Warriors belongs to Erin Hunter.

Chapter 4: Adding insult to injury

"Psst,"

Foxpaw felt a paw pressing his face, yet he merely grunted and rolled himself onto his side, the softness of the moss lulling him into a light sleep once more.

"Psst! Foxpaw," the voice hissed.

Drowsily, Foxpaw opened one eyelid to see the owner of the voice; a pair of wide amber eyes stared back at him. Slowly, and carefully, he rose.

"What is it?" He asked, stretching softly as got up.

"I heard you were going on dawn patrol," Owlpaw explained, "so I decided to wake you up early to meet some cats."

Dawn patrol? It wasn't dawn yet? The young fox looked outside to see the sky still dark, only the three-quarters full moon and a few stars daring to shine. Owlpaw silently slunk out into the open, her light brown tail twitching behind her.

"Are these cats important?" Foxpaw whispered as he followed the light brown apprentice out into the clearing, taking care not to step on any twigs or leaves.

"Oh, yes," she assured, " very important."

Owlpaw headed into a small, tightly woven den, silently beckoning for him to follow. Quiet as a mouse, she prodded an elderly she-cat, waking her in the same fashion that she woke Foxpaw.

"Grasswhisker, wake up!" Owlpaw hissed as loud as she dared.

Grasswhisker gently raised her head, her eyes widening in surprise as she noticed Foxpaw before the memories of the previous night seemed to come back to her.

"Dusty," The elder meowed to her companion, "we have visitors."

"Dustfoot; I've told you my name is Dustfoot," Dustfoot complained, holding up a dark gray foot.

"You'll always be Dusty the kittypet to me," Grasswhisker teased.

Dustfoot merely gave a grumpy snort, turning his head to see who was visiting. When he laid his eyes on the two apprentices, he hissed, his eyes narrowed to slits, and rolled onto his side so that his back faced them.

The young fox felt confusion overwhelm him as he saw the distressed look on Owlpaw's face.

Grasswhisker gazed at Foxpaw with sympathy in her eyes. "I'm sorry, he's had a hard time with foxes."

Before Foxpaw could ask, he was ushered out by Owlpaw.

"I thought he would be more understanding," Owlpaw mewed sadly, her eyes not quite meeting his, "this is all my fault, I should've remembered."

Foxpaw scuffled the marshy ground with his paw, thinking. "What happened?"

"You don't have to tell me," He yipped quickly, noticing her hesitation.

"No," The wide-eyed she-cat disagreed, "you deserve to know."

"When he first ventured into the forest with his sister, a fox attacked them," Owlpaw explained, "Dustfoot just barely managed to kill it, but a bite on his sister's leg got infected. She went crazy and died."

Immediately Foxpaw felt a rush of guilt, that made a lot of sense. How could he not have known? How could I have known? He thought defensively. I can't be blamed for what species I am.

"I-I'll try to talk to him later" She promised.

The grass was damp and prickly beneath Foxpaw's feet. The young fox had his ears pricked so as to pick up any sound, but, contrasting to ThunderClan's noisy prey, The only sounds that Foxpaw could hear were the croaking of a lone frog and the pawsteps of the small patrol.

Suddenly, Snowpaw stopped; Her eyes were fixed on a small bush. Foxpaw quietly watched as she slowly stalked around to the other side of the bush, her tail was swishing furiously. Suddenly, the bush started to squeak and a small, grey mouse ran out; with a hiss of frustration, Snowpaw leapt, her paws missing the rodent by only a few whiskers. The frightened mouse scurried around in panic, instinctively, Foxpaw snapped his jaws down on the creature and it quickly went limp. Just as the tantalizing smell reached his nostrils, Snowpaw stomped over to him, glaring at him with hatred.

"That's mine," She practically yowled. Obediently, Foxpaw dropped the mouse.

For a moment, Snowpaw sniffed snidely, as if she was far too important to have to go near anything that a fox had touched. However, after the moments hesitation, she daintily picked it up and continued on.

Feeling lower than a snakes belly, Foxpaw walked at the back of the patrol, barely listening as Pebbledawn rambled about the ThunderClan border.

A mechanic snap emanated from below Foxpaw, and after a moment he felt a sharp, sudden pain in his hind paw that seemed to go to the bone. The fox cub let out an involuntary yowl of pain. In a split second, the other three cats in his patrol vanished, apparently fleeing for their own safety. Foxpaw pulled at his hind paw in an attempt to wrench it free, scrunching his eyes at the pain.

Eventually, with an ominously gory sound, he was free. Foxpaw risked a glance at his hind leg, nearly throwing up at the sight of it; two of his toes were missing, and in their place blood was pouring out of his paw. Exhausted, the wounded apprentice slumped to the ground, pushing his bloody paw into the ground in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

For a while, Foxpaw had a chance to think. He thought about the patrol, about Dustfoot, and about ThunderClan; and the more he thought about it, the more what had happened in ThunderClan made sense. The young fox pondered about how he could have become part of the clan in the first place, seeing as his birth-mother was clearly not a cat. Soon Foxpaw reached the topic of the storm in his mind. What had happened to ShadowClan on that night, nearly two moons ago?

Gently, Foxpaw checked the wound on his left hind paw. The bleeding had stopped and it was caked in dirt. The fox cub tried to remember what Leafpelt had said about scratches, not that she would have told him anyway. Maybe I should wash it off.

Slowly, Foxpaw got up. He decided against using his injured paw for the fact that it not only hurt to walk on, but it felt awkward to do so. Foxpaw hobbled to his right until he came across a stream; he dipped his hind paw in, gritting his teeth at the cold until most of the dirt had come off. A bird chirped happily in the distance as the sun shone down on the fat, green trees, as if mocking his pain.

