Chapter 3

"Come on, Deathfire. We're going to train," Lightstar commanded.

"No," I responded. "I'm not."

"Jinx, you still need to learn some obedience, don't you?" Lightstar asked.

"You need to learn I don't care. I've been trying to get this through your head for a while now," I told her. "And you think I'm stubborn."

"Bad things are coming for you and you won't be ready for them," Lightstar warned. "Maybe if you'd work with me they'd be preventable."

"Flurrytail will try whatever either way. You and I both know it. So why waste my time listening to you when I'll suffer either way? Besides, my friends have always gotten me out of every situation before," I stated. "Flurrytail hasn't killed us yet."

"But she has killed Limppaw. Remember how she saved your life and died instead of you?" Lightstar asked. "Such a shame. She was a lot more useful than you."

That hit me right in the heart. Flurrytail did certainly have an impact and it's not like it wasn't obvious things were getting worse. She had killed and had gotten close too many times. Maybe Lightstar did have a point about that, maybe bad things were coming. That didn't change the fact I'm not listening to her.

"What happens will happen," I said. "Everything will turn out fine." Right?

"That's very optimistic for you. Are you sure things will turn out fine?" Lightstar asked. "Have they ever turned out completely fine? I mean, Grasstail and Coldclaw almost bested you a few times. What will happen when Flurrytail tries it with full forces? And we all know Wingstar isn't going to do anything about it if you disappear."

"Everything will be fine," I stated. "It has to be."

Lightstar laughed and looked me dead in the eye. "The thing is, Jinx, it doesn't have to be fine," she told me, amusement in her voice. "About two moons and you'll see what I mean."

"You really are having fun holding this information over my head that I care nothing about," I remarked, starting to get annoyed. "And I now know about how long it will be so we can be prepared. Thanks for that."

"Jinx, you can't prevent your fate," Lightstar told me. "It's almost humorous that you think that."

"It's almost laughable how hard you're trying to actually bother me," I stated.

"Just like your laughable attempts to protect yourself that caused both your father and sister to die?" Lightstar asked.

Grief and blame overwhelmed me once more and I tried to push it down. I can't let her know when she bothers me. "They were almost as laughable as your face," I retorted, my voice baring more emotion than I wanted it to.

"Real mature, Deathfire," Lightstar stated. "You're the one that kits don't even want to team with because they see you as pathetic."

"Nah, it's because I'm short and am not good at that game," I said. "Tallblaze literally picked me up and I couldn't do anything. I'm still mad about that."

"He sure had fun annoying you," Lightstar said. "You sure he's actually your friend?"

"He has fun annoying everyone. It's just his personality," I stated.

"You seem a lot harder to convince that your friends hate you tonight," Lightstar said.

"No, it's that you're overlooking all the perfectly good reasons my friends probably hate me," I told her. "Like I'm annoying and cause a lot of problems are two obvious ones."

"What I mean is you just don't seem bothered tonight," she shouted, exasperated. "This stuff normally bothers you more. You've just been so indifferent recently and I just need to figure out how to manipulate you into listening to me, but that isn't happening."

"Maybe the problem is the more time I spend around you, the more used to you I get and the more I see all the fox-dung coming from your mouth," I stated. "Maybe you just suck at it."

"Well then maybe I need to remind you who I am," she growled.

She leapt and me and I jumped out of the way. This isn't what I was trying to start. I don't want to get severely injured right now. So how much longer until morning? Can't be that long, can it? Let's just play defensive, my usual stance since I can't cause a lot of damage. I wonder if Lightstar can climb since she was SunClan cat. I could ask, but I doubt I would get an answer.

"So can you climb trees?" I asked. I mean, it's worth a shot.

"Well, I'm not telling you that, am I? You can try your luck, but we know how you and trees get along," Lightstar said.

Welp, not a clear answer. Sounds like she may be bluffing so maybe it will go well this time. Up I go. I dug my claws into the bark and scampered up the tree. Of course this is where something normally goes wrong and I almost fall out of a tree, but the branch was holding and everything seems to be going fine. I was actually going to have a good experience with a tree!

