#and she still helps fireheart from starclan and he looked up to her a lot and wanted to honor her | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

warriorsbutnotreally · 3 years ago

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Firestar Has Powers As The Fourth - AU

ooo

so I'm gonna make this a TPB thing

but I will add some afternote info

for future events

in case anyone wants to do anything with this

[which idr if this was ever mentioned, but my designs and ideas and AUs are free to use I just ask for credit]

Rusty is a kittypet who is drawn by the forest and other kittypets are cautious about him as he's always had something about him that unsettled other cats

He seems to know about things no cat does and talks about things he's seen that no one believes exists

Rusty has the ability to basically safely separate his spirit from his body and wander around in his sleep, so long as his spirit has a place to return to

One night while he does this, his spirit travelling through the forest, he notices two cats sitting together - a blue-gray molly and a tortoiseshell molly -, talking. He isn't paying attention to what they say but watches them curiously, as he's done many times, but never so close to where all the strange forest cats slept

Suddenly, after the blue-gray she-cat leaves, the other cat looks and he realizes the tortoiseshell can see him do this and it frightens him into being wide awake

Despite his fear, though, he's also curious on what's going on and he feels himself being called towards the forest

Finally, gathering his nerves, he sets out only to find there's someone waiting for him.

The tortoiseshell from before is sitting out in the open and she greets him the moment she sees him

He asks who she is and she introduces herself as Spottedleaf and she asks if he was the cat that was spying on her and her leader

He sheepishly admits to it

Spottedleaf nods and then turns to an unseen figure that steps out of hiding. It's the blue-gray she-cat.

She's Bluestar and she admits she didn't believe in what Spottedleaf saw for a moment, but is quite curious about this young tom.

They have a long talk that ends in Rusty agreeing to join ThunderClan as long as the two she-cats promise not to tell anyone about his gift, as it has lost him many friends

With no goodbyes to anyone, he follows them

Rusty grows into Firepaw and is quickly mentored by both Bluestar and Spottedleaf. When asked, Bluestar states that she's curious if he's more suited to being a warrior or a medicine cat.

He's not interested in being a medicine cat at all, but rather Spottedleaf, being the only cat who can see him when he spirit walks, just wants to learn the extent of his abilities and such and has no interest in making him be a medicine cat apprentice.

They learn the hard way that she's not the only one, as he's noticed by another cat - a sickly ShadowClan tom.

When he returns, he mentions this and Spottedleaf informs him that who he met was Runningnose. She then speculates that perhaps its those with high ties to StarClan - aka medicine cats - who can see him.

Firepaw eventually goes to full warrior training to avoid any issues with the other medicine cats

Now able to hang out with cats his own age more often, he becomes fast friends with Ravenpaw and Graypaw, though he keeps his secret from them as he's worried they'd no longer want to be friends with him if he told them

He goes through his time in ThunderClan trying to avoid using his abilities - or, at least, not using them enough to get caught doing it

His stance on this changes after Spottedleaf dies, as he realizes he could've spied on ShadowClan and seen this coming, even though he had no clue he would've needed to spy on ShadowClan at all and it's kind of a illogical back and forth with himself

He makes a quiet promise to himself to use his powers whenever he feels he should to avoid losing anyone else

After Bluestar sends him and Graystripe to find WindClan, Fireheart uses his ability to wander until he locates where they are, leading his friend in that direction

Graystripe is in awe, thinking Fireheart is just the best tracker in the four Clans and looks up to him with great fondness

As they lead the Clan back, Fireheart is confronted by Barkface, who admits he isn't sure why, but he's certain that there's something strange about the fire-orange tom and he hopes that whatever that is, that it's for the good of the Clans

Fireheart promises that he's doing all he can to help the forest, even if he wasn't born into it

Barkface liked that

The gorge scene and Fireheart saves Sandpaw, coming to terms slowly that his powers can't help him with everything

Fireheart returns and Yellowfang is now aware of his powers, as Bluestar told her while he was gone. She wants to test his limits rather than just seeing them work. [Cinder and Bracken aren't apprenticed early]

While back to training in the medicine cat den, he learns he cannot physically interact with the living while his spirit is detached

They also learn, after he travels to the Moonstone as a spirit, that he can travel to StarClan and we learn of them a bit earlier than expected. He sees Redtail's spirit and he runs to ask him what happened, but is snapped awake by the sounds of Tigerclaw interrogating Yellowfang on why Fireheart is here

Fireheart interrupts by saying he was considering being a medicine cat

Tigerclaw accepts this answer and tells him he should bring it up with Bluestar

After he leaves, Yellowfang asks if he was telling the truth and Fireheart admits that he's not entirely sure. She informs him that if he chooses to become a medicine cat, there's always a place for him, but she warns him that it's not an easy path

Fireheart is aware of this

She also then adds that he'd never be allowed to have a mate or kits.

He's also aware of this

He goes off on a hunting patrol and while he's out he stumbles across a kittypet and she stares at him from her fence, wide-eyed. He's about to leave when she calls him 'Rusty' and he realizes that this is his sister, Princess.

Princess is happy to see him

He's happy to see Princess

They talk and she reveals she's expecting kits and he starts thinking about what Yellowfang said

Fireheart has been sneaking out to talk to his sister during the day and trains his powers with Yellowfang at night

One day Graystripe drags him off to go hunting before he can leave camp and the two of them hang out for the first time in a long time. Graystripe asks if Fireheart is actually considering being a medicine cat and he admits that he isn't entirely sure yet.

Graystripe, implying to like Fireheart, tells him that he'd rather be able to share a den with him

Fireheart didn't catch on and instead jokes that, with how much Graystripe gets into trouble, that he'll be in there more often than not if Fireheart does become a medicine cat

Graystripe is not impressed and goes off to hunt alone. Fireheart is confused on why his friend was hurt, but Graystripe refuses to talk.

After some time, Fireheart realizes that he isn't the only one sneaking out of camp and he decides to investigate, even though he was doing the same thing

There he sees Graystripe hanging out with a RiverClan cat

He confronts them and Graystripe introduces Silverstream

Fireheart scolds the two of them and Graystripe counters back that he's not the only one sneaking off to see someone

Silverstream leaves the two to argue and Fireheart asks what he's talking about.

Graystripe mentions he knows Fireheart has been going near twolegplace. He asks what business he has there.

Fireheart brings up his sister

Graystripe feels awkward now

Next time he sees Princess, he says he'd have to visit less often. Princess understands.

Whitecough is spreading through camp and Fireheart avoids the medicine cat den for the day as he's not sure what he wants to do with his life.

He goes to Bluestar and asks what he should do

Bluestar is confused

He brings up how he told Tigerclaw he was thinking of becoming a medicine cat

She asks if he's being truthful

He isn't sure

She then asks what he wants to do

He's still not sure

Bluestar gives him the option to train as a medicine cat for a couple moons and he can make his choice then

So Fireheart starts his journey as a medicine cat around the same time Bluestar gets sick. Tigerclaw's attempt to kill Bluestar ends with Fireheart almost getting hit by a car, but he manages to stumble over into ShadowClan territory. He gets scolded for doing so.

Some time later we get Cloudkit in ThunderClan. He is made aware of his kittypet origins a lot sooner and Brindleface loves him regardless and her kits defend him from being bullied.

Fireheart helps heal his Clan from whitecough and, while learning herbs, ThunderClan is attacked by rogues. They win and the Brokentail is Yellowfang's son reveal happens

Fireheart confronts Yellowfang about this and the two have a long talk about what happened with her life and how she had kits as a medicine cat

He's sympathetic but then asks why they don't just change the code

She admits she isn't sure

Fireheart promises change

She laughs a bit and says "sure"

Yellowfang is busy so she sends Fireheart to gather herbs and supplies. He brings Sandstorm for help. The two hang out and bond and she apologies for being an ass when he first joined. He accepts her apology.

The two become friends

They return to learn Cloudkit, Ashkit, and Fernkit are missing. They are found by the two adults and scolded.

Fireheart and Sandstorm are like two disappointed parents and Tigerclaw warns Fireheart not to grow too comfortable around Sandstorm or the kits

Fireheart is confused

ThunderClan helps WindClan against River and Shadow, but Fireheart is forced to stay behind, despite his worries for his Clan. Yellowfang shows him how to prepare herbs for after battles

Fire grows sus of Tigerclaw after learning that Graystripe almost died and the deputy did nothing to help. Graystripe is stuck in the medicine cat den and asks Fireheart to please make sure that the tom didn't hurt Silverstream.

Fireheart promises and Graystripe purrs, calling him a good friend before passing out

Fireheart grows more worried, however, about Tigerclaw and wants to ask Ravenpaw more about what happened that day

While Graystripe is recovering, Tigerclaw seems to be watching over the medicine cat den like a hawk. Fireheart doesn't think he'll be able to leave without being noticed and wonders if he'd be able to use his powers

Fireheart stays behind for the gathering as does Tigerclaw, the deputy stating that he doesn't trust Brokentail.

Fireheart uses his powers and travels to the barn. That's when he learns, for the first time, that he can basically create a shared dream space in StarClan for cats to talk, as he accidentally brings Graystripe as he was thinking about him while creating the space.

The three talk and Ravenpaw tells them everything, seemingly still thinking this is a dream.

Fireheart later confirms this is a dream and realizes then that he can physically interact with Ravenpaw here and realizing he's more or less controlling the tom's spirit to be there.

This makes Fireheart worried, but Ravenpaw and Graystripe wake up safely.

Fireheart has Sandstorm help him get Graystripe out of camp for a bit and the three hang out and bond, warming up to each other. Fireheart is becoming aware about these feelings he's having about Sandstorm and tries to ignore them. However, he also thinks about Yellowfang and how silly the rule that medicine cats can't have a mate or kits is, especially since it's not like he'd be the sole parent of the kits.

He realizes he's thinking like this and tries to act like he wasn't imagining a life with him and another cat

Granted he's not sure who the other cat was, but brushes Graystripe off as an option, since the tom has a mate already

Speaking of, Graystripe got them a chance to talk to a cat who had seen the battle - Graypool - and thinks she may know something. They agree to meet her the next day.

Before they go, though. Apprentices. Cinderpaw goes to Sandstorm, Brackenpaw goes to Runningwind, Brightpaw goes to Whitestorm, and Thornpaw goes to Mousefur

The plot where Graypool tells them about Mistyfoot and Stormfur happens as well as Bluestar being dismissive about it remains the same.

Everything goes about the same, minus Fireheart having warrior duties and more him learning how to be a medicine cat and having conflicting feelings about the rule about not being able to have his own family. Also maybe a bit where Brokentail taunts him about the death of Spottedleaf and how ThunderClan needs kittypets to heal them, which he does his best to ignore.

Fireheart agrees to help Graystripe visit RiverClan during the flood under the terms that he's checking if the medicine cat, Mudfur, needs any aid.

They save Mistyfoot's kits and Fireheart agrees to help them while Graystripe aids a hunting patrol. Graystripe returns, but Fireheart is permitted to stay behind.

This is when he learns that Silverstream is pregnant. He's shocked, but keeps her secret. The two talk for a while and he understands why Graystripe would admire her, as she's independent and has a strong heart. While in camp, however, he notices something strange. Like a shadow is following Silverstream wherever she walks that belongs to a much different cat.

Graystripe is still secretly delivering prey and aiding patrols while pretending to check on how Fireheart is doing.

When Fireheart returns, Bluestar has many questions for him and it makes him curious, but he assures his leader that RiverClan will be okay.

Fireheart notices Tigerclaw is visiting near the medicine cat den more often and sees him near Brokentail and is curious on what's going on. He wonders if there's something going on or if Tigerclaw has developed empathy.

There is another attempt on Fireheart's life [the almost drowning], but Longtail saves him and Tigerclaw brushes off what happened and informs Bluestar about the flood

It's revealed at the gathering by Nightstar that ThunderClan has Brokentail and the other Clans are mad

Shadow and Wind invade Thunder, get chased off etc

Cinderpaw is hurt during the fight and Sandstorm uses that as an excuse to visit, despite also being hurt and needing to visit anyway.

Fireheart notices Graystripe leave camp and he excuses himself. He follows and learns Silverstream is having her kits. Sandstorm and Cinderpaw, who followed, are surprised as well.

The group of them come together and help Silverstream, but she's actively dying. Fireheart lays next to her to help keep her warm and uses his powers for the first time in a bit and manages to use his connection to spirits to keep her alive.

Also Tigerclaw arrives on the scene as he wakes up from saving her

Silverstream and her kits are brought into ThunderClan and Graystripe is revealed to be the father.

Goldenflower helps Silverstream take care of the kits while Tigerclaw yells at the small group. Bluestar takes over the situation.

In private she admits to Fireheart that Mistyfoot and Stonefur is her kits and that she hopes Graystripe knows what he's going to do.

Fireheart asks what she thinks should happen but she doesn't answer

Tigerclaw is still mad

Silverstream is not doing great and soon enough needs to be brought back into the medicine cat den

There's talks of sending her home to avoid any tension with RiverClan, especially since Brokentail is still in camp and Crookedstar would be upset if he learned his daughter was so close to a killer

After a couple days and her condition getting worse, Bluestar decides it's time to send her home, especially after Willowpelt announces that she's expecting Whitestorm's kits

A patrol is sent to get RiverClan and Crookedstar brings some of his warriors to pick up his daughter and her kits. Graystripe goes with them, worried over his kits.

A meeting is held as Cloudkit becomes Cloudpaw. Bluestar personally trains him.

One day Fireheart asks permission to have Cloudpaw collect herbs. Bluestar allows this. He brings Cloudpaw to meet his mother, Princess, instead.

Fireheart becomes Yellowfang's official apprentice now, choosing to use his powers to help, but also still keeping up on battle-training as it's helping him calm his nerves.

While Yellowfang and Fireheart are doing some light battle training to keep their skills up and also talk about Fireheart's worries about Tigerclaw when they see Tigerclaw with a group of rogues

The two run back to camp and things go the same with ThunderClan fighting the rogues and Brokentail siding with the rogues

Fireheart gets Sandstorm's help in saving Bluestar and Sandstorm goes feral on Tigerclaw for a moment before the rogues are chased off

Bluestar exiles Tigerclaw. He tries to get cats to join him, but they all say no.

Brokentail is killed and Fireheart is dragged off to the side by Bluestar and she demands him to help her chose a deputy, since she can't choose him.

He chooses Sandstorm

Bluestar trusts him and she announces Sandstorm as her deputy. Sandstorm is shocked but accepts.

ThunderClan begins recovery and Fireheart is worried about Bluestar and Graystripe - the leader being on edge and paranoid and his friend being far away with no news on how he or Silverstream are doing.

Sandstorm visits him that night and the two talk about what happened - Fireheart not mentioning that Bluestar asked him to choose a deputy - until they fall asleep.

Some time passes and Sandstorm is taking over helping the Clan quite well; Whitestorm is proud of her. She does come to Fireheart with some worry over Bluestar and Cloudpaw, but Fireheart comforts her.

Fireheart is personally worried about what Tigerclaw is doing and seeing Bramblekit only makes him worry more. He has that talk with Goldenflower about her kits

When Fireheart heads out, he noticed Sandstorm is frustrated still and he asks what's going on She mentions apprentices ceremonies and how Bluestar brushed her off about it. She expresses both worry and annoyance about this.

The two go talk to Bluestar and Bluestar tells Sandstorm to do the ceremony if she's so worried about it

So Sandstorm does. Ashpaw is apprenticed to Dustpelt and Fernpaw is given to Darkstripe.

