Skies, Winds, Wilds, and Stars [Open]

His life was strange. His whole life was a series of twist and turns, ups and downs, but at the same time considering everything he went through maybe his life was tame compared to everyone else's. Though there was one thing he was sure of. He made many choices in his life and many of them were big. The first big choice he made was his choice to leave Skyclan and join Windclan. The clan had welcomed him despite his mixed heritage. The second big choice in his life was deciding to make the long journey back to his home, his clan despite the impossibility he would never find it again. The third? Well.. Maybe it was right now. Maybe it was the time when it seemed Starclan had turned their back on the clans. He wasn't sure.

All Ploverpuddle knew right now is that he was suffering, and he was tired of it. He wanted to let go. He wanted to give up. There was fire in his lungs. Every breath he took burned, every wheeze was difficult to get out. And the coughs? Oh they were the worse. They wracked through his body every few moments, never seeming to end, even with all the herbs he was given time and time again. It wasn't working and no matter how many times he was told they would work, he knew in his heart that they wouldn't.

The stars were calling for him. He knew that. It had been a long time coming. How many moons he had lived, how many times he had come close to death. He he barely lived against all odds. The tunnel collapse might have been the worst situation he had ever lived through. The scars that littered his body from the event still stung on the occasion in phantom pains. Even still he went into the tunnels, he still loved the underground.

Another coughing fit broke him from his current thoughts. As his lungs burned once again and his head spun, his thoughts turned back again. Back to the start.

He remembered the leaves above his head. He remembered being excited about seeing the Skyclan camp for the first time. He remembered Poplarstar.. He remembered Tinystar. His first few days as a Skyclan apprentice. The joy he felt as he was able to climb into the trees, his mentor's look of pride as he managed to catch his first piece of prey among the trees. Among Skyclan's home where half his blood hailed.

He remembered when Gustpuddle stepped into the camp, and look of.. well.. He could really only count it as mourning, saddness.. She didn't want to be in the camp he could tell at that moment. Brindlestar standing there looking as powerful as she was. The strong Windclan leader pressing Tinystar with a choice, presenting all of Gustpuddle's kit's with a choice. Join Windclan where their family was, or remain in Skyclan.

He remembered the envy he felt as his sister made her choice with such confidence, no hesitation at all what so ever, while his situation wasn't the same. He looked back and forth between the clan he knew at the moment and his family. The choice never came easy.. At this point he still wasn't sure if he ever made the right one. What could have been, what would have happened, how Gustpuddle would have felt if he hadn't made the choice he did. How different would things have been right now? Would he still be in the same situation? All he knew then was the choice he made. Windclan.

From there he followed his mother and his new leader to his new home. Windclan.. It was so different. He wasn't really ever given a mentor but Gustpuddle trained him in anyway she could, Brindlestar stepping in every so often.

Then it happened..

He was taken. He remembered their tight grip on his fluffy body. He remembered being tossed into what they called a cage. The indestructible brambles that were in his face as he tried and tried to escape over and over again. He almost pulled all of his claws out trying to get away, but none of it worked.

He was tossed into one of the two leg nests.. Forced to be their pet, never getting any food worth anything. The slop they called food wasn't anything worth eating at all what so ever. He only ate when he had to. They never let him out into their garden. It felt likes moons and moons had passed. He sat at the window every day, the back door every night. He wanted out. He wasn't meant for this kind of life.

Eventually he managed to slip out of the door when they weren't looking. They had forgot to push him back when they opened the door to go outside. He took the chance and slipped out. They called and chased after him, but he slipped away. He ran and moved for hours before he finally took a rest. He was in the middle of two leg territory.

He remembered how cold the territory was. How dangerous it was. Dogs were around every corner, as well as rogues. There wasn't ever a friendly face in sight. He didn't know where to turn. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to go home but he didn't even know where to start.. For days and days he wandered lost among the strange cold territory, his eyes turning to the stars that were dull, praying for a way home, but the only answer he got was silence.

Certain nights he wailed to himself for his lost home, his lost family.. Other nights he tried to find scraps of food with no hope. He was getting skinnier by the day.

Eventually he found hope. Another cat.. A name he can't remember. The cat had pointed him in the right direction. A simple 'yeah I remember these things called clans... I ran into them one time, journeyed from that direction.' Just something so simple filled him with hope. Maybe Starclan was listening to him after all.

He started the long, seemingly endless journey. Twoleg territory turned into forests which turned into open plains, which turned into mountains. He ran into a few cats around the mountain telling him he was going in the right direction but he didn't have the ability to climb over to he had to take the long way around. His body was getting weaker by the day.

Against all odds he made it home. A spark of light in his heart. The scent of Windclan filling his nose for the first time in forever. He had never been happier, but of course it didn't last when the patrol told him his mother wasn't around anymore. The one cat that brought him to Windclan was no longer with him. But at least his journey had come to an end..

And now? Now his journey with the clans had come to an end.. He knew it was time. It was time for him to rejoin his family. Time to see his mother again, time to see his father again, to join his brothers and sisters in the stars.. He was ready.. He knew the hole he would leave behind in Windclan could be filled. They were strong. With Olivestar to lead them, and Raventail to guide her they would survive. The clan that accepted him, that made him feel at home would continue on without him, and he would watch them from the stars.

Another burning cough escaped him, his breathing becoming shortened wheezing gasps. Despite the pain in his final moments he was happy. He was happy for the clan around him. He was happy that he was going to see his family again. The stars had graced him with hope in his final moments that even his pain could not dash.

It was becoming harder and hard to breathe.. No amount of air he pulled in wasn't enough. His yellow eyes were becoming duller by the second as his life slowly ebbed away from him. In his weak voice he called out one last time. "Thank you Windclan.. You gave me hope.. A home.." He didn't even know if anyone would hear him in his final moment, but he felt better knowing they were spoken, that the words were out there. With his last wish fulfilled, he closed his eyes and breathed his last breath.

Downtuft had returned from a hunting patrol, a lush rbbt in his jaws. The rabbit was all but forgotten when the tom glimpsed Ploverpuddle on the ground. "No! Some cat-- get Softbreeze!" The tom yowled, bowling over some poor apprentice to reach his friend's side. Downtuft had protected his tom fiercely at the fated Gathering, they weren't close by a long shot, but Downtuft respected the warrior greatly; he was a friend of Clovertwist's.

The sandy tom did not need a medicine cat totellhim the tom was dead; he'd scented enough death in his short life. "Rest well, Ploverpuddle. Finchstar, Elmskip,and Barleytuft will greet you on those starry plains." He murmured, grabbing the great tom's scruff and hauling him into the center of camp. "WindClan!" Downtuft yowled, not caring that was a leader's job. "We have lost another Warrior today."

Mournfully, he touched the gray tom's head with his nose, settling beside him to begin the vigil he deserved.

Later, the small form of his sister appeared, and he could smell the scent of lavender on her and Ploverpuddle masking the scent of death as if were still alive. She leaned into him, silent, and they sat like that together, mourning the loss of an honorable warrior.