salt in the wound || warrior cats

chapter 18

floating

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WHEN VIOLETPAW WOKE UP AGAIN, she was in an unfamiliar den. Her head was groggy, her paws were freezing cold, and there was some weird, sticky poultice all over her fur. As soon as she parted her jaws, just for a yawn to try and wake herself up, she instantly became alert, for the scent of SkyClan flooded her tongue.

She jumped to her paws, instantly wincing as her head quickly started pounding at this sudden action. 

She was in a dark den. She was in a dark den in SkyClan's camp.

Immediately after coming to this realization, her brain snapped to Ravenpaw. What had they done with him? Had they killed him? Spirits, this was all her fault. Why did he follow her?

She opened her jaws despite the thudding feeling in her head, desperation clutching at her. "Rave-"

Before Violetpaw could finish calling out his name, however, a thick fluffy tail wrapped around her mouth, effectively shutting her up. Before she could even react, someone jumped on her, pushing her to the ground and pinning her there. 

Her mind instantly went into panic mode, and she started clawing wildly, until she heard a familiar voice hiss, "Ow, Violetpaw, stop, it's me."

An unmeasurable wave of relief washed over the white she-cat. He was alive, and this cat attacking her wasn't some random, vicious SkyClan warrior. But right on the heels of her relief was the anger that he'd knocked her over, so her twisting didn't lessen at all.

Rather, she gave him a few more good kicks until he finally muttered, "Alright, alright, point taken. But you have to stay down and stay quiet," before releasing her and climbing off. 

 Violetpaw glared daggers at Ravenpaw as the black tom backed away, to a good enough distance that she can fully see him. His pelt was crusted with dry blood, the tip of his ear torn. It seemed that SkyClan hadn't bothered to patch up his wounds like they did with Violetpaw, though he still looked to be in better shape than the white she-cat.

"They were trying to wake you up." Ravenpaw's voice was nothing more than a low whisper, answering Violetpaw's unasked question as to why SkyClan had bothered to heal her. "I told them that I didn't know who the Ghost Assassin was, only you did. That you'd done this investigation without Lilystar's knowing. So as long as they think you're still unconscious, we have time."

Violetpaw hissed in pain as she shifted, her head pounding. "So why haven't they killed you?"

Ravenpaw shrugged. "They figured that if they killed me, you wouldn't cooperate and tell them the Ghost Assassin's identity."

The white she-cat suddenly felt her breath hitch. He'd almost died because of her. What if SkyClan had decided that whether or not they kept him alive didn't matter at all? Ravenpaw would be in StarClan right now. 

Why did he follow her? He wasn't supposed to follow her. Violetpaw groaned, shoving her head into her paws. She'd been scared at first, but now, after seeing everyone suffer, she was more than willing to risk her own life for Blossomsky's. But not Ravenpaw's. 

The black tom crouched down beside her and flicked her ear with his tail. He seemed to be trying to cheer her up, or at least lighten this awful situation that they were in. "I tried telling them that maybe, if it was any other Clanmate with you, you'd be upset. However, it was me, and you wouldn't care. But they just didn't seem to go for it."

Violetpaw glanced up at him with a meek smile, batting at him weakly with a paw. "Oh, shut up. You're not funny."

He let it hit him, purposefully dodging too late. "See, you're trying to kill me right now. Should've just let SkyClan finish me."