[Fawn]

FROSTPAW !

It had happened so fast, anyone witnessing the attack - Goldenpaw and Mousepaw - would swear to StarClan and back that in the span of a heartbeat, their friend Frostpaw had gone from fine to a writhing mess of pain and blood in nary the blink of an eye. Disoriented and panicking were not strong enough words for what the white and ginger apprentice was going through, her breathing coming out in painful, frightened heaves, body trembling as another stab of pain spread from her left eye right into the eye-socket as though trying to aim directly for the pain centers of her brain. Resisting the oppressive blackness edging around the eye that hadn't been damaged, Frostpaw staggered, whimpering through teeth pressed together so tight she thought they might crack, the apprentice having gone into shock over so severe an injury.

Am I going to be blind for the rest of my life? What if I have to lose the eye all together?

At the thought of having nothing more than an empty socket for a left eye, the strength fled Frostpaw's body and she nearly wilted into unconsciousness on the spot, dimly aware of the familiar sight and scent of Mousepaw and Goldenpaw, her two closest friends, apparently directing the  wounded feline towards the Medicine Cat's Den.
"M-Mother." Frostpaw mewled, the air chilling the hot blood dripping down from one half of the ginger and white kitten's face, some stemming from a lightly shredded ear, though the largest of the damage was impossible to miss.

A shredded eyelid, a scratched bright blue ocular and enough blood bubbling up to the surface to make even the most stalwart feel a sickening jolt in the pit of her stomach. The Medicine Cat and Medicine Cat apprentice - Frostpaw's own brother, Snowpaw - would soon find their peaceful, early morning to be more than a little interrupted.

[Deleted]

M O U S E P A W

The attack seemed to happen instantly: they had barely stumbled upon the creature Mousepaw hadn’t recognized when the grey black and white monster turned on Frostpaw. The next part, the grey cat couldn’t remember so well, just the feeling of panic and light pain from a scratch or two before the monster fled, but the moment afterward seemed burned permanently into her brain: her best friend in the entire valley, with the biggest gash across her gold and white face, blood seeming to flood out of the wound. Green eyes had never seen such a sight before, and Mousepaw couldn’t help but dry-heave at the sight and the smell oh StarClan she couldn’t-

No. She needed to withstand it. Standing here being sick while Frostpaw bled out was Not An Option. StarClan, what if she bled out? WHAT IF SHE DIED? It would be all Mousepaw’s fault and- NO. Dying was Not An Option as well. They had to get back to camp. Plan in mind, the apprentice inhaled jaggedly and stepped alongside the injured cat to help bring her back to camp. The few words of encouragement that cut through her terrified mind enough to make it to her lips all ended up sounding like nonsensical mouse squeaks, so she stopped trying and just focused on Frostpaw’s steps and her own breath; the world was starting to disappear around the edges and Mousepaw was certain the only way she could make this worse was passing out.

By the time they reached camp, the apprentice was shaking like a leaf in an effort to not start screaming because she would never stop if she started there was so much blood everywhere and the smell was still wanting to make her retch and the world was starting to blur just a little more so Mousepaw ended up collapsing just outside the entrance to the Medicine Cat’s den. She tried to call for the help of Snowpaw or even Rookfrost, but could barely manage more than a squeak. No. More. Trembling legs barely supporting her own weight, the grey cat stumbled into the Medicine Cat’s den. “Rookfrost!” she tried calling out, only to have her voice be far too quiet. Making sure to inhale properly this time, the normally quiet cat yowled “Snowpaw! Rookfrost! Help!”

Mousepaw only made it a pawstep or two out of the den before terror and exhaustion once again overwhelmed her into collapsing once more, but she inched over to Frostpaw anyway and started trying to clean the dried blood off of her friend’s coat. It was the least she could do, after dragging her into that hare-brained ‘adventure’…

[[OOC: Title from this]]

[Fate Admin]

The scent of fresh blood seemed to bring out plenty of cats to see what in the name of StarClan was the source. Dovesong was one of them. What she hadn’t expected to see when she crept warily from the nursery was her daughter’s face half torn to shreds and covered in blood. The screech of horror that leapt from her mouth was probably enough to wake the rest of camp as she rushed toward her only daughter and pressed close to her side, rasping her tongue over Frostpaw’s fur frantically, “Oh, my kit, my kit, I’m here, Frostpaw!” She pressed herself firmly against her daughter, feeling weak and sick as she caught another look at her mangled face. “Oh, Frostpaw…,” she lied, because she didn’t know what else to do, she lied, “It will be okay, my sweet, strong kit, it will be okay… here comes Snowpaw, he’ll make you better. He’ll take care of you. Him and Rookfrost… they’ll… they’ll take care of you.” She pressed her muzzle into the fur about Frostpaw’s neck, “I’m here.”

