Author's Note: Flareclaw68 came to me with AU idea and I instantly fell in love with the concept. They proof-read the story and made edits. I might expand on this AU further since I love it, but for now enjoy the one-shot!
~Leafbranch
Cold wind ruffled his fur as Fireheart padded onward. The Windclan trail was getting harder to follow after leaving their camp. The scent lingered faintly, and it was hard to pick out amongst the other scents of the moor.
Soon his paws step into what seemed like mud. His paws sinking into the soft ground, the mud oozing uncomfortably around them. Sniffing at the ground he could barely smell any Windclan scents. Had they come this way?
"Do we have to go through this mud," Graystripe meows, lifting up one of his front paws and flicking mud off of it.
Fireheart nods, "Yeah it seems Windclan came this way and it looks like we cant go around this puddle."
"Alright."
They continue to trudge through the mud, which seems to be only getting deeper and deeper. Soon it reaches his belly and he struggles to move one leg in front of the other. He looks back at Graystripe. The furry gray tom is clearly struggling against the thickness of the mud.
"You ok?"
"Just fine," Graystripe mews, gritting his teeth.
Continuing his struggle, he suddenly stops, alarm flaring in his amber eyes.
"I'm stuck."
"What?"
"I can't move," panic enters his mew, and Fireheart can't tell if he's trying to move further on or not.
The ginger tom searches for anything that might help his friend get unstuck, but there's nothing. No fallen branches, anything. Despair floods him, no! he can't lose his friend this way. They will find Windclan and bring them back home. Just like Bluestar asked them to.
Turning around he ignores his friend's panicked cries, and tries to move forward in the mud himself. However the effort drains him. His legs burn from him trying to push himself through. He has to get help somehow.
He turns to look back, Graystripe's whole body is now completely swallowed by the mud, leaving his head the only thing visible. Fear makes him stop dead in his tracks. No, no, no! Graystripe can't die this way, he just can't.
They've been through so much together. Fireheart tries to turn around, but he can't turn himself around. He's stuck facing away from his friend.
No… This can't be happening. He had always thought that he and Graystripe would live long lives and expose Tigerclaw of his treachery together. That they would experience life to the fullest as warriors.
But now that is being ripped away from all because he decided to follow a faint Windclan scent trail into the mud.
Looking back the despair deepens. His friend is nowhere to be seen. Tears threaten to fall out of his face. No he had so much life to live, so much light. He was always a jokester, lighting Ravenpaw or him up when they had trouble with something or if something was bothering them. Graystripe was a good friend. And now….. Now he's gone and he's not coming back.
He tries to steel himself, to move forward, but his own movements become panicked. The ginger tom can't die like his friend. He was to make sure the mission is successful and that he can expose Tigerclaw to Bluestar and have him exiled from the clan, otherwise, if no one's there to stop him, there's no telling what he'd do.
The mud clings to his fur, and drags him down. Soon his chest and back are covered and he can feel the weight bearing down on him. He has to survive, he has to!. Desperately he tries to move his paws, but they won't budge.
His breathing becomes shallow, with His thoughts becoming a blur and he barely notices the stick in front of him. Desperate to live he grabs it in his muzzle and can feel some cat trying to pull him up, the stick is slipping and he's going nowhere. He grips the stick harder, but it does nothing.
And then the blackness consumes him completely. He tries to cry out, but only gets a mouthful of mud making him choke. It fills his nostrils and he can't breathe. His lungs burn from trying to get air, and receiving nothing.
Once again he tries to move his paws, but they stay frozen in place.
Then he feels nothing. The pain is gone.
Opening his eyes, he sees a starry blue expanse. He looks around confused. Wasn't he suffocating only a few heartbeats ago?
"Welcome Fireheart," a voice mews.
Shock floods him. He knows that voice. Turning around he sees a starry fluffy golden tom that looks like a lion.
"Lionheart," he chokes out.
The starry tom nods, "Yes young one."
Suddenly he realizes what has happened.
"No," he meows, backing away shaking. "I can't be dead. I have to go back! Bluestar and Thunderclan need me!"
Lionheart shakes his head, "You can't go back Fireheart."
"But…."
"I'm sorry your spark died so soon, but we nor you can change what happened."
"What about Thunderclan? And I just supposed Tigerclaw win and hurt other cats! He has to be stopped."
"There is nothing more Starclan can do."
"But there must be something!"
His former mentor pads towards him, sits down beside him and pulls him close. Fireheart looks into his amber eyes, helplessness showing and knows that Starclan can't do anything.
He unsheathes his claws and digs them into the ground. It's not fair! Thunderclan shouldn't have to suffer under Tigerclaw's paws because his life was snuffed out too early.
"Come, we must go," Lionheart mews, standing up and padding away.
Fireheart stares at him, before sighing and admitting defeat. Padding towards him he hopes that Bluestar can hold her own against Tigerclaw, and that she doesn't need his fire to save the clan she loves so much. It just wouldn't be fair if he won despite everything. Not fair to Redtail, not fair to Ravenpaw, or the other cats the dark tabby tom hurt in his quest to be leader. Just not fair at all.
Consequences:
-Windclan doesn't stay in the Twolegplace because of how harsh it is there and decides to travel further. They make it to the lake territories, and settle there. Tallstar dies there, and Deadfoot succeeds him becoming Deadstar.
-Silverstream doesn't save Graystripe from the river, and so therefore they don't have kits together and Silverstream doesn't die during childbirth.
-Cinderpaw and Brackenpaw are given two different mentors and are actually made apprentices alongside their siblings: Brightpaw and Thornpaw instead of earlier. Cinderpaw's accident still happens.
-Tigerclaw's plan at the end of Forest of Secrets works. He successfully kills Bluestar, claiming that the rogues did it. He becomes Tigerstar(and actually receives nine lives since Starclan can't refuse to give a deputy the gift). He merges the remaining two clans and Thunderclan into Tigerclan and rules the forest with an iron paw.
-Scourge doesn't come into the forest because Tigerclaw never went to him for help.
-Him and Leopardstar become mates and have kits together, becoming his actual heirs to the leadership. He established a monarchy, in which only his children should succeed after him and inherit the leader position of Tigerclan. He made Tigerclan eventually only have one leader and one deputy.
-Starclan, disapproving of his actions, gave no warning to the cats in Tigerclan when the twolegs came and started ripping the forest apart. Tigerstar refused to leave, stating that Riverclan territory wasn't being ripped apart.
-Divided, some cats stayed, while others fled. They fled along the same path ancient Skyclan took and arrived at the gorge. They established a new clan there, and changed their name from Tigerclan to Riffclan. So Windclan lives by the lake, while remnants of Tigerclan live in the gorge, and Tigerclan lives in Riverclan's territory.