Leafpool's Choice

Bonus 3

"What do you mean?" Pebble looked at Mint in disbelief. "Mom killed a fox...." Pebble trailed off, seeing the odd splotch of white fur hidden under the dried blood. He connected the dots in his head, sudden understanding washing over him.

"Let's give her a proper burial. That's what she would've wanted," Mint whispered, her voice feeling strained and thin.

Mint continued to lick her mother's fur clean, getting every bit of blood off of her fur. Mint looked down at her face and gently closed her eyes.

Her mother's long, white fur and tan and red patches were exposed, and she looked so astonishingly similar to Berry. I hope Berry's okay! 

So a hole was dug, the body placed, and then the hole was filled again. The hole was ringed with little blue flowers, and a smooth white stone marked the site. 

Mint bowed her head, whispering goodbye, and Pebble did the same. 

***

Pebble opened his eyes the next morning to find bright sunlight glaring down in his eyes. The sun hovered lazily, high above the kits' heads.

Mint was awake, just a few cat-lengths away, grooming bits of blood and dirt out of her fur.

"Good, you're awake. We'd better keep going then," Mint stated, padding away. 

Before long, Mint's long plume of a tail disappeared behind a clump of ferns.

"Hey, wait!" Pebble scrambled after his sister clumsily. 

Scurrying after his sister, Pebble's paws slipped on a patch of slick, dew-covered grass, sending him sprawling to the ground with a thud.

"Need any help?" a she-cat's voice asked. 

"Huh?" Pebble twisted to look at the source of the voice. 

A young white she-cat with black spots and a piercing green gaze stood before him. 

Pebble felt himself being roughly dragged to his paws, pulled by the scruff on the back of his neck. "Hey, put me down!" He squeaked, flailing his limbs a bit. 

"Fine then." The cat dropped Pebble back down to the ground, and he landed in a crouch. A dull, aching pain flared in Pebble's leg, and he stretched it out tentatively. 

"That's no way to treat a kit." A brown tabby tom, his muzzle streaked with gray and white, peered out from the trees. 

"No, it's fine, really. I have to find my sister." Pebble spun around and darted into the trees, ignoring the throbbing pain in his hind leg. 

"We can help you, maybe!" the tom called after him. 

Pebble turned around. Well, I never was good at tracking anyway. I might as well accept the help. 

***

 Berry sniffed the air, unfamiliar scents flooding her nose. The prey on the moors was too fast to catch, but finally, after a sunrise of walking, she could smell cats. 

Berry carefully traced the scent, opening her mouth to taste the air. 

There were definitely multiple, two at least. The scent was unfamiliar, like some odd mix between forest and moor. 

Berry's stomach growled. Stupid rabbits! she thought.

Berry scampered through the green grasses. Despite the warm air, a cold wind buffeted her fur, and she shivered.

The scent was getting stronger. Yes, just over this rise...

***

"Pebble? Pebble, where are you?" 

Mint spun around wildly, looking for her brother. She had lost him a while back, and he was nowhere to be found.

The dark, shadowy forest sure was creepy.

The shadows stretched towards her like claws, and Mint could feel the gazes of unseen animals crouched in sheltered corners. 

An overwhelming sense of panic began to take over Mint, and she whipped her head around wildly. 

Mint ran hard and fast from the shadowy cats of the forest, tripping over tree roots and crashing through clumps of sorrel and bracken.

Finally, Mint burst out onto the moors. Wait, where am I?

***

The brown tabby tom, whose name was Oak, gestured for Pebble and the she-cat to follow. 

"What's your name?" Pebble asked, bouncing up to try to reach her height.

"Violet," she simply stated.

"Nice to meet you, Violet!"

The spotted cat didn't respond. 

Pebble sighed. The she-cat was cold as ice. 

A frigid wind whipped the air, and Pebble fluffed up his fur. The shelter of the forest was soon lost as Pebble's surroundings turned to the open moor. 

Oak raised his head and sniffed the air, then broke into a run. He mumbled something that sounded like "Heather," and then his tail was disappearing over a rise.

"Hey, wait!" Pebble yelped, darting after the old tom.

Oak was crouched beneath a bush, and a pale brown tabby she-cat was lying beneath it. Her muzzle was streaked with gray, her breath raspy and inconsistent.

"Heather," Oak whispered. "I see you again, at last."

The she-cat opened her eyes, which were a startling blue, and she began to choke out words. "Oak? Are you real or is this a dream?" Her voice was so quiet that Pebble had to strain his ears to hear it.

"This is real. I'm here." Oak curled himself around the small, frail cat.

"You know this cat?" Violet asked.

"She was my mate, long ago," Oak meowed. "I have waited so long to see her again."

Just then, two cats emerged from the grasses. One had short, golden fur, and the other had long, white fur. Both shared Heather's stunning blue eyes.

"What are you doing here with our mother?" The golden she-cat meowed. 

"Are these your kits?" Violet asked, a look of confusion on her face.

"No, they aren't. I had no idea that she had kits," Oak responded, surprisingly calm considering the situation.

"Let them stay," Heather rasped.

And so the trio did stay. They stayed the whole night, curled up beneath the bush. Pebble couldn't fall asleep though, so he just listened to Heather's rasping breaths as they slowly faded away into nothing.

A/N:

Thanks for 3,150 reads! <- Exact number...

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