A/N: Here is a draft of a story I never found the motivation to continue. The original prompt is from the forum GladeClan.

Cat A has had everything around them fall apart around them. It could be a literal or figurative way but the question is... are they prepared to deal with this, or will they fall alongside everything else?

Crashing Down

CLAN of RISE: ALLEGIANCES (Before Wildfire)

LEADER: Swiftrise - dark gray tabby tom with green eyes

DEPUTY: Rainfeather - pale brown spotted tabby tom

MEDICINE CAT: Pebblecreek - dilute calico molly, infertile (APPRENTICE, Echopaw)

WARRIORS

Jumpstrike - stocky dark brown tom (APPRENTICE, Nightpaw)

Ashthorn - gray mottled tom with blue eyes

Blazestream - dappled russet tom with ear tufts

Morningcloud - blue-gray tabby tom

Nettlesting - gray tom with a white chest (APPRENTICE, Slatepaw)

Hollowstep - small black and white tom

Webmask - silver lynx colorpoint tom with amber eyes (APPRENTICE, Whitepaw)

Waspheart - dark ginger tabby tom

Amberstripe - ginger tabby tom with hazel eyes and white paws

Talontail - dark brown tabby tom with blue eyes and paler markings

APPRENTICES (male)

Slatepaw - large gray tom

Whitepaw - long-haired white tom

Echopaw - dark gray and white tom with hazel eyes

Nightpaw - dark gray tabby tom with white paws and chin

APPRENTICES (female)

Fallowpaw - creamy brown tabby molly with white paws and muzzle

Willowpaw - thick-furred lilac tabby she-cat

Hazelpaw - dark brown molly

QUEENS

Frondshade - pale gray ticked tabby molly (APPRENTICE, Willowpaw)

Softbreeze - brown and white tabby molly (APPRENTICE, Fallowpaw)

Cloverbrook - silver tabby molly with amber eyes (expecting Nettlesting's kits)

Tornflank - heavily scarred tortoiseshell molly

Newtflower - cream tabby molly with a white muzzle (mother to Morningcloud's kit: Frogkit, a ginger tom with stripe markings)

Briarspots - brown tabby she-cat with a paler underbelly (APPRENTICE, Hazelpaw)

ELDERS

Thistlenose - dark gray tabby tom with white paws and chest

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This writing contains a patriarchy clan system, and may contain text that likely to be triggering. I do not believe anything that is written down here concerning patriarchal beliefs, so do not accuse me of supporting them. It also contains a lot of gore. You have been warned.

The Clan of Rise firmly believes that toms are far better, in terms of strength and stamina, than mollies.

Part 1: Wildfire

It wasn't how Echopaw imagined it to happen when his omen became reality. Cats screamed and wailed around him. The small black and white tom's eyes were wide, his ears flattened against his head as he watched the oaks begin to fall, one by one, weakened by the screaming wildfire.

The heat and the crackles and the cracking and the howls of pain were deafening -

It was like hell had opened up and swallowed them all -

Where was Swiftrise? He was supposed to take control of this situation -

A pained scream tore his attention from Echopaw's inner thoughts. He snapped his head to his right - Oh Rising Spirits. Rainfeather was pinned under a fallen tree. The deputy's wild eyes met Echopaw's; a single word was thrown out from his gaping, bloodied jaws. Help.

Echopaw was frozen for a moment - but he shook his head - no - and dashed off to clear air. Rainfeather's last cry of despair rang in the medicine cat's ears.

The black and white tom let out a hacking cough. Smoke, he thought in a haze of panic. He had to get out of there fast. "Swiftrise?" he yelled. "Pebblebrook? Slatepaw?" No answer. Echopaw forced his eyes shut. No looking. He did not want to look at cats who had ended up like Rainfeather. He let his instincts guide his paws, leaping from dry patch to patch. Several times he came close to heat of the blaze - hot enough to sear his whiskers off.

Echopaw threw himself blindly out into cooler air, his ears finally free from the snarling fire.

"Echopaw!" The black and white tom blinked blearily, shaking his head to rid of the ringing in it. Vaguely, he saw a gray and cream figure running towards him. He gave a weak smile before the world suddenly grew closer - to be precise, the ground. Echopaw slumped down, letting out a hoarse sound from the bottom of his soul. "Rising spirits, rising spirits, rising spirits," he sobbed. "This is horrible."

Pebblecreek bent down next to him, covering his face with licks. "You're safe," she murmured into his ear. "You're safe."

Echopaw let out a shaky breath as he leaned into his mentor's ashy fur. "Who survived?" he whispered unconsciously.

