Brothers

"Now remember to behave," Nutmeg told her kits. "They are our guests, so be nice! And Rusty, fix your fur! It looks like you walked into a bunch of bramble!" She began licking her son's pelt furiously.

"Mother," he protested, dodging his mother. "I can do it myself!" And he rasped his tongue over his flame-colored fur, smoothing the ruffled and spiked areas until it was sleek and smooth.

"Ah, here they are!" Nutmeg exclaimed.

Rusty lifted his head and spotted a plump gray she-cat pick her way through the garden, with three smaller kits stumbling closely behind. One of the kits was a gray she-cat such as her mother, and the other two were toms; one black with white paws and muzzle, and the other was the smallest of the three and also had jet black fur with only one white paw.
Nutmeg gave her chest fur a quick lick then padded up to touch noses with the mother of the three kits.

"Hello, you must be Quince," she said, then added, "Jake told me you were coming to visit."

Had there been a hint of disdain in her voice?

"Ah, yes, you're Nutmeg," the she-cat called Quince replied. "It's a pleasure to meet you." She dipped her head, as if understanding Nutmeg's scorn and giving her the respect one cat gives to the other when they are in their territory.

"I'd like you to meet my kits," she continued. "This – " She passed her tail over the gray she-kit's shoulder. " – is Ruby, and the two toms are Socks and Tiny." Ruby and Socks stared up at Nutmeg with wide eyes, while the one named Tiny stayed crouched down, but his blue eyes were inquisitive as they searched the garden, soaking in everything he saw.

"And these are mine." Nutmeg introduced her kits one by one, giving each a flick of the tail or a lick on the head. "….This is Princess, and the orange one over here is Rusty."

Rusty sat up straighter as his mother said his name, lifting up his chin.

I must look proud and strong for Mother!

Quince blinked at his actions. "They're wonderful."

"Thank you, and yours too. Jake must've helped raise them well." Nutmeg narrowed her eyes.
Quince returned her hard stare. "Why yes he did."



*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*



Rusty rested as his littermates pounced, chased, and tackled their new companions, while Nutmeg and Quince sat side by side, the tension between them slowly melting away as they watched their kits make new friends. Ruby and Socks began to play a game of Catch That Mouse by bounding after Princess, who scurried away as she pretended to be the "mouse", yowling with glee. He then noticed Tiny who had also been observing the game from afar with bright eyes. After Ruby had finally leaped onto Princess and tussled her to the ground, he padded up to them.

"Can I play?" he mewed to the two she-cats.

Before Princess could open her mouth, Ruby sat up and sneered, "You're too small, Tiny. We'll easily beat you! It'll be no fun."

"But –"

"I think it's okay," Princess mumbled to Ruby.

"No way! His legs are way too stubby, and he's way too weak and tiny. Just go play somewhere else."

"Be nice, Ruby," Quince called from where she lay, sharing tongues with Nutmeg. But Tiny was already padding slowly away, his shoulders slumped and his head low. He crouched in the shadow of the bush, where only his blue eyes and red collar were seen standing out from his black pelt, watching the other kits play fight in mock battles with gloomy eyes.

Rusty bounded up to him. "Hi there!" he mewed cheerfully.

Tiny pricked his ears and turned his attention over to Rusty with a surprised look on his face. "Hi," he muttered, shifting his paws uncomfortably.

"I'm Rusty! You're Tiny, right?" He tilted his head, staring down at the petite black cat, with wide green eyes. "Wow, you really are tiny!"

Tiny turned his head to hide the unhappy look in his eyes. "Yeah, so?"

"Well, I was surprised that's all . . ." He trailed off, searching for something to say. Then he jumped up and asked, "Hey, you wanna play?"

Tiny shot his head up. "Wh-what?"

"Wanna play?" Rusty repeated.

Tiny blinked, and the gleam steadily returned to his blue eyes. "Okay."



*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*



"Mother, I made a new friend today!" Rusty mewled to Nutmeg, after Quince and her kits had left.

Nutmeg licked the fur between his ears. "That's wonderful, darling."

"His name's Tiny. He's the little black one with the white paw."
"Tiny? Ah, he was very sweet."

"He was fun! I don't get why the others were picking on him so much."

Nutmeg gazed at her son, remembering what Ruby had said to Tiny, and how Rusty came in and went out of his way to help the little black kit. She purred, thinking how noble it was of him to do that.

"Rusty, would you do a favor for me?"

"What is it, Mother?"

"Be kind to him, will you? It must be hard for Tiny, being the size he is, to fit in with the other kits. But I want you to talk to him and help him feel accepted." She pushed her muzzle into his forehead. "Will you do that for me?"

Rusty nodded vigorously. "Of course! I want to stay friends with him!"

"That's my little fireball."

"Does that mean they're coming to visit again?"

