Horsetail|20 Moons Old|Co Medicine Cat|Heath 30/30 {Very scared}

”St… Storm… paw”, Horsetail stuttered, his green-blue eyes swaying back and forth. In speaking, the medicine cat had dropped his herbs to the ground, they now laid splayed between the two toms. Horsetail opened and closed his mouth a few times, this…. was… not possible. ”Shouldn't you… be out… fighting a…. alongside the other StarClan cats?”, Horsetail asked, his voice failed him as he spoke.
”Ha”, the laugh was cold and dry, making Horsetail shrink together. ”Why would I fight by their side!”, the large gray tabby tom snarled, there was only coldness and cruelty in his eyes. ”Wh… What?”, Horsetail stammered, dumbfounded. ”No!”, the medicine cat whisper called, as realisation dawned on him. ”But that…. why?”, Horsetail asked, his body had started to shake. Was it fear? Anger? .... Sadness? ”Because of you”, the Dark Forest Cat snarled, baring his fangs now. Horsetail stepped back and as he did, he was transported back in time, to a better, happier time.

{Begin Timeskip}
”Come on, Horsepaw!”, the muscular gray tabby tom called, racing ahead. ”Stop running so fast Stormpaw, I can’t catch up”, Horsepaw said, panting. The two apprentices were out and alone in the forest, they were on one of their frequent ’herb gathering’ trips. It truth, the two toms where in love and always used this time to be alone together, without any clan mates giving them sidelong looks. As Stormpaw stopped on the top of a hill and looked back at the much slower Horsepaw, the light shone from behind the gray tabby tom. He looked so much like a warrior already, both toms where 11 moons old, but there had been talks about making Stormpaw a warrior early. Horsepaw felt so proud. They were still too young to be mates, but maybe one day, when Horsepaw was the best medicine cat and Stormpaw was the greatest warrior the clan had ever seen, maybe then they could be mates. Horsepaw panted, as he made it to the top of the hill. ”Why… do you… always have… to make every…. thing into a race?”, the dark sand colored apprentice asked, between gasping breaths. ”Because it makes it a lot more fun”, Stormpaw cheekily said, nudging Horsepaws shoulder with his nose, he added, ”It’s not my fault, that you don’t have any stamina”, there was a purr at the end of the apprentices words. ”Hu, I might not have your stamina, but I still know how to use raspberries properly”, Horsetail said, jokingly. He was referring to, when Stormpaw had told the other apprentices that raspberries where the best cure for scratches. After this, the apprentices had come back to camp with big splotches of pink/red in their fur. Stormpaw scoffed, ”That was a joke”, the tom said. ”But your still getting it for that”, Stormpaw playfully said. Jumping forward he barreled into Horsepaw. Knocking both of them to the ground, the two young toms rolled down the hill, giggling all the way. Reaching the bottom, Stormpaw pinned Horsepaw beneath him. Smiling down, the muscular gray tabby leaned down and licked Horsepaws check. The medicine cat apprentice purred.

”NO!!! Please stop!”, Horsepaw called, tears streaming down his face. The dark sand colored medicine cat apprentice, was on one of the top branches of a tree. Below him, with his back to the tree, was Stormpaw and before him a snaring dog. ”Please Storm, just climb, I know you can make it”, Horsepaw called, his claws digging into the branch and his body shaking. ”Please”, he said again, this time no more than a whisper. ”StarClan, please…. help us”, the tom said, pleading with his ancestor. ”Hu, Starclan”, was the only thing that came from Stormpaw. ”Like they would help”, there was sadness in the apprentices voice, almost like he wanted them to prove him wrong.
The dog leaped and landed on Stormpaw in a heartbeat. ”NOO!!!”, Horsepaw called, he wanted to needed to help. Stormpaw was fighting, dying down there. Protecting Horsepaw. How could he just stand here? The sand colored apprentice closed his eyes, tears still streaming down. He could hear the dog snarling and Stormpaw fighting it, he could here the tom's gasp for breath as he was pinned down. his cry of pain as the dog bit his neck and then…. and then - Nothing.
Horsepaw opened his eyes and looked down. There, in a red puddle lay Stormpaw. The dog? Where was it? Horsepaw looked around, but it was nowhere in sight. It had run off. Horsepaw scrambled down the tree, falling most of the way, and landed next to Stormpaw. ”Storm…”, the words caught in the medicine cat apprentice's throat. His friend, the one he loved above all else -even above his own mother- lay there broken before him. Horsepaw's heart stopped, as he saw the grey tabbie's side, now tinged red, begin to rise in a shuddering breath. ”Why?”, Stormpaw crocked. ”What?”, Horsepaw asked, confused. ”Why… did StarClan not help”, Stormpaw coughed blood. ”Why not you”, the tom finished. His eyes were starting to grow empty. ”I… I couldn't”, Horsepaw stammered. He needed to help Stormpaw, he needed to save him. Using his paws the medicine cat apprentice pressed down on Stormpaws biggest wound, but as he did so blood started to spew out. Horsepaw shrank back, what could he do? He needed to save Stormpaw.
”I curse you”, the dying tom said, very lightly. ”What?”, Horsepaw asked, not understanding. ”I curse you and StarClan, I… should be…. great warrior… not d..e..a..d”, Stormpaws head lulled to the side, as his final breath left him. Horsepaw could not process what he had heard, his eyes where stinging him and there were two rivers of never ending ears, flowing down the tom's face. Stormpaw was gone. He could hear cats running up the hill, was it really cats or had the dog returned? Horsepaw did not care, he threw himself forward onto his beloved's body.
{End timeskip}

Snap, a branch broke under Horsetails paw. The medicine cat shrank together as coldness spread down his body. ”I… I never wanted…”, Horsetail trailed off. ”Never wanted me to die?”, Stormpaw asked, darkness and anger in his voice. ”Well I am”, he finished his words with a snigger. ”Stormpaw”, the medicine cat only said. ”NOT… StormPaw, my name is StormFang. For my strength in battle”, there was cockyness in his voice, but not the same from when they had been apprentices, this was cold and bloodthirsty. ”Why are you here?”, Horsetail asked, stepping back a bit. This made Stormfang take a step forward, ”I am here to kill you”, the gray tabby tom declared in an evil tone. Stormfang extended long sharp claws into the dirt and opened his mouth, showing sets of sharp teeth. Horsetail gulped and shrank back, he was going to die.

The vigil is over!