Flamepaw's Quest

Chapter 25

            Flamepaw stood nervously, avoiding unsheathed claws as cats pushed past her, yowling. She watched as Snowheart and Runningkit collapsed, both of them exhausted. Flamepaw wondered what they'd been through before they had even started fighting in this battle.
            "Why is this happening?!" Neko exclaimed, rushing over towards Korosu.
            With one flick of her tail, the fighting ceased, and Korosu faced her brother, snarling viciously at him.
            "I'm not what I used to be, brother," she growled, her sharp white teeth even brighter than her silky pelt.
            Flamepaw stepped back, frightened by the she-cat. She glanced back over at the striped she-cat that had run over into the mess. She looked as confused as the others.
            Goldstar quickly made her way to Snowheart and Runningkit in a panicked hurry.
            "Are you okay?" she asked them, helping them come back up to their feet.
            Flamepaw suddenly felt another cat by her side. She turned, seeing Rosepettle and Neko standing near her. Their presence brought her a sense of protection, almost.
            "You okay?" Rosepettle whispered.
            Flamepaw nodded, glancing down at the few scratches on parts of her body. Other than that, she remained in adequate shape.
            "I'm okay," Snowheart grumbled, standing up now.
            Goldstar glanced down, her eyes widening. "What in StarClan happened to your leg?!"
            At this remark, Flamepaw turned and noticed a long, deep cut running down Snowheart's leg, the redness of the blood soaking into Snowheart's pure white pelt.
            Before Snowheart could reply, the small brown kit, Tigerkit, limped over to the striped she-cat. Flamepaw was surprised to see him injured, but upon seeing Leopardkit growling, she realized the two had been in a battle.
            The striped she-cat was terrified by the blood spewing out of the tom's shoulder, and she immediately began to lick the wound, tears springing from her eyes.
            Tornface ran over to the kit, exclaiming, "TIGERKIT!"
            Tigerkit glanced up, shouting, "DADDY!" He ran towards his father and buried his face into his father's furry chest. Flamepaw felt her heart swelling.
            Leopardkit leapt over them curiously, and for a moment, Flamepaw feared she would attack the small family. But instead, the striped she-cat only glanced up tearfully, asking "Why?"
            "Are you their mother?" Flamepaw asked. "Are you Zebrafur?" She recalled the name from earlier when Tornface had mentioned losing his mate.
            The striped she-cat nodded. "I am."
            Tigerkit turned to Leopardkit, hissing. "Zebrafur and Tornface are my mother and father, and they don't treat me like foxdung!"
            Leopardkit shrunk back, but when standing tall again, she looked more relaxed and almost apologetic for what she'd done.
            "Where'd you learn that language?!" Tornface gasped.
            Leopardkit laughed, and Flamepaw was surprised these kits could go from vicious to loving so fast.
            "You're a mousebrain," she said, teasing her brother.
            Flamepaw smiled at them, glad they had discovered the truth about their parents. If Korosu were to continue manipulating them...
            "KOROSU!" Rosepettle spat as soon as Flamepaw's thoughts finished.
            Flamepaw turned, noticing that Korosu and the rest of the "kits" had vanished, leaving only them and Tornface's family behind.
            "Mouse-dung!" Flamepaw spat, not realizing the she-cat could've gotten away so easily while they were distracted.
            As soon as the words echoed her mouth, there was a large rumble, and Neko let out a yowl as rocks tumbled down from the walls of the canyon. Before Flamepaw could react, a cloud of dust and yowling cats had blinded her view. She shrunk down, waiting for a rock to crush her, but when silence came, she remained unhurt.
            Coughing loudly, she began to see through the dust, gasping in surprise when she found that the place Snowheart, Runningkit, and Rosepettle had stood were covered in rocks.
            "ROSEPETTLE!" Neko screeched. He frantically paced back and forth by the pile of heavy rocks, pressing his nose up to any opening he could find. "Please, say something."
            Flamepaw frowned, watching as the other cats slowly realized what had happened. They couldn't have all died so easily. After fighting Korosu and her army, how could they have been crushed by a mere pile of rocks?
            She approached the pile, Goldstar, Tornface, Zebrafur, and Tigerkit following behind. Leopardkit stayed behind, looking confused. "Oh no," she murmured quietly, sorrowful from the event.
