Welcome to another kitty book! Sadly, I still don't own Warriors...even though I should. If anyone wants to put in a good word for me, tell Harper Collins to send me an email.
Bluepaw froze in horror as Hawkheart's teeth fastened into Moonflower's neck. With enough strength to rival even that of TigerClan, the WindClan medicine cat threw her halfway across the camp where she fell with a sickening thud.
"No!" Bluepaw wailed, struggling to free herself from Swiftbreeze's grasp in order to reach her mother.
"Bluepaw, stay down!" Swiftbreeze hissed.
"But we have to help her!" Bluepaw pleaded.
"She's just dazed, Bluepaw. She'll get up in a moment," the tabby queen meowed.
"She doesn't have a moment!" the blue-gray apprentice protested, still struggling to get to Moonflower.
Hawkheart was stalking over to the motionless queen, his claws scraping the earth with every step and his teeth bared in a snarl. He looked down at Moonflower. Even from her vantage point, Bluepaw could clearly make out the hatred and righteous fury in his eyes.
"ThunderClan, retreat!" Pinestar's yowl sounded above the din of the raging battle.
Thank StarClan!
Finally managing to free herself from Swiftbreeze, Bluepaw raced over to her mother's body. Blood was pouring from a wound in her throat, and for a moment, Bluepaw feared the worst. To her relief, however, as she pressed her nose into Moonflower's fur, she could feel the faint rise and fall of her flank. Sunfall and Swiftbreeze padded up beside her, their eyes glinting with worry.
"Moonflower's okay!" she told them, relief making her voice shake.
Sunfall nodded, his eyes grim. "We need to get her back to the camp," he told her. "She's hurt badly. Goosefeather and Featherwhisker will need to treat her wounds."
Bluepaw hardly noticed as Heatherstar stalked over to Pinestar, her lips drawn back in a snarl and her fur bristling. Nor did she notice the glares of the WindClan warriors on the backs of the defeated ThunderClan patrol as they made their way back to their own territory, or even Snowpaw as her sister bounded over to her side. It didn't matter that they had lost the battle and that WindClan would probably be looking for revenge. Moonflower was alive. Nothing else seemed to matter at the moment.
"Is Moonflower okay?" Snowpaw asked, bringing the blue-furred apprentice back to reality.
"She will be," Bluepaw reassured her sister. "Sunfall said that Goosefeather and Featherwhisker will treat her when we get back home."
She expected Snowpaw to be pleased, but instead, the white apprentice frowned and asked, "Sunfall? What about Stormtail? He's supposed to be our father; shouldn't he be checking on Moonflower?"
Bluepaw frowned to herself. Now that she thought about it, Stormtail's failure to check up on Moonflower did seem strange. Of course, it was possible that he had simply been too busy during the battle, but what about afterward? She was beginning to accept the fact that her father wasn't too interested in his kits, but now he was acting as if he didn't care about his mate.
"I don't know," she admitted finally. "Maybe he just doesn't know yet?"
"Maybe," Snowpaw echoed, sounding as though she didn't quite believe it herself.
When she looked a few tail-lengths ahead and saw their father walking beside Dappletail, allowing the pretty tortoiseshell to lean on him for support, Bluepaw found it hard to disagree.
As soon as the patrol arrived back at the ThunderClan camp, Sunfall and Swiftbreeze carried Moonflower's still-unconscious form to the medicine den. Goosefeather and Featherwhisker hurried after them as Larksong, Mumblefoot, and Weedwhisker poked their heads out of the elders' den.
"Did you win?" Larksong called out.
"No," Pinestar replied heavily, his head bowed slightly. Bluepaw stared at him, startled at seeing her leader look so defeated. "No, we didn't."
"It was a waste of time right from the start. We should have known not to trust one of Goosefeather's omens," Adderfang growled, though whether his anger was directed at the medicine cat or simply a result of the humiliation of their defeat was impossible to tell.
"Hush!" Weedwhisker reprimanded him. "Goosefeather has served ThunderClan for many moons. You would do well to respect him!"
Privately, however, Bluepaw couldn't help thinking that Adderfang had a point. Regardless of what his intentions might have been, Goosefeather's omen had nearly gotten Moonflower killed. He had said that StarClan wanted them to attack WindClan's medicine stores, but if that were true, surely they would have won the battle with ease. She shook her head, trying to brush her thoughts off.
I can't think like that. Goosefeather might be Moonflower's only hope. I have to trust that he's going to heal her.
Sunfall emerged from the medicine den, and Bluepaw bounded over to him with Snowpaw hot on her heels. The bright ginger tom paused as they skidded to a halt in front of him, waiting for the two apprentices to speak.
"Can we see Moonflower? Please?" Bluepaw begged.
"I'll bet she wants to see us," Snowpaw added.
