Smile, Sunshine [Suneyes]

MINTPAW
One may smile, and smile, and be a villain.

Mintpaw remembered flickering her eyes open for a few seconds. Everything spun around her, she saw Cloudpaw, Suneyes, and Heatherflower. But that only lasted for a mere three seconds before she blacked out again. Pain infiltrated her nervous system. Everything hurt. And suddenly the pain vanished; as if lifted from her body. Her green eyes opened; she was swathed in stars. That moment she knew she was dead. Before she knew it tears were rippling down her cheeks. Something nudged her side, eyes watering she lifted her gaze. A gorgeous golden she-cat stood beside her. "It's okay honey, come on." Mintpaw was scared, trembling she tried to follow the warrior, but she didn't know what to do. How could she have died so soon? It wasn't fair. Nothing is fair.

Suddenly the apprentice stopped, "Can, can I tell someone something back down there?" Her words choked off as she the weight of death hit her once more. The golden warrior cocked her head to the side, "Of course." Suddenly she was back down on earth. Her body was a bloody, lifeless mess. She could almost see her ribs poking up from under her pelt, broken and riddled. Gulping her eyes found Suneyes. I'm sorry, so, so sorry. The petite apprentice padded toward the older she-cat. "Suneyes." she meowed loudly. Mintpaw knew that only her mentor would be able to hear her.

Padding up to the warrior she meowed quietly, "I'm sorry for being such a riddance, I should have listened." She broke down into tears, but even then she was trying to smile. "You were a wonderful mentor." she paused, "I see a bright future ahead of you." And it was true. It was as if then she could see everything that was and was to be. And what was to be for Suneyes? A very, very bright future. "Goodbye." The little apprentice could feel her body drifting upwards, "Thank you."

Mintpaw was back in Starclan; where she'd always be from now on.

ooc: I'm going to have her die. I honestly don't know how she could survive happily. Aww poor Mintpaw :C

The medicine cat and her apprentice were right behind her. Suneyes prayed and prayed that Mintpaw would be okay, that they would get back in time to save her. But that one voice that always tells the cold, hard, truth, kept saying She's not. She won't survive. Suneyes wouldn't, couldn't, believe that. Mintpaw was feisty, a fighter, she would beat this. It might take her a long time to recover but she would survive. It was the one thought that kept Suneyes going. When they reached the place where Mintpaw laid, Suneyes stared in horror. This was her apprentice, she had let her apprentice get hurt. She was such a bad mentor, if only she had been able to get Mintpaw under control, not push her. All this over getting moss. Suneyes would never be able to go here again. "Suneyes, please move...we're gonna need room." Her head jerked up and she saw Heatherflower on the other side examining Mintpaw's body. She scooted out of the way, allowing Cloudpaw to look at Mintpaw. Suneyes' gaze was glued to Heatherflower's eyes. She had no hope. There was no way Mintpaw could be saved. Her ribs looked jagged and blood trickled from her mouth. Tears fell freely, Mintpaw was gone, she could see it in Heatherflower's eyes. But then she heard a voice say her name. A voice that sounded just like Mintpaw's. When her apprentice's voice continued more tear's welled in Suneyes' eyes. Gulping down a sob stuck in her throat, Suneyes nodded farewell. "Good bye, Mintpaw." "She's gone to StarClan, Suneyes." Suneyes was nodding even before Heatherflower spoke. "I know." she choked out. The deputy slowly padded over to the body of her apprentice and lifted it up. Heatherflower helped and the two she-cats drug Mintpaw's body back to camp, Cloudpaw trailing behind them. When they entered all eyes turned to see what was happening. They had heard Suneyes' call for help. They knew either Mintpaw would return barely alive, or dead. And by the look on Suneyes' face they knew they would hear no more from Mintpaw. The tabby queen gently sat the lifeless body done. Heatherflower began to clean off the blood from Mintpaw's mouth. With a shaky breath, Suneyes' turned to find Hazelstar. The old warrior was in her den. Suneyes gently called out her name. "Hazelstar, may I come in?" when her leader answered in the affirmative, Suneyes entered the cool den. Every time the WindClan warrior entered the leader's den, a sort of calmness washed over her; as if nothing evil could happen when you were in here. Her eyes clouded, if only that were true. "Hazelstar, Mintpaw is dead. Sh-she fell from a tree." [bg=e7cc93][atrb=border,0,true]

