❂► 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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T W O

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DUSTPAW WAS ignoring me the following mornings, no matter how I tried to talk to him. I tried to apologize for supporting Firepaw's acceptance into the clan, which, looking back, was desperate, but he would have none of it.

I tried my best to get him back with my constant poking at Firepaw, whether it be calling him a kittypet or tripping him with my tail. At one point I even tried stuffing mouse-bile into a thrush that he had left alone while he used the dirtplace.

That one got me a stern talking to from Bluestar and Whitestorm.

Not having anyone to share tongues with or go hunting with really hit me hard. It blurred my thoughts and made me desperate.

One time Firepaw was coming back from a hunting assignment, and he didn't look very happy. A quick look at his jaws showed that he had only caught a measly mouse. It looked like it was incredibly old and possibly sick. 

Before I could think of what I was saying, the words slipped out, "Maybe if you didn't stand out and didn't reek of twoleg, you would've caught something useful."

The look of hurt in Firepaw's eyes made me ache. "It's still leafbare! What do you want me to do, play dead and let birds find me and then catch them as they peck at my eyes?" he responded.

Firepaw was right, this leafbare was not being friendly to the clan, and it's not like it was his fault that he had such a bright coat. I didn't want to hurt him again, but at this point, it was too late, and I was still desperate to get Dustpaw back, so I doubled down. "Maybe you should really be dead! Then we wouldn't have to worry about feeding your bottomless mouth!"

I may have said that too loud, as I drew the attention of nearby clanmates. A few of them looked really taken back, especially Greypaw.

I agree that I took that to far, as when I looked back at Firepaw there were tears welling up in his eyes. Before I could apologize for what I said, he had already dropped his mouse in the fresh-kill pile and ran to the apprentice's den.

The worst part about all of this is that it didn't even get Dustpaw back to talking with me. He wasn't in the camp during my outburst, so he didn't hear any of what I said, plus no one really talked about it out loud because they didn't want to hurt Firepaw's feelings or bring him further into the spotlight than he already was.

And even with the quiet gossip of my outburst spreading around the camp, Dustpaw still refused to talk to me. I tried a few more times to get Dustpaw back, making jokes about Firepaw around him, or scoffing slightly when no one else was looking. I even brought him fresh-kill every once in a while.

After almost a moon of Dustpaw fully ignoring me, I finally decided enough was enough, and I went to go talk to him. 

"Dustpaw?" I asked as I approached him. He was laying on his side on one of the stone at the edge of the camp, sunbathing. 

He opened one eye to look at me, and then closed it again. He acted as though I hadn't said anything to him at all.

"Come on, Dustpaw. So I cheered on Firepaw during his initiation. I was just trying to fit in! I didn't mean that I actually liked him."

Dustpaw just scoffed in response, and still didn't open his eyes.

"Just because I did that doesn't mean you get to ignore me! I didn't do anything-"

"Yes you did! You explained it yourself. You tried to fit in!" Dustpaw finally opened his eyes and started to stand up. "By fitting in, you effectively betrayed me. I thought we were a team! Darkstripe and Tigerclaw say that anyone who tries to 'fit in' just so that they don't 'stand in the spotlight' is weak! And that's what you are!"

"Weak?! So just because I congratulated a cat on their acceptance into the clan makes me weak?"

"Yes, it does."

Now my tail was starting to lash back and forth in anger. "I bet if it had been another clan cat, like from Riverclan, or even Shadowclan you wouldn't have been as upset! What's so different about Firepaw? He's still a cat like the rest of us!"

"No he's not!" Dustpaw exclaimed, now fully stood up. "He's a kittypet. A fake cat! He's not a real cat like the rest of us! It's like Longtail said, 'Once a kittypet, always a kittypet'."

"Oh, what's it with you and those three? It's like you, Longtail, and Darkstripe worship the ground that Tigerclaw walks on. And you've been horrible since Darkstripe was made your mentor!"

"Darkstripe is a great mentor! He teaches me to not follow blindly!"

"Well yeah, that's a good thing, until it makes you so blind to the truth that you can't even see you're whiskers!"

Dustpaw gasped in almost disbelief, "Truth?! You cheer on Firepaw and you think you know truth? You're just like him! He's blinding you to the truth!"

My eyes were beginning to tear up from how much Dustpaw was insulting me. We were inseparable only a moon ago, and now here he was, calling me blind and weak. "You're proving my point! The only truth you see is Tigerclaw! He's strong and loyal, sure, but he blinds himself with his illusion of how great he is! And you're falling right into that trap!"

