.:A Thousand Years:. -part 10- ~End~

It had stopped snowing. That was the first thing Icecloud noticed when she woke up. The second thing  was the absence of the sun, replaced with stars. And a few heartbeats after, she noticed Lionblaze.  He was sleeping, circled around Icecloud protectively.

With an undignified 'eep!', the white she-cat half fell, half tumbled away from the sleeping tom next to her.

Lionblaze woke with a start, raising his head and tensing his muscles. "What- Icecloud!" Lionblaze relaxed slightly, seeing Icecloud flat on her stomach, awkwardly rubbing her head where it hit the ground.

"Are you ok?" The concern in his voice made Icecloud remember herself, and she scrambled to put her paws under her body, trying to make this whole situation see normal.

"Er- ya! Yea, I'm fine," She licked her chest, trying to flatten her fur. When she tasted salt on her fur, Icecloud remembered what happened. She remembered her out-burst at Cinderheart, Cinderheart's lies; and how much Icecloud herself had cried.
Cried with Lionblaze curled up next to her, apparently.

They were both silent for a long time.  

"Uhh- sorry you had to get involved back there- when Cinderheart was talking to me,"

Icecloud felt like suddenly crying again- or shouting, or something. "It's fine," She muttered, looking at the ground in between her front legs.

Lionblaze coughed awkwardly before scooting himself in front of Icecloud, so that they were facing each other more clearly.

"So, umm- ahem, is, anything that Cinderheart said, at all true?"

It took Icecloud a moment to understand what Lionblaze meant. "N-no! No, absolutely not! Foxleap is a loyal cat!" Icecloud puffed out her fur, furious that Lionblaze could ever be that stupid.

"O-oh, ok. Sorry, I just wanted to be sure," Lionblaze's voice lowered into a murmur, too quiet for Icecloud to hear.

"What?"

"Nothing," Lionblaze mewed, louder.

A cold wind blew by, causing both Icecloud an Lionblaze to shiver. Their combined warmth from sleeping together had melted the snow in their small clearing, but snow was still circled around them.

"We should head back to camp," Lionblaze mewed, looking at the dark sky.

"How late is it?"

"The sun just set about an hour ago, so it's not late." Lionblaze paused for a moment, looking into the forest. "But it's cold," another bone-chilling wind rushed by, greeting his words,  accompanied by new snow flakes falling from the dark blue sky.

Icecloud nodded in agreement, glad for their conversation to turn away from the new rumors surrounding her brother. Lionblaze was the first to stand up, stretching his stiff muscles. Icecloud quickly followed suite.

"Which way is camp?" Icecloud asked. The snowy forest didn't look familiar to her.

Lionblaze glanced around. "This way," He mewed, walking off to the deeper part of the forest.

Another walk trough the forest with this tom was the last thing Icecloud wanted. But she had to get back to camp. 'I will be brave,'

"Icecloud?" Lionblaze called back.

"I'm right here!" Icecloud darted forward, searching for a familiar golden pelt in the quickly thickening snow. Just as she opened her mouth to try and scent out Lionblaze, another wind came, much stronger than the last, bowing in huge amounts of snow. Icecloud's vision blurred, and snow was caught in her throat.
Shocked, the white she-cat fell to the ground, spluttering and squeezing her eyes shut.

Icecloud felt teeth on her scruff, lifting her off the ground and out of the snow. When the white she-cat found her footing, she felt warm breath in her ear. "You ok?"

Icecloud looked over her shoulder. "Thanks," she murmured.

Lionblaze nodded. "No problem."
* * * *

It had only been ten minutes, but it had felt like moons to Icecloud. The storm had grown within minutes, and snow lashed  their faces; Icecloud could almost swear she felt it cutting into her nose and ears like claws.
Lionblaze and herself walked together now, their sides touching. For warmth, and so they wouldn't get separated; it was impossible to see more than a tail-length in front of them now.

Icecloud was amazed they hadn't run into any trees yet.

"W-we must be close to camp by now," The wind stole her words, and Icecloud was positive that Lionblaze hadn't heard her.

In another couple of heartbeats, Lionblaze stopped walking abruptly. Icecloud stopped with him.

"What's wrong?!" Icecloud shouted over the wind.

Lionblaze leaned into Icecloud, putting his muzzle next to Icecloud's ear. "We're at a abandoned twoleg nest," He mewed. "We can wait out the storm here."

"A, abandoned twoleg nest? Not the one in our territory?" 'Have we been walking the wrong way this whole time?'

Lionblaze opened his mouth to respond, but a wind stronger than the both of them came pounding through, forcing both Lionblaze and Icecloud to crouch down and dig their claws into the ground. The snow that came in with the wind completely blinded Icecloud, leaving her seeing nothing but the piercing white that was the cold, unforgiving blizzard.

Icecloud heard Lionblaze. She couldn't understand what he was saying- but he was shouting. And Icecloud couldn't hear his words. The wind still pushed her to the ground, but Icecloud reached out a paw to where she last saw Lionblaze.

Her pads were far too numb to feel if she was touching Lionblaze or not- but his shouting stopped. Slowly, the snow cleared just enough for Icecloud to make out Lionblaze's crouching form. Neither of them had moved, they were right next to each other. Icecloud saw her own paw on top of Lionblaze's.

