The Start of Something Better (Closed)

Though the sun had barely begun to peak the horizon, Pansyface could tell that it was going to be a beautiful day; faint streams of warm sunlight dappled her bi-color pelt as the young warrior sat in the deserted clearing, looking up at the sky with a faint smile. It had only been a couple sunrises since Rippedsky had brought back the mangled body of her sister Cherrymist, and ever since then Pansyface had seemed to fall into a state of depression, not wanting to do anything but sleep, but when she did her rest was plagued with nightmares. Even though she had been very close friends with her sister, it wasn't her death that had shaken her so greatly, but a mix of remembering everything that had led up to this day.

Firstly, the fact that she had to give up the love of her life for the sake of her clan, and his as well, but in the end he had vanished, and she hadn't even gotten the chance to say goodbye! A little after, her cousin and best friend Vipertail had gone missing as well, leaving her more lonely than she would like to admit. The trauma of being captured by Bear, and realizing that both of her sisters were now gone, all piled up to overload her heart with hopelessness. With so much loss in her short life, she honestly wasn't that saddened by Cherrymist's death; after the initial shock wore off she just felt numb.

Was that good? Maybe over the moons she had developed some kind of pain tolerance, to help her better deal with the next disappointment. Or maybe it was StarClan, knowing what would happen in her life they helped her build up some emotional strength. She didn't know, all of this stuff was crazy and she didn't understand; why her? Was it punishment, for breaking the code all those moons ago? Did StarClan hate her now, casting her off to the mercy of this cruel world with no protection? Would she go to the Dark Forest for all that she had done? Had her ancestors rejected her?

Well if I am, so be it. At least I know Bouncepaw, Cherrymist, Cloverleaf, and Vipertail will make it in; that's enough comfort for me.
Or maybe I'm just overreacting. With a slight melancholy chuckle, Pansyface lay down flat on her belly, resting her gray chin on her paws. At least she still had her parents, and her friends; Lilyheart, Addergaze, Hawkstrike..... she just had to think a little bit more positive. At least there was still a little bit of happiness in this world.

Hawkstrike had been walking across the territory with straight ears as he looked for prey. While he had successfully adapted to most of the ground prey in SkyClan’s territory, he still had troubles to climb the trees and make the impressing jumps that the rest of the clan used to make to catch the birds that flew above them. Plus, anyone could easily tell that while he was somewhat smaller than the average in size, his body was perfectly shaped for battle, with long for to tangle the opponent’s claws as his bulky build gave him both the strength he was well-known for and the endurance needed in the heat of a battle to fight until his last breath. However, those same things that made him great in battle hindered his performance when hunting.

His bulky build made him slower than he would wish, and his jumps were far from impressive. The wide paws that helped him to navigate across the muddy terrain of his original territory not being of any use in the forest and rocky terrains that belonged to SkyClan, and his exceptional night vision that was a gift from his nocturnal origins being a bit bothersome in the bright light of day in which SkyClan used to perform their daily routines.

However, as he thought on a way to go around these disadvantages to finally manage start bringing some birds to the fresh-kill pile back in camp, determined to prove he could be as good as any of his clanmates while hunting, he heard a soft chuckle and a known scent was carried to his nose by the soft breeze.

With a quick flick of his ear, he changed his course to meet the bi-colored she-cat, not really trying to hide the noise his paw made as he moved through the grass. After all, she was not a prey he wanted to surprise, so letting her know that he was getting close may actually be a more logical approach, avoiding to startle her and start somewhat awkwardly. It didn’t took him long to recognize the look on her face, the expression of someone who had lost so much in their life…an expression he had been forced to wear too many times in his past “Pansyface?” He softly meowed her name once he was close enough, looking at her with soft eyes “Is…uh…are you still grieving for Cherrymist?” He knew what had happened, and he knew that the two she-cats were sisters. However he never got close to the blind she-cat before, so he couldn’t say he felt any kind of pain for her loss. It could sound cruel, but after having to face death so many times in his past he had grown insensible to it when its shady claws took away a cat that he wasn’t really close to.

The sound of paw-steps alerted Pansyface quickly to the approach of another cat, and she lifted her gaze from the dusty forest floor to see who it was.  With a friendly half-smile, the patched she-cat lifted her head and waved her sleek tail in greeting, glad to see the familiar brown tabby tom.  Ever since Lilyheart had introduced them a few moons ago they had gradually gotten to know each other, and she thoroughly trusted him.  His softly-spoken questions though quickly absorbed her yet again in the drowning sensation of grief, and she sighed, looking down at her white paws yet again.  

She knew that she could open up to him, about this at least, but her grief truly went deeper than just Cherrymist's untimely death.  There was no way he could know the true extent of her sorrow from her words; but as she began to speak her murky eyes betrayed the depth behind her statements, seeming to call for someone to understand what had never been spoken.  

"Yes.....it was just such a shock.  To see her dragged into the clearing and covered in blood....her eyes closed forever."  A slight shiver ran down her spine, though no breeze shifted the leaves above.  "The worst part was watching her kits grieve, and Rippedsky.  They loved her so much..."  Her voice catching for a second, Pansyface cleared her throat before turning, meeting Hawkstrike's bright green gaze a bit sheepishly.  "I know this probably doesn't matter to you, it wasn't your family after all.....I don't want to burden you."