◤ pineconepaw ◥

♔ non-binary. they/them or she/her. ♔

♔ leggy dusky brown ticked tabby cat with a tufted white tail tip and gray eyes. ♔

♔ smart. know-it-all. judgmental. doubtful. paranoid. thoughtful. loyal. cautious. trusting. faithful. stubborn. quick thinker. good under pressure. ♔

◣ ❝ it seems unforgiving when a good thing ends, but you and i will always be back then ❞ ◢

❦ story ❦

"come on-!" pineconepaw heard her sister's exaggerated whining ring through the trees. despite pineconepaw's protests, the white she-cat had rushed on further and further out of deltaclan territory. they had left the camp at moonhigh less than an hour ago, but to pineconepaw it felt like the sun could rise at any moment... she couldn't smell the clan's scent markers anymore. even the soil underpaw felt different... drier and harder instead of the mulchy and soft soil that she was used to.

the foliage here was thick and unfamiliar, and it was all pineconepaw could do to keep her sister in sight. from pineconepaw's perspective, the fluffy white cat was little more than a silvery, blobulous, broken-up thing amongst gray and black shadows.

"if you weren't gonna have any fun, why'd you even agree to come out with me?" the sweet voice tickled pineconepaw's ears, despite it coming from several fox-lengths away.

"i came to keep you out of trouble, you furball!"

"well, have fun doing that. you've never had any luck telling me what to do, pineconepaw." the ticked brown cat imagined her sister's whiskers twitching as she grinned. "now, are you gonna keep up with me, or should i go the rest of the night alone?"

pineconepaw let out a sigh, half exasperated and half endearing. "i would never leave you, cloudpaw." pineconepaw's dextrous legs quickly carried her to her sister, whose anticipation flowed off of like water in a stream. "but it's always good to always have caution by your side."

***

"cloudpaw, shouldn't we head back now?" nervousness made pineconepaw's voice tremble as she kept glancing up. "it's almost dawn. we'll be missed, and everyone will see that our nests haven't been slept in."

cloudpaw's amber eyes turned up to the sky, which was definitely lighter than it was before. after a moment of silence, she meowed, "well, if you really want to, you can go roll around in both of our nests and say i went on an early hunting mission. nobody can tell our scents apart anyway."

"i'm not leaving you-" pineconepaw stumbled forward and fell, getting a mouthful of dirt in the process. "ow!"

"pineconepaw?"

"i-" pineconepaw tried to stand up. her right forepaw sank into the ground, and she fell over again. "there's... cloudpaw, look at this!"

"what?" cloudpaw peered over pineconepaw's shoulder. then her amber eyes widened with curiosity. "a tunnel... do you have any idea what's in there?"

pineconepaw paused and opened her jaws to taste the air. plants, more plants, and dirt... pineconepaw couldn't sense anything out of the ordinary. "no, i don't."

cloudpaw pushed herself past pineconepaw and, ignoring a small noise of protest from pineconepaw, started digging. her paws moved like she was swimming, scooping water behind her so push forward.

"cloudpaw, what are you doing? what-" pineconepaw's question was cut off by her sister.

"you said there was nothing out of the ordinary," cloudpaw meowed with excitement. "i want to see what's in there."

"we have to go back to camp!"

"i know, but-" the white she-cat suddenly stopped short as the ground suddenly fell away, revealing an entrance much bigger than the one pineconepaw had initially tripped on. beyond the hole, the pale morning sun revealed little more than dusty brown walls.

"cloudpaw, don't you dare." pineconepaw said the words before she knew it. of course cloudpaw would want to go farther in. and of course she wouldn't listen to pineconepaw's sense.

"hello?" cloudpaw stuck her head into the hole, which now allowed ample space between the ceiling and her head. after no-one answered, she slipped in. her bushy fur almost touched the walls.

"a tunnel bigger than a near full-grown cat must've been made by something big," pineconepaw murmured. "something potentially dangerous." but cloudpaw ignored her.

"cloudpaw, can you at least smell as you go?"

"nope. i just finished digging, and all i can smell is dirt." cloudpaw's tone was nonchalant as she slowly drew further into the hole. she seemed to relish every step as she went, hungry for more adventure.

pineconepaw growled softly. she's just going to get herself in trouble, isn't she?

... well, i suppose someone has to make sure she doesn't get herself killed.

pineconepaw reluctantly followed cloudpaw, cursing under her breath the entire time. she wrinkled her nose at the unfamiliar scent that seemed to attack her senses; the dank hole smelled like stagnant water and faintly of animal droppings, and something else she couldn't place.

"isn't this exciting, pineconepaw?" cloudpaw breathed.

pineconepaw slipped into the space to the right of her sister. her fur, although short, brushed the hole's wall. "i wouldn't have done it if you weren't for you and your bee brain."

"granted." cloudpaw moved forward, but pineconepaw shoved her. "wait. we've gone far enough for today." pineconepaw glanced at her sister. "seriously, you must be trying to get us into trouble. we can come back tomorrow, but for now, we need to make sure we don't get caught." even though it's probably too late for that.

cloudpaw gave a low, pouty whine, but said nothing.

