Body pains and trauma (OPEN)

OOC: Pika set the plot on a deadline that didn't make it, but the whole story line was set enough that this can take right after. vuv You can read it here: https://warriorclancats.forumotion.com/t29179-prison-break-plot-open#363140 https://warriorclancats.forumotion.com/t29186-you-and-i-closed-topic-open-after-a-certain-point#363162 https://warriorclancats.forumotion.com/t29231-off-road-run-closed

IC: Large paws shook with such ferocity that it didn't seem like they could hold the weight of two cats. Blood made the long fur inbetween those paws clot and crust, but that wasn't all. One-side of a young she-cats face was covered in sticky blood, her eye closed from the blood and large gnarly teeth marks around it. Her breath came heavy and ragged with the effort of staying up, but she was almost there, the familiar camp entrance making her heart pound.

"We're almost there Leafpaw... it's okay, we'll make it." And Specklefang meant it, her claws dug into the dirt as she carefully nudged through the camp barrier, the bloody apprentice on her back as she felt slightly fresher air hit her face. They had went to Sunningrocks first, but with no cats there but a stale scent to follow... she didn't think they'd ever see them again. Until she realized it led right back to Thunderclan camp that is, and so they were there... just one more step.

Specklefang forced herself through the barrier, though the rest of the camp seemed to be bare of anything else. After all, it all seemed to be in the beginning stages of construction. Specklefang stumbled towards the medicine cat den with urgency marking her step, Leafpaw needed the help, his wound having gone unattended for days, especially after being snatched up by twolegs being the cause of it. Everything seemed to be blurring in and out, hunger taking its toll as she pushed herself to her limits every day, unable to get a good nights rest to recover.

Her pelt and face felt hot, everything seemed to burn under her fur as she panted.. almost there. ''Honeypaw!'' She wished that she didn't have to burden the medicine cat apprentice, but she had experience, she knew how to help. Before the young she-cat could arrive Specklefang fell with a whump, Leafpaw slipping off her back with the sudden change of direction. Specklefang's frustration and anger made her tail lash, disappointment in herself as she thought that she could have done better. She could have protected Leafpaw somehow, she could have saved the other cats! She could have gotten them home faster-

But they were home now, she had done what she could to protect those cats with her life, she had fought foxes and rats to get where she was now- but they were safe now, inside their home around cats that would protect them. They weren't out in the middle of two-leg-place with always one cat standing guard, and several injured cats that could hardly defend themselves sleeping the night away.

But more than anything in the world right now, Specklefang wanted to see her mother, Lionspark. Curled up in her beautiful golden fur and breathing in her sweet scent, her nose tucked into her neck and sleeping the night away without worry.

Lionspark was curled up tightly in the warrior's den, a mess after what had transpired the last few days. Her daughter missing, witnessing the death of Poppypaw by that strange mist...The she-cat hadn't been the same since everything that had happened really got to sink in. Whatever small hope had remained after Specklefang had disappeared had vanished with the life of Poppypaw, the warrior simply content to spend all of her time in her nest letting the Clan live without her.

She wasn't asleep however. She had barely gotten any sleep as she found her mind wandering. Where was her daughter? H-Had Specklefang suffered the same fate as Poppypaw but nobody there to retrieve the body or..Or did she go missing like Umberflame and Cloverpaw? They were questions that she didn't want answers to...But at the same time, knowing for certain would be helpful. Lionspark muttered softly under her breath as she pulled herself into a tighter golden ball, her eyes shut as she prayed to StarClan for a sign.

It was at this moment that a scent caught her attention. It was sicking at first, the dreadful smell of blood worming its way into her nose and mouth. Her eyes flickered open, swallowing uncertain as she picked up another scent - two scents that she could barely believe. They were barely detectable beneath the overwhelming sent of blood but she could pick them out. One she swore was Leafpaw - an apprentice that had gone missing the same time as Specklefang while the other scent...Well, that one was of her daughter.

Lionspark pushed herself from her nest, certain that her mind was playing tricks on her from her lack of sleep but yet she pushed herself from the warrior's den anyways. And then she saw it. She barely recognized the torn body of her daughter - covered in blood, scrapes and wounds. Leafpaw laid next to her as the warrior struggled to take in the scene above her. At first, she didn't want to believe it. It was just a trick...But then she didn't want to believe it because of how terrifying the sight of her daughter beaten and bloodied in the middle of the camp.

But then when she came to the simple conclusion that this was all real...She didn't made a mad rush for her daughter, happy to see her alive. No...Lionspark's legs started to quake as her chest started to heave. Then, she let out a ear-spitting yowl - a mixture of relief, terror, joy and grief - as she collapsed to the ground. She threw her paws over her muzzle and she fought waves of sobs that threatened to overtake her - the reality of everything suddenly becoming a little to much to bare.

