Well this chapter was longer than I thought it would be. There's going to be a short epilogue after this, remember, so stay tuned for that as well, but nothing too big is going to happen in that. Most of the big stuff is going to happen in this one. :) Now, a reminder for the faint-at-heart, keep a friend near by with smellingsalts and a glass of water nearby to throw in your face to wake you up. Yup. You're going to need it. This chapter wraps up just about everything, and was so epic that I had to write it slowly and painfully. Every time I typed a word for this chapter, my keyboard burst into flames. I'm on my four thousandth keyboard, people, and I'm making Bill Gates more rich that he needs to be.

So, before we go on, I want to tell you about the next story I'm going to be working on. It's NOT going to be Brokenstar's Elite, but it's going to be And Who They Would Become. You can read a smal summary of it on by profile, but it's going to be about Cinderpelt and Brackenfur if they weren't rescused at the end of Into the Wild, and Brokenstar wasn't driven out. The prologue for THAT is going to be BLOOD-EE. Just saying. I'm personally looking forward to it, but I need to figure out the plot a little more. I do plan on publishing that before updating this story with the epilogue, but meh, who knows. It all depends I guess. So, without further ado, let me present to you the final chapter of Catalyst by Mij, Chapter Eleven: Fire and Blood.

SharpWhisper: I see that you are confused, but do not be! All about Burntfur will be explainedin this chapter :)

GlimmerIcewood: I do it because I love you, of course! Enjoy the chapter!

baileeYDG: You did? :( I'm sorry I made you cry, but he came bcak to life!

tufted titmouse: I figured it out! You find out in this chapter!

Madame Wolfe: Inorite? He was bearable in the first series, but in Firestar's Quest and the second... bleh. I always saw Firestar as the try to go batshit insane. I guess i'm just doing what I think should be done :)

Procella: Ah, spelling error, that was meant to be SHIT as well. Fixed! But if I were to make up a definition of the word 'shint'... yeah, it's probably be about shitting as well. Enjoy!

Mistystar stood when ThunderClan was scented, and Reedpaw felt a shiver of apprehension run down his spine when he saw the ragged ginger leader leading a patrol of warriors down the ravine. Whitepaw looked up to Reedpaw and was nudged to her feet by Blackclaw, but kept her eyes downcast as the ThunderClan patrol neared.

"Firestar," Mistytstar said quietly, "You're late."

Firestar said nothing about being late, glaring first at Mistystar and then at Whitepaw, who had tentatively raised her eyes. She winced under his glare and lowered her eyes again hastily. Reedpaw noticed the burned gray she-cat, Grief, standing a little behind Firestar. Her face was lowered, and at a word from Firestar, she vanished. The RiverClan cats shifted uneasily and murmured to each other, but at a word from Mistystar, held strong and quieted.

"I see you have my apprentice," Firestar spoke loud, but his voice did not sound as strong as Reedpaw thought it should sound like. It sounded… crooked, twisted, "I came because you want something for her return. What would that be?"

Whitepaw looked up and Reedpaw heard her take a sharp breath inwards and then, quietly: "Cedarheart!"

Reedpaw followed her gaze to a cat near the front of the warriors, the near-black warrior with warm amber eyes fixed on Whitepaw, his claws kneading the ground. He didn't seem to be listening to either leader talk, his eyes only on Whitepaw and unwavering. Another warrior near the front shot a disgusted look at Cedarheart before turning his own blue eyes to Whitepaw and narrowing them. He looked a lot like Whitepaw, so Reedpaw assumed that it was her father, but Whitepaw didn't seem to notice him, her eyes only on Cedarheart.

"We want you to leave the forest," Mistystar hissed, "Make Whitestorm leader and never come back. Only then we will give you back your apprentice alive."

"Whitestorm is no longer my deputy, Graystripe is," Firestar laughed coldly, "But it doesn't matter. I am leader of ThunderClan, and I plan to be until my death. The life of one apprentice will hardly force me to step down, even if she is my kin."

Mistystar shifted uneasily, not sure of what to say next. She glanced at Blackclaw, who growled, and taking his advice, turned back to Firestar, her eyes narrowed to slits, "If you will not leave this forest and take your madness elsewhere, we will have to force you from here."

Firestar laughed again, "I'd like to see you try! ThunderClan, show yourselves!"

