In The Dark - Warriors.

Chapter Two

Lostkit woke up curled close to her mother's belly. The other two kits, Sunkit and Pinekit, squirmed around her as they tried to get some sleep. She was right flat in the middle of them both, so she was warm. But not tired. Not anymore.

She pulled herself up, nudging the other two kits while avoiding her mother, Cherryflower, as she did not want to wake the she-cat up. Not many queens got to rest as long as Cherryflower was doing right now - they were mostly expected to be awake and ready to serve a tom's every need, especially their mate's needs, which was why Lostkit didn't want to wake her. That, and she was grumpy when she was awoke from her sleep.

Pinekit grunted, looking up from his sheltered position cuddled up next to his mother. "What do you want, Lostkit?" He meowed impatiently with a small sigh to accompany his words. Lostkit didn't respond just yet, instead she turned over to her sister, Sunkit, and nudged her a tad bit harder than she had nudged Pinekit, knowing that she was a heavier sleeper than the both of them.

"Sunkit?" Lostkit whispered. When her sister didn't reply, Lostkit flicked her ears in contempt. She shook her sister harder than she had before in an attempt to wake her up. "Sunkit??" She said, louder this time, as she continued nudging her. Finally, she pushed her sister over, and yet she still did not wake. "Sunkit?!" She mewed. "Sunkit!" She hissed. She turned to Pinekit. "Pinekit! Why won't she wake up?!" She growled. Pinekit padded over to stand beside her, and nudged Sunkit as well. Still, she did not wake.

"Why won't she wake up?" Lostkit mewled, worried for her sister.

"Maybe we should ask Cherryflower ... " Pinekit suggested. Lostkit nodded in agreement and walked over to her mother. She nudged her in the stomach with her tiny white paws. Her mother's eyeslashes fluttered open and she turned to her kits. "What is it, dears?" She asked.

"Why won't Sunkit wake up?" Lostkit and Pinekit both asked at the same time. Cherryflower yawned.

"She's probably just sleeping." Cherryflower shrugged.

"We already tried waking her!" Pinekit mewed with a concerned tone in his voice, so unlike the tone that he had been using before when his other sister had awoken him from his slumber, Lostkit noted. She had always been aware that Sunkit was his favorite sibling and not her, but she didn't care all that much.

Cherryflower sighed again. "You know she's a heavy sleeper." She said.

"We know!" Lostkit said. "But we already tried everything to wake her up! We shook her, we nudged her, we called her name. We did, like, everything! Can't you just wake her up for us, please, Cherryflower?" She said.

Cherryflower sighed and nodded, sitting back up. "Sunkit?" She whispered to the kit. "Sunkit?" She repeated, louder this time. "Great StarClan, Sunkit!" She said. Lostkit noticed that some of the other queens and their kits were starting to stir.

Cherryflower became concerned now. She rolled Sunkit over onto her back and leaned down, putting her ears to the kit's heart. No heartbeat. No nothing ... Cherryflower let out a long, horrendous yowl, and the medicine cat rushed into the nursery.

"What is it?" Toadleap, the medicine cat, asked the queen, as he sat down next to her. He hardly acknowledged the other kits in the litter - not even Sunkit - and had his gaze flat on Lostkit.

"Sunkit! I think she-she's dead." Cherryflower murmured quietly. Toadleap had struggle hearing her, but managed to do so. He simply nodded.

"Alright. It is a shame that she had to die so soon. She would've been capable of producing such beautiful kits, just like her mother." Toadleap meowed, obviously trying to comfort the she-cat in quite distress. When he got no response, he gripped the scruff of the dead kit into his jaws and exited the nursery.

Minnowcreek, one of the other queens, jumped up and padded over to Cherryflower so that she could comfort her. She set her tail down onto the other she-cat's back and gently rushed it down, up, down, up ... "It is fine Cherryflower. Sunkit would not have wanted a shot at this sort of life, anyway. She will be happy in StarClan." Minnowcreek soothed the queen.

Minnowcreek was the oldest she-cat in the Clan - she had went through six litters of kits, and out of those, had lost three. Most of the cats that she had given birth to were toms, one of which were Froststar, whom was the Clan leader now. The rest of the toms that she had gave birth to were generally respected in the Clan, such as Branchfrost, who was a brave warrior and one of the most well-known out of this whole Clan for his noble acts of bravery in war and battle.

"But ... she was so young. She could've gotten a shot at a good life - she could have escaped from this Clan, became a warrior in one of the others, had a nice mate ... she could've had kits of her own someday!" Cherryflower cried.

"Be quiet, now." Minnowcreek purred. "You'll wake up everyone from here to WolfClan!" She said. WolfClan was the Clan farthest away from MapleClan, on the west side of the forest while MapleClan resided upon the east side, where the woodlands were thicker than the rest. "Besides, there is no use in grieving over something that cannot be undone." Cherryflower was aware that Minnowcreek knew this from experience.

Cherryflower sniffed, brushing her tail over her remaining two kits. She straightened up. "Okay, you're right. This cannot be undone, no matter how much I want it to be. A life in MapleClan would not want to be the life that any she-cat would want to live." She sighed.

Lostkit looked at the two queens. "Cherryflower, is Sunkit going to wake up?" She mewled, her whiskers twitching. "I wanted to play with her. And so did Pinekit, I think." She said, and Pinekit nodded as he stumbled up beside his sister.

"No, Lostkit, Sunkit is not going to wake up." She meowed, her voice a lot stronger now than it had been before. "Let's just say that she is playing with other kits now ... in a place that is far, far away." Cherryflower sighed.

Lostkit stiffened. "Are you talking about StarClan? But Cherryflower, she's not dead! She's just sleeping." Lostkit meowed, confused.

"Yeah! She's just sleeping. She is tired, that's all ... right?" Pinekit meowed nervously, afraid that Sunkit might actually be dead.

Of course, Lostkit thought. Why else would Cherryflower be so distressed? She must be ... must be ... Lostkit's thoughts trailed off as Cherryflower responded. She also did not even want to think about what the answer might be.

"I am sorry, kits. But it is true." Cherryflower mewed.