Trust at its Test



 T r u s t a t i t s T e s t

Episode Ten, Season Two, of Beauty.

Enjoy <3

This is dedicated to Rainy because she is an amazing fan :) <3

Trust at its Trust
“Scarlet,” I say cautiously. I look her up and down. She looks no worse or wear, though there’s a strange glint in her eyes.

“My favorite rebel,” she laughs.

When I don’t reply, she seats herself. “Seems like you’re in a tough spot. Need help?” She repeats. Her beautiful blue eyes glitter like two stars on a dark night.

“We don’t need help,” I say curtly.

“You’re lost,” Scarlet counters, “Where exactly are you trying to go?” She raises her chin almost confidentially, but I notice a glimmer of hesitation for a brief second before it darts away. “Tell me where you’re going and I’ll get you there.”

I frown. No matter how many times I’ve interacted with Scarlet, I still don’t trust her. “Cherrypaw had blue eyes,” I blurt out.

The fearsome spy’s eyes widen in slight surprise. “Excuse me?” She splutters, “Who?”

“Cherrypaw,” I repeat, “She was one of my friends in the Academy. She… well the Beauty took her away two moons before our final assessment.” I watch Scarlet’s expression, “You sure you don’t know where she is?”

“I’m sure,” the fiery she-cat snaps, “Now do you want my help or not?” Her fur is bushed up and she seems tense.

“We don’t need help,” I repeat. Scarlet would have to give me more reason to trust her before I let her into my plans.

“Fine,” the scarred she-cat whirls around and begins to stalk away, “Suit yourself.”

She gets five steps before I make up my mind. “Wait!” I call out. The she-cat pauses but doesn’t turn around. “Do you know how to get to the prisons?”

“The prisons?” Scarlet turns slowly so she’s facing me. “What do you need from there? Scrawny slaves for you to use at your will?”

I frown at her condescending tone. “None of your business,” I counter, “I just need directions there.”

Scarlet smirks. “I don’t follow your orders, Amberfrost. I offered you help and you denied me. If you want my help now, you have to promise me something.”

“What is it?” I ask impatiently. My time is running out. Who knows how longer before Flareheart comes back to find me.

“If Shadowfang approves, allow me to join your squad.”

“My squad?” I echo in confusion, “What do you want with my squad? Wouldn’t you work better be yourself?”

Scarlet gives me a solid glance, her eyes betraying her feeling. She hated being alone. Something must have happened to her before she became a spy that left her scarred.

Scarred on the inside and scarred on the outside.

“Fine,” I relent, “I need help getting to the prisons.” I explain the directions Appleleaf gave me before I had departed to get to my meeting. Scarlet furrows her brow before nodding.

“I know the way.” Without another word, Scarlet dashes off. I grit my teeth and follow, hoping I hadn’t made a terrible mistake by allowing Scarlet to join my ranks.

She’s a rebel, I remind myself, she’s on your side. But I can’t help to think that if we can infiltrate the Beauty, can’t the Beauty disguise themselves as rebels?

I push it all out of my mind as I follow Scarlet through the Beauty.

~

Brownhare really wished he never bumped into Redstar that fateful day. He could still be in his den with his parents, and Amberfrost would just be a name lost in the distance.

Sure, he wouldn’t have met his friends and stayed by Amberfrost’s side, but at least his parents would be safe.

It was a selfish thought, he knew, but he was sick of everything going wrong. He stared, dumbfounded as the lines of Beauty warriors advanced on them. There were too many for them to possibly win.

But his parents…

“We’ll go in a tight ring around Rainstorm,” Appleleaf muttered.

“Your negotiations failed!” Hawkpelt shouted, “You said you could get us in with Rainstorm as prisoner! Now we’re surrounded and probably going to land ourselves in prison.”

Brownhare gritted his teeth and unsheathed his claws. “Well, as long as we complete the mission,” he hissed, “Amberfrost will come to our aid.”

“Your girlfriend isn’t coming,” Hawkpelt sneered, “and we don’t even have Snowflare and Lionclaw! This plan was destined to fail.”

“Shut up,” Finchwing fluffed out her fur, “Just because Rainstorm is in danger doesn’t mean you have to be a jerk. It’s not like all of us are exactly safe.”

Brownhare couldn’t help but feel irriated by Hawkpelt throwing out that joke – had it been a joke? – about Amberfrost. It wasn’t like that and it seems everyone but himself didn’t know that.

Did Amberfrost know that?

He shook away that thought and muttered. “Let’s just charge them. Rainstorm will help us if we need it,” he sent a glare at the brown tabby tom, “your girlfriend will be safe.”

Hawkpelt glowered at him but Brownhare lunged for the nearest Beauty warrior. No way in StarClan was he giving up so easily.

~

Scarlet skids to a stop and swears. I slow before peeking around her and letting out a string of my own curses.

“How did they already screw up?” I scramble up a few trees for a better view, “That’s why,” I let out a groan.

“What?” The scarred she-cat glances up at me.

“Snowflare and Lionclaw,” I slide back to the ground, “They’re not there. This better not be part of Appleleaf’s horrifically terrible plan. Actually, scratch that, this better be part of the plan.” StarClan knows how disastrous it would be if Snowflare and Lionclaw had disappeared.

