This chapter is pathetically short, but there wasn't really much to say about it. A lot of this chapter is inspired by one of my favorite relationships in the series and one of my favorite scenes of the Last Hope. That being the Bramble-Lion bit at the end. 3

Character death from a distance. Be ready.

Chapter 32

Lionblaze

Fire alone will save our Clan. ~Into the Wild

Lionblaze tore away from Doveheart and went pounding up the slope, slicing through shadow cat after shadow cat as he did so. He would not relent. He blast through the battle, yelling as he rocketed through cats he knew and cats he didn't. He cut in half a shadow cat looming over Molepaw and Mousepaw; he slammed a RiverClan cat working in the Dark Forest to the ground; he kicked two shadow cats terrorizing a ShadowClan warrior to the ground. He couldn't lose Tigerstar's scent as it wafted past him.

He collided with Icecloud. She squeaked, and he shook his head, and then the pair looked at each other.

"Icecloud!" Tigerstar forgotten, Lionblaze hurried to his mate's side. "Are you alright? I'm so sorry."

"I'm fine," said Icecloud. She shook herself and got to her paws. "I haven't been hurt yet." She narrowed his eyes at the cut on his chest. "You're hurt!"

"No, no," said Lionblaze. "I…" He grinned. "My power allows me to heal, I guess."

"What?" said Icecloud. Her eyes went wide for a second, and she grinned at him; then her face hardened and she leaped over his shoulder, knocking a shadow cat out of the sky. Another materialized, but before Lionblaze could leap to intercept it, Icecloud spun on a dime, slipping through their grasp with such dexterity it didn't seem her own. She stood panting, and smiled sheepishly at him.

"You're gorgeous," said Lionblaze. "And brave, and StarClan, Icecloud."

"And I'm being reduced to running errands for Jayfeather," said Icecloud. She brushed against him. "Weren't you in full warrior mode a moment ago?"

Recalling his task, Lionblaze straightened.

"Right!" he said. Tigerstar.

Over the hills, he caught a glimpse of silver and stars, and he and Icecloud looked up in unison to see a rush of – were those StarClan warriors?

"It's Ivypool," said Icecloud softly. Then she laughed as two StarClan warriors appeared before them. "Honeyfern! Longtail!"

"Icecloud, Lionblaze," said Honeyfern, eyes glimmering. "Ivypool asked us to tell you that you need a StarClan warrior in order to truly destroy Tigerstar and the other Dark Forest cats."

"Ivypool said this?" said Lionblaze. Longtail nodded importantly.

"You need to stop Breezepelt and Mossytail," he said. "They will be able to call off the attack of the living cats. Then we can attack the leaders of the Dark Forest and be done with this war."

Icecloud and Lionblaze exchanged a glance.

"Tigerstar," said Lionblaze. "I must find Tigerstar."

"I'll look for Mossytail," said Icecloud. "I saw her earlier."

"What about your errand for Jayfeather?" said Lionblaze, concerned.

"I'll return with this moss," said Icecloud, indicating to the mossy ball she had dropped. "Then I'll go right away. I'll see you when this is over, Lionblaze."

"Be careful," said Lionblaze. Icecloud smiled.

"You, too," she said. She licked his muzzle. "Now go on and be the warrior you were always meant to be."

He watched her go, wanting to purr but not quite ready. Then he turned around, thanked Longtail and Honeyfern, and broke into a run once more.

Over the hills he went, now dodging and rolling as StarClan warrior and shadow cat were locked in combat. Starry pelt and empty pelt met in vicious fighting all around, and dust of stars and shadows sprinkled down upon the fields along with living blood and dead ash. Still, he charged on, until he saw them on the hill of the moor up ahead.

Brambleclaw and Firestar stood against Tigerstar, who seemed to find something very amusing. He ran closer, knowing that they were unaware of what had to be done. His paws didn't carry him fast enough as Brambleclaw and Firestar leaped together, as Tigerstar swatted them away like flies. He saw Firestar stagger from the impact, saw Brambleclaw rush to catch the fire-pelted leader as he fell. Firestar moved steadily onto his feet, but Lionblaze was close enough to see the blood there – the same spot that had hit him. He remembered the fresh pain, the way Tigerstar's claws had felt hooking into his chest and pulling him undone; it was as if he, too, was falling when Firestar did.

Brambleclaw launched himself at Tigerstar once more, and the great tabby leader feinted to the side, leaving Brambleclaw to skid on the WindClan moors to find his footing. Then, as Lionblaze called a warning, a massive grey tom appeared out of nowhere. Firestar raised a paw, but his defense wasn't strong enough, and Lionblaze screamed in time with Brambleclaw as the fire-pelted leader fell to the ground and didn't move again.

