I have had a request from The Endless Hourglass, a.k.a Ben, to write a tribute to him, about something that has really inspired me about him and his writing. This is what I came up with. If you're reading this and you don't understand, just know this: the best author on FanFiction is slowly dying and deserves even a little something for people to remember him. If you read his work, write your own tribute and put 'Tribute to The Endless Hourglass' in the summary. Make your mark.
Oh and by the way: flamers gonna flame; fact of life. Some people can't help being prejudiced against others.
So flame away, but just remember you don't know the whole story.
"I love you, Pumakit. StarClan, I can't stop saying it." Stripekit's pale green eyes were the largest Pumakit had ever seen. A purr grew and surged in her throat and she pressed her muzzle fiercely against Stripekit's cheek.
"Some cats are lucky enough to find their other half, their soul mate."
Stripekit's fluffy figure suddenly stiffened. His eyes hardened and glazed over.
"Stripes?" Pumakit hardly dared to ask him what was wrong.
"I-it's okay. I was just… thinking."
Pumakit felt a sudden surge of anger within her. It rolled and surged through her body, making every hair on her pelt shiver with a desire for revenge. A low, deep growl emitted from her jaws.
"Shadewater!" She hissed. "How could a cat do something to a fellow Clanmate to scar them so badly?" Pushing aside fleeting memories of her own past, she ploughed on. "Why can no justice ever be dealt on them?" All Pumakit's energy subsided and she slumped against Stripekit with a sigh. "Why do cats like Frogleap, Freezewind and Shadewater never get what should be coming to them?" She murmured.
Stripekit shook his head and rested his chin on his paws. "We've got to let it go."
Pumakit shot to her paws and stared at Stripekit with a mixture of horror and indignation on her face. "There is no way we can let it go! There is no way we will let it go! Wounds this deep never heal, Stripekit. Even if justice will never come, if we forget their crimes they will never receive what they deserve."
Stripekit opened his jaws to reply, but all that came out was a scratchy cough. Pumakit sat down with alarm and rubbed Stripekit's flank as he started to hack and splutter as if his lungs were trying to crawl up his throat. She stroked his back with her black and brown tail, trying not to panic.
Pumakit stiffened as she saw splatters of crimson on the lush green grass in front of her. Stripekit swallowed his final cough and shuddered, sinking into Pumakit's flank. She could feel the heat radiating from his fur, but he was uncontrollably shaking against her.
"Stripekit, you have to come back to MarshClan. You need a medicine cat."
"Puma, I can't make you go back to MarshClan-"
"No, you're not going back to PondClan! You're coming with me now."
Stripekit was too weary to argue; he collapsed onto Pumakit's shoulder and they slowly loped through the long grass and over the plain.
"Stripes, your paws are getting stuck in the bog." Stripekit murmured something barely distinguishable in reply, his head drooping with exhaustion. Pumakit struggled across to a relatively dry patch of earth and let Stripekit flop onto the ground. "How're you feeling?" Stripekit didn't reply. Pumakit saw that he had already fallen asleep, his flank fluttering lightly. Pumakit settled on the mud and scented the air thoughtfully. What was that? She drew the air over her scent glands slowly. The MarshClan scent drifting from the plain ahead! More specifically, Stumptail and Frogleap's scents! Pumakit swallowed back her fears of Frogleap and braced herself. She cast one last glance at Stripekit's fuzzy figure, then set off back into the marsh and crossed the border into her own territory. She couldn't keep back her cry of relief as she saw Stumptail's coarse brown pelt through the waving grass.
"Stumptail!" Pumakit weaved through the yellowing stems and crashed into his flank, tumbling into the boggy earth with a squeak. Stumptail leaped to his paws and stared in astonishment at Pumakit's bedraggled figure.
"Pumakit! You came back!" His eyes were wide.
Pumakit waved him off hurriedly with her tail. "That's not important. Str- a PondClan kit is just outside the border, and he's ill. Really ill. You have to help me get him back to camp!" Pumakit could barely conceal the emotion cracking her voice.
