Before reading this chapter, please make sure you read chapter five! Because it was originally a notice, and I replaced that notice for kits with an actual chapter, I'm not sure if there was a notification that it changed! So make sure you've read chapter five before you read chapter six, or you might be a little confused by what's going on...or maybe not, but still...
Anyways, on with the story. Additional notes at the end of the chapter.
I do not own Warriors.
Chapter Six
By the time Finchkit curled up to sleep that night, nestled amongst the bodies of her fellow StarClan kits, she'd briefly forgotten everything that had happened earlier. No prophecy echoed in her ears. No anger and jealousy for her brother harbored under her pelt. She even momentarily forgot her dislike of Mothflight as she closed her eyes, falling into deep thought as she listened to the gentle breathing of Harekit and Willowkit, who slept on either side of her. For a moment, she felt like an ordinary kit, without a destiny ahead of her, who hadn't died for her brother.
Is this what Tallkit feels like, down in the nursery next to Palebird? she wondered. Then she allowed a smug thought. I bet he doesn't have this many friends.
So many kits, all with different names, all with different back stories. Only five of the many actually knew the truth; that they were dead, and that was why they were in StarClan. Every other kit believed that they'd been specially selected to leave their Clans and join StarClan.
From WindClan, there was the rather arrogant Falconkit, who'd come to StarClan not too long ago, when, ironically, he'd been taken as prey of a falcon. He said he'd been yelling loudly at the Falcon to scare the bird off ("Yeah right," Leafkit mewed, rolling her eyes, when he told this story to Finchkit), when a StarClan cat took him away from the falcon's talons and saved him.
Lilykit and Songkit had come only a bit before Falconkit had. They'd snuck out of the camp at night, and then encountered a badger. They'd hid in a dark hollow of a tree, and when they came back out, they'd left WindClan territory completely and were face-to-face with Windstar.
Smallkit had been suffering of sickness when he'd woken up in StarClan, miraculously cured but without his mother.
Heatherkit had, like Lilykit and Songkit, snuck out of the WindClan camp one day, and been so immersed in playing an imaginary game, she crossed the border into RiverClan, slipped on stones, and fallen into the river. "I was paddling my paws around," Heatherkit mewed as she recounted the tale to Finchkit, purring with amusement, "swimming like a dog like in one of the elders' stories, and I was so scared! And then Mothflight was there, pulling me out of the river and saying everything was okay, and I've tried to go back the way I thought I came to find my home again, but I get lost all the time I try," she'd finish, her eyes wide. "And that's why I'm in StarClan."
Harekit, Willowkit, Reedkit, and Birdkit had been in StarClan so long they had begun to fade a bit around the edges. Their father had been of ShadowClan, and for the first few moons of their lives, the four kits had been separated; two in WindClan, and two in ShadowClan. Eventually, their mother decided that they should all live with her in WindClan, and only a few moons of living all together in WindClan without their father, a flood swept apart the WindClan camp and carried the kits away. They washed up in StarClan, and had been there ever since.
Grasskit, Skykit, Rabbitkit, and Snowkit were unlike the others. Not only did they know the truth and that they, like all the other kits, were only in StarClan because they had died, but they also seemed less carefree, angrier, almost. And also unlike the other kits, they were not bouncy and energetic, and more shy and reserved. They did not tell Finchkit about their deaths.
Violetkit, and Pigeonkit were the oldest kits - in the sense that they'd been in StarClan the longest. They'd met a rather gruesome end on a Thunderpath, when their mother had attempted to herd them across one in a desperate moment, and they'd been hit by a monster.
From RiverClan, there was Midnightkit, who'd fallen into the river, and Splashkit, Dapplekit, and Silverkit, littermates, had been born during a terrible sickness in RiverClan a long time ago, and they'd been swept away in a violent flood.
From ShadowClan were the lively littermates, Leafkit, who seemed to be the leader of the pack, another Willowkit, who was the most adventurous of the four and always correcting her sister, Sandkit, who was shy and quiet, and Foxkit, ever excitable. Shortly after their birth, their mother had been exiled from the Clan, and barely able to walk, the four, including their mother, had left the Clan in search of a better place to live. They'd all come to StarClan at various stages of the journey; Leafkit, freezing, had woken up grateful for the warmth StarClan provided, Willowkit after facing a starving fox, Sandkit after a tree came crashing down over her, and Foxkit waking up after not having eaten for many sunrises.
Lastly, from ThunderClan, there was Shadowkit, who'd gotten separated from his mother when his Clan fled the camp, desperate to shelter from a violent storm. Sunkit and Lionkit had been carried off by a badger that had entered the camp unexpectedly. Goldkit had been sick with green cough, and woken up one day in StarClan, not next to his mother in the nest.
