The stars seemed to shine down on the two cats as they settled down next to each other, love gleaming deeply in each other’s gaze. The two moved closer to each other, their tails twining together to form a heart.
A long moment was spared before one of the cats, a she-cat, finally turned around and fixed her bright blue gaze on the tom.
“Sunshadow,” she breathed, her mew thick with emotion. “I must tell you one thing.”
Leaning on Sunshadow’s shoulder, she took a steadying breath. “I love you, Sunshadow. I wish that I could be with you longer.”
The tom let out a purr, although a loud cough stopped it after a few heartbeats. “I love you, too, Brightwish. If StarClan would let me stay longer, together with you, I would stay.”
Brightwish’s heart finally broke down the middle as she pressed closer to the sick tom, her eyes glistening. All of the emotion that she had been holding in poured out, and as Sunshadow let out another raspy cough, her heart seemed to be empty.
“Is there. . .anything I can do for you?” she said, her mew cracking.
Sunshadow let out a shaky breath before nodding. “There is,” he rasped. “I have one last wish for you, Brightwish. The last.” He trembled, before continuing. “Please. . . Brightwish. Take care of my beautiful Leafkit.”
“Oh Sunshadow. That’s the least I can do. I see you in her, and you will live forever in her.”
Letting out a wail, Brightwish pressed her fur against Sunshadow for the last time, breathing in his beautiful scent and feeling his soft fur.
“Do not grieve anymore,” Sunshadow whispered. “We knew this time would come.”
As Sunshadow’s breath got shallower, Brightwish made her choice. She would keep Sunshadow’s last wish, even if it cost her her life.

***

For many moons, Brightwish cherished Sunshadow’s memory and took care of his kit. Leafkit, now Leafpaw, was very happy and healthy, training among her Clanmates.
But those happy moons didn’t last forever.
One day, Leafpaw became very sick. With something that even the most clever medicine cat couldn’t solve, and something the strongest cat couldn’t fix.
Her once strong body became small and thin, and her once steady breath got shallower and shallower.
Brightwish never left her side, trying as hard as she could to bring back life in the young apprentice. “Please don’t die, please don’t die. You’re his last wish, and you must live for him to live in me again.” Those repeated words full of pain were met with silence, however, but luckily, Leafpaw didn’t get any worse. Perhaps it was Brightwish’s words that spared Leafpaw’s life, but nobody knows yet.
Hope seemed to rise once more in the air as Leafpaw seemed to get better and better, Brightwish’s spirit also rising along with it each day.
Until one devastating day.
The clearing was silent until there was a quiet rustling among the ferns. The cats went on normally, but Brightwish’s heart kept pounding and pounding. Something was very wrong.
Finally, a russet-furred creature burst into the clearing, more of the same also trickling out one by one. Their yellow eyes gleamed with fury and ambition, ready to bite any cat that came close to its sharp jaws. They were foxes.
Brightwish barely heard her own yowl of fear before sprinting into the medicine den, next to Leafpaw. “Leafpaw,” she wailed. “Get out! We need to escape!!”
But even as the cats battled outside, blood being spilled again and again, Leafpaw didn’t stir. She was much too sick.
Brightwish jumped up to slash at a fox that tried to grab Leafpaw, but she knew she couldn’t keep it up. Grabbing Leafpaw by the scruff, she ran outside, and even as rain began pouring down, she didn’t stop fighting the foxes that came to Leafpaw.
But one warrior only has a certain amount of strength. Finally, one fox was able to slash her shoulder, sending blood pumping out onto the grassy field. Collapsing with the pain, she accidentally let go of Leafpaw, and as darkness clouded her gaze and prevented her from moving, she could only think of one thing. Sunshadow’s last wish.
She got up and even as her body seemed to screech with pain, she stood up. But she was heartbeats too late.
The last wish was broken in heartbeats as the fox’s jaws snapped shut and Leafpaw’s bloody brown body fell and went limp on the stones. A big wound opened on Leafpaw’s throat as her life poured out of her, along with her and Sunshadow’s promise. Her green eyes widened one last time, before clouding.
Yes. It was too late.
The foxes finally were defeated, and as the rain poured down they limped out of the clearing one by one. Each of the warriors, exhausted, headed toward the medicine den but Brightwish stood out alone, and even as blood pumped from the wound on her shoulder, splashing onto the ground beside her, she stayed still.
“Oh, Leafpaw. What have I done?”
She lifted her muzzle in the air to breathe in a familiar scent. . . Sunshadow!
Sunshadow, she wailed silently. I’m so sorry!
Because of blows struck too close, jaws open too wide and one cat not fast enough, his wish had been broken. Shattered. And the pieces of memory ebbed away from her like a leaf falling from a tree.
Brightwish felt a tail run down her flank, and she turned to see Raincloud, the medicine cat, staring at her with large, sympathetic amber eyes.
“I am sorry, Brightwish, for your loss,” she mewed. “Leafpaw will always walk in the stars with her ancestors. Everything will be alright.”
Her already-broken heart seemed to shatter another time, and her mind flooded with pain and grief. “No, it’s not okay!” she yowled. “You never knew of my promise.”
Raincloud gave Brightwish a comforting lick. “Let me give you some thyme and poppy seeds to ease your pain, Brightwish. Do not let grief take over you.”
“I don’t deserve those thyme and poppy seeds,” Brightwish hissed. “I broke my only promise and connection with Sunshadow.” Her mew rose into a wail. “Sunshadow’s last wish was for me to protect his kit. I shouldn’t have let those wounds and blows stop me from saving her. I should’ve given my last drop to save her, even if I had died. I don’t deserve to be here, I should’ve been the one to die in the fox’s jaws, not her. She shouldn’t have died, I should!”
In fury and uncontrollable grief, she ignored Raincloud’s attempts to soothe her and ran across the forest to the gorge.
She ran until her paws ached. She ran until the wound on her shoulder pumped out more blood. She ran until her own blood was in front of her. She ran until darkness covered her gaze and until she couldn’t breathe.
But even the saddest cat couldn’t see what was happening to Brightwish now.
Standing in front of the gorge, she let her mew echo through the sky. “Sunshadow. Leafpaw. StarClan. Forgive me. I never deserved life, and I never deserved you guys. I betrayed everything I stood for and by letting the promise be broken, I no longer deserve to be a warrior. For I no longer will be Brightwish. My loyalty and persistence won’t help the Clan, but instead it would hurt the strongest of warriors and will destroy the biggest of lands and spirits. I am no longer Brightwish, I am Brokenwish.”
And with that, she jumped down from the high gorge and plunged down, her own last wish for forgiveness that would never be granted.