Fomidae

Chapter Twenty-Two

     Mia opened her eyes to find herself in darkness. She tried to stand, but whimpered as pain shot through her.

     “Shh, don’t move, Mia,” she heard a voice say. Mia moaned and turned to look at whoever had spoken. To her surprise, it was Laia. Her mother’s cub was at her paws, sound asleep. Mia looked around more and saw Grace staring at her. But no Lark. Mia buried her head into the grass of the den they were in.

     “Mia, are you okay?” Grace murmured. Mia shrugged a little. She couldn’t keep a sob from escaping her mangled body. She wanted to curl up somewhere and die.

     “Mia, it’s okay,” Laia’s soothing voice purred. “How are you feeling?”

     Mia looked up at her, a tear on her whisker. “It’s not okay. Half of us must be dead, Laia! Kia is dead. And so is Lark. And it’s all my fault for bringing him and Grace with me, and I could have attacked Shard later when Kia wasn’t around, and-”

     “Mia, calm down,” Laia said. Mia could tell she was forcing herself to keep her voice from shaking. “Kia is dead. But it’s not your fault, it was Shard’s. And Lark is alive.”

     Mia’s eyes were wide open now. “Lark is alive? Where is he? Is he okay? Can I see him?”

     Laia sighed. “He’s very badly injured, but I think he’ll survive. Not right now, you need to get some rest. He’s in another den with the kitten mothers.”

     “Wait,” said Mia, confused. “How did you get here?”

     Grace said then, “I brought her here. When everyone started fighting, I ran off to find help and I ran into her and Shai. She hid Shai somewhere and came back here with me, but by that time Shard was dead. So we stopped the battle and got every injured cat who had survived and helped them.”

     Mia nodded. “I guess that makes sense…. Who else died?” she asked, afraid of the answer. Laia sighed heavily. She listed the cats who had ended up dying. Three of them Mia recognized the most: Midnight, who was the dead tiger cub Flame’s mother, Snowy, and Flint. Mia felt even more depressed after she learned of these deaths.

     “Mia, you should get some sleep now,” Laia said. Mia nodded in agreement. That sounded nice. She closed her eyes, welcoming sleep to take her, which it did.

~

     It had been about a week since the battle. Mia was almost completely healed, except for a few scars from her wounds that would likely be there for the rest of her life. Laia finally allowed her to come out of the den she had stayed in. Mia still hadn’t seen Lark yet. And today, Laia was allowing her to go and see him.

     That morning, she got up and groomed herself fully. Then she went outside of the main den and padded over to the den that was now currently Laia’s, where Lark had been moved. She went inside, and she saw a shape sit up, and green eyes blink back at her.

     “Mia!” the cat said. It was Lark, of course. She ran over to him, purring, and rubbed her cheek against his.

     “Lark! How are you? Are you okay?”

     Lark nodded. “I feel fine. What about you?”

     Mia smiled. “I’m okay. Lark, you saved my life. Neither of us would be alive right now without you. I don’t know how I can thank you.” She felt like she wanted to cry again, only in happiness. Lark licked her cheek.

     “There’s no need to thank me,” he replied. “I saved you because you’re my friend. And… and because I love you.”

     Mia felt herself blushing. “Well, I love you too. I’m so sorry about all of this. I didn’t know that you would get hurt so badly.”