AN: I do NOT own Warriors! The Erin's do! I would never come up with such an amazing idea for multiple series and still have it going!
SPOILER! DON'T READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE END OF THE POT SERIES OR GOTTEN TO OMEN OF THE STARS BOOK 3: NIGHT WHISPERS! STOP READING RIGTH NOW!: I wrote this to follow after Night Whispers, after Cinderheart and Lionblaze were mates, and then he told her about the prophecy and she "broke up" with him. Poor Lioney ): .
(Cinderheart's POV)
Cinderheart was dreaming.
She was standing on a wheat-filled ridge, standing in the warm, Greenleaf sun. Beside her, a golden pelt wove around her, the creature's tail running along her spine and the voice ruffled her ear fur. The fluffy gray she-cat's eyes were closed and she tilted her head upwards, letting the animal butt its head under her chin and nuzzle her. He purred in delight. She didn't know who the thing was, or what he looked like, but it had whispered to her to just let him have a little fun with her.
It's just a dream, she thought. Who would it hurt? So Cinderheart let him twist around her while she sat, vaguely aware of the creature's scent. Suddenly everything lined up in her head. His scent. He wanted her but not wanting her to know who he was. His voice barely a whisper because he knew she would recognize it at once. She had faintly known the scent, he must have disguised it.
Her eyes snapped open to look into amber ones, so close to her face. His breath made her whiskers quiver. Cinderheart gasped.
"Lionblaze." She breathed.
Cinderheart woke up to a very loud sigh coming from near the entrance to the warriors' den. She groggily opened her eyes and peered into the darkness, waiting for her eyes to adjust. Half-moon light poured in across the hollow, bathing it in silver.
Her heart sank when she recognized where the sound of the heavy breath had come from. She made out golden fur and tufted pointed ears. Lionblaze.
The amber-eyed tom was crouched down to the outside of the tunnel at the entrance of the warriors' den. His face was lifted to Silverpelt, and the twinkling stars seemed to offer no help to him, for he eventually bowed his head and murmured quietly to himself. Cinderheart struggled to make out his words.
"I really thought she loved me. I thought my destiny of being part of the Three wouldn't change mine and Cinderheart's relationship." He dug his claws into the cold frosted ground, these statements clearly hurting him to say. His voice cracked as he said one more sentence. "I don't care, I still love her."
Cinderheart blinked. Her ears perked when he mewed the last sentence. His words had touched her, and made her feel like someone had reached inside her and plunged their claws into her heart. She gasped, and Lionblaze's head shot up. She quickly laid her head back down a heartbeat before Lionblaze got up and walked back into the den.
She felt his gaze linger over her gray tabby pelt, and the hair tingled. Then, with another sigh, tinier this time, he dragged himself back into his nest, which he had moved. She made herself breathe slower; to make Lionblaze think she was asleep.
When his breathing deepened, she lifted her head and looked up at her starry ancestors. What do I do? She yowled silently. I love him too, but he has a much greater destiny than me! Why can't he just be normal, like me? She cried to the stars. She stifled a sob and laid her head on her gray paws. "Why can't he just be normal?" she repeated aloud softly.
Lionblaze raised his head, blinking sleep from his eyes. "Cinderheart?" he murmured. His voice was full of pain and grief.
Cinderheart uncurled her body from inside her nest and stepped carefully over to his nest, dodging Bumblestripe's bushy tail. "Can we take a walk in the forest? We need to talk. Please?" she added when Lionblaze looked at her suspiciously. Her tail drooped and she flattened her ears, trying to look innocent.
"Fine, if you want to," he replied. The golden tom looked ready to burst with happiness, though he calmly wove around the sleeping cats and outside the den.
"Careful!" he hissed back at her as her bushy gray tail fluttered in front of Berrynose's face. "He'll bite the end of your tail, thinking its fresh-kill, if you leave there too long."
