Chapter 16-

Sagepaw huddles with Smoothpaw and Flickerpaw his side, his heart thumping in his chest. "What is he on?" Smoothpaw whispers into Sagepaw's ears. Sagepaw can't move to answer.

Voidflicker's one-eyed gaze falls onto Sagepaw and his littermates, but only for a second, before cats stream out of dens, fur bristling and tails lashing. Warriors flood into camp, their claws unsheathed and teeth bared. Aloestar leaps onto Voidflicker, blood spraying, and then the battle starts.

Sagepaw rushes his siblings into the very back of the apprentices den, where they cower to watch the battle. It feels wrong, just watching, shielded from the blood and fear. Like kits. Isn't this battle about them? Shouldn't they be fighting? But no, that'd be stupid. In the open they'd be so easy to catch. Here, protected by afternoon shadows, it is harder to get them. Some cat would see. Some cat.

"Why are they fighting over us?" Flickerpaw mutters breathlessly, before turning accusatory eyes to Sagepaw, "You know something, don't you?"

Sagepaw freezes, eyes wandering to Flickerpaw. "N-No."

"You do," Smoothpaw agrees in a whisper, "You've come home smelling of Windclan before, after disappearing as a kit. And every single time we can't find you... the fire... the training session... you come home smelling like rabbit. What can't you tell us?"

Sagepaw crumbles, right there. Tears sting his eyes and his throat closes completely. "Dad..." he chokes, "Snapstar...is not...our dad."

Flickerpaw and Smoothpaw react very differently. Smoothpaw explodes, screeching. Her choking sobs are drowned out by battle, but still. Flickerpaw only twitches, his eyes lighting with hurt and grief.

"Liar!" Smoothpaw breathes, eyes brightening with rage, "you...you... you just want attention! Like you always do. You never wanted to...let me or Flickerpaw...get close to dad! He died in the fire, and you're trying to make...it...seem like-"?

"I'm not a liar!" Sagepaw thunders, surprised at his anger, "He didn't die in the fire, you know? He left us, like a coward! He's not our dad, and you know it. You know it..."

Smoothpaw's sobs stop and she sucks in a breath, whisking her tail. "Fine, I believe you," she says quietly, "If he's not, though, then I'll find out who is."

"And that you will."

The voice is eerily familiar, ringing in Sagepaw's ears, before his skull is dunked into the back stone wall, and everything goes black.

                                                                        ~~~

Sagepaw wakes surrounded by warmth, uncanny warmth. A fire.

It rages, burning the trees around. The air, once smelling so sweet and beautiful, to be honest, is now tainted by smoke. The brighter-than-average sun is blotted out with clouds of smoke. Sagepaw is horrified, because it was him that started this fire.

In Starclan.

Cats, kits, flee from the woods, mouths moving with no words. The heat of the flames sear Sagepaw's paws, but he can't move. The flames scoot closer, closer, and the wave of cats stops. Sagepaw doesn't move an inch. This is his fault.

Your fault. Your fault.

The words are implanted into his head, cramming themselves into his thoughts. He can't think of anything else.

Your fault. Your fault.

Nothing hurts more.

Finally, the fire reaches Sagepaw. It pauses, as if screaming at him to move. But he doesn't. Running out of patience, the fire passes over the apprentice. Burning him into ash.

                                                                ~~~

The heat from the dream lingers as Sagepaw groggily opens his eyes. Instantly, his head throbs with pain, a sticky poultice clinging to his fur there. Smoothpaw and Flickerpaw are curled into balls next to him, too.

Sagepaw's nose twitches at the foul smell of fear and blood. The scents intertwine and then melt into Sagepaw's terror.

Where are they?

"Flickerpaw, Smoothpaw," Sagepaw rasps, throat dry and painful. His head sends pain rocketing through his body with the words. "Wake up."

Flickerpaw's white body stirs, his blue eyes cracking open a bit. The narrowed pin points are only there for a moment, before they slip closed again. The tom groans groggily. Smoothpaw doesn't even move.

"No," Sagepaw says firmly, "Wake. Up."

Flickerpaw's eyes open, but this time they widen with something that looks like panic. "I-I- We're in...Windclan...aren't we?" He mutters, stirring again. Instantly, Sagepaw's fuzzy memory returns.

