As you all well know, I have some sort of obsession with Tigerstar, so you can imagine how sad I was when he died at the end of The Darkest Hour. Well, I came up with a crazy idea: What if my snuggly sexy kitty-boy didn't die? What if he got a second chance and tried to turn himself around?

Tigerstar: You know I'd never do that, Ruthie.

Oh yes you would! In fact, you and Ravenpaw do it together! And you go on a big adventure, and you save a bunch of cats, and you—

Tigerstar: Destroy that vile kittypet?

No. And you turn out as a trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent cat.

Tigerstar: You're gonna make me into a Boy Scout?

Basically.

Tigerstar: Don't tell me I'll turn out like Firestar!

You won't. Firestar's not a Boy Scout. He a perfectionist, why is partially why I don't like him. You'll just be...more functional than before.

Tigerstar: ...Very well. But if I don't like it, I'm going back to the old way.

Fine. And so we begin...

Disclaimer: I do not own the passage in italics! You can find that on page 233 of The Darkest Hour. So in other words, the italics belong to Erin Hunter.I also do not own Tigerstar, Ravenpaw, and any other warriors characters you encounter in this fanfiction.

One blow to his shoulder unbalanced Tigerstar. He fell on his side, exposing his belly, and Scourge's vicious claws sank into his throat. Blood welled out as the smaller cat ripped him down to the tail with a single slash

A desperate scream of fury erupted from Tigerstar, then broke off with a ghastly choking sound. His body convulsed, limbs jerking and flailing. For a heartbeat a stillness settled over him, and Firestar knew he was falling into the trance of a leader who loses a life, to wake after a little while restored to strength and with the rest of his lives intact.

But not even StarClan could heal this terrible wound. Scourge stood back and watched coldly as Tigerstar's body convulsed again. The dark red blood kept on flowing, spreading across the ground in a ceaseless tide. Tigerstar let out another shriek; Firestar wanted to cover his ears so he didn't have to listen anymore, but he was frozen to the spot.

Again the massive tabby's body grew still for a heartbeat, but again the wound was too terrible to yeild to the healing trance. Another spasm seized Tigerstar's body. His claws tore up clumps of grass in his agony, while his screeches turned from fury to terror.

He's dying nine times, Firestar realized. Oh, StarClan, no...

.-T-.-I-.-G-.-E-.-R-.

Well...perhaps not nine. Not a full nine times. Eight, really. The huge tabby felt his eighth life slip through his claws and reached for it. He came away with nothing to show for it. Darkness washed over him, mingled with bright red. But nothing else came. There were no voices of StarClan telling him to wait while they healed him. He could see nothing, hear nothing. He was alone in the darkness of his mind.

How much time had passed between that surge of unconsciousness and the gentle voice? Moons, it seemed. Tigerstar felt his mind begin to crawl from the dark tide that smothered it. Someone was meowing his name softly, in a voice filled with so many emotions of sorrow, fear, and hurt.

"How could you, Tigerstar? Firestar was right...you could have been the greatest warrior in the forest! But you threw it all away for your own ambitions and gain. You murdered and lied, plotted revenge and offered what you couldn't give." So familiar...that voice... "You could have been the hero of every legend rather than an evil nightmare used to scare kits into obedience. You betrayed your birth Clan, and most of all, me, your own apprentice."

Ravenpaw...?

Tigerstar tried to recall the name, connect it with a face and a pelt. He could see the broad head of the wildcats he grew up with, along with flashes of black...small spots of white. A skinny cat who jumped at his own shadow. He had seen Redtail's murder. Now he remembered. Ravenpaw...my old apprentice.

Ravenpaw continued in a hard, angry voice. "Redtail never did anything to deserve what you did to him. So many cats lost kin and friends to you: Dustpelt, Graystripe, Cloudtail, Ashpaw, Fernpaw, Bluestar, and especially Firestar. Think of your mate and kits. Think about them, Tigerstar: Goldenflower! Bramblepaw! Tawnypaw! Be ashamed of what you've done."

