Post by Hellion on Aug 2, 2017 1:30:30 GMT -5
heavy angst warning, no table for simplicity
Justice
"Firestar, we have to take her now,"
Firestar opened her eyes at the sound of Goldensong's voice. She hadn't moved since it was confirmed that her sweetest kit was gone. In fact, Firestar hadn't done much since Sunnyheart carried Mapleheart's body home with his own battered and bruised.
Sunnyheart barely managed to explain what happened before collapsing down, the body of Mapleheart sliding off his back. Kindleflare was quick to tend to the two surviving warriors. Firestar had been sitting talking with Flashbrook when it all went down. Sunnyheart's father went to his side while Firestar took long slow steps toward her daughter's body. The ache growing in her chest as she waited for Mapleheart to cough, do something, anything to prove Sunnyheart wrong. When Firestar arrived at her daughter's side and nothing had changed, the leader of LighitngClan went deaf to the world.
Cats meowed their anguish while Firestar stared at the bloody features of her sweet daughter. Mapleheart's face was relaxed, almost like she was sleeping. Firestar knew better than to fall into the trap, but she couldn't help herself.
Sinking down to lay facing Mapleheart, Firestar purred. Almost cooing at her daughter, anything to wake her up. "Mapleheart, sweetheart open your eyes," Firestar whispered but knew they were falling on dead ears, but it was a mother's pain that made her try. She would hate herself forever if she hadn't tried.
Wildcall having heard the news had fetched Russetfall and the family crowded around Mapleheart. Firestar couldn't manage to look up from Mapleheart's face to acknowledge anyone else. Her focus was trained on the she-cat so suddenly taken from her. She stayed like that all night.
Her son had left sometimes in the night, retreating to the warrior's den to clear away Mapleheart's den. Firestar still remained. She had moved slightly, pressing her nose to Mapleheart's forehead. The place that Mapleheart's scent was strongest. Firestar drank it in as if it was the only water in the world. Without her heart beating, the scent had already started to fade. Firestar wondered in the last hours of the day if it would be gone before daybreak.
Thankful the skies were silent through the night, Firestar wondered if StarClan was mourning as well. She doubted it, StarClan wouldn't have let it happen if they were going to mourn her daughter's death. They weren't gods, just ancestors.
"Can we take her now? Darkcloud and I already dug her grave and we will be very careful," Goldensong asked again, pulling Firestar away from her thoughts of the last few hours and pulled her into the present. Rising to her paws, Firestar hadn't realized that the clan was coming back to life. The time for openly mourning her daughter was coming to an end. Her body would need to be put into the earth, become the grass that future sweet kits would play on.
Firestar found it impossible to answer Goldensong, but she managed to nod. The elder turned to Russetfall and appeared to whisper the same thing before the two elders bent down to pick up their daughter. Darkblaze, being the stronger of the two, took the bulk of Mapleheart's weight. In silence, the elders carried her daughter out of camp to some undisclosed location. Firestar watched in equal silence, feeling the world slowly shift back into focus. Her ears picked up on the sounds of soft whispers, those talking about Mapleheart. Firestar even noticed Sunnyheart appear from the medicine cat's den with his body covered in cobwebs. It appeared he had barely survived.
Firestar was too caught up in her hurt to be grateful that the loss wasn't greater. Instead of finding a silver lining in it only being one dead warrior, Firestar let herself fall into the pit of anger. StoneClan cats had taken something from her over stupid stones. They killed a cat over a border. They would have to pay, an eye for an eye. While it would make the world blind, Firestar had the confidence she could still navigate the world. Afterall her own brother was a decent warrior without his sight.
Embracing those thoughts Firestar shifted her attention for the first time to Russetfall,
meeting her mate's gaze she whispered. "I want them dead,"
Justice