AN: Welcome to another new chapter! I'm on a roll peoples! Featherkit's world takes a turn for the worst, sadly but I will tell you now... SHE DOESN'T DIE!
With that said, onward to the show (in a manor of speaking)
Coughing aroused Flamekit from his dreams, which annoyed him. He had been so close to catching a nice fat crow when he had been awakened. Angrily, her sat up and looked around for the source of the noise. He didn't have to look far. Beside him, Featherkit was coughing and wheezing softly. "Featherkit, wake up," he mewed, nudging his sister with a paw. She grumbled and moved closer to their mother's milk warm belly. "Come on, mouse-brain, wake up! You're keeping me awake!" he hissed, pawing at her again.
Olivenose stirred and raised her head, obviously annoyed at being awoken so early. "Flamekit, what are you doing?" she hissed under her breath. "Go to sleep." Flamekit huffed and glared at his mother. "I was sleeping, but Featherkit woke me up with her coughing!"
The queen looked surprised before uncurling herself from her kits and kneeling beside her daughter. Featherkit coughed feebly and shivered at the sudden disappearance of her warmth. Flamekit expected his mother to scold Featherkit for waking him up, but instead, she placed her paw against his littermate and listened to her cough. Fear appeared in his mother's eyes before she ran out of the nursery, howling for Littlecloud.
Stormkit awoke with a start and looked around, fear lighting up his eyes. "What's going on?" he whimpered, curling his tail close to his side. "Why does Mama sound so scared?" Flamekit stared at his brother before looking to Featherkit who only tried to get warm by curling up into a tight ball. Carefully, the ginger tom padded over to her and nudged her again.
"Featherkit? Featherkit, wake up." He nudged her again, but only heard her whimper in response. "What's wrong, Featherkit?!" His voice had grown high and shrill in fear. No matter what he tried, she wouldn't wake up.
The brambles by guarding the entrance rustled as Littlecloud pushed inside with Olivenose close behind him. He glanced at Flamekit and Stormkit before turning his attention to the still sleeping Featherkit. "Did she eat anything from the fresh-kill pile?" the medicine cat asked as he knelt beside the kit. Olivenose shook her head vigorously. He watched her before pressing his nose to Featherkit's pelt.
Olivenose looked to her sons and swept them to her with her tail. "What's wrong with Featherkit, Mama?" Stormkit wailed, fear clawing at his voice. She only shook her head and watched the tabby work. The other nest stirred and Pinenose looked at Olivenose curiously. Again, she shook her head.
Littlecloud sat up, concern eating at his eyes. "It's greencough," he announced. Pinenose looked to the tiny tom in shock while Olivenose began to shiver uncontrollably. Flamekit had never heard of greencough, but from how the queens were acting it wasn't anything good. While he wasn't looking, Littlecloud picked up Featherkit carefully by the scruff of her neck and exited the nursery. Olivenose watched them go before tears fell from her eyes.
Littlecloud set to work quickly, gathering catmint and tansy, and quickly chewing it into a pulp that a kit could eat. Featherkit lay on a nest of thick moss and pine needles where she shivered and coughed uncontrollably.
When Olivenose had come to him saying that Featherkit was coughing, his heart had frozen in fear. Leaf-bare had just begun to take hold and he hadn't expected greencough to spread so quickly. He had prayed to StarClan to let the grip of greencough to be lessened this season, but the words seemed futile.
He quickly went to the kit's side and placed the pulp beside her. "Featherkit, I need you to eat as much of this as you can, all right?" he instructed. Her eyes flashed for a moment and her tongue slowly began to lap at the herbs. She wasn't taking much of it in, but it was a start. He had to get water into her so she wouldn't dehydrate. As if StarClan had heard his thoughts, Tigerheart and Rowanstar pushed into the sandy den, concern in their eyes.
"Is she alright?" Tigerheart asked, almost breathless from running from the warriors' den. Littlecloud stared at him quietly before speaking; "I need you to get some moss soaked in water, run if you have to just be fast."
Tigerheart blinked in surprise but quickly backed out of the den and raced off to gather moss. Rowanstar watched Littlecloud as he coaxed Featherkit to eat more of the pulp. "Is it greencough?" he questioned quietly. Littlecloud just nodded. "Do you think it has spread?" He shook his head.
Featherkit let out a feebly squeak as coughs racked her tiny body. Littlecloud pressed his nose into her pelt, trying to gauge how high her fever was. Heat assaulted his senses, but it wasn't as bad as he had first thought. The entranced rustled as Tigerheart entered with a ball of soaked moss clamped in his jaws. "Set it close to her mouth," Littlecloud instructed quietly. The dark tabby tom maneuvered around him and placed the moss by his daughter's mouth.
Her eyes opened and she slowly lapped at the moss before coughs racked her again. Littlecloud let out a sigh as she began to finish off the herbs and lapped at more water. Leaving her side for a moment, he went to his storage and got out a poppy seed for her. He instructed her to swallow it then drink more water before she was finally allowed to sleep. She did so, swallowing the tiny seed without so much as a whimper and lapped at the water some more before she closed her eyes. He stayed by her side until he was sure she was sleeping, although restless.
He looked to his leader and gestured for him to speak. Rowanstar watched him with jaded green eyes and glanced through the branches at the nearly full moon above them. "I take it you won't be attending the gathering then?" Littlecloud shook his head and glanced to his storage, trying to figure out how much catmint he had left. It wasn't much. "I can't leave Featherkit alone when she has greencough; it's fatal to kits and I don't want another kit to die."
The words hung in the air as the memory of Dewpaw's untimely death at the paws of infection gripped their hearts. Littlecloud had left him think he was alright; he had found the apprentice dead when he returned from gathering herbs. He refused to let another cat die because of his ignorance.
