Gone Too Soon (Tagged and Open)

[Wolf]

Carotius
OOC: Are you ready for tragedy

Dawnthorn lay in her nest, just waking up from a nap she had taken to after the ceremony had ended and all the commotion had calmed down. She had hardly opened her eyes when the familiar pain of labor wracked her body. Here we go again... She thought, groaning as she flopped down onto her side. "Adderfoot!" She called with much less panic than she had when she gave birth to Swiftkit. Though, that lack of panic was short lived when an unfamiliar stabbing pain flared up amidst the ache of labor, causing her to let out a screech of agony. Dawnthorn figured it was another part of labor that she might've forgotten and prayed to StarClan that her kits would get through it alive this time.

"Oh StarClan help me..." The white queen groaned, her voice rising to a scream when the stabbing pain hit her again. "Foxdung that hurts!" She hissed sharply, squeezing her eyes tight for a moment before opening them again to stare out the nursery opening, watching for her mate and hoping he heard her call.

[Carotius]

Wolf
OOC: Can we get a StarClan cat in? OnO

---

Having hunted in the morning, and being in attendance for the ceremony in the afternoon, Adderfoot had taken to the warriors' den for a rest; originally, he planned to simply lie down and not sleep, but to just observe the passing of WhisperClan's daily hubbub after congratulating his kits for their apprentice ceremonies. Though, as it seemed, the tabby was too tired and sleep to stay awake, and had dozed off in a wink of an eye, completely unaware of the fate that was to befall his family once more.

"Adderfoot!"

The call of his name seemed so faint, his pathway into the realm of slumber already running deep into its dark reaches. The warrior vaguely guessed he was dreaming of Dawnthorn, prancing around the meadows as they chased each other in circles among the grass, butterflies of all colours flitting out around them as their paws came upon the earth. A smile was on both their faces, their laughter filling each other's ears with happiness that he wished could last him to the waking world. but a dream was what it was - an image of what one wished for so much to have or achieve; the warrior was wrenched out of his dreams by a shrill scream, it's familiarity sending a terrible weight into his stomach.

"DAWNTHORN!" he yowled, scrabbling and stumbling his way out of the den and towards the nursery, his fur bushed out against the chill, but much more from fear than anything else. "The kits are coming! My kits are coming!!!"

[Wolf]

As her mate yowled her name, Dawnthorn let out a low moan again, her breathing coming in short gasps. "Adderfoot!" She panted, her voice thinly veiled with relief but weighted down by agony. Her head whipped back as she let out another loud yowl of pain before whispering dreaded words to her mate. "I think something's wrong." The white queen stared at him with desperate blue eyes, a thin whine following her whisper.

Suddenly, the sharp pain wracked her body again and again and she let out screeches of pain, her eyes stretching so wide the whites showed. Her side rippled as her body prepared to push the kit out as she panted. As her tail whipped side to side, a pool of red was beginning to grow beneath her hind legs and staining her fur. I might die today, She thought with a growing sense of despair at the feeling of blood soaking her legs.

[Carotius]

"That's what you said last time, mousebrain!" Adderfoot hissed, throwing himself down next to his mate.

His meadow green eyes widened in concern at how agonised the she-cat looked, her swollen belly and heaving chest twitching and rippling with the effort to bring their next litter into the world. Worry began to crease his face; realising a sudden heavy tang in the air of the nursery, he turned his head around, to where Dawnthorn's tail was flolloping about.. Is that...b-blood? Blood was normal in birth, he knew that. but the amount of blood that was pooling underneath his mate's hindquarters was startling - Adderfoot's heart began to thump wildly against his chest, a strong sense of fear beginning to seize the nervous along his spine.

Shakily, he brought his muzzle to the white feline's cheek, pushing his nose deep into her soft fur. " D-Don't...D-Don't leave...me...!"

What followed next was a thin wail of terror and anguish, what that could wake the whole Clan if it wanted to.

[Wolf]

At long last, a tiny bundle of white slid out in its birthing sac into the pool of blood. The queen turned to nip the sac but couldn't seem to find the energy to do any more and flopped back down onto the moss. By now, blood had formed a large pool of red around her and her breaths were growing weaker. A strange sense overcame her and she suddenly felt very light. It was then that Dawnthorn knew. It was her time to leave to be with Swiftkit in StarClan. As the fading sense came over her, she saw a faded silhouette of a kitten standing at the edge of the nursery, it's blue eyes glowing like stars. "S-Swiftkit, have you come for me?" She whispered before heaving a heavy sigh.

