The leaders die like in canon. Tigerstar and Firestar both die at the end of the Dark Forest battle.

This was an alternate ending I wanted to push out. Firestar isn't rejected by Starclan, but he certainly doesn't feel welcome either...
Sorry if people are waiting for the actual endings to update, but I'm just not feeling all that inspired to write anything lately. I think Ignite took all my attention away. Oops

Reviews appreciated!

Firestar laid down next to the starry replica lake, looking down forlornly at his paws. He lazily raised a paw and willed the water to move to his command, wanting to see how the living clans were doing. He wanted to see how the leaders were faring without him, but above all, he wanted to check on Brambleclaw and Sandstorm.

He could remember the Dark Forest battle clearly. He and Tigerstar battled it out in the Thunderclan camp, just the two of them, no interference. He had killed Tigerstar, but shortly succumbed to his wounds afterwards. He hadn't dared use his powers, or fight near a body of water. Maybe he could have saved some cats if he done something, and guilt ate him up on the inside at the thought of the lives that were lost. He could have saved them, but he hadn't.

He was thankfully allowed into Starclan, but it hadn't been a warm welcome. Cats had given him either a weird look, averted their eyes, or gave him looks of anger or disgust. Everyone avoided him. Some cats he knew in life, like Cinderpelt, Bluestar, and Yellowfang tried talking to him, before some other cat interjected and led them away. He was constantly lonely.

Only one day into Starclan and he was already outcasted. The water shifted to show Brambleclaw preparing himself to receive his nine lives, Jayfeather coaxing him away from Firestar's body. He looked like he had seen better days, with his pelt littered with injuries and the sad, empty look in his eyes. He wasn't taking Firestar's death well.

He heard pawsteps behind him and he looked over to see Cinderpelt standing a few fox-lengths away.

"Starclan is convening to discuss who's giving Brambleclaw his nine lives. You should come." He nodded and got up to his paws, following Cinderpelt to the meeting place, neither one of them talking to each other, Cinderpelt not knowing what to say and Firestar afraid someone would pull her away from him anyway.

Cinderpelt gave one last look at him before joining the crowd. He sat by the edge, staring off into the distance as cats near him gave him strange looks and edged away from him. He kept his ears pricked as Starclan asked for cats to step forward to give Brambleclaw a life. He saw cats like Cinderpelt, Lionheart, Bluestar, Ferncloud, and Mousefur stand forward. Before long there were eight cats chosen.

"Is there anyone else to give Brambleclaw the final life?" Firestar's paws itched to step forward, wanting to give his apprentice his last life, to assure him that Firestar had made it into Starclan.

"I will give him a life," Firestar said as he stepped forward. Cats gave startled hisses, not realizing that he was even there. Many of them were muttering to each other, rolling their eyes at him. His ears flattened on his head, surely they weren't going to deny him this?

"You? Give Brambleclaw a life? Get real. He should receive a life from a full-blooded Starclan cat, not some half-breed kittypet," Oakstar, a past leader of Thunderclan spat out nearby. Firestar lashed his tail in frustration.

"He was my deputy, my apprentice, my successor! He's going to expect me to give him a life! You can't deny me or him something like this. Why let me into Starclan if you won't include me in anything?" He could hear the cats around him, still not convinced. Despair flooded him; when had he received so much disrespect and hate?

His eyes met the eyes of cats he knew: Ravenpaw, Cinderpelt, Bluestar, Yellowfang, anybody. Why weren't they speaking up in support of him? Were they afraid of being ostracized too?

Another past Thunderclan leader, Sunstar, gave him a look of pity. "Maybe you should just leave for now. Your being here is agitating some of the cats, and they'll cool down if you do. Rest assured, Brambleclaw will receive his nine lives. There's nothing to worry about Firestar." They really were going to deny him the right to give Brambleclaw a life.

He glared at the past leaders, "I guess my being here will agitate the cats at his ceremony too, right? I won't be allowed there either?" No one answered him. He gave a huff and the crowd parted for him as he left. He sat down by the lake once more and allowed the silent tears to fall. He wanted to see Brambleclaw and Sandstorm, and the rest of the clan, who didn't know about his secret. Not that it was so secret now.

Was it selfish of him to want the other leaders with him too? Then they could all share the pain of being Starclan's outcasts. More importantly, he wouldn't be alone.

