Closed~

>> Rainpaw hissed to himself. He had made on e mistake and they had just started on their journey. He had failed already. Flattening his ears, he followed his mentor up the tree and into their safety. With being in the trees, they had new things to watch for; Thin branches and faulty strength, they needed to be careful now. Nodding his head, he began to jump from branch to branch, taking time in between to dig his claws in so he didnt fall. They were well on their way to where they were supposed to be going. 
Making it to the two-leg clearing, the little tom paused. Two-legs were here frequently with their young, sometimes teaching them their ways in the water. Flattening his ears as he watched a little twoleg run out of the water, he pressed himself down. "You would think if they're trying to teach them how to fish they would do it more quietly..." He whispered to his mentor, his ears flat against his head as the two-leg noises shook his whole body. 

>> Lightningstrike followed through with the rest of the cats he was on patrol with. To the trees they went. Launching himself upwards, the tom winced silently. It had been moons since he used his claws to climb, making his claws feel sensitive to the roughness of the trees he now had to climb through. Waspstrike had bounded from branch to branch without effort, leaving Morningdew and Lightning to follow. Once up the tree, he sat and waited for his turn to jump to the next branch. Watching as Morningdew misjudged her jump, ice cold fear lodged in his throat as the little she-cat was left dangling by her front claws. Jumping into action without thinking, Lightningstrike flew from the branch he was on, landing in front of her. Quickly grabbing her by he nape of her neck, he pulled her up, dragging her body as far as he could into the tree they were now in. His claws were bloody from the weight of lifting her up into three, but for right now, they were all still in one piece.  "Morningdew!" He gasped, sniffing her legs up and down for any sort of pain.
 

{AGH i am so sorry xD}

>> Acornkit lifted  a paw in retaliation, only to stop mid-swipe as Nightstar and Combrastorm left their den. Nightstar had not been seen much since the fight, leaving the clan under the watch of their new deputy. His sister Rushingkit cowered to his side, her warmth trickling down his legs into his paws, only to be stopped from the fear for Brightkit who had taken a turn into their leaders fragile body. With wide eyes, Acornkit whispered quietly. "Brightkit needs to be careful..." She was larger than any of the other kits in the nursery, in fact, she was practically the size of an apprentice already. "Do you think Nightstar is going to make Brightkit an apprentice early?" He asked, jealously rising in his throat. 

>> Brightkit sat down with her head hanging. She had pounced full speed into her weak leader, causing her to stumble. Her whole being filled with embarrassment as the leader worked to regain her balance. Perking her ears at her leaders praise, she lifted her eyes. "I will be the best warrior thi-" Her words cut off from her mothers improv grooming session.  She turned her ears back, narrowing her eyes as her mother licked her all over, clearly worried that she had upset Nightstar. Grumbling inwardly and letting out a little mew of protest, Brightkit stepped away from her mother rough tongue. "My father is the best warrior out there. I will be just like him." She mewed arrogantly, puffing out her chest. 

Brindlebriars eyes snapped to where Brightkit had collided with her leader. Flattening her ears, ready to jump to the defense of her kit, she felt herself relax when Nightstar approached with praise rather than correction. Lowering her head out of respect for her leader, she slowly got to her paws and went to Brightkit side, licking her fur that was sticking up all over the place. "Brightkit is eager to become and apprentice, she chats endlessly about it." She chuckled nervously, her way of apologizing for her kits lack of judgement. She glanced over at her mate, her eyes filled with love and adoration for the tom. 
Turning her gaze towards the queen her mate mentioned, excitement rang in her heart. "If Applenose is on the mend, more kits will be joining us shortly!" She mewed quietly, not wanting Applenose to catch wind of her words and cower away. She was eager to help the new mother on her journey.

