Chapter Text
Firestar led a hunting patrol through the forest, some of his warriors trailing behind. A light ginger blur sped past him, and he gave a small quiet laugh at the apprentice's exuberance and enthusiasm. Cherrypaw had only been apprenticed for a few days, but was so eager to learn everything she could.
Foxleap gave a groan, embarrassed that he couldn't control his own apprentice. “I'm sorry Firestar,” he apologized to the leader. Firestar flicked his tail, “No, it's fine. She's just excited to be out. I seem to recall a few apprentices back in the day that were just as excited as she was during their first few days out,” he said amused, and some of the cats in his patrol ducked their heads in embarrassment, knowing that they were some of those excited apprentices back when they started out.
“Cherrypaw, come back! This isn't a race!” Foxleap yowled. Cherrypaw came rushing back, panting slightly. Foxleap twitched his whiskers, exasperated. “Well, since you're so eager, you can tell us what you smell.”
Cherrypaw's nostrils flared as she tried picking apart the different scents around them. Firestar lightly tasted the air himself, scenting the mouth-watering scents of mouse, squirrel and other prey. It was a nice day out. He wished it could like this everyday, without border skirmishes, or hunger, or the threat of dead cats coming after the clans in revenge looming over them.
“I think I smell mouse. And that's squirrel I think. And...” she trailed off as the ground started shaking lightly, small pebbles visibly jumping and moving away from their stagnant positions. All their ears pricked as they heard a strange sound coming from above them. Firestar quickly looked up and his eyes turned to slits as he saw a small flaming ball head right towards them from above. The other cats in his patrol followed his lead.
“What is that?” Cloudtail hissed hesitantly.
“What it is doesn't matter; just get away now!” Firestar commanded. All the cats backed away from where they thought the object would hit, just in time for it to hit the ground and throw them off their paws. Firestar groaned as he got up, giving out a few coughs as he tried expelling the dust from his lungs.
“Is everyone alright?” he called out to his clanmates. He got a few shaky meows of reassurance, and he gave a sigh of relief. He waited for the dust to clear and checked his clanmates, who were also shakily moving to get on their paws. It didn't seem like anyone was hurt. He looked back only to gasp. Whatever had fallen had formed a decent sized crater and they were standing just beside the edge.
They all stood at the edge, gazing in amazement at the big rock that had fallen from the sky. Pieces of it littered the ground, but a good part of the rock was still intact. It was glowing a faint red. No one dared to speak, not knowing what to say.
“Seriously, what is that?” Cloudtail repeated.
“A big rock?” Lionblaze drawled. Firestar couldn't remember the part where he learned that rocks glowed, but didn't voice the thought out loud.
“Oh, oh, I'll check it out!” Cherrypaw declared. She rushed down the slope and approached the glowing rock. The other cats gave hisses of alarm. “Cherrypaw, come back! You don't know what that thing even is!” Foxleap yowled, worried that his apprentice might get hurt.
“That mouse-brain!” Squirrelflight hissed. “What if she gets hurt?”
“Says the she-cat who apparently thought entering a badger den was a good idea,” Cloudtail muttered. She gave him a glare before rushing down the slope herself, the rest of the patrol doing the same.
“I found something!” Cherrypaw announced. “It looks like a pretty red stone!”
“Well don't touch it, you don't know what it is,” Foxleap said. They caught up to her, standing next to the big rock, and saw what she was looking at. It was a shiny, glossy red stone. Firestar had never seen such a polished looking rock in his life. It had smooth looking edges, the top of it being circular before the edges come together to form a point on the bottom. The outer edge was such a dark red it almost looked black, but the inside... The inside was something of beauty. There were reds and oranges and yellows inside, almost like blazing fire. It was glowing a faint red, just like the rock beside it. Did it come off of the bigger rock?
“Isn't it so pretty?” Cherrypaw gushed. She reached out to touch it. “Cherrypaw, no!” Lionblaze exclaimed. As soon as she touched it, the stone's glow intensified, and to everyone's shock it lifted itself off the ground and hovered there. The glow intensified further, bathing them all in red light. They all started backing away slowly, Foxleap grabbing Cherrypaw and dragging her with them.
Then the glowing stopped, but the stone was still hovering there. “Okay, let's get out of here. This is creeping me out,” Squirrelflight stated. Just as they were about to move again, the stone shot forth, heading straight for Firestar. He couldn't react fast enough, and it shot into his chest. He stumbled a few steps back and placed a forepaw over his chest, gasping and panting at the intense feeling of heat flowing through his body.
“Firestar! Are you okay?” Cloudtail and the others rushed forward to their leader. He gave a moan, feeling the stone root itself into his system, spreading out into every part of his body. It was getting unbearably hot. “It's-it's in me-” he panted.
