Morningkit slowly blinked open her eyes as the sun's warm beams reached her small golden face.
A purr rumbled in her throat as she got up from her moss-covered nest in the nursery, energy flowing through her.
It's a brand-new day, the she-cat thought. I wonder if Fallenkit is awake.
At that same moment, she looked over at her brother, a black tom with white spots scattered throughout his pelt, who was snuggling with their mother, Cinderheart.
"Wake up!" she squealed. "It's sunrise!"
She didn't have to worry about waking anyone else up- Cinderheart was the only queen at the moment.
Fallenkit fluttered his eyes open, revealing his brilliant amber eyes.
"Wake up, wake up!" She continued squeaking, her voice revealing her vitality.
"It's too early, Morningkit," he mumbled, along with something else she couldn't make out.
"It's never too early," she replied. "C'mon, we have to say hello to Lionblaze before he goes on patrol!"
"But what about Cinderheart?" Fallenkit looked back at their mother, who was still sleeping.
"I think you kept her up. I could hear you moving around until moonhigh!"
"O-Oh…" Fallenkit sheepishly looked down at his paws.
Morningkit's brother was known for his shyness and inability to sleep. Yet somehow, despite that, he could still function like a regular cat. Even so, Morningkit still loved her kin.
Her eyes excitedly darted around the camp, searching for the golden-brown tom she called her father. He was her role model! Lionblaze was brave, intelligent, and strong! Everything she wanted to be as a warrior!
After a moment or two of looking, she finally saw his tail heading into the medicine cat's den.
"C'mon, Fallenkit!" She called back as she raced as fast as she could into the den, sliding on the stone and hitting a stack of herbs.
"Watch it!" Jayfeather snapped at her. The gray tom never seemed to like her.
"Kits these days," he continued to mutter as he moved away from Lionblaze, sorting the herbs back into their piles. "It's hard enough with Leafpool and Alderheart away."
Morningkit secretly wished that Alderheart had been the one to stay behind from the trip to SkyClan to train up Frecklewish and her apprentice on the territory's herbs. Alderheart was tolerant of kits and fun to talk to, while Jayfeather was… the complete opposite.
"We were kits once too, you know," Lionblaze purred. At the same time, Fallenkit walked into the den.
"What happened?" He asked, looking at the once-neat collection of herbs spilled all over the ground.
"Your sister had a bit of an accident." Lionblaze responded, leaning down to nuzzle his kit's head. Fallenkit flinched but accepted the greeting.
"You could say that," Jayfeather grumbled, still putting the various leaves and flowers in heaps.
"Why were you in the medicine cat den?" Morningkit asked.
"I got a bit of a scratch from some briar while on dawn patrol. I just wanted to make sure it didn't get infected before it was too late." Lionblaze answered.
"Okay! See you later, Lionblaze!" The golden tabby she-cat walked out of the medicine cat den, to Jayfeather's delight. She knew not to bother her father too often. After all, the clan depended on him and a lot of other warriors to hunt and mark their borders, so she didn't want to distract them.
Fallenkit bounded out of the den and followed Morningkit into the clearing. Not many cats were around at the moment.
Morningkit looked around and spotted her mother finally getting out of the nursery.
"Cinderheart!" She squealed, Fallenkit on her tail.
Their mother purred at the sight of her kits. "Good morning. I'm sorry for sleeping in. It's hard being a queen again."
"That's okay!"
"Cinderheart!" A voice called from near the highledge.
Squirrelflight bounced to her. "Morning, Cinderheart!"
Morningkit walked away, knowing that they would get into a long-winded conversation about motherhood and patrols and all of that.
"Fallenkit, let's go play mossball-" She turned around, expecting her brother to be there, but the gray tom wasn't there.
"Fallenkit!" She cried for her brother, darting all throughout camp. Anxiety surged through her.
He was just here a moment ago! Oh, StarClan, help me!
"Quiet down!" Graystripe poked his head out of the elder's den. "Millie is trying to sleep!"
"Sorry!" She called back before continuing to yell for her brother.
Fallenkit looked out at the camp from his place in the nursery.
