Over the next few days, Frostheart saw a little of Skyfeather here and there, but they never exchanged anything more than a nod, and he seemed to be passing the message that whatever had been between them had never happened, and she should act like it. Frostheart could scarcely hide her sadness at this note, as she had imagined them still remaining friends despite everything, still having friendly interactions, still talking and sharing prey at the least. She had certainly not expected to be completely thrown out of his life, as if she had never existed and they had never been close. But she was quiet about it, quietly accepting, not mentioning it to him or anyone, although she hardly talked to anyone nowadays. Cloudbeam and the two medicine cats were rare exceptions, but Cloudbeam seemed to be treating Frostheart like an emotional support animal, telling her everything that went on during his day and boring her half to death. Frostheart had a right mind to stop talking to Cloudbeam entirely, but he was her brother, even though he was so annoying, and he was one of her only friends, so she put up with his addled brains and tried her best to have intelligent conversation with him whenever possible.
But finally, it seemed like their eventual meeting to discuss whatever could no longer be put off, and the next time Frostheart bumped into Skyfeather, he cleared his throat loudly while staring at the ground.
"Oh, that's nice, Mr. Perfect has time for me now? Suddenly?" Frostheart asked sweetly, smiling with her teeth. "Oh, how lovely."
Skyfeather glared at her, his expression unforgiving. "You are the one who dumped me, will you admit that? I just came here to ask you why, okay? I know it sounds stupid, but I am so horribly emotionally attached to you and I feel like I really need you back, but of course you can't because you're a medicine cat now and I'm stupid to even ask but please, why? Why did you leave me, make that choice? Am I that awful? Really?"
"You're not awful at all!" Frostheart was stunned. "I am super sorry! Honeyleaf said being a medicine cat was my destiny, but destiny can go sleep in fox dung, I don't really care! But she went all mystical, like, WOOH, THIS IS DESTINY, BABY, and I was kinda creeped, so I just agreed! Okay?" Frostheart drew in a sharp breath.
"Okay," Skyfeather blinked. "So, you are not angry at me and I didn't do anything wrong?"
"Of course not!" sighed Frostheart exasperatedly. As if anyone could stay mad at Skyfeather! But he really looked so desperate that she had to laugh, he had been moping all this while thinking she hated him and was upset, when really, he could have just asked her any time he wanted! He bumped into her around camp so often, Frostheart could swear half the time, it was completely intentional, and he kept shooting her shy looks during the day like some dirty flirter, but of course she knew he wasn't a flirter, he was too nice for that. "Mad at you? Just another impossibility, isn't it? Pass me the list next time, won't you?"
Skyfeather managed a small smile. "But I understand it all now, I'm perfectly okay! Thanks for clearing up the misunderstandings, also what do you think of Twilightmoon?"
"Perfect and boring, if you're romantically interested, you mean," Frostheart replied dryly. "My brother's also romantically interested, Cloudbeam, you know, so you have competition." She made her voice as dry as possible. Why was he asking her for advice on other she-cats? Wasn't that just awful? Taking advantage of her good nature! Ugh! She really couldn't understand him sometimes.
"Oh, um," Skyfeather licked his chest. "No, I didn't mean her for myself. You, of course, are the only she-cat there's ever been for me. I meant for my brother, Blackfoot, he seems to like her a lot, you know, brotherly interests, I'm a little concerned for him, he's gone a bit... Er... Crazy lately. He's obsessed with Twilightmoon, and if she isn't interested in him he might just think it's the end of the world." Skyfeather rolled his eyes. "A little overdramatic, I know, but Blackfoot is really an actor, and Twilightmoon is fairly pretty for an unmated she-cat, and completely unrelated to us, so perfect." He blinked rapidly, then bid Frostheart a quick goodbye and scurried off.
Weird! Frostheart thought as he scurried away, probably to have a heart-to-heart talk with his brother. Skyfeather was kind of strange, but she kind of liked him for being strange. Was she weird, too? Yeah, she probably was.
"FROSTHEART! CAN I SEE YOU IN MY DEN?" roared Stonestar from his den.
That's really polite! Frostheart thought, frowning. She considered saying no, but she wasn't on the worst terms with him yet, so perhaps she ought to just follow him into his den - FOR NOW. Later on, if she wanted to rebel against him, she SO would. She quickly scampered into his den, raising one eyebrow in a skeptical manner.
"Well, what's the big deal today?" she asked. It wasn't like he ever called her to his den for anything serious! (Okay, the only other time she'd been in his den, he was practically getting killed. But nothing serious!)
"WHADDAYA MEAN"
"Could you stop shouting?" Frostheart asked in her sweetest tone, trying to sound polite, because she never was. But he wasn't exactly being polite either, and she fixed him with narrowed eyes, annoyed.
Stonestar took in deep breaths, which sounded ragged. What had he been doing with his life? "What do you mean, what's the big deal? You're literally my bodyguard! I want to be tailed from dawn till dusk! But you aren't doing your job!"
"OH, that," said Frostheart, rolling her eyes. "Well, new factor, I just became a medicine cat apprentice a few days ago. So, I literally can't be your bodyguard anymore. I'll be focused on healing cats, you know, dealing with herbs and all that. Being the leader's bodyguard is on my to-don't list."
Stonestar glared down at her, and Frostheart could see his temper was rising, but she wasn't scared of him. Who would? He looked like an incredibly overgrown kit, as fluffy as one, with the poofy fur and drooping tail of one that had just been caught doing something naughty. That was a good name for him. Overgrown Kit. Better than Stoney Stars any day.
