Midnight's Dream

Summary: Midnight was the badger who has helped the Clan cats time and time again, even though they were cats and Midnight herself was not. What caused Midnight to be different from the other badgers? Read about Midnight's early life, and a dream that she pursues to become a better badger. Rated T for blood and violence that may occur in later chapters. This story is not mainly based on cats.

This is my first fanfiction for the Warriors series. This chapter will explore the birth of Midnight. Enjoy!

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Chapter 1: The Different Badger

"It's been ten months since Dawn has been pregnant, but she still hasn't given birth to her cub." A male badger whispered fretfully to another badger. "I'm very worried about her."

The second badger replied back to the first. "Don't worry, Sunwhisker. It is my duty as the healer to keep her healthy and in good condition when she gives birth to her cub. If I fail, I will have failed my duty to you, my friend."

Sunwhisker sighed. After a while, he replied. "Thymefur, may I see her?"

"Of course."

Sunwhisker padded into a fragrant fern den. There was a moss bed with a pool of fresh clean water next to it. A perfect layout for a healer den, thought Sunwhisker.

On the moss bed rested a female badger who had pretty eyes and long fur. Her belly was swollen with the badger cub she would bear.

Sunwhisker padded up to the female badger and licked her across the muzzle affectionately. "Dawn, are you alright?"

"Yes, dearest. I'm all right." Replied Dawn. But her voice sounded weaker than usual. "I'm absolutely… fine…" and with that Dawn sank her head in the moss and went into a deep slumber.

"She may say that, but her cub should have been born quite a while ago. She's been growing very tired. If she doesn't give birth soon, she will die from exhaustion." Thymefur's voice echoed softly in Sunwhisker's ear. He looked down at Dawn's sleeping body. "We should give her some air, so let's go hunt together."

Sunwhisker had to force a smile, despite the news about Dawn. "Just like old times, eh?"

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Sunwhisker and Thymefur had gathered up plenty of food by the time the sun touched the horizon.

"I think we should be heading back now." Sunwhisker grunted behind his mouthful of fresh-kill.

Thymefur nodded agreement and picked up his stock of food in his mouth and started walking.

As the sky grew darker, a lone shooting star soared across the sky. Thymefur looked up at it. He gaped at the sky, dropping all of the fresh-kill he was holding.

Sunwhisker set down his fresh-kill and started retrieving Thymefur's. "What's wrong?"

Thymefur dashed ahead, abandoning his fresh-kill. "No time to explain. We have to hurry back to camp!"

Thymefur's sense of urgency made Sunwhisker drop all of the fresh-kill. They raced toward their badger sets.

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As they approached, Sunwhisker and Thymefur heard a shrill scream sounding from the healer den.

"Oh no, not Dawn." Sunwhisker whispered in fear. "They can't have taken her. NOOOOO!!!" With a deafening yowl he sprinted for the den and burst inside.

Dawn's body was lying there, covered in blood. "Have I come too late?" thought Sunwhisker. But then he saw some movement and heard shallow breathing.

"I had to be out at the wrong time." Thymefur muttered in regret as he lumbered into the den.

Then Dawn turned to Sunwhisker and stared at him with eyes full of pain, sorrow, and pride.

"This is our… cub, Sunwhisker." And Dawn exposed her belly to reveal a scrap of fur that was covered in blood.

Its whole body was covered in pure black fur!

Sunwhisker and Thymefur gasped in shock.

The cub was desperately trying to cling to Dawn's belly to suckle. It squeaked in fear when it felt the presence of two other badgers besides its mother.

"I… don't have… much longer… to live." Dawn rasped in an even weaker voice than before. "Please… take… care… of… this… cub. Take care… Sunwhisker. May… we meet… again… in the… next… world…" And with a final effort, Dawn licked Sunwhisker across the muzzle, and then her body went limp as the last breath escaped her.

"No, Dawn, no… You can't die! You still have a long life to live! Dawn, please! DAWN!!!"

Thymefur could only look on with tears in his eyes as he watched Sunwhisker mourning Dawn.

