Author's Note: View all the sin cats on my charahub here: /user/fallowfeatherwc
Squirrelstar called out using the familiar summons and although many cats arrived at the meeting bleary-eyed and confused, they gathered quickly, disturbed by the midnight call. "The new leader!" an elder yowled from the back.
Squirrelstar nodded her head solemnly, the images of Bramblestar's death still fresh in her mind. "I'm sorry to disturb you all in the night but the clans are in great danger!"
Mousewhisker, soon to be an elder, called from the back, his voice hoarse. "Certainly not. The Dark Forest was defeated moons ago!"
"It's not the Dark Forest we should fear," the leader called out cautiously, her eyes darting from cat to cat.
Dovewing stepped forward. "What did StarClan tell you? How can we defend ourselves?"
Squirrelstar shook her head. "It will be many, many moons. But there will be seven of them, seven cats who hold all evil in their hands, seven cats sent by the Place of No Stars, without even knowing that they are to be feared." She sighed and looked away. "StarClan won't ever warn us again. If we want to keep our descendants safe, we have to remind them. Every leader got that dream tonight, even though I was the only one at the Moonpool."
A queen's voice sounded. "Can we trust anyone?"
Squirrelstar stepped forward and stood taller. "They aren't born yet. They aren't the next generation, or the one after that. StarClan said even Firestar will be forgotten when these kits are born."
Although tension still lapped in the air, the new leader saw fur fall flat.
Mistsky, the new medicine cat nodded her head. "Let your hackles fall. For now, let's rejoice in a new leader. StarClan has blessed us."
Squirrelstar lowered her head respectfully and hopped off the High Branch to join her clan.
"Do you think the clans can sense our restlessness?"
"Finchstar," another voice said, the cat dipping it's head in greeting.
Finchstar stepped forward, her pelt lilac in the dimming light. She touched her nose to the second cat who glowed a silhouette, the moon blocked by a tree it sat under. "Come forward, Sleetfur. I can't see you."
Sleetfur closed his eyes and turned his face away. "Maybe it's best, for all the destruction I have caused."
"No one will ever know!" Finchstar said, her voice raising. "You're here. StarClan has forgiven you. Your kit did not even live."
Sleetfur blinked. "This isn't what being medicine cat is about. But nothing is right in the clans now," he meowed, turning his head back towards the pool he had been looking into.
The pale leader opened her mouth to speak again, but shut it and joined her former medicine cat by the pool.
They gazed far out into the moors, where silence was the norm. But deep within the crevice, two mewling kits sounded.
"Which one is it?" Sleetfur asked, finally.
Finchstar was silent, and her eyes glazed over as she tried to remember what Lightningstar had told her. "The dark one," she murmured, "Sloth."
Sleetfur closed his eyes and looked down.
"This one will be different than the others."
"How long until the next kit comes?"
Finchstar stood up and stretched her legs. "One moon. In ShadowClan. Beyond that, I don't know when."
Sleetfur nodded. "The elders haven't shared the story with the apprentices yet," he said hesitantly. It was Sleetfur's job to check and make sure that the message about seven cats was passed on. "Not in some time. I think they're giving up that it will ever happen."
"They can't!" Finchstar meowed, her eyes wide. "Not now! They have no idea what danger they're in!"
"I wish there was something we could do."
"We warned them!" she shrieked.
The medicine cat looked down. "A warning might only go so far at this point. Only time will tell."
"Race you to the sand-patch!" Sunkit purred, raising her lean legs in preparation to run.
Darkkit huffed crossly. "No fair. Everyone knows you're the fastest kit."
"Am not! You just can't run straight!"
"Your legs are longer!"
"You just don't practice enough!"
"Alright, alright, kits. Settle down." Rustpelt tapped each kit with her tail. "There will be time for racing in the morning."
Sunkit looked up, her eyes wide as she stared at the sunset-filled sky. "Aww, not fair! You can't even see StarClan yet!"
Rustpelt purred and leaned down to lick her kit's head. "Maybe you'll see them in your dreams. Besides, tomorrow's a big day."
The kits cocked their heads. "Didn't Russetstar tell you? You get your apprentice names tomorrow."
"Really?" Darkkit meowed, his eyes wide as he ran in circles happily. "I can't wait! I wonder who my mentor will be. Who do you think you'll get, Sunkit? Sunkit?"
The dark tom turned to look at his sister. "Stonedust didn't ask me to be his apprentice," she meowed, her voice laced with sadness.
"He could ask you later," Darkkit meowed, knowing how much being a medicine cat meant to his fellow kit.
"Perhaps," Sunkit replied.
Rustpelt turned and ushered her kits towards the nursery by licking their ears. "Well, we'll find out in the morning, won't we?"
