With the sun high in the sky, two kits rushed out of the nursery. One was a brown tabby tom, and the other was a gray tabby tom.
     The brown tom squeaked out to the gray tom. "Do you want to know who the best ThunderClan warrior is, Silentkit?"
     Silentkit, as his name implied, was silent more often than not. He preferred observing his surroundings, and waiting for the best moment to speak. His brother, Tornadokit, on the other paw, was the very opposite.
     Silentkit sighed slowly. He knew where this was going because they both had been having that argument for the last three sunrises. "Who is it, Tornadokit?"
Tornadokit made a cheeky chuckle as he replied. He knew very well what he was doing this time. "Well it is obviously Firestar!"
The emphasis on "obviously" made Silentkit snap. "One: that is subjective to opinion! Two: I think it is Lionblaze or even Ivypool! So what if I do?"
"Lionblaze and Ivypool are lame!" Tornadokit retorted. "Lionblaze got bested by Breezepelt—his inferior, and Ivypool would have died to Hawkfrost if it weren't for Hollyleaf!"
Silentkit always knew his brother was stupid, but never in his life did he know that Tornadokit was this mousebrained. He was genuinely stunned at the stupidity.
"Tornadokit, I'm going to list every cat that has died to Firestar. Scourge, very few ShadowClan cats, a few BloodClan cats, a few Dark Forest warriors, and Tigerstar. Now, Lionblaze killed a few of the Tribe of Rushing Water's attackers, Russetfur by accident—who was trying to kill Firestar mind you, a few Dark Forest warriors—like Shredtail, some of Darktail's kin, and some of Ashfur's possessed spirits. Who killed the most to save the most? Well, Lionblaze arguably did, but Firestar had the biggest intention to save the most. Lionblaze merely only shared that sentiment. Again, it all comes down to subjectivity."
     Tornadokit had a dumbfounded expression on his face. However, Silentkit knew better than to believe it was because of everything he had explained. After all, he had given his brother exactly what he wanted. Instead, Tornadokit's eyes were staring at the center of the ThunderClan camp. Silentkit flickered his eyes over to the center as well, and he could see their father, Strikeclaw, and his patrol return from hunting. It took Silentkit only a few glances around to notice all the distraught expressions of those that had noticed the patrol returning. To the front of the patrol came Dawnflower as she set down a small, thin rabbit as Sunstar approached the patrol. Out of the entire hunting patrol, there was only one piece of prey again.
     "Silentkit and Tornadokit! Get back here!" a voice hissed from the nursery. The two kits turned their heads to see the frantic expression of their mother, Mousefang.

The sounds of crickets, and Redkit's snoring, as the sun began to set, annoyed Silentkit. The whole camp had gone quiet after the argument that had occurred in the centre of the camp. A whole day of nothing basically passed by as he and Tornadokit were not allowed outside of the nursery after it. Neither were Scratchkit, Applekit, and Redkit, though. Scratchkit and Applekit slept peacefully next to Lilyheart while Redkit snored like a frog next to Dappledtail. Meanwhile, Tornadokit and Silentkit were stuck next to their mother. The bitter nothingness made Silentkit feel trapped. It wasn't because he was stuck in the nursery, it was because he was forced to. He preferred doing things on his own terms. It made him feel like he had control of his own life, instead of others controlling it for him.
     A loud voice soon yelled out for a Clan meeting, garnering the attention of the queens—and waking up the other three kits in the nursery. Tornadokit and Silentkit both sprang up, but a brown paw forced them back down.
     "You two are staying in here!" Mousefang hissed.
     Tornadokit cocked his head to the side, ignoring Mousefang's worried expression. "But why?"
      Mousefang gave him a glare that warned them that she wasn't in the mood to have to explain the obvious. Silentkit squirmed himself away from his mother's paw and moved towards the back of the den. Tornadokit soon followed. As soon as Mousefang was sure the two wouldn't scamper out of the den, she walked towards the exit as Dappledtail and Lilyheart followed closely.
Tornadokit stuck out his tongue as the queens all had their backs in them. "I hate that they treat us like useless kits." he whispered to Silentkit and Scratchkit.
Silentkit and Scratchkit both gave Tornadokit annoyed glares as Silentkit hissed at him quietly. "We are useless kits, stupid!"
Tornadokit was about to open his mouth to reply when they could hear Sunstar's voice speaking from outside the nursery. All the kits now had their attention turned to what was going outside of their small den.
"As you may know," Sunstar could barely be heard from the nursery as he spoke with a tinge of pain. "These past few moons have not been kind to us. That blizzard destroyed our prey supply and killed many of our loved ones. I now want to discuss what we should do to prepare for the inevitable. Clans like ShadowClan and WindClan wouldn't hesitate to get their paws on our territory, even if it meant going behind their leaders' orders not to engage us. They are nothing but opportunistic fox-hearts who have long awaited our downfall!"

