Perfection [ warriorcats fanfiction ]

xv.i

Two bodies
Two small bodies partially hidden in the leaves and pine needles.
It was difficult to be happy when we found them, I think.
It's difficult to feel joy after so much pain.
I thought we shouldn't be happy at all.
So we weren't. I wasn't.
I was correct, in the end.
We shouldn't have been happy.

All four cats ran down the hill, Ravenstep in the front. He skidded to a stop right in front of Silverleaf's lifeless body. He choked out a small sob, pushing his nose into her lifeless fur. Her body was cold, shredded by a fox. He didn't know how long she had been dead for.

Nightpaw approached her mentor. We're too late, she thought, oh, Silverleaf, we're too late. I'm too late.

I'm so sorry.

Nightpaw left Silverleaf's side, then, turning her head to try to find Puddlepaw. The sun was almost completely set behind the mountains, and the clearing was dark, shadows stretching over the cats.

"Ravenstep?"

Puddlepaw's voice shook, and Nightpaw's stomach dropped. "Ravenstep?"

Nightpaw padded over to her friend before Ravenstep did and found the source of Puddlepaw's anguish.

A dead kit was lying in a pile of leaves. Her pale gray fur stood out among the orange and brown. She couldn't have been more than an hour or two old, and she almost looked peaceful. Like she was sleeping.

She's not sleeping, though. Nightpaw had to remind herself. She's dead. This kit is dead.

Ravenstep breathed in sharply at the sight of the kit but said nothing.

He's numb to the pain, Nightpaw thought.

She padded away, nosing around in nearby clumps of leaves and dirt. If there was one kit, there could be more.

Why did you do this, Silverleaf?

A twig snagged on Nightpaw's ear as she looked inside a rotting log.

Why did you leave? Didn't you know your kits would die?

Nightpaw didn't turn around, but she knew her mentor's lifeless body was directly behind her.

Didn't you know you would die?