A/N: I apologize so much for not uploading this earlier. I am very ashamed of myself :(. Life has been very hectic. In between the projects, the homework, the Latin competitions (like the language), the exams, and the start of my very own manuscript, I have found it hard to find the time to upload this. I know my excuses aren't very valid, but now it's summer so I should be able to upload some more, yay! Love you all and as always R&R
Disclaimer: Don't own warriors
Ch. 12: The Falling Stars Crisis
(Flamekit's POV)
Flamekit stared in absolute horror at Stormycloud, who was sprawled out on the nursery floor, her body shaking every few seconds. Leopardclaw gently stroked Stormycloud with her dappled tail while Frostfoot watched on from a distance, as if Stormycloud would give her a disease. The queens had said this was Stormycloud's first time kitting. I'm glad I don't have to do that! Flamekit thought.
Shadowfang pushed passed Flamekit and stood by Stormycloud who let out a moan, "Owww, how did you all get through this?"
"First time's always the hardest," Leopardfoot replied.
Shadowfang stared at Stormycloud, as if in heavy contemplation. Her tail flicked and then she turned towards Frostfoot, "Frostfoot, are you just going to sit in that corner all day long? Do something useful and get some water for her. Oh and get Brackenfoot, I'm sure he would want to be here."
"Fine," Frostfoot snapped and she started padding over to the entrance very sluggishly. Flamekit snorted, bad idea for her.
Shadowfang glared at the golden she-cat, her tail flicking in annoyance, "For StarClan's sake Frostfoot! At the rate you are moving at you won't be back till next leaf-bare! My goodness, you would think I asked you to go find me a bright green squirrel."
Frostfoot stared blankly at Shadowfang, "But there are no bright green squirrels."
Shadowfang glared at Frostfoot, a glare that sent Frostfoot reeling away from the nursery. Flamekit and Rockkit exchanged glances of amusement. Shadowfang had shown her! Heatherkit puffed and stuck her nose in the air.
"Okay, Leopardfoot, find a stick or something so when Stormycloud's spasms come she can bite down on something," Shadowfang mewed and then turned to the kits. "Kits what are you doing just standing there?"
"Uhhhh,"Flamekit stuttered. "Were we supposed to do something?"
"All of you! Go get Bounceleaf! Really now, come on kits, Stormycloud needs Bounceleaf!"
Flamekit bounded away, half glad to get away from hearing Stormycloud's moans which were growing louder as more time passed.
When Flamekit skidded to a stop outside of the nursery he suddenly remembered what he and the other kits were experiencing right before the whole Stormycloud incident. The falling stars!
"No wonder no cat has stopped by the nursery yet," Lavakit remarked. "Everybody's getting caught up in this whole star incident!"
Indeed they were. Nearly the whole Clan was up and about. Shrieks of horror echoed throughout the hallow, and a steady stream of cats was heading towards the only cat who could possibly know what was going on. Bounceleaf.
"Come on!" Flamekit mewed. "We have to tell Bounceleaf about Stormycloud.
The four kits slid down the rocks and towards Bounceleaf's alcove at the bottom of the hallow. Flamekit and the others got to the bottom and became caught up in the surge of cats. He saw Firestar on top of his ledge trying to get order in the camp.
"All cats old enough to catch their own prey please—" But Firestar's cries of order were lost in all the chaos.
Blizzardstripe led the cats, his fur rippling in the wind, "Bounceleaf! You come out right now!"
"Excuse me, pardon me, ugh we need to get through!" Rockkit mewed to every cat they had to shove by.
Heatherkit plopped down, "This is useless, we are never going to get up there."
Flamekit raised his head in determination, "You can stay there and sit on your tail all evening long, but I'm getting Bounceleaf!"
Flamekit stared up at the sky, the stars were still falling. He shivered, the dream of that dark forest and Ravenstar haunted him. He pushed the thought away, not now. He had to get Bounceleaf.
Flamekit leaped back up the rocks, leaving a surprised Rockkit and Lavakit behind.