Bluestar's mad that Sandstorm actually did that and the Clan is a little confused, but goes with it. It's also at this point that Fireheart realizes that Cloudpaw is missing, as he was busy with so much.

He asks Bluestar and she mentioned sending him off hunting right as Cloudpaw returns with a single piece of prey.

Fireheart is worried

Bluestar later drags Fireheart off to the Moonstone, leaving Sandstorm alone. She vents to Fireheart and reveals he's the only cat she trusts and she's even on edge about Sandstorm.

She asks if he's sure about being a medicine cat, even offering to drop Sandstorm as deputy and give him Cloudpaw, but he's certain.

They are confronted by a WindClan patrol and Fireheart tries to be diplomatic and use him being a medicine cat as an excuse, but WindClan is made and refuses to let them pass.

Bluestar almost gets into a fight but Fireheart almost drags her back home.

The Clan is also angry after they learn what's going on. Except Cloudpaw, who is rather unbothered.

She returns to her den and doesn't seem worried about Cloudpaw. Fireheart is worried about Cloudpaw.

Sandstorm and Fireheart talk to each other about their worries for Bluestar and Fireheart is very supportive of Sandstorm. This helps the deputy relax and she thanks him awkwardly.

The gathering doesn't go great

Things go the same with Whitethroat and Littlecloud and Yellowfang teaches Fireheart about this disease and what to do about it However Bluestar sends the ShadowClan warriors away Sandstorm helps Fireheart escort them

Fireheart explains to the two on what to do and Littlecloud asks a lot of questions. Fireheart gives what answers he can.

Littlecloud asks if he could come see Fireheart for more information and Fireheart, surprised, looks at Sandstorm, who pretends she isn't listening He then agrees

They watch the two leave through a tunnel and Sandstorm becomes a bit worried, admitting she'd never noticed the tunnel before.

She wants to tell Bluestar, but Fireheart has her promise not to, since he wants to help ShadowClan

She hesitates but agrees

Fireheart comes back and notices that Cloudpaw is just being allowed to do whatever and Bluestar isn't really training him. He drags Cloudpaw out to train but Cloudpaw is a brat about it.

Fireheart tries to counter that he originally trained as a warrior, but Cloudpaw still doesn't care

He lets Cloudpaw wander off but follows him in secret, learns he's eating kittypet food, and gets mad. He talks to Sandstorm about this and the two try to talk to him about it, but he honestly does not care what they have to say.

Soon after Fireheart helps Willowpelt give birth and he thinks about Sandstorm

He tries to push these thoughts away, but he has a lot of feelings towards her

Fireheart is training Littlecloud in Littlecloud's dreams and also sneaks to the tunnels to help anyone that is struggling

Sandstorm catches him and scolds him while also helping. Sometimes she even brings Cinderpaw sometimes, though this is less out of willingness and more out of the fact no one's allowed to tell Cinderpaw what to do, not even her deputy mentor.

Sandstorm also quietly mentions that pretty soon there will need to be warrior ceremonies.

They return to learn that Cloudpaw has been missing for a while and Fireheart panics

He uses his power to try to hunt down Cloudpaw but is unable to find him. He wakes up in an even bigger panic and Sandstorm is confused how he increased panic after a sudden nap.

He tells Sandstorm about his powers and she's surprised but promises to keep it a secret. He informs her that Bluestar knows and that, if she asks, tell her what he's doing.

She guards him as he frantically uses his powers to try to find his nephew. He even uses a moment to inform Littlecloud, who can see him naturally now, and the small tabby promises to help keep an eye out.

During one of his wake ups, he learns from Sandstorm that Bluestar and Whitestorm are aware of what's going on - with Whitestorm to a lesser degree as both she and the leader talked vaguely about Fireheart's powers.

She also brings up that cats are starting to whisper about how much time she's spending helping him.

He's confused for a moment but becomes flustered when he remembered how he was thinking of Sandstorm while helping Willowpelt.

He asks if she's upset he became a medicine cat and she says no, but seems to be holding something back

He then asks if it's possible if the two can remain close and she's confused before he elaborates that he likes her a lot but there's not much that can be done. Even then he goes on and adds that he wants there to be a change because he cares about her a lot. She cares for him, too.

They begin secret dating with plans to make their dating not a secret in the future.

Worries and stress grow through the Clan and there's a small point in time that Fireheart has to stop searching for Cloudpaw in order to help the Clan.

Everyone's worried about Bluestar

While grabbing water for the queens and herbs for Yellowfang, he encounters Graystripe and realizes it had been a moment since he thought of his friend and he feels a little guilty

Graystripe talks about Silverstream's condition and how she's still alive but a lot weaker than before. Still, she's kicking and refuses to go down.

Fireheart is happy to hear that and gives Graystripe some herbs to take back to Mudfur to help Silverstream.

the plot with Mousefur and Thornpaw is about the same, though Fireheart comes to help with Runningwind. While the patrol chases away ShadowClan cats, Tigerclaw attacks Fireheart while he's alone and Fireheart fights back

Tigerclaw actively tries to murder Fireheart with the help of rogues, but Graystripe and a RiverClan patrol help and Tigerclaw is chided for trying to harm a medicine cat

The rogues are chased off, Runningwind is buried, Whitethroat is given a proper funeral, and he vents to Yellowfang about Tigerclaw.

After his wounds are taken care of, he casually brings Sandstorm out of camp to get help gathering herbs, except they just cuddle and talk and she expresses her worries to him

Ravenpaw stumbles across them and chooses not to ask questions, instead informing them of a kittypet with a ThunderClan scent

Fireheart is surprised, Sandstorm is cautious, and in the end they decide to go. Fireheart considers using his powers to make sure, but Sandstorm asks what other ThunderClan cat would willingly become a kittypet.

They have a small argument as he doesn't believe it was willing and she does apologize while they travel.

They Cloudpaw rescue goes the same, including the confrontation with the WindClan patrol. WindClan is still mad at ThunderClan, despite Fireheart's best attempts to be reasonable.

The fire also still happens in about the same way, but Fireheart comes out the full medicine cat of ThunderClan and has a Tigerstar child with him

While in RiverClan, Sandstorm is working hard to keep ThunderClan under control and safe.

Fireheart checks with Silverstream and Graystripe and meets Featherkit and Stormkit. Silverstream still isn't doing the best, but Mosspelt is shown to often help take care of the kits when Silverstream's having one of her weaker episodes.

Fireheart is worried about her but Graystripe is confident that she's going to be okay. Fireheart notices the shadow from before does seem weaker.

Fireheart, Sandstorm, and Graystripe go to check on ThunderClan's camp after the rain puts the fire out. Yellowfang is dying and she talks to them before passing away.

Fireheart is not, even more officially, the medicine cat of ThunderClan. Sandstorm expression worry but he comforts her, both as now the sole cat in charge of healing and as her mate.

ThunderClan returns to their territory, Bluestar declares war on StarClan, Sandstorm starts rebuilding ThunderClan's camp, and Fireheart and her worry over Bluestar only grows.

Bluestar refuses to go to the gather and a stressed out Sandstorm takes over, just getting more and more frustrated to the point Fireheart is hardly able to help.

As they talk about their future and what they're going to do, they get to the gathering to find Tigerclaw is now Tigerstar of ShadowClan.

Sandstorm is angry and calls Tigerstar out for the shit he did to ThunderClan. Tigerstar remarks that he's here to make ShadowClan strong and that ThunderClan is made of weak, know it all cowards.

This is a very unpeaceful gathering and it ends early with ThunderClan barely getting through their news without Tigerstar egging Sandstorm on and pissing her off He insults her covering for Bluestar and taunts ThunderClan about Fireheart until they leave.

Sandstorm informs everyone about Tigerstar and Bluestar is absolutely no help in the situation, confiding her worries into Fireheart and once more making another offer to make him deputy.

Fireheart misses Yellowfang and isn't sure what to do in this situation, still denying the role.

Time passes and ShadowClan is quiet. There is some worry over dogs, so Sandstorm sends a couple patrols at her former mentor's request to soothe any troubled minds.

Fireheart and Sandstorm learn from Graystripe that Crookedstar's unwell and Leopardfur is taking charge of RiverClan. He also brings up how Silverstream is at least healthy enough for short patrols.

That night, Fireheart has a dream and hears the words 'pack, pack, kill, kill'

Worried for Silverstream, he goes to check on her as a spirit only to be confronted by the shadow of a molly who seems to be weakened greatly.

She hisses and attacks him and he's surprised to find that he's actually hurt, causing him to realize that she's a ghost

She's angry that Silverstream is alive and tries to attack him again, seeing it as his fault - also vowing to "get rid of her little scraps with her".

Fireheart manages to chase her off

He returns and is overwhelmed with everything that just happened.

He hears the mentors talking about their apprentices and Sandstorm agrees that they should be made warriors. She's tired of waiting for Bluestar and admits she's tempted to do the warriors ceremony without the leader.

The other cats are in agreement.

He is drawn to the medicine cat den by the sound of Snowkit getting hurt. The whole confrontation with Snowkit happens and Fireheart decides to watch over the kit.

He goes for the medicine cat meeting and learns what all is going on in ShadowClan. That night he spends the time trying to figure things out by himself, but does talk to Yellowfang and Spottedleaf for a bit for their feelings on the matter.

While out gathering herbs, he comes across Sandstorm who came across Princess and stops Sandstorm from smacking his sister by revealing that she's his family

Sandstorm is understanding

They learn that dogs are missing and on their way home, they pass RiverClan and learn that Tigerstar is manipulating Leopardfur and that Graypool is missing

Graypool's death happens

After he returns he also learns Snowkit is deaf. Bluestar does not like this and Speckletail does not like Bluestar. Sandstorm currently also doesn't like Bluestar.

Speckletail and Brackenfur work together to try to train Snowkit with express permission from Sandstorm

Fireheart overhears talks about dogs and learns they found dog scent at Snakerocks. He also overhears Sandstorm and Bluestar's very vocal fight about this and starts heading to the nursery to get away from it when the hawk comes

He makes a made dash to Snowkit and gets hurt as he's almost grabbed by the hawk.

Bluestar is angry at Fireheart being reckless and shows this is more of a sign that StarClan wants to fight ThunderClan.

Fireheart is hurt and needs medical attention but is also ThunderClan's only medicine cat Still, he aids Sandstorm in calming cats down

He gets help from Sandstorm, Brackenfur, and Cinderpaw. They help patch him up, help Snowkit calm down, and he thanks them, joking that they'd be good medicine cats.

Sandstorm scuffs his ear for being an idiot

That gathering that Bluestar leads goes about the same and Sandstorm has to do damage control.

Fireheart learns from Sandstorm that Bluestar wants to start a war with WindClan. They agree on a plan to fake a sign for Bluestar and then just politely ask Tallstar to talk things out.

While they're getting ready, they spot Darkstripe with Goldenflower's kits outside of camp and Sandstorm goes off on him. She bans him from being near the kits and leads them back to camp. Fireheart goes off without her.

He gets Tallstar, makes a sign for Bluestar, and they go for a peaceful meeting.

The meeting is pleasant, but afterwards Bluestar goes off on Fireheart and Sandstorm and warns them that there will be no more treachery like that Sandstorm tries to argue, but Fireheart becomes actually worried for her safety and stops her

Bluestar goes missing for a bit, having gone to Highstones, and comes back with news about her time there and mentions the pack thing.

During one leaffall day, Swiftpaw comes running in from a patrol and mentions how RiverClan attacked a border patrol. Fireheart gathers his supplies and runs to go help.

Sandstorm is unable to stop him.

He comes in time to see Mistyfoot and Stonefur about to kill Bluestar and he stops them. They're confused and confrontational about a medicine cat being on the front lines.

Fireheart reveals that Bluestar's their mother. They don't believe him.

He is then almost thrown by Leopardstar, who is stopped by the warriors, warning her that he's a medicine cat. Leopardstar implies he's an idiot for being in the way of dangers and threatens him harm, only to be chided by her deputy, Stonefur.

RiverClan gets driven away

Fireheart helps cats with their injuries on the way back.

Bluestar holds a warriors ceremony. But only for Cloudpaw. Who is now Cloudtail.

The mentors are angry but she refuses to listen. Sandstorm goes to yell at her for a bit.

While this is going on, Swiftpaw storms out of camp with Cinderpaw, Brightpaw, and Brackenpaw behind him. Brackenpaw s trying to convince them to stop and Cinderpaw was on her brother's side until Swiftpaw made some good points.

Brackenpaw eventually falls back and goes to warn his Clanmates.

Fireheart watches in worry as Sandstorm, Whitestorm, Longtail, and Cloudtail go out to find them.

It takes a while, but they come back injured with three equally injured and scared apprentices. Fireheart tends to their wounds, stressing out greatly over Swiftpaw, who is the most injured. He's worried the apprentice won't make it through the night.

Sandstorm takes over the situation again and decides to hold proper warrior ceremonies, stating that this shouldn't have happened and expressing her disappointment in Bluestar quite loudly.

She makes the apprentices warriors; Cinderstorm, Brightsong, Brackenheart, Thornclaw, and Swiftstrike. She also goes on to make herself Tawnykit - now Tawnypaw's - mentor, has Cinderstorm mentor Bramblepaw, and has Brackenheart mentor Snowpaw - with help from Speckletail.

Bluestar is absolutely outraged and confronts her at the Clan meeting.

Sandstorm isn't having Bluestar's bs.

Bluestar than proceeds to demote Sandstorm and forces Fireheart to play the role of both deputy and medicine cat.

Everyone is confused and concerned, especially Fireheart, who has enough shit going on.

Fireheart spends his time taking care of the injured cats while trying to keep Bluestar calm and also doing what he can as deputy - while just doing what Whitestorm and Sandstorm tell him what to say and do as deputy.

He is overworked

He's still dragged off to the gathering, too, where he looks and feels terrible. He learns Graystripe's kits are apprentices and Tigerstar tries to get custody of his kits.

Bluestar's tempted but Fireheart manages to reason with her

Fireheart is taken away from camp for a bit by Cloudtail, Sandstorm, and Brightsong under the lie to their leader of a patrol. They meet Princess and she is worried.

The meeting with Princess happens and Fireheart passes out the moment he's in the medicine cat den.

He wakes up to Longtail, who expresses worry about dogs in the territory. He only agrees to go with him if he can take Sandstorm and Whitestorm. Longtail agrees and is surprisingly understanding.

Fireheart and Sandstorm take some time alone to be together and just breathe. They're mildly affectionate and she tells him to send patrols this way.

He promises she'll be deputy again

Brindleface death reveal goes about the same

Fireheart teams up with the Clan to make a plan to lead the dogs away from camp and eventually steps back as Sandstorm takes control and lets her be deputy.

He catches Darkstripe again with Goldenflower's kits and Whitestorm keeps a close eye on them.

Fireheart is on the sidelines, ready to help in case something goes bad.

Everything goes okay until the dogs scent him instead of their next target - thanks to Tigerclaw - and Fireheart is forced to flee from the dogs until Bluestar saves his life and gets him out of danger.

The dogs get chased over the edge and Bluestar dies.

The first thing he does is give Sandstorm back her proper place and she's ready to become leader of ThunderClan.

Bluestar is brought back to camp, the funeral, Mistyfoot and Stonefur go back to RiverClan, Sandstorm is announced as the new leader, and Fireheart joins Sandstorm on their trip to the Highstones.

While there they talk about talking to StarClan about their relationship and Sandstorm assures that she has a plan.

Fireheart is confident in her.

