I have joined the 1oo Oneshot challenge by Prin Pardus, and this is my first entry. I don't particularly like the way it turned out, but someone might like it. I think.

*Warning* contains major Sunrise spoilers.

It wasn't fair. What had he done? What had he done to deserve this injustice, these lies? He thought that he had been perfect…no, beyond perfect. But it had still happened. He knows that perhaps…something could have been done to prevent this nightmare. He couldn't say that was destined to happen.

He had seen the signs.

Her emerald eyes clouded with guilt every time their eyes met, and when asked, she denied that something was wrong. But he knew that something was, he knew her all too well. He could tell that something was prickling under her ginger pelt, causing her anxiety whenever she moved. But what was it? She refused to tell him. He had tried asking Leafpool, her sister, but the pretty medicine cat knew nothing, only looked at him with a wide-eyed amber look that said 'I was going to ask you!'. And he knew that she wasn't lying. He would know if she had done so. Since neither of them would talk, he gave up, assuming that it was just some sort of a phase Squirrelflight was going through, assuming that it was nothing and she'd be back to normal.

But had he just tried harder, pressed harder, surely he would have gotten answers. He could have helped her. But she had to let these lies fester in their daughter's heart-no, wait, Hollyleaf doesn't belong to him now. She is not related to him, nor are her two brothers. What a shame. He had loved them so.

He stares up at Hollyleaf from where she is standing. He cannot decipher the look that's on her ebony face. Or can he. Is it hurt? Or is it anger? But no…it's neither. He gives up, and stands in the silence.

Turning to Squirrelflight, feeling the rage and hurt that wells up in him. Normally, he would suppress it, choking it down. But this time, he lets it flow through him, giving fuel to his words. He hardly realizes as they tumble out of his mouth, lashing out at the cat who he thought meant everything to him. The words sting and poke his conscience, but that's nothing to the visible effect they have on his love. They rip at her soul, tearing at her heart, and wounding her. She calls back, pleading, but he is deaf.

Brambleclaw turns, and stalks away.

The suns that pass go unnoticed by him. The rage that he thought he would never feel overwhelms him, making him snap at the others when they try to offer their sympathies. They back off, realizing that it's futile. There is nothing they can do to comfort the dark tabby. He and Squirrelflight don't talk, but he can always feel her sorrowful gaze on his pelt, not matter how far away she is from him. It bothers him, and he makes sure to take as many solo patrols out into the forest as possible to rid himself of the effect she's having on his conscience.

Why didn't she trust him? Did she think that he would ever tell? He would have been glad to accept the three as his own, and would have loved them all the same. Was it because of Hawkfrost? He had never told her that he had been forced to kill his treacherous half-brother…perhaps he should have.

She would have seen that his loyalties lay with her and ThunderClan, and was not being swayed by his deceased father. But was she still under this false impression? He had seen how upset she had been when Ashfur was discovered dead that one evening…was she still in love with him? After she had apparently chosen Brambleclaw over the stifling grey warrior? Had she decided that Ashfur was the most loyal, and would defend her if Brambleclaw suddenly turned evil?

It was a disturbing thought. A most disturbing thought.

At that instant, he felt a surge of hatred for Tigerstar. His father's legacy kept dragging him down, preventing his Clanmate's trust for the longest time, causing Firestar to be suspicious of him, and now it had corrupted his family...

But he went on, stuffing the thoughts to the back of his mind, deciding to forget, if only for the moment.

After the days flew past, his anger dwindled. But he still kept Squirrelflight at a distance-and icy distance. He was even more thankful that he was in control of the patrolling schedule, for this meant he could keep certaincats away from him withouthardly even trying. It helped him focus on what was happening in the Clan, and prevented him on dwelling on certain lies.

However, as he became attuned to the murmurs of the Clan and of the gossip that flew about it like wildfire, he heard that Squirrelflight was not the bright, cheerful cat that she once was. She was not eating, and was constantly brooding. She suffered the contemputous and hurt glares of her nephews, and the guilt of loosing her neice. And it needled his conscience. He could make this all right again by forgiving her, telling her that he accepted her silent apologies.

He refused. Somethings could not be forgiven. Could never be forgiven. And he bought into this vein of thought for a while, until she spoke to him.

It is a quiet evening in the ThunderClan camp. The winter sun is setting over the horizon, and it's dim light hightlights the snowflakes that fall, ever so carefully to the ground. They swirl in the mild breeze, and float on top of Brambleclaw's striped head. He shakes them off, and then resumes his attention to the camp entrance. He is on guard tonight. He is so focused on his task, that he does nto notice when a quiet shadow slinks up to him. He flinches as it taps his shoulder.

"Brambleclaw?" she mews as the deputy turns to face the medicinecat-turned-warrior; Leafpool. Her amber eyes are narrowed, ever so slightly, and her tail-tip twitches in unease.

"Leafpool," he says in return, dipping his head.

They sit there for a while as the sun fades.

"Brambleclaw, I need to talk to you."

"If it's about her, then I don't want to-"

"You need to hear this, Brambleclaw!"

He looks her in the eyes, a little taken back by the blaze in her voice. She takes his silence as an oppertunity.

"You don't seem to see what you've done."

"You don't seem to see what she's done." he retorts, looking away. He knows very well as to what he had done, but he is never going to admit it to anyone, let alone Squirrelflight's sister!

"Don't you see? She's miserable without you, miserable with what she's done. She thought she should hide the truth from you-it was for the best. We didn't know if you would be happy with...what I did, so there was reason to-"

"-To what? Lie to me? To create this whole masquarade, where everyone knows everything but me? Couldn't she trust me? I could have hidden the secret...perhaps even better than you two did." he lets all of his frustration and anger pour out into his voice, and even though she isn't Jayfeather, Leafpool flinches. But she cannot hear the hidden longing and remorse in his voice, and even she cannot see the love in his slanted amber eyes. "This entire...fiasco cost me my mate, my kits-no, they're not mine any more... and they'll never be. The four of them will never return to me..."

His voice breaks as a lump in his throat swells.

Leafpool lays her tail on his flank in an attempt to comfort Brambleclaw as he tries to stop sobbing like this, because it's not good to show such weakness in front of someone...it sounds like something Tigerstar would say...

"But they can return," Leafpool whispered in his ear. "You just have to let them..."

Brambleclaw knew that they wouldn't. Or rather, couldn't. Not just because Hollyleaf died, or because Jayfeather was crumbling underneath his new responsibilities as the Clan sole medicinecat, but because of his pride. His pride would not let him even speak to Squirrelflight, let alone reconcile with her. His injured pride would not let him.

a/n;; _

...bleh, that took so long to write, and I don't really like it, either...I think the next one will be a bit better. I can think of a lot of circumstances that would go with the prompt 'Sinking'.