Young Blood

Chapter 1
"' Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.'"

The war's over. The Clans won, the Dark Forest lost, and the war is over. It's been over for moons now. ThunderClan is thriving, all of the clans are. Border skirmishes are few and far between, and prey is abundant, even in leafbare.

But the war isn't truly over, not for me.

Every night, I'm dragged into the Dark Forest. Every night, I'm forced to commit murder. Every night, he's there, with his icy blue eyes, making me pay for my treason. I fear sleep like a ghost, because every night, I must fight another battle in this hopeless, never-ending war.

StarClan save me, I can't do this anymore.

"Ivypool!" The irritated voice jolts me out of my thoughts. My sister, Dovewing, sits beside me, looking annoyed. "I asked you for advice! What should I do about Bumblestripe? Our relationship isn't going well, he's so pushy about kits, and I love him, but he's not like-like Tigerheart." Dovewing moans, as if she had the worst problems in the entire world.

"Do you love him?" I ask softly, not meeting her eyes.

"Well, yes, but-"

"Then leave him." I say sharply, my dark blue eyes piercing her light green ones. Dovewing looks dumbstruck for a moment, before nodding her head, eyes widening with realization. "Yeah!" she says, almost angrily. "He's been a jerk, hasn't he? I deserve better than him!"

I shake my head. "Leave him Dovewing, because you don't love him as much as he loves you. Lead him on, and you'll only end up hurting him further."

Now Dovewing truly looks shocked, and just like before, that shock quickly truns to anger. Only this time, the anger is directed towards me.

"What! No! I'm not leading him on!" Dovewing snaps, "Stop making me look like the bad guy!" I frown, frustration starting to bubble beneath my skin. "You asked for my advice!" I shoot back, "Now you have it!"

Dovewing pouts. "You give the worst advice!" she whines. My temper is on the verge of snapping like a twig. "I don't care about your stupid problems!" I snarl, veins popping. "Stop worrying about such idiotic things!"

"Ha!" Dovewing laughs, like she has already won the arguement. "You're one to talk! You worry constantly about a war we aren't even fighting! You fear cats who don't exist!"

That does it. That one, utterly insensitive line brings forth an inferno of fury, and I know exactly why.

Because it's true.

My blood boils, my ears ring, and in that moment, I do what I never thought I would.

I raise my paw, and slam it across my sister's face.

Dovewing staggers backwards, blood trickling out of her mouth. She looks up at me with scared eyes, and I can see her trembling. She wasn't expecting that, and neither was I. We never hit eachtother, even when we felt like ripping eachtother's pelts off. Hitting had always been so taboo, we hadn't dared. Dovewing stares at me now in a way so painfully familiar. She stares at me the same way Flametail did, when I attacked him on his way to StarClan. Innocent and afraid.

I am not sorry.

I expect the rage to leave me, but it dosen't. The fire rages on inside my stomach, and it takes every ounce of my self-control not to hit her again. "Go and talk to Bumblestripe." I hiss, turning away. After a few heartbeats of silence, Dovewing speaks, hurt and venom edging her usually sweet voice. "You're bitter and lonely, Ivypool." she says, her voice quiet. "I guess I shouldn't have asked you for love advice. You don't even know what love is."

I can hear her pawsteps fading away. I close my eyes, and sigh, because yet again, she's right. I don't know what love is, I don't know what sleep is, I don't know what   peace of mind is.

I don't know what anything is anymore.

She's slowly succumbing to her nightmares and inner emons,