Author’s Note: This story takes place in the Roleplay on the wiki, I will include a link to the allegiances at a later point. If you DON'T want me to use your cat, let me know. This will hopefully be my entry to Icy's Fanfiction Contest... if I get it done in time. If not, oh well I have it all planned out and will get it done at my leisure then.
Summary: Burningstar has returned to BlogClan after being stuck in Twolegplace, bringing tales of various kittypets, kind loners, and a love interest. However, unbeknownst to Burningstar she brought something else back, something that threatens the safety of not only BlogClan but all clans. With MarshClan and the Dusk Syndicate on the brink of war; and cat’s disappearing on all sides; Burningstar has to figure out a way to combat a threat that no warrior has ever had to face before.
Prologue[]
Caren slipped out of the cat flap of her Housefolk’s home, she shook her white fur out and padded towards the fence gracefully jumping on top of it. She could hear twolegs calling and once she was atop the fence she could see a female twoleg looking around standing in the garden behind Caren’s. The twoleg had her two forepaws cupped around her flat muzzle and was calling. The look on her face Caren recognized as being one her twolegs would get if Caren had been out very late and hadn’t heard them calling.
“You heard it too huh?” Caren turned her head to see Hermes walking towards her moving with practiced ease atop the fence. She dipped her head to him and he sat down next to her looking at the distressed looking twoleg. “Her mate was walking along the block calling out as well. They must be looking for Sunset-I mean Burningstar,” He meowed quietly.
Caren nodded watching the female twoleg shake her head and wipe at her eyes as her mate entered the garden. The female turned to him and looked at him hopefully but the male shook his head and the female looked down. The male went over to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and guided her back inside the den.
“It’s too bad, they had Burningstar for almost a moon,” Caren murmured tail twitching.
“Agreed,” Hermes meowed, “But they’re nice housefolk, I’m sure they’ll get another cat.” His ears lowered, “One that isn’t actually the amnesiac leader of a clan of wild cats.” He murmured.
“Yeah, hopefully the next one won’t be told by dead cats to leave everything here behind,” Caren muttered unhappily, “I liked Sun-Burningstar, she was different and interested in finding out as much as possible. If she’d stayed maybe…” She turned away tail lashing.
“Her heart lay with the woods, and living here didn’t provide the life she needed. She needed the wild to stir her blood, all it’s dangers, challenge and threats that she could meet with her claws rather than have her every need taken care of, it forced her to be idle, and that was not the life Burningstar would want to live.” Hermes meowed nodding sagely, “We will miss her, but we won’t forget her, or the tales of the clans.” Caren turned back to him, “Just as she won’t forget us,”
Caren looked at him, before looking up at the starry sky. “I hope we see Burningstar again… and even though we’re… housecats and she’s a clan cat, a clan leader, we can still be friends,”
“I don’t think our differences will keep us from being friends,” Hermes meowed gently nudging Caren to cheer her up, “And I think we will see her soon,”
“I hope so,” Caren meowed looking up at the sky, eyes lighting up as she spotted a light flicker across the sky, “Oh! A shooting star! I wonder if it’s a sign, a sign that we’ll see Burningstar soon!” She meowed focusing on the sky pointing a paw towards where the star had disappeared.
Hermes looked at her whiskers twitching eyes glittering with barely repressed mirth before dipping his head when she turned to look at him. “Yes, yes I’m sure.”
Caren huffed, “I mean that’s what wild cats do right? Look up at the stars and interpret signs? Well, I think it’s a sign we’ll get our wish and see her soon, and a little bit of excitement will return to our lives.”
Hermes looked up at the sky again tail twitching, “Yes, a little bit of excitement indeed,” He murmured
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Burningstar let out a breath of relief when she could scent the BlogClan border. The collar she wore, that the twolegs who had taken care of her had put on her was a heavy weight around her neck. She paused reaching up a paw to paw at the collar uncomfortably. The collar had taken a bit of getting used to, but she’d accepted it in her memoryless state, too busy being grateful at being taken in and cared for. She wasn’t aware that this wasn’t the norm, as far as she, as the injured amnesiac she cat Sunset, had known, living and being cared for by twolegs was the norm.
If it hadn’t been for the calling of the forest, and the flickers of memories of living there calling for her, she might’ve accepted her life. But with Fox, Burningstar turned her head to look at the tom who stood beside her looking at her curiously. He had helped push her to remember who she was, and that it was through the warriors struggles that made their lives hold the most meaning.
“You need help getting that off?” Fox asked nodding to the collar on her neck, “I’m surprised you didn’t get it off when we left,”
Burningstar sighed sparing a glance back towards the direction of Twolegplace and all the cats she’d met who’d helped her recover, and where she’d gotten to meet Fox. “I, I don’t know, I guess a part of me knew I needed to get rid of it. But another part was sentimental,” She looked down at the ground, before drawing in a deep breath, “But I am clan leader, and while I will treasure what I have learned from my time as Sunset, I must put that identity to rest, Fox can you help me?” She asked shifting her head to better expose her neck so Fox could get to the collar. A shiver ran through her at how she was exposing her throat. Her mind all too familiar with the dangers of doing so.
But with Fox there was no fear. The tom tilted his head slightly and dug his teeth into the collar yanking a little, Burningstar pulling the other way. The she cat gasping when she needed air Fox letting up and letting Burningstar catch her breath before they resumed their efforts. They struggled for a few moments more before the collar came free with a snap and dropped onto the ground.
Burningstar shook her head feeling the breeze ruffle through the fur that had been flattened and pinched by the collar. It felt strange and wonderful all at the same time.
“So what should we do with it now?” Fox asked eyeing the dropped collar.
Burningstar studied it, “Bury it,” She meowed scraping a hole into the ground and pushing the collar into it and covering it placing her paw over the dug hole. “My time as Sunset is over, so this is me putting the identity and twolegplace behind me,” She glanced in that direction again, before raising her head to the sky to see the warriors of StarClan beginning to appear. “I say these words in the light of StarClan, Sunset is no more, I am Burningstar leader of BlogClan, that is who I am and who I will always be.” She lowered her gaze to look at Fox, “For better or for worse,”
Fox nodded, “Well now that you’ve finished your old cat worshipping,” He said lightly, “Are we going to stay out here all night or reunite with your clan?”
Burningstar walked towards the border flicking his ear with her tail, “Watch your tongue, I’ll forgive you this last time but our warrior ancestors support, watch over and provide us guidance when we need it. Grant them some respect,” as she headed to the border
Fox let out a long-suffering sigh before padding after her. “I suppose I can, for you,” He said looking at her whiskers twitching.
Burningstar looked at him before focusing ahead, “Right, let’s go, it’s time to rejoin BlogClan.” She meowed before she crossed the border and disappeared into the undergrowth Fox trailing after her, the stars glittering brightly over the land below the moon casting shadows that stretched over the cats and over the little pile of dirt that concealed Burningstar’s old collar.