Hareleap awoke the next day, emerging from her unconscious state as she blinked back the sleep from her eyes. Sunlight flooded in the den, a gentle mild breeze blowing some herbs astray in the den.
It was beautiful, she thought. Almost too beautiful a day too have something bad happen. The queen noticed Rainkit's sleeping figure, the fluffy kits pelt rising and falling with each gentle breath. It was hard to believe what had happened to Brackenkit. She jerked her head to Brackenkit, who was covered ear to tail in cobwebs.
"You're barely a moon old Rainkit, and look at what you're getting yourself into." Hareleap muttered to herself, before taking a glimpse of Pigeonfrost's figure.
She noticed the tom's body, which surprisingly hadn't moved or stirred from her moving around the den. Hareleap could only predict that the warm weather had woken herself up. With her long pelt, she overheated easily. Pigeonfrost, as she took a glance at him, looked small and frail.
Surprising, as he had been all in good spirits.
Until he treat Rainkit's wounds..
Her face contorted to a frown, and she pressed a paw to his face hesitantly. No gentle stream of air was blowing out his nose. Not to mention how cold he was. Alarmed, she flinched her paw back in shock, shaking him gently.
"Did something happen while he treated Rainkit?" She muttered, louder than she had expected, noticing Rainkit's stirring body, and piercing green ears stared up at her.
"What's wrong?" Rainkit asked, her eye drifting cautiously to Pigeonfrost.
"N-nothing." Hareleap stuttered, sweeping her paw in the direction of the entrance. "Go play with Leopardkit, just stay out the den for now."
There was a slight hesitation before Rainkit looked at her mother, down to her father, then padded out calmly. Hareleap let out a sigh, one she didn't know she had been holding.
Yet again, she shook Pigeonfrost's body. Slightly annoyed, she raised his head in her paws, shocked at how limp and lightweight he was.
At that moment, a spur of heartbreak and horror sent her collapsing in front of the grey tom.
"No! Please no!" Hareleap sobbed, brushing a paw down the side of Pigeonfrost's cold fur. One eye was slightly open, yet it was glassed over.
She needed it confirmed. Hareleap wouldn't believe it until she had evidence. Tasting the air for a single heartbeat, she gagged instantly, recognised the strong smell.
of death.
"Oh Pigeonfrost! You were trying to tell me last night, weren't you?" Her voice trailed off as her amber eyes gazed into his glazed blue ones.
"That you were dying."
She choked out the last words.
"You must've been so lonely."
Pain tore at her heart as she imagined him, gazing at her sleeping figure as illness consumed him.
How could she have been so selfish?
"I shouldn't have fallen asleep." She buried her face into his neck fur, which was soft and offered her some comfort. "I should've known. I should've KNOWN!"
Her yells became louder into screeching sobs, as she sat up, her ears pinned against her head, eyes filled with unmissable pain and agony.
Her claws riled in and out her paws as she notice a scatter of herbs.
"I should've known!"
One leaf torn.
"I should've helped you!"
Another leaf torn.
"And what does that make me?!"
Hareleap stopped shouting and broke into a muffled line of sobs, noticing the tattered mess beneath her paws. Leaves strung everywhere, tangled in her pelt, covering some of Pigeonfrost's too.
"What happened?!" An alarmed voice filled the den, and Hareleap rushed forward, teeth bared in a protective crouch before Pigeonfrost.
"Applestream." Hareleap spoke, her heartbroken voice suddenly turning bitter.
"He's dead." Applestream said bluntly, his eyes scanning the den. Rainkit wasn't in her nest, he noticed, Brackenkit only a small shuddering huddle in a nest. The poor kit had probably seen the whole outburst.
"Why would you care so much?" Applestream questioned, gazing at the golden queen, confused. He thought, no he knew his sister was not mates with Pigeonfrost anymore. He was so sure. He knew.
"I loved him, Applestream!" Hareleap spat, such a painful against in her voice, even his own heart shattered. She paced back and forward of the den, coming back towards him. "Nothing can stop love, and ours will be eternal and for forever."
That day, Pigeonfrost was gone.
To the Clan, they lost a medicine cat, one of the calmest they knew.
And it would never be the same.