Summary: Graypool always dreamed of having a family of her own. She thought that dream had been ripped away before it even begun; she never expected Oakheart to show up in the dead of night and make her an offer she couldn't refuse. / SNEAK PEAK AT MY NEXT FIC.
Graypool's Point of View
Dead. They were dead.
Her kits. Her three helpless, perfect kits: Splashkit, Morningkit and Lilykit. They were only three days old but she loved her son and daughters with the fierceness that only a mother could, and now they were dead. StarClan had ripped them away from her before they had the chance to open their eyes.
Their eyes. She would never know what color their eyes were; did they have Rippleclaw's mossy green eyes, or would their eyes have been bright yellow, the same as her own?
Rippleclaw. Her mate, the love of her life. He was still alive, but Graypool only knew that because no one had come to tell her otherwise. The kits had died a few days ago, she wasn't sure how many days exactly, but Graypool hadn't seen a whisker of her mate since she was forced to deliver the news to him.
"They're dead," she'd sobbed. "They're dead, they're dead, they're dead-"
It was leaf-bare, the cruel season when everything died. Of course that included her kits. She'd been foolish to think that they ever stood a chance of making it until new-leaf; she'd been foolish to think that StarClan would have mercy on their young, innocent souls. StarClan didn't take mercy on Willowbreeze, after all.
Willowbreeze. Her sister, her best friend. Maybe the kits would have inherited her beautiful amber eyes. She would have loved that; maybe it would have been Lilykit. Lilykit had been named for Willowbreeze, after all; 'lily' in honor of the flowerbed that they used to spend entire days in as kits.
Her mother, her sister, and now her precious kits. They'd all been ripped away from her. StarClan had claimed all of their lives. Rippleclaw was still alive, but if he felt anything like Graypool then he wasn't alive at all.
The dark gray queen laid her head on her paws and let her gaze become cloudy. The moons leading up to her pregnancy had been some of the best moons of her life. She'd always wanted to raise a family with a tom she loved, and after the deaths of Fallowfern and Willowbreeze she thought that maybe her life was finally starting to turn back around. Her mother and sister wouldn't be there when her kits were born, but they would be watching over her from StarClan. And Rippleclaw was so excited when she told him that she was expecting; he was moons older than she was, and he'd waited so long to fall in love with a she-cat and start a family. Sometimes he almost seemed more excited than she was.
He'd been so proud of her after the birth. He licked her face and gazed at the kits with all the love in the world shining in his eyes. He picked out the names Splashkit and Morningkit. He was so excited for their future. A future that had been destroyed before it really even begun.
Does he blame me for their deaths? Graypool couldn't help but wonder. Her ears flattened at the thought. Surely her mate couldn't fault her for their deaths; she'd only had three days with them after all, and she produced plenty of milk! It was just too cold, and they were too weak, and they hadn't stood a chance in the first place.
No, Rippleclaw didn't blame her for anything. He just couldn't stand to be around her right then, that was all. Graypool couldn't say she blamed him; at that moment, she would have given anything to be anyone else.
A blurry figure appeared in front of her vision, and Graypool had to strain her eyes to make it out through the blizzard. She recognized his scent before his pelt, and it sent confusion down her spine. "Oakheart? What's wrong?" It was well into the night by this point; only a grieving queen or a ShadowClan warrior would be awake.
Oakheart didn't respond right away, and Graypool didn't understand why until she could see him clearly, and when she did she gasped. In Oakheart's jaws were two small, shivering kittens.
"Oakheart," she began, voice weary, "What have you got there?"
"Kits, Graypool," he answered. "Will you take them? They need a mother to look after them."
Her head jerked up in surprise. What? "But… whose kits are these?" she asked, as she struggled to get the question out. What sick turn of events was this? "They're not RiverClan's. Where did you get them?"
"I found them in the forest." The forest? What were you doing out there? "They're lucky a fox didn't find them first."
"In the forest? Oakheart, don't talk to me as if I'm fish-brained." This was all too much to comprehend. Her own kits were dead and now here was Oakheart, a very respected warrior, with two strange kits in his jaws and he was asking her to raise them, and it was all just too much. "What cat would abandon her kits in the forest, especially in this weather?"
Oakheart shrugged, but it was a tense movement. He finally set the kits down, and they mewled helplessly. Graypool's heart ached at the sound. "Rogues, maybe, or Twolegs. How would I know? But I couldn't just leave them there, could I?" He stared at her with something akin to desperation in his eyes, and it caught Graypool by surprise. "Graypool, please… your other kits died, and these will too, unless you help them."
The kits continued to mewl and squeal, terrorfied in this cold, unfamiliar den and probably starving. They were a bit older than her own kits, but not much. They wouldn't remember where they came from. And she couldn't just sentence helpless kits to their deaths, even if they weren't of her own blood.
The tom-kit was solid gray. He looked just like Morningkit.
"I have plenty of milk," she murmured, almost to herself. He raised her gaze to Oakheart's and looked him in the eye. "Of course I'll take them."