The RiverClan warriors gasped and glanced at each other uneasily as warrior after warrior appeared along the edge of the ravine, wrapping around until they surrounded the much-smaller group of RiverClan warriors. Reedpaw saw apprentices and warriors young and old, along with a few she-cats he knew had kits of their own back at their camp. Firestar had spared no warrior for hunting or patrolling. He was here in full force, ready to destroy RiverClan and Mistystar and was not going to hold anything back. Reedpaw smelled fear-scent rise among his clanmates, his own along with theirs, and Whitepaw let out a strangled cry at how many warriors were there.

"Dovepaw!" she gasped, "But she's Cinderpelt's apprentice!"

Even a Medicine Cat apprentice? What was Firestar thinking?

"Firestar, you mangy rat," snarled Mistystar, "You never meant for this to be a meeting. You want us all dead."

Firestar laughed and stalked forward, his green eyes rolling as he sauntered like a crazed animal, "Of course, Mistystar. One less Clan for me to worry about. I'll claim your life and your territory, and then the territories of the other Clans as well. I will bring Change to this forest like none you've ever seen!"

"Madness!" snarled Mistystar, "You will not succeed, Firestar, StarClan will never allow this to happen!"

"StarClan!" Firestar's laugh was wild now, "You've seen StarClan and they are dead. Their forests are ash, their fields are sundered and split. Whoever was left to give you your nine lives are the last there will ever be, I will finish them personally after I finish you!" He threw back his head and howled, "ThunderClan, attack!"

The mass of cats surrounding the far-smaller RiverClan patrol rushed down , crying battle cries and snarling. Whitepaw broke away from her guards at once, running for Cedarheart, who surged past Cloudtail and ran to meet her. They met at the foot of the great rock, and before either could say a word, the battle engulfed them. Cedarheart shoved a RiverClan warrior that leapt at him aside and into Cloudtail, then spun and helped Whitepaw closer to the Great Rock, ignoring the fighting. Whitepaw looked up at him, her green eyes full of happiness, and met his, which were full of love.

"I knew you would come for me," the apprentice almost laughed, her joy brimming over inside.

"Of course I would," Cedarheart bent and touched his nose to hers, "I love you."

"I love you t-"

Whitepaw was cut off by a gurgle, and Cedarheart wailed. A RiverClan warrior had grabbed Whitepaw by the neck and dragged her backwards, raking his claws down her flanks and shaking her like a rag doll. Cedarheart leapt forward to help, but another RiverClan cat leaped at him and knocked him back. With a bellow, Cedarheart shoved the warrior away, and the warrior stumbled over another cat, a gray she-cat with blue eyes that were wide with terror. A fresh wind blew the scent of WindClan at Cedarheart and he recognized her: Ashfoot, an elder of WindClan. But what was she doing here?

Before he could wonder any longer the RiverClan warrior attacked the elder, pinning her to the ground and yanking on her ears. Cedarheart turned and raced back to Whitepaw, who struggled to throw off the much-larger RiverClan tom. Cedarheart tackled him, throwing him against the Great Rock and sank his teeth into his throat. Before he knew if the warrior was dead or not, he turned back to Whitepaw, who was bleeding from a deep wound to her chest.

"C-cedarheart…" Whitepaw trembled as Cedarheart nosed her all over and inspected her wounds, wincing when he touched her, "I-I always though th-that we'd… we'd be t-together…"

"And we will be," Cedarheart pressed his muzzle to hers briefly, "Rest, kit, stay strong. I'll get you to Cinderpelt and she'll patch you up like never before and I can join you in ThunderClan."

"N-no, I want to be with you in ShadowClan," Whitepaw trembled, "I-I'll stay alive, f-for you."

"Good kit," Cedarheart licked her forehead and pressed his dusty paws against the wound to slow the bleeding, but just then a ThunderClan warrior barreled into him and latched her teeth into his shoulder. Cedarheart spat, trying to tell her they were fighting the same enemy, but he saw the feverish look in her eyes and knew there was nothing to say – these cats were so filled with bloodlust that they turned on their own allies. He threw off the she-cat into another ThunderClan warrior and immediately the two began to battle each other. Cedarheart rushed back to Whitepaw and dragged her closer to the Great Rock. There was no getting her through the fighting, he would have to defend her here.

And now.

Reedpaw scrambled up the side of the ravine, his sides heaving, his head clouded with bloody confusion. Soon after the battle started he turned to defend the back side of the attack, but was knocked down almost at once and felt thorn-sharp claws rake over his shoulder. Reedpaw fought as hard as he could, hardly remembering any details of the fight, and then found himself running up the ravine. He wasn't running out of fear, through it coursed through his veins like blood. But he was pulled by that same feeling that came to him the night Leopardstar was murdered, the same night he had come across that she-cat, Burntfur, or Grief.

