post script // a warriors novel

mini-chapter 6 > together

i set my paws on barkclan ground. i finally can have her. i can have poppybloom.

i will ask for her paw, and ask for our kits. i will ask for her love back after spottedspider lulled her into his awful spells and curses. we will be together again, like i wanted ever since we were split.

my fluffy mane waves in the wind, as i watch a patrol. poppybloom stays behind to watch the willows wallowing in the breeze- their long droopy stems are so beautiful. we used to stay beneath them.

quietly, i pad beside her. she can't see me yet. i haven't let her.

i close my eyes, inhale and exhale, then release my focus on making sure my mate can't see me killing.

"your big lion has missed you, my little poppy." my love flips around, stumbling over and gasping in shock and surprise. "l-lionmask! wh-what! the rumors are true! you are s-still al-live!" poppybloom panicked. her eyes widened.

i smiled sweetly, and warmly.

"it is okay. do not be worried. i forgive you for being vulnerable to spottedspider's evil curse. he is evil, and is cunning. he knew how to trick you somehow. i'm sorry for not protecting you sooner," i sighed in relief. "but we are together again, if you take my paw and join me in starclan,"

poppybloom narrowed her eyes.

"no."

i stumbled a bit backwards, then laughed. "oh! you're telling a joke! it's not very funny to me, but it's okay. what i mean, is, we can be together again! no borders this time!" i smiled brightly and happily. her joke wasn't very nice to me, but i'd forgive poppybloom easily if she joined me in starclan.

poppybloom got up, the tip of her tail twitching and her eyes like angry blazes of dark amber fire. "lionmask, what will it take for you to get a hint? i said, no."

i widened my eyes. "what do you mean, no? do you not love me as i love you? i released spottedspider's curse from you! we can be together forever now." i was starting to worry. poppybloom doesn't love me, even after spottedspider's magic had been lifted?

poppybloom snarled in anger, swiping out her paw with claws unsheathed and sliced my nose. i watched as blood drips sparkled and danced through the air, and her glimmering claws now stained with my own blood. the grass dulled to a red in the spots where the blood flew.

i straightened up, with my tail now also twitching. my fur puffed out, and my whiskers were twitching. my nose wrinkled, and my smile turned into a sickening scowl. i never thought i'd be angry at poppybloom. "you decline my paw in starclan? you decline us being together forever, now inseperable?" my words turned sickening and ill-toned, and i'd never felt so angry. every word was a louder snarl, an angrier hiss.

poppybloom still was straight up. "spottedspider had me in no curse. you did, lionmask. you are an awful mate. why did you ever think you were a good one? spottedspider treated me right, and cared for me. you are nothing to me now."

anger and rage loomed over me. "you lying she-cat! i cared for you every heartbeat of the day! every day you will sulk in the dark forest, regretting the hour you fell in love with spottedspider! i showed you better care than a medicine cat, and certainly much better care than that mangy dapple coated tom! i loved you so much, and now you turn on me!" i shrieked. the anger couldn't be concealed any longer.

poppybloom started to have flickers of fear in her eyes, that were now dulling with regret. "you are scared of me now! you once liked how big and strong i was, called me your 'big lion'. and now, you wish i was never as big or as strong as i am now! i wish i figured out sooner how poor of a mate you were!"

i couldn't believe what i did next.

me and poppybloom could've made up. i still love her, just a little. i still want back those days in the sun, basking in it's warm rays. i want back those days in willow and jasmine gardens. but, no. i let the anger get to me.

in the end, i did not care though.

i soon discovered that spottedspider wasn't who i wanted dead,

but poppybloom.

i felt only a heartbeat of regret as i exploded onto my past mate, ripping up her pelt and scraping her belly with my claws. her body was so small, so weak. my little crippled poppy.

her pleading eyes made me feel nothing, as she didn't close her eyes to accept her fate. her eyes were wide and wild, flickering around, not knowing where to look at me. my anger-filled eyes, my poppybloom blood-stained claws, my hungering teeth, my vicious scowl, my large and muscular frame.

i leaned over her, and opened my jaws wide around her neck. before i clamped them down and killed her, she uttered her last breaths.

"i am so scared, my big lion. but your little poppy is okay. she loves you, and still misses you. but she'll see you everyday, watching you from up above."

she couldn't stop me. when i pleaded to her with those words, she didn't stop either. so i shut my jaws down on her neck, sinking in my teeth as blood drained.

"we could've been together, poppybloom. we really could've. but you fell in love with a spider. even when your big lion's rain tried to wash it away, you came back to it. and now i know where your heart really lies. good-bye, my little poppy."