Fear or Flight [Solo]

Foxpaw groaned as he pushed his way out of the medicine cat den, giving it an annoyed look. He had spent too many sunrises in there, waiting for his leg to heal...He had even missed his first chance to go to a Gathering, to see the other Clans! But...He glanced down at his leg, gently testing it out. There wasn’t even an ache in it anymore! There was a pause, his ears flickering down. He wanted to praise Amberdawn for her work as he honestly thought that he was never going to become a warrior...But she had been missing since Tinystar’s trial.

He glanced at the spot where Tinystar had died, the sound of the arguing still fresh in his mind. He felt confused even with all of the testimonies that had been given during the trial. It sounded like Tinystar did something bad in killing that apprentice but...His word was law, wasn’t it? He wasn’t sure what to think...And so he had panicked and made the same choices as his mentor - surely Spottedleap had a better idea of what had happened.

But even after that, he couldn’t help but feel some tensions were still high. Some cats had varying options and in the end, Tinystar had lost a life at Burningsun’s claws. He...Didn’t blame her as it sounded like she honestly believed she was doing the right thing and Tinystar did agree to it but...He shook his head, sparing a glance toward the warrior’s den. He thought about seeing if Spottedleap was awake but he was sure his mentor was taking Amberdawn’s disappearance hard...And besides, truth be told, Foxpaw was looking forward to some time by himself for once.

With a grunt, he spun and headed out of the camp, his ears perking at the faint sound of crickets that had yet to realize their shift was done and that the sun had risen. It was nice, hearing the sound of the forest again, to breath in the fresh air of the SkyClan territory. With a smile, he dropped into a crouch before he sprung forward, breaking into a fast-paced dash past the trees. It felt so freeing! A reminder of what it meant to be a Clan cat - of the freedoms they were given.

Slowly, his pace slowed until he was taking a casual jog, taking in a deep breath as he took in the scents that overwhelmed him. He was pretty sure he could pick up on the scent of certain herbs now, from how long he had been in that den but...His eyes drifted up, catching the tail of a squirrel hanging from the branches above him. He grinned, dropping into a crouch as he planned to leap for it…

But a sudden pain through his chest stopped him.

His breath caught, confused. It wasn’t true pain, no...It was...It was fear. A stab of fear that clenched his heart as he slowly focused on the branches high above him. Images of how high the ground was right before he had been shoved from the branches repeated in his mind and he found himself taking soft steps back as he tried to calm down his beating heart.

This...This couldn’t be right, he tried to tell himself as he struggled to muster up the courage to go for the squirrel. He was a SkyClan cat, he couldn’t be... But as he stared at the canopy, he felt his heart beating faster and louder in his chest, in his ears. He couldn’t, he couldn’t go up there, not after what had happened. He-He couldn’t balance right, not with his lack of tail. He…He was afraid.

Tears formed in the corner of his eyes as he suddenly pushed off of the ground, breaking into a panicked dash. His head was low, barely looking where he was going as he leaped over roots with no clear idea of where he was going to end up. He just had to get away - away from the trees, away from the camp. He needed space. Finally he stumbled to a stop, the expanse of a river he had never seen stretched out across him.

He struggled to catch his breath, both from the fear that had yet to fade from his system but also from simply blindly racing through the territory. He sat down at the water’s edge, staring at his own wide-eyed reflection. He was… “I’m afraid of heights,” he quietly told himself, shame shaking through his voice. It...Made sense, thought. He had broken his leg from a nasty fall, it was...It was normal to be afraid, right?

His ears slicked back, terrified of what his Clanmates would think. Would they laugh at him? Climbing up trees and moving from branch to branch was their thing. A land-locked SkyClan cat seemed...Outrageous, even he thought so. Would they just tell him to get over it, to take it slow? But his heart jumped into his throat at the mere thought of trying to climb a tree, his eyes shrinking to pin-points.

He swallowed, crouching down as he threw his paws over his head, waiting for his heart to slow its rapid-pacing. What was he going to do? How could he be a respectable SkyClan cat now! All he wanted to do was make Spottedleap proud, but he had managed to break his leg on the first day out of the camp and now...Now he couldn’t even hunt.

There was a faint movement that caught his eye, causing him to lift his head slightly as he watched the shadow of a fish swim past him. Or...Could he? After all, the other Clans got on fine without hunting in the trees. He-He could still hunt...He pushed himself up into a sitting position, watching the fish with a curious look before he glanced up at the open banks around him, hoping to see some sort of squirrel or...Or bird or whatever else lived around here.

Foxpaw was sure his other Clanmates would mock him for refusing to hunt in the trees, would they understand? He...Wasn’t sure if he wanted to test it out, perhaps it was better to keep his new-found fear to himself. But...Maybe he could prove himself in different ways! His tail-numb twitched with excitement. Yeah...He could still make Spottedleap proud! He jumped to his paws, mouth open as he tried to catch the scent of anything nearby.

Finally, he took notice of a squirrel that was nibbling at the root of a nearby tree. Its back was to him, unaware of his presence. With a soft grin, he dropped into a crouch, slowly working his way forward - remembering what Beanpaw had shown him when he was just a kit. Finally, he shook his rump to fix his footing...And made a leap. The squirrel never saw it coming as he landed on its tail, it barely able to let out a squeal before his other paw came down and ended its life quickly.

“Yeah...I-I can do this!” he mumbled to himself as he stumbled backwards, looking at the dead squirrel. He was sure it wouldn’t be easy, most of the prey knew better to stay off the ground where they weren’t that much cover but...If he also took guarding the border seriously, maybe his Clanmates wouldn’t notice his fear - to distracted by how...How great he was! He paused, glancing across the river for any sign of RiverClan cats but failed to see any. That was fine, he could worry about guarding the border later.

With a soft grin, he bent down and picked up the squirrel. Yeah...Yeah, he was going to be fine. He just had to work extra hard to prove himself and maybe nobody would notice or give mind to his fear of heights. And with a happy turn, he headed back toward the camp, ready to perhaps finally get some battle training with Spottedleap.