When Lilypaw woke up a few mornings later, she could sense that something was wrong. The camp was utterly peaceful, yet a strange sense of foreboding lingered in the pit of her stomach. Confused, she sat up and looked around, trying to figure out what could be troubling her so much. Most of the other apprentices had left already, leaving Lilypaw alone with Sweetpaw and Poppydawn, who had stayed the night to keep her daughter company.
As soon as her gaze fell on the tortoiseshell apprentice, she knew what it was. The den was completely silent, void of the usual noise from Sweetpaw's snoring. Her friend's flank was perfectly still and as Lilypaw padded closer to sniff at her still form, a strange odor hit her scent glands. A chill went down her spine.
No, no, no, she chanted silently to herself. Out loud, she meowed, "Sweetpaw? Sweetpaw, can you hear me?"
"Lilypaw? What's going on?"
Lilypaw felt her heart drop onto her paws. Roused by the sound of her voice, Poppydawn was sitting up, blinking and looking at her sleepily. Not having the heart to tell the queen that her daughter was dead, Lilypaw simply gestured wordlessly to Sweetpaw's unmoving body. Poppydawn's gaze traveled down to the tortoiseshell apprentice, her entire body stiffening when she saw her kit.
"Sweetpaw?" she asked tentatively, her voice shaking. "Sweetpaw, wake up. Come on, darling, open your eyes."
The tortoiseshell apprentice remained perfectly still. She didn't even twitch as her mother began prodding and shaking her.
"Sweetpaw! Sweetpaw, wake up!" Poppydawn's voice grew louder, her eyes filled with terror, denial, and grief. "Wake up, please! Your siblings are already out training; don't you want to join them? You're all going to be made into warriors soon! Isn't that what you always wanted? You told me you wanted to become our Clan leader one day, right? So you have to wake up! If you don't, you won't be able to become a warrior, and then you'll never become our leader."
"Poppydawn," Lilypaw whispered. If Poppydawn heard her, however, she gave no indication.
"Don't go, please don't go," she begged, pressing her nose into her daughter's flank. "Play-fight with Rosepaw again! Pull a prank on the senior warriors again! It doesn't matter if your mentor punishes you by sending you to clean the elders' den for a moon. We don't care if you have to wait a little longer to become a warrior in order to get better. Just, please, don't go!"
Silently, Lilypaw turned around and quickly slipped out of the apprentices' den. She wanted desperately to be able to comfort the grieving queen, but she had no idea how to do so. Her own heart weighed heavily in her chest, twisting painfully at the unfairness of it all. Sweetpaw had never done anything wrong to deserve to die this way. She had always been kind to everyone, treating her Clanmates with nothing but friendship and respect. All she had done was eaten a mouse that nobody even realized was bad, and now she would never become a warrior.
In the midst of her sorrow, Lilypaw didn't notice Bluefur until she had walked right into her. Stumbling back, she glanced up into the worried blue eyes of her sister.
"Lilypaw?" Bluefur asked, looking at her in concern. "What happened?"
"Sweetpaw's dead," Lilypaw whispered.
Bluefur stared at her. "She can't be," she meowed, shaking her head fervently. Her gaze shifted over to the apprentices' den, her eyes filled with grief. "Does Poppydawn know?"
Lilypaw nodded. "She spent the night in the den with Sweetpaw."
The blue-gray molly nodded and touched her tail to the white apprentice's flank. "Come on," she murmured. "We have to go sit with her. Poppydawn needs us now."
Together, the two sisters padded back to the apprentices' den, a heavy silence hanging in the air between them. As they walked, Lilypaw wondered how they were going to tell Thistlepaw and Rosepaw the news. The two older apprentices had left for a training session early that morning; they probably didn't even know their sister was gone. Rosepaw was her close friend and although Lilypaw hated Thistlepaw, even he didn't deserve to suffer the loss of his littermate. She couldn't imagine what they were going to tell them when they returned.
When they arrived back at the den, Poppydawn was sitting up beside Sweetpaw's body, her eyes dull with grief. She didn't even acknowledge Bluefur when the blue-gray warrior touched her nose comfortingly to her ear. Lilypaw looked down at Sweetpaw, a dull pit forming in her stomach. The tortoiseshell molly was curled up in such a way that she looked as though she were merely asleep, but the utter stillness of her flank left little room for imagination.
