#spikekit

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The Queen, King & Kittens

(Click for higher quality)(I dunno whether it’s Google Drawings or the PNG that ruins the quality. Sigh.)

Man, that’s super sad. I’ve always liked Crowfrost and Dawnpelt, and this kinda crushed my heart :(

On a brighter note, it’s a really cool au! And always I’ve never made a design for Spikefur, so here it is in the form of Spikekit. Brown and gray chimera!

With a final heave, Crowfrost gently placed Dawnpelt's body into a shallow grave. 

The past few days were full of pain and vigorous strength, as he buried his entire clan solo. Spikekit couldn't help much, so he made sure that the kit stayed inside so he didn't have to see the horrific sight of corpses.

He buried Blackstar first, then Rowanclaw. He then buried his Clanmates one at a time, saving Dawnpelt for last.. He couldn't bury her until the end.. That would be accepting that she was dead. And he couldn't do that yet.

But now the clearing was empty. He was alone with the kit. 

He slowly got up, his fur covered in dirt and blood. "Spikekit? Are you awake?" He called out, hoping the kit responded.

He waited for a moment, before he heard some shuffling and the tiny grey and brown fuzzball hobbled outside. 

"Papa! I go out now?" He chirped. 

Crowfrost's heart swelled at the adorable kit. But he stopped when he saw Spikekit hobbling over to Dawnpelt's grave.. That he forgot to bury over. 

"Who.. Who that?"  

Crowfrost's head lowered. "This.. This is my mate. Her name is Dawnpelt.. I miss her alot." He sat down, his eyes glazing over with sadness. "She was expecting my kits." 

Spikekit looked sad at that. "Oh.. I sowey.. That sad.." He stared at the ground next to Crowfrost, not knowing what to do.

Crowfrost sighed, getting up slowly. "We won't be staying here anymore. We're going on a journey." 

He had been thinking about it for a while, but he was going to take Spikekit to the gathering island. Maybe someone else will be there, who could help them. Hopefully.. There would be a Shadowclan cat there. 

Spikekit's face changed from worry to excitement, bouncing up and down. "Yaaay! Id soun fun!" He squealed out. 

Crowfrost laughed, getting out of his sad shape. "Easy now, it will take a while to get there. Do you want a badger ride?" He crouched down, hoping the kit would get on his flank.

As he thought, Spikekit instantly hobbled onto the warrior's back with a loud 'oof', giggling as he got back up. "Les goooo!" 

Crowfrost nodded, and with that, he walked out of camp, leaving everything behind.

The pine woods seemed to have.. Changed. It was oddly quiet.. He couldn't even hear any bird songs, or the chirping of crickets. It was all gone… as if the Dark Forest drained the life out of everything in the forest. It sent shivers down his spine thinking about it.

He spent so long in his thoughts, that the time seemed to go by almost instantaneously, and when he looked up again he saw the gathering island. 

"Oooh! Wat dis?" 

Crowfrost turned when he heard Spikekit let out an excited chirp, and snickered. "We're at the gathering island, Spikekit. Once we get on it I'll tell you more." 

With a fierce squeal, Applefur slashed Snowtuft's belly. He squirmed but succumbed to exhaustion, leading to his death as he left a puddle of black sludge in his absence. She then scanned the horizon, searching for anymore enemies, but all she can see are the bodies of her fallen clanmates. Shrewfoot gives her a silent glance, once they've determined everything safe, they can relax. Shrewfoot checks inside the den they had been guarding "It's safe. You can come out now." Applefur looks back to see her two remaining clanmates emerge, she blinks in surprise. "Cedarheart and Snaketail? Where is everyone else?" Snaketail shook their head but paused as their ears pricked at something. A kit mewling. Cedarheart immediately dived back into the den and, after a couple of heartbeats, he brought out two scraps of fur, one bigger than the other. Applefur's gaze softened at the sight of Mistkit and Spikekit, from two separate litters, Mistkit was about 3 moons but Spikekit still looked newborn.

"That's it then?" Shrewfoot exclaims "We're the last remainin' cats of Shadowclan?" She laughs hysterically, claws scraping at the moss under her.

Applefur is quick to rebuttal this "No! There- there has to be others around."

Applefur cuts herself short as Snaketail approaches her with a hiss. "You!" They jabbed a claw into her chest "Shouldn't be here! You don't deserve to have survived while real, loyal warriors died." Shrewfoot gawked at this.

Cedarheart, after having set down the kits in his mouth added "You should be crowfood with the rest of those Dark Forest cats, like Redwillow!"

The two elders attacked Applefur with their words and she couldn't fault them. They were right, she had been allied with the Dark Forest before the battle. She gazed out over the camp turned battlefield and at all of the dead bodies, every death weighing on her shoulders.

"Oi!" Shrewfoot interrupted, getting in front of Applefur protectively "she fought alongside us, didn't she? I'm sure Apple has payed for whatever crimes she committed but we don't have time for this." Shrewfoot easily reassured the two elders, having them both plop down with a sigh. "Firstly, I see a cat that ain't Shadowclan standing over there, Applefur, go check 'em out."

Applefur considered stammering out a protest but this was a chance to prove her loyalty to Shadowclan, so she padded towards the brown and white dappled molly.

After hearing pawsteps, the molly turned her blue eyes towards Applefur, her hackles raised but she forced them to flatten down.

Applefur stopped a foxlength away "Applefur of Shadowclan, you?" She inquired.

The molly paused a moment, looking down at the cat near her paws, before responding "Poppyfrost of Thunderclan."