"And he is great! He deserves to be deputy, not Lionheart, or even Redtail! The only reason they were made deputies is because Bluestar is friends with them! Lionheart is too lenient to be a deputy, and Redtail was too weak!"

My tears had finally started flowing, and I couldn't stand to look at him anymore. "Redtail made up for his size with his brain! Tigerclaw doesn't even have that, and you still think that he's the right cat to follow." I quickly turned around, intending to go back to the apprentices den to be by myself.

"At least Tigerclaw is still alive!"

I snarled in anger and before I knew what I was doing, there was blood seeping though a gash in Dustpaw's cheek. We both stood there, staring at each other, before Dustpaw turned and walked towards the Spottedleaf's den.

I turned as well and sprinted to the apprentice's den, crashing into my nest and covering my eyes with my tail as the tears began to pour. 

Firepaw, who was sat in his nest, turned to look at me, rightfully shocked. "Are you-"

"Shut up!" I cried, "This is your fault!"

Firepaw continued to look at me, and then shrugged and left the den. I only cried harder.

✧✧✧

When I woke up the next morning, Dustpaw was already out of the den. I sighed and pushed myself up onto my paws, giving myself a quick morning groom.

Before I finished, Firepaw also woke up and started to groom himself as well. Seeing him gave me an idea.

I'm still not proud of thinking that this would be a good idea to get back Dustpaw, or leading on Firepaw like I did. But back then I was a desperate she-cat. Jealousy was the only thing I could think of.

I must have been staring at him too long, because eventually he stuttered, "What did I do?"

"What?" I said, shaking myself out of my stare. "You did nothing!"

Firepaw let out a long breath. "But why are you being... Uh... Not mean right now?"

I narrowed my eyes, suddenly not as nice. "Are you calling me mean?"

Firepaw leaned back in defense and shook his head strongly. "No! I mean, you're just..." he kept stumbling over his words.

"Well, out with it."

"Most of the time when you see me you show a... uh... a strong disliking towards me, in particular."

I rolled my eyes. That was true, but it wasn't from a place of real hate. "Well, dummy," I meowed wryly, "I wasn't going to murder you, as assumed. I was actually going to ask if you go around the forest with me."

Firepaw's eyes shone brightly as he smiled. "Don't be too flattered," I said, "You're my last choice. I was going to ask your two other friends, but one is snoring his head off next to you and the other is Starclan knows where."

"Where's Dustpaw?" He asked, his head tilted to one side.

I sighed a little bit. "We're not speaking to each other." I rolled my eyes, "All because I decided to cheer-"

"So you're asking to do something with me because you and Dustpaw are quarreling?" He huffed. 

I shrugged and turned around. "If you want to some, then come," I ordered over my shoulder.

Firepaw quickly finished grooming himself and padded after me, suddenly very excited to be heading out into the forest with me.

As we exited the camp, I tried to start up a conversation, saying, "So... did you finish all of your duties yesterday, or do you still have things to do today?"

Firepaw hesitated for a second, and then shook his head. "We did most of our work last night, before you came crashing into the den and told me to shut up." I recoiled slightly in embarrassment. But then Firepaw also suddenly looked very defensive. "And then this morning, we were supposed to join the dawn patrol. But it's not my fault! Greypaw said he would wake me up when we had to go, but obviously you can see that that didn't happen. And then they left without us!"

I rolled my eyes. "Toms," I muttered.

Then Firepaw did the same thing, rolling his eyes and retorting, "She-cats."

I purred in amusement and picked my pace up into a trot. "I'll race you to the Riverclan border!" I yowled suddenly, giving no time for Firepaw to react. I burst into a sprint, leaving Firepaw dazed and stuck in his tracks. Finally, he gathered himself and chased after me.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Firepaw exclaimed, try to carry his voice past the wind that was rushing between us. "You didn't give me a chance!" 

"You won't be given any chances in battle!" I threw back over my shoulder. I heard Firepaw growl, and suddenly I could feel his breath on my tail. 

I might have been going a little bit too easy on him, so I picked up my pace a little bit, ensuring that I maintained a stable lead.

I continued to sprint through the forest, the wind roaring in my ears and my paws pounding on paths paved by generations of cats. My chest was starting to get a little tight, but I pushed myself onwards. I noticed the river that separated Riverclan and Thunderclan come into view, and raced on determinedly.

I finally slowed to a halt moments before I reached the river, letting myself catch my breath. However, I only managed to get one or two good breaths until a flash of ginger shot by me and careened into the river with an alarmed yowl.

