The End
Disclaimer: I do not own the warriors books or any of their characters or plots. I only own a small and slightly smelly sock.
Summary: Tigerstar's thoughts on his life while getting ready for/during the final battle.
Authors Notes: Thing in italics are flashbacks. There is one part where the was a curse word, a pretty bad one, but I left a instead and you may fill in said as you please. Unbeta'd.
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The end. It all came down to that. As the cat lay, broken in more ways than one, the scent of blood biting his tender nose, he knew that it didn't matter. Nothing mattered except the way it ended, and even that would seep into unimportance as soon as the snow covered the ground and his body.
"Mummy, why do the other cats look at me that way and jeer?" The tabby kitten asked his mother. "Why does Bluepaw knock me down and not the other kittens? Why does Whitepaw only laugh when I ask him to complain to his father? Why do they treat me differently from the other kittens?" His mother's eyes filled with sorrow.
"My darling, the day you were born, Tornstar had a vision. In this vision, a tabby cat with amber eyes ripping his tiger claws through the forest and destroying it, fire on it's tail." She explained. "That this cat would try to destroy the forest."
"But Mummy, I am tabby with amber eyes, and my name is Tigerkit." The little tom quaked in fear. "Surely they do not mean that I will ...will...destroy the forest?" Sundance looked away, not meeting her child's eyes.
"They do indeed believe it. I named you, not knowing the prophecy. Only a few know it now. Tornstar, Cornpelt and Herbclaw. And me, of course. Tornstar ordered that you should be killed on birth but I...I begged them not to. Tornstar acquiesced, but he still has deemed us both "lesser cats", deserving of only contempt." Tigerkit's eyes teared up.
"I don't want to destroy the forest!" He wailed. Sundance watched her only son, weak and knew it would not do.
"Son, you must not show weakness. If you do then they will be even more cruel to you. The younger cats are less set in their ways. Perhaps if you try and win them over...then...maybe you'd be accepted."
He had been told often enough that when the end was coming toward a cat, they could often feel the subconscious need to flee. Even now, cats milling around him, a mix of bloodclan and shadowclan, his muscles were tense, the need to fly, to run, to chase the fleeting hope of survival was so strong it almost overwhelmed him. He would not give in to his urges to retreat, to surrender. He would try to win this last fight, he would for once be allowed to try.
The tabby apprentice glanced warily at the silver she-cat. Bluepaw and her cronies made their way over rot him. Bluepaw waltzed over and gave him a smile so sweet that he backed up a step, nervously.
"Oh, Tigerpaw, want to play a game with us?" The leader of the group asked, fluttering her eyes in a way that made Mousepaw giggle and Tigerpaw swore he saw Frostpaw practicing it. The only one of the she-cats that actually smiled at him was Goldenpaw.
"Wha-what do you mean?" He slowly asked warily. Redpaw glanced at the other toms, Longpaw and Lionpaw, with a smirk. Lionpaw whispered something in Redpaws ears and the two broke out laughing. Longpaw glanced at them in a slightly sorrowful way. Tigerpaw could tell he wanted in on the joke.
"We're going to play a game. I'm going to be leader, Redpaw is going to be my deputy, the others will be warriors. You can be the evil, vicious rogue that we beat up." Bluepaw told him with a smirk.
"Can't I be a warrior too? Or at least an...an elder or something?" Redpaw glared at him in annoyance. Bluepaw gave a little pout.
"But then we'd have nobody to be the rogue!" She explained. Redpaw bared his teeth.
"In other words, no. You're the rogue, Tiger-poo, deal with it." The tortoiseshell grinned maliciously. Tigerpaw wetted his lips and nodded, still unsure.
"I'll play."
"Oh goody!" Exclaimed Bluepaw with a feminine little laugh. "So this is it, I have left my brave and handsome deputy back at the camp to guard it." Redpaw puffed out his chest as the praise was administered to have full calculated effect upon him. "While I go to fight the awful, horrible, dread rogue who has killed off many of my clan."
Without further ado, Bluepaw leapt at the tabby. Tigerpaw felt himself be bowled over and hurriedly threw the other cat off.
"You have to say mean and horrible things, idiot!" Bluepaw snapped at him, slashing at him with a paw that Tigerpaw swore he saw claws on.
"Oh, ok. Umm...Clancat leader, you will never defeat me!" He said in his best evil voice. Bluepaw narrowed blue eyes at him.
