Characters:
Asterflight- creamy shecat with silver eyes and a silver paw
Poppygleam- pretty red and silver tabby shecat with amber eyes
Tumblestem- grey dappled tabby tom with green eyes
Do you know you're dead?
Do you know you're in StarClan?
Do you know that I'm still alive?
It should have been me.
You look so peaceful, like you're just sleeping. Your scent is wreathed in the air around you, in my heart, in my mind. It's like you're still alive.
But I know better.
Your creamy fur, your one silver paw, are all so calm compared to me. Compared to your death.
You lie face-up, your shimmering, crystalline eyes made of quicksilver that would soothe me when we were apprentices closed. It looks like nothing has happened to you, that you just dropped dead.
But I know better.
If i rolled you over, i would see what it had done to you. what i had done to you. If I hadn't run, if I had been there sooner...
"Asterflight! Asterflight!" I screech. My heart was beating so hard, so fast, I thought I was going to have a heart attack.
"Poppygleam..." mewed Tumblestem. I didn't turn to face him. He was just going to tell me that she'd left. She hadn't. She'd promised. I murmur her name.
"Poppygleam." The deputy's voice was firm. I still refused to turn. If I didn't, I could believe the fantasy that Asterflight was still here, in RiverClan with me. I couldn't turn.
"Poppygleam," growled the deputy. "We have to go back! She isn't out here. Face reality. Asterflight's gone." His tail accompanied his paw as they pulled and pushed me to face him.
"What?!" I snapped.
"We have to go back." Tumblestem growled. He was about to explode. It was in his mew, the strain he was putting himself under. His eyes flashed dangerously.
"Don't you flash your green eyes at me."
My tail whipped behind me as I pivoted, my back towards him again. The handsome tabby sighed.
"Poppygleam..."
So we were back to that stage again. I knew that Tumblestem's brother had been Asterflight's mate, but that didn't mean that I had to like him. Ever since Splashgaze had died from that battle with WindClan, she'd been hated by the Clan. Even more so because of the fact that she kept the secret of her unborn kits with her until she gave birth too early, too soon. I'd promised that I'd always be there for her. I wasn't going to break that promise.
Tumblestem tapped me on the shoulder. I span to face him, ready for another fight. Instead of hurling insults at me, he was staring up at the canopy of trees above us. We were in the thick patch of forestland between our border with ShadowClan, right on the furthest side away from WindClan. I silently cursed my stupidity. Splashgaze's final battle was against WindClan. It made sense that she would head there. We were here, as far away as you could possibly get from WindClan without heading into ShadowClan territory. I followed the deputy's gaze. A flurry of wings pounded in my ears, and a few heart-beats after, a scream. Tumble stem turns to face me.
"Did you hear that?" His emerald green eyes were wide. For a deputy, he acted a lot younger. Surprisingly, he was the same age as me, if not a few moons older. But he was quite tall compared to me, as I was one of the smallest cats in RiverClan. Asterfllight was the same hight as him though.
A second shriek accompanied the first. Roaring echoed in the empty patch of greenland. Before I could react, Tumblestem was gone. So much for staying together. I bounded after him, using my sleek pelt to weave between the trees like they were fishes. Ferns whipped my face, and slowed me down effectively. How does ThunderClan survive?
Tumblestem was further ahead, and I could see his waving tail as he shot through the forest. My hearing focused on him, and I tried to catch up with no avail. Then his paws went silent. No more crashing, no more light thudding or thwacking as his tail hit a trunk. What happened to him? I hadn't heard any sounds from him, vocally, so I assumed he was safe. My attention strayed from my path, wandering to the trees. I didn't realise when I had entered the clearing when I was stopped by running into Tumblestem's warm bulk. He was in the outskirts of the clearing, and my eyes snapped to the hulking mass in the centre.
A badger. Next to it lay a limp, creamy figure with one silver paw. Asterflight. With a roar, the beast lumbered towards Tumblestem, to nimbly trotted out of his way. It quite slow compared to other badgers I'd seen. I assumed that it was quite old. I rushed towards my sister, and as I came closer, I noticed something wasn't right. Aster flight was barely moving. I panicked, a lump in my throat as I struggled to hold back tears. Was she dead?
"She's alive," howled the deputy. "I can see her eyes blinking!"
I stepped forward, circling around my littermate to see her face. I pushed my tail against her back, trying to ebb the red tide. Asterflight's silver orbs blinked up at me, pooled in regret, relief, pain, and sorrow.
"I thought...I thought no cat had heard me. That-" She coughed. "That no one would come." Another hack. "I just wanted to do something for our Clan before I left. Something that they would appreciate for once." Her voice was hoarse and cracking, and I had to lean down to her to hear her. She breathed, struggling to. A pang of sorrow hit me. She didn't deserve to die like this. "So I went hunting. I collected one mouse, and I was only out for a little," her voice weakened even further, to a whisper. "The badger ate it... Promise me one thing, Poppygleam. I know-" she drew in a breath painfully. "I'm going to die."
"No you aren't!"
Her silvery eyes blinked up at me with affection. "I am. So, promise me one thing." She gasped for breath. The light that made her eyes quicksilver was rapidly fading.
"Anything, sister. Anything."
"You'll move on. Remember me...but move on. Have a life worth living. Have kits...Continue the memory of...me."
My heart broke, spilling love from me as I tried my best to keep Asterflight living.
"Sisters...forever?" She asked me.
"Forever."
"I...love." She drew in her last breath. "You." She exhaled, her eyes full of warmth and love and memories we'd shared. Then, her head in my paws, she died.
"NO!" I gasped. "Asterflight! You promised! Come back! You can't leave me alone! Asterflight!"
I wasn't sure when I started crying, cradling my sister, cursing StarClan, myself, her. Wishing her to come back. Shaking her limp body.. If I'd been there sooner, if I'd kept my promise... When Asterflight died, half of my breaking heart had died with her.
Do you know you're dead? I ask myself this when I look at my sister, Splashgaze next to me. My body looks so calm, so peaceful. Yet if you turn it over, you'd see a horrible slab of bleeding flesh, covered in sweet smelling petals and blooms. Claw marks etching my doom into my soul. I lay in a pool of blood, still bleeding, even through Otterlake's attempts to stem it. I extended a starry paw to my sister, brushing her face softly. Splashgaze stroked me with his tail. Poppygleam lay down in my blood, matching the hue of her pretty coat. I lapped her cheek.
"Asterflight?" She sounds so broken, her amber eyes dull and her silver tabby markings covered in red. My sister looks like she's part of my blood, another thing that's been killed by me. So many things had died under my decision. My kits, my mate, my sister. So many cats. So many friends.
"I told you to move on, sister." I whisper, starry tears falling from my immortal face. "You promised. So go out there, and live your life. For me. For you. For every cat who loved you like I do."
Poppygleam sniffles. Then, Tumblestem, the deputy of RiverClan, and my mate's brother, comes up to my red sister. He licks her, then murmurs her name. The tabby settles down next to her, and he looks right at me and Splashgaze as if he can see us.
"I'll take care of her." He whispers ever so softly. I smile.
"I love you," I say to Poppygleam. Then I speak to the tabby deputy.
"Make sure she lives her life. It's worth living."
WHOOOOOOOOOO! 1,515 words! Yeah! Anyway, this was a challenge for AsylumClan, a forum that unfortunately, is dead. I haven't been active on there for a long time, and I wanted to do something that would give me something to remember about the people I briefly met there.