Thrushpelt's Tale {Warriors AU}

O n e

It Kept Raining For Days.

At first it was fine because every cat was in the dens, safe from the wet, icy cold water that poured from the sky. But there was a problem that occured before the rain even started.

There was no food.

If the noise of the rain was muted, you can hear loud growls from the stomachs of everyone. ThunderClan Cats hated getting wet but forced themselves to hunt in this weather beacause even they were hungry.

Among all of those dens, one of them was called the nursery. Inside was a queen with a lot of kits, huddled together to keep warm. Tawnykit, Dapplekit & Thrushkit were the kits of Rainfur, who looked to be very ill today. Right next to next were Specklekit & Whitekit, their mother had just passed away this moon.

The gray she cat warmed the kits from time to time by licking their pelts "How are you coping little ones?"

"I'm cold, but okay mother." Whitekit mewed. Ever since their real mother died Rainfur did the best she can for the queen's two kits to feel like they still have a family, she loved them like they were her own.

"I feel cold too.." Specklekit mumbled, cuddling next to Tawnykit's body.

"I'm hungry," Dapplekit wailed.

It broke the queen's heart to see the kits look small and bony. She stood up and pawed at the loose, damp soil on the den.

"What are you looking for mother?" Tawnykit asked.

"I'm going to look for something..aha!" Rainfur had unearthed light grayish pink things that wriggled in the dirt. It looked like the things that she had offered Cloudberry to eat.

With a claw, she hooked the squirming thing and got two each for the five kits, meaning that there were ten pink things in total.

"Is these what you and Cloudberry ate?"

"Eew, what are they?" Dapplekit scrunched up her nose in disgust.

Rainfur lightly cuffed her on the ear "These things are called worms. And this is what you'll be eating."

Thrushkit looked at the worms, they seemed to have dirt covered on them, they also kept wriggling. Tawnykit did not waste time and gobbled his down. Whitekit hesitated but ate hers as well.

Dapplekit still did not eat hers. Their mother sighed as she trailed her tail tip on the kit's spine "Sweetie, you know how the warriors can't hunt anything much and that if they do, it turns to crow food. Would you want to eat something that would hurt your belly or eat this that would actually fill it?"

The tortoiseshell kit's belly growled, she eyed the pink worms with hunger. She swallowed one of them, then decided to eat the other.

"Feel better?" She nodded at her mother, licking her lips.

Thrushpaw looked at Rainfur, she looked bony and may get easily sick. Her ribs showed and her belly shrunk back.

Pineheart said WindClan cats are slender and skinny, but it doesn't look good for us.

He hooked his little claw on one of his worms and placed it in front of her paws "Mother, can you eat this one?"

She looked at him dearly, her eyes glistening. Is she about to cry? "No, you need to eat sweetie."

"But how about you?"

She gave him a reassuring smile "I already ate, I'm still full."

Thrushkit ate one of the worms, it felt slimy and yucky when he swallowed it, but a warm feeling came to his belly, happy that it had been filled with what little he had after being starved for a long time. He did not take the other though, hoping she would change her mind about eating.

All of the kits huddled together at the most dry corner of the den. The rain had no longer fell hard, but still poured down nevertheless.

Thrushkit yawned as his eyes started to flutter shut, their mother became their second wall as she blocked the raindrops that splashed in. But there was one thing that the little kit had noticed. In the middle of the den, right near the entrance of the nursery, was a pink worm trying to bury itself beneath the dirt again.

Rainfur did not eat..