Littleripple felt the glances from those in camp around them. They were probably all shocked that she had made it out of the nursery, and rightfully so. With all the grief hitting the Queen, its some what surprising her little, expecting body survived it all. Leading Applenose out the camp entrance with a little tap of her tail, she figured a longer walk in the fresh outside air would set things going for them. The smell of milk was strong, coming off her in waves, giving littleripple the sense that things were moving along nicely. 
Choosing the path through the woods where the pair were required to step over fallen trees, shimmy through bushes and around low hanging branches, she simply kept her pace with the Queen. Mere moments after being out and about, she heard Applenose gasp, the Queen crouching down onto her large belly. "Its time." Littleripple let out a loud cry, alerting whoever was in camp that they would need some assistance. Dewdrop had not been seen  around for days on end, so hopefully Pecanpaw could spare a few hours helping Applenose with her kitting. 

>> Wolfspirit dug his claws into the dry bark of the large tree he perched in. Weeks ago when his clan was brutally attacked by the water monster, Wolfspirit had decided to sit above the water by the stream and watch. What for? He was unsure of what exactly he was waiting for, but sitting in camp among the hurt and sick made his paws ache for any sense of normality, giving him a new sense of drive he had not felt before. His clan had been atacked. His leader had fallen ill. Kits were being born left and right. Applenose lost her mate. While Starclan was belssing them with life in the nursery, life outside had been taken in turn. Narrowing his eyes , he felt his fur rise. Other cats were here, he was no longer alone. Turning his head slowly, he sniffed the air, the scents of five different cats grazing the roof of his mouth. Scorchstreak with his apprentice Rainpaw, Waspstrike, Lightningstrike and Morningdew. He lowered his head and blinked. They were out on a patrol, and had no reason to bother him. 
Wolfspirit and Lightningstike got along easily, seeing their outlook in life was very similar, even more so since the passing of his mother. His attention snapped out from his thoughts as he heard the shredding of bark as the small patrol took the trees. He lowered himself onto the branch he took refuge in and held his breath, not wanting to explain to others what he was doing up here on his own. They seemed to have some sort of plan for themselves, heading away from where the tom was plotting. 

>> Ashstream had been rather useless since the attack of the gator. The medicine cat was no where to be seen when the cats arrived in poor health, Nightstar had fallen ill, and poor Applenose had fallen into a pit of self wallowing. By the looks of it, Littleripple had been able to get the large queen up and out of the nursery to walk around, hopefully to induce labor in the queen or just to get things headed in that direction. Sighing loudly, Ashstream began to walk towards the dirt place, watching as his paw prints were left in the mud behind him. 
Without looking where he was going, the tom crashed head first into Hornetstripe. Jumping in surprise, the tom puffed out his russet grey fur. "Oh, Im sorry. I should've been paying attention more." 

Lightningstrike huffed when Morningdew claimed she was alright. The last thing they needed was for her to fall and be swallowed whole by the gator, how in Starclans name would they report that back to Nightstar if that were to happen. Flattening his ears in slight agitation, the tuxedo tom-cat leaped from where he was sitting, eager to get on with the patrol so he could be back at camp with a large mouse to fill his half empty belly. 
Glancing around him, he nodded at Morningdews suggestion to leaving trees and traveling by ground now that they were away from Harmony stream. "I haven't smelled any rogues recently... I wonder what they're up too." He mewed, sniffing the air. 

Brindlebriars ears perked as her mothers warning screech reached her ears. It was not one of danger, but more like a cry for help. Looking over at Thistletongue and the little group of kits playing with each other, the queen nodded. Applenose may have fallen and needed help or something. Or maybe her kits were on the way. Regardless, she was needed. Nodding at Thistletongues words, she sent a silent prayer to Starclan. It had begun to spit rain, so if Applenose was kitting, she had better to it quick. 
Poor Pecanpaw had been running around nonstop for the past week, but this was her duty to help. Darting out of the camp entrance with her tail high, she sniffed the air. The smell of fresh kits hit her nose with such intensity that the speed she ran with could have only been giver her from Starclan themselves. 
Lunging around a bush, she could see Applenose on her side with Littleripple licking a small, helpless, newborn kit. Smiling to her mother, Brindlebriar made her way to Applenose's head, lifting her chin with her tail tip. "You can do this!" She encouraged as another ripple took over Applenoses swollen body. 
Once another kit had entered their clan in the woods, Brindle began to lick the little wet one, willing its breath to come. Hearing the little kit cry, joy filled her heart. Applenose had two breathing kits right now, more than what she as given during her kitting. Lifting the kit to sit against Littleripple's warm dry fur, Brindle made her way back to the flank of the kitting Queen. "One last push Applenose and we can get you and these precious gifts back to the safety of the nursery!" She encouraged, her eyes focused. 

