Forgotten - A Warriors Fan Fiction

Awaken

It felt like I was underwater. Darkness.

Were my eyes open? Was I moving my legs? Or was this all in my head?

I was floating in the blackness, like a void. No sensation reached me. Breathing was difficult, as if my lungs were half full of fluid.

Where... Am I?

Warbling, echoing voices whirled around my head, tail lengths away, far from my reach. It's like I was spinning through a current, the world washing over me in a freezing sheet. I can't understand them. What are they saying? Something about... Running...?

An herbal scent filled my nose, and I could feel sensations brushing cross my fur, like I was slowly returning to the water's surface. The voices came again. Running... nose? What does that mean? Is somebody sick?

A sudden wave of lighted flooded into my eyes, like a monster barreling down toward me on the thunderpath. I flinched, ready for the harsh impact but when the white light faded, I only saw another cat leaning over me.

"Thank Starclan you're awake, Runningnose!" A grizzled, old, gray cat sighed out through protruding teeth. "I though nothing would work on you! I-I tried everything..." The cat's eyes strayed sadly to the side. She looked exhausted and unkempt, like she hasn't slept in days. I sat up in the moss nest that was built around my sleeping form and took a look around. It was a cave, cool and wet; various plants were strewn across the floor in a messy fashion, making the space smell chaotically green.

The gray cat looked at me expectantly, like I was about to run out and get her freshkill. Like I was... her friend.

Oh no.

I have no idea who she is.

I stretched out my sore body in the same places over and over, buying some time to think. Oh Starclan, who is she? And where am I? I'm supposed to know all of this, I know that much. Maybe I can put together enough to at least fake it, I just need to ask the right questions using what information she gave me. What would be the right thing to ask?

"What's Runningnose?" I finally asked, "Was I sick?"

The gray cat's face fell. Uh oh, wrong question.

"It's... It's you." She said, her voice now thick with emotion, "You're Runningnose. That's your name."

Great Starclan, why do I have such an unfortunate name?

"You must have really gotten hit hard, huh?" she cocked her head, examining me closer. "Do- do you really not remember anything?"

"I guess not..." I said with caution, "I don't know this place or how I got here."

"Do you remember anything before you woke up?"

I paused to think, did I remember anything? "I felt like I was underwater; like everything was spinning and washing over me. And then there was a light... And I woke up after that."

The old cat frowned. Wrong response again. 

"Well, maybe it's better you don't remember." She mumbled, looking down, "But maybe we can make you remember other things." She got up with a huff and started walking around the cave, fiddling with the various leaves on the ground.

This is a good moment to think. Okay- My name is Runningnose and this gray cat is my friend. The cave around me has piles off leaves similar to the ones the gray cat is collecting right now, so maybe it's some kind of storage place? No... why would there be so much space for me? And a nest for her? Why would she build this nest around me? Unless I came in here after I fell asleep...

"Okay." The cat sat down in front of me and motioned to the leaves she organized at the foot of my nest. "Can you name any of these?"

I looked down at them, panic filling my already congested chest. Half of them looked the same, and the strong, bitter scents made my head spin. Come on... I can think of something... just one thing!

"Uh that one." I pointed with my paw to a bring green leaf with spiky edges, "It grows by the water," I scanned the rest of them, "and so does that one." this time pointing to a long dark green stalk. The gray cat looked up, hardly impressed, "Any warrior would know that... But I guess it's a start." She sighed, and I watched as she began to put the plants at the back of the cave, grouping them in piles of identical plants. 

I sniffed, fighting back frustration. It's not my fault I don't remember anything! I'm trying so hard to remember, to spare her feelings, and she looks at me unimpressed. Isn't it a good start? Isn't anything a good start?

"I don't remember your name."

The statement came out before I could stop myself. Wrong choice, definitely the wrong choice.

The gray cat froze once the words hit her ears, the fur along her neck bristling in distress. She stood rigid, her back to me, staring down at the leaves on the floor.

It felt like moons before she moved to look at me again. Her face was hard to read, as if she spent all that time looking away to make it so. She was frowning, but it almost looked forced.

"I'm Yellowfang," she held on the f, as if to emphasize the protruding tooth she was named after, "I was your mentor."