There were black spots dancing in his vision. He didn't feel right at all. Foxleap whirled around angrily to hiss at Cherrypaw. “I told you not to touch anything! What if Firestar dies from this?” Firestar couldn't hear the rest, his body failing him and he collapsed onto the ground, his clanmate's worried and alarmed voices being the last thing he heard.
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He felt off. His head was buzzing and he felt hazy. He could feel soft moss under his paws. Where was he? He fought to open his eyes and he saw he was in the medicine den, Jayfeather and Briarlight sleeping soundly nearby. He looked out the opening to the den and saw it was nighttime. How long had he been out?
The buzzing faded, but his head felt even more hazy than before. There was something compelling him to get to his paws. He did so, and he gave a grunt as he felt something push itself out of his chest. There was the stone, the circular part sticking out of his chest, just enough so that it wasn't hidden in his fur. He felt it give out a pulse of warmth, sending a signal into his mind to go.
Briarlight opened her eyes to see Firestar exit the medicine den, his tail disappearing into the night. “Jayfeather. Jayfeather!” Jayfeather gave a groan and opened his maw into a yawn.
“What is it Briarlight, I'm trying to sleep,” he muttered grumpily.
“Firestar just left!” Jayfeather's eyes widened, nostrils flaring as he tried scenting where his patient went. True to her word, he wasn't in his nest. Jayfeather gave a curse and moved to exit the den. “Stay here, I'm going to get a patrol together to find him.” He hoped the entirety of the warrior's den didn't mind being woken up at this time of night.
Firestar walked in a daze, his eyes blank and glazed over as he followed the stone's command. He found himself back at the crash site, the big rock still glowing a faint red. The stone gave another pulse and suddenly he could see the residual energy around the crater. He slid down the slope and padded up to the rock, before sitting a few fox-lengths away.
The stone glowed intensely as streams of red energy wafted through the air and consolidated into the stone. Firestar gave a sigh; he felt so warm. It was nothing like the intense heat he first felt. This was pure warmth that made him feel good inside, and he liked the feeling. He gave a purr, wanting to feel more.
The stone sent out a pulse of intense warmth through him, and his front paws creaked as black scales pushed their way through his skin and replaced his fur. His paws and claws grew bigger, growing into wicked talons that put Tigerstar's claws to shame. The scales snaked up his foreleg, stopping just before the upper part of his leg met his torso. The muscles in his forelegs strengthened and enlarged, giving him enough strength to easily control them. His paws should have felt too big for him, but they didn't. He looked down at his paws with a vague look of interest, not caring that they had changed.
The stone pulsed again, sending warmth into his tail. His tail lengthened, growing thicker at the base. It thinned as it went down to the tip, black scales replacing his ginger fur. The scales formed into black plates with a serrated edge to each of them that covered the top side of his tail, the biggest plate starting at the base of his tail and smaller plates forming as they went along. Metal formed out of the tip of his tail, forming a three-pronged shape.
Another pulse. His body trembled lightly and he gave a short pant as the warmth continued to spread across his body. It focused on his back legs as they followed his forelegs. He shifted his paws to get used to his new paws, each of them sporting razor sharp talons. He wiggled his back paws, liking the feeling of his scales brushing against each other.
He purred as the stone gave the strongest pulse he felt that night. He felt so warm and good. It was focusing on his back, something trying to push its way out of him. He arched his back, trying to coax the foreign sensation of out him, when four giant wings burst out of his back. They flapped a few times before folding onto his back. They were bat-like, black scales outlining them with a black membrane connecting the insides of each wing together. They felt somewhat leathery. There was a sharp claw sticking out of the tips of each wing.
The stone continued to give out short pulses of warmth, and he felt curved horns grow from his forehead. His ears lengthened into black fins, blending into his ginger fur at the base. Black scales formed along his cheeks, and his fangs lengthened, forming sharp points that hung outside his mouth. He could feel little spines snaking down his neck, down his back and inbetween in his wings, and finally trailing into his tail.
He was so lost in his ecstasy that he didn't scent the oncoming patrol that was looking for him. Brambleclaw was at the lead with other cats trailing behind him. They came to a sudden stop at the edge of the slope and they all gasped in shock at Firestar's new appearance. Lionblaze pushed his way to the front of the patrol. “Firestar?” he called out. Firestar stiffened, and the fur on his back rose up. His head turned and they all stepped back in shock at the red-slit eyes that replaced his normally forest green ones.
Firestar turned his body around and assumed a slight pouncing position, his tail lashing the ground and making gouge marks where it struck. His wings were half out, trying to make himself look more threatening. The patrol of cats were baffled at his threatened position. He looked like a wounded, scared animal ready to pounce on them. He was glaring at them, no recognition in his eyes at the sight of them.
Brambleclaw slid down the slope and walked forward a few small steps, his stance in a non-threatening position. “Firestar, it's okay, we're not going to hurt you,” he meowed to his feral leader. The leader's tail lashed the ground again, and Firestar opened his mouth slightly to scent the air. He caught Brambleclaw's scent.
