Stormpaw could still hear the fires crackling in the distance, smell the acrid smoke. Ash still hung in his fur, in his mouth, clouding his vision. He was far away from the fires that consumed all four clan's territories, huddled with the survivors in the gathering place, but he felt like he was still back in the heat and the chaos.

"Is she alive?!" Whiteflower, the clan deputy, shoved past Stormpaw, her white fur bristling. "My daughter, is she going to live?"

Stormpaw was too frozen with fear to echo her. Lionpaw, his best friend, had been caught in some burning brambles. Stormpaw had managed to drag her out, but her leg was badly burned and she was unconscious. If she died—Stormpaw couldn't even imagine. Please, StarClan.

"I'm doing all I can," Cloverheart was trying to keep her voice steady, but even if she was the medicine cat, she was still Stormpaw's sister, and he could hear the fear in her voice. "I—she needs space. You should go help Lightningstar."

Whiteflower, too numb to argue, stumbled off. Lightningstar had lost a life—his first since becoming leader-and seemed dead to the chaos around him. Stormpaw watched as Whiteflower made her way over to the silver leader and allowed him to lean on her. They began talking, but they were too far away from Stormpaw for him to hear through the other voices.

But Stormpaw heard another sound coming from behind him: coughing. Lionpaw! He spun around to see Lionpaw, half-awake and struggling to get to her feet even as Cloverheart told her not to, placing her paws on Lionpaw's golden shoulders to keep her from rising.

"St—Stormpaw?" Lionpaw coughed again, her dark blue eyes blinking open, bleary at first, but then focusing on him. She finally stopped struggling against Cloverheart and relaxed.

"Oh thank StarClan! You're alright!" Stormpaw said.

"All this worry, just for me?" Lionpaw's voice was light, despite the situation. She looked around. "There's a lot of cats here."

"The survivors from every clan," Cloverheart said

"The fire was that bad?"

"The territories were all consumed." Cloverheart looked up at the sky, the moon not visible through the smoke. Stormpaw didn't have to be a medicine cat to know that was a bad omen.

"What are we going to do?" Lionpaw asked, the lightness in her voice gone.

"StarClan will guide us," Cloverheart replied, but like before, Stormpaw could hear the hidden fear in his sister's voice.

...

Robinkit could feel her brother shivering beside her. Their mother was curled around them, sheltering them, but Robinkit could still hear the panic of the other cats.

"Mama?" Sedgekit squeaked out. "W-what's happening?"

"Shhhh," Mousestep gave each of them a gentle lick. "Everything's going to be okay."

Robinkit wanted to believe her but she couldn't hear the yowls of pain, fear, and despair she heard around her. She couldn't ignore the heat and the brightness of the flames she'd seen as Mousestep carried her and Sedgekit out of the WindClan camp. Robinkit realized their mother was shivering too,

"I love you both," Mousestep said, her voice quaking. "So much."

"I'm s-scared," Sedgekit said, in a voice so quiet only Robinkit could hear.

"Me too."

...

"Stay put," Twistedtail hooked a paw around Smallkit, pulling him closer to her.

"You're not my mother," The tiny, silver-gray kit grumbled.

"She asked me to watch you," Twistedtail said. Smallkit's mother wasn't just anyone; she was Reedstar, the RiverClan leader. Twistedtail was a young, unimportant warrior, but she'd been Reedstar's apprentice. That was why Reedstar trusted her to watch Smallkit. Twistedtail hoped that trust would make her deputy one day, but after this fire...she wasn't sure what the future held.

"What about my sister? Where did she go?" Smallkit's bright orange eyes looked up at her pleadingly.

Twistedtail remained silent. Smallkit's sister, Brightkit, had died in the fire. His mother should be the one to tell him that, not some warrior he barely knew.

She glanced over at Reedstar. The gray-brown leader was talking to Lightningstar (who seemed quite broken down himself), but there was a stiffness in her movements and a distance in her eyes. She was pushing down her hurt, though, for the sake of her clan. Twistedtail felt proud that RiverClan had such a strong leader.

Twistedtail swept her gaze around the gathering place. The clamor was dying down. She could see the deputies and the leaders all talking, the medicine cats congregating.

"What are we gonna do?" Smallkit asked. Twistedtail realized what the answer to that was.

"I think we're going to leave," Twistedtail replied, her voice cold with shock.

Woodpaw retched, curling on the ground, despite having emptied his stomach many times already. He could feel Shadestar's paw on his back, trying to comfort him, but he couldn't focus past the horror. He'd seen his mother and sister catch fire, smelt their flesh and fur burn, and he had done nothing except run. How many of his clanmates had died because of him. He was a medicine cat, he was supposed to help, not—

"Woodpaw! Shadestar!" The sharp voice of Lilypetal, his mentor, cut through his thoughts. The tall calico stood over him with the clan deputy, Rainfrost, at her side. "Important news."

"We spoke with Spottedstar." Rainfrost said. "And we've allied with WindClan. Their medicine cat died in the fire; in return for protection, Lilypetal and Woodpaw will treat their wounded."

"What?!" Shadestar sprang to her feet, a fire burning in her ice blue eyes. "How dare you decide this without me!"