And she, Finchkit? She was the only one who'd died before she'd even opened her eyes. She had died simply because it was her destiny, but none of the kits needed to know that.
"I'm here because StarClan chose me," Finchkit would explain when the kits asked her why she was here.
"Why did they choose you?" Lilykit asked with wide eyes.
"I don't know, but I wish I did," Finchkit replied. She looked away from the other kits and the Rock, back towards the place where Windstar had disappeared a while ago. This is when you come and take me away from here. This is when you come back and tell me that I need to go and find my destiny.
"We all wish we did," Icekit said gently. She gave Finchkit a sympathetic look, and even though Finchkit hadn't said anything about her own death, she wondered if Icekit somehow knew already.
Before any kit could say anything else, Smallkit yawned widely, revealing tiny but sharp teeth. "I'm tired," he complained, and pretty soon there was a clamorous but unanimous agreement that it was time to sleep.
And that was why Finchkit was curled up between Harekit and his sister Willowkit, reflecting over the day and remembering how each kit had died - pardon, come to StarClan.
They need to know the truth, Finchkit thought as she squeezed her eyes tightly. She had come to the same conclusion earlier, but every time she seemed to even be about to mention death, Icekit had sent her a sharp look and, in her role as Icestar, leader of WindClan, she would inevitably order Finchkit to go off and hunt in some distant area of "WindClan" territory for a good amount of time. I'm going to tell them the truth.
"Finchkit." A soft mew disturbed her thoughts. Perking her head up, Finchkit saw that Mothflight had arrived. Her eyes were kind but filled with concern as her gaze raked over the pelts of the many sleeping kits.
"Whozit?" asked the sleepy voice of Leafkit, curled up next to the sleeping body of Falconkit. Several other kits also stared at the newcomer through heavily lidded eyes.
"Go back to sleep, all of you," Mothflight purred. "I just need to talk to Finchkit."
"Night," Finchkit muttered sullenly to the others as she got to her tired paws and carefully navigated her way out of the pile of sleeping kits and finally standing next to Mothflight.
"I'm sorry about earlier," Mothflight mewed, trying to make up as she led the smaller kit away from the others, back in the direction Finchkit had come earlier with Windstar.
Not looking at the older she-cat, Finchkit instead looked up at the stars, spread above them in a beautiful night sky. "S'okay," she mewed at last.
"No, it's not," Mothflight disagreed. "You have an important destiny. You deserve to know the truth."
What about the other kits? Don't they deserve to know we're all dead? Finchkit wondered, but decided not to ask this question aloud; her relationship with Mothflight was rocky enough, and she figured asking this would only make it worse. Instead she mewed, "If we're in StarClan, how come we can see the stars?"
Mothflight nodded. "Good question. It's a reminder of where we are, who we are, and the infinite knowledge of the stars."
I hope the stars knows what they're doing, Finchkit thought, somewhat bitter. Otherwise, I died for nothing.
"And where are we going now?" she asked.
"Back to the Starpool," Mothflight answered. "Something big is happening, something that could change things. A loner and her kit have come to WindClan, and Heatherstar has allowed them to stay."
"Who's Heatherstar?" Finchkit asked.
"WindClan's current leader," Mothflight answered. "But come. This kit who comes with the loner...he could interfere with Tallkit's destiny."
Author's Note: Okay, that was a bit more exciting then the last chapter...at least now you know how all the kits died, if you were wondering...and Mistleaf, you can expect Finn/Cloudfall to appear soon! We'll see how that works out...
Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing! I appreciate all feedback, as long as it's constructive criticism and not just negativity (not that I have experienced any, but...). Y'all are super amazing! And I really hate to say this...but with school starting up again tomorrow, I'll likely be swamped with a crazy workload, but I do have sixth and seventh period off, so that does mean I have time in school to do my homework (or you know, work on my fanfiction but if anyone asks I'm doing my homework), so maybe I will be able to update sooner rather than later. But I can't promise anything...and by the way, sorry for the late update...I promise I will finish this fanfic!
Anyway, thanks for reading.
Mistleaf: Thanks for continuing to read! Like I said, you can definitely expect the first look at Finn...could you give me a brief description of his personality? Just so I can try to write his character like you want...please and thank you! And thanks for reading!
Pancake Unicorn: Well, that is a splendid name! I love it! And thank you so much for reading and reviewing! I'm sorry that Dapplekit didn't work out for you, and also that I turned Goldkit into a tom...I hope you don't mind...hahaha. But thank you for all the compliments, really appreciated! And hope you enjoy this update...and yes, poor kits. :(
