Survival Of the Fittest (Hawkeye Fanfiction)

Chapter 22: Loss So Deep (Black Widow)

"Mama, watch this!"

Meda lifted her head as she watched Mistro and Mightra beginning to wrestle and they tried to pin each other down. Meda couldn't help but purr. "Great job, you two."

However, most of it was forced. It was dangerous to have them out in the open but she didn't know anywhere else to keep them. Now that they were old enough to play outside she couldn't keep them cornered in the den all day. They would drive her to insanity.

Mistro suddenly dove for her sister, his paw clipping Mightra's ear. Mightra fell backwards, her eyes filling in tears as blood dripped from her ear. "Mama! Mama!"

Mightra darted over to Meda and Meda lowered down and licked her daughter's bleeding ear. "It's okay," breathed Meda as she held her daughter close. "You'll be alright. It's just a nick."

"I'm sorry," apologized Mistro as he took a step forward. "I didn't mean to nick you. I didn't think that my claws were out." He lifted his paw and looked at his paws flexed, covered in his sister's blood.

Meda motioned for her son to come near. He obeyed and she forced him to face Mightra. "Now tell Mightra that you're sorry for nicking her."

Mistro bowed his head. "I'm sorry for nicking you, Mightra."

Mirghtra smiled timidly. "It's alright. I suppose I could have done something more," she mewed as she touched her nose to her brother's.

Meda purred at how well her kits got along. They were closer than normal kits and she was glad that they would always be there for each other.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

Meda's fur immediately spiked and she looked to her kits. "Mistro, Mightra, behind me, now," she ordered with urgency present in her voice.

Both kits obeyed and she stood erect with her muscles bunched and eyes narrowed. Enthrear stepped from the bushes, his eyes glowing and his claws extended. "If it isn't my favorite lioness, Meda."

Meda lashed her tail so that Enthrear couldn't see the kits. "Get out of here, Enthrear. You're not welcome here," she hissed as her haunches wiggling.

Enthrear chuckled and the sound of his voice made Meda shudder. "Not until I get what I came for, what is rightly mine," he roared.

"There is nothing here that's yours," argued Meda as she shook her head madly. She knew what he wanted but she would never give them up.

Enthrear shook his head before he prowled sideways. Meda moved the kits away from him but he still managed to catch a glimpse. "There they are."

Meda snarled in rage. "Get lost! They are not yours. They are mine," he snarled although it felt like he was clawing at reeds. Tis was a battle that she couldn't win.

"Mama, what is he talking about," asked Mightra as she looked up at Meda with her usual bright, blue eyes. Meda turned her head and licked at her daughter between the ears.

Enthrear took another step forward. "Give them to me," he snapped as the fur along his shoulders and spine bristled. It made the breath become caught in Meda's throat.

"They are mine," argued Meda as she tried to stand her ground. "I carried them, I gave birth, and now I am raising them. They belong to me."

Enthrear tapped his claws against the ground. "They are as much mine as they are yours," he pointed out with dark eyes. "I am their father."

"Mama, is she right," asked Mistro as he lifted his head, his lip quivering in fear.

Meda drew both of them close but she couldn't lie. "Yes, he is your father," confessed Meda as she hung her head with sorrow in her eyes. "But not by choice. He forced me to mate with him. It wasn't my choice."

"Does that mean that you didn't want us," whimpered Mightra as she looked into her brother's eyes.

Meda shook her head madly. "No, not at all! I love you more that I can ever say. I just didn't want him to be your father," she explained, hoping that they would understand.

Enthrear took another step forward and his teeth showed. "Give them to me. They are mine now, Meda," he hissed into his chest fur.

Meda looked over at her kits before she exploded forward. She leaped onto Enthrear's shoulders and he pushed him over. "Run!" At first both Mistro and Mightra stood still with their body tense with terror. "Run and don't look back!"

Enthrear pushed Meda from him and she darted forward them. She pushed her head against her kits' shoulders and they turned and darted. "Keep going and don't stop until you know he's not being you. Keep running!"

The kits darted while Enthrear leaped onto Meda's shoulders and shoved her into the ground. She yowled and managed to turn, kicking her hind leg into Enthrear's stomach. Enthrear gasped in agony and drew back, pain showing in his eyes.

Meda exploded forward and pushed his head against Enthrear's shoulder. He hissed in rage as he sunk his teeth into her throat. Meda let out a cry, wondering if this was the end.

She then remembered the knife in her collar. She extended her tail and grasped it easily. She thrust it right behind Enthrear's shoulder. He yowled in pain as blood bubbled around the knife. Meda then heard gunshots and she turned her head to see Natasha running behind her, firing endless rounds at Enthrear. Eventually he fell from a fatal shot to the chest.

His body crashed to the ground, blood oozing from numerous gunshots. Meda collapsed, grief crashing from him for the grief of her kits. She had lost the two things that had meant the most to her for a few moons. At least she thought it was for a few moons. She didn't really had a concept of time anymore.

Natasha came over to Meda and looked down at her. "Are you alright," she asked urgently as she lowered down and pressed a hand against Meda's bleeding neck. "That wound is huge!"

Meda pushed Natasha away, grief lighting in her eyes. "I let them go. I told them to run! Now they're gone," cried Meda as her whole body tensed.

Natasha lowered down and looked at Meda's underbelly which was still swollen a bit from the birth of her kits and the milk that she had been giving her kits. "I'm sure that they'll be alright," assured Natasha with gentle eyes. "They have you and as much as I hate to admit it Enthrear in them. I know that they will survive."

Meda wasn't sure. Mightra was so gentle with her brother always there to protect her. She just hoped that they would be alright. "I'm sorry that I haven't been with you. I had-"

"Don't try to explain," broke in Natasha as she raised her hand. "I understand everything. You had kits and they weren't even kits that you had planned to have. I am so sorry for your loss."

Meda lifted her head and struggled not to cry. "They were my everything. They were part of me."

Natasha smiled warmly. "I understand. If you don't mind may I ask what their names are," she inquired, hoping to at least defer her attention a little bit.

Meda brightened and her whiskers lifted. "My daughter was Mightra and my son was Mistro." With a pang she remembered her smallest kit. She looked over to Enthrear who's mouth was open with blood dripping from a shot to the throat. "And I had one that died right after I gave birth. He was the runt and I named him after his father. His name was Ender."

"Those are all beautiful names, Meda. I'm sure that your son is with your mother and your other two will persevere just like their mother," breathed Natasha as she scratched Meda between the ears.

Meda wasn't so sure. She strode over to Enthrear and lowered down. She sunk her teeth into the knife and pulled it out of his shoulder. Blood dripped from the blade but it just made Meda proud. He had payed for what he had done. He had killed his mother and made her have kits against her will. It would never make up for Mistro and Mightra but it made her feel a bit better.

"I promise that one day I will find you," vowed Meda as she turned her head to the sky as if her kits were already in Starbound.