I apologize for not responding to reviews, I have not been reading them lately. But I recently went over them all, and I love you guys so much! If you've stuck with this story from WTSGD, or even just since the first chapter or this, you are all awesome and amazingly patient. I am definitely getting part of the storyline going with this chapter, so I hope you like it. And I also got a large chunk of allegiances for FoxClan: thanks so much, Guest (I wish you'd given me a name to properly credit you :C)!
Beekit was really starting to enjoy the company of Honeykit. After all, Morningkit was never any fun. And though the golden she-kit was very large at five moons (two older than Beekit), she was very sweet. She was just extremely talkative. Even more than me, Beekit thought as she forced an amusing smile at whatever Honeykit had just blabbed.
They had just finished their meal and were now hanging out by the apprentices' den, which was apparently the "cool" thing to do; Honeykit's words, not Beekit's. But Beekit didn't mind being by Oakpaw's lair, and at times, the dark brown tabby apprentice stopped by to chat with them. The past few days Beekit had been with Honeykit, and already she felt more grown-up than she ever felt whenever she was sticking by her sister like a lamprey.
However, Beekit was on edge, out of concern for her father. He'd only been out a little while, but it felt like he had been guarding FoxClan for ages.
"So Lilyfern shuddered and was like, 'Trust me, you don't want to know about Honeyfern.' But I was like, 'She's my namesake! And yours too! Shouldn't we appreciate her memory by talking about her?' But of course she wouldn't relent—"
Honeykit was interrupted by a bloodcurdling shriek, and Beekit believed for a few sheer moments that the earth had crumbled beneath her, and she was falling down a bottomless pit, the grime cramming itself deep into her fur, soaking into her skin, grit falling into her eyes, all brown around her as her ears filled up…
Beekit was very shocked to find that she was just frozen, crouched with her hackles raised in fear. Honeykit's mouth was hanging open, mid-sentence. Everyone was watching the trembling thorn barrier. Then Rosepetal burst through, and scrambled to and fro around the camp, crying out, "Help! Bumblestripe's been attacked!"
Beekit registered a whoosh that completely blew her fur the wrong way. In her suddenly misty vision, she glimpsed the fuzzy gray form of Dovewing exploding into the thorn tunnel.
Shakily Beekit turned and buried her face in her paws. She heard Bramblestar call Whitewing, Birchfall, Toadstep, and a large sum of other warriors. They all left the camp in a stampede of paws, leaving behind a few warriors and apprentices who were excited silly. Squirrelflight sat atop the Highledge, then moved to sit by sunning rocks, then back up to Bramblestar's den as the time passed. But Beekit didn't see all this; the whole time her muzzle was between her paws, breathing in the dust and grass.
The entire time, she sensed Honeykit sitting by her, breathing laboriously like she had just jogged a couple laps around the clearing. Then Beekit's ears barely picked up a croak from the deepest depths of Honeykit's lungs. It was a grunt of acknowledgement. Numbly Beekit said to herself, Something is happening. She lifted her pale blue gaze and her stomach took a lurch.
Supported between Icecloud and Rosepetal, both of whom were scratched and bleeding all over, was Bumblestripe. He was partially walking: his paws were churning against the ground, but were barely making an effort to put one in front of the other. His expression was listless, dazed. His eyes were unfocused and there was a gruesome gash present across his forehead. The old rip in his ear had been reopened and was gushing. These wounds were accompanied by countless others all over his body. Beekit glimpsed all of this in just a couple heartbeats, and promptly turned, throwing up her meal.
Honeykit licked her ears sympathetically, but steered clear of the mess. Beekit just grunted and rose to shaky paws. She registered a soft pelt pressing against hers, but ignored it at first, thinking it was still Honeykit. But then she turned and saw Morningkit.
"D- Dovewing. Where is she… ?" Beekit rasped, shocked she was able to find her voice buried under all this madness.
Morningkit's tone was brisk but as unsteady as her pace. Once, she nearly tripped over the tiniest pebble on their way over to the medicine den. "StarClan knows… sh' must've totally forgotten 'bout u- us…" Her eyes, which now glittered a fiery yellow more than the original frosty blue, lifted from the earth to rest on the swaying tendrils shielding the interior of Jayfeather's den from view. "In favor of him."
Beekit shuddered with grief. "That's a good thing, isn' it?"
She felt Morningkit's shoulder jab into hers as her sister shrugged. "Well, we might as well see what's up," uttered the silver female, nudging Beekit forward.
Fear was all that remained in Beekit's belly now, but even the emptiness seemed to bubble up, and the gray tabby knew she would begin to wretch if she had to poke a whisker in that den. But what could she do? It was obvious Morningkit was curious, and this was a rare golden opportunity to spend time with her sister. Despite the circumstances, Beekit was loving how her sister was stuck to her this time, as if they were bound together by numerous thick ivy tendrils. When times are tough, we'll never break apart.
The awkward walk was over, and they hesitated at the entrance to the medicine cats' cave. Tasteless bile was halfway up Beekit's throat. The scarlet tang of blood snaked its way up her nostrils, and was so strong, Beekit felt like she had swallowed mouthfuls of the salty liquid.
With a deep breath, Morningkit leaned forward and, paw trembling, started to push aside some of the fronds. Then a knotted gray mass leaped out at them, and as she fell back Beekit vomited on herself.
Dizzy, the gray tabby she-kit gathered herself, and only didn't help up Morningkit because she was covered in sick.
"M- Mother?" Morningkit whimpered.
Beekit's breaths were ragged, but she managed a perfect gasp when her eyes flitted to the frizzled cat before them.
