As the sun beats down on Jadepaw's back, she thinks about the conversation she'd had with her SpiritClan guides a few days earlier. She had only heard good things about the former BirchClan medicine cat, who had taught Darktail everything he needed to know in order to help Jadepaw when she was a kitten. Now she hears that her SpiritClan guides, or perhaps SpiritClan in general, isn't supposed to talk about that cat around her. The information feels dizzying as she gathers the reeds Rocktooth had asked her to gather.
She's stuck in her own head until she hears a voice calling her name.
"Jadepaw! Jadepaw!"
She looks around and sees Coalpaw running toward her. Jadepaw stashes the reeds aside and looks quizzically at the older apprentice.
"Coalpaw? What's up? Is something wrong?" Jadepaw asks. "Is it Silverstripe? How come she's not–"
"Jadepaw!" Coalpaw skids to a stop in front of Jadepaw. The medicine cat apprentice quickly realizes what is wrong. Coalpaw's eyes no longer look like those of the living, instead glowing a faint green as she stares helplessly at the medicine cat. "My body! It's stuck in the current!"
Jadepaw looks at the water of the rushing river nearby, but doesn't see Coalpaw's black pelt coming toward her.
"Where is it now?" Jadepaw asks.
"I passed it on my way to you," Coalpaw meows. "This way."
Jadepaw follows the spirit back towards the direction Coalpaw had come from, her eyes scanning the water for Coalpaw's black fur. As she runs down the river, she sees Silverstripe's massive white form barreling towards her. Next to Silverstripe in the water, Jadepaw sees what she had been looking for. Jadepaw leaps into the water and starts swimming towards the limp body in the water. Rocktooth hadn't taken Jadepaw to the river to practice swimming since the beginning of the moon, but that doesn't stop her from fighting against the current to make it to Coalpaw's body while the spirit apprentice watches anxiously from the shore.
"Jadepaw!" Silverstripe yowls. "What are you doing?! The current's too strong for swimming right now! You'll get–"
"I know what I'm doing!" Jadepaw yowls back, fighting furiously towards Coalpaw.
She finally reaches the limp black she-cat and grabs her by the scruff. She starts fighting her way towards the shore when she feels someone grab her by the scruff. She's pulled ashore and finally allowed to release Coalpaw from her grasp. She pulls away from Silverstripe, who stands not too far away, and starts getting a better grip on Coalpaw.
"Jadepaw, aren't you gonna try and–?" Silverstriope begins.
"She's already gone," Jadepaw interrupts.
***
The camp had a somber air as the vigil began for Coalpaw. Pinefur and Smokepaw were obviously devastated as they sat beside Coalpaw's body. Rocktooth was standing not too far away as well, just behind her mate and ready to comfort the she-cat who had lost so many kits just this moon.
Jadepaw, however, was hiding behind the apprentice's den. She stares at Coalpaw and Blackpaw's spirits, who both look solemn and sad.
"Coalpaw... can I ask how it happened?" Jadepaw mews softly.
Coalpaw sighs and shrugs. "I was just trying to cross the river so that Silverstripe and I could hunt near the RowanClan border, where all the trees are. I guess I just slipped and... and then suddenly I could see my own body floating away from me and Silverstripe chasing after it. I saw you farther down the river and so I went to go get you, since I thought maybe you could put me back in my body... but I guess..."
Jadepaw shakes her head sadly. "I can't revive a cat if their spirit is already outside of their body. I'm so sorry this happened to you, Coalpaw."
"It's alright..." Coalpaw meows, giving a pained smile. "At least I can see Blackpaw and Shardkit again."
Blackpaw smiles sadly as well, bumping her sister's flank with her own affectionately. "Yeah, we've got each other now."
"Mom and Smokepaw're gonna be devastated, though," Coalpaw sighs. "I feel so bad leaving them behind."
"Mom and Smokepaw have each other and Rocktooth," Blackpaw meows. "I think they'll be fine..."
Jadepaw nods. "Rocktooth and I will make sure they don't lose themselves in grief."
"Thanks, Jadepaw," Coalpaw meows.
Then, the two sisters disappear in a flash of light, leaving Jadepaw alone behind the rock den.
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Distant Sun: Flashing Lights - Faded Sky
FanfictionBook 1 ~~~~ Jadepaw can see spirits. She has been training to understand her power since kithood and now she is a medicine cat under the cat who helped her the most during these times. However, when an ominous prophecy is delivered, Jadepaw has to f...
