It was snowing (OPEN DEATH TOPIC)

It was snowing, badly. A snowstorm had struck while Mothstrike was out hunting and she was forced to take shelter. She was walking along, trying to see in the blinding whiteness when she fell into a hole. She gasped and let out a little shriek. She landed on the cold hard surface of what looked like a tunnel. Looking around and trying to see in the gloominess of where she was. Mothstrike shivered as the cold reached down to her bones, and the snow had covered the hole, with a little pile. She felt dread creep up her spine. How long would it take for someone to notice she was missing? How long until someone came to find her? The she cats beautiful hazel eyes widened in fear as she thought of her sons and daughters, sure they were old enough to eat prey and become apprentices, but would they miss her? She had felt like she was gone for to long already and then she had started heading back, hunting on the way when the storm hit. She curled up on the freezing cold hard ground and closed her eyes waiting. She didn't know when but sometime during her wait she heard light paw steps, barely heard through the snow and called out weakly for help. But it seemed impossible for anybody to hear her and so her throat soon grew hoarse and she once again closed her eyes but this time it was to late, and she was gone. Frozen to death Mothstrike stayed there.

Rockpaw was off wandering around the territory, the cold weather going good with his curiosity and hence luring him out of camp. So far he was enjoying the snow, but soon he was lost in thought with the Windclan apprentice Mottlepaw on his mind. Rockpaw really found the nervous tom interesting, his hate towards disloyalty being one of them. Rockpaw was quite lost in thought when he feel through a hole that snow covered and onto something soft, moss? That was a possibility but then why did it smell like cat in here? He didn't know there was a tunnel in the territory at all!

Snuffling around some more and adventuring the tunnel a bit before turning back to the spot where he fell in, the scent of cat growing stronger once more. Looking down at where he did land, he saw a tail... wait no that can't be right.. paws... no that's gotta be.. he knows that smell. "OH DEAR STARCLAN!" The young tom screeched, stumbling backwards until tripped over his own tail. Breathing quite rapidly he looked upon the she-cats corpse. "Mothstrike.. no... oh starclan." He quivered, green eyes rounding with terror and staring down the she-cat before he... fainted. Great.

Rockpaw did wake up eventually, but he didn't know how long he was out or why. That was until he saw Mothstrikes corpse once more. Gulping air and saliva and continuing to do this he took a minute to compose himself. Forcing himself to look away from the frozen cold corpse in front of him he looked to the top of the hole he fell in. "I could - can jump out but how will I get Mothstrike out?" The tom-cat pondered. Trotting closer to the corpse he spared it a glance before leaping up and out of the hole. "Maybe if I dug up this snow out of the way?" Rockpaw asked himself before asking himself why he was asking himself.

Shaking his head he did just that and dug away dirt and snow just enough to get some leverage to drag Mothstrike out of the hole, she was probably too weak to get herself. He fainted so he couldn't blame her. After she was out he gave himself a breather to process the whole thing, to give her body some respect before dragging her body through brambles to get to camp.

He had no idea how long he took, but he did manage to get her body to camp his own body shaking with the effort and trying to keep the bile that kept trying to come up down, meowing to get the whole clans he yowled. "Mothstrike is dead! She's dead!"

Sleek was out hunting for DarkClan in the terrible weather, although he knew that his newfound clan might die of starvation if he didn't do something about it. That was when he heard it, Mothstrike's shriek. He was her apprentice, and he knew exactly what she sounded like. "Mothstrike?" And he slipped into the hole, grabbing himself upwards just in time. But he had already saw it, his mentor was dead.

No. No, no, no, NO!

That was all Blacktwig thought as he raced towards the scent of blood, mingling with his daughter's scent. His eyes remained ahead, and no tears filled his eyes until he saw the situation. He ran past Sleek and Rockpaw, but stopped to see Goldenpaw. The small tomcat was looking at his mother with horror and sadness. Blacktwig almost couldn't bear to follow his gaze to Mothstrike's corpse. A shudder ran through his body, until he was overwhelmed with sorrow. He stepped forwards, as the disgusting scent grew stronger. "Mothstrike?" Blacktwig mewed weakly.

Blacktwig's stance grew more slouched. He stood upon Mothstrike's unmoving body, and began sobbing. "My daughter..." he murmured. His claws almost touched the cold strands of fur on Mothstrike's body. He looked up into the sky, gaze blank. He feared his tears freezing to his face as his daughter had, but he couldn't stop crying. He didn't look anywhere but Mothstrike.

It was snowing.
But now she's dead.

Blizzardshine had been patrolling the territory on her own like she liked to do, her thick, long pelt protecting her against the cold fairly easily and was barely returning to camp. When she saw the group of cats she first thought that they were gathering to go out on a patrol of their own, however, that theory was soon proved false when the grieving meows coming from them reached her ears. Feeling her fur standing on end and her heartbeat quickening, she immediately rushed towards them, knowing from previous experiences that this couldn’t be a good thing at all. It wasn’t until she got close enough that she finally saw it, Mothstrike’s frozen body in the middle of the grieving group of cats.

The deputy’s ears went flat against her head as she got closer. Mothstrike hadn’t been a warrior for that long, she still had a long life and endless opportunities ahead of her…she didn’t deserved to die this early on. Her eyes traveled from her body to Goldenpaw, her adoptive kit, and Blacktwig. One had to endure losing his mother at such early age, the other losing his own daughter. Without thinking it twice she padded towards both of them and nuzzled them on a comforting way in an attempt to help them through this harsh times “I…I’m so sorry…”.

Now, Blizzardshine would be lying if she said she wasn’t sad as well. Even if she hadn’t been as close to the warrior as Blacktwig and Goldenpaw, she had been one of the cats that had witnessed how she grew up, she even was the one that gave Mothstrike her warrior name and it was one of her most treasured memories…and now the awful claws of Leafbare had taken her away “Please…If I can help somehow…just tell me”.

Blacktwig looked up at her, tears still welled in his eyes. They were a pale violet now, as opposed to the bright color they had once shone before. "B-Blizzardshine," he said. He had been speechless for so long, and now, his old friend had returned to assist him. He looked at her with sad eyes. "She's gone..."

Blacktwig realized that he was to go into a state of paranoia if any more of his kits died. They can't, he thought with denial. But Mothstrike was right in front of him, unmoving. He would take up the burden to bring the body back to camp - after all, it was the least he could do for his daughter. He would take care of her kits. Goldenpaw already seemed crestfallen. He, too, felt like a little kit again.

Blizzardshine nuzzled Blacktwig’s neck gently before turning her attention to Goldenpaw as he curled up next to his adoptive mother “I know…but she’ll be looking at us between the stars from now on” Death wasn’t unusual in clans, but said thought wouldn’t be even near to enough to ease the awful feelings that assaulted any cat when they had to face the fact of the death of those they loved the most “We’ll need to bury the body soon, I’ll personally see that her resting place is in the best place possible” She knew that her words weren’t the most comforting, but she thought it would be nice to know that Mothstrike would get a good spot between their ancestors to call her final resting place.

"Not now," Blacktwig sobbed, his voice no more than a whisper. He didn't move, staying at Mothstrike's motionless body. He'd be out there until the night came. He felt horrible. Absolutely horrible. It's all my fault, he thought. Mothstrike's dead, and I couldn't save her. Why, StarClan...? Blacktwig tilted his head a few degrees to glance down at Mothstrike. Imprinted onto the she-cat's face was a look of horror. He squeaked with a whimper. He sounded just like a kit, too. He lowered his head. I failed you, Mothstrike... I'm so sorry. Blacktwig thought.