#brightsway story

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

Shake (short story)

“Kits, little darling kits…” Brightsway sang sleepily. She hardly allowed herself a wink, afraid she would miss something important, but at last she had drifted away. 

“Where’s Shallowkit?” Furzerose’s mew woke her with a start. 

“Right here!” Brightsway told her as if the answer was obvious, beaming with a smile, but when she looked down at the three little bundles of joy, she saw that there were only two little bundles.

She jolted to her feet, almost knocking the napping kits over if they had been any closer. She looked around in a panic. “He was just here!” She wailed. “I was watching him, I promise.”

Furzerose’s eyes sparked with fear. She leaned and touched her chin lightly to Brightsway’s head. “I know, honey,” she responded, panic taught in her voice. “He can’t have gone far.”

It was only a few heartbeats. A few, agonizing heartbeats that burst little sharp pieces in Brightsway’s chest, so strong and overwhelming that she nearly vomited onto the curled-over ferns….The ferns….There! 

Relief washed over Brightsway. 

Little Shallowkit was wobbling around, hidden behind the leaves. She wasted no time in grabbing him by the scruff. So relieved and wanting to get him back to the others as soon as possible, she raised him quickly and spun around, racing to the nest.

“Brightsway, stop!” Furzerose’s yowl made her freeze in her tracks. Her mate’s eyes were wide in horror. 

“What?” She asked, already shaking.

“He’s not…Is he breathing?”

Brightsway set their son down as quickly but cautiously as she could. She stared at his still form, throat tightening–

“What’s happening?” Sparktail asked. She and Doesong emerged from the undergrowth that kept their home hidden, Myrtlewing following behind–thank StarClan!--or, thank whoever that Myrtlewing was meant to give the kits a check-up today.

“He’s not breathing!” Brightsway cried. “I didn’t–I don’t think–Did I hurt him?” Her voice cracked. Did she hurt her son?

“Give me room,” Myrtlewing nudged the mothers away. He settled onto his stomach and inspected the kit, holding him with a paw. Immediately, he began compressions, pumping a paw expertly on the little one’s chest…he seemed so small…Was Myrtlewing hurting him? Brightsway expected his paw, so massive compared to the kit, to crush through his tiny ribs.

Forever seemed to pass, fur growing white and whiskers so stuff that they fell off.

Then…“He’s breathing,” he said, breaking the silence, and all four let out a breath they had each been holding. “Did you shake him?” he asked.

Brightsway wanted to sink into the ground, thinking about how eagerly she had grabbed him–swung him–ran with him in her jaws–She was such an idiot!

“Did you shake him?” he repeated, more firmly.

“I might have…” Brightsway’s voice was small.

Shallowkit coughed, a dribble of phlegm leaving his jaws. Myrtlewing ran his paw carefully along his little spine.

“What are you doing?” Doesong asked, a tremble in her voice. 

“I need to make sure there’s no spinal injury,” he told her.

Spinal injury? I’m a monster! A terrible mother! 

When Myrtlewing had finished, he turned Shallowkit’s head to one side. “His spine is intact, and it doesn’t look like he hit his head,” he observed aloud. 

Sparktail couldn’t stop the whimper that escaped her lips. She curled tightly around the two other kits, holding them close.

Shallowkit began wailing, cries splitting the air.

“That’s a good thing, right?” Doesong asked hopefully.

Myrtlewing’s gaze remained focused on the kit. “Not necessarily,” he answered. 

Doesong’s tail drooped.

Myrtlwing gently–as gently as Doesong had ever seen him–opened Shallowkit’s eyes with a steady toe.

“What are you doing now?” Furzerose looked over his shoulder.

“There’s no bleeding in the eyes,” was his response.

Brightsway squeaked. “Bleeding in the eyes?”

After what felt like an eternity, Myrtlewing rose into a seated position. He eyed the kit for a few more moments before Brightsway couldn’t stand the silence anymore. “Is he okay?”

“It’s hard to say.”

“Why?” Sparktail demanded.

“Because kits who are shaken suffer the most damage to the inside of their heads. I can only see so much.”

“What do we do?” Brightsway gasped.

“Support his airways and keep them clear as much as you can.” He looked over his shoulder, in the direction of his home, far from eye-sight. “I’ll tell my family that I’ll be staying around here for a while to keep an eye on him. And I’m sure Alderstar would want to do the same,” he added. Of course. Alderstar was the donor. 

“Is there anything else we can do to help him? Anything at all?” Doesong wanted to be sure.

“I’ll have to discuss medications with Fleathistle,” he responded. “Other than that, if he seems to get worse at all, we may need to consider internal treatment.”

“What’s that?” Furzerose could hardly keep herself together enough to ask.

“I’ll need to fix him on the inside,” Myrtlewing responded. “I’ll have to open him up.”

“You will not!” Sparktail snarled, showing her fangs. “Don’t you dare!”

“Only if it is necessary,” Myrtlewing replied, undeterred. 

“Have you done that before?” Brightsway asked. Tears stained her cheeks.

“Not on a kit,” Myrtlewing answered. “But yes, I have done it plenty of times in the past. Cats here are less susceptible to brutal injuries unless in the living world. I’m sure many of you remember those games of Hide-and-Seek.”

