Coughing woke Jaggedtail from his deep sleep. He lifted his head and looked around to see where the coughing was coming from. It was near the back of the den, and he spotted Flamewhisker sitting up and coughing loudly. "Are you alright?" Foxwhisker spoke, he had been woken up as well and his eyes showed concern for his sister.
"Yeah I'm--" Her words were cut off by another violent bout of coughing.
"No, you're not." Foxwhisker stood up. "Let's go see Sagefeather." As Flamewhisker stepped into the moonlight Jaggedtail could see that her eyes and nose were streaming. Another one is sick. Jaggedtail thought bitterly. This made Flamewhisker the third cat in the Clan to be sick, the others being Badgerstrike who couldn't shake his cough earlier and Vinetail who had been diagnosed with greencough just a few days before.
It was nearly as bad as the last season, as they were already a moon into leaf-bare and only three cats were sick but that didn't mean it was over or that no other cats would get sick. Jaggedtail attempted to go back to sleep, but he couldn't. He laid in his nest, listening to the breathing and gentle snoring of his Clanmates.
Luckily, sickness had stayed away from the nursery and elder's den. Jaggedtail feared every single day that one of his kits would get sick, he didn't know if he would be able to handle losing one of them, even the thought made him sick to his stomach. Or even losing Elmheart, Maplepool, Cherrypool or anyone else in his family. I hate this heartless season. I wish it would just be over.
Jaggedtail rested in his nest until the sun rays of dawn began to peek through the entrance of the warriors den. He then decided to get up and start his dawn, perhaps he would be able to get onto the dawn patrol. He spotted Daisyfern already up and active, ready to assign the day's patrols.
Jaggedtail crossed the snowy camp to reach the deputy. "Good morning, Daisyfern." Jaggedtail dipped his head.
"Good morning, Jaggedtail." Daisyfern waved her tail. 'Looking to get onto the dawn patrol?" She questioned.
"Sure, I'm up might as well make myself useful." Jaggedtail shrugged.
"Sounds good to me, I'll go gather the other warriors I've chosen." Daisyfern returned the warriors den and came back with Amberflame, Rabbitwing, Willowstrike and Shorttail. Daisyfern led the way out of the camp and they set out towards the MoonClan border.
Cloudstar had kept to her word and everything had been normal around the border, no stray scents and their border wasn't extra strong like it had been before. Jaggedtail was convinced that things really had gone back to normal between the two Clans. He hoped that they had, he didn't want to raise his sons into a war, he would rather raise them to live a peaceful life.
The patrol walked along the river bank which was flowing slowly in the gentle weather. It was brisk outside, but it wasn't snowing or windy. The sun was shining overhead, reflecting off the surface of the snow and nearly blinding Jaggedtail but he pushed through it. The patrol reached the MoonClan border and Daisyfern gave it a sniff. "Nothing out of the ordinary." She reported. "As usual, hopefully it stays this way."
Daisyfern commanded Shorttail to go mark the border and they began heading back towards camp. It had been an easy patrol, but a good way for Jaggedtail to wake up. On the way back, Jaggedtail managed to catch a squirrel and decided to bring it to Cherrypool and the kits if they were awake.
They reached camp as the sun started to rise and LichenClan was starting to become a lot more active. The patrol broke up and Jaggedtail started on his way to the nursery. He was halfway across camp when he noticed Sunstorm padding towards him. Jaggedtail set his squirrel down and faced his father, he couldn't help but notice the troubled expression on his face.
"Hey," Jaggedtail greeted, feeling slightly uneasy by his father's body language. "What's going on?"
"Jaggedtail," Sunstorm breathed out a sad sigh. "Your mother is sick."
Jaggedtail's blood turned to ice. "What? When? How bad is she?" Questions spilled out of Jaggedtail's mouth. No. You can't take her from me. Jaggedtail thought, his heart aching.
"She woke up unable to speak because her throat was so raw, she's been coughing all morning and she doesn't feel good at all. Sagefeather instantly diagnosed her with greencough." Sunstorm's voice was low, he was clearly distraught by all of these and Jaggedtail was too.
"Does Maplepool know?" Jaggedtail questioned.
Sunstorm nodded slowly. "She was there with me when we found out." Jaggedtail winced slightly. I should've been there too.
"Sagefeather will be able to help her...right?" Jaggedtail asked, but there was no sign of hope in Sunstorm's eyes.
"I can't say, and neither can Sagefeather right now." Sunstorm replied. "Jaggedtail I'm so sorry."
"Can I go see her?" Jaggedtail questioned, he desperately wanted to see his mother. There was no way that StarClan would take his mother, they just couldn't.
"Sagefeather needs her space and she doesn't want the sickness spreading." Sunstorm explained. "The best we can do is work hard and keep our hopes up." Jaggedtail could tell that Sunstorm was forcing these words. He's so scared, so am I. Sunstorm and Fawnsky had been mates for many, many moons. They were deeply in love, Jaggedtail couldn't imagine losing Cherrypool.
