[Fairytale]

Flowerhawk

Things had been quiet lately. With Blackbird gone, she was back to no friends—well, almost. She should go catch up with Briarmask sometime. Too bad she was busy with her mate and all. Oh, well. And to think she’d ever considered Blackbird a friend in the first place. Played a snow fight with him. Got to know him, and now she couldn’t believe what she heard. Sure, he got annoyed with her a few times, but to threaten an apprentice’s life? What was he thinking? What was she thinking? Becoming friends with a cat like that. How had she missed the signs? Were there any? Maybe she was so blinded by the idea of a cat liking her, that she was willing to overlook anything bad. Was there anything bad about Blackbird? He got annoyed, but that wasn’t bad when you were being annoying, right? There had to be more than that, more that she should’ve seen before he did what he did. Maybe she’d been too blinded by… friendship to see.

Friendship, sure. She huffed. Initially, she’d thought the crush was one-sided. Initially, it was. But sometime after that snow fight, that stupid snow fight…

She didn’t even realize it until he was gone. Stars, he’d probably be glad to hear that if he was here. But now he would never know, and no one would ever know, because she would crush it before it crushed her. Crushing a crush before it crushes. Crush, crush, crush. They were stupid things, and it wouldn’t happen again, that’s for sure. She wouldn’t fall for a rotten apprentice-threatener again. To be loyal to one of that kind was to be loyal to no one at all.

The tabby warrior rested her head on her paws, ignoring the poke of bedding on her throat. She wondered what else Blackbird had done to get himself exiled. Threatening an apprentice was bad, don’t get her wrong, but that could’ve been fixed with a demotion or something. Of course, Bumblestar could still be upset from the outbreak and the loss of Wolfhive. That was perfectly reasonable. But she couldn’t help but wonder, What exactly did you do, Blackbird?

Maybe she should stop calling him Blackbird. A nickname implied that she hadn’t let feelings go. With a small huff, she rolled into a comfy position and stared at the ceiling. She wouldn’t think about Blackbirdwing anymore.

[closed]