Nightfire

**Nightfire** is a broad-shouldered, long-furred black tom with piercing amber eyes.

## History

Born to Ivyleaf and Hawkflight, Nightkit is mischievous and calculating, especially in comparison to his younger brother, Jaggedkit. He is constantly dragging Jaggedkit off on foolish missions, once even being trying to lure out a ThunderClan patrol to the border. He manages to live to apprenticehood, and is apprenticed with his brother, becoming Nightpaw. He is given Eagleflight as a mentor, Hawkflight's brother. With Eagleflight's quick thinking and relentless training methods, Nightpaw becomes stronger, worthy of a quality warrior any day.
While on patrol, he and the other warriors are ambushed by Cash and his gang. Shrewfur, the leader of the patrol, is saved barely by Spike. Shrewfur orders Spike to follow them to camp. After being praised for his performance in battle, Nightpaw is made a warrior by the name of Nightfire. Spike also becomes a warrior, named Cactusclaw, and the two become close friends.
As a young warrior, Nightfire is bright and optimistic, bonding closely with Cactusclaw. He is a favorite of the senior warriors, who quietly admire his excitement at being a warrior. He strives to prove his valor as a ShadowClan warrior, and tries to get information on RiverClan from Shellfall. Shellfall recognizes this, but answers him regardless. Eventually, he becomes close friends with the RiverClan tom.
As he grows older, he slowly starts to mature. Nightfire's friendship with Cactusclaw becomes extremely strained after Nightfire finds out about Cactusclaw's affair with Honeyfeather and fights with him about it. Sunfire and Sweetfern find them arguing, and force them to show them where Honeyfeather had gone. Cactusclaw leads them to where he saw her go, and Nightfire is forced to go by Sweetfern. Honeyfeather nearly drowns, but is rescued by Sunfire. Cactusclaw is clawed by her, and Sunfire orders the two to leave their territory and never return.
Cactusclaw runs away and Nightfire decides to bring him back. He calls upon Shellfall for help, and much to his surprise he finds out that Talonstar ordered Dustcloud, Tigerflame, and Lizardfang to help. The patrol finds Cactusclaw in a Twolegplace surrounded by rogues. Dustcloud decides the best way to save him is to attack the rogues and destroy the Twoleg den. Nightfire volunteers to be bait. Shellfall drags Nightfire in, saying that he wants to rejoin the rogues and brought a ShadowClan warrior as live bait. While the rogues are distracted, Nightfire gives the signal, and the den breaks into battle. Seeing loose beams, the ShadowClan warriors leap on them and bring the den down.
With Cactusclaw rescued, his son Dusk joins them. Dustcloud brings Shellfall back to RiverClan and the ShadowClan cats back home. When Talonstar does not allow Dusk to stay in ShadowClan, Nightfire joins Cactusclaw in bringing him back to the Twolegplace to find him a suitable place to live.
Nightfire is given Thistlpaw as an apprentice. He passes on the training he received from Eagleflight, and Thistlepaw becomes a warrior, known as Thistlestorm.
Thistlestorm and Stoneheart cross the RiverClan border in an attempt to hunt, but they are captured by RiverClan warriors and after trying to escape, sent to be executed. Nightfire realizes the apprentices are gone and follows their scent track with a few other warriors. He goes back to report to Talonstar, and Talonstar immediately knows what Dapplestar is doing. He leads a battle patrol to RiverClan's camp and attacks. The battle ends in RiverClan's favor, however, Dapplestar loses a life, and Eagleflight is killed. Talonstar brings his patrol back to camp, and it starts the RiverClan-ShadowClan war.
RiverClan attacks them again, with Shellfall and Shimmerwing leading the attack. Nightfire pins Shellfall down and howls at him that they were friends. Shellfall retorts that he never wanted to hurt him, and Nightfire hisses at him that it is a lie, effectively destroying their friendship. Nightfire harbors a deep hate for RiverClan after Shellfall's betrayal, and is active in battling them.
When Shrewfur is killed by an ambush from RiverClan, Talonstar appoints Nightfire deputy, but is furious about Shrewfur's death and vows for revenge. Talonstar leads ShadowClan through an era of strife and war against RiverClan. Nightfire fights ferociously in the battle patrols he is sent on, but the amount of attacks weakens him and his Clan. Talonstar suggests asking for aid from ThunderClan, and despite Nightfire's pride, he bites his tongue and accepts that help from ThunderClan is probably the best option.
Rootstar agrees to help them, and sends out constant patrol to help them defect attacks from RiverClan. Dapplestar only agrees to stop attacking them if they send a hostage from ShadowClan. Despite being heavily against it, Nightfire knows that if they do not comply to Dapplestar's wishes, they will be attacked again. However, even with ThunderClan's help, ShadowClan is unable to win the fights against the powerful RiverClan warriors. Nightfire wishes he had enough strength to fight RiverClan nine times. He has seen Talonstar do it, and even then, Talonstar's strength alone could not save them.
