**a/n: For the monthly writing challenge at LawlClan. The prompt was a picture linked in an LC thread. Special uber-mega-epic thanks to Crane (Samus of the Cranes) for beta-ing this and making it so much better than it started off. Hope you guys enjoy this, I had a lot of fun writing it!**
Dawnpaw's claws dug into the mossy dirt as she sped through the thickly wooded territory, a bundle of herbs clutched in her jaws. Graywhisker, her mentor and the WindClan medicine cat, kept pace with the young cat's frantic scrabbling, setting a quick, seasoned lope that carried the heavyset tom quickly over the mud and tree roots. How does ThunderClan do this? Dawnpaw grumbled inwardly as her claw snagged a creeping vine and sent her sprawling, coating her pale cream pelt in mud and dirtying the herbs in her mouth.
Graywhisker stopped with a sigh and hoisted her back up by the scruff of her neck. "Be more careful, Dawnpaw," he told her gently. "Those herbs are useless now."
The young she-cat dumped the torn, muddy leaves on the ground, glad to rid her taste buds of their pungent taste, and continued after her mentor, growing ever closer to the distant screams of battling cats. ThunderClan had tried to take WindClan's herb-filled patch of woods at the edge of their territory one too many times. Quailstar had decided the previous night that it was time to show ThunderClan that WindClan was strong and wouldn't settle for the constant pestering and border debates. Dawnpaw's brother, Cricketpaw, had been one of the three apprentices chosen to accompany the warriors in the patrol. As if Dawnpaw didn't have enough to worry about with her brother- she had a lot to worry about, keeping him safe since their parents had died- now she had to protect him from seasoned warriors from halfway across the territory!
Graywhisker gave her a nudge from behind, sending her stumbling forward until she regained her footing and could settle down into a gallop alongside her mentor. Without the bitter taste of the herbs clouding her senses, she could almost enjoy the run and forget how many lives were at stake. The late-afternoon sunlight slanted through the trees, casting dappled patterns in golden hues on the mossy forest floor. A light Greenleaf rain had begun to fall, scattering crystalline droplets through the air like a million tiny stars. The beauty of it all was disturbed, though, by the fact that Dawnpaw knew somewhere out in the forest, cats were fighting and dying over a tiny piece of territory. It darkened the sun and sent a shiver up her spine. The rain fell a little harder, running off her pelt in rivulets and leaving clean trails through the mud from her fall.
With a squeak of surprise Dawnpaw almost crashed into Graywhisker, who had stopped without her knowledge as she allowed her mind to wander, something she had been warned time and time again that a medicine cat must never do, because those precious heartbeats could be the difference between life and death for an injured cat. It took a moment to register why the dark gray tom had stopped, and then she heard it. In the woods, not far ahead, a piercing shriek echoed through the air, carrying on and on without any stop for breath. And then suddenly, it was cut off. Graywhisker snarled, amber eyes lighting up as he recognized the screams of a critically injured cat. "Come on," he told her, and set off at a sprint surprisingly fast for one of his weight.
Dawnpaw raced after him, her heart in her throat and her legs quivering. She had recognized Cricketpaw's scream the instant it had reached her ears. StarClan, keep him safe, she prayed silently, closing her blue eyes for an instant and then flinging herself forward with newfound strength at the thought of her brother's peril.
The scent of blood reached her attention and she stopped at the edge of a rise. The fight had been carried deep into ThunderClan's woods, far away from the territory actually being fought over. As Dawnpaw dug her claws into the muddy earth to prevent herself from slipping over the edge and into the middle of the fight, she surveyed the cats wildly, trying to discern which side was winning, but also focusing equally on finding Cricketpaw's thin, brown tabby frame amongst the heaving mass of cats.
Graywhisker had already slid down the slope to treat Petalwing, a pale she-cat who lay at the edge of the fight, gasping with deep claw scratches down her side. Dawnpaw shivered at the knowledge that she would have to go down there to help her mentor and her Clan, but reminded herself, I'm a medicine cat. They can't hurt me. The thought calmed her a little, and she slid down to join Graywhisker, who had finished applying several poultices to Petalwing and had gently dragged her out of the fray, where she lay, curled stiffly, in a bed of ferns.
When Graywhisker caught sight of his apprentice, he tossed her a few herbs. "Go," he told her, "find your brother."
Dawnpaw picked up the leaves thankfully and raced off, guided by the faint trace of Cricketpaw's scent. All around her, ThunderClan cats and WindClan cats fought ferociously, tearing at each other with thorn-sharp claws and teeth, but turned a blind eye to the slim cream she-cat who wound amongst them, searching for her brother. When she found a stronger trace of scent, she was led towards the thick trunk of an oak. As she cautiously prepared to go around and see what lay on the other side, a well-muscled, tawny ThunderClan tom wound around the trunk and bared his teeth at her, but jumped back into the fight without hesitation. Dawnpaw, trembling violently, forced her paws to take one… two… three steps around.
