Warrior Cat Clans 2 (WCC2 aka Classic) is a roleplay site inspired by the Warrior series by Erin Hunter. Whether you are a fan of the books or new to the Warrior cats world, WCC2 offers a diverse environment with over a decade’s worth of lore for you - and your characters - to explore. Join us today and become a part of our ongoing story!
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The night had been a horrible, gut-wrenching blur for Orchiddrop. She had nearly been killed, she had nearly seen Crow killed, and her kits had come in the midst of it all. She had collapsed, had labored alone in the mud with the rain lashing her skin. Pain had swept over her in unbearable waves as she tried to keep her focus on the battle occurring before her.
Others had arrived in time- Ratstar had stopped the bloodshed from devolving into murder, and Graythorn and Rosethorn had overseen the birth of six wriggling bundles of fur. Orchiddrop's memories were hazy, marred by pain and fatigue, but she remembered the cold that had soaked her bones in the newleaf rain. There had been concern- of her getting pneumonia, of the kits getting frostbite. After some time- and she wasn't quite sure how- they had managed to get her back to the nursery with her kits.
There she was fretted over by several blurry faces, warmed and tended to. As her kits suckled and as her sister helped wipe the blood, tears, and mud from her face, Orchiddrop slept. Her body was exhausted, her mind overwhelmed, and sleep was a welcome refuge. It had been early evening then, and when she awoke it was in the still hours before the morning dawned. She was surprised by how alert she felt, raising her head in the silent nursery to re-orient herself.
Her kits, still unnamed, were asleep- apart from one, which nursed drowsily. A flood of warmth filled her at the realization that her children were okay- they were alive and healthy and here, free from a future under Goldenshadow's control. Stiffly, she moved to lick the forehead of the nearest kit, taking in the scent of milk before she looked around further. Rosethorn was close by, crashed in one of the empty nests, unwilling to part from her sister but deeply asleep. All the other queens and kits were slumbering as well, the excitement of the day forgotten. And there, not far away, was Crow, watching her with those amber eyes that had haunted her dreams- good and bad- for the past three moons. Stunned into silence, Orchiddrop had to take a moment to compose herself before she could speak.
"Thank you," she mumbled awkwardly, keeping her voice low to avoid waking anyone else. She looked away before continuing. "I can never say it enough. I'd be dead if it wasn't for you. I should be dead."
He rotated shifts with Rosethorn, and the two of them slept in hour intervals, and that was the most coordination the pair of them had since he came to the clan. Partly, it was due to their shared paranoia; the events of the day-- no, the last few moons-- weren't enough to banquish the demons haunting them from the shadows of their periphery. Goldenshadow wasn't dead, merely incapacitated, and relegated to being monitored closely, but he was alive. He was alive, and while he was alive, they could never be too sure he wouldn't rise to finish what he'd started.
As far as Crow was concerned, they weren't safe, not fully, while the golden tom could still breathe and move. His family was still in danger, and sleep did not come easy despite his weary bones. He'd awoken from his restless tossing and turning long before it was Rosethorn's turn to attempt sleep, but with how exhausted she was from the whirlwind of the afternoon they'd all faced, she didn't argue about a chance to catch some extra sleep.
His eyes never moved from Orchiddrop's form. He could tell she was facing a similar bout of sleeplessness as he was, her breaths shallow and uneven, paws twitching. When she stirred, he wasn't surprised. When she spoke, he was. "I wouldn't ever let anyone hurt you or them." Briefly, his eyes sliced through the darkness to settle on the forms of their children and the hollowed glaze evaporated to let all the adoration and undying devotion of a father flare in its stead. Anyome could have seen it; but as quickly as it came, when it rose back to meet Orchiddrop's eyes, it faded again, replaced by the sorrow and pain he'd kept mostly reserved to himself. "Orchiddrop... I sat.. in the snow...for three moons." He struggled to speak the words that had sat on his tongue for moons, but they hissed out before he could stop himself. It was necessary, if he were ever to find closure. "I promised you I would be there and I was. I just need to know....why? Why weren't you there?"
Orchiddrop had raised her gaze when he started speaking, and she could see the effects of her actions echoed a thousandfold in his eyes. The joy that faded from his eyes when he looked at her confirmed what she already knew- he no longer loved her, he couldn't love her that way ever again. He would stick around for the children, but he would never be hers.
