Chapter Text
There are countless ways for a cat to die. Most ways are… unpleasant, to say the least. No cat wants to go out burning alive, suffering from sickness, or choking while they feel their life slowly draining from their body.
Some cats, however, wouldn’t mind dying in, say, a battle. It would be painful, but it’s an honorable death. Painful, but honorable --- and hopefully quick --- with just enough time for them to say goodbye to their loved ones, should they be granted the chance. Most cats want the death of a hero. They would be content with dying if it was for an honorable cause, because then they will have served their Clan to the fullest.
Most cats, though, wish to live a long, fulfilling life. Wish that their destiny is to serve their Clan until they get old. Wish to pass on peacefully during the night, satisfied with their existence, and move on to join their ancestors in Silverpelt above.
Unfortunately, most cats aren’t granted this wish --- this privilege. Unfortunately, most cats are taken too young, unexpectedly, much to the great sorrow of their clanmates. Most cats wake up each day, ready to carry out their normal duties, and are unaware that they won’t be with their living clanmates by nightfall. It happens so quickly, and before they know it they’re with the stars, left to wait or left to reunite with their loved ones. Sometimes, they don’t even get to say goodbye.
They go out, taken in various ways: crushed to death; smoke inhalation; trapped in a fire; blood-loss; impact; poison; or, StarClan forbid, dragged down by water.
Water, while beautiful, is incredibly deadly. You can be hit full-force by a raging wall of water, be swept under a strong current and never find your way back up, or be dragged out by a riptide and slowly lose the energy to continue struggling and slip under the surface. You can strike your head against a rock, have your body be battered against the swift currents, or remain awake and helpless as your lungs fill with water as soon as you lose the fight with your instincts to take a breath. It’s unforgiving. Unrelenting.
Drowning is one of the worst ways to go. You can’t breathe, it’s agonizingly slow, and it’s increasingly painful the longer it takes. If you can’t swim, you’re completely at its mercy. Even then, though, those who can are still at risk from the water’s fury. One wrong step, or even just bad luck, can change everything.
Even then, knowing that drowning is a horrible way to go, some cats still choose this fate for themselves. They throw themselves into the water head-first, knowing they may not ever come back up. Whether they’re trying to save someone, or drag a cat down with them into the dark depth of the lake, they know full well it may be the end.
It’s ominous, really: to see a cat dive under the calm, lapping waves of the lake, never to resurface again.
Even more so if no one is there to see them drown. They never know where that cat went --- what happened to them.
Some, however, take solace in the idea that drowning is one of the few deaths that gives you a chance to (semi) calmly reflect on your life. Often, when you begin to drown, you know that your life is coming to an end. It’s oddly… cathartic.
Drowning gives you a chance to reflect on your loved ones, your experiences, the various highs and lows you’ve undoubtedly experienced --- it’s a nice thought. Many deaths only give you the chance to see your life flash before your eyes in only a fleeting moment before you’re suddenly standing over yourself as a spirit.
You don’t get much time to come to terms with it all. The good and the bad. All that you could’ve done with all of the time you could’ve had. Drowning gives you that chance.
Even if it’s painful. In more ways than one.
Drowning still gives you a chance to reflect on what you never got to say. Say “I love you” one last time, go hunting with your kits, mess around with your siblings, bring your parents one last piece of fresh-kill, listen to their stories one last time…
…Say all the things you never got to say.
It can hurt. A lot more than you’d initially believe.
It hurts so much.
And then, just like that, it’s over. The water has dragged you down, conquered your strength, and you’ve succumbed to it.
Then?
It all goes to black.