Flamefur's POV:

Bright morning sunlight pierced through the leaves and straight into Flamefur's eyes. She let out a grumble of annoyance and rolled onto her other side. Her paws brushed against soft fur and she parted her eyes to see Metalclaw sound asleep beside her. His mouth hung open and he snored faintly. Flamefur smiled at how innocent the grey tom looked while he was asleep. It was hard to believe that he was a tough Dark Forest warrior.

Flamefur rose to her paws and stretched, glancing down at the ground from the branch they had slept on. The ground was a long way down. Flamefur took in a sharp intake of breath and quickly looked back up at Metalclaw to see he was stirring.

The grey tom blinked his eyes open and a warm smile met his lips when he saw Flamefur. "Good morning."

Flamefur purred in reply. "Good morning. Did you have a nice sleep?"

"It was one of the most peaceful sleeps I've ever had in a long while." Metalclaw breathed, his eyes sad for a moment before they lit up with happiness again. "Shall we go on a hunt?"

"Sure." Flamefur nodded and turned to climb down but a sudden wave of fear crashed over her when she saw again how high up they were.

Metalclaw brushed against her. "Scared?" His voice sounded beside her ear.

"Y-yes." Flamefur squeaked, her body rigid.

"It's okay. I won't let you fall." Metalclaw gave her a lick on her cheek before carefully edging himself onto the bark, hooking his claws into the wood. "Come on. You can do it Flamefur."

Flamefur nodded mutely and slowly grabbed into the bark, one paw at a time. Metalclaw was directly beneath her. If she slipped, he'd catch her.

"Now climb down. One paw at a time." Metalclaw instructed as he began climbing down.

Flamefur nodded and followed Metalclaw's lead. They climbed down at a steady pace without any slips until they reached the middle of the tree. Then Flamefur felt her legs begin to get tired. She glanced down to see Metalclaw was already a good fox-length away. "Uh, Metalclaw?"

The grey tom stopped and looked up. "Yes?"

"Can we rest for a bit?" Flamefur asked.

Metalclaw's lips formed a straight line and he replied. "I'd rather not. Come on Flamefur, it can't be that hard. Think of this as training. Would I have let you stop then?"

Flamefur though back to all the times before when she had trained with Metalclaw in the Dark Forest. She remembered training tirelessly with Metalclaw until she collapsed out of exhaustion. A twinge of determination sparked inside of Flamefur and she meowed to Metalclaw. "Ok. Let's go." She began climbing down again, trying to ignore her wobbly legs.

They had nearly reached the ground. Flamefur was struggling to hold on. Her legs wobbled and her claws ached. Her muscles screamed as she moved further down the bark. Metalclaw had made it to the bottom and he waited impatiently for her. "You can jump now." He called up.

Flamefur glanced down at the soil beneath her. She was quite a few fox-lengths up the tree. "Are you s-sure?" Her voice wobbled as she tried to catch her breath.

"Yes." Metalclaw snapped.

Wow. What happened to the sleeping Metalclaw? I liked him much better than the awake one. Flamefur hissed to herself.

"Fine." She growled and let go of the tree. She free-falled for barely a second before she hit the ground. Because of her fatigued state, when she hit the ground her legs couldn't hold her up and she felt a loud crack in her hind leg as she landed clumsily the wrong way. Her whole hind leg when numb and she crashed onto her side with a small mumble of pain.

Metalclaw stood over her. "Are you okay?" He asked, with slight worry.

"I'm fine-" Suddenly her hind leg erupted in pain and she let out a wail of agony. Metalclaw immediately knelt down beside her and examined her hind leg, all grudges now lost.

"You hind leg looks broken." Metalclaw whispered in shock. "We need to get to Nutwhisker, Watersplash and Shinewing."

Flamefur gritted her teeth and tried to get to her paws but her hind leg was in so much pain. She flopped back on the ground with a sigh in defeat. "I'll stay here.. You get the medicine cats."

Metalclaw seemed reluctant to leave her and he parted his jaws to argue but after a stern glare at him, the grey tom agreed and turned to run back to camp. "Stay safe. I won't be long." Then he took off at a sprint back to camp.

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Nutwhisker's POV:

"Nutwhisker! Watersplash! Shinewing!" Metalclaw came tumbling down the medicine tunnel, his fur bristling and eyes wild. The large tom panted heavily as if he had just run around the entire territory. "Flamefur's hurt!"

Nutwhisker's first thought was that Metalclaw had hurt Flamefur but then he saw the desperation and worry in his eyes and the light brown medicine cat knew that it hadn't been Metalclaw. Watersplash looked up from sorting the moss into balls. "What happened?"

"I-I forced her to jump.. S-She jumped from the tree.. Her leg is broken.. It's all my fault.. I'm sorry! " He wheezed, eyes glazed with exhaustion. His shoulders sagged once he had finished speaking and his head drooped.

Watersplash immediately kicked into action, collecting comfrey for broken bones and poppy seeds to ease the pain. Nutwhisker gathered some cobwebs incase they needed to wrap the broken leg. Shinewing tended to Metalclaw, easing the panting tom into a spare nest so that he could rest.

Nutwhisker glanced over at Metalclaw. "Stay here and wait for us to arrive. You're in no state to travel right now."

Metalclaw nodded mutely as his whole body slumped and he passed out.

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