Rainpaws eyes widened at his mentors words. These tow-legs were teaching their kits to swim... But they weren't with them... "Why don't the big ones go into the water? What if something happened to their kit?" He whispered, his eyes filled with curiosity. Two-legs were something different, their ways so strange to the ways of Clan cats, and dangerous too. Every time they saw one of the cats, they would run towards it, as if trying to hunt the clan cat, but they weren't very quiet about it. 

Shaking his head, the little tom sat up. "Let's not waste our time here. They don't seem to be doing us any harm right now, and I'd like to keep it that way." He mewed, his voice suddenly deeper as though he were trying to act like a full warrior. "We must be on our way. The borders wont check themselves." He mewed, his chest puffed out.  

Once Littleripple had let out her cry, a  little kit had fallen into the world. Her motherly instincts kicking in, Littleripple began to lick the kit clean, allowing Applenose to focus on pushing the rest out. The rain had started to fall, its little droplets clinging to the end of her long fur like some sort of fancy decoration. Was Starclan crying for Applenose during her kitting with out her mate? 
Once the kit was clean, Littleripple placed the small bundle under the mothers still very swollen belly. It was important that the kit latched and began to feed almost immediately, and thank the stars, it did. 
In the lull of pushing, Littleripples one remaining kit presented herself. Brindlebriar had heard her call for help. Watching with happy eyes as the queen helped Applenose, Littleripple quietly licked Applenose's flank. She was given a gift when Starclan allowed her to have Brindlebriar as her kit, and the joy of being able to watch her grow to be her own mother to her own kits, made Littleripples heart swell. 
The older warrior watched as Brindle helped, knowing that it must be hard watching a queen birth healthy kits after the loss of your own, but once again, Brindle proved her mother wrong. She was strong. 
Reaching a paw out to Applenose once her body quivered again, the orange molly kneaded her shaking body. 

Acornkit anxiously kneaded the ground in anticipation to their leaders words to Brightkit. once Nightstar told Brightkit that she would have to wait, just like every other kit, a little squeal of happiness escaped her. Before she could say a word to his sister, Rushingkit, she was off to tackle Brightkit and invited her to play. 
Acornkit pounced over to the two, nipping at Brightkit's legs in play. "We get to become apprentices at the same time!" He mewed, not thinking before he spoke. 'That will be so much fun!" 

Ashstream sighed. The clan was worried, and rightfully so. Starclan had seemed to be frowning on them since Brindlebriars kitting nearly two moons ago... And yet, nothing had gotten any better. "I just hope that this whole mess is almost over." He grumbeled, licking his paw and drawing it over his ear. "I have not seen any cat do something so wrong that Starclan would punish the whole clan for it..." He mewed, thinking to himself. What in Starclans name could a cat have done for it to cause this much death in their clan? "If someone did something, what do you thin they did?" He mewed, his voice barely above a whisper. 

Brightkit whimpered. She didn't want to wait to be an apprentice, she wanted to be one now. "I'm going to be 100 moons old by the time I'm a warrior." She whined to her father, Thistletongue. "That's not fair..." Sitting down with a huff, the little kits colored tail lashed in irritation. 
Before she could even think to say another word, the little body of Rushingkit slammed into hers, causing her to fall over, her belly exposed. Yelping in surprise, Brightkit flailed, her legs just short of being long enough to swipe her friends ears. 
Rolling onto Rushingkit's body, the little kit laughed. "You cant beat me! I'm bigger than you!" She giggledher mind distracted from her previous worries, her tail flicking Acornkit in the nose as he tried to nip at her back legs. "Come on!" She called, launching herself off the smaller kit, dashing towards the fresh kill pile to hide from her attackers.