Hey guy i just wanted to thank Tawnypelt37 for favoriting AND following! And adding me as a favorite author! Even if it was out of sympathy i still thank you and it made me EXTREMELY happy!
I write when i have time so whenever my stories get updated they get updated so please be patient! :3
See previous chapters for disclaimer
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Cold. then hot. Then cold once more.
Brightfrost was at her wits end. The kit was just fading in and out of life all day for a week , the silver medicine cat had done all she could, but it was all up to starclan now whether the kit lives to be a brute or dies never to experience a single battle.
"ITS HIS FAULT" Brightfrost groaned inwardly 'why can't mother just stop with her tantrums?'
"It is because of him Hawk-kit is not going to recover we should all band together and drive him away!" the elder Fadingmist yowled from atop the sandstone. A place where she shouldn't be.
Murmurs of consideration rang out across camp while Copperstrike and Pumastripe held down a scared and confused Quailfeather.
"Chase him out?! No we should slaughter him right where he stands! Turn his pelt into kit bedding!"
Palesand and Coyotepaw unsheathed their claws preparing to rip the warrior to shreds,
Brightfrost had to act quickly to prevent anymore grief.
"We don't know that he caused Hawk-kits injury!"
The clan shifted their gazes to face her she wasted no time.
"You all blame Quailfeather but from what i have inspected of the kits injury and the place of the accident it would seem like she was pushed"
The clan howled in rage
"HE PUSHED HER"
"HE LURED A KIT OUT OF CAMP"
"KILL HIM AND STRING HIS ENTRAILS THROUGHOUT THE CAMP!"
"Let me finish. During the time of the incident Quailfeather was with me in the medicine den sorting herbs Quailfeather is innocent, and even if he wasn't you all especially some elder are not in any position to give any punishment. That is for Adderstar to do"
The clan reluctantly nodded and Copperstrike And Pumastripe released their captive who then slinked into the medicine den.
"Why did you defend him? We could have chased him out for good" the medicine cat rolled her eyes "All of the clan are my kits and i know when they are innocent" blocking out the words of her angry mother she quickly padded to the fresh kill pile and snatched up a shrew and went to the medicine den.
"Brightfrost she isn't breathing!" Quailfeather's soft but frantic voice sounded out breaking the melancholy silence. Leaving her shrew half eaten she rushed over to the dark brown kit to find her chillingly cold and lifeless.
"How are we going to explain this to Palmheart? She lost one kit in a previous litter how will she deal with this loss?"
His eyes held a deep sadness as he gazed upon the leaders now deceased kit, her kin's young kit.
"I was hoping to one day mentor her. She held great promise" the tom touched his nose to the kit's head
"I will tell the clan, you go into the nesting area and rest" she gently picked up her brothers kit and sadly padded out with her tail dragging in the dust and ears held back 'i failed…'
There were shocked gasps when she set the kit down in the middle of camp
"I'm afraid Hawk-kit is in the paws of starclan, may they receive her spirit with great honor"
As if things couldn't get worseAdderstar, Palmheart, and Sorrelcreek got back from hunting
"NO!" The queen dropped her thrush and field mice and ran toward her kit with great speed.
"NOT YOU TOO...please..not you too" the queen buried her nose into her daughters fur and let out a wail of grief that would have shook all the leaves off of the center tree.
With eyes darkened with grief Adderstar leaped up onto the sandstone
"Let all cats Old enough to run the desert field gather to hear my words"
Cats surrounded the dead kitten and solemnly listened to their leader
"I fear my worst dreams have come true. Yet another one of my kits have been taken into the paws of starclan all but too soon. May her death be a lesson to us all whatever that lesson may teach"
The grey tabby tom gently made his way down the sandstone and gently curled around his kit
"In this light"
"We weep"
The clan started the words to send the kit off to her starry home with empty eyes
"And all of us"
"We grieve"
"And for ourselves"
"We take our leave"
The clan dispersed not daring to talk to themselves during this tragic moment
The medicine cat crouched beside her brother and soothingly whispered in his ear "i'll do all the preparation you get some rest stars know you need it i'll wake you up when it is time"
The tabby leader acknowledged her words with a flick of his tail
And padded to his mate
Who looked empty and never moved from her crouching position
"I know it's hard now love, but our other kits need you to be strong for all of us" he murmured to his mate as they slowly padded to the nursery.
