I'll See You Again...One Day.

Where are you?
She knew he'd survived the flood. She'd made sure of it. He'd made it to Sunningrocks, and he was alive. Where had he gone now? She'd just woken up with the sun when she noticed his familiar scent gone, faded like the remains of the RiverClan camp. It wasn't like Crowclaw to be like this. Where had he gone now? The words kept repeating in Tawnystorm's head, a terrible mantra that wouldn't leave her as she padded though the remains of RiverClan's territory. It was beyond recognisable now. Water was still up to her paws, and the reeds and tall grass lay flattened in wet clumps. If this was the riverbank, she hated to think what the camp looked like now. The warrior followed the familiar scent, as faint as it still was. The black tom had been here some while ago, she knew that.

Stronger, stronger...

Tawnystorm pulled up short. The scent was strongest here, but no Crowclaw in sight. Just.. just the gaping hole of the gorge. She cautiously trod up to the edge, every step carefully placed. She peered over the edge, and her heart lurched as the realisation came flooding over her. He was gone. A single tear rolled down her face. She tried to blink it back, but more came, stacking down her cheeks. How was she going to tell Otterpaw and Ashkit? How was she going to tell herself this? The brown tabby said nothing, heart caught in her throat, as she stared down into the looming abyss that had taken her beloved mate's life.

It was unusual for his mother to leave his sister unattended to, so naturally Otterpaw was quick to chase after her scent in concern. He'd followed her through brambles, bushes and leaps took big for an apprentice to do comfortably, opting to wriggle up logs to get to where she was now. At first, he'd scented his father, Crowclaw, and thought of going back to his den. After all, what trouble could his parents get in that they couldn't survive, but the tinge of madness that could be smelt worried him. He couldn't tell if it was his mother or father, so he followed them all the way to the gorge.

When he saw only his mother there, grieving as she looked down into the abyss, for the first time in his life, his heart broke in two. "M- mother. No... No..." The apprentice called out feebly, stepping back away from the gorge. He cursed his curiosity, he cursed the stars, how could this happen to them? Was it because he was a bad son? Did he fail in some way? What did he do that made Crowclaw want to leave?

Tawnystorm turned around suddenly, startled by the voice of her son. "Otterpaw? W-what are you doing here?" Why did he have to see this now? Why did he have to see her in a moment of weakness? Why did he have to see...this? She stepped away from the edge of the gorge and wrapped her tail around him comfortingly. He was the last of Crowclaw she had left, and in that moment, she swore on her life she'd never let anything happen to her beautiful son. "It's..it's alright. You're alright. I'm alright," she mumbled, in her best attempts to comfort him.

Curled up in his mother's pelt, Otterpaw's stuttering breaths became a torrent of unbroken wails. His whole body shook as grief racked through him, leaving the tom sobbing into the comforting warmth of Tawnystorm. Pain, grief, betrayal, guilt, all these emotions lanced through him at the thought that his father had abandoned them both, going somewhere that they couldn't follow yet. It had to be his fault. Crowclaw and Tawnystorm had been fine together, living happily before he came along. Now that he was here, Crowclaw... Crowclaw... Otterpaw couldn't bear to finish that train of thought even in his head. It was as if he thought that by not saying what had happened, he could reverse it. "Why? Why did he leave us? It's because of me, isn't it? That's why he didn't visit like other fathers. He hated me. He... He..." The tom broke out into another broken wail, cutting off his stuttering speech.

Tawnystorm didn't know what to say. She was one of the few that truly knew of Crowclaw's conflict with himself and the world. She knew that Otterpaw wasn't the reason he'd died. And even in the midst of her emotional turbulence, she attempted to think straight anyway. How was she going to explain this?"Shh...shhh....it's not because of you. It's not because of anyone. Crowclaw..he..he used to.. I he used to not exactly do good things. He had a dark past. And he changed, thank StarClan, but..but...I think he still felt guilty. Not because of you. He felt guilty about what he had done, and didn't want you to know. He didn't want you to worry or be scared. He loved you, and me." She almost felt like she was reassuring herself as she said it. She gave Otterpaw a lick between the ears, still attempting to comfort and calm down the apprentice.

The apprentice stayed silent as Tawnystorm spoke, listening intently whilst planting his face into her. The words were hard to hear, the bitter truth that his father was not the amazing warrior who hung the stars, just another flawed cat in the sea of flawed beings. But in some way, it was a balm to his hurt heart that his father hadn't hated him, though it didn't fully chase away the guilt or the feeling that perhaps he never knew his father after all. Were they even father and son? He barely knew Crowclaw...

"Tawnystorm? Otterpaw? Where are you?" The grey kit called out for her relations. Looking around for a moment or so before spotting them further away from the make-shift camp to a place she heard was called The Gorge. Of course having to sneak out of the camp to find them, she had to tread carefully to avoid being caught by any other clan member.

Curiosity plagued Ashkit's mind when seeing Tawnystorm and Otterpaw acting so .. strangely. Timidly walking over, but felt .. out of place almost when seeing the two so distraught. Her maw gaped open for a mere moment as if to ask what was wrong, but she just sat there with her ears flattened back and her eyes imprinted with concern for the two.

She didn't feel as if it was her place to even ask. Seeing Otterpaw so upset was such a rare sight, it had almost frightened her ... even more so seeing the saddened tears dripping down her guardian's cheeks, it felt as if a mouse had gotten caught in her throat when trying to muster up the courage to speak a word but she just sat there .. silently in the distance. At least a hare's leap away, if it weren't for the fact she was frozen in place with worry, she would've considered to leave them be, noticing that it was .. an inappropriate time for her to arrive.

"Ashkit?" The scent of her daughter was too recognizable for Tawnystorm to miss. "It's not safe here, you could trip and fall. Go back to camp." Though she tried to make it sound urgent and stern, it was half-hearted, and she knew the kit wouldn't listen. She hated the pang of sadness in her throat, eliminating the confidence in her voice.

"You .. and Otterpaw .. are upset." She meekly muttered. Sitting in the same place where she stood, still watching from a distance. Not wanting to disobey her guardian, her adoptive mother. She wasn't sure whether to obey and leave, or stay. Confliction kept physically stopping her from making a choice.

"I'm not upset." Otterpaw meowed a little too loudly, his tail drooped down and his fur a mess. His voice was ragged with pain and he looked utterly broken as there was a dramatic slouch in the way he held himself. It was clear that he was lying, he looked nothing like the bossy tom cat that left his sister in the forest all those moons ago.

"Otterpaw ... I'm here for you, despite us butting heads sometimes ... " She tried to do her best to attempt in comforting him with her words, which may or may not be appropriate at this time.

"If I can do anything at all, that is ... " She murmured feebly.

"No, it's alright," Tawnystorm shook her head, almost too firmly. "We'll be fine. It's nothing for you to worry about." It felt like a lie as soon as it escaped her, but she didn't want her youngest to worry about such things. She was too young to handle this.

"Tawnystorm ... " Ashkit muttered the name, her ears drooping.

"Why don't we all go back to the camp and find something to eat? Maybe sit by the river and watch the fish? Something ... ?" The grey colored kit suggested, wanted to lighten the mood a little with her guardian and her brother. Seeing such saddened faces worried her, and not knowing why made that worry even more stronger within her being.

She had to at least try ...