❦ story ❦

the mottled gray tom lay seething in the medicine den. a long, angry gash ran down his side; the skirmish between a band of foxes was two moons ago, but he was only still here because his wound had gotten infected.

yet he couldn't truly complain- not outwardly, at least- because it was his own fault for slipping out at night to stretch his legs. nevertheless, he remained unpleasant and grumpy towards aspenrise and peonylinger whenever they came to check on him.

the lichen at the entrance rustled, but this time no medicine cat came through. instead, a large and muscular black smoke tom slipped in, his head and tail held regally, his body strong, despite the battle. he'd been lucky to escape with only scratches. in his jaws, he held a plump shrew.

once he caught sight of the lone cat lying in the nest, he dipped his head and lay down the shrew in front of his brother. "you must eat."

the gray tom felt a twinge of satisfaction at how well he had trained the warriors his age to act around him.

"greetings, jaguarflame." he nodded at the prey. "this is a nice catch," he admitted. "don't mind if i dig in."

jaguarflame stepped back and watched as his brother ate. in mere moments, the entire shrew was gone.

the gray tom smiled, showing sharp fangs stained red with blood... and a special condiment jaguarflame had added. "not a bad offering for the future ruler of the-"

he choked and collapsed limply, his body surrendering to a series of coughs.

"no one likes you, rainadder," the black smoke tom meowed bluntly. "you've always been alone; you always will be."

rainadder's furious blue gaze bore into jaguarflame as he continued, undeterred, "we've had enough of you and all your tyranny. now, i've finally put an end to it."

"you're going to the dark forest for killing your own brother," rainadder choked out.

jaguarflame didn't flinch. "killing a future tyrant isn't going to send me there. killing our mother for revenge will. and i won't regret it, either."

rainadder laughed through his coughing. "i-i've underestimated you, brother."

jaguarflame said nothing. the two brothers stared at each other, one calm and emotionless and cold, the other grinning like a maniac, as if seeing each other truly for the first time.

"i'll see you in hell, jaguarflame!"

the last thing the mottled gray tom saw was jaguarflame turning his back on him, meowing for aspenrise with fake concern in his voice.

***

rainadder watched from the shadows as magpiefire convulsed in her nest, woven of stalks and feathers. her fur was falling out in fuzzy clumps of shadow and blaze, and aspenrise and peonylinger kept bringing her drenched moss scraps, but her thirst was never quenched by even a bit.

rainadder knew jaguarflame would have mixed feelings about his dying mother. with the medicine cats' constant watch on her, he couldn't very well slip in and kill her like he'd promised, so he would regret not being responsible for her demise. however, he would certainly enjoy watching her suffer.

rainadder watched with growing sadistic excitement as magpiefire rapidly became weaker and weaker. then she stopped breathing altogether.

he sat there, watching his mother's dead body with a cold blue gaze. he didn't really care. he cared for no one, and the only potential he'd seen in any of the others was the cat who had killed him.

"where am i? where is starclan?"

rainadder didn't have to turn around; he recognized the voice. instead, he replied, "did you seriously think that you'd go to starclan, after the way you treated jaguarflame? how mouse-brained of you."

rainadder heard pawsteps draw close to him. could she be any more heavy-footed? she sounds like she's trying to crunch every leaf and snap every twig.

"why are you here?" the hot breath of the other cat washed over the tom's ear.

rainadder stared at jaguarflame as he watched the medicine cats carry the body out of the den. the black tom clawed at the ground in frustration; the naïve warriors would assume this was grief, but they both knew better, rainadder and the newest addition to the dark forest ranks.

"i am here because i was born similar to you." rainadder finally faced the older tortoiseshell she-cat. "what a waste your death was. i was actually hoping jaguarflame would get you."

magpiefire's lips curled with scorn. "that weakling has nothing on me."

rainadder thought of how muscular and agile jaguarflame was compared to his mother, and secretly thought otherwise, but he didn't say it out loud.

"come meet the others," rainadder said instead, looking the scrawny she-cat with contempt sparking in his icy eyes. "they'll whip you into shape." he turned away from the tortoiseshell and stalked off, tail waving high.

magpiefire snorted in contempt, but she followed rainadder, and the two slunk away into the unending shadows of the dark forest.

❦ winners ❦

first place: risen_phoenix with rainadder

second place: cinnamonbunns- with rainshard

third place: ALittleDarkShadow with rainflame