"And so, we lay this young soul to rest," Brightsky said, his head bowed respectfully to the newly-filled grave before him. Once he'd finished, Frostpaw moved to stand from where she'd been crouching by the grave, having been pressing two fingers to the ground while her mentor spoke. Hollypaw noticed that the older girl's face was glistening in the light of the sunrise, where twin lines of wetness had made their way down her cheeks.
Frostpaw wasn't alone in her show of tears, of course. Hollypaw's own face felt the chill of the morning breeze as it met the hot tears that had been flowing down freely. It wasn't like she could help crying, and she honestly didn't care to at the moment. To her right, Darkcloud wept shamelessly, her face in her hands and her shoulders shaking violently. On her left, Sandpaw stood completely still, an unreadable expression on his face. But despite his lack of showing it, Hollypaw knew that he felt the same as her. They'd lost their brother, and the pain of that knowledge was unbearable.
Crowpaw had kept his word, having woken Hollypaw when it came time for the vigil. Despite feeling worn out and tired, Hollypaw had wasted no time in jumping to her feet and hurrying out to join in. She remembered being surprised by how peaceful her brother looked. Brightsky and Frostpaw had done a good job of making it look as if Patchpaw was simply asleep, going as far as placing him in his favored sleeping position. He'd been dressed in the skin of a small doe, made in a masculine fashion out of respect for his identity. A few sprigs of lavender had been braided into his light-colored hair, and Hollypaw detected the scent of rosemary and watermint along with the soothing smell of the purple plants.
Patchpaw's serene appearance was almost enough to distract Hollypaw from seeing the bruises that painted the boy's flesh. But as she knelt beside him in the moonlight, she couldn't ignore the evidence of the violence that her poor brother had endured. It seemed that the others around Patchpaw's body had the same predicament. Sandpaw had chosen to sit beside the boy's legs after taking one look at their brother's neck, and Darkcloud kept her head pressed to her hands as she gripped her kit's right arm. Hawkglare, in spite of all his distancing from Patchpaw, had joined his remaining family in mourning, quietly hovering over the body of his kit, his head bowed and eyes closed.
Perhaps the most notable thing about Patchpaw's vigil was Ripplespot. In spite of the obvious issues that they'd been having, it was clear that Ripplespot wasn't taking his partner's death very well at all. Hollypaw had watched as Ripplespot had gently caressed Patchpaw's cheeks, weaved his fingers through the boy's hair, and spoke to him in a soft voice. Even with Ripplespot speaking so quietly and his head being bowed over Patchpaw's, Hollypaw was close enough to hear a good amount of what he'd been saying.
"I'm so sorry, baby. I'm so sorry. Oh StarClan, why did I leave you alone? I'm so sorry."
"I'm gonna find out who did this to you, I promise. He isn't gonna get away."
"Look at you…don't worry…no one can hurt you now. No one, baby."
Those words were the ones that Hollypaw was able to make out clearly, out of all the rambling that Ripplespot had done. Despite what he said, Hollypaw couldn't help but feel some anger towards him. The more she thought about it, the more she wondered if her brother would still be alive if Ripplespot followed him instead of leaving Patchpaw in the forest. Even now, as she watched him stare at her brother's grave, she silently interrogated him. Why did he have to leave Patchpaw alone? How could he have let an argument lead to this? He was supposed to have loved Patchpaw, right? Then why…
As if he sensed Hollypaw's attention, Ripplespot looked up at her. His eyes were red from the tears he'd shed, and he had a worn look to him, as if he'd aged by five years in just one night. But Hollypaw couldn't find herself feeling much sympathy for that emotion-ravaged soldier. She was too busy glaring at him, trying to figure out just why he'd let such terrible things happen to her brother.
After looking over the body, Brightsky had confirmed that Patchpaw was strangled to death. Hollypaw couldn't imagine just how much suffering her littermate had endured with such an end, and she'd been completely horrified when she learned that that wasn't the only thing that Patchpaw had been forced to undergo. There was a reason for why her brother had been found bare of any coverings. Hollypaw had felt as if she might just vomit after learning just what that reason was, and her heart had ached as she realized that her brother had gone to StarClan with his innocence stolen. Patchpaw had told her that he wasn't planning to mate with Ripplespot until he became a soldier, so it was undeniable that his murderer had delivered one more insult by taking his maidenhead.
Hollypaw felt the fur of her tail stand on end as her anger towards Ripplespot increased. The young man seemed to grow tired of maintaining eye-contact with her, looking away as their clanmates began to disperse from around the grave. Meanwhile, Hollypaw's gaze was only torn from the soldier when she felt her brother's hand rest on her shoulder, and heard him speak in a calm voice.
"Come on," Sandpaw said, "We're going back now."
In spite of herself, Hollypaw decided to hold her tongue and allowed her littermate to guide her back into camp.
None too soon after Hollypaw had been set to work by Lavenderbreeze, she was approached by Crowpaw. The older apprentice had calmly sauntered over to her as she was assisting Cherrystep with some weaving, with Hollypaw only noticing him once he was standing over her. When she did realize that he was there, Hollypaw felt a rush of impatience, not wanting to put up with him so soon after burying her littermate.
She gave him a look with narrowed eyes and twitched her tail as she questioned, "What do you want?"
As if he hadn't even heard her, Crowpaw gave no acknowledgement to the question. Instead, he simply plopped down beside the two females, effectively catching them both off-guard. Cherrystep jumped back a bit, looking turning her wide eyes to Hollypaw, and then back to Crowpaw. The woman was obviously confused, and Hollypaw couldn't deny feeling the same. There was something off about Crowpaw's behavior.
With her confusion turning into irritation, Hollypaw asked in a low voice, "What are you doing?"
