly began to fade, blurring what remained of her.

"Remember, Jay's Wing," Jayfeather could hear her faintly, "I'll always love you and I'll wait forever, but you need to find your true love while you're still alive!"

As her voice faded, so did his vision and soon he was again plunged into the familiar darkness. He blinked his eyes and shook his head, getting use to the darkness again. He could still smell the sweet scent of Half Moon exactly where she had been only moments ago. He waited there taking her scent in, savoring his final moments with her, now that it seemed that this could possibly be his last time ever seeing her until he passed on. And finally, when the scent began to fade just like Half Moon, he heeded her final words to patch up his relationship with Briarlight and proceeded out of the den and into the clearing.