Dovefluff
Dovefluff had gotten up earlier that day, seeing her daughter in the dimly lit den still rolled into a ball of sleeping kitten, and without waking or jostling her only remaining kit, Dove slid out of the den to go catch her daughter some prey. She had started eating prey lately, and Dove wanted little Echokit to wake up to warm, fresh prey. The den had been so dark that she didn't notice how... still she was, only assuming that she was in a deep sleep and wouldn't want to be awakened.
So, Dove left the nursery and came back about 20 minutes later with a small vole, expecting to be greeted by her young daughter coming up to her, excited for the breakfast. But as she searched the den, looking at playing kits and chatting queens, she noticed something terrifyingly strange. Echokit was still in the same position she had been sleeping in when the young queen left. Padding forward, paws shaking like leaves in a thunderstorm, Dovefluff bent down to gently nudge her daughter awake, breath coming fast.
"Echokit, baby. Wake up, I brought you some food." She pleaded softly, gently rocking her baby daughter back slightly, desperately trying to jolt her awake.
"Echo- Echokit. Echokit." Her voice grew a pitch with each syllable, voice cracking as she tried to shake her kit gently to wake her up.
"Please wake up. Echokit please, Echokit- ECHOKIT-" Her daughter limply lay slack her paws, cold and motionless.
"HELP ME- SOMEONE, PLEASE!" She screamed, still looking down at the limp kit. Echokit was so cold... she must've died in her sleep, and was dead even when Dovefluff woke up.
"MY BABY, MY BABY- PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME-" She cried, trying to breathe life back into the limp kitten. What had happened. Dovefluff stood there for minutes and minutes, vainly trying to wake her daughter up, and eventually collapsed beside her, cradling the dead kitten close to her and rocking back and forth, letting out shock gasp and pleading shrieks for help. Not her baby. Her last baby. Her precious daughter.
The tears came fast and the chokes came next, and the former ShadowClan queen was weeping aloud, tears pouring down her face as harsh, heartbroken sobs swept through her body like spasms as she continued to rock the deceased kit, wailing with the shock and horror. The usually calm and mindful queen didn't even realize if there was anyone nearby, she didn't realize how loud and heart-wrenching her cries were, she just saw her kit, her daughter, laying dead in her arms. What could she have done to save her?
Take me, take me, not my baby. Not my baby, please. She looked up in the direction of the cold, unforgiving world. If she could trade herself in for Echokit, she wouldn't even hesitate. Not even to think.
[ @
Loveless.Fawn || open for anyone to help Dove move herself and Echo into the clearing for the vigil ]