The Fault in the Tunnel

Tunnelheart had padded from camp. The she cat now back in her warrior status once more only to continued to think of thimgs she lost. Sure Wolfkit came back and was an apprentice now. She thought that was great and all but she only continued to think of how she lost Strike how the possibility he probably found a new mate nagged at her heart and tore at it. It made her sad and worse she wasn't paying attention to where she was padding. She only then realized she stood on a familiar hard black surface that she remembered all too well and she froze.

Wolfpaw had been hunting along the border when she smelt a familiar scent of her mother. She'd been avoiding the Thunderpath as it frightened her, almost to the point of irrationality. But seeing her mother was heading towards the dangerous Thunderpath, she mustered the courage to run in her direction.

"Tunnelheart!" Wolfpaw called out, her fear that anything could happen to her mother. "Wait! It's dangerous."

Tunnelheart turned her head"Wolfpaw..?"She blinked before she heard rumbling on the hard suface she stood on started to shake. Tunnelhearts fur stood on end breifly and her eyes widened as she saw a monster roar towards her coming in her her direction faster and faster before she felt it the brief pain as it ran over her crush8ng most of her bottom half. She soon felt the immense pain after it was gond and she kept her yowl of pain back knowing that Wolfpaw had seen and she hated she might go out this way.

"Mother! Noooo!" Wolfpaw ran over, not even caring that she might be in danger as well. She grabbed her mother by the scruff and dragged her into the bushes where she'd be safe. It took all of her mental strength not to be outright sobbing as she stuck by her mother, pressing her paws onto her wounds to stop the bleeding. "You'll be okay, mother. You'll be fine. Please, don't go."

"W..w..wolfpaw i'll b...be fine i..im not going anywhere..."Tunnelheart mewed as best she could. She knew inevitably that she would have to leave she knew her life was leaving her.

"But you are!" Wolfpaw meowed in despair, almost wailing as she clung to her mother. She wasn't ready to have her mother taken from her. It crushed her to imagine a world in which her mother didn't live.

Tunnelheart felt a tear come to her eyes."I...i know....bu..but know ill be going to see our ancestors and ill watch over you"She mewed lightly as she looked at her daughter. A brief and only momentary though passed her mind. That was would Strike find out she died and if so would he care. She looked at Wolfpaw"w..wolfpaw listen please...p..please"She mewed.

"But I want you here now!" Wolfpaw sobbed from her mothers flank, it was agonising for her, watching her mother slowly leave her. But she managed to still her sobs for a second to listen to her. "What mother?"

Tunnelheart looked at Wolfpaw"i named you after my real daughter i lost in a simialr way this moment is... but i lost faith in Starclan"She mewed."but i got a dream the night before i found you...and i..i need to tell you since i ve watched you grow up ive regained that faith i lost in Starclan"she mewed quietly.

An odd sense of relief overcame her when Tunnelheart spoke to her of regaining her faith in Starclan, but Wolfpaw couldn't place where it was from. She was too lost in grieving the impending loss of her mother and Starclan had buried her past memories too well. And later when the grief was not so overwhelming, she'd think about what it meant that she looked identical to the previous Wolfkit, and appeared to Tunnelheart in a dream. But for now, she wept.

"I'm glad you found faith in Starclan again, but it's too soon for you too leave me. I love you. What will Whiskerpaw and I do without you!"

Tunnelheart let out a weak purr"you'll be ok Wolfpaw... y..you and Whiskerpaw...i..im so proud to have seen you two grow up.. b..but i..i know you two will be ok without me"Tunnelheart mewed quietly.

"But, but..." She didn't know what to say, her mother was dying and there was nothing she could do. If only she was a medicine cat, but she wasn't. All she could do was comfort her mother as she died in her paws. "One day, we'll all be together. Wait for us up there. Okay?"

Tunnelheart smiled weakly"i promise you i will be waiting for you and your brother when the tim...time comes"Tunnelheart mewed quietly. "I love you Wolfpaw and you brother so much....d..dont forget me..."She mewed quietly the light starting to fade from her eyes.

"We won't!" Wolfpaw called out, her voice however took a frantic edge when Tunnelheart began to leave to join Starclan. "Mother? Mother! No!"

Wolfpaw yowled into the sky signalling Tunnelheart's death, rain started to fall down as if the world was mourning the loss of a fine Shadowclan She-cat that deserved better than to be killed by a monster. She sat there besides her mother's body until the rain stopped, and then began the long journey of bring Tunnelheart back to camp to be buried by the elders. It was a tragic day.