Hi everyone! This is an idea that has been nagging at me for a long time. And, given my love of transformation fics in this fandom, I couldn't resist! For all those unaware, Ladyhawke is a movie that came out in 1985 starring Michelle Pfieffer and Matthew Broderick that I highly recommend!
Fair warning- this is not canon compliant. Here, Rootspring is alive (and an adult) before not only the Great Battle but also while Ashfur is still alive.
To all those who hate Brambleclaw x Squirrelflight and love Ashfur x Squirrelflight- don't read. Everyone else, please feel free to leave reviews and I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything or anyone from Warriors or Ladyhawke.
Until now, Rootspring had always enjoyed the dawn. Even though he, like any sane cat, detested dawn patrol, he always loved watching the sunrise.
Until now.
Just this morning, the young warrior had been on a solo hunting mission. A self-assigned one, really, as he was trying to get away from camp- away from the judgement and whispers. Everyone knew that Dewspring hadn't exactly given up on him, but was finally just done with training. In essence, Rootspring had gotten his name out of his superiors' impatience and everyone knew it. As much as it rankled, he knew that he should just be grateful and simply do his best for his clan. So, his first plan had been to catch as much prey as possible.
This plan was interrupted by being grabbed by a strange rogue and hauled off his own territory like a piece of fresh-kill. No matter what Rootspring did, from clawing and writhing, the larger tom was undeterred and refused to drop him until they had reached the abandoned two-leg place. It seemed that they ran for most of the day, given the fact that Rootspring's weight was slowing the stranger down by quite a margin.
Gasping for breath, Rootspring whipped around on the defensive the heartbeat he was dropped. Only to find himself staring at the missing Thunderclan deputy.
Rootspring had only seen the large tabby from a distance at a Gathering two moons prior. According to camp gossip, Brambleclaw had gone missing directly afterwards and he hadn't been alone.
Squirrelflight, Firestar's beloved daughter, had also vanished around the same time. The Thunderclan leader had been frantic ever since and barely able to keep his usual façade of calm at the last Gathering according to Rootspring's sister, where Leafstar had warned the other clans of the increased number of twoleg traps found scattered around their territory. Seeing as the last time the pair had vanished due to the threat of two-legs and the subsequent migration to their current home, their disappearance was alarming to all the clans.
"Why did you bring me here? Where's Squirrelflight?" The new warrior hissed, sounding a lot braver than he felt.
Brambleclaw ignored him, continuing to stare as if he might have all the answers. Rootspring couldn't help but notice the unkempt state and the wild, desperate gleam in the Thunderclanner's eyes.
"Can you speak to the dead?" Brambleclaw whispered hoarsely.
Rootspring stiffened. Gossip worked both ways after all. He should have known the rumors would have spread across borders. It was the reason he had been held back so long- Leafstar and the other senior members of Skyclan couldn't decide if he should be a medicine cat apprentice or a regular one.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Rootspring mumbled, looking away. He would never, ever accept that he had inherited Tree's strange abilities. He just wanted to fit in!
The yellow tom found himself pinned to the ground, burning amber less than a whisker length away from startled blue.
"Yes, you do! Now answer me!" Brambleclaw yowled.
Rootspring's courage completely deserted him. "Alright, alright yes I can!" He screeched. At Brambleclaw's look of relief, a strange urge towards honesty overtook him and he clarified, "but not with Starclan."
The relief morphed into despair. "Then you're no help." He murmured bitterly, slumping backwards. As he scrambled to his feet, Rootspring was bewildered by it all. And admittedly stung at the very familiar sentiment.
"Help for what? Getting yourself lost?" The Skyclan warrior sneered.
He skittered back as a small hawk shot from the sky to land directly in front of him, screeching angrily. It was a weird color for a hawk, though, being more orange than brown. Rootspring swore its eyes were green, rather than the usual avian yellow. Brambleclaw lurched forward, waving his forepaw at the bird as if to shoo it away.
"Squirrelflight, move. You're not helping."
What the-? Now everything made sense.
"You're madder than a hare." Rootspring inched back, afraid that any sudden movements could trigger an attack from the clearly insane deputy. Before he made it a tail-length away, however, he was forced to re-evaluate his own sanity.
For the sun began to set.
As orange rays began to bathe the land, Rootspring felt his eyes widen. Both Brambleclaw and the hawk had started to glow an unearthly orange. The light grew and grew until Rootspring was forced to shut his eyes.
Once the light faded, he gasped at the different scene before him. Brambleclaw was gone, nowhere to be found. Where he had been standing, a large brown wolf stared back at him before slumping to the ground. Even more bizarre, the hawk had also vanished, leaving in its place…
"Squirrelflight?" The new warrior began to hyperventilate. "What's going on?"
The orange molly rolled her eyes at Rootspring's dramatics. "We've obviously been cursed. Please do keep up."
And the ground came up to meet Rootspring.
When he came to, he found himself nose to nose with Squirrelflight, who was impatiently kneading the ground. Someone had moved him inside the abandoned structure as moonlight shone through the openings, covering them in silvery light.
"Where's the wolf?" Rootspring meowed, looking frantically around as if he could jump out of any corner (which he could).
"Brambleclaw went for a run. The overgrown furball is too tense." Squirrelflight looked past the startled tom towards the woods with a fond smile. Now it was Rootspring's turn to feel impatient. He wanted answers and here was this molly just daydreaming at the woods!
