Welp it's the chapter I've been wanting to do for a while. I find it strange that this isn't as long as I thought it would be. Also strange cause it's not quite what I envisioned but whatever. I do really wish I could make these longer :P
After the next fewish chapters I'll be struggling to write the inbetween stuff again. Who knows maybe this fic will reach 50 chapters oooooo
Reviews are appreciated!
"Everyone get out of the camp now!" Brambleclaw yowled. At his command, everyone streamed out the camp in a rush, some cats pushing and knocking others over in their rush to get away from the flames.
"Where will we go?" Squirrelflight yowled over the panicked screeching.
"Head towards Shadowclan territory!" Blackstar yelled out.
Brambleclaw nodded. "You heard him, everyone get to Shadowclan territory!" He gazed around worriedly at the burning trees around them, hoping that it wouldn't spread to the other clan territories. Running to Shadowclan territory wouldn't do anyone any good if it also caught on fire.
He grew hopeful after taking a glance at the sky, seeing the gray clouds beyond the smoke told him that rain would be coming soon. If they could just stay ahead of the fire and wait for rain, everything would be fine.
After a mad sprint to Shadowclan territory, he checked cats over, many of them huddling together in shock. "Is everyone okay? Are we all here?"
"Cherrypaw!" He and many others turned to a distraught Poppyfrost, who was trying and failing to be comforted by Berrynose. "I can't find Cherrypaw!" she wailed.
"Someone has to go look for her!" Berrynose added. Brambleclaw looked out over the burning trees of Thunderclan territory. He remembered very well when he had been left behind at the old camp, and he had climbed up a tree in his panic. He would have died if it weren't for Firestar.
"Firestar isn't here either," Sandstorm whispered in his ear. His ears went flat on his head, hoping that Firestar had snapped out of it in time and was hopefully with Cherrypaw.
Looking around him, he realized that the clan's opinion of Firestar was probably not only soured, but outright destroyed. Everything had been going so well... Firestar might have accepted the compromise and everything would be fine again, but Onestar just had to ruin it for everybody involved. Speaking of...
"If we get out of this without anyone getting hurt or burned, I'm going to skin you alive," Mistystar muttered lowly to the Windclan leader. Onestar made no acknowledgment that he heard what she said. He was too busy glaring out into the blaze, muttering to himself in a low tone. Brambleclaw couldn't hear what he was saying, but he assumed it was nothing good.
He turned back to the fire. 'Please be alright.'
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Firestar sat within the fire, his face set in a distraught expression. What had he done? He had told everyone that he had no intentions of hurting anyone, only for him to set his own territory on fire! This wasn't what he wanted. He had just wanted to keep his loved ones safe...
'This is all my fault...'
He was torn between keeping in his urge to roar out his triumph, like his instincts and the stone wanted, and wanting to cry out at the injustice of it all. He didn't want to roar. There was nothing to be proud of here.
But he had driven away those that wanted to hurt his mate and hatchlings! Of course he should be proud. Now those cats will never attempt such a thing again.
'Please stop,' he moaned in his head. He was sick of all the foreign thoughts entering his head. They weren't his thoughts. His head felt like it didn't belong to him half of the time!
"Someone please help!" someone wailed. He perked his head up; that sounded like Cherrypaw! His paws moved for him, tearing away fallen burning logs with his claws. He had caused this mess, but he wouldn't let anyone die from his mistake.
Cherrypaw curled in on herself, trying to avoid the flames. She whimpered a bit, recalling that someone had pushed her away from her family as they ran out of camp. She tried covering her mouth with a paw, trying not to choke on the smoke around her. She gave a muffled gasp as she heard a creaking sound above her and she shook as she titled her head up to see a burning branch about to fall onto her.
'Oh no, oh no oh no oh no!' There was no way out. She closed her eyes and braced for impact. Instead of hearing the branch hit her body, she heard the branch hit something else. She cracked her eye open to see Firestar standing over her, his wings shielding her and holding up the branch.
"Cherrypaw, are you okay?" he asked, an neutral expression on his face. He knew his clan wouldn't be happy to see him right now. She gave a shocked nod.
It wasn't hard holding up the branch, but Cherrypaw was going to suffocate from all the fire and smoke if he didn't get her out of here. He shook the branch off his wings, the branch falling to the ground besides them. He flared his wings and flapped them, sending a gust of wind that separated some fire for them to pass through.
