Hello!!! Another new AU that I've been talked into doing with my dear fanfic buddy and now Beta, Ashe (username: off-brand-afterfire), and I have many regrets but am proud of doing this fic anyways!! And I know that this isn't gonna be a one-shot so I won't even go there!!!
Review, favorite and follow!!
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Fireheart stared unblinkingly at the camp where a layer of snow was building up outside from the safety and warmth of the warriors den. Having unwoven herself from the nest she shared with her battle weary mate and weaved her way through the intricate scattering of nests without waking the cats that slumbered in them. Fireheart simply sat and watched as flakes of snow, so small and insignificant on their own, began piling up into a dangerous hazard that could kill even the most experienced warrior. Though exhaustion ached deep in her bones she could not find peace in her sleep.
It was after the battle at WindClan against RiverClan and ShadowClan, that she had time to reflect on everything that had happened recently, alone and without the pressure of keeping a front up in front of her Clanmates. The last few moons have been a lot on her, mostly having to do with internal struggles. Fireheart's views on her future were changing, what with recent developments, with having to once again fight to fit in with her Clanmates, protecting those that she cares about most even while protecting them against each other, the conflicts between Clans, taking on Tigerclaw as a mate against all odds, and now with the unexpected miracle of being pregnant with her and Tigerclaw's kits.
But the weight of Tigerclaw's treachery was still sitting heavily on her shoulders. Yet, something was stirring within her, something had changed within Fireheart's mind, recent events that had so closely followed those of her past life had left her feeling unsatisfied.
Nothing so far has seemed to be changing from what herself and Rock have intended. Sure, Spottedleaf is still alive and Cinderpaw hasn't been crippled, but beyond them? Ravenpaw was still gone, Graystripe was making the same mistake with being with Silverstream, Brokentail's outlaws were still at large, the Clans were still at conflict, and Tigerclaw was still plotting against Bluestar and the Clans.
Everything felt like it was repeating itself and Fireheart didn't know what to do to break the cycle.
Fireheart's ears pricked as they picked up the sound of firm footfalls making their way toward her in order to settle down at her side. The smell of the forest and the all too familiar scent of her mate lulled the newly expecting mother into a state of peace as her petite head lolled to the side, landing softly onto one of Tigerclaw's broad shoulders. The action made Tigerclaw press himself closer against her side.
"What's on your mind?" Tigerclaw's gruff, yet calming voice spoke up after a while.
Fireheart kept her jade green eyes trained on the ground, unsure on how to respond.
She decided to start with the easier things. "What isn't on my mind? So much has changed in recent moons, it's hard to keep up with!" She murmured awkwardly.
"Such as?" the large, dark brown tabby warrior promoted.
"You know, being made a warrior, bringing WindClan home, RiverClan and ShadowClan's recent alliance, becoming mates, and now finding out that we're expecting kits." Fireheart let out a deep sigh. "I just feel like everything's moving faster than I can keep up with."
Tigerclaw nodded. "Yes, I suppose it has been. Has anything else been on your mind? You still seem troubled."
"Yes, mostly about Brokentail." Tigerclaw's pale amber eyes gleamed with curiosity, but he nodded at her to go on. "I don't want to defy Bluestar orders, but I was never a fan about him being kept in ThunderClan, and I'm even less of a fan now that we're expecting kits!"
"I must say I'm not a fan of Bluestar's decisions either," Tigerclaw murmured. "I don't want a kitnapper in our Clan, and especially not near our future kits!"
"He might be blind, but he was a strong warrior. I fear that one day he'll rise up when we least expect it and hurt someone. Regardless of all that we've done for him, keeping him alive and safe."
"I wouldn't put it past him. He was a cruel leader, he isn't like Yellowfang. I don't think he'll ever feel loyalty for ThunderClan like she does." Tigerclaw meowed.
Fireheart nodded. "Definitely not. I just hope Bluestar comes to her senses before anything happens. Even though I know she won't!" She added on silently.
Tigerclaw's pale amber eyes gazed into her jade green ones, calculatingly. "As do I."
O0O0O0O
The next morning, Fireheart awoke in her and Tigerclaw's nest. She raised her head and discovered that her mate and most of her Clanmates had already awoken and were out and about and going about their warrior duties.
She pushed her way out of the den and spotted Graystripe loitering over at the freshkill pile. She took a deep breath, recalling what had happened during the last battle and took that as encouragement, as she approached her recently reconciled best friend.
"Hey, Graystripe, do you maybe want to-"
Graystripe shook his head, probably already knowing what Fireheart was going to ask, a mouse dangling from his jaw. "Sorry, meeting up with Silverstream today."
The jade eyed, bright flame-furred warrior felt herself getting increasingly annoyed with Graystripe. "What about your apprentice? I was going to ask if we could train them together!"
