A/N: Nothing much to say except that the plot and stuff REALLY kicks off here. Thanks to everyone paying attention, and to Cami Errant for beta-ing.
Chapter Three: It's always darkest...
The last thing Willowkit knew before the angry yowls was being flung back by a strong, heavy paw into a tree. And then...
Silence. There was silence all around her.
The battle...
Willowkit twitched her ear-not dead. That was the first relief. But there was warm blood leaking from top of her muzzle, and she felt dizzy. A nose touched her side; she recognized ShadowClan's scent. "Are you awake?" Struggling, she managed to wrench open her eyelids, and raised her head. Right in her line of sight was her father, his eyes full of concern. Wrenstripe sighed. "Thank StarClan. I can't...what were you kits thinking?"
Willowkit winced, despite the fact that her father didn't sound angry, just worried and tired. "We wanted to help," she said, voice cracked, much to her disappointment. "We heard what WindClan did, and..."
Wrenstripe gave a slight growl of frustration. "That was very irresponsible, Willowkit." She shrank back against the roots of the tree. "But it seems you've been punished enough from it. I can't tell you how worried your mother and I were."
"She's here? Where is she? Is she mad at me?"
Her father shook her head, but there was something in his eyes that told her that she wasn't out of the woods yet. "She's getting Birchkit."
Willowkit's heart plummeted. "That cat, Pikepelt...he picked him up and shook him. Will Birchkit be okay, daddy?" Wrenstripe didn't respond. "Daddy?"
"We don't know, Willowkit. We just don't know." He turned back to her. "Can you stand?" Willowkit nodded, and with an extreme effort, and much protesting from her muscles, she stood up and staggered. Wrenstripe steadied her with his shoulder. Her dizziness just amplified, though.
Willowkit looked around. Mudkit was hunched over, whimpering; one of her paws was not touching the ground, and blood leaked from a wrenched claw. Shadowkit sat taller, but there was a slash along his shoulder and a few patches where fur had been clawed clean off. Sagekit was being held from the scruff by her mother; half of her gray face was covered in still wet and sticky blood. Willowkit shuddered, unable to look any longer, and began glancing around for Birchkit.
Finally, she saw Vinewhisker pick him up by the scruff as well. His body was limp in her mother's jaws, and unintentionally Willowkit remembered how, in the fight, Pikepelt had done the same to her brother. First it had been his neck, but he had broken free, and next, it had been his whole body, shaken back and forth, with sharp fangs around his chest and back.
Willowkit wanted to vomit. And if I stay this dizzy, I might just.
"Come on." Willowkit looked up at her father. "We have to go back to camp. Quailspots is going to be waiting for us." Willowkit nodded, and staggered off alongside her father. Her muzzle stung and her heart wrenched. Why? she thought. Why would they do this to us? She hissed quietly under her breath, shaking her head, and feeling anxiety creep over her. This was all my fault! If it wasn't for my mouse-brained idea, we wouldn't be out here...
For a while, she didn't pay attention to how long the trek to camp was. Willowkit was too occupied with her thoughts; she couldn't stop thinking about how cruelly the WindClan cats had treated them, how brutally they had injured her brother and Sagekit.
There was a rustling beside her as a cat fell in line next to. Surprised, she whipped her head around to see Mudkit hobbling beside her on three of four legs. Her guilt came crashing back, and Willowkit ducked her head. "What?"
Willowkit sighed. "This was my fault!" She glanced sidelong up at Mudkit, who looked confused. "I shouldn't have suggested sneaking out. Now look what happened, all because of me!" She caught her father glancing at her in the corner of her vision, looking dully surprised. I also should have kept my voice down.
Mudkit shook her head. "It's not all your fault." Willowkit looked up, confused. "I mean, we probably shouldn't have gone out...but you can't say that the way WindClan treated us was your fault."
"They said they would attack any patrol regardless." Willowkit jumped as Shadowkit snuck up beside them, looking completely serious. As she regained her nerves, the black tom flicked his tail. "You COULD see it as saving a patrol of warriors."
Willowkit chuckled humorlessly, but then the anxiety of the situation came crashing back. "But...what about Sagekit and Birchkit? What'll happen to them?" Mudkit and Shadowkit exchanged glances in surprise.
"They're not going to die..." Shadowkit cast his glance back to their injured denmates, but his voice lacked any confidence. Mudkit cast him a glance, and Willowkit nodded limply and slowed her pace, letting the two siblings go on ahead of her, and turned to find her mother and brother. On the way, she saw Sagekit's body hanging in the jaws of her mother; her face didn't seem to be bleeding anymore, and she was breathing, but there were deep gouges around her eye that made Willowkit shudder.
Vinewhisker was still carrying Birchkit by the scruff when . He looks so...small, she thought. His body hung loosely in Vinewhisker's jaws as she carried him. Her mother looked at her from above, and Willowkit averted her eyes, the pain of her jarring transgression clawing at her heart just by looking in her own mother's eyes.
