``Death & All His Friends...

[MiNTY♥]

The white she-cat had woken, fallen asleep and woken again. It was hard to get a good sleep with two kits suckling, squirming and sometimes squealing. She looked over at Darkfog lying asleep just in front of her. A sigh left her maw. She knew she could not stay in Lynxstar's den, as Lynxstar had to sleep there, plus the kits would probably only get in the Vertigoclan leaders way. Everything had been fine, up until she let a tom mess her around, and she had ended up with Delirium.

Sighing she licked Darkfog on the head, and picked up both of her kits by their scruff. She would not be able to do this for much longer considering the speed they would grow up, but as of now they were tiny and sweet. She slipped out of the leaders den, and with a determined stalk she made her way over to the nursery. She slipped inside and looked around. There was a pile of moss in the corner, and Flamingarrow and Abyssbird already had their own nests. Deciding that it would do she placed her kits on the moss, and curled up next to them. She put her head down, and she stared into space, her teal eyes absent. It would not be long before one of the other queens stirred.

[lily ♫]

Quietly rousing from the large period of rest he had taken, the young tabby tom stood and blinked. Shaking his flattened down fur and fluffing it up, Reflectedpaw decided it was time to check on the queens once again. Truly it was anything but a punishment because Flamingarrow was too feminist to let a tom do something for her, and Abyssbird was too tentative to ask. What a job, oh yes, what a job. Slipping in through the entrance of the nursery, he noticed the absence of the chubby, ginger she-cat and the presence of a white she-cat instead. Glancing at Abyssbird, he saw that she had seven kits suckling instead of two, and then looked back up to the ivory she-cat. Letting out a strangled noise as he realized it was Serenewinter, he took a wobbly step backward and heard the loud squeal of a kit. Instantly, his foot flinched over and off of the ginger tom, Heatkit, and set it down on the floor of the nursery. "Um.. Hi, Serenewinter. I'm uh.. sorry about earlier. So.. what are you doing in here with kits?" He stuttered, staring guiltily at the ground and then at the small wound on her forepaw.

"Who's the father of the kits, I mean."

[LYNX ♥]

They loomed over her, friendly smiles caressing their strong, intelligent faces as the slender, beautiful black she-cat and long-legged white-flecked black tom helped her up, entwining their tails with her, purring and giggling while sharing silent jokes with one another. In all the warmth surrounding her, Abyssbird felt her old bones creak and sway, soreness pulsing from her joints, a deep loneliness throbbing in her heart despite the love that these strangers seemed to be showering her with, their blue and silver eyes shining happily. Alone, left out. they were sharing a jolly inside joke while she pounded on their wall, begging to be let in. In the distance, a frail ginger elder frolicked with a strong-looking silver tom, laughing and giggling girlishly, dispite the gray dusting upon her muzzle. Confused and heart-broken for unknown reasons, the black queen writhed in the waking world, unconscious until the squeals of kittens awakened her, snapping her from the somehow unpleasant nap.

Instantly, she felt a rhythmic kneading to her belly, still softened by a bounty of milk, though somehow the she-cat knew that would soon diminish and she would need to teach the many kits to eat for themselves. Not long after that? Apprentices. What a thought to bring age to her life, Abyssbird unconsciously gave a silent snort, though it emerged as more of a huff of air. Suddenly, at the rush of a cool, faint breeze that signified the entrance of another cat, green-blue eyes fluttered open, and Abyssbird sighed quietly. As if the kits would allow her to sleep any longer anyhow. Plus with the extra burden of Flamingarrow's kits? The possiblity of sleep was long gone. Speaking of whom, where was the flamboyant ginger she-cat? Blinking slowly, Abyssbird swished away the thought and allowed her eyes to adjust to the morning light with a loud yawn, stretching her jaws wide and showing her ivory fangs peeking out from beneath her dark lips. Suddenly the spied an unfamliar she-cat in the corner of the nursery and let out a low, nearly inaudible growl, squinting, trying to recognize the pale shape. Serenewinter? What? How was that even possible? Well, there were certainly no other white she-cats in VertigoClan but how..? Knowing she would earn nothing but scorn and dirty looks from the ashen warrior, Abyssbird turned back to the many kits at her stomach. Some suckled, some peacefully sleeped, one, Phloxkit, silently stared at her, with a spark of no good smoldering in her eyes. Purring softly to the tiny calico, Abyssbird flicked her over the ears and nosed the other five children to wake up. Sighing softly, the obsidian queen rolled her shoulders, suddenly feeling tense with knowing Serenewinter's icy eyes would be bruning into her pelt at all times from now on. Shivering slightly, the young she-cat stared indefinately at her small paws, curled neatly at her chest, unfeeling of the young ones' nudges.