"Swiftrise and Rainfeather didn't make it." Pebblecreek was shuddering now, her spasms repeatedly dislodging Echopaw's muzzle from under the crook of the medicine cat's neck. "Neither did Ashthorn, Nettlesting, Newtflower…" Pebblecreek let out a soft choke. "We made camp over by the river," she rasped. "I found honey."

Echopaw didn't need to be told twice, and it didn't take much for him to understand that their clan had lost many of its members. Echopaw's shoulders slumped at the thought of his denmates gone - Slatepaw had been such a pillar in his life, a stone that could never be moved. Whitepaw, he had been a literal cloud of energy - boosting up the most bleakest of situations. And Nightpaw - Nightpaw had been the reason Echopaw had been determined to be a medicine cat. Nightpaw - his brother - he couldn't be with the Rising Sun with Rainfeather, could he?

Slowly but surely, the distinct scents of clan became clear from the charred bits of grass and cinders that floated in the air. Echopaw let out a groan of relief when he saw the scattered remains of his clan. At least a third had made it, thank the Rising Sun.

"You're going to have to talk to them, you know that, correct?" Pebblebrook meowed to him.

Echopaw felt his throat constrict. It was already dry from the smoke and ashes and all the screaming. "Uh," he managed.

Before either medicine cat could go on, there was a loud yowl from the scraggly group. Cats surged towards Echopaw - their eyes panicked, ablaze with terror. Fury. Pain.

"Echopaw!"

"You're alive!"

"Did the Rising spirits say anything?"

"Where's Swiftrise? And Rainfeather?"

"Who's going to lead us now?"

Echopaw flattened his ears, terrified by the clamoring crowd.

"Alright, alright, give him space!" A stocky figure pushed their way through the crowd. The group parted, albeit a little reluctantly. "Ya okay there, Echopaw?"

The small gray and white apprentice collapsed against his denmate. Relief and a freshened tide of sorrow crashed through the young tom - he had to support himself on Slatepaw's shoulder.

"Woah." The older tom wobbled as the medicine cat's full weight was placed upon him. "Steady."

"Slatepaw," Echopaw wailed. "Everything's gone - I saw Rainfeather die before my own eyes! Swiftrise didn't make it -"

"Ssh!" Slatepaw bristled. "Not so loud, you'll alarm them."

Echopaw didn't care. "I've had no signs, nothing worth using, all the herbs were destroyed in the fire," he rambled on. "And I have no idea who should lead this shambling clan -"

"You."

Echopaw blinked, shaking his head. "Sorry, what?"

"You," Slatepaw repeated. "You're a male medicine cat."

"S-so…?"

"That automatically makes you a large candidate for temporary leadership." Brown fur blocked Echopaw's path of sight. He glanced upwards at the large brown warrior who was standing in front of the pair now. "I pledge my allegiance to you, Echopaw, as our temporary leader."

Silence, except for the distant roar of flames, engulfed the group. Then it was broken by calls of the felines, caterwauling his name: "Echopaw! Echopaw!"

The tom felt the ground shake beneath him as he shuddered. "No! Stop!" He tore away from Slatepaw, somehow finding strength to run. There were angry cries of his clanmates echoing behind him, but Echopaw ran - and as he did, a thousand thoughts relayed through his head. Oh, this was horrible! Terrible! There was no way in a million lifetimes that he'd ever be a leader! He didn't even manage to decipher an omen correctly!

"Nightpaw!" The name was unexpected on his tongue. "Nightpaw!" He let it tear out anyway. The black and white tom hit the ground with a yelp, and lay there, sides heaving. Oh Suns and Stars and all that damn things in the skies -

Why did this happen?

Echopaw gave a shiver. He felt cold, even though the heat from the blaze was streaming over and across him. The storm of heat will kill the clan. He buried his muzzle into his paws. That should have been obvious, dammit -

And why did Rainfeather and Swiftrise have to die? He himself wasn't capable of controlling the mollies on his own. Swiftrise had been dominating, powerful - and so had Rainfeather. Echopaw wasn't that kind of tom.

But Jumpstrike is, a small, timid voice inside him spoke up. Echopaw widened his eyes from under the covers of his paws. Of course! Jumpstrike, the strong, formidable senior warrior of the clan. The perfect candidate for leader.

Before Echopaw could move, though, a small paw poked into his side. He raised his head to meet the golden eyes of - none other than his own damned brother.

"Nightpaw!" Echopaw choked out, burying his muzzle into the chest fur of the other apprentice. "You're alive, you're alive, you're-" Repeating seemed like a thing today.

Nightpaw stopped Echopaw's rambling with a paw on the gray and white tom's muzzle. Calm, he spoke with his eyes.