Continued from - https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1350586939/ If you haven't read it, READ IT IMMEDIATELY!!! ^^ It will make no sense whatsoever if you dont. TW - Blood, death. ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ Older Vultureslaughter stood frozen. He couldn't breathe. He remembered every word. Every movement. Every mistake. Slowly... He stepped forward. "Daffodil..." His voice was barely sound. He knelt beside Vulturekit. Reached toward the tiny kit. His paw passed through her. Again. Nothing. He tried Vulturekit instead. His paw slipped through the kit's shoulder like mist. "You can't." Ghost Daffodil stood behind him. Quiet. "You never could." "I KNOW." The words ripped out of him. "I KNOW!" He lunged anyway. Again. Again. Again. Every attempt met only empty air. Vulturekit never noticed. The kit bent lower, tears spilling freely now. "You can't die." His forehead rested against hers. "You promised we'd be back before sunset." His voice dissolved. "I told them I'd keep you safe." Nothing. "I can still do it." Nothing. "I can fix this." Nothing. Older Vultureslaughter shut his eyes. "No..." When he opened them— Vulturekit was pressing both paws desperately against the wound. Blood seeped between his fur. He pushed harder. Harder. Harder. As if enough pressure could force time backwards. "Daffy..." His voice became tiny. "...please." Ghost Daffodil looked at the older tom instead. "I never blamed him." Silence. "I blamed the forest." Another pause. "I blamed being little." She tilted her head. "But you..." She stepped closer. "You blamed yourself." Vultureslaughter couldn't answer. Because she was right. For moons. For seasons. For years. He had remembered this moment exactly as it happened. Every night. Every quiet morning. Every time he closed his eyes. Then Vulturekit did something older Vulture had forgotten. He started talking. Not to stay calm. Not to comfort himself. To comfort her. "You remember when we scared that frog?" A weak laugh through tears. "You said you were protecting me." His shoulders shook. "I believed you." His voice broke completely. "So… So I'll protect you now." Daffodilkit didn't move. Didn't speak. Didn't breathe. The silence answered for her. Vulturekit slowly lowered his head onto her shoulder. Not accepting it. Simply running out of things to try. The forest remained still. No wind. No birds. Nothing. Older Vultureslaughter stared at the kit curled over that tiny body. Then, for the first time He realized the truth. The kit beside Daffodilkit. wasn't the one who had failed. He had done everything a frightened kit could have done. The one who had spent years calling him a failure was Vultureslaughter himself. Behind him, Ghost Daffodil spoke one final time before the memory began to shift. "...He deserved kindness." A pause. Her eyes never left the older tom. "I don't know when you decided he didn't." Ghost Daffodil's eyes never left his. "He deserved kindness." Silence. "I don't know when you decided he didn't." For the first time since the forest had swallowed him Vultureslaughter looked away. Not from her. From Vulturekit. The kit still lay curled around the tiny golden kit, shoulders trembling with silent sobs. He looked small. Far too small to carry a death. Far too young to learn that sometimes trying wasn't enough. Ghost Daffodil smiled. Not happily. Sadly. "I think..." She took a single step backward. "...you left him here." The forest breathed. Her outline blurred. Golden fur became drifting flecks of sunlight. The sunlight became falling leaves. The leaves never reached the ground. They became white petals. The petals scattered across the clearing. One landed on Vulturekit's shoulder. He never noticed. Another landed on Vultureslaughter's paw. It dissolved the moment he looked down. When he lifted his gaze Daffodilkit was gone. The clearing should have felt emptier. Instead It felt occupied. Watching. Waiting. Judging. Vulturekit remained where he was. Still holding her. Still whispering apologies to someone who could no longer hear them. Then A petal landed in blood. It should have floated. Instead it darkened. White became crimson. Crimson spread. Not across the flower, across the entire clearing. The blood beneath Vulturekit's paws rippled like disturbed water. The earth shuddered. Roots twisted. Trees straightened. The scent of milk disappeared. Cold stone. Iron. Rain. A sharp voice cut through the silence. "Again." The word cracked through the forest like a whip. Vulturekit vanished. The blood became a shadow stretching. across a training hollow. And standing within it… ShatteredCrown. Waiting. ☆ ☆ ☆
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ MENTIONED CATS ☆ Maplestar - @cIoudburst- Hornetvenom - @SlimyScratcher68 Cedarear - @Dash-40001 ☆ PLAYED CATS ☆ Daffodilkit - @DaisySays Vulturekit - @Shatteringsky ShatteredCrown - @Arrow_on_pawz ☆ ☆ ☆ First - https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1335552771/ Previous - https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1335552771/ Next - unshared!! Coming soon! ☆ ☆ ☆ To everyone whose characters appear throughout this SRP-- Thank you for allowing me to include them. Please remember that the cats depicted above are not truly yours. They are Vultureslaughter's memories of them. His guilt reshapes them. His fear puts words into their mouths that they may never have spoken. Some are harsher than they ever were. Others kinder. None of them should be taken as an accurate reflection of your character. This is not twenty-eight ghosts. It is one broken mind trying to remember twenty-eight lives ☆ ☆ ☆ AHHH GUYS TYSM FOR EVERYTHING!! I've spent litterally a few weeks working on this, figuring out insane ways to simply make sentences sound more awesome, write it to perfection, and im insanely happy with the result!!! Thanks so much for your guy's support! Have a great day/night, and lmk if you wanna be pinged for the next! ☆ ☆ ☆ End!