Sandstorm becomes Sandstar and gains lives from Lionheart, Redtail, Rosetail, Runningwind, Brindleface, Sunstar, Yellowfang, Spottedleaf, and Bluestar.

Immediately after, now a leader, she states loudly that Fireheart is her mate and she's going to get rid of the rule that they're not allowed to be together because of his role in the Clan

Fireheart is a lot less confident

Surprisingly, however, a lot of the cats are on Sandstar's side. Especially Yellowfang. They agree to talk this over and remind Sandstar that 'leader's word is law'.

After they wake up, Sandstar's very proud of how that turned out while Fireheart's still in shock. She asks him to be her mate, officially this time. He agrees.

They spend the night at Ravenpaw and Barley's and Sandstar and Fireheart have the same horrible dream. When they wake up they make quick goodbyes and hurry back to camp.

The first thing Sandstorm does when she arrives at camp is make some announcements; She names Longtail as her deputy, she announces that ThunderClan will allow medicine cats to take mates - and implies she and Fireheart are together - and tells ThunderClan that they need to prepare for whatever Tigerstar does next.

ThunderClan is a bit mixed about that second message, but they're pretty okay with everything else.

Fireheart expresses to Cinderstorm his concerns about her apprentoce and the warrior counters him, saying that Bramblepaw is a proud young warrior.

He apologizes.

Sorrelkit almost dies and Fireheart saves her. Darkstripe is cornered and forced to admit his crimes before being immediately exiled. Fernpaw's new mentor is Longtail and Longtail does not defend Darkstripe or his actions

There is worries about rogues in the territory and that night Fireheart wanders as a spirit and discovers BloodClan for the first time

He is shaken awake by his own shock

While visiting Graystripe, Fireheart learns more about what's going on in RiverClan and there's genuine worry about the safety of him and Silverstream. Silverstream has fully recovered and has been trying to reason with Leopardstar.

Fireheart brings this news to Sandstar and Sandstar's ready to start a fight with Tigerstar

Tigerstar fails to bring ThunderClan and WindClan into TigerClan and Sandstar goes off on him and Leopardstar She even calls Leopardstar a coward for allowing this tom anywhere near her Clan

Sandstar goes off on her own for a bit to clear her head and Fireheart takes this moment to check on the apprentices and see how they're doing

They could be doing better, especially Tawnypaw and Bramblepaw

Sandstar comes back and vaguely mentions a vision but doesn't go into details.

Ravenpaw had been on his way to pay his respects and check on his old Clanmates when he had stumbled across Silverstream who begged for help in RiverClan

Fireheart, Sandstar, Ravenpaw, and Silverstream go to RiverClan to see what's up

Mistyfoot, Stonefur, Featherpaw, and Stormpaw are in danger. Graystripe is also in danger, but is being held apart from them. Stonefur almost dies when Graystripe breaks out of his containment and helps Stonefur fight Darkstripe and then Blackfoot.

While this fight is going on, the guard for the other prisoners is distracted and the three other halfClan cats are rescued

Sandstar is about to have them go back for Graystripe and Stonefur when they realize that Graystripe is down and Stonefur is about to die next

Leopardstar is unable to watch this anymore and asks for the chance to talk to her deputy

Tigerstar is skeptical but allows this

Leopardstar proceeds to let Stonefur run away [reason being that she was still heavily bothered by Sandstar's words and the drawn out death was getting to her]

Stonefur is badly injured, but the ThunderClan rescue patrol manages to help him

Silverstream is distraught over the loss of her mate and the apprentices are shocked to hear their father is dead

They also learn, after returning, that Tawnypaw ran off while they were gone and no one knows where she is

Ravenpaw tries to help them find her, but parts ways when they can't, promising to keep an eye out for her.

While they're trying to help the RiverClan cats settle - Mudclaw arrives with the news that ShadowClan specifically has attacked WindClan

Fireheart stays behind, but sends Sandstar and her cats off with herbs for those wounded

After a moment, Longtail is sent back to grab Fireheart to help the wounded WindClan warriors. Fireheart follows and is horrified at the sight of what happened to WindClan.

Sandstar decides to confront Tigerstar once and for all next chance she gets and spends the night with Fireheart to soothe her mind

At the meeting, Tallstar and Sandstar both formally reject Tigerstar's offer once again, Tawnypaw's location in ShadowClan is revealed, Bramblepaw stays firmly right next to Cinderstorm - who is a good mentor to him, and BloodClan arrives.

Fireheart reveals to Sandstar he had seen these cats before when he had been looking for the rogues that had been a problem

Scourge, the leader of BloodClan, publicly and horrifically murders Tigerstar, is hostile to the Clans, and gives the Clan a short amount of time to decide if they're going to live or die

Barely able to comprehend what just happened, ThunderClan prepares for what's about to come and Sandstar begs Fireheart to not do anything rash and stupid

He tries his best to promise, but he himself knows that that's a big promise to need to keep

Ravenpaw and Barley join to help the fight

Fireheart and Cloudtail also go to warn Princess about BloodClan to make sure she's safe

Sandstar has another dream and brings Fireheart, Longtail, and the sheltered RiverClan cats along to try to be diplomatic with RiverClan and ShadowClan

They are brought to Fourtrees and the lot of them talk it out. Sandstar, though through some rather 'tough love' means, manages to spark inspiration in Leopardstar and Blackfoot. Leopardstar also formally apologizes to Mistyfoot, Silverstream, Stonefur, Featherpaw, and Stormpaw.

Most of them accept the apology and Leopardstar is understanding about it

She also takes a brief moment to thank Sandstar, but keeps it short and simple and follows it up with RiverClan agreeing to help

Blackfoot isn't here for that mushy stuff and just agrees

Also they learn why Tawnypaw left. She decides to stay in ShadowClan.

Speckletail and current queens are left in charge of camp, as well as Swiftstrike, who wants to tear apart any cat who gets past the Clans' defenses

They go and the battle against BloodClan begins

Whitestorm is still killed by Bone, the apprentices kill Bone, Longtail is almost killed but is saved by Fireheart [and then scolded by the deputy], and while Fireheart retreats to a safe distance, he is almost killed by Scourge

The small cat is about to absolutely obliterate him when Sandstar saves his life and throws Scourge off of him

He watches as Scourge turns and Sandstar loses her first life

Shocked, he runs at Scourge and fights the tom. Sandstar comes back to life as Fireheart kills the BloodClan leader.

BloodClan is chased from the forest

Some other deaths to note; Thornclaw is killed in the battle and Mistyfoot dies of infected wounds days after

And that ends TPB

For some after notes;

Squirrelflight and Leafpool are probably born a sooner than they were in canon and Leaf gets mentored by her father.

Bramblepaw gets the warrior name Brambleflower, more in honor of his mother than ever thinking about his father. Brambleflower likes this. Tawnypaw still becomes Tawnypelt.

Snowpaw becomes Snowtail, Ashpaw becomes Ashfur, and Fernpaw becomes Ferncloud.

Sorrelkit, Rainkit, and Sootkit become Sorreltail, Rainwhisker, and Sootfur

The other Clans are skeptical about the fact that ThunderClan's leader is openly with their medicine cat, but there's only snide remarks at gatherings and no proper confrontation

Snowtail and Ferncloud get together and Ferncloud helps cats learn kitty sign language and helps translate things for her mate

Brightsong and Cloudtail still get together

Swiftstrike and Dustpelt get together and can butt heads on certain issues, but still love each other

Sorreltail and Brackenheart still get together

Cinderstorm gets with the kittypet, Cody, who joins ThunderClan and the two are a happy couple. Cody is a permaqueen and that's an okay and valid thing to do.

This is about as much as I got-

Also Fireheart s 100% aware of his daughter's relationship to Crowfeather and is okay with it as long as he makes her happy

#au #fireheart #firestar #sandstorm #sandstar #warriors #warrior cats #this took #longer than expected to get done #but #here we are!

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mallowstep · 3 years ago

Note

I'm just thinking of the fact that if Greystripe let it slip the Tigerclaw told all of Thunderclan that Oakheart killed Redtail in the Sunningrocks battle that Tigerclan (or at least the Riverclan/Shadowclan alliance) never would have happened. Just. Featherkit or Stormkit ask him for a story and he starts telling the Sunningrocks battle (cause he's an idiot, idk) and he's all like:

"And here, Tigerclaw said Oakheart killed Redtail and He killed Oakheat, but Fireheart went and investigated it--he even asked Mistyfoot, I think it was, that Oakheart was killed by falling rocks, and then Ravenpaw--he was killed later by a Shadowclan patrol--saw Tigerclaw kill Redtail."

Featherkit: o.o

Stormkit: "But...Redtail was his deputy! Why?"

Greystripe: "Tigerclaw only saw Redtail as an obstacle in his way to power, not a clanmate. Cats like that don't really see other cats as friends or mates or clanmates or stuff like that. They see minions, allies, obstacles, enemies, or things that need to be removed."

hm.

i don't know, actually. here's the thing. leopardstar is the one who makes the alliance. she starts before crookedstar is even dead. leopardstar does not give a fuck about thunderclan. hates them, even.

when leopardfur starts meeting with tigerstar, i don't think she's unaware of his tendencies. perhaps she's not fully aware, perhaps she's not...like clearly things don't end the way she thinks they are going to. y'know (okay no one is allowed to tell me what happens in lsh because i still haven't read it and that means i still get to use my own headcanons without qualifiers so no correcting me) like, i think she thinks somewhere that she's going to assume leadership over tigerstar at some point.

leopardfur is very blinded by her own arrogance.

so i don't think she's going to view tigerstar as a proper threat, especially when she becomes a leader. so what if he killed redtail? leopardstar is better than redtail. riverclan is better than thunderclan. tigerstar is a tool she will use to strengthen riverclan.

"but matthew," you say, "isn't the point that riverclan would object?"

to which the answer is: i don't think riverclan would care very much either.

that's not a catch-all. i'm not going to go through every cat in riverclan and offer up my opinions on how they feel about this. stonefur and blackclaw are definitely solidly where leopardstar is.

(if anything, they're going to be even more confident, because now they know what tigerstar has done. he doesn't know that they know. they've got more information on him.)

mosspelt probably takes greystripe a lot more seriously.

but at the end of the day, they trust leopardstar. she's blessed with nine lives from starclan. she's their leader. if she says this is the right thing for them to do, then it is.

(i believe i've gone over my reasons for leopardstar allying with tigerstar in the past, but if not, the briefest of summaries is: she feels she can manage the threat, riverclan is going through a prey shortage and this will help with that, and shadowclan and riverclan are historically neutral-to-allied.)

but.

that's not to say things wouldn't change.

it's a small detail, but -- i think it's the kind of thing that would stick with them. because leopardstar doesn't listen, and she doesn't listen when stonefur tells her things are wrong, and she doesn't listen when mudfur tells her things are wrong, and now she's promising things will be like they were before, but -- was that really better? was that really good?

(aside: god i hate the panel where mistyfoot agrees to return to riverclan in asir. her expression makes her look like. power hungry? and it's so out of character and i dunno i don't see why featherpaw would feel that way about mistyfoot. like okay, i can see why mistyfoot agreeing because leopardstar offered to make her deputy would dramatically shift featherpaw's opinion of mistyfoot. i don't like characterizing it that way, but it's a fine option to take.

but.

it's so clear that the power in question is the power to stop things from happening badly again, and i don't think featherpaw would like...i think she would see that. i don't think her opinion would shift on a dime like that, given how the conversation is framed.

if anything, it makes more sense for stormpaw to have that opinion, because mistyfoot is stepping into the position of stonefur. she has been -- she's been mentoring him -- but she's now literally taking his place, and i can see him being upset about that.

anyway.)

so yeah, i can see this detail being the tipping point that makes feathertail decide to stay in thunderclan. i can see it changing a lot of things, but i don't actually think it would stop tigerclan, if only because leopardstar does not give a single fuck about greystripe.

#and all the other reasons i went through xd #ask #anon #mine #greystripe #leopardstar #feathertail #mistystar #asir #tigerclan #tigerstar

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kelpyart · 4 years ago

Photo

There's just something SO relaxing about finally drawing and designing canon characters how I always imagined them reading the books ;; Also- I have the other ones done (The Prophecies Begin and The New Prophecy) but wanted to do a few touchups on them before submitting! Anyways- super fun challenge! Next is going to be a wall of text as to why I designed them like I did and maybe some head-canons I have for them... Darkstripe - I gave him more of a dark gray/brown tint like the trash that he is. His eyes are SUPER PALE YELLOW just because I thought it'd be neat to be light that pale yellow, reflective color. I wish his relationship (half-brother) with Graystripe would have been developed more. I know you can't go into all relationships like that, but I feel like they are complete polar opposites with the same mother, so that could have been a really interesting sub-plot to be explored. My headcanon would be that he always looked down on Graystripe because of how his mother took another mate after his father died. Also he smells like stagnant pond water. Redtail - Ahhh Redtail, my boy. I haven't read Redtail's Debt, so I may be wrong on a few of these things but... Let's star with the design. You can't see the fullbody I have for him and Spottedleaf, but Redtail is large patches of ginger whereas my Spottedleaf is much more speckled. Other than that, they have the same color pallette! I 100% stan Trans Redtail. This is one of my favorite headcanons and I love it. And this can totally still work for him being Sandstorm's parent which is ok with me Or not! That's fine too! I just stan Trans Redtail! Redtail is in love with Runningwind but when Sandstorm is born, Sandstorm's surrogate mother becomes Brindleface. Also, I absolutely would have loved to change the books so that Redtail, not Spottedleaf, was Fireheart's StarClan guide. ALSO Go read Redtail's Choice on Tumblr?! It's so good!? Like really! Go read it!! Longtail - So I always had this idea in my head that Longtail was always pretty vain- always viewed himself as an extremely good looking character, so when Firepaw shredded his ear, more than anything, his pride was hurt, but also his good looks (at least, to him!). Longtail becoming deputy would have been so much great character development and I would have loved to see that- would have really showed his maturity away from Tigerstar/Darkstripe and really prove not only his loyalty to ThunderClan, but to Firestar and I LIVE for that. Every single Longtail design I see is 100% valid and I LOVE the ALL of the different designs in the community (but I am WEAK for cinnamon / cinnamon silver). He really did NOT want to mentor again after Swiftpaw, feeling that Swiftpaw's death was his fault- it really took some persuading for him to be willing to mentor again. After Longtail was blinded, Goldenflower took care of him, helping to guide him, encourage him, and describe his surroundings to him after they made it to the lake territory and they formed a really strong bond over him doing the best he could with Swiftpaw and both of their shared experiences with Tigerstar. Ace 100%. Yellowfang - I always LOVED Yellowfang in the original arc, but after that, my love for her kind of burned out a little...I didn't like how she *lied* to Squirrelflight saying that she would never be able to have kits and pretty much guilted her into raising the three but... I digress. In Squirrelflight's Hope, she literally gave the middle finger to Moth Flight about having kits and THEN making the rule for medicine cats not to have kits. Her relationship with Raggedstar was horrible, toxic, and borderline (if not fully) abusive and I hate it. The only real headcanon I have for her is that basically, Cinderpelt was the daughter that she had never had, so I like... love that. So, as Cinderpaw recovered from her accident, Yellowfang worked herself tirelessly trying to find any way that she could help Cinderpaw's body and soul heal. She talked and met with other medicine cats, studied the bones in prey, and other various methods, trying to figure out how to help the apprentice. She was tough on Fireheart, but always had a sweet spot for Cinderpaw, often taking her treats while Cinderpaw was recovering. Sandstorm - Sandstorm isn't the typical definition of beautiful but is beautiful in her own strong, independent, hard-working way. Her morals and ethics are what make her so beautiful. I completely agree that she is slightly larger than Fireheart, and much larger if he had the same length of fur that she does. She's a big buff and I love her for it. I completely wish she would have had a scene where she went absolutely feral on Tigerstar for killing both of her parents. Like wtf regardless of her family tree, Tigerstar literally killed Redtail, Runningwind, and Brindleface and she didn't beat his ass for it and I hate that. Also- Sandstorm only had one litter because she hated being pregnant because she's too much of a busy-body and too risky during border skirmishes. She hated being told to sit out or rest while others were risking their lives. Also- small ear gang I love her Cinderpelt - Cinderpelt- my girl ;; A lady who deserved more but totally made the absolte best of the life she was given. Yellowfang made her into the hardened, no non-sense medicine cat she is and I adore her for that, even telling Tigerclaw to shut up. I love it. I read a headcanon once (which I fully support) that she was given her name Cinder-PELT after the Silver-PELT, to always remind her of her connection to StarClan and how she met her destiny like a true warrior. I personally hate CinderxFire. I don't like it one bit. She doesn't need a relationship to be the badass that she is. She's stocky and strongly built, contrary to a lot of medicine cats- she has the build of a warrior and the size to back it up. Also heck on the Erins for not exploring more about the relationship between Brightheart and Cinderpelt, being sisters and also Cinderheart having to take care of her after she was mauled by a dog and then subsequently named Lostface. I also wish I could have saw Cinderpelt take a chunk out of Bluestar for being so horrible and naming her beloved sister that. Also she was super honored to mentor her old mentor's daughter. I love it. Templated by my friend Jayie-The-Hufflepuff || The Prophecies Begin Design Challenge II Template