The agony in her chest was tripled by his words. His accusations were valid and he deserved answers- and she deserved to suffer for what she'd done. Orchiddrop deserved to be alone. It would be her atonement. "Because I'm a coward," she answered in a whisper, not bothering to speak in the past tense. "I was scared of what it meant to be a young mother, to be pregnant with a rogue's kits, to raise a family with someone as inexperienced as I was. So I thought I could give our kits a better chance if I partnered with a cat in Summerclan who was already a father and already expressed interest in me. I didn't know who... what he was. I never loved him. But that's irrelevant."
Orchiddrop cleared her throat before continuing. "I hurt you in the worst way I could, Crow. I gave you no closure, no hope, no answers. There's no way to apologize for that, but for what it's worth, I am so, so, so sorry. I regretted it every day." There were things she didn't say- that she had sobbed out of longing for him and their love, that the thoughts of him were the only ones that sustained her throughout these past months of torture. If they were no longer together, those sentiments were better left unspoken. Nor would she say what she thought about herself, how deeply her guilt and Goldenshadow's words ran, how much she hated herself- it would seem like an excuse.
"I understand that there's nothing left between us- that you want nothing more to do with me," she said quietly, her gaze focusing on their kits. "I wouldn't either. Obviously I want you to be in the kits' lives as much as you can. I'm sure we can coparent beautifully. I don't want to pass on my mistakes to these innocent little ones." Her eyes softened as she gazed at the tiny kittens. It wasn't so bad, really, when she got to watch them grow up. She would make it through.
A rogue's kits. He visibly flinched as if she'd struck him. What hurt moreso was the fact that throughout it all, she'd sought no one's help, no refuge, nothing. She'd evaded the borders. She'd lied to her sister, her clan, and to him. She'd put their children in harm's way by her inaction, and that was the part that Crow struggled to forgive the most. It would take many, many more moons before he could reconcile that fact within himself and between the two of them, but if there was one thing he knew now, in this moment, irrevocably and fully, it was...
"I want everything to do with you."
The nest he was lying in was disturbed by the movement of him swaying to his paws. For once it wasn't his bad leg that dragged behind when he moved across the den, each step warring between frayed nerves and needlepoint throbbing that scored right down to his bones. He didn't stop until he could collapse into her nest, his body sliding perfectly into place behind her, and his head found stabilization when it rested on her back, her touch the only thing to halt the whir of...everything that had him teetering on the precipice of the slumber of a thousand moons. It wasn't time for that yet. "Did you name them?" Their six, perfect little bundles. Their family, which was split precisely between the two of them: Ivory, ebony, and the gray area between them all squirming next to Orchiddrop's belly. Crow didn't care about apologies or reasonings now. Maybe he would tomorrow, or the next day, or sometime after, but after all they'd gone through and all he'd waited for, right now all he could care about was their love and the lives born from it.
There was so much he didn't know, so much that Orchiddrop would not tell him because it would seem like she trying to justify herself. She would not tell him that Goldenshadow had watched like a hawk, that he had beaten her down until she had no energy left to try to escape. He would see it over the coming days, when she would ask his permission to go for a walk, to go to the bathroom, when she would flinch if he moved too suddenly. But still, she would not make excuses for her decisions.
Nor would she let herself be happy now. She should be. His words should've brought a rush of hope, but she had learned over the last few moons to never get her hopes up. Accept the worst, don't question it, don't try for anything better. Crow may be lying behind her, might be saying he wanted to be in her life, but he would come to his senses. She would not relax into him, would not let herself draw any comfort from his touch. That would be too... easy. She would not let herself off easy, would offer herself no reprieve from continuing to self-inflict the punishments Goldenshadow had begun.
"Not yet," she said, keeping her voice carefully removed from emotion. "I had some ideas from when I was pregnant, though. Eveningkit, for one... it sounds like my father. And Drizzlekit. And maybe... Oceankit." Her eyes closed, remembering the night they had spent by the sea shore, the unadulterated happiness she had felt. That she had ruined. Silent tears welled and dripped down her chin, but she kept her face turned away from Crow so he wouldn't see, keeping him at a distance from her pain.
Her voice, stripped of emotion, cut him more than her absence in the last few moons had, but he elected to let it slide and hoped it was only exhaustion that caused it. Likewise, the movement created from her quiet cries was chalked up to the kits moving at her belly, which held the remainder of his attention. He listened as she listed the names she'd considered over the course of her pregnancy, a smile ghosting across his muzzle at the memory of the night near the seashore, when it had glowed and when Crow had known beyond a shadow of any doubt that he loved Orchiddrop, but he'd been too timid to say it then. Too afraid of the rejection he'd feared, which he'd suffered anyway. "I like those names. They're perfect." He kept the seeping ache out of his own tone, the longing to travel back in time to those simpler days before the confession, before their love was whispered into the night, before fear reared its ugly head and proved that it was stronger than their bond ever had been.