However, Sunfall just shook his head. "Not yet," he replied gently. "Goosefeather and Featherwhisker are still treating her and they need all the space they can get. But she's going to be fine. Her wounds are deep, but nothing that won't heal with some herbs and a few nights in the medicine den."
Snowpaw nodded and Bluepaw asked, "Will you let us know when we can see her?"
"Of course," Sunfall meowed kindly. "I have to speak to Pinestar now, but Goosefeather wanted me to tell you two and Stormtail the news."
The ThunderClan deputy glanced across the clearing, his eyes narrowing at something on the opposite side of the camp. Curious, Bluepaw followed his gaze, wondering what had upset Sunfall so much. It didn't take her long to figure it out. Stormtail was seated beside Dappletail, gently cleaning the younger warrior's wounds, his flank pressed up against hers. Even from where she stood, Bluepaw could see that there was a certain warmth in her father's eyes that had never been present whenever he looked at Moonflower.
"Look at him! He doesn't even care about Moonflower!" Snowpaw spat, glaring at Stormtail.
"I know," Bluepaw agreed, bitter resentment rising up in her throat.
Sunfall stalked over to Stormtail and Dappletail, his shoulders stiff. "Moonflower is going to be okay," he told the blue-gray tom in a voice like ice.
"That's good to hear," Stormtail meowed politely. "You should let Bluepaw and Snowpaw know."
"I already did. Unlike you, they actually care about what happens to her," Sunfall meowed coldly.
Without waiting for Stormtail's response, the deputy turned around and stalked towards the Highrock where Pinestar's den resided. Bluepaw could see her father staring after Sunfall with undisguised anger in his eyes until Dappletail nudged him gently. She felt a surge of anger as he turned to lick her forehead. It hadn't even been a full day yet, and already he was moving on to another cat.
"Come on," she meowed to Snowpaw. "Let's go hunting."
"Good idea," Snowpaw agreed, her eyes lighting up. "We can bring something back for Moonflower when she wakes up."
Together, the two apprentices raced across the camp to where their mentors, Stonepelt and Sparrowpelt, were talking in hushed voices with Adderfang, Tawnyspots, and Thrushpelt. They turned to look at Bluepaw and Snowpaw as they approached, curiosity in their gazes.
"Is Moonflower okay?" Stonepelt asked.
"Sunfall said she's going to be fine," Bluepaw told her mentor, feeling a slight pang. Why doesn't Stormtail care as much as Stonepelt?
"We were wondering if we could go hunting," Snowpaw requested politely. "When Moonflower wakes up, we can bring her something to eat."
"And we didn't fight today, so we don't need to be treated," Bluepaw added.
"That's a good idea," Sparrowpelt meowed approvingly.
Stonepelt nodded slowly. "Very well, but make sure you two stay together and don't go anywhere near the borders," he ordered. "We don't want to run into an enemy patrol after today, especially not one from WindClan."
"We will," Bluepaw promised, racing towards the gorse tunnel with Snowpaw following close behind.
The forest was quiet as the two sisters made their way through the territory, keeping their senses alert for any sign of prey. As they rounded a bend, Bluepaw spotted a rabbit burrowing through some leaves a few tail-lengths away. Dropping into the hunting crouch, she stalked forward quickly, keeping her movements silent so as not to alert the rabbit to her presence. Once she was about three whisker-lengths away, she pounced, killing it in one swift bite. She sat up with her rabbit clutched in her jaws, feeling a surge of triumph.
"Nice one!" Snowpaw purred.
"Thanks!" Bluepaw replied around a mouthful of fur. She buried the rabbit under a pile of leaves. "The next one's all yours."
It was nearly sunset by the time Bluepaw and Snowpaw started heading back to the camp, their jaws full of prey. They had already agreed to give Moonflower a thrush that Bluepaw had caught when she woke up. She had caught it last, which meant it would be warmer than the other pieces of fresh-kill. Of course, there wouldn't be that much of a difference between the thrush and any of the other prey, but Bluepaw was determined to only give the best fresh-kill to her mother.
As they drew closer to the camp, the two apprentices stopped in their tracks as the sound of arguing reached their ears. Sunfall and Stormtail's voices sounded from several fox-lengths away, each one raised in anger. Bluepaw and Snowpaw ducked behind a tree, holding their breath to try to listen in on their argument.
"What goes on between me and Moonflower is none of your business, Sunfall," Stormtail growled.
"I'm the deputy of this Clan, in case you didn't remember. Every cat is my concern–mine and Pinestar's," Sunfall snapped. "And I would think that you would show a little more concern for your mate who, in case you weren't aware, was almost killed by Hawkheart today."
"But she wasn't," the blue-furred tom retorted.
How can he be so heartless? Bluepaw thought angrily.