Graystripe rolled his eyes. "I already made plans. You can train him, right? I'll take him out tomorrow." Before Fireheart could say anything more, the dark gray warrior walked away to supposedly eat his freshkill elsewhere.
Fireheart wanted to yowl at Graystripe and demand that he focus on his warrior duties before Silverstream, but she held her tongue.
Instead she padded over to the apprentices den where Cinderpaw and Brackenpaw were talking amongst themselves. "Hey, how does hunting sound?"
Cinderpaw immediately jumped at the prospect of it. "Oh, yes!"
Brackenpaw looked around, clearly searching for his own mentor. "Where's Graystripe?"
Fireheart sighed, feeling sorry that Brackenpaw was getting neglected once more by his mentor. Even after Graystripe had promised to do better. "He has something more important to do today." She decided not to mention that he said he would take Brackenpaw out tomorrow, as Fireheart wasn't completely sure Graystripe would remember to do so.
"I wish he would actually mentor me." Brackenpaw murmured bitterly. Fireheart rested her tail on his shoulder in silent support.
"If he's not here, that just means you get to train with us! Besides, we move much faster without Graystripe slowing us down." Cinderpaw meowed, trying to make her brother see the positive side of not having his mentor around.
"I guess you're right, let's go!" They eagerly raced to the top of the ravine, barely waiting for Fireheart to catch up before bounding off.
"Wait!" Fireheart called. "We're going to Tallpines to hunt!" The apprentices changed their direction to Tallpines, leaving Fireheart struggling to keep up; with them already being ahead, and also having longer legs than their current mentor.
The trek to Tallpines felt like a long winded journey. Between the apprentice's unlimited rambunctious energy and Fireheart still tired from yesterday's battle, the she-cat wondered if she should have left their training to someone else.
Fireheart gazed back and forth at both apprentice's, before explaining their current assignment, "Alright. We're going to try and catch a few mice. Can either of you think of how best to catch one?"
Both apprentice's tails shot straight up. Fireheart decided to call on Brackenpaw to answer in an effort to take his mind off of his missing mentor. "You have to step lightly on your paws, since the mice can feel the vibrations in the ground." Brackenpaw answered correctly.
Fireheart nodded in agreement. "That's right. Now why don't you both go off and see if you can catch one?"
Both Cinderpaw and Brackenpaw happily broke apart to search for their prey in opposite directions. That gave Fireheart the opportunity to sit down and rest, still feeling the tired ache from last night. Fireheart didn't want to be looking after the apprentices by herself, but she had no choice, Graystripe was off with Silverstream, and with Graystripe's absence there would surely be questions if it was found out she was keeping an eye on both of them on her own. Again. Especially if Tigerclaw were to find out. Again.
Sometimes Fireheart wondered if she were doing the right thing by staying silent for her friend.
Fireheart tried to remember the last time Graystripe did anything she asked him to do, and unfortunately the she-cat came up blank. Sure, he saved her in battle a few times, but so would any other Clanmate. Did he still consider her a friend?
Fireheart vigorously shook her head. No. Graystripe was still her friend, she was sure of it. Soon as Graystripe gets this thing with Silverstream out of his system things will return to normal.
They were so close, friends since the very beginning, they could never be separated. This was a simple distraction on his part, Graystripe will realize his loyalty just as he had in their past life. Besides, she knew that their friendship got better and came out stronger than ever. Who's to say it won't get better in this one as well?
Suddenly a noise drew Fireheart out of her inner musing. The flame-pelted she-cat was instantly on alert and jumped to her paws. She wasn't expecting Brackenpaw or Cinderpaw to come back so soon. Besides, the cat approaching didn't sound anything like either apprentice. The soft pitter-patter steps were much too soft for either boisterous apprentice to make. The warrior braced herself regardless of whatever was coming her way, but Fireheart soon realized that she had worked herself up over nothing as the beautiful dark tortoiseshell-and-white coat of ThunderClan's medicine cat appeared around one of the trees.
Fireheart was surprised to see Spottedleaf so far from camp so soon after the battle with RiverClan and ShadowClan. Surely there were injured cats needing to be looked after. And all the way out here in Tallpines was also unusual. Spottedleaf also appeared as though she was just as surprised to see Fireheart as she was to see her.
"Oh, Fireheart, I didn't expect to see you out here." Spottedleaf meowed, making her way towards Fireheart.
"I didn't either, I thought you would still be in camp, dealing with injured warriors." Fireheart commented.
"I was," Spottedleaf meowed. "But we were running out of herbs. Yellowfang sent me out to get some, she's handling the injured warriors now."
"What herbs could you possibly find in the snow?"
"There's still berries." Spottedleaf shrugged. "You want to help me?"
Fireheart shook her head. "Sorry, Spottedleaf. But I'm actually training Cinderpaw. And Brackenpaw." She silently added on.
"I see, well, see you back at camp!" Spottedleaf waved her tail as she disappeared in the trees.
