Hazelpaw is luckily not dead!
Hazelpaw came to, the pain in her hind leg a dull ache. The walls of the medicine den swam around her and she saw Sandpaw's worried face staring down at her.
He let out a relieved sigh and turned away, whispering something under his breath.
"Sandpaw?" She croaked, moving slightly. "Wha-"
"Silverpaw found you in the ditch. You were nearly dead, and your leg is broken. What happened to you?"
The fight with Smokepaw flashed back to her, the way he had looked at her as he watched her fall. He's the one that pushed me. He nearly killed me.
"I was fighting some cat and they pushed me off of the edge of the floor." She replied quietly.
"Great Starclan." Sandpaw breathed. "You fell a good few fox-lengths, that's for sure. Why were you up there anyways?"
Hazelpaw shrugged, wincing, the movement hurt her stiff shoulders. "I guess that the fighting brought me there."
Sandpaw raised an eyebrow skeptically. "It brought you there? I'm not a warrior, but that sounds kind of dumb."
Hazelpaw sighed, too tired to argue with her brother. "Whatever."
A loud noise came from outside of the den, and Berrypaw barged in, nearly knocking Sandpaw over.
"She's awake!" He crouched beside her. "How's my favorite sister doing?"
That probably hurt Buzzardtalon's feelings." Hazelpaw pointed out. "And I could be better, thanks for asking."
Another cat came into the den, Hazelpaw recognized it as Lightningpelt, an expression of worry was on his face.
"Thank Starclan." He let out a relieved gasp. "What in Starclan's name happened? Why were you up there?"
Berrypaw and Sandpaw both backed away, sensing that this wasn't their conversation.
Hazelpaw shrugged again. "I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting to get pushed off. I wasn't anywhere near the edge, I swear."
Another cat came in, this time Silverpaw, who came over to her quietly.
"Thanks for finding me." Hazelpaw told her.
"Hard it wasn't, welcome you are." Silverpaw replied quietly. "Dead, everyone thought you were."
"Well, I'm clearly not." Hazelpaw joked.
"How did you fall so far?" Lightningpelt asked.
"Well, I was pushed. Kinda." Hazelpaw responded awkwardly, not exactly sure how to explain the whole branch incident with Smokepaw.
I saw that branch hover in the air like that. I know very well that he was controlling it, even if he didn't know how, exactly.
"Kind of?" Lightningpelt cocked his head. "How can you be kind of pushed?"
"I was pushed." Hazelpaw clarified. "That's what I meant. It probably was an accident."
"Accident or not, Smokeclan will pay for what they've done." His gaze grew serious. "Cloudfoot has died."
Hazelpaw let out a gasp of shock, Cloudfoot had been Flamepaw's mentor. No. No cat deserved to die in this pointless battle.
His death shouldn't have happened, Smokeclan is clearly in the wrong here." Berrypaw mewed angrily.
Eaglestar has been trying to figure out what to do next after this attack." Lightningpelt replied quietly. "Shadestar was barely provoked, Smokeclan has been acting erratic and we're not exactly sure what to do about it. Deerstar is notified that this battle happened, so he can be prepared as well, but I do hope that they leave Appleclan alone."
"For Starclan's sake!" Frogstep marched into the den. "She needs rest, not all of you cats filling her head with worries and such. She's been out for two days!"
Hazelpaw stared at her in shock as the rest of the cats filed out, except for Sandpaw. "I was unconscious for two days?!"
Frogstep nodded, padding over to her. "Gave me quite a fright, you did."
"I'm sorry." Hazelpaw mewed immediately.
Frogstep let out a harsh laugh. "It wasn't even your fault! What did happen?"
I feel like I've explained this before. "I was pushed off the floor, Frogstep. It was an accident, I assume."
It was definitely not an accident. Smokepaw was intending for that to happen.
"Great Starclan, Hazelpaw, how many cats have warned you not to go up there? The floor is already unstable, and cats have died falling from there if they aren't careful! You best not go back up there again, only warriors and me can go up there."
Hazelpaw nodded again. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to go up there."
"Any day now that floor is going to break." Frogstep muttered. "Not anytime soon, I mean." She added hastily when she noticed Hazelpaw's worried look.
She placed her paw on Hazelpaw's injured leg, and pressed gently. "Ow." Hazelpaw said.
"You broke it for sure." Frogstep declared. "I'll have to make a splint for it."
She made her way to the back of the den, and Hazelpaw rested her head on her paws, staring out at the busy camp, which was beginning to get more busy as the moon went up.
I was unconscious for two days. Great Starclan. Swiftnose, Frosttooth, Perchpaw, and Silverpaw went out, with the two apprentices talking to each other.
Hazelpaw was glad that Perchpaw had stopped hanging out with Stonepaw and Flamepaw after the whole incident, and had a suspicion where he and Silverpaw's relationship might go.
Hazelpaw! For Starclan's sake, they're just friends! You have no need to play matchmaker, you'll just mess everything up!
She closed her eyes, and tiredness washed over her, and she sank into sleep.
She dozed fitfully, but the pain in her leg woke her several times and Frogstep said that she couldn't have any poppy seeds to numb the pain. And this is why I'm awake at sunhigh, for Starclan's sake.
The cat on watch, Buzzardtalon, glanced towards her, giving her a reassuring smile. "Can't sleep?"
Hazelpaw nodded sullenly. "All I want to do is to train again, and I don't even know if I can do that."
Her older sister flashed her a disbelieving glance. "Of course you can. Frogstep said that it was a clean break, and that you were quite lucky it was. But something in your story doesn't add up."
Her gaze grew serious. "If you were nowhere near the edge, how did you get pushed off?"
"One cat saw your fight a while back, before you were "pushed". You were fighting another apprentice, one smaller than you. There's no way that he could've pushed you with such force, you were at least three fox-lengths away."
Why is my sister trying to get to the bottom of this?
"So what did happen?" Buzzardtalon asked.
Hazelpaw sighed. "Nothing, Buzzardtalon. I must have just imagined what happened."
I didn't imagine it. He lifted up that branch without touching it, and purposefully shoved me off of that floor. I think he was trying to kill me.
Her confusion gave way to anger, and she dug her claws into the soft moss of her nest. When I recover, he's dead. He did try to kill me.
Her anger, just as swift as it came, disappeared, and sadness took its place.
He was my friend. I mean, I thought that we were friends.
She buried her head in her nest, ignoring her sister. He was my friend, and he tried to kill me. I know that this was a battle, but I thought that he might let up a little bit.
I guess you can never trust a Smokeclan cat, especially a fox-heart named Smokepaw.
Well... Hazelpaw is luckily alive, and hates Smokepaw! Stay safe, everyone!
Have a good day (or night), and keep writing!
-Mintflight