"Cactustail tell Silentsong that we need rosemary and thyme we are dangerously low"
She orderd her apprentice without even looking up from her duties, carefully placing each small leaf on her pelt she lost track of time and before she knew it she smelt the sweet scent of the Bushclan medicine cat.
"Bushclan send their condolences" that's all the brown she cat could say at this point. They both quickly got to work, by sundown the body of the deceased was ready.
The brown she-cat nodded to her friend medicine cat and took her leave murmuring condolences.
Brightfrost and Cactustail managed to heave the kit onto their back.
"My clan it is time to bury our fallen young, may she have swift running in starclan"
Her brother led the patrol to the northernmost border to a small oasis where the water shines with the moon's grace.
Palmheart snarled at anyone who tried to help her dig her kits grave.
"I will do it myself! None of you hot-brains can do it right!"
She took her daughter's corpse to the east side of the pools, to bury it where she buried Foxkit the son that died as soon as he entered the world.
The Broken queen gently patted the ground with her forepaw, it must not be easy, losing two kits before they even become warriors.
"Let us withdraw back to our camp may the stars guide my kit home"
His eyes were hollow matching his mates dark eyes.
-time skip-
-Hawk-kit-
Ever wonder what death felt like? I'll tell you, It feels like absolutely nothing.
'Why did she do this? What did she mean by it? That was a dumb question'
"Hawkkit you have died too soon" i didn't know where i was, there were no stars just, Heavy fog.
"Do you know where you are?"
Her hackles rose "of course i don't! I just died and i'm obviously not in starclan!"
When did i get so snappy?
"You just answered my question, you are not in starclan. You are in the void, a place where warriors of old who had died or faded away go to rest"
Well that answers that i guess.
"Who are you? Why am i here?"
"Just call me thorn young one. As for why you are here we have all decided you have died too soon, we are sending you back."
"We?"
"No time for questions! You have limited time to go back!"
Before i could annoy thorn with more questions i was blinded by a bright warm light
Dirt was everywhere! In my ears, my eyes and i smelt like herbs-'by the moons i was dead! I really was dead!'
Trying not to panic the kit dug her way out of the grave.
'Okay where am i now?' all she could figure out by her surroundings was that she was near water.
She headed towards some strange dens. For and least two and a half moons she wandered dodging what the kittypet honey called 'twolegs' or 'housefolk' dodging the alleycats and begging for scraps from kittypets, she came across a large body of water surrounded by forests and a moor, a moor huh? I wonder how Moorshadow is doing, most of all i wonder how my mother is doing. 'Do they miss me? What is Snakekit doing?' her heart clenched tightly when she wondered about Quailfeather.
She wandered past a tattered looking old twoleg den with herbs like what Brightfrost has in her den.
I was shaken out of my thoughts when a group of cats surrounded me,
"What are you doing on thunderclan territory kit?"
'Thunderclan? I guess the stories are true there are other clans'
"Im weary and lost, my name is Hawk-kit"
"That's a clan name but you don't smell like any clan i know"
"Because our clans never met. i'm from Desertclan"
"Its getting late come with us we will take you back to our camp" a tortoiseshell she cat guided her with her tail. 'My head hurts so badly'
"Are you okay?"
"I need a medicine cat.." i felt dizzy so i heavily leaned onto the foreign she cat for support.
"Thornclaw go get Alderheart tell him we have a kit in need"
"Yes blossomfall"
A golden brown tabby padded off into the brush,
"Come lets lay here and wait you are in no condition to be moved right now"
She layed on her side and i curled up listening to her rhythmic purrs. What felt like hours went by until i saw a short furred ginger tom with a white tail-tip quickly pad over to me.
"I'll take it from here" he sounded a bit nervous, not at all as confident as Brightfrost or Cactustail, maybe he is new?
