Sandstorm angst
So sandstorm is one of the best written characters from back when the Erin's still had a clue and could sort of write romance. But I also want to add more angst and depth to her character.
She hates firestar when he arrives for being a kitty pet sure but I like to think she also considers him really bad luck and something starclan punishes them for being involved with. For one reason, the day he arrives a major event happens. Her dad is dragged back into camp, lifeless. Now I know in the first series that dads were never around and it was fine but let's say for the sake of this that redtail was around and a good dad to sandstorm. Someone she looked up to. He was the clan deputy after all.
Now imagine you're a kid and not only does some outsider appear, but your dad is murdered that same day, and all he gets is a passing memory from the clan before everyone moves on to welcome a new guy to take his position. Everyone is so focused on the brat your own leader brought back that your own dad's death seems to mean almost nothing to them. But it means the world to you.
I like to think that moment is when sandstorm decided she never wanted to be deputy, and that was the moment that she held onto that drove her. Every time firestar messed up and was momentarily punished only to be praised made her furious. He was apprenticed after her but he got so much more glory than she did and got to be promoted when he had ignored and questioned authority. How is that fair?
So sandstorm put every ounce of her power and strength into making herself better. Let's say maybe she decides to focus on how enemies fight in battles and learn to predict their attacks and even mimic them because if she had learned all she could from her own clan without a reward, maybe it was time to learn from someone else.
What if unknowingly she starts training in the dark forest in her sleep, she wants to be the best there is and someone sees her worth and is willing to help her. Whispering words of hatred for firestar that she believes and wishes anyone but herself would say. And then firestar saves her life, at first she doesn't know because she has tunnel vision from watching the enemies movements and being in the heat of the moment. But when she screams at him and he says "you're welcome" she notices. But she only feels more hate an embarrassment. She doesn't want to be indebted to him. But her lashing out at him only gets her chastised again.
I imagine tigerstar would see the hatred fire and sand have for each other and would purposefully send them on patrol together to keep fire from thinking too hard and to have sand annoy him. One of those days firestar is fed up and finally asks why she's so terrible to him, why she can't just try to be friendly for once when he never actually did anything to her. And she just screams that he ruined the clan. That he cursed them and her especially. That her father died the day he appeared and that was starclans wrath coming right for her.
Maybe this causes firestar to take a step back and think about where she stands. How hes an outsider and she's clan bred but still has to work twice as hard to even get half the glory he has. He starts trying to talk to her and learn what she's been studying, only to find that she's one of the most skilled fighters he's ever seen because of how meticulous she is and how perceptive she is. She never misses anything. Maybe he actually starts to fall for her because of this, and for the first time someone listening to her and learning from her makes her feel happy and causes her to not hate him as much.
And then the more she trains at the dark forest and the older she gets, the more she sees the flaws and hatred it harbors. The more she realizes they don't care about her and are only out to use her. Firestar was a curse she thought but he actually listens to her and is passionate about her learning more and teaching others. So she leaves, she gets badly hurt in the process but she runs until she can only see the starry plans, and her father's sad smile as she slams into him, happy to be near him, to nuzzle into him, because she hasn't seen him in so long and was so afraid. And his comfort and presence, and firestar's friendship, bring her back.
