Introduce a little anarchy...

[Shadow Spirit]

The Egyptian Mau cross was angry. He paced the clearing restlessly, his tail lashing back and forth. They needed more members...NOW, but his mate had been acting strangely as of late. She didn't keep up nearly as well and constantly wanted to stop and hunt. He was aggravated, but not about to leave her behind. Siege's paws were itching to go "apprentice hunting" as he put it, and Rifle was always as nasty as though he'd swallowed mouse bile.

"We need to recruit more cats to this cause...if we have any hope of destroying the clans that live here...contemptuous bastards...ruling over others as though they own the ground they walk upon..." he growled, Siege watching his paces with rising irritation. "Hiddenwrath! he called. "I need to take Siege to go scout for additions, but I'll leave Rifle with you here...since you seem to be lagging lately..."

[Hiddenwrath]

Hiddenwrath had been lagging lately, hadn’t she? One might think it was the weather, how the heat of the day must be something killer for the long furred she-cat. But that wasn’t it. Oh no, that wasn’t it at all – and at first, even she hadn’t been knowledge of the reason. However, she knew now, but how was she about to approach her mate and tell him? It wasn’t of any matter to the other two cats of their little group, the nasty felines she just couldn’t bring herself to trust or even like, so the quiet beautiful creature held her tongue and kept her distance.

She knew, and perhaps what hurt even worse, that Anarchy’s anger was in part due to her own actions. Things had changed so drastically since those wonderful days when it was simply the two of them, traveling together through the rogue lands…what did they have to end? But Hiddenwrath had known better, no matter the happiness with him she had shared, the wonderful love in her heart…he was a powerful tom, one that was going to go so far…

Where was there a place for a cat like her in this horrid, evil tale?

Hazel eyes finally turned their attention over to Anarchy when he called to her, a weariness there that was nothing caused by him, or even their other ill-suited traveling companions, but she merely gaze a dulled, muted nod to his words. Instead of waiting for her guard she turned to simply pad away, heading for a lightning blasted tree stump raised about half its natural height before she attempted to leap up and sit on top. This endeavor took two tries in total, she fell the first time and had to scrabble the second time to avoid another painful looking thump, but it was there she choose to lie down and just enough the cooling breeze that prevailed through the terrain.

If her mate knew her like she wished he did, he would know to follow her because she wished to speak without his minions hounding around her...and that it would be something important, because Hiddenwrath was a cat who asked nothing but his loyalty and devotion to her out of him otherwise.

[Shadow Spirit]

Anarchy tilted his head, wondering why she had said nothing. His mate was certainly not known for a sharp tongue, she was quite the opposite, having a very sweet way about her. Although, she was also not known for keeping silent. Confused and much to his surprise, worried, Anarchy padded slowly after his mate. Thinking quickly, he paused and turned to hiss at Siege and Rifle, warning them away. Turning back, he pressed on after his mate, leaping up to sit by her on the stump.

"What's troubling you?" he queried, his voice surprisingly civil and gentle.

[Hiddenwrath]

He followed. Hiddenwrath didn’t look to Anarchy as he hissed off the other two toms, attempting to maintain an appearance of aloofness as she stared out over the rogue lands. It only took a moment or two for the tom to finally make his way over and join her, and she allowed the silence to stretch on, simply comfortable with it. “Do you remember this, Anarchy?” She finally mused softly out loud, a hazel eye flicking to look at the magnificent cat beside her, “When we were alone, without them, and able to take times like these to watch the world go by?”

It wasn’t enough for him. Hiddenwrath understood that now, that Anarchy had that need to seize the world and crush it below his paw; that reveled addiction to power that she had never chanced to feel. But if only that was all she had to say, even as her gaze turned away from him and she closed her eyes to relax there for a moment longer, a moment’s worth before their worlds would change all over again.

“You’ll have more recruits. Sooner then you might possibly think.” It was a cryptic message, those softly spoken words, but Anarchy was a sharp tom. Surely, with a little thought, he would understand them for what they really meant.

[Shadow Spirit]

Anarchy listened quietly. She was the only creature he would ever spare his time for. Her words spoke volumes to him. It had been a long time since they'd sat and just enjoyed living...but it was about more than that now. He had killed his father, the vicious brute who had ruined his mother...and he had fought cats twice his size, winning every time. This was his destiny, he would break the clans apart...destroy all order...

Wait a minute.

What had she just said?

Sooner than he might possibly think?

The answer hit him like a toppling tree.

