Another update! Both me and my wonderful Beta hope you are enjoying our AU and are excited to read this chapter as well as the last!!!
Review, favorite and follow!
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It had been a few days since Fireheart's conversation with Tigerclaw, and her stomach was starting to show now. If only by a little.
The she-cat walked out of the warriors den, the sun barely over the treetops, yet the camp was alive with activities. Some cats groomed themselves in different corners of the camp, while others went about their duties.
The jade-eyed warrior approached the apprentice's den, and saw Cinderpaw and Brackenpaw sleeping away.
Fireheart had seen Graystripe still asleep in the warriors den, sparking hope that he might actually take his apprentice out today. So the flame-pelted she-cat went straight towards Cinderpaw, and prodded her three times in the shoulder before the small smoky-dark gray apprentice finally awoke.
The flame-pelted warrior motioned with her slightly crooked tail for Cinderpaw to head outside the apprentices den with her. The smoky-dark gray apprentice with bright blue eyes excitedly jumped to her paws, practically bouncing out of the den after her mentor.
"What are we doing today? Are we hunting? Learning a new fighting maneuver? Are we going on a border patrol?" Cinderpaw fired question after question in fast order. But then the apprentice stopped, and turned back around to stare worriedly at the apprentice's den. "Isn't Brackenpaw coming with us?"
"No," Fireheart replied. "Graystripe's been meaning to take his apprentice out today, so no need to worry about Brackenpaw. I hope so." She silently added, praying to StarClan she wasn't full of fox-dung.
"Oh, okay." The apprentice replied, seemingly not believing a word out of Fireheart. "What are we doing today?"
Fireheart cleared her throat. "Well, the first order of business is to eat some prey first, and then I'll tell you what we're doing once we get to the training hollow. So go get a piece for me and you, and meet back at the nettle patch, okay?"
"Okay!" She scampered off to the fresh-kill pile while Fireheart walked towards the nettle patch.
Fireheart laid down, her paws tucked under her with her tail curled around her short body. The soon-to-be mother was comfortable in the sunlight. The flame-pelted she-cat's eyes were half-lidded as she took in the rest of the camp. The she-cat watched as everyone now began to bustle around, save for Graystripe, and she spied a morning patrol beginning to gather together as they waited for Tigerclaw to finish talking to Bluestar by the foot of the Highrock, speaking together in low hushed voices.
Whatever they were speaking about appeared to make Tigerclaw look annoyed with his tail harshly flick behind him as Bluestar kept a calm expression. Eventually Tigerclaw turned away at Bluestar's dismissing nod and Fireheart watched Tigerclaw join the patrol. As the patrol passed by Fireheart reached out her tail so it grazed against Tigerclaw's flank which got her a soft look as her mate continued onward, too busy to stop and chat at the moment. Fireheart wasn't disappointed, they had plenty of time in the day to spend some time together later.
Fireheart's attention turned away from the dark tabby as Cinderpaw scampered her way back towards her mentor. Prey dangling from her jaws that were struggling to hold both pieces. The mother-to-be stood up to meet Cinderpaw halfway, so that the smoky-dark gray apprentice didn't have to keep struggling to keep ahold of the sparrow that was hanging on by just a feather.
Cinderpaw seemed grateful. Then the two she-cat's settled down near the nettle patch and enjoyed their first meal of the day. Cinderpaw kept probing about what they were doing that day but Fireheart kept it a secret as they headed towards the sandy hollow. Fireheart's apprentice's pale blue eyes widened as they flashed upwards at her mentor.
"Today we'll work on your defense!" Fireheart meowed, enjoying the way that Cinderpaw squealed in excitement. "So get ready." Fireheart didn't give her apprentice any time to think as she charged at the younger she-cat.
Cinderpaw yelped in surprise as she leaped out of Fireheart's way and just out of reach of Fireheart's sheathed paws. "You'll always want to stay light on your toes when facing up against a larger opponent."
Cinderpaw's eyes blinked innocently as she meowed back, "but you're not much bigger than me, Fireheart."
Fireheart nearly choked on her own breath. The audacity of her apprentice! Well then fine, Fireheart was going to go easy on her but now she needed to teach Cinderpaw a seriously lesson, "and when facing a smaller opponent," Fireheart's whiskers twitched in satisfaction as she leaped upon the smoky-dark gray she-cat, squashing her to the ground, "you'll want to stand your ground, but it's like you said, Cinderpaw, we're not that much different in sizes."