At the top of the ravine he stopped and turned around, feeling his heart sink at the battle that was going on below. He could feel the madness from Firestar leaking into the fighting, saw his own Clanmates fighting each other as the insanity inflicted them, some even killing each other. Reedpaw opened his mouth to call to them, to open their eyes and make them see what they were doing. But his voice did not come to him, and his eyes could not move from a flaming point at the center of the battle: Firestar.

Firestar fought like a cat possessed, mowing down enemy after enemy that rose before him with precision and cruelty. He struck Mistystar once on the side of the head and the blue-gray she-cat fell dead, her first life lost, but turned and continued to fight, laughing manically. As he turned to face another warrior the manically joyful expression on his face abruptly changed, and suddenly he trembled and collapsed. Reedpaw could feel what was happening in Firestar happening in his own chest, and his legs trembled as Firestar threw back his head and screamed.

Pain ripped through Firestar, pain like he had never imagined in his entire life. Inside of his body, inside of his soul at that singular place called a heart, darkness was falling in upon him. The sliver of the fire that was left had died, and the Shadows were collapsing with it. Firestar screeched as he felt a thousand dead claws pierce his chest and dive for his heart, rolled on the ground in pain as a thousand fiery teeth dug into his belly for his liver. Pain entered him, lived in him, became him, and no matter how he clawed chunk of fur after chunk of fur from his body, there was nothing he could do to stop it. Cats parted around him, even in their madness knowing that they could not fight him now, and no knowing what to do with him. Leave him to his death. Leave him to his pain. Leave him to his sin.

Reedpaw's heart trembled in his chest as the sensation of Firestar's pain ebbed from his body. How had he felt that? Why had he felt that? As if to answer him, burnt fur filled the air, and Reedpaw turned to see Grief sitting next to him, her green eyes soft.

"Fire and Blood," Whispered Burntfur. Her voice was feather-soft, but somehow it carried out over the entire battlefield. Reedpaw could see a noticeable shiver run through the fighting cats, whether or not they realized. Burntfur turned to him, her sad green eyes dim and quiet. She turned back to where Firestar rolled on the ground, screeching in pain.

"You are the witness to the Causes," Burntfur said quietly, still watching Firestar with her flat, sad eyes, "You are the Catalyst. You are the god among warriors who will change the future, the song among screams. You've seen them, you've met them, and you know their plight." Burntfur swept her tail out, and pointed her nose to the cats she named.

"The Blind Eye," Cedarheart crouched over Whitepaw, throwing off another warrior and calling to Whitepaw, desperate to keep her alive. But Whitepaw's eyes were clouded, and she was slumped against the Great Rock, "Cedarheart chose to save her life rather than drag her back to his leader, and because of that, they fell in love."

"The Broken Heart," Now Burntfur turned to Ashfoot's still body, and Tornear rushing towards her, wailing, "The loss of her son was so great that Ashfoot's heart broke into too many pieces. She could never accept that he died, and so she lives in the past, and dreams of what could have been."

"The Falling Bird," Burntfur closed her eyes this time and then turned to Firestar, who had just thrown off Graystripe with so much force that the big gray warrior had gone flying in the opposite direction, "Firestar was a great warrior, and could have been a great leader, but grief overtook him, and now he pulls down the forest along with his sanity."

Burntfur turned to him now, a strange look in her flat green eyes, "And you, the Catalyst, the one who will change the world. You know these cats, you have seen their pain, you have seen their love, and you will decide how the world will Change, you will judge the world for its choices, and destroy in order to create." She lowered her head to Reedpaw, "I have killed for Firestar. I will kill for you. And then I will kill for myself, and be at peace."

Reedpaw turned away from Burntfur and back to the battle. He had never seen so much blood in his entire life. Mistystar was rolling on the ground with a brown ThunderClan warrior, Cedarheart wailed when he turned to Whitepaw and saw her body shuddering in the last throws of death, but was choked off when a RiverClan warrior latched her teeth into his neck and tore out his throat. Swallowpaw sputtered to a blow to the back of the head, knocking her to the ground lifeless. Stormfur crouched over the body of Feathertail, desperate to get her back to her paws and away from the battle. Cloudtail roared for his daughter, but had to fight through Heavystep in order to get to her. Cats shrieked. Cats moaned. They wailed. They hissed. They roared and snarled. They gurgled and died. And above all of it was Firestar, shrieking and spitting in the center of Fourtrees, screaming of an invisible wound that twisted in his heart. Reedpaw closed his blue eyes. He didn't want to see this, he couldn't see this.