Blood, Flickerpaw's blue eyes, Smoothpaw's pleading... Sagepaw can't remember anymore.

"They...they said...they'd kill you if we didn't come... s-so we did. And then they fed us poppy seeds so we'd sleep...when we got...here. My-my...head hurts." Flickerpaw explains, collapsing into the moss under them.

"Mine too," Smoothpaw's groggy voice is finally audible, "but... that doesn't matter. We have to...to go."

Paw steps sound, muffled, on the moss. Sagepaw realizes they are facing a wall, so he twists around with a wince.

A familiar form steps towards Sagepaw, one green eye shining with pleasure. "I need Sagepaw."

"No," Smoothpaw growls protectively, stumbling to her paws. Voidflicker laughs as the she-cat stands over her brother. He only steps forward again.

"I said no." Smoothpaw's voice is laced with worry, but also fierceness. Voidflicker's laugh fades instantly.

"Too bad."

With one quick paw, Voidflicker knocks Smoothpaw off of Sagepaw. Sagepaw doesn't bother to hiss before his scruff is seized and he is all but dragged out of the den.

The sunlight causes Sagepaw to wince, blinking and narrowing his eyes. There are no trees to block out their rays, like the tom is used to. Sagepaw closes his eyes and tries to breathe.

"I question first, and then you get your questions," Voidflicker smiles innocently, like he finds this amusing, "Okay?"

Sagepaw tries his pelt to prop himself up on something, but there is almost nothing to do so. So instead he painfully wobbles onto his paws. "Okay," he winces, but he's so clearly not okay.

"First," Voidflicker starts, sitting down, "you didn't see a murder, did you? Scarletpaw told me so. What did you see?"

"That's two questions," Sagepaw growls, eyes narrowed. Voidflicker's eyes roll.

"I'll ask as many questions as I want."

"I'll answer as many as I want."

The look of annoyance on Voidflicker's face feels good.

His claws on Sagepaw's muzzle do not.

"Fine," Sagepaw stumbles, regaining his balance. His headache is only getting worse out here. "I thought it was a murder. I was a kit- I didn't really know what... murder was. So... no. I didn't see a murder. I don't really know what I saw. Two cats fighting... over a weasel? I think...but no one stopped it and they just scattered... One was super hurt though. Bleeding."

"Good," Voidflicker's gaze is troubled, but he shakes his head and it clears, "Next. Where is Snapstar. I have...business with him."

What business?

"Well I don't," Sagepaw spits, "How should I know?" Voidflicker's look of annoyance comes back, but this time Sagepaw feels he isn't in a position to feel good.

"He got lost in the fire," Sagepaw elaborates.

Lost. Sagepaw knows he's not lost. If a Windclan apprentice could find him in a foreign territory during a fire, Snapstar surely isn't lost. And he isn't dead. Wouldn't they have found their body? So is that a lie? But Sagepaw doesn't know why Snapstar left, not truly. Is he just a coward? Has he always been that way?

"Lost?" Voidflicker laughs, "He left you." Sagepaw bares his teeth, but Voidflicker is probably right, for once. He doesn't argue.

"I'm being nice, you know. Not killing you. There's a lot of cats who want you and your dad dead," Voidflicker says, his whiskers twitching with amusement, "But anyways, It's your turn to ask questions."

Relief washes over Sagepaw. He sighs, his head still pounding. Questions swirl in his head, but he chooses one randomly. "Is Snapstar really not my father?"

Voidflicker's tail flicks with annoyance, sighing. "Yes, obviously. I would know."

Cool. Gave me more questions than answers.

"How would you know?"

Voidflicker's eyes brighten. He looks almost excited. "I'm his brother."

Shock hits Sagepaw like a pair of clawed paws. His eyes widen as his mind absorbs the new information. Voidflicker's face looks disgusted at the words. He scowls, licking his chest once.

Sagepaw's mind feels jumbled now. Questions swirl like a fast-moving river. But there is only one that seems right. Maybe he'd get an actual answer now.

"Why did you take us? What business do you have with us?"

Voidflicker grins like a kit who'd just taken the moss ball in their game. His tail whisks once, whiskers twitching.

"I just wanted to see my kits again."