"I thought about it a lot too," Crow murmured afterwards, once he regained control of his thoughts and quashed the ebbs of hurt invading his voice. "I liked Firekit and Cinderkit." The first reminded him of himself and the heat that ran through his family, and the second had originally occurred humorously to him, sounding so similar to that of the gang he'd formed and then left behind to join SummerClan, but he'd begun to warm to it the more he considered it. The last name came more hesitantly, born out of an apprehensive desire to bridge the gap between himself and his own father, who's actions Crow was beginning to understand the more their lives paralleled. He wasn't ready to face Ghostcrown again, not yet, but the anger he'd misplaced towards the SwiftClan warrior was fading. "Crownedkit was the last one I thought of," he said, bonfire eyes resting on the tuxedo pelt of his tiny son.
"Those are good names," Orchiddrop said, forcing herself to stop crying so she could turn back to her kits. She touched each of them in turn with her tail, assigning each a name from their given pool. The tiny gray kit with the plump stomach was deemed Cinderkit, the tuxedo Crownedkit, the snowy white one Eveningkit, the black one Oceankit, the silver bengal kit Firekit, and the gray tabby Drizzlekit. She whispered their names with the quiet reverence of a new mother, grateful that in spite of everything that had happened she had her family together again.
Exhausted, and reassured that everyone was safe for the time being, Orchiddrop lowered her head to her paws, slipping back into an easier sleep after wishing Crow a good night.
After a few hours passed, Rosethorn stirred, quietly mumbling as she awoke. Groggily she stood, shaking sleep from her eyes and taking in the sight of Crow and Orchiddrop curled up together. She was unsure if she should speak, since she and Crow were still only speaking for Orchiddrop's sake, but she did anyway. "So... are you two... together again?" She asked warily, but hope betrayed itself in her eyes. For Rosethorn it was simple- Goldenshadow never made Orchiddrop happy, and Crow always had. It should've been an easy choice for her sister to try to restore her old relationship.
The ensuing quiet was broken up only by small meals and Orchiddrop's soft snores, Crow unwilling to let himself revel in the way the beautiful white pelt of his summertime lover brushed against his own or how she would shift closer throughout her restless dreams. Between that and the occasional flicker of his eyes across towards the den entrance, he didn't register that Rosethorn was waking until her voice jarred him from his introspection, the newly crowned warrior frozen until he felt Orchiddrop settle back into the deeper realms of slumber.
The question tugged on his heartstrings, and when Crow met Rosethorn's gaze, the shared hope between them reflected in his eyes. "I don't know," he sighed. "I don't think we are. She wants to coparent." There was a bitterness highlighted in his hushed tones, his discomfort with the thought fluttering through his nerves, but he wouldn't force her into a position she wasn't ready for. Even if he was prepared to put everything behind them and open his heart back up to her, it was clear that Orchiddrop would be haunted by these events for several moons to come.
"Thank you, Rose." Her betrayal and lies were still fresh wounds, but gratitude for her intervention bandaged the slowly healing scars. "I'm still hurt, but I understand why you did what you did. Believe me, I would have done the same thing. If it wasn't for your instincts, I'm sure none of us would be here right now." He couldn't bring himself to say the truth-- that Orchiddrop and their kits would be dead-- but the implication was understood between the two of them. Had Rosethorn put his best interests over those of her sister, he would have turned his back on SummerClan and Goldenshadow would have raised his kits in his image, possibly still choosing to kill Orchiddrop if she ever stood between him and the kits. The thought urged his claws from their sheaths, gripping the moss bedding.
Rosethorn sighed, rolling her eyes at her sister's sleeping form. "She's always been like this. If it isn't perfect- if she isn't perfect, she beats herself up and gives up. Comes from having doting parents and having things come easily to you. I'm sure Goldenshadow just made it worse. Don't give up on her- I know she loves you."
When he moved on to the topic of her own betrayal, Rosethorn flicked back an ear and laughed humorlessly. "You're being a lot nicer than I would be in your place. I'm grateful you stayed- and that you fought when I couldn't. I'm not like my sister- if you ever want to be friends again, I'll be here. In the meantime," she stood, rolling out her tense shoulders. "I'm going to grab you guys some food and go for a walk."
