A Mistake was Made [Open, Briarstar needed]

This wasn't supposed to happen. He stayed at Opal's den during his exile. They were friends. Is wasn't supposed to go this far.

The kits at his side said differently. He was hunting when Opal found him again. She told him that they were his. And she made it very clear she wanted nothing to do with them either. Said he did it to her, he could handle it.

But how was he going to tell Briarstar?

First thing he had to do was get them to camp first. A ginger tabby and a white tabby, they were beautiful kits. If the situation was not as it was, he might have been happy.

Inhaling, he made his way through the entrance to the camp. Now to wait for what every cat was going to say.

He doubted it would be good.

Short legs struggling to keep up with his father, Asterkit bounded after Crimsonflame, looking back to make sure his littermate was keeping up. Although this was an adventure, something new they had never experienced before, he found it hard to stay cheerful, even for Bristlingkit's sake.

There was a strange air of unease within him. Something about all this made him feel rejected; The way his mother just gave him up to a random tom, who she claimed to be their father; The anxiety and doubt he felt from Crimsonflame, even now. He pressed his flank close to Bristlingkit's.

The trip had been filled with small chatter- mostly questions on his own behalf. Now, silence fell over the trio as they stood before a formation, made both naturally and by a cat's paw. Asterkit had never seen anything like it, but Crimsonflame seemed to know where he was going. The scent flowing from it was the same scent of the land they'd been walking on, just a lot stronger. It made him instinctively scrunch up his nose in disgust. It was overwhelming.

The young tom was completely unaware of the situation- not even the furthest reaches of his imagination could predict what was beyond the camp walls. All he knew was that he would be living with his father- a cat he had only just met recently. And this must be his home. He doubted the older tom, but Crimsonflame was the only cat he could really depend on. So when Crimsonflame pushed forward, so did Asterkit.

A marbled silver tabby approached. "Hey, Crimsonflame, I caught you a-"

The warrior stood with two kits, kits that looked terrified. They had an odd scent to them, one that lingered on the warrior as well.

It was a fact she kept to herself, but she adored kits. Frostbite was no-nonsense, could spit venom with the best of them, but there was just something about their itty-bitty paws that completely disarmed her.

"Hello," Frostbite meowed with a purr, lowering herself to Asterkit's level. "Where'd you come from, little guy?"

She then sat at attention, turning to Crimsonflame, her intense eyes locking onto the tom. "Where did they come from, Crimsonflame?"

Frostbite lowered herself again to Asterkit's level. "It must have been so long to walk with your little paws! How old are you, buddy?"

She flicked her tail around like a toy for the kits to play with as she turned to Crimsonflame, voice even. "Care to explain?"

Crimsonflame inhaled sharply as Frostbite made herself known. If Briarstar didn't kill him, she sure would. "During my exile, a kittypet sheltered me in twolegplace. I don't know what came over us, this was never supposed to happen. We never even had feelings for each other. At best I was scary to her. She didn't even want kits! I don't know why we were so stupid. But.... they are my kits, and some cat has to take care of them. Opal has no intentions of doing so."

He sighed, leaning down to lick their heads. He really did love them, but the situation itself was just so stressful.

"That one is Asterkit. This spotted one is Bristlingkit. Frostbite, please, don't be mad at me. This was all a very bad mistake, one I won't make again."

He snorted, realizing he sounded just like his father. How many cats had Klaus been mates with? Calypso had been from a different mother, and he knew there were also kits in both WindClan and ThunderClan. He just couldn't shake his image, could he?

He laid down, nuzzling Asterkit affectionately. There was one thing he would do differently. He would be a better father, truly love his kits. They deserved that much.

Frostbite locked eyes with the warrior. There were so many emotions to feel, ranging from hurt to anger to betrayal to sadness.

"I've never heard of anyone being so scared of someone that they have their kits," the she-cat replied, almost stunned. They were both idiots, no argument there. And airing this out in front of his kits also didn't seem like a good idea.

"You don't want me mad at you?" Frostbite couldn't believe what she was hearing. Never do it again? Was there opportunity to do this again? How many she-cats did he have at his beck and call?

She didn't want to scare the kits, though, and yelling at him, however satisfying it would have been, wouldn't have helped anything. She took a deep breath.

"How do you plan on caring for them?"

