Taking Shelter[prt. 2]

The night sky was full of storms, and it only seemed like a normal storm, but the storm caused and issue for one clan. Windclan had struggled to escape the fire that was caused by the once rainless night.

The windclan leader, Raccoonstar sat at the entrance of the barn the rain dripping down atop the roof. She watched as the flames of her territory in the distance started to smolder from the rain that had just started a few minutes before. By now the camp would have gone up in a flurry of dancing flames. The leader's eyes had dulled from the loss of the territory. She knew they could return soon, but the prey would be gone for a long while.. She didn't want to face her clan right now. She knew someone would appear to talk to her soon, to give her a report of the clan, but she didn't really care. She knew they were safe, but some how it still felt she had failed them. The leader moved to the edge of the step of the barn. The roof still covering her from rain, but the water that dripped off the roof, barely touched her muzzle. She then gave off a sigh.

Stormeye padded into the barn with a huff, the limp body of Shadepaw hanging on his ground as he tugged her over to the to a soft pile of hay and set her down. Hopefully the apprentice would wake soon so that they could figure out how badly the flames had gotten to her. The elder looked up to see Raccoonstar standing off to the side. He paused to glance down at Shadepaw for a second before making his way to his mate and sat down next to her without saying a word, his eyes fixed on the territory. His ear flickered, sighing. How could this has happened? The last few moons has been so peaceful...

Twistedpaw padded into the large barn, his eyes wide as he flickered his gaze around. He had finally ended up letting go of Ivypaw's scruff as they neared the camp, but he had stayed close to her. He padded away toward one of the piles of hays and let himself fall down into it, his breath a bit ragged. He raised his head and settled it on his paws so he could see the cats as they came in, trying to make sure that everybody was account for, as while as keeping an eye out for Lavanderkit.

Falconfang trudged into the barn after the elders, the sudden rain having soaked his fur. His pawsteps were heavy with sorrow, defeat prevalent in his dull eyes. Fire was one enemy no cat could defeat, and it had bested them so easily, without warning. Taking shelter within the barn to avoid more falling precipitation, his eyes cast around the melancholy group of Windclan cats, unable to see the familiar pelt of Minteyes within them. I hope she's okay... Finding Raccoonstar sitting there as if lost in thought, he slowly padded over to her and dipped his head to the leader. "We should hunt soon," he mewed softly, unable to mask the sadness and worry in his tone. "Everyone needs to keep their strength up."

Patcheye stumbled in, her maw still carrying the kits, spots on her fur where black, white and orange as the rain was washing away some of her grey Smokey color, she dropped the kits in the hay as she fell into the hay with a huff, she was tired, sore, and wet she felt as if her skin on her pads were falling off "S-Say, where is Icepaw?" she asked weakly.

Rainkit sat near a pile of hay, her somewhat small tail wrapped tightly around her now-gray paws. Every now and then, she coughed; it was a loud, dry cough that hurt her chest. There was water outside, but at the moment, she was too terrified, too paralyzed by what she had seen. Would they ever be able to go back? What if it happened again? What would they do then?

Lavenderkit, seeing that Twistedpaw was keeping on an eye on her, she sighed. Couldn't she be trusted? Deciding to watch over the kits later, she walked over to Twistedpaw, whispering gently into his ear, "Why are you watching me?... Do you not trust me?..." Her eyes were full of hurt, dulling as she waited for his answer. He probably didn't trust her if he wanted to watch her so badly. Obviously, in her heart, Twistedpaw wouldn't trust her and wanted her to leave - he completely cares about Ivypaw more than anyone else. Walking away from the two, Lavenderkit sat in the corner, staring up to the roof, wishing she could see the stars outside from there. Ears drooped, she wondered if she would actually ever be trusted by Raccoonstar, let alone WindClan. It seemed that Twistedpaw couldn't trust her, and she just inferred this. She could be wrong, but the SkyClan kit was quite stubborn. She silently dared Twistedpaw to come by her, so she could show him how sharp her words can be.

Shadepaw's tail twitched, her eyelids fluttered and she let out a croaky groan. "Whe... where am I?" She croaked, her throat obviously affected by the smoke.

Dazed from the smoke, Ivypaw curled up in a patch of hay, one where Twistedpaw beside her. Seeing Lavenderkit, her eyes shone in the dark barn, as she had a look for Lavenderkit to come beside her. The tabby, which was now more of a blackish grey, cared for her friend, and she couldn't wait for her to be an apprentice. Looking from Lavenderkit, to Twistedpaw, her gaze ended at her paws, as she shut her eyes and hoped to sleep. She was still wheezing from the smoke, and it had damaged the apprentices breathig.

"Hey, no, uh, wait! Lavenderkit, wait up!" Twistedpaw hadn't be able to get a word in when the small kit was questioning him. He was a bit confused, as he had just been worried about the kit; after he was scared to death by the fire and he was almost a warrior...what kind of terror would it put on a kit? He paused when he heard Ivypaw coughing, rising sightly so he could turn and face her. "Just work on breathing, Ivypaw. You'll be fine...I'll be back in a moment." He turned toward where Lavenderkit had come from, and got to his paws and limped toward the kit. "I wasn't watching you cause I didn't trust you, Lavenderkit, I was worried about you! T-This fire thing...I'm scared, Lavenderkit, I am so scared...I-I've never seen a fire before, and now our camp is gone and we are hurt...I-I just was hoping that you were alright..." His head lowered as he moved from paw to paw, his twisted paw burnt a little but nothing that wouldn't recover in a few days.

Stormeye glanced over at Falconfang when he came over to him and Raccoonstar, before getting to his paws and padded away. He would give them time alone to talk about what they should do; after all he was sure he had just heard Shadepaw spoke. Making his way to the dazed apprentice, he sat down on the hay next to her with a smile. "You are at the barn, Shadepaw. You are lucky, in all the chaos of the fire we almost forgot you. If it wasn't for Twistedpaw noting that you were gone who knows what would of happened. You better get some sleep and try not to talk, you got a lot of smoke in your lungs."

Lionkit was lieing near the other kits in the hay pile that Patcheye had put them. He woke up with a cough from the remaining smoke in his lungs. "Is everyone okay?" he asked hoarsely.

Shadepaw groaned at the pain on her face. "I feel strange. My eye..." she croaked before letting out another moan.

Raccoonstar glanced sideways at Falconfang, "Yeah..." She gave a sigh. "It feels like a failed them." Raccoonstar said, as she looked, down at her paws avoiding the deputy's eye contact. She glanced back up to the territory looking at the fire which seemed to be decreasing slowly from the rain.

Shadekit eyed the mass of charred warriors around her, and then her own soot-covered pelt. Not that it really made her look much different; it simply made her look even darker. Poking at a pile of hay, she hissed as a section of it fell down on top of her. She wormed her way out, giving it a withering glare, and went back over to the group of other kits and apprentices. "When are we going home?" she asked quietly. The barn creeped her out; it was too dark, and it didn't help that she couldn't see the sky.

Shadepaw coughed and looked down at Shadekit. "I... I don't know. I hope we can get back soon, if there is a camp to get back to," she said. Her face scared Shadekit a bit because of all the burns. "Don't be afraid of me, I won't bite you" Shadepaw said teasingly, before having another large coughing fit.

"I'm not afraid of anything!" she exclaimed. Of course, that was a complete lie. She wasn't exactly afraid of Shadepaw, but there were a lot of other things that frightened her, especially ShadowClan. The rumors she'd heard were enough to give a four-year-old nightmares for a year. xD