Hey, faithful, wonderful readers. I’m so sorry this update is so late, but my home life has been very bad recently. It’s been really affecting my update schedule (obviously), even though summer break has been going on since about May twenty-first. Things should hopefully settle down soon, but I’m moving in with my father, so updates should be even later than normal. I’m sorry.

“So, do you want to tell me what’s really going on?” Shrewpaw panted to his she-cat companion as the pair raced towards the ThunderClan camp. Birds sang out overhead, and the pounding sun made Shrewpaw feel like he had just run three laps around the lake.

“Aww, you don’t believe what I told Brambly? Oh ye of little faith!” Light shook her head and rounded a large oak tree.

“Of course I don’t believe that crap! Now, tell me what’s going on! Why are you here?!”

Light ignored his question and kept running; she was just fast enough to where Shrewpaw couldn’t get close enough to look her in the eyes. If he could, however, the simple glance that he would’ve gotten while dashing would have told Light’s recent past- her encounter with StarClan, shown to him by the overwhelming anger in her every look around at the forest, and the soft yet still there sadness for everything she had lost in the destruction of her home.

It would have been enough to be an unspoken answer, yet Shrewpaw couldn’t manage to catch her. Every time he was so much as a tail-length away, Light would manage to get a little faster. The brown apprentice was absolutely worn out; he certainly couldn’t talk because of the extreme speed she was running at.

Suddenly, Light skidded to a halt, causing Shrewpaw to collide into her. She scented the air and looked from side to side like a young medicine cat apprentice, unable to find the herb he or she was looking for, even though it was right under their nose.

“Warn me next time,” hissed Shrewpaw.

“I smell Swiftpaw. Where is he?”

“Out with Firestar, his mentor,” answered Shrewpaw. “I think he told me they were training near the WindClan border.”

Light, nodding, was gone just as quickly as she had stopped. Shrewpaw moaned with the thought of running again, but he managed to keep up with her. For some unspoken reason, Light was a lot slower this time.

She wants to keep me worn out, so I can’t ask her what’s going on, realized Shrewpaw. That arrogant little-

“Oh, Swiftpaw!” When Light finally reached the clearing where Firestar was doing practice fighting moves with Swiftpaw she charged up to him and dramatically acted upset by quietly whimpering. “I’m sooooo sorry, you poor thing! Oh, oh… Swiftpaw!”

“Light. Uh, what are you doing?” He stared unemotionally at the she-cat.

“I came as soon as I could!”

“What are you doing here?!”

Shrewpaw turned from the acting she-cat and his “brother.” Firestar had stood from his crouch and watched Swiftpaw with a tilted head and slow blinking.

“Shrewpaw, who is this she-cat? She looks like Russetfur and the scent is the same as her, but there’s no way that’s Russetfur.”

“A… friend of mine,” lied Shrewpaw, “and she came with news for Swiftpaw and me. We need to speak with her in private.”

Firestar shook his head. “I don’t know any of the three of you well enough to-”

“Talk to Brambleclaw. He’ll explain everything.”

Firestar frowned, then glanced to Light and Swiftpaw. He narrowed his eyes, listened to Light’s rant about the fake uncle, and ran off.

Shrewpaw took a few breaths, still slightly tired from their earlier dash, and sat. “What’s going on?! Why are you here? What happened to Russetfur? Wh-”

“All in good time, my dear Shrewpaw, all in good time.” Light’s shimmering gaze looked to Shrewpaw and Swiftpaw, then padded forward and sat in front of the brown apprentice. She licked her paw and ignored the prying eyes of the two apprentices.

“Well?” Swiftpaw meowed.

“So pushy,” she muttered. “Well, you two, I’m not going to stall it any longer.” She briefly shut her eyes. “Russetfur was murdered.”

Neither Swiftpaw nor Shrewpaw were surprised; they had expected news like this since returning to ThunderClan alive. It still made Shrewpaw wince.

Next is going to be Blackstar, I bet.

“What about Blackstar?” Swiftpaw asked.

“I don’t know,” she replied. “After taking her body, I left ShadowClan.”

“Why are you here?”

“Because ShadowClan is going to be destroyed from the inside.” Light sat down under a large tree and stared at the pair. “Russetfur’s murder will make clanmate suspect clanmate. ShadowClan will be engulfed in a war on the inside until Tigerstar and Hawkfrost manage to take over, promising a load of foxdung about saving the clan.”

“But you’re Russetfur… sort of,” protested Swiftpaw with a small frown. “Why didn’t you just stay put and pretend to be her?”

Light sighed. “I wish it were that easy. A few apprentices saw her corpse, and they’re still alive. I couldn’t pretend to come back from the dead; everything would be worse.”

She’s right, Shrewpaw realized. ShadowClan was doomed no matter what, and Tigerstar would get his way, even if he couldn’t take over with his son. The clan would either barely survive with him or be destroyed without.

“Why did you come to us?” Shrewpaw asked her. “Why didn’t you stay put?”

An emotion stirred within Light- one that Shrewpaw couldn’t begin to understand the origin of. Her once-calm sitting position morphed into her leaping up and snarling at him, ears back and tail flicking.

“You know what, puny apprentice of some traitor clan? There’s more to life than stupid questions! Try figuring things out on your own for once! Never rely on others; they’ll just betray you and leave you and everything you once loved in ruin and dust! You got that?!” Light trembled in her anger and memories, then whirled around and disappeared.

“She’s heading toward WindClan,” noted Swiftpaw, not appearing surprised at her outburst like Shrewpaw was. “C’mon, we can’t just leave her alone, especially while she looks like Russetfur. A dead cat can’t walk among the living.”

Bad ending, but I don’t care about anything right now other than letting you all know what’s going on. Once again, I’m sorry for the extended delay; I hope to update again soon.