Hello friends! I have an announcement! I have officially joined a forum as an active member- I have joined ImagineClan! It's the best! :D If you're looking for a good forum, just head over there. Anyway, that's not the whole point! The whole point is that I have joined ImagineClan AND I have accepted a writing challenge! This is a one-shot, and as you may know by now, I will call it simply, "Wish Upon a Falling Star." The rest is too be revealed, if you didn't read the description. XD Oh, I'm in such a wonderful mood!
Wish Upon a Falling Star
Mistflower leans into her ginger mate, Redfoot, as they sit together outside the nursery. The night sky is clear, and full of stars. Redfoot nuzzles his mate's ear and sighs. They ware alone in the ThunderClan camp, as Redfoot is on guard duty.
Breaking the stillness of the night, a shooting star arcs across the sky, another one quickly follows it.
Redfoot turns to look down at the she-cat snuggled up next to him.
"What do you wish for?" He asks quietly, breaking the silence.
Mistflower pauses, thinking briefly. Trees sway and creak in the quiet of the night.
"I wish…" She says, and a look of sadness crosses over her face. "I wish the river would stop flooding. Than the rest of our kits would be safer; I don't think I could stand to lose another one."
Redfoot hears and a look of extreme grief takes root in his eyes. "Yes." He mews. The two cats push their heads together and remember the day as one.
Page Break
It was a bright new-leaf day. Prey was plentiful, and the forest wet with fresh rain. Mistflower and her litter of three sit outside the nursery. Pinekit sits near her paws, drawing little designs in the sand. His siblings, Scarletkit and Mudkit, are wrestling a little farther away.
Redfoot walks through the camp entrance, dropping his hefty load of prey on the pile. Purring, he walks over to his young family and crouches near his two tussling kits.
"Don't steal our prey, fish-breath!" Mudkit cries, leaping on top of his father, thorn-sharp kit claws unsheathed. "Yeah!" Scarletkit joins in eagerly. The two kits pound their father with tiny blows until he feigns defeat.
"You got me!" He cries, with fake pain. "I'll never invade ThunderClan again, not with you two around!"
The two kits giggle as Redfoot stands up.
"How would you guys like to take an early look at the territory?"
"Yes!" The two tiny kits squeak with delight. Pinekit suddenly looks up, his eyes crinkled with concern.
"No." He mews, his voice whisper-soft. "We shouldn't."
Pinekit's litter-mates and his father don't hear him, but his mother does.
"What's the matter, sweetheart?" Mistflower asks her son, tenderly. "Don't you want to see the territory?"
"I never said that." He mews, one ear flicking. "But something bad will happen if we go."
"Like what?" Mistflower mews.
"I don't know." Pinekit says; his face scrunching up as he thinks. "But we shouldn't go.
Mistflower looks confused and wraps her gray tail around her young son, pulling him close to lick his ears.
"Relax; I'm sure it will be fine." She murmurs comfortingly. "Besides, what could go wrong with your father and me watching?"
"I don't know." The tom repeats, his tail twitching, agitated.
"Come on." Mistflower responds, her mind spinning. She nudges the pale golden tom to his paws. "Let's go; Mudkit and Scarletkit are bouncing with excitement. They wouldn't appreciate it if we take all day."
Quietly, Pinekit pads up to his siblings, his tail trailing along behind him. Mistflower sighs, concern dampening her cheer.
"Let's go!" Scarletkit crows, running up to the fern tunnel.
"Not before me!" Mudkit mrrows, determined; he dashes out of the camp, his father and sister hot on his trail.
Mistflower and Pinekit follow more slowly. The queen nudges her son along as he refuses to walk. Pinekit digs his tiny claws into the earth, his nose held up in the air. Sighing, the gray mother picks up her mewling son and takes him out of the camp, setting him down as he goes limp.
Mistflower stifles her laughter as her tiny son tries to take in the forest around him. She full well remembered her first time out of camp, with so many new sights and sounds and smells. She nudges him forward again, following the scent of the rest of her family. It seemed like they were heading for the RiverClan border. Mistflower hopes Redfoot will not do anything rash.
Finally, they reach Redfoot, Scarletkit, and Mudkit. Redfoot watches placidly as his two kits peer in the swollen river. Scarletkit whispers into Mudkit's twitching ear. Mistflower watches her kittens, sitting near her mate with a smile on her face. Pinekit goes up to Scarletkit, wondering what she was whispering about.
"Guess what, Pinekit?" She squeaks. Than she whispers, "I dared Mudkit to swim across the river, to RiverClan territory! Than he can tell us what it looks like!"
Pinekit gets an awful feeling inside of him. "No!" He yowls. "No Mudkit, don't do it!" Pinekit took a few steps towards his brother.
Mudkit stood up, looking down at his brother angrily. "I'll do it if I want to!" He than turned to the water, and jumped in with a furious caterwaul.
Mistflower gasped as her tabby kit was swept away, as if he weighed no more than a floating leaf. Scrambling to her paws, she bounded over the river and tried to follow him, but Redfoot was there, holding her by the scruff.
"No." He murmured through her fur. "It's useless. The flooded river's currents will pull him under. We're not RiverClan, we'll drown."
Mistflower looked at her foot, touching the water. It was cold, cold water; probably melted snow from the mountains. This water would freeze up your lungs and your legs until you couldn't move. There was no way she or Mudkit would stand a chance.
Numb, the queen just said nothing as the red tabby-tom hauls her back on the shore.
"I'll run down the river." He says. "See if I can find him."
Mistflower just says nothing as her mate runs away. Something inside of her breaks, and she gets back on her paws. She gathers her two kits close, and picks them up to take back to camp.
Back at camp, the two kits say nothing as she tucks them into the nest and curls around them tightly. No, nothing would happen to these two kits.
Page Break
Mistflower's face is wet with tears. Redfoot touches his muzzle to her ear, silently understanding. His eyes are closed, trying to hold back his sorrow. Little did his mate know, he had found the tiny body of his son; but he couldn't retrieve him. Silently, he watched as the still, still body of the kit floated down the river and dropped into the ravine, never to be seen again.
A little depressing, yes? That's ok, it was supposed to be. Review~!
-Graywhisper :3
