[Taxx]

Palewing

Warrior of StoneClan

Take me in, into your darkest hour

Palewing skidded to a halt on their side of the stream, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath. StarClan's Claws were behind them, spires of stone rising high above, and beyond that... sorrow clutched at her, as sharp as the bite of a fox, like its jaws were clamped around her heart. StoneClan would be in mourning today- tomorrow- for as long as she could imagine.

"He's dead," she gasped out, struggling to find the strength to breathe evenly. The very core of their Clan was gone, and she didn't see how they would get past this. Smokestorm had tried, but her own pain had shown in her blank expression, eyes dull as she'd watched the Clan elders carry the forms of Hawkstar and Frozenrain into the clearing for the vigil.

Hawkfall had brought up the idea of informing Lionstar of the passing, and Smokestorm had agreed to it; Palewing had offered to go, to escape the grief she could see on every face. She'd been glad to have Beetlejaw ask to go with her, and with no other words both had set out. One gasp, another, and then she managed a full, deep breath, amber eyes turning to Beetlejaw. "I can't believe..."

A shake of her head and she turned back to stare across the stream. "We should keep going."

They'd been spotted by TreeClan's dawn patrol and guided to the camp on request; two of the other Clan stayed with Palewing and Beetlejaw while the third went to fetch Lionstar.

And I'll never desert you

Tags || Made by Fawn

[Fawn]

BeetlejaW

Will you be my breath through the deep, deep water

The journey had been long. Grief robbed him of words and breath both, and he was gasping just as hard as Palewing when they crested the last stretch of StarClan's Claws to reach TreeClan's dawn patrol. The sight of Hawkstar's body was seared into him, and he felt his stomach pulse with dread, with withheld sobs he didn't know how to let out.

Palewing spoke aloud his own thoughts, and they sounded so small and so weak, as though crippled by the gaping void left behind by Hawkstar's passing. With a soft grunt of acknowledgment, Beetlejaw limped after the two stoic TreeClan warriors; if he dug around in the back of his mind long enough, he'd be able to find their names.

But Beetlejaw didn't care.

Nothing mattered right now.

Whispers pressed tight against the two StoneClan warriors as they entered TreeClan's camp. Unsurprisingly, Lionstar stood waiting for them, his expression serious and expectant. Beetlejaw's heart ached like something had been broken. The words were sticking to his throat, jagged as cut stone, and he swore he tasted iron when he finally found the strength to speak.

"Hawkstar is dead."

TreeClan's reaction was a dull echo of what had happened in his own Clan. Eyes widened. Silence deafened, as if every creature on earth were holding it's breath. The grief was nowhere near as sharp as his own Clan's, but it was there. Beetlejaw glanced around with muted surprise to see more than one cat - young and old - looking stricken by the news.

Lionstar's own face was etched with shock, as if he too, had thought the pale-furred tom would live forever. Defy the stars. Beetlejaw held no one's gaze, and he let his focus slip, the world around him blurring as he retreated into his own head.

It was only the hoarse voice of TreeClan's leader that pulled him back from those murky, saltwater depths.
"I can't believe it. Hawkstar was... the foundation of StoneClan itself." Lionstar's voice hitched. "How is Fro--"

"Dead." Beetlejaw let the weight of that single word crush his question into dust. His voice shook, and Beetlejaw subconsciously leaned against Palewing, selfishly drinking in the steady warmth of her presence. "They died together. It was peaceful."

Lionstar closed his eyes, as if to allow the truth to sink in, to accept this new reality they were in. When they opened again, they were full of sadness and memories Beetlejaw couldn't even begin to understand.

"You have my deepest condolences. Tell Smokestorm that TreeClan will mourn Hawkstar's passing tonight, and that we feel StoneClan's pain, though we do not share borders."

Beetlejaw nodded, numb. It was time to go.

The gathered cats with their woodland scents cleared a path for them immediately, and whispered condolences and murmured concerns fell on them like a weak greenleaf rain, glancing off their pelts with each step.

Beetlejaw briefly turned in to the heavy-hearted speech Lionstar was making in the camp behind him. His heart squeezed when he realized what it was.

It was a eulogy.

Can't stay in the shallows, please tell me I won't wash away

Taxx BlooRey DVD || 24 Moons || StoneClan || 508 Words