#fun fact because Fireheart isn't the big prophecy cat the AU isn't named after him

[blooming-fire-au]

What is Blooming Fire?

Content warnings: grooming, child predation/pedophilia, rape, execution, victim blaming, child death, forced pregnancy, miscarriage, child abuse (including physical, emotional, and sexual), misgendering and forced pregnancy of transgender toms, child soldiers (typical for Brokenstar-era ShadowClan), general Warriors violence/gore, predatory behavior, age gaps (mostly toxic--non-toxic ones are between consenting adults who only showed interest in each other as adults), older toms siring litters for younger mollies (all adults and all consensual, but just a heads up if it makes you uncomfortable), abusive relationships, canon-typical ableism (though less than canon), cheating, will add more as necessary

Inspired by @burning-thistles-bt , Blooming Fire is an AU where, after the events of Spottedleaf's Heart, Thistleclaw sets his sights on Willowpaw. Willowpaw, eager for the attention she receives, is very receptive to Thistleclaw's grooming--until he decides he wants her expecting kits before she gets her warrior name. That way, she can start raising their little warriors immediately. Spottedpaw catches on to what Thistleclaw is doing and tries to confront him, but in his twisted revenge, he decides to impregnate her as well as Willowpaw.

After Featherwhisker confirms Willowpaw is expecting kits, Spottedpaw reveals she's also expecting, and admits the father of both litters is Thistleclaw. Featherwhisker takes this to Sunstar and Bluefur, where Sunstar initially just wants to exile Thistleclaw. However, Bluefur realizes he will just do this again to another unsuspecting young cat, and says he must be executed instead. Spottedpaw, though she doesn't necessarily want Thistleclaw dead, agrees that he will just go after another cat if he's exiled, solidifying the decision to execute him.

Most cats support Thistleclaw's execution; the biggest voices of support among the rest of the Clan are from Spottedpaw and Willowpaw's family (including their adopted older siblings Patchpelt and Leopardfoot), Windflight, Poppydawn, Speckletail, Rosetail, Whitestorm, Frostpaw, and Brindlepaw. Only Stormtail, Smallear, Dappletail, and Tigerclaw vocally disagree--at least one of them says the apprentices should've known better since they're 10 moons old at this point. Stormtail in particular doesn't see an issue since he was courting Dappletail when she was still an apprentice, and Dappletail defends him.

Willowpaw has her kits first, a litter of six--but only three survive. The survivors are named Darkkit, Longkit, and Lacekit. Within a moon, Spottedpaw has her kits, a litter of five who all survive, though two only by the grace of StarClan. She names them Dawnkit, Puddlekit, Stormkit, Honeykit, and Firekit.

Yes, in this AU, Fireheart and his siblings are half-siblings with Darkstripe and Longtail, who are littermates. They also have a sister, an OC I got attached to. The canon counterparts to Fireheart's siblings are Filou (Dawnkit/foot), Tommy (Puddlekit/belly), Luna (Stormkit/claw), and Princess (Honeykit/flower). Lacekit becomes a seer, training under Spottedleaf, while the other 7 kits become warriors. The timeline is condensed; the kits are born in the moons immediately following Bluefur giving up her kits, and approximately two years later is the start of The Prophecies Begin.

Moons later, a young kittypet shows interest in Clan life, and a prophecy is delivered: Embrace the smallest flicker of hope, lest darkness consumes the Clans. At this point, ShadowClan is under the cruel rule of Brokenstar, who forces as many cats who can bear kits to have them--usually his own. Even his apprentice Darkpaw is not exempt; he plans to make her a warrior as soon as she is mature enough to bear kits for him. WindClan has been chased off, and Runningpaw is realizing as she grows into a warrior that she's attracting unwanted attention from the senior warrior Pigeonflight--even more after WindClan's return and his rejoining.

While this is going on, Honeyflower of ThunderClan and Mosspaw of RiverClan are both dreaming of settling down with kits of their own. Honeyflower is imagining a life with Tigerclaw, but he's joined Redtail and Brindleface's open relationship--or so it seems. Tigerclaw is really trying to appeal to deputyship despite never training an apprentice, and is thinking of making Redtail, a transgender tom, have his kits to force him out of the spot or ask for help.

Meanwhile, Mosspaw wants nothing more than to be a permanent queen like her mother, Greenflower. The problem? Aside from how young she is, she's not interested in any cats. Her dad Frogleap tries to encourage her, saying once she's a warrior she can see if someone would sire kits for her. With this information, she sets her sights on her warrior name so she can ask Stonefur to sire a litter of kits for her, though she leaves her options open for others if he doesn't agree.