The Darkness Within Us

Chapter One

I apologize for any grammar mistakes or mistakes in general...

Several moons later...

RiverClan was in distress. Everything around them seemed to be crumbling into pieces, and no cat knew what to do anymore. Nothing felt right, and Spottypaw couldn't help but wonder if things had ever been right in the first place. This was the life he had been raised into, so nothing came as a shock to him anymore.

But this was entirely unacceptable.

Screeches of agony poured out from Featherheart's mouth as she writhed around in the nursery den. Spottypaw stood beside her, his paws firmly but gently sliding around her round belly in an attempt to figure out how many kits that she should be expecting. Pondfrost was watching with an intense gaze as he waited for the she-cat to start pushing. They didn't have time to waste. They had injured cats' to tend to in the medicine den; too many for Peacepaw to see to all on her own.

"Why is this taking so long? It can't be that hard to push, for StarClan's sake!"

Spottypaw didn't have to turn around and look to know who was making those snippy comments. Featherheart's mate, Bramblefrost, was pacing around the pained she-cat as she tried to focus on pushing instead of focusing on her excruciating pain.

Bramblefrost stopped in front of Featherheart, and he glared down at her stomach. His ear twitched with annoyance. "And stop screaming. It's hurting my ears."

"I'm - I'm sorry," Featherheart grunted out as she dug her claws into her mossy nest. She closed her eyes, her ears flat against her head as she let out a pitiful wail. "I'm trying! It hurts so much."

Featherheart took a deep breath and then stopped pushing for a moment. Bramblefrost flicked his tail to the side, his cold gaze turning into one of curiosity as he watched his mate's movements. Spottypaw glanced over at Featherheart, a worried look in his eyes as he let his mind take him to a dark place. For a heartbeat he thought that she was dead. But then, before he could react, Featherheart rolled onto her belly and began to push again.

Skywish pushed her way between Bramblefrost and Featherheart, and she crouched beside her little sister. Unlike Bramblefrost, Skywish had a much softer approach to the first time queen.

"You're doing fantastic, Featherheart. Just keep pushing. Don't stop, you're doing great!"

Skywish's words of encouragement seemed to annoy Bramblefrost, because he snorted in disbelief before walking over to join Pondfrost. He glanced down at Featherheart's lower body, and then his eyes widened with horror. The tom quickly sat back up and he took a few steps back, his eyes glued onto Featherheart.

"Great StarClan, that's disgusting," he hissed out.

Featherheart's head quickly snapped in his direction, her eyelids fluttering open as she rasped out, "wait, what?"

"I see the first kit's head," Pondfrost meowed over her, his tail tip slapping the young tom's muzzle to shut him up, "keep at it, Featherheart."

Spottypaw felt a ripple going through the she-cat's body, but he could tell that this was extremely difficult for Featherheart. Featherheart was gritting her teeth in an attempt to be quiet, and she was truly giving it her all... But she wasn't getting anywhere with this kit. This caused Spottypaw to feel a bit of concern for her. He then looked over at his mentor.

"Should I apply some pressure?" He murmured. He kept his voice low, not wanting Featherheart to overhear him and stress out even more than she already was. "We still have one kit more after this, and that one feels much bigger than this one."