#warriors #warrior cats #design challenge #darkstripe #warriorcats #redtail #longtail #sandstorm #yellowfang #cinderpelt #mine #my art

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leporellian · 4 years ago

Text

warrior cats rewrite part 2: fire and ice

more of This apparently! this is a continuation of this post so go over there to get the gist of this.

with the last book i was focused on establishing characters and dynamics within thunderclan, so this one is more focused on establishing the other groups outside of thunderclan (windclan, riverclan, the rogues in shadowclan, kittypets) and the exact mechanics of the world. also assume that anything i mention little of stays the same- bluestar, yellowfang, etc

-so like in the original we open on a prologue of windclan. the prologue is from the perspective of a young apprentice, gorsepaw. he and his brother mudpaw are trying to comprehend What Is Going On while morningflower soothes them and tallstar attempts to lead. they are helped by members of the blood brothers (the city cats who try to keep things safe in the city and suburbs). little is mentioned about the blood brothers but it is mentioned they’re not as good as they once were and could use a fresh young leader to give them real direction again

- anyway back in thunderclan we hear about darkstripe’s pov of redtail’s death

- redtail was a risk taker and very fiery and passionate- much like fireheart himself. bluestar chose him because his eagerness balanced out her pragmatism. however, redtail’s impulsivity and tendency to be a bleeding-heart became more and more loathed by others- especially the elders and tigerclaw.

- tigerclaw values conservatism, duty, and tradition. he’s a man of stability. and he realized that redtail’s ways could get thunderclan in trouble- he had a point, of course, but he took it too far.

- the entire sunningrocks battle was suggested by thistleclaw, tigerclaw’s father, and quickly approved by the elders (elders are often the ones who start battles), although none of the other elders knew of the plan. thistleclaw also suggested the time- in the dark of night, where no cat could see who was fighting who too well. thistleclaw was helping tigerclaw the entire time.

- redtail was killed by not oakheart, although it was often claimed they had killed each other (and who had no voice to speak up- oakheart was dead and was an impulsive type like redtail who would have totally killed him in defense if they had fought), but tigerclaw, who figured it was the only way to become deputy and lead thunderclan with the stability he had desired it to be led with.

- fireheart shares his findings with the others, in secret. raven, gray, and cinderpaw all believe him, although it takes them a while to come to terms with the idea of tigerclaw being a murderer, but sand and long are unconvinced- neither wants to even entertain the idea their father was murdered.

- anyway thunderclan sends a few cats to retrieve windclan now that Brokenstar Is Gone(TM), gray and fire being two of them. windclan doesn’t like how little thunderclan seems to care about them because none of the high ranking warriors were sent- especially the angry mudpaw, who is still rather traumatized from being chased down with the rest of windclan by shadowclan. meanwhile, fireheart meets onewhisker and they become fast friends. onewhisker is kind of a Cool Older Brother type but he’s also sycophantic and a little bit of a coward.

- meanwhile there’s barkface, the quiet medicine cat of windclan. on the way back starclan sends him an omen: the moon will bring unnecessary death on its back.

- on their way back they find riverclan dicking around on windclan territory and so there’s a Fight- right by the gorge. it plays out like in canon and whiteclaw dies, fire figures ‘oh that’s the death’ and moves on

- once they get back a few days pass and then The Gang Become Mentors to lionheart and frostfur’s litter: brackenkit, thornkit, brightkit, and swiftkit. (cinder meanwhile was goldenflower’s kid.) fire gets bracken, gray gets thorn, sand gets bright, and long gets swift

- while this goes down, gray falls in love with silverstream like he does in canon- further propelled by his own half-clan heritage and desire to know outsiders beyond thunderclan. fire spies on him as he does in canon, etc etc. also it’s here that fire sees princess, and he recognizes her immediately.

- also thorn doesn’t like that graystripe isn’t really paying attention to him, which makes him kind of a try-hard prick that Just Wants To Be Noticed. Patrol Guy: Origins

- meanwhile tigerclaw keeps asking bluestar to see some unusual activity at the thunderpath. he looks worried about it.

- this comes to a head when tigerclaw rushes into camp with a few other thunderclan warriors. “there was a rogue attack at the thunderpath!” everyone follows him and finds two cats being carried out, both unconscious- darkstripe and cinderpaw. cinder’s leg has been shredded by a car (the rogues pushed her out in front of one) and darkstripe’s face is clawed up to hell and back.

- fireheart immediately Suspects Shit because this is tigerclaw. nobody else does except for ravenpaw, who notes that while cinderpaw’s injury is plausible, whoever clawed darkstripe did it in a very deliberate manner and not in defense as usually is done in the midst of dispute. fire figures out that tiger probably did the same trick he did with redtail, but targeting darkstripe instead.

- (”why are you relying so hard on mystery here?” mystery is really good for setting up worldbuilding, which is the main intent of the first three books.)

- meanwhile, cinderpaw is told that even though she can be a warrior, with the loss of her leg working properly she will likely need extra time and dedication to become one, and that it won’t be an easy road. cinder however refuses to give up, even though she’s initially left shaken and hopeless

- fireheart goes to see princess, who’s much more of a homebody than he is and comfortable in her life. however, she’s so relaxed because she doesn’t leave her home into the outside kittypet world, and is concerned about smudge and her mate- who both leave and get in fights with other cats pretty often. did you ever find smudge? she asks. what do you mean? replies fireheart. oh, this moon he decided to come with you, into the forest. i haven’t seen him since...

- anyway since princess doesn’t want her first child to enter the chaotic disputes of Kittypet Borders (and the other calamities of having little established government) she hands fireheart cloudkit

- like in canon nobody initially likes cloudkit but brindleface takes him in. their main worry is that he’s a white cat with blue eyes, which could mean that he’s deaf- not that this would hurt thunderclan, but that this could leave cloudkit to have a harder time being a warrior. cinderpaw however makes the connection and tells everyone that she wants to mentor cloudkit as soon as he becomes an apprentice.

- fireheart asks darkstripe to tell him more about tigerclaw killing redtail, hoping to get the details he needs to properly accuse him. but darkstripe is... different, this time. what do you mean!?! he screeches. tigerclaw is a loyal thunderclan warrior! you would never accuse lionheart or spottedleaf of this. how dare you even think-

- fireheart realizes that barkface’s ‘the moon will bring unnecessary death on its back’ omen was not referring to only whiteclaw, but also, perhaps, darkstripe in a way. whatever tigerclaw did to darkstripe, whatever he told him, it changed the tabby tom forever. as fireheart continues to think about the omen, his mind flickers to smudge for a moment, and then it returns to thunderclan.

- the gathering goes down like it does in canon. thunderclan slowly realizes that the rogues nightstar mentions are the same ones that tigerclaw had to fight at the border. ohhh shittt, they collectively go

- they get back to see rogues everywhere in thunderclan camp. the usually-bellicose thistleclaw isn’t fighting them, and darkstripe is half-hearting it. those who are There however are doing an okay job of fending them off, and their asses are collectively kicked when the ThunderClan Gang gets to them. they also manage to capture brokenstar after yellowfang blinds him (and fire hears that she was his mother- honestly i’m not changing a lot abt yellowfang)

- in the midst of this, fireheart accidentally kills clawface. he’s wracked with horror at it, and wonders if this is how graystripe felt when he killed whiteclaw.

- anyway there’s like 2 days of peace and then mudpaw rushes into gathering like ‘HOLY SHIT GUYS WE ARE BEING FUCKING ATTACKED BY THOSE SHADOWCLAN RIVERCLAN MFS’ and everyone is like ‘god DAMMIT we JUST PUT you guys back there’ and they all go in, ally with windclan, and have a Big Ass Fight like in canon. we get a good idea of everyone’s loyalties to who- graystripe is only fighting shadowclan, darkstripe only attacks whoever is around tigerclaw, sandstorm and longtail tagteam fight against river and shadow, onewhisker is just running around doing nothing but Look Cool,

- barkface dies in the battle, leaving windclan to wonder if he had predicted his own death in the omen from about a moon before. fireheart doesn’t have the heart to tell them that it meant much more than they could know. spottedleaf joins windclan in barkface’s stead as he left behind no apprentice. ‘wait you can just Leave Clans like that?’ says graystripe. he is Thinkin

- the book’s end is uncertain as fireheart is still reeling from clawface’s death and the big battle between all the clans. he wonders if this is how the rest of his life will be- and then, as he falls asleep, he gets a nightmarish vision of hell and heaven, life and death, and an odd peace afterwards, all narrated by a voice he swears he knows but not from where. it almost becomes... oddly soothing, like a long-forgotten childhood memory.

- lion and tiger will meet in battle, and fire alone will herald it. there will be three, kin of his kin, and they will hold the power of starlight in their paws; yet peace will only arrive on the gentle wings of the fourth. out of the darkness of blood-spilling-blood will come a new dawn, and the four oaks will live beyond the memories of its memories. nothing is as it was, yet this is how it always has been, and this is how it always will be...

#warrior cats #warrior cats rewrite #rambles

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fencesandfrogs · 4 years ago

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cloudtail’s daughter: cinderheart

alright well third character: cinderheart.

i'm going to be honest, i don't care enough about cinderheart to have a lot to say about this. i'm finishing it in the morning, and i'm starting it in night, so watch this be longer than dovewing's (fat chance i wrote like 4k words about dovewing because, and i can't say this enough, i lovewing dovewing), but i'm not feeling particularly inspired at the moment.

ohhh wait i changed my mind this is the one where i get to talk about cinderpelt again, isn't it? yeessss i take it all back i've been waiting to write this since i first wrote cinder back in dovewing's character

anyway as per usual, this is part of an au where dovekit and ivykit are born to brightheart and cloudtail. go ahead and click the cloudtail's daughter tag if you want to see more about this. this is probably pretty dependent on knowing what happens to dovewing in the au, but i'd say compared to lionblaze, its still more self standing because it's significantly more verbose, so it's not reliant on filling in the gaps as much, because this is filling in the gaps.

[3k words, 10 minute read. section headers. a little bit jumpy.]

section one: cinderpelt and cinderkit --- an exposé on reincarnation

you don't need me to tell you warriors reincarnation is weird. to make my life easy, here is how it works:

true reincarnations -- jay's wing/jayfeather, dove's wing/dovewing, lion's roar/lionblaze. only one soul exists. half moon will reunite with jayfeather. or ig he can decide to go by jay's wing. dovewing and lionblaze may or may not regain their memories on death; it's not important to this story so i'm not decided

starclan induced reincarnations -- cinderpelt's soul gets shoved into cinderkit. they now share. this was, ah, very dangerous, because cinderkit and/or cinderkit's soul could have died. but she didn't. as cinderkit grows into her own person, she and cinderpelt will grow either increasingly intertwined (i.e., cinderpelt weaves into cinderheart, and is never fully awakened.) when they die, idk what happens. it's not very nice.

luckily, that didn't happen. instead, cinderheart grows apart and cinderpelt basically is a voice in her head. eventually, at some point, idk, cinderpelt frees herself. i'm sure i'll figure that out in this post, but i don't know yet.

so that's their deal.

section two: cinderheart and lionblaze

alright, cinderheart and lionblaze are not going to be a conflict thing, because of destiny. i'm just, that's. well it's a step up from the standard romance drama, but i still hated it. so anyway, cinderheart knows lionblaze is in L-O-V-E with her, but she's kind of holding out until he's more mature/responsible.

she's also not ready for kits, and that's the only way a warriors romance can be officially codified.

jk, but in seriousness, they're already close, similar to sandstorm and fireheart in books 2-4 or so of TPB. she's just not ready to take him as a mate yet, and he's kind of funny as a bumbling fool. that said, she does care a lot about him and if he pushed her, or circumstances pushed her, she'd be willing to be upfront about it.

cinderpelt is happy cinderheart is finding love, but she does kind of wish it wasn't with lionblaze. not because he's an idiot, after all, cinderpelt had a crush on fireheart before he finished growing a brain, but because she is worried about the prophecy. and lionblaze dying and leaving cinderheart alone. so cinderheart has some internal conflict about this, but she has internal conflict over whether she wants thrush or mouse some days. side effect of having two souls in one body. she keeps it wrapped up because she's pretty sure she's into lionblaze and cinderpelt is unsure, and she doesn't need to confuse the situation anymore.

yeah, by the time this series begins, cinderheart and cinderpelt are really two separate entities, and cinderpelt is getting ready to leave. she's just sort of waiting. it's until cinderheart and lionblaze confirm they're mates. why? because that's when it happens in the original and i can't think of a better time. also, it kind of completes cinderpelt's small crush on fireheart.

