Firetalon's Destiny

Chapter 23

"Firepaw you made it!" Swiftpaw instantly perked up upon the arrival of the older, yet slightly smaller, apprentice. "I was starting to think you wouldn't."

"Tailfur made me clean the nursery today," most likely due to the fact that he had slept in. He could've gone easy on him, he hadn't slept in for quite a while... not since he stopped training with Moon. A sort of darkness crept across his blue eyes just at the thought of his Dark Forest mentor. A part of him wanted to go back, to continue training and growing stronger but the other half insisted that he stay loyal to his StarClan ancestors. And, unfortunately, the tug-of-war between both sides clearly had no thoughts about ending any time soon.

"What's wrong?" striped ginger she-cat frowned while studying her companion silently. "Did something happen?"

"I was just thinking about something, nothing to worry about," the quick answer he gave her clearly didn't satisfy her.

"Hmph, if you don't want to tell me than fine, see if I care," she was clearly hurt at his lack of trust. But the last time Firepaw had told someone about Moon, he ended up being blackmailed into spying for the enemy. He wasn't about to be as naïve and trusting as before.

"Like I said, don't worry about it. It's all in the past now," or at least, that's he wished. If only he could shove it behind him, forget about all the times he met the gray she-cat in the Dark Forest. But he couldn't. She had been the one to give him strength in his time of need, she was there when StarClan wasn't.

"If you say so..." she was still frowning, her green eyes narrowed warily.

"Lighten up will ya," he forced a smile to spread across his face while nudging her shoulder, making her stumble slightly. Of course she took it the way he wanted her to, as a challenge to a bought of play fighting. And just like that, the tension between the two evaporated. Swiftpaw leapt back a fox length or two before crouching, her eyes gleaming playfully.

Leaping together, the two collided mid air and collapsed to the ground. They tumbled about, both trying to get the upper hand against the other. Growing tired, the two pushed away from each other to catch their breath. They both stared at each other for a brief moment before breaking into laughter. Both were covered in leaf litter and twigs had became tangled into their now ruffled, wild fur. The two of them looked absolutely ridiculous.

"Firepaw! What in StarClan's name are you doing with a CityClan cat!" they froze before wearily turning their attention to the white cat before them, his fur bristling in agitation.

"S-Skypaw, what are you doing here?" Firepaw shifted nervously while sending a look at Swiftpaw, silently telling her to leave. She shook her head, not wanting him to be the only one to get into trouble, but he narrowed his eyes and lashed his tail. She needed to leave, now. With a sigh, she complied. Standing up, she brushed off the leaves and silently started back to her territory.

Skypaw, who had been watching the silent exchange, finally answered. "Well I was out gathering herbs when I heard a commotion. Since we're so close to the CityClan border, I thought maybe a fight had started but... instead I see you all friendly with some CityClan cat."

"W-well we're just friends... I'm not telling her anything important about the Clan," no he's telling some other CityClan cat everything about FlameClan.

"That doesn't matter, the fact that you're meeting our enemy and treating her like she's some sort of friend is just..." the medicine cat apprentice's eyes had by now grown frosty cold. An angry Skypaw was a Skypaw no one wanted to mess with. "How long have you known her? How long have you been meeting her behind the Clan's back?"

"Th-that doesn't really matter, does it?" if the white apprentice were to learn that he had been meeting Swiftpaw for moons now, he shivered at the thought. Skypaw was already angry enough as is, there was no need to poke the badger anymore than he already had.

"It's not like it matters now since I'm going to have to tell Flamestar about this," the words Firepaw was dreading to here. His friend was extremely loyal, of course he wasn't about to stand by and let a FlameClan cat go about meeting a CityClan cat.

"Wait Skypaw! Please don't tell Flamestar!" if his father were to find out about this... Shivers ran down his spine and, out of desperation, ginger apprentice quickly scrambled to block Skypaw's way. "Please."

"Firepaw I have to... It's inevitable that you'll end up having to fight CityClan again one day. But would you be able to fight her Clanmates? Would you be able to fight her brothers or her sisters? What about her parents? Her friends? You'd never be able to lay a claw on them, and that's not good. You can't be torn between two Clans, especially Clans that are fighting like ours."

"That's not the case! I'll be able to fight, I swear I will! So please, as my friend, don't tell them," he looked pleadingly into Skypaw's eyes, by now the anger had sparked out of them. All that remained now was genuine concern and worry.

"It's because you're my friend that I have to tell them..." he trailed off, hesitation starting to creep into his gaze. "But I'll give you a chance... if you promise not to meet her anymore, than I won't tell anyone."

"Of course... I promise, I won't meet her anymore," as soon as the words escaped his mouth, a heavy guilt crashed down onto him. Of course he couldn't keep his promise, he'd continue to meet her. She was the only one who brought peace to his mind, he needed her to keep him sane. "Ah but, can I at least let her know about this... she deserves to be told..."

"Fine, one last time, just as long as you let me accompany you," with that said, the white shouldered past Firepaw and returned to gathering his herbs.

"What am I going to do now?" tail drooping in despair, Firepaw slowly made his way back to camp. How can we continue to meet? Well they could go back to meeting at night, he could use that tunnel he found as a kit to sneak out...Yes, this could work! He'll definitely be able to continue meeting Swiftpaw.