[Fawn]

HARESTRIKE

LightningClan, 52 Moons, Senior Warrior

Washing my hands but the water is wasted,

I tried a darker side and I liked how it tasted.

Everything should have been fine. Everything was supposed to go exactly how Kindleflare said it would. First there'd be restlessness, and then there'd be painful contractions as the kitting process got under way. It would be bloody and messy and miraculous. Dovecloud would be exhausted after the delivery but content as any new mother with her little ones all snuggled against her sides.

Congratulations would be passed around camp, and Harestrike would feel like a champion again. A sensation he hadn't had since before Morningfrost's death - only this time it wouldn't be tainted by his mother's manipulative, twisted ways.

Everything had happened just the way it was supposed to.

"I'm thinking about Firekit and Dark-kit, after my parents." Dovecloud purred from the softly lined nursery floor, two soft, squirming forms nestled against her belly.

"Our parents," said Robinflame from her own tidy nest, Pigeonkit and Cardinalkit doing what all kits their age did. Ate, slept, ate some more. "You can't go wrong with a good theme though. I obviously went with birds. How about flowers?"

Harestrike purred, happy to listen to the two queens discuss names. "Cloudkit," he interjected, partial to the name after seeing how much fluffier one kit was compared to the other. He leaned in to rub his nose against his mate's, and he twitched back in surprise. Her breath didn't smell right. It was hot against his cheek when she'd leaned in to return the gesture. Annoyance flickered across Dovecloud's face, and Harestrike bit back his alarm, asking softly for what felt like the hundredth time.

"How do you feel?" Are you sure you're alright? The kitting had been as hard as any other queen's, Kindleflare told him. A little bit of blood was normal sometimes. It had only been a few days ago, and yet Harestrike couldn't shake that feeling that something just... wasn't right.

"Smothered," Dovecloud snapped. "I need a moment." Making it clear that she intended to get up, Harestrike gently moved aside to give his mate room to rise to her paws. Robinflame was already cooing to the unnamed kits mewling in protest of their mother's now absent warmth. Harestrike tucked the bedding in around them more carefully, using his paws to bring the soft rabbits' fur tufts closer to the little ones.

Dovecloud got up stiffly, wincing as if her bones had fused from so three nights spent lying still in one place. She stumbled and Harestrike's stomach lurched, the tabby and white warrior at once at his mate's side, giving her a shoulder to lean on. Dovecloud flashed him a grateful smile and then shook off the attention. "I'm fine," she said to herself as much to him. Harestrike's tail flicked in consternation.

He shared a frown with Robinflame.

Dovecloud left the nursery, disappearing out of Harestrike's sight but not out of mind. "She's being so stubborn," he growled to his mate's sibling, moving to stand protectively over the two tiny creatures they'd brought into the world.

"She's trying to be strong," said Robinflame. "Our mother Firebird had so many kits, she made motherhood seem like a breeze. She's trying to prove to you that she can handle this. And maybe trying to prove it to herself."

Harestrike sighed, shaking his head. "She doesn't have to prove anything to me. We're in this thing together."

Robinflame purred. "If you're still concerned, ask for Kindlefla--"

"HARESTRIKE! KINDLEFLARE!" A Clanmate's bellow sent the kits into startled squeals, and Harestrike's heart into a thundering frenzy. "What? What is it?" He bolted from the nursery's entrance to see Cloudyfeather's terrified face gazing back at him. "I-It's Dovecloud, sh-she went to go make dirt -- and-and she just collapsed! Someone's getting Kindleflare! I-I don't know what to do? Oh StarClan."

Dread plunged Harestrike's heart into a deafening stillness, his ears ringing, the world going white for what felt like all the time and no time at all.

And then he forced himself to breathe. To move.

Harestrike lunged for where Dovecloud had fallen, horrified by her fevered whimpers, her twitching limps. Her eyes were half-closed, and saliva dribbled into her snow white fur. Harestrike crouched over her, paralyzed with fear. "Dovecloud? Dovecloud! I'm here, I'm here. Whatever you need, tell me!"

Where is Kindleflare?

At once a ginger shape appeared in Harestrike's peripheral vision, but the relief he felt was temporary and fleeting. Dovecloud whimpered, her eyelids quivering as if she were stuck in some sort of fever dream. "H-Hare...str...strike..."

Will you hold my hand when you know I'm a sinner?