Breaking a promise she honored, Dapplestar and her warriors set fire to ShadowClan territory. Talonstar leads a patrol to counter Dapplestar's patrol, and Nightfire follows him. Nightfire hears a hiss from the darkness, and he turns around to investigate it. It turns out to be Dapplestar, who traps him underneath a tree, restricting his movement. Dapplestar ambushes Talonstar, who tries to save him. The two Clan leaders fight, and Dapplestar kills Talonstar, decapitating him. She leaves Nightfire to struggle underneath the tree, and brings Talonstar's head towards her Clan. Nightfire is horrified at the scene he witnesses, and loses the strength to fight.
Cactusclaw releases him from where he is stuck. He asks what happened, and Nightfire replies flatly that Talonstar is dead, and Dapplestar took his head. Cactusclaw is horrified, and for a moment falters. He finally tells Nightfire that all of ShadowClan territory has been captured, and Owlfang had led the surviving warriors into ThunderClan territory, sending Stoneheart to ask Rootstar for permission to stay. Nightfire stares at Cactusclaw, unable to find the words to reply. He collapses in exhaustion, and Cactusclaw is able to bring him to their makeshift camp.
Nightfire looks around their makeshift camp when he returns to consciousness, cursing himself for losing all of ShadowClan's territory to the point where they are sheltering on ThunderClan land. Owlfang points out to him that they may have lost their territory, but they have not lost their Clan. Hawkflight promises that although they can recapture their territory, they cannot recapture their lives. Nightfire breaks the news that Talonstar is dead, which leads to cries of horror from the ShadowClan cats, knowing that the brave leader had led them through the fight with Dapplestar and fought for them tooth and nail, losing the rest of his lives to protect them. The cats grieve in silence, until Snakenose reminds Nightfire that he must go to the Moonpool to receive his nine lives. Nightfire pauses, not knowing this. He tells Snakenose that he cannot - he cannot be the leader Talonstar wanted him to be. Snakenose tells him he does not have a choice.
Littlefern takes him to the Moonpool, where Nightfire is given nine lives. He sees Talonstar and apologizes to him for what happened, but Talonstar tells him that there was nothing that could have been done. Nightfire receives his lives - bravery, certainty, endurance, hope, love, trust, truth, wisdom, and faith. Talonstar names him Nightstar, and tells him to continue to fight the war. Nightstar promises him that he will never let ShadowClan fall. Nightstar returns to ShadowClan's new camp, where Stoneheart tells him that they have permission to stay until they capture ShadowClan territory. Nightstar begrudgingly states that it will take long, and says that they must keep a good relationship with ThunderClan. Nightstar names Eveningfrost his new deputy.
When Swiftcloud enters ShadowClan's makeshift camp, Nightstar instantly sends her out, not wanting any RiverClan warrior on his territory, and is close to ordering his warriors to kill her. Quickly, Swiftcloud explains that Dapplestar had disappeared, and that Shellfall had declared Shimmerwing an "enemy of Dapplestar" and were about to fight each other. Nightstar is shocked as Swiftcloud explains that the civil war was inevitable, and begs Nightstar to help - to choose Shimmerwing's side so that they could never have a repeat of Dapplestar.
After much thought, Nightstar finally agrees, despite the state his Clan is in, he did not want a supporter of Dapplestar next to his borders, and he would support any cat who rose against Dapplestar. The next night, he, Scorchstar, and Rootstar all meet up with their patrols and discuss a battle plan. Under the cover of the cloudy, rainy day, they sneak into RiverClan territory and watch over the marshland as the battle takes place, with Shellfall's forces overpowering Shimmerwing's. Nightstar is the one to give the signal. He charges down towards the marshland, throwing himself fearlessly into the fray.
After fierce fighting, the remainder of Shellfall's troops retreat. Nightstar plainly congratulates Shimmerwing on her leadership and tells her that he set out to do what he had to do, hiding the fact that Rippleheart had taken a life from him. He takes his Clan home, and prays quietly that Shimmerwing will not be a repeat of Dapplestar. Shimmerwing tells him that her first act as leader is to return ShadowClan's land to them, as they do not need it. Nightstar stops in his tracks. He thanks her, and brings his Clan back to their camp.
A few days after the rebellion, Nightstar makes a dangerous trip to RiverClan territory alone to retrieve Icepaw himself. He calmly asks Shimmerstar for the apprentice, and Icepaw leaves with him. Nightstar winning the hostage back gives him support in his Clan, and his Clanmates eventually begin to believe that he can live up to Talonstar's legacy, despite him being so young.
## Personality

Known as calculating and excellent judgement, Nightstar is highly respected among his Clanmates and even among other Clans. He is feared for his battle skills, yet has a soft heart. He thinks of his Clan before anything, although recognizes when it is time to ally himself with other Clans or to send aid. He protects each Clanmate as if they were his own kin, and would die nine times for them.

