Brookshadow woke the next morning and felt her heart sink as she remembered all the events in her life, just like she had for the past few days. She felt the guilt that she'd caused slipping into her soul, scorching it and slowly tearing it apart. It hurt, and it was all Brookshadow's fault. If she hadn't been so stupid, so naive, she wouldn't have fallen for Piketooth in the first place. Then he wouldn't have gotten mad at her when she tried to be loyal. And then-

Brookshadow gave a small hiccup and sat up in her nest, feeling the walls of the Medicine Den pressing in on her. She was shivering, and her stomach was in knots. Dizzy, she stumbled out of the Medicine Den and out of camp, trying not to pay any mind to the cats that might have been watching her and make her pelt prickle. Outside of camp, she took a few deep breaths, trying to get rid of her nausea and dizziness. Her throat burned, and warm saliva built up in her mouth and she wretched, shaking hard.

Suddenly there was a tail over her back, and she jumped away, almost screeching in terror.

A light gray she-cat was standing before her, her eyes shining kindly.

"C-Cinderheart!" Brookshadow gasped, relief flooding her senses.

Cinderheart nodded and gently urged her to sit down, to which Brookshadow gratefully oblidged. The light gray she-cat then swiftly covered Brookshadow's bile and sat down next to her, sitting close enough for their pelts to touch. Brookshadow's gaze was fixed on the ground in between her paws, while Cinderpelt was looking at her. Unlike the gazes of the other cats, which felt scatching and judgemental, hers felt soft and understanding.

"Are you alright?" Cinderheart mewed softly after a few minutes.

Brookshadow nodded. "Y-Yeah, I think so." If you were meaning "Are you sick?"

"That's good," Cinderheart mewed, paused, then continued, "I'm so sorry about what happened. No one should ever have to deal with this."

"Thank you, but it was my fault." Brookshadow meowed miserably.

"Oh, Brookshadow, no, don't think like that!" Cinderheart exclaimed softly. "None of this is your fault!"

But it is. And no one will understand. Not even Dewfur. Brookshadow thought, but stayed silent. She and Cinderheart sat in quiet for the next few minutes, before Cinderheart mewed, "You should probably get back inside. You don't want to worry Leafpool that she lost her patient."

Brookshadow nodded and let Cinderheart lead her the two feet back into camp, then shrank back as she saw how many cats there were. Taking a breath, she nodded a silent thank you to Cinderheart and padded over to to the Medicine Den, her ears pricking when she heard two cats arguing inside. Not wanting to be in the middle of arguing cats, she sat down outside.

"Jayfeather, you can be so stubborn sometimes! I really hate it when you're like this!"

"If you didn't decide to go and mess around with a WindClan tom I wouldn't be here for you to hate!"

There was silence for a few moments, before Leafpool hissed, "Get out. Get out, so you don't have to live with me, then. Cats make mistakes! The sooner you accept that, the sooner we can actually get along!"

"And yet this mistake resulted in me, Lionblaze, and Hollyleaf!" Jayfeather spat before he barged out of the ivy curtain, knocking into Brookshadow, who yelped as she was pushed aside.

"Sorry," He mewed coldy before stomping out of camp.

Brookshadow took a breath and entered the Medicine Den. Leafpool's fur was fluffed up in anger.

"L-Leafpool? Are you alright?"

Leafpool's ear twitched and she turned, sighing a bit. "Yes, I'm okay. Are you alright? You left in a pretty big hurry earlier."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just uh... Needed a few minutes..." Brookshadow mewed patchily before curling up in her nest.

Leafpool watched her. "You know that you're not on quarantine, right? You can go outside, have fun, so long as you don't hurt yourself."

"Too many... cats..." Brookshadow mewed, giving a small yawn. "I'll go out tomorrow with Dewfur."

Leafpool smiled. "That's good, that you're willing to go out with him."

Brookshadow nodded, closing her eyes and curling her tail over her nose.