"Lilypaw!" Bluefur screeched, watching in horror as her little sister collapsed gracelessly onto the forest floor.
Dropping her fresh-kill, she raced over to Lilypaw's side and nudged her frantically with her nose. To her relief, she saw her sister's flank rising and falling. But Bluefur knew they didn't have much time if they wanted to get back to the camp in time to help her. Blood was pouring from her wounds and more and more time seemed to pass between each rattling breath.
"Sorry everyone, I have to go. I need to get Lilypaw back home," Bluefur meowed, lifting her sister onto her back.
The other warriors nodded in understanding, but Thistlepaw meowed boldly, "What about your prey? We can't just waste it."
Bluefur glared at him. "Carry it back yourself if you're so concerned," she snapped. She hadn't forgotten that it was technically his fault that Lilypaw was injured.
Without waiting to hear Thistlepaw's response, she spun around and sprinted off in the direction of the ThunderClan camp. Her paws pounded heavily against the ground as she ran and she was certain that she had frightened off every bit of prey in the forest, but she didn't care. Her only concern was making sure she arrived home in time to get Lilypaw into the medicine den.
She burst in through the gorse tunnel, where she was spotted by Snowfur and Moonflower, who were talking near the warriors' den. The two mollies let out a gasp when they saw Lilypaw, but Bluefur didn't respond as she raced past them and into the medicine clearing on the other side of the camp.
"Featherwhisker, help me!" she called out desperately.
Featherwhisker poked his head out from around a corner in the den, his eyes widening in shock when he saw the state Lilypaw was in. Shaking himself off, he padded forward and took her from Bluefur, gently placing her on the floor before turning and disappearing into the stores again. Her head still spinning, Bluefur sat down beside her little sister and waited for him to return. While she was waiting, Snowfur and Moonflower burst into the den and rushed over to her.
"What happened?" Moonflower demanded, her eyes wide as she stared at her youngest daughter. "How did this happen? What did this to her?"
"It was a dog," Bluefur explained, her voice sounding far away even to her own ears. "We were hunting at Snakerocks when it attacked. It must have smelled our prey and gotten loose from its Twolegs somehow."
"And Lilypaw tried to fight it?" Snowfur guessed, looking at the younger molly with a mixture of awe, disbelief, and horror on her face.
Bluefur shook her head. "It was all Thistlepaw's fault," she growled, lashing her tail angrily. "He kept trying to trick Lilypaw by calling out false alarms whenever she was about to catch something. So when he warned her about the dog, she didn't believe him and kept hunting. By the time she realized that his warning was real, it was too late. The dog was too close and too fast for her to escape, so she had to try to fight it. She was very brave. I ran over to help her as fast as I could, but by the time I got there, the dog had already hurt her pretty badly."
"Did Thistlepaw at least try to help?" Snowfur asked. She looked horrified.
"Sort of," Bluefur admitted. "He did come to help me fight off the dog, but it was only after Adderfang prompted him into doing so. Had he not said anything, I doubt Thistlepaw would have done anything."
Snowfur nodded, her eyes darkening as she gazed down at her paws. Bluefur wondered what was going on through her sister's mind but decided against asking. The last thing she felt like doing at the moment was having a discussion about Snowfur's friendship (although it was clear that she wanted more) with Thistlepaw. As awful as Bluefur knew it was, part of her almost wished that the spiky-furred tom had been the one to get injured. At least he would have deserved it, in a way at least.
Featherwhisker reemerged from the back of the den, his jaws full of cobwebs and marigold. Stepping aside, Bluefur watched as he began applying them to Lilypaw's wounds. Soon, her sister's pelt was covered in so many cobwebs and herbs that it was almost impossible to see her white fur underneath. Feeling her throat tighten, Bluefur looked away as her vision blurred.
"Come on, dear," Moonflower murmured, brushing her tail-tip over Bluefur's shoulder. "Let's leave her to rest. Featherwhisker will take good care of her."
"Where's Goosefeather?" Snowfur demanded as they followed their mother out of the den. "He's our official medicine cat. Shouldn't he be taking care of Lilypaw too?"
Privately, Bluefur thought that Goosefeather's care was the last thing Lilypaw needed. He knew his herbs, she would give him that, but lately, he spent almost all of his time muttering to himself about omens and death. Lilypaw needed rest and time to recover; she didn't need a half-mad medicine cat frightening her with his talk about StarClan and their seemingly never-ending evil omens.
Knowing this, she wondered whether she was being foolish in believing Goosefeather's prophecy about her supposedly being fire. Snowfur certainly seemed to think so; in fact, she had dismissed the idea as ludicrous as soon as Bluefur told her about it. Bluefur wasn't too sure about it herself. On one hand, Goosefeather had definitely been wrong before–after all, it was one of his omens that nearly got Moonflower killed. But on the other hand, whenever the topic of the prophecy came up, there was always something in his eyes, a sense of clarity that she hardly ever saw otherwise, that made her wonder if perhaps there was something to his ramblings after all.
Bluefur had to admit that there was a tiny part of her that wanted the prophecy to be true. Perhaps she was being greedy, but there was something about knowing that she could have one of the greatest destinies the Clans had ever seen that was simultaneously terrifying and thrilling. Besides, how many cats could say that they had been the subject of a real prophecy?
