Hello! Silverstar here! Here is my one-shot for Legends of Duskclan! Hope you like it!
Swiftkit lay next to his mother's, Speckleshine, belly. He had not opened his eyes yet, so he couldn't see anything. He heard two voices near him, one, he suspected to be his mother, Speckleshine, who he bet was very pretty, and the other, his sister. His sister's name was Snowkit, and she sounded like a very happy kit most of the time, but right now she sounded mad.
"Speckleshine! Why won't Swiftkit open his eyes? Its been 4 days since I have opened mine. He should have opened them by now!" Snowkit was saying. Swiftkit felt Speckleshine shift, and Swiftkit mewled. Speckleshine let out a chuckle.
"Snowkit, he doesn't have to open them yet if he doesn't feel like he has to. After all, he doesn't have his father pressuring him…" Speckleshine said, muttering the last part. Snowkit hesitated for a moment, then continued.
"Speckleshine, who is daddy? Why don't we ever get to see him? Why do people glare at me everywhere I go?" Snowkit piped up. Speckleshine sat up next to him. He mewled again. Speckleshine held her breath for a moment.
"That is another story, Snowkit. For when you are older. Not now, when you know so little." Speckleshine sighed. She curled her tail around Swiftkit and Snowkit.
Swiftkit decided this was the right time.
Swiftkit opened his eyes. The nursery was bigger then he imagined. It was a large tree, obviously, but it had bramble patches around it. The tree was a very dark black, unlike what he heard. He heard trees were usually brown.
His mother was very pretty, more then he imagined. She was long-furred, with tortoiseshell patches. She was mostly white, though. She had very pale green eyes that seems to make everything happy. Next to her was a small furry white figure who he figured to be Snowkit. She was all furry white besides her tail tip, which was black. Her eyes were dark amber.
He looked around. There were other cats in the nursery. Two, exactly. One with kits and one without. The one with kits was a pale brown tabby, with pretty green eyes. Two kits were beside her, one dark brown with white flecks and the other one was a pale brown tabby like their mother. The other queen was a silver tabby she-cat with a white tail. Her belly was quite large.
Swiftkit looked back at his mother. She smiled at him. "Welcome to Duskclan, Swiftkit."
Swiftkit woke up. He was 4 moons old now, and had figured out almost everyone's name. The silver tabby cat was Dovefeather, and the pale brown tabby was Doeheart, and her kits names were Mudkit and Deerkit. Deerkit was real sick right now, so he was in the herb cat den. Dovefeather ended up having one kit named Rainkit. Though both the queens tried to stay away from Speckleshine, him, and her sister.
Snowkit bounced up next to him, and smiled. "Momma said she is going to tell us about father today!" Snowkit's fur was messed up at all angles, so she must have just woken up too. Speckleshine groomed us real quick, then she had us sit close to her. She looked serious.
"Now, what I am about to tell you today is very important, so listen closely." Speckleshine began, curled her tail around them. Swiftkit and Snowkit looked up at her. She sighed and began, making sure the kits were focused on her. She licked their heads.
"Your father's name was Crowstrike, and he was very nice when I first met him. We started meeting at night, because our mother's were pressuring us to be with other cats. Then, other cats started liking him, and trying to get in between him and I, so he got very mad. Mad enough to start… to start killing these cats. You have to understand he loved me very much." She stopped for a moment, then continued.
"He killed many cats, just to get what he wanted: for us to be together without hiding it. When I was expecting you, he decided to kill his father, Ravenstar. But, it went south. Ravenstar wailed, and, fortunately, Pebblefall, heard. He got caught, and got brought to camp. Pebblefall told them what happened and the clan immediately killed him." She ended.
The kits stared up at their mother, their eyes wide. "Thats why everyone hates us? Because da- because Crowstrike is a… a… a monster?" Snowkit squeaked. Swiftkit was frozen with shock. He had most likely gotten his pelt from his father. Swiftkit was horrified. His father was a monster. No one would ever accept him.
He would be alone forever.
Swiftkit had been quiet ever since that day that his mother had told him about his father. Snowkit had stayed her same, perky, self. They were seven moons, and they were about to become apprentices. Mudpaw was glaring at them from the apprentices den. His brother Deerkit had died from greencough, so his mood had gone south ever since. He was though close friends to Rainkit, who was a moon younger then Swiftkit.
"Those who can serve their Clan gather around the leader's den for a Clan meeting," Quailstar called. Snowkit bounced up to the foot of the rock, while Swiftkit just rolled his eyes and walked over there. "Snowkit, Swiftkit, step forward."
Snowkit, once again, bounced up onto the rock. Swiftkit calmly padded up there. He looked down, and everyone was glaring at him except his mother, who was smiling. Swiftkit frowned.
"We gather today to begin the training of our kits. Under the careful eye of Brightdapple, I give these kits their apprentice names Swiftpaw and Snowpaw. Snowpaw will train as a patrol guard and Stormears will be the one to watch over her training. Swiftpaw will train as a patroller and Eagleflight will be the one to watch over his training." Quailstar said, glancing down at the crowd. The mentors growled, but decided they shouldn't say no to their leader. Swiftpaw touched noses with his mentor.
The clan cheered, but weakly, besides his mother and the leader. Swiftpaw looked at his paws and tried to not cry. Why did the clan hate his so much, just because of his father? Was it because he looked like his father, or was it because he was his father's son. Swiftpaw jumped off the rock and immediately went to his den. He curled up in his nest, sobbing into his tail while the other apprentices tried to avoid him. They obviously had all heard the story of Crowstrike.