The next few days established an odd sort of rhythm between Orchiddrop and Crow. They spent a good amount of time together, eating or watching the kits or sleeping. Orchiddrop instinctively asked permission to do anything, even after Rose and Crow both insisted she didn't have to ask. She spoke with Crow's mom, unaware that Crow had overheard her profess her still acutely present love for him to Igziq.
She kept Crow at a distance for the most part, trying to keep the discussion to their kits or their plans for the future. If he slept beside her she didn't relax into him in the waking hours, but after she had drifted off she moved as close to him as physically possible- like her sister, she sought out warmth in her dreams. Her dreams seemed to alternate between unease, with twitching limbs and occasional whimpers, and a deeper, kinder sleep in which she often mumbled Crow's name. She would have been embarrassed to know that that happened, but it made Rose grin whenever she was in the nursery and heard it.
Rosethorn was sure Orchiddrop would eventually come around to officially being with Crow again, but it didn't seem to be happening without encouragement. Orchiddrop threw herself wholeheartedly into her kits, cooing with delight when they first opened their eyes, when they began mewling and crawling around with more determination. "Aren't they growing so quickly?" She asked Crow one afternoon, sitting up as the kits stumbled around on shaky legs, still not old enough to speak- or even walk correctly.
Throughout these first few days following the events, Crow was never far from the nursery unless it was apparent his presence was becoming suffocating to Orchiddrop, and even then he didn't stray much farther than the fresh-kill pile, ever the doting father. There was a tenderness in the way he would tuck Cinderkit between his paws, snuggling her close, and tickle Eveningkit's belly with his tail, her giggles discordant but joyful. Orchiddrop could also glimpse it in the patience he extended to her, never drawing too close without permission and offering only reassurance when her trauma resurfaced. Though he ached for those long ago nights of blissful love and connection, he was contented by the innocence of these six bundles of joy and the occasions where Orchiddrop let her barriers fall incrementally. It would still be a long time before she let him in completely, but the words he'd overheard during her chat with his mother held him steady, accepting that the only closeness between them for now would be when she pressed against him in the night.
He shifted as she spoke up, though he never glanced up from where Firekit was toddling towards his pudgy sister. "They are. I wish they'd slow down a little," he remarked fondly, thoughts of his own hazy childhood surging forward from the recesses of his memories. "We should bring them into camp soon to meet the clan and to let them stretch these little legs." His paw extended to poke a drowsy Oceankit in emphasis, who grumbled a protest.
“One day,” Orchiddrop agreed hesitantly- that would mean her kits really were growing up. At that moment Rosethorn came in, looking to spend some time with her nieces and nephews. Sensing a bit of free time, Orchiddrop stood and stretched. “Can I... I’m going for a walk,” she said, catching herself. “Would you like to come with me?”
It would be dangerous to be alone with Crow, without the distraction of the kits. The white furred queen often found herself tempted to press into Crow, to speak freely about how she felt, and she was worried being alone with him would cause her to give into temptation. But still, she wanted to be near him.
Firekit's squeal of genuine pleasure upon his favorite aunt's entrance was drowned out by Orchiddrop's invitation, and Crow hardly dared to breathe. "Of course," he agreed so readily, so quickly, then hesitated as a apprehensive note invaded his tone. "If you're sure. If you're comfortable." He couldn't bring himself to offer to lag behind and remain in camp, to offer her time to herself outside of the protective brambles barriers, but he also wanted to gauge how certain she was before he let himself belief she wanted his company and this wasn't a product of Goldenshadow's control.
A small but genuine smile flitted across Orchiddrop's face, though it didn't affect her eyes like it used to. "I'm always comfortable with you," she said truthfully. She may be uncomfortable with her own guilt, with the weight of the past, but being with Crow was easy- too easy. And she shouldn't invite him, but she couldn't stop herself.
As Rosethorn settled into a game of rolling a mossball around with Firekit and Cinderkit, Orchiddrop left the nursery with Crow in tow. The day was pleasant enough, with sunshine and plush clouds and a soft eastern wind. Orchiddrop was out of camp before she turned to Crow again, inhaling slowly before she asked, "How have you been? We haven't spoken about much except the kits lately."
Moving too far for too long was still difficult, the wounds still healing and stiff, but he wouldn't let on to that-- not here, not now, not when she was trying. The Orchiddrop he'd fallen in love with existed only in snippets, little fleeting moments that vanished too soon, and Crow eagerly watched for any moment where he could catch sight of that Orchiddrop. "I'm still sore, but I'm healing." The remark was nothing more than conversational, but there were various meanings embedded in it referencing his battle scars as well as the emotional scars. "I'm sad that my mother will be leaving soon, of course. It's been nice having her around to bond with the kids."
