Disclaimer: I do not own Warriors or any of the canon characters.

Wow, it's been over a year since I've updated this story. Sorry about that. I've been so occupied with life that I completely forgot about it. But I'm determined to finish this! What's Left of Me should have about 20 chapters in total. I'll try my best to update every couple of weeks! Thanks for your patience! :D

Chapter 3

Sandstorm padded across the clearing, scanning it for her newly appointed guardian, Bone. She wasn't looking forward to meeting with him, especially after what she did to him on the battlefield. He certainly wouldn't forget how she ripped his ear clean off. She looked around her once beloved home, a frown forming upon her small face. Everywhere she turned, she saw those studded collars and dead-eyed glares. The Clan cats slunk under their gazes, fearful that even the slightest mistake would cost them their lives. They kept to themselves, trying to stay close to their Clanmates. Sandstorm could see the terror in their eyes, and her heart sank. They were prisoners in their own home, and she dreaded that it would stay that way for a long time if she and her comrades didn't think of something soon.

Sighing, she remembered that it would be spring soon. The birds would be chirping and new litters of kits would arrive. Fresh bountiful prey. Lying out by the Sunningrocks. What would the seasons be like with BloodClan around? Certainly not the way it used to be. She imagined each would be as dreadful as the other. At least they didn't try to take over during leafbare! Her optimist inner side chirped. True, it could be worse then... She thought. But how can it get any worse than it already is? Without a leader, without Firestar to guide us, what are going to do? Sandstorm frowned deeply as her mind returned to her dead mate. He hadn't even appointed a new deputy…

All of a sudden, a large black and white shape pulled her from her thoughts. He was chatting with three other BloodClan cats in the clearing while gnawing on some mouse bones. Remembering why she was even walking around in the first place, Sandstorm slowly made her way over to him. The sight of this monster gradually ignited a new feeling within her stomach. Bone killed Whitestorm, her old mentor. He must have done it when she blacked out on the battlefield. She shivered, remembering how useless she felt as her comrade struggled against the brute. Not now, she flared inwardly. I won't be weak. I won't lose. Not wanting to surprise him or call his name, she purposely stepped onto a twig as she drew closer, hoping that it would catch his attention.

Suddenly, his ears perked up, and she froze as he turned his broad head around to face her. His lip curled at the sight of her. "You!" Bone hissed as he immediately jumped up. Quickly lowering herself into a crouch, Sandstorm unsheathed her claws. As Bone leapt at her, she sprang up underneath him, grabbing his waist. They fell to the ground on their sides together, hissing and spitting. She sunk her fangs into his left paw and dug her claws into his ribs. He growled in pain and used his back legs to catapult her off, scratching her belly in the process. She landed hard on all fours as Bone scrambled to his paws. She winced slightly at the pain in her clawed stomach.

Sandstorm then stared furiously into his amber eyes, and he glared back into her green orbs. BloodClan cats began to form a ring around them, howling and cheering. The Clan cats crouched in the back, looking upon her with worry. She spotted Graystripe next to a small ginger she-cat, his yellow gaze pleading with her to stop. Her ears flattened against her head in frustration. Cinderpelt had just finished healing her and getting injured again would only upset the poor medicine cat. But she wanted so badly to rip off Bone's pelt for what he's done.

As the large BloodClan warrior began to circle her, she let out a low growl, digging her claws into the earth and watching him carefully. Suddenly, as Sandstorm saw his muscles tense in preparation to pounce, she sprung up first and bowled into his side, catching him off guard. However, in a flurry of black and white, she found herself pinned to the ground on her stomach, dust clouding around them. As she squirmed under his bulky legs, she spat and hissed, "Let me up, you piece of fox dung!"

Smirking, Bone dug his claws into her back and chuckled as he received a howl of pain from his enemy. Bending down close to her ear, he whispered, "Give up yet, princess?"