Hatchling!
He wagged his tail and relaxed. His hatchling would never hurt him, and he wouldn't hurt him in turn. Brambleclaw gave a sigh in relief at the happy look his leader was giving him. He gave a glance at the large claws attached to Firestar's paws. Those could easily kill a cat. He padded forward warily until he was by Firestar's side, noticing that Firestar was slightly bigger than he was now.
He was unprepared for Firestar's happy nuzzle. He stood still in shock; Firestar was never this affectionate, especially with him. The patrol gave bemused looks to each other and to Brambleclaw, and he shrugged. They tried padding down the slope, only for Firestar to snarl at them, wings flared in a threatening position. They stopped suddenly as Firestar covered Brambleclaw with a wing, still growling at the patrol.
Brambleclaw rushed out from under Firestar's wing and turned to face him. “It's okay, no one is going to hurt you!” He didn't know why Firestar was acting like this.
Lionblaze gave a gasp at the sight of the red stone Cherrypaw had found earlier that day sticking out of Firestar's chest. “It's that stone again! Is it making him do this? Did it turn him into that?” he exclaimed. The patrol gave him uncertain looks. Brambleclaw remembered the patrol coming back to camp with Firestar's unconscious body. They claimed that some stone had shot into Firestar, and that Firestar claimed that it was inside him. Jayfeather had checked him all over, but couldn't pinpoint anything wrong with the leader. They thought the patrol was making a bad joke. Sure they felt the ground rumble for a few moments, and they heard something big hit the ground, but a red stone entering the body of their leader?
Until they led the clan to the crash site and the clan realized that the story wasn't some nonsense. Now Brambleclaw had visible proof of the supposed stone. It had turned Firestar into something strange and it scared him. Was Firestar going to be like this forever? It was one thing if he looked this way for the foreseeable future, it was another if Firestar acted like he was for the same amount of time. Could Firestar lead the clan being this...feral?
Firestar paused and saw his hatchling looking at him with fear and concern in his eyes. He didn't mean to make his hatchling worry. He didn't want him scared of Firestar. Brambleclaw gave him a gesture to follow. “It's okay, just follow us back to camp. No one's going to hurt you,” he tried gently assuring Firestar. He led Firestar back up the slope, and the patrol parted to give them space as Firestar gave a light growl in their direction.
The patrol of cats kept their distance from Firestar as they neared camp. Cats were outside, waiting for their return. They all gasped and muttered at Firestar's appearance, and he crouched down in a pounce, tail lashing from side to side as he glared at them. He relaxed his stance as a sand colored she-cat made her way hesitantly towards him. Her sweet scent hit him instantly.
Mate.
His excitement died down when she gave him a startled look. He didn't like the fear in her eyes, much like the fear in his hatchling. He frowned, why was his mate and hatchling afraid of him? Did he do something wrong? He was just trying to protect them. Sandstorm gave her mate a worried look before turning to Brambleclaw. “How did this happen?”
Brambleclaw cringed. “We don't know. Lionblaze thinks it's that stone in his chest that did this to him.” Her eyes turned to the stone sticking out of him. “He didn't seem to recognize anyone but me. He was happy to see me but not anyone else. He looked ready to attack my patrol,” he meowed.
Firestar was still staring at Sandstorm, confused at her hesitance. She gave a sigh and padded up to him, to the shock and fear of the clan. He smiled and gave her loving licks and she gave a light laugh at the feel of his tongue tickling her. He gave a happy trill, the stone giving a warm pulse at his happiness. She led him to the leader's den, and as he was about to enter he looked down at Brambleclaw, wondering why he wasn't following.
His nose flared as he smelled the scents of his other hatchlings. He wanted to go and bring them into the den with him too, but he felt so tired. He hoped they would be fine without him for one night.
Brambleclaw gave a sigh and moved to follow. Squirrelflight rushed up to him, stopping him from moving. “You can't be serious! What if he hurts you?” He gave her a growl, “He's not going to hurt me. You should have more faith in me and your parents.” With that, he walked around her and entered the leader's den. He found Sandstorm coaxing Firestar into the nest and he walked up to join them.
Firestar moved to curl his tail around his mate and hatchling, making sure the sharp scales and tip didn't hurt them, and brought them close to him. Brambleclaw and Sandstorm melted into his hold, his body being surprisingly warm. His eyes closed as he drifted off, the stone sending signals of safety into his head.
Brambleclaw nodded to Sandstorm, and she too fell asleep. But Brambleclaw didn't belong here. He should give these two cats their privacy. He tried to get up, but Firestar's tail was surprisingly strong. It wouldn't budge, and he was afraid Firestar would wake up if he felt Brambleclaw leave. Staying for one night wouldn't hurt him... He closed his eyes, hoping that tomorrow morning would be better.