"Evil rogue, you're evil ways will never stand a chance against my heart of golden-y goodness!" She said and leapt at him. Tigerpaw leapt to the side, evading her paws, and trying to not to laugh. He knocked the she-cat over, pinning the other apprentice down.
'No, no, NO!" Shouted Bluepaw. "You're not allowed to beat me! It's not fair! Stop! Get off!" She hissed. Tigerpaw quickly obeyed. Longpaw laughed quietly.
"Hey Bluey, how come the newest apprentice was able to beat you after you've already trained for full moons and he only one?" Tigerpaw grinned at Longpaw, Longpaw grinned back, before being knocked over by Redpaw. "Oof!"
"Shut you face, clutch-head." Lionpaw warned. Bluepaw simpered.
"Okay, lets try this again. Tigerpaw, remember, you have to always let me win. Okay?"
That night, Tigerpaw brought a mouse over to Sundance and the family ate together.
"Tigerpaw, why are you all bruised?" The mothers tone was worried and kind. Amber eyes tried to reassure her and he cracked a rueful grin.
"I think I may have made some friends today mother..."
Tigerstar secretly wondered how things would have been if the end had come at birth, like Tornstar had wanted. What would their lives be like, all of them? Bluestar might still be alive, Ravenpaw too...and Redtail, and Lionpelt, and all the others...Did the ends justify the means? Did the meanness of those whose lives were ended justify the means?
Life went on. Tornstar died, Tigerpaw became Tigerclaw. Eventually all the cats who knew the prophecy died out, and Tigerclaw gained the clans trust. But he never forgot the day Sundance had died.
Tigerpaw and Redpaw had been fighting, half in jest, half for real. The 'no-winning' rule applied to all of Bluepaw's gang, not just their fearless leader, so Tigerpaw was more beaten up than his opponent. At the moment he was half-heartedly swiping toward Redpaw's ear when a larger body sent him flying. Amber eyes looked up at Cornpelt's fierce grey gaze.
"Don't you dare hurt my son!" The deputy's booming voice was full of contempt as he leaned in to whisper softly. "Cursed apprentice."
"We were only playi-" Tigerpaw weakly tried to protest, getting some air into his winded lungs, but Redpaw, a gleam in his eyes, cut him off.
"Father, father, he's horrible! He always wants to play the rogue and he's so mean. I don't think he should be made a warrior yet!"
"Neither do I." Cornpelt agreed. "We were going to make you a warrior early with your little friends, but I think that will be out of the question now." Tigerpaw's heart sank.
"That is not fair and you know it, Cornpelt. My son has trained long and hard at his training. He is a better fighter than any of the other, older, apprentices, and his hunting is as good as the average warriors." Sundance glared at the deputy, who snarled and cuffed her back.
"Be quiet, . You've used up more than your fair share of this clans generosity." He snarled.
"You're afraid of him, aren't you?" Sundance asked knowingly. Cornfoot snarled.
"Redpaw, go back to your den." His son obeyed, a confuse look in his eyes. Tigerpaw stayed put. "Do not disobey your deputy. It is breaking the warrior code. Because you broke the warrior code, you are no longer a part of this clan. As you are no longer a part of this clan, you are a trespasser. You know what happens to trespassers? They are killed. I'm sure Tornstar will see my judgment as correct." Sundance's eyes widened right before she fell, lifeless to the ground.
"No! The warrior code isn't like that! You can't twist it to mean that!" Tigerpaw piped up. Cornfoot laughed at him, a mocking, pitying laugh.
"Foolish tom, the warrior code only means whatever those in command want it to mean." Cornfoot said and stalked away.
The tom wondered if Firestar would be the one to bring about the end. it would be fitting...it would work well and make everything fit together just right. Therefore Tigerstar was pretty sure that he was safe from the orange tom.
Firestar had come to the clan and won over almost everyone instantly. He wowed them with his courage, his loyalty, his diligiance...Tigerclaw saw through it all. Brave? Try stupid. Loyal? Not so much as desperate. Diligence? Oh please. Was Tigerstar the only one who saw the tom for a fraud?
It wasn't fair. Fire will save the clan. How More obvious could you get. Destiny had decided to bless the kittypet and curse the tiger. What had Firestar done to deserve this? What had Tigerclaw done to get his own prophecy? It just wasn't fair, but Tigerclaw knew life wasn't fair.
Scourge turned on him. Before he knew it, he was dying. The end had come. It wasn't glamorous, or romanticized or tragic. It was...ironicly funny. As he felt his body sway and fall, laughter bubbled inside Tigertstar's chest.
Or maybe it was only blood.