"Princess?!" Sandstorm felt her insides boil with rage. How dare he call her such a name! She twisted her head quickly and chomped on the paw that kept her shoulders restrained. As Bone flinched in shock, she was able to roll out from under his weight. Cats whooped and yelled as she stood to face him again. She cracked her neck and shook the dust off her shoulders. Giving the still surprised Bone a sneer, she growled, "Come and get it, psycho!"

"Scourge?" The young BloodClan she-cat slowly poked her head into her leader's den. He was lying down in the corner of the stone walls and moving his front paws in an odd manner. She couldn't tell what he was doing, but as she shifted forward to sneak a peek, his voice stopped her.

"What." His cold tone echoed through the den as he stopped clawing the dirt in front of him. He moved his position slightly to cover up his work but didn't turn to face her.

"There's, um, an issue outside." The BloodClan she-cat bowed her head low to the ground nervously. Scourge tilted his left ear back, motioning for her to continue. "Bone and a pale ginger Clan cat are fighting, sir."

The BloodClan leader muttered quietly, "She's gotten into trouble already, then?" He gave an amused snort and then turned to his comrade with a hard look plastered onto his face. "Get Brick to take care of it. I haven't time to mess around with those two. Also, tell her to inform Bone that he is her guardian. Now, go." He flicked his tail towards the entrance of his den, motioning for her to leave.

"Y-yes, sir." After hearing her footsteps slowly fade into the distance, Scourge returned to his drawings in the soil. Once he made a few more adjustments, he grinned darkly. It wouldn't be long now. With do time, the entire forest and beyond would in his control. Soon.

Suddenly, reddish paws landed in front of Sandstorm, separating her from Bone who she was just about to pounce on again. The owner looked down upon her, yellow eyes flashing furiously. The light from the sun silhouetted her slim frame as she let out a low hiss.

"That is enough!" Sandstorm flinched at the raspy tone. The she-cat narrowed her eyes at her. "What exactly do you think you're doing, Clan cat?" She spat the word Clan in the vilest way that it made Sandstorm cringe with disgust.

"I did nothing wrong!" Sandstorm exclaimed. "He started it!" She pointed her light ginger tail in the direction of Bone. The black and white tom hissed at her, flattening his ears against his broad head. The other she-cat looked back at him with an annoyed gaze as he shrugged in confirmation of the ThunderClan warrior's words.

"I don't care who started it! I am ending it," she growled, returning her attention to Sandstorm. "There is no room for troublemakers in this clan, she-cat! Unless you want to suffer consequences, I suggest you follow orders and stay in line. Am I understood?" She gazed fiercely into Sandstorm's eyes, who stared back with just as much ferocity.

Sandstorm couldn't bare it any longer. She had only been awake for less than an hour, and she was already done with it all. She wanted Firestar back. She wanted to curl up against him and fall asleep as he gently calmed her with his honey voice. She imagined him brushing her cheek with his soft ginger tail, telling her it would be alright. His big green eyes would be looking straight into hers tenderly, and she would nuzzle his ear, taking comfort in his presence. But, suddenly, the image was shattered by the red she-cat.

"Am I understood?" she repeated, her voice rising to a dangerous tone. The fur on her back was beginning to prickle in annoyance.

If she wanted to survive, Sandstorm would have to cooperate with the BloodClan cats. Submitting to them would not be easy for her to do, and she would have to keep her temper in check. Sandstorm met the she-cat's intense yellow gaze. "Yes, I understand."

"Good." The BloodClan cat's pelt began to smooth back down. She then turned to her black and white comrade. "Bone, I was informed that you will be this cat's guardian." She motioned her tail towards Sanstorm.

Bone's nose scrunched up. "You've got to be kidding me, Brick! I refuse to be her guardian!" he spat, curling up his lip and exposing his sharp teeth. "Scourge can find another cat who can put up with her. Just look what she did to my ear! She's only going to be trouble. In fact, Scourge should just kill her now." He looked over at Sandstorm, his eyes burning furiously. She glared back at him and hissed in response. Bone's hackles began to rise.