The white queen looked up at her mate, her blue eyes starting to dull. "I love you Adderfoot, don't forget that." She whispered, her breaths beginning to come in gasps. "T-take care of our..." Dawnthorn paused to take another heavy breath, "..kit.." With all the strength she had left, the dying she-cat pushed herself up and gave her desperate mate a gentle lick on the cheek before sinking back down and taking one more heaving breath before growing still. Her paws twitched once and her eyes closed, and she was gone.

A starry outline of the queen rose from her body, whether she was visible to Adderfoot or not, she didn't know. Still, Dawnthorn looked back at the brown tabby and whispered, "Goodbye my love." Before turning and following the small figure that was their first son as the two of them faded out of view, leaving Adderfoot alone with his dead mate and newborn kitten that was lying in the pool of blood.

[Carotius]

Wolf Babylonranger Ɗaisy
OOC: Y u do dis ;-; THE DEATH OF AN ADOPTIVE MOTHER AND A LOVING MATE. BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

---

There was a soft rustle as a single kit plopped onto the moss. Adderfoot raised his head to give the cream-faced she-cat some room to nip the sac and lick the newborn for warmth; his heart beat harder when his mate fell back onto the moss after the first part, her breathing so weak and shallow, blue eyes looking so tired while her white fur turned dull and stained with crimson from her blood. No.. No, StarClan, you can't do this..! He pressed himself to her flank, nuzzling his head furiously against her cheek, willing his fears to be just a fear, not a reality. The tabby began licking Dawnthorn's ear furiously, the feeling of dread becoming heavier and heavier in his chest. You can't take her!

"Swiftkit can't be here.. He's with our ancestors.. He's not here.. He's... He's... DON'T SAY THAT!!" he snarled, his voice cracking with anger and desperation as he attempted a glare at the weak she-cat, even though he knew his shattering heart couldn't summon enough anger for that action, worse as his mate looked up at him with those beautiful eyes he had grown to love. "I love you too.. D-Dawnthorn, no, don't... Take care of the kit w-with m-me! W-With Harepaw, Cinderpaw, and Squirrelpaw..!"

Adderfoot pulled back his head once more, screwing his eyes shut so tightly that it made him look as if he was in pain. Truth be told, he was in pain. He was in agony. StarClan was calling to Dawnthorn, and they sent...they sent their first son to fetch her. The cold dread and horror seized the warrior's body as Dawnthorn raised herself up painfully, rasping her tongue across his cheek...for the last time. The queen flopped back onto the mossy nest, her body too weak to keep on fighting. Don't leave me...! Green eyes watched as those delicate legs twitched one last time, and, with a last breath, his loving mate was no more.

"Dawnthorn? You're just exhausted...right? D-Dawnthorn..?" the tom's voice cracked into a squeak, his breath hitching as the warmth of his mate's body faded away from his side, the flanks rising no longer. "Dawnthorn, wake up.. Enough with the pretense, you're just...just sleeping! You're not d-dead, you're asleep. Stop pretending!" Adderfoot's laugh was dry and forced, filled with utter nervousness as he pressed himself harder against the still body's side, resting his chin over her shoulder, as if sharing as much of his warmth as possible would, by some miracle, bring his mate back to life. When nothing happened, the reality finally crashed like a gigantic wave onto his head, and within seconds, the warrior was shrieking at the top of his lungs, the amount of grief contained in his body too much to hold in. "Don't do this to me, Dawnthorn! Wake up! Wake UP! Dawnthorn! DAWNTHORN!!!!!"

[Babylonranger]

A dark brown paw nudged a newly made nest in the Apprentices' Den. The light brown apprentice grinned at the sight, and at the thought that training with the golden Sunfeather would begin tomorrow. Harepaw certainly wasn't expecting to be dragged out of daydreams by a set of pain-wracked wails close by.

Concerned and curious, Harepaw's brown head poked out of the den, attempting to locate the source of the screams. They're coming from the Nursery, the young cat realized with a sinking stomach. There was no reason it had to be something to dread, but Harepaw recognized and remembered those cries. "Dawnthorn," the cat whimpered, dark-stockinged paws carrying Harepaw towards the Nursery.

Adderfoot's agonized pleas became clearer and clearer as the distance decreased, until Harepaw stood at the entrance to the Nursery, looking in carefully. The sight that met the cat's yellow eyes was one from a nightmare. Dawnthorn was blood-covered and struggling for breath, a single kit shivering for warmth beside her. Harepaw's father was frantic, licking at his mate and begging her to stay. Oh Starclan, she's dying, the brown-furred apprentice realized, horrified.

There was nothing Harepaw could do but sit and watch silently, giving Adderfoot and Dawnthorn the illusion of privacy as calico queen said her last farewell. Yellow eyes filling with tears, the young cat's head bowed in grief, unable to block out Adderfoot's shrieks of denial. Harepaw's adopted mother was dead, before she'd even named her kit.

