LostHope's Path

Chapter 13

Losthope did not, in fact, die.

She did, however, remember nothing about the birth of her...uh... Four kits. The small balls of furry warmth radiated innocence and Losthope, under the boughs of the pine which had protected her through the night.

I don't even like kits. She thought, gazing fondly down at the lives that she was responsible for. I bet they won't even like me. The cat purred. Oh, who cares. 

The kits' eyes were all closed and all of the were in a deep slumber, still pawing at Losthope's belly, though. I should...name them... Losthope yawned in contentment. 

But all they look like is a whirligig of fur and tail and paws! She stiffled a purr.

A tom and three she-cats! She couldn't stop counting them, over and over again. Only one, a she-cat, shared a gray tabby pelt with her father's, though hers was short, and her tail was tipped in white...

The she-kit who was speckled a flurry of tiny patches, brown and white, let out a tiny mew in her sleep. She was the littlest one, it seemed, her and the black she-cat Losthope had also given birth too.

She really did not get that. Nobody on her, or Thunderblaze's side had black fur, but there she was, tiny and snoring a little and a bundle of black fur that cuddled against her mother's stomach...next to her, the tabby tom-kit, tall and brown and gray and fluffy (though not Thunderbutt fluffy! Losthope laughed.) who snored as well.

Then it hit her.

Pantherpaw.

Dustpaw.

Pantherpaw.

Dustpaw.

Pantherpaw....

Dustpaw........................

"Well, then." Losthope mewed aloud. "I have now given birth to four kits, when one of them killed the other in their past lives and I killed him. And he's also actually my brother-in-law..." She stared at them...again, and again, and again. "Just...Well, then."

To have the truth dawned upon you cusped a new light on you. It's very weird, Losthope thought, to think you are meant to be legasized in this world, to have your own legacy...

And then realize your fate is not quite so.

 It...was just...weird. Losthope let out a tremendous sigh, filled to the brim of happiness and hope for the new lives. She then remembered that her newborn kits and her were in the middle of ShadowClan territory and right by a Twoleg-nest. "We have to get back to camp... "  she murmured.

***

"Well then." Losthope muttered for the umpteenth time, a dosing kit (the lightest one of them all- the speckled one) clenched in her jaws as she padded, exhausted into the almost-empty nursery. The four bundles began to mew because of the sudden change in climate, so their mother rushed over and began smoothing their fur and their cries. A swish of newleaf breeze swirled the air as a Thunderblaze came caterwauling in.

Her mate began panting and meowing all in one breath. "Lostity-lostity-lostity-hope, how're-you-I-meant-to-check-on-you-before-but-stuff-happened-and-then-"

His amber eyes gazed apologetically at her...and the kits. 

"Losthope!" He yowled. "Do you mean to tell me, you, my own MATE, has kitted and I never received any knowledge how'm'I supposed to take this lightly I mean-" He stopped dead and slowly began to pad forward. "Oh, my dear." He breathed, "They're beautiful."