This is a challenge for CloudClan.
. . .
Snowfoot trudged out of camp, tail hanging limply behind him.
Though he felt immeasurably guilty for his actions the past few moons, it wasn't enough to completely dissolve the happiness he felt whenever he laid eyes on his beautiful mate.
But he was deputy of his Clan, and he knew what Cinderstar would do if he ever found out about Snowfoot's transgressions.
Most likely the ThunderClan leader upstate him in front of the Clan, stripping him off his rank before finally exiling him if Cinderstar came to know what Snowfoot had done.
But Cinderstar would never find out, Snowfoot was sure.
The only person that knew of his relationship with a she-cat from another Clan was Mosslight, the medicine cat apprentice. She was his dearest and greatest friend, and he had sworn her to secrecy.
She wouldn't breathe a word of his betrayal to another soul.
And Snowfoot was fine with that, because he trusted her.
It was a far stretch for him, too, considering that no one in his Clan- ThunderClan- possessed his full trust.
Not even Cinderstar had Snowfoot's full trust, and he was the Clan's leader.
Nevertheless, Snowfoot knew that Mosslight was the only one he could trust in regards to his relationship.
They had been companions since kithood, and best friends since their apprenticeship, when all Mosslight had wanted to do was become a medicine cat and heal the sick and wounded and bring new life into the world. Snowfoot had opted for something fresher- something far out of his league.
The deputyship of ThunderClan.
And he had achieved it after moons of hard work.
Snowfoot had deserved it, and he was loyal to his Clan, despite him meeting with a cat from another Clan, a she-cat, no less!
But once Snowfoot had laid eyes on her at the Gathering for the first time, he knew he was enraptured.
His mate was just… so perfect and beautiful, and he loved her because of it.
She was waiting for him in their usual meeting place when he finally arrived, and she purred in greeting, getting to her paws and padding toward him.
Snowfoot touched his nose to her muzzle. "I'm sorry I couldn't be here sooner, Pebblefur," he grumbled deeply, his voice apologetic. "But Blossomcloud just wouldn't get off my back. If she didn't already have kits, then I'd have assumed that she liked me or some such nonsense."
Pebblefur smiled sympathetically, and she moved forward, pressing her face against his shoulder. "And if I wasn't already expecting kits, then I would have marched straight to ThunderClan myself and told her to shove off," she purred, a snicker in her voice.
Snowfoot glanced pointedly at the large, noticeable bulge and he suddenly felt uncomfortable. He knew that Pebblefur was expecting his kits. He didn't know how he should feel about it, either.
Was he supposed to feel happy? Excited that he was about to become a father?
Snowfoot didn't know, other than the thought of the kits growing inside of his mate brought nothing but the feeling of dread and a sour taste to his tongue.
Snowfoot knew what it meant.
He didn't love those kits.
He didn't love the kits that Pebblefur was so excited about.
They were nothing but trouble, and if and when his mate began her kitting, both of their Clans would find out about his betrayal.
Don't get him wrong, Snowfoot loved Pebblefur dearly, but he knew that his loyalty to his Clan was greater.
Wasn't it?
"Of course," Snowfoot finally answered, wondering when exactly swallowing had become so painful. It was Pebblefur's imploring gaze, he realised. Those huge amber eyes of hers that had ensnared him so quickly.
They were merely a pair of lovesick fools in love.
"What do we, uh, plan to do when the kits are born?" Snowfoot inquired awkwardly, the lump from before returning.
He swallowed thickly at the look Pebblefur shot him.
It was so unsure and lost.
As if his mate had no idea at all what to do.
And Snowfoot was correct in his assumption it seemed, for Pebblefur mewed, "I haven't exactly thought that far. But I was hoping that you could come to RiverClan to be… you know, there for the kits."
Snowfoot sighed, and he pierced his mate with a gaze of hardened blue ice. "You know I can't do that, Pebblefur. As much as I'd want to, I simply can't. I have a duty to my Clan, and my absence will not go unseen."
"You have a duty to your kits," Pebblefur argued, her voice weak. "And to me. Doesn't that mean anything to you, Snowfoot? Anything at all?"
Snowfoot sighed again, and this one was of resignation. "I'm the deputy of ThunderClan," he murmured painfully. "I can't simply give this up. It's my dream, you see," he continued, ignoring his mate's disgruntled glare. "I can't just join RiverClan. ThunderClan is my home, and nobody, not even my mate will stand through that loyalty."
"Then what would you have me do?" Pebblefur whispered, her voice despaired. "RiverClan will surely exile me for this. And it's my home, too." She broke off into a sob as she murmured, "It's my home, Snowfoot. I love it just as much as you love ThunderClan, and if my kits can't get a good upbringing, then where am I to go? They'll die of the cold and starvation before I could find adequate shelter."
