My Dear Brother [[Open]]

Willowbreeze was taking a much needed walk while the other queens were watching her kits. They're a handful She thought laughing quietly to herself. She was padding along the river, enjoying the sound of the water rushing around rocks and pebbles, when she decided to trek to Fourtrees. It was usually very calming and peaceful this time of day and it was where she met her mate, Muddyfang. She padded across the stepping stones and the rest of the way to Fourtrees when she smelled blood. Her hair stood on end and she quietly padded into the clearing, seeing a familiar brown tabby pelt, but something was different.. something was.. wrong. She raced toward her brother, Toadclaw, and let out a piercing wail of grief as she realized he was dead. "Oh StarClan no!" She yowled to the sky, "Why?! Why him!? Why not any Dark Forest follower!? He was loyal to you!" She wailed as she buried her head into his fur. Tears were streaming down her face and she attempted to pick him up as best she could and dragged him all the way back to camp. On the way there her heart and mind were racing. She was worried about how her little sister, Tawnypaw, and their mother were going to take this, and she wished desperately she could shield them from this pain, but she knew it was inevitable.

She finally padded into camp, chest heaving from the effort of dragging her dead brother all the way from Fourtrees, and layed him down gently in the middle of the camp. She let out another wail of grief as the realization that she would never have another conversation with her brother again until she died too, finally hit her. She collapsed next to him, her head buried in his fur, as a sob escaped her lips.

Tawnypaw glanced over, her neutral expression turning into one of despair the moment she saw it. Faster than lightning, she ran over, collapsing into her brother's fur alongside her sister, tears in her eyes. She let out a cry of sadness, remembering all the things they'd done together. How she'd never talk to him again until she died. He was gone. Why him? Why not Morningstar or some Dark Forest loyalist? Was he killed by one of them? She didn't know, but she was angry. Sad. Doubtful. In despair. Her emotions were jumbled, and she didn't know.

"Willowbreeze......" she whispered quietly to her sister, through tears.

Toadclaw's dead body laid there, he still had his hate for the pair who was there for his death. His dead fur blowing through the gentle wind.

The scent of blood alerted the blind warrior of what had happened far before the corpse entered camp. Fogheart stood at the entrance to solemnly greet them. The occurrence of blood and death were so familiar to her now that it would have been repulsive, but the Dark Forest had molded her into an almost unfeeling husk. However, something struck her now. This was her nephew, dead, bloodied on the ground, not some trespasser she could dissociate herself from. This was Ivyfall's son. The warrior folded her ears back to block out the cries of the sisters and stood there, head bowed slightly in respect for the dead warrior before her. "Toadclaw was tough. Whatever happened, it wasn't a fair fight. He would've won if it was." That was her way of expressing her loss. "Riverclan'll miss him."

Otterkit peeked from the nursery, she slowly emerged, her mind pondering about who the warrior was. She was still pretty new to RiverClan and didn't really know too much about anybody, but she did realize a few seconds later that this was Toadclaw, the son of RiverClan's loyal Dark Forest deputy, Ivyfall. She had heard a thing or two about him, thinking she probably would be able to take his place, but maybe not have such of an attitude he did, she would be lead on another path to a different personality. She didn't know what future she had but death never took her way to far, only her father and mothers...After that, death meant nothing, she still couldn't get over the fact that her father and mother had died so early in her newly born life. She slowly moved slower to the dead warrior, she didn't know much about him - mentioning again - but she knew it would be better if she just stood there, to just carefully and quietly mourn. She wasn't so close to him so she felt like it would be wrong to stay the night with him. She sat down slowly, her sleek brown body almost blending her into the brown dirt spot of RiverClan camp.

Willowbreeze sniffled as she raised her head as her sister came over and she nodded knowingly just what she was feeling. She wrapped he tail around Tawnypaws shoulders, tightly, to comodort her, but also to comfort herself. Ill never let anything happen to you. She thought determinedly. She didn't turn around as Fogheart spoke, too overwhelmed to actually process anymore information. Her mind was still racing and tears still streamed down her face. She looked around as others gathered, but ignored them, for once not caring what others thought of her, as she buried her head into her sisters fur.

Tawnypaw wrapped her tail around her sister's too, her head falling on Willowbreeze's fur, her tears still streaming down her face. She thought back to that night when she was a kit, they went looking for Wolfkit together in the middle of the night. How they'd gone on so many patrols together. He had kits now too and he'd never see them grow up, and with StarClan missing, she truly had no idea where he was. She ignored the others crowding around, her mind, like her sister's, racing, too overwhelmed with clouded sadness.

" At least....at least we still have each other......" she whispered quietly, choking through tears.

Ivyfall entered the camp with the fur on the back of her neck raised at the overwhelming scent of blood that permeated the clearing. Someone was dying or dead, more likely the former from the heavy scent of decay that had started to set in. 'Don't be one of mine, please don't be one of mine,' the former deputy plead, digging her claws into the earth at the entrance, afraid to take another step further.

Willowbreeze, Tawnypaw and Fogheart were all gathered together, trying to comfort each other through the pain. That was when she was certain, her family had lost another. Legs trembling, she walked over to look over at who it was. She tried to think who it could be. Frostfall or Toadclaw, they were the only ones she couldn't see. She didn't know what would be worse.

...It was Toadclaw.

"Who... Who did this...?" The silver she-cat growled lowly, her voice shaking with unbridled rage. He was torn up, this was no border scuffle gone wrong. This was murder. She didn't betray everything she believed, prostrate herself before the Dark Forest to lose more of her family. She'd given up for them. Why did this happen? Who dared to do this?