Fireheart eventually got off her apprentice. Meowing softly in amusement as Cinderpaw had to wipe sand from both her pelt and tongue. That certainly taught her a lesson.
The flame-pelted she-cat moved a bit away from the smokey-gray apprentice before turning back around to face her. "Alright, try and attack me now, and I'll defend myself. Don't worry about going easy on me, by the way."
Cinderpaw nodded, though she was clearly still hesitant. She and Fireheart circled for a bit, Fireheart waiting for Cinderpaw to make the first move. She was on defense after all.
Cinderpaw finally sprang towards Fireheart, who easily side stepped. "You need to be quicker, I could see that coming from a mile away."
The apprentice nodded, and went back to circling Fireheart. She leaped towards Firehearts head, Fireheart backed up, and Cinderpaw surprised her by landing at her side last second and swatting her paw against Firehearts head, and pinning her down.
Fireheart stood up once Cinderpaw got up, mrowing in amusement. "Great job, Cinderpaw! That definitely caught me off guard. It's a good strategy. How do you feel about me going on the offense and you go on the defense?"
The smokey grey apprentice looked hesitant. "Uh, could I do offense again?"
Fireheart nodded. "Sure. Go ahead." She barely had time to get her words out before Cinderpaw was already leaping towards her. Fireheart nimbly dodged to the side. Cinderpaw attempted to swipe at her from the side and Fireheart backed away.
They started circling each other, neither cat taking their eyes off the other. Cinderpaw ran at Fireheart and swatted at her head, making Fireheart back away in surprise. Cinderpaw could be fast when she wanted to! She barely had anymore time to react before Cinderpaw was pinning her down.
"Excellent job, Cinderpaw-" she praised her apprentice, before getting interrupted by a certain dark tabby warrior.
"Cinderpaw!" Both she-cat's looked up to see Tigerclaw stalking down the hollow towards the pair. Cinderpaw sheepishly got off Fireheart and backed away as ThunderClan's deputy sent her a reprimanding glare. "You could have gotten hurt!" Tigerclaw said as Fireheart stood up, shaking sand out of her pelt.
"Don't worry, Tigerclaw," Fireheart meowed. "I'm alright and was just --"
"Alright?!" Tigerclaw said in disbelief. "Cinderpaw had you pinned down! Imagine what that could have done to the kits!"
"They would have been fine." Fireheart responded. "They are fine." The flame-pelted she-cat tried to soothe her mate, but he didn't seem to be listening.
"I don't think you should continue being Cinderpaw's mentor." Tigerclaw declared, making Fireheart stare at him in disbelief.
She shook her head, starting to get a bit annoyed now. "Tigerclaw, are you listening to yourself? Training Cinderpaw isn't going to kill me! Infact, a lot of she-cat's still continue to be mentors while pregnant. I'm not even a moon pregnant yet, and besides, who's carrying the kits? Me. I can feel them and know whether they're okay or not." Fireheart flicked her tail at her apprentice, telling her to go. The apprentice never looked so relieved, having been awkwardly scraping the ground in front of her.
"You're being reckless, Fireheart!" Tigerclaw stubbornly replied, causing the flame-pelted she-cat's teeth to clench in sudden anger.
"You don't know anything!" Fireheart practically hissed. Then she turned tail and quickly raced out of the training hollow. Leaving behind a stunned Tigerclaw.
Fireheart ran blindly through the forest. Her paws took her to wherever far they could take her. It wasn't until she began to slow down that she recognized Tallpines, and the Treecut Place. For some reason she had headed in this direction. Coming to stop, Fireheart hung her head in shame. The flame-pelted warrior felt as though she had made a fool of herself, acting like an apprentice throwing a fit. Fireheart could have handled Tigerclaw's request with more dignity, could have talked the dark brown tabby into seeing things her way, but she had just gotten so frustrated at that moment and completely lost it on her mate.
Sighing, Fireheart looked around and found herself close to the border of ThunderClan's territory. Near the Twolegplace. Fireheart perked up at the thought of Princess being in her garden at that moment. It would feel great if she had her sister to talk to. Someone to relieve all her stress and gain some well needed advice, Princess always had a listening ear and was great at comforting.
Fireheart walked across the ThunderClan's scent markers and padded over towards Princesses nest and hopped up on the fence enclosing the garden. Fireheart stared down into the garden and was happy to see the light brown tabby with a distinctive white chest and paws lounging in the weak sunlight.
"Princess," Fireheart softly hissed, startling her sister but effectively gaining her attention.