Dovewing was very different that she had been at sunhigh, when Beekit had last seen her: now, in the faltering sunlight, her mother's sharp cobalt eyes glowed all the more scarier. Her fur was tangled like she hadn't groomed it in moons, and her breathing was louder than Sorreltail's.
"Stay away," she wheezed. She stretched out one forepaw, adorned with half-sheathed claws. She wiggled it in front of their faces, reminding Beekit of whenever Dovewing scolded her for something far less serious than this. "If you go in there, you'll wish you were born a kittypet." Dovewing's head snapped around for a moment; then she twisted back to face them one last time. "Sometimes the soft life is better than whatever Dark Forest-cursed life this is." Then she retreated into the den. Beekit swore she could still hear the air rattling through Dovewing's lungs even a few long heartbeats after she had disappeared into the shadows.
Night awakened around them, and one by one the twinkling StarClan warriors showed themselves in the indigo sky. Simultaneously, Beekit and Morningkit lifted their heads and gazed at them. What if Bumblestripe joins them tonight?
The evening's silence was frequently broken by Jayfeather's shouts of "No, not that herb, Briarlight! I said tan— oh, never you mind, I'll get it myself. Keep that cobweb on there firmly!"
Occasionally, on the other paw, Leafpool's tranquil, encouraging mew whispered through the clearing, chilling Beekit to the bone despite the warmness the light brown tabby intended. "You're doing excellently, Briarlight. Just… no, don't do that."
Bramblestar and all the warriors he had taken with him were not back yet. Icecloud and Rosepetal had been discharged from the medicine den fully tended to, but they were immediately bombarded with questions.
Finally Icecloud answered them all with an exhausted hiss of, "They're doing just fine, just battling foxes. And last we saw them, no one was dead." Meanwhile, Rosepetal's light sky-colored gaze landed on the medicine den, and Beekit, still sticky from her earlier mishaps, swallowed back some foul fluid for the umpteenth time.
As the streaks of dawn commenced to conceal the Clans' ancestors after a night that lacked sleep, Beekit was stirred from her stupefied state by her sister. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up," murmured Morningkit. Scraps of bedding clung to her wispy silver fur, making it obvious she had spent the night in their nest in the nursery.
Pointless anger flooded Beekit's senses, and for a moment the hollow around her flashed red. "Thanks for inviting me to sleep with you," Beekit snarled.
Morningkit was not fazed. "By the time I decided to hit the moss, you were already asleep by the apprentices' den, your home with Honeykit for the past few days." Her tone had gradually turned sour, and Beekit was stung. She chose to ignore the last part about Honeykit. She's more fun than you, there's no reason to argue about it.
"I was never asleep," she retorted lamely. They had squeezed between the warriors' den and nursery, where there was a very thin trickle of water that Beekit would be ashamed to call a creek.
"Well, you smelled as disgusting as your attitude, so I felt I should leave you and help you wash yourself off in the morning. Honestly, can't you do this yourself?" Morningkit scrunched up her face as she scooped water over Beekit's ruffled tabby pelt.
Beekit curled her lip. "Says the cat with moss bits stuck to her fur for dear life." She didn't even feel the cold water dripping down her- once again- sodden coat. She was already numb.
Abruptly, the soft splashing of Morningkit rinsing her off halted, and with a spit of disdain her littermate growled, "I'm done with you! I just can't do anything right, can I—"
"Shut up!" Beekit cut into her complaint. Crouching and still dripping, she slid farther downstream, still behind the dens on the outskirts of camp, Morningkit following behind in spite of the angry heat radiating off her.
The gray tabby had heard hushed talking over Morningkit's droning, and her suspicions were confirmed as they came upon, to her immense surprise, Dovewing and Tigerheart. The only thing that separated the sisters from the two adult cats was a thick bundle of tall leaves. Beekit still felt she had to crouch down to not be seen, and she shoved down Morningkit's peeping head as well.
Dovewing's fur was somewhat less messy, now the product of a quick groom. Tigerheart was bristling, standing rigid and facing the gray she-cat as she crouched at his paws, speaking very quietly.
"… you need to understand, if he doesn't—"
"I'm not playing these games anymore, Dovewing!" hissed Tigerheart in a low and urgent voice. "I've come to ThunderClan for Icecloud and our kits, and they're my only family now. You are merely my Clanmate, if anything more than that a friend."
Dovewing's cornflower-blue eyes were watering. "I thought there was still something—" she started, only to be interrupted again.
"For StarClan's sake, you have a mate and kits too! Not to mention all your kin here besides that. I broke the hearts of my parents, my sister, and she-cats I liked back in ShadowClan to come here. I left everything, including my dignity, back in that pine forest. But you know why? Because I love Icecloud. And she was committed to me. In return, I was committed to her. So here I am. And you need to get your mind off of me, and more onto Bumblestripe." Tigerheart grunted in irritation and then shouldered his way casually between some tight spaces, sneaking into the dirtplace to make it appear he was emerging from it.
Dovewing let her head drop so that her muzzle was pressed against the ground. "You broke my heart too…"
Poor annoying Dovewing. Yes, folks, I write about her daughters even though I pretty much dislike her. I thought she was annoying and pathetic in her e-book. I mean, you lost the powers that made everyone hate you... shouldn't you be happy? Jk XD But yeah, do you think her daughters are as bothersome as her? I try to make Beekit look reckless and silly in Morningkit's POV, and Morningkit boring and stuck-up in Beekit's POV!
Little longer chapter than usual. Hope you liked, and though it wasn't a month-long wait this time, I still apologize for the wait ^^"