BlooRey DVD @zen || 746 Words || Notes

Greenleaf Day 9, VY6
Clouds congregate above the valley, absorbing the sun's rays and promising rain.

OOC: Dovecloud is suffering from and will die from a condition called eclampsia.

[BlooRey DVD]

KINDLEFLARE

May StarClan Guide Your paws

Things had seemed... Good. It was but a few days ago that Kindleflare had helped another one of her sisters bring beautiful kits into the world. How many times now did this make her an aunt? So many of the siblings she cared so much for had delivered kits for LightningClan. A soft smile played upon the ginger and white medicine cat's features as she pulled some borage leaves into the small pile of herbs she had been collecting. She was actually on her way to the nursery to visit both Dovecloud and Robinflame, to ensure both queens were comfortable and that the kits were healthy.

What she hadn't expected was for the earsplitting shriek to pierce both the peaceful air, and the deepest recesses of her soul. Limbs froze in alarm, dread sinking deep into her core as, for a moment, she forgot what it was to breathe. Snatching up the herbs she had, she half ran, half fell out of the medicine cat den and into the open in time to catch the panicked sound of Cloudyfeather's voice. Dovecloud had collapsed? But, how? Her paws were suddenly leaden as fear enveloped her, an eerie reminder on how she'd been unable to save Firebird and Darkcloud from their inevitable fates all those moons ago.

Why was this happening? Dovecloud had seemed healthy before. Perhaps Cloudyfeather had seen things wrong? Maybe this was all some strange dream.

Forcing herself to run after Harestrike's disappearing form, Kindleflare burst through the entrance to the dirtplace in time to find her sister sprawled on the ground. Her form shivered and trembled, her breathing wracked by haggard wheezing as though she were being crushed beneath an invisible weight. Dark amber eyes were stretched wide in a combination of alarm and fear, the medicine cat struggling to push them aside when it came to her family.

Once by Dovecloud's side, she could scent that something was wrong. Fever weighed heavy on the white furred she-cat, and saliva gathered like a veritable river in the quivering she-cat's mouth. Despite the rawness of her throat, the ginger and white healer forced herself to speak, setting down the bundle of herbs and prying it open so she could access the herbs inside. "I-I'm h-here Dovec-cloud. Just k-keep breathing for me, a-alright? I-In for t-two heartb-beat, and o-out for a-another two." She cooed gently, claws finding the borage leaves and the chamomile.

StarClan, there were so many herbs she wished she had. Glancing up in hopes of finding Tigereye, she instead found the fear stricken form of Cloudyfeather. Even as she worked with the herbs, she called out to the other she-cat. "G-Get T-Tigereye. T-Tell him I n-need.. L-Lavender. F-Feverfew. A-And something for b-breathing. And then g-get me s-some moss. B-Both wet a-and dry. Please." She told Cloudyfeather, before her attention snapped back to Dovecloud. She only had a few things with her, things that were typically needed by new or nursing queens. She was not prepared for this in the slightest.

"Y-You're d-doing g-great, Dovecloud. K-Keep breathing. I h-have some herbs f-for you to chew a-and swallow, o-okay? I'm r-right here, c-can you chew th-these for m-me?" She rasped gently, sliding the borage leaves and chamomile closer. She wished she had feverfew, for that would do more for the fever ripping through her sister. Amber eyes glanced to the pooling of saliva, and she couldn't help but look up in hopes of seeing Cloudyfeather back with the dry moss so she could soak some of the mess. Of course, it was too much to expect, since she'd only just left.

Oh S-StarClan, h-help me.

: Fawn @zen : Hope that's okay ^^' :

ELL

[Fawn]

HARESTRIKE

LightningClan, 52 Moons, Senior Warrior

Washing my hands but the water is wasted,

I tried a darker side and I liked how it tasted.

Harestrike paced around Kindleflare and Dovecloud, his mate's body spasming as they lost precious time waiting for Tigereye to bring the right herbs. "Hurry UP!" Harestrike snapped in the direction of the healers' den, helplessness and frustration making his heart buzz like a trapped wasp. What can I do? What can I DO?

"Stay calm."

A solemn voice answered the question Harestrike hadn't realized he'd spoken aloud. Along with Tigereye and the requested herbs, Mudpelt had accompanied the younger tom, his expression grave and boring into Harestrike. "She needs you to stay calm."