"Were you awake when...?" Bluefur left the rest of her question unspoken.
"I was asleep," Poppydawn choked out. "I woke up when I heard Lilypaw's voice trying to wake Sweetpaw up."
Bluefur looked at her, and Lilypaw explained, "When I woke up this morning, something felt...off. I didn't know what it was at first, but then I realized the den was too quiet. That's when I saw Sweetpaw, and..."
The entrance to the den rustled and Lilypaw turned her head to see Snowfur, Featherwhisker, and Pinestar standing behind them. They must have been alerted by the sound of voices coming from the apprentices' den. When their eyes fell on Sweetpaw's body, their faces morphed into identical expressions of sorrow.
"Is she...?" Snowfur asked quietly. Lilypaw nodded and her older sister bowed her head.
Featherwhisker padded forward and rested his tail on Poppydawn's shoulder. "She hunts with StarClan now," he meowed softly.
Poppydawn just stared at the medicine cat apprentice blankly.
"Do Thistlepaw and Rosepaw know yet?" Snowfur asked.
"Not yet," Bluefur murmured.
"Someone needs to go tell them," Pinestar ordered. "Featherwhisker, will you do it? They're out training with their mentors right now. I believe they went to Fourtrees to hunt."
"No, Pinestar," Poppydawn interrupted, rising to her paws. "I should do it. I'm their mother; they'll want to hear this news from me."
Pinestar nodded and the dark red molly walked past him out of the den, her head and tail hanging low. Lilypaw watched her go, her heart twisting with pity. She couldn't imagine what Poppydawn must be feeling and admired her strength in being able to tell her surviving kits about the loss of their sister.
"I'll go let Windflight know what happened," Featherwhisker meowed quietly.
Windflight...that's right. Lilypaw had almost forgotten that the tom was Sweetpaw, Rosepaw, and Thistlepaw's father. He would be devastated at the loss of his kit.
"Let's go," she heard Bluefur murmuring gently in her ear. "You still have to train with Thrushpelt today. Pinestar and Featherwhisker will take care of Sweetpaw's body now."
Lilypaw blinked, then nodded and allowed her sister to lead her out of the den. After waking up to find that they had lost Sweetpaw, training was the last thing on her mind. In a way, it seemed almost unfair to go out and train when Sweetpaw would never be able to do so again. If anyone deserved this fate, it was Thistlepaw. He had always been cruel and arrogant for as long as she had known him, never thinking of anyone except for himself. Why was he perfectly healthy when Sweetpaw was dead?
She shook her head. I can't think about that now, she reminded herself. It's like everyone always says. Life goes on, right? If I keep thinking about Sweetpaw, I'll just end up being a burden. For everyone's sake, I can't grieve for her right now.
Later that day, Lilypaw returned to the camp with Thrushpelt after a long battle training session. Her muscles ached, but she had to admit that she felt better. The training session had helped to take her mind off of Sweetpaw's death, at least for the time being.
When she entered the camp, however, the first sight that greeted her was Poppydawn, Rosepaw, Thistlepaw, and Windflight all crouched over Sweetpaw's body in the middle of the clearing. Rosepaw's nose was buried in her sister's flank, and Poppydawn and Windflight were pressed comfortingly against each other. Even Thistlepaw's gaze was darkened with sadness as he stared down at Sweetpaw. The sight sent a jolt down Lilypaw's spine, having never before seen him express any emotion other than anger or arrogance (she wasn't sure whether arrogance could be considered an emotion, not that it really mattered at the moment). As she watched, Snowfur padded over to sit next to the spiky-furred tom, gazing at him with compassion and sorrow in her eyes.
For once, Lilypaw couldn't find it in herself to be bothered, not even when Thistlepaw rested his head against her older sister's shoulder. What did their relationship matter now? Sweetpaw was gone. She was hunting in StarClan instead of with her Clanmates, where she should have been. As far as Lilypaw was concerned, Snowfur and Thistlepaw could do whatever they wanted.