Leafpaw struggled to move, but eventually he lay still. "Thank you," He sighed. He didn't say any more, and he didn't shower her with praise. The she-cat knew what he meant.
He closed his eyes, shaking slightly with the effort to stay awake. He was so tired. His green eyes opened slowly and he looked around, dazed, before closing his eyes once more with a heavy sigh.

His breathing had started to slow when suddenly he heard a heart-wrenching yowl. It was as if all of the grief in the entire world had found it's way into that cat's voice. It was so full of love and hope and sadness. His eyes shot open and he forced himself to sit up, his front legs shaking as more blood seeped out of his wounds.

Hawkpaw was busy with the nursery walls, his paws bled from the bracken he had worked with when he moved to quickly. Hearing the sound of Specklefang he pulled away from the wall, cutting his paw again. He turned to see the giant she-cat fall, Leafpaw already on the ground, and rushed over to her. His worry disappeared as he revealed a comedically big grin. "You're okay!" He exclaimed with a purr, questions formed in his brain but he couldn't get any of them out to be heard. He simply nuzzled her with a sigh of relief.

The pale golden spotted apprentice had only recently been filling her herb stock as best she could. Though a scent hit her nose before she heard the voice. The distinct scent of infection and blood. Her moss green eyes narrowed in panic for a moment but she had to force that down as she turned seeing Specklefang and what she could reconiginze as Leafpaw. Worry filled the medicine cat apprentice. She approached on quick paws crossing the distance between her and the two injured cats. Everything went into high gear as she took noticed of the severity of the injuries. oh Starclan d ont let me fail at this, she thought quietly hoping she could do okay but she feared the worst with her training still incomplete. Her gaze darted from them just briefly as cats started coming over "give me some space"she mewed trying to get the cats back for a moment as she first started to examine Leafpaw's injuries first then over to Specklefang's. She took notice of the large swollen and infected cuts over her right eye and she grew worried that it would be too late to save her eye but that didn't mean she wouldn't try. Her gaze snapped back to Lionspark"Lionspark help Specklefang to that nest there....Hawkpaw can you get Leafpaw to that nest there?"She instructed knowing she couldn't move the two alone. She had pointed to the two nest in the medicine cats den . She then turn and went to her herb stock sorting threw it trying to stay calm."I'm going need some burdock root..."She mumbled to her self reaching for the tall root with dark green leaves. There wasn't a lot left from the fire so what she grabbed she hoped would be enough. She remembered Specklefang's eye wounds and grabbed the Celandine next hoping it would help some. She then paused for a moment thinking of what else she might need.

Frankly alarmed by the yowl of a familiar voice Specklefang looked up towards the noise, the ground spinning as she tried to focus of the light amber pelt of.. someone. The sounds of distress sounded muffled in her ears as she looked at her, what was wrong? Was she hurt? Specklefang tried to stumble to her paws but without success, her foundations crumbling before her.

Specklefang turned to look at Leafpaw with concern, reaching forwards and pulling the apprentice towards her delicately. Her protective instincts flaring as she saw that the wound had opened again, licking at the wound to try to clean it as she had seen the rogues do she flinched at the iron tang on her tongue. Everything seemed to be happening at once, another familiar voice calling out 'You're okay!' and Specklefang visibly flinched away violently, her throat rumbling as the tom got close enough to nuzzle into her thick neck fur.

But there wasn't much she could do about it, there was suddenly too much attention focused on her. A tom nuzzling their face into her fur, the she-cat just wailing, yet another cat padding out of her den and speaking to the two other cats. She suddenly wished that she hadn't come, days of solitude with a select few cats sounded like heaven to her now. But this was her home- With Hawkpaw and Lionspark-

Now that she had remembered who the cats were past the fever induced memory problems she just wanted to leap towards them, but with the world being both hot and cold at the same time she knew she wouldn't be able to do it. "Treat Leafpaw first." She raspily ordered, she could hold on longer, Leafpaw couldn't. He was just an apprentice, a small, injured apprentice who didn't have her will.

She turned back to Hawkpaw, her face contorting as she realized just how much she missed him being a part of her life, his scent comforting as she blearily looked back up at him. Had he really missed her? Did he really care that much? Did he return how she felt? She probed her head for answers to her questions, she opened her mouth to ask but before she could really ask much her head spun.

And spun, and spun. It spun until she didn't know what was up or down, left or right. Tilting back Specklefang slumped back onto her side from her upright position and her head collided with the dirt, everything going black as she fell unconscious.

