"It's okay."
"You--you shouldn't be the one saying that."
Foolish, foolish, foolish!
At her insistence, they had gone to this treacherous place. Perhaps her ego was growing too much, or maybe she, with her newly given nine lives, felt convinced she, and by extension her clan, were invincible.
So over-eager to see the hunting grounds beyond the Thunderpath, she had thought that, given how quiet it had been these last few moons, it no longer was haunted by monsters.
Oh, how wrong she was.
Darkstar pressed her nose into the soft fur of Puddleleaf's shoulder, gently shaking from barely suppressed sobs.
She couldn't bear to look at his broken, bleeding body as Alderrustle did his best to staunch the bleeding in spite of knowing it was a lost cause.
She especially could not look Puddleleaf in the eye.
How could he look so... at peace, when he was about to be taken from them?
"I'm so sorry, Puddleleaf," Darkstar wept, fur damp with her tears.
"I was so stupid, I thought it was safe, and I didn't even hear the monster coming, and you--you--"
Pushed me out of the way.
How could he do such a thing? He only had one, fragile life, while she could have taken it. It was her own foolishness, her own stupidity, that led to her prancing across the Thunderpath without even considering the dangers. Yet he had.
He had seen the monster hurtling for her, and in a flash of a whisker, one life was traded for another.
She choked on the words, unable to handle the guilt tethered to them.
"I have nine lives, how could you--"
"And risk you losing one more lifetime with the clan?"
Voice a soft rasp, rattly from punctured lungs, Puddleleaf grew weaker by the minute, but he nudged his face gently against Darkstar's, coaxing her from his shoulder, and making him meet his hazel eyes.
"I'd do it again," he said, soft but firm, "Again and again. We... we can't change it, Darkstar. But I know... you're better off with the clan, than in my position."
She could see it, see how the light in his eyes was slowly dimming. Breathing growing more shallow, he was struggling to hold on, and desperately, she reached out her paws, pressing on some of the bleeding herself, as if her touch alone could heal him.
"Please--please don't go, Puddleleaf."
Eyes crinkling in a smile, Puddleleaf managed to shake his head.
"StarClan is calling me, and I'm okay with that. I... I'll get to see my family again, from HillClan. How lucky am I... getting to see my family, and I get to tell them about how I help start a whole new clan..."
Drifting away, try as Darkstar did to reach him, Puddleleaf was gone. His head gently settled upon the hard dirt by the Thunderpath they had taken him to, and Darkstar froze, feeling her blood stop in her veins.
"... Puddleleaf?"
A fresh wave of tears coursed down her cheeks.
No longer did the tom cat breathe, yet, with eyes shut, he looked like he was having a beautiful dream.
Locked in place, it was Alderrustle's gentle touch, a tail sweeping over her back, that stirred Darkstar back to reality.
"I'm sorry, Darkstar," Alderrustle murmured, "We did our best."
Jaw clenching, for a long, silent moment, Darkstar questioned herself, before finally, she bowed her head.
"... May he find peace with StarClan, and may he find joy in reuniting with HillClan in Silverpelt."
Thank you... thank you for everything, Puddleleaf.
I'll make sure you're never forgotten.
"We made it, Darkstar."
With a voice full of bright, hope, and an underlying current of excitement, Boulderfrost, with tail slowly swaying, looks to her leader. Her sage-green eyes, once exhausted and burdened by their long journey from the Highlands they once called home, found new life, and at this sight, Darkstar, wearily, felt her own heart lift.
The moons their journey took had been long, arduous, and painful.
Never had she foreseen that they would be chased out by clans they had once shared tongues with, communed in harmony at moonlit gatherings...
But, there was little dwelling on the past.
The future was now, and it was bright, hopeful.
Glancing back, from her vantage point atop the hill leading down to their new camp, she watched as the remaining numbers of their clan followed.
So many precious lives lost--friends and family alike, gone in a flash of teeth and claw over dwindling resources.
Broken as they were, she had hope. Hope that this new land would mend the still-open wounds they were all healing from.
"HillClan will thrive here, I'm sure of it," Boulderfrost continued, her tail swaying in excitement.
The new leaf breeze was soft, gently flowing through their fur.
As Darkstar diligently watched, Oatkit tumbled through the plush, dense grass of the forest grotto with Puddleleaf swiftly rounding back to nudge her back to her feet, encouraging her onward to join her sister, Duskkit.
Further back yet, Elmstripe and Rimebright laughed and joked, while Burnetpaw, the clan's sole apprentice, tried to jump in with her own quips.
When no one paid her much mind, she conceded defeat, dropping back to join her mentor, Lightstripe, and the slow-moving medicine cat, Alderrustle.
"... No."
At her correction, Boulderfrost froze, then looked back to Darkstar in confusion, brow furrowing.
"HillClan is no more," said Darkstar, her voice decisive and firm. She had thought of this long and hard, ever since they left their ravaged camp to salvage what remains of their clan were left.
"HillClan... It died with Thrushstar, and everyone who died trying to keep our territory. Their legacy lives on, but, we'll never be the same."
Burnetpaw, after a quick bow of acknowledgement to her leader, bounded past into the heart of the grotto, yelling in giddy excitement as she verbally mapped out where each den should go, and her thrill to have her own bed to sleep in every night.
Apologetic, Lightstripe murmured for Darkstar's forgiveness for his apprentice's wild antics as he quickly trotted onward to rein her in.
But that infectious excitement only lifted Darkstar's spirits that much more, her tail flagging high, feeling the wind pick up at her back.
"This is DawnClan," she declared, "for our humble clan will represent a new beginning. May the fallen stars of HillClan look upon us favorably."