Snowfoot felt a little piece of him die on the inside at the pitiful sight of his mate in tears. Before he could comprehend the consequences of such an action, he laid his tail on her shoulder reassuringly and mewed, "You can come with me. You can come to ThunderClan."
Pebblefur's eyes blurred, and she looked up at him, her amber eyes huge. "Are you sure that's allowed?"
Snowfoot shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure myself," he admitted. "But if it's for our kits, then I'd risk anything. And you're my mate, Pebblefur. I love you. Come to ThunderClan with me and we'll get through this together. I promise you."
Pebblefur let out a deep, gasping breath, and Snowfoot noted that it sounded pained.
"Pebblefur?" he mewed, concerned. "Are you alright?"
His mate squeezed her eyes shut, her breathing heavy and laboured.
"Pebblefur?" he asked again.
Pebblefur shrugged his tail off, and she murmured, "I… I don't think I am, Snowfoot. I think… I think the kits are coming."
Snowfoot felt pure shock and fear- Shock for the fact that the kits were coming at such an early time, and fear that they could be found. But most of all, fear that his mate may not make it without the aid of a skilled medicine cat.
His thoughts were cut short when he heard a rustle in a nearby bush.
Heart in his mouth, Snowfoot slowly turned, fervently hoping that it wouldn't be a cat from either ThunderClan or RiverClan.
His fears were confirmed.
The amber eyes of the ThunderClan leader himself glared back at him, an accusing glint present in their depths.
On either side of the grey leader, were Nightpaw, a ThunderClan apprentice, and Mosslight, the medicine cat apprentice.
Snowfoot had never been so glad to see Mosslight in all of his life, and completely disregarding the disapproving glare that Cinderstar was shooting him, he rushed toward his friend, mewing frantically, "Mosslight, you have to help her! Please!"
Mosslight looked at him, her lovely green eyes questioning. "Is she in labour, Snowfoot?"
"What is the meaning of this, Snowfoot?!" Cinderstar demanded, his voice low and angry.
Snowfoot winced, but he knew that his leader's fury was justly deserved. After all, he, the ThunderClan deputy, had gone behind his Clan's back and begun to see a she-cat from RiverClan- an enemy Clan.
"Just-" Snowfoot broke off, glancing toward his gasping mate. His voice hardened as he mewed, "Please help her. I'll explain later, I promise."
Cinderstar seemed to be at a loss of what to do, but luckily, Mosslight stepped in before anything drastic could happen.
She padded toward Pebblefur, and in a kind, soothing voice, she mewed, "Can you lie on your side? It will help with the pain."
Lip quivering, Pebblefur did as the medicine cat apprentice instructed.
Mosslight then began barking out instructions: "Nightpaw!" she barked, casting a glance at the confused dark-grey apprentice. "I need you to find something for me!"
"W-What?" the apprentice stammered, clearly at a loss for words.
"I need you to find something called Chervil for me," she mewed, not facing them. "It's a sweet-smelling plant with large, leafy, fern-like leaves and small white flowers. It can be found at Snake-rocks."
With that said, Nightpaw was expected to do as she bid, and he did, albeit with a wide, confused glance at her back.
Snowfoot was focussed on Pebblefur, though, and when her breathing sped up, he began to fear fr her.
"It hurts," his mate whimpered. "Please. Make it stop."
"Do something, Mosslight!" Snowfoot demanded, his eyes softening at the huge, beseeching look that his mate shot him.
"I'm the doing the best I can!" Mosslight snapped. She turned her head, mewing briskly, "And if you want to help, then you find me some dandelion. It'll ease the pain while your mate kits."
Snowfoot nodded. He could do that.
He ran away, just hearing Mosslight demanding Cinderstar to go and find some sort of herb that he had never heard of.
Luckily, Snowfoot had heard of dandelion before, and he knew where to find it. It took him a while, but when it was safely in his grasp, he hurried back to the clearing where his mate was kitting.
"Here!" he panted, coming to a stop at Mosslight's side. "I have it."
The medicine cat apprentice barely glanced at him before she had the dandelion in her jaws.
"Here," she mewed. "I want you to chew the leaves. It'll lesson the pain."
Pebblefur chewed on them gratefully, and her tense face relaxed somewhat.
Mosslight pressed a paw to Pebblefur's belly, her face grim.
Then, she announced, "The first one's coming. Get ready."
Right at that moment, Nightpaw and Cinderstar burst into the clearing, their mouths filled with herbs.
"Set them right there," Mosslight informed them briskly. "We don't have any time to waste, the first kit's coming."
And no sooner had she said that did Pebblefur's face contort, something slithering onto the moss a few moments later.
Mosslight was onto it immediately, nipping open the birthing sack and licking its fur backwards.
