Prolouge

Credit for cover goes to CrookedstarRocks

"I'm very sorry Dawnpelt, he's…..the only one of your litter to survive," a pitch-black she-cat with a white dot in the middle of her forehead regretfully meowed.

A wail of agony followed, so loud the whole clan could hear, "In Starclan's name why! I don't understand, I thought I was doing everything right! Why Moonface? What did I do to deserve this?!" yowled an orange and white she-cat.

The pitch-black she-cat ran her tail across the light orange back of Dawnpelt and looked at her with a mix of sorrow and sympathy in her blue eyes, "Sometimes these things happen, it's not your fault, leaf-bare is a harsh time and those kits just couldn't stand it. But at least one survived," she said as she bent her head down to nuzzle a small ginger tabby kit that was pressed against Dawnpelt's white belly, squirming as she did so.

She took notice of the very small and frail-looking hindlegs of the ginger kit, they were far more underdeveloped than the rest of his body and she could tell that they probably wouldn't grow to be normal hind legs, but the black she-cat decided to keep that to herself for now.

Dawnpelt then looked to the ginger kit and a bit of a purr rose up in her throat, "Y-yes, I-I still have this precious child." She choked, as she too nuzzled the little kit, softly she began to run her tongue against his small body, the purr in her throat becoming louder and louder.

Moonface gently touched her nose to Dawnpelt's head, "You just worry about this young one, as your medicine cat I feel as if I am to blame for this, please feel no hatred towards yourself." She sadly whispered into her ear.

Dawnpelt stopped licking the kit for a moment, her amber eyes looking to Moonface, "I don't blame you for any of this!" She replied in a reassured yowl, "y-you and Smokepaw did the best you could do, I'm very grateful, if not for you two then perhaps….. they would have all joined Star Clan tonight," she continued, her lean body shivering as she finished.

Moonface began to purr at the comment, "Your words mean a great deal to me, I'm sure Smokepaw will rest easier tonight once he hears them" she said as she looked down at the lightly frost covered floor of the nursery, "this is his first kitting, and I suspect this won't do well on his confidence"

As she finished her sentence a small grey tom ran in with a few blue star-shaped leaves in his mouth, bits of snow flying in from his run. He quickly walked over and dropped them at Dawnpelt's feet.

"P-please eat these, they'll help you produce milk!" The young tom said loudly, almost wailing, his voice full of grief and guilt.

Dawnpelt looked at the young tom with assuring eyes, then butted his grey chest with her head, "Please Smokepaw, don't feel like this is your fault, I'm grateful for all you've done," she mewed with sincerity, then picked up the leaves with her mouth and began chewing on them.

Moonface walked up beside the small tom and gave him a reassuring nod while running her tail across his back. The guilty look in the apprentice's hazel eyes did not leave, but it did soften ever so slightly, and his body became a little less tense.

"H-have you decided o-on a name yet?" he meowed weakly as he looked at the orange kit, he too took notice of the kit's small hindlegs.

Dawnpelt swallowed the leaves, then touched her nose to the kit's side. She then glanced at his neck, noticing that he had a large amount of fur around it.

"Yes, I think I do," she said, "he's got his father's mane, and with that ginger fur, he looks like a lion, the ones that the elders would always tell in their stories. And being as strong as he is, my little survivor, I believe he has their strength. So I think Lionkit would be the most fitting name I can think of." She began to purr even louder as she nuzzled the squirming kitten, "yes, Lionkit, my sweet Lionkit"

Moonface gave a small chuckle, "Yes, Lionkit is a wonderful name, let's hope he can have the strength of one, he will need it" she said, referring to his legs, but it seemed Dawnpelt hadn't quite noticed yet.

"But speaking of his father, where is Ashstorm? Is he still out on his hunt?" the orange and white she-cat asked.

Moonface gave a sigh, "Yes he is, I told him not too, but he wouldn't listen to me. He also seems to be taking a lot longer with his hunts, even coming back later than the others in the party most of the time." She mewed annoyed.

Dawnpelt let out a large breath, her eyes still fixated on the kitten, "Ever since Mudrunner was picked over him as deputy he's changed, while he tries to hide it, it's no secret he's bitter about it. I imagine he just wants a way to have his alone time and to stay away from Mudrunner"

Moonface didn't say anything, she didn't want to press on the issue, Dawnpelt didn't need anything else to worry about, and Smokepaw was shifting uncomfortably beside her throughout the conversation, so it was best to drop it.

"Is she alright?" asked a tom, startling all three of them.

They turned to see a long-legged dark brown tabby tom in the entranceway of the nursery. Shaking his paws to get the clinging snow off of them

"I'm fine Mudrunner!" she mewed loudly, almost yowling, hoping he didn't hear her and Moonface.

The dark brown warrior cocked his head in confusion, "Are you sure?" he asked surprised.

Moonface approached him and nodded assuringly, "She's fine for the moment" the old black cat mewed as they turned to look back at the nursing cat, "she's just in shock, but she seems to have calmed down."

"That's good, the whole clan's worried, we could all hear the yowling," he said somberly as he walked up to Moonface, whispering in her ear, "The vigil for the kits will start soon, do you think we should let her grieve with us? It seems only right to, but I'm not sure how well she's going to hold up. Not only that, but the hunting party Ashstorm organized is back, but he himself isn't, I know he's liked to take his time as of recently but this is not the right time for that."

Moonface gave a low hiss of frustration, her tail swinging back and forth, "I dont think its a good idea for her to attend the vigil. Daisybright is the only one that could take care and feed the kit if she wants to attend and that means she'd miss the vigil, it's too cold for that kit to leave the nursery and her two kits don't need to be out there for much longer anyway. I think it's best if I try to get her to sleep and she can pay her respects in the morning. She's done more than her fair share today, I'm afraid all the stress of a vigil would hamper her ability to produce milk, even with borage leaves."

She then paused for a moment and drew in a sharp breath before letting it out, "Ashstorm will come eventually, I'll fill him in, but right now I think we should just leave her alone and let her sleep, I'll tell Daisybright she and her two kits can come back into the nursery, you just go help with the rosemary for the vigil" the old black cat whispered solemnly as she turned back around to Dawnpelt, who was curled up with her chin resting on Lionkit, her eyes already closed.

She then turned back to Mudrunner and motioned him to leave with her tail, she followed out, walking up to a white she-cat with yellow eyes, cleaning a Calico kit who was being pawed by a grey and white kit.

Meanwhile, Dawnpelt felt all of her tiredness from her grieving and kit labor catching up with her, and feeling the warmth of her purring kit. She couldn't help but drift asleep, even with the cold breezes of Leaf-Bare wafting in.

My precious Lionkit, I promise I'll protect you, I'll see you grow into a strong warrior, perhaps even the strongest and fastest Wind Clan has ever seen. But above all else I want you safe, my dearest son. Those were the thoughts that were drifting through her mind before it was broken by an image, an image of a fully grown orange tom with brown stripes going down his back. He was limping terribly on his hind legs, but he was walking proudly with a group of cats that felt very familiar, but she couldn't see them clearly. Only the orange tabby as clearly visible, yet they followed the orange tabby without hesitation. Though the image faded as fast as it appeared.

Wow, I honestly forgot I wrote this, it's from about a year and a half ago. But I decided to publish it and continue working on it, I'll say right now that this is a completely original AU story, sharing no characters from any series, even if the names are the same. I know this will rub a lot of you the wrong way, but i wanted to write a completely original story. I ask that you please stick around, i think a lot of you will enjoy it.