Scars Don't Heal | A Warrior Cats Fanfiction

Chapter 10

Stormpaw didn't know what she had been thinking. 

Volunteering to join a patrol barely after she had been cleared to leave the medicine den? Sure, that had sounded like a great idea: to prove herself to her clanmates that she wasn't a weak mousebrain and all that foxdung.

But she was now trying to hide the sound of her breathing (which sounded like she had inhaled fire) and ignore the very faint, but still annoying, pain from her wound, all the while being pressed against on all sides in the middle of the patrol.

Oh, and don't forget about the fact that the night was moonless and she could barely see her paws.

The leaves in the branches above and the ones crisp below her paws were stirred by a sudden chill breeze. A few muttered curses were hissed under the breath of the cats' around her, as if the cold had taken them by surprise. Stormpaw took no notice. An icy drip that had nothing to do with the breeze ran down her spine, making the fur along it stand straight up.

Stormpaw came to a faltering stop, and was hissed at by some cat directly behind her. She could of sworn she had just heard a faint whisper, familiar in a way she couldn't believe. After a few heartbeats of standing there in confusion, she shook her head to clear her thoughts. There was no way.

She broke into a sprint, realizing she must have stood there for longer than she had thought, as her patrol had disappeared.

Paws thrumming against the cold, leaf strewn ground, she finally caught sight of a familiar looking tail just as a battle cry shot through the night.

Stormpaw had been told they were to enter ThornClan, one by one, under the cover of the moonless night. They were ordered to silently destroy their fresh kill pile and leave before anyone noticed they were there. Just a regular patrol to weaken an enemy clan.

So what had gone wrong?

"Holy mousetails." Stormpaw whispered. She felt her eyes widen. She had participated in plenty of mock battles and training sessions before, but this... This was fifty times worse. The sound of hissing and yowling blasted her ears drums like a horrible choir of screeching birds; and tufts of fur slowly blew through the air like tiny clouds.

Her clan was badly outnumbered.

She had no loyalty for any of the cats that she had come on the patrol with, and a tiny voice seemed to tell her just to leave, to run back to camp. Stormpaw felt surprised at her own thoughts; she knew she wasn't a coward, and she knew she would never be able to get away with abandoning her patrol.

Still, it was surprisingly tempting.

The pull of wanting to prove herself was stronger than her uncertainty, and before she lost her nerve she charged into the clearing. Too much was happening at once, and everything was a blur. Stormpaw felt herself get thrown sideways. Her ear was clawed and sent a lightning bolt of pain into her skull.

Blow after blow rained down on Stormpaw before she finally staggered to her paws. The smoky gray tortoiseshell that had been attacking her suddenly froze, a look of shock sparking in her amber eyes.

Stormpaw had no such misgivings.

A rush of adrenaline made her head pound as she slashed at the she-cat. The she-cat turned tail, but Stormpaw didn't notice. She lifted her paw to look closer at the fur that had caught in her claws.

There was something familiar about it, something she couldn't quite remember.

Yowling louder than the others broke through her misgivings. It was Nightvine, the patrol leader, calling for a retreat.

Stormpaw's legs shook with weariness as she sprang over the motionless body of someone who, in life, had belonged to her clan. Her ear throbbed, her tail felt broken in at least one place.

And the scary part was that she knew all this was considered normal.

••••

"Silence!" Redstar roared. Stormpaw felt numb. He had just announced her new mentor. A new mentor by the name of Frostclaw. Oh, and did she mention that Frostclaw is a Fighter?

More grumbling broke out, but didn't last long as Redstar currently had a murderous look on his face. "Frostclaw, do you agree to train Stormpaw in the ways of a ShadeClan Fighter?"

Frostclaw hastily agreed, glanced in Stormpaw's direction, then lowered his gaze to the ground. He looked disappointed.

"Fantastic! Now that the matter is closed, everyone continue with your regular lives." Redstar said, his tail lashing.

Stormpaw didn't blame the cats who had been protesting. She had been training as a Shadow for nearly four moons; she was learned in the Shadows' ways. Suddenly switching to a Fighter would be difficult.

Then there was also the fact that she would be the only she-cat in the Fighters, and would have to deal with the obnoxious toms for the rest of her life. So exciting.

The sound of hesitant paw steps reached her ears.

"Follow me." Frostclaw muttered, pushing past Stormpaw. She barely suppressed a growl, but rose to her paws and trotted after him.

Paws falling into their natural rhythm, she began padding silently over the pine needle strewn ground. Frostclaw glanced over his shoulder, as if checking to see if Stormpaw was following, then blinked in surprise as he noticed she was already right beside him.

Hah, she silently snorted, score one for Stormpaw.

The rest of the day went by quickly. The sun had long since disappeared, and the stars were glittering brightly when Stormpaw finally finished training. Her breath fogged in front of her face as she climbed into her nest. She shivered.

Her eyes felt heavier and heavier. And she would have fallen asleep right then, except her mind finally clicked. The fur that had caught in her claws during the battle. It had been familiar, because the fur caught in Nettleflash's claws had looked and smelled identical.

That she-cat was the one who killed Nettleflash.

•••••

Heyyy! Long time no see, right?

...oops.

I'm so sorry for not updating in over a year. I should probably have a good excuse or something, but nah. I just completely forgot and lost inspiration for this book.

Hopefully next time I update it won't be December 2017.
~Cinder