The Sunrise to a Cruel Season
Lionblaze paced at the front of the leader's den. How long did it take for the leader to accept their senior warrior's request to talk to him? He worried that Firestar might expect something. It was a bit of an odd time to ask to speak to him, and with the deputy too. But Tigerstar had planned this. Tigerstar's plans couldn't go wrong. They never had. At least, with myself… Lionblaze had been told of Brambleclaw's betrayal to Tigerstar, and of the Thunderclan deputy's murder of his half-brother, Hawkfrost. They were the gruesome stories that never reached the biased elder's tales. Where is he? Lionblaze wondered yet again. Then Brambleclaw stepped out of the comfy den. "You may come in now," he meowed. Lionblaze nodded, stepping slowly into the den before Brambleclaw. He only had to lure them out of the camp before killing them both.
Jayfeather listened to the meow of Brambleclaw to Lionblaze, focusing on Brambleclaw's thoughts. He figured that they were going to talk about the threat of Shadowclan or Windclan, now that things had changed so much. Jayfeather wondered what his cousin was thinking. He stepped closer to the Highledge, listening to their conversation.
He missed Lionblaze's first sentence, but focused in on Firestar, and heard the leader meow, "We can worry about that later, Lionblaze, right now we need to wait for them to make the first move."
"Yes, but they've been scented across the border," Lionblaze growled, his voice slightly uncertain.
"Really? Why didn't a patrol mention it?" Firestar meowed, interested.
"It was a fresh scent; I just missed the Windclan idiots. A patrol hasn't gone there yet, I urge both of you to come with me at once so we can put it to a stop!" Lionblaze growled, but there was a slight hint of panic in his voice that only Jayfeather could pick up. Why doesn't Lionblaze want a patrol to go sort it out? Jayfeather wondered, staring up at the Highrock with interest.
Firestar wasn't convinced. This isn't working, I need help, Lionblaze thought desperately, as Firestar started talking again.
"Don't you think we could just send out a warrior patrol?" Firestar meowed, his eyes narrowing.
Lionblaze wasn't listening anymore. Tigerstar had come to help him, standing directly behind Firestar. Tigerstar nodded, and even though he had no idea what Firestar just said, Lionblaze replied, in a slight daze of relief from seeing his mentor, "Yes, that would work…"
"Then I'll send a patrol now; let me call a clan meeting." Firestar replied, standing up to leave.
Tigerstar motioned quickly for Lionblaze to stay where he was, abort the mission. Realizing what Firestar was talking about, and what this would mean, a moon of carefully waiting for another chance to lure Firestar out… Lionblaze couldn't stand the idea of a longer wait for leadership, no matter what Tigerstar told him to do. He leaped in front of Brambleclaw and Firestar, blocking the entrance.
Suddenly Jayfeather felt something stir inside Firestar, and the feeling that was coming from the den was extremely uneasy now.
"Lionblaze?" Firestar's voice came again, sharper this time. "What are you doing?"
Lionblaze's scent was stronger now, and Jayfeather realized that Lionblaze had moved in front of Firestar to cut off his exit from the den. Lionblaze's voice came in an answering snarl as Jayfeather re-focused on Firestar.
"Remember me to Starclan, Firestar."
Firestar went stiff with shock, and Jayfeather found himself dragged into one of the leader's memories.
He was at the old territory's Thunderclan camp. Cats of Thunderclan battled with rouges, Jayfeather could pick out Mousefur in the battle, and Jayfeather could recognize some of the rouges. Blackstar and Russetfur were among them. Jayfeather's attention snapped back to Firestar as he sneaked around the edge of the battle, towards the leader's den. When Firestar reached the den, he could hear a female cat's voice coming out of the den. "We can worry about that later, Tigerclaw. The Clan needs us now."
Bluestar! Jayfeather now knew where he was. This was the battle of Tigerstar's betrayal, like the elders had told them when he was still a kit. He noted on the side that this was much more interesting then the story.
Bluestar was speaking again, sounding surprised. "Tigerclaw? What are you doing?"
An answering snarl, "Remember me to Starclan, Bluestar."
Jayfeather froze in shock. Firestar and Lionblaze had just said practically those exact words. The memory ended, and Jayfeather was standing back on the edge of the path up to Highledge. What's happening? He wondered, seriously confused. It seemed that almost no time has passed in the viewing of the memory, and Firestar, almost not noticing what he was saying, retorted, "Lionblaze, what is this? I'm the leader of this clan, or have you forgotten that?"
Lionblaze was surprised by the quick recover of the clan leader, and the fact that he said exactly what Bluestar had said so many moons ago. Tigerstar had told him of the battle of his exile. Lionblaze quickly recovered from his slight shock, and replied how Tigerstar had in his attempt at taking Thunderclan. I will take Thunderclan TODAY! I won't make the mistakes Tigerstar did. I can't I'm the only worthy cat of the three, the only pure-clan cat of the prophecy.
"Not for much longer. I'm going to kill you, and kill you again. However many times it takes for you to join Starclan forever! It's time for ME to lead this clan!"
