Healing the wounds. (Closed)

Water. It rushes through her dark grey ears. Her splotched silver and grey coat felt heavy and uncoordinated as she thrashed, claws raking through the depths as a malicious voice hummed in her ears. The flash of fangs coated in blood. Of a dark tabby pelt that drew a scream from her jaws. Drowned in the rushing current.

A sharp stab of pain raked into her flanks. Her green eyes shot open as she panted heavily, her pelt felt drenched in water, but in truth it was dry. Her nest felt too smooth and she stood sharply, padding over to the medicine den. It had been her home for nearly a moon while she recovered from the other tom's attack. Despite being physically sound, the muscle around her scar at her hip twitched. A soft grunt of discomfort passed her jaws as she curled up in the safety of the medicines den, safe from the darkness outside.

---

She woke to the sounds of cats stirring for the morning patrol. The scent of Mintwhisker was strong and she padded quietly to where the mouse bile was. She had seen Mintwhisker dispense it many times, knew that it was harmless as she prodded the bike sac, half wishing it would just open for her as her lungs clenched tightly with unshed tears.

Warriors don't cry.

Her head lowered in dismay as she padded towards the entrance of the medicine den, then back. Anxiety driving her paws as she fought hard, but tears still fell. She wasn't good enough. Wasn't strong enough... not for any cat.

Mintwhisker looked up from her nest, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes with one paw. "Sparrowpaw...?" She yawned, stretching in her nest and rolling for a moment before pushing herself into a sitting position. She blinked for a moment, squinting into the sunlight that was streaming into her den. Starclan, why did Greenleaf have to be so bright? The young Medicine cat raised one leg in the air and began scratching behind her ear pensively. A faint shuffling sound made the tabby freeze, her leg in midair. Slowly, Mintwhisker stood up. "A-are you alright, dear?" She mewed softly, padding towards the apprentice with a worried expression.

This was Sedgestrike's child. The tom's lifeblood ran through Sparrowpaw's veins. That was one of the things that had given her a reason to refuse to treat Sparrowpaw. And he deserved it- Starclan, Sedgestrike deserved it.
But one look into Sparrowpaw's green eyes, warm and full of life, so similar to Sedgestrike's, yet so different. She was not her father, just like Mintwhisker herself wasn't Pansyface, no matter how she tried to be.
Mintwhisker was never going to be a mother; in her uncertain world, that was one of the only things she was positive of. But just because Motherhood wasn't an option didn't mean she didn't have instinct- the very same that all she-cat's possessed. The one that taught them to groom newborns, pressing air into their lungs and drying their fur. The same that gave them the fierce protectiveness over all their young, no matter their age. The same instinct that Mintwhisker acted on now, drawing the gray apprentice close to her chest and holding her close, resting her cream-colored chin on Sparrowpaw's head as the she-cat cried into her fur.

Sparrowpaw flinched as Mintwhisker drew her close. Her eyes closed as she pressed her head against the gentle she-cat. One who had far more patience then any she-cat she knew... even her own mother. She longed for her mother's return ever since she dissappeared when she was just a young apprentice. One moment, Echoflame was there... the next... all she had was Sedgestrike. All she had was her father, and she hated the feelings of doubt and insecurity she felt around him.

Almost as much as she hated the dark tabby who's face showed up in her mind again and made her whimper. Her tears finally ran dry against the other she-cat's pelt, and she felt an acute sense of embarrasement.
"I-I'm sorry Mintwhisker." She rasped, her voice hoarse from suppressing her tears. "I... I just... I kept feeling the water... Shadefang's face..." A tremor shook her body and she felt her paws nearly give out from under her. She could hear it clearly. "I'm sorry... I'm just as pathetic as my father says... I shouldn't be troubling you over this."