The massive tabby hung onto every word. He's...right. What have I been doing my whole life? I was made leader of ShadowClan not long ago...wasn't that what I'd always wanted? Why would I need more? He bared his fangs angrily at his stupidity. If I could do it all again...

A squeal of shock arose from Ravenpaw. "You...you're still alive?" he gasped. Tigerstar opened one eye a slit, his chest heaving painfully.

"Y...yes, Ravenpaw," he breathed, his voice as dry as an adder's skin; Scourge's claws had all but shattered his vocal cords.

Ravenpaw's hackles rose fearfully. "F-Firestar saw you die!" he spat. "You can't be alive! He saw Scourge tear your lives out in one strike!"

Tigerstar felt a surge of anger towards his old apprentice. Ravenpaw's new courage was getting fiercely on his nerves, which he wondered if Scourge had left intact for some purpose. He growled. Good. That sound could still be made. "Listen you piece of rotten crowfood!" he snarled, lashing out with his super-long claws. "If that measly scrap ripped my lives from me, how can I be talking to you?" His attack failed; Ravenpaw easily dodged the slow swipe. Pain lanced up his leg.

"You're not the cat on top here, Tigerstar," Ravenpaw retorted. "You can barely stand for blood loss and that gash going through you! I'm the one in charge here."

Tigerstar was crippled with a combination of pain and burning shame. It was true. He could feel his life hanging on remaining motionless. If he moved at all, his torn body would fall to pieces, and he would die. He sighed, a sound like the wind hissing through dry, broken reeds. "You're right," he mewed.

Ravenpaw looked taken aback. "What?" He leaned closer to hear better. Tigerstar longed to bring his claws over the black tom's face, but he knew he had to stay still. The tabby cat spoke again:

"I said you're right, Ravenpaw. I can't...and I heard all that you said." Ravenpaw looked shocked, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "...and I apologize...I know...I should have let things be how they were...Bluestar would have made...made me deputy eventually..." He could feel his voice starting to give out, as well as his life. He needed to get his message across. "I never...real...ized...how strong...you...could...have...been, Rave...Ravenpaw..." He sunk his claws into the torn ground. No...no, StarClan, not yet! "If I...could do...this...over...we would...be...the way...we...should...be...training...to...geth...er..." He took a final, deep breath. "I'm...truly...sorry, Ra...Rave...Raven..." His head dropped back to the ground and his amber eyes clouded over, never to blaze with emotion again.

.-T-.-I-.-G-.-E-.-R-.

That wasn't too painful, Tigerstar realized as he drifted through the night sky towards Silverpelt. In fact, my paws feel much lighter going to StarClan this time. I needed to say what I did...Still I wish I could have done it over again...

He felt the weight of life lift from his body and he rose faster. Silverpelt came closer and closer. Tigerstar lowered his head and slipped through the mass of cloud and dust that surrounded the star formation. He touched down in a patch of soft grass just across a large, silver-watered pool. "StarClan?" he meowed. "I've returned...for good."

"No," a haunting she-cat's voice told him. Bluestar appeared from behind the pool. She flicked her tail for the former ShadowClan leader to sit beside her on the rocks that ringed the pool. "Not for good."

"Why not, Bluestar?" Tigerstar asked. "My ninth life is gone. I'm just glad I could make peace with Ravenpaw before it was lost."

"That's just the thing." A new cat sat on the rock opposite Tigerstar. He was a light brown tabby with a strange expression frozen on his face—something halfway between a scowl and a grin. Tigerstar's whiskers twitched in confusion.

"What do you mean, Crookedstar?" he asked.

"I mean, you wouldn't be here if you hadn't apologized to your old apprentice," Crookedstar replied steadily. "You would have walked in different skies than StarClan. Things being the way they are, you have a new mission."

