Disclaimer: I don't own Warriors or the lyrics of the song I used.
This chapter was inspired by the song 'Hymn for the missing' by Red. this chapter is kind of a songfic because the words really fit the situation. You might want to listen to the song while reading this, it really sets the tone well.
Chapter Three
~ Hymn for the Missing ~
WindClan Camp
The sun was rising, its orange rays glaring over the pitiful sight that was the WindClan camp. Bodies lay unmoving in the dust, crimson blood colouring the bleached grass in the open clearing. Torn heather and brambles littered the once clean hollow that lay in the middle of the moor. A soft breeze gently tugged fur which wasn't clotted with blood. Nests had been torn apart and moss and bracken was scattered on the floor. Herbs and berries were crushed into the ground.
Amongst the carnage a solitary cat, fur laden with dried blood and dirt, padded slowly forwards. She sat with her head lowered in the middle of it all, her grief-filled eyes fixed on her muddy paws. She barely acknowledged her former Clanmates, her shoulders hunched and her tail lying still. Even when a kit cried for its mother she did not stir from her misery.
Finally, she lifted her head when a lone bird let out a single cry. Staring up at the sky, she opened her mouth and began to speak softly.
"We tried to walk together," she murmured as the breeze tugged uselessly at her ripped fur, "but the night was growing dark."
She blinked sadly and didn't duck her head when the orange rays from the sun leaked into her vision. "I thought you were beside me, but I reached out and you were gone." Memories began flowing into her glassy eyes and her voice became slightly more audible. "Sometimes I hear you calling, from some lost and distant shore. I hear you crying softly for the way it was before," she whispered to herself, her voice raspy, unused for several days. Memories of dreams seeped into the front of her mind.
"Where are you now? Are you lost? Will I find you again? Are you alone? Are you afraid? Are you searching for me? Where did you go?" her voice nearly broke as the questions spilled from her tongue like blood from a wound, rising from a whisper into a low plead for answers. "I had to stay," she was not trying to excuse herself, but to blame herself. "Now I'm reaching for you, will you wait?"
Her paw twitched as she repeated the words like an echo, "Will you wait? Will I see you again?" a hint of desperation now graced her voice.
"You took it with you when you left; these scars are just a trace," she stared first at her own torn body, and then she slowly mover her head to gaze at the cats lying around her. Their scarred fur and glazed eyes fixed in her mind. "Now it wanders lost and wounded – the heart that I misplaced," she spoke more clearly, as if realizing it was her fault. It had been her decision, she had lost it. She had lost him.
"Where are you now? Are you lost? Will I find you again? Are you alone? Are you afraid? Are you searching for me? Where did you go? I had to stay. Now I'm reaching for you, will you wait? Will you wait? Will I see you again?" Her last words were spoken loudly and clearly, but were filled with desperate hope, as if she thought by repeating her words to the dead world she might get the answer she wanted to hear.
Author's Note: If anything in here confused you, the next chapter will explain it all. Review!