With that, he leapt at Firestar. Taken by surprise, he bowled over the older cat. Out of the corner of his eye, Lionblaze saw Brambleclaw make for an escape. Lionblaze knocked his front paws into Firestar's back, landing a back kick straight into Brambleclaw's stomach, silencing his warning call over the camp before it started. Being distracted by Brambleclaw, Firestar managed to get his paws under him and rear up, throwing the massive cat off him. Lionblaze hit the ground, managing to get his feet just under him when both Brambleclaw and Firestar pounced on him. With a grunt, he dodged the flailing claws without a mark, but the tussle of three cats rolled out of the den and off Highledge, narrowly missing Jayfeather as he scrambled up the path. Jayfeather immediately turned around and scrambled down the path, stopping by Hollyleaf.
Tigerstar cursed under his breath, and stalked down the path to Highledge, catching Lionblaze's eye as the young tom rolled away from the two cats he attacked so foolishly. The impulsive young cat attacked when he told him to abort. Tigerstar shook his head to himself; thinking about mistakes would not kill Firestar now. He again caught his grandchild's eye, and growled softly, "Kill Firestar."
Tigerstar's mind worked furiously, trying to find how to get Lionblaze to be a trusted leader, to cover up for killing the leader, deputy, and his cousins. Suddenly his mind clicked. He'd simply have to show that he was controlling Lionblaze. Make himself appear in person not just to Lionblaze, but to the entire clan. Then when he's leader, Lionblaze will announce to the clan that my spirit possessed him, but Starclan had freed him. It would take a while, but his clan would soon accept him. Tigerstar smirked. Well, noble leading later, killing everyone in the way for now. Who else should he get his grandchild to murder?
Jayfeather heard Lionblaze scramble to his paws at the same time as Firestar. The entire clan was around the edges of the camp, extremely confused and worried. Firestar's mind seemed empty, and Jayfeather felt his gaze staring, unseeing. He fell into yet another memory, of the same time as the past two he had had less than a minute before. Jayfeather barely had time to take in the scene, Firestar pinning down Tigerstar with Bluestar staring with the blank gaze that Firestar presently had, before he was dragged back to reality. Firestar's mind flooded with fury.
"Traitor!" Firestar spat, flinging himself at Lionblaze. That's easy; give me something harder, kittypet! Lionblaze jeered in his mind as he reared up, stepping back and hooking his claws easily into Firestar's throat, stopping his movement in mid-leap, Lionblaze's claws dug even deeper, and Firestar gasped for air as Lionblaze flung him down to the ground a tail-length away. Lionblaze leapt on Firestar's back, front claws running down his shoulders, back claws down his haunches. He looked up at Tigerstar, who nodded, and he lithely leapt off the leader's body, which was now twitching, steadily losing movement.
Lionblaze's eyes gazed around the camp. All the cats were huddled at the edge of camp, their eyes full of fear. Except for one. Blambleclaw. The deputy was starting to stalk up, his eyes gleamed with shock, but he was nonetheless attempting to gather himself up and attack his only son, his only child. Suddenly, as Brambleclaw leaped he was knocked sideways onto the ground, pinned down by an invisible force. Tigerstar appeared in front of the clan, a gleaming translucent figure. Tigerstar leaned down to Brambleclaw's face, a smug expression creeping up on his face. "I'm back," He growled in his son's ear.
Dustpelt took a step back in horror, instinctively taking a step in front of Longtail. Tigerstar, their old haunt, was somehow back. Longtail was shaking his head back and forth in confusion and panic, picking up the faint scent of Tigerstar, but not able to see him, or, in fact, anything. Dustpelt whispered in his old mentor's ear, "Tigerstar's back. Mousefur will look after you, just stay back and stay with Mousefur." Longtail nodded, still looking frightened, and Mousefur put her tail around his neck.
Now it was time. Dustpelt started to stalk forward through the masses of his clan, ears flat back against his head. As he got past the front line of his clan mates, however, he felt claws scratching his face, and he fell over sideways. Hawkfrost, pinning Dustpelt down with one of his front paws, appeared in front of the rest of the clan. He leaned forward, his head right over Dustpelt's. Hawkfrost sneered at the foolish warrior underneath him, and bit out his right eye. Blood spilled over the warrior's face, and Hawkfrost let the warrior go, proceeding to stalk in front of the clan, keeping them from challenging Lionblaze.
Good, Lionblaze thought, here comes round two. Firestar had gone still, but now was stirring again. A cat nudged him, Lionblaze looked over his shoulder to see who. It was Tigerstar. Hawkfrost had herded Brambleclaw into the area of the rest of the clan with some major wounds. As Firestar became conscious and started to struggle into a standing position, he got his paws knocked out from under himself as Tigerstar planted one of his paws in the middle of Firestar's back. Firestar twisted his head around to see who had pinned him down. He convulsed in shock as he saw his old nemesis standing there, pinning him down despite his translucent appearance.
