Friends on the Other Side [c]

It was only a matter of time until this had happened. Crimsonflame knew that he was on thin ice with Bloodstar when he had joined SkyClan, that was why he had scouted twolegplace out at all. And now here he was, wandering through the alleyways. Of course, he refused to eat any kittypet food. Squirrels often wandered here, so he would hunt those. There was no way he was giving up his fresh kill. Even if it was harder to catch now.

Still, he had to admit he missed SkyClan. He may not have had many relationships there, but he had a nest to sleep in and food to eat. And he was able to rest easily knowing that if any cat was going to kill him they would have already.

But it was only a matter of time until he returned, at least.

Frostpaw shouldn’t have ever left the forest. Dandelionflight was going to kill her. And so would Bloodstar… if she could even call him that. More like Blood-birdbrain…

She was adept at navigating, she would say that for herself. Frostpaw weaved between alleyways, rails. Some streets were greener than even the forest, others covered in the filth of Twolegs and other cats. The disparity was shocking. The pavement under her feet was scratchy. How did cats walk all over this?

She spotted who she was looking for, though she doubted he would recognize her.

The silver and black tabby approached the ex-warrior, her eyes flicking up to meet his. She placed the two cardinals she caught earlier onto the ground.

“I figured you’d be here.”

She sat, her tail flicking around her paws. She’d be a warrior soon, though she would never want to be one under Bloodstar. Sending her to a war against half the forest? Did he fall out of a tree recently?

“Hungry?”

Crimsonflame realized a cat was approaching him, and stood to meet her halfway. He couldn't say he knew her name, but she was definitely SkyClan. And she was clearly presenting herself as an ally. So with a smile, the tom sat down with her, taking up on her offer of a cardinal. There was no way he was going to pass up on an easy meal.

"Thank you. Did Briarthorn send you?" The deputy made it very clear that she supported him, was she sending apprentices to keep him fed and healthy until his return? There is no way this apprentice was here on Bloodstar's orders, after all. If he was going to send anyone after Crimsonflame, it would be a patrol coming to kill him.

“No, my ethics sent me.”

Frostpaw smiled back at the warrior. “What happened to you was inexcusable. I’m not fighting for a dung-brained brute who wants to go out in a blaze of glory. I don’t think most of SkyClan wants to either. But they want to cling to the code.”

“StarClan may have given us rules, but they gave us brains too.”

She ate her cardinal, walking all this way made her hungry.

“Frostpaw, by the way.”

Her ethics sent her? He had to fight back a laugh, settling for a bit of a grin instead.

"It was only a matter of time until he did this. He swears up and down that I am evil just because Dawnhawk was my father. All he needed was an excuse to get rid of me. Forget the fact that he was the one who made Dawnhawk."

He couldn't help but roll his eyes. Everything about that tom was so ridiculous in hindsight. No, not even in hindsight, it was just ridiculous period.

"Honestly? I don't pay much mind to the code, myself. There was no code when I was a kit, we just took care of our own. A code doesn't do any good if it gets in the way of doing what you believe to be right. And if following the code means I have to follow him, then as much as this sucks, I would rather live here. Of course, that won't happen. Briarthorn will become leader, and I'll be back." He gave a smirk, eating his cardinal now. Call it arrogance, or call it faith, but he fully believed those words.

"I guess I don't need much of an introduction, but just to make sure you know my name and not just the son of Dawnhawk Bloodstar refers to me as...... it's Crimsonflame. It's a pleasure to officially meet you, Frostpaw."

“I’m sorry he’s done that to you,” the apprentice replied quietly. She didn’t carry any baggage from her ancestry; her grandparents were dead before she was even born. Frostpaw shuddered at the thought of being exiled by them, and she never even met them. “You didn’t ask for Dawnhawk to be your dad any more than Bloodstar asked to have him for a son. He’s being a hypocrite.”

“I don’t know a life outside of the Clans… what is it like?”

Frostpaw looked back at the warrior. “Pleasure’s mine,” she meowed, almost done with her catch. “Figured you were hungry, can’t imagine trying to hunt here.”

"Life outside the Clans, everyone is your enemy. You have to rely on yourself. We had a group, The Forgotten Order, but it wasn't much protection. It was my mom, my dad, and his friend raising me and my siblings. We had to learn to survive quickly. If we didn't hunt, we didn't eat. I was pretty good at hunting myself, so they made me a hunter for the whole group, even though we all tried to contribute. But because I was catching for everyone, not much was ever left for me. So I went hungry a lot. And most days I was fighting Clan cats for my food, either them or predators. It was tough work. I had 10 siblings, believe it or not. And it still wasn't enough. By the time I joined SkyClan, only three of us were left."