"You don't mean...you're pregnant?" he asked, only his cool composure keeping him from gaping at her. For the monster he was, the idea of what she was suggesting fostered some small amount of...tenderness in his heart, but already? Surely, they'd mated...like any pair would...but he had never expected it to be for anything other than pleasure of the experience, not so soon anyway...

[Hiddenwrath]

Wait for it.

Wait for iiiiiit.

Perhaps it was daring for the she-cat to find amusement in this – very few cats could likely find amusement in anything that Anarchy did….but, well, this was rather funny. Silently she counted the seconds that ticked by after she had last spoken, just a light purr to rumble from her body until…

Hiddenwrath opened her eyes and gave her mate an almost sly sidelong look, sensing more of his surprise then his demeanor ever allowed in letting on. “Three seconds longer then I suspected it would take you, but I suppose that’s a moot point now.” There was still some of that wry humor in the she-cat – their plans and their goals as well as the constant traveling on top of her pregnancy might have worn the she-cat down, but there was still Hiddenwrath there. She was always there, his most loyal and trustworthy since their first foray into the unknown with nothing else but each other.

And she would never leave.

“Kits do rather tend to come following such activities. And these ones, if their squirming is anything to tell by, will probably decide to run rampant very soon.” Get the hint? Heeeello there, she needed a secure den mister provider dude, so get looking!

[Shadow Spirit]

The tom was still slightly stunned. It was perhaps his horrible past that gave him misgivings about kits. Could he really be a father? No, he wouldn't be afraid. Anarchy would not have any doubts. His father was a fox-hearted beast who left his bastard son to the wilds, something that Anarchy would never do. The cross-breed cat would raise his children, to be strong and to need no one but themselves.

"I think I will enjoy having children..." he said, a small smile on his face. His whiskers twitched in good humor, reserved only for his mate and he purred. Settling in closer to her, he dropped his head and rubbed his face across hers. Real joy was unusual for Anarchy, but this time it was genuine.

[Hiddenwrath]

Perhaps. But perhaps Anarchy was also forgetting that he would not be the only one raising these kits – Hiddenwrath would certainly not be abandoning them. She too would teach them…perhaps they would never have the honor of a real, true clan cat…perhaps, like her to this day, they would not believe in Starclan but she would try. Oh, she would try, because even if they learned to rely solely on themselves they didn’t have to. Sometimes…the best things in life could only be shared with another feline. Real companionship.

Ahh, but such a rare physical show of affection, and Hiddenwrath purred back and unashamedly rubbed her face back alongside him – these had become so fewer since Anarchy had to start keeping up the omfg Tough Guy image when it came to the other two being around, but she cherished each and every time they occurred. “It shall be something else entirely; of that I’m sure.” There was a bit of a hesitant smile on her muzzle when she pulled her face away, happy enough just with the male pressed up close as well as watching the world slowly melt away towards the coolness of darkness.

“It might be difficult, but I’ll try to keep up..” Okay. Now do you get the hint buddy boy? But no matter what, she would not slow him down. Not again. She couldn’t be his disappointment – it would break her.

[Shadow Spirit]

Anarchy took her words very seriously. Their heirs would have only the best of everything, and the very first thing they needed was a safe place to be born. He stood again and leaped from the stump.

"I'll send Siege and Rifle out hunting, while you and I scout for a quiet place for your kitting," he mewed, watching her intently with his orange demon eyes.

[Hiddenwrath]

He understood. The relief would be clear in hazel eyes as her gaze followed the dangerous tom, the very cat that had saved her life, stolen her away from Risingclan, and stolen away her very heart. She watched him from the stump with a flick of her very fluffy tail, smiling softly, before nodding. “I’ll wait here until you return.”

She would watch until he was out of sight to speak with his minions, before her gaze would turn back towards the horizon. Her father’s bones lay out there, somewhere. Kestrel and Risingclan did too. Everything she had turned her back on spread out before her in the golden light and, even as she smiled and closed her eyes, feeling the tiny lives move about her belly, she knew she would never regret her actions ever again.

[Shadow Spirit]

Anarchy came trotting back a few moments later, having sent the other toms off. They were itching for a fight and he needed to focus their killing instincts somewhere away from his expectant mate. Glancing at her belly he could she that she was right, the kits could be along any time now. Her weight shifted uneasily as she moved, her abdomen expanded at least two-fold in every direction. The Egyptian Mau cross expected this meant she would have a large litter.

All the better... he thought. Plenty of heirs to my ambition...

