blackcough || a warrior cats fanfiction

|| p r o l o g u e

The sun hung high and proud in the sky, giving a sense of warmth and freshness to MinnowClan camp. Acornstar, their leader, padded out of her den, her white paws conflicting with the damp, grassy field before her. She stood tall above the rest of her Clan, allowing the sun to shine onto her reddish-brown pelt, making it blaze in contract to the dark mossy area. For a place in the middle of what she thought was a forest, there surely weren't any trees here. Only a couple trees were here, actually. The sun was able to freely let its rays dangle on MinnowClan, enjoying just how much it could light up the camp. Acornstar looked up at the sun, not too much however so she didn't hurt her eyes, and then bowed her head, thanking StarClan to grant her this territory. The Clan leader waited silently, her tail swaying from side to side as she hoped for the rest of the cats to join her soon.

Soon after, Clovertail and her mate, Cedarface, emerged from the warrior's den, the young and swift she-cat padding happily while the taller and more stern tom was lumbering closely behind her. Acornstar normally wondered how the two were mates -- they were both so different from each other. It reminded her of her own parents, they were different as well, yet they were very distant and cold to each other because of it. Yet Cedarface looked his happiest with Clovertail, even if he still didn't look too happy, and Clovertail seemed to not mind her mate's cold heart. She smiled, before greeting them from the Highstump. Clovertail meowed back while her mate just glanced over at the leader and then looked back at the she-cat next to him.

Next to arrive was Asterflight, swiftly running out of the warrior's den with a guilty look on his face, quickly followed by a distressed Addersky, his littermate. "I'll get you back next time.." she growled, trying to look menacing, before following it up with a burst of laughter.

"That was a good one, wasn't it?" chuckled the tom as he raced to the fresh-kill pile and glanced over at the prey. "Vole- who even got vole? How did they even get vole?"

"It was probably Briarpatch. Don't worry about that." Briarpatch had a habit of luring different kinds of prey onto MinnowClan territory and catching it to impress her Clanmates. Sure, her tactics were impressive, but it didn't make anybody think any better of her.

While the camp started to fill up, a worried Sparkpaw ran to the medicine den and caught Beewhisker right when she was about to leave. "B-Beewhisker! Quick!" he meowed nervously, looking back at the apprentices den. "M-Mousepaw is coughing, a-and- she has blood coming out of her mouth-"

"I'll be right on it, Sparkpaw. Acaciadrift, sort out the herbs for today while I'm gone!" she called out to the other medicine cat and her previous apprentice before quickly padding over to the apprentices den.

Sparkpaw wasn't lying. There lay a sick Mousepaw, distancing herself from the rest of the apprentices, and coughing like crazy. Beewhisker looked down at the young she, and carried her to the medicine cats den without saying a word. She examined the apprentice closely before declaring, "This- this is blackcough-?! How did you- were you just hiding your cough or did you really just get it today-" the medicine cat was too stunned to speak. There was no way an apprentice could have gotten blackcough out of nowhere.

"Oh- I don't know, uh- I think I've h-hhhad a cough for a while now, maybe about 2 moons. But I still wanted to be with my friends a-aaand I wanted to be useful, not stuck in the medicine den for ages." Mousepaw replied, wheezing during her speech.

"Hey, Mousepaw, if you came to us as soon as you got the cough, you'd probably not even be in here for a quarter of a moon! Because you left it like this, you might-" Acaciadrift answered from the back, still sorting herbs.

"Blackcough is fatal, you know." Beewhisker sighed. "Listen, do you want some Catmint? I know it wont do anything, because, you know, you have blackcough, but, I mean, it tastes nice."

"Beewhisker, don't give up so soon! Hey, we can fix this! Hm- are you sure this is blackcough? I mean, m-maybe it's just a really super horrible illness that came out of nowhere! Was the moss cleaned, Mousepaw? Did you get the really super horrible illness from tha-"

"Don't question me." Beewhisker snapped. "Listen, I've been in this position for many moons now, I know what I'm doing, just leave me be and go sort herbs like I've ordered you to."

"I-I'm not your apprentice anymore-"

"Do it. " a furious Beewhisker stood over Acacia before returning to her sick patient, about to accept the fact that the apprentice will die.

"Hng- alright." Acaciadrift sighed as she continued to sort out the herbs, passing some Catmint over to the older medicine cat.

"I don't need it anymore. Mousepaws dying." Beewhisker kicked it back to Acacia.

"O-okay.. w-why are you so calm about this?"

"Because I've seen it many times before. Now go on and comfort a dying cat, for StarClan's sake!"

"A-alright.." Acacia padded over to the apprentice and licked her ear, attempting to comfort Mousepaw. There was no use - the apprentice was already dead.

Acaciadrift got up and padded over to where Acornstar was laying, her head held down. "Acornstar, I need to tell you something."

"What is it?" the she-cat tilted her head at the medicine cat, confused.

"M-Mousepaw just died of blackcough. M-me and Beewhisker did all we could, but- she's gone."

Acornstar dipped her head in respect before walking to the medicine cat den to visit the fallen apprentice. "Hello, Beewhisker." she looked down at the apprentice, sitting beside her as she began to speak.

"I ask my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has learned the Warrior Code and given up her life in the service of her Clan. Let StarClan receive her as a Warrior. She will be known as Mousepelt." she smiled at Mousepelt, lying down and cuddling against the apprentice. "You will be forever missed."