Flamepelt yawned widely, stretching out luxuriously in his nest. He rolled over onto his side, head resting against the edge of his nest. Blinking his eyes open, he flinched in surprise when he was greeted by an orange tabby face right in front of his muzzle.
"What is it, Emberlight?" Flamepelt asked, slightly miffed. Couldn't he have chosen a better day to wake me up early? I'm on a morning patrol soon.
Emberlight's eyes sparkled with barely contained excitement as he exclaimed, "There's a rouge at the border! He refuses to leave and is asking for you!" What? Why would a rouge be asking for me?
"He?" the orange warrior cautiously double-checked. He perked up hopefully. Maybe . . . Just maybe . . .
To his dismay, Emberlight nodded. "Definitely a he." Flamepelt sighed, plopping back down into his nest.
"What do they want?" he grumbled.
"He won't say. You're the only one he'll talk to."
Flamepelt reluctantly heaved himself out of his nest, which was a lot warmer than it had been when Silverstorm had left now that it was closer to the middle of the den.
"I'll be back soon," he told Emberlight, nodding to him. Flamepelt quickly trotted out of camp, wanting to get this over with. Soon after he entered the forest, he frustratedly realised that Emberlight had neglected to tell him which border the rouge was at. Taking an educated guess, the orange warrior decided to start at the border north of the camp: the border where the battle had taken place. Walking to the place where BloodClan had been driven off brought back painful memories, ones that Flamepelt tried his hardest to suppress.
Once he reached the scent markers, Flamepelt decided to use his nose to sniff out the rouge. Turning to the left, he walked a little while before finding a fresh scent trail. Within a few minutes, a black tabby tom came into view. He was waiting patiently at the border, still not in the territory but as close as he could get. As Flamepelt neared, amber eyes flickered to suddenly stare at him. The silent but intimidating pose that the black tom held impressed Flamepelt, but did not disconcert him. He had been around Silverstorm for too long to be scared by this rouge.
Experience helped too, but he preferred to think that Silverstorm had helped the most.
"I'm Flamepelt," he announced to the rouge, sitting down near him. "My Clanmates have said that you have been asking for me."
The black tabby nodded. "I have. But I need to know that you truly are who you claim to be. You fit the physical description of Flamepelt, although that means nothing unless you can prove that you are the brother of Storm." Storm . . . He knows her? Does he know something about her? Has he come to tell me she's dead? he panicked.
"What do you know about Storm?" he asked desperately. "Is she alive? Healthy? Happy?"
The rouge nodded curtly. "Storm is alive and well. She is happy with her new life. But before I tell you any more, I need to you to tell me something that only Flamepelt would know."
Flamepelt racked his mind for information. Everyone knew about Storm, about her pranks when she was younger, about her heroics in the battle with BloodClan. What was there except . . . ?
"The night she left!" Flampelt exclaimed triumphantly. "We were alone then. She woke up, not as herself but as another personality: Clear. This one didn't remember anything about killing cats or BloodClan. When we went outside, Silverstorm came back and told me that she was afraid of hurting cats. And right before she left, she told me that if she ever became just Silver again she would come back." Flamepelt took a deep breath, looking at the rouge hopefully. If that wasn't enough to convince him . . .
"She told me about that," the black tom said ruefully. He gave small laugh. "She talks about you a lot, actually. I would say that if she could trust herself, she would love to come back to her ThunderClan. You are Flamepelt. Now wait here." With that, he turned to grab something out of a nearby bush. Flamepelt couldn't see what it was, but he was now certain that it was a gift from Silverstorm.
When the rouge turned around again, he had something very surprising hanging from his jaws. Flamepelt blinked at the silver bundle that he held, unsure of what he was seeing.
It was a kit. A silver tabby, to be exact. It had a black nose, and one black front paw, but Flamepelt could only think of one cat when it opened its light blue eyes. Silverstorm.
"W-what?" he stammered, looking confusedly at the rouge. "How did this - does she have - what?"
The black tabby put the kit down and purred. "Yes. This is Storm's eldest kit."
"E-eldest? There's more?" Flamepelt asked.
"Her name is Silver, and she's four moons old," the rouge continued, ignoring Flamepelt's query. "Storm wanted her to have the normal warrior's life that she missed out on. Will you take care of her?"
Flamepelt nodded heartily, snapping out of his daze. My niece. Silver took a few clumsy steps toward him, looking up at him with wonder and excitement swimming together in her big blue eyes.
"Mama said that I can be a real Clan cat," she mewed. "And she said that you're her brother."
Flamepelt crouched down so that he was eye level with his sister's daughter. "Yes. I'm your uncle, Silver. Do you want to come live in ThunderClan with me? I'm sure you will be very welcome. A lot of cats there remember your mother, and you look just like her. You can even meet your grandparents."
Silver let out an excited gasp as she squealed, "Really? My grandparents?" She scrambled onto Flamepelt's head, then peered upside-down at him. "Take me there!"
The rouge smiled slightly, his eyes glistening sadly. "Flamepelt, don't worry about her too much. We decided when Storm was still pregnant that the firstborn kit would go to ThunderClan, and Silver has known that she'll leave us since she was born. Can you tell your leader that once every two moons we will wait at this spot to visit her?" Flamepelt nodded without hesitance. He was relieved that Silver had been raised with the knowledge that she would be given away. But one thing nagged at him still.
"Why do you keep saying 'us'?" he asked.
Before the rouge could reply, Silver interrupted. "Are we leaving now? I want to say goodbye to Father first." Flamepelt grunted when Silver clambered down his face and onto the ground, a stray paw nearly poking his eye out in the process. She launched herself onto the black rouge, whispering something into his ear. Oh. But . . . So he's her father? Flamepelt scrunitised the tom once more under this realisation. Hmm, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Silverstorm always seemed to like the strong silent types.
When Silver climbed back onto his head, Flamepelt stood up. The weight of a kit on his head made it hard to balance, and for a moment he was worried about Silver slipping off. The black tom waved a tail goodbye and turned to leave.
"Wait!" Flamepelt yelled. The tom paused, but didn't turn around. "What's your name?"
From over his shoulder, the rouge threw only one word at the duo. "Flash."
Flamepelt nodded thoughtfully. "Thank you, Flash."
The black tom nodded curtly, before disappearing into the dark forest. Flamepelt watched him leave, eyes trained on the spot where he had last been visible even after he was gone. Tiny claws swatting his ear suddenly reminded him of the young cat on his head. Silver. Unbidden, his sister's words came to mind.
'Maybe, when the storm has passed, I'll come back. If I ever become just Silver again, I'll come back to you.'
Flamepelt smiled, almost shaking his head ruefully. Silverstorm, you sure have a twisted sense of humour. You're wrong though. You deserve your warrior name. This is a start, but I'm still waiting. I'm glad to know that you haven't forgotten me. Come back one day.
Well, that's it. I may end up writing another story including Silver in the (very distant) future, but for now this universe is laid to rest. I suppose if for some reason someone wants to fill in the missing chapters or something they're free to, but I can't do any more. I hope you enjoyed reading this, at least, and want to thank everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed. You guys are the reason I even got this far. So thank you, everyone who reads this, and I hope I can come back soon with another tale to tell soon.