Brambleclaw hates mornings
Welp, nothing much to say here. Keep bringing in those ideas!
I honestly wish I could churn out bigger chapter like the other good fics out there. ;-;
Reviews are highly appreciated!
Brambleclaw padded out of the warriors' den with a yawn and with a feeling of really wanting to return to his nest because it was too early for literally anything. But he was the deputy of this clan, and it was his job to sort out patrols and whatnot.
He mentally checked off cats in his head, deciding who to send out on the dawn patrol to the Shadowclan and Windclan borders. He went back inside the den and took care in stepping around the sleeping cats until he reached Cloudtail's side and prodded him awake. The white tom lazily cracked his eye open to look up at Brambleclaw.
"Dawn patrol," he whispered. Cloudtail shut his eye back and gave a short groan. Brambleclaw whispered in his ear certain cats and told him to gather them up, before carefully making his way out of the den.
Eventually all the cats for dawn patrol had been gathered up and were about to leave when Sandstorm hurriedly came out of the leaders' den.
"Have any of you seen Firestar?" she asked, a worried look in her eyes.
"He wasn't in the den with you?" Brambleclaw called up to her. She shook her head before gazing out into the distance with a worried look on her face. The cats on the dawn patrol murmured to themselves, wondering where their leader had gone.
"I suppose we need to be on the lookout for him?" Cloudtail asked tiredly. Brambleclaw opened his mouth to reply, but thankfully didn't need to answer as the cat in question made his way back into camp, a conflicted look on his face.
"Firestar? Are you okay?" Sandstorm asked her mate, bounding down to greet him. He gave her a strained smile, showing off his enlarged fangs.
"I can't decide if I've done something good for us all... or if I've done something terrible," he croaked out.
They all stared at him perplexed, wondering what he meant. He sighed. "You're all going out for the dawn patrol aren't you? Might as well show you what I mean..."
Brambleclaw only blinked tiredly. He just wanted to go back to sleep. Firestar flicked his tail, signaling the patrol to follow him.
"I had a strange dream last night and woke up in the middle of the night. I just... couldn't get back to sleep so I thought some fresh air would do me some good," Firestar explained as they made their way through the forest, getting closer and closer to the Shadowclan border. The patrol listened in rapt attention. "I flew as far as the Shadowclan border and landed and I was about to make my way back but..." he trailed off suddenly, and all the cats except for Firestar recoiled as the stench of death hit them like a monster on the Thunderpath.
"What is that stench?!" Hazeltail hissed. "It smells like something's decaying!"
"...Maybe because something is decaying," Cloudtail said plainly.
There were two dead foxes at the border, both cut up and looking burned in areas.
"I was about to make my way back when I got jumped by these two things," Firestar meowed, staring at the corpses. He had an unreadable expression on his face, no doubt still conflicted if he had done something good or something terrible by killing them in such a manner.
"So what's the big deal exactly? You just did the clan a service by getting rid of them!" Cinderheart exclaimed.
Cloudtail flicked his ear, examining his uncle. "I think the problem is that he killed two fully grown foxes with no injury." All the cats did a double take, realizing that Firestar didn't look harmed in the slightest.
Firestar looked embarrassed. "Well, they did manage to clip my side," he said as he turned to show everyone the scratch on his side that was already beginning to heal.
"And anyway, I can't even remember how I did it," he murmured. "All I remember is that I was so angry that these things had the nerve to attack me and I-" he cut off, trying to remember what happened.
"Well, what did you do?" Hazeltail pressed.
"I- I can't remember. I just remember standing over the them; they were already dead." Brambleclaw noticed that half of the patrol looked uncomfortable, realizing just how much power Firestar had, and subtly shuffled away from him.
Firestar kept his head down, even though something was whispering in his head that he should have his head held high; he should proud that he was continuously proving his power and might to everyone! He mentally told the whispers to stop. He didn't want or need to prove anything to anyone, and his show of might, even though no one had seen it was only scaring his clan.
He twitched as Sandstorm and Brambleclaw laid their tails over his shoulders in a show of comfort and support. "I don't know what's happening to me..." he whispered brokenly.
"What the heck!" They all jumped as the Shadowclan dawn patrol approached them, all the cats perplexed and disgusted at the sight of the two dead foxes. Rowanclaw curled his lip in disgust, before raking his gaze over the Thunderclan cats, and then showing a hint of fear at Firestar.
"What happened here? How did these foxes get here and why do they look like they got ran over on the Thunderpath?" the Shadowclan deputy asked, trying to keep things cordial.
"We don't know where they came from, but we can tell you that they're dead," Cloudtail stated.
"We can see that," Tigerheart said from over the border. He noticed Firestar's guilty expression and his fur bristled.
"Did you do this to them?" he whispered fearfully. Firestar gave no reply and continued to stare down at the foxes.
"So what if he did? Now everyone has two less foxes to worry over," Sandstorm said quickly in defense of her mate.
Firestar was very much aware of the Shadowclan cat's stares even as he stared down at the foxes, trying to remember what happened the night before. He was frustrated and unhappy- it wasn't his intention to be so feared from all the clans. He felt his fire rise in his throat, burning hotter than before, and some instinct in him longed to unleash it.
The stone gave a warm pulse and his body involuntarily forced it back down. It wasn't the right time to use it.
He offered to bury the foxes and only him, as if he was punishing himself for doing something he shouldn't have done. But he still felt everyone's stares as both sides marked the borders and he quickly dug a deep hole for the corpses.
There was something wrong with him.
No there wasn't; he was just fine. This is how it's meant to be.
Firestar squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head; this isn't how it was meant to be! How could he think everything was fine! The fact that he even thought it was only proved that something was wrong with his head.
The stone pulsed, sending out warmth through his body, but for once he couldn't help but feel the warmth wasn't as comforting as it should be.
'Why does.. everything feel so wrong?'
Poor Fires can't catch a break. Now Shadowclan is going to be even more wary of him and you all know what happens when wild animals feel cornered. Not to mention that this will get back to the rest of Thunderclan and they'll be even more freaked out of their leader.
A cat killing two grown foxes by themselves is just plain unnatural in some cat's opinions.
Tell me how I did.