(it really wasn't that big. sandstorm just made a big deal out of it because she was jealous.)

section three: dovepaw

right, so cinderheart is hype for dovepaw. the dovepaw is real sweet and quiet and cinderheart feels good about that. so they're excited.

cinderheart and dovepaw go out for territory and cinderheart is like "she's on top of shit this dovepaw" and dovepaw catches a mouse or two and cinderheart is super proud and supportive and everyone is happy.

and then cinderheart starts to feel like she's failing dovepaw, because dovepaw just can't get anything else down. lionblaze and ivypaw, on the other hand, are having basically no issues. so she feels like she's failing dovepaw, and she's a little insecure about that, so cinderheart and dovepaw tag along with lionblaze and ivypaw a lot.

as you can guess, this makes everything worse.

cinderheart realizes dovepaw is sneaking out at night and is like "well this is a problem i'm not equipped to deal with" and frets over it for a while, unsure of who to talk to without geting dovepaw in trouble. (lionblaze also snuck out as an apprentice, he's an unreliable source.)

so she doesn't tell anyone at first, just makes sure dovepaw is still getting sufficient rest for a young cat. (she isn't.) eventually, she lets it slip to hollyleaf who talks about it with lionblaze who ivypaw overhears, but ivypaw is the last character i'm covering in this set of essays.

dovepaw gets trapped in the tunnels for three days, and cinderheart feels like she's failed her charge. also, brightheart is kind of mad at cinderheart because she feels that cinderheart didn't really do anything to stop dovepaw from feeling like she needed to prove herself and like, brightheart's not wrong, but it's also unfair to cinderheart. so cinderheart blames herself a whole lot because dovepaw is dead now and it's her fault.

when dovepaw gets back cinderheart only barely punishes her, and dovepaw has had enough exploration, so being confined to camp is only barely a punishment anyway. cinderheart vows that she's going to do better, do right, by dovepaw (although she's really been doing pretty okay no one is really blaming cinderheart, even brightheart has gotten over it now that dovepaw is back and safe and alive.)

section four: can you hear what i hear?

so when dovepaw gets back, cinderheart takes her out once she's recovered, and dovepaw is like "so where are the creatures with the clicky-clackies?" and cinderheart has no idea what's going on.

but cinderheart, despite being lumped in the "two braincells" category that the first three pov characters have (seriously if you haven't read my breakdown of this au as a whole you may want to because i've written so much for it that i'm definitely skipping details. now that my pace has slowed from "about 10k words in one weekend" to "2k words a day" it's better but still), is not an idiot. she's seen the lake get smaller. times are getting hard. there was a gathering while dovepaw was in the tunnels that cinderheart went to and it was real rough. so she's like. hm. maybe. dovepaw is starclan chosen or something? it would explain why she's spacy all the time.

cinderheart gets all the info she can from dovepaw and then has to figure out whether she's taking this to firestar or jayfeather.

i'm not 100% how this resolves, but eventually, cinderheart and dovepaw go to firestar to discuss the beavers. cinderheart does most of the talking, dovepaw is just kind of there nodding along.

so the standard canon thing happens and they all get ready for the trip. i feel like i've done a pretty in-depth breakdown of this for dovewing, and hollyleaf will get one too, so i'm just going to say, other than hollyleaf also coming, it's pretty much canon.

section five: the tribe

oh man it's the cinderheart book and whoo boy am i excited for this one.

alright alright alright so dovepaw is doing the Late Nights again, but its to see tigerheart. so cinderheart is uh, not very aware of it this time?

dovepaw is older and smarter (barely) and more importantly knows she can’t get caught again.

so dovepaw real tired, real close to tigerheart at gatherings, and cinderheart is like “hm maybe something is up” and cinderpelt is like “yeah keep an eye on that”

(an aside: so cinderpelt’s presence is kind of a nagging one in cinderheart’s life. it’s not that she’s not the same cinderpelt we know and love, but she’s a kind of omnipresent authority figure, so she reads a bit differently. but she’s still our wonderful cinderpelt. no fear.)

and ivypaw tells lionblaze that dovepaw is sneaking out (see here for lionblaze, literally 0 awareness) and he tells cinderheart and cinderheart is like “well that checks” and cinderpelt is like “hm remember fernpaw and dustpelt”

“ferncloud is like a second mother to me no i don’t know the details of her romance”

“yea well...”

you know, cinderheart's almost worried dovepaw is going to have kits real soon after becoming a warrior and there are approximately 0 thunderclan toms she's close enough with for that to be applicable.

(for the record, they are not that close. cinderpelt is concerned not just because forbidden romance, but also because of how young leafpool was. not impossibly young by any means, but still fairly young.)

so then through uhhh who knows memory? convenient stormfur is convenient? haven't decided yet, but anyway, cinderheart decides the tribe can help them. (the real reason is because i want the tribe to solve a clan problem for once. the stated reason is probably something like "dovepaw feels too much pressure after the beavers" or "long journeys are good for apprentices" i mean look brambestar dgaf about where warriors are going so why should i?)

lionblaze and ivypaw come along and cinderheart is like "great i just told this guy that i don't want to change anything between us until i'm done mentoring dovepaw and now he's tagging along with this? where's a hollyleaf when you need her?"

(hollyleaf is living with her ghost boyfriend, cinderheart, she is no longer a reliable source of buffering between you and lionblaze. also, cinderheart, this isn't coming up in this au because again ending in step with canon but please consider: lesbians.)

anyway, the four of them set out and dovepaw and ivypaw still aren't talking which is getting really old, really fast.

eventually, after a day or two of travelling in basically silence, ivypaw and dovepaw do start to talk again. one goal down. (my conviction that travelling books are good, actually, remains untested, but i'm determined to prove it.)

okay, so i've been reading all my notes in detail as i start actually drafting this, which means my essay content is morphing further into writing notes. you can tell because i'm skipping bigger sections, or adding notes about purpose in story, etc. this is just a warning that since i last worked on this, i've actually begun writing the book this stuff takes place in (the first book only matters if you're dovekit or ivykit, so the fact that i'm writing it doesn't really have an effect. i just wanted to start with something low-stakes.) so like, on one hand, i should have more figured out, but on the other hand, my comments are going to be a lot looser and i wouldn't be surprised if i just straight up contradict something i already said (i do edit my posts but not heavily and only if i think they're something i'm going to point people back towards. i'd rather point people to my archive once i start posting, so.) anyway, this is just a warning for this and anything else in the CTD essay series (hollyleaf, jayfeather, ivypool, as well as the books, growing shadows, fading echoes, distant whispers, and whatever the canon names are but switch book 4 and 5), that it's going to be less "here's a summary of what i'm going to do" and more "here are my thoughts about what i'm doing"

right that note aside, the travelling party makes it to the mountains. there's drama, probably? none of them have been to the mountains IIRC? i know jayfeather has but i don't think the others went with him (bramble did? hm i'll have to research) but okay so the point is, they make it to the tribe as the mountain is getting colder and this is where i have to deviate from my trend of realism the most because they're going to stay on the tribe for much longer than they should. my timeline has ivy/dove born in leafbare at the beginning of the season (easier math), so this is early-mid leaf fall, and the mountain would be unpassable really soon. but i don't want that, so we're going to pretend they have 2-3 moons before it's truly impassable, or the story flows a lot worse because i really want the drought to be in green leaf because it just sets up a hard hitting winter which is a good tension/drama fodder machine.

unfortunately, i'm limited in who i can kill off, but what can you do?

right so anyway, they're in the tribe and cinderheart present dovepaw and stoneteller is like "huh ig this could work sure why not" and dovepaw is enlisted to be a tribe to-be. she's not given an offiical whatever the tribe word for mentor is, (does the tribe have individual mentors? i can't remember off the top of my head), but she's more or less the same as any othet tribe to-be. the fact that she's so fluffy is a bonus. keeps her warm.

cinderheart is less at-home in the tribe, but she works with the prey hunters and generally gets along. i'm not sure. maybe she makes friends? (this is literally her book she definitely does interesting things i just don't know who lives in the tribe off the top of my head. her life does not revolve around dovepaw like 100%. she has to sort out some cinderpelt stuff in this book it's just very internal and i'm not entirely sure how it goes yet.)

so cinderheart and dovepaw are doing their thing for a bit. they get a good chance to explore tribe culture. it's good. everything is good. cinderheart is still definitely mentoring dovepaw, but what that means right now is a lot of modeling how to be a good learner, rather than explicitly teaching. cinderheart herself is preparing and thinking about how to transfer these skills to thunderclan.

uh yeah so anyway it's getting close to winter so they gotta head out, and the tribe is like "off u go food is tight in leafbare/whatever-they-call-winter" and the four of them set out.

okay so i'm going to skip to cinderheart's second book, because honestly, arc one narrators all get thrown in BGCH until they're needed in arc 2. (i mean, tbf, jayfeather has done literally nothing in all of arc one. nothing. he's just there, occasionally being like "no firestar, don't make dovepaw my apprentice!" and that's pretty much it.)

and basically so while jayfeather and hollyleaf are off having ghost romances (that's the entire plot of their book it's ghost romance), cinderheart and lionblaze are just having a relationship. dovewing and ivypool are warriors now, so cinderheart does have background drama of being worried because dovewing is still seeing tigerheart ("we took her on a whole mountain vacation and she's still obsessed with him?"), but like, it's very chill for a while.

and then sol comes back.

oh man, sol comes back and it's gonna be a big deal. yeah. it's a big deal for cinderheart, and hopefully this will be an interesting section, because cinderheart is a very different character from the OG oots crew, and she's going to handle problems in a different way, and this is the first chance we get to see that. the beavers don't count she was j chilling with whatever dovepaw said and the tribe is certainly a good example of her character (caring, resourceful, outside the box), but that's the set up. sol is the pay off.

so cinderheart is pleased by sol, but also generally wary. you gotta remember, cinderheart has been on a lot of extra curricular field trips. she's met a lot of cats. (note to self: include more loners.) she's a quick judge of character. and sol, you know, he's a lot.

so she keeps an eye on him, and she expresses her concern to hollyleaf, and hollyleaf is like, yeah, sure, i'll help.

so hollyleaf is like "so by the way, sol is in the tunnels." and cinderheart is like "this is going to be a problem" and cinderpelt who is now in starclan is like "oh she's finally learning."

so i'm not entirely sure on the details here because i haven't plotted out the ending three books in nearly as much detail (i mean on the blog i have but in my head where i keep all the plot lines i haven't) but cinderheart is going to solve the problem and she'll do it in a different way.

thunderclan definitely still learns to fight in the tunnels because they need to for battle purposes. (oh, to be a windclan tunnler, looking down in sadness from starclan about what my clan has lost.)

and yeah leaving cinderheart here because she retreats to BGCH after completing her duty of being a meanful character.

cinderheart? done.

#lionblaze #dovewing #ivypool #hollyleaf #cinderheart #cloudtail's daughter #mine #q #txt #27th #February #2021 #February 27th 2021 #essay #long #lovewing dovewing #not really but also yes #28th #February 28th 2021

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idkwhoiamanymorebutwtf · 4 years ago

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You know I bet Ashfur didn’t start off as a psychopathic stalker. I bet it was a slow downward spiral. And getting into Starclan wasn’t as easy as it may seem.

When his mother died, I can bet you anything that Ashpaw cried for days. Tucked away in his den, refusing to speak to anyone, even when Fernpaw and Cloudpaw tried to coax him out. Dustpelt scolded him for lazing about- Brindleface had been his sister, but Dustpelt was never the type to dwell on grief. Sandstorm eventually convinced everyone to leave Ashpaw alone. It was one of the few positive interactions he can remember with his half sister. Ashpaw was grateful for it. He didn’t truly get over his mother’s death until he watched Tigerstar bleed out. Although knowing he’d lured the dog’s that mauled her to their demise was satisfactory for a time as well. Ashfur never forgot how good it felt to see the cats responsible for what happened to his mother suffer. That was the most euphoric experience of his life, really.

When Cloudpaw went missing, Ashpaw had been so worried. Much like when his mother died, he confined himself to his den, too scared for his brother to do anything. Dustpelt was less forgiving this time. Sandstorm wasn’t there to speak up for him.

Ashpaw’s relationship with Cloudtail changed when the tom was made a warrior before him. Part of it was envy. His own brother was made a warrior while he and Fernpaw were left on the sidelines. Why? Because Bluestar trusted him for being Fireheart’s kin? Did she forget that Ashpaw and Fernpaw were her great nephew and niece? Whitestorms kits? His father’s side of the family had always been distant. Fireheart didn’t stand up for him. Brightpaw and Swiftpaw were ready to be warriors, he’d told Bluestar. Not a word on Ashpaw who’d congratulated his younger brother on becoming a warrior before him. Ashpaw would have gone with Swiftpaw’s crazy plans to prove themselves, if only he hadn’t been on patrol. Fernpaw told him about it later, before the rest of the clan knew. Ashpaw tried to go after them, and only at his sister’s pleading did he decide to stay.

He’d never been close to Whitestorm. But when his father was killed, Ashpaw (along with the other apprentices, of course) got to feel his killer’s blood beneath his paws. It was a moment, much like seeing the death of those responsible for killing Brindleface, that Ashfur relished for the rest of his life.

Ashfur watched his siblings drift away from him. Envy had distanced him from Cloudtail a little, but the thing that really tore them apart was when both Ferncloud and Cloudtail found mates. Cloudtail and Brightheart were so cute together and oh, wasn’t everyone so happy for them? And of course Ferncloud and Dustpelt quickly had a litter on the way, and everyone was overjoyed by the prospect of new kits. Yet Ashfur wasn’t. They were always so busy with their families. Their mates, their kits. Ashfur was jealous. They noticed. Everyone noticed. He’d become grumpy, withdrawn. His sister and brother still loved him, but he’d grown dependent on them. After their parents died, how could be not depend on his siblings for the affection he craved? It’s not like anybody else was offering it to Ashfur. His sister got the love she needed from her mate. Cloudtail had Firestar, Sandstorm, and of course his mate as well. Both his siblings had their kits to pour love into. What did Ashfur have? Only Cloudtail and Ferncloud. And yet they were never able to give him their undivided attention because they had their own families to care for now.

Ashfur, believe it or not, had never actually loved Squirrelflight. But he saw how lively she was. She was full of color and passion. And he wanted to feel that too. He wanted her joy and inspiration to rub off on him. He at least wanted someone who could give Ashfur the undivided attention he needed. After all, his siblings seemed so happy with their own families. All Ashfur needed was one of his own, and surely that would make him happy again. He tried to convince himself that he loved her. That it wasn’t just a way for him to fill the emptiness in his chest. People worried about him. Ferncloud looked at him with those soft, motherly green eyes and gently prodded him for information. Cloudtail tried to guide him into the forest for a walk, just to clear his head. But Ashfur ignored them, and they couldn’t give him their undivided attention forever. Eventually their other responsibilities would call them away, and Ashfur would be able to convince himself that they didn’t really care. That the only way to be happy was if he could be with Squirrelflight.

When he was rejected, Ashfur was desperate to feel anything but pain. He managed to convince himself that it was her fault. That she’d wronged him somehow. That was all he could do. Ashfur had convinced himself that this was his only chance for happiness (as wrong as he was). She was so bright and passionate and vibrant. Surely she could share some of that with Ashfur. Squirrelflight, in his eyes, was denying him the tiniest ounce of warmth he asked for. She said they could still be friends, but he couldn’t accept that. Ashfur needed to be the most important cat to somebody. Anybody.

Revenge came naturally to him. He’d been responsible for the death’s of those who killed both his parents. And those moments had been the best of his life. The satisfaction brought to him by vengeance. He craved it. Somehow, Ashfur managed to convince himself that those three kits were necessary sacrifices.