The kit! Harepaw's head shot up, face frozen in worry. The tabby tom was too focused on Dawnthorn's body to think about his new child, and the brown cat knew time was of the essence. Harepaw stepped forward and gently picked up the kit, setting it down on some fresh, clean moss close by. With that, the new apprentice began licking at the kit, trying to get it clean and warm. The little kit looked so much like her mother, and Harepaw didn't know if that would make Adderfoot feel worse or if that would comfort the tom in mourning. "Adderfoot," the large, lithe cat said, glancing up, "your daughter needs you."

[Wolf]

As Dawnthorn's starry figure vanished, a high pitched squeak told the two cats that the kit was alive. She was very tiny, her short white fur puffed up from Harepaw's licking. She had a single brown forepaw that contrasted the rest of her white pelt. When Harepaw stopped licking her, the kitten squealed in protest and squirmed back and forth on the clean moss by her half-littermate's paws. The unnamed kit wanted milk, and she wanted it now.

[Carotius]

Tagging Lionhearted for Thrushleap, because he needs to know of a dead queen ono

---

Agony wracked his body, ones that were so foreign to him than he had ever known before. The tom had never thought he'd experience such pain this early in his life, and it was one that tore his heart as much as the legendary wildcats of elders' tales ripping through the flesh of their prey. This is exactly what he felt - claws ripping through his chest and stabbing the organ that kept him alive, and metaphorically held all his emotions. The camp of WhisperClan was filled with the shrieks and wails of the despairing tom, who had extricated his head from his dead mate's shoulder, throwing it back violently to cry out harshly into the darkening sky. He didn't care if he woke the other inhabitants of the nursery. He didn't care if someone came in to shut him up. His grief was too much. Just too much..

The only thing that dragged the mourning tom's attention back to his senses, even by a smudge, was the sound of his son's voice; the son from the first litter, the litter that...that...Started it all.. Adderfoot twisted his head around abruptly, meadow green eyes wide and looking strained with mixed feelings of anger and distress, along with a slight air of hope at the apprentice's words. The kit is alive..? THE KIT IS ALIVE! He had a daughter! His last remaining daughter was alive! StarClan was kind not to take both his precious family members, not after the terrible theft of Dawnthorn's life.

"Move away from her," he hissed as he came over to the kit, rasping his tongue gently but firmly across the tiny body. The she-kit, apart from the dark brown forepaw she had, was a spitting image of her mother, only without the patch of cream that was once on the pretty blue-eyed she-cat's face; he paused his licking to nose the kit, whispering the next words, "You're still as beautiful as your mother. She would have been so happy to see you, my kit.." The kit needed a name, and it didn't take much time for the tabby warrior to think of one, even with the heartache that threatened to send him into another wailing fit. "Your name is Thornkit, my little angel."

Named for the thorn I feel in my heart. I'm so sorry, Dawnthorn..

[Lionhearted]

Thrushleap's eyed were drooping from the tiredness. Was he also getting sick? He heaved a sigh, taking a spin around the camp to check around.

"Your name is Thornkit, my little angel." It was Adderfoot's voice, and if Thrushleap didn't know better, it was laced with grief. He frowned. A kit? Now?

He turned into the nursery, about to ask what was wrong. Was the kit a stillborn? No, Thornkit was alive. "Hello, Adderfoot and Dawnthorn," he greeted polietly. Bending down to sniff the kit, he nodded. "Is everything okay?"

[Babylonranger]

The young brown cat jumped, startled by the little she-kit's squeak. Smiling sadly at her, Harepaw gently gave the squirming kit one more lick. Adderfoot's hiss caused the lithe apprentice's head to jerk up. Wide-eyed in the face of the grief-stricken tom's anger, Harepaw backed away from the newborn, shrinking under the distrusting glare of the brown tabby.

Thrushleap's arrival meant the young apprentice drew even further away. Harepaw took the opportunity presented by the Whisperclan deputy's entrance to leave the Nursery and escape Adderfoot's grief-fueled rage.

[Lionhearted]

Carotius amd Wolf I got your StarClan cat ;3

The golden tabby shimmered and appeared before the cats in the nursery. Goldenfox dipped his head as he entered, and Thrushleap's jaws hung open. It was the very brother who had disowned him.

"G-Goldenfox."

The StarClan warrior dipped his head at the deputy. "I was wrong about you," he murmured, his eyes clouding momentarily. "You are loyal to WhisperClan." the two gazed at each other for a while before Goldenfox turned to Dawnthorn. "Greetings," he said to Adderfoot. "I know times can be hard, especially at times like these. but it is time for Dawnthorn to join StarClan."