Saving Sable

Chapter Twenty

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"I'm Not Cursed, I Was Just Covered In Dirt"
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The sweet taste of paradise still hadn't left Dawnclaw's lips.

She never knew hell could feel this good.

Everything had melted and nothing had a cause, a half moon had drifted like a bird's wing.

The silence was lethal.
And it felt so good.

Dawnclaw didn't like to chase after things now forgotten, but she seemed to be doing that now.

The white snow that was falling, combined with the foreboding that wrapped itself around Dawnclaw's stomach was forcing her to chase her goodbyes.

Like a butterfly.
Like a moth.
Like a sparrow.

As things cracked under her feet, the forest was subdued. All of the Clans were wrapped in their sorrows, and Dawnclaw hated it.

She hated the word, the shape, the sound, and the light.

She tasted bitterness on her tongue.

Solitude followed her with it's best friend, melancholic heartbeats.

Pinetuft was walking beside her, but his wandering eyes sparked her unease, her faithlessness and his friendliness were a harsh mix on a day of frost.

Her paws guided her away.

Simply away.

She didn't know where she was going, but the second she sat down, she knew it was the right time.

She didn't know where Pinetuft was. He'd be worried. After all, it wasn't like Dawnclaw it walk away from someone.

She had been merely an apprentice when her mother had shown her the Circle of Snow.

They had named it that, but all it was was a small area underneath a pine tree. A small space, all alone, somewhere for comfort, somewhere to call home.

She curled up in a ball, settling herself between the roots of the tree. They confined her like mesh, but yet that confinement always felt right.

She could let her mind wander.

"I'll sing him."
The words sounded like rust.
"I'll sing him alive."

The words were odd, yet strangely poetic. The oddity was Dawnclaw didn't know what 'singing' was. So why the words slid across her numb tongue into the cool air, was a mystery to anyone who heard.

There was only two who heard her words.

Fate.

The sound of pawsteps in snow broke Dawnclaw into the world, and she stared at the white landscape around her.

Moonlight cast everything into an eerie glow, and the footsteps reminded Dawnclaw that she shouldn't be alone.

The murderer could be here.

A little face appeared close to her own.
Sablepaw.

"Dawnclaw?"

"Sablepaw."

"What are you doing?"

"I don't know. I think I'm dying."

He didn't question her words.
"Why?"

He did.

"Everything is wrong. I ruined you. Everyone is dying. Everything is broken, and I think it's my fault." Her tone was flat, devoid. This was a fact she had long since accepted.

Silence.

"You didn't ruin me. Ruins last forever. You.. damaged me. But damage can be repaired. And I'm being repaired. I am, you've seen it! Aquiver says so. Swiftear says so. Martenpaw says so. Snakestar says so. Pinetuft says so. You always say so."

She blinked at the young cat. He was very different from the feline he was a few moons ago.

"The deaths are the murderer's fault. They're doing it. And we will find them. Everything will be okay."

She sat up, and looked at her kit.
"Yes."

"What is this place?"

"It's home for the fallen ones."

No further exchange was made. He settled down close to her.

She was falling asleep, washed in the grey areas, where the lost wander.

But those words unhinged all her loose strings.

"Dawnclaw... I love you."

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A/N:
This and the next chapter weren't meant to be separated but this ending is perfect.

Fact Of The Chapter: Dawnclaw and her mother still aren't speaking.

What's your opinion on Dawnclaw? Does anyone actually like her?