Fireheart tilted her head in confusion. That had been so sudden and out of nowhere to see Spottedleaf come and go so quickly. But she shook off the strange meeting for now.
"Fireheart! Fireheart!" Cinderpaw came bounding to where she was, two mice hanging from her jaw. "Look what I got!"
Fireheart beamed in pride. "Good job, Cinderpaw! Where's your brother?" She looked around where Cinderpaw had come from, expecting to see the golden-brown tabby tom racing after his sister.
Cinderpaw put the mice down in front of her. "I don't know. He went off in the opposite direction." She barely got her sentence out before Brackenpaw came racing down from where Cinderpaw had previously come from.
Brackenpaw stopped in front of them with a mouse and squirrel dangling from his jaw, he set it down in front of him, mirroring Cinderpaw. "I know you said to catch mice, but the squirrel was practically begging to be caught."
Fireheart joyfully purred. "It's leafbare, I'm not going to get mad at you for catching any more prey! Besides, you still caught a mouse, so I see it as an accomplishment. Why don't you two head back to camp and give your prey to the elders and then you can eat yourselves?"
"Yes, Fireheart! Come on Cinderpaw." They picked up their prey and each raced back towards camp.
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Fireheart walked into camp as the sun was beginning to set behind the trees, two squirrels clamped in her jaws. She set one down on the fresh-kill pile, and took the other to the nettle patch to eat. Crouching over her catch, Fireheart began to tear into it ravenously, realizing for the first time that she was extremely hungry. As she tore into the stringy meat of the squirrel she noticed out of the corner of her eye the return of the last border patrol of the day. Her ears pricked in excitement as the flame-pelted she-cat noticed that her mate was apart of the returning patrol. It was almost in an instant when Tigerclaw caught sight of Fireheart and made his way towards her. Fireheart decided to abandon the few remaining bites of her squirrel to instead meet him halfway.
Fireheart happily touched noses with the massive, broad-shouldered tabby deputy in a form of affectionate greeting. It warmed Fireheart's entire pelt when Tigerclaw reciprocated to the gesture and pressed just a little more firmly against her own smaller pink nose. This was what Fireheart felt was a change in her new life.
"Did you take Cinderpaw out today?" He asked, walking back to her prey with her.
"Yep! She did great! She caught two mice, which during leafbare is a huge accomplishment, especially for an apprentice!" Fireheart purred.
"That's great! You've been doing good with her."
They laid down in the spot Fireheart had previously occupied. Tigerclaw set the vole he'd been carrying in front of him and started eating. Fireheart decided to follow his lead and finish her own piece of fresh-kill.
The flame-pelted she-cat finished her freshkill before her mate, and buried the bones in respect to StarClan. Fireheart turned her head to watch silently as her mate ate silently beside her. Getting a proper look at the dark tabby deputy, even from a side view, Fireheart was able to see what many saw and what they didn't see. While Tigerclaw was big from a distance, the dark brown tabby warrior was massive face to face, with fangs and unusually long sharp front claws to match. A perfect warrior. A perfect predator. But he showed no signs of aggression like a predator would. Instead he was calm and quiet. Just enjoying this moment with Fireheart.
The calm and caring side of Tigerclaw was what Fireheart kept seeing more and more of as their relationship only grew stronger. The monster that plagued Fireheart's past life was nowhere to be seen at the moment. Tigerclaw could be harsh and demanding, he could even be manipulative and dangerous, but he could also show pride and commitment and a drive for the best for ThunderClan. Tigerclaw showed just how much he cared for Fireheart as well.
There was still good within Tigerclaw. Perhaps all that was needed was someone to nurture it. To bring Tigerclaw back on the path of being a true warrior. Instead of the cold blooded murderer that has already taken their first step onto the path of evil.
It was at that moment when Fireheart knew; something had to change.
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Well the first chapter of my brand new AU series is finally done! I hope you all enjoy and are not too angry with me for once again neglecting my main series. But you can blame my Beta because this was all their fault for suggesting such an amazing AU and filling my head with it and causing this to happen in the first place!
Once again my Beta is: Ashe (username: off-brand-afterfire)
Fun Facts:
This whole series was caused by a simple "What if…" conversation between me and the person who had become my co-author.
This is a divergence AU like many of my other AU series. Though this is centered around Fireheart taking a more…neutral path to saving the Clan's.
Fireheart is the shortest warrior in all the Clan's, even some apprentices are taller than her!
AU set at the end of Heart of Fire: Fire and Ice
Fireheart is now going neutral! She's gonna shake things up and change the Clan's and the status quo!
Also if your a Graystripe fan...don't expect any mercy from us. He was a terrible friend to Fireheart ever since "Fire and Ice" and in this it will be more touched up on.
Randomly we would like to add: Co-author loves Dr. Pepper! (The main author does too!!!)
