Diverging Paths (Warrior Cats Fanfiction)

Chapter 14

Highwings woke up at a harsh kick in her side, the rest of the camp drenched in weak silvery light and dominant black shadows, characters of the dead of night.

Glancing over to Hollowfortune, she could see he was having a nightmare again, twitching and turning in his nest, making tiny whimpering noises. Immediately she began thinking of his reasoning for it, and her own. She had her doubts about his truthfulness in his claims, but really, what evidence did she have against him? Training in the Dark Forest was not a small accusation, and besides, she knew her brother. Hollowfortune was probably the one cat most likely in all of ShadowClan to get bad dreams. It would not be odd if that was what was happening.

Of course, that didn't make it any less annoying, because Hollowfortune had accidentally moved closer to her in his scuffle, and was now kicking against her. However, she did not snap. Maybe she was blunt or careless at most other times, but with her brother, Highwings couldn't help but feel sympathy for him. The poor cat seemed to be struggling with his life just as much as she. And she'd been with him since birth. He hadn't done anything from memory to deserve it.

To try and cut his losses, she decided it would be nicest to wake him up again. She reached over a paw to the writhing tom, and gently placed it on his shoulder. "Hollowfortune?"

He made a guttural whining noise, one that was natural but almost scared her for some reason. It caused her to raise her voice a bit, to the point that she instantly became embarrassed, for fear it may awaken another warrior: "Hollowfortune!"

He gasped awake, breathing heavily and looking around with his good eye in a panic. "It's okay," she mewed softly. "I'm here. It's just me."

Unfortunately he wasn't the only cat woken up. Lilacbloom and Teasemouth both raised up their heads, the she-cats staring at Highwings with narrowed eyes, as though she had insulted them. Highwings gave a polite nod to them, which was a strange move to choose in a dark den, but they saw it fine. Deciding not to raise a fuss about it, they lowered their heads to return to sleep.

Highwings then turned her attention back to Hollowfortune, who was still slowing his breathing, his body tightly condensed and curled up as though the shadows of the barely-moonlit warrior's den threatened to crush him. She pawed closer, placing her front legs on his nest while keeping her back legs on her own, and rested her head on his flank.

"I'll go to sleep with you," she murmured, her voice as soft as it could be without being unintelligible. "I'm here with you."

He locked eyes with her, and something about his face seemed extraordinarily sad, in a way that almost transferred it over to Highwings, lowering her own heart. Lips quivering and looking like he would not be able to answer her without crying, he gave the simplest response possible. He just nodded his assent, resting his head once again on the floor and closing his eyes, his face still twisted in despair and fear.

Highwings felt she should say something. But what would I say? she questioned herself. What would it be about? Why do I want to tell him anything? With no good answers to these questions in her head, she released the tension in her neck and allowed her head to fully rest on Hollowfortune's flank, closing her eyes slowly and going to sleep with her brother.

*          *          *

"WindClan! What're you doing here?!"

The loud hiss came from nearby. As Highwings awarded Whirlpaw's training session with a vole that the apprentice was just about to eat, a loud yowl of anger and suspicion emanated from the nearby entrance. Highwings shifted her purplish-pinkish eyes to her gray swirled apprentice, who seemed all but dissatisfied that something went down as he was just about to eat.