Princess blinked up at where Fireheart sat perched on the fence but once her surprise wore off Princess happily called out her own greeting and came to stand up beside Fireheart on the fence.
"Fireheart! I wasn't expecting to see you back so soon." Princess meowed, coming to touch noses with the ThunderClan warrior.
"I was in the area and thought I would come see you." Fireheart replied, not going into detail about just why she was in the area just yet.
Princess purred. "I'm glad that you did! I've been wanting to hear all about what you have been up to since last we spoke. And about my kit of course!"
Fireheart settled in and began telling Princess all the things that had occurred since they had last seen one another. Though Fireheart did keep something's to herself, not needing to worry Princess about things that turned out alright in the end.
Fireheart talked about how her son, newly named Cloudkit, was settling in well with the Clan. The flame-pelted she-cat also revealed that she has taken ThunderClan's deputy, Tigerclaw, as her mate and almost at once Princess realized that Fireheart was now pregnant without her sister even having to say it.
However, Princess could tell when the enthusiasm left Fireheart's eyes, and that began to worry the kittypet. "Fireheart, is everything alright?"
Fireheart almost didn't tell her, why burden Princess with all her troubles? But her sister's earnest gaze made Fireheart feel as though Princess wanted to hear her troubles in order to comfort her. "Well…I've recently had a…disagreement with my mate, Tigerclaw."
Princess blinked in sympathy but sat quietly and listened as Fireheart continued, "It was over the most ridiculous thing as well! I'm currently mentoring Cinderpaw, and I was reaching her how to defend herself if anything were to try and hurt her," Fireheart kept all the things that might hurt Cinderpaw to herself, "and while I was doing that Tigerclaw just came out of nowhere and started on how dangerous it all was. He was acting crazier than a fox in a fit! I wasn't in any danger but he's acting like I can't handle anything anymore."
Princess hummed thoughtfully. Her fluffy, thick tail reached out to touch Fireheart's shoulder in comfort. "I'm sure this is all so new to him. To the both of you. You both are just trying to find a balance within these new circumstances. You both need to learn a bit of patience and open communication. I'm sure this will sort itself out and you'll both come out happy in the end."
Fireheart opened her mouth, going to respond when suddenly a far off cry of her name startled the two sisters. Both their heads turned towards the treeline of the forest and watched with bated breath as ThunderClan's massive, broad chest and shouldered dark tabby deputy stalked out from behind some bushes. Still calling Fireheart's name.
Fireheart shared a quick look with her sister before Fireheart jumped down and hurriedly made her way towards her mate, calling out his name in return. "I'm over here, Tigerclaw!"
When Tigerclaw's head whipped around and saw Fireheart approaching, his whole physique seemed to relax, his amber eyes roaming all over her, checking from a distance for anything wrong.
The pair met up in the middle. Gently bumping heads as they nuzzled against one another, "I'm sorry." Tigerclaw sighed, surprisingly being the first to apologize. "I know I should have believed in you more. It's just that when I saw you underneath Cinderpaw I was afraid she might end up hurting you."
Fireheart hummed as she entwined their tails together. "I'm sorry for how I reacted as well. I shouldn't have run off like that and made you worry. I was just so tired of arguing that I didn't realize I had left before I found myself here."
Tigerclaw rubbed his chin across the top of Fireheart's head. Scenting her and leaving his own scent behind. "It's okay. It was my fault after all."
Fireheart purred as she and Tigerclaw made up from their previous spat at the sandy hollow.
Princess looked curiously down upon the pair of mates from her fence. Her sister's green eyes had a knowing glint to them as the two sisters shared a mental conversation. Fireheart then turned back to Tigerclaw, who's amber eyes were glancing around the area, appearing suspicious of every rock and leaf. Fireheart didn't want to put her mate in a rough situation but when would she have another chance to introduce Tigerclaw to Princess? Probably never.
"Tigerclaw," the flame-pelted she-cat drew her mate's attention back to her as Fireheart waved her tail towards the fence Princess was currently perched on. "While we are here, I'd like to introduce my sister to you."
Tigerclaw looked as though he wanted to protest, but held his tongue. His reply was a curt nod, and he closely watched as Fireheart sprung back up on the fence, though this time Tigerclaw leaped up beside her, expertly balancing on the thin framed fence as though he had done so his entire life. Which was impressive by how massive the deputy was.
"Hello." Princess nodded back, clearly excited.
"Hello," Tigerclaw echoed. Clearly unimpressed but attempting to hide it behind hollow indifference.