            Neko was groaning and placing his head against a rock, tears dripping down his cheeks. Flamepaw knew that hope was not lost. They could very well be alive.
            While the cats kept their silence, Flamepaw began using her paws to scoop the rocks away. The others glanced at her, then shrugged, beginning to do the same. Soon, all the cats had felt the same sense of hope as Flamepaw, and they were violently digging their paws in between rocks and breaking them free.
            "This isn't too hard," Flamepaw admitted.
            Tigerkit, too tiny to move any rocks, wailed, "THIS IS REALLY HAR—" His sentence was cut short by the sound of more rocks tumbling down.
            Squealing, Flamepaw and the others leapt aside, but Tigerkit remained, frozen as rocks tumbled towards him. Flamepaw watched the kit close his eyes as the rocks approached him, when suddenly a flash of spotted fur came by and pushed Tigerkit aside. The brown kit tumbled down the pile of rocks, landing hard, yet still unhurt, on the ground below.
            As the rocks settled, Flamepaw gasped in surprise to see Leopardkit's body underneath a rock, blood spilling out from beneath it.
            I shouldn't have started digging. It wouldn't have continued to fall, was all Flamepaw could think, now feeling the burden of yet another death.
            Tigerkit rose warily, glancing around to find out what had happened. At the sight of his sister, he gasped.
            Zebrafur pushed her way towards her daughter, wailing horrifically. With all her might, Flamepaw was surprised to see her push the rock off of Leopardkit, revealing the limp and bloody body of her daughter.
            "MY KIT!" she wailed hysterically.
            Flamepaw glanced down, feeling once again to blame.
            Tornface stood beside her, holding back tears as Zebrafur wailed into his coat. Tigerkit stood in a mourning manner beside them, whispering, "She saved my life."
            "Oh, but Clawkit is still safe at home, isn't he?" Zebrafur asked Tornface through tears.
            Flamepaw felt her heart breaking. "He-he died," was all she could say.
            Zebrafur's tears ceased, and she stood, absolutely speechless. "Two of my kits are dead," she murmured, all light and happiness fading from her eyes.
            Flamepaw took a step forward in attempt to comfort her, but she knew their was nothing to do to comfort a mother who had lost two kits.
            Suddenly, another rumble of rocks came, and Flamepaw gasped as Runningkit and Rosepettle burst out of the rocks. The rocks crumbled and stopped, and Goldstar glanced around frantically.
            "Where's Snowheart?!"
            Runningkit looked down, dust from the boulders coating his fur. "She...didn't make it in time."
            Rosepettle stood, her eyes foggy with tears. At the sight of Neko though, her eyes lit up, and the two ran towards each other, embracing each other.
            "Thank StarClan you're okay," Rosepettle murmured, nuzzling him.
            Runningkit sighed, still noticing the despair in the others' eyes. "The problem is, we don't know if she's okay. She survived the first time though."
            "Let's dig again then!" Goldstar declared.
            No cat argued, and Flamepaw followed them to the rock pile once again, digging her paws into the pile of rocks, this time hoping to find Snowheart alive and not her limp and bloody body.
            The cats dug for several minutes until Tigerkit yowled, "GUYS! I FOUND HER! SHE'S ALIVE!"
            Immediately, they rushed towards the small brown kit. Snowheart emerged from the rubble, her coat also brown from the dust of the rocks. She looked exhausted.
            Goldstar sniffed her curiously, glancing at her with suspicion. Did she suspect Snowheart's return to be an effect of Snowheart's powers.
            "Thank goodness you're all right," Tigerkit sighed in relief.
            "Are you hurt, Snowheart?" Flamepaw asked, still noticing the cut on her leg.
            "I'm fine," Snowheart assured them. "I'll need some cobwebs and probably some marigold, but I should be okay."
            "If only we had Mothwing," Goldstar sighed.
            "I think we should rest for the night," Tornface decided.
            Flamepaw nodded, exhausted from the trauma she'd received in the last twenty-four hours. As cats began to settle down away from the rock pile, Flamepaw found herself failing to fall asleep. All she could see were Daisyflower, Clawkit, and Leopardkit's death replaying in her mind, and she felt like she was to blame for all of it.
            Sighing, she closed her eyes, murmuring, "I want to go home."