'If this is to end in fire
Then we should all burn together
Watch the flames climb high into the night.'

'I See Fire' - Ed Sheeran

¢нαρтєя єℓєνєη: вυяη

The sky was a mix of orange and red, streaked with clouds of black smoke, reflecting the roaring inferno spreading across the valley. A dull roar thundered throughout the six territories as ravenous flames devoured everything in their path. Thick, black smoke clung to trees and crept through the flames to darken the entire valley into pitch blackness.

Her lungs burned as ash settled within them. Breathing was difficult in the thick smoke. It scraped down her throat like it had claws whenever she inhaled a shaky breath. She'd never experienced a fire before in her life, let alone one as fierce as the one raging all around her.

Bright flames singed the edges of her pelt, turning orange fur to black. All she could smell was smoke, burning and charred flesh. Some cats had not been so lucky in the rushed frenzy to get off of High Star Isle before it was reduced to ashes. It had been decided rather quickly that the safest place would be the beach at the far end of WaveClan's territory. But the Clans had to get their first without being burned alive or caught by Crimson's soldiers that were stalking through the flames as if they were invincible.

A strangled yowl sounded beside her and a quick glance in that direction painted a gruesome scene of a bloodied soldier no longer owning a throat. Blood poured from the soldier's torn throat but for some reason it didn't bother her. Her mind was too numb to register the murder.

Sure the Clans had been running to the safety of ocean water last time the Chosen had seen them, the logical thing to do when the entire valley was aflame. But whilst their families were fleeing away from the flames, the Chosen were heading straight into them. It was the only way to make it to the pass behind PhoenixClan territory, if they got there without being burnt alive first.

"Whose," Icepetal shouted hoarsely over the roar of the flames, "idea was it to not follow the others to the ocean!?" She narrowly missed ducking under a flaming branch as it came crashing down to the ground spraying sparks everywhere when it landed. The SnowClan warrior hissed as the sparks singed her blackened pelt. "We're going to die out here!"

"There's no other way of getting to the pass!" Rainpatch hollered back, though his face was pulled into a grim line as he tried desperately to find a moderately safe path through the flames.

"Why can't we wait until the fire burns itself out!?" Willowclaw demanded.

Eaglestrike shook his head from his position beside Littleflame. "By then Crimson would've found out that we hadn't been burned alive in RogueClan's camp and will have her soldiers start scouring the valley for us! Now is the only time we have to get out of here!"

Claws glanced off of Littleflame's shoulder and she spun around to meet a dull yellow gaze belonging to a charred looking soldier. Its skin was hanging off in sickly clumps, blood dribbling down its pelt to the ash-covered ground below. A shudder ran up the CedarClan warrior's spine as she tripped the soldier up by swiping its forelegs out from under it, watching as Eaglestrike dispatched it with a crushing blow to the head.

Sparks fluttered into her face as yet another branch came crashing to the ground, pinning the soldier's unmoving body under it. Littleflame broke out into a flurry of coughs as a cloud of thick smoke puffed up from the fiery branch. Her eyes began to stream and blur, the world fading a little around her.

Thunder rumbled loudly up high in the sky as a flash of lightning ripped across the sky. A single drop of rain landed between Littleflame's ears and she twitched them, hope rising in her chest. "Rain'll put the fire out!" Rainpatch shouted loudly, tail curling up like an excited kit.

A single drop of rain turned to a downpour in a matter of heartbeats but it had little effect on the roaring flames. In fact the rain seemed to only spur the fire on as it crept closer to the shocked Chosen warriors.

It's not a normal fire, Littleflame realised sadly, there's no chance it'll die out anytime soon.

"We need to get a move on!" Eaglestrike yowled.

They pushed on, dashing through the onslaught of icy rain and burning flames. Ash-covered dirt beneath their paws turned to a slippery grayish brown sludge as the rain fell onto it. Frantic paws slipped on it, sprayed it up behind them as they ran. Lightning raced across the sky accompanied by loud booming roars of thunder that only just matched the roaring of the flames.

Her muscles cried out as they were pushed past their limits. The constant need to dig her claws into the muddy ground strained her legs beyond breaking point. She'd already ripped out a claw or two and nearly caught her ankle on a small rock buried in the mud.

"Watch out!" Icepetal shrieked but it was too late. The branch Icepetal had spotted leaning precariously downwards, weighted down by the fire consuming it, snapped. The tree it had snapped off was now ridiculously off balanced, missing most of the branches off one side. It gave off a groaning sound, pitching dangerously to one side before crashing down to the ground with an almighty loud crashing sound.

