Another Loss

Another Loss
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ShiningClan:

Novastrike

Clawheart

Darkclaw

Solarspark

Skyflight

Iceflame

Cloudshine

Swiftfoot

Ashpelt

Shrubpaw

Scorchflame

StarClan:

Hawkheart

Shiningdawn

<p style="text-align:center;border-style:none;padding:0in;">Fernleaf

<p style="text-align:center;border-style:none;padding:0in;">Polarswipe

<p style="text-align:center;border-style:none;padding:0in;">Reedwhisker <span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           Hawkheart panted heavily as the rogues gave chase. Novastrike was running after the long trail of cats with her back up close behind. Hawkheart turned and tried to fight off Screech, the leader of the former kittypets. Screech, son of Scourge, dug his claws into Hawkheart’s shoulder. Hawkheart howled in pain. The sound of his agony made Novastrike’s heart tighten and her feet fly. Screech’s mate, Crusader, jumped over him and took Hawkheart down. The two cats rolled around on the ground hissing and tussling for a while before Hawkheart broke apart and started running again.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           “Cats, go after him!” Screech commanded.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           His group charged after Hawkheart, and Novastrike’s patrol split up. Shrubpaw, Novastrike’s visiting cousin, went with Skyflight, Swiftfoot, and Iceflame to find Screech, who had escaped. Novastrike led Clawheart, Ashpelt, Darkclaw, Cloudshine, Solarspark, and her older sister, Scorchflame, after the rest of the intruding cats. Novastrike was several foxlengths ahead of the group; she had to save Hawkheart. Novastrike saw a patchy-furred cinnamon point tom come into view. His eye had a scar going across it; she remember seeing him before back when she was five moons old and still Sagekit. She narrowed her eyes; he was her uncle, Rustedfire. Her amber eyes blazed as she surged forward. Rustedfire grabbed her hind leg and threw her backward. Novastrike spat furiously and shook it off, running again.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           Novastrike’s patrol followed Rustedfire for a long while before he disappeared. Solarspark sniffed the air and detected a vile stench coming from the left. Ashpelt could tell it was the rogues’ odor. Novastrike had him lead them through the darkening forest. Ashpelt suddenly stopped and tensed. He turned around.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           “Novastrike, I think we went the wrong way.” He meowed. “We should go back.”

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           “What?” Novastrike gasped. “I smelled the rogues, too, Ashpelt. We’re going the right way.”

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           She tried to go around him, but he stepped in her way. Novastrike narrowed her eyes suspiciously and turned to Darkclaw. She was staring wide-eyed at the dark river ahead of them.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           “Nova!” she suddenly mewed. “I think he’s right; let’s go the other way!”

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           “What is up with you guys?” Novastrike hissed.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           Clawheart and Cloudshine exchanged a nervous glance. Solarspark sighed and nudged Novastrike forward. The pale ginger tabby squinted her eyes and looked around. She caught sight of something that made her heart stop beating. Hawkheart was laying on his side, his chest torn open, his muzzle scarred, his flanks bleeding heavily and just barely rising, and his limbs splayed. A shocked expression remained on his face. Novastrike wailed and rushed forward.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           “Hawkheart!” she cried. “Hawkheart, please speak to me!”

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           The dark tabby tom turned his head painfully and looked up at her with dulling blue eyes. “N-Novastrike, I’m sorry… I couldn’t fight them off. I don’t have much longer; I can feel my life ebbing away right now.” He rasped.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           Tears dropped from Novastrike’s eyes onto his bloody muzzle. “Hawkheart, please don’t die… I need you!” she whimpered.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           Hawkheart let a tear escape his eye. “I wish I could stay alive even just a minute longer for you, Novastrike… StarClan is calling to me now, though, and I can’t keep them waiting.” He meowed hoarsely.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           Ashpelt stared on, grief weakening his legs and making him fall to the ground. Darkclaw closed her eyes and let out a shuddering breath. Solarspark shook her head in disbelief, and Clawheart was trying hard not to freak out.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           “H-Hawkheart, don’t leave me…”

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           “I have to, Novastrike.” Hawkheart mewed regretfully. “But I want you to know that I…” his body shivered.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           Novastrike heart dropped, and the tears began falling faster. “Hawkheart!” she yelped.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           “I lo-“