"Are you," he said carefully, "renouncing your title?"
Frostheart shrugged. "Yeah, sure, why not? What's the biggie if I renounce it?"
Stonestar drew in a sharp breath, again sounding ragged. "But that's bad for you. I was going to take you as my mate! Clan leader's mate! Wouldn't that have been lovely? But now your title is renounced, and I won't."
Frostheart, on the other hand, looked revolted. "Who's wanna mate with you?" she demanded. "You look like an overgrown kit!"
Stonestar's eyes bulged out of his head. "WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!"
"An overgrown kit, why?" Frostheart asked casually.
"GET OUT OF MY DEN!" Stonestar roared.
Her ears ringing, she complied, gracefully tiptoeing out of the leader's den and smiling sweetly back at him. She almost immediately bumped into Skyfeather. So much for him being angry at her. She bumped into him around camp about as many times as a she-cat would bump into her mate.
"Hello?" she asked uncertainly.
But he was just worried. "Are you okay? He was yelling at you."
Frostheart shrugged. "And when," she said, turning to leave, "have I cared when Stonestar yelled at me?"
"WAIT - WAIT!" he called.
Frostheart gave a soft groan and turned back. "Look, I know we were pretty attached, but it's kind of over now, isn't it?"
"If you... if you ever change back to a warrior," he said breathlessly, "I'm still here, okay?"
Frostheart gave him the softest look she could muster. "You miss me. You big softie."
"What- I mean, of course I do," he babbled. "Why wouldn't I?"
Frostheart giggled softly. "Because I thought you were tough. I thought you would take this like swatting away an irksome fly."
Skyfeather stared back. "You know swatting flies is hard for me, right? I don't exactly have ten meter long hands, I have stubby paws that hurt when you fling them!"
At that comment, Frostheart just couldn't stop giggling, it was her natural reaction. Skyfeather was wearing a very amused expression on his face, like he'd expected this to happen and it was so funny. But yeah, it kind of was. He'd just said something incredibly funny, so he should have expected this to happen - but was she so predictable? He said something and she would definitely laugh? Did that mean she had to sober up? She tried to stop laughing, so it started coming in short snorts and wheezes, but that looked even funnier, and she was getting infuriated with herself. Take deep breaths. Everyone's looking at you, she thought. Finally, her laughter subsided.
"Okay, what was that for?" she asked him irritably.
"Nothing!" Skyfeather meowed defensively. "Why would it be for anything?"
"Just remember," she said, in the softest voice she could make, "it's over, don't dwell on it. Why don't you find yourself a nice little girlfriend like your brother, and forget about me."
"What if the nice little girlfriend I want is you?" he asked in a cross whisper.
She swatted his ear. "Well, too bad for you."
Frostheart about ended their conversation there because she took off for the medicine den as fast as her legs would take her. She left him in the dust, confused but giggling, and almost crashed into her mentors, who were having a quiet, private conversation. Hawkfeather gasped when she entered.
"I forgot she was- this is a bad idea, the one you're suggesting," he told Honeyleaf.
"The one you're suggesting is worse!" Honeyleaf glared back. "WE DO NOT MURDER! WE ARE MEDICINE CATS!"
"Murder? What's going on?" Frostheart demanded, flabbergasted. Her mentors were planning on murdering someone? But how could they manage it?
"Then REMEMBER that you are a medicine cat!" Hawkfeather fired back. "You think we can't see or hear you flirting with Skyfeather?"
Frostheart blushed furiously. "It's not flirting! We were going to be mates when I decided to become a medicine cat, okay? Old emotions are still there!"
"I heard what he said. If you ever change back," Hawkfeather said huffily. "Once you change to be a medicine cat, you CAN'T CHANGE BACK!"
"Well, it's not exactly like I WANTED IT, IS IT?" Frostheart yelled, her voice almost matching his. "YOU TOLD ME IT WAS FREAKING DESTINY, AND I FOLLOWED! NOT MY FAULT, IS IT?"
"WHEN YOU FOLLOW DESTINY, YOU FACE DESTINY, THERE'S NO GOING BACK!"
"WELL, WHAT IF THIS ISN'T MY DESTINY?" Frostheart roared.
"Stop yelling!" Honeyleaf cried desperately from where she hid behind a herb stack. "Listen to reason! I had a vision about you! That's that! You're our little medicine cat!"
"I think you only picked me because you thought that I was killing too much," Frostheart whispered, and she was astonished to find she had tears in her eyes. "Did you look closely at the white cat in your vision? Were her or his eyes - were they really purple?"
At that, Honeyleaf let out an involuntary gasp. "No, they weren't - they were blue!"
"There you go. I'm the wrong cat. You probably wanted my brother," said Frostheart bitterly. "Now, I think I'll leave. I'm not interested in your stupid herbs."
"What?! No! You have talent! I want to fully train you first!" Honeyleaf cried maniacally. "That way, if we ever die, at least someone in the Clan will have knowledge of herbs!"
"I ALREADY KNOW THE HERBS!" Frostheart roared. "I DON'T WANT TO KNOW ANY MORE, THROW ME OUT, I DON'T CARE!"
Honeyleaf stared at her with no words to be found. Finally, she managed a small whisper, "If that is truly the path you want. But you can't fight destiny."
"It's not my destiny," Frostheart reminded her. "It's the blue-eyed white cat's destiny."
And, with that as the word of farewell, she threw herself from the medicine den, landing on the soft grass outside with a relieved sigh.
Word count: 2000
And I'm finally typing this on my laptop again! So we have bolded words now!