Thanks you my beta: Midnight Canine. You are a lifesaver, bro. Seriously.

Written for the TLC monthly challenge.

Prompt: There are two kinds of evil cats in this world: those who commit evil acts and those who see evil but do nothing to stop it.

Disclaimer: Warriors doesn't belong to me.

Graypaw stayed hidden in the tree, watching Whitepaw torment a young mouse. He stared at the poor thing, almost hidden beneath the brown leaves it tried to tunnel under. Sighing, Graypaw looked around at the forest underneath. The ground was covered in leaves that the trees were starting to shed off.

"Stop playing with your food, brother," A glimmer of horror flashed through Graypaw's narrowed eyes. He looked sick at what Whitepaw was doing.

Whitepaw rolled his eyes and continued playing with the mouse, "It's prey, Graypaw. You must have a mouse for brains if you really care that much,"

Graypaw growled a little and watched, horrified when the mouse gave a final squeak before moving no more. "Would you look at that?" Whitepaw stared at the mouse, his tail swishing with amusement. "The poor little thing died." He picked the mouse up and mumbled to Graypaw. "Let's go back to camp then. We have to report back to mother dear. Then we can dump this silly little prey and go torment some kits."

Graypaw reluctantly followed Whitepaw back to camp. All his life, Whitepaw was his brother. Always the bossy one, always telling him what to do. It didn't really matter to him, since he was the little brother. But one day he wished that he had the guts to stand up and do something.

Leafstar stood on Highledge, looking as noble as she did several moons ago. The only sign of aging was the small amount of white fur growing along her ears. "I, Leafstar of LeafClan call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. He has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend him to you as a warrior in his turn. Graypaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your life?"

Graypaw's heart beat too fast, thumping in his chest. He was sure everyone could hear the beat of it. Finally he was getting his warrior name. No more did he have to stand Whitepaw, no, Whitestripe's, mocking words, "I do."

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name; Graypaw, from this moment you will be known as Graywhisker. StarClan honours your silent paws and your uncanny ability to deduce the world around you using your whiskers, and we welcome you as a full warrior of LeafClan."

Leafstar stepped forward and rested her muzzle on the new warrior's bowed head while Graywhisker respectfully licked his leader's shoulder. He was embarrassed of it, but Greywhisker realised that his grey coloured pelt was still sticking up with excitement. He knew that Leafstar could see it, as she let out a low chuckle.

"Graywhisker! Graywhisker!" The Clan chanted his name and he stood there, proud to sit vigil until dawn. After the congratulations died down, and the cats left one by one, only Whitestripe remained with his brother, the proud new LeafClan warrior.

"Looks like you finally made it to the ranks of the big toms, little brother!"

Graywhisker's amber eyes glowed with happiness, "I have to stand vigil here until sunrise. I'll talk to you later,"

Whitestripe let out a mrrow of laughter, and nudged Greywhisker's shoulder,"Graypaw, you don't have to stand there all night. Just come with me. Come on, play!"

Graywhisker hissed his annoyance, "My name is Graywhisker now!" He stiffly sat at his post. "And I will stand vigil here. And I will remain awake." He snorted softly remembering waking up Whitestripe several times during the night when he had made Graywhisker sit there with him.

Whitestripe's eyes flashed angrily, "I'm sorry, Graywhisker." He walked stiffly back into the warrior's den and Graywhisker breathed a sigh of relief, but Greywhisker could still feel an ominous gaze settled on his back from the shadowed entrance of the warrior's den. He looked up at the sky and prayed to StarClan to give him patience and strength.

Graywhisker had come back from hunting and watched as Whitestripe left the leader's den. "Hey, Whitestripe. What are you doing in the leader's den?"

Whitestripe yowled angrily at Graywhisker, "Did you know what that mouse-brained old cat said to me?" Whitestripe prowled away from the camp, hiding them from view from the rest of the cats and brought his voice level down to a hiss, "I asked that cat to be a leader. Perfectly reasonable don't you think? No other cat is as capable as I am!"

Graywhisker looked at Whitestripe blankly. He wasn't serious...was he?

"She refused! She refused me!" Whitestripe paced the ground agitatedly. "I'm going to make her pay. Somehow, I'm going to be LeafClan's new leader! Whitestar... Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

"She's the leader! Whitestripe, you can't do this! If you really want to be leader, talk to Leafstar. She'll-" Graywhisker hissed in pain.
Whitestripe had clawed Graywhisker's face with his thorn-sharp claws, "Don't talk to me about that mouse-brained idiot. I will be leader soon!" Whitestripe settled down and his eyes glinted madly, "Don't worry Graywhisker, I'll make you deputy. But remember, a deputy must always listen to his leader!" With that said, he walked off towards camp.

Graywhisker stared at Whitestripe's retreating form. Thoughts flew all across his mind...he was shocked, why in the name of StarClan would his littermate want to kill the leader? Undecided between doing what was good or the power of deputy, he prayed to StarClan for guidance.

"Graywhisker!"

Graywhisker started from his sleep. Blinking sleepily he yawned, "Whitestripe? What do you want...?"

"Come outside," Whitestripe hissed.

"But..." Graywhisker yawned again. "It's the middle of the night!" However, he yowled a little in pain when Whitestripe bit his ear. "Okay, I'm coming..."

He followed Whitestripe outside, near Highledge, before questioning, "What do you want?"

Whitestripe paced around excitedly, "Doesn't Highledge look good?" Suddenly, he leapt on top of it and his eyes flashed in the pale moonlight, "Don't I look good on it?"