Tigerstar flicked his tail to his grandchild, and Tigerstar leaned down, his teeth buried into Firestar's ear, and Tigerstar jerked the leader's head up, exposing his neck. Lionblaze, getting the cue, walked calmly up to Firestar, dipped his head down to Firestar's neck, and drew himself back sharply and Firestar attempted to bite Lionblaze's ear with his still-working jaws. Lionblaze smirked at the leader's desperate attempt to keep himself from dying again. "Careful, kittypet, or I'll have to scratch your jaw off." Lionblaze growled, flattening his ears back. "Can you really not drive event the spirit of a cat from the Place of no Stars off of you? How pathetic. Once a kittypet, always a kittypet, I guess."
Tigerstar smirked. His son was ding quite fine with this. Tigerstar let go o Firestar's ear, and clamped his enormous jaws over Firestar's mouth, jamming them shut and forcing him to once again expose his neck. Lionblaze took a step forward again, and leaned in. His teeth sank into the leader's neck as he tasted the warm blood that flowed into his mouth. He felt Firestar's heartbeat pumping slower and slower through his body. Lionblaze ripped the flesh in his mouth from Firestar's convulsing body, and Tigerstar stepped off the leader to leave him to his convulsing.
Lionblaze pricked his ears as he heard Jayfeather start muttering again. Jayfeather seemed to be muttering "Great. Now there's only three left."
Tigerstar picked up this comment too. He pricked his ears and looked to his grandchild. "Firestar has only three lives left after this one. We should start on the others."
Lionblaze nodded. "Who do we start on?
Tigerstar grinned. "Just go in there and start. I told you who I'd like to die earlier. Kill them in any order, and kill anyone who gets in the way.
Lionblaze nodded. He'd star with a warm up, an easy target that Tigerstar had told him to kill during one of their meetings. Longtail seemed a good warm up. He stalked towards his clanmates, seeing them tense up and form a wall against him. Lionblaze grinned, bunched his muscles, and leaped over all his clanmates, landing in front on Liongtail, who recoiled and looked sharply side to side. Dustpelt, the socket where his eye used to be still bleeding slightly, leaped in front of the blind tom.
Oh well, Lionlaze thought, There goes my warm-up. Lionblaze leaped over the tom and immediately jumped on the tom's back. Dustpelt reared up, but the weight on his back overcame him and he started to topple over backwards. Sensing this, Lionblaze twisted his body and put his front legs on the ground, then his back legs. Dustpelt crashed on his back, and Lionblaze leaped high into the air, twisting to one side ot send the older warrior flying off him. Dustpelt landed sideways in a heap and Lionblaze, landing on his feet, jumped on Dustpelt's side, scratching down his shoulder and stomach. Lionblaze leaned forward, and, smirking, bit the warrior's throat out.
Dustpelt struggled vainly underneath Lionblaze's paws, and then grew still. Lionblaze leapt nimbly over Brackenfur, and landed in front of Longtail again. Mousefur, shaking with the effort, tried to pounce on the young warrior. Lionblaze reared onto his hind paws and took two steps back. Mousefur landed, amazingly, on her feet right below Lionblaze's forepaws, which came crashing down on Mousefur's back, knocking her to the ground. Lionblaze bit down on her neck, and the elder's body also grew still. Lionblaze leapt upwards at an angle, burying his teeth into Longtail's neck, and forcing them back a tail-length before landing. As Lionblaze turned around, looking for a new victim.
"Lionblaze!" The young warrior's head turned. Tigerstar was calling him. Firestar was up again. It was time for round three, and it looked as if Tigerstar and Hawkfrost had enough trouble keeping the clan back from him, he would have to fight by himself this time. No problem.
Author's notes:
One: I do not own Warriors or the characters within it. Do I honestly look like any of the Erins to you?
Two: You can not imagine how much joy I get from giving you detailed descriptions of exactly how Firestar loses so many of his last lives. I am the major in Firestar hating.
Three: I'm amazed at how many characters I managed to kill in the first chapter. I'm so happy! More deaths next! Don't you love cliffhangers! Now this guarantees that people who read this will most likely follow it too!
Four: I expect to end this story in about Six to Seven chapters with an epilogue.
Six: This story is actually what I wish Sunrise (Power of three book six) would end out like. I know it'll never happen.
Seven: I'll try to update this once every two weeks, it might take a little longer than that…
Eight: This is rated teen despite the fact that I started it when I was twelve… I'm thirteen now, though. Aren't I creepy? smiles Anyway, It's teen because of all the detailed deaths. And violence. I'm sure anyone who read The Darkest Hour would say that they're used to it, but whatever, I've got to follow the rules.
Nine: Please comment!
Ten: For some reason I kept stopping writing the first chapter for a week when I got to a part where Firestar started convulsing again. I just can't find a way to continue.
Eleven: In case you're wondering, other cats that Tigerstar wanted killed that survived were Cloudtail, Brightheart, Ferncloud, and Graystripe.
Twelve: I actually took time to decide on which of Firestar's lives he would kill each cat.
Thirteen: I skipped number five, didn't I?