"Just what is going on?" Rootspring leapt to his feet and bushing his fur out. It partially worked as it seemed to snap Squirrelflight out of her musings, although all he got was an unimpressed glare.
"I told you; we're cursed." She snapped.
"Well, thank you so much for explaining that. I never would have guessed." He snarked back at her. "How did this happen?"
Squirrelflight suddenly looked angry. "You can thank Ashfur for it!" She spat.
Rootspring was completely lost at this point. Seeing his blank stare, the Thunderclan molly sighed.
She went on to explain that Ashfur had never accepted Squirrelflight's rejection in favor of Brambleclaw, the son of the monstrous tom who killed his mother. His anger and hatred grew and grew, until he found something to punish the lovers with. Dark magic.
How he found it, Squirrelflight would never know. But find it he did. The night after the Gathering, just when the clans had dispersed, Ashfur asked for the pair to remain behind with the expressed desire to apologize.
"What a liar!" Squirrelflight hissed. "Instead of apologies, he cursed us."
"How?" Rootspring had sat down by this point, enthralled by the she-cat's tale. Magic was a myth! Or, considering what he had seen today, it was supposed to be.
"I don't know! I all know is one moment, the three of us were sitting on the Gathering Island, the next, Brambleclaw was a wolf, I felt all weird and tingly, and there was Ashfur, laughing. The last thing he told us before running off was that now we would feel his pain for the rest of our lives!" Squirrelflight panted, seeming perilously close to tears.
She whispered, "He said, as long as there is day and night, we would always be together but eternally separated."
Rootspring wanted to offer some comfort- but he knew that useless platitudes would not be helpful in the slightest.
"So…what do you need me for?" He asked when it looked like Squirrelflight had calmed down.
She gave him a tired look. "We can't go near the clan borders like this- Brambleclaw would be chased off and I could be mistaken for fresh-kill- but we need someone to speak to Starclan for us. Neither of us are medicine cats, can contact the medicine cats or are closely connected to our ancestors and they haven't appeared to us." She wailed.
The yellow tom thought for a few heartbeats. Despite their differing loyalties, all three were clan cats. Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight were two cats that went on the Journey to help settle the clans in their current territory- they were heroes! Not to mention, if the situation were reversed, he would certainly want the help. But what could he do? He was just Rootspring, the screw-up warrior of Skyclan! But still, something deep within told him that he would never have a moment's peace again if he just walked away as he would never truly forgive himself.
It was moments like these that he cursed the fact he had inherited Tree's empathy.
"Alright" he groaned. Squirrelflight perked up. "I'll try to help. I can't guarantee that I'll be able to speak to Starclan though."
He jumped slightly as Squirrelflight touched his nose, purring hard enough to be heard outside the den. "Thank you!" She whispered.
A pained howl interrupted the moment, echoing from some distance away.
"Brambleclaw!" Squirrelflight screeched, tearing away into the night.
"Hey, wait!" Rootspring tore after her. The pair sprinted through the forest, dodging trees and bracken along the way until they had reached the old Thunderpath that separated Thunder and Skyclan.
"Brambleclaw!" The she-cat wailed. Rootspring spied the brown wolf, gasping painfully on his side in the ditch on the Thunderclan side. His paw had been snared in the jaws of a vicious looking trap, blood dripping to the dirt below. Without bothering to check either direction, she sped across the path. Rootspring, gritting his teeth, was forced to follow.
"What do we do?" Squirrelflight gasped in horror.
"Squirrelflight stop it!" The yellow warrior snapped. Unbidden, memories of his first tours of Skyclan territory sprang to mind, Dewfrost's voice echoing in his thoughts. "Help me open the trap!"
"How?" She snapped.
"See those bits of metal on either side of the trap?" Rootspring pointed with his nose at the gleaming bits of metal. At her nod, he continued, "they have to be pushed down on at the same time- you push on one and I'll push the other."
As she took her position, he hissed "On the count of three- one, two, three!" As one, the pair pressed down. The wolf was just conscious enough to pull his paw out with pained whimpers before the warriors let go.
As the empty trap snapped shut, Brambleclaw (for Rootspring was far past doubting the wolf's identity) gave a low groan. Squirrelflight gave her mate encouraging licks while trying to clean the wound as best she could while Rootspring fought to catch his breath.
Then the sun rose.
Rootspring was frozen in place as both Squirrelflight and the wolf glowed that same eerie orange as the dawn covered them. The wolf faded away, leaving a dazed but feline Brambleclaw. For a moment, the briefest of moments, Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight locked eyes. They extended their noses towards each other, so close that not even a whisker could have fit between the pair, yet still not touching.
Yet, just before the lovers could connect, a great gust of wind swirled around the pair, and Squirrelflight was gone, thrust into the sky as a hawk. And Brambleclaw screamed.
Rootspring, tears flooding his cheeks unchecked, wasn't so sure that he loved the dawn anymore.
Yep, here is part 1- part 2 should be out shortly.
Again, not canon compliant. Also, the cast is slightly OOC which I hope you'll forgive.
Regardless, please leave reviews (I will unashamedly admit I live for them) and I hope you enjoy.
Wishing you all a happy and wonderful New Year! Woot Woot here comes 2024!