Crimsonflame's heart went out to all of his littermates, whatever afterlife they may be in now. That was one thing he did miss. He wanted his family back. He went silent as he continued to eat, quietly mourning their memories.

Her eyes widened. Stars, ten siblings?!

“Well, you won’t have to go like that again. We’re SkyClan. Briarthorn will be leader, and… and…”

“You’ll be back before you know it. It will be okay.”

She noticed how he slumped, going quiet. “Do… do you want to talk about it?”

Frostpaw did not fully drop the subject, but rather gave him the choice, and for that Crimsonflame was thankful. And in truth, it was nice to have someone to talk to. Someone who didn't sneer at him for caring about his family just because they were not Clan cats, not that he was naming any names of a certain Beech that had done just that.

"I am glad to be able to make a new home within SkyClan. But the thing is, being out there, it wasn't as bad as I make it sound. At least, it didn't seem bad at the time. You can see everything going on when you look back, but back then, I was happy. I had a mom that loved me, I thought my dad loved me, too. We were a family. And a part of me wants that back, I guess. Before we became his tools for revenge. When we were just his kits. Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? Wanting something that wasn't even real...heh. But...... it was real to me...."

Frostpaw sat and looked at the warrior as he spoke. Even Dawnhawk, by all accounts a murderous and vicious power hungry foxheart of a cat, was a father. Who at one point maybe loved his kits, provided for them.

“All it has to be is real to you,” the she-cat said. “Feeling loved, cared for, it’s not something you forget. Even if the people who love you suck. Even if they do bad things… terrible things. I haven’t lived a life as hard as yours, but sometimes I want to be in the world I thought would be. I feel like I missed out because I was so focused on becoming a warrior, I didn’t enjoy being a kit. I didn’t enjoy training for what it was, I didn’t talk with the rest of the Clan. I doubt half the Clan could pick me out of a Gathering.”

“Things just felt so much simpler…” Frostpaw mused, to herself and to her company. “There was right, and there was wrong. Good and bad. But really, there’s so much in the middle, and that’s where we all live…”

She stopped as she realized she was rambling. Frostpaw looked back at him, not sure what he would say.

"Things always feel easier as a kit, I guess."

He let out a sigh. His cardinal was now done, so he was just sitting there, talking with Frostpaw. Not that he minded. It was nice, having company that was kind to him.

"What..... what if......?"

What if what, Crimsonflame? He had no idea what he was even going to say, and he couldn't even begin to form words, he had just started speaking without thinking. For a moment he thought he had an idea, and then it had just gone away. And now he was looking like a fool. This definitely couldn't go wrong at all. And his mind sort of had to work overtime to salvage the situation.

"....what if we didn't have to be alone? I mean, sitting here, talking to you, it's nice. What if it wasn't just a one-day thing? Who's going to get mad if we choose to be friends, after all? Let's choose to be happy. I think we deserve that, at least, don't you?"

“I think so too. We could totally be friends.”

It would be a matter of time before Crimsonflame could return to SkyClan. Frostpaw did concede that she shouldn’t have technically left SkyClan territory, especially as an apprentice. If her mentor or leadership found out, she was done like fresh-kill.

She looked up to gauge what time of day it was. The lights the Twolegs made were only making it harder to see the sky well.

“I’ll be sure to bring you prey when I catch some. Hopefully you won’t have to stay here too long. I think Briarthorn will be taking the Clan to the Gathering, at least that’s what I heard some elders say.”

Briarthorn will be taking the Clan to the gathering? Then she already won. As soon as she was officially leader, he could go home, and he didn't think he would have to wait long.

"I guess that means you have to go then, right? Since I assume you probably didn't tell any cat you came to feed the "exiled warrior"? Go on, then. Before they start missing you. I'll see you next time you swing by, then."

And I'll be looking forward to it, too.

Frostpaw coming today had been the last thing he had expected to happen during his exile. But it very well may have been the best thing as well.

“Committing high treason against a cat that has like seven lives and could literally could wrestle a dog isn’t the start of my conversations, surprisingly enough.”

She smirked a little as she rose to her paws. “Don’t worry, you’ll see me. I’m sure those weird owl pellets the other cats are eating are so appetizing.”

Thankfully, she remembered her path to get to him from the forest, so getting back would be a breeze.

“See you later.”

The silver and black tabby weaved through the bushes to the tree line, then weaved her way through the pines that stood at the edge of their territory.

SkyClan would be safe again.