[Rose]

Love, intertwined with fate, had led her here, to this fate, to this point in time, to this moment, like it had led Bumblestar here to demand the regeneration of her lost lover. The petite molly sat at the edge of the lake, water lapping at her dainty paws, a silent specter. A ghost, with a silent countenance and a heavy, weighed-down heart.

She wished she could return to her world, where she'd spent too much time mourning someone lost and not paying attention to the cats she should have been celebrating. She wished to see her family, one last time. She sat there, and she wished, and she wondered how they were. She wondered how one kept their heart beating when half of it was torn away. When half of it lived in the world below.

For Berryfrost was already dead, but it felt like if she spent one more moment without her other half, without her love, without her family, old and new, far and close, she would disappear into the breeze. Because here was the truth, laid down bare - one that Berryfrost had been on her way to telling Snowybreeze after her check-up with Cowtuft; she had been expecting kits. Little ones, hers and Snowybreeze's. It had been a... a knowing. That new life was soon to be in the world. That soon, Berryfrost would be able to expand her little family. And then she had died with them, with that secret, and it tore at her mind and heart like a vengeful storm.

She wondered if Cowtuft had known. She wondered if his horrified and utterly lost expression had partially been not because she was his cousin, but because she had soon to be a mother. She supposed she'd never know. Nor would Fallownose and Peachfrost know of their formerly impending grandparent-hood, nor would Snowybreeze know that he would have been a father. She could not tell if it was a good thing or a bad thing, for she did not wish to cause her living relatives more strife.

The storm raged around her, and Berryfrost was lost in it's eye. Everything seemed peaceful, but in truth? - it would never be. The possibilities, the chances, the moments she'd missed, ones that could never be.

Fate, was, as they say - as cruel and cold as the ocean waves that stole onto the beach at midnight, that swelled and rose high amidst the rain. But while everyone blindly blamed fate, it was love that equally tore it's occupants apart with a fervored glee. Love, that seemed so innocent, and yet turned out so disastrous when it didn't get it's way - a petulant child throwing a temper tantrum.

But Berryfrost had always been a coward, mindlessly following the path that'd been laid out for her without protest. And now as she sat, staring in silence at the lake in front of her, she wished she could rewind the moons and warn herself from trusting Cowtuft, her own cousin. But that wasn't fair, not to herself and not to her cousin. A distant part of her ached with the pain of a being wronged by family. She wished to put all the blame on Cowtuft, but she could not. Not when the mute tom had been exiled from WindClan. Not when he'd been torn away from his home, his family, his apprentice, in a worse way than Berryfrost had been. And not when Berryfrost was mostly the one to blame for her own downfall.

Truth was, Berryfrost had always meant to partially be the cause of her own undoing, in the end, whether she knew it at first or not.

Moonfall Lake, this place was called, known for it's rejuvenation. So then why, did Berryfrost's heart throb like it was being split in two? Why, did Berryfrost's hurt extend to every one of her limbs until she felt weary, as if she'd run nonstop across WindClan's moors. Head bowed, body bent forward, Berryfrost wept into the soil for everything that she'd lost.

Her cousin.

Her mother.

Her father.

Her mate.

Her kits.

Herself.