"Flamekit! Bounceleaf's den is that way!" Rockkit yowled, but Flamekit knew what he was doing. He crept along the edge of the wall until he was right above Bounceleaf's den.
The usually energetic medicine cat looked old and frail as he padded reluctantly out of his den to face Blizzardstripe and the rest of the den.
"What can I do to help you all tonight?" Bounceleaf asked tiredly, his eyes flicking up every once in awhile to the sky.
Blizzardstripe jerked his head up to the sky, "That! That is what we need explaining! Why do we have stars falling?"
Yowls of agreement filled in the hallow.
"Are those the warriors of StarClan?"
"Is StarClan falling?"
"Are we all going to die?"
Gingerheart padded to the front of the crowd, coming face to face with Blizzardstripe, "There's no need to get violent Blizzardstripe. It's probably just an odd occurrence of nature."
Blizzardstripe let out a haughty laugh, "Yeah, of course you think it's some nature thing Gingerheart. We all know how you feel about StarClan!"
Gingerheart shoved her face in Blizzardstripe's, "I'm the deputy of this Clan, you are a warrior Blizzardstripe. Show some respect!"
"Maybe we shouldn't have a deputy who doesn't believe in StarClan be deputy!" a cat cried from the crowd.
"That might be why StarClan's angry!"
Murmurs of agreement started to be heard throughout the cats. Gingerheart stepped back, "This is nonsense! Absolute nonsense! Firestar chose me to be deputy not some cat with anger issues! Also I've been deputy for seasons, I'm sure if StarClan didn't want me to be deputy they wouldn't just mention it now!"
"Well Gingerheart," Watersplash mewed softly, "you can't actually be leader if you don't believe in StarClan. Y'a know with the whole nine lives thing."
Flamekit couldn't believe what he was hearing! Gingerheart was a loyal cat. Sure, she could be a major pain in the tail, but she was a brilliant deputy. Flamekit bunched his hind legs, prepared to jump into the fray when he heard a loud yowl.
"Silence!"
Every cat grew quiet. From a distance Flamekit could hear Stormycloud's moans. He had to get Bounceleaf. But then he saw Firestar make his way through the crowd and to Gingerheart.
"How dare you all accuse our deputy of causing this crisis on us?" Firestar hissed. "Do you all not have a warrior's honor? Gingerheart has served our Clan to the utmost since I became leader. She has fought to nearly the death in the great battle against ThornClan all those moons ago. She has kept our Clan in amazing order with her particular schedules and patrols. So I don't want anyone else challenging Gingerheart, or they will have to deal with me."
Firestar padded off to the side, but not before giving a pointed look to Blizzardstripe, "Now let's let Bounceleaf talk."
All eyes turned to Bounceleaf, his tail twitching nervously, "Well, um, I think I understand what is going on."
"Spit it out already!"
"Okay, okay," Bounceleaf growled. "I think this means, a beginning of a new era, an era where FireClan is in control!"
Flamekit's eyes widened as enthusiastic whispers turned into full out yowls. What? That's pretty much the exact same omen that he and the other kits overheard Bounceleaf talking about after they had sneaked out of the camp. Did Bounceleaf even know what was going on? In his shock, Flamekit had leaned forward a bit too far and had gone tumbling off the rock edge.
"Ahhh," Flamekit squealed as he fell down, down, down until he landed on his bottom, right in front of Bounceleaf. Well that's what he was going to do anyways, just not in that kind of fashion.
Firestar's eyes narrowed, "Flamekit what are you doing here?"
Flamekit stared in horror at his father, a bit embarrassed about his entrance, but wait he came on a mission and he had to complete it!
"Stormycloud's giving birth, and I came to get Bounceleaf!" Flamekit gasped.
"Oh why didn't you say so before?" Bounceleaf yelped as he grabbed a leaf wrap of herbs from his den. The crowd parted to let Bounceleaf through as he raced off to the nursery.
"Everyone back to bed!" Firestar yowled.
