AN/ This was depressing to write. Kinda sorta dedicated to a friend of mine. Listen to Solitude by Evanescence while reading for best effects.
When Cinderpaw was assigned Fireheart as a mentor, it was the happiest day of her life.
For as long as she could remember, she had a crush on the handsome ginger tom. This chance to spend her days with him would be just the chance she needed to get close to him. She would gladly do anything for him.
It was because of this somewhat foolish devotion she volunteered to go on the errand for Bluestar. She wanted to impress him, and maybe he would think, "Oh, Cinderpaw is so kind and loyal! How could I have not seen it before?" She knew it was a silly hope, but she clung to it.
When the monster struck her, she was aware of it happening before she felt the pain. She thought "How will I be a warrior? How will I ever be with Fireheart?" At the medicine den, Yellowfang was blunt. "Look, girl, that leg of yours isn't going to work right. Not soon, maybe not ever." Her voice softened just a bit as she continued. "Look, I need an apprentice. If the whole warrior thing doesn't work out, it would be more fulfilling than sitting in the elders den." For days she mulled this over, Fireheart and her family's visits were the only thing keeping her going. She slowly learned the herbs and treatments, and reached her decision.
She became a medicine cat apprentice and eventually a medicine cat. She received an apprentice of her own.
Leafpool was a good apprentice, kind and completly dedicated to beig a medicine cat. Even so, she had been the bane of her existence for so long for one reason: Jealousy.
She was the child of the cat she loved and another she cat. And she had everything she wanted, being medicine cat and having love. She sat back and watched as she broke the one rule set to medicine cats, knowing that soon Leafpool would be the only one left. When Leafpool ran away, Cinderpelt was angry, disappointed and strangely enough, a little proud.
When she was given the option to be reborn, she took it without a moments hesitation.
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