Applefur had guessed as much considering her scent, she glanced at the cream-colored cat at her paws. She instantly recognized the problematic Thunderclan tom from gatherings, Berrynose. The once talkative warrior lay silent and dead, his face still contorted in anger.

When Applefur looked back at the Thunderclan cat still standing, she saw the intense sadness in her eyes "That was my mate, Berrynose. We had two kits together, they're apprentices but I haven't seen them."

Applefur barely remembered the announcement at a previous gathering, Cherrypaw and Molepaw. Her heart ached for the grieving cat but she needed to focus "Could you come with me to the rest of Shadowclan?" Poppyfrost stared at Berrynose's body once again before giving a pitiful nod.

Stepping over the forms of dead clanmates, the both of them swiftly made it back to the group. Applefur made to sit down but Shrewfoot prevented her with a swish of her tail.

Noting the motion, Applefur continued to stand at attention, albeit uncomfortable, and turned to face the dappled cat.

"This is Poppyfrost of Thunderclan. She seems to be able to walk and speaks properly." Applefur confirmed.

Poppyfrost laughed nervously "What's with this?" She flattened her fluffy ears against her head, a notion of unease and hesitance.

"Just inspectin' your condition, dear." Shrewfoot stated rather matter-of-factly, she circled around the Thunderclan molly, paws landing with precision and care. One couldn't wonder why she earned the name "-foot".

The wounds on the warrior's coat were not gushing but rather trickling and no care was immediately needed, which was good, the cat narrowed her eyes by instinct at being scrutinized by former enemies.

"Okay... you've had your fun now stop pretending to be better than me, come off it."

Shrewfoot stopped circling and stopped in front of Poppyfrost's face, she examined the molly's stature. "Are ya hungry?"

Poppyfrost blinked in disbelief, so did the elders "Huh?"

"I said what I said didn't I?" Shrewfoot flicked her tail on Poppyfrost's chin, half-apologetically, half-teasing "Well for now you're a guest in our camp, gotta make sure you're keeping healthy." Shrewfoot crossed the camp to check on the prey pile, doing her best to avoid looking at the dead cats, just to find the fresh-kill ruined and flattened.

"Hmm," she twitched an ear, she then turned to look at Applefur "Apple, go get her a frog please?"

Applefur nodded, knowing it was more a command than a request. Feeling uneasy, the mottled brown molly left in search of prey.

Once alone, Applefur could feel the sting of her wounds. She lifted a paw to her right eye to feel the cut, she had been blinded. A great despair clawed at Applefur from inside her chest, a feeling that things weren't right in her little world.

A feeling that I shouldn't be standing...

Applefur shook the grim thought from her mind, but similar ones took its place while she searched for prey. Every corner she looked she found a new body, every time she inhaled she picked up the scent of death instead of food. The feeling only grew stronger once she found the body of her brother, Toadfoot.

Taking the time to reel in her racing mind, Applefur crouched down beside the tom's body. His fur was cold and matted with blood and his face remained strained even through death, but his familiar scent was still there. She gently pushed her face into her brother's usually well-groomed fur, letting out her grief in little sobs. After a few heartbeats, Applefur gathered her wits once more, she muttered a quick prayer.

"Starclan... if you would dare listen to a traitor's plea," she took a breath and lifted her head to the sky "Please guide Toadfoot to your endless wood and let him rest easy in the stars as he deserves."

As expected, receiving no answer from the stars, Applefur continued to search for prey until she heard something suspicious.

A twig snap.

Instinct told her it was danger, that another Dark Forest cat was waiting to kill her, another part of her reassured it was just a mouse.

However when she spotted green eyes staring at her from the bushes, she could deny it no longer.

Like a fox-heart, instead of attacking the hidden cat she let out a wail of fear. Backing up so abruptly that she tripped over the tree roots and fell miserably to the dusty earth.

She heard the bushes rattle and accepted her fate with no fight left in her.

Someone like me... she thought. Shouldn't be around anyway.

But no searing pain followed the rustling, instead the soft, albeit big, paw of a cat rested upon her shoulder.

"Um. Hello?" The voice of a molly piped up from her would be attacker.

Applefur just couldn't seem to gather the courage to look up, let alone reply. Instead she whimpered in agony as feelings of despair and hopelessness flooded her.

"Woah!" The paw quickly released whatever weigh was put on Applefur, the unknown molly jumped back in worry "I'm sorry! I didn't hurt you, did I? I thought the wildcats were supposed to be tough." The last part was more to herself than Applefur but the poor excuse if a warrior paid it no mind.

Applefur, still, couldn't bare to move from her uncomfortable position but managed to speak up "Are you going to kill me?" She hated how her voice sounded weak, she would end up in the Place of No Stars for sure "If so, please do it already."

A startled yelp resounded from the molly "Of course not! Are you hurting that badly hun?" The cat made to help her but thats when Applefur's strength flooded back into her muscles. She fiercely stood to face her attacker.

Applefur was a fool to think the hesitant molly was a Dark Forest warrior, rather if she had used her brain sooner she would have realized that the cat was a mere kittypet, although missing the collar. Her pelt was mostly dark ginger, with a white muzzle, underbelly and tail, black legs, face and rings on the tail. Her green eyes now sparkled with fear now seeing that Applefur was well enough to move.

Applefur thought what to do next, and that was to follow Shadowclan protocol.

"State your name, now." The harsh snap of her tone was enough incentive for the kittypet to reply.

"Panda..."

End of Chapter Two

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