Brick slammed her paw in front Bone, her tail swishing furiously. "No more of this. Scourge has given his orders, and you shall follow them accordingly. Now,-" She turned to face the crowd of cats that had gathered for Bone and Sandstorm's fight. "-all of you will disperse immediately! There is nothing more to see here." With that, Brick trotted away from the scene, towards the leader's den.

The cats began to disband and began chattering amongst themselves. Sandstorm heard some of them groaning in disappointment, hoping for a bloodier ending. While she had wanted so badly to rip Bone apart, she felt relieved that the fight was over. She wondered how much longer she would have lasted with him. She was fast, but how long would her agility had taken her? Bone's brute strength would have certainly gotten the better of her eventually. Sandstorm was lucky that she didn't end up with more scratches than she already had. Her belly had quite a few claw marks from Bone, but they weren't too deep. Nothing serious enough to send her to the medicine cat den. She then looked over at Bone curiously. He bore quite a few scratches as well, and his left paw was bleeding. When Bone noticed Sandstorm staring at him, he gave an irritated grunt. "What are you lookin' at?"

Sandstorm smirked. "Just admiring my handiwork!"

Bone snorted. "Then take a good, long look at it, princess, because that's the last time you will put a mark on me and get away with it." He smiled smugly as she reacted to the nickname by curling up her nose in disgust.

"Look, do you need to get patched up by the medicine cat? I need to go out and get herbs for her, and I don't want you slowing us down," Sandstorm said.

"I don't need your little medicine cat to do anything for me!" Bone hissed. "I can walk perfectly fine." He turned his body towards the exit of the camp. "Now, let's go. We're wasting daylight." Sandstorm nodded in agreement, and they began to walk towards the gorse tunnel with Bone leading. He didn't seem to be limping or anything. Sandstorm was thoroughly impressed; the cat was tough.

"Wait!" A familiar voice stopped her. Bone halted as well, his fur beginning to bristle in annoyance. A gray tom ran trotted towards them, and Sandstorm recognized him immediately.

"Graystripe!" she exclaimed, smiling. But his sullen, serious face melted what initial joy she had. "What's wrong?" she asked, a little worried.

When Graystripe reached her, he greeted her with a quick lick to the shoulder. "Are you alright?" His yellow eyes were wide with concern.

"I'm fine, really. Nothing I can't handle."

"Good, we need to talk."

"Uh…" Sandstorm looked over her shoulder at Bone, who gave her an impatient look. "I have to go collect herbs for Cinderpelt right now. Can we speak later? I should be back soon."

"Very well. Meet me in the warriors den at dusk," Graystripe meowed. "And be careful."

"I will, don't worry," Sandstorm said. With that, she and Bone headed out into the forest. It didn't take too long for her to find the comfrey and feverfew. There were bountiful amounts of the herbs near RiverClan's territory-or, what used to be RiverClan territory. Much to her displeasure, Sandstorm had to swim across the river to reach the plants. And Bone just sprawled out on a rock and watched with an amused look upon his face as she went back and forth with a mouthful of herbs. Sandstorm paid him back by shaking her wet fur in his face, spraying him with droplets of the smelly water. He wasn't too happy with her and as she laughed at his sour face, he cuffed her behind the ear as if he was scolding a kit. Sandstorm squeaked from the impact of his large paw and rubbed her ear, pouting. They were both silent on the rest of their trip back to the ThunderClan camp. Mostly because Sandstorm's mouth was completely full of all of the herbs she had collected. Bone had refused to carry a single plant, much to her annoyance.

