Warriors: Solemn Wishes (Warrior Cats Fan Story)

Chapter 15

The air around her felt so humid and stifling, both on her skin and in her lungs. The sound was buzzing in and out, refusing to stay tame enough for her ears to properly function. Her sense of touch was stagnated, fuzzy, like the physical feel of the static on a television screen. It got better, though. Bit by bit, her body began to recover itself, find its broken pieces, and put itself back together.

As the metaphorical smoke cleared, her eyes registered that she was in the medicine den, laying on a bed of moss. All around her, except for the entrance of the den to her front-left, soil walls surrounded her and enclosed her in a small space. From both her sides reeked the smell of blood - not her own. Craning her neck to either side, she was able to see that she was not the sole resident of the den. Laying in their own nests on either side were her comrades from the patrol; the ones who had got beaten to pulps, way more than her.

Acorntail blinked. Her thoughts were shattered as much as her body, and it took a bit to piece together why she was here.

"Glad to see you awake."

Acorntail's aching head whirled to the voice that had sounded from behind her flank, and for the first time, she realized Metallicstar was in the den. The leader was seemingly uninjured, sitting behind Acorntail and to the side, looming over her.

Acorntail stared at her aunt a bit, not really having the words to say anything to her. Metallicstar, meanwhile, looked down at her paws, breaking eye contact with the squirrel. "You know," she murmured in her signature monotonous voice, "I almost had to apply the herbs myself."

Acorntail blinked rapidly, finally finding her own voice. "Oh?"

"Yeah. Medicine cat didn't really want to heal you," Metallicstar sighed.

The she-squirrel nodded, looking away from Metallicstar so as not to strain her neck so much. "Makes sense," she murmured, swishing her tail around her body and prodding at the moss.

Metallicstar laid beside her niece. She gazed at her, her face as blank as the undecorated dirt walls of the den. "Not really," she meowed. "Not a lot of things make sense in this world."

"Don't go all philosophical on me now," Acorntail rebutted Metallicstar immediately, making the leader fall silent. The squirrel prodded at her own nest a bit more before adding sourly, "You don't have to pretend like you care."

Metallicstar's paws shifted. "I understand why you think that. But that fox didn't seem like he was pretending."

Acorntail froze on the spot, before slowly turning to the she-cat; thankfully she did not have to crane her neck as much now, with the molly laying right beside her. "Fox?"

"Yeah." For the first time in a while, Metallicstar cracked a small smile. "The fox."

Acorntail's fur fluffed out defensively. "You don't know anything! Just because me and him talked doesn't mean anything's going on and it doesn't mean you can-"

"Relax, relax," Metallicstar chuckled lightheartedly. "I mean it's okay. It makes sense. You've needed someone to rely on, ever since...well, uh...Caterpillarhug's passing."

Somehow, this statement made the squirrel's fur spike even more than before. "I'm not relying on him! Stop making assumptions!"

Metallicstar's grin finally dropped, and she just deadpanned at Acorntail. "Fine then. You've needed someone to...to...associate with. Is that better?"

"Better..." Acorntail grumbled. She leaned her head down, stuffing it in between her legs and muffling her mouth, showing only her nose and eyes. She glanced away from Metallicstar. "I still don't like that you brought up Caterpillarhug."