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Brambleclaw gave a few shorts gasps as the painful wave that came with receiving the eighth life passed. He steadied himself, trying to scan the rows of Starclan cats for the last cat to give him a life. He already knew who it would be though, and he held out on hope that Firestar was accepted into Starclan.

His stomach dropped as Cinderpelt came forward. He was surprised to see her, but she wasn't the cat he wanted to get his last life from. His eyes scanned the crowds wildly. Where was Firestar?

"I bet you didn't expect to see me here," she said, her voice full of melancholy. "It took a while, but I'm here now." She reached forward hesitantly, aware of Brambleclaw's bemused expression. She starting doubting if giving Brambleclaw the final life was okay. Firestar should be standing here, not her.

The Starclan cats were taken aback when Brambleclaw gave an angered growl. "Where is he? Why isn't Firestar giving me a life? Did you all really reject him from Starclan?" Cats averted their gazes, and some stubbornly looked him in the eyes when he passed his gaze over them. "Well?" he hissed.

"He's here but..." Cinderpelt trailed off, knowing that if she continued a lot of cats wouldn't be happy with her.

"But?" Brambleclaw pressed.

"They wouldn't let him give you a life, or even let him witness the ceremony," she sighed. Brambleclaw's fur bristled. "Where is he then?"

Cinderpelt hesitated, before meowing, "He's by the lake. He's always there," she gestured towards a direction with her tail, giving Brambleclaw a nod. He nodded back and finally found the strength to move his paws and ran for it. Starclan cats gave enraged hisses as he sped by them, furious that he interrupted his own ceremony for Firestar.

He arrived by the starry lake, and looked around for a ginger pelt. Finally, he spotted Firestar laying down next to the water, depressed. Anger filled him at the sight. Firestar should have been giving him a life, should have been mingling with friends in Starclan, not being ostracized for being a mercat!

"Firestar!" he yowled, before racing forward. Firestar's ears pricked and he got up and turned around to face him, his face lit up in surprise.

"Shouldn't you be receiving your nine lives? Or do you already have them all? Starclan usually sends new leaders back to the waking world as soon as the ninth life is received, so how are you still running around Starclan?" Firestar was rambling at this point, but he was so happy to see Brambleclaw, see a cat who wouldn't give him strange or disgusted looks.

"I received eight. But I wanted you to give me my ninth."

Firestar was silent, registering his words, before warmth bloomed in his chest. Brambleclaw interrupted his own nine lives ceremony for him?

"Oh, Brambleclaw..." He reached out to touch his muzzle to Brambleclaw's forehead. "With this life I give you acceptance. Every clan has a part to play, and the lake needs all four to function. Cats with the weirdest quirks can be some of the most helpful in the long run, no matter where they come from."

A bolt of lightning shot through his paws and reverberated through his body. He felt fear and sadness engulf him, before there was warmth and a feeling of being accepted. Was this how Firestar felt with the other leaders?

He realized that all of Firestar's life was him trying to be accepted by not only Thunderclan, but all the clans. He wanted to show them all that he wasn't some soft kittypet, only for his transformation into a mercat to ruin it all. The other three leaders, as well as Brambleclaw himself were the only ones who accepted him for who he was, and he accepted them for what they were, even Brambleclaw.

"It's over," Firestar whispered in his ear. "I'm so proud of you, Bramblestar." He still looked sad, knowing that Bramblestar would wake up and he would be all alone again.

"How could they do this to you?" Bramblestar whispered, pushing his head onto Firestar's neck.

"It's not so bad. No one's attacked me yet at least. Soon enough the other leaders will join and I won't be alone anymore." Bramblestar gave an inward growl. The other three mercats would be ostracized as well. Firestar was hopeful for their arrivals, because he had no one else to turn to. He woke up with an intense anger and bitterness towards Starclan.

Firestar gave a deep, sad sigh as Bramblestar disappeared, waking up and ready to lead Thunderclan. He was alone again. He jumped into the lake, his tail working to bring him to the bottom. The water shifted around him, welcoming him into its depths.

The water was his only friend in Starclan. It wouldn't do anything to hurt him. He protected the waters and it protected him in turn. He would stay here if cats wanted him away so badly. He would be out of everycat's fur.

You know, this was meant to be a oneshot, but of course it's not. There will be more chapters for this, and possibly more for the Rejected ending as well? Not sure about the latter yet.

Bramblestar might do something that will be the equivalent of flipping Starclan the bird...

Tell me how I did.