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A loud buzz crackled through the forest as hot, scorching fire spread at a quick pace. Such a buzz that only someone paying special attention would take mind to, but it was so loud that it was hard to get your attention off of it.
A pop, crackle, sizzle as bark got consumed from the inside out. Raging, crying, wailing as the bushes were reduced to twisted limbs.
Trees whining.
Bramble and bracken crumpling underneath the leaves they once were supported by. Their spins shoot off and fall helplessly to the soil.
So many mice and lonely birds go every which way to find a safe way out.
So many yowling cats heave as their chests are filled with fine ash. Yelling orders around, pulling elders and kits by their scruffs. Climbing the walls of their camp to get out lest they get eaten by the fire.
Warriors panted.
Deputy tried his hardest to pull everyone up.
Queens shoved their way to the safety of the lake with their crying kits on their heels.
“Get out, get out!” a ginger she-cat pleaded.
Trapped in an inferno of whirling fire, three other bodies with wide, terrified eyes all looked at their mother.
“What are we supposed to do?” The golden-brown tom yelled out. He was protectively huddling his two smaller siblings, pressing hard against the gray tabby.
Their mother’s fur prickled. “Just get out!” She cried, clawing against a skinny dead tree in an attempt to drag it down to clear a path, “Get Jayfeather out!”
“I can get out my—”
Their mother turned to them, frantic, “No, you can't! Your senses are impaired, don't argue with me about this.”
“Jayfeather…” the black she-cat sounded exhausted.
There was silence, as much as there could be. The ginger she-cat grunted in her attempt to bring the tree down, swaying her curly tail around the dusty ground.
The Golden tom stalked around the interior, keeping his siblings close next to him. A circle of fire blocked all their ways, even to their mother who was on elevated ground. The sounds of their clanmates echoed, their father’s voice the loudest as he led his clanmates towards the lake.
Was he coming for them?
Jayfeather coughed, lungs struggling not to suck in the ash in the air.
“Jayfeather!” His sister fretted. She didn't know what to do, “Lionblaze, quickly!”
“I'm trying!”
Jayfeather’s head sunk low, “I'm fi—” he was interrupted by more coughing.
Why was it so hard to breathe?
Their mother yelped as the tree collapsed suddenly. Another cat ran to her side, a light gray spotted tom, his eyes a mixture of blue and orange that reflected the fire. He said something to their mother before facing the three other warriors.
“Let's get out of here,” the tom said in a sickly-sweet tone. Too sweet.
Their mother sighed in relief, smiling at the spotted tom and nodding. “Thank you, Ashfur.”
The tom was silent, the look in his gaze unreadable from where they stood. What was he thinking? Why wasn't he moving?
Didn't he want to get out too? Just as he said?
Another emotion, one more sour and raw, flashed in Ashfur’s eyes. It was in a second, almost instantly, but noticeable. His fur spiked up, turning his head to look at the three cats below him.
Lionblaze felt a shiver run down his spine, it was like when he was an apprentice again. Ashfur glaring at him with disappointment and disdain for seemingly no reason. Now, as fire blazed around him, Lionblaze felt helpless.
His sister tried her best to hide Jayfeather from view of the other tom, her ears flat against her head. Had she sensed it? The incoming dread, like something terrible was going to occur any minute?
A low growl rumbled in Ashfur’s chest, giving Lionblaze one last notice before turning back to face their mother.
“Actually, I think I changed my mind,” the tom said casually, stretching out his words.
“What?” Their mother replied.
Ashfur stepped closer to the ginger she-cat, tail flicking back and forth erratically. “You probably haven't noticed, have you?”
She blinked at him, confused, but didn't speak.
“You know, before you came along your precious Brambleclaw and I were very close,” the tom paused, then sucked in a breath, “It was him and I against everything. The clans, our fathers, Starclan. Then you came into our lives.”
They were speechless.
“Firestar's perfect daughter. Of course. When you joined us, I didn't mind at first. I liked you; you didn't seem like you cared about the rules, always running off to do your own things and get in trouble. It was fun.”
The gray speckled tom had some fondness yet sorrow in his voice. As if he was nostalgic for a time long gone, something he would never get back. Then, he blinked, and his anger was back in full force.
Ashfur shook his head, “Then you made him love you. Didn't you? You took him away from me, he threw me away like I was crowfood. Because he was more focused on you than me!”
“Ashfur, I didn't—”
“Shut up!” Ashfur screeched and their mother flinched, “he was supposed to be mine, forever! He said he'd become leader one day and I'd be his deputy. You ruined it Squrrielflight, you ruined everything!”
Jayfeather shuffled, lowering to the ground and pinning his ears to his head.
Their mother stiffened, staring at her clanmate with wide eyes. “Wh-what are you talking about?”
“I hate you!” Ashfur screamed inches away from Squirrelflight's face.
The gray speckled tom lowered his head, huffing for a while in frustration. He backed away and started laughing as the fire around them seemingly got more oppressive. “I’ll kill you and your kits, then Brambleclaw will be mine again.”
Lionblaze growled, his tail puffing up, “No!”
Ashfur’s head snapped to look at the golden tom, a small smile on his face.
“I-I won’t-won’t let you,” he stammered, a sudden fear in his heart as he gazed into blue eyes.
“Oh, look at you Lionblaze,” Ashfur said in a faux-sweet tone, “So big, I’m almost proud.”
Almost? The apprentice in him thought sadly.