"Thistlepaw!" Snowfur's angry meow jerked Bluefur out of her thoughts. Stunned, she watched as her littermate stalked over to the gray and white apprentice, her fur bristling. "How dare you trick Lilypaw? She got hurt because of you! I know you don't like her, but that's no excuse for what you did. I certainly hope you're pleased with yourself!"
"Snowfur, calm down," Robinwing meowed, placing her tail on the younger warrior's back. "We shouldn't be fighting amongst ourselves right now. Let's concentrate on making sure Lilypaw gets better."
"I don't care whether he meant it or not!" Snowfur snapped, and Bluefur was pleased to see Thistlepaw flinch. "He's still the reason it happened, isn't he? Whether or not he wanted her to get hurt doesn't change anything."
"I'm sorry!" Thistlepaw exclaimed, and Bluefur snorted. Of course, he would apologize to Snowfur but not Lilypaw. "I didn't mean for anything to happen to her, honest."
"Why should we believe that?" Bluefur interrupted, glaring at him. "You haven't exactly made it a secret that you hate her. I'll bet the whole reason you kept distracting her in the first place while we were hunting at such a dangerous location was that you were hoping an adder would catch her."
"It was supposed to be a harmless prank," Thistlepaw explained, but his words were directed at Snowfur, not her. "I'll admit I tried to trick her, but I didn't expect anything bad to happen because of it. Bluefur's right, I don't like Lilypaw, but I know how much you care about her, Snowfur. I wouldn't do anything to hurt someone you cared about. You have to believe me, please."
Empty words! Bluefur thought bitterly. The image of the proud tilt in Thistlepaw's head as he watched the dog flee was still burned into her mind.
To her credit, Snowfur didn't fall for it. "I don't want to discuss this with you right now, Thistlepaw," she meowed. "You got my little sister hurt today. I don't want to hear anything you have to say."
"And you can apologize to my daughter when she wakes up–sincerely, Thistlepaw," Moonflower growled, glaring at the spiky-furred apprentice, who shrank back fearfully.
"In the meantime, you'll be spending the next moon caring for the elders," Pinestar meowed coldly, stalking over to the group. Adderfang was with him, and Bluefur guessed that he had told the Clan leader what had happened. "You will continue your training as usual, but you will not be permitted to eat or share tongues with your denmates until you have finished seeing to the elders every day. In addition, with the exception of training, you will only be permitted to leave the camp to hunt or gather bedding. When you leave, a warrior will accompany you at all times to make sure you aren't fooling around."
Thistlepaw growled angrily but didn't protest. Not wanting to be near him any longer, Bluefur turned and stalked toward the warriors' den. Behind her, she could hear Snowfur padding after her as she pushed her way inside. Bluefur sat down in her nest but didn't close her eyes, too worked up to even think about sleeping. If Lilypaw didn't make it, she didn't know what she would do. She would never forgive Thistlepaw if she lost her–and even if Lilypaw did survive, it was questionable as to whether she would do so anyway.
"Hey," Snowfur murmured, touching her tail to Bluefur's flank. "It's going to be okay. Featherwhisker will make sure Lilypaw is alright."
Instead of responding, Bluefur just flicked her tail and rested her head on her paws. She wasn't even angry at Thistlepaw anymore; she was angry at Twolegs, dogs, and their warrior ancestors who had allowed Lilypaw to get hurt because of Thistlepaw's actions. Moonflower had told her long ago that StarClan watched over and cared for all the Clans, but that seemed unlikely when they kept punishing the wrong cats.
Lilypaw is hurt (she'll make it through, don't worry), and Bluefur and Snowfur are LIVID. As is Moonflower, of course, and Sunfall will be too when he hears what happened. Thistlepaw is just lucky he wasn't there.
By the way, for anyone who wants to vote on the names for Fireheart and Tigerclaw's kits in my Fire Rising story, I put a link to a forum with the polls in my bio.
Responses to a few reviews:
Kuroimori: Oh, after this, Thistlepaw will be lucky if he doesn't get his fur clawed off every time he so much as looks at Lilypaw. As for Snowfur, her relationship with Thistlepaw/claw is...complicated. She does like him and she wants to believe that he wouldn't intentionally hurt Lilypaw, but at the same time, she can't ignore the fact that he hates her enough to do so. The fact that NOBODY defended Thistlepaw when Bluefur was accusing him is too significant to ignore, especially since her accusations were extremely serious. As for Thistleclaw manipulating her, well, she doesn't realize she's being manipulated. That's the thing about manipulation; the victim almost never realizes it's happening until after the fact.
draconic skysong: Yep. That's why in this AU, he didn't get his warrior name for attacking the dog. You don't deserve to be a warrior if your actions cause harm to others, whether directly or indirectly.
Ivystormrandomness: Don't worry! Little Lily is going to be just fine.
Swiftheart1267: I can safely say that Lilypaw and Thistlepaw are NOT going to become mates. Thistlepaw is a manipulative asshole in this story and Lilypaw is too good for him. Besides, even if he was a decent cat, Snowfur has a crush on him and Lilypaw isn't going to betray her sister.
PhoenixRune: The Thistlepaw roasts will never stop.
Thanks for reading!
-TheShadowedWarrior