Seeing Through their Eyes- Oakclan

The Needed Courage (Slimefoot's POV)

A/N: I'm not a doctor and I don't know what the flip happens when someone pokes your eyes out, so don't judge me on just being concerned about the bleeding 🤷

Darkness enveloped me like a thick blanket. I could feel its weight pressing down on me, suffocating me. 

Loneliness seeped into my bones, snuffing out any flicker of hope. Shame and pain wracked my body, relentless and unyielding. Death seemed like the only escape from this agony.

With a great effort, I forced my eyes open, but the world was still shrouded in darkness. The clearing where I had collapsed was empty; no sound was heard. 

Not even my breathing. 

The silence was deafening, and the emptiness of the space around me only amplified the enormity of my despair.

Was this it? Was this how my life would end? Alone and forgotten, with nothing but the darkness and the pain for company? 

Was I already dead?

"Courage, young one."

A gentle voice echoed in my ears, miraculously relaxing me slightly. 

I looked up and saw...

"Petalpaw?" I whispered hoarsely. 

"Midnighteyes," she smiled.

"I'm not Midnighteyes," I murmured, confusion clouding me. I wasn't Pinestar's mother.

She smiled once again, her eyes gentle and sincere. "No, but I am."

"No, your Petalpaw," I insisted.

She laughed, and inside that laugh, was a deeper voice that wasn't hers. 

"What did you do to Petalpaw?" I demanded, meeting her eyes defiantly. 

"Nothing!" she mewed. "Petalpaw is me. Haven't you wondered why she was always so bright and happy?"

I nodded warily. 

"No cat could be truly happy like her. I gave her happiness. Because Pinestar was with me. My son..."

"Pinestar is dead," I growled. 

"He's not as dead as you'd think," she said with a teasing smile.

I didn't want to talk about dead cats anymore. I turned away and asked quietly, "Am I dead?"

"No, but you are unconscious. You will be woken up soon."

"When will that be?"

"You've been a great mother, Slimefoot. Take courage. Starclan has not forgotten you. Soon it will all be over."

***

"She's awake!"

"Thank you, Starclan!"

I groaned and opened my eyes.

"Blizzardpaw? Dunepaw?" I murmured in disbelief as my eyes rested on them.

"Slimefoot!" Blizzardpaw choked. "We're so sorry, if we had known-"

"Not your fault," I coughed, wincing at the movement.

"Where is Smallpaw?" I asked, my mind jolting at the sudden memory of his cry of agony...

"At camp," Dunepaw said quietly. "I don't know if he's okay; we were trying to find you this whole time."