The camp was quiet once more. The sounds of crickets and snoring had resumed. Silentkit laid next to Mousefang as he thought about what Sunstar had said about the prey supply. What it really gone?
Silentkit had long noticed the lack of prey that had been entering the ThunderClan camp. He remembered how bitterly cold the blizzard was. After all, it was only a moon ago, and he was almost five moons old. He soon felt squirming beside him as Tornadokit slowly start to rise up. Silentkit instinctively looked around to see that only Scratchkit was awake. The beige tom's amber eyes glinted with suspicion as Tornadokit quietly left the nursery. Silentkit and Scratchkit met each other's gazes as they carefully got up to not disturb Mousefang or Lilyheart.
     As they reached the exit, Scratchkit muttered to Silentkit with annoyance. "What in the name of StarClan is he doing?"
     Silentkit pulled his ears back as he replied back. "I don't know. He is such an impulsive jerk...should we follow him? To see what he is doing?"
     Scratchkit seemed hesitant to leave the nursery, and he made a few worrisome glances towards Lilyheart and Mousefang. "I don't know if they will be too happy to know that we left without them knowing what Tornadokit just did. Let alone your father and Applekit's."
     Silentkit looked outside of the nursery to see an empty camp, barren of any warrior activity. To his horror, he could see Tornadokit sneaking out of camp swiftly through the dirtplace.
     "We don't have the time!" Silentkit hissed quietly with urgent fear as he spun around to face Scratchkit, who stared at him with surprise. Without another word, Silentkit rushed off to stop his brother from leaving camp, but Tornadokit was no longer visible. Silentkit burst towards the entrance to the dirtplace as a horrendous stench filled his nose. Silentkit felt like he was about to gag and vomit, but he attempted to ignore the stench of dirt as he ran into the forest.
     He couldn't see Tornadokit anywhere, and he almost freaked out when he could hear rustling from the bushes behind him. He thought that Mousefang had heard him run off, and was about to stop him and chastise him, but only Scratchkit appeared. The beige tom stared at him angrily, but awe soon replaced his anger as he stared at the forest that surrounded the ThunderClan camp.
     "I never thought I'd see the forest ever." Scratchkit admitted softly. Silentkit looked around as well as he took in the dark greenery that surrounded them. There was a branch nearby that arched downwards as if it was about to reach out and snatch Silentkit right off the ground. The thought made him shiver and he began to walk away. Scratchkit followed him as he made it clear that they had made a mistake.
     Silentkit ignored Scratchkit as he perked his ears up to listen to the forest. It sounded...empty. There was not a single bird chirp to be heard, or a scuffle of a squirrel or mouse running by. Not even the sounds of his brother's running paws. Just a forest void of sound.
     Scratchkit sniffed around for a brief moment before shaking his head. "Tornadokit didn't run through here," he growled bitterly. "He ran the other way."
     Silentkit closed his eyes as he took in all of his anger before speaking calmly. "Then we'll just have to head that way."
     Silentkit turned tail and walked back to the dirtplace, and Scratchkit watched Silentkit carefully before following. They reached the dirtplace as the horrible stench of dirt filled their noses again, and they got to the other side of it. They began to walk a good amount of distance away from the dirtplace before they tried to scent anything. Tornadokit's scent began to fill Silentkit's nose as he felt relief soothe his mind. He was still angry at the mouse-brain, but it wouldn't be long before they found Tornadokit's and brought him back to camp. There also seemed to be another scent that hung in the air. One that Silentkit was unfamiliar with.