Littleflame skidded to a slippery stop spraying gray mud over the roaring fire that now consumed the fallen tree. She gaped at it as fear spread across her body, chilling all of her muscles and locking all of her limbs up tight. The others were on the other side of the burning tree. She was alone in a burning forest with Crimson's soldiers lurking in the thick smoke, searching for her to kill her.

A vision of a soldier bursting from the smoke with bloodied claws reaching for her neck was enough to send the little warrior scurrying away from the burning tree as quickly as she could. There was no point lingering there. The fire would take a long time to devour the entire tree. She'd just have to find another way round and hope the others weren't too far ahead.

She made the mistake of taking a large, gulping breath as she began trotting hurriedly and scrunched closed her eyes as ash rushed down her throat. Her throat was parched, a feeling she'd never experienced before. In fact, she'd never experienced the feeling of roaring flames gradually creeping closer to her or the sensation of hot ash singing her fur.

Snarls echoed to her left and Littleflame twisted her head to stare into the dull yellow eyes of two soldiers standing on one of the many smouldering fallen trees. Fear locked up her muscles once again. Taking on just one soldier was hard enough for her, let alone two. They made no attempt to pounce forwards, merely remained where they stood watching with their unnerving gaze. "Stay away!" she shouted with a wavering voice, backing up a few steps.

"They're not going to listen to reason!" a familiar voice shouted back. A long-furred, gray tom sprinted from the smoke and launched himself at the two soldiers with a loud shriek. The two soldiers tumbled down the small incline, dragging the gray tom with them. One cracked its skull open on an outcropping rock whilst the other rolled straight into the roaring flames.

No shrieks of pain came from the burning soldier. It just suffered in silence as its flesh melted from its very bones.

The tom had managed to bring himself to a stop before he too tumbled into the flames, and now he stood on his paws shaking ash from his fur. "Didn't mother teach us to ask questions later?" he called loudly over the roar of the flames.

Littleflame couldn't stop the smile from spreading across her muzzle as she dashed over to the tom and buried her muzzle into his thick fur. "Graystorm! You're alive!"

"Of course I am, sister! Some silly old fire isn't going to beat me!" Graystorm grinned as he nuzzled his sister's head. "Come on, we need to get out of here."

He turned to go the way Littleflame had just come from when the little warrior nipped at his tail, "I have to go the other way," she cast her eyes down to her paws to avoid her brother's questioning gaze.

"Fine by me." His answer surprised her. "I don't really care where we go as long as we can find somewhere safe to rest."

She didn't want to tell him that she wouldn't be staying with him, or returning to the Clan with him, or that he'd have to return to mother without her. It would just worry him more than it should. But at the moment all she wanted was to have someone by her side.

Brother and sister ran side by side through the smoke and flames, dashing across the muddied ground whilst the storm continued to rage above them. They were silent as they ran, the need to survive the fire more important than the need to talk. Littleflame was certain that he wanted to ask her why she'd vanished midway through the gathering. She hoped he didn't ask. There was no way she'd be able to lie to him without him knowing.

The ground beneath their paws began to turn from the hard muddy ground of RogueClan's fire-filled territory to that of PhoenixClan's soft sand albeit they were still surrounded by thick trees, fire and smoke.

"We're near PhoenixClan's territory!" Graystorm yowled, "we should be safe as long as this cursed fire can't burn sand too!"

Littleflame nodded in return, too out of breath to shout anything back. Her eyes spotted movement to her left as a shadow flitted through flickering flames. Blaming it on her terrified state of mind she thought nothing of it until the same shadow burst from the flames and barrelled into Graystorm with an eerie screeching sound. For the first time in a while her muscles didn't lock up in fear at the sight of an enemy cat. Her brother was in danger and saving him was all that mattered. With a snarl she launched herself at the stranger, claws latching into its russet covered fur. In the heat of the moment Littleflame didn't really pay much attention to the fact that the stranger wasn't a soldier, all she wanted to do was help her brother.

Her warrior instincts kicked in as she ducked under a strong kick, raking her claws along the stranger's belly. It howled in pain before sinking its teeth into her ear tearing through it with a sickly ripping sound. Blood sprayed from her torn ear and a little fear began to ooze into Littleflame's mind. The stranger discarded Graystorm to turn its full attention onto Littleflame with a smirk plastered across its face. "Aren't you a pretty kitty?" it purred hoarsely.