We should never have come.
Back at camp, Quailspots had put some poultice on her cut muzzle, and since her parents were spending the night in the den with Birchkit, she too was forced to stay. She envied Shadowkit and Mudkit, who got to leave. Willowkit couldn't sleep the whole night, even with the poppy seeds, and was wide awake as she listened to Vinewhisker and Wrenstripe talk to Quailfeather about Birchkit's condition.
It was too much, listening to them speak so urgently; even if she could not make out the words fully, the tone was enough. She shuddered every time they passed words, and she found herself panting so much that at one point Quailspots actually came over to check on her. She had been told to sleep again, to which she halfheartedly agreed to try, and then immediately resumed staring at the walls of the medicine cat den, wide-eyed and exhausted.
Just before sunrise, she not only hadn't slept a wink, but was now becoming increasingly aware of what was going on in the den, more so than just the whispers of her parents and the medicine cat. Quailspots was making trips back and forth between the most injured, until she deemed Sagekit to be safe, albeit permanently scarred-Willowkit heard something from her mother before she left about her face being bitten open. Her father, still stuck in the den from his torn shoulder, had moved nests next to hers; Sootblaze was asleep as well now. Again, Willowkit found herself envious.
For a little while, all she could hear was her parents talking quietly to Quailspots as she worked on Birchkit. Then their voices started getting louder. More...panicked.
The crescendo continued, and Willowkit jerked up out of her nest and scrambled over, fear heavy in her veins. She squeezed through her mother and father, who barely reacted to her entrance.
Birchkit was laying on the moss, eyes closed and stomach and back torn open, but there was something she hadn't noticed; there was a bend in his back, like a broken branch, right between his shoulders and the end of his ribs. His breathing was quick and it didn't seem like any air was getting into him.
Vinewhisker looked up at Quailspots pleadingly. "Please, do something!"
Quailspots stayed completely focused on her patient, and Willowkit looked back down at her brother. What's going on? What's wrong with him? Something held her back from asking, and she trembled as his breathing continued to quicken. The medicine cat switched from prying his jaws open to pressing on his chest, and when she did, he seemed to breathe easier. For a moment, Willowkit felt relieved.
But just as soon as his breathing improved, it got shallower than before. "Come on, Birchkit!" Quailspots said. "Stay with us!" Willowkit took a step towards her brother, and could not suppress a whimper as it faded...faded...faded...
And with the first light of morning, his breathing stopped.
For a few heartbeats, Quailspots kept pressing on his chest, trying to get him to breathe, but she looked at the kit's body helplessly, and backed off. Willowkit looked up, her throat tight and her heart beating fast. "Why did you stop? You have to help him breathe, Quailspots!"
The medicine cat looked wearily at her. "Oh, Willowkit..." Above her head, Vinewhisker let out a wail, and there was a choked sob from her father.
No...
Willowkit backed up, flattening her ears. "N-no...that's not...he can't be..." But somehow, despite her prayers to StarClan that he was okay, the chill that had settled within her presented only one clear thought.
Birchkit was dead.
Vinewhisker wrapped her tail around Willowkit, and she was barely able to move, let alone resist, as her mother pulled her in and pressed her muzzle to her daughter's face. "Oh, StarClan. How could you take him from us?" Wrenstripe said.
If I hadn't organized this mouse-brained patrol...
Quailspots watched them weakly, and looked about ready to turn away, when Vinewhisker looked up at her. "Why?" That simple question seemed to be too much for the medicine cat, and she shook her head. "Please..."
"I wish I knew." Quailspots said, her ears and tail drooping. "I'm so sorry."
Wrenstripe nodded, his eyes clouded with sorrow, but did not speak. Vinewhisker just winced and shook her head. Willowkit felt frozen to the spot, as the reality of the situation slowly seeped in.
Her brother was dead, and it was her fault.
Her stomach clenched, and she let out a choked sob. Her heart was ripping and tearing itself apart, shouting at her horrible accusations of guilt and stupidity. She tore away from her parents, who, in their grief, didn't seem to notice, and stumbled to her nest, flopping down on the moss like a rock.
Nothing will ever be the same.
Willowkit cursed her stupidity silently, pleading to StarClan that they never allow her to do something so mouse-brained again.
But then she remembered what Mudkit said. "It's not all your fault."
I couldn't have stopped them from killing him...Willowkit slowly lifted her head, realization coming over her, and her neck fur began to bristle. Yes...They're the ones who killed my brother. WindClan did it, not me. She snarled quietly, and dug her claws into the moss of her nest.
And I will make them pay.
A/N: And here comes the plot. Willowkit definitely has some guilt issues.
Reviews are highly appreciated, as are flames. Seriously.
Also, so far, Willowkit is the most fun to write.
As some might know, I'll be starting to post my characters' info on my blog for this fanfic, warriorsworldofgray (dot) blogspot (dot) com. I will also soon begin uploading some of my drawings for this fanfic~~