"Come on, we have to go," he urged the apprentice. She gave another nod and he guided her through the fire. He sighed as he realized that the she-cat was in shock. Now what?
He strained his ears, picking up sound where he knew the Shadowclan border was. Did everyone evacuate to Shadowclan territory? He didn't know, but he had to get Cherrypaw away from the fire.
He tore through the burning undergrowth with his claws, clearing the way for Cherrypaw. He had to go and physically pick her up, trying to be gentle with her as he did so, when she fell down to the ground, coughing her lungs out.
"Just a little further," he mumbled from inbetween her fur to the shocked she-cat. He didn't know who he was trying to reassure here. Even if his clan hated him, at least he managed to save Cherrypaw.
He padded out into the area where the clans were huddled together, deeming it okay for him to go slower now that they were out of the fire.
"Cherrypaw!" Poppyfrost wailed. He walked forward and set the apprentice down on the ground. Poppyfrost and Berrynose rushed over to their kit, pulling her away from Firestar and licking her fur the wrong way. "What happened?" she tried asking her kit. Cherrypaw tried to talk, her mouth moving up and down uselessly. Small coughs came out of her.
Poppyfrost turned her attention back to Firestar and gave him a heated glare. "Did you do this? Did you hurt her?" she hissed.
Firestar's eyes widened. "Of course I didn't hurt her! I saved her from burning to death!"
Berrynose laughed darkly. "Burning... you mean the fire that you started?"
Firestar didn't answer him, knowing that he couldn't deny that the fact that had started the fire, albeit on accident. Or was it intentional? He had been aiming at those Windclan warriors, so was it really an accident?
Onestar got up and stalked over to him, Windclan following his lead. They blocked Firestar off from everyone else. "Get out," Onestar spat at him. "You're dangerous. Get out!" he screeched. Firestar searched the gazes of the Thunderclan cats. Most of them were silent, conflicted looks on their faces.
"You can't tell him to leave! It was an accident!" Graystripe yowled.
"He was clearly trying to aim for my warriors! This was no accident!" Onestar retorted. Blackstar and Mistystar, though conflicted, conceded to his words.
"He is dangerous," Blackstar muttered. Mistystar was silent.
Firestar saw his treasures trying to reach him, only for Windclan to block their path. He saw many of his own cats staring at him with accusing eyes, and he wanted nothing more than to walk back into the fire and burn. Even Thunderclan thought he was dangerous...
"Leave! Leave and never come back you monster!" Onestar screeched.
'Maybe... I am a monster.'
Onestar lunged at him, and Firestar hastily bounded back from the Windclan leader.
"Stop it! Stop attacking him!" Sandstorm wailed. But the Windclan cats wouldn't stop barraging him with attacks. He refrained from harming anyone, knowing that it would only put him a worse light than he was in already. Finally, he spread his wings and took off.
"Firestar! Please come back!" he heard Brambleclaw call out to him. He forced his wings to take him somewhere where he couldn't hurt anyone. He landed outside clan territory, and he looked up at the sky as a raindrop fell onto his nose.
He could see the rain putting out the fire. The fire he caused.
All the adrenaline left him and he collapsed onto the ground. His body trembled as the full weight of what just happened crashed onto him all at once.
"My... my treasures..." he sobbed. Without his loved ones he was nothing! The stone sent out a pulse, but nothing it did would calm him down. The pulses were subdued more than usual. It was like the stone had joined him in his despair.
What was he to do now? His clan blamed him for the fire. Most of them hadn't spoken up when he had been accused. He had been chased out from his clan. He didn't want to remember their accusing glares.
He recalled Starclan coming to him after Tigerstar's excessive mocking, how they told him that his clan would always be with him. He glared into the ground, and dug his claws into the soft, wet earth.
'I knew you were liars...'
I'm evil.
I kicked Firestar out of Thunderclan. Well not really kicked, but more like a self-imposed exile?
In any case, he's been pretty much driven out. His hopes of becoming a guardian if he was to become a full dragon has been utterly shattered. His treasures have been ripped away from him, out of his reach; why would he want to protect anyone now that his own loved ones are away from him?
Not everyone in Thunderclan wanted him gone, but most of them know that Firestar is dangerous, no matter what he says about holding back. Bring on the conflicted feelings boi!
Tell me how I did.