"Whitestripe! Get down!" Graywhisker hissed loudly, looking around.

Whitestripe flicked his tail in amusement, "Don't worry, everyone's asleep. I made sure of that,"

Graywhisker picked up on his last sentence and he looked terrified, "What did you do?"

"I may have put a little something in the prey,"

Graywhisker's jaw dropped; he was incredulous, "Whitestripe..."

"What? Don't you want to be a deputy? You can't get anywhere with power if you just stick to your mouse-brained ways!" Whitestripe batted at Graywhisker's gentle ears, "When I become leader, I promise to make you into my deputy!"

"You're not going to become leader though..." Graywhisker had a terrible suspicion about what Whitestripe was going to tell him.

Whitestripe chuckled lowly, "Of course I'm going to become leader. Just you wait Graywhisker...wait for my, and your, good news."

After Whitestripe had walked away, Graywhisker walked up to the mouth of the leader's den. He paced back and forth tensely. Sure he wanted to be a deputy, which cat didn't? But killing Leafstar? That wasn't the way to go. Or was it?

StarClan help me...

He paced there until dawn light washed over the earth, and a pink sun began to lift itself shyly into the pale blue sky.

"Graywhisker?" the surprised voice of the still beautiful she-cat, Leafstar, startled him.

Graywhisker jumped. "Oh, Leafstar..."

"What are you doing in front of my den for?" Leafstar looked amused at the seemingly frustrated new warrior.

Graywhisker opened his mouth to speak before he shut it again. Whitestripe was his littermate. He couldn't betray his brother like that. But this was Leafstar, his Clan leader. Who to choose? He closed his eyes for a minute, and then came to a decision; he just mumbled an apology and walked off.

Graywhisker spotted Whitestripe going in and out of the leader's den over the next few days. Feeling guilty, he did nothing but watch. His courage often spiked but plummeted the second he got anywhere near the leader's den.

Soon, the whispers started.

"I heard that Leafstar is sick..."

"Wasn't she perfectly healthy a moon ago? How can she be sick in such a short period of time?"

"Apparently, it could be death-berries..."

"Then the medicine cat can do nothing, until they find the cat who did it."

Graywhisker's shame mounted. He paced along the front of the leader's den again, praying to StarClan to give him the courage of the far-away cats from the forest Clans. Taking a deep breath, he walked into the den. Immediately, his eyes were riveted onto the pale looking body of Leafstar. He almost collapsed due to his self-reproach.

"Leafstar!" He mewed, padding close to her and lying on his stomach, head on his paws. "I'm sorry!"

Leafstar slowly turned her head towards the warrior, "What are you sorry for Graywhisker? All cats die. Not even StarClan can stop it,"

"I could've stopped it!" Graywhisker wailed.

"Shh, Graywhisker..." Leafstar comforted the distraught warrior, "It'll be okay. Just take a deep breath and tell me what's happened,"

Stumbling and mumbling, Graywhisker poured out the entire sordid tale of Whitestripe. At the end, the entire den was silent.

Leafstar sighed, "I thought something was strange with Whitestripe when he came in every day. He said that they were from the medicine cat... looks like he was trying to get my position after all,"

Graywhisker stared at the ground with his head held down by shame. His eyes were filled with misery because of his cowardly personality. He might've been able to stop it, but it was too late now.

"Brother?" A voice called out from the den and Graywhisker whipped around to find himself staring at Whitestripe who was standing there with some plants by his front paws.

Whitestripe's eyes narrowed as he found Graywhisker's gaze and he hissed, "You mouse-brained idiot! You couldn't keep your mouth shut, could you?" Whitestripe snarled menacingly, showing jagged fangs, "But it's okay. I'll forgive you if you come over here right now! Leafstar won't survive to see nightfall. I'll make you my very own deputy, dear brother. Then we can forget about all of this,"

Fury boiled inside of Graywhisker's heart, and he took one step forward. "I won't let you behave like a traitor, anymore. Leafstar is our Clan leader. You must not try to kill her!"

"You're going to try to stop me brother?" Whitestripe growled, stepping closer and closer to Graywhisker, "I'd like to see you try." It was then that he leapt, paws out-stretched with his claws un-sheathed.

Graywhisker knew that Whitestripe would do that. He was his littermate, after all. Keeping a defensive stance in front of Leafstar, Graywhisker lifted a paw with claws unsheathed into Whitestripe's tender chin as the tom dove straight at him. He felt sad, sad that he had to face his brother like this, but he had written his own deathbed in the stars when he wanted to poison Leafstar.

Whitestripe howled in pain and jumped back. Narrowing his eyes until they were just tiny blue slits, he attacked yet again. Graywhisker moved a little to one side to try and dodge the incoming attack but he realised too late that Whitestripe had actually performed a feint. He came face to face with an angry warrior before he let out a painful shriek. Whitestripe had sunk his claws into his cheek. He clawed at Whitestripe but Whitestripe didn't let go.

"What's going on?"

Amidst all the fighting, the yowling and the hissing, they had managed to wake up the entire clan. Whitestripe snarled his frustration before letting go of Graywhisker's face and tearing a path into the forest where he vanished.

Leafstar coughed weakly, her green eyes wide, "Is he gone?"

Graywhisker stood still, blood running down his face. "I don't think so... He'll be back, I'm sure of it. Until then, we shall protect LeafClan."

So…

What do you think? Leave some love!