She then placed the kit at Pebblefur's belly, and it mewled, beginning to suckle immediately.
"A tom," Mosslight murmured mostly to herself, then louder, she announced, "You have a son, Snowfoot. Congratulations."
"A half-Clan son," Cinderstar spat. "Snowfoot, we'll be having a talk when we get back to camp."
"What of the she-cat and those kits?" Nightpaw spoke up.
"They'll be coming with us," Cinderstar answered. "Though they're half-Clan, they're still kits, and ThunderClan needs as many warriors as possible. But one thing's for sure, Snowfoot won't be staying deputy. Not after a betrayal as huge as this."
Snowfoot swallowed; though he knew that Cinderstar was correct.
He wouldn't stay deputy, not after something like this.
He was a bad deputy, that was all there was to it.
"The second one's coming," Mosslight mewed, and a moment later, there was an unmoving kit at her paws. Her face turned grim. "Stillborn," she announced.
Snowfoot felt sick to his stomach as he laid eyes on the dead kit. It was pure grey- like Pebblefur. He also noticed that his son, the kit at his mate's belly, was grey, too.
"How many more are there?" Snowfoot asked softly, dreading the answer.
He didn't love those kits.
He didn't.
"One more, I think," Mosslight reported. "And it's coming right now."
Another kit slithered onto the ground, and Mosslight was on it, licking it fiercely. A moment later, she stopped.
"What's wrong?" Snowfoot demanded fiercely.
This wasn't stillborn like the last one, was it?
And if it was, then was this StarClan's way to punish him? By murdering his kits?
"She's not breathing," Mosslight informed him mournfully.
"Then make her breathe," Snowfoot retorted harshly, his heart in his mouth.
Mosslight merely nodded and she stepped over the unmoving kit's body, and she did something, though Snowfoot wasn't sure, but a moment later, a very weak mewl emitted from the kit.
The medicine cat apprentice sighed, and her green eyes were relieved as her lips slowly pulled into a smile.
"She's fine," she murmured. "She's breathing."
She picked the tiny kit up by its scruff and settled it near Pebblefur's belly. It let out a weak whimper and pushed past its brother.
Snowfoot dimly noticed that his daughter's pelt was snow-white- the same as his own.
But all he could think about at that moment was Pebblefur. He collapsed beside her trembling form, and covered her face in reassuring licks.
"I'm so proud of you," he murmured. "And I love you so much."
Pebblefur raised her head weakly, her amber eyes tired. "The kits?" she whispered. "Are they okay?"
"Yes," Snowfoot purred. "We have a son and a daughter."
"And their names?" his mate persisted.
"I was hoping you'd do that honour, my beautiful mate," Snowfoot whispered, his voice tender.
Pebblefur didn't even stop to think as she took a glance at her children. "Call the tom Dewkit," she managed to get out. "And the she-cat Frostkit."
Her eyes slipped shut.
Snowfoot was horrified.
Mosslight seemed to notice this, for she said, "She's only sleeping, Snowfoot. The kitting took a lot out of her, she's exhausted."
"And about that," Cinderstar growled. "Are you planning on claiming those kits of yours before those mangy RiverClan rodents get their hands on them? Or are you just going to leave them?"
Snowfoot hesitated. To claim them meant the end of his deputy position, and to leave them meant saying goodbye to Pebblefur forever.
"I'm giving you one moon to figure this out," the ThunderClan leader said viciously. "If, by then, you've decided to claim them, then your days as ThunderClan's deputy will be over. However, if you leave them as they are, ThunderClan will still know of your transgression. And they won't be sympathetic to your cause. You'll still be a bad deputy in their eyes with whichever option you choose."
"That's all I'll ever be remembered as then," Snowfoot mewed bitterly. "A bad deputy. If either option will shun me, then I guess I'll have to go with option one."
Cinderstar levelled him with a grim look. "And you're absolutely sure? You'd be willing to give up the deputyship to claim those kits?"
Snowfoot scoffed. "I don't love those kits," he spat. "I only love Pebblefur. Those kits were my undoing. They were a mistake, they were never supposed to have been born."
Cinderstar's gaze was sad as he mewed, "Then it's settled. You were a wonderful deputy, Snowfoot. But I simply can't tolerate a betrayal at this scale. Be grateful that I'm not exiling you for your transgressions. And I fear that you will be lost without the presence of your mate. Even your kits, despite your claim of your hatred."
Snowfoot was calm, and he levelled his leader with a flat look.
"Becoming leader of ThunderClan was my dream," he mewed softly. "But I did the unthinkable. I fell. I fell for that RiverClan warrior and her ensnaring eyes. And then they were born. And I lost my way."
He hesitated at his next words, but his gaze hardened, and he spat them out anyway.
"I was lost long before I even met Pebblefur."