Hey guys! Please don't yell at me for what happens next!(Please?)

Chapter 12

Kallik butted her nose into Yakone's blood-soaked fur. "Yakone, wake up! You have to wake up!"

The blind cat, Jayfeather, was hurriedly plastering what looked like cobwebs on the gash on his belly, but they were soaked in minutes. Kallik's mind was a whirl of panic. She grabbed some moss from the nearest den and pressed it against Yakone, but his breathing was growing faint.

"No." She muttered through clenched teeth. "You will not die. You promised me!"

His eyes flickered open one last time and he blinked at her.

"Hey, Kallik." His voice was as faint as the slight breeze.

"Oh, Yakone." Kallik whispered, her voice catching. He tried to say something more, but gave a little gasp. His head slumped to the side, eyes glazed and unseeing.

"No. No. No." Kallik shook her head. Why wasn't he breathing? Why could she no longer see the steady beating of his heart? There was only one answer.

"Spirits, no!" Kallik wailed her grief at the sky. "Why him? Take me instead! He didn't deserve this!"

Lusa pressed at her side, grief clouding her eyes. "Oh, Kallik."

Kallik stared unseeingly around the clearing. Only one thing registered: Shoteka, with a triumphant smile on his face as he watched her anguish.

Blood roared in her ears. Rage made her vision red. She was going to kill this bear. She whispered. "For you, Yakone."

And she charged.

Brown bears blocked her path, but she butted them aside, anger fueling her with renewed strength. She finally made it to Shoteka and rammed him with all the force she had. The grizzly crashed into the stone wall and roared in outrage.

Kallik didn't hesitate. She leapt toward him, but he was prepared now. He ran his claws along her side, causing stinging pain to shoot through her shoulder. She twisted around and slashed at his front paws. They buckled underneath him and Shoteka fell. She leaped on him, and found four sets of claws waiting to meet her. Twisting in mid-air, she managed to squash the air out of him without getting much damage to her back.

Toklo darted in as if to help, but Kallik shoved him away. "Toklo, he is mine! I will kill him!"

Toklo nodded as if he understood and ran back into the fray.

Shoteka writhed and managed to push her off, but Kallik lunged at his throat. The grizzly ducked underneath her. Suddenly, Kallik realized he was trying to kill her the way he had Yakone. She pushed off the Shoteka's back and landed, panting at the far edge of the camp. Shoteka wheeled around to face her. "Why don't you give up like your mate and let me kill you?"

Kallik growled. "Because I'd rather die!" She darted forward, and this time, she felt the spirits of Nisa and—oh, Yakone! His bittersweet scent filled her nostrils, his warm pelt pressed against her shoulder. "Avenge me."

She crashed into Shoteka and they rolled over the clearing in a tussle of fur and claws. When she roared, Nisa and Yakone roared with her. She bit down on Shoteka's neck and hung on, choking on the taste of his blood. The brown bear writhed in pain and raked her with her claws, put she hung on. Finally, he went limp. Kallik let go, and Shoteka's body slumped to the ground. He was dead.

A grizzly caught sight of his body. His eyes grew round with disbelief. "No!" He stammered. "He-he can't b-be."

Kallik glared at him. "Unless you want to end up the same way?"

The brown bear ducked away from her gaze.

Now that the fight was over, Kallik realized the whole clearing was staring at her face, still wet with Shoteka's blood.

Bramblestar was the first to speak. "Your leader is dead. We now give you two options: Die, or go."

In unison, the brown bears streamed out of the clearing. Kallik could hear them trampling across the undergrowth, the sound fading farther and farther away.

The grief pushed back by rage began to envelope her again, threatening to choke her. She staggered over to Yakone's cold body and slumped beside it, her throat tightening. Why did you leave me?

Oh, I haven't. Yakone's gentle voice sounded in her ear. I will always be with you. Where you travel, where you go. See? The sun is rising. Don't be sad. This isn't the end. It is the beginning.

She looked up. Sure enough, the first rays of sunlight were glimmering out of the horizon. As she watched, the sun rose out of the trees, covering everything in a pale rosy light. It pushed back the terror and grief from the night before, and filled her heart with a new feeling: hope. It spoke of new life, new possibilities. She remembered her imagined future with Yakone, a plain, bittersweet future that could never be. She saw that future and nestled it in her mind, to keep forever.

She walked into the forest and dug a hole. With Toklo's help, she buried Yakone's body, hiding the ugly wound with marigold flowers. She tore a tuft of fur from her pelt and placed it on his grave. "Good-bye, Yakone."

Toklo seemed lost and grief-stricken as he murmured under his breath, but he did the same. Lusa placed hers next to his.

They headed back to camp. Bramblestar and Squirrelflight padded up to them. "I'm very sorry about…"

"It's alright." Kallik replied. "What about your clans?"

Squirrelflight bowed her head while Bramblestar pressed against her comfortingly. He lifted his head to face Kallik. "Leafpool, her sister, is dead."

Kallik recalled a fleeting image of a brown tabby cat battering a brown bear in the muzzle. She felt a pang of loss. "I'm very sorry."

Squirrelflight nodded to her. She went to the unmoving shape on the ground and licked it clean, Lionblaze and Jayfeather beside her.

Kallik glanced back at the forest, where Yakone would rest forever. Her eyes burned and she looked away.

Lusa groomed Kallik's fur clean and the blind cat's apprentice, Dewpaw, placed some herbs on them. "These will draw out infection. But it might sting a bit."

Kallik didn't care. She stared at the rising sun, light flooding into the shadows of the camp, driving away the darkness. She glanced back at her friends, her only family left. "What should we do now?"

Toklo grunted. Though he didn't show it, Kallik knew he was regretting arguing with Yakone. "Head on home, I guess."

Bramblestar pushed three rabbits toward them. "If you are going, then please stay for a meal."

Kallik nodded her thanks and dragged the rabbit toward her. As she ate, the camp around her was waking up. Cats lined up in front of the medicine den to wait for Jayfeather and Dewpaw to treat their wounds. A few were straggling in with prey. Some others were repairing the walls and dens.

"So…" She faltered and looked at Bramblestar. "We'd better get going."

"Okay." Bramblestar lowered his head. "I'm very sorry about Yakone. I'm sure he's watching from where your spirits go."

Unexpected warmth filled Kallik. "I know he is."