They plodded past a trickling stream, where a couple of forest mammals were drinking and chattering contentedly, no notice taken of the two weary wildcats that were in no condition to give them chase. The sound of the water running sent a wave of calm through him, Crow still finding comfort in being near any body of water. "How are you doing? You've been doing a great job with them-- I knew you would."
Orchiddrop was too keenly aware of her differences, and they were part of the reason she kept Crow at a distance. She no longer felt like the brave, composed feline that he had fallen in love with, and she could sense him searching for that side of her still. However, she didn't know if she was that cat anymore, if she ever could be again. And as she healed- if she grew to be different from who she used to be- would Crow still love her? Would he still want to be with her?
"It has been nice to have her around," Orchiddrop responded softly, sapphire eyes watching the moss covered tree trunks near them. "I hope she can see them often after she leaves. Since... well, you know. Since my parents are dead." She sat slowly, resting her still achy body. She had fallen out of shape during her lethargic pregnancy, and she yearned to be able to run like she used to. "I'm doing well," she said after a moment of thought. "I'm sure things are... different... from what we both imagined when Ratstar found us at the border- and again, I can't say how sorry I am."
A sardonic simper upturned the edges of his maw, and Crow turned his face to observe two leaves chasing each other in the breeze so she would not catch that moment of bitterness. "It is a lot different," he agreed morosely once he had a better handle on his voice, though there was a hollow note still resonating within it. "But it's okay. We're still here, our kits are healthy, and they have two parents who are..." In love. His jaw clenched down on the words, the same way he'd done the night Ratstar found them, but this time there was no one present to bridge the distance between them and translate the unspoken meanings. "They have two parents who love them."
Crow settled down nearer to the stream than she did, the end of his tail ever so close to skirting the surface, and sighed as he took the weight off his legs. "I just can't wait to be able to move without hurting, y'know? Thankfully the little ones are so young, it's easy to keep up, but once they start running around willy-nilly, we're done for." Maybe he talked about the kits too much-- maybe that meant he needed a life-- but there was an infinite reserve of adoration that flushed into his tone when he did.
They were in love. Orchiddrop knew that. And yet, foolishly, she had once again convinced herself that it was better not to be together- for Crow's sake this time. A lot of excuses churned in her mind- she was not the same cat, she had betrayed him, he would come to regret loving her when he reflected on it, she did not deserve to be happy with him again. She would be content to watch him from a distance, to spend time together for the sake of their kits. It would be better for him- and yet he didn't seem happy, for some reason.
"It's good that there's two of us then," she said, watching the water reflectively. "And Rose, when she gets roped into it. Six unruly children is a lot, but I'm sure we can handle it. It's not so bad," Orchiddrop told the stream, trying to convince herself and Crow that it was okay to be apart. "Even if it isn't what we expected. And it's not so different. I still love y... I love the family we have."
"Rose is better with the kits than I originally gave her credit for," he agreed, guiding the conversation to a lighter note, not without a knowing look in her direction as she corrected herself. "No offense to her, but there's one kit that I've seen trying to start a cult to exile her. She's pretty adamant about it." He didn't have a name to pair with the brazen little she-cat nor did he know her father was the one cat in that clan that had his whole-hearted respect, but he was amused by her antics and how enthralled Cinderkit seemed to be by her. His daughter could scarcely walk five steps, but he still saw the way she toddled after her fluffy denmate.
"That's Sunkit." Orchiddrop actually laughed, a faint glimmer coming back into her sapphire gaze at the irony it all. It felt good to laugh, though the action was a bit rusty and unpracticed. "Rosethorn told her to shut up one time and now she's trying to rally the clan against its own deputy. Sunkit is Ratstar's daughter, you know." She didn't particularly love Sunkit either, but Cinderkit clearly was in the depths of puppy love and her mother wasn't going to sully the pure-hearted attachment of youth for her.
His ear twitched at the melody of her mirth, Crow repressing the inclination he felt to close the gap between them. He was sure she would withdraw into herself if he were to make any movements, so he purred instead and decided to just bask in the moment. "Is she? Well, Rose better watch out then. I'm sure all of Ratstar's kits are forces to be reckoned with, and I'm sure the clan will say the same about ours once they start causing trouble." Their children were already starting to exhibit their own personalities, from Firekit's feistiness to Cinderkit's bubbliness, and if he said he wasn't excited to see what kind of cats they would grow into. he'd be lying.