"But you must," Burntfur whispered to him, "Four Leaders to Lead, Four Healers to Heal. Four Causes to Change. Four Victims to Kill. All are necessary for the Change to occur."

"Four to kill?" Reedpaw whispered, opening his eyes again. There were so many warriors down there, and so many cats dying… "Who do I have to kill?"

"You do not have to kill them yourself," said Burntfur, "They are already dying. The Causes plus one. Ashfoot, Cedarheart, Firestar, and the last-"

"Whitepaw." Reedpaw cut in, he looked at her and saw the blood on her face. White blood for Whitepaw. Gray blood for Ashfoot. Black blood for Cedarheart. Red blood for Firestar. "I… I think I understand now. The future in mine."

"The future is yours."

"I can change the world to become a better place."

"You can change the world to become a better place."

"And you… you'll do something for me?"

"Anything."

"You will kill someone for me."

"Anyone."

"Then don't kill anyone for me."

Burntfur lowered her head in a nod, "Very well. Then all I have left for is to kill for myself."

Reedpaw turned to Firestar, the last of the Causes to die, still screeching, still clawing and biting at anyone who got too close to him. Burntfur followed his gaze, her eyes softening with sadness and… Reedpaw could see it. Love. He did not say anything. Burntfur left his side at that moment and walked down the ravine, picking her way through the fighting cats, padding through the puddles of blood and bodies. No cat took notice of her, no cat wanted to take notice of her, but all smelled than bitter, sour smell of burnt flesh and fur, and unconsciously parted to let her through.

Firestar saw Burntfur walking towards him and could sense what was about to happen. He bellowed and struggled to get to his feet, but the world pitched beneath him, and he shrieked as the wound in his heart split open. His clouded green eyes filled with fear as Burntfur walked closer. He remembered her burning touch in StarClan, the way fire sprouted around her like grass and weeds, and he could see now, in her heart, that kindling was preparing itself. Preparing to burst into flames. He struggled to his feet and managed to hold himself there, bellowing something unintelligible, but his paws were rooted to the ground, and he could do nothing but howl as Burntfur walked closer and gently touched her nose to his.

Fire erupted between the two cats in such an explosion that the other warriors fell back, stunned. Firestar howled louder than before, screamed as the fire of the two merging souls engulfed both of the cats, screamed as it ate at his pelt and whiskers and skin.

"You are mine!" he screeched, "You are mine, you traitor! You filth!"

"No, Firestar," whispered the cat born from his grief, "I was yours. And I will be again. Open your eyes, look at me. See me."

Surprisingly, Firestar did as he was told, opening his eyes to the fire that was consuming every part of him, he saw the scarred, burned cat in front of him with large leaf-green eyes and the sleek body. He could make out the shape of her ears and the mold of her cheeks and the ridges above her eyes. And suddenly he could see the pale ginger fur, the stripes slightly darker that framed her face exotically, and he could smell the sweet scent of ThunderClan and forest and sunlight on dust. He could hear her laugher and her sharp voice, he could see her hunting among the brush and tackling him in the snow. He could see her running from dogs and curled next to him in his den, the moonlight making her pelt silver. And he could feel her love coursing through his blood, and wondered how he had never seen in before.

In the beginning it had only been her eyes. Firestar had missed her beautiful green eyes, and she had never blinked those wide, enormous green eyes. Her movements were mechanical and doll-like, and her voice was flat. It was her eyes that he wanted in the beginning. And it was her eyes that he created.

And then, during the last few days, something had changed. She had become more lifelike, her movements more fluid, her voice gained tone and emotion. She blinked, she flinched, she trembled and feared. She wasn't the mindless Shadow she claimed to be, even though that was where she was born. But she had a heart. He could see it now, inside of her, she had a soul. And he knew this soul.

"Sandstorm." Firestar whispered. Burntfur had been Firestar at first, with a little bit of Sandstorm. But then she had become Sandstorm, with a little bit of Firestar. And now she had come for him. Sandstorm smiled, and her green eyes were no longer sad. He saw her for who she really was, and both knew it was time for them to pass on.

Burntfur had started out mindless, emotionless, and void of life outside of her purpose to serve him, yes, but he realized that she had taken the shape of the thing that had caused him so much grief – his beloved mate. And the part of Sandstorm that Firestar had always clung to, the part of her soul that he had taken from her to keep her alive inside of him, had drifted to his Shadow, and taken root. When Burntfur and Sandstorm had met that night at the Moonstone, his mate had seen it. He hadn't seen her after that, and now he could only assume she was moving her mind and soul into Burntfur's body, making her more lifelike, more like Sandstorm was when she was living.