"A what?" Tigerstar felt his hackles start to rise. "Look, I did the right thing and all, and now I'm ready to spend eternity with my warrior ancestors. Is that too much for me to ask for?" Before any cat could open its mouth, he continued, "That's just the thing. Maybe I'm done with forest life! Maybe I don't want to go back to that evil shell I lived in! Have you ever considered that, Bluestar? Crookedstar?"

Bluestar drew her tailtip across the surface of the silvery water to reveal a glimpse of the mortal world. Tigerstar bent down to observe it closer. He could see the clearing at Fourtrees, the ground drenched in his shed blood. The hunch-backed form of Ravenpaw was crouched beside a mound of dark tabby fur, moaning and mewling pathetically.

"You may be done with the forest, Tigerstar," Bluestar meowed evenly, "but the forest is not done with you."

Tigerstar was stunned at what he saw. "That's Ravenpaw," he murmured. "And he's...he's mourning me." He looked up at Bluestar. "But why? I plotted to kill him for what he saw so many moons ago. I forced him from his birth Clan. Why would he be paying me that final respect?"

"Perhaps if you were to hear him, things would be clearer," Crookedstar pointed out. He let his tailtip fall onto the water's surface and opened his mouth. What came out was the voice of Ravenpaw:

"Not now, Tigerstar! No! You...you can't go now...There's so much we haven't done together! You must come back! I need you now...please, Tigerstar. Not now...come back to me...just when I feel I can trust you, you go!"

Crookedstar removed his tail and closed his mouth. Tigerstar dove into the water, only to be hauled back out by Bluestar. "Let me go!" he snapped. "Ravenpaw needs me back down there! I'm not going to leave him wanting more! Don't hold me back!"

"It is not time now," Bluestar pointed out. "Your body is lifeless. You cannot return to it just yet. You must be patient while we prepare for you." She padded away. "Watch your present. I shall return."

Tigerstar barely heard the muffled murmurs and mews behind him. His stare was fixed on the scene in the mortal world: his apprentice, the cat who he had bullied and tortured, was yowling grief to the night skies—grief for his dead tormentor. How...touching. A tug on his tail alerted him to the presence of a StarClan apprentice behind him. "Bluestar says they're ready now, Tigerstar," the black and white cat mewed.

The huge tabby felt a wave of cold fear. Swiftpaw. A cat whose death he had been responsible for. But no anger showed in the young cat's eyes. Tigerstar dipped his head. "I'm so sorry for you," he whispered.

"Just come on," Swiftpaw retorted, batting Tigerstar's chipped ear playfully. "All of StarClan is waiting on you, you big furball!" Tigerstar gave him a playful shove and bounded across the green clearing to where his warrior ancestors sat waiting.

"Tigerstar," Bluestar meowed, "you will be restored to life. However, your journey will be a long and hard one. We have prepared a few gifts for you: eight to be exact. Eight lives."

"Why eight?" Tigerstar asked. "Why not an even nine?"

"You are no longer Clan leader," Bluestar replied. "Nine lives are given to Clan leaders. Therefore, you shall be given eight lives to help you through your journey. Are you ready to receive them?"

"Yes," Tigerstar meowed, standing tall and proud. A slinky brown tabby with long fur padded out first. His long tail was kinked about a mouselength from the end. Tigerstar recognized Brokenstar, one of ShadowClan's leaders. The tomcat touched his nose to Tigerstar's.

"With this life I give you loyalty," he explained. "Use it well to hold true to your beliefs and your allies."

Tigerstar felt his fur prickle with the sensation that a fellow warrior was in danger. His long talons unsheathed instinctively and he felt his mind pounce on the attacker to sort them out thoroughly. Then the rush left him feeling foolish and teased. Brokenstar was working a bit of irony in there, I bet. Every cat knows I left ThunderClan to lead ShadowClan. But that doesn't matter. One life down, seven to go.

Lionheart approached next, his golden coat shining with starlight. Tigerstar felt anxiety tug at his belly. "Er...Sorry about the ShadowClan attack...back then," he mewed awkwardly. Lionheart said nothing, but his eyes held a glint of forgiveness.