"Traitor!" a yowl rang through the camp. Swiftpaw ears perked up. He was 3 moons into his training, and yesterday Eagleflight had taught him a complicated battle move, so he was aching.
Pebblefall was snarling, in the middle of her clearing. He had someone pinned down under him, and realized it was his mother. Swiftpaw ran up to him and pushed him off of her. "She did nothing!" Swiftpaw yowled. Snowpaw came out of the apprentices den and went over beside him.
Pebblefall's eyes were filled with anger. He glared at Speckleshine. "Yes she did! I heard her muttering about how she should have not helped Crowstrike kill all those cats!" Pebblefall snapped. The cats gasped around him, and crouched down. They were going to kill her.
"No!" Swiftpaw and Snowpaw yowled. They protected her mother, batting off cats who tried to get to her. Eagleflight managed to get through. Swiftpaw turned around and watched in horror as his mother was clawed by his own mentor. Swiftpaw tried to push him off, but he got a good claw on the face. Swiftpaw began to sob. His mother stared up at him, her pale green eyes filled with tears as Eagleflight clawed her throat.
"I'm so sorry… I should have never told you..." She moaned, and she gasped for breath, but got none as she went limp and her eyes went dull. Swiftpaw didn't care about the pain in his face, he just worried about the pain in his heart. He sobbed into his mother's pelt, not caring about the world around him. He curled his tail around his mother. She was the only person that truly accepted him besides Snowpaw. Now she was gone.
Snowpaw joined him. Swiftpaw looked down, staring at his mother's pelt, her beautiful pelt. How he wished she would have seen them become a warrior.
Swiftstorm looked up from his place at vigil. Snowtail, his sister, sat across from him. Brightdapple's stars shone brightly, and he wondered where his mother was. She had to be in Star Watchers. He sighed and looked away. He yawned, and saw a bit of dawn. The stars were fading, so Eagleflight would be there soon to tell them to go to sleep. He yawned, and prepared for the day ahead.
Swiftstorm woke up. He had been sleeping since dawn, and it was sunhigh. Fox dung! He thought. I missed the dawn patrol. He sighed, and shook his head. The deputy told him to go on a patrol around the border, and he listened. The other cats on his patrol were Eagleflight, Stormears, and Snowtail. They padded along the border, prepared for any scent of loners. He caught one, and followed it, the others following him.
A group of rogues went pass the borders, and without them knowing, the patrol surrounded the rogues. "You are on Duskclan territory." Eagleflight hissed. The biggest of the loners nodded, and the rogues went into battle position.
Eagleflight growled, and yowled "Duskclan, attack!"
All the patrolling cat lept, and clawed with all they have. He took down two cats easily, and they ran away, patches of fur missing, bleeding everywhere. He bared his teeth, and smiled. His quickness was his advantage.
He looked to where his sister was, and he could tell she needed help fighting the rogue. She was missing several clumps of fur, and was clawed everywhere. He ran over there and hissed in his face. The leader of the group, a big grey tom, yowled to the cat next to him "Get help!"
Swiftstorm hissed. He couldn't let the cat get more cats! He looked from the running cat to his injured sister. He decided to go after the tom, knowing his sister could make it on her own. He ran quickly after the tom, and jumped onto him, stopping him in his tracks. He clawed him, and batted his belly with unsheathed claws. The rogue growled in pain, and ran the other direction. Swiftstorm ran back to the battle, to see all the rogues were gone, and that everyone was ok, well, besides his sister. The side of her belly was clawed badly, and there was a long scratch running from in between her ears to the end of her back, and her usually white pelt was stained crimson.
He gasped and rushed to her side. It didn't seem to be life threatening, but she lost a lot of blood. Eagleflight cuffed him on the ears, growling. "How dare you run after a tom while your sister needed help? She could have died!"
"H-he was g-getting more c-cats so I just thought I-" Swiftstorm was cut off.
"You thought nothing! We could've handled them! Now help me get Snowtail to the herb cat den!" Eagleflight snapped. Snowtail gave him a sympathetic look as she was lifted onto Eagleflight's back. Swiftstorm's head hung low as they entered camp, and many cats asked what happened and the rumor spread quickly that Swiftstorm was a piece of fox-dung.
He was hated much more then he liked.
Swiftstorm lay in the herb cat den, coughing up a storm. A great wave of greencough had come through the clan, and he and his sister had been sick from it. Snowtail had been injured greatly in the rogue attack, though no more rogues had come through this way. It had been a few moons, and she was stilling healing, because she kept on opening the wound back up. The greencough was not helping her heal at all. Pebblefall always looked sad when he looked at her, she had the worse case.
Swiftstorm had been told him she will not be curable, and she was due to die any day now. He flinched every time he could not tell she was breathing, and sometimes, even when she was weak, she would pull pranks on him pretending to be dead.
She was coughing next to him, her eyes dull. She rolled onto her side, and heaved a great big sigh. She began to talk. "Swiftstorm, Starclan's calling. I am sorry it had to end like this, with you having no family members left. Remember I will always be watching over you, my brother." She heaved another great big sigh, but this time she did not breath again. He coughed, and crawled over to his sister and cried into her pelt. "P-pebblefall!" Pebblefall rushed over, and sighed when he looked at Snowtail. He then took away here body, and Swiftstorm cried some more.
He. Was. Alone.