"Well, Pumakit. Come crawling back, have you?" A smug meow came from behind her that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She whirled around and saw Frogleap's skinny figure leering at her. Supressing her repulsion with an inward shudder, Pumakit faced her father.
"Father." Stumptail looked between the silent face-off between father and daughter and waved his tail through their gazes.
"Whatever problems you have right now are irrelevant. It sounds like we have a rescue mission to go on. Pumakit, lead us to this kit." Pumakit raced off through the grass until Stripekit's brown sleeping figure on the earth.
"There! Help me carry him!" Stumptail leved his shoulder underneath Stripekit and looked expectantly at Frogleap. The ginger tom stood observing the scene with an unreadable expression in his eyes.
"Frogleap, get his other side!" Frogleap tipped his head to one side and considered for a moment, being infuriatingly leisurely.
"No, I don't think I will. That's a PondClan kit who's obviously run away." With a flourish of his tail, he turned his back and stalked away."
"You're breaking the warrior code!" Stumptail yowled after him. "Kits are the responsibility of every Clan!" Frogleap didn't turn back.
"I'll help you." Pumakit heaved Stripekit upwards so he was leaning on her flank.
"Be careful; you're obviously exhausted." Stumptail warned as the mournful procession worked their way through the marsh grasses.
"Put him in the nest… there, that's right." Hollyfeather lowered her nose to Stripekit's body in the MarshClan medicine den. After a gentle examination and a good sniff, Hollyfeather turned her grave blue eyes to Pumakit's anxious young face.
"I'm not sure what's wrong with him, but his fatigue obviously doesn't make things any better. He's clearly shattered." Pumakit's gaze rested on Stripekit's small shivering figure, not sure if Hollyflower could see the sorrow in her eyes.
"What did you say his name was?" Pumakit started.
"I don't know… I found him in not far from the border having a coughing fit. I-I think he was coughing blood." Hollyflower's gaze flitted to Stumptail and Shallowwater, waiting near the entrance of the den.
"Shallowwater, could you go and find me some more thyme in the marshes, please? And can you go take out a hunting patrol, Stumptail; this kit's going to need some prey." Stumptail dipped his head and backed out of the den with Shallowwater trotting at his heels. Pumakit could tell Shallowwater knew he was being sent away.
Hollyflower settled on the packed earth of her den, stretching out on her stomach and gesturing to Pumakit to join her.
"Pumakit, I can see that you know this kit. What is his name?"
Pumakit gulped. "Stripekit."
"Well Pumakit, Stripekit is not in a good way. I'm not sure what's wrong with him, but I can see you care for him."
Pumakit lowered her eyes and stared Stripekit, her eyes blurring.
"I'll do everything I can for him. For you…"
"Stripes! Please stay with me!" Pumakit stared in horror as Stripekit's skeletal body writhed and twisted. His pale green eyes were glazed and faraway, fixed on a point some place above Pumakit's head. "Stripekit, I love you! Don't leave – y-y-ou can't leave me! You won't! Stripekit!" Pumakit howled. Stripekit fell deathly still, his tail twitching. His eyes stuttered towards Pumakit's face and stayed there, boring into her soul.
"P-puma…" He croaked. "I love…" A ghastly rattle emmited from deep within his throat and his head fell back, hitting the earth with a echoing thud. Pumakit's legs collapsed beneath her and she buried her head in her paws, whole body shuddering.
It wasn't enough.
"Look up to the stars above you, Pumastripe." Jewelmist waved her tail to the glittering expanse of starlight in the velvety sky. "These are the memories of the fallen; each warrior has a star that will preserve their spirit forever after the Clans are no more."
"D-do you think Stripekit will stay up there forever?" The young tortoiseshell she-cat's yellow eyes were soft and wide, barely daring to hope.
The starry silver tabby placed one of her small ebony paws over Pumastripe's. "I don't think he'll ever leave the sky."
"Will you ever fade? Your time was aeons ago!" Jewelmist shook her narrow head, a purr rumbling in her throat.
"A cat will never fade, as long as just one remains to keep alive their memory."
Stay calm and sparkle on, Ben.
Music -+-