Aftermath in Windclan
I'm still all for people showing me their ideas! Someone on fanfiction asked if I could write out Onestar's POV from the battle as I was writing the chapter and went "well why not?" and added it in. Thanks for that idea! The people reviewing and giving me ideas are what's keeping this fic going really.
The plot begins to somewhat thicken.
Reviews are appreciated!
There was chatter all over the Windclan camp, warriors, apprentices, queens, and elders alike gossiping and speculating how Thunderclan would react to the moved borders. Some theorized that there would be a battle, knowing that Thunderclan wouldn't take it sitting down. Others jokingly thought that Thunderclan would just stand down, crowing about their overflowing 'generosity' and would just give the territory over to them.
Breezepelt padded over to Heathertail and set down a plump rabbit for them to share. "Think those Thunderclan hare-brains have noticed by now?" he asked around a mouthful of rabbit.
"Probably. Knowing Thunderclan, they'll just retaliate and demand justice," she snickered.
"They won't do anything. Firestar is too afraid of "hurting anyone" as he is. Honestly, if I had that kind of power, all the clans would have bowed down to Windclan already," he boasted. He would have easily destroyed anyone in his path, and what better cats to test that kind of power on than Jayfeather and Lionblaze. Maybe show Crowfeather how much better he is compared to those two weaklings.
The whole of Windclan was shocked when the battle patrol come back into camp, looking defeated. Sunstrike and Harespring were guiding Onestar into camp, his legs shaking and his face frozen in fear.
Ashfoot ran up to greet the patrol, "What happened?" she demanded. "Why is Onestar like this? Surely Thunderclan couldn't have fought so hard that you're all shaking in your paws."
Sunstrike winced, noting the fact that her paws were shaking slightly. "Firestar happened," she meowed numbly.
"What about the border?" Ashfoot pressed.
Harespring shook his head. "We don't know, but I'm going to assume that they took back the border and reset it."
The whole of Windclan froze. They thought that Firestar didn't want to hurt anyone, wouldn't want to jump into battle. They thought wrong and underestimated Thunderclan and paid the price.
"You couldn't even take down their weak kittypet leader?" Breezepelt sneered.
Sunstrike glared at him. "He's far from weak. Seeing him fight the way he did was the single most terrifying thing I've seen in my entire life."
"Surely it couldn't have been that bad?" Breezepelt scoffed.
"He flew at us out of nowhere, and tossed around Onestar like a piece of prey. He's the complete opposite of weak," Sunstrike meowed shakily, the events still fresh in her mind.
"Who cares about how strong he's gotten; I'm more worried about the fact that he shot a stream of fire from his mouth!" Harespring emphasized.
"He shot what?" Ashfoot yelped.
Harespring only nodded. "I've never even seen Firestar fight like that though. He was fighting like a... like a wild animal. He might have actually taken a life from Onestar, maybe even killed him entirely if Sandstorm hadn't physically stepped in to stop him. It was horrifying."
Between Sunstrike and Harespring, Onestar was still shaking in his paws, the battle playing on repeat in his head.
"This will show Thunderclan that they're not invincible!" Onestar crowed triumphantly. He was going to give Sandstorm something to remember him by, and readied his claws to bring them down. He wasn't going to kill her; that would be against the warrior code. But she was Firestar's mate, and he would teach Firestar a lesson through her.
He began to bring his claws down when a ginger and black blur swooped down and tackled him, ripping him away from Sandstorm. He was thrown away and skidded a few badger-lengths from Sandstorm harshly.
What was that? What had done that to him? It felt like he had gotten hit by a monster. He shakily got to his paws, dazed. He shook his head, trying to remove the pain and fog the blow had bombarded him with. He blinked and the fur on his back rose up and bristled.
There was Firestar, checking his mate over. He growled furiously over the cut he had made on Sandstorm and gave it a few licks. Onestar lashed his tail, wary of the cat in front of him. He didn't think Firestar would show up in such a manner. Did that tackle come from Firestar? How strong was he?