[MiNTY♥]

The white figure lay very still, despite the kits squirming beside her. This was going to be awkward, so very awkward. As if the prospect of having to hand her kits over to Eclipseomen, which she would not, was not enough, but she could not feel at peace in the nursery, of all places. She felt the growl flow through the warm milky air and surround her. As if she had any reason to be afraid, she trained with Delirium, plus Abyssbird was younger, and they would surely not go near each others kits. She returned the growl, only a little more threatening. She would not be messed with, of all queens.

Then a new figure joined them, instantly seeing who it was the she-cat jumped to her paws and growled. No way. She snarled and glared at the tom. "What are you doing in here?" She hissed. Hah. This was probably his punishment. For Starclan's sake. She sat down again in front on her kits to shelter them from any danger and watched Reflectedpaw with narrowed eyes. "You will be sorry." She hissed. She was going to add something else too but she stopped herself. Her eyes softened on the apprentice, and her fur began to lie flat. She was about to let him know it was none of the tom's business who the father was, but she had an idea. "They are Shard's, so if you don't watch your tail it will be gone." She meowed. Her eyes narrowed a tiny bit, but this time it was more playful than before. She lay down again, but kept her two kits tucked behind her. "So is it your job now to look after the queens, after the little present you gave me?" She asked, using her tail to follow the line of the healing wound.

[cat]

There was a soft pattering of paws as another cat entered the somewhat now crowded nursery. Green eyes flashed faintly with worry until they landed on Serenewinter and her broad. Then, softening, they narrowed as the cat who owned them flashed between the two queens and the young apprentice. Something was going on here, something this she-cat had missed. The tension was so thick in the air, despite the happy sighs and puring of the kits and queens. Something dark underlined this, lurking in the shadows.
However, she hadn't time to figure this all out. She had come for one reason only, and that was to check on the kits and the injured white queen. Yes, she knew that the two had sour feelings between them. Yet, as she would never have to worry about kits, she wasn't that sure on how to approach this tug-of-war over a tom. Going over the thought that she would never have to worry about a mate somewhat wistfully, Stormwind set down her bundle of herbs and smiled.
"Serenewinter, Abyssbird. Looking better from yesterday. Kits still seem healthy?" She asked, sniffing at the kits. Frowning as she noticed that Abyssbird had way more than usual, she looked up for the flame-colored queen. Where was Flamingarrow? "Hello to you too Reflectedpaw." She added, driving the thought of the other queen away. Perhaps she was just taking a walk; that wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

[MiNTY♥]

The regal she cat studied the brown tabby tom for a few minutes longer, before Stormwind joined them and she turned back to her kits. Her beautiful kits. "I'm fine." She meowed, before turning away to groom her kits. Almost silently she sucked in a sharp breath. She would never have spoken like that to Reflectedpaw before, well maybe she would have given him a small scolding for the wound, but wasn't that a bit far? Her gaze dropped so she could only see her two kits. She could still see the other's out of the corner of her frosted teal eye. Her's were already about the same size as the oldest one's, if not a little bigger. Maybe having Shard as their father wouldn't be too bad, at least she knew they would be strong. What if they were bigger than her? Sallowkit probably would be, to say the least. How things would be a lot easier if Shard was not their father though, if she had not been taken, though she could see a good thing come of it. As she had looked at herself on puddles on the way back from Delirium, she had noticed how much better she looked, instead of just soft fluffy white snow like fur, she also had muscle. She felt she had a lot more stamina than she used to have too, this way she could be a better warrior, but it had not half messed with her social life, what a little one she had.