This is for the fifth BlazeClan challenge.
Challenge: Friends Forever? She promised, didn't she? She promised we would be friends forever, always helping each other, always being there for one another. But she broke her promise, my only friend broke her promise, and with it breaking my heart. I loved her so dearly. She was the only thing I had. And she left me. I'm alone. Utterly alone. A cat with no one left except for her only friend. They made a promise to each other, to be friends forever. But then her friend breaks her promise for whatever reason you decide, and the cat is left alone. Write about the cat; her struggles to find someone who loves her and to find her place in the Clan. This challenge must be 600 words for apprentices and 800 for warriors.
Warning: SADNESS! Very sad - I almost cried while writing part of it, I'll tell you which at the bottom. It's loosely based off Bridge to Terabithia - hence the name. I think I might've made this challenge sadder than Moon intended, but... yikes. I feel very depressed now from writing this. Going to go listen to some sad music. Review please!
Snowpaw sat at the BrookClan – BirchClan border. Though snow fell heavily around her, freezing her paws and camouflaging her thick pelt, she remained as motionless as if she was made of stone.
She couldn't believe it. She wouldn't believe it.
Flowerpaw had understood. The bright-eyed tortoiseshell had been just like Snowpaw – an only kit unloved by her parents, disliked by her mentor, ostracized by her fellow apprentices and alone in her own Clan.
Snowpaw kicked at her rabbit – fat and healthy, it was a fine piece of prey – and cursed Rainheart for being a stupid, prejudiced foxheart of a she-cat. So what if rabbits were FieldClan prey? It was prey, wasn't it? There was nothing wrong with it; it had been a good catch, one that she had been very proud of until she showed it her to her mentor.
"What did that rabbit ever do to you?" a nearby voice called.
Snowpaw spun around, hackles up. A BrookClan apprentice, perhaps half a moon older than Snowpaw, stood just barely on her side of the border. Her blue eyes were friendly and open. "Hey. I'm Flowerpaw."
"I'm… Snowpaw. And I was talking about my mentor, not the rabbit," Snowpaw meowed, feeling rather embarrassed.
Flowerpaw mrrowed with laughter. "Well, a vole says that your mentor is better than Troutsplash. He's mine, and he's terrible."
"I'll take that bet. Rainheart yelled at me for catching this perfectly good rabbit on our territory because rabbits are 'FieldClan prey, and BirchClan cats are not rabbit-eaters'."
"You know what Troutsplash said when I caught a fish on my first day? 'One down, three more to go', and he expected me to be done by sunhigh!" the other apprentice countered.
"Rainheart made me clean out all the dens on my first day," Snowpaw replied.
"Well, Troutsplash….."
The snow was falling harder now, Snowpaw noticed. It didn't really bother her, even though her long fur could only keep out so much of the cold. She felt numb…. Detached. The same way she had ever since she saw the body.
"Hey, want to learn how to swim today?" Flowerpaw suggested.
Snowpaw cast a doubtful look at the river, swollen by rainfall. "I don't know… the rapids are pretty fast with all this rain. Wouldn't it be better to wait a moon or so?"
Flowerpaw shook her head. "If you can swim in this, you can swim in anything! C'mon, it'll be fun – I promise."
Snowpaw looked again at the river. Learning how to swim was tempting… And as a BrookClan apprentice, Flowerpaw would know best…
"Okay."
The snow was up to her haunches now.
Snowpaw clawed her way to the surface and gasped, sucking in air. "Flowerpaw! HEL-" she shrieked, before the torrents of water yanked her back under.
She thrashed blindly, forgetting what her friend had taught her in her panic. She was going to die there. She was going to die-
"Gotcha!" a voice said, as if from a long ways away.
And then Snowpaw's head was out of the water and she was breathing. Flowerpaw had a firm grip on her scruff, and was paddling with her hind legs, keeping them above the surface enough to get air. But she was small, and she was quickly tiring.
The tortoiseshell kicked sharply for the bank. Snowpaw clumsily mimicked her, trying to help support herself. It didn't seem to work much, but at least it took a bit of the load off of Flowerpaw. The bank was closer and then closer still.
"We're going to make it!" Snowpaw gasped as they clung on to an overhanging branch.
Flowerpaw nodded, too out of breath to speak, as she pushed Snowpaw out of the river and onto muddy earth. Snowpaw turned to help her out, but then...
The branch, already weakened, snapped under Flowerpaw's weight and dumped her back into the river, into where the rapids were the fastest and there were the most rocks.
"Snowpaw!" Flowerpaw cried, paddling desperately, but weakly.
Snowpaw dashed along the bank, running alongside her friend, dragging another branch with her. She quickly lost sight of Flowerpaw, but sped up, knowing there was a waterfall ahead. If she could just beat the tortoiseshell to it, she could wait at the top with the branch!
She ran as fast as she could in her cumbered and tired state, and skidded to a stop at the very top of the waterfall. She held out the branch and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
The sun, high in the sky when they first ventured into the river, was sinking towards the tree-line. It was becoming colder.
"Flowerpaw?" Snowpaw whimpered, not wanting to believe it. Perhaps she had caught herself, and gotten out by herself. Yes. That was what must have happened.
But she had to make sure. Just in case. After all, there would be nothing to see anyway, right?
Snowpaw dropped her stick into the water, and slowly padded down the slope to the foot of the waterfall, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach as she spotted a glimpse of mottled brown in the rocks at the bottom. No. A twig, or leaves. It had to be.
But when she reached the bottom, well, it was not so easy to pretend.
Flowerpaw's limp body lay across the rocks where it had been dashed, parts of her fur soaked in blood. Her blue eyes were cloudy and her chest still. She was dead.
No. No. No! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Snowpaw threw her head back and keened to the sky, wailing in sorrow for the only cat she could call a friend.
The snow reached her shoulders now. Suddenly, she heard a pleading mewl. For the first time in a long while, she moved, turning her head towards the sound.
A small black kit, trembling in the cold, stumbled across the snow. "It's so cold…" she whispered, looking at Snowpaw. "Please."
Snowpaw rose gingerly to her paws and shook off the snow, stumbling towards the kit. Her paws, too, were numb with cold. "Who are you?" she asked gently.
"I'm Ravenkit," she murmured. "My… my friend died at a river somewhere on this border, today. Her name was Flowerpaw... she would play with me, sometimes. No one else would. And she talked about her friend… She said she had a friend, named Snowpaw, in BirchClan. I need a friend. But it's cold and I don't know how to go back to my camp and…." Ravenkit trailed off, whimpering.
Snowpaw's heart went out to the tiny kit. "I'm Snowpaw, Ravenkit. It's nice to meet you. I can help you back to the BrookClan camp – Flowerpaw told me roughly where it is."
The kit looked up again, her green eyes shining. "Really?" she breathed. "And you'll be my friend? Like you were Flowerpaw's?"
Snowpaw felt a pang of sorrow, but pushed it away. "Yes," she said firmly. "Yes. I will be your friend."
So...?
The part I nearly cried while writing was:
But when she reached the bottom, well, it was not so easy to pretend.
Flowerpaw's limp body lay across the rocks where it had been dashed, parts of her fur soaked in blood. Her blue eyes were cloudy and her chest still. She was dead.
No. No. No! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Snowpaw threw her head back and keened to the sky, wailing in sorrow for the only cat she could call a friend.
It's just so SAD! :'(
Oh, and do you think I should make this into a twoshot? Have more about Snowpaw and Ravenkit? Let me know in your review!