Fire and Tiger: A Warriors AU

This is an AU where it takes place at the same time as ITW. Firepaw joins ThunderClan like normal, except he joins a day before the battle of sunningrocks where Redtail died. He and Tigerclaw grow close, and that causes a new evil that was never present in the real series, to rise.

Chapter 1: Tigerclaw's POV
Tigerclaw followed Bluestar out of ThunderClan camp and into the twolegplace. I have no idea why she picked me to go with her. The tabby warrior thought as they neared the open area between the forest and the twolegplace. Bluestar, Tigerclaw, and Graypaw, all waited for a few seconds and then a small orange kittypet jumped over his fence and he started to head towards the forest. Tigerclaw braced forward ready to attack, but Bluestar stopped him and sent out Graypaw instead. Bewildered and angered by Bluestar’s decision, Tigerclaw said, “Why did you pick an apprentice instead of me?” he whispered harshly.

“Because this is not supposed to be an attack, it is to see if the kittypet runs or fights,” Bluestar replied calmly. Well, that is just plain fox dung, why did I even come out here in the first place? Tigerclaw thought to himself. Out of anger, he began to leave but he stopped himself, knowing that he needs Bluestar’s trust for many reasons. Tigerclaw then decided to watch Graypaw. He watched intently as the young apprentice approached the kittypet, who was hunting. He needs to be punished for hunting on ThunderClan land. Tigerclaw thought. Soon, Graypaw reached the kittypet and he began to attack. Tigerclaw thought the kittypet was going to go run away but to his surprise, the kittypet fought back. They fought for a little while and eventually, Graypaw pinned the kittypet down. They talked for a little while and Graypaw brought the kittypet to Tigerclaw and Bluestar. Graypaw when went where Tigerclaw was and the kittypet followed. For the first time, Tigerclaw got to see the kittypet up close. He was a fiery ginger tabby tom with bright, leaf green eyes. When the kittypet saw him, he shrank back in fear. Typical kittypets, they always shrink back at the great warriors. Tigerclaw thought.

“No, no, I won't harm you,” Tigerclaw said calmly to the kittypet. The flame-colored tom stopped backing away and sat down. “What’s your name?”

“I-I’m Rusty,” he replied. Bluestar then spoke up and lectured him for a little bit about hunting in ThunderClan territory. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know…” Rusty stopped for a moment and thought. Then he suddenly spoke up again. “Can I join your clan?!” he asked excitedly.

“He can’t join the clan!” yowled Graypaw, “he doesn't have warrior blood!”

“Warrior blood,” Bluestar echoed. “We have already lost too much of it,”

"But that means I can be in the clan, because of the loss of warriors,” meowed Rusty.

“Then we will see if you want to join our clan tomorrow,” replied Bluestar. Tigerclaw’s thought that Bluestar was going crazy inviting a kittypet into the clan.

“Are you mad?! Inviting a kittypet into the clan? What’s next, inviting badgers?” Tigerclaw hissed quietly to Bluestar.

“Tigerclaw please calm down, he will do no harm to you, and he actually might help you with things,” replied Bluestar.

“Fine,” grumbled Tigerclaw, Bluestar then turned back to Rusty.

“Meet Tigerclaw in this spot at sunhigh tomorrow for your answer,” she meowed. Rusty nodded his head in agreement and dashed back to his nest without looking back.

“Well, I bet he’ll say no,” meowed Tigerclaw.

“I think he will say yes!” mewed Graypaw. “It would be nice to have something different go on in ThunderClan,”

“All the clans too,”  Bluestar added. “Brokenstar needs to go,”

“Yes he does,” Tigerclaw meowed with a faint glint of hunger in his eye, “they all need to go.”

Chapter 2: Rusty's POV
Rusty awoke to a bright and sunny morning, songbirds were chirping outside singing a song that only they could understand. Rusty stretched out his legs and padded over to his food dish. He chomped on it, like always it was dry and bland. Rusty disliked it, but there was nothing else to eat. When he finished, he leaped through the cat-sized door to greet his friend, Smudge. Like always, Smudge was on the fence waiting for him. “Hey Rusty, what did you say to the wild cats?”