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The pandemonium from the healer's den had attracted the whole tribe of badgers. They were gathered around the entrance of the den, waiting to see what had caused all the noise.

Sunwhisker came out first, dragging the dead body of Dawn in his jaws. Following him was Thymefur, who was carrying the cub.

Many of the badgers whispered to each other in hushed voices when they saw the black cub.

"What is that thing? How is it pure black?"

"I bet that thing killed Dawn."

"Sure looks like it…"

Sunwhisker hushed the crowd with the raise of his paw. Then he announced what happened. "Everyone, my mate, Dawn, died giving birth to this cub—"

Before he could continue, the crowd yowled in apprehension. Sunwhisker raised his paw again. When the crowd didn't quiet down, Sunwhisker unsheathed his claws. The crowd fell silent in an instant.

Sunwhisker continued. "Now my cub is motherless, so she won't survive until tomorrow unless she has a supply of milk. Does any mother have extra milk?"

The question raised a conversation among the female badgers.

"I don't want my youngsters near that cub. It may be a bad omen."

"Neither do I. My cubs may have nightmares around that thing."

When Sunwhisker thought that no one would take in the cub, another badger raised her voice from the crowd.

"I can take the cub in."

Everyone turned their heads to the badger who called out. Nobody had noticed her in the tribe before.

When nobody responded, she repeated her words. "I can take the cub in. All my cubs died in the recent frost."

"Thank you for your kindness." Replied Sunwhisker gratefully. "May I ask your name?"

"My name is Heather."

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Sunwhisker watched as Heather padded into the nursery, holding the cub in her mouth.

"Sunwhisker…" called a voice from behind him.

Sunwhisker leaped up in shock. "Wh-what is it? Oh, it's you, Thymefur. Do you need anything?"

"Yes, I need to talk to about something."

"Okay, we can talk about it in my set."

Sunwhisker guided the healer into his set and invited him to sit down on the moss mats. When they were both settled, Sunwhisker prompted Thymefur.

"So what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

Thymefur stared off into space, but he managed to talk in a regular tone.

"Remember on our hunting trip, when we saw the shooting star, and I was in an urgency to get back to camp?"

"Yes, I remember. You even dropped all of that hard earned fresh-kill. I bet the foxes have gotten it by now."

Ignoring Sunwhisker's statement about the fresh-kill, Thymefur continued. "That shooting star was a prophecy. It said that the birth of a cub would bring danger on our tribe. At that moment, the only cub that I could think of was Dawn's cub. So I raced back to camp to check if it was too late.

"Sure enough, the cub had already been born, and as both of us saw, all of its fur was pure black, which has never happened before in the history of this tribe."

Sunwhisker growled. "Are you saying my cub will bring danger upon the tribe?"

Thymefur turned his head to look at him. "In a way, yes. So I suggest that you keep an extra watch on that cub." Getting up to leave, he headed for the entrance of the set.

Before he could leave, Sunwhisker asked one last question. "In the prophecy, it said that the birth of a cub would bring danger. How are you so sure that it's my cub?"

"That-- is for you to decide." Before Sunwhisker could respond, Thymefur exited the set.

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As the moon rose, Sunwhisker went to check on his cub at the nursery.

Not in the mood to talk to Thymefur, he asked Heather, "How's the cub doing?"

"She will be alright. She's a little weak, but in a couple of days she should be better."

"That's good."

"By the way, have you decided a name for her? After all, she's your cub."

This question stumped Sunwhisker. "Let me go outside to think for a moment."

As he walked outside, he could only think of a couple of things: the moon shining brightly in the night sky, the black color of his cub's fur, and most of all, the dark feeling he had in his stomach.

He could only think of one name for his cub.

Midnight!

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Hi again. That was the end of the first chapter. Please rate and review. If you have any other questions or comments, feel free to mail me.

By the way, I have some vague ideas for the next chapters. But if you want to submit any ideas and I think they are better than my current ones, I may include them in my story.

Thanks! Bye for now!