"if you do decide to come here again, go rub your muzzle in more dirt," pineconepaw added. "this place stinks."

the two were silent for a moment as pineconepaw tried to shove cloudpaw towards the exit. then...

"okay, i get it, you want out. now can you stop growling at me?"

cloudpaw's new irritatation was met with confusion. "i'm... i'm not?"

pineconepaw's feet turned to ice as she wondered what cloudpaw had really been hearing.

pineconepaw pricked her ears, secretly hoping that cloudpaw was going crazy. but her ears picked it up: a steady, rumbling noise, growing louder and louder.

"oh- cloudpaw, get out, you bee-brain!" pineconepaw only had just enough time to thrust cloudpaw out of the hole- the den, of some kind of creature- before the growl changed to a hiss, not unlike one that would belong to a cat.

then pineconepaw felt a set of thorn-like claws pierce her lower back. pineconepaw reflexively whipped around, claws extended, and sliced in the direction of her assailant with a cry of rage.

with the sun now risen, pineconepaw could see what the strange creature looked like. it looked like a long-furred weasel of sorts, but instead of brown fur, this one had black fur, except for a narrow white dash on its face and two broad white stripes running down its sides. the creature's black and white tail was bushed out behind it, fluffed up in aggression. its narrow muzzle bore a snarl of rage, revealing its small, needle-like teeth.

pineconepaw's blow struck the unknown animal on the cheek. she could feel its hot blood trickling on her pads... the animal, still snarling, pulled away from pineconepaw. before it could move, pineconepaw tackled it, ready to claw it down. the creature let out a screech and retaliated with its sharp front claws. she and the creature rolled in the dirt, both firing a flurry of furious slashes at their foe.

strike, strike, parry, bite, repeat. the animal was only slightly larger than pineconepaw, but she was having trouble matching its vicious blows. she didn't know or care how many hits it had landed on her; all she could think about was defeating it.

all this happened in a matter of heartbeats, yet both the animal and pineconepaw were drenched in blood... and still they kept clawing at each other. everything was happening so fast...

a sharp hiss sounded behind pineconepaw, and a flash of white fur streaked past pineconepaw's face. suddenly, cloudpaw was taking part in the fight, spitting in unbridled anger towards the creature, biting and scratching it whilst matching pineconepaw's intensity- and then it started to scrabble at the ground, making high-pitched noises. the sisters let go, and the creature limped away from them, leaving a dotted blood trail in its wake.

"now will you stop being so reckless?" pineconepaw glared at cloudpaw, whose fluffy white fur was now speckled with blotches of crimson. now that the rush of adrenaline was fading, pineconepaw's wounds steadily began to sting. an abrupt, searing pain pierced pineconepaw's chest; she flinched inwardly, but tried not to let it show.

cloudpaw stared back at pineconepaw, but her expression didn't show anger... it showed... worry? "we need to go back, now."

"that's what i've been trying to tell you this whole time!"

cloudpaw didn't seem fazed by pineconepaw's indignance. "i don't care! you weren't hurt before." cloudpaw's breathing started accelerating and her eyes rounded with fear. "can you run? can you walk fast?"

"wh- you're hurt, too! you fought too; why is it suddenly about-"

"pineconepaw, have you seen yourself?"

cloudpaw's uncharacteristically harsh tone jarred pineconepaw. the brown cat looked across her own body: a pawful of scratches, some deeper than others, but she'd recover in dustrain's paws. her chest and belly... pineconepaw felt dizzy as her gaze just caught sight of the amount of blood dripping from her underside. she couldn't see the cut that caused it, but blood was enough.

the searing pain came back, but much stronger than before. pineconepaw wondered how she wouldn't have felt her injuries this strongly just a moment ago. her legs gave way, and she would've fallen over had cloudpaw not caught her with her own slight shoulders.

"oh, pineconepaw, i should've listened to you," cloudpaw whimpered.

"that's what i keep telling you." pineconepaw tried to walk, but her steps were small and erratic. without warning, a wave of exhaustion washed over pineconepaw.

"for starclan's sake, pineconepaw, i will drag you back to camp if i have to." despite her brisk words, fear still laced the white she-cat's voice. she only stood by then, trying her best to match hey sister's movements as not to let her slip off her shoulder, but the irregularity of pineconepaw's steps made the task near impossible.

"..." pineconepaw didn't have the energy to think of a retort. her eyelids were half shut as she walked through the forest, unsure of where she was headed. she could feel her breaths slowly growing more shallow. how much blood had she lost just by trying to return home? despair tingled at pineconepaw's chest, and she collapsed onto the dusty ground. "we're not gonna make it back to camp." pineconepaw's meow was husky.