When they finally arrived at the camp, Bone immediately left her and trotted off to a group of BloodClan cats. Sandstorm went straight to Cinderpelt's den. The medicine cat quickly expressed her gratitude before going back to assisting the sick and injured. Cinderpelt was clearly overwhelmed and didn't have much time to chat, so Sandstorm left, not wanting to bother her. As she exited the den, she noticed that the sky was painted with bright oranges and deep purples. Dusk. While walking over to the warrior's den, she wondered what Graystripe wanted to speak with her about. Sandstorm wondered if it was about her behavior earlier that day. She remembered when she had seen him in the crowd of cats during her fight, he didn't look thrilled about her brawling Bone. She groaned inwardly, hoping she wasn't about to be scolded. She wasn't in the mood for it. It had been a long day, between discovering the loss of her home and loved ones and her fight with Bone.

Upon entering the warrior's den, Sandstorm saw Graystripe, Frostfur, Dustpelt, Cloudtail, and Brightheart all gathered in a circle in the very back of the den. Graystripe took notice of her and motioned with his tail for her to come over. Sandstorm walked over and settled next to Graystripe with a confused look upon her face.

"What's going on?" she asked. Graystripe couldn't have possibly gathered all of the remaining warriors from ThunderClan just to scold her. It had to be something else. Something important.

"We're here to discuss our situation with BloodClan and what our plan of action is," Dustpelt answered.

"'Plan of action'?" Sandstorm echoed. "We can't possibly fight all of them, if that's what you mean!"

"Of course, we're not going to fight the whole lot of BloodClan cats!" Cloudtail exclaimed, his bushy white tail swishing. "We're not stupid."

Sandstorm huffed, "Then I assume you have a good plan?"

"Right now, our situation calls for us to be secretive and silent," Graystripe answered. "If we cannot beat them with brutality, then we must do it with intellect. We have all been observing BloodClan and discussing potential tactics. Right now, BloodClan's main base is here in ThunderClan camp. They have other cats controlling the other Clan's territories. They are well dispersed throughout the forest, which makes escape very difficult. So, as of right now, running away and trying to relocate isn't much of an option. That means that we need to operate from the inside of BloodClan to reclaim our forest or escape it."

"So, what exactly are you suggesting?" asked Sandstorm. She was beginning to worry about what Graystripe was leading up to.

"We need one of our own cats to join BloodClan to gain information," Graystripe said. The den then became silent. Sandstorm's eyes widened at Graystripe's statement and just sat there, gawking at him in complete and utter shock. Suddenly, she realized that the other cats didn't seem surprised at all. In fact, they were all watching her, concern now lacing their gazes. Sandstorm then realized the meaning behind it all.

"And you want me to be the cat to do it…" She looked down at her paws and sunk her claws in and out of the dirt, trying to focus on something else so that the tears wouldn't start.

Graystripe placed his tail on her shoulder. "I know it will be difficult, but we all believe that you are the right cat to do it. You have what it takes to face these monsters. I saw you go up against Bone today. That fearlessness and determination is just what we need to complete this plan."

"You are a strong she-cat," Brightheart added. Sandstorm looked up at the she-cat and met her one eye. "You are capable, and I know you can do this."

Sandstorm felt a lump forming in her throat. "Becoming one of them...would mean having to mistreat my Clanmates…"

"It is all for a good cause, Sandstorm," Frostfur mewed. "We know that you won't mean any of it. But this may be the only way to find out BloodClan's weaknesses. If we ever want to be free, it has to be done."

Sandstorm's heart sunk. Having to join her Clanmates' killers to save the rest of the Clans seemed like such an intense, brutal task. She would have to abuse her friends to prove to BloodClan that she wants to join them. She would have to potentially harm innocent cats. Despite the fact that her Clanmates would know that it was an act, Sandstorm knew deep down that whatever she did would still scar them forever. But through this plan, she could also free them and save future generations from enslavement. It was a necessary evil, and she knew that she had to be the one to carry it out. Sandstorm looked up from her paws and stood before her Clanmates. A new fire burned in her emerald eyes. A fierce determination.

"I will do it. I will join BloodClan, get the information we need to stop them, and save the four Clans at any cost. By the will of StarClan, we will be free."

Please review if you have the time! Reviews are super encouraging! :D