Most cats complied, very happy at the supposed meaning of the falling star. But others like Blizzardstripe, stayed in the clearing, casting suspicious glances at Gingerheart and up at the nursery where Bounceleaf was.
Firestar nudged Flamekit, "You and your friends stay in one of the extra crevices until Stormycloud finishes giving birth."
Flamekit nodded and his father wearily climbed back up to his den.
"Hey, Flamekit!"
Flamekit whirled around to see Rockkit, Lavakit, and Heatherkit bounding over to him.
"That was something, wasn't it?" Lavakit mewed.
"Yeah can't believe Blizzardstripe actually challenged Gingerheart," Rockkit mewed. "That was intense."
"But what about that omen?" Heatherkit mewed in excitement. "Imagine, us ruling everything! No ThornClan cats anywhere!"
Flamekit, Rockkit, and Lavakit exchanged a secretive glance. Heatherkit had not been with them when they had overheard Bounceleaf's interpretation of the leaf omen. Better not to tell her or word might start spreading around the camp faster than wildfire. Flamekit looked up at the sky one last time. A few stars still flew in the sky. What are you trying to tell us StarClan?
"Is Stormycloud done yet?" whined a sleepy Lavakit to Leopardclaw.
"Be patient, kits," Leopardclaw yawned. "These things take a long time."
"Apparently so," Flamekit grumbled as he flopped down on his paws. No one had slept much last night. Not only was he not in his own bed, Flamekit was afraid of ending up in the Dark Forest again. What if he fell asleep and Ravenstar tried to kill him again. What if Echosong did not come and save him? Is it even possible to die in a dream?
Now it was almost dawn and Stormycloud was still kitting. Shadowfang was inside with Bounceleaf, Stormycloud, and Brackenfoot. Frostfoot was asleep somewhere with Heatherkit, so that left Rockkit, Lavakit, and Flamekit with Leopardclaw. Leopardclaw wasn't exactly the most fun queen to hang around, but anything was better than stuck-up Frostfoot!
A high pitched shriek made Flamekit bounce to his paws and all thoughts of everything else drifted away.
Rockkit covered his ears, "She's not gonna die is she?"
Leopardclaw swatted him playfully with her tail, "Don't be ridiculous Rockkit!" But Leopardclaw's nervous demeanor told Flamekit otherwise. He looked up to the sky. He loved the color the sky turned at dawn: a warm orange, with hints of pink and a little remainder of the night sky. Some warriors of StarClan still shined down on them. Flamekit's eyes widened as he saw one final falling star zoom across the dawn sky.
"Hey everybody!" Shadowfang popped her head out of the nursery, her golden eyes shining. "Stormycloud finished kitting! She had two she-cats and one tom."
Leopardclaw let out a sigh of relief. Rockkit bounced up, "Can we play with them now?"
Shadowfang rolled her eyes, "No you mousebrain! They just got born."
Flamekit noticed a small glint of worry in Shadowfang's eyes. Was something wrong with the kits?
"I want to see them!" Flamekit mewed as barged past an irritated Shadowfang. He
entered the dim nursery and saw Bounceleaf and Brackenfoot standing over an exhausted Stormycloud who was facing away from him. The two toms did not notice his entrance because they were talking in intense whispers. What was wrong now?
In the nursery it was always kind of dark. The only source of light was from the entrance. Flamekit found it odd when he saw a bright light illuminating from Stormycloud's other side. Flamekit softly walked around Stormycloud, and recoiled into one of the rock walls of the nursery because of the sight he saw.
Three tiny bundles were nursing from Stormycloud. Well, two of the three were. The third kit, the runt in the litter stared at Flamekit with the most intense golden eyes he had ever seen. The part that scared Flamekit the most was the white patches that were scattered throughout the kit's fluffy gray coat. They seemed to almost sparkle in the darkness, and the shape was the most curious thing. The patches weren't just patches, they were shaped like stars.
Sorry if there are a ton of grammatical errors, I was babysitting while I was editing so it was kind of hard to edit. Hope you enjoyed!