"Come now Hiddenwrath, we have to find you a den," he meowed, flicking his tail to show her to follow. Then he made his way out of the clearing and deep into the heart of the meadow.

[Hiddenwrath]

So focused on his plans, so focused on their killer rages, it never came to a surprise to Hiddenwrath that none of the toms had noticed. Or, perhaps, they simply thought she was feeding well – although she was a dainty, picky eater at best when the other toms were around – but in truth, the longhaired she-cat was certainly much larger then she had been from the little lives inside of her.

Soon, Anarchy returned, and it was all the same again, wasn’t it? Obediently, in a way she never was with any other cat, the pretty female wiggled herself forward and awkwardly leaped down from where she had been lying, landing heavily and staggering a few low steps forward because of the momentum caused by extra weight, before waving her tail and padding after her mate.

Along the way, she would slow him down greatly, but whether it annoyed him or not actually didn’t cross her mind. Instinct had almost completely taken over; Hiddenwrath peeking in bushes, looked around fallen trees. Very little missed her attention and had to be investigated along the way, but nothing settled with her as just right so she fell in right back close by Anarchy every time. Maybe he knew of something fitting, who knew?

[Shadow Spirit]

The silver and black tom was becoming frustrated. They'd been searching the meadow for an hour now and so far had found nothing remotely acceptable as a birthing den. Perhaps it was fated this way, they did live in a meadow after all. There was perhaps no place more open to attack, with no trees or large cliffs for protection. The only advantages he could see were the thick grasses and slight hills that made up the valley floor.

Growling in indignation, he turned to his mate. "Sad to say my dear...I seem to be at a loss..." He plopped himself down on the cool dirt and thrashed his tail, irritation written all over his face. "Do those maternal instincts of yours have any ideas?" he asked her, thinking fondly of the fat squirrels and mice his minions were sure to be catching for them.

[Hiddenwrath]

While Anarchy was more open to his own frustration, Hiddenwraths’, if the gentle warrior even felt any, was by far certainly hidden. But a den had to be found, like it or not, and she would undertake this task.

She barely even flicked an ear towards her mate and went off to investigate another fallen tree, but this was one she lingered at more then the others – it had braced against some stone, weathered by time, enough to create a protected hallow. It was this that Hiddenwrath explored inside and out for a few long minutes, as well as checking the immediate surroundings, before she settled outside what was to be her den and looked over towards her mate, “I think it’ll do.”

[Shadow Spirit]

Anarchy rose to his paws immediately, surprised by his mate. Well that was fast...why on earth were we looking for so long if she decides so fast? He swept his long tail around in a flourish, twitching his whiskers quizzically. Then, he stepped up to the log and made his own assessment of it. Feeling satisfied that this was indeed a good choice he strode a little ways off from Hiddenwrath, sending a loud caterwaul into the distance. The silver and black tom was calling his henchmen to him. Now that they had chosen a den, his mate would need all the prey she could get to build her strength for the imminent birthing.

[Hiddenwrath]

Hiddenwrath merely gave her mate a knowing smile – of, the joys of feminine wiles and decisions. While she had been so picky on where she wanted to bring their litter into the world at, she knew what she liked when she saw it…but really, the pretty female hadn’t expected for him to understand even if she tried to explain it to him. Males were always so clueless about such matters, weren’t they?

Flicking her fluffy tail, the she-cat moved then – heading to gather up some sweet smelling soft grasses to line the den with. She heard Anarchy’s call for his minions and this did cause her to pause in distaste…but while she’d accept the others near to her den the moment any of them dared to attempt to enter it they would be repressed with slashing claws and hisses. Only Anarchy was worthy of that.

[Shadow Spirit]

Anarchy stretched, flexing all of his toes in turn. He would help his mate gather soft things for her nest, and build himself one outside of the log to keep watch over her. The tom very rarely took time for pleasantries, and he didn't see the need for cozy beds the like of a kittypet's cushions. Though, this time he knew they would be stationary for a while and he wanted Hiddenwrath to be comfortable. They would pick grass shoots, moss, and other young, fragile vegetation to provide a safe cushion for the newborn kits. Anarchy thought he may even pluck the downy chest feathers from a pigeon if his men brought one back.

"They had better bring back extra prey, since you'll need more than any of us..." he mused. "I'll also send one of them to search for borage, an herb I learned is good for producing milk during the time I infiltrated BoneClan."

The silver and black tom moved with fluid grace, carefully snipping the tender stems of the grass he collected to avoid shredding them. He brought those, and some extremely soft peat moss back to the log, creating a small pile for his mate.