Firepaw resurfaced almost immediately, gasping from the cold of the river. I was very loudly meowing with laughter. I only laughed harder as firepaw struggled to get out of the river.

We both froze as we heard voices coming from the other side of the river. Firepaw obviously wasn't able to turn around and look, but I did. And I froze instantly.

Oh, Fox-dung. A Riverclan patrol was standing on the other side of the river.

Oh, double fox-dung. Leading the patrol was Oakheart, Crookedstar's brother.

Firepaw panicked and desperately scrambled to get out of the the river.

"Hey Fire kitty! What are you doing in Riverclan territory?" Firepaw gave up trying to exit the river, and turned around to face the angry patrol.

"I- I'm sorry," Firepaw stuttered, dipping his head as much as he could in the river. "We were just racing and I stopped too late and fell into the river."

Oakheart sighed. "Look, kit, we don't have time to be dealing with naughty apprentices, and I'm sure neither does-" he broke off, an unreadable glint dancing across his eyes as he mentioned the next name. "Bluestar." He said Bluestar's name in a strange tone. Did they know each other?

Firepaw resumed struggling to get out of the river, but this time he asked for help. "Sandpaw!" he hissed, "Get me out of here!"

I snapped out of my shocked state and padded closer to the river's edge, cautiously digging my claws into the mud to keep my balance. I sank my teeth into his scruff and pulled. He whimpered from the pain, but otherwise didn't complain and pushed with his hind legs.

Firepaw was eventually pulled out, but he must have really been stuck, because we tumbled backwards and landed on top of each other. I stared into his emerald orbs for a few heartbeats, and then quickly looked away as both of our pelts heated up in embarrassment. Firepaw hastily hopped off.

We turned to look at the patrol their faces lit up with obvious amusement. Oakheart spoke once more. "Show your love for each other somewhere else more private," he meowed smugly. "But for now, don't let me catch you two ear Riverclan territory again, and telly your other friends while you're at it."

Firepaw and I dipped our heads. "Yes, Oakheart," I meowed solemnly. Firepaw repeated what I said.

Oakheart dipped his head and then turned. "Behave yourselves!" He called over his shoulder, and then was gone, takin ghis patrol with him.

Firepaw looked over at me sheepishly. "Uh... Sorry about that," He mumbled. 

As mad as I was that he had managed to get us in trouble with Riverclan's deputy, I dismissed it quickly. "It's fine."

We walked back to camp silently, our pawsteps and the water from Firepaw's pelt hitting the ground lightly were the only sounds in the forest.

Was it really that obvious for a grown cat to tell? I wondered. Oakheart had immediately guessed that we were in love. And while I'm not sure if that's true for one of us...

"Did we just break the warrior code?" Firepaw asked shakily.

I flicked my tail. "I don't know. we did kind of trespass by accident," I stated.

"Will Bluestar find out?"

"Let's hope not. I don't think Oakheart will tell her though."

I heard Firepaw breath a heavy sigh of relief. "At least that was fun."

As much as I hated to admit it, I shared the same feelings.

✧✧✧

"Where were you?" Dustpaw asked almost as soon as we got back. It didn't sound angry at all, but I might have taken it as that just because we hadn't talked in so long.

"Out with Firepaw."

Dustpaw sighed. "Look, I've come to realize that you may have been right. I still don't like that you cheered for Firepaw, but after some thought, there are certainly worse things that you could do. And pushing you away was stupid."

I smiled. "And I guess I'm sorry for clawing you in the cheek."

"So can we go back to being friends?" He asked tentatively.

"Of course, you dummy," I meowed goofily, swiping his ears with my paws.

The next morning, I was back to ignoring the Firepaw trio. I saw Firepaw sigh when he saw me and dustpaw sharing tongues away from the others. That made me wonder if he didn't actually hate us, as many reasons as we gave him to. Maybe he just wanted to have more friends.

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Word count - 2570

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Author's Note

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Woohoo, almost two months. Like I said, so definitive schedule. I promise I'm always working on the next chapters, sometimes I just either do't have time, get too preoccupied with other things, or just can't find inspiration to write.

And I'm afraid to mention that college starts next month and I don't know if I'll be able to write at all. Hopefully my roommate is chill.

Sorry to the three of you who read this.

Also this might be the last chance for everyone to guess the meanings of the chapters. Here they are again.

I. Before the Fire

II. Virtrification

III. Shards

IV. Infinity

PLEASE guess in the comments!

See y'all in the next one!

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-  Maple  -

-  7 ▫ 4 ▫ 2024  -

(Happy independence day)