A Healing Flame

Chapter 1

Firepaw awoke with a start, his whole body shaking and his ginger fur stuck out in every direction. "Firepaw?" Came Graypaw's worried mew from somewhere close by. "Are you ok," mewed Ravenpaw nervously. "You look like a scared vole," Graypaw joked, but a glair from Ravenpaw made the gray tom shut his mouth. Firepaw was barely listening to the concerned meows of his friends, to focused on the haunting words that Redtail had told him. "When darkness falls upon the land, when Clan cats fight for a rightful leader, four young cats will come together to stop the fighting. Claws and teeth soak in blood and tears, while many cats stand frozen with fear. To stop this incoming doom, the four Clans must fight together as one, and only then will the darkness flee." Firepaw shuttered at those ominous words. What could that mean? Should he tell Bluestar? Surely his mentor and Clan leader should know about his dream-like visions... right? Or should he tell Spottedleaf instead? She was the Clan medicine cat, maybe she could talk with StarClan about this? All these thoughts were racing through his mind like a tempest, and it was starting to make Firepaw feel dizzy.

"Firepaw!"

Firepaw jumped about a foot in the air at Graypaw's shout of his name. "Y-Yes?" He mewed, sounding a bit like Ravenpaw due to his unfocused thoughts. "Haha! You sound like Ravenpaw," the fluffy gray tom purred in amusement to witch the small black tom mewed a defensive "hay" in response to Graypaw's little jab at both him and Firepaw. "Hay! You mousebraind kits! Get off of your lazy tails and get out here! We have a border patrol to go on!" Came Tigerclaw's impatient meow. Firepaw hissed and lashed his ginger-and-white-striped tail back-and-forth. "I need to speak with Bluestar," the ginger tom mewed to Graypaw and Ravenpaw, who both nodded, though Firepaw could sense there worried and concerned stares boring into his pelt.

"Ok Firepaw, we'll cover for you," Graypaw mewed, his eyes shining with concern as he stared at his friend. "Are you sure you're ok Firepaw?" Ravenpaw worriedly mewed, nervously shifting his paws in the dirt. "Yeah, you've been acting pretty strange lately, and you're even jumpier then Ravenpaw!" Graypaw mewed, but this time Ravenpaw didn't say anything, knowing that Graypaw's observation was correct. Firepaw had been really jumpy lately, and always looked extremely tired, almost as if he wasn't getting enough sleep at night. Firepaw sighed and flattened his ears. "Y-Yes, yes I'm fine," he mewed, turning and racing out of the den to look for Bluestar.

The young apprentice was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't even realize when he ran headfirst into one of his clanmates. "Why are you in such a rush this morning Firepaw?" Firepaw looked up in surprise to see his mentor and Clan leader staring down at him with an amused expression on her face. "Oh! I uh... I need to talk to you about something very important," the ginger tom mewed, shuffling his paws nervously as he looked up at the blue-gray furred leader.

Bluestar nodded and motioned with her tail for Firepaw to follow her inside her den. "What is it you wanted to speak with me about?" She asked him. Her voice was in 'leader mode,' cold and focused, it quite spooked him.

"I... I've been dreaming..." he manages to speak despite his voice feeling gone. Once again the duo is plunged into a bout of silence which only worried the tom even more.

Bluestar's expression now looked more thoughtful as she continued to stare at her apprentice with that uneasy look in her eyes. Firepaw gulped and stared down at his paws. "Speak up Firepaw," she ordered her leader voice returning, Firepaw took a deep breath as he began to speak.

"The first few dreams I had were simple, hunting and whatnot, but the longer I was here the stranger they became."

Bluestar nodded and motioned with her tail for him to continue speaking, and Firepaw did as his leader had instructed. He told her of the visions of fire destroying the forest, of cats dying in a battle for territory, and of the cryptic prophecy that Redtail had given him.

