Flashfire

> *"Good fathers protect their children," - Flashfire's mantra.*
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**Flashfire** was a warrior of Fallenclan, known for his confident overlook and quick thinking. With Whistleleaf's help, he was known as the ideal warrior, built to serve family above all else.

With an absent father, he was raised by his gentle and kind mother, and grew up to violently hate his father for leaving his mother to raise him by herself. At a young age, he vowed to do everything he could for his future family. He came up with the mantra "Good Fathers Protect Their Children" that kept him inspired to be nothing like his father,

As an apprentice, he and his rival Shadowpaw would compete for affection of the sweet Whistlepaw. When Shadowpaw achieved warrior status two moons early (becoming the youngest Fallenclan Warrior in history), he was quickly overshadowed in Whistlepaw's eyes. Nevertheless, his affection for her remained long during her relationship with the now named Shadowwind.

When Whistleaf and Shadowwind broke up, Flashfire made his move, and surprisingly, Whistleleaf seemed to fall head over heels for him. When he later found out she was pregnant, he had become ecstatic.

He mentored the new recruit Mudpaw, well until she had become a warrior. Their relationship can only be described as tough love, and yet it was only through Flashfire's rigorous training that Mudpaw became Mudspots, one of the wiliest and fierce warriors Fallenclan ever did see.

Upon the birth of his sons, Flarekit and Tarrantkit, Flashfire stepped up to a perfect role model for his children, taking the boys fishing whenever they could, bonding whenever possible. However, Paranoia began to seep into him after observing the friendly relationship between Whistleleaf and Shadowwind, suspecting somehow they were falling in love once more. Flarekit became obsessed with Shadowwind, finding his scars cool and the stories of the guerilla warrior amazing. Desperate, his rivalry with Shadowwind was reignited, and he spent every waking hour obsessed with proving himself the better cat and better father.

After an attack from the monster Brisaedir, Flashfire began to train harder and harder, obsessed with surpassing Shadowwind.

One day, the two stepped outside of Fallenclan camp to settle their grievances, which Flashfire stated he didn't trust the cat. Shadowwind remarked that he had done everything for his family, and unintentionally insulted Flashfire as not having the love and respect of his own children. Flashfire exploded with anger, and while Shadowwind tried to calm him down, they were interrupted by a nearby sound. Alerted, the two cats instantly became on guard, patrolling the nearby area.

When Shadowwind's back was turned, Flashfire got in a pouncing position, intending to leap onto Shadowwind and kill him. Snarling and hissing, he began thinking of all the reasons why the cat should die, and the thought of killing him became louder and louder. Coming to his senses, he stood up only to realize that Mudspots had followed the two and witnesses Flashfire's whole psychotic episode. Like the flip of a switch, his exspression became jovial and hearty. He masked it by claiming that he had thought Shadowwind was a rat before noticing his tail, and joked that he could have killed him if he wasn't careful. Hequickly called for Shadowwind so they could all return to camp, with a suspicious Mudspots trailing behind.

When Flarekit and Tarrantkit were apprentices, the latter was attacked and cornered by foxes, and Flarepaw and Nettlepaw rushed to defend him. He and Mudspots attacked the foxes to give the apprentices time to escape, but the foxes saw through their distraction, and chased after the younger cats. Pushed to the brink, Flashfire realized that the foxes would "go for the more helpless prey". He then coldly bit down on Mudspots' leg, breaking it in half and crippling her. Her following pained cry was enough to lure the foxes away and scent her out. After breaking her other leg, he quickly circled the foxes and caught up with the apprentices, luring them away from the spot where he betrayed his former apprentice.

Returning to Fallenclan, he spun a tale how Mudspots valiantly sacrificed her own life for Flashfire, giving him the chance to save his sons. Snowstar (having been warned of Flashfire's deteriorating mental state by Mudspots after the incident outside of camp) was the only cat who saw through his lie, yet lacked proof to exile Flashfire. Shadowwind was later told by Snowstar of Flashfire's suspected betrayal, and was told to tell no one that Flashfire was under investigation, not even Briarfang (Mudspots' mate and Shadowwind's former apprentice). Shadowwind didn't believe that Flashfire was capable of such cruel deception, still believeing the cat to be an upstnding warrior and good father to Flarepaw and Tarrantpaw plus a suitable mate for Whistleleaf. In that time, Briarfang had slipped into a state of depression and rage, hunting down the foxes until he mysteriously disappeared.

As life went on, Flashfire became more erratic, noticeably more angry. All that he could think about was the mantra he had made as an apprentice, the saying becoming so intense, that it was drilled into his brain. Obsessed with it. It repeated in his head every day, to the point where it became too much for him and he would repeatedly bash his head against the tree to make the thought stop.

Shadowwind later found Briarfang, who had been brainwashed into an executioner of the underground cult The Firestarters. An enraged Shadowwind returned to camp and struck Snowstar, blaming him for Briarfang's predicament. He later told the entire clan what Snowstar had done, and revealed that Snowstar suspected Flashfire as a traitor, too angry to realize he had let Flashfire know that Snowstar was onto him, too furious to consider that Snowstar might have been right. Stressed and desperate, Snowstar attacked Flashfire, screaming for him to tell the truth, all while the whole clan watched. Flashfire maintained his lie, even after receiving many wounds and was only saved by the combined effort of Whistleleaf, Flarepaw, and Shadowwind.

Upon his recovery, his paranoia became so bad that he began suspecting that Flarepaw and Tarrantpaw could have been Shadowwind's sons, and that Whistleleaf only ever loved Flashfire to maintain Shadowwind's cover and image.

Little did he know, he was right.

Losing time, he began plotting ways to kill Shadowwind for his "betrayal of clanship" and "deceptions". On a solo patrol, he discovered Mudspots (who had survived the foxes and spent moons trying to return home) on her way back to Fallenclan. Kidnapping her once more, he trapped her in a high tree, and returned to camp, screaming that he was attacked by Mudspots and that she had been brainwashed too. Him and Shadowwind were sent on a patrol together, and Flashfire lured him to an open field, far from Fallenclan.

Flashfire finally confessed to Mudspots' attempted murder, rambling and screaming about how Shadowwind destroyed his life and any hope he had at being a good father. The two fought alone, to which Flashfire got the upper hand numerous times. He blinded Shadowwind and attempted to strangle him, having lost his mind.

Shadowwind was saved by Brisaedir attacking Flashfire, who was left dying in the field, crying and wailing about how Shadowwind was the true villain of his story...

His last breath was was his saying, the very saying that was to dedicate himself to being a good father, that slowly became a message of insanity and contributed to his downfall...