Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Hope you had a good one. :) I'm thinking of doing a Warriors High at some point, even though that's way too overdone.

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Pheonix Echo: Yeah, I can take your OCs, but you're late for deputy, apprentice and medicine cat. They're all warriors now. Also, we have two berry cats already, so your OC will be called Seedfur. Willowpaw is Willowheart. But thank you anyways! Blossomclan needed a lot more OCs.

(Fading) Chapter ten: Nightmare

Unsuccessful, Fadingpaw was back resting in her nest. She hadn't gone to the Gathering after all.

She was having a good dream, then suddenly…

"SWEETSHINE!"

Her eyes flung open. On the other side of the den, Archedpaw was thrashing in her nest, whimpering. Graypaw was by his sister's side in a moment, crouching next to her.

"Archedpaw, it's okay," he whispered. Her poked her in the side and she shuddered, opening her eye and looking up at him, still trembling.

"Gone she's," Archedpaw whispered hoarsely, shutting her eye again and curling up into a ball. "Gone she's, gone she's, gone she's…"

Graypaw curled up beside her, wrapping his paws around her neck and pulling her small, skinny form closer to him. "It's alright. I'm here."

Archedpaw shuttered and sighed.

"Had I nightmare," she mumbled. "Sweetshine again gone. Gone she's."

Fadingpaw's heart almost shattered. Archedpaw never had nightmares, or if she did, they weren't this bad.

Nightmares bring back memories.

()()()

"Settle down, kits." The white queen ushered all three of them into her nest. "I bet you're tired!"

"Aww!" Fadingkit complained. "I want to play more!"

"You always want to play more," Graykit teased.

Archedkit yawned and settled down beside her mother, Sweetshine. "I'm not tired," she meowed, only to be broken off by another yawn.

Sweetshine purred as Graykit and Fadingkit joined Archedkit beside her.

"What story do you want to hear today, kits?" she asked softly.

"Oh, I know!" Fadingkit exclaimed. "What about the one with the cat who could scare foxes away just by looking at them?"

"We've heard that story too many times!" Graykit protested. "How about that leader who saved a young kit who'd fallen into icy water?"

Sweetshine looked thoughtful.

"What about a different story today? How does that sound?"

"Good!" The kits chorused.

"Alright. Once upon a time, there were three kits," Sweetshine began.

"What were their names?" Archedkit asked.

"Vanishkit, Orangekit and Stretchkit. They were three nice kits and all the clans loved them. Vanishkit loved to play, Orangekit liked to talk and Stretchkit liked to collect bugs. One day, Vanishkit went to the stream to get some water for Orangekit, who was too busy talking to Stretchkit."

Beside Fadingkit, Archedkit was already asleep. Sweetshine kept talking, and slowly, Fadingkit felt her energy start to drain.

Then, there was a scream and a hiss that cut into her thoughts. It came from outside the den.

"FOX!"

Sweetshine jolted up, pushing the kits away from her and deeper into the nest.

Archedkit's eyes went wide. "Mama? It isn't real, is it?"

Their mother wordlessly covered them in the nest's moss and feathers, concealing them beneath. Fadingkit sneezed, rubbing her nose and pushing the bedding away.

"It's so tickly!" she complained.

Sweetshine's expression was grave. "Stay underneath and be quiet, sweetie. Then you won't be found."

"Found?" Graykit asked, sounding a little worried, as the gray and white she-cat pushed more moss over him and his siblings. Archedkit grabbed onto her littermate and pulled him into the nest, looking scared.

Sweetshine turned away and took a step towards the den's entrance.

She's leaving the fox to get us? Fadingkit thought in despair.

"Wait! Come back!" Fadingkit wailed, but Graykit clamped his paw over her mouth, preventing her from talking anymore.

"I'd never leave you, kits." Sweetshine looked back at them, gaze soft, her body facing the den's entrance. "I'll be outside, watching for the fox. I won't let it hurt you. I won't let it touch you. I won't even let it enter the den. I swear by Starclan I will keep you safe." Determination instead of softness filled her voice as she walked to the den entrance.

Fadingkit watched her go, before Graykit buried her again. The three littermates clung to each other, fearful as they waited for their mother to come back and say it was okay, and that there was no fox. They were waiting in silence before they heard a yowl of pain.

"Who was that?" Archedkit's voice shook.

Our mother? Fadingkit thought. She shivered in fear.

"I'm going to check," Fadingkit whispered to them.

