Longer chapter today, folks!

SHADOWS RISING
WILLOW

"Willowdawn, some help, please?" screeched a terrified Eagleblaze. He was brand new to the whole "warrior" thing, having just gotten rid of his rank of medicine cat the day before. I ran to his aid. A WindClan tom was cornering him.

"You ain't no medicine cat anymore, Eagleblaze. Don't think I won't get my claws dirty," the dusty tom sneered. Eagleblaze's fur was on end. I quickly ran, and leapt. The tom, who'd previously been attacking Eagleblaze, was now in my grasp. I had him pinned, giving Eagleblaze enough time to run to a safe place. The tom hissed at me. "Who the Dark Forest are you?" For some reason, I swear I saw fear in his eyes. I was easily smaller than him. So why was he afraid?

"I'm a ThunderClan warrior, that's who I am," I let up my grasp on him, "and we take attacks very personally." The tom was desperate to escape, sliding out from underneath me and running away. I took a deep sigh, fairly confused. Gee, was I that intimidating?

Cinderdapple and Oliveleaf were taking on two warriors, quite a distance away. I'd seen them at gatherings before- Harestreak and Jadeheart. They'd been nice enough, but were pretty masculine. Cinder and Olive were doing fine, so I padded off to go find anyone else I could help. But that had only been the beginning of the bloodshed. A clearing held at least half of the warriors from both clans, engaged in a bloody combat. I spotted Blackstar, attacking the WindClan deputy. Blackstar was easily the best warrior in the clan, he had the tom pinned within seconds. With our clan obviously winning, I sprinted back to camp. And that's when I freaked out.

Oliveleaf had wounds covering her pelt. Scratches and gashes. Cinderdapple was desperately trying to fend off the warriors, Eagleblaze sitting besides Oliveleaf attempting to use herbs to heal her. It was a horrific sight. Although Oliveleaf had never been the most personable cat, I still had the heart to feel bad. So I sprinted near the cats. Cinderdapple looked at me, her eyes wide. She didn't call for help. But I had to help her… her and Eagleblaze.

I focused on Jadeheart and Harestreak. I imagined them being taken out and struck through the heart. But glimpses of Oliveleaf speckled into my mind. She needs your help, imagining them dying won't help- And that's when it happened. Dark, wispy streams of gray shot out from my paws, trickling down onto the ground. They spread like fog, covering the ground. And they were headed towards the WindClan warriors. I moved my paws in their direction, thinking only of their demise. Cinderdapple, and an alarmed Eagleblaze rushed away, leaving Oliveleaf trembling as her strength slowly faded. The gray streams crashed into the cats. The whole quarry shot up into a gray cloud, the smell of blood lingering in the now misty air. It didn't choke me, nor Eagleblaze and Cinderdapple. The dark gray cleared, the fog thinning.

"You did this?" Cinderdapple's voice was soft, her eyes wide with terror.

Cinderdapple and Eagleblaze stood above the now lifeless bodies, staring. The cats that I'd killed no longer looked like ordinary cats. Where their eyes should've been were dark holes. Their fur was dusted in black, the original colors barely seeping through. And where I'd, or the shadows, had killed them was a charred spot, no bigger than a paw. Eagleblaze leaned his head down, sniffing the bodies.

"They smell like…" he took a second, before saying softly, "nothing." Cinderdapple looked up at me, studying my face.

"That black spot on your right ear. I swear I've never seen that before," Cinderdapple squinted. "Is it just me?" Eagleblaze took a step forward.

"No, your right. It's never been there," he confirmed. "Then how'd it get there…?"

"That's not the priority, right now," snapped Cinderdapple, looking back towards the clearing. "Our biggest priority should be figuring out what in the name of StarClan just happened."

"Well it's nothing weirder than your pow-" I began saying, before Cinderdapple cast me a glare. "I mean, yeah, the battle. We should go help."

"Help," Cinderdapple nodded. "Right." I cast an uneasy glance at Eagleblaze. He simply looked down, a solemn look to his expression.

"What's wrong, Eagleblaze?" I took a step towards him, concerned. He simply closed his eyes.

"Not being able to help someone is traumatizing, how do you cats do it?" He simply wandered off towards the nursery. "I need to go help with the kits."

Cinderdapple frowned, once he was gone. "You really like him, don't you?" She took a deep breath. I was about to snap out something, when Cinderdapple spoke, "Don't worry, I'm not judging. You deserve each other." She cast a friendly smile, something I hadn't seen from Cinderdapple in awhile.

"Thank you," I replied, before running off towards the battle. Cinderdapple approached Claysight, who was fighting off a she-cat who not at all looked threatening. I simply joined Motheye, a she-cat who had always been nice to me, in battling Heatherstep, a WindClan warrior. We left her with a few scratches, but no permanent damage.

The battle soon finished, ThunderClan triumphantly forcing WindClan off their land. WindClan dragged away Jadeheart and Harestreak's bodies, not many cats wanting to get near them. They were too eerie for anyone's likings, certainly.

When Claysight discovered the body of his sister, he had run away to the lake. Cinderdapple had quickly followed, instructing no one to join them. With Oliveleaf's death, Claysight no longer had any immediate family. The chemistry between the two was so very obvious; Cinderdapple was the best cat to comfort him. The clan would hold a silent vigil for her, the elders were to bury her body at sunset. No one asked what happened to Oliveleaf, Jadeheart, and Harestreak. Fallowsnout didn't even study the bodies. Something told me that Fallowsnout knew far more than she was able to speak of.

I found Eagleblaze by the Ancient Oak. He was rolling a pebble around in the dirt, his eyes focused on it only. I had to use my voice to catch his attention. "Eagleblaze." I walked to a rock, before speaking. "May I?"

"Go ahead," Eagleblaze mewed, his voice especially low. I nodded, taking a seat next to the rock.

"Look, about earlier…"

"I couldn't save her, alright?" his amber eyes were a blaze, fury exploding from him, "With what happened…" He trailed off, noticing his violent tone. "I had to run."

"I know," I mewed, barely a whisper. "I couldn't control it, the power. I was so focused on killing the two warriors, and with Oliveleaf's condition on my mind… it was directed towards her as well. If you hadn't moved-"

"It's my fault, not yours."

"If you hadn't moved you would've been killed too! Where would that have gotten us?" My voice lowered, "this clan wouldn't be itself without you."

"Well, I could've tried," he huffed in response.

"And you'd be dead."

He did not reply to that, his eyes focused on the ground once more. "I blame myself for Oliveleaf, how could I ever blame you? You're wonderful, you're sassy, you're sweet, and…" He looked up at me, realizing that his mouth was moving faster than his common sense. He took a breather, before saying, "It's my fault, Willowdawn. Period."

"Eagleblaze…" I took a step towards him, before losing my balance and falling right into him. The two of us crashed to the ground. He purred.

"Bit of a clutz, am I right?"

I didn't immediately jump to my paws, taking a moment to share a laugh with Eagleblaze. StarClan's name, he really did make me happy. I laid beside him.

"Eagleblaze," I had a humorous tone, quickly realizing and saying in a more serious manner, "Do you love me?"

Eagleblaze, who was too laying on his back, smiled at me, "Willowdawn, how could I not?" That brought a smile to my face.

"Eagleblaze, I'm afraid I… I love you too," I looked at Eagleblaze's face. That was something I'd wanted to tell him for quite a while now. Although we had been friends for ages, it'd never quite come to… to this.

And I couldn't be happier to be with him.