❂► T H E   U N T O L D ◄❂

V I T R I F I C A T I O N

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O N E

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THE DAY that Firestar joined the clan was both one of the worst days of my life, and one of the best days of my life.

Of course, I didn't think it was one of the best on that day, but as I got older I started to appreciate it more.

I'll be honest, the way I acted towards Firestar when he was new to the clan wasn't completely fair. I didn't have any resentment towards kittypets, like Tigerclaw did, but with everything that went on that day, I wasn't in the best of moods for moons.

"Bluestar!" I heard Runningwind call after bursting into the clearing. Runningwind continued sprinting through the clearing, almost slamming into Bluestar as she exited her den.

"Starclan above, what, Runningwind!" Bluestar asked, clearly surprised that Runningwind was so frantic.

Runningwind tried to catch his breath before saying, "Riverclan is at Sunningrocks! I was just going to hunt around the edges of the territory when I saw Riverclan cats splayed out on the highest stones, basking in the sun!"

"Those Fox-hearts!" Tigerclaw seethed as he approached the conversing cats. "Bluestar, let me take a patrol and we'll make sure they never take another step on rightful Thunderclan territory."

"I appreciate your ambition, Tigerclaw, but we must make sure that this isn't a misunderstanding. Redtail!" The leader called to my father, who was sharing tongues with Brindleface. "I want you to lead a patrol to go see what's going on at Sunningrocks. Take Tigerclaw, Mousefur, Runningwind, and Ravenpaw. But please try to avoid as much bloodshed as possible. We can't afford to lose anymore warriors."

Redtail nodded and quickly searched the clearing, making eye contact with Mousefur and Ravenpaw, who had both just left their respective dens. Once Redtail had everyone gathered, he looked to Bluestar. "We'll be back soon," he said, and then turning to the light brow tabby, said, "Runningwind, lead the way." With that, the group of five hurriedly exited the camp.

I shrugged my shoulders and dug back into my mouse. I assumed that Redtail would be back with the others before Sundown. Then he, Brindleface and I could share a meal before we retired to our nests.

Oh, how little I knew.

I licked my lips after I finished my mouse, and picked up the leftover bones in my jaws, heading towards a shady edge of the clearing to deposit the bones. Then I realized that I would have to deposit of these bones somewhere in the forest later anyways, so I groaned to myself and change direction to the entrance of the clearing.

I pushed through the loose bramble that covered the outside of the entrance, and looked at my surroundings. It took me a surprisingly large amount of time to find a large patch of bushes, in which I buried the bones under the ground between two of the smaller bushes.

It was when I entered back into the camp that I noticed him. He was in between Lionheart and Whitestorm, and they were taking him around the camp. Then Bluestar padded up to him and greeted him.

I was kind of just frozen in place, trying to figure out what was going on. His pelt was incredibly bright, like my own but more vibrant. But it wasn't like any cats in this clan, much less any of the cats in the other clans that I knew of.

And that collar. That stupid collar around his neck with the bell. He trotted around the camp with that stupid collar making its stupid noise.

"All cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Highrock for a clan meeting!" Bluestar called.

Ah, there it is. Now I could figure out who this cat was.

"Thunderclan needs more warriors," she began. "never before have we had so few apprentices in training. It has been decided that Thunderclan will take in an outsider to train as a warrior..."

The rest of the clan erupted in a series of mutterings, but Bluestar silenced them all with a firm yowl. "I have found a cat who is willing to become an apprentice of Thunderclan."

"Lucky to become an apprentice," I heard Longtail say. Another chorus of mutterings arose.

Bluestar once again quieted us with a yowl. "Lionheart and Whitestorm have met this young cat, and they agree that we should train him with the other apprentices."

Now a deafening caterwaul of questions arose from the clan, some of which echoed my own thoughts:

"Where does he come from?"

"What clan does he belong to?"

"What a strange scent that is. It's not from any clan I know!"

Then Longtail spoke up again. "Look at his collar! He's a kittypet!" So that's what that meant. "Once a kittypet, always a kittypet. This Clan needs wildborn warriors to defend it, not another soft mouth to feed."

I only mildly agreed with what Longtail said. Leafbare was rapidly approaching, and yes, another cat to feed certainly wouldn't be ideal, but if we could train this cat quickly, then he could be useful in finding prey.

I saw Lionheart bend down to say something to the cat as the crowd still spoke of their worries. Longtail was at the bottom of the Highrock, exchanging words with Bluestar. Then he was tackled by the kittypet.

Longtail let out a yowl of surprise as he tumbled over on the ground, taking the kittypet with him. They both sprang back up and stared at each other for a few seconds, until Longtail snarled and leapt at the kittypet. The kittypet dodged Longtail's leap, and raked his tiny claws down the tabby's side.

Longtail turned and snarled, leaping right back at the orange tom. This time, the kittypet was unable to dodge the attack and the fighting cats turned into a mess of teeth and claws.

When they sprang apart, I was surprised to see that the kittypet remained mostly unscathed, while Longtail's ear had a nasty cut. "Enough of this," Longtail said, just loud enough for the clan to hear. He surged forward, twisting his head and opening his jaws.

The clan drew in a silent breath as we all thought the same thing. Longtail was going to kill this kittypet.

Luckily, the kittypet was able to draw back just enough as to where Longtail just missed his throat. Instead, his jaws clamped around that stupid collar. The kittypet's eyes widened as he lost the air to his lungs. The two locked into an intense struggle, the kittypet for air and Longtail for the collar apparently.