"Well, I guess we'll have to find out, eh?"



*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*



"So how come you're so small?" Rusty asked Tiny. It was their second visit, and he was determined to keep his promise to his mother and get to know the small black cat. He wanted to tell plenty of stories to Nutmeg about his adventures with him tonight when they settled for bed. Right now, they were walking and sniffing around the garden, pretending to be on an exploration through unknown territory. At least, Rusty was pretending, for he knew almost every blade of grass of his home, but for Tiny, it really was unknown territory.

"My mother says I'm the runt of the litter." Tiny's voice was quiet and subdued, as if he didn't feel like talking about this subject.

"What's a runt?"

He rolled his eyes. Rusty was imaginative and outgoing, but he could be a little dense at times. "It doesn't matter. She says I'm going to grow a lot soon."

"But that's doesn't give your brother and sister the right to make fun of you like that!"

Tiny shrugged. "It's okay. I'm... used to it." But Rusty could tell in the tone of his voice and the small fire in his blue eyes that he was most certainly not used to it.

"Um . . ." Rusty frantically tried to change the subject. Then he spotted something. "Hey! Check this out!" He bounded over to the border of the garden, marked by a long row of high fencing. He crouched, bunching his muscles, and then leaped to the top of the fence, scrabbling with his legs for a split heartbeat.

"Be careful!" Tiny gasped.

"Don't worry!" Rusty called, regaining his composure. "I've done this a million times!"

He gazed at Tiny from high up, who now looked like a black ant from down below. "Now it's your turn!"

"What?"

"Your turn! Get up here!"

"Huh? Uh… N-no, I'm… good down here…" Tiny shifted his paws, his ears back.

"Come on, don't be mousebrained!"

"Um…"

"I'll catch you if you don't make it."

"Um… okay… I guess." He was still unsure, but didn't want to let his orange friend down. He copied Rusty's crouch and bunched his muscles. His blue eyes focused on the spot on top of the fence next to Rusty, and aimed his leap there. Then, he poured all his strength into his hind legs and pushed off the ground. He surprised himself by leaping higher than he expected, but his front paws only skimmed the top. However, quick as lightning, Rusty shot forward and dug his teeth into Tiny's scruff, and for one agonizingly long heartbeat they stayed like that, with Tiny dangling at the edge and Rusty holding on with dear life, until he finally summoned enough momentum and swung him onto the seat next to him.

"Phew, that was close!" Rusty panted. "Luckily, you're pretty light."

"Th-thank you…" Tiny managed to gasp out while he desperately tried to keep his balance on the narrow fence. He looked around with wide eyes. "Wow, it's so high! I can see everything!"

"Look." Rusty indicated by pointing with his muzzle to the outside of the fence. "You can see the forest from here. Doesn't it look so big and mysterious?"

Tiny narrowed his eyes. "I don't see what's so mysterious about a bunch of trees."

"It's not just trees!" He leaned over and whispered into his ear, "Someone could be watching us."

"Who?"

"I dunno."

"Mousebrain."

Rusty stared off into the deep green, shadowy depths of the trees, as if he could almost see through them and the world beyond.

"Jake once told me that there's a group of wild cats that live in this forest," he murmured quietly. "That they claimed it as their territory and walk around in groups to make sure no one trespasses. If someone does, they attack and teach them a lesson. But he also said that somewhere, deep in the forest, they even have a home and a place to stay, and that's where they all eat and sleep together. He says they all hunt together, and protect each other and their territory. Like one big family or something."

"Yeah? How does he know so much about them? Now that seems pretty mousebrained, if you ask me."

"It's not mousebrained!" Rusty retorted, defending his father. "He says he's even met one of those cats once. He was worried it was going to shred him on the spot, but then it just walked away and let him go! So he decided to go around and explore, but then he met one of those border patrols, and they chased him out! Isn't that crazy? I guess he realized that not all of the wild cats were considerate like that one cat was."

"Well, my mother told me that I should stay away from the forest, and that I shouldn't even think about it," Tiny said. "She says that the wild cats are dangerous and eat bones, and when they're really hungry and have nothing to eat, they eat other cats!"

"Oh yeah? Then why wasn't my father eaten? In fact, he even made friends with one of the forest cats! What was his name? Star…pine… Starpine? Not sure, but it was a weird name. Apparently he was a leader of one of those wild cat groups. That's how Jake knows so much about the forest, because his friend told him stories."

Interest began to spark in Tiny's eyes.

"And you know what the craziest thing was? Jake told me this cat decided that he didn't want to live in the forest anymore, so he left his wild cat friends and began to stay with housefolk, like us!"

"I guess forest life must be difficult if he decided to leave," Tiny wondered in awe.