"This is for one of Willowpelt's kits, right? Get more moss, those two are used to it," Crowpaw commented, completely ignoring Hollypaw's question again.
Hollypaw's tail twitched again as her irritation grew, and she was about to snap at him, feeling that he had no right to order either of them around. Before she could, Cherrystep jumped up with a nervous smile on her face and said, "That's right! I completely forgot; Willowpelt does put a lot of moss in their nests, doesn't she? Don't worry, I'll get some more!"
With that, Cherrystep hurried away, turning only for a few heartbeats to give Hollypaw an apologetic glance. Hollypaw watched as the woman abandoned her, blinking in surprise. Once she fully processed what happened, Hollypaw turned and glared at Crowpaw.
"What's with you, scaring nekos away like that? And why are you here?" she hissed, promising herself that she'd slap him if he ignored her again.
Crowpaw didn't give an immediate reply. He was quiet for a moment before saying, "So you aren't ignoring me anymore, huh?"
Hollypaw's eyes widened upon hearing his words. She'd been completely caught off-guard, realizing that he was right as soon as he'd said it. With the death of her sibling, Hollypaw had forgotten all about ignoring the male. Her shock wore off quickly, however, and she immediately said the first thing that came to her mind.
"Yeah, and you're not mooning after Freckleshine anymore, aren't you?" she quipped.
Her words didn't seem to affect Crowpaw as much as his had affected her. His eyes widened for a second, but the look was gone so quickly that Hollypaw wasn't sure if what she'd actually seen it. He chuckled lightly and looked at her with a slight smirk, "As if I'd moon over that annoying woman."
"Wh-wha?" Hollypaw stuttered, blinking in confusion. Her reaction seemed to amuse Crowpaw, as he chuckled again before losing the smirk on his face, his expression becoming serious.
"Yesterday," he began, "You talked to Rowanpaw, right? What'd he tell you?"
Hollypaw blinked, not recalling what the boy was talking about for a moment. After a heartbeat or so, the memory of what Rowanpaw had said to her popped back into her head. Her icy eyes narrowed, and she turned away slightly, not sure as to why she should relay the words to Crowpaw. After all, she didn't want to take the chance of Crowpaw stopping her from meeting Rowanpaw, knowing very well that he didn't like the HeartClan apprentice.
"It doesn't have anything to do with you," Hollypaw replied snippily.
Crowpaw clicked his tongue, "Tsk, really? That sounds pretty suspicious. I wonder what the Heads would say if they knew that there was something going on between you and a HeartClanner."
With those words, Crowpaw began to stand, as if he was preparing to head over his leaders right then. Hollypaw watched him, trying to decide whether the older teen was being serious or not, which was pretty hard considering the fact that Crowpaw was so impossible to read. She wanted to believe that he was messing with her as usual, but part of her felt that he might actually go to the leaders. If he did actually go, then Crowpaw would be ruining her chances of getting information at her brother's murderer.
Realizing this, Hollypaw threw her hand out, latching onto Crowpaw's wrist, causing him to stop in his tracks. In a casual, almost smug way, Crowpaw turned and looked at her, his eyes hard and waiting. Just making eye-contact with him made Hollypaw realize that Crowpaw had been completely serious after all. It also made the floodgates of anger open, causing Hollypaw to grow heated at the knowledge that Crowpaw was practically blackmailing her.
"Fine," she said, not bothering to keep the annoyance out of her tone, "I'll tell you, okay? Just promise that you won't say anything to anyone."
A satisfied smirk found its way to Crowpaw's lips, which Hollypaw couldn't help but view as a show of arrogance. Turning fully towards her, Crowpaw sat right back down and said, "Of course."
That wasn't enough in Hollypaw's mind, and she gave him a hard look while holding out her hand. In a very serious tone, she told him, "Press-swear it."
With a chuckle, Crowpaw asked, "Isn't this kind of thing for kits?"
"Just do it," Hollypaw snapped, ignoring the flush of embarrassment that came to her cheeks as she acknowledged that this was a childish move.
Still chuckling, Crowpaw held out his own hand, pressing the pads of his fingers to hers. Somewhere in her mind, Hollypaw noticed that he was pushing her fingertips back slightly, although it didn't seem like he was pushing very hard at all. She looked him in the eye and asked him, "Will you tell?"
Crowpaw offered another press as he replied, "Wouldn't dream of it."
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A/N: Omg, I actually did it! I finished a chapter in just two days! This must be what they call evolution!
Fun-Fact: Out of all the characters that have been created, Crowpaw is the hardest to write, since his character is more complex than others.
Seriously though, I am so sorry for the immense hiatus that I've taken, and I can only hope that you guys will forgive me. I had this chapter ready way earlier, but then I accidentally deleted it while cleaning up my files. o(╥_╥)o
Any hoo~, I'm hoping to actually get off my procrastinating butt and get some real work done! Right now, this story is about to really pick-up, and I'm super excited about that. Especially with the arrival of two new characters coming soon!
"Origin" will hopefully be updated very soon. I'm going to start working on the new chapter as soon as this one is posted, so keep on the look-out for that! I also update the Drama Story a while ago, and I need new questions for the next chapter, so please head over there and help me out!
Guys, just a reminder, I really do like reviews and they're a big part of my motivation to continue these stories. I love getting feedback from you all, and it really lets me know that you're into what I'm writing. So please do give me a review, even if it's to mention something that you didn't like or wish would happen, because every single one keeps me working hard on these new chapters. With that said, I want to thank everyone who has reviewed so far. You guys are the reason that these stories have gotten where they are, and I really owe you a lot of gratitude. Once again, thanks!
Later, my lovelies~!
- Tina
