Why must the good die young? {o}

[seadra2]

"They showed you a statue, told you to pray
They built you a temple and locked you away
But they never told you the price that you pay
For things that you might have done.....
Only the good die young
Thats what I said
Only the good die young."

Callisto trotted up to the park, her mate trailing just behind her. She was happy she could see him again after such a long break. Calli had left Oren and the kittens for a while, just to take a break from the mother buisness. She meowed playfully at his side, happy to be with him, happy to love on him. The kits grew up and went on their own, they are okay. She smiled as she chatted lightly with him on the most easy subjects, and laughed whenever he said something was funny. Any passerby would think they were the perfect couple, happy, healthy, laughing. They were.

The grey and white she-cat looked at her mate with her big gold orbs. "I love you, Oren," She licked his cheek lightly. He smiled softly and adoringly. "And I you, love," his deep voice rumbled from his brown chest. He licked her face hard with his rough tongue. She let out a hysterical giggle when she felt a rush surge through her body. "Everytime you do that..." Calli whispered breathlessly. She wrapped her tail around her paws and leaned against Oren, who chuckled. "I actually like that part, that's the only reason I still do that." Callisto raised her eyebrows, shocked at that. "Honestly?" She smiled and pawed at his whiskers playfully.

He tackled her to the ground gently, "Yes." With that, they began to play fight. They rolled, leaped, and meowed in the park. Not a care or other cat in the world could break their trance. They laughed and smiled so much when they separated to take a breath, their faces hurt. She looked at the sky, watching the clouds roll on this sunny day. Then, Callisto heard staggered breathing. She rolled over onto her side to check on Oren. He was on all fours and hunched over, coughing up blood.

Callisto shrieked and went to his side. "Oren!" He couldn't stop coughing, when he did it was harsh breathing. "Help, somebody!" She glanced around. "ANYBODY!" Tears streamed from her gold eyes, and she licked Oren all over. "Oren, if you don't stop and you..." she couldn't even say it, "I just want you to know, you're the best thing that has ever happened to me. I love you with all of my life, and nothing will ever change that. Ever. I love you more than anybody loves anything. You are my life! Oren Starlight, I love you." By the end of her speech, she could barely see anything because her eyes were tear filled. He collapsed onto the ground, and began weezing. She layed next to him, praying to the gods that he would be alright.

I...love...you.." he choked in between his harsh breathing. Live...life...don't..hold.." Oren spit blood into the grass. "back...Callisto...Starli--" He breathed out really hard and stressfully and his eyes rolled back into his head. Callisto couldn't speak, and she was pretty sure she stopped breathing a while go. She sobbed, even when her eyes were all dried up.

She rolled Oren's body over, away from the blood and began to lick the blood from his face and body as good as she could. When he was semi-clean, she curled up next to his limp body. As if that would help anything, but she couldn't help it. She wondered what happened? He was so healthy before! What happened? She moved on top of him and stared blankly into space, wondering what she could have done to deserve this.

[maple]

Maple slept, curled up under a tree. Her limbs twitched and shook as she dreamed of sprinting after a squirrel, dashing under the trees, tail and fur streaming out behind her. Run, Maple, run! Catch the squirrel! Her jaws snapped together as she dreamed of coming up on the fat piece of prey-- but of course, she woke up just before she caught the squirrel.
Drat. Maple shook herself, growling in annoyance at whatever had woken her up. Shaking her head groggily, Maple sighed. But then she jumped in surprise when she realized that there was someone shrieking outside.
Wide-awake and alert by now, the tabby rushed out to the park, where the shrill screams seemed to be coming from. She didn't want to help whoever was wailing -- why would she do that? -- it was simply an act of curiosity.
The shrieking had stopped by now, and the only cat who could be seen was a nice-looking gray and white one. Wait-- is there another cat next to her? Yes, that blood-stained hap was definitely a cat... one who was not moving.
Ah. I think I see why she was wailing.
Padding closer, Maple nudged the living at gently. She was staring blankly into space, clearly distraught by the death of the other cat. "I'm so sorry," Maple murmured. "Was he your mate?"

[/blockquote]

[seadra2]

"Can you see it? Can you feel it?
Watch as worlds
Collide into themselves
Collide into themselves."

Tears still strode from her eyes when she finally sat up to look at her surroundings. It had slowly gotten darker and you could now see the faint outline of the moon. Callisto hadn't realized that it was a new moon tonight. She was breathing hard and pained. She breathed in deeply and exhaled to slow her harsh breathing down. It worked kinda, "I have to compose," she whispered to herself, "I'm just so glad that the kits aren't here to see me like this..." she thought about adding him, but decided against it.

Her eyes were still adjusting to the night when a voice spoke. She jumped back, hair standing on end, arched back, and claws unsheathed, and hissed at whoever suprized her like that. But, she had gotten into her attack mode before the second word had gotten out of the other cat's mouth. "I'm so sorry," is what the she-cat mewed. Callisto relaxed a little after that. "Well you're a few seconds late!" She spat sourly and turned around to her dead mate. "Was he your mate?" words poured out of her mouth.

Calli turned around, a crazed expression on her face. "Yes, he is my mate. His name is Oren!" Her mind was twisted by death, by losing her closest friend and lover. She refused to admit that he was gone, that he couldn't speak, it was very pathetic. She turned back around to clean herself, there was blood all over her.