Rusty shrugged. "Maybe, but…" He turned his head and looked back at the forest, and what lay beyond it. Tiny could see the trees reflected in his green eyes. "One day, I want to go there myself." He glanced at Tiny. "We'll go together!"

"You really are a mousebrain."

"What? But imagine how much we can explore! And wouldn't it be exciting if we met actually some wild cats like my father did?"

"But… what if we get attacked? Or eaten?"

"Don't worry, we won't!" Rusty narrowed his eyes in determination. "Because I'll protect you."

Tiny stared at him. "Really?"

"Yeah, 'cause we're friends, right?"

He blinked. "Yeah, I guess we are."



*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*



"Mother? Can Quince and the others visit again tomorrow?" Rusty asked his mother for the hundredth time that day. It had been nearly a moon since he had met Tiny, and every day he constantly nagged his mother and begged her to invite them over again.

"They have visited so many times, I've lost count!" Nutmeg told him. "I think Quince is getting sick of the journey."

"But they haven't visited for a quarter moon! Tiny and I need to continue planning for our exploration into the forest."

"An exploration, eh? Well, we'll have to see…" She trailed off. Rusty could tell that something else was on her mind.

"What's wrong, Mother?"

Nutmeg shook her head. "Ah, nothing's wrong, my sweet. But there's… something I have to tell you, that I should've told you long ago, even before the first time you met Quince, Ruby, Socks, and Tiny."

"What is it?" He settled down next to Nutmeg, listening intently.

She took a deep breath. "Rusty, Tiny is your half-brother. And Socks and Ruby are also your half-siblings."

Rusty tilted his head. "I don't get it. How can you be half of a brother? Is it 'cause Tiny's so small?"

"No, my love. It's because you have different mothers, but share the same father. Jake is their father too."

"So… we're related?"

She nodded. "Yes, you are."

Rusty sprang up. "Really? That's awesome! I knew that's why we're so close!"

Nutmeg sighed with relief. "I'm glad you're okay with it."

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be?"

She pushed her nose into his muzzle. "I'm just happy you're such good friends."



*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*



"Mother tells me we're half-brothers," Rusty told Tiny when they finally visited again after a quarter moon and a half. "She says we have the same father."

"…"

"Aren't you excited to hear that?"

"…"

"Wait a minute, did you already know?!"

Tiny nodded.

"What?" Rusty growled. "You knew and you didn't tell me?! You should've told me!"

Tiny merely shrugged. "Didn't think it was important."

"That's not fair!"

"But that's kind of cool, right?" Rusty continued. "I mean, we're brothers."

"Half-brothers."

"What's the difference? Even so, it means we have some kind of special bond thing now, right? It just gives us a bigger reason to go explore the forest!"

"I don't get how being brothers and the forest have anything to do with each other…"

"Come on!" Rusty bounded away. "Let's go practice some battle moves or something. Other than that, I think we're prepared to leave the next time you visit!"

Tiny stayed where he was.

"Hey! You coming?"

"….Rusty?"

"What?"

"I… I don't think we can go into the forest anymore."

"What? Why?"

"I…" His voice dropped to a low whisper that Rusty had to strain his ears to hear. "I'm scared…"

"Huh? Scared?"

"I… I'm sorry!" he cried. "I would've told you sooner but… you were so excited, I didn't want to hurt your feelings or anything. I mean, I do want to go, but… the other day I asked my mother about what would happen if I went to explore the forest, and she told me all these terrible things… especially about the wild cats… and I didn't whether I was supposed to believe her or you, because you made them sound like they weren't that bad. But then… but then Ruby and Socks overheard and kept telling me I was too small and weak, so I would never survive, not even for a day, and that those wild cats would easily pick me off… and… Oh Rusty, what if I am too weak? I'm not strong enough! I'll just be a burden to you…"

"Don't say that!" Rusty told him fiercely. "Of course you're no burden! And so what if you're small? You'll grow, just like your mother said, remember? We'll just have to postpone our exploration till you grow big enough. And don't you remember what I promised? I promised I'll protect you, no matter what." He pushed his muzzle into Tiny's forehead. "After all, we're brothers. And that's what brothers do."

"Really, Rusty? You'd do that… for me?"

He nodded. "I'll always be there to protect you, and you'll always be my brother!"



*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*



"Rusty, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"What is it, Mother?" Rusty bounded up to her. "Are Quince and the others coming soon? Tiny and I are going to have our exploration soon, and they haven't been here for almost a moon now! What's taking them so long?" He began bouncing excitedly, as if he couldn't take the anticipation any longer.

"Oh, Rusty," murmured Nutmeg softly. "Rusty, I'm so sorry…"

He stopped bouncing. "What is it? What happened?"

"Tiny, and the others…. aren't coming anymore."

He tilted his head. "Why? Are we visiting them?"

"No, my sweet. They've found… new homes now."

