[Justice]

Honeysong

We'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we lie in fields of gold

67 Moons, Senior Warrior of TreeClan

It was time. The last of the sick cats of TreeClan had either recovered or gone on to StarClan, and she'd stayed with them until things were one way or the other. She'd sat with each of them as they died while others raged with illness themselves. Each one broke her heart, and she remembered sitting as the young ones suffered and the elders succumbed, and entire families were wiped out. It killed her inside, and now that it was over all she wanted was to go home. To her own nest and her family. To Lionstar.

Lionstar...StarClan she missed him so much. She felt broken inside from all the death, and the nightmares she'd had when she'd been hurt before had resurfaced. She probably looked pretty ragged, sleep-deprived and heartsick. She did not envy Gorsetail the duty of telling the ones that survived the news.

As she came down the path she caught a glimpse of the camp, cats milling and going to and fro, cats getting ready to leave for patrol or a hunt. Life resuming, even with the heavy wave of grief riding over them. Even as the fires of greencough came, so too did the saplings regrow, the grass return, the trees survive.

Cats stopped as she entered camp, they stared and greeted her. She imagined the look on her face told them everything they needed to know. Falconstorm came straight for her, but he didn't speak. Instead, he just butted his head against hers then ran off to fetch Lionstar.

"Lionstar! Honeysong has returned."

Word Count // Fawn // Notes

[Fawn]

LionstAr

blinded by the light of a new sun
take it to the world, gonna sing it like an anthem

He had been hovering in that forgotten place between awake and asleep, the faint sound of approaching pawsteps pushing him into the former. Lionstar's head raised from his overly large golden paws, bracing himself for whatever news Falconstorm had to share - more death? More sickness? More grief? - but the message the medicine cat brought was positive.

Better than positive. It was the news Lionstar had been waiting to hear since he first called a quarantine.

Thanking Falconstorm hurriedly for fetching him, Lionstar's dark golden fur brushed against the opening of the ancient stump on his way out. He locked sights onto the familiar pelt of Honeysong, her fur a soft shade of lilac - like the first few colors of dawn on the horizon. She looked... Terrible. Beautiful. Both at the same time, and he wanted to laugh at how she could achieve that kind of equilibrium. Of course she could; she could get herself almost flattened by a ball of moss big as an apprentice, and just as likely be by her Clanmates' side in their last moments.

Lionstar's heart softened, but his smile grew. And a purr - how long had it been since he'd made that sound? It felt like moons - radiated from his throat, the golden tom a beacon of warmth and welcome as the sunlight hit him. "Welcome home, Honeysong. I missed you." Without care for how the Clan would react, Lionstar nuzzled the top of the warrioress's head. She looked as if death, the weight of so much loss of life, was pressing her fur flat to her body. Pushing her soul down near her paws.

Lionstar protectively wrapped a tail across Honeysong's back, guiding her towards the ancient stump. "Go in, get comfortable. I'll bring you something to eat." She had spent so much time taking care of everyone else, it was time to take care of her.
Before Falconstorm and all his siblings beat me to it. Lionstar's whiskers twitched, and he felt a strong sense of gratitude for the litter Honeysong had raised. She had cats that cared about her, even if they weren't related by blood. Even if it had taken them too many moons to realize how much.

leader of TreeClan

374 Words | Justice | notes

so alive | background image | table by phoenix

[Justice]

Honeysong

We'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we lie in fields of gold

67 Moons, Senior Warrior of TreeClan

She didn't even really realize she'd actually come home, that the death was behind her, until Lionstar appeared and nuzzled the top of her head. Her ears flicked and amber eyes regained some of their shine. She was happy to see him too. "Its so good to be home." She told him softly, dipping her head just a little so that she could nuzzle him under his chin in return. "I missed you too." Her voice hitched, the pain of all the death still heavy on her heart.

His tail against her back, and the invitation to his den, barely registered. She was just so tired. "Thank you." And when was the last time she'd taken the time to eat? Not since before the sick ones started dropping one right after the other. She'd been too afraid to step away, that one would pass on without anyone there to care. Entire families gone, others destroyed. Her eyes burned with the pain of it all.

It would register later that she'd been invited to Lionstar's den, that she was curled up in his nest. The safest place in the entire Camp, and here she was. But right now she couldn't appreciate that, she just wanted Lionstar to come back and instead of trying to do anything else, just curl up with her so that she could feel safe again herself.

"I stayed with them. No one was alone." She told him when he returned with something for her to eat. She'd done something that, normally, was left to the leader or the deputy, or to family. She didn't mind, even though it had destroyed her gentle heart to do it. "And no one will be forgotten. StarClan made their passing gentle, and I made sure they were comfortable." As much as they could be, once the medicine cats had stopped running back and forth so frantically.

Word Count // Fawn // Notes

[Fawn]

LionstAr

blinded by the light of a new sun
take it to the world, gonna sing it like an anthem

The squirrel he had plucked from the fresh kill pile was laid at the edge of his nest, within reach if Honeysong's hunger somehow overpowered her emotional and physical exhaustion. Touched by her dedication to the Clan, and the pureness of her spirit, Lionstar found himself curling up beside her, wanting to shelter the warrioress from any more pain or emotional fatigue. Golden fur mingled with lilac. "Thank you, Honeysong. For all that you have done for the Clan, and all that you have done for me." For staying by his mother's side, in her last moments.

