Author's Note : This is the first and only story I have ever written in second-person, and I wrote it quite a while ago, so please forgive any mistakes. Anyway, the story is called All Birds Have Wings: The Death of Wingfeather, and, as always, enjoy!
"What is it, Dewfrost?" you ask as she exits the medicine cat's den.
"It's Wingfeather. Breezetail says she's dying." explains Dewfrost solemnly.
You can barely comprehend this. Those two words, 'Wingfeather' and 'dying' are all that you can think about. "Wingfeather? Dying? H- how? She's too young to die."
"It's her heart, Tigerstripe," says Dewfrost. "All those problems with it as she got older. It's failing her."
Dewfrost's words fall upon deaf ears. You are too shocked to make much sense of what she says. All you can think about is Wingfeather, your sister from a few litters later. The one cat you had vowed to protect heart and soul, about to die. Your eyes fill with tears, which leak unchecked down your cheeks and blur your eyesight. But you don't care. It doesn't matter. Nothing matters anymore except Wingfeather.
You turn your sorrowful, tear-laden eyes to Dewfrost and ask in a hoarse whisper, "Is she still alive?" Dewfrost nods, but makes no effort to follow you as you enter the medicine cat's clearing.
The first thing you see is Wingfeather, gasping for breath in a nest at the side of the clearing. Sitting beside the small, pale gray she-cat, her head bowed in sadness, is Breezetail. She looks up as you enter, but you hardly hear her as she meows, "Tigerstripe! She was asking for you earlier."
You pay the medicine cat no heed, heading straight for your sister. "Wingfeather?!" You are afraid you've come to late, that she is already passing on to StarClan.
However, by the time you reach her she's calmed down enough to be able to talk. "Tigerstripe?" she mews in a soft whisper, looking up at you with the sea-forest green eyes that of hers that could melt the iciest heart. You push your nose into her shoulder, wishing to give reassurance as much as to receive it. She closes her eyes and purrs for a moment, then says, "Tigerstripe, I must move on."
You feign confusion and ask, "What do you mean?" But you know what she means, and the very thought of it chills your heart. You ask anyway, for somewhere deep inside you, you retain some kittenish hope that all of this is just a bad dream, and when you wake up again everything will be how it's always been.
"I'm dying brother. You know that." murmurs Wingfeather. And indeed you do know, but hearing it confirmed breaks you up inside. "Don't worry, I'll always watch over you." she pauses for more breath. "Whatever happens Tigerstripe, life will go on." With those last words, she closed her eyes, her flank rose once more, then stopped. If you didn't know better, you would have thought she was sleeping peacefully, but sadly, you did know better.
A long while later you come out and sit beside Dewfrost in the middle of the clearing, staring upward at the sky just visible between the treetops as the stars of Silverpelt begin to shine above, noticing a bright new star has joined the ranks. You mourn for your friend, your sister, a great warrior. And together, under the light of StarClan, you mourn for Wingfeather.