Lilypetal's POV

My heart immediately began to beat at triple the speed as I watched the snake slowly make its way towards Millie's kit.

"No!" I yowled. And, without thinking, I began to charge towards the three kits. No way am I letting a kit die from a snake today!

I then gasped, skidding to a halt as I suddenly saw a flash of golden ginger fur, and I shook my head quickly to see that Honeyfern had gotten to Briarkit first, gently shoving her out of the way.

I sighed with relief. Good, Brairkit is safe.

But my ease didn't last long. Honeyfern may have shielded Briarkit from getting bitten, but Honeyfern herself was still in harm's way. I let out an anxious squeal as I watched the snake continue to slither towards the young she-cat. "Honeyfern, look out!"

But unfortunately, my warning had come just a moment too late. Just as I had been speaking, the fox-hearted snake had already fastened its small, but sharp teeth in Honeyfern's shoulder.

My mouth dropped and I was overwhelmed with dismay as I watched Honeyfern spring backward. "Help!" She screeched out helplessly.

Oh my StarClan... no, no...

I then flinched as I felt a cat brush my flank, and I averted my gaze to see Brackenfur and Sorreltail pelting towards their daughter, who was now lying on the ground, her paws splayed out. Berrynose was bending over his mate, his eyes full of fear and terror.

My heart nearly broke as I heard Sorreltail's shaky meow. "No... oh, no..." I heard her whisper as she dug her muzzle into Brackenfur's shoulder. "I can't lose another kit! Not after Molekit! Please, StarClan..."

Just when I thought I couldn't bear to watch the scene unfolding in front of me anymore, I let out a small huff, being able to feel a bit of consolation as I noticed Leafpool quickly padding over to the group of cats.

"Stand back and give me some room," she ordered the cats surrounding Honeyfern.

"I'm not leaving," I heard Berrynose demand, and as I heard the plea in his voice, I found that my heart absolutely ached for the poor tom. I knew Berrynose to be quite the frustrating individual, but I certainly would never wish anything like this on him in a million moons.

I then watched as Leafpool began to hover over Honeyfern. I looked up to the sky. Please StarClan, be with Honeyfern, and be with Leafpool too! I prayed. Leafpool must know what to do, and Honeyfern can't lose to this!

I then found myself screwing my eyes shut, not being able to handle the pain in my heart as I heard Honeyfern's pained yowls. "Help me! My blood is on fire! Help me please! It hurts so much!"

Almost as if Thornclaw had sensed my need for comfort, I suddenly felt a pelt brush against mine, and I turned to see the familiar golden pelt of my mate. I let out a small whimper before digging my head into Thornclaw's chest. Please StarClan, please... I told my warrior ancestors as I felt Thornclaw wrap his tail around my shoulders.

"Do something!" I heard Berrynose beg, I assumed to Leafpool. "One of you, do something!"

More silence fell over the camp after Berrynose's words. As curious as I was to see what was happening, I found that I couldn't pull my head away from Thornclaw's chest.

I finally forced myself to lift my head as I then heard Sorreltail's yowl. "Why aren't you doing anything?"

"I'm so sorry," I could then just barely hear Leafpool's whisper. "There is nothing I can do. The poison has taken hold of her."

For one of the first times in my whole life, I felt as if my heart had physically broken as I heard Sorreltail's anguished yowl. This was the first death I had experienced since joining ThunderClan, and even though that was a fair gap of time, it still felt too soon.

Several heartbeats went by as the Clan fell silent, beginning to grieve for their lost Clanmate. I could slightly hear the whispers of Honeyfern's kin as they gave her their last words and said their goodbyes.

The first words that I could hear clearly after that were Leafpool's. "Find some warriors to help carry her body into the clearing," she commanded to Lionblaze, and I watched as Lionblaze then beckoned Spiderleg and Thornclaw over. Thornclaw met my gaze, briefly touched his nose to mine, and then padded over to help his fellow warriors.

As I let my gaze fall on Thornclaw as he traveled, I heard Leafpool speak again. "We need to get her away from the cliff in case the snake is still around."

My ears flicked at these words, and I felt all of the sadness flowing through me suddenly vanish.

The snake, I said to myself, whipping my head around the clearing. Where is the snake?

Without even realizing it, I found that I was beginning to pad over to the area of Honeyfern's death, passing Spiderleg, Hollyleaf, Thornclaw and Lionblaze as they carried Honeyfern's body.

I then stopped in my tracks as I saw a familiar creature whipping around in the rocks. The one who had taken my Clanmate's life just heartbeats ago. I let out a hiss as I realized that this snake was still lingering around the rocks.

Anger immediately bubbled inside of me, sheer anger that I hadn't felt many times in my life. The type that almost makes you lose your mind, and it impairs your judgment. Yes, it was that bad.

When I was a kittypet back in the old forest, before I had arrived here at the lake, I had lost one of my kittypet friends to an adder, which actually happened to be one of the other moments I had experience where I felt as if my heart had physically broken. The kittypet, McGee, a black and white she-cat, had decided to take a try at hunting one morning. Me and a few other friends decided to wait for her atop one of our fences, excited to see if she was going to be successful in her expedition out into the forest.

We had begun to grow quite anxious as we realized that nearly half the day had passed, and McGee hadn't returned. Just moments later, we had been baffled to see McGee dragging herself from the forest, too weak to even stand up. I had been the one to leap over to her and find the all-too familiar snake bite on one of her hind legs. My friends and I had then gathered around McGee, watching her as she took her final breath.