I was very disheartened when Lightstar began climbing. I stepped a little farther out on the branch. I placed my paw farther out on the branch and the rest of it broke off, leaving me with no farther to go.

"How mouse-brained are you?" Lightstar asked, blocking my way down.

"I'm very mouse-brained if you can't tell," I answered. "So can we take this back to the ground?"

She laughed, which was not very reassuring but wasn't a definite no. Has anything ever gone right for me above the ground? No. Did I still climb the StarClan forsaken tree? Yes. Was I a complete mouse-brain? Also yes. The real question was how I get out of this.

Lightstar stepped out toward me. I went to back up farther, but my paw only felt thin air. I couldn't jump anywhere. I was backed into a corner, figuratively of course considering there was nothing around me. If there was something around me I could jump to it and run. But I had no escape.

Lightstar slashed my shoulder. I almost stumbled backwards, but instead dug my claws into the branch deeper and prevented it. I glanced downward and realized I had a far way to fall. I looked back up to Lightstar, who was smiling.

"Isn't this cute? Jinx clinging on to a branch like her life depends on it because it possibly does," Lightstar laughed. "How did you not see this coming?"

"Oh, I saw this coming," I told her. "I just did it anyway."

"Wow, you're even more mouse-brained than I thought. But I think you've learned I still have the upper paw," Lightstar told me. "You should listen to me before I make things worse. Though maybe I should let you down now."

"Yup, lesson learned. Let me down," I quickly agreed.

She smiled and laughed. "You really should know me by now," Lightstar told me.

She snapped the branch and I was sent free falling, bracing myself for the impact.

I opened my eyes, my heart racing and my breathing heavy. The sun was beginning to rise and I had woken up before I hit the ground. I calmed down and finally noticed the pain in my shoulder. I almost forgot Lightstar scratched it. The kits were still asleep so I snuck to Tallblaze's den.

"Hey mouse-brain, wake up," I quietly told him.

"Good morning Shorty. How can I help you?" he asked, getting up. He was used to this by now, unfortunately for both of us.

"My shoulder," I told him.

He sighed. "I swear, part of me wants to walk into the Dark Forest and just murder Lightstar," he told me.

"That would be helpful," I laughed. "I don't think you can though."

"Watch me," Tallblaze said.

"You are such a mouse-brain," I told him.

"Probably not as much of one as you," he retorted. "So what happened last night?"

"Just the usual," I answered. "We ended up arguing, she attacked me, I climbed a tree to get away, she can climb trees, I fell, and then I woke up before I hit the ground."

"You climbed a tree? Haven't you almost fell from a tree like a lot?" Tallblaze asked.

"I have not almost fell from a tree a lot. I actually fell from a branch once before, fell inside a tree once, and almost fell two times, almost being dropped as well one of the times," I stated. "And you only know about one of those two."

"Shorty, that's even worse," Tallblaze told me. "And what time don't I know about?"

"How do you know that you don't know about one of those times?" I asked.

"You literally just said so," Tallblaze answered.

"Fox-dung," I muttered. "I did not mean to say that."

"I won't ask," he said. "Just please never again climb a tree. It's never worked out and I doubt it ever will. Got it?"

"Yeah," I sighed. "But I swear, I can't do anything without it going wrong. Take a walk? Almost get killed. Climb a tree? Almost die. Exist? Now there's some suspicions that I'm evil. Go to sleep? Deal with an evil dead cat. Like can I go a day without anything going wrong?"

Tallblaze sighed. "I wish things would go right," he said.

"Well, I should probably go back to the nursery before everyone is up," I told him.

"Okay. You're free to go," he said. "Hopefully things will go well today."

"We can hope," I sighed, leaving the den.

Things were certainly not good, but things couldn't go on like this forever. Right?

Author's Note: Things could go on like this forever if I wanted it to, but that would be boring, wouldn't it? Don't worry however, things will get much more fun. *evil laughter* Uh, ignore that I suppose. Or don't, start theorizing about what's to come. That's up to you. Anyway, leave a review if you'd like. I must say, I love hearing your thoughts and opinions on what's going on. It means a lot to me. Welp, hope to see you all here next week!

-Rowan W.