sparrowclaw (he/him) | galeclan

Sparrowclaw sat back for a moment, small parts of him slowly beginning to relax. Tiny pieces that likely a cat only like Frozenkingdom, Foxtail or even Rabbitchirp would notice. His ears still sat flat back against his skull, his tail still lashing against the floor of camp, disrupting the grass around them and kicking up the lightest bit of dirt underneath.

Death itself was not necessarily something that Sparrowclaw feared. He knew he would die long before he ever retired in the elder's den. He had accepted a long time ago, on the very day he received his warrior name and Martenfang told him to never stop training, that if he would go down, it wouldn't be without a fight. He would very likely one day die fighting tooth and nail for his Clan. That was a fate he almost happily accepted. He had sworn to Raccoonstar - the very cat who had been deputy under his great-grandfather - that he would uphold the warrior code and protect and defend GaleClan, even at the cost of his life.

One day, it very likely would be at the cost of his life.

If anything, perhaps there was some small macabre part of Sparrowclaw that longed for that. He longed for a true warrior's death, to join StarClan because he was doing what he was meant to do. He didn't want to just curl up and die in sickness or of old age. He didn't want to go out peacefully.

Sparrowclaw had once been on the brink of death at the jaws of a fox, and he had done so proudly. Though he was thankful to Frozenkingdom and to StarClan for letting him live, the tabby would have stood proudly in front of his ancestors if they had taken him then. He would have held his head high and puffed his chest with pride knowing that he had died protecting Rabbitchirp. It would have been a noble death, but instead he lived on. Yes, perhaps it was true that now he lived with a throbbing pain in his back leg, threatening to slow him down as the seasons changed and the dark nights grew colder. But his injury was still, somehow, a source of pride for him. He had refused to let it slow him down, but he carried the scars as a reminder that he was as proud and as loyal as a cat should forever be to GaleClan. He would have died for Rabbitchirp without a second thought, and he would do it again without hesitation.

Though he had never said it out loud, he knew that Frozenkingdom knew the same stood for him. Sparrowclaw would die protecting Frozenkingdom if it came down to it. Not because he did not believe that he couldn't fight for himself - far from it - but simply because it was his duty as a warrior of GaleClan. He knew that one day Frozenkingdom would also one day die, but it would eat at Sparrowclaw every single day if there hadn't been at least one thing he could have done to prevent it. Even something as simple as making sure he had something to eat when he forgot because he was too busy worrying about his own Clanmates. Because reality was, both toms were incredibly stubborn and loyal. Frozenkingdom would do the same - he would die for any cat with pride, as far as Sparrowclaw was concerned. And it would eat him alive if he didn't do something to stop another cat from dying.

And while Sparrowclaw would have gladly died at the jaws of that fox for Rabbitchirp, he had never considered how Frozenkingdom would have felt if he had let Sparrowclaw slip away in the end.

Perhaps not wanting to dwell on it, Sparrowclaw gladly finally turned his back to the medicine cat in order to make his way towards the fresh-kill pile. He moved past the newly placed rabbit he had brought back from his hunt, opting for a smaller robin. He wasn't keen on sharing something larger at this very moment, so something small enough for one cat was fine for now.

He wordlessly plopped the bird in front of Frozenkingdom before kneeling down in order to take a bite himself. The warrior would not say no to an order to eat in order to keep his health in check. It was easier than being forced to rest. As long as he could keep moving, he would accept advice from the medicine cat without question. Because perhaps he knew that when he stopped moving, the world around him would continue to move on. And he would not risk falling behind.

As Sparrowclaw sat up, licking his chops, he looked at Frozenkingdom with a softened look in his eyes.

"Thank you." He said, his voice barely audible enough to reach Frozenkingdom's ears. Words he rarely said, but words he would say to a cat he respected as much as the medicine cat.

desolate ● 832 words