A/N: This story was written for a challenge over on the Warriors - A Forum To Remember forum. It's a lot of fun and super active, but we are still new! Spread the word and come check it out. c: I would love to see some new faces.

"I love you, Ravenflight. More than anything."

She was there, that much Leafstrike could see. Her pelt was still such a pure shade of black, the same as the night sky above them. Her eyes shined with all the light of the stars, dancing across the stream that he lay beside, that he remembered had looked so beautiful.

There was no regret there, no pain. Ravenflight was not suffering from her decision. She was basking in it. Had been basking in it - but those seven words stopped her cold.

Leafstrike had, once again, stopped her cold.

"What do you mean, you love me?" snapped Ravenflight, and her voice was harsh and cold. Angry, even. "You can't say that, not now!"

Leafstrike opened his mouth, was going to answer her - and say exactly what made her perfect, what about her had him captivated, but no sound came out. Just crimson blood, as the tang of salt and iron filled his mouth.

For a moment, his eyes fluttered closed. Leafstrike couldn't see anything...but he could hear /everything/.

The gentle lapping of the water just behind him, as the waves hit the shore. Almost close enough that he could feel them, and wasn't that Ravenflight's plan? To just push him into the river and let the cold stream wash him away. So that no one would ever find his body and no vigil would ever be sat and she would never have anyone find out about her murder.

The wind, rushing through his fur. It sounded like a kit crying in the distance, like a bird's last breath, like winter descending rapidly. It made the blood that coated his pelt seem all the colder. Or maybe it was just that he was getting colder, with the life leaving his body and his breath growing shallow.

And Ravenflight. Everything about Ravenflight. Leafstrike could hear her breathing, her heart beating, her hatred for everything that was ThunderClan growing stronger.

The half-blooded she-cat was burnt into his mind, and he could see her even though he no longer had the strength to open his eyes. Her grace and beatuy and fierce destruction.

"I said what do you mean?!" repeated Ravenflight, and she was furious at this point. Couldn't believe that Leafstrike would still say that, even after her claws had shredded both his pelt and his skin and his heart.

She had killed him.

They both knew that.

Still, Leafstrike loved her. Like he had never loved anyone before, with every fiber of his beaing. And, in a way, he understood why she had done what she did.

He was the deputy, after all. The son of the tom that had ruined her life, ostracizing her from every other cat. Declaring her blood-line and outing her as both ThunderClan and ShadowClan.

By killing him, Ravenflight would get revenge on Leafstrike's father...and she would be chosen as the next deputy. Would be closer to the leader, have easier access to him, could /kill/ him.

So Leafstrike understood.

And he didn't mind.

And he died that day, without ever being able to tell Ravenflight that she would be okay.