Lilypetal's POV

I wanted to sink to the ground and let out a yowl as I saw Goldenshine and Jayfeather trudge into camp with Snowflight's body, my daughter's body, on their backs. But I simply stood where I was, too shocked and too numb with grief to speak.

It was clear that Snowflight was dead; She had gashes all over her body, and some parts even looked shredded. Rainwater had washed the blood away, but it was beginning to ooze from her wounds all over again.

I almost thought that I had lost the ability to breath. Not only out of sadness and anxiety, but because my daughter's death was the only thing on my mind, consuming my whole being, so much so that the knowledge of how to breath was almost pushed away. It can't be...

Pushing myself to finally move, I immediately ran over to meet Goldenshine and Jayfeather as I shook my head slowly. But, seeing Snowflight up close just brought in another unbearable wave of grief, as if it was the first time I was seeing her dead all over again.

"No!" I wailed as I pushed my nose into my daughter's fur. "How did this happen?" I then forced myself to look at Goldenshine, pulling my muzzle away from Snowflight's fur.

Goldenshine looked utterly emotionless. "I found her in the forest," she murmured. "Killed by Ashfur."

Uncontrollable anger immediately bubbled up inside of me. Ashfur is back?! I thought in complete rage and confusion. It had now been moons since I scared him out of ThunderClan territory. Since then, I had been able to live in complete ease, never catching his scent on our territory or hearing the rustles at night that I had when I was in the nursery. I thought that Ashfur was truly gone for good. After all, his goal of hurting Squirrelflight had now been fulfilled.

But apparently, Ashfur's new found goal to hurt me had still needed to be accomplished, and it had been.

I growl began to rumble in my throat. I would run back out into that forest a hundred times if I knew that eventually, Ashfur would leave. What am I saying? I'm going to kill the piece of crowfood! "That mangy..." I unsheathed my claws and sank them into the ground. I then began to storm out of camp, but I could hear Goldenshine's quick pawsteps beginning to make their way ahead of me in order to intercept me.

"No!" My daughter exclaimed, leaping up to block the camp entrance.

I stared at her in confusion, my tail lashing with eagerness and anticipation. "What do you mean?" I demanded, trying to jump past Goldenshine. "Why won't you let me find him and kill him?"

"Because he's already dead," Jayfeather meowed, almost at a whisper.

My eyes widened in bewilderment. Now, I didn't even know how I felt; the evil cat I hated with a passion was finally dead, which gave me a sense of relief. But when it hit me that my precious daughter was dead, that small speck of relief suddenly went away.

"How was he killed?" I asked, barely able to get the words out.

My ears flicked as I heard Goldenshine's quiet whimper. "I..." Goldenshine whispered, "I did it. For Snowflight."

I stared back at my daughter, my heart managing to warm up just slightly. Goldenshine killed Ashfur for her sister... I realized, touching my tail tip to Goldenshine's shoulder just for a heartbeat. This is the warrior that I've seen in her all along, and I hated to see her lose it when her loyalty wavered.

Then, without saying anything else, Jayfeather and Goldenshine began to travel deeper into the camp, Goldenshine sliding under Snowflight to help Jayfeather once again. I felt my eyes cloud as they then carried her to the middle of camp before finally lying her down.

I averted my gaze from my dead daughter for just a heartbeat, and looked over slightly to see that Thornclaw was staring sadly just as I had been, his eyes glittered with grief. His claws were unsheathed and were sinking themselves into the earth.

I then found myself watching my former mate, almost not being able to bear seeing him suffer so much, and alone.

I found myself taking a step forward towards Thornclaw. Do I go talk to him? I asked myself. I then let out a hiss, shaking my head quickly.

Lilypetal, now is not the time to hold an argument over your head, I told myself. Our daughter just died. Our fight does not matter right now!

I took a deep breath and slowly padded over to him. Mistpelt said not to force anything, I recalled in my mind. Well, this isn't forced. Not at all.

I then paused once I was about a fox-length in front of Thornclaw. I felt a pang of nervousness as I finally looked up to meet the tabby tom's gaze.

And in that moment, looking into Thornclaw's blue gaze, I realized how much I didn't want to be away from this cat anymore. Through my grieving and pained heart, I already knew of a way that I could put it back together again, and that was by letting the fight go, and bringing the love of my life back into my life. Dwelling on our quarrel wasn't worth it anymore. In fact, it never was.

