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The branches of dead trees swayed, blackberry bushes having their leaves rustled. All was quiet on ThunderClan's aboveground territory, although no cats roamed there as the sun was still high in the sky, its ever-watching and never-changing gaze baking the ground beneath it.
A snake lay coiled within its den, hidden beneath a blackberry bush, deep in slumber. It was much too hot, being only an hour after sun-high. When it turned dusk however, it'd awaken and slither from its hiding place when the ground was still pleasantly hot and hunt until moon-high, when the world became much too cold, and return to its den. This was how it'd always been since the snake was a young hatchling, and how it'd always beeeeeeeeeee̸͈̓͛e̸͇̫͎͉̹̟̞̬̰̼͐̇̿ė̵̛͎͌̈́͌͗̐̓͒̃͗͗̃e̵͓̎̐ę̸̺͇̜͇̟̜͂͑͜ĕ̷̗͙͙̍̌̀̿͛̍͐ͅę̸̛͎̦̣̣̺̗̫̙̪̟̲̣͇̪̇́̍̇̀̚͘̚e̴̱̱͑̿̈́̌̈͒́͛̏́̋̋̚͝e̸̖̟̖͎̳͖̽e̶̢̛̯͚̐̀̾̆ę̸̛͇̫̣̗̪̻̳̥͕̗̰̝̘͊̃̍͋̊̆̚͠͝ͅe̴̢̛͚͖̝͈͎͗̌̊̃͛͑͘͝ẽ̵̩͔͖̌̄̍̅̃̃͑̓͋͂̀̾͝e̸̛̲̦̭̼̗̮̗̣̪̟͔̬̅̆̈́̃̈́̚ͅê̷͖͍̜̱̣̹è̵̢̥̯͗̃̓̔͗͑͗͊̔̚͝ė̸̛̩͚͕̰͔͙̭̹̦̘̫̈́̐̉͆̕
[SUN EYE stands before the MOONLIGHT SPIRE with trepidation.]
[SUN EYE, speaking]
It wasn't meant to be this way.
Once upon a time in a world far from this one We were powerful and respected but I
(Not We, I, We are not One as much as They would like that, this was My doing not His)
destroyed Him
(My other half, My only half)
as I wanted His power.
(There's 30 teeth in My mouth)
But now I see, on the precipice of year 50
(or so, We have lost track)
and We look down upon the cats when They hide and when They come out in the Night and We realize that this is not a life We enjoy. Why must We be so lonely? Why must We be stuck here, Together?
[SKY JUMPER faces away from the MOONLIGHT SPIRE, he is crying.]
[SKY JUMPER, speaking]
I hate You.
Why am I so lonely? We are stuck Together We have Each Other. But I'm so Sad. I miss My Brothers. I miss My Mother. I just want to see Them again. I'm so Sad. I don't want to be here with Him anymore. I just want to go Home. But my Home is gone. It's gone. It's gone. Because of Me. I'm so Sad I'm so Sad I'm so Sad
I'm so Sad
I'm so Sad
I'm so Sad
I'm so Sad
I'm so Sad
I'm so Sad
I'm so Sad
I'm so S
It hurts
(I don't breathe so how am I alive?)
High in the Sky rises the Sun, awful and bright.
(it's Me but Not Me, who am I?)
The Moon will rise soon too. But for now the Sun reigns. I wish it didn't I wish it didn't I wish it didn't
Far below is My Daughter. My Daughter and Her Lover. I wish I could tell Her how proud I am. That I love Her. Just one last time.
(There's 35 teeth in my mouth)
I do not remember why I wanted to destroy Them All so badly now. The Time wears away on Me and My Mind is made of Stone, how long till I forget All and till I forget Me?
(My tongue hurts)
And the Moon
Said to the Sun
"I love you"
(But that's not what happened)
The moment I awake I feel something awful press down on Me and the air is heavy. It smells like blood.
(The world is trying to drown me)
But I realized it was not My Blood or His Blood. It was the Sky's Blood. The Sky screamed and cracked and warped around us and the Sun grew to swallow Us Both whole as the Moon sunk away.
(Coward)
And beneath They began to scream and run and
(We wish We could forget, why can't We forget like with Everything Else?)
some simply collapsed as their fur fell away. The world fell around Us as the Sun began to sing,
(I can't breathe)
and destroyed everything in its path. We screamed.
[SKY JUMPER and SUN EYE face the MOONLIGHT SPIRE together. It pulses and writhes. The Moon rises.]
[SKY JUMPER, speaking]
I'm so tired.
[SUN EYE, speaking]
We are still here, can You believe it?
(I can't)
Once upon a time in a land where the sun was good, Dawn Break gave birth. All of Her litter was dead save for one Son. She named Him Sun Eye.
Once upon a time in a land where the rocks stretched high into the sky and great birds flew, Quiet Rain gave birth. Only her Sons survived. She named Them Gray Sky and Sky Jumper.
My Daughter did not stay of Her Will. She was stuck.
(There's 45 teeth in my mouth)
She could not leave the Sun's gaze. She was stuck. I felt so awful We felt so awful We both loved her even if in different ways. She was My only daughter. Her Mother never lived to see her. Dusk Shine. What would you think of Me now?
