“Brawnypelt!” the medicine cat tumbled out from her den and ran to the hunting grounds, scaring off some prey the cat she beckoned had been hunting. The large tom slowly sat up and glared at the shecat. “Dovefeather, this better be import, you scared off my prey.” he snapped, his electric blue eyes almost shining. The cat winced under him, her fur standing on end. “I-its Roseheart. She is giving birth to her kits.” Dovefeather panted, the shecat wasn’t the fastest despite how strangely small and lithe she was. Dovefeather was a white skinny Turkish Van with a large black ink blob shape over her right eye and a black wing like pattern on her back.

The two bounded to the queen dens and rushed over to Roseheart’s nest. She was curled around four kits with her eyes closed. Brawnypelt sat down and smiled, purring quietly while Roseheart walk around the next, examining the kits. Once Roseheart awoke Roseheart checked on the kits while Brawnypelt and the new mother spoke about what to name their kits. “You are lucky these kits were born just after leafbare ended.” the medicine cat cooed, nudging the defenseless kits over to their mother so they could nurse. “Are you ready to name them?” The mates nodded happily.

Three of the kits were female, one was male. Roseheart and Brawnypelt were clearly their parents. Roseheart was a nicely sized brown and red Ocicat. Her ears were a dark red color, as was her belly. She had a light brown base color and a long rusty red stripe from her nose all the way to her tail with bright yellow eyes, she also had scattered dark brown spots. Brawnypelt was a buff beige Norwegian Forest Cat with a brown ring around his stomach and tail.

They named one kit Hawkkit. She had light brown fur with a dark brown face and two dark brown blobs are her back, her eyes blue like her father’s. They named another Mousekit, she was solid beige with a light brown tail tip, and strangely large ears, she also had Brawnypelt’s eyes. They named the last girl Spottedkit. She was dark brown with large beige spots all over her body, one blue eye and one yellow eye. The boy was named Emberkit. He was a rusty red color with one light brown ring around his right hind leg and yellow eyes like his mother. The kits were very healthy and lived quite well. Then war came. A cat from Brambleclan had brutally killed an apprentice from Frostclan.

Frostclan attacked after a while and quickly wounded many warriors. They broke into Brambleclan’s territory and killed whoever stood in their way during the war. During the war Roseheart tried to take her kits out into a safe area near their leader’s den. However, not all the kits made it. Spottedkit stumbled behind and got her paw caught in a hole. Warriors from Frostclan raced by, not noticing the small shecat as she cried out for her mother. Roseheart hid her remaining kits in a small space under lifted tree roots. She looked around and bounced through the warriors, pushing through the warriors to her kit. She shielded the defenseless kitten, whimpering and whining. They were trampled by the warriors and only did the war begin to stop when Dovefeather spotted the mother and her kit. She raced into battle and stood her ground, Brawnypelt slowly limping into site and spotting the cat he ran over and reincofrced her. Slowly, warriors slowed down and they looked upon Roseheart and Spottedkit pitifully. Roseheart lost her left eye and her tail had become ripped and half the size it had been. Spottedkit’s leg was mangled terribly and she would never be able to walk right.

Roseheart was renamed Woundedheart and Spottedkit was renamed Twistedkit. Emberkit watched helplessly. He felt defenseless and weak. He felt… useless. The moment he saw his mother and sister he vowed to Paradise that he would always protect his family with his life from then on. He had to.