When Darkness Whispers

Chapter 8

The next few days had been terrible. Silverpaw was restless at night and to tired to do anything during the day. The grief from Lightpaw's death had settled down inside Silverpaw making her life miserable. Everywhere Silverpaw went she thought about her sister. When she looked at trout she remembered Lightpaw saying that the fish was her favorite prey. Silverpaw thought of Lightpaw when she lapped water, remembering the water fights they had together as young apprentices.

Silverpaw never would have thought that she would become a warrior alone. The thought made Silverpaw want to stay an apprentice forever and never receive her warrior name without Lightpaw. We had our whole lives planned out. Silverpaw thought. Lightpaw was all about finding a mate and having kits, while Silverpaw only wanted that later in life. Silverpaw and Lightpaw wanted to become leader and deputy one day. But now that would never happen. Silverpaw would live the rest of her life without her sister.

Silverpaw was currently laying in the apprentices den. Her nest was getting old and was beginning to smell. Lightpaw's nest was still inside the den. Silverpaw had stopped Tidepaw and Hoppaw from clearing it multiple times. She just couldn't let go.

"Silverpaw?" Berrywhisker entered the den and narrowed her eyes in the darkness. "Silverpaw I-I'm sorry for you. But you-" Silverpaw cut her off. "Your words mean nothing Berrywhisker. You don't care about anything but you and Mudpebble now, and you know it." Berrywhisker shuffled her paws uncomfortably. "Well...that's not completely true, I do want to be with you it's just..." Silverpaw sniffed and glared at her old friend. "It's just what, you like Mudpebble more? You are to busy nuzzling him and hanging out together?" Berrywhisker sighed and hung her head. "Yeah, that's what I thought." Silverpaw growled. Berrywhisker turned and exited the den. Silverpaw wrinkled her nose as she saw that Mudpebble was waiting for her.

Icetail came in a few moments later. "Silverpaw, I know your grieving, but you can't skimp out on all the hunting and border patrols." Silverpaw didn't look at her mentor instead she turned her head. "Silverpaw please stop sulking." Silverpaw whipped around and growled. "How would you feel if your sister died? Tell me Icetail, if Sandfoot was killed by WindClan fox-hearts would you want to go on patrols and act like nothing happened?" Icetail flinched and flattened her ears defensively. "I'm not asking for you to forget everything that happened. But you can't sit around in your nest all day and night for over half a moon."

Silverpaw narrowed her eyes and laid her head down. Icetail sighed and left the den. What do they know about losing a littermate. Silverpaw didn't know when but at some time she drifted into sleep.

"Come in Silverpaw your so slow!"

Lightpaw sped past Silverpaw and stopped at the edge of a gorge.

"It's so cool up here." She called.

Silverpaw gasped. "Lightpaw get away from there!"

But she called too late. The ground crumbled underneath Lightpaw and the silver she-cat fell into the gorge.

"Lightpaw!" Silverpaw rushed over and looked for Lightpaw. But the cat was gone. Instead of seeing Lightpaw, Grassflight leaped out from the shadows and started fighting Silverpaw.

"You shouldn't have come here Silverpaw. You saw what happened to your sister." Silverpaw's heart was beating in her throat. Suddenly Grassflight reached down and bit Silverpaw's throat.

Silverpaw's head shot up and she gasped. Her fur was ruffled and Silverpaw's nest was scattered. Whiskerpaw was standing by her and he was looking worried. Silverpaw glanced at the den entrance and saw that it was almost moonhigh. "Er, Silverpaw are you okay?" Silverpaw was still breathing heavily and she couldn't answer. I should've saved Lightpaw. Whiskerpaw's mew was blurred inside Silverpaw's mind.

"Silverpaw!" Whiskerpaw whipped Silverpaw with his tail. "Answer me, are you okay?" Silverpaw nodded. Whiskerpaw looked unconvinced and sat beside her. The warmth of Whiskerpaw's pelt and the steadiness of his breathing calmed Silverpaw. "Do you want to go out for a walk...so you can tell me what's bothering you?" Silverpaw hesitated but nodded after a few heartbeats.

The two apprentices left the apprentices den and scanned the clearing. The only cat awake was Brightreed who was guarding the camp entrance. Whiskerpaw led Silverpaw to the dirt place tunnel. Silverpaw was confused and disgusted until she saw Whiskerpaw take a sharp turn out a small opening only big enough for small apprentices to fit through. Silverpaw could barely squeeze through but, after getting a few scratches from the edges of the reeds, managed to make it out.

Whiskerpaw steadied her and then the two walked in silence for a small while. But Whiskerpaw broke the silence. "So er, I could tell you were dreaming, you kept calling out, er, you were-" Whiskerpaw stammered and stopped short.

"I dreamed of me and Lightpaw. She fell and disappeared...Grassflight took her place and-and she attacked me." Whiskerpaw gave Silverpaw a sympathetic glance. "I don't want to be a warrior." Silverpaw whispered. Whiskerpaw stopped. "You have to Silverpaw! If you don't then I-" He stopped speaking and twitched his ear. "I mean, would Lightpaw want you to give up being a warrior because of her?" Silverpaw sighed. "But, we both told eachother that we wouldn't be a warrior without the other. She was going to be Lightfrost." Silverpaw whimpered. Whiskerpaw flattened his ears in sadness. "I didn't know that you had planned your warrior names...what do...did you want your to be?" Silverpaw shook her head. "I don't care anymore." She growled lightly.

Whiskerpaw leaned against her and comforted her with his tail. "I don't want to believe that she's gone..." she whispered. Whiskerpaw nodded. "I don't know how you feel...I don't know if I ever will...but I do know that Lightpaw wouldn't want you grieving for the rest of your life." Silverpaw nodded. "I know..." what if the other Clans attack us? ShadowClan was known to be aggressive. SkyClan was always secretive. ThunderClan was bossy enough that the Clan would try to take over the Clans. I can't trust any cat outside of RiverClan. Silverpaw and Whiskerpaw hunted for a small while and they only stopped when they saw the sun peak up from behind the lake.

"Well, er, I hope that you feel better about...everything, soon Silverpaw. This was fun." Silverpaw and Whiskerpaw walked side by side back to camp. It was fun wasn't it. She told herself. "Yeah..." Silverpaw muttered.

By the time they got back to camp, some cats were already waking and many saw Silverpaw and Whiskerpaw enter camp...together. To Silverpaw's dismay, Mistysong was giving her and Whiskerpaw a loving look that made Silverpaw's pelt prickly and burn with embarrassment. Silverpaw didn't realize how tired she was until she laid down in her nest. Whiskerpaw wiggled in a moment later and hesitated before climbing into his nest. Silverpaw started to shiver as a strong breeze found it's way into the apprentices den. She glanced over at Whiskerpaw and took a quiet, deep breath. Silverpaw moved slightly closer to her den-mate and touched her pelt to his. Whiskerpaw flinched before relaxing and laying his tail over hers.

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