(She'd hate Me)
I did what I could.
(I left Our Daughter to die)
I did what I could. What I thought was best.
(But it wasn't enough)
How was I supposed to know? How could We have known?
(There's 60 teeth in my mouth)
The Sun is still burning. They are still living. Can You believe it?
(There's 80 teeth in my mouth)
It's something so great that even just Its Shadow weighs upon Me so heavily. So heavy. It pulls yet it pushes, crushing me and stretching me infinitely. It hurts.
(I can't breathe)
It hurts. It hurts. I wish I never existed. I wish My Mother died before I could be birthed. I wish She had never met My Father. Three words sealed my fate: "I love You."
(I can't breathe)
Love love has always been my downfall, it will always be my ending in this world and the next and the next and the next. Infinite possibilities and endless suffering for Me only and always deserved,
(I can't breathe)
so so very Selfish I never saw what was good for Me Gray Sky I'm so sorry,
(I can't breathe)
My Brother My Brother I never should have hurt You, You only wanted what was best
(I can't breathe)
for Me but I never saw it. I was too Blind for it. I'm so sorry. Gray Sky,
(I want to die)
(I can't breathe)
(I hate you)
(Help me)
I Miss You.
(I'm sorry)
[The MOONLIGHT SPIRE looms over SUN EYE and SKY JUMPER. It is elated.]
[MOONLIGHT SPIRE, speaking]
I will never let you gģ̴̨̛̮̲̫͚͓̮͉̪̻̹̰̰̒̾̐́̉ͅg̴̢̨̛̼̦̣̻͚̣͔̭͉̃͗͂̒͑̈͠ò̷̡̡̩̗͍̥̳̝̫̠̗̍̍̃̋̊͗̇̕͠͝ͅo̷̡̲̥̜̰̺͒͋͊̃̈̾̈̍͊͑̃̀̉ͅo̸̡̧̮̥̙̺͔̬̦͖̪͖͙̻̮̐́͛̕̕ȍ̷͎͓̈̒̎̒̾̎̈́̽̂̂̂̚ö̴͈̘̜̝̬̼́́͒͂̂̂̄͆́̕͘͝͝͝ǫ̷̢̧̖͕̝̥̭̪̦̝͓̈̅͐͂̽̇̒̍͗̿͐͌̊̀̚o̷̡̧̖͉͇͔̐̈́ơ̶̤͓͚̾͐̽͌͐̊͛̈̀̂́̓̕͝͝ͅͅǫ̴̠̗̠͕͔̳̙͙̜̪̲͙͋̑͗͂̎͠͝o̴̧̯̞̳͍̠̝̻̠̹̖͐̇o̴͖̭̽̐͊̆ō̵̡͇̲̬̔̅̊͝
ȍ̵̥̥̻̇̀̀̆̑̒͂̄̚͘
ȍ̶̡̘̙͚͍̣̦̻̥̮̖̆̀͊̊̃̈́̑̽̔̍͑̄̀̚̕͜
o̵̧̡̤̘̦̖̣̜͔̼̣͈͎̤̺̽̈̽̈́̒̈́̒̾͋̈́̉ ȍ̶̡̘̙͚͍̣̦̻̥̮̖̆̀͊̊̃̈́̑̽̔̍͑̄̀̚̕͜ȍ̶̡̘̙͚͍̣̦̻̥̮̖̆̀͊̊̃̈́̑̽̔̍͑̄̀̚̕͜
Jaypaw blinked, and sat up, leaving the snake he'd just caught by his paws. His ears pricked, and his face scrunched. What was that? For a moment his powers had caught a strong wave of emotion, a crushing and sinking and coiling feeling deep in his chest and belly, like he was dying and being torn apart yet mended back together all at once. The fur along his spine still prickled in its wake, though it'd passed by now.
Not only that, but he'd also caught the stray thoughts of whoever had felt so strongly; most of it was an incoherent slurry, all mixed together by now, but Jaypaw could still pick out the memory of 'I miss you' and something about the sun.
"Must have been Breezepaw," Jaypaw surmised, knowing that his half-brother had still not quite recovered from the death of his mother, Nightcloud. "Or maybe a kit having a nightmare." But still, Jaypaw could not help but wonder just how strong the emotions had to have been in order to reach him from all the way below the tunnels.
Before he could ponder any further, Lionpaw called to him from somewhere behind. "Jaypaw! C'mere! Hollypaw just caught a huuugggee hare! We're gonna show Leafpool!"
Jaypaw smiled, cast away the mystery for now, picked up his snake, and followed after his brothers voice. Lionpaw kept shouting, saying that maybe they could show Crowfeather too, if he wasn't asleep. That sounded nice; Jaypaw hadn't heard of his father since the last gathering. Maybe Jaypaw could tell him about what'd happened? Leafpool, logically, would be better for it, but… after she'd try to force him into being a medic, their relationship had been strained.
Jaypaw walked through the brush, calling out to Lionpaw, telling him to stop yelling as he'd scare any other prey away. Lionpaw laughed and said something indistinguishable.
From the Moon, unheard, unseen,
(I wish They could see Me)
I screamed.
(There's 128 teeth in my mouth)