Heartbreak

Stormstrike's breath rattled in his chest as he dragged himself onto land. The last few hours had been a blur of water and pain- even as he looked around, he struggled to remember what happened between the wall of water and seeing the shore. With a painful cough, the tomcat shuffled further away from the water, his long feathery tail sending droplets of water flying through the air. Surely, surely he wasn't the only cat to arrive here. With a small, wheezing cough, the Riverclan warrior turned his summer-yellow gaze to the lake. The water stretched on endlessly...
He had no idea where he was.
"Hello?" He grunted, scanning the shore for any cats that could've been washed up on shore. Only two things were certain now. Firstly, Blossomstream was nowhere to be found. He felt a pang as he remembered the moments before the water came, their chests rising and falling in rhythm together, the comfort, the warmth. For the first time in a long time, the tabby warrior felt completely vulnerable, yet completely safe. Stormstrike suppressed a purr of nostalgia, wincing pain shot through his entire body, making his paws grow numb. His vision blurred for a moment and he stumbled, shaking his head forcefully in an effort to stay on his feet.
Secondly, there were two sticks burrowed in his chest. He glanced down at them now- they were more like claws than sticks, jagged and sharp. His white fur was stained with blood.
He wasn't going to be alive much longer.

The gray tom sighed, blinking rapidly as if he could keep the darkness near the edge of his vision at bay. What could he do, what could he do? There must be some way to do... something before... before...
His ears perked. There was a small pile of logs nearby- Trees that must've gotten uprooted by the swell of water. Still, it wasn't the trees that caught his attention. With a soft whine of pain, Stormstrike moved as quickly as he could to the trees, every step filling his entire body with agony. "Blossomstream! Blossomstream, no, no, no..." The warrior pushed aside all the debris he could, trying desperately to reach the small, pale she-cat buried beneath it. "Please! Starclan, please..." He lifted her as best he could, sending twigs and branches flying. He could feel his strength beginning to waver, but he forced himself to stumble a foxlength before setting the calico she-cat down as gently as he could. His paws trembled. "Please..." He whispered. "Don't leave me alone. Not... not now."
Drops of blood flecked her fur and Stormstrike brushed them away as best he could. He glanced down at his chest, his summer-yellow eyes widening as he realized that the blood on Blossomstream's fur wasn't her own.

The lapping of water on the shore was all Leafpaw heard, it was calming, and offered to lull her into a peaceful sleep. Slipping in and out of consciousness, the brown tabby finally awoke, yellow green eyes stretched wide in horror as she took in the situation. The small tabby was splayed out on an unfamiliar shore, mud plastered to her pelt. Small wooden boxes dotted the hills, and tall pines stretched to the sky. A large body of water lapped at her paws. Where am I? Leafpaw thought, painfully finding her footing. A moment passed, and the she-cat remembered the flood, remembered being torn away from her family and mentor, and tossed into the waves. Fear ate at her like a rat, and Leafpaw's legs began to wobble, when she realized that she wasn't alone. A white pelt lay still farther up the shore, whimpering something. "Hello?" Leafpaw called out, voice quivering. The cat had a familiar smell, it reminded her of the river, fish... RiverClan?

A clan cat... Leafpaw thought, feeling comforted by the fact that this wasn't some rouge. Padding closer toward the tom, the brown tabby noticed the large amount of blood that stained the dirt and pelt of the mystery tom. The she-cat gasped, feeling like she was going to be sick. "You're hurt!" Leafpaw mewed, eyes beginning to glaze over. She saw his eyes for the first time, sad maybe, or scared. And then she saw the sticks, sticking out from his chest like trees on a snowy slope. "I...I'll help you! I'll get cobwebs...Amberdawn said cobwebs help with bleeding!" Amberdawn, I wish you were here right now...

Leafpaw began to run towards the trees and then turned around, coming to her senses. Cobwebs won't help...will they? With a sigh, the apprentice sat down by the tom, feeling her heart beat faster. He's going to die... "What's your name?" Leafpaw whispered, feeling tears fall from her cheeks. "I'm Leafpaw...I'll...I'll keep you company."

“I…I maygh ghag ghobe!” (I may have some!)

The blue warrior-aged apprentice with the white mane walked towards them, coming out from between some piles of litter that bordered the lake that had been hiding him from view. He was carrying a rather big leaf on his muzzle, wrapped around something.