Relief flooded Oakheart's amber eyes, only further confusing her, but she didn't question him. She picked up the tom-kit and nestled him into her side, and Oakheart placed the she-kit in the crook of her stomach. They nosed them closer to her belly, and it wasn't long before they got the idea and started nursing.
A soft smile played across Graypool's lips. They wouldn't replace her own kits, not in a million seasons, but their tiny bodies fit perfectly into her own.
"I still don't understand," she murmured softly. "Why would two kits be alone in the forest in the middle of leaf-bare? Their mother must be frantic."
Oakheart stiffened. "I didn't steal them, if that's what you're thinking."
The dark gray she-cat shook her head. "No, I don't think you did. But you're not telling me the whole truth, are you?"
Oakheart stared at the kits, refusing to meet her gaze. "I've told you all you need to know."
Graypool's heart nearly stopped beating. He knows where they came from! "No, you haven't!" she hissed softly. "What about their mother? I know what it's like to lose kits, Oakheart." Her throat tightened with emotion, and she had to swallow it before adding sorrowfully, "I wouldn't wish that kind of grief on any cat."
The RiverClan tom shook his head. "Their mother is probably some rogue cat. This isn't the weather to go looking for her."
"But-"
"Graypool, please," Oakheart finally cried, his tone strained. "Please, just stop asking questions and take them. I'll bring you fresh-kill everyday for the rest of your life!"
Despite the severity and the secrecy of their situation, Graypool managed a weak smile. "I never thought I'd see the day when the great Oakheart of RiverClan was so flustered."
The dark brown tabby tom shook his head. "Such a mighty feat could only be accomplished by the most stubborn cat in all the Clans."
"Excuse me?"
"So you'll raise them?" he asked, amber eyes wide with hope. "You'll raise them to be loyal to RiverClan?"
Her eyes fell to the two kits nursing at her stomach. "Yes. I'll raise them as my own, and they will never question me as their mother, but Oakheart, if you know who their mother is, then I want to know."
"I don't know her," Oakheart answered, and while Graypool still wasn't quite convinced, Oakheart had never given the Clan a reason to doubt his honesty before.
"Okay," the dark gray queen finally submitted. "I believe you. Should I update Crookedstar, or-?"
"I'll do it," Oakheart meowed. Graypool figured that he would. The Clan leader was his brother, after all.
A thought struck her. "Rippleclaw. Will you tell him too? And… ask him to visit me?" She felt pathetic. She shouldn't have to ask her mate to visit her!
But if the request caught Oakheart off guard then he didn't show it. "Of course I will. And I'll be here bright and early tomorrow with that fresh-kill I promised!" He grinned down at her, bright as the sun in green-leaf. "Thank you, Graypool. I mean it." Then he turned around and disappeared into the blizzard once again, leaving Graypool alone with just her thoughts and her adopted kits.
My kits, she thought, as she looked down at the squirming bundles of fur. I have kits again.
The sorrow she felt when she thought of her blood-kits didn't go away, but it didn't hurt quite so much. She had a second chance to raise a family! She would do everything in her power to raise these kits to be respected RiverClan warriors, and to make sure that they were promised a future.
She wasn't going to let StarClan steal them from her too, not even if she had to fight them off herself.
Graypool began to lick their tiny bodies, to warm them up and wash away the stench of the blizzard. The scent of snow, trees, the wind, and-
Her heart stopped. Her blood ran cold.
The scent of ThunderClan.
Hey guys... you just read the first chapter of my next fic ;)
A few of you might be a bit confused, so let me explain. A few months ago I had a poll contest on my profile, where viewers would vote on the cat they wanted me to write a full-length fic about. It came down to Graypool and Silverhawk, and ultimately Silverhawk won. I was thinking about how grateful I was that Graypool didn't win because I wasn't sure how I would write an entire fic about her, but then the idea of a one-shot came to me. I couldn't get it out of my head, so I typed it out, and that's what you just read. A lot of the conversation between Graypool and Oakheart actually came straight out of the prologue of Forest of Secrets. Anyway, I finished the one-shot but I couldn't get Graypool out of my head, and before I knew it I was plotting out a full-length fic about her! I've fallen in love with the plot and the characters, and I've decided that once I complete Dawn Frost, I'm going to start the Graypool fic :)
For those of you who are waiting on the Silverhawk story, fear not! I'll get around to writing about Silverhawk eventually, but I just don't have the same drive to write that fic as I do this one.
And for those of you who are anxiously awaiting the next chapter of Dawn Frost, do not fret! I've already got the majority of the chapter completed, it's just a matter of finishing and editing it :)
Question(s) of the Day
1) What do you think I should title my Graypool fic? (I was thinking Shades of Gray, but I don't love that, so I'm open to suggestions!)
2) Should it be written in first-person point of view (like Dawn Frost) or should I leave it the way it is now (third-person)?
This one-shot is dedicated to Graypool. I apologize in advance for the emotional journey that I'm planning to drag y'all on ':)
