Warriors Super Edition: Archstar's Nature

-Chapter 2-

-Cat above is Jayshadow.-

A few sunrises had passed ever since Vixenkit had slipped into an unconscious mindset, as Archkit lied in his nest. Pinefeather rested at his side, her tail wrapped around him in attempt to comfort him. She knew her kit was hopeless for the ginger kit in Jayshadow's den.

"Archkit, she will be fine, I promise," Pinefeather whispered in Archkit's ear, her breath stirring his inner ear tuft. "Jayshadow's a highly experienced medicine cat, I'm sure he'll be able to treat her."

"It was my fault that she was hurt! If I hadn't passed the moss ball towards that stupid stone, then none of this would have happened!" the tabby kit spat with a following wail. "She never deverved it! All of this was because of me!" His muscles tensed as he quietly lamented into his mother's tail. "I'll never forgive myself.."

"Stop it, Archkit," Pinefeather retorted, "it was nobody's fault. It was an accident, you hadn't meant to pass the moss ball over to the stone. You didn't even know it existed in the first place. So it's not your fault."

As if. I blame myself or even Starclan. It just doesn't make any sense, Archkit thought to himself.

A few moments had passed by quickly before Jayshadow, who had been followed by Brackenpaw, barricaded into the den. He then conveyed over to Cloudsky, his tail tip twitching near Brackenpaw's whiskers.

"Cloudsky," the gray tom quietly croaked to the white-and-silver queen, "Vixenkit is alive and well. She just woke up a few moments ago." Brackenpaw strained her head to gaze over her mentor as her whiskers twitched with an ear and tail flick.

"Wait- she is?!" Cloudsky yelped in excitement and a good type of sorrow. "Am I able to see her yet?" The she-cat then bounded to her paws, gazing at the medicine cat intently. "Can Cedarspring see her too?"

Archkit strained his ears to hear the conversation between the medicine cat and Cloudsky, but what he could mostly hear was Sparrowkit and Hopekit wrestling in the background. But, however, the tabby could make out a few words; "Vixenkit" and "well." The tom bounced to his paws. "Vixenkit? Is she okay? Can I see her?"

"Woah there, kit, hold your tongue. And yes, Vixenkit is fine. But, allow Cloudsky and Cedarspring to visit her first," Jayshadow murmured with a crooked tail flick, "she's their child, after all, so it'd be respectful to allow a mother and father see their kit who had almost moved on."

Archkit wailed in a protest. "I want to see her! I won't interrupt anything between Cedarspring and Cloudsky! Just please?"

"Archkit, just-" Jayshadow had been cut off by the howls of cats outside. "What in the-" The gray tom peered outside. Somehow, foxes managed to slip into the camp, according to the vision of the medicine cat. "Stay here. You cannot visit Vixenkit yet."

"What? Why? Is there something wrong?" Cloudsky stammered, her tail lashing in a deep, heart-tearing fear. "Please tell me she's alright! I couldn't tolerate a kit dying at a moon old!" She'd bound over to Jayshadow, Brackenpaw at the queen's side, and dragged him back by his tail with her claws.

"Stop it, Cloudsky," the medicine cat demanded. "I need to get to my den before foxes do." He let out a hiss, shoving her away with his hind paw. "Unless you want those oversized pests to devour your kit as if she's crowfood."

Foxes? Archkit pondered. First, it's Vixenkit who gets hurt. Now foxes? Why can't anything go right for me in this place? Why, Starclan? Why do you do this to me?

As Jayshadow exited the den with a swift force, his apprentice following aside him with a trot, Archkit peered outside with twitching whiskers. All he had seen were orange pelts attacking bristling fur. He lashed his head. His vision then went clear, as it had been blurry, the tabby noticing almost a whole pack of foxes attacking the Clan. How did the foxes manage to get passed the low hanging pines, or the bramble surrounding the camp? He strained his ears to hear the fighting between the two species of animals. Archkit then barricaded out of the den with a little screech. He heard Pinefeather calling behind him from the nursery.

"Hey, you orange-pelted fleabags! Leave my Clan-" The kit was cut off by one of his own shrieks. A fox managed to get ahold of the kit, swinging him around in its jaws. It then flung the kit to the side, setting him sailing, as he screeched. He plummeted to the ground with a harsh potency. He then narrowed his eyes as he noticed the deputy, Cedarspring, tackle the fox into dust. Amusement flickered in the kit's eyes as his tail swept over the ground with ease. He then noticed Cinderstar, a dark gray she-cat, force Hopekit and Sparrowkit into the nursery. She ducked under many foxes in order to skidder over to Archkit.

"Archkit! Get your whiskers and tail into the nursery, unless you want to be fox meat!" the leader hissed, using her paw to shuffle the tabby kit to the bramble den. "You're not joining the other world at three moons old, I won't allow it."

"I want to be like the other warriors and apprentices! I want to fight just like them!" Archkit retorted with a howl. "I can never do anything because of some cats!" He'd unsheathe his small claws, and lashed out at the leader. He then bit into her foreleg, lashing his head back and forth, growling. His claws hadn't penetrated the dark she-cat's pelt even, but his teeth left only a few scratches.

"Archkit, enough. If you continue this behavior, I will make sure your apprentice ceremony is a moon late. Do you understand me? Or do you want to be stuck in the nursery for an extra moon while your kin become apprentices at the normal age?" Cinderstar growled, lashing her forepaw back and forth to unhinge the kit's jaws from her pelt. "It's your choice." She noticed the slight fear in Archkit's eyes before swerving towards the exit of the nursery. She then submerged herself into the bramble, tugging quickly, with a battle screech.

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A few quarter moons had passed since the fox attack. Most of the warriors were injured with wounds and scratches, and even a few had sprained or broken limbs from the attack. Shadowclan had at least two warriors fall and join Starclan; Talonfoot and Thrushtooth, both bombarded by foxes and wounded to death. Timberhawk, a tabby warrior, had mourned over the warriors the most, since he had been the closest to them; silbings. Archkit, however, didn't mourn over the two's death as much as the other cats had, since he hadn't been close to the warriors. Winds had kicked up in the ravine, as it had sounded like a pack of wolves were invading from with howling of the drafts. The pines on trees were beginning to fade into a yellow and orange color, which meant leaf-fall was on its way. Chilling zephyrs, or breezes, had shuffled throughout the bramble of the nursery.

"Archkit!" Pinefeather called out, pausing herself from sharing tongues with Timberhawk, "time to come back inside the nursery! It's nightfall already!"

Archkit let out a hiss. "I want to talk with Wolfkit more!" He'd lash his tail with crooked ear flicks as he bared his teeth at his mother.

Timberhawk let out a scoff. "Archkit, listen to your mother before I'm the one who tells you to get your pelt into the den." His claws unsheathed for a moment before he retracted them once again. He had noticed the slight fear in his son's eyes. "If you get rest now, you can wake up bright and early and spend the whole day, from sunrise to nightfall, chatting with Wolfkit." The dark brown tabby had pelted across the ravine and over to his kit, using his tail to usher him to and inside the nursery. "Plus, it's best for kits to get enough sleep each night."

"Fine, Timberhawk," the tabby kit muttered as he settled down into a bracken and moss nest, his kin resting alongside him. "You have a point there."