Doesong flattened her ears, face screwed up in distress, thinking of organs…her little one’s organs…

Myrtlewing decided not to tell them that he would most likely need to check Shallowkit’s head, an area that, unlike most of the other organs, was especially sensitive. “One final thing,” he spoke up. “Shallowkit has a high chance of surviving, but there’s also a high chance that certain effects will follow him.”

“For how long?” Furzerose whispered.

“Forever.” 

Myrtlewing turned to leave, telling them that he would return soon after talking with Fleathistle, and then left. 

The mothers could only stand incredibly still…then Shallowkit began to cry, soon joined by the others, who Sparktail began licking urgently.

Carefully, as carefully as she possibly could and with the slowness of a sleeping snail, Doesong picked up Shallowkit and carried him to his siblings. All she-cats curled tightly around them, except for Brightsway, who still hadn’t moved from her spot.

=================

--This is how I imagined the scene looked. Myrtle of course being Sarabi.

--In which Brightsway's idiocy truly hurts someone....Or maybe this would have happened to anyone, but surely Brightsway wouldn't think the same thing.

--He wobbled so far because, while still very young and small, the kits are in the 'crawl and explore' stage. He wasn't extremely far, but it was far enough for Bright to run for a short burst.

--I imagine that Shallowkit (yes, named after Shallowrun) survives! He'll need to be watched for a while, and he MIGHT need the 'cat surgery' thing that Myrtlewing was mentioned before to be an expert in (I'll let you decide that and maybe right a story for it).

--I was inspired to write this because I'm in a Child Development course in Psychology rn and I'm currently reading about things that could harm babies, so I wrote this inbetween studying. It just so happened that Brightsway recently had babies, so boom! Inspo.

--Myrtlewing's seen as a good guy for once (I also wanted to write him being an expert medicine cat).

--It's possible that Myrtlewing knew what to do here, in spite of this being a rare occurrence in Warriors and probably not studied much, because of Marigoldpaw and her litter being so weak and easily hurt.

--Problems that Shallowkit could potentially have include partial or total blindness, developmental delays, learning problems, or behavioural issues, and intellectual disability. Of course, these could all also happen by chance...but Brightsway can never be sure.

--

@elementaldeityoffood

@ambitiousauthor

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

Gentle paws, Gentle care

Brightsway played gently with the kits.

They were small, her mama had taught her.

She needed to be gentle with small cats. Their bones wouldn’t be strong like hers. She could hurt them if she messed up!

Gentle paws. Claws sheathed. Don’t use force. Let them win.

It seemed like ages since she had been that small.

She let the little kit she was playing with win another race, acting as defeated as she could to hide her grin.

She was good at this!

Not a good hunter, no, she could never rip a cat apart like she had been.

Not a med cat, stars no.

A mediator wasn’t needed in the bad woods.

But a queen? A mama? She could do that! She could spend all day with the kits, caring for the infants and playing with the toddle-kits.

She stood, and trotted over to Fungichomp, head spinning her new idea back and forth like a mossball.

“Fungichomp?”

“Yes, Brightsway?”

“I’d like to be a permanent Daycare worker. Is that ok?”

Notes:

- Idk how Fungi would react to this, so part 2 is open for anyone to write if interested!

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

“She’s been like this all day.”

Doesong could barely hear herself over Brightsway’s excitable cooing, and Myrtlewing stifled a chuckle.

“My guess is she’s got the new queen roses.”

“What’s that?” Sparktail looked worried as she groomed the little gold-furred runt of the litter. “Is it serious?”

Myrtlewing shook his head.

“It just means she’s not gonna shut up about the new babies for a couple moons. Nothing strange about it.”

Brightsway reached over and batted him with a paw gently, and Myrtlewing resisted the urge to break it.

“Myrtlewing look!” She gestured to the pair of calicos nursing at her belly. “I made these!”

“Yes, Brightsway, you certainly did.”

----

@elementaldeityoffood

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

Dark Forest Resident: Brightsway

Aliases / Nicknames: Brightbrain (sarcastically), Ambertail

Gender: female

Sexuality: heterosexual (??????) (not actually)

Family: shallowrun (mother), Fleetstar (parent), Dayplume (sister)

Other Relations: Barleyheart (mentor)

Clan: ShadowClan

Rank: warrior

Characteristics: could not take a hint if it was in neon font, steals kits who need ‘parents’, she’s actually the dumbest resident yet

Number of Victims: 5

Number of Murders: 0

Murder Method: N/A

Method of Harm: stealing kits, kidnapping, almost starting a war over said kitnapping

Known Victims: Finchmallow, Ashenfurrow, Ivykit, Doekit, Wheatkit

Victim Profile: gay couple and their kits

Cause of Death: executed by Finchmallow and Ashenfurrow

Cautionary Tale: ??

Story:

“So, when are you two going to find a proper mother for these three?”

Finchmallow spared a confused look to his mate, but decided to humor the strange, travelling healer.

“Actually, we’re going to raise them ourselves.”

The healer’s eyes narrowed.

“I see. So there will be no milk.”

