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"Dusky?"

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"...Um, can you opens your eyes, Dusky?"

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For a brief moment, the dark tabby was still. Her eyes were closed and she stretched out in the swaying grass. All around stars glittered in the dark sky and a gentle breeze pick up a few loose flower petals and scattered them across the open fields. It was quiet, with only the soft whistle of the wind. Eventually a paw to her side had Dusklion squinting her eyes open; the cat before her was fuzzy at first, until the color faded in and she immediately recognized the orange tabby pelt before her.

"Sunny???"

Scrambling backwards in a start, Dusklion's frantic blue gaze locked onto the now-smiling figure of a kit she hadn't seen in some time. Pale green eyes blinked up at her as the orange tabby tail waved, its white tip reminding her of the snow-covered field where they had first met. "You're awakes!"

"Why are you here?? This is a joke right? You're not-" Finishing that sentence was impossible with how her throat started to constrict, tears dotting her gaze as Dusk shook her head back and forth. This couldn't... Sunny was not... She hadn't...

"It's okays; cats heres are supers nice! Just like you saids!" Sunny beamed up at Dusklion, the expression making her eyes nearly shut as her paws tapped the ground happily. "There's lots of mices, and birdies, and fishies to catch!"

Despite how happy Sunny appeared to be, all the dark tabby felt was guilt. Guilt at not bringing her into RiverClan. Guilt for turning her back on her. Guilt for their last interaction being a violent one. Rarely did Dusklion ever regret anything she did, but that night... it still hung heavy on her mind, often being the source of her nightmares. "...I-I failed you." The words come out before she can really comprehend them, whiskers quivering as she started to feel her whole body shake a little.

Sunny's maw downturned into a frown and she shook her head. "It's not your faults, Dusky. Promise." Eyes going round with genuine forgiveness, it took everything in Dusklion to not look away. Guilt made way for shame, and shame faded into self-loathing - but the way that Sunny was looking at her... "You taughts me abouts the stars ins the skies! Before yous... no one even stopped to talks to me." At that, a little piece of the warrior's heart broke off.

"...I should've brought you to RiverClan. They could've kept you safe."

"Its okays, reallys. I'm safe here nows."

Blinking back more tears, Dusklion shook her head and glanced behind her. Below in the clearing she watched the battle rage on, blood still staining the floor. And off to the side, shaking in fear, was- "Cobs." The she-cat reminded her so much of Sunny. Perhaps that was why she had felt such a strong, intense connection with her from the moment they had met and why she had been so quick to chase her ass of a father away from her and take her into RiverClan.

"I'm dead, aren't I?" The words send shock waves through her. Dusk had always envisioned dying in battle, going out in a blaze for the protection of her Clan. This would... she would be remembered, wouldn't she? Her Clan would still talk about her? Tell stories of her? Kits would look up to her? ...Had she left a mark on the history of her Clan? Or would she simply be another name forgotten in the dust of the past? Would her brother -

"Nopes!"

Her thoughts interrupted, Dusklion blinked and looked back to Sunny with wide eyes. No? No she wasn't dead?? Or was Sunny able to read her thoughts?? "No, your not deads, silly Dusky! You've still gots lots of life to lives!" By now Sunny was jumping from paw to paw excitedly, almost as if at any moment she would bolt off. Meanwhile Dusk stood there, looking as shocked and confused as ever.

"But... the injuries... 'n I'm up here... this is.. StarClan right?" Why was she here, if not for being dead?

"I just wanted to sees you... the bigger cats said I could comes and meets you before you went backs!" Another little happy hop on her kitten paws.

...Not dead? Dusklion was almost knocked off balance by the relief that flooded through her chest, glancing back at her body in time to see it disappear into the medicine den. So... she would still have time with her Clan, her home, her brother. Her Clanmates that, while irritable and mouse-brained, she loved more than she had ever loved anything. It was for them and them alone that she had fought so hard, and she knew it. She would lay down her life to defend them and her home - in fact, it was now dawning on her she almost had.

"Also, don'ts worry abouts leaving me agains. I promise, Dusky! I'm doing okays, okay? So go backs down there, and bes the great RiverClanny warrior you tolds me yous'd be! ...Okays?"

Looking back at Sunny again, at the young kitten that Dusk knew now she had failed to save, still believing in her and still smiling at her despite everything... the dark tabby couldn't help but grin a little. "...Thanks for not lettin' me die to a thunder-rat, Sunny." Lifting a paw she ruffled the younger kits head, which brought out squeaks of laughter from her. By now the landscape around her was starting to fade, and any moment she knew she would wake up in her body.

The last thing she saw as the dream faded was Sunny's smiling face.

"Bye Dusky!! I loves you!!!"