She was hurt, no doubt. If he was just any tom, she wouldn't have cared. But it was Crimsonflame. And for some reason that was different, and it hurt. Really, really badly.

"They're old enough to eat freshkill instead of milk, so you're lucky there."

Their feelings could be sorted out later. She couldn't help but smile when she saw him lick Asterkit's head. A part of her brain hissed, telling her she was a complete idiot for even entertaining this. Another part was warm, hopeful that these kits would be good for SkyClan and that Crimsonflame would be a good dad.

"I like your name, Asterkit," Frostbite meowed, looking at the small ginger and white kitten in front of her. "You too, Bristlingkit."

She couldn't help but soften around them, it was almost unfair. It felt like they were a family-

No, she wouldn't go there. These kits weren't hers, but she couldn't just leave them either. They were adorable and needed support. Their own mother left them with a cat she was purportedly afraid of, which boggled her mind. If the kittypet was genuinely afraid of him, she wouldn't have left the kits with him unless she was a completely selfish cat and didn't care. And that made it hard for Frostbite too; they were probably afraid of him based on what this other cat told them.

"Hey," the she-cat cooed to the kits. "It will be okay, okay?"

"How do you think I am going to take care of them? They are my kits. And I am going to love them. Really love them. I won't be like him."

Klaus had been willing to abandon his kits, even threaten their lives if they didn't do what he wanted. He couldn't help but turn his head, looking at the tear that was on his back. One of the dark forest cats had done that. One of his cats had done it, the day he finally broke free of his father's influence. The day Lionboar had died. The day everything fell apart beyond repair.

Then his gaze had gone back to Frostbite, and he smiled.

His life wouldn't be the same as it once was, but maybe he could make something new out of it.

"You're pretty good with kits. Never took you as a motherly type of cat. They could use that gentle touch in their lives, you know. Stars know I could never replace a mom. But maybe you could? I know I am the last cat that should be asking favors from you, but please. I can't do this on my own. They need a mom who will love them like you seem to. Please?"

"I never said you would be," Frostbite meowed to him. Stars, it really destroyed him. She couldn't imagine always being known as the son of a crazed murderer, where every action he took was under the scrutiny of every cat in the forest. It didn't help that Dawnhawk was known to be a womanizer and had by all accounts played the field. "That cat has nothing to do with you now."

"If the queens knew I liked kits, they'd never let me leave camp," Frostbite meowed with a small chuckle. "They practically recruit cats over there. Especially she-cats. And then you get asked awkward questions like how many litters you want, kit names, how often you can come by, if there's a tom in the picture. Queens never run out of things to talk about."

When he asked her to fill in as the mother figure to these two kits, her brain scrambled for a second. "You want me... to raise these kits... as their mom?" Frostbite blinked at him, wheel still turning. This whole situation shifted endlessly, it went from discovering kits to secret kits to needing a queen to watch said kits to asking her to be the queen for the kits. What a complete mess this was.

"I... I don't even know how that would work. Would I be in the nursery? What about patrols and hunting and things like that?"

It felt like they just made her a warrior, for StarClan's sake. Frostbite didn't think Briarstar would be gung-ho about one of her warriors playing queen with kits that weren't even hers.

She grabbed the prey she was going to share with him earlier, two rather plump doves. Frostbite pulled chunks off of one of the birds and set it next to the kits. "Here you go," the she-cat purred to the two of them. "I don't know what your mom fed you, but this is good. You two must have come a long way."

Frostbite looked back at Crimsonflame. Those darn green eyes, looking at her. The kits came by it honestly, she scoffed. "I'll help you."

She had to, the kits deserved someone who cared. But what did that mean about their relationship between each other? Time would only tell, she decided, but she had no idea how that would play out. Were they... were they? Frostbite dismissed the thought. Relationship labels could be debated another time. These kits needed some shade before the poor things overheated.

"We need to take them to the nursery or somewhere with shade, they're little and can get sunsick."

Asterkit was surprised to see so many cats when he entered the camp- he'd never seen anything close to this amount of cats in one place before. The sudden approach of a silver tabby startled him. Originally, she'd addressed Crimsonflame, so he was surprised when she bent over and talked to him instead. "Oh- where I came from... It was a long walk, I came from far away." He paused, struggling to remember the name. What was it that Opal had said? Oh yeah- "Opal called it the Twolegplace, I think."

