Brightheart and Cloudtail are one of my favorite couples in the series. They are one of the cutest couples, and I fell in love with them. I love how Brightheart had another litter of kits in the last book also! But this one-shot is set in the original series, which is my favorite out of the series. Brightheart seemed so determined and positive after gaining her name in The Darkest Hour, so I thought that she had to have some angst hidden in there. So here is my first Warrior story!
- Forget me knott
Declaimer: I don't own Warriors.

Brightheart felt it.

She felt her clanmates' eyes on her—her ruined face—and their second glances when she passed by them. She felt the tiny kits in the nursery poking her scarred face with their claws, innocently asking their mothers what happened to the cat. She also felt the queen's pitiful eyes following her as she took off out of the nursery and into the forest.

A few days ago Brightheart gained her new name. She was estatic that the dreaded name was forever gone—she shuddered as she thought about it—Lostface. She thought that once the name was gone that the attention that she was unfortunately getting would disappear. And like how luck always works with her—the attention didn't disappear. The warriors were hesitant and pitiful, they didn't know how to approach Brightheart. They didn't know if they should treat her like a warrior, or just the poor cat that had such a bright future. The apprentices wouldn't stop bothering Brightheart, asking for stories—still too young to notice how much the subject still bothered Brightheart even though it happened a few moons ago. The kits were the worst. They didn't get what was wrong with Brightheart. They didn't mean to be rude or nosy, they were just curious why Brightheart looks so different than everyone else. Everyone in the clan didn't mean to offend and hurt Brightheart—but they did.

As she looked into a puddle, she was again met with her horrible appearance. The left side of her face reminded Brightheart of her beauty that had disappeared a few moons ago. She wasn't a vain cat—but since the horrible dog attack she wished that she appreciated it more. Her lone blue eye wasn't shining brightly like it used too—and rarely does now—instead it was dark and gloomy like the mood she was in.

The right side was a completely different story. Her face was completely torn off on the right side of her face, completely scarred and noticeable. Her blue eye was completely gone, leaving an empty eye socket. Not only was her face horrible, her ear was almost torn off as well. The right side of her mouth was turned down into a permanent frown.

Brightheart continued to stare into the puddle at her reflection. She didn't like looking at her horrible face but couldn't turn away from it. Since she tortures everyone else with her horrible face, why can't she torture herself? Another face joined the reflection with her.

Cloudtail was beautiful. She never told him that because he wouldn't really like being called beautiful—he would prefer to be called handsome. Brightheart still thought he was absolutely beautiful though. His blue eyes were similar to hers—at least before the accident—but they were even more noticeable and beautiful. It was hard to describe how beautiful his eyes were—but all Brightheart knew that she couldn't take her eyes—well, eye—away from them. His beautiful long white coat was soft and fluffy—he took pride in his coat and groomed it when he got the chance too. It was different from the other cat's coats. A lot of the clanmates teased him about the pride he took about his coat—but he didn't mind. He never did. Brightheart wanted her clanmates to tease her. To laugh with her. To treat her like a normal clan-mate. Not like they were walking on ice everytime they talked to her. How they carefully chose the words they said to her, making the conversation awkward. Brightheart appreciated their concern and niceness to her, but it didn't make her feel any better.

Brightheart just wanted to be normal. As normal as a cat could be who survived a dog attack. She flinched just thinking about the dog attack—she still caught herself mumbling "Pack, pack, kill, kill" from time to time. The only thing worse than the memories was her clanmates pitiful glances at her and their comforting words. They treated her like she was a weakling and fragile. It may be true—but it still hurt. She didn't want to worry them more than she already had—so she always shrugged it off and acted like nothing was wrong. Like it never happened.

Cloudtail pressed his body to hers to comfort Brightheart. "I know the training was tough yesterday—but if we keep at it, you'll be a warrior in everyone's eyes!" He tried to comfort her. "But you are already a warrior in my eyes, Brightheart." He whispered in her ear. Brightheart couldn't hide the small grin that appeared on her face. The training yesterday didn't go as well as she planned—but it wasn't bothering her. With Cloudtail on her side she knew she could overcome that. His concern over her was amazing and Brightheart knew she didn't need it.

"I know." She sighed, her eyes still on the puddle. On her reflection. Cloudtail noticed and tried to comfort her again.

"You're beautiful too, you know that?" He told her, thinking that was the problem. "You've always been beautiful, and you always will be. Don't forget it, okay?"

Brightheart turned towards Cloudtail, a small smile still on her face. Her single blue eye showed sadness and desperation. "You make me feel beautiful, Cloudtail." She sighed, and turned her attention down towards her paws. "But that's not why I'm so.. sad." She told him.

Cloudtail cocked his head to the side, confused. "What's bothering you, Brightheart?" He asked, concerned.

"I just want to be normal." She admitted, looking up at Cloudtail. "I don't like all of this attention. I appreciate their concern for me.." Brightheart sighed. "But I dream about just having a conversation with someone without them having concern in their eyes or their eyes staring at my horrible face. I dream about just laughing and having fun with someone without them being hesitant about everything, trying not to hurt my feelings. When they are really hurting my feelings by treating me so different."

Cloudtail's eyes had nothing but understanding in them. Brightheart knew he was concerned but he hid it well. He didn't say any comforting words or movements.

"Lets go make that dream, shall we?" He grinned while putting his paw in the puddle and flinging water at Brightheart's face. He started to run away from her, but turned his head back and hollered, "Catch me if you can, Brightheart!"

She grinned and looked back into the puddle before running off after him.

She didn't see Brightheart; the ugly one-eyed cat who was attacked by dogs. She saw Brightheart; the cat Cloudtail thought was beautiful.

And this time she believed him.