Who Knew (Closed, One-Shot)

[Petrichor]

Stormpaw jolted awake in the apprentice den. Something was wrong. Seriously wrong. His fur prickled with worry and he padded out of the den right into the medicine cat. The apprentice was about to apologize when the Redpool spoke. "Stormpaw. I was just coming to wake you. Come with me." Stormpaw knew that wasn't good. Redpool's voice was softer than it normally was, and that, well, wasn't normal. The BloodClan medicine cat was almost never soft or kind to others, having been a warrior before he was a medicine cat. It was too quiet as the two padded towards the medicine cat den -- it was the middle of the night, yes, but the atmosphere was stiff. The black apprentice shivered as he entered the den, recalling the situation his brother was in. Poor Stonepaw. Ever since that ThunderClan skirmish, he had been about as useful as a dead vole. How long had he lay in the medicine cat den now? A week -- seven sun-highs, in Clan terms. It seemed that just about every other cat had given up hope, but the black apprentice had never given up on his brother. He knew that Stonepaw would come to and that they would both patrol BloodClan once more, together. He had been wrong. The last prickle of fear left Stormpaw as the scent of death greeted his nostrils. Stormpaw barely heard Redpool's last sentence of how he had died during the night as he crossed over to his brother's corpse. Stonepaw looked so peaceful. Neither brother had truly felt peace since they were kittypets, having to grow up far too quickly as they were abandoned to the world. Now, Stonepaw's features looked almost as if he was asleep, and Stormpaw was briefly reminded of when the two were kits, when they had slept in a pile together until one of the housefolk decided to play with them. The nostalgia hit hard... but not as hard as the fact that the two would never sleep in the same nest again. The fact that they would never hunt or patrol together again. That they would never receive their warrior names together. That honor was for Stormpaw alone now... and that truth hurt more than anything that could leave a tangible scar. Stormpaw laid his head down on his brother's side and allowed himself one last emotion before crawling into himself for a long time -- he allowed himself to weep.