The she-cat repeated the same question to Crimsonflame, although Asterkit felt like it wasn't as kind as the first time it was asked. The she-cats attention quickly returned to them, though, presenting a different question that he didn't quite know the answer to. "We're a couple moons old, I don't really remember, though." Asterkit never bothered to keep track, it wasn't something that he was ever concerned about. Why did she care, though? Who was she? And what was going to happen? "What's going on?"

Asterkit's wide eyes followed the she-cat's tail as it flicked back and forth, but kept his ears raised as he listened to her talk to Crimsonflame. They were saying names he'd never heard before, talking about things that didn't make sense. Who was Briarstar? What did Crimsonflame mean by mistake?

The young tom began to ponder, but the thoughts quickly left him when he felt the warmth of his father's touch. It was foreign. It was comforting. Something that he rarely got from Opal. He leaned into the touch without thinking, letting his weight fall onto Crimsonflame. He let his eyes close for a brief moment, opening them when he heard the she-cat's voice again. She liked his name? That was a weird thing to say. It wasn't like he picked it. He'd accept the compliment anyways. "Thank you." He realized that he didn't really know what to call this she-cat. "What's your name?" His pale eyes stared up at her.

The reassurance that Frostbite brought him feel safer in this new place. The entire time they'd been here, he'd stayed wedged between Crimsonflame and Bristlngkit, but when the Frostbite offered food, he was quick to abandon their sides. His sharp kitten teeth tore into the dove, ripping it apart like he hadn't eaten in moons- in reality, he'd just eaten earlier that morning, just as the sun rose. The journey tired him out more than he realized.

The silver tabby directed her attention to Asterkit.

“That’s really far from here, you must be tired! We have nests in different places depending on how old you are and how much stuff you know how to do.”

This poor thing had no idea what happened. He wanted to know what was going on… so did she, and she was the adult in this. Stars above. Frostbite pondered the question, trying to think of an answer that the kit could understand without being overwhelming.

“You’re in a place called SkyClan, your dad is from here. We do things a little different than Twolegplace.”

How was she going to summarize the entirety of Clan life? Frostbite did her best with what she knew.

“So, a lot of cats who live in Twolegplace have a name that never changes. When your mom was little, she was still Opal. She will always be Opal unless she decides to change it.”

Frostbite saw Asterkit eating the dove, happy to see him move to eat. Poor thing was hungry. Not starving, he seemed to be in good health, but she was sure walking from Twolegplace to here while being that small was an exhausting journey.

“We change names here. So, you two are really young, and all cats that are your age have -kit at the end of their names. You’re already Asterkit, but when you get older, that will change.”

“When you’re old enough, the leader will make you an apprentice, which is our way of saying we’re going to teach you how to do stuff like battle and hunt. She will change your name from Asterkit to Asterpaw in a ceremony by that big branch over there, and she will pick an older cat to help you learn. We call that cat your mentor.”

“You’ll learn how to do a bunch of stuff, and it does take a while. SkyClan is one of five Clans, and all of us follow the same rules. You’ll learn those rules with your mentor, and you can always ask me if you have questions too.”

“So, you train really hard, and your mentor will tell the leader that you’re ready to be all done with training. We call that becoming a warrior. When that happens, the leader will get on that big branch again, and you will have your name changed from Asterpaw to Aster-something else.”

“So, my name is Frostbite. When I was your age, I was Frostkit. Then I was Frostpaw when I was an apprentice. And now I’m Frostbite because I’m a warrior now.”

“The leader has a special name. They are the only one allowed in the whole Clan to have -star at the end of their name, and that’s because they go through a special ceremony that gives them nine lives. Our current leader is Briarstar. She makes all the decisions for the Clan with her deputy, who is called Birdchaser, and the medicine cats, which are cats that are taught all about how to make sick cats feel better with herbs and give the leader advice.”

“I know that was a lot. So, we need to find Briarstar because she needs to know when cats come and go from SkyClan. But it’s really hot too; we can wait for her in the shade.”

She walked about twenty paces to beside the nursery, with branches and leaves providing some reprieve from the heat.

“So, I know your dad. And I’m going to try to help out and make sure you two are doing okay. If you’re still hungry, let me know. I might be able to get you some more food.”