Ashfur's Forgivance AU

Chapter 2: The Apology

Ashfur crouched, watching the mouse, making sure to place each paw down carefully. The mouse wasn't paying attention to the grey tom. Narrowing his eyes, he leapt. He finished off the mouse with a swift bite. Ashfur flicked his tail, satisfied.

"Nice catch, Ashfur!" Meowed a voice that he knew belonged to one cat, and one cat only. Ashfur's eyes locked with Squirrelflight's, frozen. His instinct told him to ignore her, but his brain told him to thank her. Listening to his brain, he nodded his head.

"Thanks, Squirrelflight." He mewed. A flash of surprise and appreciation flickered in Squirrelflight's eyes. He picked up his catch and brushed past her, beckoning with his tail. He bounded back to camp, picking up other catches as he and Squirrelflight got closer. There was awkward silence between the two before Squirrelflight said something.

"Sooo...Ashfur...how've you been?"

"Fine...what about you?"

"....Okay..."

"...."

"...Ashfur, I just want you to know that uhm...I don't hate you. I just...like you as a friend, y'know?"

Ashfur hesitated. He wanted to argue with her again about how Brambleclaw was dangerous, but he held back. He could be her friend. Maybe. Hopefully.
"...Yeah. I-I understand why you like Brambleclaw. He's a great cat." He said softly. "If we could just be friends...and this couldn't be awkward anymore...I'd like that."

Squirrelflight looked relieved and grateful. She pressed herself beside him, purring. "Thanks, Ashfur. I'm sorry for choosing you over Brambleclaw, but I really love him. Your a really good friend." As she moved away, Ashfur felt dizzy with relief but also regret.

I did it. I guess that...it would be better if we were friends...

He forced his negative thoughts back, and padded after Squirrelflight. We're going to be okay.