"Don't! Mother told us to be quiet!" Graykit replied urgently, nudging her in the side. "What if we get eaten by the fox? What then?"

"Well, I have to be brave like Sweetshine," she whispered, turning away from him.

"You can't!" Graykit shouted quietly just as she peaked over the moss and saw it.

It was an orange creature, with big black paws. It's piercing amber eyes scanned the den, then it's head jerked towards her. It's thick tail swished in interest, just like in the elders tales.

"Oh no," Fadingkit murmured. "It's the fox. I think it spotted us."

"Wait. What? Why did you look?!" Graykit demanded, his head sticking up beside her. "Now we're going to get eaten and it will be your fault."

Fadingkit quivered. All my fault. It will be all my fault. The fox will eat us, then we'll be part of the fox. I don't want to be part of a fox. They're stinky and mean, and they eat weird things. It's all my fault that we're getting eaten by a fox.

The fox took a step towards them. Beside her, she felt Graykit's fur fluff up. He was as scared as she was. But at least he wasn't going to be guilty like her.

It snarled, and Fadingkit could see its glinting teeth, sharp, and just for eating… cat. She felt even worse when she thought of it spitting out a mess of gray and black fur.

Graykit moved away from it, and so did Fadingkit. As it advanced, they keep stepping away from it.

A step back for the kits.

A step forward for the fox.

A step back for the kits.

A step forward for the fox.

Another step back for the kits.

Yet another step forward for the fox.

It was almost like walking on thin ice. They'd never know when the ice would break and they'd fall into the freezing water below.

Then something touched Fadingkit's back. She let out a startled squeak and jumped in surprise, and looked back to see that it was the den wall.

Graykit glanced over at her, and their gazes locked. His icy blue eyes were cold and fearful, and he could tell what he was thinking at that moment.

Fadingkit shivered and looked back at the fox. It raised its paw, ready to strike…

"Get away from them!"

She opened her eyes that she hadn't even realized she'd closed. Archedkit was standing in front of them, her tail fur all fluffed up. She looked like a puffy black ball of fur.

The fox snarled, then brought it's paw down. Archedkit was flung aside effortlessly by it, and she lay limply a few tail lengths away. A drop of something wet hit Fadingkit in the middle of her forehead. She wiped it off, then looked down. Her paw was red.

"Archedkit!" Graykit's mouth was wide open in horror.

Fadingkit looked over. She immediately tried to pry her gaze away from her friend, but she found that she couldn't.

The fox snorted, almost like a taunting laugh. It brought its paw up again.

So this is really the end, Fadingkit thought. We're going to get eaten by a fox. Sweetshine, Shortshadow - I love you. I'll miss you in Starclan, even though you weren't my real parents. Apparently my father was a kittypet and my mother died giving birth to me far away from camp, along with my siblings. Speckleface said the two of them were toms. I wonder if they looked like me, or if they were a different pelt colour completely. Maybe I'll see them up in the sky with my Mama. Maybe I'll get a warrior name up there. Goodbye, Blossomclan. I guess I'm -

There was a shriek as a cat hit the fox in the side, pinning it down. The cat sunk her jaws into its throat, then pulled away.

And that was it.

The fox was dead.

The she-cat gasped for air for a moment staring down at it, then staggered over to where Archedkit lay and collapsed beside her.

"Oh, my baby," the she-cat murmured, staring over at Archedkit's body. "I should've never let this happen to you."

"Mama!" Graykit cried, running over. "You saved us!"

Sweetshine grunted then laid back down on the ground. A thick, red liquid was spilling steadily out around her neck, drenching her white fur easily.

"It wasn't enough," she sighed, closing her eyes.

After a moment, a black tom emerged at the entrance to the den, looking stricken. He cried out when he saw Sweetshine laying on the ground.

"No!" He yowled, running over and crouching beside her. "Sweetshine! I should've come faster! Sweetshine!"

Sweetshine opened her eyes weakly, then reached up and touched his cheek with her paw. "I'm sorry Shortshadow… " she pulled her paw back and closed our eyes. "Protect our only daughter… guard Archedkit with your life… "

Fadingkit couldn't help it - she flinched back. Why didn't she say instead, 'protect our daughters?'. Sweetshine had raised her for almost as long as her other kits.

"No! I love you! Our kits need you! Don't leave us!" Shortshadow cried.

The pretty white she-cat shuddered, then took a big breath. Then, her flank fell.

It didn't rise again.