Fire ate through Firestar's muscles and organs, down to the bones of his body, to the bones of his life. He could see the cats around him scattering in panic, fleeing to their respective Clan territories. Tornear was pulled off of Ashfoot's body by Tallstar. Cloudtail was dragged away by Thornclaw. Mistystar led her Clan away, wounded horribly, and Graystripe bellowed to the rest of ThunderClan to retreat, his eyes lingering over Firestar and Sandstorm. He would be leader of ThunderClan now, and Firestar wondered who he would choose as deputy.

The fire no longer felt hot and itched his body as it ate it, it was warm, warm as sunshine, or love. He felt the weight of life lifted off his shoulders, and closed his eyes for one final time, breathing in the scent of fire and Sandstorm. It was time to die. He sighed as the as the last of his bones burned away, leaving only his soul, their soul, until that at last became charred and left only a black smudge on the ground. Firestar was finally at peace.

Reedpaw did not move from his vantage point for a long time after the fire, not until the sun had set and the moon had risen high above him. The scents of the battle would not fade, no matter how much wind passed over them, but it did not surprise Reedpaw. This would be a battle that the Clans remembered for a long, long time. He could see many bodies littered along the clearing of Fourtrees, but only three caught his attention, each one outlined in quicksilver beneath the moon. Three and a smudge of blackness at the base of the Great Rock. Finally, Reedpaw stood and walked down the ravine to the battleground.

Burntfur had said that he was the Catalyst, that he would choose the future of the Clans by his will. That the future was his to decide, and not even StarClan could tell him what to and not to do with his power. He was a god among warriors, she had said, a song among screams. He was greater than all of them. And at the same time, he was worse. He walked through the bodies. Swallowpaw's open eyes stared at him blankly, her mouth half opened and blood trickling from her ears. She was dead. Reedpaw turned away from her to see the ThunderClan warrior Sootfur twisted into an unnatural position, his back broken. Again, Reedpaw turned away. His precious sister Ashpaw was dead, half buried beneath another RiverClan warrior. A ThunderClan apprentice with white fur was curled in a ball, as if still trying to protect herself. Her fur smelled faintly of herbs.

They all died for me, Reedpaw thought quietly, so that I could make the decision, to choose a new future. To destroy and rebuild. To create. He saw Feathertail's limp body next to Heavystep's. They were supposed to be mates, for Feathertail to prove her loyalty to RiverClan because her father was a ThunderClan warrior. The same with Stormfur and Swallowpaw, Reedpaw could only faintly remember that for some reason. He arrived at the places the Causes had died, along with Whitepaw. The Causes plus one. The Four to Kill in order to bring a new future. He sat and stared at them.

Ashfoot's mind had been broken after her son was killed stealing from another Clan. She had wandered the moors like a ghost, searching for him and reliving the night he had died over and over again. Her own brother had to deceive her in order to protect her sanity and hide it from the Clans. Cedarheart and Whitepaw suffered from a doomed romance from the start, but it didn't stop them from falling any deeper in love. They were both good cats, they were loyal cats, but it was because they were born in different Clans that tore them apart and led to their end. And Firestar… Firestar had lost his mate and had been driven insane by the grief that it caused, tearing down the world with himself. They were supposed to lead him. They were the four that had to die for him to decide the future.

Reedpaw closed his eyes, his voice trembling, "Ashfoot's son was killed when he stole prey from another Clan's territory, wanting to prove himself to his own Clan. If he hadn't died doing it, Ashfoot wouldn't have gone insane." Ashfoot's blank eyes seemed to twinkle as he spoke. Reedpaw turned to Cedarheart and Whitepaw, who were curled atop each other, embraced.

"Whitepaw and Cedarheart would have been happy together if… If they hadn't been born in different Clans."

The two seemed to curl closer together, and he could almost hear a faint purr of agreement. He turned to the black smudge on the ground and closed his eyes.

"Everyone who died here at Fourtrees died because Firestar wanted them to die, and wanted the forest to die along with them. His own warriors followed him to the death because of it, while other warriors followed their own leaders to their death."

A faint wind stirred the smudge of ash. The future was his to decide. And Reedpaw made his decision.

"I will change the future," he said quietly, "This will never happen again. I won't let anything like this happen again. I will make sure this never happens again. I will…"

He opened his pale blue eyes and flexed his claws, "… I will destroy the four Clans."

Phew.

Now that the earthquakes of epicness have ended, I have nothing more to say. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I will now allow you to get down on your hands and knees and worship me. Go on, get down and SUCK MY DICK. I AM AWESOME.

...and a narcissist. But I've known that for a while.