As I stared back at Thornclaw, just by the intensity in his eyes, I could tell that he was thinking exactly as I was. I mean, that was one reason why we were always so good together; not even having to say one word to each other to be on the same page.

Our fight had thrown us a little off track, but I was never going to let it happen again.

Thornclaw and I were going to endure this together.

Almost as if we had been given a signal, Thornclaw and I stood up at the same time, running up to each other and pressing our muzzles together. In that heartbeat, I managed to feel a twinge of happiness as Thornclaw's warm scent flooded into my nose, and his familiar soft fur rubbed against my muzzle. I then let out another whimper as I dug my head into Thornclaw's chest.

"Oh, Lilypetal," Thornclaw meowed more softly than I had ever heard him speak, putting his muzzle on my head and pulling me closer to him with his tail. "I am so, so sorry."

I closed my eyes as Thornclaw brought me closer. I pulled away from his chest to meet his gaze once again. "Oh, Thornclaw. I am so, so sorry too." I then let out a sigh as the two of us stared into each other's eyes, our gazes reflecting our feelings of satisfaction, but immense grief with it as well.

And for the moment, I think we both knew that that was all we needed to say to each other.

After several heartbeats, I turned from my mate's gaze to look back at Snowflight, suddenly at a loss for words or even any thoughts all over again. Thornclaw and I may be together again... but Snowflight is still gone, and I still feel lower than I ever have in my entire life.

I let my head fall to the ground as I heard Thornclaw's quiet hiss. "I can't believe it," Thornclaw croaked, staring back at his daughter. "Why would Ashfur do this?" His voice got stiffer and stiffer as he spoke. His claws continued to sink into the earth, getting deeper and deeper.

I sighed, realizing unfortunately that I had a very clear answer to Thornclaw's question.

Yes, moons ago I had chased Ashfur away from the forest, but that had clearly not been enough, had it? I hadn't intimidated him enough, or maybe I didn't make things clear.

Whatever the reason was, I couldn't help but blame myself for my daughter's death.

"He wanted revenge. Revenge for what I did," I finally whispered tautly, trying to push down my own anger. "This is all my fault."

"Lilypetal, do not talk like that," Thornclaw demanded, turning my head towards him with his tail so that I could meet his gaze. "Listen, you chased Ashfur off so long ago. Did you think that he was going to come back? I certainly didn't."

I sighed shakily as more and more realizations rose in my head. "I wouldn't have even needed to chase him off if it wasn't for me and what I did at that Gathering..." I hissed.

"You're talking nonsense!" Thornclaw insisted as he continued to hold my head up with his tail. "You were doing the right thing when you exposed that flea-pelt to everyone. It was a truly heroic thing to do, and you probably saved everyone from the trouble that he was capable of."

At Thornclaw's words, I let out another wail and let my head fall back into my mate's chest. "But I didn't save Snowflight!" I sobbed into my mate's fur. Snowflight, I am so sorry!

As I whimpered, I then felt Thornclaw rub his tail along my flank as he licked my head soothingly. I could just barely hear him gently shushing me through the rain that continued to fall. "It's okay, Lilypetal," he murmured into my ear. "Everything will be okay. I love you."

"Oh, Thornclaw, I love you too," I whispered, pressing more deeply into his fur. Oh, StarClan, how happy I am to be able to say that again... I thought as I let out a sigh.

Then, Thornclaw and I stood there together for several heartbeats, sharing our grief together before finally turning and looking at our daughter again. She was now surrounded by her Clanmates, all of their gazes dark and solemn.

Thornclaw and I exchanged another glance full of sorrow before padding over to where our daughter was lying. As the two of us settled down, my eyes began to cloud all over again. I let out a shaky sigh as I dug my head into Snowflight's fur for one of the last times.

It feels like she was just born, I thought to myself. She was so fantastic and intelligent. She would have made a great mentor to future medicine cats...

I then lifted my head up, just to take a quick glance to see who was still around. And, my heart was able to warm up slightly as I saw that beside Thornclaw, Mistpelt was lying on his other side, Goldenshine on my other side, and Jayfeather was beside her. Many other ThunderClan cats were surrounding the white she-cat as well.

I let out one last sigh, actually managing to feel a twinge of comfort and satisfaction as I let my head fall back into Snowflight's fur.

Goodbye, my dear. May StarClan light your path. I love you.