Icepaw's P.O.V.
A flash of light pierced the sky and everything changed in an instant. I was in the nursery when it happened. The worst affected area or maybe I just thought that because my ears were still ringing from the wails of a heartbroken mother.
Pineappleheart a cream cat with green eyes was beyond distraught. She kept flipping her nest over hoping her kits would just magically reappear. Her sister Nightwing a black cat with green eyes had heard her wailing and rushed in and was now there consoling her. Telling her we would find her kits and bring them back. They were probably just hiding behind some extra sticks or snuck out the back entrance and were wandering around camp waiting for someone to bring them back to the nursery. The back entrance theory was pretty far fetched. After Brackenkit and I had snuck out he was promptly scooped up by and eagle and carried into the sky traumatizing me as well as the rest of the queens leading to some major nursery changes as well as a guard posted at both the entrance and exit.
"Well, wherever they are Rivermoon has to be with them. She can protect them." Venomtail the aging silver and black medicine cat tom with amber eyes meowed trying to be helpful. This only seemed to make the she cat angrier.
"When I get my claws on her she will wish she had stayed in MarshClan instead of falling in love with our savage deputy Kestrelstripe and bearing his kits. Her flank will be ripped and scarlet as the day Ripplefang died giving birth to me." Pineappleheart seethed with rage. "I will tear her limb from limb for abducting my precious kits."
"Calm down Pineappleheart. This isn't healthy for you, you need to rest. We will take over the search." Nightwing meowed trying to sooth her sister.
"Good. Icepaw should be scared. I hope she loses all her littermates then she will know exactly how I feel right now. Who knows, maybe Featherpaw and Mistpaw are part of the disappeared. Has she even bothered to look for them yet?" Pineappleheart meowed savagely.
"Really Pineappleheart?" I growl. Is it any surprise that your kits left you? You're an absolute monster. I bite back those words. I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of my retort. "I'm sorry you are hurting right now, but it doesn't give you the right to lash out at everyone around you. I hope you see your kits again soon. I've got to get out of here."
I stumble out of the back entrance in a daze, bumping into a shaking Bumblebreeze. He was a brown and cream tom with piercing dark blue eyes. I could get lost in his eyes which seemed to sparkle with untold secrets.
"Hey, Bumblebreeze." I squeaked out silkily, hoping he could tell I had a slight crush on him. "Want to go somewhere quiet?"
"You know I would, Icepaw." He replied grinning. "Unfortunately, I'm stuck here until things calm down a bit in camp. Glitterstar and Kestrelstripe have been having nonstop meetings, no doubt they have heard everything except from someone in the queen den.
"Well the offer still stands for later, I'll even bring a mouse for you." I meow thoughtfully before ducking back into the queen den and telling Venomtail he should probably meet with the leader and tell him what the current situation is with the missing kits.
"What in StarClan's name just happened?" I yowled barreling into the elder's den. It was the closest den to the queen den which I had just left after seeing the unthinkable. Pineappleheart's despair was awful to witness.
"Sshhh Icepaw. Don't you dare say StarClan's name in vain." Gleambone the dark brown and white tom with dark green eyes hissed grabbing me by the scruff. He set me down next to a very frightened Snowpaw. Her pure white fur was fluffed up and her green and blue eyes were looking around wildly. She looked like she had just seen a smoke monster. That's what I called the made up StarClan cats that the crazies of the Clans could see. Supposedly the leaders saw them when receiving new lives from the Moon Pool. Those cats were definitely on too much cat nip to be coherent and raving about the evil Dark Forest.
Fadingwing a gray and white she cat with hazel eyes moved from her nest in the back corner to close the opening of the hut. We were at full capacity with seven cats.
"Why not?" I demanded careful to keep my voice low. "Nothing makes sense anymore. I thought StarClan was supposed to protect us from harm."
"They are." Gleambone meowed darkly. "StarClan gathered all the believers."
"That can't be true, Honeyeyes is still here." Leafpaw the medicine cat apprentice with brown fur with green eyes piped up.
"Honeyeyes and Thistlethorn of OakClan meet up every full moon." Jaggedstream a dark brown tom with dark blue eyes replies coldly. "How Jaystreak puts up with it I'll never know."
"Oh hush. Jaystreak was raised well." Mintflower a cream she cat with light green eyes meowed. "He sees the best in everyone. I could never break his heart by telling him."
"W-what did you see?" Snowpaw squeaked after a uncomfortable silence.
"I saw Lavakit, Birdkit, and Sunkit all disappear in the blink of an eye along with Rivermoon. Pineappleheart is still searching for her kits." I meowed helpfully to the others. This was just a terrible situation to be in. I had never heard anything like this happening ever. This is the stuff legendary warriors rise from. I hoped I would be part of that number.
"Crab dung. My mother was right about this and now she is gone. I'll never see her again." Snowpaw wailed brokenly.
Just then the door swung open and Glitterstar and Kestrelstripe entered. Glitterstar was a pure white tom with blazing amber eyes and Kestrelstripe was a brown tabby tom with sage green eyes.
"I told you Glitterstar this would happen someday. I can't believe you made it a requirement that all warriors stop believing in StarClan." Gleambone spoke up frustrated.
"Shut up, Gleambone. If you weren't my brother I would tear your throat out now. Keep this on the down low." "Pineappleheart will get over her lost kits. Brookefern of ThornClan can send Venomtail more catnip and we can just sedate her with that until she forgets."
"I won't shut up about it and if you don't want to be damned to the Dark Forest for eternity then you won't either." Gleambone hissed back.