“They invited me to their Clan, and they told me to meet one of their cats at sunhigh to tell them my answer,” Rusty responded, glancing at the forest.

“Well I bet your answer is no, because you would never go there-” Smudge paused for a moment. “-Would you?”

“Actually I was thinking of going,” meowed Rusty calmly. “Think of all the more possibilities my life can have if I leave my nest!”

Smudge looked down, and away from Rusty. “Well if you are really leaving, can you spend your last hours as a house cat with me?”

“Why wouldn’t I Smudge?” meowed Rusty. “You’re the closest friend I have.”

So Smudge and Rusty played together until Sunhigh. At sunhigh, Rusty said his final farewell to his best friend and leaped over his fence and into the wild woods of the clans. The ginger kittypet sat and looked around for Tigerclaw. Soon, his eyes locked with another pair which were amber. They seemed to glow in the dark, which gave Rusty the chills. The owner of those peepers then stepped towards Rusty, it was Tigerclaw. “Well I guess you decided to come after all,” he meowed with a hint of surprise. “Very well, follow me,” and without another word, he dashed away. Rusty had to run all of his might to keep up with the tabby warrior.

“Could you slow down?” Rusty yowled through the trees.

“Don’t you want to meet the clan as fast as possible?” Tigerclaw said with a snicker. Rusty ignored him, knowing it was useless to try and convince him, so he pushed on. Tigerclaw stopped abruptly in front of a gorse bush, and Rusty skidded to a halt beside him. “We’re here,” he meowed curtly. “Enter that bush kid, it is the entrance.” Rusty obeyed the brown tabby tom and entered through the gorse tunnel. When he got to the other side, he was astonished at the sight of so many cats.

“This is so cool!” Rusty yowled in excitement. Every cat that was in the camp stopped what they were doing and stared at him.

“Okay who in the name of StarClan is this?” a dusky brown she-cat meowed. Bluestar exited her den and smiled brightly at Rusty.

“Welcome to ThunderClan Rusty!” she meowed. “Would you like a tour?” Rusty nodded his head quickly in agreement. Bluestar then took him on a brief tour, talking about clan life, the warrior code, and what cats’ jobs were.

“Woah that’s a lot to remember!” Rusty meowed, eyes glittering in excitement. “Didn’t you say there were more clans?”

“Yes actually there ar-”

“Woah woah woah! Shouldn’t we test his battle skills before letting him join?!” Bluestar was interrupted by a jarring sneer. Rusty looked across the camp to see a pale brown tabby tom with black stripes approach the ThunderClan leader.

“Longtail, not everything has to be a battle,” meowed Bluestar calmly.

“Actually I think we need to do that!” Tigerclaw meowed. “He has no forest skills at all, what if there’s a battle?”

“Tigerclaw…”

“Tigerclaw is right! He needs to know what it’s like to be a real forest warrior!” Longtail meowed, lashing his tail and glaring at Rusty. Then without warning, Longtail leaped at Rusty, causing him to collapse. Everyone’s attention was soon on the two cats wrestling at the center of the camp. Longtail clawed at his belly, and Rusty tried to kick him off, but he was too small for the full grown warrior so he scratched at his muzzle, and that seemed to do the trick. Longtail stopped scratching and licked his muzzle, his sky-blue gaze seemed to grow more hateful than ever, and without any second thought, Longtail angrily scored a long scar across Rusty’s eye, almost blinding him.

“LONGTAIL THAT’S ENOUGH!” Bluestar hissed with rage. Soon, the warrior was off Rusty and he was able to stand up again. The ginger tom’s wound throbbed with pain as blood trickled down his cheek. “You are to clean the elder’s den for the next half moon!” Bluestar hissed once again. Her gaze then softened when her eye’s locked with Rusty’s. “Let me take you to the medicine cat’s den,” she meowed in a calm way. She then guided the former kittypet to a leaf-covered den which was close to a very tall stone. When he got inside, he saw a dappled calico she-cat sorting out plants.

WIP