"How's being a deputy? Fireheart told me that you were, but I don't exactly know what that means exactly." Princess meowed, clearly eager to learn more about Clan life. Especially from a Clanborn warrior that grew up without Twolegs to rely on their entire life. Unlike how Fireheart and Princess had in their kithood days.
Tigerclaw looked at Princess with a lack of interest. His pale amber eyes flickering towards Fireheart before he stated with faked politeness, "It's a role that is important to any Clan. One would take up too much time for just one conversation."
"Of course, but if the leader were to die, the deputy takes their role right?" She looked between Tigerclaw and Fireheart, unsure if she was remembering correctly.
"That's right!" Fireheart meowed, flashing Princess an encouraging look while looking at Tigerclaw with a sternness that would work on any cat. Any cat but Tigerclaw apparently.
Tigerclaw then began licking one of his paws and running it across his ears, apparently bored already. All the while Princess tried to engage in conversation with Fireheart's mate. Fireheart had to continuously intervene so as not to ruin Princesses first interaction with a true Clanborn warrior.
By the time Fireheart was saying her goodbyes to Princess. Which Tigerclaw completely ignored Princess calling out a goodbye to him. Fireheart was once again upset with her mate.
"What was that?" Fireheart hissed when they were out of sight of Princesses fence. "Why were you acting so cold towards Princess?"
"You wanted me to meet your sister, I did." Tigerclaw huffed, "isn't that what you wanted?"
"I did." Fireheart meowed. "But you could've been a bit nicer. She's not oblivious, you know. She's much more in touch with other cats' emotions than you think."
Tigerclaw's tail waved off Fireheart's concern. "She didn't appear that bothered by it from my point of view."
She sighed. "I know you don't like kittypets much. But it was still rude. She has feelings just like you and me. And even if she didn't notice, I did, and she might've."
From the way that Tigerclaw's whiskers twitched, Fireheart could tell that he wasn't interested in talking about Princess anymore. "We should get back to camp and away from the Twolegplace. You never know what else we might run into here."
"You mean like more kittypets?"
Fireheart shot her mate a look. "You seem to forget I was once a kittypet myself." She replied coldly.
"Maybe. Or maybe there might be some rogues, loners, maybe even a fox or two. Who knows what could be out here this late." Tigerclaw snidely retorted.
It was the sandy hollow incident all over again. Their temperatures flaring unexpectedly and an argument just coming from the littlest of things. It was near maddening.
She took a deep breath, attempting to calm herself down. "I don't want to argue with you, but you're being a bit inconsiderate at the moment, and I don't like it." Fireheart remarked. "You probably won't meet my sister again, but if you do, I need you to be nicer to her. She means a lot to me. Princess trusted me and the Clan enough to give us her kit, and I wont have her think that she made a mistake because the deputy of said Clan is cold to kittypets."
Tigerclaw didn't respond, but the flick of his ear showed Fireheart that he had heard her. "All I'm saying is, if we do see her again, I won't tolerate this behavior. Take with that what you will."
She walked ahead of Tigerclaw and back towards the camp.
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Hiya, co-author here! Tigerclaw met Princess! And it went probably exactly how you expected. He was definitely less than thrilled!
Fun Facts:
Didn't expect anything like Tigerclaw meeting Princess so soon. It was meant for later but it just got added here!
Realized that Princess finding out about Fireheart taking Tigerclaw as her mate, being pregnant with kits and Fireheart telling Princess that her son's new name is Cloudkit all happened in Forest of Secrets which were nowhere near yet.
Also adding in a hormonal Fireheart which you've never seen in my main series (I took inspiration from Bluestar's Prophecy, sue me!)
Also seeing Tigerclaw and Fireheart fight hurts the soul but it needs to be done!
Extra:
A-- (Also I love watching Winx Club while writing warriors fan fiction lol)
S-- (the main author has also taken inspiration from Winx Club and added a side character in Heart of Fire: Shadows of the Past! That's inspired by Winx Club!)
A-- (Ohhh yeah I saw that!! Nabu!!!! He deserved a better fate than Nickelodeon gave him)
S-- (No spoilers!!!)
A-- (Oh I thought you made it to that Nickelodeon season!! Oops)
S-- (See what I deal with? My Beta already ahead of me in Winx Club and nearly spoiling it for the rest of us!)
A-- (I have already watched the whole thing years ago (aside from season 8, I refuse) and I'm rewatching it for like the millionth time. It's one of my comfort shows lol)
S-- (Well enough for now! Enjoy both Winx Club and Warriors!)
A-- (Ofc! They're both amazing)
S-- (Lol)