More fear oozed in. The stranger was a filthy tom with a tatted russet pelt streaked with soot and mud. Blood stained his fur as well, dripping from multiple wounds. His flanks heaved and with every breath he flinched like something within his body was broken.

She struck him with surprising force but he was stronger than he looked, easily overpowering her with a simple hit to the back of her neck. They tusseled roughly on the ground fighting for control with tooth and claw, nipping and clawing at whatever flesh they could reach. She flayed the skin off of his back and blinded him in one eye. He bit chunks from her shoulder and pulled at one of her paws until it snapped.

Eventually, regardless of how well she fought, Littleflame found herself pinned against the muddy ground with the tom's paw pressed firmly against her throat making it especially hard to breath. "It's a shame that I have to kill you, pretty kitty. You have a lot more fight in you that my boring old mate," he grinned darkly.

Her eyes widened with fear as he curled his lip to reveal yellowed teeth that began to reach for her exposed throat. Frantically she searched for anything she could use to save herself from being killed but there was nothing within reach. There was really only one last thing she could do. The least she could do was go down fighting.

His claws were mere whiskers from her throat when Littleflame surged upwards, kicking out blindly with her hind-legs as she scrabbled ungracefully away. She heard a howl of pure anguish, turning to see the tom dashing away into the smoke. Part of her wanted to see what she'd done to him that had chased him away but her brother was more important.

Graystorm hadn't moved from the place he'd been discarded and Littleflame approached him hesitantly. "Graystorm?" she murmured unsurely. "Brother?"

He didn't move.

She prodded him gently with a paw.

He still didn't move.

She stepped over his unmoving body to look at his face and shrieked.

Blood pooled around Graystorm's head, still gushing from a ragged gash in his throat. His normally cheerful, intelligent gaze was dull and empty as he stared up at the canopy above them.

Littleflame fell to her knees beside her brother's head, burying her face into the thick fur on his shoulders. There was nothing she could say that would make his death any less harder to deal with. All she could think about was that she could've warned him. She saw the shadow before the tom attacked. She could've stopped her brother from dying! But she hadn't said anything and now her brother was dead.

Strangely enough she felt only a little sadness. She felt pure, molten, boiling anger instead as it bubbled inside her.

Her eyes turned to the smoke where the tom had vanished into. They narrowed as she rose to her paws. "I'll avenge you," she whispered to her brother's fallen body, "I'll avenge you."

Shaky paws carried her through the smoke in the direction the tom had hurried off in. She'd never usually been one for anger but now it possessed every inch of her. It was the anger that carried her closer to her prey; the anger that was driving her to avenge her brother's death.

The foul stench of the tom filled her nose and she grinned.

She heard his irregular, stumbling paw steps and sunk into a crouch. Claws dug into the soft ground beneath her as she pulled herself closer and closer. She could see him now. She could almost feel him under her paws, his flesh tearing, his bones breaking.

A branch cracked under her paws and the tom whirled around to face her. She could see the fear in his eyes, reflected alongside the flames. "C-Coming back for more, p-pretty kitty?" he stumbled over his words.

"You could say that." Even her voice sounded like it wasn't really hers.

Before the tom could react or say another word she launched herself at him, paws shoving him hard against the ground. She ripped into his flesh with her claws, ripping and tearing and flaying. Blood sprayed against her pelt as the tom beneath her paws howled in agony. He begged for death, begged for her to kill him. But she would not. He'd killed her brother and she'd see to it that he paid the full price.

It was only when the flaying and ripping began to bore her did she begin to contemplate how she would kill him in a way that would leave him in agony until he died.

The idea that came to mind was positively evil and positively excruciating.

By now he had stopped struggling, becoming still under her paws as she dealt blow after blow to his foul flesh. She placed her forepaws either side of his lower jaw and twisted with all the strength she could muster.

One sharp twist and his lower jaw came away with a sickly ripping sound. The tom howled in pure, untainted agony.

Littleflame suddenly stepped back from the howling tom. She gasped in shock at what she'd done, at the amount of pain she had caused.

"Look at what you are capable of…" a low voice whispered in her ears. She twisted her head to look in the direction of the voice and bit back a cry of horror. A flickering, transluscent Crimson stood beside her grinning down at the now dead tom. "Look at all the pain you have caused...All the blood you have shed all because your brother died. What would the others think if they saw you now?"

"No..I didn't do it! I-I didn't mean to!" Littleflame protested. She glanced down at her paws to find them covered in scarlet blood, the same blood that still gushed from the tom's mouth.