"Yeah," For his father's sake, Jaggedtail would do everything that he could to keep his hopes as high as possible.
Three long days had passed since Fawnsky entered the medicine cat with greencough and from what Jaggedtail had been told, she showed no signs of recovery. Sagefeather had been doing everything she could to treat her sickness, but nothing was happening. Jaggedtail had been spending all of his time either hunting or in the nursery with his family, despite trying to keep his hopes up, Jaggedtail knew the truth: Fawnsky probably wasn't going to make it. The pain of accepting it hurt his entire body all day and night, he just didn't know what to do. He felt helpless, and the only thing that could help him was his family. Jaggedtail hadn't told his kits about what was going on, they didn't need to worry about death when they were so young. Jaggedtail remembered with Robinkit died, it had completely changed how he felt being a kit and he didn't want that to happen to Brackenkit and Redkit.
"Jaggedtail." A low voice spoke from outside the nursery, Jaggedtail lifted his head and looked towards the direction of the voice. It was Maplepool, she stood just outside the entrance and faced Jaggedtail with shadowed eyes. No. "Fawnsky wants to talk to us." She mewed, her voice trembling. "Sagefeather has given us permission to enter the medicine cat den."
"I see." Jaggedtail's voice cracked, he looked to Cherrypool who had sadness deep in her green eyes.
"Go on," She nudged Jaggedtail. "I'll be here with the kits when you get back." Jaggedtail looked at the cat he loved so much, then over at Brackenkit and Redkit who were playing with a ball of moss with Branchkit. Jaggedtail slowly rose, his pawsteps felt incredibly heavy and slow. I know what's coming, I just don't want to face it. With Maplepool at his side they made the short walk to the medicine cat den.
He didn't want to step inside that den, he just wanted to run away, run and not face what was about to happen, but he couldn't run away from death. He had to face it, he had to face the truth. Jaggedtail stepped inside the medicine cat, his heart pounding. Elmheart and Sunstorm were already in there. She invited Elmheart too. Jaggedtail thought.
Jaggedtail caught Sagefeather's gaze for a moment, it was filled with sadness. Jaggedtail took a deep breath and approached his mother, sitting down beside Elmheart and Maplepool. "I'm so glad that you're here." Fawnsky mewed, her voice cracking. "I wanted to talk to all of you." She lifted her head weakly. "I would've invited Mosspaw too, but I don't want her to have to deal with this right now."
Maplepool nodded slowly. "It's okay mother." Elmheart leaned against her.
"I wanted to say something to you all," Fawnsky mewed. "First off, Sunstorm. My beloved, living as your mate has been the honor of a lifetime. Every single day you've brought me so much joy and happiness, you helped me raise our kits into incredible warriors, and I'm going to miss you so much but I'll be waiting for you in the stars."
"I'll miss you too, Fawnsky." Sunstorm nodded slowly, his amber eyes were filled to the brim with pain.
"And my beautiful kits..." Fawnsky looked at Maplepool and Jaggedtail. "I am so unbelievably proud of you. Maplepool, you're such a wonderful mother and Mosspaw is going to bring this Clan so much joy and light, I just know it." Maplepool clearly couldn't speak, she buried her nose into Elmheart's chest.
"And Jaggedtail, just as Maplepool is an incredible mother you are an incredible father. Those two sons are so cute and sweet, I just wish I could have gotten to know them a little more. I'll be watching over them from StarClan, I promise. Please tell Cherrypool just how much I care about her, and that I am so glad that you found her."
"I'll tell them all about you, they will know the name Fawnsky." Jaggedtail mewed, unable to keep his voice steady.
"And finally...Elmheart." Fawnsky looked towards the large red-brown tom. "You weren't born to me, but I've always considered you a son. I know that Mosswing is so happy that you and Maplepool fell in love, and I am so proud of you. You're going to do incredible things, Elmheart. I just know it."
"Thank you so much Fawnsky." Elmheart voice was sotic, but his body trembled. "Thank you for giving me a family, thank you for believing in me. Please, tell my mother and Robinkit how much I miss them."
Fawnsky's eyes welled up with emotion and love. "I love you all so much, my family..." She closed her eyes. "Thank you." Her last words were a whisper. The entire den went silent, Jaggedtail couldn't take his eyes off of Fawnsky. He took this time to really look at his mother, she had certainly aged. Her pelt had gone dull, but the light in her eyes had never burned out.
Jaggedtail closed his own eyes, remembering the days when he was a kit. All he wanted to do was curl up against his mother, the cat who brought him into this world. Thank you, Fawnsky. Thank you for everything. He opened his eyes once again just as Fawnsky's breathing slowed more and more until eventually she was painfully still. May StarClan light your path.