Hazelstar could smell the blood before the group even entered the camp; she had stayed in her den. Knowing that sooner or later one of them would end up at her paws. Solemnly she dipped her head, "Don't blame yourself, you did what you could." The queen meowed quietly. She knew her deputy would take the blame. She could see it in the tabby's eyes, hear it in her voice. This brought her to Mintpaw. The poor apprentice; she was taken from us much too young. Laying a tail across Suneyes's shoulder she murmured gently, "It was her fate, there was no stopping it." With those final words Hazelstar left her den; her chin raised high. She had to remain calm; acting in hysterics would only worsen the mood. Gulping away her worries she found herself standing before Mintpaw's body. She could see the rest of her clan gathered in the shadows; sorrow drifting among their gazes. Lifting her face toward the sky she said the words that would ensure a safe journey to Starclan. When she was finished she bent down next to the apprentice; nuzzling her cheek she meowed softly, "Sleep well, little one." With those words she laid down beside her tattered body and began sharing tongues with her for the last time. One by one she could see her clan-mates huddle closer and closer. Only those who were close to the tiny apprentice would stay through-out the rest of the day; and into the night. Hazelstar would be one of them. Since her son's death she had taken her clan in as her family; and although Mintpaw was feisty, headstrong, and hard to get along with...she was her family as well. The old queen wondered who else would gather around, Mintpaw was found by the Windclan border moons ago. She was abandoned; her parents no where to be found. "You have a family here who loves you." she murmured once more into her soft, ginger and white fur. Licking Mintpaw's cheek she whispered, "Promise to watch over us; to keep us safe from the upcoming danger." Hazelstar knew that the future was going to be dark; starclan needed to be with them with every step. [bg=33251a][atrb=border,0,true]

Cloudpaw
The determined medicine cat of Windclan

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Cloudpaw didn't even realize the intensity of the situation until he saw the apprentice up close. The one pretty, head strong, she-cat he had known was still, lifeless and above all...dead. They had come too late. Why had starclan let this happen? She had barely lived her life. She had been an apprentice just like him. She had trained like him. And now...she was gone. Just like that.

He slowly looked up at heatherflower then toward Suneyes and sighed bowing his head. So this was what it felt like to watch a clan mate die. He felt as if he had a burden on his shoulders and he wasn't sure it would ever go away. As Suneyes and Heatherflower took her mangled body away cloudpaw lifted his face to the sky.
"Watch over her, Mom. And watch over us Mintpaw."

[/color] he murmured quietly to where he knew only he would hear. The troubles that the clans had warned about were slowly getting closer. Noises from the forest were getting louder. And the river was slowly drying up. He himself would have dared to swim the shallow river water. What was their world coming to?

As they entered the camp Cloudpaw slowly looked around at his clan mates. He could each see the despair in their eyes about losing such a young cat. Mintpaw hadn't been clan born, but yet they mourned over her as if she had been born and raised here. Would they do the same for him if he ever died? Would they accept him as a member of the clan? Of course they would! Why was he even thinking this? The clan protected him as well as all his friends. This was his family. He belonged here.

He took one last look at mint paw and set his herbs down and gently licked her cold ears. She looked at peace. And happy. Maybe that's the way all cats would be. He swallowed and turned walking into the Medicine cat's den. He quietly sorted the herbs they never used and ridded the den of the old ones. He slid into his hiding spot in the cave and curled up. Before he let sleep take over he made one more promise.
"I will protect my clan no matter what happens in the next moons. I will make starclan proud."[/color][/size][/left]