The scent of blood had been what had woken him, but the call of his name, and then Rookfrost’s… the call for help, was what had him leaping to his paws and hurrying from the den he shared with his mentor. When he saw Frostpaw his heart lurched, “Oh no….” He just stood there for a moment, though it seemed like forever, just staring at his sister bleeding horribly before him. He tried to organize his chaotic thoughts, but it was hard to think coherently through his panic. What herbs would be needed. That was helpful. Lots of cobwebs of course, duh. Poppy seeds, she must be in so much pain…. Don’t dwell on that. Her eye… what was good for the eyes? Try as he might he couldn’t remember!

[Deleted]

Goldenpaw hadn’t particularly wanted to go on any adventure, and as he always said something could go wrong. However he had stopped believing it, nothing had ever went wrong… not until today. Their adventure had gone worse than wrong, and as he helped lead one of his best friends to the medicine cat’s den to fix her shredded and bleeding face. It was not only the medicine cat den, it was her brothers den and Goldenpaw was all too aware he had just presented Snowpaw with his bloodied up sister. “I’m so sorry…” He whispered as the white apprentice made his way to Frostpaws’ collapsed form. He took a step back and observed the whole scene, his sister having a minor breakdown it seemed at the side of her destroyed friend. Frostpaw’s mother lying to her when everyone knew even if she survived it was never going to be okay. Snowpaw doing his best to seem professional even though Goldenpaw could see that inside his heart was breaking. The whole scene was enough to drop him to his stomach then and there; lying still he would drop his head to the earth of the medicine cat’s den and cover his face with his paws. He stayed fixed in that spot mewling softly like a lost kit, in a mere few moments his entire life seemed to be turned upside down.

[Fawn]

→ROOKFROST←

_{Medicine Cat of LightningClan}

---

The air reeked of blood, distress and a potential tragedy in the making. Shifting from his sitting position to the entrance of his den, the Medicine Cat approached on silent, invisible wings like an angel of death, approaching the next soul StarClan was apparently asking for. Victim identified immediately – the loudly annoying third member of the Ice-Snow-Frost litter – the sharp stab of bloodscent to his sensitive nose was enough for a cat of his experience to grasp the seriousness of the situation, and while he understood the reactions of the fainting brown one by the opening, the frantic maternal one a sturdy silver tom had just approached, and the whimpering apprentice in the corner, his heart remained unswayed and wholly unperturbed by the scene unfolding before him.

What did catch the cold eye of the icehearted Medicine Cat, however, was the obvious locking of Snowpaw's brain and limbs as he stood there, frozen in time and devoid of any answer on how to heal the seemingly irreparable – a wound of the eye that dripped with horrific speeds upon the earth floors of his den.
Now is not the time to freeze up, Snowpaw.

”Snap to! Snowpaw!” Barked Rookfrost in a voice like an electric jolt, intending to wrench the fluffy white kitten out of his shock and into the heat of the moment. ”What do you put on a bleeding eye?”

While he expected Snowpaw to pull himself out of that emotional pit of horror and worry that came with an injured sibling, Rookfrost's icy gaze swept onto the many cats suddenly clustered around his den, gesturing for Dovesong and Windstrike to back away with a sharp ear-flick. Surprisingly, it was the soft golden tom and the collapsed brown she-cat that Rookfrost addressed, his tone like iron-wrapped in ice as he delivered his instructions, dictation fast and clipped.
”Go and fetch moss-soaked with water. Run as though dogs were chasing you. Get moving.”

