Forever and Always

Snowfringe stretched his jaws in a massive yawn. Then as he blinked open his bleary eyes, he realized that he was the only one left in the den, and, judging by the short shadows stretching across the other nests, it had been for some time.

Quickly, he jumped to his paws, shook out his fur, and trotted over to the apprentice's den to finally take Sootpaw hunting–after scanning the clearing to check that he wasn't anywhere else. Likely, Brackenroot would have him help repair dens while he was stuck in camp. But, surprisingly, he wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Snowfringe had expected his energetic apprentice to be bouncing around the walls, clawing his nest to shreds in his impatience for Snowfringe to wake and take him training. Instead he slept, his eyes closed and body twitching in a restless sleep.

"Snowfringe...Snow..." he was mumbling.

Guilt pricked at Snowfringe's heart. Sootpaw must have given up on waiting, and went to sleep where he could at least dream of training.

"Hey," he spoke softly.

Sootpaw made a whimper-like murmur in response.

"Wake up," Snowfringe said, louder this time.

Sootpaw's eyes blinked slowly open. Flicking to Snowfringe standing in the entrance, they shot open, and his head snapped up so quickly, Snowfringe thought for a moment that he would crack his neck. Concern pricked at Snowfringe's pelt. Sootpaw had been sleeping in, but that hardly explained how dark his eyes were, as though shadowed by a cloud of sorrow. Heavy bags rested under his eyes. Perhaps he wasn't sleeping in because he had given up on his chance to train today, perhaps he was sick.

"Are you okay?" Snowfringe asked, stepping closer and sniffing along Sootpaw's pelt. Sootpaw didn't react, only lay completely still, every hair as frozen as a cautious mouse.

"You're here." The words came so weak and hoarsely, Snowfringe wasn't sure that he had heard them right.

"Sorry, I slept in," Snowfringe explained. "We can go training if you want, but you don't seem well."

"I don't seem well?" Did the words sound harsh? Perhaps Snowfringe deserved that.

"I–"

"Are you really here?" Sootpaw asked suddenly, erasing whatever thing Snowfringe had planned to say and causing his mind to go blank in his confusion.

"Of course I'm here!" Maybe Sootpaw had had a nightmare that he was still recovering from. Nightmares in the day were typically more frightening. He settled next to the nest. Whatever Sootpaw's reason for being so....off, Snowfringe knew how isolated an apprentice could feel at times, and he wanted to assure the young tom that Snowfringe would always lend an ear and paw. "Forever and always."

The words finally seemed to break through the fog Sootpaw was under, and he sprang to his paws, practically leaping to his mentor's side and pressing his face into Snowfringe's ginger-and-white fur, purring loudly. "Please don't leave," he wept.

Alarmed, Snowfringed curled around him. "I won't. Forever and always," he repeated. "I will be with you forever and always."