***

Ashfur stretched and walked outside the warriors den.
New day...new me.
As he glanced at Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight sleeping, close to one another, he couldn't help but be jealous.
That little-
Ugh.
Your doing it again.
The grey tom sighs, and paws miserably at the ground.
"Ashfur, are you okay?"
Ashfur's head snaps up. "Oh, hey, Squirrelflight. What's up?"
The ginger molly smiles. "I was wondering if you wanted to go hunting with me and Brambleclaw."
He hesitated. One the first paw, he would spend some more time with Squirrelflight. But on the other paw, he would be with...ugh...Brambleclaw. Ashfur suddenly blinked, then twitched his whiskers. He was friends with Squirrelflight, so that meant he shouldn't be jealous of Brambleclaw.
"Sure." He said, getting up. "Let's go."
As the trio headed out of camp, Ashfur felt Ferncloud's eyes on him. The grey warrior simply lifted his chin, and turned towards the forest in front of him.
***
"So...ah..." Ashfur started, then trailed off as Brambleclaw turned his head towards him. The tabby tom cocked his head. "Go on."
"Sorry. How are you and uh...Squirrelflight doing?"
"Fine. And you?"
"Good."
The two toms had been left alone by Squirrelflight, and the silence had been awkward. But what was more awkward was that both of them had been fighting for Squirrelflight's affection, and only one had won. Suddenly, a scratching noise broke away the awkwardness. Brambleclaw and Ashfur instantly turned to it, seeing the mouse. Brambleclaw twitched his ear in the direction that Ashfur needed to go, and Ashfur, seeing this, followed his guide. The grey tom crept around the corner of the brush, movements as smooth as a snake's. He looked at Brambleclaw, who nodded. Ashfur leapt out of the bushes, yowling loudly. The mouse scrambled for cover, going right towards Brambleclaw. As the tabby tom made a move for it, the mouse dodged and slipped out from under him, fleeing. Brambleclaw growled. "Mouse dung!"
Ashfur felt a purr of amusement rumble in his throat. "Bad luck." He said. He flicked his tail. "Come on, we can still catch it." He moved past the tabby, and picked up the mouse's scent. He hissed quietly in delight, and slipped towards it. The mouse was there! He flexed his claws, ready to leap-
"YREOWW!"
The mouse scampered away. Ashfur growled in frustration.
Brambleclaw!
He snarled, and dashed off towards the noise.
"Brambleclaw, you mousebrained son of a fox-" Ashfur cut off mid sentence, seeing Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight facing off against a ShadowClan patrol.  No cat looked up at him, the fight was so intense. Yowls and hisses echoed from the cats, and Ashfur looked around frantically.
Oh no! We are outnumbered!
A familiar hiss burst from the battle. Squirrelflight was on the ground, pinned by two ShadowClan warriors. They tore at the molly's pelt, yowling with delight. Ashfur snarled in fury, and the grey tom landed squarely on top of the enemies. He slashed and dodged, feeling as fast as the wind. As the grey warrior dodged again, the second ShadowClan warrior crashed into him, hissing, "You thought you were sneaky and all with your ThunderClan moves, well, obviously not sneaky enough!" The tom raised a paw, ready to deal a final blow to knock Ashfur out, then a ginger blur smashed into the ShadowClan warrior.
Squirrelflight!
She slashed and hissed, sending the warrior yowling back over the border.
"Come on Ashfur! Stop standing there like a shocked squirrel!"
Ashfur didn't hesitate, and matched the molly's hits blow for blow, sending the other warrior back into the shady trees. He panted, recovering from what just happened, then turned to Squirrelflight.
"Good j-"
"MRRROWW!"
Ashfur snapped his head up, looking at Brambleclaw as he wrestled with a ShadowClan molly. The she-cat was quick and agile, but Brambleclaw was strong. He pinned the ShadowClan she-cat to the ground, and but down hard. The she-cat howled and tore free, racing back to camp. The three cats stood in silence, catching their breath.
"Nice moves there, Squirrelflight. And Ashfur, perfect timing!" Brambleclaw meowed, nodding tiredly at the two other warriors.
Ashfur purred. "We...really sent them back to the nursery!"
Squirrelflight purred along. "Yes we did!"
As they purred together in the moment, Brambleclaw nodded. "Let's go back to camp and tell Firestar what happened."
As the trio headed back, a few pieces of prey were caught, and they were greeted by a concerned Brackenfur.
"Woah! You guys look like you got into a fight with foxes."
Brambleclaw nodded. "We were greeted at the border by some fox-hearted ShadowClan warriors." Ashfur brushed past the tom, and placed his kills into the freshkill pile. Squirrelflight joined him.
"Wow! Never knew that we were going to have a border battle! We weren't even on a border patrol!"
The grey tom flicked his tail. "I know! It's crazy!" He purred happily.
Suddenly, Brambleclaw joined them. "Firestar says that he feels ShadowClan is trying to steal our territory for leaf-bare. They are a large Clan, and they need it to feed their warriors."
Squirrelflight hissed and unsheathed her claws. The ginger molly flicked her tail from side to side. "They better not!"
Brambleclaw pressed his muzzle against hers. "I know, we'll be waiting for them."
Ashfur tried not to flinch. He knew that he and Squirrelflight would never be mates, but it hurt to see the ginger molly and the tabby tom getting affectionate in front of him.
"In the mean time," Brambleclaw continued. "Let's get some rest. We need all warriors ready!"

To be continued...

Authors note: Thanks for reading Ashfur's forgivence AU! I'm thrilled to see more and more people read this, and I'm thrilled to write it! But there are some big changes that I made to Ashfur's character to help the AU flow properly. The first one being his character. In the books, Ashfur is a jealous, crazy-obsessed, creepy guy, but in this AU, he is more of a simple cat. Even though some of his old character does shine through, I made it so then his character is more accepting to him and Squirrelflight never being mates. He is more smart and reliable with his actions, and he gets used to being no more than Squirrelflight's close friend, maybe even a brother-like figure to her. The second change is that ShadowClan is a problem, and the Clans don't move out of their home until a while. In the future, I might decide that the Clans don't move at all, because traveling books are boring. That's all the changes that I can note without spoiling too much, but I'm excited for more chapters to come! Stay tuned, and keep reading!