Silver Skies

This is a collab between Firey and Eevee.

Chapter 1- Eevee
Swirlstripe let out a cry of pain. The cream-colored queen dug her claws into her moss nest, her fur bristling. The medicine cat, Darkspots, mewed to Mosspaw, his apprentice. "Go fetch a stick."

Mosspaw looked confused, but left the den. Darkspots pressed a paw to Swirlstripe's flank, only to jerk it back when the queen snapped, "Get away from me!"

Darkspots placed his paw on her flank again, but Swirlstripe seemed too tired to care. "Two kits." he whispered.

Rustling signalled Mosspaw's return. She dragged a long stick into the nursery, grumbling as it caught on one of the long, sharp thorns from the thornbushes. She tugged it free and lay it at her mentor's paws. Darkspots nodded approvingly and pushed the stick toward Swirlstripe. "When the pain comes, you can chew on the stick."

If she had heard him, she didn't acknowledge him. She yowled, and bit down on the stick, splintering it, as a spasm shook her. At the same time, a kit rolled out onto the moss. Mosspaw rushed forward, nipped the sac encasing it, and licked it roughly.

"Don't lick it so roughly, Mosspaw." another queen, Rainfall, advised. Mosspaw nodded and licked the kit softer. The kit let out a thin wail.

"It's a tom!" Mosspaw announced.

Swirlstripe opened one eye and looked at the handsome little kit. It was a tiny, very pale blue-grey tom. Just like his father. She closed her eye again, and a moment later, screeched in pain, biting the stick again. Another kit flopped down onto the moss. Darkspots padded forward quickly and did as Mosspaw had done to the first kit. Then he froze.

Mosspaw looked at him. "Is something wrong?"

Darkspots whispered, "This one's dead." His blue eyes softened as Swirlstripe let out a wail. Darkspots stroked the queen's flank with his tail. "The other is still alive." He nuzzled the strong-looking tom toward her. "You can still feed him."

As the kit nursed, Swirlstripe slowly wrapped her tail around it. "I'll name him." she mewed, closing her eyes. "I'll name him Skykit, because of his fur." Pale white patches were barely visible on the kit, like the pale clouds that dappled the sky.

"That's a good name." Darkspots mewed, looking at the kit. The medicine cat's mostly-black fur lay flat as he looked at the little cream-colored kit, the still-born. "Will she have a name? To take to StarClan?"

Swirlstripe shook her head violently. "No."

Darkspot's heart dropped. "Oh, okay..." He gazed at the still-born kit, his eyes filled with sorrow. A sudden high-pitched, thin wail came from Skykit as he crawled over to another nest. Skykit had gained his footing and was starting to clumsily walk toward another queen that was near her kitting, thinking that she was his mother.

Mosspaw took him by the scruff of his neck and carried him back over to Swirlstripe, despite his squeak of anger. She put him down beside Swirlstripe, watching as he glared up at her with closed eyes. "He'll be stubborn when he grows up!" Mosspaw purred in amusement.

"Yeah." Darkspots mewed absently. ''He'd probably be more than stubborn growing up. He might even have a long path ahead of him. ''