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           Hawkheart suddenly went limp. His eyes were completely dull and lifeless, staring at nothing. Novastrike gasped for breath as she cried. Clawheart moved forward to comfort her friend with Darkclaw, Scorchflame, and Solarspark, but Novastrike shrugged them off. She continued weeping as Ashpelt tried to wash off the blood that had come off of Hawkheart and stained her clean fur. The rogues’ eyes were staring from the dark depths of the woods. Pair by pair they disappeared. Darkclaw nosed Novastrike’s fur and Cloudshine came over to lick her ear.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           “Guys, let’s give her some time alone with Hawkheart.” Ashpelt said, flicking Novastrike with his tail gently before he walked off.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           The rest of the patrol followed, mewing their goodbyes to Novastrike and Hawkheart’s lifeless body before they did. Novastrike buried her tear-stained muzzle into his long dark brown fur. Her body shuddered as she cried and cried. She sensed Polarswipe, Reedwhisker, Fernleaf, and Shiningdawn’s presences around her as she mourned the loss of the cat she loved.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           “He’s in good paws, sweetie.” Polarswipe promised, the scent of strawberries escaping her starry fur.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           Fernleaf’s star-dappled pelt ruffled as she laid a paw on Novastrike. “Yes, sweetheart, Hawkheart is being accepted into StarClan by Star-Filled Skies, the current leader.” She mewed.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           “Indeed, Novastrike…” Reedwhisker added. “It’s just a matter of taking him up.”

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           “His spirit will always be with you. He loves you, Novastrike. Whether he’s alive or in StarClan, that won’t change.” Shiningdawn insisted.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           Novastrike’s eyes were stinging from crying hard. “B-But I miss him. It won’t be the same. I won’t ever get to curl up beside him in the warriors’ den, or go hunting with him, or-”

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           A spirit rose from Hawkheart’s body and sparkled. StarClan’s mark appeared on his flank, and his pelt faded from dark tabby to silver. Novastrike’s eyes shone and she stood up shakily.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           “Hawkheart!” she mewed.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           “Novastrike!” responded the new StarClan cat.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           “Hawkheart, I love you.” Novastrike cried, touching noses with the spirit.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           “Novastrike, I love you, too.” Hawkheart purred, brushing his muzzle against hers. “I’ll always love you. I’ll be waiting.” <p style="border-style:none;padding:0in;"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           Slowly, each of the five spirits faded. All that remained were scents. Polarswipe’s scent, the scent of strawberries; Shiningdawn’s scent, the scent of chervil; Fernleaf’s scent, the scent of lavender; Reedwhisker’s scent, the scent of some girly bubblegum; and Hawkheart’s scent, this vanilla-like scent. Novastrike closed her eyes and drank in each of the familiar scents before turning back to Hawkheart’s lifeless and soulless body. She dipped her head, gently gripped his scruff, and began dragging him back to camp. <span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           Novastrike curled up in between Clawheart and Darkclaw that night. She continued to cry, but only because her heart wouldn’t let her stop. She dreamed of wandering in a forest with Ashpelt.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           “Novastrike, are you still grieving?” Ashpelt asked.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           The tabby turned and gazed at him. “Of course I am, Ashpelt.”

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           “But… why?”

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           “Ashpelt, I loved him. Every day was torture enough. I would have to wake up knowing that Hawkheart and I couldn’t be together no matter how much we wanted to. I would have to settle for going on patrol with him, hunting with him, occasionally saying “Hi,” in the morning… It was all too much to bear. All because Snowfall had split us up for a horrible reason. I always missed having him so close to me. I missed being able to walk over to him and tell him how much I loved him, and show it. But for the longest time, I wasn’t able to tell him, nor show him. It’s total butt. But I had to live through all the pain of being separated from the one I love. Now that he’s dead… the pain is like experiencing death myself. I know that I’ll never get to see him again as long as I live. It’s like being cut open every day and bleeding until you’ve suffered to death. I love him so much, and I’ll have to wait so long… My heart every day hurts for Hawkheart. I need him, Ashpelt. Now that I don’t have him… It’s just torture. I mean… I grieved every day because I couldn’t be with him. Now I’m grieving because I can’t be around him anymore.” By the time she was finished, Novastrike was tearing up silently.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           Ashpelt pressed his flank to hers. “I’m sorry,” he mewed.

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           “No, it’s fine.” She shrugged, blinking tears out her eyes. “He’s watching over me. I know his spirit’s with me.”

<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">           With this, she woke up. She looked around; he really was gone. She sighed and prepared herself for a pain filled day. She woke Darkclaw and Clawheart and asked them to wait for her outside so they could go on dawn patrol. When they left, she looked at a picture of her and Hawkheart together from the last day they spent as mates was behind her in a special Twoleg frame. She sighed and turned to look out the den. Her heart leaped in joy. Hawkheart -star dappled fur and all- was standing outside; and just like he said, he was waiting.