Every Cat Deserves a Chance - Warriors

Canon: during the scene when Flametail rescues Jayfeather in StarClan.

Plot: In The Last Hope, Flametail saves Jayfeather when he fell into the water and nearly drowned. A fanfic of the same scene from Flametail's POV.

A/N: Its been forever since I have read TLH, so forgive me if there are any errors.

Jayfeather. Standing. Just there, in front of me. Pleading.

It was pathetic.

Save me, Save me...the words run through my mind, colored with disbelief. Save him...save him!? After everything that he'd done to me, he wants me to save him!?

Save him.

My lips curl back in disgust, baring my teeth. No, I shall not, I will not, I cannot. It's a matter of pride, of revenge, of vengeance.

Of justice.

To forgive, to forget, to let bygones be bygones...it isn't possible. Not after everything that I've lost. Not after everything. Everything.

Let him drown, let him die, let him rot in the river's depths, his body forgotten in murky waters. Let his suffer the same fate that I did.

Save him.

I will not! How can I? Jayfeather's at fault, he deserves his death. He must die, he just must. It wouldn't be fair otherwise.

I stare back at his body, his struggling growing more violent, more desperate. "Please..." He choked, his voice muffled by the water filling his jaws. His fate is near, he's at death's door. Let him perish.

Let his existence cease.

I stare back at him, merciless, my eyes bright, yet clouded, with bloodlust. I could almost taste his death: so tangible it was that it was almost corporeal.

Save him.

Shut up! It was like my conscience was trying to give me a prep talk. I'm doing the right thing, letting him drown. After all, he let me die. It wouldn't be right for me to save him. An eye for an eye, a life for a life.

What did he ever do to you?

Everything! Every, single sin in my life. He caused me my life, my dreams, my future, all cut short because he let me go. Why did he? Why?

Death tore me away from my family, my clan. I have every right to do the same to him. He deserves it. He deserves it. Him.

What gives you the right to say who deserves to live, and who doesn't?

...Nothing.

I'm not a deity, I can't choose, I can't say who should live and who shouldn't. I don't have the right to end Jayfeather's life.

But he didn't have the right to end mine.

He tried to save you.

Tried!? Tried!? He let me go, he chose to end my life by giving up.

He had to let go. It wasn't his fault.

He didn't have to let go! He could have hold on!

If he didn't, he'll have died along with you. And if he perished, the clans would perish along with him. Would you want everything to collapse? Just because of one life?

Just save him.

I gazed back at the water. Jayfeather was gone, his head already below the lake. No ripples danced across surface, and the bubbles were few, his struggling already ceased.

I dipped a paw in, uncertain. To save or not to save? Can I really doom a fellow medicine cat to the same fate, a death where even your clanmates can't retrieve your body?

Every cat deserves a chance.

I hesitated, then made up my mind. I laid down on the ground and sticked my paw into the cloudy water, grouping around for him.

Every cat deserves a chance.

Even you.

I felt his fur beneath my claws, and I felt him bite down on my paw. I began to pull him out, straining against the bog.

Jayfeather, just grab on. Don't let go.

I'll save you.

This time.

A/N: the title of this fanfic is credit of Astoria Dawn. Read her fanfics if you like! They're quite good.