He had never liked spending so much time in the open. He'd rather laze around in the nursery. The soothing scent of a mother's milk- although slightly stale- was enough to calm him down after a bout of play-fighting with Morningkit.
"FALLENKIT!" His ears perked up to Morningkit's screeches from outside the nursery.
I'm sorry, Morningkit, but I'm not in the mood right now. I wish you could understand that.
To keep himself entertained, he focused on Cinderheart and Squirrelflight's conversation right outside the nursery.
This isn't really eavesdropping, is it? He thought to himself. I'm just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Yeah, that's it.
"FALLENKIT!" Another yell came from the clearing.
He dug his claws into the ground in irritation. Fallenkit almost wanted to yell at her to shut up for once in her life. But he couldn't do that. She was his kin.
The tabby tom turned his attention back on the two she-cats' conversation.
"How are your kits?" Squirrelflight asked, curiosity sparkling in her emerald-green eyes.
"They're great. Morningkit is… a bit hyperactive, but every kit is like that when they're young. Except for Fallenkit- it's like he's her polar opposite!"
"That's true," The dark ginger she-cat purred. "It was the same for Alderheart and Sparkpelt. Sometimes, I can't believe they came from the same litter!"
"Exactly!" Cinderheart began, but was interrupted by a caterwaul from the entrance of camp.
"THEY'RE COMING!" Several cats poured into the camp, battered with scratches.
"What's coming?!" Squirrelflight turned to the group, her pelt bristling.
"A band of rogues- there's at least ten of them!" Thornclaw explained, urgency clearly showing in his voice.
"We couldn't fend them off… and I'm pretty sure they're following us back here," Brackenfur panted.
Squirrelflight leaped up to the highledge- as the deputy, when Bramblestar wasn't around (he wasn't), it was her duty to substitute as leader.
"We need to prepare for battle— "
She was immediately cut off once again by a battery of cats entering the camp.
Those aren't clan cats, Fallenkit realized, his heart pounding in utter terror.
"KITS! RUSH TO THE NURSERY!" He heard Cinderheart's cry as Morningkit ran in. Fallenkit could clearly smell her fear scent.
Outside the nursery, there were cats fighting everywhere.
Squirrelflight had jumped down from the highledge and tackled a large gray tom, but was overpowered and pushed to the side.
Whitewing dived at the same rogue in an attempt to save Squirrelflight. Luckily, she was successful, and the two she-cats swiped and struck at the rogue until he ran out of the camp.
Unfortunately, for the rest of the camp, it seemed like the rogues were winning.
"I'm scared, Fallenkit," Morningkit whispered.
Fallenkit didn't reply. He couldn't stop watching the battle- he wanted to look away, but it was one of those things that was so horrifying that all you could do was stop and watch.
A single muscular black tom broke out from the fighting and began heading towards the nursery.
Morningkit had quickly noticed this, and scampered to the back of the nursery in an attempt to hide.
"Fallenkit! Hurry!" She whispered.
The black kit came to his senses and scurried to where his sister was.
Oh, StarClan… Fallenkit thought, shivering with fear. Please help us.
The rogue then reached the nursery and began heading inside it. Each paw step sounded like their doom approaching them.
"NO!" A yowl sounded out from the clearing.
Cinderheart!
Their mother leaped at the rogue, raking her claws against his back.
Please, Cinderheart, please don't die…
The tom retaliated by slicing his claws against her eyes.
Cinderheart caterwauled in pain, crimson blood already starting to seep from the claw marks over her eyes.
The muscular black cat saw his chance as the gray tabby she-cat bawled and slammed her to the ground, effectively pinning her.
All Fallenkit could do was watch in despair as the tom cut open their mother's throat. Blood oozed out of her neck wound as she looked over at her kits one last time.
"I… love you…" She whispered to them.
Cinderheart died within a few moments as her kits stared at her corpse.
The rogue looked back over at the kits and laughed. "An easy kill," he chuckled before returning to the fight.
An easy kill.
An easy kill.
An easy kill.
The words echoed in Fallenkit's mind as the world around him seemed to fade.
An easy kill.