Her paws almost slid out from under her in the bloody mud puddle surrounding the limp, frail-looking body. "No…" she whispered. Cricketpaw's throat had been slit in a bright red x, and his breathing was faint and shallow. His pale olive eyes flickered open when she placed a paw on his chest, and he whimpered.
"Dawnpaw?" He coughed quietly, a spasm wracking his tiny frame.
"I'm here." Dawnpaw ripped a piece of sodden moss from the ground and pressed it to his throat, but she knew it wouldn't be any use. Cricketpaw lay in the mud, the life slowly fading from him, each breath fainter than the last. And yet, he kept his eyes open, flickering with pain and terror.
"I'm afraid to die," he whispered to her. "I don't want to die."
Dawnpaw swallowed back her sob and crouched next to Cricketpaw, trembling. "It's okay, it'll be okay. Stay calm. I'll heal you. Don't die. Please, don't die." She was shaking like a leaf, staring down at her brother and willing herself to believe that he would be okay.
Cricketpaw closed his eyes, letting out a faint sigh. He was dead, and Dawnpaw couldn't do anything about it. She could do little more than bury her nose in his fur, oblivious to the ferocious battle that still raged or the rain that still fell or the breeze that still blew, because in her mind, everything had stopped. Little Cricketpaw… Little Cricketpaw, always the first to share his catch with the elders, always eager to listen to their tales alongside the kits, always willing to watch the kits when the queens needed to get out of camp for a while… Little Cricketpaw, the sweetest tom in the Clan, gone at the claws of an enemy warrior, never to come back. ThunderClan stole him from me, she thought to herself, claws digging into the dirt. No. StarClan did. They could have saved him! Dawnpaw buried her face deeper into his fur, but was startled out of her silent anger by a tiny, choked noise.
She raised her face to see a small, pale gray she-cat with a bundle of herbs in her mouth, green eyes shining with shock and horror. Dawnpaw recognized her as the new ThunderClan medicine apprentice, Silverpaw. "I-" she stammered, backing up. "I'm so sorry. Is he… your brother?"
Dawnpaw buried her nose back into her brother's cold fur. "Leave us alone. Your Clan's done enough damage already." As the petite Silverpaw crouched over Cricketpaw's still body, Dawnpaw gave a warning hiss, and then growled, "Get away!" as her temper snapped. Losing Cricketpaw… He was the only family she had left. Now, she was alone. With a swipe, she scratched the medicine cat's cheek only enough to sting for a moment and turned tail, running from the scene, from her brother's last breath, from the cats that had killed him. StarClan had taken her brother from her. No, it was worse. They had taken everything from her. Her parents had been first, killed by greencough, and now her brother was dead at the claws of a warrior. Dawnpaw ran blindly, the rain clouding her vision and running through her fur in rivulets, but still, she ran, on and on, until she reached the Moonpool as dusk fell. Without waiting for the moon to rise, she thrust her nose at the crystal-clear surface of the water and was plunged into dream.
The moment she woke in StarClan's forest, Dawnpaw leapt to her feet, glaring daggers at the group of cats who surrounded her. All were maddeningly calm, starlight glimmering at their paws as they regarded her with silence, waiting for her to make the first move.
"I hate you!" she screamed at them. "Cricketpaw was all I had left! You had to take him from me, didn't you? Why? What did I ever do? I don't deserve this, he doesn't deserve this! Why?" She collapsed to the ground, sobbing. She felt as if she were broken, two pieces of her lost forever- one for Cricketpaw, doomed to die, never to walk beside her again, and one for StarClan. "You've destroyed my faith in you."
All her life, she had known StarClan to be proud, kind cats. She had never dreamed they would take someone as young and innocent as Cricketpaw. That rational part of her mind was telling her to calm down and think about what she was doing, but the rest of her consciousness was overcome in a haze of anger, betrayal and sadness. All her family had been taken by StarClan. There was nothing for her to believe in anymore.
The sheer agony of the revalation that StarClan no longer meant anything to her ripped her from the dream, and she stood, shivering, to discover that it was almost moonhigh. Dawnpaw was glad to know she was alone here. With a grimace, Dawnpaw curled her claws out and stalked out of the hollow- not the way she had came, instead clambering over the rocks at the back and starting up the mountain. All her faith destroyed, she could no longer be a medicine cat. No longer a Clan cat. There was nothing left for her, was there? As Dawnpaw padded away from everything she knew, she never looked back. She had always been told she knew how to make her own decisions- Well, she could certainly make this one for herself. Life as a loner was better than life as a non-faithful medicine cat, bound by a code to the ancient warriors who had taken her brother's life. Good-bye, Cricketpaw, she thought. You are the only one I'll truly miss.
**a/n: Please drop a review, I'm anxious to know what you guys think :D Thanks for reading!**