After his death, Ashfur didn’t immediately go to Starclan. There was so much bitterness in his heart. It’s all he’d let himself feel for so long. Ashfur refused to feel any more heartbreak. He had enough heartbreak during his apprenticeship to last a lifetime. He’d tried so hard to transfer that pain into anger. When she found his body, Squirrelflight cried. Ashfur didn’t care, but he did notice. Ashfur noticed the compassion from her. That she would cry for a cat who threatened her kits and reputation. Who brought her so much pain. Somehow she mourned his death. Ashfur told himself it was guilt. That she felt bad for all she’d done to him. She’d done so much to hurt him, right? She deserved the pain, didn’t she? Ashfur told himself it was true and moved on. Hollyleaf cried too. Her pain was so clear. Ashfur didn’t understand it. Those dogs, Bone, Tigerstar. Seeing them dead had felt so good. Ashfur knew that seeing Hollyleaf and her siblings dead would have felt all the same had they burned in that fire. Why was she crying? It was revenge, wasn’t it? She should be reveling in it. Why wasn’t she reveling in it?!? Many cats mourned. Dustpelt and Sandstorm were two that surprised him. His half sister and his mentor had never been too invested in him. They weren’t close. And yet it was clear that they loved him nonetheless. Ashfur couldn’t grasp it. The whole clan was up in arms debating his death. Most of them grieved. He’d been alone, though, hadn’t he?!? Nobody loved him, that’s what he always told himself. But...come to think of it...Foxleap and Icecloud had tried to share tongues with him that day, hadn’t they? And Whitewing had asked him if he was alright, something about him looking ill. Rosepetal and Toadstep invited him on patrol, said they needed a talented hunter like him. Spiderleg had whispered some snide comment to Ashfur, a joke which he’d been too distracted to laugh at. The breaking point came when he saw Ferncloud sob into his fur. She was wailing, as if nothing else in the world mattered except that her brother was dead. Cloudtail couldn’t look at him. The tom walked out of camp halfway through the vigil and threw up. Neither ate for days. It took moons for them to start sleeping again. Ashfur followed them around and he wanted to cheer them up. He hadn’t felt the need to help anybody except himself in so long. He was sure they didn’t care enough about him to need his help. But they couldn’t see him. They couldn’t see him because he was dead. At first Ashfur told himself that their pain was Hollyleaf’s fault because she’d killed him, after all. But the way she’d cried. The regret in her eyes. Hollyleaf didn’t want to do it. It wouldn’t be realistic to say it was her fault. And it would have been so easy to blame Squirrelflight, but suddenly Ashfur found that he couldn’t.

That’s when he faded into Starclan. And he knew he didn’t deserve it. Ashfur knew he didn’t deserve to be there. Perhaps that’s why he went to Starclan. At first the tom avoided the cat’s he’d once loved. Nieces and nephews. His parents. When he finally ran into Brindleface he saw so much disappointment in her eyes. Ashfur dropped to his knees and cried. He wanted so badly for her forgiveness. Once the tom hadn’t even thought he needed to be forgiven. That he was some sort of martyr. And when he looked back at his mother, once his tears had faded, he saw love take hold of her expression, and he cried once again in her arms. After that the apologies were easier. Hollyleaf, Ferncloud, Sandstorm. The one cat he hadn’t the courage to lend one to was Squirrelflight. When she was in Starclan, he could feel her eyes on him. She knew he didn’t belong there. He knew it too. But he knew it was what it was, and maybe one day he’d be able to offer her an apology. It wasn’t enough. But it was all he had to give.

Ashfur didn’t become a better person on his own. He had to hurt a lot of people, including those he loved before he realized he needed to become one. A lot of the things he did are truly unforgivable. But he let himself get the help he needed, and he’s doing better in starclan. He’s trying to be better.

#warrior cat #ashfur #hahaha i hate canon ashfur #but uh #the one i've invented in my mind...#he's okay

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oliveheart-worldbuilding · 4 years ago

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Aster, Bee Balm, Daffodil, Dahlia, Laurel, Petunia, Rose, and Violet? I'd also add Gardenia but it's impossible to escape murder cats.

Hi there! Thank you so much for the ask! Once again, I’m sorry for taking so long to answer!

Adding a read more because this one is pretty long.

Aster- Who’s your least favorite character? Why?

This one is a bit difficult for me, I read many of the books a long time ago and I’m sure if I were to read them again my opinion on a lot of characters would be very different. Going only by memory I would say that Bluestar is one of my least favorite characters but then I would have to add many female characters that I now feel were completely mistreated by the authors and whose entire arcs where thrown under the bus in the name of forbidden love or man pain. I never liked Silverstream, but nowadays I know that whom I actually hate is Graystripe. I used to not like Leafpool or Squirrelflight at all, now I don’t. What I’m trying to say is that my opinion changes constantly and a lot. I read the books a long time ago and did so with a completely different mindset (I was 16 when I read Omen of the Stars and oh man was I edgy and stupid back then), most of my opinions nowadays are based on the potential the characters have rather than the actual character. So bearing that in mind:

-Bluestar: I know, I know, a lot of you love her a lot but even after reading people’s opinions on her I just… eh I don’t like her at all. She feels incredibly detached in the first books. To me she always treated Firepaw rather coldly. I know a lot of people talk about Bluestar as if she had become Firepaw’s adoptive mother but I just don’t see it. Reading about her losing her faith was very interesting, so was her crumping mind health but, I just gotta draw the line on how terrible she was to Brightpaw. In this house we love and respect Brightpaw and Bluestar was just very nasty to her. I really didn’t like her novella at all either. Based on her relationship with Whitestorm in The Prophecies Begin I always thought that she might have played an important role in his life after Snowfur died but, it doesn’t seem that way at all? The only moment we see them interact is when she tells Whitekit, in a very distressing way may I add, that her mother is dead and never coming back. To me, she also comes in as selfish and power-hungry, she spends a huge part of the book complaining about Thistleclaw (bear in mind, back then he was only overly ambitious, not a pedophile) and his relationship with her sister, even though she herself is spending time with Oakheart, a tom from another clan. When Goosefeather tells her about the prophecy he never specifies that she must be the one becoming leader, only that Thistleclaw is not meant to become one and yet she goes out of her way to become the leader so much so that she’s willing to risk her kittens’ safety (killing one in the process) just so she can be available for the position. She could have just uuuuhmmmm told Sunstar about the prophecy? Also I’m pretty sure Sunstar assures her that Thistleclaw would not have made a good leader multiple times so… he could have chosen literally anyone else? Rosetail? Thrustpelt? Don’t get me started on the whole Tigerkit dilemma! She chooses to believe Goosefeather prophecies when they strengthen her own personal bias but when she’s told about Tigerkit’s she just goes “aw man Goosefeather sure is crazy hahaha anyway back on me becoming leader”. I don’t know, there’s more to it but this is getting pretty long. Personally she’s just not my favorite.

-Graystripe: He’s a terrible friend, he treats Fireheart like absolute garbage, he chooses a molly he has known for exactly 2 days over his best friend and his entire clan, he leaves Thunderclan to spend more time with his kittens just to abandon them 5 seconds later, and yet the son of a bitch was somehow always meant to become deputy to Firestar??? Just because they are friends??? Dude went against the warrior code, endangered his clan by refusing to fight Riverclan, was incredible close to causing an all-out war with Riverclan, abandoned his clan, refused to see what was wrong about his behavior just because he was in love… How in the f is he a good warrior??? Erins I want answers; this man is garbage. When he gets captured by the humans and comes back to the lake he gets so SO mad at Firestar for not “waiting for him”, my dude you were gone for seasons, you were deputy, you really expect the entire clan to stop working so that you can keep your friendship bracelet position? Everybody thought you were dead Graystripe!! Was everyone supposed to keep vigil forever?? He’s also a terrible father to both his litters, his reaction to being told that Feathertail’s dead is “aw man… she was so beautiful… like her mom…” that’s terribleeee. At some point in Omen of the Stars, after Briarlight broke her spine, Millie complains about Graystripe not helping her at all and then they start fighting about it, Graystripe’s only answer is something along the lines of “yeah whatever dude”. I hate him so much. I stopped reading after The Last Hope, so I can’t talk about the rest but, I’ve seen some parts of Graystripe’s Vows and let me tell I want this man gone for good. He’s lived for too long.

-Lionblaze: He’s the most flavorless character in the history of flavorless characters. What’s his arc? That’s right. He doesn’t have one. I literally have nothing to say about him. How is this character alive and in his way to become leader when Hollyleaf could have been in his place? Disgusting. Also, dreaming about killing your girlfriend and bathing in her blood? Bad. Not showing not even a bit of remorse about after waking up? Terrible. Badly hurting her mentor when you were trying harm her? Just straight up fucked up. He’s badly written, boring and kind of very misogynist at times.

I have many other opinions because I’m a very judgmental person but I’m gonna leave it at that because this is getting very long.

Bee Balm- What’s your favorite novella or super edition?

I’ve only read three! So Crockedstar’s promise I guess.

Daffodil- When did you first start reading the books?

In the summer of 6th grade, that’s when I was… 11-12 years old? I think? So in 2012-2013, I started reading them in Spanish but I read through them super-fast and the translations were super slow to come out so I just started reading the books in English. It actually helped my English level quite a bit! My first English book was The Forest of Secrets I think.

Dahlia- Has any death scene actually made you cry? What was it?

Snowfur’s (Reading about Whitekit screaming at her mother to wake up was super messed up), Yellowfang’s (I loved that old woman. I wish they hadn’t written about her in Starclan, she’s so out of character in later books) and Hollyleaf’s death (yes, first and second time, young me loved her to pieces. I still can’t believe they let her die a second time when Lionblaze’s flavorless ass was right there…).

Laurel- If you could write the books, what changes would you make?

I would contemplate the idea of just, moving forward in time? The warriors’ series feels very stagnant. Young characters die while having no personality at all and older characters from the first series are still alive and very much immortal at this point. We need new fresh blood.

I would just set up a completely new series: maybe the stories of Firestar and his family have been immortalized, maybe they are now revered as gods or something, I would create an actual religion system, one based in nature, the death and rebirth of all things and the need to remember those who have fallen. I would change their entire culture so that elders are more important; medicine cats are not regarded as useless (I’m looking at every character that forced in this position instead of choosing it themselves) and the warrior code actually makes sense.

The setting of this new series would be the lake territories but a long time has passed since the time of Firestar and things have changed a lot. A kittypet joins the clans and through their perspective we see how they work and act, what makes every single one of them different, their culture and laws, etc. It would be a nod to the first series while being completely new. It would also allow to add new characters from the start so they all have personalities and relationships with each other.

I would also contemplate creating one last series set up in the time of the original clans where everything just goes to hell. You guys remember rabies? I want that + Starclan going crazy. A full out massacre of old characters that ends in only a few surviving ones. I want blood, and I want it to be scary. If children can read about Tigerclaw’s horrible death, then they can read what in my opinion would be a zombie/ghost apocalypse. And then I would start anew with this completely new series set up in the future.

I mean, I would rewrite a looooooot of things, but that’s a talk for another day.

Petunia- Which arc is your favorite? Which is your last favorite?

My favorite is The Prophecies Begin when it comes to the plot and the Power of Three when it comes to characters. My least favorite is the New Prophecy.

Rose- Do you prefer traditional naming or creative naming?

Traditional all the way! I like when things have meaning and each name having its own really helps the feeling of there being a pre-established culture! Creative naming just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me in this context but that’s just my personal taste.

Violet- What do you think is the worst trope in the series?

Already answered!

Gardenia- Do you think you’ll ever leave the fandom?

Probs not, I’m in too deep, warriors is always at the back of my mind...

#warriors #warrior cats #Erin Hunter #i speak #ask

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maplewind-au · 5 years ago

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Retrospective Author’s Notes

I just crossposted this note to the Wattpad and AO3 copies of Maplestar’s Light, but I’m going to post it here, too.

Hi there! My name is Razeru. First of all, thank you very much for reading my story!

I think, if you've read my story, you can surmise that I love Mapleshade. She's grown to be one of my favourite characters in Warrior Cats; her story, narratively, is written the best - in my opinion - out of most of the super editions and novellas.

Keep in mind, these words are coming from someone who grew up with these books, and also gets big mad about the things the Erins have pulled on other characters, like Squirrelflight (specifically Squilf, actually. They keep doing my girl dirty, and I'm so angry).

I took a read through my story again recently, and passed through the comments both on this Wattpad copy of the story, and the AO3 mirror. I really and truly appreciate all the love, but some people did seem to misunderstand the intention behind some things in my story, so I feel like I owe a bit of an explanation to you, my readers.

I offer this explanation because I've chosen to abandon the MapleWind AU entirely. There's too much in retrospect that I'm unhappy with, too many story ideas that don't connect narratively - it just makes a poor story. So, this is basically a big spoiler chapter for what would have happened, if I continued.

The remainder of this letter is just going to be me giving a word vomit about this story, so feel free to skip down to the bottom if you're only curious about closing remarks or projects surrounding other upcoming warriors works.

Alright. First and foremost, I want to address something specific. Mapleshade's story, as it was in canon, is a multidimensional story that a lot of people see as black-and-white. I, personally, see it as a fantastic narrative where not a single character is in the right, at least not in the context of the Clans - or morally, in some cases. This being said, a lot of the arguments about Mapleshade are usually "she's absolutely terrible and deserved what she got" / "she did absolutely nothing wrong and everyone else should be suffering" - both of which are... Very, very dangerous views to take on any person or character. When I wrote Maplestar's Light, my intention was to explore the idea where a few cats stepped out of the norm that seemed to affect this specific generation of the Clans and offered sanctuary.

WindClan has always felt like the most lax Clan out of the four, to me. With their history of welcoming in strangers and making kindly bargains with the other Clans in their times of need, it made sense to me that if a wandering cat passed out on their territory, they would reach out and help them. I chose Heatherstar specifically for this story because she was such a revolutionary, and wasn't afraid to shoot down any cat's words if she felt someone was going to get hurt.

Moreover, this AU explores the idea that instead of sleeping in Myler's barn and then going on her rampage, Mapleshade simply collapsed into grief - so Ravenwing, Frecklewish, and Appledusk all survive. Temporarily.

While Mapleshade is taken into WindClan, Mapleshade's kits are restless, and it's their turn to be angry - assuming StarClan spirits know everything (and it's heavily implied, in the first series, that they do), they pull strings just like the canonical iteration of their mother would. Ravenwing, Frecklewish, Appledusk, and - moreover - Oakstar, all suffer painful deaths as a result of the angry StarClan kits. To add insult to injury, all four lose their lives to the river while patrolling it - or are tricked into falling in. The kits drag them down until they drown.

Ravenwing and Oakstar are the only two who are able to make it to StarClan themselves, if only because of the good acts they've done to balance out the karma. The kits, however, are able to swing judgement on Frecklewish, who attacked their mother, insulted them, and was fine to watch them die, and Appledusk, who was willing to have them to begin with, who failed to save them.

This is unhealthy point of view, but they died as kits. All they know is the anger and betrayal.

On to the future.

Maplestar and Palebird have the three kits; Finchkit, Larkkit, and Firekit. Some people didn't seem to get it, and I thought I wrote it to be obvious, but Firekit is supposed to be THE Firestar in the future. With Maplestar at the helm of WindClan, ShadowClan is unable to drive them out. ThunderClan, however, is much weaker after their constant battles with RiverClan and the loss of not only Redtail, but many other great warriors. ThunderClan is driven out instead; WindClan, in their graciousness, would allow them to share the territory until something can be done about ShadowClan's terrible leader, and three Clans would unite against the one to protect their way of life.

During their time in WindClan's camp, Firepaw would grow close to the ThunderClan apprentices Ravenpaw, Graypaw and Sandpaw. Following the battle against Brokenstar, not only do Firepaw and his siblings get their warrior names, but so do the ThunderClan apprentices who participated (Sandstorm and Dustpelt included). Fireheart realizes during the night of his vigil that he doesn't want to lose his ThunderClan friends, and while meeting his family on the battlefield would be painful, he would feel worse fighting Graystripe or Ravenflight - the latter tom being the only cat Fireheart has met that makes his heart flutter.

The following day, as ThunderClan returns home, Fireheart goes with them. Yellowfang, in turn, has joined ThunderClan, having been a crucial asset to getting them in and out of ShadowClan. In return for the WindClan warrior, Spottedleaf stays; Spottedleaf had been attacked by a ShadowClan warrior the day before the battle, but Hawkheart protected her with his life. Feeling indebted, she swore to finish training Barkwing and serve WindClan just as she did ThunderClan.

The rest of the story would have gone similarly to canon, with a few minor changes; for one, WindClan and ThunderClan would forever have a close bond, not only through the blood of their Clanmates, but also through Bluestar and Maplestar, who exchanged each other's stories and bonded over how similar they were. Cinderpelt would have still gotten disabled, but through saving the ShadowClan apprentice Littlepaw from a monster; while she picks up healing from Yellowfang, she remains a warrior in spite of her leg. Swiftpaw narrowly survives, and Brightpaw lives with her scarring still, taking inspiration from Cinderpelt. Fireheart and Ravenflight become mates and have kits - Squirrelflight and Gingerpool.

I had further plans for TNP and PO3, but they're sort of lost to time at this point. The general ideas surrounded Brambleclaw - renamed Brambleflower - taking after his mother instead of his father, and being close friends with Squilf, but not mates. Gingerpool and Crowfeather do have kits, and Squilf does take them, but claims they were loner kits that she chose to raise. Bramble was their nursery parent, having chosen to be a queen instead of a warrior, and took care of them while Squilf went about being a warrior, only tuning in to feed them and sleep with them. Jay would have become a warrior named Jayclaw and Holly, an albino in this AU, would go on to be Gingerpool's apprentice and become Hollysnow. Jay is blind, and Holly is a selective mute. Lion would still have his powers of strength, but use them unwisely, and he would be the one to wind up having a crisis and revealing the secrets of his origin before disappearing into the caves.

The general idea for the OOTS arc of this AU was to give Ivy powers and still have her train in the Dark Forest, under Lionblaze - who is very much still alive, but misaligned. Dovewing would be given the opportunity as well, and only take it when she learns Tigerheart is also training there. Their struggles would surround a constant sibling rivalry, one that would deepen once Jay and Holly figure out Ivy is the third cat. I also threw around the idea of a deaf Ivypool, either from birth or caused by something much later - just to complete the "See/Speak/Hear No Evil".

The underlying, long plot to the AU was that Petalkit, Larchkit, and Patchkit effectively replaced Canon Mapleshade. Maplestar recovered, then seemingly forgot about her previous kits and replaced them with Fire, Finch and Lark. Petal, Larch and Patch want stupid, special Firestar and his bloodline to suffer for being their replacements. Technically, they were still spirits of StarClan, but pulled the strings in the Dark Forest.

Oh, boy. Those sure were a lot of words, huh.

I hope I'm not disappointing anyone by discontinuing this story. Again, looking back on it, I'm very unhappy with the way I was handling certain subjects and aspects of the story - and I'd rather kill it before I get carried away again. I've always held the belief that taking time and writing a more consise and well-placed narrative is much better than writing it quickly and breaking characters and morals. Mapleshade is a character I do want to do justice by, and Warrior Cats is a great sandbox to play in!

All that being said, I am still writing Warriors works. On AO3, I've published a couple smaller one-off stories that explore the idea of Tigerclaw not getting twisted up by Thistleclaw, and getting Scourge to join ThunderClan instead. You're welcome to read them if you haven't yet!

And I'm not done with Mapleshade, either. I'm currently working on a new, seperate Warriors rewrite based on the same time (with better allegiances); the working title for it, right now, is Falling Petals. I don't want to give too much away, but if there's enough interest, I might post a teaser excerpt to this story! There's no telling when I'll be finished with it, but I would much rather publish a finished work in full than post it by chapter and run the risk of losing interest or being unhappy with what I've put out.

A final project I'm working on is a personal Warrior Cats story called Rising Storm - it'll surround some OC Clans and Characters instead of rewriting canon material, and I'm looking for a main platform to post it on when I crack into it! If you're interested, I could use some beta readers when I start working on it, so please get in touch if you want to help out! If you know any non-Wattpad or AO3 websites I could publish the story on, please do let me know. I'll likely crosspost here, but I don't actively post on here too often, so I'd rather it not be the primary host.

I think that's everything I wanted to say! Again, thank you so much for your continued interest in my work. If you'd like to see more of what I do, look for the user 'ghastimafrix' on Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube, deviantART, AO3, and toyhou.se! I do a lot more than just write Warriors, and I'm always happy to chat.

Stay frosty, y'all!!

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curiositys-cat · 5 years ago

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Burn Up the Light ch.6

So they are friends now. Of some sort– she’s not sure what kinds of lines Starclan has strung between them, but they are there. Sometimes she thinks she can see them if she looks just right, like cobwebs glimmering under dew.

But whatever they have is tenuous, and Sandstorm has always been clumsy.

“I see the prey’s been running well,” Fireheart comments as Sandstorm steps into camp. “Though it doesn’t look like it’s running anywhere soon.”

Sandstorm gives an internal groan. In her mouth she drags a pigeon– or most of one. “Caught mid-flight.” She mutters. “Lost a wing.” Longtail hasn’t stopped giving her shit for it the whole way back.

“Prey is prey,” Sandstorm says, as she drops the pigeon into the fresh-kill pile and spits out a mouthful of feathers. Birds are delicious, but she’d take a fat squirrel any day– more of it in her stomach, less in her teeth.

“I’m sure someone will eat it,” Fireheart meows. “Maybe you can convince the kits that pigeons are meant to look like that.”

“Is that what you tell them about kittypet fur?” She starts off, a quiet grin on her lips.

“Hey!” Fireheart scrambles after. “What’s wrong with my fur?”

“Nothing, of course.” She pauses. “It’s just that a cat couldn’t be blamed for mistaking you for a squirrel–” She pauses again to look him up and down. –not much bigger than one, either.” Her voice trails into a purr at the look of Fireheart’s face. “But maybe you’re right about the pigeon. I’ll eat it and save the nice prey for someone else.”

“Oh!” Fireheart brightens at this. “I’ll get something too. Wait here.”

They’re only a few paces away from the fresh-kill pile. Nonetheless, Sandstorm waits, and Fireheart comes trotting gallantly back with Sandstorm’s pigeon and a brown mouse clutched in his jaw.

They’re sharing a meal. Of course they are. This is what clanmates do.

Sandstorm cannot help the part of her that twitches away as Fireheart comes near. It says that this is wrong, that Fireheart is an inexplicable enemy. The instinct leaves her stomach roiling.

The two of them stand there for a moment, eyes locked and limbs frozen like they await some warm wind to send them back to life. Sandstorm is the first to look away, and Fireheart does the same, giving an awkward laugh around the prey in his mouth.

Fireheart places the fresh-kill down and lowers himself after. “Not a bad chance to catch your breath, this little spot of sun. These bones need it.”

“You sound like a cranky elder,” Sandstorm meows.

“And maybe I have a right!” He turns to lick his shoulder, but a quiet light glows in his eyes. “Do you know what it’s like trying to keep Cloudkit alive? I look away for a second and the kit is two steps from impaling himself on a bush because he wants so badly to eat a death berry. They’re called Death berries, Sandstorm.”

“Ah, correction,” Sandstorm says. “You don’t sound like an elder. You sound like a cranky queen.”

“That kit is half fluff, but the other half is pure evil, you mark my words–”

“No respect for authority? In Fireheart’s kin?” Sandstorm turns her head towards an invisible audience, tail flicking in amusement. “Call the clans! We must let them know!” She meets his eyes. “I can only imagine what you got into as a kit. I’m sure the twolegs had their paws full as well.”

Fireheart takes a polite bite of his mouse instead of answering– which tells Sandstorm all she needs to know.

This– it’s all easy.

It’s all hard.

Sandstorm can’t stop to think about it, because we she does, she finds herself plummeting into the hollow that she has carved below her ribs. It is a place, she has decided, where she is no longer allowed to go. When she keeps it hollow and cold, she can bear it.

But every now and again it brushes up against her and reminds her that though she is no longer a creature fanged with grief, the venom is never far from the heart. She takes a bite of her bird. She’s not hungry.

“In all honesty, though, I am tired,” Fireheart murmurs. He eats thoughtfully now, his gaze elsewhere as he stares across the clearing. “And I can’t just sleep it off.”

“Why not?” Sandstorm asks. “I’m sure Bluestar would let you take a morning to yourself if you explained the situation with Cloudkit–”

“It’s not just Cloudkit, though.” Fireheart turns his eyes down.

“Oh,” Sandstorm says. “Well, a good night’s sleep can’t hurt. You should still talk to Bluestar.”

“Bluestar’s had enough of talking to me lately.”

Sandstorm can’t read his expression but she gets plenty from his tone.

She changes tack. “Maybe we could go hunting together later– you and me. It’d be a nice break from all the patrols lately.”

Fireheart sighs and lays his head down on his paws. “I don’t think I have it in me– I just–” he cuts himself off. “There’s too many secrets. I’m so tired.”

“Maybe you should stop poking your nose into foxholes if you don’t want to get bit,” she snaps. Then blinks at herself, because she doesn’t know why she’s done it.

“Thanks for that.”

Fireheart stands, stretches, his tail low and his eyes clouded with worry. What for, Sandstorm desperately wants to know. And cannot bring herself to ask.

Casual friendship she can do. No more than clanmates should be. But confession, trusting in one another, sorting through the thoughts that they can barely speak aloud? Sandstorm takes a step away before she can stop herself. She doesn’t even trust Dustpelt with that, let alone some over-friendly kittypet.

“I’m–”

“It’s okay,” Fireheart says, quickly.

Foolish, Sandstorm chides herself. For thinking this would be easy– they had felt like friends in the snow and the warmer moons since, but it’s not unreasonable that Fireheart would want to push their simple friendship into something more.

Well, he’s learned his lesson.

“I don’t mean to unload on you– it’s just that Graystripe has been gone more lately, and I’m…” he stops, his eyes finding a spot on the horizon again. “I need to talk things through to get them, I guess. Not everyone’s like that.”

Sandstorm’s heart moves into her throat. “I’m not,” she says. The idea of it burns on the way down.

“I know.” Defeated– “I know you.”

Fireheart’s words linger in the air for a long moment as Sandstorm tastes them. The idea of Fireheart seeing her– she can’t quite figure out how it feels. Tangible and tugging, like a burr stuck in her fur, like paws digging in soft earth, like the last feather stuck between her teeth– it’s uncomfortable, almost, but she can feel a hint of something just beyond, fresh and clear as relief.

“I’m not sure you do,” she says. A paw in the water. “No offense, I mean–”

“Huh,” Fireheart says.

“What?”

“Just surprised. I feel like I do– I mean, we were apprentices together, and lately we’ve been talking more. I’ve felt like we understand each other.”

The fur starts to rise on Sandstorm’s pelt. She flattens it, hastily and tries to look disinterested. “We get along. That’s not the same thing.”

“I’m sorry,” Fireheart purrs. “I didn’t realize we were talking about plunging into the depths of our souls here.”

Sandstorm meets his eyes. “Who do you think I am, then?” She doesn’t let her thoughts linger on the enormity of her words. “If you’re such an expert.”

“Well,” Fireheart says. He sits back down to think about it, turns his head to the side and watches a squirrel scuttle from one branch to the next. “I think you’re complicated, for starts.”

“Acute.”

“And quick to speak. Let me be a little ponderous with this– I want to get it right.”

Sandstorm inclines her head, but doesn’t interrupt.

“You’re a lot of things, Sandstorm– and not all of them at once. I remember how you were when I arrived, when I thought you had the personality of a pricklebush–” Sandstorm opens her mouth to object but a look from Fireheart quiets her. “But your anger never felt rash. It felt clearly judged, like you were choosing it over something else– that you were choosing me to be angry at.” He shakes his head. “I don’t hold it against you. I hope you know that.”

She doesn’t trust herself to respond. “You’re too smart for your own good, too rational about the world to figure out what your place is in it when things are chaos. You care about right and wrong– and you’ll beat yourself up about it until you get it perfect, even if things never are. You can be uptight, and sarcastic, and absolute in your judgement.” Fireheart pauses to take a breath. He doesn’t meet Sandstorm’s eyes– she couldn’t bear it if he did. “But you’re a light in the dark when you let yourself go, and in the end you turn your sharp tongue to prodding people in the right direction– and when you’re sure of the right thing, Starclan help the cat that stands in your path.”

A heat crawls up Sandstorms fur, uncomfortable pricking as his eyes linger on her. “And,” he says.

“I think I’ve heard enough–”

“And I think you’re brilliant. I think you’re bold. And I think you care– about me, about the clan, about everything– more than you want to.”

Sandstorm stands abruptly, as if she can shake off the weight of his gaze. “I think you’re reading too far into things,” she meows.

“Oh?”

“I’m not– I’m just a warrior.” She draws her shoulders higher. “I’m not…anything like that. I’m just a warrior,” she repeats.

Fireheart shrugs. “Then maybe I’m not as good at reading character as I want to believe. But,” he says softly. “I do think you’re something more.” He touches her shoulder with his tail and goes, winding off towards the medicine cat’s den.

Sandstorm’s pelt feels raw, somehow, like her fur has fallen out and any moment the clan will turn and realize what she’s lost.

The cat Fireheart described was not her– that cat was too much. Brilliant, he had called her, and that was the least of it.

Sandstorm wolfs down the last few bites of her bird and walks towards the warriors’ den. It is only after several minutes and many rough licks to her pelt that it will lie down flat again. The things that cat said– Fireheart, she realizes, is paying more attention than Sandstorm had ever thought. Maybe more than she’s comfortable with.

No one should spend so much time puzzling her, let alone Fireheart, whom she has only just started to think of as a friend. No one should be able to pick out the edges where things don’t quite fit and mine through until the true ore of the her is out, iron jutting into the wind. And that’s the other problem of it– she is, in the end, too much of iron to be the golden warrior of Fireheart’s words. She is too hard, too rusted. She is not so foolish as to think of herself as kind.

But maybe one day.

Fireheart is good– she realizes. In a way that she isn’t. He is too smart to really see her as gold– but he is smart, and good enough to speak to the side of Sandstorm that wants.

When she closes her eyes, she hears his voice. A light in the dark.

Someone has seen her and told her that she is good– someone has seen her and told her that they believe she can be better. And it is Fireheart, of all cats. The apprentice in her yowls at the idea but a firmer, fuller voice tamps down her caterwauling heart. A light in the dark, she thinks. That’s what I will be.

And when she is, Fireheart will see it.

#firestar #sandstorm #firesand #warriors #thunderclan #warriors fic #unlike what my original tag says this is mid forest of secrets!

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thunders-warcats-stuff · 5 years ago

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Shadows and Secrets Chapter One

The icy wind blew snow into Fireheart’s face as he struggled down the ravine toward ThunderClan’s camp, a freshly killed mouse gripped in his jaws. The flakes were falling so thickly that he could scarcely see where he was going. His mouth watered as the prey-scent of mouse filled his nostrils.

He hadn’t eaten since the previous night, a grim sign of how scarce prey was in leaf-bare. Hunger clawed at his belly, but Fireheart would not break the warrior code: The Clan must be fed first.

A glow of pride briefly drove off the chill from the snow that matted his flame-colored coat as Fireheart remembered the battle that had taken place only three days before. He had joined the other ThunderClan warriors to help support ShadowClan when the marshland cats were attacked by almost a Clan’s worth of cats in their own camp!

As Fireheart pushed his way through the gorse tunnel leading into the camp, he dislodged snow from the spiky branches above and flicked his ears as the cold lumps fell on his head. The thorn trees around the camp gave some shelter from the wind, but the clearing in the center was deserted; everyone preferred to stay warm in their dens when the snow lay this thick.

