Putting the Fears to Rest [Closed]

A cold breeze snaked its way through the tendrils of the nursery and found its way into the pelt of a kit. The tom was not young, in fact, rather close to his apprentice ceremony. Still, despite his growing size, Sparkkit's fur was fluffed almost to a dramatic state. His eyes shot open almost immediately. They were greeted with the glowing red of the moon. Although he was young and ignorant to the unbelievable magnitude of the current events unfolding, something seemed off. He hated seeing the concern shining in his mother's eyes and the palpable tension in the air that something was wrong. When he glanced at the sleeping ball of fluff that was Finchstream, the kit considered waking her for only a minute. She seemed so peaceful and he didn't want to disturb her. Besides, the queen had the rest of his littermates to worry about. So, instead, he pushed himself quietly up onto four paws and picked his way out of the nursery into the unsettling glow the made up both night and day.

The first thought that popped into his mind was visiting Starlord. But, the ginger and white tom had made his nest inside the medicine cat's den with Goldeneye and Fallowpaw. And he would never forget the words of chastising that rang in his ears a few nights earlier. Goldeneye doesn't want kits always coming in her den unannounced. It would get very crowded, ya know? I promise I will try to come to visit you more. Earnest had shone in the eyes of the tom, one he had known his entire life. So, he trusted that. And it also meant that he needed to heed those words. Although they had never spoken about it, his mother always fielding the questions elsewhere, he believed Starlord to be his father. But since coming to Riverclan and quickly forgetting the times spent in twolegplace, he had come to know another father as well. He and his littermates were all so lucky to have a mother who had taken them in and two fathers! Something always seemed a bit off about the situation, especially when his fuzzy memory seemed to nag at the back of his mind. Yet Sparkkit was contented with the way things were.

So, now, he considered the other cat he saw as a father. The clan leader, Jaystar. Because it had been this way their whole, short lives in the nursery, the kit had hardly noticed the difference of how the leader engaged him and his littermates more than other kits. After all, it was the silver-blue warrior's job to look over the whole clan. A little more confident in his sense of direction now, the multicolored tom trotted quickly towards the leader's den in an attempt to evade the glare of the red moon-sun. As he entered, the kit called out, "Jaystar? Are you up. It's Sparkkit... I can't sleep and I don't want to wake Finchstream... or disturb Goldeneye's den. I-is it okay if I stay here?"

Jaystar was surprised when he heard a young voice, that sounded quite familiar. His green eyes opened just to see the small silhouette of your his son, Sparkkit. He wasn't really sleeping but trying too. After what happened to the sky, the leader could hardly find any rest. That was why he wasn't too sleepy and could easily recognize the kit. It was something he didn't expect... not after how it seemed like everyone had been abandoned him. But... it was a pleasant surprise to know... that his kit still values him enough to consider sleeping with him to ease his worries, even though he wasn't aware that he was his real father.

"S-sure... come here..." He mewed, trying to recover from its surprise. The large cat moved a little so the smaller could have space in his nest. It was no wonder why he couldn't sleep. The dark sky with that blood moon was scary even for grown-up warriors. Kits had more nightmares than before and the queens were having more work than usual.

Once the dilute calico tom was settled, he wrapped his feathery tail softly around his body in a protective manner. At first, he wasn't so sure about doing this, since it wasn't something that he had done before for him. Yet... maybe this could help him feel safe enough to sleep. "What has disturbed your sleep, Sparkkit? The moon?" He mewed in a low voice, keeping his head low over his crossed paws. Feeling his son so close, it made him remember how dearly he loved his kits... and how he missed him. It was painful to see that they didn't know that Goldeneye was their mother... that he was his father. It was painful to not be a 100% parent for them because of his position in the clan. That was why he wanted to take this moment and stop the time... to treasure this because it was, for now, the closest thing he had to a father/son situation. When would he have a chance like him? To be... happy with them? To remember what it was like to have a cat to take care of because he loved them and because they loved him too?

Sparkkit let out a breath he did not know he had been holding as the leader agreed to let him in. A weight still dissettled his chest but there was less of a pressure next to the larger tom. With a sigh, he laid down at Jaystar's side, basking in the warmth. There had been a time had felt like this before. Sometime before coming to the clans he thought but everything was fuzzy before Finchstream had taken them in. But as they grew older and the nest was filled by their ever-growing bodies, there was less room for the kits that battled for warmth at their mother's stomach. Most of the other's, himself included, had begun to grow out of the phase. Yet now it felt right to have a much larger cat next to him, dispelling or at least relieving the tension building up inside.

The question bounced around in his head for a moment as sleep and anxiety fought for control of his mind. It was hard to think when thinking too much. Coupled with drowsiness the tom found his response slow to come. What was it? He rested his chin upon Jaystar's foreleg and looked up with innocently confused eyes. After what seemed like a stretched moment to the young dilute calico, he meowed in a mix of accusation and genuine curiosity, "There's something going on, right? Something bad. Everything feels... wrong. It's hard to sleep. Oh, and it's pretty cold." As if to emphasize his point, Sparkkit shivered dramatically and snuggled closer to the leader's body. It did not seem strange at all to him to be here. In fact, it felt nice. Sparkkit was glad that Jaystar let him into his nest.

The tom chuckled a little by the last comment of the kit and he curled his body even more around him so he wouldn't be so cold. Somehow, it made him have a little spark of true happiness but it couldn't last forever. With a tired sigh, the leader dropped his head by his side and forced a small smile for him in order to try to explain to his kit what was going on. "You're a smart kit... This whole situation is wrong as you say. Nothing is like it should be but since you're soon to become an apprentice... you should know better." He glanced at the entrance of the den where the red light came from. Outside, a dark red moon was the only thing that could be seen day and night, warning all the forest about the great danger they were facing.

"The clans are in great danger and this nightmare sky is only a warning. A battle is about to come and the five leaders will have to be united to face Lichenmask, the cat who did all this. His power... has silenced the stars." He mewed in a low, neutral voice. Although it seemed like he wanted to scare the kit, Jaystar had other purposes. He lifted his chin and looked at the entrance of his home with determination; the only thing that seemed to make him stand up in these adverse times. "But we will not fail. That's not an option. No matter how big and scary our enemy is, I will fight so Riverclan can be safe... so you can be safe." He mewed, nuzzling the forehead of the tom with his muzzle gently. "There's no need to be afraid. I'll protect you and your siblings. You're Riverclan now... you're my family. And I can give my 9 lives for my family if that's the cost." The tom embraced his son in a fatherly, protective way. He had to protect his kits now that they were home since he wasn't able to be with them when Goldeneye gave birth to them. It was time for him to do his part of the job as one of his parents.