Sitting in a Tree

"The following story is NON-CANON, an AU, and is rated MODERATE.""theres also probably a couple of typos here and there sorry in advance"

Allegiances
"See Here"

Ch.1
Clouds covered the night sky and rumbled far away. Acornfur firmly believed that, once the clouds started crying, they'd drown them all as her punishment. Starclan was weeping and grumbling as she screamed and broke her code.

She bit down harder on a splintering stick to suppress her cries as Starflower rubbed her paw over her stomach. For a moment Acornfur shot her paw forward, grabbing for a few herbs. Thorn helped push them forward and replaced her stick. She forced herself to swallow and took a slow, tired lick from the damp moss that Quickwater had dropped. She bit into it as another spasm overtook her body.

"This is the last one, dear." Starflower mewed.

Starclan,  Acornfur prayed, shutting her eyes tight,  Haven't I been punished enough? I will never have kits again! Thunder rumbled again as the final bundle tumbled out uncomfortably,  Spare my clan and my kits, take me if you must!

She didn't have time to wonder if the other clans had any queens and much less if Skystar would even  let  her take them over before the rain started to sprinkle down and the second kit mewled and wriggled into her belly. Starflower gave each kit a final lick and sat up. Thorn shuddered and flexed their claws.

"I could feel your pain by just how rough you looked," they mewed, "If that's kitting I hope I never go through it."

"Oh, no," Starflower chuckled lightly, "She had a very rough birth. Sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's not…" she lowered her voice, but Acornfur heard anyway, "I figure Starclan really interfered with this one."

Acornfur didn't have the strength to indicate she heard. Her hindquarters still ached, and even though her kits didn't have teeth yet, their jaws bit hard.

"Are they alright, Starflower?" she rasped, voice hardly in a question. She half-expected it wouldn't carry far enough for her to hear.

Starflower purred and smiled, "Yes. They'll be fine. Keep them warm."

The only response Acornfur could give was curling her tail around her kits. Starflower nodded.

"Come now, Thorn, let's leave her to sleep."

Thorn nodded and rushed out. Starflower followed more slowly, and as soon as the pointed leaves stopped shivering, Acornfur sighed and sat up, moving her tail just enough to see her kits. One was a tan-ginger, with the beginning markings of big, swirling stripes. He looked just like her mother, Hawk Swoop. The other was a reddish-brown, almost the color of blood, and covered in big, nearly-black stripes. He looked almost like… Red Claw.

Acornfur sighed and shook her head. She didn't have the heart to name him Redkit. She didn't have the heart to name either, not anymore. She laid her head back down and forced her eyes shut for some well-deserved sleep.

But sleep never came. Acornfur sat in the den for what felt like moons, listening to the rain drizzle down and thunder roll until it all stopped and the sun dappled in through the entrance.

Skystar,  she prayed,  Starclan, Mothflight, Hawk Swoop, Jackdaw's Cry, Thunderstar, Lightningtail, all of you… hurt their mother, not them. They've committed no crime.