Sleep, Perchance To Dream

A/N: Hey Dude1094! Love yah buddy, this one is all for you. :] Let's write together sometime like we promised, all right? Whenever you're ready. *thumbs up*

Firestar had not dreamed since the battle between Lionclan and Bloodclan. His sleep was muffled and dark, restless and undisturbed by signs from Starclan. He should have felt comforted that they had no need for him, but he didn't. Instead he only felt unease that something was missing, a gap had formed inside him somewhere deep down that he couldn't explain. It had been there almost since he'd first become leader of Thunderclan, though he could not remember the exact point in time it had come to be, only that it was there now. And there were no more dreams to guide him.

Laying his head down on his paws and curling his tail around his nose he tried to drift off to sleep, praying to Starclan in his mind to come to him. It made him uneasy to think that they were ignoring him.

The world lay dark and unrelenting around him when he finally drifted off, as usual. Firestar crouched in the shadows, fur bristling. This was no place for cats. And yet he dreamed of it every night. A dark forest where no wind blew and no scents of life tickled his nose. Not event he grass rustled as he huddled against the ground, his emerald eyes peering around the darkness as though some cat might appear to lead him away from it. But as usual, nothing of that sort happened. Flicking his ears, Firestar strained to hear any sounds he recognized. The roar of the Thunderpath, the whispers of his clan gossiping, the sound of a bird or mouse scuffling among the pants for food, unknowing prey.

But the world was silent. He sat up, inhaling deeply to try and catch a scent of his clan, it had to be Thunderclan territory after all, there were too many trees for it to be any other clan's. Though as with sound, there was no smell either. Shivering in the nonexistent wind, Firestar craned his neck upwards, feeling his breath catch in his throat.

There wasn't a moon to shed light on this forest. In fact, there wasn't even a single star in the sky. How he was able to see at all was a mystery to him. Slowly, he padded forward through the trees and undergrowth, his spine tingling with wariness. He had to know once and for all why he was trapped in this wretched place night after night. There had to be a reason. There was a reason for everything.

He paused as his paws became tangled amidst some bramble, hissing as it pricked through his fur and into his skin. Pushing past it he stumbled into a clearing between the trees and halted where he stood. A faint, strangely familiar smell teased his nose and he tilted his head to try and pinpoint it. It smelled of Thunderclan, but he couldn't remember which cat it belonged to.

"Of course you don't," a smooth voice mewed calmly, "Your mind is too muddled to remember how I smelled before I left."

Firestar whipped around, his eyes straining through the darkness to find the speaker. But he could not. "Where are you?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," the voice mused. "Why are you here? Come to extract the revenge you had no chance to complete yourself?"

The fiery furred tom stiffened, bounding towards a tree off to his right and staring up into it's branches. A broad shouldered tabby tom lay among the boughs, his tail hanging down and flicking lazily back and forth while he stared down at the Thunderclan leader with glazed amber eyes.

"Hello, Kittypet," Tigerstar muttered, looking away out over the clearing as though he didn't really care that his oldest enemy was within his grasp.

"Tigerclaw," Firestar breathed, stunned. He couldn't move, watching in confusion as the warrior didn't budge from his perch and merely blinked and looked down at him with a slight frown and a twitch of his whiskers.

"Tigerstar," he corrected with a soft growl.

"We are all equal in Starclan's eyes," Firestar said evenly. "And you were never meant to be Shadowclan's leader. You know that as well as I."

A smirk tugged at the corner of the deceased cat's mouth, "I was meant to lead the clan you watch over now, Kittypet. You know that as well as I," he countered, mockingly. "And what nonsense is this about all cats being equal in Starclan's eyes?" He waved his tail towards the sky, "There is no Starclan here, Kittypet."

Firestar turned his gaze towards the inky blackness above once more, "Then where is this place, if not in Starclan? I thought-"

"You thought wrong," Tigerstar interrupted with a growl. He leapt down from the branch beside the younger tom, watching with satisfaction as the flinched and stepped back. Padding forward, the dark tabby made his way into the center of the clearing, sitting down and wrapping his tail over his paws, "This is the world between Starclan and the clans, the place where cats who have done wrong in their lives end up. It is The Place Of No Stars, Kittypet. And it is my prison."

Slowly, Firestar approached him, ducking his head when Amber eyes focused upon him once more, "Am I meant to end up here too some day then?" He looked away when Tigerstar merely stared at him in obvious confusion, "I-uh . . . I've been dreaming of this place for almost a moon now. This is the first time I've seen anyone here."

Tigerstar blinked slowly, an almost uncharacteristic smile flickering across his features for a moment before it vanished, "No, Kittypet. This world is not meant for you. It is a place for traitors and murderers, not for softhearted fools." He tilted his head towards the sky with a frown, "Go home, Kittypet."

The next night Firestar found himself crouched on the edge of the bramble enclosed clearing once more. Tigerstar was sitting on the opposite side, eyes closed and his tail curled over his paws. Slowly, Firestar approached him. He had nothing else to do after all, and it was just a dream, right? Nothing could hurt him here, not even Tigerstar. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Curiosity killed the Kittypet," Tigerstar mewed coolly, though he did not answer. A long moment passed before he opened his eyes, blinking down at the other tom with faint annoyance in his gaze. "I was trying to remember what the stars looked like, if you must know. Now go, away with you." He flicked his tail towards the opposite edge of the clearing where Firestar had come from.

Firestar tilted his head to the side but didn't budge, staring up at Tigerstar with a confused look. "Why are you trying to remember the stars?"

A frustrated sigh escaped the tabby tom and he began to stalk away towards the tree Firestar had found him in the night before, "Do you forget I was raised to believe in Starclan's mercy, Kittypet? Even if they have forsaken me, that does not mean I have done the same for them. I am a clan cat by blood, and I plan to remain that way for as long as I can." He leapt up into the lowest branches, settling down in the crook of one between leaves and trunk with a tired groan.

The Thunderclan leader stared up at him for a heartbeat before he scrambled up the trunk to stand over him on the branch. "You think that Starclan will redeem you?"

"No, I know what I have done and I do not regret it. I did what I believed was right," Tigerstar snorted, "Even if no one else shared that opinion."

"You killed-" Firestar began, drawing off as cold amber eyes fixed their gaze on him.

"I would not have had to if you had never come to the forest," Tigerstar muttered.

Firestar stiffened, "You killed Redtail before you'd even met me! That's no excuse!"

The other cast him a steady glare, his shoulders hunching as he sat up, his height still superior to Firestar's, "And what would you know about that, Kittypet? You do not understand the ways of the clans, even now. I was much older than Redtail, more experienced, more skilled. And yet Bluestar chose him over me because of a prophecy. Just as she chose you for those same reasons. Starclan or not, my destiny was in my own paws, and they had no right to set it in stone the minute I was born." He turned his back to him, a snarl rumbling in his throat, "Leave, Kittypet, this is not where you are meant to be."

"Tell me about this prophecy."

Tigerstar cracked open an amber eye from where he lay curled up on the grass in the center of the clearing, taking in the fiery warrior standing above him. "Not everything Starclan predicts is pretty like your fate was written to be," he mewed darkly. "Some of us are forced down more deadly paths when we are still too young to understand where we are putting our paws." He closed his eyes again, motioning with his tail for Firestar to sit.

"They never told you about the crimes of Pinestar, did they, Kittypet," Tigerstar said softly. "There were few cats in the clan left when you came that remembered that day. If there had been more, you would have never set foot in Thunderclan. But there was only Bluestar and that unfaithful Lionheart." He chuffed in silent laughter as Firestar stiffened, obviously aghast to hear Lionheart referred to as such. "Kittypet, do not assume about things you can not comprehend. Pinestar betrayed Thunderclan and left us. To become a kittypet," he spat out the last word as though it was a stale piece of pray, the syllables annunciated in a way that Firestar had never even heard directed at him.

"He left his clan?" the Thunderclan leader whispered hoarsely, unable to believe it. A clan leader was a cat who was supposed to protect their clan above all else.

"His clan, his mate . . . His kit," Tigerstar drew off, opening his eyes and digging his claws into the earth, tearing up a pawfull of grass. "And he didn't even care. He never looked back."

Firestar exhaled slowly, eyes narrowing with sudden understanding, "You were that kit, weren't you."

Tigerstar kept his gaze trained on the torn up earth between his paws, "I was. And I promised myself that day to never let a leader as disloyal as that lead us again. And then Sunstar went and made Bluefur his deputy instead of Thistleclaw. Neither was the right choice, but who would listen to the son of a traitor?" He shook his head, growing silent.

The fiery tom settled down beside him in the grass, "You still haven't explained the prophecy you referred to earlier. Blood does not make the cat, Tigerstar."

"You would say that," the former Shadowclan leader said, shifting away a bit. "We had this . . . This insane old medicine cat named Goosefeather. But even though he had bees in his brain, he was uncannily right about many things. Everything was a bad omen to him, including me. When I was just a kit he freaked out when Whitekit and I were exploring too close to his den. He called me a creature, yowling that I was vermin. And yet I was not even old enough to set a paw outside of camp." He yawned, stretching his paws out in front of him and sprawling across the grass on his stomach, "Just as you were, I was labeled from birth. Except as not a savior, but a killer."

Firestar couldn't reply to that, and he laid his head on his paws without a sound, watching the other out of the corners of his eyes. After a few heartbeats Tigerstar mewed, "Go back to your clan, Kittypet."

And as with every other time Tigerstar banished him from the clearing, Firestar found himself once more in the safety of his den beneath the Highrock

"You knew Bluestar and Oakheart were meeting, didn't you?" Firestar whispered, starting out the night with another question. This time he'd caught Tigerstar stalking through the undergrowth near the bramble, pouncing on fallen leaves as though they were prey, though there was no prey to be caught in this place. The older warrior stood up and began to lick his chest fur, and Firestar wondered if he was embarrassed to be caught doing something so kit-like. "I did," he said after a moment's pause. "I would have been a fool not to notice them. But I said nothing, hoping her betrayal and her kits would leave the position for deputy open to a more worthy cat. But of course, she had to go and give the kits to Riverclan. I knew then that our clan was doomed. A cat can not lead with a paw in two places, Kittypet."

Firestar tilted his head to the side, not offended, but rather simply curious, "Are you suggesting that I am the same."

Tigerstar looked down at him, amber eyes roaming over his body slowly, contemplatively. "No. You have a Thunderclan heart, I would never say you didn't. but you are ignorant of what it means to be clan born. You are still too soft on the other clans. You need to show them Thunderclan's strength, and not it's weakness and kindness. It will be the death of you."

"Then I'd rather die doing what I believe is right," Firestar retorted.

Amber eyes focused on him, faint amusement sparkling in them, "So be it. But that is what makes you you, Kittypet. I too believed that everything I did was for the right end." He looked away, "Why are you still here, Kittypet? Why do you not share your dreams with Starclan as you are meant to?"

"I don't know," Firestar answered honestly, "Maybe they have left me to my own devices and I have wandered here all on my own. Or maybe I am meant to be here instead, talking with you." He tilted his head to the side, waiting for the other to lash out at him.

"There is nothing to discuss that you would find useful," Tigerstar said slowly.

"That's not true," Firestar mewed softly, "Everything you've told me is very useful. Maybe not to every cat, but it is to me. I want to know. I've always wanted to know."

Tigerstar glanced at him, bemused, "Know what?"

"Why you did what you did. I always thought you were just power hungry. But when you said that forming Tigerclan was the best solution so there would be no more fighting, you truly wanted that."

Tigerstar rolled his eyes, though he did not miss the sincerity in the other's gaze, "I wanted power too, Kittypet. But yes, I believed in everything I did. I only let my hate and anger get the better of me twice. Just twice." He stared off into the darkness, flicking his tail over Firestar's eyes, "Now sleep, Kittypet. You are not welcome here."

It was many moons before Firestar found his paws touching strangely lifeless grass again. The world was just as dark and unforgiving as he remembered it, starless and silent. He picked his way through the trees until he found the barrier of thorns and brambles. For the first time he wondered of perhaps the brambles were meant to keep Tigerstar in the clearing, though Firestar could easily step over him if he kept track of where his paws were.

As it was the first time he'd found the place, there was no sign of Tigerstar. The fiery warrior paced around the trees until he found himself looking up into the boughs of the one he'd come upon the first time, staring up at the dozing tabby just above. "You've been busy," he remarked sarcastically.

"As have you," Tigerstar replied smoothly, not opening his eyes and twitching his ears only slightly to acknowledge the other's presence.. "It's been awhile, Kittypet. What lovely fate-filled adventure did Starclan send you on this time?"

Firestar scrambled up the trunk of the tree to settle in beside him, pleased that for once Tigerstar didn't flinch away when their pelts brushed. "I think you were right," he said softly.

"About what?" the former Shadowclan leader still didn't open his eyes.

"Starclan's cruelty," Firestar whispered. "That they are wrong to mark out a cat's destiny before they have a chance to decide for themselves." He swallowed, for once talking calm in the starless sky. Starclan could not hear him here. Slowly, carefully, he recounted the tale of Skyclan to Tigerstar, explaining how he'd rebuilt them and raised them up from kittypets and loners into warriors to be proud of. "If Starclan cared at all, they would have never abandoned Skyclan to begin with," he finished, his eyes falling on Tigerstar, taking in the broad shoulders and strong legs that marked his descent from the ancient clan.

Tigerstar nodded, "The wants of the many always outweigh the wants of the few. Starclan left them for dead without a care. Just as they did with me. They focus their gaze on one cat and their possible fate and ignore all the others until that cat has no choice but to follow the path they believe of him. Because no one else will listen." Firestar's eyes widened as he realized Tigerstar was not just referring to himself, but to him too. "You did well," Tigerstar said finally, "For a Kittypet. Skyclan will thank you for seasons to come."

Firestar blinked, "You knew . . . You knew about the fifth clan all along, didn't you."

"Spottedleaf and I both did, Fireheart. You were right to guess where our blood went back to. Featherwhisker would tell us when we were still only kits how the lost clan left the forest." He waved his tail impatiently, as if it hardly mattered. "Now, I have a question for you, Kittypet," Firestar took note of the relapse into the title, after the slight slip on his warrior name only moments before, "About the name you gave to my son."

"Brambleclaw," Firestar said with a slight smile. "He is named for his father, to prove to my clan that blood does not mark the warrior, like it did from your father to you. One day I hope he will lead my clan when I am gone."

Tigerstar stared at him, "You trust him with such a thing?"

"As much as I do you," Firestar mewed resolutely. "You are no longer the cat you were when you were alive, Tigerstar. And just as good can come of you, I believe that it will also come of Brambleclaw."

The former Shadowclan leader looked away, "Once again, you assume wrongly. I have not changed as you think I have. I am the same cat I was, nothing more nothing less. But there is nothing left for me to fight for, that is all. The battle can not continue in death."

Firestar's whiskers twitched in amusement, "I'm sure you of all cats would find a way for it to."

Tigerstar cocked his head, "If I wanted to, that is. But for now I am content with my punishment, I do not aspire to worsen it." He closed his eyes, "But I must tell you that you expect too much of my son, Kittypet. He will never lead your clan. The cat you seek is not yet born." His amber eyes opened once more and he turned them towards the sky.

Firestar followed his gaze, startled to see three stars sparkling far overhead where there had been no stars before. "Wh-what?"

"Sleep, Kittypet." Tigerstar's tail covered his eyes before he could say anything more, "You have greater things to worry about. These stars will find you, in time."

Tigerstar opened his eyes to see two bright emerald orbs staring excitedly down at him, "What is it now?" he growled, though he knew the other warrior would find no malice in the remark. He had not meant there to be any. Besides, he could not hurt the fiery tom here.

Firestar's eyes gleamed with joy, "Kits! Two of them, two she-cats! Sandstorm had my kits!"

"Oh goody," Tigerstar yawned, rolling over onto his back and cuffing the other tom lightly over the head, "More Kittypets in my beloved clan. What a joyous occasion. I'm going to sleep now." It's not like he had anything better to do, really. Rolling beck over he closed his eyes again, letting out a fake snore to prove is point. Tigerstar huffed as a weight crashed on top of him, teeth digging gently into his ear, not enough to pierce the skin but definitely enough to annoy.

"You can't! I have to tell you about them!" Firestar insisted, tugging on his ear and kneading his paws into the former Shadowclan leader's side.

"If you must," Tigerstar resigned, shaking him off with a glare before he lay back down again, keeping his eyes on the younger cat as though daring him to try something like that again.

Firestar settled down beside him, leaning against the dark tabby's larger body. "Their names are Squirrelkit and Leafkit. Squirrelkit looks just like me except she has a fluffy tail, what she's named for. And Leafkit is a pale brown tabby with amber-gold eyes and-" Firestar stopped, glancing at Tigerstar with a thoughtful look, "She reminds me a bit of you and Brambleclaw."

"Fun," Tigerstar said sarcastically. "And let me guess, you named her after Spottedleaf, correct?"

"And Leafstar of Skyclan," Firestar added, looking smug. "I can't wait to watch them grow. I wonder if Leafkit will follow in Spottedleaf's footsteps? And Squirrelkit is a little fighter already-" He drew off, glancing at Tigerstar with regretful eyes, "I'm sorry . . ."

Tigerstar tilted his head, "For what?"

Firestar looked away, "You never got to see your kits grow up."

A soft rumble of a laugh formed in Tigerstar's throat, "I can see them from here, Kittypet. All I have to do is close my eyes. Brambleclaw is a fine warrior, and Tawnypelt is an upstanding member of Shadowclan, where she is not frowned upon for my crimes." He nodded to himself. "You have nothing to be sorry for, my death was not your fault."

"I didn't do anything to help you," Firestar whispered, staring at his paws as though eh could still see the blood that had stained them from the life he had not taken.

"There was nothing you could have done," Tigerstar murmured. "Now, let me show you a new battle move I've thought of. There's no point in teaching them to myself if I can't share them, is there?"

For the first time, Firestar woke up on his own accord with the rising of the sun.

"Brambleclaw has been acting odd lately," Firestar commented lightly, as though it was not a topic of import, though Tigerstar could clearly see in his eyes that it was.

"He is a loyal warrior through and through, if that's what you're afraid of," Tigerstar said dryly.

Firestar shook his head, "No, I'm not suggesting he's bound to follow in his father's paw prints. I'm implying that you should tell me what you know about the matter, I assume you are enlightened to it more so than I."

Tigerstar met his gaze evenly, "No good comes of knowing what the future holds before it comes to pass, Kittypet. You of all cats should understand that. If you thought for even a heartbeat that I would reveal such a thing to you, you thought wrong."

The Thunderclan leader made a face at him, but left the matter at that, sitting down beside the other with a resigned sigh. "All right, you win."

"That I do," Tigerstar said smugly, waving his tail teasingly in front of Firestar's nose. "Now what have you come here for today besides to pester me with useless questions. All the seasons we've spent together in this dark forest are getting to your head, little Kittypet. I need to keep you on your toes."

"With what, battle practice?" Firestar asked, eyes shining. "Aw, how did you know I wanted to spar? I think the seasons are wearing on you too, Tigerclaw." "Tigerstar," the older tom corrected evenly. Pacing away and facing the other with a smirk and an amused twitch of his whiskers. "Now, come at me like you mean it. Let's see what you've got." "I do mean it," Firestar snorted, shifting into a hunter's crouch and wiggling his haunches. But he knew Tigerstar could feel the lie in the air as much as he could. Maybe once, many seasons ago when he had not been Leader of Thunderclan, he could have attacked his once nemesis like he really wanted to hurt him. But now he considered Tigerstar one of his closest friends. He didn't even confide in Graystripe as much as he did the ghostly warrior anymore. He trusted Tigerstar with his life, they had the same goals, even if their reasons differed as greatly as the sun and the moon.

Placing his paws firmly on the ground, Firestar whipped his head around the left, watching with satisfaction as Tigerstar followed his gaze, before he launched himself at the older warrior, his paws cuffing him over the ears as he sailed over his head before he latched his teeth onto the former Shadowclan leader's tail. Tigerstar growled in annoyance, whirling to try and face him, but Firestar kept a firm grip on his tail. "Quit acting like a kit, Kittypet! I'm trying to keep you in shape here!"

Firestar laughed, sliding under the unsuspecting tabby and pummeling at his belly with sheathed paws, thrusting upward and forcing Tigerstar into his back, following with a delighted smirk. "As you were saying?" he asked cockily, tail waving triumphantly in the air.

Tigerstar growled, wrapping his paws around the other's neck and flipping them until their positions were reversed. Firestar yowled, startled, and they began to roll across the grass, each scrambling to come out on top. Finally, Firestar found himself with Tigerstar pinned under his paws, the other's amber eyes glazed with exhaustion. "Win?" he panted, too excited at the prospect to get more than one word out. He laughed as Tigerstar merely glared in reply, and leaned down to touch his nose to the other's.

The dark tabby blinked, startled, and rolled out from under the Thunderclan leader, tucking his paws under his belly and looking away. Firestar followed, curling up beside him and pressing his muzzle into the thick fur around Tigerstar's neck. Tigerstar couldn't help but tense. "Kittypet-" he started.

"Quit being a stick in the mud," Firestar muttered, nuzzling under the other's chin. "No one can see us here."

Tigerstar blinked at this, looking up at the three stars that still glittered ominously overhead. "No," he agreed, "No one can see us here." He licked the top he Firestar's ears, letting their tails twine with a held back sigh. He couldn't help but think that if Starclan had never interfered, had never laid out two separate prophecies that doomed him and Firestar to the paths they had walked, that things might have been like this all along. "No one can see us here," he repeated.

Tigerstar awoke from his half-sleep to find emerald eyes staring down on him in a way he'd never seen before. Firestar was looking at him as though one would a ghost, an apparition of the dead they didn't exactly expect to see. In all the time they'd been in this clearing together, the fiery tom had never once gazed at him like that before. Frowning, Tigerstar rolled over and pushed himself to his paws, stretching before he sat up and forced the other to meet his eyes. "Kittypet, what's wrong?"

"You never told me you had four kits," Firestar mewed softly, his tone suggesting he was hurt.

The dark tabby blinked, "What?" Firestar looked away, his eyes clouded, "Mothwing, and . . . And Hawkfrost . . ." The second name was said with such remorse that it made Tigerstar's breath falter. "They're yours, yours and Sasha's, correct?"

"I never knew," he promised, wondering why this new knowledge seemed to bring the Thunderclan leader such pain. He tilted his head to the side, following Firestar's wayward gaze until their eyes met once more, "Kittypet," he prompted, letting his tail swish along the underside of the younger warrior's chin.

Without looking up, Firestar shook his head, "I just got used to looking at Brambleclaw and not seeing you in the shadows of his eyes before he left. And then Hawkfrost jumps out right in front of me like that . . . I didn't know what to think. I thought he was you. For a heartbeat I was scared, remembering the dogs, and the next I wanted to laugh with joy because I wondered if maybe Starclan had finally given you a second chance."

Tigerstar narrowed his eyes, "Starclan would never do such a thing for one such as I, Fireheart." The statement was meant to be gentle, but it came out as a disbelieving growl, and Firestar flinched, barely taking notice of the use of his name.

"I know," he whispered in reply, still not meeting the other's eyes. "But I just thought . . . That maybe because I can see that you've changed that they might . . ." He drew off, "I have more right to decide your fate than any other Starclan cat, right?" After all, I . . ." He kneaded his paws into the grass near his tail, "I lo-"

Tigerstar stepped back a few tail lengths before Firestar could finish his words, and the Thunderclan leader's eyes widened in confusion. "Wha- Tigerclaw, what are you doing?"

He didn't bother to correct Firestar on his name, a snarl ripping itself from his throat, "Don't say it, Kittypet. Don't say it."

Firestar looked confused, opening his mouth as if to retort, but Tigerstar cut him off with a loud yowl. "Don't say it! Damn it all, Kittypet! Can't you see? I've gone too far- we've gone to far," he corrected, shaking his head fiercely. "We were born as mortal enemies, you and I. And now I've let you get to close." He stepped back farther, "Get out."

The younger warrior twisted around as the bramble bordering the edges of the clearing began to crack,, the thorns of the plant falling harmlessly to the forest floor. The bushes themselves began to wilt, their leaves drooping and dropping before lighting aflame on the grass. "Tigerclaw, stop!" Firestar wailed, "What are you doing?" Tigerstar continued to step back from the other tom, shaking his head and screeching, "Get out! Get out!" over and over. "You can't trap me in this clearing any longer, Kittypet!"

Firestar turned shocked eyes to him, "What? Starclan-"

"Starclan left me in the Place of No Stars," Tigerstar hissed, "But you trapped me here! No one else could have built the walls of bramble. And I fell for it. I let myself fall for your pathetic Kittypet act! There is no redemption for sins such as mine!" A cruel laugh ripped itself from his throat, and he snarled in disgust, "I was a fool!"

"Tigerclaw, please!" Firestar mewed pleadingly, "If this was truly a prison of my demise, I never meant to keep you here! I liked being here with you! I liked that you were able to confide in me!" The trees burst into flame, the orange and amber glow spiking high into the air and sparking more and more of the forest alight. "Please! Stop!"

But Tigerstar turned his back, stalking towards the edge of the clearing where a small gap had formed between the brambles, just big enough for a single cat to squeeze through. Firestar sobbed, the image aligning itself with one from many seasons before, when he'd first driven Tigerstar out of Thunderclan and the warrior had not once looked back. "Please," he whispered. But just as before, Tigerstar didn't cast a single glance over his shoulder before he vanished from sight just beyond the barrier.

Firestar stood over the twisted and mangled ground where the large oak that had lain closest to Thunderclan territory once lay. Soon the ground around it too would be dug up by the monsters the twolegs had brought, but by then the clans would be long gone. The Thunderclan leader pressed his nose to the soil, breathing in slowly. This was the place where he'd buried Tigerstar's body after every other cat had gone back to their nests that night many seasons ago. No one else had had the courage to come back but him. And now he was leaving the place far behind, never to return. Would the dead follow them, wherever they went? Or would they be tied to the ground where their bones rested for eternity.

A tail brushed over his flank and he looked up to see amber eyes and he started, only to realize it was Brambleclaw looking down at him, concerned gaze patient and calm. Much unlike his father before him. "I'll take the lead for now, if you'd like to hang back a moment, Firestar," he said softly.

The fiery warrior shook his head, "No, Brambleclaw, thank you. I'm all right." It was a lie, and he knew his former apprentice could see that, but he didn't comment, merely nodding once before he returned to the slowly moving throng of cats that was the four clans.

Turning away from the spot, he let his eyes roam upwards towards the sky where the gently rising sun was begging to blot out the last of the stars. He blinked as the wash of red and orange hit three glints of light, aligned perfectly with each other. "What will their future bring for us, Tigerclaw?" he whispered to himself. "Even if it's terrible, even if you hate me . . . If I could, I'd like to meet you again, even if it was in battle. Just once more."

Let me sleep.

For when I sleep I dream that you are here.

You're mine,

And all my fears are left behind.

I float,

On air.

The nightingale sings gentle lullabies.

So let me close my eyes,

And sleep,

Perchance to dream.

So I can see the face I long to touch,

To kiss.

But only dreams can bring me this.

So let the moon,

Shine softly on the boy I long to see.

And maybe when he dreams he'll dream of me.

I'll hide beneath the clouds,

But whisper to the evening star.

They tell me love is just a dream away.

Dream away.

Dream away.

Dream away.

I'll dream away.

So let the moon,

Shine softly on the boy I long to see.

And maybe when he dreams,

He'll dream of me.

Dream of me.

RANDOM AUTHOR RAMBLE

This is an idea I've had for awhile now, so I used it as a warm-up write during my hectic life between work and packing for college. The song is Dream of Me by Kristin Dunst. I heard it and thought of TigerFire for some ungodly reason. Hmmm . . . Oh well.

The fic takes place between Darkest Hour and the end of Dawn, including snippets from the things going on during that time.

I think I just wanted to write a warriors fic cause I finally finished Skyclan's Destiny. Anyone else think that one was absolutely weird? Daylight-Warriors? I kinda agreed with Sharpclaw on that whole issue, they needed to choose. Not that I didn't like the cats, but meh. Choose. And the whole Romeo and Juliet thing with Red was just tragic. Otherwise I found the book to be rather dull, actually. New Omen book please Erins! That was boring!

I'm gonna mess around with my tablet and try and animate some shiz now. :]