## Theme song

* **Holding On** by Simple Plan

*In the night there's a fire in my eyes, and this paradise has become a place we've come to cry. When I open your letter, the words make it better, it takes it all away.*
## Trivia

These are trivia facts about the character revealed by the roleplayer.

* He has a phobia of snakes.
* His best friend is Cactusclaw, and he feels guilty he was unable to appoint him deputy.
* He still lives with the guilt of being unable to save Talonstar, thinking it was pathetic of him to be held behind by a tree.
* He constantly has nightmares of seeing Talonstar being killed in front of him.

## Quotes

**Nightfire**: "*...Thistlepaw told me where to find you. What were you thinking? Do you not know the last time a cat met with another cat from another Clan? He died. And the Clan leader didn't kill him. He took a blow meant for his mate when their Clans were fighting! He was killed by a cat from his own Clan! You are breaking the code. ...Maybe Dustcloud was right.*"

**Cactusclaw**: "*You don't understand what it's like to love someone you aren't supposed to. She brought out the best side of me, and you and Dustcloud only bring out the worst!*"

**Nightfire**: "*You know, I thought Shellfall wouldn't be loyal to his Clan because he didn't get in the same way you did. But now I see that he's more loyal than you could ever be.*"

**Cactusclaw**: "*I'm more loyal than you could be in three lifetimes. For all we know, you could be telling RIverClan all of our secrets! You could get us all killed!*"
**Nightfire**: "*...Well, Talonstar sure won't be pleased to hear about this.*"
**Cactusclaw**: "*You're going to tell him...? After all we've been through! I thought you were my friend.*"
**Nightfire**: "*You're the one betraying the Clan. You're willing to sacrifice everything for some big pair of blue eyes?*"

—Nightfire and Cactusclaw arguing

**Talonstar**: "*Dapplestar is here somewhere. I'm going to fight her.*"

**Nightfire**: "*But... Dapplestar... surely she’ll...*"

**Talonstar**: "*It’s fine for me to die in this spot, where my honor lies. But you, your path lies elsewhere. Hurry up. Save yourself before the enemy closes us off.*"

**Nightfire**: "*Talonstar, I could never lea---- What is that?!*"
**Talonstar**: "*Nightfire!*"
**Nightfire**: "*Talonstar, I'm okay! Go fight! Leave me!*"
**Talonstar**: "*Isn’t it what you said, I can’t leave you?*"

—Nightfire and Talonstar

**Owlfang**: "*Nightfire, Talonstar is dead. He gave his last life to protect his Clan. You are the Clan leader now. You must receive your name and lives so you can continue to lead us in this war. Dapplestar is not done with us yet. She may have taken our territory, but she wants to take our lives.*"

**Nightfire**: "*I... I can't... I'll never be like him...*"

**Owlfang**: "*Talonstar gave his life for this, Nightfire. It is up to you to continue what he fought for.*"

—Nightfire and Owlfang

**Nightstar**: "*Shimmerwing. I hear that Dapplestar is dead.*"

**Shimmerstar**: "*She is. I am RiverClan's new leader now. My name is Shimmerstar.*"

**Nightstar**: "*Shimmerstar, is it. Your Clan looks well, considering what it went through, even after Dapplestar died.*"

**Shimmerstar**: "*Our recovery is going well.*"

**Nightstar**: "*I'm here to take something that Dapplestar took from us.*"
**Shimmerstar**: "*And... what did she take, may I ask?*"
**Nightstar**: "*I'm taking Icepaw back. She is a ShadowClan cat and belongs in the Clan she was born in. Dapplestar took her cruelly from us. Her home is not in RiverClan. It never has been. I don't want to fight you for her, Shimmerstar, considering what your Clan has been through. But I am asking for her to come home to her Clan.*"

—Nightstar and Shimmerstar

"*I won't take your life. Because unlike you, I believe in justice.*"
—Nightfire

"*I will protect them all. No matter what.*"
—Nightfire