Streampaw had been looking around for more survivors, carrying the bundle of herbs he had managed to salvage from the Meddie’s den before being swept away. He wasn’t a medicine cat himself, but he had managed to overhear the other cats as he walked, and while he had no idea of what exactly he had in the herb bundle he carried, as he literally threw as many herbs in there as possible and then some were forced out of it by the strong currents that carried him there, hearing somebody talk like that kinda lifted his hopes of finding someone that did know how to use these properly.

He quickly walked towards the two cats, though he visibly flinched at the sight of Stormstrike and Blossomstream. He could literally feel the grief and loss of the warrior, causing him to lower his head respectfully before placing the bundle of herbs before them.

“I’m Streampaw…” His voice was low yet still held that melodious tone so distinctive of him. His gaze soon landed on the warrior’s injury….or more the sticks that caused it and were still buried on his chest. Was….was that really something the warrior could be saved from?

Stormstrike coughed, looking down in confusion as flecks of blood flew out of his mouth and onto his chest. "I... I'm Stormstrike." His voice was soft as he looked up at the apprentice, his summer-yellow eyes wide with a gleam that they hadn't held since his kithood. "Leafpaw..." He trailed off, his breath rasping in his chest. "Never... met..." -his claws churned the blood-stained mud beneath his paws in his desperation to speak - "Never met... a Leafpaw before."

Stormstrike shut his eyes tight, wheezing. When he opened them again, they held a certain sad light. I'm dying.
Suddenly, another cat approached. Stormstrike's ears twitched as the tom's voice suddenly became muffled. Stream. "Blossomstream-" He choked, moons worth of heartbreak bubbling to the surface of his thick voice. Everything he didn't do, all the things he never told her. He spent his life training when he should've spent it... with her. "I-I... I couldn't-" He stared up at the two apprentices, struggling to speak, struggling to make them understand. Desperate for any shred of comfort they could provide him.
"I wasn't there to save her."

He turned back towards the calico she-cat, gasping for breath as blood bubbled up from his throat. He shook his head slowly. It's over. There would be no kits, no grandkits, no family. He wouldn't lead Riverclan with her at his side.
His breath rasped as he shifted to lie down beside her, turning his bloodstained face towards the sky. The gray-furred tomcat took a deep, smooth breath. He winced as the sticks shifted in his chest, making more holes, more injuries that could never be seen, never be fixed. The air rushed out of his lungs, and the tom marveled at how one breath could be so noticeable. He took another breath, his chest rising. Never again. "Never again." He spoke with a sigh, staring up at the sun as his breath left his body for the last time. Never... again.
The light began to leave his eyes.
The sky was so beautiful today.

Blood roared in Leafpaw's ears as another apprentice padded onto the shore. A breath of relief was pushed from her maw, glad to have more company. The herbs the tom carried were certainly helpful, if only they knew how to use them. StarClan help us! The new apprentice might have been ThunderClan, or ShadowClan. He certainly carried the smell of the forest in his fur, but Leafpaw couldn't pinpoint what clan it came from. Streampaw... The blue cat spoke his name. "Hi..." Leafpaw gave the mysterious Clan cat a solemn greeting, very different from her usual bouncy personality. "Lets look through these herbs..."

Pawing over the leaf bundle Streampaw had brought, the brown tabby apprentice grew angry with herself. Come on Leafpaw! Your best friend is a medicine cat! You should recognize these herbs! But they all looked the same. Soppy lumps of green mass, some with stems, and some with berries. Cobwebs were the only recognizable addition to the leaf bundle.
"Here..." Leafpaw mewed, grasping the spider's web in her jaws and padding over to the dying RiverClan warrior. She winced as she applied it around the sticks, doing nothing to stop the blood that flowed from his chest. It's useless... I'm useless...

Defeated, Leafpaw set the cobwebs down, and positioned herself next to the warrior's head. "I don't know you well... but... I think you must've been a great warrior." The she-cat let her tail rest over his flank, trying not to shudder at the sight of it. "And... Blossomstream... is probably very proud of you." The brown tabby let her gaze drift to the calico she-cat, sprawled out on the shore. She's gone to StarClan... Tears ran down the apprentice's face, and she nodded to Streampaw. "The two of us... we'll... we'll find your Clan, and give her a proper burial." And you as well... The apprentice didn't speak it, but she knew his time had come. StarClan, please help these two...