Lost Stars (A Warriors Fanfiction)

Chapter Five

A/N: Hehe, this is Dawn's mood board. What do you guys think?

       Dawn's tail flickered weakly before she rested her muzzle on her crossed paws. Up close, Luna could make out the strands of silver tipped whispers and grey fur. Dawn seemed to age before her eyes as she laid her tail on Luna's shoulder. 

       Luna was dimly aware of Caramel's white tail sweeping over Silver, silently herding him away. 

       "This is Dawn's story to tell," Caramel meowed. Silver's tail twitched as she glanced at Luna, his gaze clouded with concern. Luna tipped her black and white head a fraction, trying to hold back the waves of grief. 

       Caramel and Silver's pawsteps faded. 

       "You aren't a kit anymore, my dear Luna," her mother meowed. Her voice was heavy and Luna felt her heart seeming to shatter when the only cat that had cared for her swayed on her paws. Her mother's trembling frame was something she hadn't seen before. Dawn was always strong, with a fire seeming to burn fiercely in her green eyes. Now, she looked crumpled, like a bird that lost its wings. 

       "There was a time when I hunted in the forest," Dawn rasped, seeming unaware of her surroundings as her green gaze drifted.  

        "I was part of a group of cat called SkyClan. We were the most powerful in the forest, chasing our prey on the branches of the trees." Dawn's meow was tinged with a rueful note as if she was recalling memories from a lifetime away. 

       "We lived beside other groups of cats; ShadowClan, RiverClan and ThunderClan. And for a time, all was well. I chased prey and hunted with my clanmates. After a while, I was even picked to lead Skyclan." Dawn continued. Her proud meow was tinged with a thread of sadness, and a smaller trace of bitterness that Luna could tell Dawn was trying to hide. 

       Luna pushed the moss closer to her, desperately trying to lick the spreading coldness in her mother's pelt. The fiery light danced in her mother's eyes, even when the warmth from her pelt seeped into the ground as she coughed, her breath rattling in her chest. Luna felt hopelessness weigh her down like a stone. 

       "You must rest," she insisted, pushing the moss closer to Dawn. Dawn lashed her tail irritably, turning away. Her gaze hardened when she finally gathered enough strength to speak again. 

       "I planned on having you grow up in the clan. I wanted you to be a SkyClan warrior." A bitter note of regret echoed in her meow, and her eyes sparked with barely contained fire as she struggled to her paws. Her weak frame swaying, Luna quickly pressed her pelt to her mother's side to steady her. She couldn't concentrate on what Dawn was saying. A thousand thoughts were running in her brain as she fought to keep her desperation and panic at bay.

        "But after I realized I was expecting kits, I was turned away. The Clans hated me and chased me out. See, Luna? The Clans were so, so cruel. They forced me from my home to the two-leg place. Even your father turned your back on me."

        Luna saw her mother dig her claws into the ground and she felt similar anger rising in her chest. She lashed her tail, her eyes burning as she met her mother's sad eyes and shattered meow. How dare they? She thought angrily. 

         Dawn gave a small shudder, panting heavily. "Luna, I hate to ask this of you. I hate to bring you into this, but you're my only choice. But-"

       Luna puffed out her chest, heart brimming with determination and newfound anger as she remembered her mother's dream she'd walked in, and how sad Dawn always seemed when walking through the forests. 

      "I'll do anything," she promised.

       Dawn exhaled. "Oh, my kit. The world will be against you. Just because you're my kit. You must understand, I love you so much and I hate to see you walk this path alone."

      Luna padded forward. "I'll do anything for you," she meowed quietly. "I just wish you were with me."

     She saw Dawn's eyes flutter closed. "Will you avenge me?" she asked, her frail figure limp. 

     Luna felt her paws were weighed down with stones as she bounded forward and wrapped her tail around her mother. "Yes. I will take my revenge on the Clans. For you, and for their cruelty."

     A whisper of a soft smile tinged Dawn's meow as she laid still, the faintest breaths stirring her pelt.  "Your path will be a hard one, my kit. And for that, I am so sorry. I promise on the stars that I will be proud of you, wherever you are. Because you are and will always be my kit."

     Luna gave a yowl of grief and felt as if the same stars she loved so much were crashing down onto her world. Bracing against her fear and loneliness, she sat on her paws and unsheathed her claws. "I will make you proud. I'll train until I can fight all the clans!"

     "I know you will." Dawn purred. Luna had to lean forward to hear her meow. "And when you're ready, follow the star path." 

      "I promise." 

       Dawn gave a small nod. Her last words echoed in the twoleg place as she opened her eyes one last time. "Goodbye, Luna. But don't worry my dear kit. I'll walk with your pawsteps and run with you in the stars." 

       And then, Dawn simply stopped breathing. 

      Hours later, when the warmth of the sunlight had long faded from the hard stone, Luna could still hear her mother's meow.  A gaping wound hung in her chest, and she was numb with a pain that she couldn't describe.

    I'll walk with your pawsteps and run with you in the stars."

    "And I will avenge you," Luna meowed out loud to the empty room that was devoid of light.  

I promise.