"I don't care about you," The forest said, a gentle breeze flowing through the calm trees and the cloudless sunshine.

But someone must care about me. Foxpaw thought to himself, mindlessly stirring the water. Foxpaw leapt out of the water, shaking out his legs and taking a few wobbly steps forward, as though proving that he could still walk.

Ha. Foxpaw thought to the forest. I can take care of myself, I don't need you to care about me. But the forest ignored him, the prey relishing the calm, gorgeous day. They did not know or care if he was hurt, and they would not know or care if he wasn't, and they wouldn't care at all if he was dead. Suddenly Foxpaw found himself getting very lonely.

"Foxpaw!" A voice called, "Foxpaw, get over here!"

Without questioning it, Foxpaw followed the voice. He was led to a light grey she-cat, Pebbledawn; and a black, white striped tom whom he did not know.

"You shouldn't run off," Pebbledawn scolded, her face as emotionless as ever, "Go back to camp with Patchfoot."

Without another word, Pebbledawn left in a seemingly random direction. Disoriented, Foxpaw looked to the black and white tom for help. Patchfoot was a plump, well-groomed cat, especially in comparison to most of ShadowClan. He was a midnight black with white stripes and green eyes that avoided looking directly at him.

"Uh... This way please..." Patchfoot muttered, wincing when Foxpaw stepped forwards. The fat tom was jumpy the entire way back, and kept glancing over his shoulder at him. After what felt like a moon, they reached camp again.

Foxpaw continued to follow Patchfoot, ignoring the stares that he received from the other cats.

"Foxpaw! What happened?" Owlpaw asked as he limped past, pushing her way past a group of gawking warriors.

Before he could answer, he was hurried into a large den by Patchfoot.

"In, in, in! Hurry, hurry!" The jumpy tom rushed him, although he avoided touching him.

Foxpaw hurried into the den, the pungent stench of herbs filling his nostrils and making his eyes water. There were many unorganized herbs stacked against the wall, and it was clear that a third were rotten and unusable. Foxpaw took advantage of the silence to adjust to the smell. He scanned the den, searching for the medicine cat or apprentice otherwise, but the only cats there were him and Patchfoot.

You? Foxpaw thought in surprise, staring at the plump tom. You're the medicine cat?

"Are you... Going to help me?" Foxpaw asked shyly with a glance at his hind leg, still trying to wrap his mind around exactly how this jumpy, incompetent cat had become the medicine cat of ShadowClan.

"Oh, oh... er, alright, okay..." Patchfoot stuttered. "Uh, what's the problem there... Sonny?" He asked, putting on a fake smile.

"It's my left hind leg," Foxpaw replied, catching the blank look on the tom's face, "There's a big cut on it." And I'm missing a few of my toes... He added silently.

"Oh, right, right. cut, riiiiiight," He muttered unconvincingly, slowly waddling over to the heap of herbs.

He spent a long time scanning over the herbs, looking as confused as ever. Just as Foxpaw felt as though he were about to pass out, Patchfoot hesitantly picked up some kind of sticky white thing from the back. Holding Foxpaw's hind leg out, the chunky medicine cat threw the white stuff onto the wound and it promptly fell off. With a grunt of frustration, Patchfoot gathered it back up and pushed it harshly onto the wound. Foxpaw dug his paws into the ground so as not to cry out in pain.

"There," Patchfoot panted, looking relieved that it had stayed put.

"Uh, thanks?" Foxpaw yipped, uncertain that he was better off now than before.

"Sure, sure," Patchfoot yawned, not entirely listening.

Without waiting for Foxpaw to leave, The black and white-striped medicine cat curled up un the spot and fell asleep. Feeling more awkward than before, Foxpaw maneuvered himself out of the den. Foxpaw headed towards the apprentice den, suddenly feeling tired. As he stumbled in, he noticed that Owlpaw was already there, staring at the thorny wall. Gently, Foxpaw laid down, feeling as though a moon had passed since he had come into ShadowClan.

"Foxpaw!" Owlpaw exclaimed, her fur bristling along her spine, "you startled me."

"Now let me see what Patchfoot has done wrong," She ordered before Foxpaw could apologize, and Foxpaw allowed her to examine his sloppy handiwork.

".. At least he used cobweb this time," Owlpaw sighed, beginning to rearrange the sticky web.

Once she was done it was much neater, although still sloppy, and fit more neatly onto the wound.

"Thanks!" Foxpaw thanked, grateful for her help, "but, how did you know how to do that?"

"I've seen it done before," The wide-eyed apprentice replied vaguely.

Foxpaw opened his mouth to ask more, but instead a yawn escaped his lips.

"We can talk later," Owlpaw purred, "Get some rest."

Foxpaw silently agreed, his eyes closing obediently.

A cat shaped mist appeared on the grassy forest of Foxpaw's dream, hovering near the edges of darkest part of the woods. A whistle-like sound came from it and Foxpaw felt a prick in the corner of his mind. The mist manifested itself into a feminine shape.

"Foxpaw," Fawndapple called, "Foxpaw, help me!"

A blurry shape appeared, slobbering and twitchy like the day it killed her. Foxpaw felt a twinge of apprehension, which grew as he stared into Fawndapple's soulless eyes. Suddenly feeling afraid, Foxpaw took a few steps back.

"Foxpaw~" it called. Foxpaw continued to edge backwards, his hackles rising.

"I'm losing my patience," The misty Fawndapple growled. As it ran towards him, Fawndapple became a pure black cat with bright, yellow eyes.

Foxpaw heard far away yowling and pawsteps, but the black cat snatched him with a hiss; he was dragged into the darkest region of the forest.

Thanks to: Spiderweave, Flowerkit, Account moved elsewhere, shadowwolf, jazara evergreen, and cutebluekitty for reviewing!