"i said, i'll drag you back if i have to!" cloudpaw's sudden fire caused her snowy pelt to ripple with defiance. the she-cat looked up at the sky. the sun now peeked over the treetops with a weak white light. "whoever's on dawn patrol's bound to follow our scent." cloudpaw hesitated. "or to smell our blood."

cloudpaw's amber eyes darted around. to pineconepaw's tired eyes, there were only olivine ferns and thin trees. but cloudpaw sprinted off to a tree and began clawing at its bark, tearing something off of its surface. moments later, cloudpaw was back with a wad of moss in her jaws. "roll over, furball." her muffled words were barely discernible through her mouthful of moss.

pineconepaw obliged.

cloudpaw pressed her moss into pineconepaw's wound in an attempt to staunch the bleeding. "come on, come on, this should work..." cloudpaw growled in frustration. "if only i knew anything about herbs... i mean, more then the fact that they smell foul."

pineconepaw laughed a fragile laugh.

cloudpaw's forepaws kneaded against pineconepaw's wound, the white she-cat cursing under her breath the whole time. but soon enough, the moss was soaked through, and pineconepaw's eyelids grew heavier and heavier.

"pineconepaw, stay with me!" cloudpaw pleaded. "just hold on..."

the last thing pineconepaw saw before her world turned black was the sight of three grown cats emerging from the undergrowth.

***

(a warning to anyone who knows more than basic medical stuff: this is most likely impossible... don't sue me)

it had been three days since the incident, and pineconepaw still hadn't woken up.

once vipershade, flightwhistle and rippleflash had found cloudpaw and pineconepaw, they had helped take pineconepaw's body to dustrain's den. however, she had not regained consciousness. only her heartbeat and the slow rise and fall of her flanks indicated that she was still alive.

...

pineconepaw was trapped in darkness, and no matter how she tried, she couldn't seem to wake.

she couldn't move, or speak, or see. she could only listen, and listen she did, although she never really paid attention- listen to her clanmates' clamour and bustle. listen to the scuffling of pawsteps and to rippleflash's authoritative meow as he sorted out the day's and night's patrols.

listen to her own waning heartbeat and the rattle or her lungs.

pineconepaw knew she was dying. she could hear dustrain muttering under his breath, agonizing over how she'd lost too much blood, how he didn't know how to resuscitate her.

pineconepaw just wanted the chance to speak with cloudpaw again. what if she blamed herself for what happened? what if she began to doubt herself from then on? pineconepaw may have gotten exasperated easily at cloudpaw, but still... pineconepaw could only hope that cloudpaw saw sense, for once.

cloudpaw had tried to visit her, pineconepaw knew, but dustrain kept everyone, even cloudpaw, out of his den, because he needed to focus on a way to wake her. except he wasn't able to find a way.

...

pawsteps.

"pineconepaw!" cloudpaw's voice. "i'm here, dustrain finally let us in, so-"

"i'm sorry, young one, but we've been over this." that was dustrain. "your sister will most likely never wake. her heart is fighting hard, but its power is not enough after all the blood she's lost. the wound doesn't even seem to be closing."

"..." rapid, shallow breaths. "...i... i knew that." silence. "creststar, what about her ceremony?"

"pineconepaw, creststar told me that she was going to postpone our warrior ceremonies for a moon because of my excursion, but now dustrain's told her a-about your- about you... and she's letting us have our full names. i'm cloudwish now, isn't that a nice name?" desperation edged into cloudwish's voice. "oh, pineconepaw..."

"cloudwish, please try to settle down just a little." this was creststar's deep meow- or at least it was deep for a she-cat. "you were assessed by myself and vipershade yesterday before your warrior ceremony. pineconepaw has had no such assessment, and we can't very well ask flightwhistle to access them like this-"

"do you just want to know if she's earned a new name?" cloudpaw's- no, cloudwish's voice turned shrill. "she came with me just to protect me, that night two days ago, and she didn't go back even though she wanted to. and when i went into that den-hole to explore, she was the one who wanted me to come back- i threw caution to the wind, but pineconepaw's never been like that. and when we discovered that creature, pineconepaw didn't just run away, she made sure that i would be safe first!" cloudpaw's meow became tremulous as she continued. "there is no cat as loyal and caring and thoughtful as pineconepaw. if you won't give her her full name, then go ahead and take back mine. if she's to stay pineconepaw, i don't mind staying cloudpaw forever."

silence.

...

...

"she is slipping away, creststar." dustrain- or at least it could be assumed that it was dustrain- gently placed a paw on pineconepaw's chest. "do you wish to perform the ceremony or not?" the paw was lifted. "if i'm not mistaken, that is the reason why you let cloudwish drag you here, no?"

a few seconds passed. then, "very well. cloudwish, please stand back." a warm muzzle hovered over pineconepaw's body, its warmth radiating into her body.

"i ask my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice."

pineconepaw's ears started buzzing. faintly at first...

"they have learned the warrior code and given up their life in the service of their clan."

... then all at once.

"let starclan receive them as a warrior."

... we will meet again, cloudwish.

"they will be known as..."

i promise.

the buzz faded. everything faded away...