Circling on large black paws, Rookfrost's mind churned and whirled and processed the information, already devising a solution to patch up the seemingly unconscious Frostpaw – her occasional twitching almost made him doubt her current state of pain-induced sleep, but his senses told him otherwise – though fully prepared to fulfill his role as Medicine Cat, Rookfrost had already made the decision that this would not be his grueling task for the day.

It was going to be Snowpaw's.

What better opportunity for learning how to work under pressure, Rookfrost surmised as he loomed over Snowpaw, alert and expectant of the tom's next move, then saving the eye of one's own sister?

~*~

WINDSTRIKE
35 Moons//Tom//Warrior//LightningClan

”Dovesong what's—“
The alarmed vocalizations of Windstrike died off before he could finish, yellow eyes catching sight of the mangled face of Dovesong's beloved daughter, Frostpaw, and the obvious cause of that bone-chilling wail the beautiful white she-cat had emitted earlier. Feeling a horrendously strong stab of worry wrapped in apprehension – how high were the chances of eye injuries ever returning to full function? – Windstrike abruptly shifted his halted limbs into a quick approaching stride, unable to stop himself from nuzzling Dovesong gently.
”Let's give them some space to work; everything will be okay, I promise.” murmured the tom, heart aching in his throat. Just as Dovesong had comforted Frostpaw, it was his turn to comfort Dovesong – the strength of his compassion for them both showing in the determined, supportive glitter of his eyes. The silver tom attempted to gently guide her back into the open camp, torn between shielding the healing process from her line of sight or standing there and watching it with her.

Be strong, Dovesong. His heart gave another painful squeeze as image after image of Frostpaw's life flashed before yellow, wolfish-eyes, the compact tom able to picture her, a tiny ginger and white thing, mewling and clinging to her mother's belly. From there she had become an inquisitive, adventurous kit, with lamp-like blue eyes and rough-and-tumble personality that had drove her brothers a little out of their minds while the sun rose and set on their time stuck in the nursery. Here she was now, Windstrike realized with a slight, uncomfortable bristling of the shoulders, and apprentice struck down by StarClan knew what, bleeding profusely and seemingly beyond the skills and hopes of both Medicine Cat and Apprentice combined.
...Would the tale of Frostpaw, daughter of Dovesong, sister of Icepaw and Snowpaw, just end here?

[Deleted]

M O U S E P A W

The taste of blood on her tongue didn’t make her retch so much as the screech of horror that came from Frostpaw’s mother. The guilty pit in Mousepaw’s stomach seemed like it would eat the rest of her insides, and she struggled against the urge to run and hide when Dovesong came over and started licking Frostpaw too. You don’t belong here this is all your fault let her mother grieve the results of your destruction in peace. If she hadn’t been lying down in the first place, her legs would have forced her to blood so much blood it will never be gone, and as it was her body was trembling anyway. She could barely hear the words the white queen was saying over the static in her own ears, and only when Frostpaw’s mother nuzzled her dying kit did the guilt overwhelm her into pulling away, leaving the grey apprentice to pant and try not to heave and the taste of blood was still in her mouth and the blood was Frostpaw’s and-

The harsh command jolted Mousepaw out of her own head and back into the situation at hand. Green eyes forced themselves to look at the speaker, and while usually the sight of the intimidating medicine cat sent chills down her spine, now she was actually glad to see him. Rookfrost had been the medicine cat since before she was born; surely he would know how to fix an eye… Snowpaw?! A sliver of indignation cut through the cloud of fear terror and guilt currently in her mind. Snowpaw was her age; he couldn’t fix Frostpaw up correctly! And certainly not fast enough! Mousepaw attempted to protest, but barely managed a squeak as suddenly the medicine cat was actually looking at her.

Get moss. Get moss with water. Fast. Grey legs quickly stood up, eager to do something away from the blood the taste will never leave, and Mousepaw only lingered by her dying friend’s side for a heartbeat before agreeing that obeying the medicine cat was more useful to Frostpaw getting better than ignoring him. Her first few steps were clumsier than a new kit’s, but quickly her legs stopped shaking and started running. The apprentice was barely aware that Rookfrost had told Goldenpaw to go with her. She was barely aware of anything; save for the command to get moss and the idea that if she got it quick enough her friend wouldn’t die.