What if…I had continued being his apprentice? Would we have gotten to fall in love? Would I have had the choice? No…the blessing of becoming a warrior under his care was snatched away, along with…the choice of choosing a mate. It was all taken away by StarClan. The fluffy gray she-cat with blue eyes and an awkwardly twisted hind leg was hidden deep within the very spirit of the warrior; Cinderheart. Cinderpelt; the medicine cat who had mentored Leafpool—the one who had sacrificed her life to save her new vessel, was given another chance. However, it wasn't her life. It was Cinderheart's life; the daughter of Sorreltail. Not hers. She couldn't be with Firestar.
Cinderpelt gazed out of the blue eyes of Cinderheart. It was just as she remembered. Cats she recognized, some she didn't. Not personally, anyway. A sudden sight tore at her heart; the handsome flame-coloured tom sharing tongues with a pale ginger she-cat. Firestar! And…Sandstorm… Cinderheart was speaking to a black she-cat with green eyes. Kin of Firestar, no doubt. "Firestar and Sandstorm look so happy together. I hope I'll find someone who I love that much. What about you, Hollyleaf?"
The black she-cat; Hollyleaf, shrugged. "I'm sure that you'll find a mate, Cinderheart. I'm not too sure that I will though; I need to concentrate on my warrior duties." Hollyleaf…kin of Firestar. Those green eyes are just like his…staring in to her eyes, reminds me of Firestar. Cinderpelt's claws curled around nothing. Why was I the one who was hit on the Thunderpath? Why couldn't Yellowfang do anything for my leg? It's unfair! I lost everything! I lost the one I loved, I lost the chance to settle down with a mate and have kits, I lost the chance to become a warrior; which I wanted to become so much!
"Cinderpelt."
Cinderpelt jolted slightly at the cold voice; which was barely a whisper. A pair of amber eyes stared out from the nothingness at her. "Cinderpelt, come here." The voice was stronger now, as the eyes glowed more vibrantly. "Over here."
The voice kept beckoning her, until the medicine cat slowly padded across the darkness towards the eyes. "Close your eyes now." The voice mewed. Cinderpelt hesitantly closed her blue eyes, and when she opened them, she was in a pitch black forest. The stench of crowfood hit her nose, and slimy grass glistened in the little light that burst through the black clouds. She looked around, and saw the amber eyes peering out from the shadows. Slowly, a thick-furred ginger and white she-cat with matted fur, a white muzzle, a white tail and multiple scars slipped out from the shadows. "Welcome, Cinderpelt." The cat meowed with a toothy grin.
"W-Where am I?" Cinderpelt stammered.
"This is the Place of No Stars," The cat mewed, sitting down and rasping her tongue over her paw. "I brought you here to offer you a place as a Dark Forest cat."
"If I'm here, you brought Cinderheart too, didn't you?" Cinderpelt growled. "Who are you?"
"Don't worry, I brought your spirit here, not Cinderheart's. But you will have to return to that body, not to your wretched StarClan. However, if you join the army in the Dark Forest, we can overthrow the Clans."
"Are you crazy?" She hissed. "The dead cannot interfere with the living!"
The cat smirked. "Are you sure about that? We've already been training recruits from the Clans. I'm Mapleshade. But listen to what I can offer you. We can exterminate Cinderheart's spirit, and you can have her body! You can live again, you can pursue your precious Firestar to your heart's content!"
Cinderpelt flattened her ears against her skull. "If you kill Cinderheart, you will also kill me. We are intertwined."
"How do you think I summoned you here, and not Cinderheart?" Mapleshade asked smoothly.
Cinderpelt dug her claws in to the wet ground. "Firestar has Sandstorm."
"That's an easy fix. I've wanted to kill Sandstorm for all of the blessings she's had," Mapleshade spat. "A mate that loves her, kits, a home, being able to see her kits have kits…it was unfairly snatched from me!" Mapleshade slid her gaze up to meet Cinderpelt's. "You're the same, aren't you, Cinderpelt? StarClan stole everything from you, didn't they? Help me kill her. We'll slaughter that ungrateful she-cat! You can have Firestar. You've been in love with them ever since you were his apprentice, right? Longer than Sandstorm has loved him! He belongs to you."
"F-Firestar doesn't belong to anyone! It's true that…I loved him. But stealing him from Sandstorm is wrong!"
"Do you know what happened to me, Cinderpelt? I was once a ThunderClan cat. I fell in love with a RiverClan tom, and we had kits. I lost my home, because I was exiled for taking a RiverClan mate! So I went to RiverClan, but my kits died. They drowned in the river. My mate had blamed me for their deaths, and shunned me! I could no longer go to RiverClan, and I lived as a rogue! But my mate…he took a sneaky, thieving RiverClan she-cat as his mate! They had kits, and their daughter was the mother of Shellheart; a RiverClan deputy and the father of Crookedstar and Oakheart. You must've heard about them, right? It should have been my kin that were born with great destinies! Not them! They shouldn't have been born!" Mapleshade's gleaming claws hooked in to the moist ground and tore at it; her tail lashing furiously.
Cinderpelt hobbled back; her eyes wide. Mapleshade swiveled her gaze back to her. "Join me, Cinderpelt. I can get you everything that you want. Your life as a warrior, Firestar as a mate…anything else. I'll slaughter Sandstorm, I'll obliterate the cat known as Cinderheart. You can live again, with the great Firestar at your side!"
"No…" Cinderpelt meowed quietly.
"What?"
"No. I won't join you and the Dark Forest!" Cinderpelt snarled.
Mapleshade narrowed her eyes in to slits. "Then you'll perish here." The ragged she-cat lunged at her with claws unsheathed and teeth bared.
Cinderpelt knew she was no match for a fully-trained warrior. She couldn't run quickly because of her leg. Is this the end for me? However, she bared her teeth and unsheathed her claws. "I won't die easily!" She growled.
Suddenly, a white shape shot out from the trees and knocked Mapleshade away. The fluffy white cat seemed to glow in the darkness of the forest. Cinderpelt's eyes widened. "F-Frostfur?" She whispered the name of her mother. The warm, familiar dark blue gaze of Frostfur met her stare with a smile.
"Cinderpelt. It's been a long time," She smiled. "What are you doing in this part of the sky?"
"I-I could ask you the same thing."
"Rest assured, I do not dwell in the Dark Forest. I thought I smelled your scent floating on the breeze through StarClan, so I followed it here. Come on, let's get you back to Cinderheart."
Mapleshade rose back up her paws. "It's your choice, Cinderpelt," She hissed. "Live in the shadow of Cinderheart, or have freedom with Firestar!"
Frostfur turned on Mapleshade. "Cinderpelt was given another chance! Stop trying to make her choose the wrong path!"
"It wasn't her that was given the right to make the choices though," Mapleshade commented with a sickly-sweet tone. "It was Cinderheart. Cinderheart and Cinderpelt are two different cats, right?"
Frostfur's white fur began to bristle. "Cinderpelt, let's go. I'll take you back to Cinderheart's body."
Mapleshade's snicker echoed through the forest and Cinderpelt followed Frostfur through the darkness. "If you ever want Firestar, you know where to go now. We'll be waiting, Cinderpelt."
A/N: I went through another Warriors phase when The Last Hope was released. xD I hope you enjoyed this, I will be writing less now because exams are just around the corner! I do not own Warriors. ~