With a low purr through a throat tightened by the freshness of grief, Lionstar was able to convince his smile to return to his leonine features. His tongue rasped over the top of Honeysong's head, gradually working the tangles out of her fur. The scent of sickness was still faintly on her pelt, and it rankled him, but Lionstar knew better. Honeysong herself wasn't sick, but she had been in the presence of so many who had been ill and dying, that it was a scent not gotten rid of so quickly.

Focusing on his other senses, Lionstar murmured between rasps. "Did you sleep? You're dead on your paws." He pressed his flank against her, curled snugly to Honeysong's much smaller body. "Rest. I'll be here when you wake up. You have my word." Unless an emergency occurred, Lionstar intended to make good on his pledge, adament to stay near her now that she had been returned to the Clan in good health (though ragged spirits).

leader of TreeClan

258 Words | Justice | notes

so alive | background image | table by phoenix

[Justice]

Honeysong

We'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we lie in fields of gold

67 Moons, Senior Warrior of TreeClan

She had her head lain on her paws when he returned with food, only lifting it enough to sniff at the offering before laying it back down. She was so tired, and the dead still trod behind her eyelids when she shut them. She gave him a weak smile, ears shifting up a little bit despite herself. "StarClan helped me survive everything that happened and was done to me as a younger cat for a reason. I believe it was so that I could help in this way, to be there when others went to walk with StarClan too." She'd lived through being attacked by a cat that had professed to love her, escaped the jaws of Demon, lost a litter of kits, and still been given back to the clan. She'd been a mother to a litter of motherless kits, and now she was given the chance to do more for her clan. That was what mattered to her. To give back to the clan, to help the clan, to help Lionstar, in whatever way she could.

With all this being true, had she now proven herself? Would StarClan finally let her be happy for a little while, rather than simply content with her life? What she had here, with Lionstar, was special, more than she dared to hope for. Would StarClan let her be with him, be at his side as long as her life continued? Please, let the answer be yes.

He'd curled up beside her, comforting her even though he had to be hurting from all the loss he'd suffered from the burn of greencough through the clan. He was here, he was still alive, and she'd kept her promise. She'd come back to him. Tears burned her eyes, and after a moment her body started to shudder with deep sorrow.

"Please don't leave me alone. Every time I close my eyes, I can hear them coughing, see them pleading with me to make it stop." She choked, the emotions that had been left to fester as cat after cat died before her eyes breaking free in her exhausted state. He'd promised to stay with her, and that soothed her only the slightest bit. "I don't want to be alone with my nightmares anymore."

But he was close and warm and real, vibrantly alive. That, more than words, was more reassurance than she could express. Her eyes were heavy, and she let them slide closed as she spoke in a slightly slurred tone, getting out the dark things that plauged her. "Lionstar?" She opened her eyes just slightly, and they were dull as she was half asleep. "You'll protect me, won't you?" From her nightmares went unsaid. "I'm safe here, with you at my side. I'm safe, I'm home, we're together." She was rambling, but she was starting to drift off, eyes shut again.

"No more nightmares....please no more." And her body finally pushed her into sleep.

Word Count // Fawn // The feels ;_;

[Fawn]

LionstAr

blinded by the light of a new sun
take it to the world, gonna sing it like an anthem

As soon as the tears began to form in Honeysong's eyes, Lionstar wrapped himself tighter around her, as if he could protect her from anything and everything that was a threat to the lilac she-cat. His heart felt as if he'd dragged it through a briar patch; shredded and bleeding, to hear the stress and misery in her voice. To hear her almost break to pieces.

Lionstar would have fought a horde of badgers, a pack of wolves, and a dozen Demons if it would keep her safe. Overwhelmed by the powerful feeling welling up inside of him, filling the golden tom from whisker to tail tip, he nuzzled close. She was the root system that kept him grounded - yet pushed him higher, right up into the clouds with her smile.

Her presence was the promise that everything, at least everything that truly mattered, would be safe.

"I'll protect you, always." He whispered, gently laying his tail around her exhausted form. "Always."
It was then that he realized he loved her. That selflessness came easy when he was around her, should've been a sign. That he felt peace in her presence, even in the worst of times, should have been a sign. That he didn't want her to leave his den, preferring her to stay here, to share it with him, should've been a sign.

StarClan above, I've been so blind... He wondered if his parents were chuckling at their mousebrained son. Over seventy moons, and he still had trouble understanding his own feelings - or seeing what was right in front of him. The Clan leader made peace with his mistakes (what else could he do?), and promised, once she was well enough, that he would invite her to the great maple where they could... talk a while.

And he could tell her the truth. It's not too late, he reassured himself. He wasn't counting on the affections of apprenticeship coming back any time soon, Lionstar was hoping that it had evolved into a more mature, more enduring love. And that that love was still there, just waiting for reciprocation. Lionstar kept vigil over Honeysong, his expression set, his heart thumping hard though it was with exileration, not fear.

The tom kept guard over his dearest friend, as if that alone would be enough to keep the nightmares at bay.

leader of TreeClan

389 Words | Justice | notes

so alive | background image | table by phoenix