Shadowed [C]

Pantherpaw staggered into the medicine den, somehow partly supporting her sister. Thank the stars, the camp was mostly empty. She didn’t know if she would have been able to take prying stares. Rookfire. He had to be here. If he wasn’t, she was going to… she didn’t know what. She was listless but frantic at the same time. She had done this… there was blood on her paws… it looked bad… she pleaded, prayed to the stars that Cheetahpaw would be alright. She was shaking, she suddenly noticed, trembling so bad she could barely support herself, let alone her sister. “Rookfire…” she croaked, voice trembling like her paws. “Rookfire, c-come help her!” If you can… she added mentally. Cheetahpaw had to be alright. She just had to. Pantherpaw… Cheetahpaw’s blood was on her paws, quite literally and in more ways than one. She couldn’t take it if her sister was… bad. Rookfire had to be able to help.

Suddenly dizzy, she sat down hard on the ground, mind swirling. She couldn’t take this… but she had to… help her sister… Rookfire… why was her head spinning? She wasn’t the one who was hurt. She had caused this. She couldn’t live with herself… if… if anything had happened… bad…

"Rookfire!" The bark carried an unfamiliar air of authority to it, surprising even Webshadow as he called the medicine cat's name. He was pressed against Cheetahpaw's other side, legs half- bent so he could support her with more of his weight.

He was deeply grateful he didn't take the pair too far. If he had to drag the she-cat back to camp from StarClan-knows-where... he shuddered. It was bad enough he had to be present at all. Hearing a quiet thump, he looked up, seeing Pantherpaw had suddenly sat down. In shock, probably... His green eyes stared at her for a while, searching and distant, until he turned away to press his nose to Cheetahpaw's head. "You'll be fine. Rookfire!" Webshadow's tail lashed restlessly. He wasn't a patient cat, never had been, but he felt justified in rushing the tom here, in a situation so urgent. What if the apprentice lost her eye... forever? Bled out while she was waiting? Mind spinning with the worst endings, Webshadow breathed in deep and closed his eyes, ears laying flat.

Rookfire was in the medicine den when Webshadow called out for him urgently. "I'm coming!" he said, making sure to quickly reach the scene. Once he arrived, he saw Webshadow with Pantherpaw and a clearly-injured Cheetahpaw. "What happened? A training accident?" Cheetahpaw was writhing in pain, but the medicine cat couldn't see which part of her was injured. "Where is Cheetahpaw hurt?" He didn't want to get the horsetail and cobwebs until he knew exactly where the wound was. Wounds like, say, an eye wound would have to be treated with celandine. An eye wound... maybe Cheetahpaw was hurt in some kind of sparring match between her and Pantherpaw?

Cheetahpaw staggered doggedly into the den with the support of the two other cats. The walk here, blood had only continued to spill down from the wound. So far, she was too tired to even realize that she could no longer see anything out of her left eye, the vision now just a passive, useless screen of black and darkness.

Pressing herself closer into Webshadow, but tentatively avoiding Pantherpaw's presence as much as possible, she collapsed down into the moss, sinking in the warm bedding. It was.... relieving. Oddly relaxing. Cheetahpaw groaned, mostly of pain but also of reemerging self-pity. I've seen too much blood in my life. I'm too young for all of it. Fox-dung, why can't I just be like any other apprentice? She struggled onto her side for a more sprawled-out position, letting the moss beneath her cheek absorb the blood. Hopefully Rookfire didn't mind. Though, to be honest, Cheetahpaw couldn't really care at the moment if he did. She could feel the warmth of Pantherpaw beside her, but she couldn't see it. Not fully, at least.

"My eye hurts. I.... can't see.... o-out of... it." Oh, by the stars, she hoped this wasn't anything permanent. Cheetahpaw needed her sight -- all of it. Any warrior wanting to be successful would. One eye wouldn't be good enough.

She was probably fine. Maybe a tear in the cornea or something.... Though the fact she still couldn't see anything on that side was beginning to concern her.

Pantherpaw gulped down bile at the sight of her sister, sprawled out with blood all over her face. The black molly turned to the medicine cat as he entered, eyes full of panic. She had done this, she was the monster that attacked her own sister, she was a foxing brute… “Training accident…” She was too much of a coward to admit her obvious guilt.

She pressed herself into her sister’s side, quaking. If she could she’d tear out her own eye for her sister. She’d never felt so sick in her life, not even when she ate a suspicious bug as a kit. She felt terrible, shaking, quivering, but she knew why she felt ill. Guilt. She was a foxing brute. She’d attacked her own sister. She was a foxing brute. She’d attacked her own sister. She was a foxing brute…

The mental cycle continued as Pantherpaw continued beating herself up. She carefully licked Cheetahpaw’s cheek, where her foxing claws hadn’t ventured. Blood was trickling down from her eye, an awful lot of blood. Rookfire could fix this. He had to. She’d never forgive him if he couldn’t… no, she could never forgive herself if he couldn’t. This was all her fault this was all her fault this was all her fault foxing foxing foxing brute! The last few words escaped her maw as the tears began to pour once more.

"Training accident," Webshadow agreed, setting his jaw. He hated to see his apprentice look so panic-stricken but, distantly, he was grateful he wasn't training a cat like Burningpaw. The hunt still sat heavy in his mind, even if now wasn't the best time to be thinking about it. He stepped back, allowing more room for the dark apprentice to settle at her sister's side.

Nodding towards Cheetahpaw, he explained, "It's her eye. Things got... overzealous." He shot a glance at Pantherpaw, but bit his tongue against scolding her. As much as he didn't want to have that conversation, it was also the last thing she needed to hear right now. The damage would have to serve as lesson enough.

Stepping closer to the other tom, Webshadow lowered his voice to speak again. "I'm... worried she might lose her eye, Rookfire. There has to be something you can do."