Scarlet looks deep in thought. “Well, we can’t get around this,” she gestures towards the barricade of Beauty soldiers, “And--”

“Fox-dung!” I interrupt the thoughts of the fearsome spy. She gives me a questioning glance. “There’s probably like three or four squads here. It’s possible that Redstar called for my squad too.”

“You were eating with Redstar,” Scarlet frowns, “How could she have deployed your squad?”

Fear and adrenaline runs through me. “I don’t know, but I hope you’re right. Both Flareheart and I were gone before anything happened.”

“Well as I was saying, we need to find your missing soldiers. Your other friends will need it. They we need to round up rebels.” Scarlet meets my frantic gaze with composure of a soldier who knew this would work. “You go find your soldiers while rally a troop of my own.”

She doesn’t wait for me to agree. She spins around and sprints off. I head in the opposite direction, hoping I would somehow collide into the pair.

~

“Snowflare!” She heard her name being called. She continued without pausing, not in the mood for Lionclaw’s lecture and him telling her that he loved her (the last part wouldn’t be so bad).

“Please let me explain--”

Snowflare rounded the corner and smacked into a cat. “Ow!” She rubbed and found herself eye to eye with Flareheart. “Oh my StarClan--”

Flareheart just stood and kept running. Snowflare stared after her, a little stricken by the sight. Lionclaw skidded to a halt next to her.

“Tell me that wasn’t Flareheart.”

“That was,” the white she-cat frowned, “wasn’t she with Amberfrost?”

The golden tom nodded. “Snowflare, I--”

“Whatever,” the white she-cat stalked away, “I don’t care anymore.” But in truth she did care and she wanted Lionclaw to keep talking to show that he really cared about her.

But to her disappointment, he didn’t say anything, just kept pace with her. Sometimes she hated her own harsh words.

Swerving to avoid talking to Lionclaw, she smacked into the second cat in five minutes.

Swearing, Snowflare scrambled back up to her paws only to hear Lionclaw gasp out. “Amberfrost?”

Well, this is going great.

~

Scarlet sighed quietly. Getting an army of rebels was no problem for someone of her caliber. It was the price she was going to have to pay. Would Shadowfang let her join Amberfrost’s mess of a squad?

It gave her a thrill to think about if the general said yes. And a sense of dread.

She shook out her pelt. She had to get going. There wasn’t much time left before the Beauty cats crushed Amberfrost and her squad. If Scarlet wanted a chance, she had to hurry.

~

“Snowflare!” I yelp. I look past her and to my relief, Lionclaw is just behind her. “Where were you? I just saw the others and you weren’t with them!”

The white she-cat looks annoyed. “Doesn’t matter,” she growls, “we were just heading over right now.”

Judging by Lionclaw’s astonished look, they weren’t heading towards the battlefield – not on purpose at least.

But the white she-cat just pushes past me and stalks towards the prisons. “Come on,” she calls over her shoulder, “we don’t have much time.”

Lionclaw and I exchange helpless glances and follow Snowflare.

~

Finchwing was losing it. No matter how many times Rainstorm recharged her with power, the brown she-cat couldn’t push back the lines of Beauty warriors. They were too much.

A battle cry came from her left. To her astonishment, Amberfrost – covered in mud and streaked with what seemed like blood – ran into the scene. What surprised Finchwing even more were Snowflare and Lionwing storming in after her.

Another cry came from the right and when Finchwing glanced over, her eyes bugged out. Lines of rebel troops overpowered the stunned Beauty warriors.

“Come on!” Amberfrost shouted, “We have to finish what we came to do!”

Hearing her voice – or orders – and realizing what was at stake, Brownhare started running for the prison dens. Finchwing hurtled after him, the others following.

Lives were at stake.

~

I’ve never seen Brownhare run so fast in his life. He’s already in the prisons by the time Snowflare, Lionclaw, and I fought our way to the others.

He emerges seconds later with his parents in tow. Appleleaf follows him out and whispers to me, “No Cherrypaw.”

I feel my heart sink a little but I push the feeling away. We’d find Cherrypaw.

Distracted by the invading rebel troops, it only made it easier for us to escape. The elated look on Brownhare’s face was worth it. The others look exhausted, Rainstorm especially. I hope she didn’t overwork herself.

We reach the safety of Brownhare’s old den. I grin at the others, “Another mission complete!” I begin grooming my fur.

Brownhare’s happiness is contagious. I finish grooming my fur and stand. “I have to get back to my dinner. And find Flareheart before she suspects something.”

I turn and race away before my friends can say anything else.

~

“Snowflare,” Lionclaw hesitated. He didn’t want to enrage the white she-cat anymore than he already had, “Please listen to me.”

She paused and the golden tom took his chance. “I didn’t know you felt that way. But I want you to know that I don’t think you’re stupid. I think you’re intelligent, beautiful, and I don’t want anyone else.”

She turned, her eyes glistening. “Do you really love me?”

Lionclaw crossed the distance between them and touched noses with her. “I’d bring the world down to its knees for you. Of course I love you. I love only you.”

The proud white she-cat purred. “I love you too.”

~

Flareheart wasn’t hard to find. She was just standing there in the middle of nowhere. “Flareheart!” I pant, “I’ve been trying to find you.”

The heir looks up. She looks a bit ruffled up but I let it pass. “Ready to go back?”

I give her a genuine smile, too elated to care what came next.

“Ready as ever.”

The End.