Instinctively I took a step to help the two, possibly break them up, but Dustpaw's tail whipped out in front of me. "Don't help the kittypet," he hissed. "If he want's to join the clan, he'll figure it out."

I didn't really agree with that, because it's not like he could decide to join the clan if Longtail strangled him.

Then the collar snapped, and Longtail and the kittypet fell backward. They both immediately sprang back up, and faced each other again, both of them trying to catch their breath.

Bluestar let out yet another yowl. "This kittypet has lost his collar in a battle for his honor. Starclan has spoken their approval." The kittypet turned around and kicked dust over his collar, as if burying it.

"Your pelt looks like a brand of fire in the sunlight," Bluestar said. "From this moment on, until you receive your warrior name, you will known as Firepaw. That being said, your sudden acceptance into the clan has not given me enough time to determine the best mentor for you. For now, you will split training with Lionheart and Tigerclaw, as well as their apprentices. In a moon's time, I will assess where you are at and determine a mentor for you."

The clan was silent for a while, no one quite sure what to do, even though they had just gone through multiple apprentice ceremonies in the past moon.

Then finally, one voice spoke up. "Firepaw! Firepaw! Firepaw!" Greypaw cheered.

I couldn't leave my denmate by himself, so I joined in. "Firepaw! Firepaw!" Dustpaw gave me a few disgusted looks, and moved away. I looked after him sadly, but didn't let up in my cheering.

Then, one by one, the clan joined in. "Firepaw! Firepaw! Firepaw!"

The crowd finally broke when Greypaw burst into the center of the clearing to congratulate Firepaw. I took a step towards them, but saw Dustpaw staring at me out of the corner of his eye. I sighed and turned to follow him instead, headed towards the apprentice's den.

I don't know how Dustpelt ever grew a disliking towards kittypets. As Firestar frequently mentioned, the warrior code doesn't tell us to loathe kittypets, but to only reject the life of one. Plus, it's not as though Dustpelt had Tigerclaw, Darkstripe, or Longtail as a mentor. He had my father, who as far as I knew, shared Firestar's view of kittypets.

And I held that same view for most of my life as well. The only time I didn't was when Ravenpaw crashed back into the clearing.

"Smallear smells trouble!" I heard White-eye call.

Ravenpaw burst through the brambles at the entrance of the camp, eyes wide, chest heaving, and legs flailing. He looked like he was trying to say something, but was panting too heavily to get any words out. "R- R- R-."

By this time, the rest of the clan had exited their dens and stood around Ravenpaw in the clearing, wondering what was going on. Finally, Bluestar stepped forward and said, "C'mon, out with it Ravenpaw. What happened? Why are you so anxious?"

"Redtail is dead!" He finally got out.

A wave of deafening silence crashed over the clan, everyone reveling in what was just said. This was followed by a chaotic chorus of questions, everyone demanding an explanation of what happened.

I'm sure that some type of answer was given to the onslaught of words, but I was already lost. 

No, Redtail can't be dead! He promised me that he would teach me how to climb! Ravenpaw must have been put up to this. By Tigerclaw! To show how brave he was! Yes, that's it. Redtail will walk through the bramble entrance in just a few moments.

A rustle in the brambles only lifted my spirits, and seeing a flash of red fur lifted them more. But they sank to the depths of rock bottom when Tigerclaw walked through the entrance, carrying the limp body of my father, eyes still open in shock.

I let out a desperate wail, shared by Brindleface, as we both rushed forward, burying our noses into Redtail's fur.

Wake up, Redtail. Please open your eyes. You have to.

But he didn't, and minutes later I laid next to Bluestar and Brindleface as we shared tongues with Redtail one last time.

I think that that was when I began to loathe Firepaw. It's not like it was his fault that Redtail was dead, but there must have bee some deranged concept in my mind that none of this would have happened if he didn't exist. Maybe then Bluestar, Whitestorm, and Lionheart wouldn't have been occupied with welcoming Firepaw into the clan. Maybe they wouldn't have sent so few cats to go and fight Riverclan. Maybe someone like Lionheart could have joined them, and with his skill, they would have won.

I found out later in life that this obviously wouldn't have done anything, since it wasn't Oakheart that killed Redtail, but that Tigerclaw had actually killed Redtail in his ambitious campaign to become the leader of Thunderclan.

So my hate of Firepaw ended up being misplaced. But that hate still might have been a good thing. If I weren't to have hated him when he first joined, it's possible that I wouldn't have grown to see him the way that I do know. The hate that I had for him when we were apprentices allowed me to learn to love him on a deeper level, on that surpassed basic kit love. Our relationship would have been a lot less trusting, and may have not even lasted as long as it did.

Who knows, maybe I would have ended up with Dustpelt instead of Firestar.

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Word Count - 2020 

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Author's Note

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That word count is kinda scary.

So remember that tentative schedule I set last chapter? The one where I was gonna do a chapter every Saturday? Yeah that ended up not happening. It's almost been two months.

However, I just finished school (Here I come college) and Lacrosse is entering into the playoffs, so I may have some more time to write.

As always, no promises.

Also, please I'm begging you to go back to the Foreword chapter and guess what the chapter names mean. I'm on my knees at this point.

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- Maple -

- 5 ▫ 10 ▫ 2024 -