Valley of Weeds

Chapter Nineteen

A/N: Sorry for all the touchy-feely sad chapters x_x Please review! I love reading comments!

Chapter Nineteen

The rain was pouring down as the tigers neared the body. Flower raced over and prodded the limp heap on the soggy grass.

"C-C-Cassia?" She stuttered. "C'mon, wake up! This isn't the time to sleep. Come on!"

Amur and Kysta watched her silently. The old tigress glanced at Amur, but he didn't care. He was too numb to care.

"Cassia, please!" Flower wailed. "We have to go back home!"

Her voice dropped to a whisper. "We need you."

Amur slowly came beside her, and she looked up at him.

"She's not waking up, is she?" She whimpered.

Amur took a deep breath and looked back at Cassia's unfeeling and unmoving body.

"This never should've happened to you," He whispered as he gently lifted Cassia's head. "If I hadn't chased you away like that, then..."

He sighed. "I'll never forget you, Cassia. You've always been, and always will be, my best friend."

"What're we gonna do now?" Came Flower's tiny voice.

Amur didn't answer for a few moments.

"We can't just leave her out here," He finally muttered without looking away. "We'll do what we did with Axel."

_____

Amur stared down at the grave.

'I'll avenge you. When I do, then we'll all be at peace.'

"Amur?" Flower asked.

"Yes?" He turned to her.

"Mother told me that sometimes, you put flowers on top of graves."

"Yes... Right, flowers."

"So, shouldn't you put me on the grave?" She asked.

Amur blinked before feeling the side of his mouth curve up into a slight smile.

"Tell you what," He knelt down to her level. "How about you and Kysta go and find some nice, pretty flowers?"

Flower nodded, and she bounded away.

"Amur?" Kysta looked over her gaunt shoulder.

"Yes?"

She paused. "Please, take care of yourself... For Flower's sake."

Amur looked back down at the patted down soil, his expression unclear, and nodded. He strained his ears to listen for Kysta's departing pawsteps.

Once he was sure she was gone, he sank to the ground. With a gentle paw, he slowly smoothed out the dirt.

'I promise you, Cassia, I'll make things right again.'

He closed his eyes. Instead of darkness, he kept seeing Cassia. Not the one that lay just below his paws, no, but the beautiful, sweet one that was the definition of the word 'friend.' She and Atha had always been friends, ever since the quintet were cubs - quintet being Amur, Cassia, Atha, Atrista, and Searn - the two had always been close.

'You always loved me,' Amur swept over the grave marking once more. 'But I was too blind to see that. I'm sorry.'

He envisioned them playing as cubs... Cassia's eyes glowed like the stars on a cloudless night, but Amur was too busy gazing into the sapphire-like eyes of Atrista.

'From the moment you first saw me, from the moment you saw me wrestling with Searn, you loved me! You cheered alongside Atrista when I playfought. You too were the loudest, even louder than our parents, but why did I only hear her?'

His thoughts were interrupted when Flower bounded up to him with several long-stemmed yellow flowers with large petals in her mouth. She put them at his feet.

"Are these okay?"

Amur looked down at the fragrant herb.

"Yes," He replied softly. "Yes, they're fine, they'll do quite nicely. Thank you, Flower."

Flower tilted her head. "What kind are they, anyway?"

"Um," Amur narrowed his eyes in thought. "Hari Champa, I think."

Flower's eyes glittered as she pressed up against his front leg. "Well, they're my favourite now."

"Is that so?"

"Yup. They're so pretty!"

Amur briefly nodded before gesturing for her to place the flowers on the grave. As she obeyed, Amur's eyes darkened.

'You shouldn't have to go through this,' He thought grimly.

When Flower was done, she looked back up at Amur. Amur sighed guiltily.

"You'd be better off if you never knew me," He told her.

Flower's face twisted into confusion.

"No I wouldn't!" She protested. "I'd be all alone without you! You're my entire world now!"

She lowered her black-and-white ears.

"You're everything I've got," She quietly added. "Without you, I'd be lost!"

Amur smiled weakly. "Exactly. I'm not the best care-taker in the world. You'd be better off all alone, just look at Cassia. She stuck with me, and I've protected her superbly."

He knelt down to her level. "But for what it's worth, I'd be lost without you too."

Flower smiled and buried herself in his fur. "I love you, Pallux."

Amur hesitated before smiling and wrapping his paw around her tiny, shivering body. "I'll take care of you, Flower, forever."