His former mentor was cruel, way too harsh, and barely even cared for him. Now, here in the depth of an inferno, a small part of Lionblaze still wanted his praise and approval. Even if he just threatened their lives, even if he screamed at his mother, even though all he did was look at Lionblaze with pure hatred. Lionblaze still wished Ashfur had once said he was proud of him.
Then, within a second, Squirrelflight cried out.
“Ashfur,” she called, the tip of her tail twitching, tears bundling in her eyes, “Stop, please–”
There were several heartbeats of silence. The howls of their distant clanmates had died down, the sizzling of dead leaves and grass filled the air with fine ash and soot. It was so suffocating that Lionblaze couldn’t keep his eyes open for more than a few seconds. He had to keep an eye on his mother, his siblings, everyone or something could happen.
“Why should I?”
Squirrelflight sent Lionblaze and Hollyleaf a somber smile before shaking her head and sitting down. Tail wrapped around her paws in a calm manner even as a stray fleck of fire flew next to her paws.
She looked into Ashfur’s eyes. “Kill us then,” she meowed without hesitance, “You won’t get Brambleclaw back that way.”
Ashfur gave her a mystified expression, opening his mouth, but said nothing as he blinked at her.
What is she talking about? Lionblaze thought, stomach in his throat as he thought of all the possibilities. What was his mother thinking? Shouldn’t they already be running towards the lake, not talking to someone who wants them dead?
Squirrelflight took a step back from her clanmate and carelessly glanced over her shoulder. The look in her eyes made Lionblaze’s feelings consume his mind in a way untold. He couldn’t describe it in any way other than anger and he couldn’t understand why that worried him.
“If you really want to get him back, you’ll have to do better than that,” she snarled, “Because those three aren’t Brambleclaw’s kits.”
…
The noise of the raging storm and the fire was lost in his increasingly scattered mind.
His jaw parted, whiskers twitching, fur prickling.
No.
No. No.
It can’t be true, can it?
“You’re lying,” Ashfur said in disbelief, eyes as wide as he’s ever seen them.
“I’m not,” Squirrelflight replied, “I can’t have kits, they aren’t mine or Brambleclaw’s.”
Hollyleaf stayed chillingly still next to Jayfeather, her eyes glued to their–whoever Squrrielflight was to them.
She had to be lying, Lionblaze tried to justify, because–because she had always been there for them. Always cooing over them and scolding them when they sneaked out of camp and wrapping her tail around them when they slept. Did that all mean nothing to her? Did she not care about them at all?
Squirrelflight had to be their mother. She had to be fibbing so the four of them could get out of the situation. She had to be lying. She had to.
“You look surprised,” Squirrelflight said and tilted her head, “I’ve fooled you, haven’t I? I’ve fooled all of you. They are not mine. ”
Her green eyes glanced briefly at the three below her and Lionblaze tried desperately to see some secret emotion in them. Something that told him she wasn’t telling the truth, but there was nothing.
Tears stung at his eyes; the heat of the air evaporated them as soon as they touched his fur.
There was some fear, albeit small, in Ashfur as he stared at his own paws. “No one else knows?”
“No,” Squirrelflight snapped, “They were blind to it just as you were. Even Brambleclaw.”
Pause.
Ashfur slowly grinned at her as he said, in a smug tone, “What would you do if I told them? What would Thunderclan think, oh,” his teeth were bared, “What would your precious Brambleclaw think?”
“You would tell them?” Squirrelflight mewed, voice cracking painfully. Was that a ruse too?
“Once I tell Brambleclaw, I’m sure he’ll leave you. He’ll be mine again.”
“It’s perfect!”
The gray tom’s laugh turned into a horrid cackle. Lionblaze’s blood ran cold. He looked so terrifying like that, more terrifying than his painful, cruel training. Scarier than when he screeched at Lionblaze for not using his claws in battle training. When his eyes lulled in their sockets and he shook his head wildly, he looked just like Hawkfrost right before the dark forest warrior attacked him.
Lionblaze yelled something, but it was drowned out by everything around him. His legs were shaking, claws digging deep into the loose soil.
Ashfur stopped for a heartbeat, huffing with his head heaved up to look at the stars.
Squirrelflight sighed, coughing briefly.
The gray spotted tom’s face turned serious, a hiss escaping his jaw. “I guess I won’t kill you. Seeing your life ruined forever is way more satisfying,” he growled.
Then, abruptly and quietly, Ashfur turned and stalked off into the undergrowth.
…
Claws dug deep into Ashfur’s neck.
Blood pooled underneath them.
His eyes rolled in their sockets as he struggled to keep them open.
Even still, he smiled.
He was happy.
He was so happy because the love of his life was pinning him to the sandy shore of the lake.
Water lapped his head.
Amber eyes, pupils' slits, stared at him.
The pressure built as his love pressed his claws deeper into Ashfur’s neck.
He couldn’t possibly be happier, even as he was dying.
“I…love you…” Ashfur wheezed, and his love’s eyes changed somehow.
To something more of hatred.
His star hated him.
And it was the best thing in the world.
“What happened to you, Ashfur?”
A shiver went down his spine.
“...love…you,” he repeated because he didn’t care to say anything else.
Brambleclaw growled at him.
“More than anything, star,” his smile grew wider, even as blood formed in his mouth.
He choked on the blood and his eyes watered.
His vision was darkening; those beautiful eyes never stopped looking at him.
Ashfur whispered, “Kill me, star, kill me.”
He could barely see anything now. Light flickered across his vision, a loud buzz drowning out whatever his love said. But he was happy.
He was so
So
Euphoric.
.
.
.
.
.
.