Lionblaze lifted his one free paw to point forward. Icecloud squinted in the direction- she could just barely see a  looming gray shape in front of them.
'The twoleg nest,'

Lionblaze struggled to his paws, visibly shivering. Icecloud didn't want to get up. But the golden tom set his tail in front if Icecloud's nose. Slowly, on legs she couldn't feel, Icecloud stood up. She lightly bit onto his tail, and he lead the way.
'I'm going to die,' Icecloud thought about who would bring her to Starclan.
'Probably Ferncloud,' One foot in front of the other.
'Maybe Hollykit. I've never met my sister before,' Lionblaze was shouting again.
'Could we be together in Starclan, love?'

Slowly, the gray shape in the distance grew closer, and they stepped through the entrance.

Inside the twoleg next might have been a whole different world. There was still snow; the roof was missing, allowing some snow to float to the floor.

But the wind was gone. Blowing well over their heads, it also blew away a lot of the snow before it could fall into the nest. Icecloud lifted a paw. She saw the brown wooden ground beneath her paw print.

"Come on. Lets head to the corner and brush away the snow. We can warm up there," Even Lionblaze's voice sounded cold and shaken.

Icecloud nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Together, fur touching, they walked into the nearest corner. Wind was still blowing in from the doorway, but it seemed like a pleasant breeze compared to what it was like outside.

Using their tails, because their paws we're too frozen, they brushed away a patch of snow for them to lie down. Lionblaze was the first to get off his paws; Icecloud hesitated a moment before laying down with him.
'For body heat,'

They were silent for a long time, shivering against each other.

"Don't fall asleep," Lionblaze's horse whisper surprised Icecloud.

"Pardon?"

"Don't fall asleep," Lionblaze mewed again, louder. "If you fall asleep, you may not wake up."

Icecloud twisted her head to look into Lionblaze's eyes. "I won't fall asleep if you wont," she whispered. Lionblaze licked her forehead, and they elapsed into a comfortable silence.
* * * *

"You awake?"

"Yes. And yourself?"

Lionblaze purred in response. They had been in the twoleg nest for an hour already, and with the storm staying at its height, it was becoming clear that they were going to stay here all night. Without sleep.
At least they were warming up.

"So if we're not allowed to sleep, are we allowed to talk?" Icecloud asked, yawning.

"If it'll help you stay awake, I don't see why not." Lionblaze wiggled a little, giving Icecloud enough room to roll over, so they were facing each other.

After Icecloud was comfortable, Lionblaze asked, "So what do you want to talk about?"

Icecloud thought for a moment. "Well, first, I'd like to know where we are. We must be out of our territory- this nest isn't the one in Thunderclan."

Lionblaze scrunched up his nose, thinking for a moment. "Don't worry, I know where we are. This is outside our territory; by Shadowclan's border."

Icecloud flicked an ear. "You've been here before?"

"A long time ago. When I was an apprentice," Lionblaze's tone was clear with dismissal; he didn't want to talk about it.

Icecloud became silent, and though it seemed silly, a little offended.

Lionblaze must have felt bad, because he tried to make amends. "Sorry, but hey, you can't say that you've never snuck out as an apprentice, right?"

Icecloud couldn't help but purr. "Sure, I snuck out. But I didn't get caught nearly as many times as you did," She paused for a moment. "And I've never left the clan's territories."

"Where did you go then?"

Icecloud waved her tail dismissively. "Well, we- Foxleap and I, snuck out as kit's once. We actually tried following you and Ashfur out of camp. But we chickened out a few trees past the entrance," Icecloud admitted sheepishly. "We never went fox-hunting as kits, or to the mountains as apprentices." She shrugged. "But we were happy."

Lionblaze was quiet for a while. Icecloud had no idea what was going through his head. He took a deep breath before saying anything.

"I-I'm really sorry for hurting you're brother. I don't know what I was thinking- Or, I wasn't thinking what Cinderheart said- but anyways, I should have apologized sooner- but, I-I didn't want to bring it up. But- but when we get back to camp, I'll apologize to Foxleap himself."

Lionblaze looked away from Icecloud, instead looking at the snow blowing over their heads. Icecloud herself was surprised; why bring that up at a time like this? When they were so close?

"Lionblaze.." Icecloud murmured, not really sure what to say.

"A-and one more thing." Now Lionblaze was thoroughly interested at the back wall, staring at it intently. "I know that we haven't really talked much other than today- but, but I feel really close to you- I mean, I feel like we're really good friends already, and if you, uh, ever decided that- you, wanted, I guess, to be more than friends, uh, I wouldn't mind. Unless you wanted to remain friends, which, I would be perfectly happy with- but, if you ever wanted a mate, then, I guess, if you don't hate me, then, we could- uh, have more walks, together- or, something."

The golden tom now had a red face, but to his credit, he didn't hide his face or anything of the sort. He just found it impossible to look at Icecloud.

Icecloud's heart threatened to burst out of her chest. 'Every breath. Every hour has come to this,'
Sh took a deep breath.

"I have died every day waiting for you;
Darling don't be afraid, I have loved you for a Thousand years.
I'll love you for a Thousand more.
And all along I believed time would find you;
Time has brought your heart to me
I have loved you for a Thousand years,
And I'll love you for a Thousand more."

Somehow Icecloud's head was now resting under Lionblaze's. The wind howled outside, but Icecloud felt warm. Nothing could take this away from her. Lionblaze loved her, and she was here, with him.
* * * *