Fawnleap's Confidence

Prologue

He had been born in the rain. His name came from the rain. Now, he would die in the rain.

A fragment of a memory lingered in the tabby's mind, the blurry image of sparkling cats. Their voices were muffled to the tom's ears.

More muffled noises and more blurred images swirled all around him. Real cats, clanmates he had once cherished. His yellow eyes were barely open, and he moved his muzzle to speak but no words came out. Where was he again? Oh yes, in the rain. Dying for his sixth and final time. 

"Don't.. please... kits..." A feminine voice cut in and out.

Kits... what kits?

Blood streamed out of the gash in his throat, and darkness was slowly ebbing into his vision, though it wasn't quite ready to let it consume him. This pain he felt from his throat.. that was why he was dying. Yes, it was coming back to him.

"Palefoot, he's in Starclan's paws now. There is nothing more I can do for him." The voice belonged to another female cat, though he recognized her as Rowanstorm, the medicine cat.

Foxes. Battling. Pain, loss. It began to come back to him now. He was dying now, in the clan's clearing, soft raindrops pattering on his side. Palefoot, the cat he loved with all of his heart, was pregnant with his kits, and now he was being ripped away from her.

His mouth moved again, and he just barely croaked out, "I... love... you.."

Suddenly the darkness consumed him, and he found himself standing in front of a black cat with a half happy and half concerned expression.

"Sagenose.. where, where is my family?"

Shaking his head, the tom replied, "It is too soon, Rainstar. If those kits are born, the clan we love may be destroyed."