"With this life I give you willingness to accept mistakes and change," he meowed. "Although, you already seem to be working on that." He gave Tigerstar the same nose-touch.

The dark tabby felt his belly jerk and twist guiltily. Suddenly he felt as if every starry warrior here died by his claws. His gut twitched painfully. So many lives lost...He wanted to yowl an apology to the whole forest to make it stop when the feeling subsided, ending in a wave of mercy and easiness. He heaved a sigh of relief under his breath.

The next warrior to approach him was Redtail. The small tortoiseshell cat was dwarfed by the massive Tigerstar, but his eyes were serious and undaunted. Tigerstar crouched down so Redtail could reach his nose easier. "With this life I give you self-control. Use it well to judge your actions before they leave your thought and cause you pain."

And now I'm just going to skip ahead...(counts on fingers)...five lives, because I really don't like how it's turning out and I'm far too lazy to go back and rewrite it. Hey, at least I'm being honest with you! Oh, and yes, every life he receives is ironic. You want the full list?

1. Brokenstar: loyalty

2. Lionheart: willingness to accept mistakes and change

3. Redtail: self-control

4.Swiftpaw: forethought

5. Brindleface: compassion

6. Nightstar: ability to accept others' judgement

7. Stonefur: tolerance

8. Bluestar: patience

Tigerstar felt his paws burn with energy of the eight lives he had been granted. Bluestar, the last cat to approach him, now stepped back. Her ice-blue eyes were gentle and kind. "And now, Tigerstar, return to earth, and follow your heart."

Tigerstar felt his body grow lighter and lighter, and felt his paws leave the ground. StarClan's clearing faded away into nothingness. His body gave a jerk, and he plunged away from Silverpelt like a falling star.

.-T-.-I-.-G-.-E-.-R-.

A sharp pain jolted his body. Ravenpaw's awed voice mewed, "Tigerstar...?"

The huge tom opened both eyes and dragged himself into a sitting position. "Yes, Ravenpaw?"

Ravenpaw tackled him, purring loudly. "You're alive! I can't believe it! It's a miracle! I though you were dead, but no! You were holding on just like always! Indestructible, that's my Tigerstar!"

Tigerstar was surprised at the burst of warm affection shown by the formerly timid cat. He blinked as Ravenpaw covered his ears in licks. "You...you want me back?" he asked. "After all the things I've done to you and ThunderClan?" Ravenpaw nodded, adding to Tigerstar's confusion. "Well, why? How did I magically win your heart over?"

"What you said," Ravenpaw replied. "I mean, I wasn't expecting that. You openly admitted all the times you'd done things wrong. You asked me to forgive you. I was so startled, I couldn't say no. Once you had died, I realized what you had really said, and it touched me. I couldn't believe it. I wanted you back so I could hear your voice say those three words..."

Tigerstar purred. He knew what the sleek cat wanted from him. " 'I'm sorry, Ravenpaw,' " he murmured. Ravenpaw purred. Tigerstar suddenly turned the tables and shoved Ravenpaw down hard, pinning him to the ground. "And if you ever tell any cat those words crossed my tongue, yours will be ripped out and fed to BloodClan!" Ravenpaw's eyes went wide as he nodded fearfully. Tigerstar let him up, and Ravenpaw started to lick his ruffled pelt smooth again. "Good. Now, where to?"

"We can't stay here," Ravenpaw meowed around a tongueful of fur. "You're supposed to be dead. If any cat sees you walking around and looking like you do, they'll tell the whole forest and Firestar will have your tail for a trophy, no second chances."

"Hmm...I suppose you're right," Tigerstar grumbled. "Well, to Highstones, then. I have a few questions to ask StarClan before we go anywhere new and exciting."

"Okay." Ravenpaw bounded up beside him. "But along the way, we can stop in the barn for shelter. Barley won't be there; he and I paid ThunderClan a quick visit the day you were 'killed.' Can you believe Barley used to be part of BloodClan?"