Lionspark wasn't sure how long she had been collapsed near the entrance of the warrior's den but it clearly hadn't been long. Her attention was caught when she heard the sound of two of her Clanmates - Hawkpaw and Honeypaw, struggling to regain herself as she stumbled to her paws as the medicine cat apprentice called for her. "R-Right," she hiccuped as she started to move forward only for her daughter to collapse. "N-no! Specklefang! Specklefang!" the she-cat almost wailed once more as she darted forward, burying her head in her bloodied fur of her daughter.

She could feel the heartbeat, a sign that her daughter was alive and Lionspark took that comfort enough to hold herself together. Carefully, she leaned down and took her daughter's scruff, making slow careful movements as she started to tug her toward the medicine cat's den like Honeypaw had ordered. Finally, they reached the den and the she-cat brought her daughter to rest in the nest. She let out a shaky breath as she drew backwards, fixing the young apprentice with a terrified look. "P-Please...Save my daughter. I-I..." she drifted off, tears swelling in her eyes. "I can't lose her again. Now that I just got her back..."

Blizzardstar had been outside when the two cats had arrived. Against the advice given to her she had decided to skip resting once she was finally strong enough to leave the medicine cat’s den and help with the reconstruction process of the camp. Her main focus being on gather enough moss for the nest that would belong to the queens, kits and elders as she wasn’t completely sure she still had enough strength to carry heavier things to start the reconstructions of the dens that had been destroyed by the fire.

The scent of blood was the first thing to greet her once she made it through the almost completed barrier, feeling her fur stand on end and her claws involuntarily unsheathing as a reaction as she dropped the moss and looked around. She felt a mix of confusion, worry and relief when her eyes landed on two clanmates she had thought lost since she had been informed about their disappearance several days ago. Rushed steps carried the fluffy white she-cat towards the two injured clanmates that had found their way back before looking at Lionspark and placing her long fluffy tail on her back in a silent attempt to comfort her and help her calm down. She wished she could say that everything was going to be ok to help her out, but if there was something the fire was forcing her to realize is that saying such things could easily sound as a promise and if something went wrong or there wasn’t something that could be really done such promise would be broken alongside any hopes that it could give to the involved cats, causing only a bigger wound.

So, instead of saying anything to the worried mother like she would’ve done before, she turned towards Honeypaw “How bad are they? Is there anything I can help you with?” Her voice sounded way calmer than she really felt, mostly as an attempt to kill off the arising chaos around her to avoid panic or despair. She noticed that Specklefang could talk, but held back her tongue, regardless of how bad she wanted to ask what had happened to them she didn’t want to become an obstacle on Honeypaw’s work nor force her to reveal any info before they were out of danger.

Honeypaw had paused in her grabbing herbs as she heard Lionspark she could understand the worry of her over her daughter even if she didn't know the exact feeling."I will do what i can Lionspark"The medicine cat apprentice mewed even if she couldn't comfort the she. She could do what she can. "I'll do what i can but what comes next lies in Starclan's paws"She mewed before turning her attention to her storage setting the burdock root and celandine aside.  The pale spotted she cat shuffled through the herbs. She pulled out some feverfew,dock,goldenrod and she lauded for a moment unsure at first but then pulled some chervil out. That's when she heard the leader's voice. Turning to the new voice she blinked"from what I can tell they both have infected wounds and I believe a fever so not too good do far but we will see how they fair soon..."She mewed glancing to the two before she mewed"if you could grab some moss soaked in water we might need it. And Lionspark could you get the blood from her fur as best as possible so I can get a better idea of the injuries ...i start with Leafpaw"She mewed. Grabbing the herbs gently in the leaf wrap she had set them aside in and carried it over. She went to Leafpaw next getting as much of the blood from around the wounds as she could.

Leafpaw's eyes widened as Specklefang fell and he began making his way towards her in earnest. Lionspark began dragging her away and he lay still, defeated, his breath labored and his expression anxious. Although he had no doubt that Specklefang was okay, he was worried for her and wanted to stay as close to his protector as possible.

He looked up briefly as Blizzardstar approached and painfully dipped his head in respect before turning back to the den Specklefang had disappeared into. He was dimly aware of cats talking, emerging from dens and crowding around him. Leafpaw's fur felt hot and sticky, and he had to control the urge to vomit.

The young tom stretched out painfully so the Medicine Cat apprentice could treat his back, looking up at her with tired eyes and muttering a hoarse 'Thank You'.

Hawkpaw's pelt fluffed up as Specklefang fell unconscious and looked grimly at all the herbs Honeypaw was using. Was it really that bad? Was Honeypaw just trying to use everything in a panic? He wasn't sure, however, his lessons in the barn did not weigh up to Honeypaw's rank so he silently left to gather wet moss. One of the nearby trees had lots of moss on it, puddles were abundant due to all the gouges in the sandy earth. Soaking the moss, he bound into the medicine cat apprentice dropping the heavy dripping moss beside her.