"YOU!" Brambleclaw leapt through the air, a shade of his father as he leaped to avenge Firestar. The grey cat could only look up before Brambleclaw had fastened his jaws in his neck. Then there was a flash of a tortoiseshell pelt - a StarClan warrior! It had to be. Brambleclaw's bite was true, but it was the StarClan cat's slashing claws that did the final trick, and the grey cat dissipated with a final scream.

Lionblaze froze in his place as Brambleclaw landed and faced Tigerstar. He took three hesitant steps, still glaring at Tigerstar, and stood over Firestar.

"Firestar," said Brambleclaw, nosing into their fallen leader's pelt. But Lionblaze could see it even from where he stood. His paws felt weak. His chest felt heavy. Not even the power of the stars could support him or make him move, and he just stared as Brambleclaw watched Firestar, waiting perhaps for a shade of their leader to move away and for Firestar to regain his balance. It never happened. There was nothing. ThunderClan had lost the very cat that had saved them all countless times. Brambleclaw stepped back, looking like a kit that had just lost its mother. He shrunk back, his tail drooping, and then he turned to face Tigerstar.

"You killed him." Brambleclaw's words met Lionblaze's ears even from the distance. The ThunderClan deputy's voice shook. "You snake-hearted…!"

He broke off as suddenly a wall of shadows rose from behind Tigerstar, on the opposite side of the hill. Lionblaze's eyes went wide in silent horror.

"You stand no chance," laughed Tigerstar. His big jaws glinted. "You'll be slaughtered trying to protect your poor leader's corpse."

"I would happily," said Brambleclaw. "Happily, die for my Clan. ThunderClan is what I protect, and I will not abandon it."

ThunderClan.

Lionblaze found himself moving faster than he had ever run before, up the hill. He leaped over Firestar's still form to stand beside Brambleclaw, who looked at him squarely.

"Fight, then," said Tigerstar with a laugh, and he floated down the hill, watching the pair all the while. "See if you can honestly beat the darkness that has always been inside you."

"You shouldn't be here," said Brambleclaw. "You could die here."

"So could you!" said Lionblaze. A ring of shadows reached down upon them, and Lionblaze and Brambleclaw reached up in unison to fight them.

"I have to avenge Firestar!"

"I care about Firestar, too!" Lionblaze destroyed the shadow cat and faced Brambleclaw, but the repose was short as another pair rushed up towards him.

"You can't lose your life in a battle like this!" said Brambleclaw. "You're young. You have Icecloud. You deserve a family with her!" He said all this while Lionblaze couldn't see him, as Lionblaze was a little too busy destroying the shadow cats that had formed a square around him.

"You just made up with Squirrelflight!" Lionblaze roared back, clawing through a pair with a savage hiss. "She just had kits! They're your family, so you should be with them! Leave me. Go back to your kits."

He gasped as a shadowy paw swooped down over his head, and then Brambleclaw was flying through the air, cutting it in half. He landed and faced Lionblaze, amber eyes intense.

"You are my kit," he said. "Squirrelflight and I agree on that. You were the best son I could ever have asked for. You and Jayfeather and Hollyleaf."

Staring at him, Lionblaze almost forgot about the battle and the prophecy and Icecloud and everything else. It was like he was back in the nursery again, tussling with Jayfeather and Hollyleaf. And turning when Brambleclaw entered with a hunting patrol, forgetting that his littermates were beside him in favor of just staring at the brave and powerful deputy of ThunderClan. Brambleclaw was everything he had ever wanted to be.

"I can't be killed in battle," said Lionblaze, staring Brambleclaw in the eye. The deputy paused, unsure what he meant. "I'm part of a prophecy. It says that I – along with Jayfeather and Doveheart and Ivypool – have to save the Clans."

Brambleclaw stared at him for a long time, and then he nodded.

"Then I suppose I'm not driving you away," he said.

"I suppose I'm not driving you away, either," said Lionblaze. Brambleclaw shook his head, half-frowning.

"Let's finish this, Lionblaze," he said. "And no matter what happens, remember that this is for ThunderClan, and for Firestar. That I couldn't be prouder of you. That the future will be brilliant."

"I was glad to be your son," said Lionblaze. "I never knew my real father."

"Then I'm glad I could fill the role," said Brambleclaw. They stood staring at each other for several more moments, and Lionblaze could see in Brambleclaw's eyes everything: the day of his birth, the first time Squirrelflight had announced his name, the impact of the three kits pouncing on him as he entered, the pride of his apprentice ceremony, the daily life watching him grow up, the outcries at his warrior ceremony, the fire, the moment he had realized that they weren't related by blood…

"Together," said Brambleclaw. Lionblaze nodded.

Together, father and son streaked down the hill towards the final battle that would await them, to avenge Firestar and to bring peace to the Clans.

Next Lionblaze chapter is longer! Promise :)

~Elsi