"How can you be so heartless?" Sunfall demanded, and she would have laughed if the situation weren't so distressing. "First you ignore Moonflower during the battle, then you choose to comfort Dappletail instead of checking on her while she's being treated in the medicine den. She's the mother of your kits, Stormtail. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"
For a moment, there was no response. After a few heartbeats, however, Stormtail let out a sigh.
"Look," he meowed slowly. "If you must know, things with Moonflower just got...well, I'll put it simply. There was no–what's the term I'm looking for?–spark anymore. Things just weren't...exciting to me like they were when we first got together. That's all. It's not that I don't care about her, but Dappletail..."
His voice trailed off. Rather than pacifying Sunfall, however, his explanation only seemed to have angered him further.
"So that's it?" the ThunderClan deputy meowed in disbelief. "You're abandoning your critically-injured mate for another molly because you got bored of her?"
"I–"
"Don't say a word," Sunfall growled. "You're pathetic, Stormtail. Moonflower deserves better than you."
Bluepaw and Snowpaw straightened up as the bright ginger tom started walking in their direction. Slowly, they stepped out from behind the tree, trying to look as though they hadn't been eavesdropping. Sunfall sighed when he saw them, the fur on his shoulders slowly beginning to lie flat. Bluepaw's fur felt hot with guilt. Did he know they had been listening to his argument with Stormtail?
To her relief, if Sunfall was at all aware of the fact that they had been eavesdropping, he made no mention of it. Instead, he simply meowed, "Well done, both of you. Let's get your prey back to the camp and we can see if Moonflower is awake yet."
Stormtail was already back at the camp when the three cats returned. Bluepaw glanced at Sunfall to see if the ginger tom would say anything to her father, but he stalked right past without so much as a glance in Stormtail's direction. Out of curiosity, she turned her head slightly to see if Stormtail was watching and was disappointed but unsurprised to see that he was busy sharing tongues with Dappletail again.
I guess that's it, then, she thought. If Sunfall's lecture hadn't been enough of a wake-up call, then nothing would be.
Bluepaw deposited her load in the fresh-kill pile, keeping the thrush to take to Moonflower. She followed Sunfall and Snowpaw to the medicine den, feeling a twinge of pride at the approving glances her Clanmates gave her. As they pushed their way through the fern tunnel, she spotted Featherwhisker and Goosefeather applying various herbs to Moonflower's pelt. At first, Bluepaw thought her mother was still asleep, but as they walked closer, she lifted her head and purred weakly in greeting.
"How are you two?" she asked.
"We're fine," Snowpaw assured her.
"We brought you a thrush," Bluepaw announced, placing the bird by her mother's paws.
Moonflower purred softly, taking a bite of the thrush. "Thank you," she meowed. "I'm lucky to have two brilliant daughters."
Bluepaw flushed slightly and looked down at her paws, hoping her mother wouldn't think she was being arrogant.
"Alright you two, don't stay too long. Moonflower needs to rest," Featherwhisker ordered. "The sooner she can start resting, the sooner she'll be able to leave."
"Okay," Bluepaw meowed respectfully, turning to leave the den. Casting one last look at Moonflower, she asked, "Are you sure you're going to be okay?"
"I'll be fine," Moonflower meowed gently. "Goosefeather and Featherwhisker are taking good care of me."
Bluepaw nodded and followed Snowpaw and Sunfall out of the medicine den and back into the clearing. She knew the medicine cats would do everything they could to heal her mother, but she couldn't help worrying. What if something went wrong and Moonflower took a turn for the worse while Goosefeather and Featherwhisker were asleep or away from the medicine den? She was too weak to move, much less grab any herbs to take care of herself.
"Are you okay?" Snowpaw asked.
"I'm worried about Moonflower," Bluepaw admitted. "I know Goosefeather and Featherwhisker are doing their best, but what if something goes wrong?"
"I know," her sister agreed. "I'm worried too. But we have to trust that StarClan will let Moonflower live. And that Goosefeather and Featherwhisker will stop at nothing to ensure that she gets better. Moonflower trusts them to take care of her, so we should as well."
Bluepaw flicked her tail in agreement and allowed Snowpaw to touch her nose comfortingly to her cheek. Her sister was right. If Moonflower trusted Goosefeather and Featherwhisker's skills, then she shouldn't be doubting them. After all, there was nobody in the Clan with their knowledge of healing and herbs–if they couldn't do it, nobody could.
So yeah, in case it wasn't obvious, I really dislike Stormtail. I don't think he was evil or anything and I also don't think he was responsible for Moonflower's death, but he was definitely an asshole. In canon, he decided to help Dappletail home instead of helping carry his mate's dead body, which should tell you all you need to know about him.
Moonflower x Sunfall is going to become a thing because yes.
Thanks for reading!
-TheShadowedWarrior