Chapter Text
The sky came midnight over city buildings, lights flickering in and out, human trash littering the air as it blew by, uncared for in the empty street. Some lights were busted, now dim and scattered for any unsuspecting paws to break their skin onto. That’s what she thought, anyway. She was an oriental, long tail to match her long face, long body curled inside a box to fit herself and her five kittens that lay suckling at her soft stomach. She never cared to be a mom. It was natural, in her feline blood to want to nurture them, but she knew as they got older and they began to get curious, she would have to let them go. Into the harsh world that the humans brought upon them.
When she was a kit herself, she watched her mother burn alive. Burn in the fires that plagued the forests, killing the prey she would spend the rest of her childish moons searching to eat, settling for city rats in a city that was untouched by all the horror. But she knew rats wouldn’t last. She knew her milk wasn’t infinite. It’s why she was going to leave. Go somewhere better, where she can raise her family and not have the burden of the hardship around her. It’s what she thought, anyway. What she wanted.
Giving quick sniffs to each of her kits, she suddenly stopped. How could she have not noticed it before? Peaking from under one of her sons was a small, twisted leg. She sniffed harder, gripping him by the scruff and leaping out of the box. His frail little leg wiggled as if he had no control of it, limp and almost dead. She dropped him onto the alleyway’s ground, debating whether she should leave him for the rats to find or if she should just kill him herself. I’m hungry. She thought. He won’t make it in the wild with a leg like that. She also thought. I need milk for the rest of my babies. Before she knew it, her paw was holding him down. He thrashed gently, the only awareness he had, with his sealed shut eyes and pitifully closed ears, was that this was his mother, and he wanted milk.
Staring unblinking, the she-cat lowered her head, jaws opening before her son.
This is for the better, for the both of us.
Jingling.
She snapped out of her trance of seemingly warranted survival, head shooting up to meet her gaze with a brown tabby tom-cat. A familiar tom-cat. The father of her kits.
“What’re you doing, Cobra?” He gave a faint chuckle, hopping forward before the scent of fresh life caught him, and he looked below her paw. “Is this it? Is this our son?” He stared in disbelief, lowering himself eye level with the kitten. Realizing she had been holding him down, Cobra let off the kit, taking a seat with her tail curled around her paws. “No. We have four more,” she said matter-of-factly, knowing her mate would just get more delighted at the fact of having so many mini ‘hims’ running around. He laughed with joy, swinging his son by the scruff and leaping into the cardboard box.
Cobra’s eyes suddenly shot wide, his sudden movements towards her litter ticking every instinctual awareness she didn’t know she had. “Charlie,” she snapped. “Get out of the box. You’ll scare them with your damn loud collar!”
Charlie heeled, ears flattening against his head as he dropped the kit in his mouth, hopping from out of the box. “...Sorry, Coby.”
Cobra exhaled, pushing her head to Charlie’s chest. “You’re just excited. Not every tom-cat would get as excited as you. You’re special.”
Charlie grinned, looking into Cobra’s eyes. “I am?”
“Don’t get sentimental,” she laughed, taking a seat again, looking away from him.
“Hey,” Charlie rubbed against her, cheek pressed against her own. “I know that look. You’re upset with something.”
Cobra frowned. She hated confrontation, especially when it was from her own mate.
“I don’t have a look.”
“You have a look,” he chuckled, lapping at her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t think I’m cut out for this.” She muttered, looking down to her paws. “What if I hurt them? How am I supposed to be a mother properly when I never had one to guide me?”
“Then how am I supposed to be a father?” Charlie intercepted, placing his paw onto hers, “I was raised by two-leggeds, I didn’t know either of my parents. I can hardly take care of myself, let alone you… I can’t even fight, or hunt properly, but you do all of those things for us. I’m lucky you even put up with me.”
Cobra smiled faintly. “I put up with you because you show me what it’s like to not be afraid.”
“Well, then… I guess I’ll just have to keep showing you.”
He leapt onto rickety stairs, tilting his head for her to follow.
Cobra thought this was dumb, leaving her kits alone. But nowhere to be seen was danger, only the soft blow of wind against her ears. She folded the box inwards, leaving her litter and ascending the flight with Charlie. He led her all the way up until they were sitting atop a human shelter, far from the ground and closer to the sky than ever before. Even with the missing stars, the sky still held peaceful in its dark pool. Charlie gave her a look, before he raised his paw, "There. Look closely, Cobra. There is a star in that same spot every night that blinks on and off."
Cobra blinked, staring where Charlie pointed. She saw nothing, as she expected. "There are no stars. They all fell at the same time the two-leggeds did."
"I'm serious, just look."
She sighed, squinting into the darkness. For a brief breath, a light flickered into the sky. Cobra's eyes widened. Charlie's bore into her, pushing his paw onto her shoulder. "There! Did you see it?"
"Yes. Yes, Charlie, I saw it."
"That's where we're headed!"
"We can't... Track a star. It's in the sky."
"But we can track the land below it! It has to be a sign from StarClan."
"StarClan? Since when did you get so faithful?"
Cobra stared at her mate. She knew the answer to that, but Charlie held his tongue. "I don't trust Butterfly, Charlie. If StarClan was still here, they would have helped us from this mess long ago."
"I trust Butterfly, Cobra. She showed us all the star. That's where our home will be, I'm telling you."
Cobra exhaled, staring off into the sky once more. The 'star' gave one more hopeful flicker.
StarClan, if you really are out there. Please protect me and my family.
Protect Charlie from Butterfly.
That she-cat is nothing but trouble.