Shadow stared at the kit in front of her in shock, willing her flank to move, wanting the spark of life to return into her body. Then her grief spilled over, "STARCLAN! WHY? WHAT HAVE I DONE FOR THIS TO HAPPEN?" she yowled up to the heavens, tears spilling down her face. This was the exact reason why she hadn't wanted to name the she-kit, Shadow had known that she would die.
Soot stood there, eyes wide, mouth open, taking advantage of Soot's shock Twig freed himself and ran to his sister's side. Shadow looked down and saw Twig creeping toward her, ears flat and a worried expression on his small face, "Is Viper gonna be ok?" he asked, Shadow blinked, then she drew her son close to her and whispered, "I don't know. Can you say goodbye to her? Just in case she doesn't make it." Twig looked at her with his wide kitten eyes and then nodded, he padded over to his sister's side and quietly whispered, "Hey Viper, Mommy and Daddy think that you're gone, they don't think you're gonna make it, they're wrong though. My sister would never give up." Shadow blinked back tears as she watched the kit try to coax his sister out of death, she knew in her heart that the small kit was gone, bloodcough was deadly.
Shadow thought that her tears were making the den shimmer but when she wiped away her tears with a paw it became apparent that the glow was coming from the nest. She warily crept forward and glanced into the nest, Viper's whole body was glowing. The once dead kit twitched as if something had shocked her and then her chest began to move again. "Yes! I knew you could do it!" Twig squealed as he scrambled into the nest with his sister and playfully tackled her as she opened her eyes. VIper let out an annoyed growl and then jumped to her paws, tackling her brother like nothing had happened. Soot stared at Shadow for a moment before muttering, "Well, that was unexpected." he then shook his head and turned to go out of the den. Shadow turned back to the two wrestling kits and tipped her head, deep in thought, what did Finchpaw give Viper?
Shadow tried to shake off the weird occurrences of the day but she couldn't help but have a feeling of uneasiness about what this meant. The prophecy could've been wrong… maybe the choices she'd made had changed the future, maybe she wouldn't have to train her kits to fight tooth and claw against the Gloomforest. Shadow shook her head, she knew that no matter how hard she wished that that was the case, she knew in her heart that the prophecy would come true, somehow. She couldn't do much to prepare these young kits but she could train them early and do her best to shield them from the evils as long as she could.
"Ha! I got you!" Shadow smiled as she sat under a tree in the forest watching her kits mock fight. She'd only taught them to fight five days ago and they were already at each other's throats, trying to beat each other. "Get off me ya big oaf!" Viper's voice rang out from where Twig had pinned her for the millionth time. Shadow shook her head and wondered for what seemed like the millionth time, "Was Viper actually supposed to survive?" it didn't really seem like she had been supposed to. She lost almost all of her fights against her brother due to her smaller size. Shadow glanced at the sky and discovered that the sun was almost down, Soot would be expecting them back at the camp, "Twig! Viper! Let's head back now!" the two looked up and bounded to their feet, racing to their mother's side. Shadow smiled down at them and then began to head back to the camp.
When the group returned to the camp they found Soot waiting for them at the camp's entrance, "There you are! I thought you were caught by the Gloomforest!" he scolded, "I beat Viper again!" Twig yelped happily as he leapt up and down in front of Soot, who grinned at him and meowed, "Great job!" as Shadow watched the exchange she realized that one cat was missing from it all, Viper, where'd the young she-cat gone? "Soot! Twig! Have you seen Viper?" the toms looked up from their conversation and looked around before replying, "No." and "I don't think so." Shadow shook her head and then turned towards the entrance calling back over her shoulder, "I'm gonna go look for her in the forest. You guys stay here and look for her in the camp." they nodded and Shadow slid into the woods.