Heatherflower had seen hurt and pain to much in her short life that it hardly had any affect on her. Of course she was sad, but that was life. As a medicine cat one must be able to deal with the pain of not only death, but of a life with a permanent injury. Or in Heatherflower's case, she thought as a small coughing fit took over, a sickness that didn't spread, but could not be cured. When Hazelstar and Suneyes returned and took their places, the medicine cat gave one last prayer before backing away for the next cat to have space. StarClan watch over us, Mintpaw is not the first to go. There are dark times ahead. With one last sad look at the huddled forms, Heatherflower entered her den. Cloudpaw had gone in earlier. This was his first death as a medicine cat apprentice. She wanted to talk with him as soon as possible. He should still be in here, as she had never seen him come out. "Cloudpaw, are you here? We need to talk." [bg=ff7e5f][atrb=border,0,true]

Cloudpaw
The determined medicine cat of Windclan

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Cloudpaw had just been about ready to fall asleep when he heard Heatherflower's calling of his name. He debated on acting like he was asleep, but the tone in her voice made him change his mind. She could tell she was worried, probably for him. he slowly lifted his head and stood up and crawled out of his hiding place.

"You called?"

[/color] he mewed quietly and walked over to her. He quietly busy himself with counting out poppy seeds and waited for Heatherflower to respond. Deep down, Cloudpaw had a feeling something was wrong with her. She had been getting worn out easily and always seemed tired. Cloudpaw had been trying to leave her alone when she was asleep to let her rest but it never seemed to help. He wanted to know what was wrong but he wasn't going to push it out of her. now right now at least.[/size][/left]

Heatherflower waited as came out from his small den. Her eyes were heavy with sleep and the run to the accident and carrying back had worn out. Sleep was what she needed, but she knew as soon as she laid down a coughing fit would over take her and her chest would tighten in pain. That scared her the most. The dark. She spent most of the night staying up and sorting the herbs and doing meaningless tasks. The medicine cat's den had never been so well cleaned and organized. And now that was here and always sorting herbs so he could memorize what they meant everything got done more than once. "You called? looked up as sat down and began sorting herbs. A small smile touched her lips. That's exactly what she had just been thinking about. The calico took a deep breath and looked down at her apprentice. "The herbs can be sorted again later, . Let's go for a walk." She turned around as followed her, skirted around the mourning party, and left the camp with her apprentice behind her. With by her side she waited until they were a ways from the camp before speaking. ", today was your first death as a medicine cat." She turned and looked into his eyes "It's not something to just let go. So that's why I brought you out here. We need to talk about it." She turned back to look ahead of her. "You're very lucky that I'm here, . I didn't have a true . The medicine cat before me, , died just a moon after I became an apprentice. The other medicine cat's taught me at medicine cat meetings. Everything I know about being a medicine cat they taught me. I know where all the herbs are because I went looking. When I experienced my first death, I had to wait a half moon before I could talk to someone about it. It was very hard to wait that long. Now, what's on your mind?" [bg=ff7e5f][atrb=border,0,true]

Cloudpaw
The determined medicine cat of Windclan

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Cloudpaw looked at Heatherflower and then followed her around the mourning group and out into the open moor of the Windlcan territory. Horrible sounds were coming from Thunderlcan and his eyes narrowed slightly but he followed quietly. When she looked at him and started speaking Cloudpaw listening quietly. He had no idea what he would have done without Heatehrflower. At that moment it just seemed impossible that it could happen to him. But then he thought about how she looked. Tired...no exhausted, like she had gone nights without sleeping. When she asked what wrong he shifted slightly. A lot of things were wrong.

"I guess I'm just in shock. i mean...Mintpaw was around my age...had been one of my Den-mates. It's just sad that starclan would take a cat that young from us. Especially when things are getting strange."

[/color] he murmured and flicked his tail toward Thunderclan. "Those strange noises have been louder and more noticeable. I'm starting to wonder if we should go check on them. They were like the sounds in my dream from moonpool."[/color]

He slowly turned his gaze to Heatehrflower. He wanted to ask so badly if there was something he could do for her. Maybe he could stay up and get herbs and separate and go take care of the elders and queens so she could sleep. She was going to get weak, and a weak Medicine cat couldn't' help them much. Not at the moment anyways.[/size][/left]