"Yes you did, and you enjoyed it. I could see it in your eyes as you tore him to shreds." Crimson leered down at Littleflame, "might want to start working on a story to tell your friends." Then the red-eyed she-cat vanished just as Eaglestrike and the rest of the Chosen appeared from the smoke.

Eaglestrike opened his mouth to say something but then closed it when his eyes came to rest upon the tom's bloodied body. He looked back at Littleflame, saw the amount of blood on her pelt and realised what had happened. His eyes widened in surprised but Willowclaw was the first one to speak. "You ripped his jaw off. Was there any need to rip his jaw off?"

"I-uh-ah got a l-l-little carried a-a-way," she stammered.

"Only a little," Icepetal muttered, casting a distrusting look over at Littleflame.

Eaglestrike shook off his silence, "let's just forget about it and get out of here. We don't want to end up that like gray tom we stumbled across before, do we?"

The others shook their heads. Littleflame blinked back tears, swiping angrily at her face with a bloody forepaw. They'd stumbled across the body of her brother, left alone to burn in the fire whilst she ran off to tear some tom apart because of it.

"Just try to forget about it," Eaglestrike murmured in her ear once she caught up with him. "We've all done things we regret."

Littleflame nodded but remained silent.

She remained silent for the remainder of the journey across PhoenixClan's sweeping sand dunes, refusing to look back at her home which she knew still burned. It was only when the ground turn to cold stone beneath her paws and began to slope upwards that she dared to look back upon her home for what might be the last time. Black smoke hung like an ominous cloud over the forest as fire consumed everything. A fiery orange glow flickered amongst the far-away trees.

It hurt to look for too long at the home she was leaving to burn. The ground beneath her paws sloped up even more before it twisted behind a stone wall, hiding the burning forest from view. The mountain path grew steeper and rockier. It continued to rain. Thunder continued to rumble loudly. Lightning continued to flash across the night sky.

A streak of pink had appeared on the horizon signifying the approaching dawn. Littleflame nearly heaved a huge sigh at the thought of daylight returning to the world. The Chosen hadn't said a word to each other once the climb had begun. They were all too exhausted.

Littleflame was beyond exhausted. Her muscles ached every time she took a step. Her eyes kept drooping closed.

Through her exhaustion she thought she could hear the rumbling of a waterfall. She made eye contact with Eaglestrike and he nodded, he could hear it too. The stone walls surrounding them either side opened up to reveal a large, rapidly running river that abruptly ended in a waterfall that threw the running water violently over the edge.

An uneven stone outcrop ran alongside the running river, also ending where the waterfall began. A winding path could be seen cutting into down the edge of the outcrop; the way off the mountain down into the unknown world below. "We're free," Icepetal whispered in awe.

"No, no you're not," an amused voice chuckled darkly. The Chosen whirled around to see Jinx advancing up the path they had just come from with what looked like an army of her own following behind her. She grinned devilishly at them, waving her tail from side to side in a cheerful manner.

"How'd you find us?" Willowclaw spat.

Jinx flashed him a wide grin. "You could say Crimson had a hunch you lot would escape and make a run for it. I just followed the ridiculously obvious path you left behind."

"Now that you've found us I'm assuming you intend to kill us?" Icepetal growled, "because if that's the case then you're not going to be leaving this mountain top alive."

The cream coloured she-cat padded forwards a few steps, the army behind her following suit. For every step she took forwards the Chosen took backwards until they found themselves on the edge of the rushing river. Cold water sprayed against their fur, resembling the coldness found in Jinx's sky blue eyes.

"I intend to kill you and I intend to bring your heads to Crimson. You five will be the only ones dying atop this mountain. Once you die so will the remaining hope the Clans cling so desperately to. Crimson will finally be able to bring the all the Clans to their knees," Jinx purred happily. With a flick of her tail the army behind her charged forwards.

But at the same time Littleflame felt paws wrap around her middle and tug her over the edge into the cold water below. She struggled furiously to reach the surface, taking a heaving breath when she did, only to be plunged back under moments later. The pattern of reaching the surface and then plunging back under occurred multiple times and each time Littleflame found the others to be in a similar predicament.

The waterfall hadn't crossed her mind until she was practically teetering over the edge. Her final thought before she plunged into empty air was of her brother's disappointed face watching from the sky above her.

AN: Woah this chapter took forever to get done. I'm still looking for voice actors, so shoot me a PM if you're interested.

-нυηтєя