"Viper! Viper!" Shadow called as she padded through the shadowy forest. She paused to sniff the air, making sure that she was still on Viper's scent trail. "Twig keeps beating me when we play fight. I wanna be able to beat him! Can we train more?" Shadow stopped abruptly as she heard the unmistakable sound of her kit's voice, "Yeah, that might work. I could probably sneak out at night." by now Shadow had reached the training clearing and was watching as Viper talked to what seemed like empty air. Then she let out a gasp as she watched Viper launch herself at empty air and land on something, or someone. Viper swatted a paw at the invisible cat and then it seemed like the cat had knocked her off its back as Viper fell onto the ground. It unlike when Shadow had seen Viper fight with her brother. This was a whole different person, it was as if all of the ferociousness was pouring out of the kit. Shadow was amazed as she saw that Viper was actually a really good fighter. Still she was concerned, who was this mysterious cat that she couldn't see and was training her kit?
"Viper! There you are! I was looking for you!" Shadow called, faking surprise as she stepped into the clearing. Viper looked up, surprise written across her face, "Oh, hi." she said glancing at the corner of the clearing for a moment before turning back to Shadow, "Come on Viper, we have to go back to the camp." "Ok." Viper sent one last look at the unseen cat before following Shadow back to the camp.
That night Shadow couldn't sleep, she tossed and turned in her nest, she couldn't help but worry about what kind of cat was helping Viper. As she laid awake in her nest she heard the sound of a twig snap. In a flash she remembered that Viper had promised that she would meet the unknown cat in the training clearing. She shook her head, Viper wouldn't do that, would she?
Shadow tried to shake the feeling that Viper was sneaking out, out of her mind but failed completely. Eventually she managed to shut her eyes and drift into an uneasy doze. "Mom, mom, mom." Shadow grumbled, trying to bat away the paws of the cat who was poking her and disturbing her sleep. "Mom! Wake up! Viper's missing again!" Shadow was about to bat away the paws again before the words got to her brain. She sat up, "What?" "Viper wasn't in the den when I woke up, I thought she just went to make dirt of get food or a drink so I wasn't really worried. When Soot got up she still wasn't back and he said that she wasn't in the camp either." Shadow scrambled to her feet and then told Twig, "Stay here and if anycat comes into the clearing find Soot and stay with him, ok?" Twig looked Shadow in the eye and nodded as solemnly as a two moon old kit could. Shadow ducked out of the den and ran to the entrance of the camp, ready to go off on another search for Viper. Just as she set a paw out of the camp Viper came bounding out of the woods, her eyes were glowing with enthusiasm and her pelt was soaked in sweat.
Shadow wasn't impressed. "Where have you been?!" she scolded Viper as the kit came over to the camp's entrance, "I just went for a walk." "No you didn't, did you go train with that invisible cat?" Viper looked taken aback and shocked, "How did you know? Did he tell you?" Shadow was completely furious, "How long were you out? Did you sneak out last night?" Viper glanced at Shadow for a moment before hissing, "So what! He's actually training me to be better. Instead of favoring my brother because I'm smaller! I bet you wanted to kill me when I was born!"
Shadow snarled in frustration as she watched Viper dart back into the woods, her brown and black pelt blending in with the shadowy trees. After a moment she made the decision to follow Viper, she bounded into the woods and began to follow the scent trail. Not surprisingly the trail led to the training clearing, Viper was there and apparently so was the mysterious cat. "I don't even know why I try! She obviously likes Twig better! I wish you could meet him, wait if I brought Twig with me would you be able to reveal yourself to him?" to Shadow's surprise, this time she could actually hear the unseen cat's reply, "If you brought him I would be able to reveal yourself to him. It would be nice if you did bring your brother, I haven't seen him yet." Shadow tipped her head in confusion, who in the world would want to see Twig, actually, who even knew that Twig existed? She'd only ever told a few people about the fact that she was expecting kits… nevermind, she'd basically told every single cat who wasn't a traitor. She decided to peek out from behind the bush, just a small peek so she could see who this cat was.
Just as she gathered up her courage to make the peek a voice called, "I know you're there Shadowblaze, come on out." Shadow froze, she knew exactly who that voice belonged to now, and she didn't want to go into the clearing anymore. "Wait, who's Shadowblaze?" Shadow stood and padded into the clearing, Viper was standing there with a very familiar cat, one that Shadow had just seen die a few moons ago. "Hawkclaw?"
A/N Guys, I'm so sorry about not updating for so long, I was really busy with school and science fair. So enjoy this half chapter and I'll update the rest soon.