A Leaf Falls Before the Storm {Warriors}

Chapter 1

1

The sky was dark and closed with rain. Fall peered out of her family's den cautiously. She could hear her siblings Wren and Polly coughing, and smell the sick air of her dry home.

"Could I go outside?" Fall asked her mother.

"Absolutely not," Pretty, her mother, snapped. "It's not healthy to have a dripping pelt."

"I won't be out long. Don't you trust me? I promise that I have a good reason."

Pretty's whiskers twitched. "You always say that. I suppose you could use some fresh air, though. Find something for your siblings."

As soon as Fall crept out of the den and away from Pretty's sight, she bounded towards a clearing she had found a long time ago. It had odd things with bright green spear-shaped plants growing inside of them. Fall leapt into one and pulled a clump of leaves with her teeth.

Once, Fall had stayed out until sunrise and prowled around, eating plants she didn't know the effects of. She didn't care, though. Fall and her family's hunger was a constant struggle. They lived in boggy woods, bordering a group of wild cats on one side and a Paved-crossing on the other.
Her mother had taught her how to hunt, but she was still no good at it.
A certain plant - the one she was carrying to Wren and Polly - helped ease her stomachache that night, although she suspected it wasn't natural.

The tight space was plastered with the scent of death, Fall realized with horror. "Wren!" Pretty yowled. She laid beside him.

Fall's belly tingled with sorrow, but without any thoughts she padded over to Polly. She placed a paw on her sister's chest. To her relief, it was rising and falling slowly. "Eat these," Fall whispered,"They might help."

Polly only blinked in response, a milky, hollow expression swirling in her eyes. Fall parted the light gray cat's jaws open and mashed the leaves in frantically. "Chew, will you?" She asked Polly gently. When her sibling didn't respond, Fall forced her mouth open and close. After that, she poked Polly's throat, which instinctively made her swallow the green mush.

For a moment, everything was silent. The rain had stopped, and even the crickets that were chirping a moment before softened to mere clicks of anticipation. Fall closed her eyes and bowed down beside her sister, feeling the earth with her nose. A cold crept down her body and left her tail-tip shivering.

*

Fall stretched her legs, and noticed at once that she was no longer by Polly or Pretty. She saw Wren in front of her. The wind whipped his long gray-gold fur to side; his face was determined and as bright as it was before he had the illness. Fall leaped in surprise at her own thoughts. Wren's eyes glinted with worry and amusement.

"Am I dead too? Are you really gone?" The words that spilled out of Fall's own mouth gave a certain reality about what happened. It seemed so surreal, almost as if her brother and the sleek golden grass around her was the truth and the dark den was only a small lie.

Wren wrapped around Fall comfortingly. "I'm sorry I had to go so soon, Sister. I may have been the largest, but you were always the strong one. I will guide you and keep you safe always."

Fall lifted her head and stared at Wren for a long time. "Is Polly alive?"

"Go back to consciousness, Fall," He meowed finally.

*