"So was Boulder," Tigerstar admitted. "That's how I found them in the first place. Fine. The barn it is, then. Oh...and we should steer as far away from WindClan as we possibly can. Tallstar...won't have forgiven me for...my, ahem, attack."

The look in Ravenpaw's eyes said he wanted to know, but Tigerstar kept his mouth shut. That was his secret, to tell or hold silent as he pleased. Something in his eyes must have told Ravenpaw this, because the tomcat said nothing more about the subject.

The two cats reached WindClan's border easily with no trouble at all. Once the progressed a little further, though, Tigerstar found Ravenpaw pushing him into an abandoned badger den to hide while Ravenpaw confronted a moonhigh patrol. He could make out the muffled voices through the soil that pressed around him.

"Ravenpaw, it's been moons since we've seen you!" That was Deadfoot, the WindClan deputy, his raspy voice friendly. "Have you heard of the tragedy?"

"Yes," Ravenpaw replied. "And I'm sorry to hear about your losses. My territory borders yours, and I feel a certain kinship with your Clan."

"Luckily, Tigerstar is dead, so there won't be any more trouble from him," Mudclaw growled. Tigerstar waited for Ravenpaw's reply. He can say what WindClan will believe: hatred.

"Thankfully," Ravenpaw mewed. "That traitor drove me from my own Clan! I'm glad he's dead." Tigerstar felt a ripple of fury at the name 'traitor.' But Ravenpaw is acting, he reminded himself. He has to call me those things.

"Well, just watch you tail," Deadfoot concluded. "BloodClan might be lurking around still. We've had to drive a few of their apprentices off our territory tonight. Nasty little creatures. Well, StarClan light your path, Ravenpaw. Take care of yourself."

Tigerstar waited in his hiding spot for Ravenpaw to come and pull him loose. The black tom came and took Tigerstar's huge paw in his mouth. "In the future, Ravenpaw, I'd prefer not to be referred to as 'that traitor.'"

"What'd you want me to say?" Ravenpaw retorted playfully. "'That poor, misunderstood saint of a cat'?"

"It's a start," Tigerstar growled.

Ravenpaw gave a final yank. He grunted as Tigerstar's muscular frame popped out of the badger hole. "There. Let's get a move on. Barley won't be back until BloodClan has been sorted out."

Tigerstar padded alongside Ravenpaw, sighing. "Do you think WindClan suspected anything?" he asked.

"Why?"

"You have my scent all over your fur, and you supposedly hate my lifeless body. How would you explain that?"

"Easy. I pushed your corpse into the river, where it was swept away into the unknown. I touched you, and so I smell like you."

"Brilliant."

"You're flattering me."

"Yes, but that really is a nice excuse. Use it."

"I will. Although, I have a feeling we'll be explaining ourselves to less and less cats as we progress on our little journey."

"As do I, Ravenpaw. As do I."

Inside the barn, Tigerstar curled up in a huge pile of hay alongside Ravenpaw just as the first streaks of dawn appeared in the sky. The dark tabby heaved a sigh of relief. He was alive and out of the forest. Next stop: Highstones.

And end Chapter One! How do you like it so far? And you? (looks at Tigerstar) Did I lie? Are you still a grouchy ball of evil fur?

Tigerstar: Er...no.

See?

Tigerstar: But I liked being evil! It was so rewarding!

And it got you killed. See? This way, you get to live again, and you get an apprentice/sidekick. Isn't that what you always dreamed of having?

Tigerstar: I always dreamed of having total rule of ThunderClan without that meddling kittypet getting in my affairs. (shakes claws menacingly) I'll get you, kittypet! (looks up at Ruthie) I will get him, right?

Maybe...maybe not. You'll have to go on your little adventure first, though. (turns back to the readers) Okay, peoples! R&R if you want more! Don't be shy. I want to know if people think this is a worthy cause.