Falling. All Leafstorm could remember was falling. The wind rushing past him, the cold water opening to let him pass...
A splash, a thud, a sickening spasm of pain running through the tom's back and shoulders. He tried to yelp, to make a sound, but as his crushed lungs struggled to inhale, he was met with water where there should be air. The last thing Leafstorm saw before he died was the stars, bright against a bloodred backdrop. It was ironic, the way the sun seemed to die with him. Especially when the only Sun he had ever known died not three foxlengths away...
He closed his eyes, feeling his muscles twitch uncontrollably. He felt no fear, only a dim, quiet sort of expectation as he finally succumbed to the water that was pushing against him.
And then, darkness. Weightlessness. Silence. Leafstorm was devoid of feeling save for a faint pounding in his shoulder blade, the exact spot where, so many moons ago, the metal bar from the Twoleg cage cut him to the one.
But this pain was normal. And so, for a time, the elderly tom was at peace.
But, as Sunpaw had taught him, as Specklefang had taught him, no darkness was complete without light.
It started as a faint pinprick at the edge of his vision, but it grew. Eventually, the tom grew aware of a dull red light meeting his eyes. As he pondered the source of the light, he also noticed two other things. For one, his shoulder was no longer aching. The pain had been a part of him for most of his life, and he felt strangely naked without it. Secondly, he became aware of his other senses; he could move his body, feel the earth beneath him, smell, hear, taste the bitter tang of blood inside his mouth.
As the tom began to move, he realized that his eyes were closed. He squeezed them tightly, trying to block out the red light. He wanted to go back to the darkness, the warmth and safety.
"Wake up."
Leafstorm jumped to his feet, his sides heaving. "Wait!" He cried, looking around desperately for Sharptooth, the river, the sunset. "W-w..." Where am I?
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