Gaining Height - WARRIOR CATS

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

"Why are you doing this for me?" Icepaw whispered softly as Hawkpaw dribbled some water into the white she-cat's mouth. Her eyes were brighter than they had been ever since the battle, yet they were glazed when she continued. "I mean, you literally saved my life, Hawkpaw..."

"It wasn't all that," Hawkpaw grunted as she watched Icepaw dig hungrily into the vole Snowpaw had caught for her.

Icepaw shook her head. She was still under the effects of thyme and poppy seed, so she was very drowsy.

"I just," she meowed. "I was practically drifting into StarClan, but everytime I woke up, I always saw you, helpling me."

Hawkpaw felt unsettled by Icepaw's oddly king behaviour. Everything in the past few days had been anything but normal, even more abnormal then when she had first joined the clan of winged warrior cats.

"How was Frostwing with you?" Hawkpaw changed the subject when Icepaw continued staring at her as though she had grown an extra head. "And your mom?"

Icepaw winced as though someone had clawed her face off. She glanced down at her broken wings, lifeless and limp. Dawnclaw had confirmed to the young she-cat that her wings would never work again, and Icepaw might lose her feather altogether.

"They told me I was an ugly, useless freak," Icepaw admitted softly. She glanced at Hawkpaw. "Do the scars really make me look..." her voice trailed away.

Hawkpaw stared at the young white cat and the bald patches along her fur. Her ears were shredded, and she had several claw scratches running along her neck, including one horrendously long one that snaked around her belly. Her wings were dull and lifeless.

A sudden memory hit Hawkpaw as she stared at Icepaw. She remembered when Adder had wounded her, and she had run to the lake, crying. Hawkpaw remembered the horror at how she would alway look different.

"It isn't how you look that makes you beautiful," Hawkpaw meowed softly. "It's how you are on the inside that counts."

Icepaw stared at her dumbly. "That's not what anycat's ever told me," she grunted. "I've been trained since day one to be a fierce FalconClan warrior, and that's all I should ever have been." She sighed. "It all changed the day you came into the clan rogue- er, Hawkpaw."

Hawkpaw narrowed her eyes. Soon enough Dawnclaw would come in and commence their ritual. She shivered as she remembered Smokepaw waking up, a stray deathberry placed casually under her chin. It had been a threat; Dawnclaw had seen her chatting with Snowpaw and Roseflight, something she wanted Hawkpaw to stop doing.

"What matters is that you're fine," Hawkpaw meowed. "I'm sure you'll be able to get back to your life..." her voice trailed away when Icepaw piped up once more.

"When you came to the clan," she meowed while toying with her scarred forepaw. "I immediately felt attacked." She didn't meet Hawkpaw's expression. "You just seemed so confident and brave, even while everyone mocked and ridiculed you. While I bullied you."

"It's fine," Hawkpaw meowed, although she felt a twinge in her heart at how broken Icepaw sounded.

"All I wanted was for them to accept me," Icepaw shivered as she glanced at her scars. "Wanted them to say something, anything, that would make it seem like they cared whether I lived or died. I wanted to be someone, and wanted them to be proud of me."

Hawkpaw knew where this was going. She saw tears begin to well up in Icepaw's eyes as the apprentice who had always seemed so composed and entitled finally broke down. Her entire body shivered, and Hawkpaw pressed herself reassuringly against the young cat.