Daypaw woke up with a pounding pain in her head. The walls containing her were spinning and she had to blink to keep from passing out again.
"Wh-what happened?" she murmured, not expecting a reply.
"You crossed Thalia," a mutter answered her, "and this is where cats who cross Thalia end up."
Daypaw sat up. "Who are you?" she asked, afraid that the stranger was part of the Graces.
"My name is Autumn," the stranger replied, "The Graces kicked me out too."
Daypaw peered, trying to get used to the dark and gloomy cave she was trapped in. A shaft of light landed on the former Grace, and she saw a tortoiseshell with matted fur.
"I'm Daypaw," she told her, trying to summon her courage again.
"Can't say I'm pleased to meet you," Autumn muttered.
"Why are you in here, Autumn?" Daypaw inquired.
"I told you, crossing Thalia."
"No, that's not it," Daypaw insisted, "Something else happened."
The tortoiseshell she-cat sighed. "Fine. I fell in love with a Tribe cat, Reed. I soon found out I was expecting his kits, and I had to invent a rouge cat as the father. My kits came, and all three of them were lovely, handsome toms. Of course, Thalia," Autumn snapped, "insisted I throw them out when they reached six moons. I refused and look where that got me. My kits are probably dead and I'm stuck in this wonderful cave forever."
"I'm sorry," Daypaw offered, knowing nothing she could say would ever make the she-cat feel better.
"Do you know Reed?" Autumn suddenly asked, "I've heard whispers from the guards that you came from the Tribe."
Daypaw's heart ached. Yes, she knew Reed, but the gray tom had moved on. He had taken to Frost, a dark gray she-cat, and she already had his kits.
"Do you know him?" she repeated, reading something in Daypaw's eyes.
"Yes," Daypaw whispered, bracing herself for what was coming.
"Well, how is he?" Autumn asked, worry glimmering in her green eyes.
"He's good," Daypaw drawled.
"What aren't you telling me?" she demanded.
"He's moved on," Daypaw rasped, preparing herself for the worst.
A shiver passed through Autumn, and Daypaw sadly assumed her heart was breaking.
"H-he said he would always love me," Autumn whimpered.
This strong, defiant cat, was now turned weak because of love.
"I'm sorry," Daypaw whispered sadly.
"It's not your fault," Autumn straightened up, a dangerous glint in her eyes. "Who is he with now?" she interrogated.
"A-a she-cat called… Frost, I believe." Daypaw felt like a coward. Why was she telling Autumn these facts, when she knew that Autumn would come after Frost? "Please don't hurt any cat, it's really not worth it!" Daypaw pleaded.
"I won't hurt Frost," Autumn promised, "I'll just make Reed wish he'd never been kitted."
Daypaw gulped. Oh fish dung. What have I done?
Needledawn glanced at her quickly growing belly, feeling kits moving within her. Shadestar had begged her to move to the nursery, where Frecklelight would take care of her, but she had refused. If anything happened, she wanted to be with her mate. Shadestar hadn't decided on names, but Needledawn knew exactly what she wanted to name her kits.
She wanted to name a kit after Shadestar, maybe Cloudkit? Shadestar would insist on naming a kit after Needledawn, so Pinekit was an obvious choice. And if they had another kit, she wanted to name the kit when she saw it.
"Needledawn," a deep mew greeted her.
The silver tabby turned and saw Shadestar bounding towards her.
"Hey," she purred, and rubbed her muzzle against his.
"How are you?" he murmured, glancing pointedly at her stomach.
"They're fine," Needledawn supplied. "Goosesight said they should arrive in a half moon or so."
"It's about time he took an apprentice," Shadestar pondered, "Maybe one of Frecklelight's kits will show an interest."
"Or one of ours," she reminded him.
This was her happy ending, being with Shadestar and soon to be with their kits. A jolt shook her.
"Needledawn?" Shadestar asked cautiously, "Are you okay?"
She crouched down, pain shooting through her belly, "Does it look like I'm okay? Get Goosesight!" she snapped.
She watched the black tom dart towards the elder's den, then the medicine cat den, as if he wasn't sure where to go.
"Goosesight!" he yowled urgently.
Dovepaw stared at her leader nervously. "He went out to go get herbs," she told him.
"Go get him!" Shadestar snapped.
The young tortoiseshell apprentice nodded and dashed out of the camp.
"Thistlepaw!" Shadestar called, "Go with your sister, she doesn't need to be out alone."
The tabby tom obeyed, chasing after Dovepaw. Shadestar ran back to Needledawn with Frecklelight and Mossysong at his paws. Needledawn knew she should feel comforted that two experienced queens were at her side, but the pain was too much.
"Some cat should get Stormlight," Mossysong put in. "She's had at least two litters."
Frecklelight nodded and ran towards the elders den, calling at Hailpaw to watch her kits. She returned with an elderly blue-gray she-cat.
"Needledawn's kitting," Frecklelight informed Stormlight.
"I can see that," she muttered and sat down beside the silver tabby. "Now, Needledawn, take deep breaths. It will all be over soon and you won't even remember the pain!"
Shadestar hovered at the entrance of their den, glancing over his shoulder repeatedly to see if Goosesight was coming. He looked torn, he wanted himself to get the medicine cat to help his mate, but he wanted to see their kits take their first gulping breath.
