Darkstar's wings ached as she climbed the path to the Moonlagoon, each beat of her feathered appendages more laboured than the last. She had told no one—not her deputy, not the medicine cat, not even her children. This journey was hers alone. The moon hung full and heavy above her, casting silver light across the sacred pool. She landed clumsily at its edge, her paws trembling. Nine lives, she had been given. Nine chances to serve her Clan. But one had already been spent. "Took long enough," she joked to herself. Eight lives remained. Darkstar gazed at her reflection in the still water. Gray threaded through her once-sleek black fur. Her wings, once powerful enough to carry her above the highest trees and adventure into the great world, now hurt after an hour of flying. She was 94 moons old. She had lived long enough, but she couldn't just throw everything onto her deputy now. No, Darkstar would pass peacefully when her time came. "StarClan," she whispered, her voice cracking. "I don't want to collapse in camp, frightening the kits. I don't want my warriors to watch me struggle, unable to lead them." Her wings folded tight against her sides. "I want to choose this. While I still can." She touched her nose to the water's surface, and cold flooded through her. Not the gentle chill of mountain streams, but the absolute cold of the void between stars. The pool vanished. The physical world vanished. She stood before StarClan, and they understood what she asked. To return the lives. To keep only one. The first life was taken by flames. The second was taken by water. The third was taken by illness. The fourth was taken by a great fall. The fifth was taken in battle. The sixth was taken by hunger in a harsh leaf-bare. The seventh was taken by the deep cold. One life left. When she woke at the Moonlagoon's edge, dawn was breaking. Darkstar spread her wings and flew home. It hurt, but the pain was honest now. Real. The pain of a single mortal life, burning bright before it faded. She wanted to live the rest of her moons in silence now. She wouldn't tell anyone what she had done. Let them find out when the time comes. Her secret would keep until her final day.
oh uh no one knows btw yippie woohoo
