Chapter 23: Medicine Cat Apprentice

The scent of rain and blood welcomed Hawk as she padded into the FearClan camp. She looked around, the rain still pattering as she spotted the familiar shape of her sister, Dusk. She was sitting outside of a den among the gnarled roots of a willow tree. The same from her dream. It had been a little over a moon since she had it, curiosity bubbled inside her as she recalled the words.

Protect him. She had to wonder if the kit she saw in the dream was in there. She shook herself free as she glanced to the rogues who came out from the dry den. A black and brown tom hidden in the shadows who glared at her.

"What is this she-cat doing here?" He snapped.

Heather came out, raindrops dripping form her whiskers. "Never mind that, she is going to take care of Cedar. She needs all the help she can get."

"Speaking of which," Hawk mewed, catching their attention, "I will need a set of paws to help me and one to keep the kits from seeing the state of their mother. I'm sure Shadow will be in there, but another can't hurt."

"Dusk can, she doesn't do anything useful." Heather informed her, "At least for kits she is good at it."

"Thank you, as for the pair of paws I will need to run out into the rain here..."

"Do you have some cat in mind already?" Heather asked softly, her honey-colored eyes sharp with interest.

"I was hoping the she-cat I sent to fetch you could help me. She looks like a cat with excellent memory. I will only need her for the night so I may focus on Cedar with all of my attention. When the sun rises I will need another cat with excellent memory to help. You may choose for that one." Hawk informed the rogue deputy.

Heather shook out her fur, which spiked up all over from being soaked. "Very well. Lion, you are in charge of fetching whatever she needs to help Cedar. Dusk, you inform Shadow you are staying to shield the kits from their mother and to keep the peace. I would hate if Cedar died because of Shadow's dumb feelings."

Hawk nodded, murmuring softly as she headed inside. "Agreed."

The den was musty, but dry for the most part. Stones were placed near the lip of the den to keep rainwater away from the soft moss that coated the dens floor. Roots made up the ceiling, the deeper she went in, the higher it was. It was at least a cat length high from many paws.

Before her was Shadow, huddled to the kits and not speaking. They were still asleep, unaware of the fight their mother had to go through for now. Dusk slipped in after her, sliding past her to Shadow to whisper to him. pale green eyes flashed in the darkness. Scorching her with the glare of hatred.

Ignoring his gaze, she went back to work, sniffing at the injuries and removing wet moss and leaves. She even began to clean the wounds painstakingly, the rogue leader's breathing was shallow. The rise and fall of her flank almost unnoticeable. Hawk had no doubt that this was a hard fight for them both.

Soon she went over the herbs she had, informing Lion what the looked like and to fetch more. The reddish-brown she-cat would slip away, amber eyes unreadable now. She saw so much mixed emotions back at the bush, but now it was as though she was concealing it.

Perhaps, all cats had their secrets and emotions concealed for a reason. Hawk began to work on warning Cedar's body by washing her fur the wrong way. She had to do something to bring some comfort to the leader. Yet, she could feel it in her paws. There was no way Cedar could pull through. She was already so far in a slumber she may never return from.

A familiar scent flowed over her, it was tainted with the wild forest smells. "Dusk." She mewed softly in between licks. "What do you need?"

"Shadow said you better save her."

"It's in the paws of StarClan, as my mentor would have said." she explained, working on drying Cedar.

"What does that mean?"

"She's resting and I'm doing all I can to keep her alive. If she dies, she dies."

"Dusk, leave the clan-cat alone." Shadow growled.

"It's only our sister!" she pointed out hotly.

"No traitor can be a sister of mine." he looked to his kits, they were waking up to their voices. "Hush, go back to sleep, your mother would want you to-"

"Whose that with Dusk?" one of the kits squeaked curiously.

"Nobody." Shadow meowed sharply.

Dusk went over and shoved Shadow, "Don't be so rude." she chided, before looking to the kits and spoke gently. "This is Hawk, our litter-sister. She's looking after your mother to make sure she sleeps well. Although, with how Shadow is acting I won't be surprised if Hawk can't do her duty."

"It's her fault that Cedar is in this mess-"

"It's Cedar's own fault for not letting up on conflict for the sake of her kits." Hawk mewed, looking at them. "Now, don't think of your mother as a bad one, she was more then likely doing it to keep you all safe. Now, who wants to tell me their names?"

"You don't deserve to know their names!" Shadow snarled.

Hawk ignored him, "Come on, your mother must have named you."

"I'm Ant." a she-kit mewed, "This is Juniper, Thistle, Nettle, and Willow."

Shadow got between them and growled sternly, "Kits, to bed. Now."

"But-" Thistle started, only to flinch at the menacing glare of her father.

Dusk huffed, "Shadow you're scaring them."

"With good reason! They don't deserve to meet-"

"Hawk is our litter-sister whether you like it or not." Dusk held her ground. "Have some compassion!"

"Compassion? Like Hawk would know what that is?"

Hawk looked at her brother and gave an order. "If your going to be a grump then you can sleep outside."

"This is-"

"Cedar's Den, correct? Dusk will stay here and tell the kits stories to get them back to sleep. You can sit outside of the den until you stop acting like a kit yourself!" Hawk snapped. Shadow winced slightly, before snorting and storming out of the den, kicking rocks out of place as he went. Hawk stared after him and sighed heavily. "Poppyclaw was right."

"Who?" Dusk mewed as she curled around the moon-old kits.

"Poppyclaw. He was my mentor in BushClan. He said that love can make a cat do crazy things. He was right about that too. It's made Shadow think he's all that when he isn't."

"Well he is the leader's mate."

"So what?" Hawk replied, "She still put her life in danger when she has kits to look after. I can understand if she wanted them safe. I just wish I could know more."

Dusk shrugged, "Well, this is the best we got." she looked to the kits who were already dozing off. "I will protect these kits even if Cedar passes."

"You will have to." Hawk mewed, "If they lack compassion and love, they will be wandering broken hearts forever."

Dusk nodded as she began to purr for the kits. Settling into sleeping herself and leaving Hawk to go back to her duty. By then Lion came back and delivered what she could find. The medicine cat apprentice began to work hard. Washing the wounds, replacing poultice and dressings before taking breaks by eating small shared meals with Lion and taking turns napping.

The sun began to rise as Hawk checked on Cedar again, exhausted as she placed a paw on the rogue leader. She was still and growing colder and colder. Bitter defeat washed over her. Lion dipped her head, no emotion in her amber eyes before she turned and left the den.

Cedar was no longer among them in life. She had succumbed to her wounds. Wounds caused by her paws. She looked to her paws, guilt clawed at her heart. She broke two vital rules of the clan's teachings. She killed a cat in battle while being a medicine cat. Shutting her eyes, she heard Shadow pad in and lash his paws across the herbs.

"You killed Cedar." He hissed, "You killed their mother."

Hawk was silent, taking in his cruel words and not even registering when his claws slashed across her cheek hard. She was numb as she stumbled out of the den, hollow eyed and ignoring the shouting cats behind her. She had failed to make things right. Grief struck her hard.

Cedar was not a kind cat. Yet, she had kits who needed a mother. Now, they had a spiteful father who would want her dead instead of his mate. Love was dangerous. It was scorching her left and right like sharp claws. Or perhaps it was just Shadow punishing her for it. Whatever it was, she regretted every breath she took.

She felt responsible and now she had to take the full responsibility for her actions.

Author Note:

Sorry that this came so late.
I'm a sucker for Animal Crossing ^^;

- NightSky