Needledawn let out a pain-stricken caterwaul, one that made Shadestar, a cat who had been to many, many, battles flinch.
"She's bleeding," Frecklelight whispered to Mossysong.
"It's okay," Mossysong soothed Needledawn with a nervous glance to Frecklelight, "Goosesight will be here soon, and your lovely kits will be born."
Shadestar was pacing now, tearing with his claws at the floor. Needledawn wanted to reassure him, and let him know that even if she didn't survive, she would always be there for him and their kits.
Finally, a gray tom with white patches burst through the leader's den.
"Let me through," he commanded the queens, weaving professionally through the crowd.
Stormlight shifted and the medicine cat sat down next to her.
"Now, Needledawn, there's a bit of bleeding, but you should be okay," he meowed, his words meant for Shadestar, who looked ready to fight to battle for her. "Your kits might be smaller than normal, but I've had queens kit earlier than you have." The gray tom looked reassuringly into her eyes. "This will hurt, Frecklelight go find a stick or a bit of reed, something she can bite on."
The spotted she-cat darted out of the entrance and returned with a sturdy looking reed.
"One more push," Goosesight encouraged.
Needledawn felt a small bundle slip out by her tail.
"A tom!"
"Aren't they perfect?" Needledawn purred to Shadestar. Three kits, a black she-kit, a gray tom, and a silver tabby she-kit with gray paws were suckling at her belly.
She hated to admit it, but Stormlight was right. The pain had dissolved, replaced by pure joy.
"What shall we name them?" Shadestar whispered, crouching down beside his quivering mate.
"I want to name the tom after you," she murmured. "Cloudkit," she announced, placing her paw on his head.
"Then we'll name a she-kit after you," Shadestar replied.
Needledawn purred. He was so easy to predict. "How about Pinekit for the black she-kit?" she suggested, hoping he'd agree.
"That's absolutely perfect," he breathed. "And the silver tabby should be… Lightkit."
"I love that," Needledawn agreed. "Cloudkit, Pinekit, and Lightkit."
She looked around, feeling so blessed that she finally had what she had always hoped for— a family.
"I'll always love you," she whispered to her kits, laying her head down to go to sleep, "Always."
Duskblossom could not believe she was going along with Cinderbird's plan. The gray she-cat was still plodding determinedly in front of her, in search of their Clanmate.
"We saw him head this direction, right?" Cinderbird checked, looking worried that they were going the wrong way.
"Yes," Duskblossom sighed, after her sister had asked that for the tenth time. But who's counting?
As they scrambled over another rock, Duskblossom wondered if they were going in circles. She wanted to suggest that to her sister, but she knew that Cinderbird would deny it, and harden up for the rest of the journey.
"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Cinderbird called, glancing over her shoulder towards her sister.
"You're the one that's leading!" Duskblossom spat, and Cinderbird stopped to face her.
"Well, I'm so sorry," Cinderbird snapped, "I'll just blindly lead, then. Just trying to make sure we're going in the right direction."
"The blind leading the blind," Duskblossom sneered uncharacteristically.
"Why don't you go back then?" Cinderbird exploded.
"I wish I could, but you blindly led us out to the middle of nowhere!"
"Cinderbird?" A shaky voice called.
The two gray she-cats both turned and saw a red tom heading towards them.
"Foxclaw?" Cinderbird gasped, rushing towards him.
The handsome red tom tenderly touched noses with her and she led him back to Duskblossom.
"What are you two doing out here? Is Daypaw with you?" Foxclaw asked.
Duskblossom saw a glimmer of jealousy flicker in Cinderbird's eyes at the mention of Daypaw.
"No, but we saw you heading out of the mountains, and we knew we had to come and save you!" Cinderbird exclaimed.
Duskblossom snorted at 'we.' More like Cinderbird forced her to come and save him.
"Where's every cat?" Foxclaw inquired, still gazing at Cinderbird.
"They don't actually know we're out here, rescuing you," Cinderbird sheepishly explained.
"We had to leave undercover so the Tribe wouldn't know we were trying to find you," Duskblossom put in.
Foxclaw nodded seriously. "That's why the DarkClan cats took me. The Tribe leader, whatever his name is, sent a message to Plumleaf, their medicine cat. He said that his 'cave-guards' would come and destroy DarkClan if they didn't bring a red tom." He rolled his eyes. "And you can guess what that means."
"That means that you have to come with us," a sickly sweet voice meowed.
The three cats whirled around, and Duskblossom expected to see a Grace, but the cat standing in front of them was Stream.
Happy late Easter! I hope you guys had a good one, even though we're all stuck inside. My friend and I took eggs to little kid's yards and hid them there, so that was super fun. :D Right now it's snowing here, so it's pretty hard getting used to that after 80˚F weather.
I had to put in a Needledawn POV, so voila! She finally had her kits. I was going to have her die in childbirth, or kit birth, but really didn't want to do that to her, so I changed my mind. The Clan cats should be out of the mountains soon, most likely because I'm getting tired writing about the mountains, even though we still have to rescue Day.
Happy late Easter! "He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay." - Matthew 28:6. And happy reading! Please fave, review, add me to your alerts, whatever you want to do! Now bye, I'm going to make myself a sandwich.
-Poppyfrost123