Harestrike's ears flattened to his skull, the tom wanting to hiss that Mudpelt had no idea what Dovecloud needed, but his mate's choked whimper ripped all thought from his head and word from his tongue. The white-furred queen had tried in vain to lap up the herbs Kindleflare had pushed towards her, but it became a convoluted mixture of plant and saliva as her body suddenly seized. It was as if she were kitting all over again, but wrong.

It was as if her body were angry over the ordeal, as if it meant to punish her for bringing new life into the world. Harestrike trembled where he stood, fear scent drenching him as he saw blood dribble out of Dovecloud's mouth, even as her twitching limbs flailed, blindly battering anyone who got too close.

She must have bitten her tongue! Harestrike's claws gripped tight to the earth, as if he could shred away this helplessness, a futile moan trapped against his heart as Dovecloud grew still. If it weren't for the shallow, quick breaths she drew, wheezing painfully, he would have thought she'd gone to StarClan.

Mudpelt must have said something, because Harestrike automatically flicked an ear towards the stocky brown tom, but the words never registered. He couldn't tear his eyes away from Dovecloud's face. Normally so beautiful, so composed, she lay in a mess of her own making, her pelt dark with dry, dusty dirt. Come on Dovecloud. Please, please you can't leave me behind. I need you.

Harestrike choked, hunkering down near the she-cat's head to gently rasp his tongue between her ears. "I need you," he whispered, his heart shaking. Green eyes found Kindleflare, and were full of anger and desperation and a building, unstoppable misery. "Save her!"

Will you hold my hand when you know I'm a sinner?

BlooRey DVD || 386 Words || Notes

[BlooRey DVD]

KINDLEFLARE

May StarClan Guide Your paws

"Save her!"

The words ripped into her heart, enveloped and empowered by the fear rooted deep in her soul. Incapable of consuming the herbs offered to her, Kindleflare's mind churned desperately for some other way to help Dovecloud. But there was no answer, there was no cure for an infection living inside a body that could not even chew the medicine offered. Ginger ears flattened to her skull, her legs suddenly strangely numb as she looked up helplessly toward Tigereye. A shaking paw grabbed for the bundle of dry moss carried in by Mudpelt and Cloudyfeather, dabbing it gently against the side of Dovecloud's mouth to rid of the crimson-tainted saliva pooling at her jaws.

Kindleflare could not comprehend how Dovecloud was so hot. She'd never seen a fever progress this quickly, this devastatingly. It was as though the queen had been sprawled in the sun for several days without the sweet relief of a shady nook or den. Shuffling desperately through the herbs Tigereye had brought with him, she picked out the feverfew and lavender with a trembling paw, dragging the lavender close to the quivering queen's nose. The scent alone was a calming one, and the healer could only hope that it might do something. Anything.

"D-Dovec-cloud, I n-need you to t-try e-eating this again, o-okay?" She instructed, adding a bit of feverfew into the mix of borage and chamomile she'd given her sister before. Harestrike had settled down at Dovecloud's head, his tongue rasping desperately over her fur as he tried to find something to occupy his paws. Fear mounted in Kindleflare's heart, her trained eyes capable of identifying the signs of the she-cat's weakening strength. Weakening resolve. As she watched the white queen attempt and fail to eat the herbs a second time, Kindleflare felt her heart sink into the pit of her stomach.

D-Dovecloud... M-Mom... I'm s-sorry, I f-failed you b-both.

Seeing the moment someone's life left their body... It wasn't the first time. As a medicine cat, it became an occurrence you were unfortunate enough to witness at least once while someone was in your care. But no matter how many times she had come face to face with death, no matter how many patients she had failed to save...

Nothing could compare to the agony she felt in being incapable to help her little sister.

Dovecloud grew remarkably still following one final tremor of her illness-wracked frame. The wheezing, rasping breath that had filled the space dropped into a deafening silence, the tenseness that had gripped the she-cat's frame releasing all at once. One moment she was there, fighting desperately for her life... And the next, she was gone, and Kindleflare had been unable to do a thing about it.

The ginger healer's hind legs seemed to collapse beneath her, her rump dropping to the earth with a gracelessness that could only be associated with a strange dissociation. Dark amber eyes stared at her paws, her slim frame trembling every other breath with the shock that gripped her.

She'd failed. Again.

: Fawn : </3 :

ELL