"And what was this prophecy that Redtail gave you?" Bluestar asked him, her expression worried as she waited for her apprentice to speak. As Firepaw tried to think of the right course of action, the words of the prophecy kept flashing in his mind. And with a shaky breath, the young tom told his mentor the words that the former deputy of ThunderClan had spoken to him.

"When darkness falls upon the land, when Clan cats fight for a rightful leader, four young cats will come together to stop the fighting. Claws and teeth soak in blood and tears, while many cats stand frozen with fear. To stop this incoming doom, the four Clans must fight together as one, and only then will the darkness flee."

"Firepaw what you've just shared with me is concerning. Please give me some time to speak with Spottedleaf about this, I'll come back to get you once we're done."

The leader stood and began to leave her den, Firepaw standing to follow her only for her to stop him.

"There is no training for you today, Stay here and rest."

Firepaw opened his mouth to argue but the stern glare she gave him made Firepaw clamp his mouth shut. "Stay here," she repeated, more forcefully this time just to make sure he got the message. The ginger tom sighed softly but nodded his head resolutely, he didn't want to disobey his leader, and so he stayed in her den to rest as Bluestar had told him to do.

...

As Bluestar approached her den, she could hear the faintest whimpers but just as she was about to enter a flash of orange ran out through the lichen. She had to blink twice before turning around to see the apprentice crouching, his fur on end and eyes wider than a vole. She looked around the camp, it was sunhigh so most of the clan was sharing suns in the clearing and was now watching the hysterical apprentice. She quickly reacted now, leaping over to him and grabbing him by his scruff and pulling him back into her den.

He was instantly passive once grabbed by his scruff and realized where he was, he dropped silent as he was dropped back in the den. Bluestar looked down at him with absolute shock, he could only look at her for a moment before turning his head in shame.

"You were dreaming again weren't you?"

Firepaw couldn't bring himself to speak to her.

"Firepaw!" She spoke louder, demanding.

"Yes," he mewed, his voice was barely above a whisper as he spoke.

"Follow me."

Firepaw tried to refute her demand but was shot a glare. He stood and followed his leader out of her den, his head hung low and as he looked around he found several cats watching worriedly. He caught sight of his friends sitting among them, Greypaw tried to run to Firepaw only for Ravenpaw to cautiously hold him back. Firepaw looked away not wanting to look at the others watching him. Bluestar led him to the medicine cat den, Spottedleaf was sitting outside the den looking a little worried.

"Bluestar, what was that ruckus I heard?" Her voice perfectly reflected her worried face.

"Firepaw seems to have had a bad dream," she paused and looked back to Firepaw, "or a vision."

"Firepaw, what you told me was more than enough for me to think that these dreams of yours were from StarClan, but I still asked Spottedleaf to make sure the assumption was sound. Which it seems was."

Firepaw blinked in confusion and stared up at Bluestar with a knowing look in his eyes. "Are you saying that you want me to be Spottedleaf's apprentice?" At Bluestar's confirming nod, Firepaw turned his attention to Spottedleaf.

"And what do you think about this, Spottedleaf? Would it be ok with you if I were to become your apprentice?"

Spottedleaf nodded with a small smile on her face. "I think StarClan has a plan in mind for you," the medicine cat mewed in a low whisper as to not attract the other cat's attention to there conversation. "But what exactly do they have planed?" Firepaw mewed, still not sure what exactly StarClan had in mind for him.

Spottedleaf frowned sadly and flattened her ears, then meowed quietly, "I'm not exactly sure, but they must have something in mind or else they wouldn't be sending you these dreams."

Firepaw nodded his head in understanding. "Ok then," he meowed, "I will become your apprentice Spottedleaf."

"Very well," Bluestar meowed, "I will hold the ceremony before moonrise tonight. But for now, Spottedleaf, make sure that Firepaw is comfortable." And with those last words, the ThunderClan leader turned and left the medicine cat's den.