Firestar whirled around to face him, and Onestar took a few panicked steps backwards as Firestar's red eyes burned into his. Firestar's mouth opened slightly, flames pouring out and licking the scales on his cheeks. He could see Firestar's chest was glowing an intense red out of the corner of his eye, and he couldn't do anything but stare, suddenly fearing for his life.
He had grossly underestimated what Firestar could do. Fire shot out of Firestar's maw and he shook himself out of his stupor and dodged at the last second. He rolled out of the way, watching the fire continue on its way to set nearby foliage ablaze. The plants burned for a few heartbeats before the fire died down and put itself out. The plants looked scorched, half of the plants having been blackened in many areas.
He realized that that could have been him if he hadn't gotten out of the way in time. He saw Firestar begin to advance in his direction, his talons gleaming in the sunlight. He gulped; those looked larger than Tigerstar's claws. Not to mention that Firestar was just as big as the dead Shadowclan leader.
He shakily got up to his paws, and he noted with alarm that he couldn't stop himself from shaking. Firestar looked completely feral and actually might kill him this time.
'Is this what your life flashing before your eyes feels like?' He was breathing heavily, fearing this... monster in front of him.
'No stop, get away! Get away get away get away get away get away getawaygetawaygetaway-'
Sandstorm jumped up inbetween them and stopped Firestar. He had never been so thankful for the sandy she-cat in all his nine lives.
"Windclan retreat!" he managed to yowl.
"Firestar has really changed; he's clearly not afraid of fighting anyone now," Harespring meowed.
"...That wasn't Firestar," Onestar whispered hoarsely. His clan shifted their gazes onto him, and he sucked in a deep breath, trying to appear strong. He tried forcing his legs to stop shaking, but to his horror no matter what he tried, he couldn't stop. He had seen true fear and he didn't like it.
He shook his head. "Firestar was about to kill me. The Firestar I know would never do that. He would have tried to resolve things peacefully." He resented Firestar's weak policies of friendship and camaraderie, but he admitted that he knew Firestar well enough by now to know that Firestar would always try compromise before a fight. Instead the ginger leader had ferociously attacked him.
"That's not Firestar. That was a monster; a monster that Thunderclan is letting lead them," he declared to his bewildered clan.
"I don't know what happened to the real Firestar, but this thing needs to be stopped. That thing has the power to destroy the clans and it currently has control of Thunderclan. How long will it be before it decides to drive the other clans out?" He could see his clan nodding at his words.
He lamented the fact that he couldn't apologize for his behavior over the past seasons to Firestar before that monster took his place. He never wanted to push his friend away.
"Firestar is dead and a monster has taken his place. It's up to us to stop that thing from destroying us all!" His clan gave supporting yowls at his declaration.
"Chase it out of Thunderclan!"
"Take it prisoner!"
"Kill it!"
Onestar nodded, happy with the results of his speech. Soon Firestar's imposter would be at the very least chased out of Thunderclan. Thunderclan would be grateful for their help in purging such a menace from their ranks. He padded over to Kestrelflight, who ushered him into his den so he could be checked over.
Plans starting forming in his head. The imposter would have to have some support in Thunderclan, so turning a good majority of the cats onto their side would be problematic. If the Thunderclan cats couldn't see there was a problem with their "leader" than perhaps Shadowclan and Riverclan would be more receptive to the idea.
'I don't know where you are or what happened to you Firestar, but I won't let that monster destroy the lake. I'll purge the clans of that thing,' he vowed in his head.
Glowing red eyes belonging to a black-scaled, ginger furred, multiple-winged cat in a burning forest haunted his dreams that night.
Fear makes you do stupid things. It makes you tunnel vision and in Onestar's case, he's so afraid of Firestar that he's trying to rationalize how Firestar is suddenly like this. In his head, the cat he fought couldn't have possibly been Firestar. That, or he's possessed. So now he's going to try to get Shadowclan and Riverclan on Windclan's side in order to at least drive out this imposter. Maybe get a few Thunderclan cats in on it...
I still headcannon that Onestar still wanted to be friends with Firestar but had to keep being the jerk leader to show his clan that he wasn't a weakling.
Onestar's only lucky Sandstorm was there to stop Firestar or he would have been roadkill.
Tell me how I did.