The ThunderClan Tragedy

Chapter 2

Lionblaze POV

Deputy! I thought. Yes!

It was just before dawn, so I decided that I might as well start organizing a dawn patrol. "Cloudtail, Brightheart, and Foxleap, dawn patrol," I said. They obeyed, leaving through the gorse tunnel. I started to organize hunting patrols. "I'll lead one, and I'll take Brackenfur, Cinderheart, Dovepaw, and Ivypaw. Sorreltail, you can lead the other. You can take whatever cats you want. Our hunting patrol left through the gorse tunnel. "We should split up," I said. "I'll go with Cinderheart." We split up, us going towards the lake, the other three going towards the ShadowClan border. I purposely chose to go only with Cinderheart so I could ask her something. "Do you think Dovewing and Ivypool will be okay with Brackenfur?" I asked.

"They'll be fine," she said. We headed toward the
lake. When we were about half way there, I scented the air and scented mouse. I signalled with my tail to where it was.

"I'll get it," I whispered. I silently snuck towards it, making sure I didn't step on any branches. I leaped at it and gave it a quick nip to the neck.

"Nice catch," Cinderheart said when I got back to her. I buried it under a large oak to collect later. At sunhigh, we got back to the camp. I had caught two squirrels and the mouse. Cinderheart had caught two voles.

"Hey, Cinderheart!" I said.

"Yeah, Lionblaze?" she said questioningly.

"You wanna go for a walk by the lake?" I asked her.

"Sure! It would be nice to see the lake," she said.

Cinderheart POV

Lionblaze and I headed towards the lake. 'How do I ask him?' I asked myself.

"Hey, Lionblaze! Race you to the lake!" I said. I started running in the direction of the lake. I could here his footsteps a tail-length behind me. I picked up speed. I could see the lake. I had beat him for the first time.

"Hey, Cinderheart, I was wondering?" Lionblaze asked me.

"Yeah?" I said.

"Will you be my mate?" he asked.

"Yes! Absolutely!" I squealed. I ran up to him and entwined my tail with his. It was getting dark, so we decided to sleep out here tonight.

"I think I see something that we could use as a shelter," Lionblaze said. We walked up to it and saw that it was a deserted fox hole. "This should work for the night," he said. I sniffed and the fox stench was stale. We curled up and wrapped our tails together.

The next morning, I woke up to find Lionblaze still asleep. I slowly uncurled our tails and went to hunt. I caught a mouse and a squirrel. When I got back to the fox den, Lionblaze was up. When he saw me, he came running up to me. "Hey, love," he said. I smiled and sat down beside him, putting the prey between us and telling him that he could have whichever one he wanted. He chose the mouse, so I took the squirrel. We ate in silence.

"We should probably head back soon," I said. "You have to organize patrols."

"Okay," he agreed, and we headed back to the camp where the warriors were waiting for their duties. "Sorreltail, you can lead the dawn patrol. Go check out the ShadowClan border. Take whichever cats you want. Cloudtail, you can lead a patrol along the WindClan border. Sandstorm can lead a hunting patrol. I will lead one as well." Everyone went off on their duties, which left just Squirrelflight, Lionblaze, Bramblestar, and I for warriors.

"I'll stay here and guard the camp," I offered.

"Sure," Bramblestar said. With that, the three of them left through the gorse tunnel. I walked to Jayfeather's den, knowing there wasn't much else I could do.

"Why were you so late getting back after your walk with Lionblaze?" he asked.

"We were just getting late, so we decided it would be better to get some sleep. And Lionblaze and I are mates now," I declared.

"Mates with the deputy?" he asked.

"Yup," I answered. "How's Briarlight doing?"

"Pretty good, considering her condition," he said, with what looked like warmth and caring in his eyes.

"Hey, you never get that look in your eyes when dealing with other patients. Why with Briarlight?" I asked.

"I like her a lot, actually," he said.

A/N - Sorry for the interruption. I just want to make it clear that medicine cats can have mates, when normally they can't because of the medicine cat code.

"Really? As more than a patient that I thought you might have gotten bored of by now?" I questioned.

"Definitely more than a friend or patient. I guess it might come from feeling bad for her because she lost the use of her hind legs. I'm going to ask her later today, if I catch her at a good time, which is basically always," Jayfeather said to me.

"Wait, you can have a mate?" I asked, forgetting about the new rules set in place by StarClan.

"Yeah. Don't you remember what I told you when I got back from the Moonpool last half-moon?"

"Oh, right." I left to the warriors den, knowing that no one would be in there at this time of day. I quickly went to my nest, falling asleep soon after I lay down. I was awoken at about sun-high. Bramblestar was about to announce the cats he would take to the Gathering.

"I shall take Lionblaze, Dovewing, Cloudtail, Brightheart, Cinderheart, Bumblestripe, Blossomfall, and Jayfeather