"ShadowClan needs allies at a time like this," Rainfrost replied, her only response to Shadestar's outburst being a twitch in her ear.

"You might be deputy, but I'm still our leader!" Shadestar growled. "You can't go behind my back like this."

"Still," Lilypetal said, in a tone of voice Woodpaw heard her use when comforting unruly kits. "This is good. We'll have protection!"

Shadestar exhaled and sat down. Woodpaw gave her a weak smile.

"We'll be helping them." Woodpaw's voice was strained and hoarse from how many times he'd vomited, and he felt a wave of self-disgust. He was still lying on the ground, too weak to stand up. Pathetic. "That's the medicine cat's duty. StarClan will smile on us."

As if saying StarClan's name had summoned them, Woodpaw felt a chill sweep over him. He could tell Lilypetal felt it too, her golden eyes widently. An omen was coming. He drew a breath, his muscles tensed in fear, and then-

FOLLOW THE SILVER PATH

The words flowed through him, along with a chilling breeze. He couldn't tell if the gust was real or not until he saw the treetops shaking. He peered up at the clouds and saw—

"Look!" It was Cloverheart, the medicine cat of ThunderClan, rushing to the center of the gathering place, her yellow-green eyes round and upturned to the sky. "The silver path…"

Some of the smoke had been swept away, letting a trail of bright stars show, and a beam of silvery moonlight that pointed to somewhere far away. Woodpaw knew, as every cat who survived the fire must have, that it would be what saved them.

Allegiances

ThunderClan

Leader: Lightningstar-Tall, silver tabby tom with blue eyes.

Apprentice: Sleetpaw

Deputy: Whiteflower- White she-cat with yellow eyes

Medicine Cat: Cloverheart-pale tortoiseshell she-cat with yellow eyes.

Warriors

Jayfur-Gray tom with green eyes

Apprentice: Stormpaw

Graycloud-Gray she-cat with blue eyes

Sandface- sandy she-cat with dark points and blue eyes.

Apprentice: Acornpaw

Oakstem- Dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes.

Brightclaw- gold and white she-cat with blue eyes

Apprentices:

Stormpaw-pale gray-and-brown tom with yellow eyes

Lionpaw-Golden she-cat with dark blue eyes

Sleetpaw-Gray she-cat with amber eyes. Missing one ear

Acornpaw-Dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes. Sleetpaw's brother.

Kits

Turtlekit- tortoiseshell she-cat with blue eyes. Close to being an apprentice.

WindClan

Leader: Spottedstar-calico she-cat with pale green eyes.

Deputy: Dusktail-dark gray tabby tom with ice blue eyes.

Apprentice-Applepaw

Medicine Cat

(deceased with no apprentice; ShadowClan's medicine cat and apprentice taking over job temporarily)

Warriors

Coalnose-gray tabby tom with orange eyes.

Rosewhisker-pale ginger she-cat with yellow eyes

Apprentice-Palepaw

Nightfur-black she-cat with amber eyes.

Mousestep-Small, pale brown-and-white she-cat with blue eyes.

Apprentices

Applepaw- Ginger tom with yellow eyes

Palepaw-Pale grey she-cat with green eyes.

Kits:

Robinkit-tabby tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat with blue eyes

Sedgekit-light brown tabby tom with blue eyes.

RiverClan

Leader: Reedstar-gray-brown tabby she-cat with orange eyes

Deputy: Stonefoot- big, gray-blue tom with blue eyes.

Medicine cat: Shrewpelt-Pale gray cat with yellow eyes.

Warriors

Twistedtail-Silver tabby she-cat with pale amber eyes and a twisted tail

Bearheart-Large brown she-cat with blue eyes.

Redear- Ginger and white she-cat with yellow eyes

Spiderfang-Black and white tom with amber eyes

Apprentice: Poppypaw

Streamclaw-Silver she-cat with pale yellow eyes

Apprentices:

Poppypaw-Tortoiseshell she-cat with amber eyes

Wildpaw-ginger tom with amber eyes

Bluepaw-gray-blue she-cat with pale yellow eyes

Kits:

Smallkit-small silver-grey tom with orange eyes.

ShadowClan

Leader: Shadestar-dark grey she-cat with ice blue eyes

Deputy: Rainfrost-grey she-cat with blue eyes

Medicine Cat: Lilypetal-tall calico she-cat with pale gold eyes

Apprentice: Woodpaw-Light brown tom with green eyes

Warriors

Foxclaw-Ginger tom with yellow eyes

apprentice-Pinepaw

Goldendapple-Golden tabby she-cat with blue eyes

Nettlenose-grey cat with amber eyes

Apprentice-Willowpaw

Daisyfur-gold and white tom with blue eyes.

Apprentices

Pinepaw-Grey-brown tom with blue eyes

Willowpaw-pale brown she-cat with green eyes

A/N: I doubt there's anyone still following me; this account hasn't been active in a very, very long time. But, somehow, I decided I wanted to write Warrior's fanfiction again. This particular story is based on the very first story I ever put online, which still holds a place in my heart. I have a lot of other projects I'm working on right now, but I'd like to finish this, so, here we go.