Cinderheart quickly flicked her tail away from the cream tom's mouth, seeing his whiskers twitch and his jaws barely open. Then, looking back towards Lionblaze, they headed out into the camp, towards the thorn tunnel.
The pair nodded to Whitewing, who was on watch at the thorn tunnel. The queen blinked her green eyes in surprise when she saw them, then dipped her head. Cinderheart led Lionblaze out into the cool, leaf-fall night.
They walked silently, and every once in a while, Cinderheart's pelt would brush his golden tabby one, and she would slowly move away, her eyes full of pain. She veered to head towards the WindClan border, but Lionblaze veered in front of her, cutting her short.
"I don't want to go to that border. Please, can we just head towards the ShadowClan border." His request wasn't a question, his voice came out dull, and it sounded more like a command. He looked away from her, a small fire burning in his amber eyes.
She blinked. But without a reply, she turned around and stalked off in the other direction, Lionblaze padding just behind her. When the cats neared ShadowClan's border with ThunderClan, Cinderheart paused and took a deep breath.
"I heard you talking to yourself outside the den tonight." She didn't waste a heartbeat telling him what she was thinking. Lionblaze blinked, stunned.
"And trust me, I want to be with you, but I just can't be with you! I'm just a normal she-cat and you have this huge prophecy that makes you so much more important than me!" All of Cinderheart's thoughts rushed out, and before she could stop, she collapsed on the ground, sobs shaking her body.
Lionblaze calmly sat down. "But when I'm with you… You make me feel whole. I don't think about…" He broke off, and looked away. "I just don't think about the past anymore." He finished. "Cinderheart, you made me feel like a normal cat, like I'm just a regular warrior. But when… you know… I just fell apart. All I can think about is the prophecy, how different I am, and Hollyleaf."
When he mentioned the name of his deceased sister, Cinderheart sat up. "Hollyleaf was my best friend, Lionblaze. I think about her all the time! And I know what it feels like, to lose a littermate. I have lost two!" She wailed. "But you not being able to be hurt in battle, that's too much for me! You have a much, much greater destiny and purpose than me, and it's just too much for me to handle."
Lionblaze's golden eyes searched her blue ones. "After what happened with me, I just feel too different," he sighed. "I want to share my life with you Cinderheart, I really do. I feel like if you died or left ThunderClan, I would just fall apart. I would be just a shell."
"You said you loved me," she murmured, looking at the ground. "I heard you, outside the den earlier… Do you?"
Lionblaze looked up at her, his amber eyes smoldering. "Of course I do! You heard me for yourself! But still, you don't want to be with me-"
"What? So apparently this is all my fault? Oh, thanks, Lionblaze. I'm not the one who went and changed everyth-"
Now it was Lionblaze's turn to interrupt. In a deep and serious voice, he meowed, "I didn't change anything. My life wasn't planned out by me. Trust me, it would've been much different." He glanced up at the twinkling skies of Silverpelt. "That's who planned this out. They chose me, Jayfeather, and Dovepaw. Out of all the cats in ThunderClan, they chose us. Why? I don't know. Sometimes I don't think I'm strong enough to handle the weight of the prophecy. But I kind of have to deal with it. And what I don't get is why this separates us, Cinderheart. " his voice suddenly turned hurt and torn.
"Don't you understand? I'm ordinary, and you have this fantastic power that separates us by worlds. You have the power of the stars in your paws, and all I can do is hold fresh-kill and herbs…" The end of her sentence trailed away as she noticed he wasn't even listening to her anymore, he had looked away, face turned towards the Twoleg Path. A surge of anger rose in her chest.
Lionblaze looked back at her, his nose still pointed in the air. His eyes were lit with the fire of battle and he worked his claws into the earth.
"ShadowClan!"
AN: You like? Feel free to leave flames if you want.
And I don't hate Cinderheart OR Lionblaze. Cinderheart happens to be my favorite character of ALL time!
-Cinderstreak (:
