Chapter Text
1.1
Firestar sighed as he awoke, stretching on his incredibly soft bedding. This is nice.
His nose twitched when he couldn’t smell Sandstorm, opening his eyes only to immediately shut them again at how bright it was. Slowly opening them back up, he hissed softly as he realized he was in a twoleg den, his old twoleg den!
Jumping up, the ginger tom attempted to get the now unfamiliar collar off his neck, growling when it wouldn’t budge. Twisting around, a black part of the blue collar was in front of his teeth, and he bit down, releasing himself from the choking accessory. He needed to get back to Thunderclan! What would they think of him, seeing him now?
Though, as he made to run for the cat-flap, he stumbled over himself, off balance. It was like he was… smaller.
Smelling the air, Firestar realized his own scent had a kitten tinge to it, and he realized what was happening. Was he back? At the beginning?
A purr began to rumble in his throat. He could save so many cats! He just had to do some work!
Getting outside, he jumped the fence and walked into the forest, immediately smelling his friend about to pounce. Firestar dodged to the right, playfully batting at Greypaw’s head with his soft paws. Hopefully this time they didn’t think of him as too soft.
The two play fought for a little while before Greypaw laughed, and Firestar found himself giggling along with him. “You fight well for a non-clan cat!”
“Oh really? Cuz you fought like a 1 moon old kit!” Firestar snorted, and Greypaw squealed indignantly. “I DID NOT!!!”
“That’s enough.” Lionheart’s voice rumbled, and both younger cats sat up for attention as he came out of the foliage. Greypaw looked scared, and Firestar felt a pang of emotion when he realized the younger version of his best friend was fearful of the older tom’s apparent disapproval. “Lionheart I didn’t mean—”
“We know.” Bluestar’s voice admittedly sent a shiver up Firestar’s spine. It’d felt like forever since he’d seen her, and her intelligent eyes made him feel like he was being picked apart piece by piece. “You are curious, I did not think a non-clan cat was capable of fighting that well, especially one so young.”
You’re the one who taught me! He wanted to say proudly, but held his tongue, instead bowing his head respectfully. The molly nodded, and looked at him with interest. “Why were you entering the forest, little one?”
An excuse that wouldn’t anger her quickly came to mind, and he spoke quietly and politely. “I heard of a group of wildcats, and wanted to see.”
“So you have.” Lionheart dipped his head and Bluestar purred in amusement. “Would you be interested in joining Thunderclan?”
Firestar could practically leap for joy. “I would love to!”
Nodding, Bluestar spoke quietly in response. “We will meet you tomorrow at Sunhigh to bring you to our camp, see you then.”
As the three left and Firestar waved with his tail, he felt excitement and determination fill his chest. He would save Redtail, he would save everyone.
~
The forest was just how he remembered it as he weaved through the foliage, making his way to sunningrocks. This was where Tigerstar, or Tigerclaw, was going to kill Redtail, and Firestar needed to stop him.
He waited for the battle to occur, a pang running through his heart when he realized he hadn’t accounted for Oakheart’s death. I’m sorry Bluestar, he thought and before he knew it, the battle had begun, and cats were flying everywhere, attacking and shedding blood.
It wasn’t long until the rocks crumbled, and Oakheart was buried beneath them, making Firestar grieve for him silently as Riverclan retreated. Ravenpaw’s lanky form disappeared into the undergrowth quickly, and Firestar raised his hackles and waited for just the right moment. Tigerclaw crept up towards Redtail and slashed the tom's throat.
Firestar pounced, grabbing the tabby warrior’s neck and swiftly ripping it out, dropping fur to the floor as Redtail stared at him in horror and awe. Tigerclaw dropped to the ground, gurgling and coughing before lying still, and Firestar couldn’t help but feel.. Relief. He’d saved his clan from losing Redtail, he’d saved them from Tigerstar!
Though now that he remembered he had an audience, he crept towards Redtail, trying to keep his posture calm. “Are you okay?”
“Wha.. How…?” The tortoiseshell tom spluttered, before shakily standing and giving him a look over. “How old are you..?”
“Uhm.. Six moons I think?” Redtail’s eyes widened in even more horror, and Firestar was swiftly grabbed by the scruff of the neck as the tom began limping towards Thunderclan camp. Trying to writhe and wriggle away, Firestar grumbled as he was dragged. This was totally unfair.
There were the loud voices of his clanmates, dead and alive, inside, and Firestar had to remind himself to keep his composure, no matter how much something in him wanted to squeal with glee. Being dragged into the gorse tunnel, all talk stopped as the two of them came into view. Bluestar stared down at him with surprise and confusion from the high rock, while Whitestorm and Lionheart looked at each other in surprise.
Redtail dumped him in the clearing, and he shook out his pelt before looking around. He saw so many familiar but now gone faces that he wanted to cry. Lionheart, Whitestorm, Spottedleaf, Runningwind, and just. Everyone. Silently, he grieved for the relationships that had once been before standing straight and facing Bluestar. “Hello, ma’am.”
“...Redtail, what is going on?” She completely ignored him, looking to her deputy for his explanation, which he quickly gave. “This kit saved me when Tigerclaw tried to kill me.”
There was immediate outrage, especially from Darkstripe and Longtail, and Bluestar sighed while rubbing her face with a paw before yowling for silence. Redtail began to speak, but Firestar started zoning out, looking around and thinking about how much the camp had changed when he was here last, mostly due to the fire.
Suddenly, he was shaken out of his reminiscing by Bluestar, looking directly at him. “How did you know my deputy was in danger, kit?”
Oh mouse-dung he didn’t think of this. Uh. UH.
“I had a dream…?” Was all he could come up with, and Spottedleaf lit up and stepped forward. “You had a dream? Explain it, if you would.”
“There was a tiger… and it was circling him over there.. And then I woke up and just… Moved. Like I knew exactly where to go.” It was the best he could come up with, and Spottedleaf’s eyes gleamed with interest and mischief.
“This kit is telling the truth, Starclan sent me a vision about him joining the clan.” There were surprised murmurs and some disagreements, before Redtail stepped forward himself, head held high and voice firm. “He saved my life. This scratch wasn’t from Riverclan, it was from Tigerclaw. Without this kit I would be dead.”
“Well, I believe this has been settled.” Bluestar looked down on Firestar and he sat upright, looking to her for what she would do next. Thankfully, all he found in her eyes was pleasant surprise and some pride. “What is your name, kit?”
“Fire. It’s Fire.”
“Then young Fire, I name you Firepaw, and you will train under all of us, including Spottedleaf, until you find your right path.” There were questions from the other cats, especially the more traditional ones about him not being made a medicine cat apprentice due to his “prophetic dream”, but Spottedleaf shook her head. “You cannot force things like this.”
A pang of pain flitted through Fire[star? paw?] as he thought of Cinderpelt, and how she was practically forced after the incident with the monster. That wouldn’t happen again if he could help it.
Though, as the clan began chanting his name, he stood in pride and already thought about how much he could help and has already helped. He was so excited!
1.2
Firestar was tired.
He’d done the last seasons over and over and over again and he was just so tired of it all. The orange cat had saved everyone numerous times, but he always just started again at the beginning. For Starclan’s sake, he’d even appealed to Tigerclaw’s love of his kits to stop him in an attempt to keep the tom alive, thinking that might be what’s causing the loops, but no luck.
This time though… something was different. In fact, most everything was different.
He wasn’t in the twoleg den, Firestar was instead in a hollow tree. Still being a kitten— though much younger, probably around 3 moons or so— he quietly padded out of the small hole that was the entrance.
The forest around him was way bigger than he remembered it to be, with trees stretching high into the sky as the bushes rattled and shook with the wind. A strong scent of fear encompassed the cat, and he swiftly scrambled back into the hollow tree on instinct. Something was very wrong.
Waiting in the tree for a while, Firestar perked up as the scent of Greystripe, or he guesses, Greypaw, came closer. The grey kitten tom squeezed inside beside him, laying his head on Firestar’s back as they curled up together. He didn’t say anything, and when the orange tom went to question him, a visceral fear exploding in his chest stopped him.
Can’t talk can’t make noise silence silence silence or else they will hear and i’ll be killed—
…
Something was very wrong.
They lay there for a while, Greypaw continuing to stay silent as Firestar forced himself to do the same. His mind was clouded, swirling and shifting with images and emotions he couldn’t understand other than pure Fear.
His stomach rumbled audibly, causing Greypaw to startle slightly. Food. They needed to find food.
Getting up, he grimaced as Greypaws ears turned backwards, getting out of the hollow tree and opening his mouth slightly to taste for prey. The bigger kitten quietly exited with him, flicking his bushy tail to the left before beginning to silently pad into the brush, Firestar following quietly.
The scent of mouse overtook the orange cat, and he quietly crept forward towards it, forcing himself to continue even as his heart sped up frantically in fright. One more step out into the clearing, and he’d have it. The hunger ramped up, rumbling in his stomach with a pure need to eat.
Firestar pounced, killing the mouse with a bite and scrambling back into the brush, staying silent as he stayed next to a shivering Greypaw, the mouse held firmly in his jaws even as he desperately wanted to dig in.
The world shook as a large, so very large creature came closer. It was blue, with deer-like antlers poking out of its furred head; a mane swaying majestically in the soft blowing wind as its face was pulled into a permanent frown. Water fell from its eyes, and Firestar wanted to keen as he recognized the scent.
Bluestar.
Bluestar shambled about in the clearing, her mouth opening to reveal rows upon rows of sharp teeth jutting out. She lay down with her back turned to them, and Firestar felt Greypaw move backwards, back towards the hollow tree.
He wanted to say that it would be ok, that Bluestar was fair and wouldn’t hurt them, but he couldn’t be so sure.
Quietly, he followed his friend with his mouse hanging from his mouth, keeping an ear out for any noises.
This was going to be a long loop.
1.3
Fire, he was going with Fire for now, gently placed another rock on top of the pile, eyes narrowing happily as the pile stayed up. Just two more and he’d beat his record.
Searching for another stone, he blinked slowly as Frostfur watched from afar, waving his tail in greeting. She waved her tail in return, carefully padding towards him as he continued to search. “.... What are you doing?”
See, Fire had been making himself out to be a special type of kittypet descendant. So of course, he couldn’t just say what he was doing, he had to have fun with it. Looking at his friend with a small smile, he began to weave a tale.
“Where I’m from, this is how we honor the twolegs who take care of us. They find our towers beautiful, and will give us more as long as we make more. It’s said that if you make one twenty rocks tall, you will be blessed with the ability to talk to dogs.”
Frostfur looked at him in shock and confusion, looking back at the stone tower with a wary look. He was at nineteen.
Taking his final rock, Fire carefully placed it on the top of the pile before moseying off back to camp, leaving Frostfur to stare at the pile with a struggling and afraid expression.
He had to tell Smudge and Princess when he got the chance so they could spread it around.
1.4
Fire was lounging on the fence as he thought about what to do this loop.
He’d already befriended Scourge in a loop, he’d messed with the clans in another, and he’d saved them from Tigerstar, Brokenstar, and even Leopardstar once. Maybe he could tell stories of that one loop with the silence? Say it’s an old kittypet tale…
Sighing, he looked out at the forest, wondering if he should just try and redo what he did at the very beginning. Maybe that would stop the loops. Maybe.
Grumpily getting up and preparing to jump down from the fence, Fire stopped when a scent came rushing forwards from the trees and undergrowth. Greypaw perhaps? No no, it was too old to be the apprentice's scent.
A familiar but surprising cat came out from the forest, looking up at him with fear before relief.
“Runningwind?”
He spoke without thinking, utterly flabbergasted at the deviation from the norm. The other tom seemed equally confused, blurting out something revealing in return.
“Fireheart?!”
The stench of Tigerclaw and his cronies came closer, so Fire motioned for Runningwind to follow him before heading back into the twoleg den through the catflap. Smelling the others presence behind him, the orange tom sat down and looked up at him, quietly wishing he wasn’t kitten height.
A feeling of glee and hope came over him as he looked the warrior up and down, smiling happily as he spoke.
“You… remember. You remember!”
“Fireheart what in Starclan’s name is going on?! Why are you a kitten again? Why are cats who are dead alive again? Why was Tigerclaw anywhere near Thunderclan?!”
Oh. Right. This was his first loop. He didn’t know.
“What’s the last thing you remember before being back in camp?”
The warrior winced, and shook his head as he spoke, voice catching slightly on air as the memories seemingly came rushing back.
“Mousefur, Thornpaw and me were patrolling and… we saw Tigerclaw and his rogues. They attacked us and there was pain and suddenly I… I was back in camp.”
Interesting… he didn’t remember being in Starclan. Fire purred in an attempt to soothe, looking up at him with a hopefully reassuring face.
“We’re in a loop. For me it’s been going on for seasons upon seasons but this is your first. Time is repeating a–and I don’t know how to stop it, but I’ve been trying the best I can to help everyone. Though… I guess I just wanted a break this loop, but that’s not happening haha...”
Runningwind processed it slowly, but eventually nodded, his tail flicking to sit next to Fire’s.
“So… when did time restart for you?”
“After we defeated Bloodclan!”
“What is Bloodclan?”
“... UH.”