It was now clear to me that after watching this snake take Honeyfern's life, it felt like I was re-living McGee's death all over again. I not only felt grief for Honeyfern, but the grief I had felt for McGee suddenly felt fresh all over again. And all of this grief was here just because of a sick, horrible, awful creature. A snake.

Probably making one of the most impulsive decisions ever, I let out a growl in rage and pounced at the snake, my claws out.

"Lilypetal, no!" I heard Thornclaw yowl behind me.

I ignored my mate's yowl and landed right in front of the snake, not wanting to turn back even a little bit. I tried to push back my fear as I watched the creature slither around me. I bit my tongue, holding back a yelp as it eventually snapped at my leg, but by StarClan's blessing I'm sure, I managed to lift it at the same moment.

I gasped as the snake then slithered behind me and started climbing up my back, just within a heartbeat. Trying not to let panic get the best of me, I started to spin around and I let out a huff of satisfaction as the snake was flung away from me, landing hard at the side of the rock.

Letting out a yowl of determination, I ran over to the creature, dug my claws into its back and gave it one last blow to the head. The snake managed one last hiss, but just after a few heartbeats, the snake let out an eerie shudder and died, its long body going limp.

I sighed, letting myself sit down where I was in exhaustion. I have avenged you, Honeyfern, I told her in my mind, not sure if she was able to hear me yet. And in a way, I feel like I have avenged McGee as well, after all this time.

"Lilypetal, that was awesome!" Goldenpaw yowled out as I tried to catch my breath. I then heard quick footsteps approaching me, and the next thing I knew, she was pressing her flank against mine.

Thornclaw came right behind her, stopping right in front of me to sniff at my fur. "Did the snake bite you?" Thornclaw asked, his voice shaking with desperation.

I immediately shook my head, making sure that Thornclaw wasn't panicking for even a moment longer. "No, don't worry," I reassured him, running my tail along his flank. "It barely missed my leg, though."

I then twitched my tail tip back and forth anxiously. I may have killed this snake, but I certainly don't want to be named cat of the day, I thought, beckoning Thornclaw and Goldenpaw to follow me over to where Honeyfern was now lying in the middle of camp. Much of the Clan was wailing in grief at the young she-cat's death, what happened to me didn't matter right now.

As I settled down in the main camp clearing, Thornclaw on one side of me and Goldenpaw on the other, I saw my other kit, Snowpaw pad up to me with her eyes wide. I was shocked to see that her pale blue eyes, that were usually gentle, were overcome with rage.

"How stupid does a cat get?" Snowpaw hissed as she stopped to stand in front of me. "Mother, what were you thinking?"

"I could definitely ask you the same question!" Thornclaw exclaimed next to me, lightly nudging my shoulder.

"Me too!" Goldenpaw meowed, trotting up to stand next to Snowpaw. "As brave as it was, it was dangerous."

I didn't feel wretched by Snowpaw's words, or any of them in fact, despite how shocking it was to see the usually calm she-cat angry. I bent my head down slightly to touch my muzzle to her head before moving my head to meet the gaze of everyone in my family.

"I know, that was pretty stupid," I admitted, "I'm sorry that I scared you all."

"I think I'm going to dig a hole, throw you into it and trap you inside," Thornclaw murmured in a half-amused, half-irritated tone, "So that I can make sure you never do anything like that again!"

I managed to let out a purr of amusement, something that hadn't happened for quite a while that day. And I was about to give my mate another teasing response when suddenly I noticed Leafpool approaching out of the corner of my eye.

"You need to wash your paws in the stream," the medicine cat commanded to me once she was a tail-length in front of me. "Some of the snake's poison may have gotten on your fur. Don't lick your paws."

I dipped my head to the tabby-and-white she-cat. "Sure thing," I murmured. Don't lick your paws, Lilypetal. Do. Not. Lick. Your. Paws.

I kept repeating this over and over in my head as Firestar leaped to his spot on the Highledge.

"Cats of ThunderClan!" he began, raising his voice for every cat in the hollow to hear. "A dreadful thing has happened, but we must stay calm. Honeyfern died a warrior's death, protecting a kit of her Clan."

I bowed my head down as I was overwhelmed with grief for Honeyfern all over again, I could see many cats around me doing the same.

Firestar continued. "The cats staying behind will grieve for Honeyfern, but we must all grieve for her and have a Clan vigil after the Gathering," he meowed solemnly.

ThunderClan muttered around, their voices full of uncertainty, but... we couldn't not go to the gathering. It would go against StarClan, surely?

"Once we return, we will take action to make sure that no snake comes to hurt any other cats from those rocks," Firestar commanded.

"Thanks to Lilypetal, one of those snakes is gone!" Goldenpaw exclaimed beside me.

My eyes widened as I whipped my head around to look at my daughter. "Goldenpaw, hush!" I hissed at her. The last thing I wanted right now was for the attention to be brought on me.

Luckily, Goldenpaw's words were blown over quickly, as some cats gave me nods of gratitude before looking back up at Firestar. I myself looked up to the ThunderClan to see that he was staring down at me.

"And we thank her for that," Firestar meowed, giving me a brief nod before looking up at the blackening sky. "It's time that we begin travel to the Gathering. Let's go!"

Cats around the clearing exchanged reluctant glances as they began to follow Firestar through the gorse tunnel. I trailed side by side with Thornclaw pretty far behind the group. I glanced back briefly to see that Goldenpaw and Snowpaw were watching us go, their eyes filled with a mix of shock and denial.

Me too, my loves, I thought before turning my head to look forward. The hits just keep on coming, don't they? I wondered sadly as I finally crawled through the gorse tunnel.