[maple]

Maple took a step back when the other cat flashed into attack mode. A hissing, snarling ball of fury stood in front of her -- not the shocked, distraught cat she had expected. Gaping, Maple watched as the gray at spat a few words at her -- "Well you're a few seconds late!" -- before turning back to the heap of blood-stained fur on the ground.
But Maple's shock and surprise at the cat's savage reaction had snapped her brain into autopilot; she couldn't stop herself from talking more. As soon as she said the words, she regretted them, for both her sake and the other cats'. She had turned back around with a hysterical expression on her twisted gray and white face.
The tabby stepped backwards again, clearly regretting her decision to find out why she had been wailing. "Um," Maple stuttered. "Well... I'm sorry... I didn't mean..." Every instinct in her screamed to turn and run away from this crazed she-cat, but she couldn't do that, could she? No, she had to be nice. And the nice thing to do was comfort this hysterical cat, try and make her at peace with the realization that her mate was dead.
Moving back to the stranger, she bent over the bloody cat and, with a cautious glance at the living cat, began to help her clean the blood off him. But even as she seemed kind and caring on the outside, on the inside, she was retching and gagging at the taste of the blood and fighting the huge urge to leave.

[/blockquote]

[hakumei]

Pearl took a quick whiff and her whole body froze, her white tail fluffing it's semi-long, ragged fur out in surprise. In the blink of an eye, memories of her siblings, her parents, the old Starlight home flooded back to her. She remembered her mother's gentle face, her sisters and her brothers as she drank warm meilk and learned her first lessons on how to be polite, how to be a cat, all the essentials.

It was her mother's scent, carried strong across the wind.

This can't be, I got lost almost a year ago, Pearl thought, blue eyes fixed on the hedge ahead of her, analyzing the space between the prickly branches and the ground to see if she could wriggle her lean body through. Her strides were as large as she could make them, with her heart pounding in her chest as she heaved for enough air. Her throat was getting dry and sore with her breathing, but she couldn't let the oppurtunity go, this one chance to see her mother. She hoped.

It might be just a regular cat that smelled insanely and completely similar, but she couldn't take the chance that it would be Callisto Starlight, that beautiful black-and-white cat, her beloved mother. Would she look the same? Had she changed?

Would she recognize her daughter, Pearl, after her brief stunt turned her lean, shaggy and slightly worse-for-wear?

Bursting out through the hedge with evergreen needles clinging to her fur, she skidded to a stop, her pads grazed by the sand and rock on the edge of the road. Gingerly, she walked over to a cat that looked like her mother.

Turns out, it was... but that wasn't why Pearl dropped her jaw. Her mom was covered in blood, and next to her was her father, who lay unnaturally motionless.

"Mom! It's me, Pearl! Mom, I've missed you so much, I didn't think I'd find you again!" She yowled, racing over to Callisto and headbutting her, licking her coat politely, even though it was salty and metallic; the taste of blood. Warm blood.

She nervously gazed down at her father, foreboding clenching at her chest. "W-what's wrong with Dad, Mom?" She whimpered, her tail curling close to her body for support.

[seadra2]

Callisto glared at the ground. She began sheathing and unsheathing her claws, wondering what she was to do now. She exhaled slowly but surely calming herself down so she could face this problem, at that moment she heard the cry, "Mom!" Surely that couldn't be one of her kits? They'd all gone away.... Maybe it was just some other kitten in the park calling her mother. Then, she was headbutted and covered in licks. She rolled over to see her gorgeous white kitten with her beautiful blue eyes. Joy spread over some of the cold that was filling her body. "Pearl, sweets, is that really you?" She asked, clearly a rhetorical question for herself. She began licking her kitten, covering her in kisses. When Pearl asked about Oren, that's when her heart swelled up...

She had no clue of how she could explain it to her kin. "Well, baby, Daddy's gone off to a better place. He didn't mean to, it was sort of sudden. But he said to tell you that he loves you all very much, and he's sorry." She nuzzled the 6-month-year-old kitten, fresh tears streaming from her eyes. She sat up on her haunches, "But that's all behind us, now isn't it Pearl? No need to be upset..." She turned her head to find the strange she-cat standing by the corpse. She bowed her head in a respective manner. "I'm sorry for acting the way I did. Oren just meant so much to me...can I ask who you might be?" She was trying to be nicer because her kit was here. Her mind was slowly realizing that Oren really was gone, and there was nothing she could do about that. All because of Pearl. Was she the only kit she had left? Where had the others gone? So many questions swelled up in her head.

"Pearl, hon, where are your brother and sisters?"

[twilight]

"Pearl, sweets, is that really you?"

If kittens could cry, this one would. Her eyes crinkled up and her ears hung to the side as she managed a gurgling mewl, "Yes, Mom, it really is me, it's Pearl; oh Mom, I've missed you so much, I didn't know if I'd ever meet you again, but I--" she was cut off by Callisto, and looked towards what... used to be Oren. It was a bloody, horror-movie version of him; too grotesque to be real.

"I c-can't believe that's Dad... he never got to see me again, no, he has to be still--" and then the white cate burst into mewls of anguish. She stayed close to her mom for support. She finally found her mother again... but how could this be the price?

"I, I don't know w-where Summer or Pax or anyone is," she said, between sobs and sniffles. "I've been lost and alone for s-so long, I-I've missed everyone," she finished, hunching over and curling her tail into her leg, ears drooping lethargically.