Legacy of Ash

Prologue
"Hello Elmleaf," Sun approached the cat who was looking down in horror at the burning camp of her old camp, trying to hide tears of guilt.

"All because I couldn't follow my promise," she murmured, "And... I never even won the thing I gave up so much to gain. Stormwind hates me and himself now, and Flameleap; the one cat who truly cared about me... regrets ever looking at my face in that manner because of what I have done."

"I wouldn't be too sure," Sun whispered, "Flameleap can never forget the memories you two had together, nor can you forget those with Stormwind."

"But I can hate them for being remembered," she murmured darkly.

"Don't fret, Elmleaf," Sun whispered as she looked down beneath her, "One day things will all sort out. This is a large boulder but one that I fear we will have had to cross eventually."

"Because I was born?" tears brimmed in the corner of the slim she-cats eyes.

"That's not your fault," Sun assured her, "I guess it was a test from Starclan to see if the clan could survive having you in it," noticing the pained expression she added, "And the strength of your love. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Bramnblestar's love for me was what brought him to the clan. Ashclan would not be what it is today without."

"What about the Ashpile?" she asked, "Will the old Ashpile still be there for cats to race to so that they can get their nine lives?"

"No," she responded, "We set that fire for a reason. There will be a new Ashpile and a new Ashclan to find it."

"A new..." she paused, "Ashclan?"

"Yes," Sun nodded calmly, "Just as the previous Ashclan has rose from and burned to Ash; this Ashclan will surely do the same."

"Oh," Elmleaf nodded calmly, "I'll be watching over them all."

"Yes," Sun nodded, "Their are two more cats to determine the fate of this clan. One whom you have already met, and one which the forest has yet to be introduced to."

"Flameleap?"

"Yes."

"What will he have to do?" Elmleaf asked, shuffling her paws nervously.

"He will have to do what several cats before him, and several cats yet to come after him have done. He will have to set the path and determine the legacy of ash."

Chapter 1
Flameleap took soft steps across the territory which he had once known as his home. Now, cats roamed here freely, coming and going at their pleasure and it was all Flameleap could do not to hiss at them for being on his territory like he might have done before.

Ashclan was gone.

He forced himself to keep taking steps deeper into the heart of his former territory. He had hoped that perhaps several Ashclan cats will have gathered there.

"Who are you trying to fool?" he gently scolded himself for being so hopeful.

The soft grass rubbed lightly against his pads, bristling his black paws, which clashed nicely with his ginger pelt. His minf kept floating to back to Elmleaf.

Was she in Starclan now? he turned his head up, wondering if he might be able to catch her eyes gazing down at him but felt no connection and continued with a sigh.

Perhaps Starclan had not accepted her.

At least he would find her body, burned and battered in the old camp of Ashclan. As well as a deep gash along her neck, one that he had created while killing her.

He refused to let himself dwell on those dark memories, and refusing to collapse continued to put one foot before the other, for the sake of his clan.

Her clan.

And the clan of many more before them. A clan that would no longer be available to the many more after. And a clan that would remain as no more than a memory.

The clan of Ash.

He continued to trudge through the fields and the trees which were all to familiar to him. He went past the flat area of land where he used to train with Elmleaf, and his heart longed for the days of his apprenticeship again when everything had been so right and in its place.

At least for him.

Elmleaf probably was spending all of those days trying to repair her heart which had been shattered so deeply by Stormwind; who never even realized what he had done.

When he finally reached the large rock they had made camp in he realized it wasn't even a rock anymore. Just a pile of black, dusty and ominous ash.

The fate of its clan.

Chapter 2
The loud sound of footsteps echoes through Flameleap's head as he rolled around in the piles of ash which were consuming what had once been his home.

He slowly pulled his head up from the lifeless body of Elmleaf, which he had been clinging to the whole night. He blinked sleep out of his eyes, as he made out faint specks of moonlight, scattered onto his pelt, as well as that of Elmleaf's old body.

"Is anyone there?" he asked slowly, as he dragged himself up to him paws, "Sun? Bramblestar? Elmleaf?" his heart pounded loudly as he heard the crunching of leaves.