So welcome to yet another forced chapter. I'm still not good with the inbetween stuff, so maybe the next chapter will be the Gathering. Plot isn't going to move by itself!

But there's something I need to address. One of my valued reviewers...accused me of complaining about reviews. *looks through recent chapters* Uh, no? I don't believe I've been 'complaining' about reviews recently. I made a whole apology over reviews a few days ago and I- that really hurts.

I'm aware that I haven't been seemingly acknowledging the reviews over on fanfiction, but I get the majority of the ideas for Ignite from the fanfiction reviewers, and a lot of the chapters I've made come from their ideas. I AM listening and taking your reviews into consideration and I'm grateful for these people taking some time out of their day to do so.

From now on I'll be trying to answer reviews from fanfiction as best as I can.

But that's two people telling me I've been complaining- so maybe I am? If I'm doing something I shouldn't, then please tell me so.

Um, enjoy the chapter I guess.

Further examination of his body yielded another another horn that was growing behind his other ear. They were small, just peeking out of his fur, but if one looked close enough, they would know right away what they were. The clan wouldn't really know since they never looked that closely at him before, and they would just pass it off as something they never noticed before. But the horns hadn't been there before, and cats would start to notice when they started growing larger.

Horns. He was growing horns. His body was still changing. There was a feeling in him, ever since Jayfeather informed him about the dream, that maybe the stone wasn't done changing him yet. Now he knew it was inevitable. He really was going to become some giant creature wasn't he?

He knew it was coming, but it didn't erase the terror he felt deep down. He didn't want his body to change so drastically. He didn't want to be different from the clans. From his own clan. How was he to maintain his relationships when he was some big scaly monster? He obviously couldn't keep living inside the camp if he continued changing- could he even still be Thunderclan's leader?

What was he going to do?

"Well, you're certainly thinking hard aren't you?" He didn't turn around from where he was sitting besides a stream somewhere in Thunderclan territory. He already heard her coming in his direction, her pawsteps echoing in his ears. He briefly wondered if this was how Dovewing felt everyday with her super hearing.

The she-cat sat besides him, looking into the water with him. Her green eyes contrasted with her black pelt heavily. Hollyleaf, his granddaughter.

"You know I don't think I've ever seen you this subdued in my entire life. What happened to the strong, confident leader who wasn't afraid of standing up for what was right? Or were those more tall tales from the elders?"

"No, the stories aren't wrong. I'm just..." He struggled to find the words to explain. Hollyleaf knew about the prophecy and of the Dark Forest's rise. She didn't know about the new prophecy or about Jayfeather's dream as far as he was aware.

"You're just scared of your new body?" she snorted. "It's been almost a whole moon since you've changed and you're still acting like a scared mouse."

He felt a wave of irritation roll over him. His granddaughter didn't understand what he was going through; no one did. She didn't have to deal with an entirely new body with some stone implanting new instincts and thoughts into her head. She hadn't gain the animosity of the clans by existing.

"Look, I know what it's like to be ostracized in the clans. I killed Ashfur remember?" she meowed, bitterness evident in her voice. Whether it was because she felt remorse for killing him or because she still hated the tom, he didn't know.

But she was right- she had been ostracized by the clan after the revelation of just what she had done- but not for a moon. The clan was wary of her for not even a quarter moon before they started warming up to her.

Here he was, still trying to get the clan to be okay with him again after about a moon for being the way he was now. He stayed silent, continuing to stare into his reflection.

Hollyleaf gave a sigh. "You shouldn't be acting like this. It's not like you've killed anyone yet."

"Key word being yet," he grumbled.

"So? Every cat in Thunderclan has the capacity to kill someone in the future. Look at me, everyone thought I was the ultimate code abider, that I would never kill anything but prey because the code says you don't need to kill to win a battle. And then I ended up killing Ashfur," she meowed.

"And not every cat in Thunderclan has two prophecies and two dreams weighing over their heads, telling them that they're going to become some giant monster that might end up destroying the clans," he fretted. Hollyleaf was stunned into silence, not having been told about there being another prophecy.

"There's another prophecy?" she squeaked.

"Point being," he bit out, "is that there's a lot of things going on in the background that cats aren't aware of." He was so tired of dealing with everything that happens to the clans. Being leader wasn't an easy task. Stepping down as leader and taking his treasures somewhere peaceful sounded like such a nice idea at this point. All they would have to worry about was getting enough prey in their stomachs. "I'm just- I'm so tired. This scales and wings thing isn't helping," he murmured.

Hollyleaf took a look at her grandfather, and saw how... tired he looked.

"I know you're trying to get me to stand up on my paws again, and I appreciate it Hollyleaf. But things aren't always that simple."

Hollyleaf took him by surprise by leaning into him. She had never really shown him much affection before- heck, all his grandkits hadn't really shown much affection before his changes.

"You know the clan doesn't actually fear you right? It's just that everything about this is so unknown to them and they don't know how to handle it. But they don't actually fear you. They know you wouldn't do anything to hurt anyone," she said softly.

He wished he could believe her. But something else about him would come up and then the clan would go right back to fearing him.

Hollyleaf nudged him to his paws. "Come on, no use moping out here like a kit who lost his moss ball. Show me how you hunt like this! Or show me how you fly, I don't know, just do something other than look depressed all the time!"

"I don't look depressed all the time," he pouted.

"Sure you don't," she said teasingly. He gave a purr and decided, why not? Hollyleaf felt comfortable around him and he was thankful for that.

She was in awe over how gentle he had to be with his prey. Him being gentle was the equivalent of a cat being somewhat rough. He had to exercise control at all times.

Spending time with his granddaughter warmed him up significantly and he was content as they walked back into camp with a load of prey. She waved her tail at him and bounded off to speak with Cinderheart and Poppyfrost by the warriors' den.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sandstorm wave him over with her tail, and he almost bolted back into the leaders' den when he saw that there were other cats with her. Just because he was comfortable with being around certain cats didn't mean he wasn't awkward around others. Nevertheless he walked up to her and sat down by her side, her purrs of pride warming him up.

Graystripe plopped down onto his other side. "Geez, it's like you never come to visit me anymore! You aren't wasting the day away flying when you could be hanging out with me are you?" he joked.

"Like you don't waste the day away eating and sleeping, you elder," he joked back. Graystripe gave a fake offended gasp and bat his tail against Firestar's leg. Firestar hardly felt it. Graystripe gave a grimace.

"Ow! Yeah, I'm not doing that again. What are you even made out of?" Graystripe laughed.

"Scales apparently."

The cats around him purred and laughed, and for the first time since he changed, he felt wanted within the clan. They were all comfortable with each other, no awkwardness exuding from their conversations.

He made sure to cherish the moment.

Fires has issues. Thunderclan is wary around him but they're getting used to him being how he is now. Firestar himself needs to come to accept what he is now, but it's hard when you've got a million other things weighing you down.

So if you wanted to see Hollyleaf, here she is! She's around, but not super into prophecies anymore. She would like her brothers to fill her in on the recent stuff though.

So yeah, Gathering chapter might be next. Or I might just need to take a break because I think I've been struggling on these last two chapters. Thinking stuff up everyday is actually hard lol. Maybe that's why people have a set schedule or only update when they feel like it. Annnddd for me... I feel like updating everyday? I should really just update when I feel I've got a good chapter going though instead of forcing myself to write more. But I'm stupid, so everyday it is!

Tell me how I did.