Night is Gone. :(

Clawface paced back and forth in front of her den under a starless, ink-black sky. It was nearly moonhigh, but the Alpha simply couldn't sleep, and she really wasn't sure why. Frustrated with herself, Clawface sprang up on the Tallrock and sat there firmly, tilting her face up to where the stars would have been if she could see them. For some reason, she had a vague feeling of misfortune, and she didn't know where it was coming from.
Suddenly the bushes at the entrance to the camp rustled. Clawface looked around sharply. Her yellow eyes widened in shock as she watched Night stumble into the clearing and collapse. Blood glistened darkly in the moonlight on her back, neck, and one side, and her breath came out in ragged gasps.
Clawface dropped from the Tallrock and leapt to the Beta's side. "Night!" She yowled.
The call vibrated around the clearing and echoed throughout the territory, rousing wolves from their slumber. Matias, Kisharu, and Frost stumbled out of their dens, looking confused, followed by a few others.
Matias was the first to snap out of the daze of his recently disturbed sleep. "Great Starpack!!!" He howled. "What's going on?!"
Mystic, who happened to be a light sleeper, emerged from her den, followed by what appeared to be a sleepwalking Bud. The Medic knelt next to Night, sniffing her furiously.
Night coughed feebly. "Leave me...." she whispered. Under the gazes of the wolves around her, the black wolf took a deep breath, shuddered, and was still.
Mystic waited for a moment.
Clawface also waited.
The clearing was enveloped in a deep, forbidding silence.
After a while, one of the pups, Olive, spoke up in a tiny, nervous voice. "Is she...dead?"
Mystic didn't respond at first. She stared off into oblivion past the limp, apparently lifeless form of Night. After a while, she said "Yes."
Clawface used as much energy as she could to keep herself from hanging her head. Fatigue washed over her in an almost overwhelming state, and she hoped, wished desperately, to the bottom of her heart, that this was only a nightmare, and nothing more. But her heart told her otherwise.
Night was dead.
~~~
The next morning, wolves were awakened by the sunlight filtering in through their dens, but more so by the news that was quickly passed. The Beta was dead.
The members of the pack entered the clearing from their sleeping quarters to see a solitary, lone figure sitting next to the heap of black fur that was Night. Clawface's eyes were closed and she was completely motionless, and a few wondered if she was asleep, but she suddenly opened her eyes and leaped up to the Tallrock. A visible weight pulled at her paws, and the usual energy that flowed through her was absent.
"Let all those old enough to catch their own prey, join beneath the Tallrock for a pack meeting."
The wolves did as the rather flat call commanded, giving questioning and rather horrified glances at each other.
Clawface lifted her head slightly. "On the moonhigh of the last night, our Beta died."
This was met with silence.
"The cause of her death is unknown. She could not have been saved. She left these hunting grounds moments after falling to them for the last time."
A few murmurs went up, but were silenced quickly as Clawface cast an uncharictaristically hollow gaze over them.
"She runs with Starpack now. I have sat vigil with her, and Song will bury her when this meeting comes to a close." Clawface raised her voice slightly. "May Night approve of the choices we make as a pack in the future. I say these words before her body and Starpack, in hopes that they approve of this descision. Romeo has advanced in rank and now will take Night's place as Beta. Sky will become the new Gamma of Moonpack. Meeting dismissed."
Song proceeded to, on her own, carry Night's body from the camp to bury it. Clawface perched on the Tallrock, watching after them.

((Yes. Hawkface and Night are gone. I'm really not sure why, but Hawkface left a comment last night that said she had to leave, and gave a breif IC of what became of Night. We'll miss you, Hawkface.))