He smeared some gross smelling stuff on my head wound and the tom known as Thornclaw plopped some wet moss in front of my nose.
"Drink" the strange tom ordered and i was all but too quick to obey, enjoying the refreshing fresh tasting water.
"Okay it's safe to move her now, after you get her to the nursery bramblestar said to continue the patrol.
Blossomfall supported me as we walked towards their camp.
I was blown away by the sight to say the least.
"Here is the nursery, there are no nursing queens right now but daisy will take amazing care of you" she licked my ear in a reassuring way, like Palmheart did. how much did my death impact her? I shook the thoughts away and slunk into the bramble and thorn den.
"Hello?" i squeaked! I never squeak!
"Hi little one i'm daisy, bramblestar told me you were coming. Follow me to our nest"
I followed the cream colored she-cat to one corner of the warm den.
"What is your name?" she sat down and started grooming the dirt out of my fur
"Hawk-kit, i'm from Desertclan"
"Daisy, may i speak to the kit alone for a few minutes?" a large dark brown tabby tom shouldered his way through the entrance
"Yes bramblestar" she nodded towards me and went to fetch fresh kill.
"You say you can from a distant clan called Desertclan?"
'YES I ALREADY EXPLAINED IT ABOUT A MILLION TIMES'
I decided that would be a bit too much so i went another route,
"Yes My parents are Palmheart and Adderstar"
"Ah a leader's kit then, how did you end up so far from your parents?"
I told him everything, from Ravenkit to me digging myself out of my grave somehow.
"Im in disbelief how can something like that happen? You just… crawled out?"
The tabby shook his striped head and focused his amber eyes onto me studying my pelt
"I guess i have to believe it since dirt became your second pelt"
He added twitching his whiskers in amusement i simply flicked my tail tip.
"You may stay here and train with us, what you may do after is up to you"
The tom stood up and beckoned me to follow him out, the earth felt so weird under my paws.
He leaped onto the highrock much like her father did back home.
"Let all cats old enough to gather their own prey join here beneath the high rock for a clan meeting"
The clan gathered around
"As you may have heard, one of our patrols have encountered a wounded kit claiming she was from a distant clan named Desertclan. She has told me of how she got separated from them and i am in disbelief. But i have made a decision. She will train with us and become a member of thunderclan"
She could almost feel the unease prickling from each of the clan members pelts.
"How do we know we can trust her?"
"What if she is spying for dark-tail?"
She saw a lithe muscular ginger tom stiffen with anger and a pale tortoiseshell smooth the fur along his spine with her tail.
"Then she will be dealt with accordingly. As for trust when she becomes apprenticed and the becomes a warrior she will have the choice to remain here or return to her birth clan"
That didn't ease anyone.
"For those who doubt me, look at this kit. She is clearly wounded and looks to be around 3 or 4 moons, doesn't the warrior code tell us never to neglect a kit in pain or danger even if it is from another clan? Why should Hawk-kit be different?"
A cream colored warrior with a stumpy tail flicked his ears obviously uncomfortable with something.
Murmurs of agreement broke out
"Since that is agreed upon, daisy will be the one to care for her in the nursery. Squrrielflight, incase if her family IS looking for her increase patrols for the next three moons"
A ginger she-cat with a single white paw nodded to her leader
"Now all of this is agreed upon i call this meeting to a close, Sparkpelt will show you around. Welcome to thunderclan Hawk-kit"
The crowd dispersed and a dark she cat with green eyes padded towards me "hi i'm sparkpelt i'll be showing you around! Follow me!"
She showed me everything and introduced me to the apprentices and the other two medicine cats, at first i was shocked that there was three but we moved on before i could ask questions.
After the tour was over and i got food in my belly i curled up in my nest that i shared with daisy and settled into a restless sleep.
Please don't throw tomatoes at me!
As the disembodied voice said to Ravenkit last chapter that the fall would be enough to injure a warrior but it is deadly to a kit, thus Hawk-kit died,
My original idea was to have her wake up a week after her incident and still be in Desertclan and eventually be mentored by a clanmate, but last minute thinking made me want to try out this idea instead
Tell me what you think!
Read and review!