The End of Fire

By: Snowstep

Claws slashed into black fur as yowls filled the clearing with cats fighting with teeth and claws. Scarlet blood was spilled as the intruders battled with the cats who were defending their clan with their lives.

A flash of red was seen, but it wasn't blood. A fiery ginger pelt was seen battling with that of a huge white cat with black claws.

"Firestar!"

Squirrelflight, the ThunderClan leader's daughter, called out as she swiped her claws across the black warrior's face. She knew that her father is now old, and only had one life left before he had to join StarClan. She couldn't imagine her father and great leader being dead.

As the ShadowClan warrior ran with a couple of claw marks to remember her by, Squirrelflight was attacked by another cat. It looked like ThunderClan was losing...

"Russetfur," she hissed and tried to shake the she-cat off her back but with no luck, piercing sharp claws dug deeper into her dark ginger fur.

She yowled in pain when the weight was suddenly lifted, and she turned to fine Brambleclaw pinning the warrior down with his dark sharp claws.

Tigerstar's claws.

A flash of mistrust entered Squirrelflight's heart, but was quickly forgotten when she noticed the bright ginger figure of Firestar was nowhere to be found.

"Firestar!" she looked frantically, clawing her way through a couple of ShadowClan cats that were in her way. Her heart pounded hard in her chest when she saw the ginger fur of her father crushed beneath deathly black paws.

"Blackstar!" she hissed and pounced onto the giant white cat that was leader of these attacking cats. All she hoped was that Firestar was still alive...

Squirrelflight and Blackstar rolled in the dust, trying to get at each other's throat. She thought she was going to lose as the strong tom pinned her down to give her a bite that will seal her fate, but there was a hiss as Brambleclaw once again saved her.

"Go check on Firestar," he told her and faced off the ShadowClan leader on his own.

Squirrelflight nodded hesitantly, and hurried to where she last saw her father.

There he was, lying on the ground with a deep gash across his flank with blood spilling out uncontrollably. His usually neat fur was spiked with dried blood, making his fur dark red. Squirrelflight stopped in her tracks as her heart skipped a beat seeing that Firestar wasn't moving...

"Firestar!" she quickly went up to her leader and father, and saw that he was barely breathing and still alive.

"Leafpool!" she yowled across the clearing, hoping that her sister could heal him.

"No, Squirrelflight..." Firestar choked out, his claws digging into the ground from pain.

"Father..."

"It's time for me to join StarClan," the wise leader knew it was his time, and that his daughters must grieve later after chasing out the intruders.

"No don't say that," all Squirrelflight could do was whisper these words, hoping everything'll be ok.

Leafpool ran up with a mouthful of herbs and put as much cobwebs as she could on Firestar's wounds, though they were still soaked by blood. With tears in her eyes the medicine cat shook her head and pressed her nose close to her father.

"I'll watch over you and my grandkits from StarClan..." Firestar whispered as light faded from his green eyes, and he forever lay still.

"No..." Squirrelflight shook her head and she tried to keep her tears in. "No!"

She threw herself back into the fray and fought with fire in her eyes, and her heart.

-x-x-

Most of the ShadowClan cats have already fled, and she chased the last one away after giving him a hard bite on the back. Squirrelflight stood there, in the middle of camp, with her tears now streaming freely down her face.

"Squirrelflight, is Firestar..." Brambleclaw came up to her, but wasn't able to finish his question when he saw the hurt one her face, and he knew.

"Brambleclaw," she croaked, looking up at him with her wet green eyes. "You're leader now."

Well this is my second one-shot fanfic ever. Um...what do you think? I know it's a little TOO short and obvious and maybe even boring, but, please review so I get an idea of what to improve. Thanks for readin!

Snowstep