     The two stalked through the ThunderClan territory further and further until they saw a massive, disfigured structure up on top of a hill. Silentkit remembered it as the abandoned two-leg den from the tales that the queens would tell him and the other kits. It meant they were getting too close to the SkyClan border, and Silentkit hoped to StarClan that Tornadokit hadn't crossed the border.
     Silentkit explained to Scratchkit the situation, and they both began to hold onto Tornadokit's scent trail as best as they could. Silentkit nearly tripped on a branch, but he regained his footing quickly as he and Scratchkit ran through a bush. Silentkit tried to brush away some leaves that had covered his face, but stopped when he began to hear Scratchkit yell at something.
     "What are you doing?!" he snarled furiously. Silentkit shook his head wildly and looked up to see Tornadokit holding a mouse between his jaws. The brown tom set it down before turning back to Silentkit and Scratchkit. His stupid amber eyes stared at them with confusion as if they were supposed to read his stupid mind.
"I was hunting," he explained. "When Sunstar said that the prey pile was low, I figured I would do something about it."
Silentkit stared at Tornadokit with rage, flabbergasted and stunned at his brother's purr stupidity. "And not once did you think about the consequences of doing so?! The only reason I left camp to look for you was because I wanted to save your hide before mom beats you for breaking camp rules!" Silentkit turned to Scratchkit apologetically. "That's why I didn't want the queens to know."
Scratchkit nodded, presumably accepting the apology, and he turned his attention to Tornadokit. "We need to get back to camp as fast as possible."
Tornadokit bounded up to Scratchkit as he stopped and stared at him. "And what if I don't want to?"
Silentkit brushed up against Scratchkit as he scowled at Tornadokit's reply. "You're not being serious! You can't be! Not even you can be this mouse-brained!"
Tornadokit narrowed his eyes as he growled. "I will not return to camp until I have caught enough prey for the Clan."
"Then you'll be here for five moons," Silentkit spat. "This is completely pointless! Just go back to camp! Kits aren't allowed outside for a reason!"
Tornadokit suddenly leaped at Silentkit as rage filled the brown tom's eyes. Silentkit was sent scuffling backwards as he felt his whole body strike the ground. He tried to get back up, but his back paws slipped into something and he began to collapse into a crevice. His body landed with a hard thud, and pain began to flare throughout. He tried to look around the crevice he fell in, but he was extremely dizzy and was seeing double. He began to stagger as he pulled himself upwards and stood up.
"Silentkit," a voice called out to him from above. "Are you okay?"
Silentkit looked up to see Scratchkit watching him with horror as his vision began to clear. He blinked a few times before responding. "I'm okay!"
Relief seemed to fill Scratchkit's eyes until they darkened and the beige tom walked away from the crevice as inaudible screeches and scuffling of fighting could be heard. Beat that mouse-brain down, Silentkit mused to himself. He looked around his surroundings, but there was only darkness. The only thing he could see was the moonlight faintly entering at the top of the crevice. There was no visible way out of it. He tried to balance on his hind-legs, but the top was just out of his reach. He grumbled to himself angrily and sat down as he waited for Scratchkit to get him, and possibly Tornadokit if his paws could still function. If they did, then Silentkit would be sure to make quick work to correct that.
Dirt began to fall on Silentkit's head as he saw a ginger tom stare at him with caution and confusion. Yeah, Silentkit thought to himself bitterly, just stare at me instead of getting me out of here!
The ginger tom then reached a paw inside and beckoned for Silentkit to grab it. Silentkit walked up to the large white paw with caution before grabbing it and being slowly brought back up to the surface. The ginger tom set Silentkit right next to him before scurrying off towards the SkyClan border. Tornadokit and Scratchkit were still fighting as if the mysterious ginger tom hadn't even been there.
     His eyes quickly fixated on Tornadokit, and he jumped over the crevice and crashed into his brother and swatted him in the head before backing off. Tornadokit looked up in surprise to see Silentkit.
     "That's for knocking me to a crevice and not even showing up to help get me out!" Silentkit hissed as he felt his claws unsheathe as anger pulsated every piece of his body. Tornadokit looked away in shame and Silentkit began to walk away, but not without looking back. "If you want to stay out here in this forest, and get caught by the others, then fine by me. I can't believe I actually stepped far out of my comfort zone just to save your ungrateful hide from a beating from mother."
     Voices could be heard in the distance as they called out the names of the kits. Scratchkit looked at Silentkit as he stepped beside him. "Want to stay here and explain the situation?"
     Silentkit twitched his whiskers in annoyance. "As much as I want to leave and have Tornadokit get all the dirt for what happened," Silentkit admitted. "Explaining everything is our best bet."
     Scratchkit simply nodded and the two began to yell out to their search patrol where they were. Thankfully, Tornadokit didn't go anywhere as he stayed on the ground where Silentkit shoved him to.

-/-
I really like how I did this chapter! It has been awhile since I have done a sibling relationship like this, so it looking as good as it does is a very good thing to me. Now time for the questions!

How was this chapter?

What are your thoughts?

What was your favourite moment?
Least?

Thank you so much for reading this chapter, and I wish you all an excellent day!
(17 January, 2022)