Can You Fix The Broken

Shadepaw was on the road to recovery from her injuries--she was starting to need poppy seeds for pain less and less, and she was just about clear of infection. Her face was heavily scarred, nearly beyond recognition, and she was missing one eye while she had gone completely gone in the other. Other cats had tried to sugarcoat things for her, but Shadepaw didn't deal in pointless comfort. She knew she would never see again, but as her energy began to return, so did her usual, fiery attitude. She was becoming insistent on being out of the medicine cat den and back in the apprentices' den, determined to begin training again, but everyone kept saying that she hadn't recovered enough... In fact, she had overheard that she may not ever be allowed to return to training. Shadepaw was determined not to spend the rest of her days in the medicine den (or the elders' den, which there was talk of). Her headstrong nature was returning, and she would be confronting Ashstar about this matter soon. But first, she needed to make sure she was in good enough shape to convince the leader that she could become a warrior, the same as everyone else.
So, under the cover of night, she had taken to training by herself; it was causing her back leg to take longer to heal, and it was nearly always sore afterwards, but she didn't care. That night in particular, she was practicing some battle moves that she had learned from Furzethroat in the short time she had been able to train with him. Her balance needed work, since her limp was seriously effecting her ability to execute battle moves without nearly toppling over. She let out a hiss of pain as she put too much weight on her leg, and stumbled to the side in the middle of trying to leap forward, as though she was holding an opponent down. She shook her head vigorously, determination overtaking the pain in her eye as she took up the position to try again.

Gustpuddle never slept much anymore; it had become routine and normal for her not to drift off until the sun was about to rise. She knew this wasn't something she should be doing, but she couldn't exactly help it. She was disturbed mid-thought, a small thud to her right. She usually nestled down beside the fresh-kill pile, guarding it, she told herself. 'If I'm not going to sleep, might as well make myself useful!" She padded around camp, finally meeting the place where she found Shadepaw- the cat who had recently been injured severely- trying to practice battle moves."S-Shadepaw, what are you doing up so late? You can't go back to training, not in the middle of the night." She meowed softly.

Shade paw's ears pricked up as she heard pawsteps walking towards her, and a moment later, she heard Gustpuddle's voice. She flattened her ears against her head (as well as she could with one of them totally shredded). "W-Well, no one will train me during the day." She meowed defensively, "So I have to practice by myself, and Beetlewing always stops me when I try during the day. I have to keep up with my training, so I can still be a warrior!"

Gutpuddle cocked her head sympathetically, sad for what this poor apprentice had to go through. So far, Gustpuddle had had almost a perfect life, so she had no idea how Shadepaw felt, but she knew it was bad. And she was so young, so determined and energetic, she just couldn't sit there and watch Shadepaws life pass by, not when she could become a warrior."You can't train yourself, silly!" She blurted out, her young, apprentice-aged self coming back again. She soon returned to the more mature warrior that she was, her gentle voice following the playful tone she had just demonstrated,"Shadepaw, how would you like for me to teach you? I know you could become a great warrior, you just need a little help." She smiled, even though she knew that Shadepaw couldn't see it, she was sure that she could feel it.

Shadepaw blinked, clearly surprised by Gustpuddle's offer; she had expected to be scolded, sent back to the medicine den to rest... Gustpuddle was offering to train her? Shadepaw was a proud cat, but not too proud to accept help when she needed it, and she knew that having someone help her train would be very beneficial. "That... That would be amazing!" She mewed, trotting closer to Gustpuddle and waving her tail excitedly, "Thank you!"