Please Don't Take my Sunshine Away {CLOSED}

"Hey Night, have you ever thought about having kits?  Ya know, when we're older?"

"...Not really, why do you ask Thunder?"

"Oh, no reason.  I was just watching Swoop take her kits out of the cave for the first time, and it made me wonder what that will feel like.  I mean, Mom says that when she had us it changed her life completely...I wonder what she meant by that?"

"She probably meant that now she can't get a full night's sleep without you running into the den and showing her the tiny mouse you just caught, you hare-brain!"

"Heyyy, that was one time! Not fair Night, stop laughing!"

---

His strained neck was bent double, stiff and aching, as Nightstorm carried Jaysong's silent calico body through the trees, trying his best to avoid the most slippery rocks and prickly shrubs.  He didn't want to lose his footing in the terrain or drag his precious burden on the ground.  Though fully grown, she was still smaller than him, but he had underestimated how heavy she would be, even in death.  It seemed as if every muscle and vein was freezing up, making her more stone rather than flesh.  He wouldn't give up though, he was no quitter.  He had been taught from an early age to fight for what he believed in and never give up when the going got tough...because there was always hope on the horizon.  Even during that long journey, where every force of nature seemed to be trying to pull them back, he had pushed forward, helping the Tribe to find their new home.  He had come a long way, seen so much, more than any natural born Clan cat had ever seen...yet disaster struck them all equally.  His heart ached beyond measure, and blood that was not his own stained his muzzle, but he pushed on, towards the light.

He could hear another cat padding close behind him, bearing a similar burden.  Briefly, his vivid eyes flashed over his shoulder to check on his progress, before returning to the path at hand.  Elmcloud was one of the last to carry the Tribe's blood, one of the kits of their old Stoneteller.  In a way, it was comforting to know that he and Frostwing and their remaining kits were not alone, even though in the end their origins don't matter.  They're all cats, SkyClan to the core...even their burdens.  Misguided as their lives might've been, they hadn't deserved this.  Tossed out from their ancient grounds, from their kin, to the very edges of their territory.  The river's legacy was stained with the blood of many, including his daughter and son-in-law; and that is to where they had been banished.  He wanted to be angry, to hiss and yowl and try to fight his way to the burial grounds, but he had never been that stupid.  He was not a cat like Sedgestrike, pushing others down to achieve his own selfish desires.  He had come from a land of little, and knew that internal strife caused nothing but pain; for the first time though, logic and preservation battled with a deep wellspring of emotion that was threatening to burst out onto the surface.  He controlled it though like he always did.  Like he was taught to.

"We're almost there."  As he spoke, the spindly pine trees began to give way to reveal a shining expanse of rushing water, flowing down towards the land where ThunderClan dwelled.  This was SkyClan's little smidgen of the riverbank; and his child's final resting place.  His eyes taking in the golden waves, he gently placed Jaysong's body down underneath a tree, feeling his spine pop and creak in relief.  A long sigh escaped his jaws as he surveyed the land; "How about...there, under those two young saplings?"  His tail pointing at the possible burial place, he looked over at the ruddy-pelted warrior, angled head tilted slightly as he sought his approval.

There was a stench that hung heavily within the cool air, leeching away the security and grounding reality exuded by the presence of untainted fresh air. Only the sour taste of death and decay laid on one's tongue, the unsettling presence of such immense destruction only hemorrhaging further with each moment of prolonged contact. The presence was a familiar one; one that not only made Elmcloud's belly roil with the unpleasant clutches of nausea, but made his mind ache profusely under the strain of such unwelcome memories. The stubborn initial comforting of quashing any further attachments to Jaysong and Falcongaze only soothed the current agony, not the preexisting ones that weighed so heavily upon his mind these days.

It felt as though he couldn't take another step further, like his over exerted muscles would simply cease to function if he was burdened with the weight of Falcongaze for any longer. His lungs burned with the intensity of the coldest flames, his muscles trembled profusely, and his exposed wounds wailed within the confines of his split flesh. Yet, Elmcloud only silently endured such intense stimulus and merely continued to simply trek after Nightstorm- only halting whenever the dark-furred tom did so. "Does it matter?" The clipped words were spoken through a mouthful of clotted and stiff fur, which effectively encased the majority of whatever emotions that might have followed such a statement. "Where they go counts for naught. They could've found solace in the embers of the hottest flames, so long as they had the company of each other."

"Mama...what's wrong?  Why are you crying?"

"I'll cheer her up!  Mama Mama, watch me jump off of the Climbing Rock!  One...two...three...GO!  Ouch!"

"Be quiet you mousebrain...we need Daddy to cheer her up!  Where is he, is he better yet?"

"He's still in Stoneteller's den Adder...if he was better, he would've come to see us.  Mama...how long will it be until we can see Daddy again?"

"..."

"H-he...he lives with the Tribe of Endless Stars now my darlings...he can't visit us anymore.  Someday though, once you've served the Tribe well and grow old, you'll see him again.  He's still here with us, but we just can't see his face.  Our love for him though, and his love for us, will bring us together again someday...I promise."

---

Nightstorm's eyes gently slid shut, revealing a peaceful expression of acceptance and understanding; "Well said, my friend. You channel the wise words of your father."  The statement still burning in his ears, the pitch-black tom turned around, taking in the extent of the sight that lay before him.  Jaysong's calico body, with her mate's still hanging from Elmcloud's jaws just a few tail-lengths away.  He hadn't noticed their relationship blossom until Fawnkit had been born, another mark of his failure as a parent.  How had he been so blind?  Service to his clan had cost him a relationship with his beloveds, and now, he had paid the price.  For a moment, he could once again feel the sensation of hot blood flooding into his mouth and trickling down his chest, and he felt a sudden urge to vomit.  Instead, he padded over to the river and drank, feeling the tips of his toes touch the cool water in a cleansing way.  He could do this...he needed to do this.  It was the first good thing he had done in moons.  "Let's begin."

Taking his place in front of one of the saplings, the father took a deep, steadying breath, and began to dig.