Sunkit closed her eyes as she traced her way back to the den. Thank you, StarClan, for gracing me with such a wonderful family. And please, let Stonedust be my mentor!
Even though the night was just as long as any other it seemed to last moons to the kits who barely slept, their heads swimming with images of what they might experience in their apprenticeship. And though it felt like a lifetime, the sun rose again on the next day and the two burst out into the clearing, watching the morning patrol leave.
"Take us with you," Darkkit meowed to a warrior. "We are apprentices."
Another cat on patrol smirked. "Not yet."
The tom sat up taller. "Well, it's this morning. So don't go too far, because I might come and join you guys."
"Good luck, kit," a different voice meowed sarcastically as the patrol left.
"Hmph," Darkkit murmured, turning to find another cat to talk to.
"Darkkit! Sunkit!" It was Rustpelt's voice, the queen rushing out of the nursery towards them. "Tell me when you're leaving. You nearly scared me all the way to ThunderClan, I'd thought I'd lost you."
"Sorry, ma," Sunkit meowed, looking down.
The she-cat gathered her kits and instructed them to sit down as she cleaned their pelts, occasionally eyeing the Leader's Den to see how much time she had left.
Rustpelt was just finishing Darkkit's pelt when Russetstar stepped out into the light, his eyes blinking as he sniffed the morning air. The leader dipped his head to Rustpelt, then stepped towards his deputy who laid by the Highrock where the leader held meetings. The two exchanged a few words as Rustpelt licked furiously. "Stop squirming," she mewed, using her paws to hold the kit still.
The mother finished her cleaning seconds before Russetstar's infamous call sounded across the more; "All cats old enough to chase a rabbit gather here before me for a clan meeting!"
Sunkit and Darkkit raced forward towards the other gathering cats, and Sunkit blinked a thank you, her pelt shining gold in the light.
"Today, we honor the growing of two kits into maturity. They have shown much growth the last few moons and even today they have grown. Sunkit, Darkkit; please step forward."
The two kits padded forward as the clearing parted and Russetstar hopped down from the Highrock. Darkkit's tail waved uncontrollably as the kit waited for the leader to give him his name. "Sunkit, until you receive your warrior name, you shall be known as Sunpaw." The leader looked up and scanned the crowd before his eyes rested on a warrior. "Volestripe. You showed your diligence and respectfulness as an apprentice and it was a privilege to be your mentor. I hope you will pass down all I taught you to this young cat."
Although the new apprentice stepped forward and touched noses with her new mentor respectfully, Darkkit could see her sadness that Stonedust was not her mentor.
"And Darkkit. Until the day you have completed your training the clans will know you as Darkpaw. And...Mudstrike. You will be this apprentice's mentor. Over the moons you have exhibited patience, calmness, and strength. With those characteristics you will be a fine mentor."
Darkpaw smiled and bounded over to Mudstrike, his eyes glowing. I'm an apprentice! he thought.
As the tom touched noses with his mentor, the sky burst into light, brighter than the sun, as lightning cackled through the air. The clouds began to cry and the sun was blocked out by gray bodies. Russetstar stepped forward. "Darkpaw, Sunpaw. You will stay inside for now. You haven't yet explored the territory and in rain it will be much more difficult."
The two cats nodded their heads, but they sulked off towards the apprentice's den, their fur soaked as thunder rumbled above them.
"The kit is growing!" Foxstar yowled to the other StarClan cats, who yowled back and stamped their paws. With each paw that hit the ground the thunder rolled for another second, each yowl summoning lightning. "The elder's haven't told the story, and the warrior representing sin will be an apprentice in a moon!"
"How are we supposed to stop them? StarClan is powerless!" someone yowled.
Hazelstar, who stood next to Foxstar, Finchstar, and Ravenstar, shook her head. "There is nothing we can do but send these storms. And they don't do anything!"
Another voice meowed, "But it will be many moons before the next kit is born. And many moons more before they will be warriors!"
Some of the other cats in the clearing nodded, and the storm began to clear up.
Ravenstar stepped forward, nodding as well. "Lionkit, who sins pride, become Lionpaw next moon. Then, in seven moons, the next kit will be born. We have lots of time for the elders to tell the story."
The words, though they were similar to what had been said before, sounded more reassuring coming from a leader's voice and the storm became nothing more than a passing rumble.
"There is much grief coming to the clans. But right now, they are bathing in young life and soon-to-be warriors. We can't waste this time of peace." Finchstar meowed. "Go. Find your clanmates. Speak about memories. Remember what you learned as members of your clans and also remember that these kits will be taught the same things. The clans are in good paws."