Rowanstar nodded. "I'll tell them that you are attending to urgent matters that require your full attention. Hopefully they will all understand."
Tigerheart snorted. "They had better understand! A kit with greencough is very bad, if the Clans don't understand that than they are all mouse-brained and fox-hearted," he growled, pulling his lips back at the thought. Littlecloud watched the tom uncertainly before beginning to sort through his herbs again.
Rowanstar and Tigerheart took that as a sign to leave, although Tigerheart looked towards Featherkit hesitantly, and left the den as quietly as they had entered. Littlecloud glanced up from his work to make sure they were gone before looking down at his measly supply of catmint. Not even enough for three apprentices, much less a warrior, he grimaced. He was ill prepared for the on-coming harshness of leaf-bare and he knew it. He had enough tansy to halt a fever, but the coughs he could only hope would pass.
He glanced over his shoulder towards a restlessly sleeping Featherkit. Her paw jumped and moved in her sleep, as though she was running, and her tail flicked back and forth quickly. At least her cough had subsided for the most part. He sighed and looked up toward Silverpelt and the nearly full moon.
Please, StarClan, don't take this kit from us! She is young and has yet to live like a Clan cat should. Please give her the strength to pull through…
Tigerheart padded alongside Tawnypelt and Dawnpelt as they maneuvered across the fallen tree. He was jittery, glancing in the direction of camp every so often and worrying over his kits to the point where he couldn't keep his paws still. Dawnpelt supported him while Tawnypelt led them quickly across the bark and onto the island. They found a place to sit alongside a group of RiverClan warriors who gossiped to themselves.
Onestar, Bramblestar and Mistystar sat high in the branches while Rowanstar nimbly climbed to perch beside the ThunderClan leader, nodding to each leader in turn. Onestar raised his tail for silence and all the cats complied quickly. A heavy silence settled over the four Clans as the eldest leader lowered his tail and began to speak. "WindClan is doing well; the prey is running well considering how close to leaf-bare it is. We have one new little of kits; Darkkit, Flowerkit and Runningkit."
WindClan howled in cheers at the news alongside a few cats from the other Clans. Onestar nodded his thanks before stepping back to allow Mistystar to speak. "RiverClan does not have much to report. Prey is running well, although the river has begun to freeze early." A short report; short and sweet. She took a step back to allow Bramblestar to speak.
His eyes shone with a bright pride as he spoke, "We have two new warriors within ThunderClan's ranks, Cherryfur and Moleclaw." ThunderClan and a few other cats took up a cheer that reverberated through the trees until Bramblestar silenced them with a flick of his tail. "Prey has run rather well everything considered. We chased a fox out of our territory and as far from the other Clans as possible." The dark tabby tom looked to Rowanstar who stepped forward to give his report.
"Prey runs well for us in ShadowClan as well, but we were hit by tragedy this early leaf-bare. One of the kits, Featherkit, has fallen ill with greencough." Cats for all Clans yowled in shock and whispers began to roam through the bodies of fur.
"Is that why Littlecloud isn't here?" Jayfeather, ThunderClan's medicine cat, asked over the roar of the cats. All the cats fell silent upon noticing the absence of the tiny tabby medicine cat from ShadowClan. "Yes, he wishes to look after Featherkit until she recovers," Rowanstar replied calmly, though his eyes were dull. As Rowanstar continued his report, Tigerheart felt a pelt press close to him.
"I'm sorry about your daughter," Bumblestripe muttered, glancing at him silently before moving away. Tigerheart watched the tom as he moved to sit beside his sister before turning his head in the direction of ShadowClan's territory. His worry was palpable, but he had to remain strong. Littlecloud had told him that she was growing stronger by the day. She would be well soon.
Slowly, his mind moving faster than his body, Tigerheart stood and walked over to Bumblestripe. "Thank you for your concern," he said as he passed him. Bumblestripe blinked in surprise and stared at Tigerheart as he took a seat beside Applefur and Sparrowpaw.
Tigerheart met the tom's eyes and smirked, eyes shining brightly under the light of the full moon. Bumblestripe blinked before returning the smirk and nodded.
She sat up slowly, testing her legs as she did so. Her legs felt wobbly and weak, but she could stand nonetheless. Littlecloud watched her from afar as Featherkit carefully climbed out of her nest and over to the water-soaked moss. She was clumsy and out of breath when she made it, but she had done it without any assistance. He smiled and nodded. "Nice job, Featherkit; you're becoming much stronger."
She looked at him with her odd eyes and smiled, lapping at the moss frantically to quench her growing thirst. It had taken her four moons to recover from greencough and had been in the medicine cat's den every day for those four moons. When she had gotten up the strength, she had tried to make it to the fresh-kill pile by herself but couldn't even make it to the entrance of the den. Littlecloud had noticed and gave her exercises to do to get her body used to moving around again.
Olivenose and her brothers would visit every once in a while and play with her as one of her exercises which had helped her greatly. Even Sparrowpaw and Mistpaw had stopped by to see how she was doing. She was grateful that they were so encouraging and thanked them for their support.
"At this rate, you'll be able to become an apprentice in no time." Her eyes grew wide at the realization. She was five moons old; in half a moon she would be old enough to be apprenticed to a mentor. Excitement bubbled in her veins and she looked to Littlecloud happily. He smiled with her and nodded.
Just hearing that made her want to get better faster.
I like how this chapter came out and I'm really glad that Featherkit came out alright. I made it so that Bumblestripe and Tigerheart don't resent each other as much as one would expect due to the love triangle between them and Dovewing. I just really wanted to resolve it so that Tigerheart wouldn't try to, like, kill Bumblestripe or something... -^-
Anyways...
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Ouka-noir