“Well-”

“They really should have a proper mother.” The calico perked up. “Hang on, I have an idea!”

She was through the camp entrance before anyone could stop her, and the pair glanced to each other nervously.

—-

“Brightsway of ShadowClan--” Oakstar, the leader of ThunderClan started, only to be cut off.

“Ambertail of ThunderClan--” Hollowstar of Shadowclan spoke almost at the same time.

The pair glowered at each others as the leader of WindClan-- Fleetstar--took over the proceedings. “You are accused of stealing the kits of Ashenfurrow and Finchmallow of ThunderClan.”

The calico moved a pebble in front of her, seeming to think things through.

“They weren’t their kits though.”

There was a gasp that rippled through the crowd, and Finchmallow had to scruff his mate to prevent Ashenfurrow clawing out the eyes of the accused.

Fleetstar visibly bit her tongue. “That is not the question.”

“Then what is the question!?”

Fleetstar took a deep breath in, and let it out slowly.

“Did you, or did you not, take Ivykit, Daisykit, and Wheatkit from the ThunderClan nursery, and bring them to the ShadowClan nursery?”

“Oh, those are their names?” The calico purred and puffed up happily. “Yeah, I found them a nice mama!”

There was a deep, almost pained groan from Hollowstar at the warrior’s sheer stupidity and nerve.

“And did Ashenfurrow and Finchmallow ask you to do this?”

“No, but they’re toms, so they probably didn’t want kits!”

Fleetstar sighed. “Which name do you prefer?”

“Huh?”

“You have gone by the names Brightsway, and Ambertail. Which one is your favourite?”

“Oh… hmmm..”

“Quickly.”

“Ok, geez! I guess Brightsway? I like it because--”

“Brightsway of… who cares at this point.” Fleetstar turned away, trying to ignore the yellow eyes which were so similar to their own. “For the crimes of stealing kits, you are hereby sentenced to death by execution, at the claws and teeth of the kits’ parents.”

They took a deep breath, ignoring the horrorstruck face of Shallowrun in the crowd.

“May Starclan forgive you.”

Additional Information:

--Not homophobic, just dumb as shit.

--Character originally created by me, design and profile (backstory) created by @ambitiousauthor

--Will become part of the SparkXDoeXFurze poly (though it'll probably take her a while to figure it out).

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

Brightsway’s victims, plus her killers.

Option 1) the kits were very scared and were so so happy to reunite with their fathers and everything turned out so happy!!

Aside of course from Fleet, who will have to see the kits grow up every time they show up at a gathering, and remember what he ordered to be done to his own kit

Option 2) the kits didn't understand the danger and thought it was just an adventure. They ask their fathers what happened to the nice she-cat who told them silly stories? Will she come back?

They decide not to tell the kits that she's dead or why.

[wills-woodland-warriors]

FungiChomp swayed slightly on his feet, tilting his head to the side before he dropped the fresh moss he’d been gathering. Would it be suspicious if he threw himself into the river? 

“I mean.. you will have to go through training to take care of the kits, but FleaThistle and I would be happy to have more help.”

She nodded quickly. 

He paused before continuing, slightly hesitant. “For the next while you will be paired up with someone who will help you and observe you. Teach you the ropes and all that,” 

Brightsway kicked gently at the ground, causing a small puff of dust to sway around the air for the kit to chase. 

“Uhm… ro…” he cleared his throat. You might think FungiChomp would know all the kits in the DarkForest, but no, he does not. This small grey kit was definitely new, and honestly? He wouldn’t be surprised if this was a webspawn. “Kit, can you go help LilyDawn with the paints for class tonight?” 

The kit nodded eagerly, bouncing off towards the paint room. FungiChomp turned his attention back to brightsway. 

“Know that if you so much as lay an unsheathed claw against one my— the kits, I will kill you.” FungiChomp lashed his tail, then his expression softened again, an easy smile playing at his lips. “LilyDawn will teach you everything she knows about kitsitting.” 

BrightSway nodded seriously. “Thank you! But uhm… do I have to sit on the kits?” 

FungiChomp decided the river was looking very appealing, but he just smiled. 

notes: @ambitiousauthor @residents-of-the-darkforest

Gentle paws, Gentle care

Brightsway played gently with the kits.

They were small, her mama had taught her.

She needed to be gentle with small cats. Their bones wouldn’t be strong like hers. She could hurt them if she messed up!

Gentle paws. Claws sheathed. Don’t use force. Let them win.

It seemed like ages since she had been that small.

She let the little kit she was playing with win another race, acting as defeated as she could to hide her grin.

She was good at this!

Not a good hunter, no, she could never rip a cat apart like she had been.

Not a med cat, stars no.

A mediator wasn’t needed in the bad woods.

But a queen? A mama? She could do that! She could spend all day with the kits, caring for the infants and playing with the toddle-kits.

She stood, and trotted over to Fungichomp, head spinning her new idea back and forth like a mossball.

“Fungichomp?”

“Yes, Brightsway?”

“I’d like to be a permanent Daycare worker. Is that ok?”

Notes:

- Idk how Fungi would react to this, so part 2 is open for anyone to write if interested!