The Great Falling Out

Redpaw sat down in surprise and disbelief at the scene opening before her. Asterspark had been... hiding something? And something this harmful? She'd always wanted to believe that sibling relationships were perfect, not having any of her own; she'd always felt like she was a part of this family. Now, she knew that its happy facade had been a lie, and she was probably better off being the only kit of Firestone. But... what about Poppyheart? He was stuck with his brother, no matter what.

There was no way for her to interfere in this argument, and she wouldn't want to even if she could. She had no place to be here... all she'd wanted to do was cheer up the brothers. Now, she had to watch their relationship fall apart. She just sat in the marshes, feeling her paws sink into the mud below, trying to hide in her fur... wishing that she could just disappear.

"Great StarClan, Asterspark, do you not realize how big this is?" Poppyheart continued, ears folded back and tears threatening to break free. He had never felt so betrayed in all his life. "All my life up until this moment I never knew who my true mother was -- but you did! So why didn't you tell me?"

"I-I... I just wanted to protect you, okay?" Asterspark replied shakily, desperation to just get away causing him to become exasperated.

"Protect me from what?"

"From this existential crisis you're havin' right now! Look at yourself, bro, you're getting all kinds of worked up over who our true mother is! You're-You're seeing that Clan life isn't perfect, that there are so many secrets and lies hidden within each cat! I... I didn't want you to know how broken life was, that's all..." The bluish-gray tom looked down at his paws. Oh, great. Now that he was saying this all out loud, it really didn't sound as great a reason as he had initially thought it to be.

"You think I don't know how broken life is? Are you serious?" Asterspark's reasoning only seemed to enrage Poppyheart even more. "Need I remind you what happened to Sparkfeather? She died, Asterspark, remember?" He didn't even care that his brother flinched, and he ignored the timid mew pleading for him to stop. He just kept on going. "How about the time when Scorchstar returned to camp carrying Littlestar in his jaws, who was bleeding out all over the ground from being torn completely open by Lichenmask? Or the fact that one of our half-brothers is out on the loose killing and maiming innocent cats just for sport? You think I didn't know any of that?"

Asterspark didn't respond for many agonizingly long moments. "I... I just wanted to protect you, bro..."

"Yeah, well, you didn't. You caused far more harm than good by keeping this from me. And for the record, no, I'm most certainly not having an existential crisis over who my mother really is, I would've been able to recover from that knowledge fairly quickly. What I am upset over is how you lied to me and kept this secret from me for so long. Stars, Asterspark, you're such a mess, don't you know that? You sleep in all the time, you eat the best pieces of fresh-kill on the pile when they should really be going to the queens and elders, you hardly groom yourself, and to top it all off you have to be dragged out of your nest every single day to do something productive for the Clan so your Clanmates don't starve as we prepare for the arrival of leaf-bare, and even when I finally get you out into the marshes you find a way to put in the absolute minimum effort you can get away with! All because what, some cat in your life died?"

"Shut up!" Asterspark finally yowled, feeling the broken pieces of his heart starting to shatter into even smaller fragments. "Please!... Just... stop talking. I know I did wrong, okay? You don't need to beat me up over it."

"Well, if I don't, then who will?" Poppyheart glared angrily at his brother before finally huffing and turning his head away. "I need to be alone, Redpaw, just for a little. And as for you, Asterspark... I don't want anything more to do with you. I'm tired of all the fox dung you make me put up with." He shoved passed his brother and stalked away.

Eyes widening, Asterspark whipped around and yowled, "N-No, Poppyheart, wait--!" It was no use. His brother broke into a sprint as soon as he tried calling out to him. In a matter of seconds, he was hidden behind the pine trees.