Cottonkit was born dead. He never even got to take his first breath. As is the protocol for all stillborn kit death, StarClan tasks this tiny tom with watching over a living Clan cat: Acaciakit. Aging alongside this fiery she-cat, Cottonkit must wat...
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three takeoff
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Cottonkit sighed deeply. Cold winds gusted at ZephyrClan's camp, chilling him to his core. It had been a moon since he first set paw in the Below, and he had been upset to find out the weather here got colder as time moved on. Hollydapple assured him it would eventually get hotter, to the point he'd wish it was cold again. Maybe I should ask Pistachiopaw if he's ready to go back to StarClan. It's always balmy there. And besides... His eyes, which had changed from kit-blue to a soft leafy green, fell upon his charge. Acaciakit tumbled roughly with her brother in a small alcove protected by some low brush in camp, Poplarkit egging her on. The brown marks on the points of her body had gotten increasingly pigmented, likewise with her brother's gray markings. Besides, I'm not even sure how what to do for Acaciakit.
Cottonkit let his gaze rise up. He had found a love for the sky here. It was the most lovely blue on nice days, with white clouds drifting across. The sun was startlingly bright, though he did find an appreciation for even the blinding disk that sat in the sky of the Below. The white tom stretched out his legs from where he lay on the sole large, flat rock in camp. While he had learned he could pass through the living cats, he didn't really care for the idea of walking through another being, so he preferred to stay out of the way. On chilly days like today, most of the clan cats would stay hidden away in dens or tucked in sheltered spaces. Only the kits would go out and brave the chill of the outside. The white tom-kit blinked lazily at the sky, watching clouds float by with a small smile. He let out a purr, clearing his mind of the confused thoughts that would haunt him every so often, and turned his attention back to where the kits had been. He shot to his paws in confusion as his eyes fell upon a now empty area.
"Acaciakit? Acaciakit, where are you?" He looked around, fur on end as his gaze swept across the camp. The three kits were nowhere to be seen, and with the wind buffeting from the direction of the nursery, he couldn't scent them from that direction either. He felt an uneasiness creep into his stomach as he gazed to his left toward the entrance. The tom bounded down from the stone he rested on in a streak of white and stars, darting out of camp.
Immediately, he was met with even greater winds in the open expanse of ZephyrClan's hilly, uncovered territory. The camp was without a guard, as often there would be a lull at sunhigh when most warriors were hunting or patrolling and the previous guard had just gotten off duty. With a clawing feeling in his stomach, he spotted Acaciakit along with her brother and Poplarkit. They were quite a ways off, but the camp looked over the open valley below it, being dotted with only a single tree.
"I told you I wasn't scared of the outside! I'm going to be the strongest warrior one day, y'know, so I can't be scared of anything!" Acaciakit bragged, but Cottonkit had a sense that some of the fear pummeling at his stomach wasn't coming from just him.
