[ ♛ ]

They came in the dead of night.

The kits, that is.

There was only a slight moan then screeching. It was way too early. It had only been two moons since she found out, which meant they were probably not going to make it.

Sablepaw paced outside of the nursery while serious talk murmured around out of reach of her ears. The bengal she-cat's pelt was messy and stuck up in weird places, but she hadn't thought to fix it. Bearpaw was struggling to stay away at her shoulder, his eyelids drooping and his scruffy cocoa fur bushed out against the biting chill.

What if Ashenpoppy dies? And the kits? Sablepaw pondered worriedly as she finally sat down, trying to squash out her nervousness into the cold ground. It's been too long, she decided, flexing her claws nervously and leaping to her paws.

"I'm going in - I have to see her." Sablepaw ignored Bearpaw's weak protests and her amber eyes flared at him as he slunk in beside her. The nursery was quiet, but peaceful.

For a second Sablepaw closed her eyes and breathed in the warm smell of milk. Then she opened them again and Ashenpoppy was lying limply at her paws, with two kits feebly trying to nurse at her belly and three small bodies a little ways away. The kits had hardly any fur and were small as oak leaves.

One kit, a milky-white tomcat, finally latched on and was feeding happily. The second cat, a golden-brown she-cat, didn't even seem to breathe.

"Are you okay?" Bearpaw whispered as Ashenpoppy and Acornrustle gazed at the little kittens.

"I'm worried about the she-kit, she isn't eating. She'll be lucky to survive," Bristleburn meowed softly. With a start, Sablepaw glanced over at light speed and saw the medicine cat in the corner, examining the dead kits. "Three dead. . . ." She shook her head sadly, her eyes dull.

Ashenpoppy turned her dark grey head towards her older kits, wincing as Bristleburn turned back to the kits whose life had been snuffed out before they had even taken a breath. "I want you to name the she-cat, Sablepaw. Bearpaw can name the tomcat. But they might not survive, so don't get attached yet." Her eyes misted over as her gaze flashed towards the dead kits for a second. "It'll hurt less if we don't get too attached, yes. We can get over it more easy, we won't grieve as much as if we knew them. I'll always love them, but . . . I can't now. I can't get these ones snatched away. . . ."

Sablepaw's eyes widened sadly. "I'll name the she-cat Luckykit, because she'll need all the luck she can get," she mewed gently when she could finally rip her gaze away from the dead kits. Luckykit mewled weakly, and Bristleburn looked nervously at her.

"The tomcat can be Milkkit. He loves milk already and his fur is the colour of milk," Bearpaw murmured, his mouth dropping open a little as he observed their new siblings.

"We should've been naming five, but those are lovely names," Ashenpoppy meowed bittersweetly, flinching as the kittens cried out. "Milkkit and Luckykit. I have to make them survive."

"And I'll help you," Acornrustle purred, curling around his mate and closing his eyes.

Bristleburn's spiky golden fur ruffled as she bustled Sablepaw and Bearpaw out of the nursery. "Off to bed with you two. Let's hope to everything we know that they survive the night, but also try to get sleep, yes?" She suddenly let out a gasp as a single bolt of lightning struck down near the camp.

Bearpaw yowled in surprise as a shower of sparks scattered the entrance. Sablepaw peered closer, her heart beating out of her chest, and saw that no fire came. Acornrustle poked his head out from the nursery, gaping as he stared at the spot where the lightning had stabbed into the earth.

"That's a bad omen," Bristleburn muttered, twisting her tail nervously and gazing up at the stars, half-hidden in the clouds. "But if StarClan is gone, who could have sent it?"

♛ - ♛ - ♛

Bright and early the next morning, when the birds hadn't even begun to sing love songs to each other in the peaceful dawn, Sablepaw was waiting - not very patiently, that is - at the nursery entrance. Luckykit and Milkkit couldn't have died, they had been eating a little . . . unless.

Milkkit maybe, but what about Luckykit? a little voice nagged at her. Sablepaw flicked her ears angrily and quietly stepped across the nursery entrance, ducking her head and waiting for a second as her eyes adjusted to the dim light.

Ashenpoppy was awake and alert. "They're both okay," she murmured when she saw Sablepaw. The kits were suckling, but Acornrustle was fast asleep beside them so Ashenpoppy hushed their cries. Sablepaw sank to the ground in relief. Both seemed very, very weak, but it was something.

Only the size of a leaf, both kits had fragile-built bodies and tiny pink paws. Both pairs of eyes were shut tightly. They had barely any fluff, though most kittens didn't. Then again, they were born moons early, so they didn't have much time to get all their features yet.

"I should go," Sablepaw breathed as Acornrustle stirred in his sleep, paws twitching. "Oh yeah, and Bristleburn said that someone sent an omen, but it couldn't have been StarClan. It wasn't a good omen, it seemed." She cut herself off as Ashenpoppy stared at Milkkit. He was breathing shallowly and moaning in pain.

"Bristleburn!" the grey molly wailed as Milkkit started to cry out. Sablepaw snapped her head around and saw the golden tabby racing into the den. Bristleburn dropped a neat bundle of sweet-smelling herbs down at Milkkit's paws and started urging him to chew them. Sablepaw watched, open-mouthed, as the little tomcat started to quiet.

Bristleburn was quiet. She turned slowly on her hind paws to look into Ashenpoppy's face. "He might not survive. This might be the bad omen sent from StarClan. Or - seeing as StarClan won't contact us - someone else."

"Or maybe it was just a natural occurrence," Ashenpoppy growled, her shoulder fur bristling with an air of grasping at straws. Bristleburn shook her head sadly.

"I felt an energy. The energy StarClan trained me of. It wasn't a coincidence, and it wasn't an accident. Someone sent it and we need to find out." The medicine cat lashed her tail in frustration. "I don't know how much longer we can go on like this. And if Milkkit getting sick wasn't the meaning of the omen, then we must have something else in store for us."

Sablepaw turned her back on the nursery and stared out the entrance of the warm den. Rain began to leak out of the sky, as if all of StarClan was weeping. Maybe they were, up there, possibly fighting. She sighed. Maybe StarClan wouldn't ever come back.

Maybe we are really . . . forgotten.