Warriors: Cobwebs

27. The Passing of One

     Night had fallen over the forest and the sky was clouded by thick overcast. No stars peaked through, nor did the moon, and the Clan was on its toes. Cats slipped through the darkness from their dens and sat in silence. Pairs of eyes were directed towards the medicine den.

     Webpaw slipped into the group between Goldpaw and Froststrike. He paid no attention to the glare of the warrior at his right. Although he could not see his doubtful green eyes, Webpaw could feel the gaze burning through his fur.

     Goldpaw sighed and held her head low, and Webpaw turned his head and watched her as she sniffled. It was the day before that the decision had been made.

     "He was in a terrible condition," Webpaw mewed in a weak attempt to justify the action. "He wouldn't have made it anyways."

     "It still hurts. If it were Greenleaf, he wouldn't have died. There would have been better herbs to fight the infections," Goldpaw whined. Webpaw blinked his one eye and looked up at the sky. He swallowed a stone that formed in his throat and shook his head, looking back down at his paws. "I'm sorry that more couldn't be done," he told her with as much sincerity as he could muster. He watched through the corner of his eye as Goldpaw shrugged. "It's okay.." Her voice was laced with disappointment and sadness.

     Webpaw looked over his shoulder momentarily and watched as Shadowclaw stamped through the snow. Despite the darkness, he was visible amongst the white powder on the ground, and his black fur was peppered in the cold stuff. Webpaw watched as he padded around the group of cats and sat beside Rosepetal, who licked his shoulder. The warrior's tension could be felt by the medicine cat apprentice who kept close to his grieving friend, and Webpaw shuddered, unable to tell if it was the feeling of pained aura or the cold that made him shake.

     Everyone was silent as Tawny pulled the dark body of Shadesight towards the center of the camp and set him down. His body was covered in old cobwebs that had nearly lost their stickiness, and his remaining fur was licked over his wounds. Clearwhisker had given him holly berries that morning, and he would now begin his journey to StarClan.

     The Clan said their goodbyes with soft murmurs, tears, and a hope that the dead cat would pass on successfully into the paws of the ancestors. And most dispersed, leaving his friends and family with him. Webpaw observed as Tigerstripe licked the ear of the dead tom and spoke in a whisper before slipping away to the elders bush. Sandfoot sat down beside the cat that was his only remaining son, and Fallenstar bent her head in a prayer as she stayed by her father.

     Clearwhisker stepped up to Webpaw and stood by his side, swishing his tail and brushing it against the snow. Webpaw was speechless, and exhausted. He had remained awake for the entire past night as he thought of the passing of a clanmate. Other things whirled through his mind and bit at him, tearing at his brain, and at one point, he felt like he was on the edge of tears. But now he could not shed any tears; he was too tired.

     "The berries are a quick and relatively painless death," Clearwhisker said with hopes to give his apprentice some ease. Webpaw knew this fact like the back of his paw. So he nodded in response and continued watching Shadesight's last family members.

     The sun peaked dully over the treetops and turned the sky grey, and no clouds hung over DarkClan's portion of the forest.

     Webpaw paced back and forth in the snow, his tail lashing wildly. With the help of several warriors, Tigerstripe and Sandfoot managed to bury their dead friend in a pile of rocks. If it had not been Leafbare, Shadesight would have been buried within the earth, but the ground was frozen beneath the paws of all cats.

     The apprentice was filled with anger and confusion. How could the ancestors allow Shadesight to die in such a horrible way? Why did the Leafbare have to be so harsh?

     He soon collapsed into the snow. What's the point? He thought of attempting to contact StarClan, but he brushed the thought away. They wouldn't answer anyways..

     Weight fell upon his side as a clump of snow fell from a bare branch above, but Webpaw did not budge. He curled into a tight circle and buried his muzzle within his fur, allowing the freezing cold water to soak into his skin and chill him. Question after question raced through his thoughts on flighty paws.

     Something nudged his shoulder, and the tom looked up and locked gazes with curious and concerned sky-blue eyes. A little kit stood in front of him with her head cocked to the side.

     "What's wrong, Webpaw?" Tigerkit asked in her wicked innocence, and an ember of distrust sparked inside Webpaw, blossomed into a painful fire of hatred, and was then quelled. This kit was harmless. For now.

     You. You're what's wrong you stupid..

     Webpaw sighed and shrugged.

     Stupid prophecy.. Stupid kit.. Stupid everything!

     "Nothing. I'm just down," Webpaw told her with the hopes that she would then leave him alone. But she instead took a few steps in the snow, shifting her stance, and she blinked. "What happened to Shadesight? I looked at the elders bush for him but he wasn't there, and when I asked Tinypetal she just said that he left." This raked claws through the heart of the apprentice who quickly sat up, chunks of packed snow falling from, his white and black pelt. Of course she doesn't know or understand.. She doesn't need to know.

     Webpaw forced a tiny smile that seemed almost comforting to the kit, he was sure. "He went on.. A journey.. To somewhere better," he told her, thinking of StarClan. Tigerkit's eyes widened. "Can I go? I really liked his stories, and if he went, then it has to be nice, right?" "Yeah, you could go," Webpaw said distantly. Tigerkit squealed cheerfully and hopped about in the snow. "I'd love to go see him! That'd be the best!"

     Webpaw nodded as he listened and looked towards the apprentice den in a daze, then was slammed out of his thoughts by a call from Tinypetal for Tigerkit to return to the nursery. The young kitten meowed a goodbye to the apprentice and bounced away.

     The coldest, most horrific of thoughts entered Webpaw's brain and simmered.

     Tigerkit was the cat that could start the end of DarkClan. She was a danger that must be dealt with.

     And the only way that she could be prevented from causing harm to the Clan- the only way that there would be no loopholes- would be if she were to die.

     If she were to have her wish..