"I don't get it…"

"Tiny, Ruby, and Socks live with different housefolk now. It was bound to happen sooner or later, honey."

"But… they'll still visit, right?"

She shook her head. "I'm so sorry, Rusty…"

"No…" He started to back away. "You're wrong! What about our exploration? He promised me! I… I…"



*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*



I thought we were brothers…

The memories slowly faded from Firestar's mind and he found himself back in Fourtrees, which was once a sacred ground, but now it was filled with writhing, screeching cats as the bloody battle between LionClan and BloodClan continued. But that's not what the ThunderClan leader was focusing on; instead, his eyes were on one cat, a black cat with one white paw and a red collar that was now studded with the teeth of dogs and even cats, repulsive trophies that this particular cat flaunted around wearing it every day.

"I've finally found you," Tiny  - no, his name was Scourge now – growled. "Prepare to die."

"Why are you doing this?!" Firestar cried. "Whatever happened to being brothers?"

"Brothers? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, you do! I know you do, Tiny."

"Don't call me that disgusting name!" Scourge spat. "It clawed away at my very existence, clawed my insides until I was hollow with fury, until it ripped away my heart and all that was good to me! With that name, I only became smaller and smaller in this world, until no one bothered with me or my purpose to live. That's when I realized… I don't deserve a wretched name that is the very reason why I am the way I am today! I deserve a name that brings fear to all hearts, a name that will show that I destroy all who get in my way! That's why I am Scourge now."

"But this shouldn't be the way! Scr – no, Tiny – don't you remember the days we were only kits? When you and I would explore the garden, and playfight with each other, until we decided to expand from the garden to the forest beyond? We decided that we would always be there for each other, and I promised I would protect you, because you told me you were scared, right? Because brothers are always there to protect each other."

"If brothers are always there to protect each other," Scourge murmured quietly, "then where were you when my life was nearly taken away and I was almost killed by your stupid Clan cats?" His voice rose to a yowl. "Where were you? You said you'd protect me from the wild cats, but you weren't there, and I almost died! It was all your fault! Your Clans, and you, are the reason I am here, with a new and stronger Clan, to kill all of you! You are the reason my peaceful life had been taken away from me!"

"You know, I realized something," he continued, his voice dangerously low. "I realized that my mother had been right all along. That you sick Clan cats really are disgusting creatures. And my brother and sister were right that I was too weak to fight! And that's when I also realized… that I would become stronger by building my own Clan, a Clan that was much stronger than yours, and much more disgusting! Which is why I created BloodClan. And now that I am so strong, I will finally have my revenge! And kill all of you, especially you… Rusty."
"Tiny, you don't have to do this –"

"I told you, my name is Scourge!" Scourge snarled and lunged at Firestar.



*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*



Firestar gasped and his eyes flew open, only to find himself in Fourtrees, but this time, the sounds and sights of battle had disappeared. Instead, a ring of StarClan warriors surrounded him, starry pelt brushing against starry pelt.

"Wh-what's going on? Am I…"

"Calm down, Firestar," a voice answered, and a familiar blue-gray she-cat stepped forward. "You are losing a life."

"Bluestar, I must go back now! My Clanmates are dying, and…. Scourge…"

"Be patient, young one. It takes time for your wounds to heal."

"I have to help Tiny… I have to save him! I need to convince him in some way that will make him understand that he can still change…"

"Firestar," Bluestar murmured, "Tiny is far too deep into the path of bloodshed. There is no way to get him out, but… There is one way to save him. Do you know what that is?"

"You don't mean –"

"Yes, young one."

"But there must be some other way!" he protested.

Bluestar shook her head. "This is the only way to fully relieve him of his pain and suffering."



*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*



Firestar opened his eyes to find himself in the middle of the battlefield once again. He stood up, only to be face-to-face with Scourge.

Scourge's eyes went wide with shock, and his jaws gaped open. "Y…You're supposed to be dead!"

"Only a leader who believes in StarClan is granted the nine lives to watch over his Clan," Firestar told him. "Now it's time for you to be relieved of your pain and suffering!"

And he sprang at Scourge, tearing at his throat until blood soaked his paws and flecked his pelt, pooling out and covered the ground. He stopped only when he felt Scourge go limp underneath.

Scourge stared up at Firestar with surprised blue eyes, and for a split heartbeat, he saw the face of Tiny, the inquisitive little black kit whom he had become best friends with ever since the first day they met in the garden.

"Rus…ty…" Scourge managed to whisper until his throat made a gurgling sound and blood trickled out of his mouth. His pelt went cold.

"No! Scourge is dead! Our leader is dead!"

Firestar barely heard the cry as he pushed his nose into the black, blood-soaked pelt.
"Goodbye, friend," he murmured.




"You will always be my brother."