Deep Blue Eyes-- a warriors fanfic (completed story!)

Chapter 30

In the past quarter moon that they had stayed with Lion, Flameheart had begun to fall deeply in love with him. He seemed to be in love with her as well. Lion taught her how to hunt in the mountains, and caught her when she almost fell off of a cliff. They grew closer by the heartbeat, and Nightclaw seemed to be more furious than usual- which is pretty angry.

Flameheart just shot smug looks at Nightclaw, wanting to irritate her. Flameheart was confident that she wanted Lion for herself, yet she was too scared to admit it, so she resorted to anger.

Flameheart brushed her tail against Lion’s golden pelt. He smiled at her and buried his muzzle into her fur.

Flameheart stared at him, a lifetime of love opening up in her eyes. She wished she could stay with him forever, but there was still the prophecy to take care of. She leaned against him, dreading the day she’d have to leave.

“I love you, Lion,” Flameheart whispered.

Lion just purred. “Come with me.” He stepped back from Flameheart and began to bounce out of the den and around the mountains.

Flameheart bounded after him on the snowy trail. The first snowfall had fallen yesterday, and it was magical. Poppyleaf, who was much stronger, loved to play in the snow and try to catch snowflakes on her tongue. Flameheart and Flowerblaze had played with her, while Nightclaw lurked in a corner glaring at them through narrowed eyes. Flameheart risked throwing a pawful of snow at Nightclaw, who scooped snow off of the ground and hit her hard with it.

In front of her, Lion skidded to a halt. Flameheart stopped behind him, wondering what lay ahead.

“Careful now,” he whispered. “There’s a huge patch of ice in front of us. We need to walk slowly, or we’ll slide off of the edge.”

The adrenaline coursed through Flameheart’s veins. The thirst for adventure was covered up by love, and Flameheart didn’t realize how much she wanted something like this to happen.

Slowly, Lion placed one paw on the ice, slowly sliding forward. He shuffled each of his paws awkwardly, struggling to gain balance on the slippery surface. Flameheart didn’t have as much trouble, gliding slowly forward as her heart thumped steadily. She made it to the end where she let out a joyous yowl, not surprised to hear Lion’s laughter.

The two climbed up a steep winding path where the wind blew harsher than ever. Flameheart gritted her teeth against the cold and pressed closer to Lion.

“Where are you taking me?” She chattered through clenched teeth.

“You’ll find out, my love.” Lion purred, pressing forward.

Flameheart felt all warm and fuzzy when Lion called her “my love”. She let out a purr and kept climbing a little happier than usual.

Eventually, when their paws began to hurt and their whiskers were frozen and snowflakes dappled their faces, Lion and Flameheart reached the top of the mountain. Flameheart was amazed at what she saw.

Snow-capped grey rock stretched out in front of her, a pounding waterfall greeting a pool not all that far away. Farther beyond Flameheart could see a hard black line stretching out as far as you could see, and beyond that green fields and a twoleg place. Flameheart strained to see more, but nothing else was in sight.

Lion purred. “That is the path you must follow to get back to your home. The Tribe took me up here once and showed me where the legendary clans came from and where they had left. They still honor Feathertail, the cat who killed the deadly Sharptooth and saved the tribe. They have a huge debt to owe the clans still, and I think I’ve helped with paying that off.”