Broken tree stumps and the branches of a fallen tree poked above the covering of snow. A single line of pawprints crossed from the apprentices’ den to the bramble thicket where the kits were cared for.

Seeing the trail, Fireheart could not help but wonder after his sister. Now that the kits were a bit older, Nutleaf had taken to helping Yellowfang around in the medicine den, and would hopefully be apprenticed alongside her kits. It took a lot to be a medicine cat. It wasn't something that just anyone could do. But Nutleaf was determined to serve her new Clan, and this was a way for her to do so.

Trotting across the snow into the heart of the camp, Fireheart dropped his mouse on the pile of fresh-kill near the bush where the warriors slept. The pile was pitifully small. What prey could be found was thin and scrawny, hardly a mouthful for a famished warrior. There would be no more plump mice until newleaf, and that was many moons away. Fireheart turned away, ready to go back on hunting duty, when a loud meow sounded behind him. He whirled around to find the Clan deputy shouldering his way out of the warriors’ den.

“Let a better-rested warrior try their luck in this weather. Bluestar has chosen you, Sandstorm and Dustpelt to go to tonight's Gathering.”

Fireheart’s ears twitched with excitement. It was an honor to accompany the Clan leader to the Gathering, where all four Clans met in peace at full moon.

“You should eat now,” added the dark-coated tabby. “We leave at moonrise.”

He began to stalk across the clearing toward the Highrock, where Bluestar, the Clan leader, had her den; then he paused and swiveled his massive head to look back at Fireheart.

“Remember which Clan you joined!” He hissed acidly. Fireheart sighed. He knew that Tigerclaw wasn't happy with him having friends in other Clan's, but he wouldn't trade Oakpaw, Wetfoot, Greenflower, Silverstream, or Onewhisker for the world!

Oakpaw had needed a shoulder to lean on the other day, having seen both his parents die within the span of not even a few heartbeats. Fireheart was surprised that the young tom hadn't broken down entirely or fainted. That was what he'd wanted to do half the time.

“He needed me and I was there. I would do more of that for any of my Clanmates.” The ginger tom hissed.

“The entire forest is not your Clan.” Tigerclaw growled. “And you would do well to keep that in mind.”

Fireheart rolled his eyes and started for the warriors den just as Bluestar gave the accustomed call for announcements.

He groaned. In this weather, no one wanted to do anything but burrow in their nests and sleep.

Life goes on, even in leafbare.

Bluestar waited until every cat settled into the clearing.

“Nutleaf, your kits have their sixth moon and I've noticed your love of the medicine den. Step forward so that you all may receive your names.”

Nutleaf squeaked, alarmed, and nudged her four kits forward. Cloudkit, Patchkit, Splashkit and Lightkit hopped through the snowy clearing ahead of their mother. Bluestar met the group halfway and began the ceremony.

“From this day forth, until he has received his warrior name, this apprentice shall be known as Cloudpaw. Whitestorm, you trained Sandstorm phenomenally, and I think you'll find you have quite a bit more in common with this one.”

The Clan chuckled among themselves as Cloudpaw touched noses with his new mentor.

“From this day forth, until she has received her warrior name, this apprentice shall be known as Splashpaw. Willowpelt trained rather well with Frostfur and the others. I expect you to pass on all you know to this apprentice.”

The pale grey she-cat nodded soberly and touched noses with her new apprentice. Bluestar turned to face Patchkit.

“You've come a long way, young one.” She murmured gently. “And you'll go further still.”

“From this day forth, until he has received his warrior name, this apprentice shall be known as Patchpaw.” She announced. “Mousefur, this will be your first apprentice. Treat him well and pass on all your know to him.”

Patchpaw shook fiercely as he touched noses with Mousefur, who stroked her tail down his back and led him back into the crowd.

“From this day forth, until he has received his warrior name, this apprentice shall be known as Lightpaw. Runningwind, you are patient and understanding. Your expertise will be needed with this one.”

Some cats snickered and the pair touched noses. Finally, Bluestar’s warm gaze landed expectantly on Nutleaf.

“It is to our benefit that you wish to become a medicine cat?” She asked. Nutleaf dipped her head.

“I do.” She insisted.

“Then I confirm your warrior name. Good luck with your training.”

Congratulations were murmured among the Clan and Bluestar called the Gathering cats. Along with Bluestar, Tigerclaw, Sandstorm, Yellowfang, Nutleaf, and Dustpelt; Frostfur, Speckletail and the elders would be in attendance.

This would be an interesting Gathering, if only because he didn't know how WindClan and RiverClan would react to the rogues that the ex-ShadowClan cats had set on their former Clanmates or the results of the fight. It would be something to look forward to.

The snow had stopped and the clouds had cleared away by the time the ThunderClan cats, Fireheart Sandstorm and Dustpelt among them, left camp and headed through the forest toward Fourtrees. The snow-covered ground seemed to glow in the white light of the full moon, and frost glittered on every twig and stone. A breeze blew toward them, ruffling the surface of the snow and bearing the scent of many cats.

The territories of all four Clans met in the sacred hollow, and at every full moon a truce was declared for the Clans to gather beneath the four great oaks that stood in the center of the steep-sided clearing. Fireheart fell in behind Bluestar, who had already dropped into a crouch to creep the last few tail-lengths to the top of the slope and peer down into the glade. A rock reared up in the center of the clearing between the oaks, its jagged outline black against the snow.

As Fireheart waited for Bluestar’s signal to move, he watched the other Clan cats greeting one another below. Fireheart recognized Tallstar, the leader of WindClan, sitting near the Great Rock, with his deputy, Deadfoot, beside him. Not far away, Runningnose and Mudfur, the medicine cats of ShadowClan and RiverClan, sat side by side, gazing at the other cats with eyes that reflected the moon.

After a fair amount of wandering, in which he searched out his young ShadowClan friend or wondered where his mate and sister drifted off to, Fireheart found himself near some elders, Patchpelt among them, who crouched beneath a glossy-leaved holly bush, where the snow did not lie so thickly. Keeping an eye out for Oakpaw, Sandstorm, and Nutleaf, Fireheart settled down to listen to their conversation.

“I remember a leaf-bare even worse than this.” An old black WindClan tom, muzzle turned to silver and flank scarred from many a fight, was the current grumbler. “The river was frozen for more than three moons.”

“You’re right, Crowfur,” A tabby ShadowClan queen agreed. “Prey was scarcer, too, even for RiverClan.”

Fireheart was slightly surprised that the pair could speak without spitting hatred at each other, given what WindClan had been put through not even a full year prior.

But then , he mused. ShadowClan has been through as much.

It was getting harder to see all sides of the problem when he had cats he cared for on both sides of the fence. But WindClan didn't seem outwardly hostile… maybe he's overthinking it?

“Young warriors today,” the old black cat added with a glance at Fireheart. “Have no clue what hardship is.”

Fireheart snorted from his place under the bush. Patchpelt shot him a knowing look.

“I can't agree with you there.” He offered. “Tigerclaw sent this one into battle his first day here and he managed to hold his own.”

Crowfur twitched his ears, interested now.

“That can't be right. He was an outsider, from what I've heard.”

“He was.” Patchpelt agreed easily. “And he'd just come into the forest the night before. According to Dustpelt, they were hunting when Ravenpaw came begging for reinforcements. Fireheart, here, didn't even hesitate. Scared himself near death for a few moons after, but StarClan themselves can tell you that he fought like a warrior on his first day in the forest.”

“Can't say I was all that good.” Fireheart coughed, embarrassed. That day was so overshadowed by Redtail’s death that he found no victory in holding his own.

“You're here to tell the tale.” Crowfur insisted. “That's good enough for me.”

The conversation drifted to a peaceful end as the leaders called for the start of the Gathering. Blackfoot stepped forward to address the crowd below.

“A few days ago, ShadowClan was attacked by a Clan's worth of rogues. ThunderClan came our aid and for that, we thank them. The thing about these rogues… they claim they were misled and asked to repay us. Practically begged, to be honest. I speak for ShadowClan and have chosen Nightpelt as my deputy. I say all this to you because we share the forest, and, well, we would like your opinions.”

Blackfoot seemed awkward up on the Great Rock and the clearing was stunned into silence.

“If you're genuinely thinking about it then maybe they can help.” Fireheart mused aloud.

“What was that, boy?” Crowfur asked.

“What if they only take a few cats at a time? Keep them for a quarter moon or two as a test?”

The tabby ShadowClan elder, Dawncloud’s sister, he recalled, nodded along before calling out to the now muttering crowd.

“This young tom has a good idea, Blackstar!” She purred, nudging Fireheart to his paws. Fireheart yelped, gaping, before nervously smoothing down his chest fur.

“Go on and tell them, young’un. Nobody else has anything to say.”

“I… I was just thinking maybe you could have them send a few cats for a quarter-moon. If you like the way things go, then they stay. If not, they leave and their entire Clan stays out of the forest.”

Some cats grumbled about youngsters butting in where they didn't belong, but Blackstar nodded thoughtfully.

“We'll take that under consideration. Thank you, Fireheart.”

Alarm coursed through him. How did the leader of ShadowClan know who he was?!

“You journey cats are all Oakpaw ever wants to talk about sometimes.” Dawncloud's sister chuckled.

“ThunderClan saves the day again.” Someone scoffed. Fireheart twitched his ears and looked around to find that the sound came from an irritated ShadowClan apprentice.

“Fireheart’s the reason we have our Clan back.” Oakpaw snapped.

“Your dad being evil doesn’t mean you have to go sniffing the tail of the first cat you like.” The ShadowClan apprentice sneered. Several cats within hearing gasped, and surprise erupted among the rest when Oakpaw lunged for his fellow apprentice. The other cat, a black tom with a white patch around his left eye, reared up to meet him, yellow eyes flashing with triumph.

“Enough!” Blackfoot called out, enraged. He prepared to claw his way down the Great Rock, but Crookedstar barred the younger leader's way with his fluffy tabby tail.

“Let the crowd work things out.” He murmured. “You must learn to trust your Clanmates.”

Blackfoot nodded, but remained tensed. Meanwhile, Wetfoot was unsuccessful in dragging the brown tom off of his denmate, and Fireheart found himself weaving through the crowd.

“He’s learned his lesson, I’m sure.” The ginger tom found himself saying.

Oakpaw froze, which gave the black tom enough leeway to try scratching his assailant.

Thank StarClan that Oakpaw was as good at avoiding blows as he was in dealing them out.

“He shouldn’t have said anything.” Oakpaw growled.

“Well if he didn’t know that before, he’ll have a few scars to remember you by.” Fireheart snorted. “Why don’t you sit with me and some of the elders?” He asked.

Oakpaw brightened at that, and nearly bowled several cats over in his attempts to get to Fireheart.

“See what I mean?” His black opponent jeered.

“Be quiet, Smokepaw!” A different cat, someone Fireheart hadn’t had contact with, stormed forward. “What you said was inappropriate and extremely cruel! His parents are dead, along with half our Clan, and you think taunting him is the best idea?”

“His father is part of the reason so many cats died in the first place!” Smokepaw scowled. “Why shouldn’t he know that he’s a traitor?”

“If that’s what you think,” The older cat sneered. “then Wetfoot shouldn’t have intervened. Maybe the humiliation would teach you some common sense.”

Fireheart led Oakpaw to where he previously sat to find that a few more cats had joined him.

“I heard what that other apprentice said.” Greenflower scowled. “Cats like that wouldn’t know head from tail.” “He’s not wrong.” Oakpaw mumbled, ears flat.

“Of course he’s wrong, young’un!” Crowfur snapped. “Your father making bad choices has nothing to do with how you’re going to live your life. Don’t ever let anyone tell you different.” “I just don’t get why … he did terrible things under Brokenstar, we all had to! Why would he turn on us when he said he didn’t believe it?!” Oakpaw begged.

“Because he was misguided, young’un. Spend enough time in a certain situation and some things just stick. There’s not much any cat can do about it.”

Fireheart felt something poke his shoulder and turned to find Greenflower staring at him.

“How’ve you been?” He wondered awkwardly.

“Fine.” She murmured. “Blackclaw and I are trying for kits.”

Fireheart nodded along.

“You two will be wonderful parents, I’m sure.” He murmured.

“So will Silverstream.” She scoffed.

That brought all train of thought to a grinding halt.

“Excuse me?” He blurted out, much to the amusement of a couple elders.

“Perhaps we should finish this conversation elsewhere.” She snickered.

“Absolutely!” He hissed in eager agreement. “Meet me at Sunningrocks tomorrow at sunrise, and bring Silverstream.”

“I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you.” Greenflower snorted. The light brown and white she-cat turned to say her farewells to Oakpaw and the elders before melting into the throng of cats.

Fireheart forced his gaze to the Great Rock, mind whirling. This made everything so much more real…

“What’d your friend in RiverClan have to say?”

Dustpelt sounded far too amused for his own good, and the fact that Fireheart hadn’t even heard the brown tom before he made an appearance showed just how off he really was.

“Just that she and her mate are having kits. She helped Oakpaw calm down a bit alongside the elders.”

“Then what has you looking like a scared rabbit?” His friend chirped.

“I… I have to tell you later. It has to do with the stories.” Dustpelt nodded and sat down beside the ginger tom.

“Here’s hoping her news isn’t too terrible.”

It could ruin everything…

“This is the beginning of my confliction.” Fireheart admitted. “This is where things change for good.”

Dustpelt pressed his pelt against his ginger friend’s.

“When all else fails, we’re warriors.” He insisted. “You know, at the very least, that you have Sandstorm, Bluestar and I.”

Fireheart nodded and Dustpelt got to his paws.

“We’ll talk more in a few days.” He offered before disappearing into the crowd.

Fireheart turned his attention back to the elders to find that Oakpaw had taken up a spot beside him. A twitch of his ears caught the end of the Gathering, and he rose to his paws. Oakpaw stared at him as he bid his farewell to Crowfur and the others.

“Thank you for helping me tonight, Fireheart.” The young brown tom murmured. “I’ll try not to be too much of a bother anymore.” What?!

“Who said-?” But Oakpaw shoved his way between two moving cats and Fireheart lost sight of him. “Fox-dung!” The ginger tom snarled lowly.

“I can only imagine what that poor kit must be going through.” Patchpelt murmured as he and Fireheart joined the rest of ThunderClan.

“Someone told him that he wasn’t worth my time, and I want to know who.” Fireheart growled.

Patchpelt chukled.

“I doubt anyone’s told you this yet, but you and Sandstorm will be wonderful parents when that time comes.”

Fireheart nearly stopped right then and there, and to his surprise, it was Sandstorm that bumped into him.

“Crow got your words?” She asked gently.

“Patchpelt thinks we make a good couple, is all.” He croaked.

“I happen to agree.” The tan she-cat chirped.

Patchpelt snickered and bounded ahead of them.

“You did well with Oakpaw.” Sandstorm offered. “I can’t imagine what he’s going through.” “I can.” Fireheart realized bitterly. “In my dreams, I watched Tigerclaw’s kits grow up.”

“Goldenflower has more kits?”

“Not yet. But she will. And in the dream, I, uh, I did a pretty good job of making them feel like mouse-dung for what Tigerclaw did. I won't make that mistake again.”

“Sometimes you can't help your suspicions. You said that in your dreams, you were the only one who knew what was going on. Now you've got us.”

Fireheart nodded absently, but all he could think about as he and Sandstorm left Fourtrees were Brambleclaw, Tawnypelt, Swiftpaw and all the other cats he could've helped if he'd just paid a bit more attention.

#just a dream shadows and secrets #just a dream the fireheart reincarnation au

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