hawkfletch

hawkfletch lacks most memories of his early childhood, due to a head injury he sustained sneaking out of camp as a kit. the medicine cat of his clan claimed him as her apprentice, claiming that he'd spoken of strange visions, though hawkpaw had no recollection of such.

his doubts furthered still as he failed to reach starclan during his first visit to the medicine cat gathering. still, he kept his head up the best he could, working hard to do the job he believed himself destined for.

his mentor was never pleased with his efforts, always finding room to criticize his work or him in general. he struggled more and more to learn under her, but after a while, he at least had a friend in his new fellow medicine apprentice, tombpaw. the two helped each other with their studies, and hawkpaw quickly improved with a gentler paw guiding him where he could. still, his mentor blocked him from receiving his full name as a medicine cat.

time passed, and tombspirit recieved his full name while hawkpaw remained an apprentice. despite his jealousy, he didn't let it interfere with their friendship, and the two got closer still. hawkpaw was the first to congratulate him as he took his own apprentice, sharkpaw. watching the cat who'd been apprenticed after him take on his own student still stung, though, especially as his mentor grew harsher in her criticism.

things began to get rocky as tombspirit's leader grew more and more tyrannical. hawkpaw helped him to flee from mountainclan, meeting him at palmclan's border frequently to help keep him fed and cared for as he took refuge. the two's relationship began to change, and after sharkpaw came to find tombspirit and deliver the news of their mentor's death, hawkpaw watched them return to mountainclan with a feeling far greater than one finds watching a friend departing. the two still met often after this, closer than ever.

after the murder of mountainclan's leader and sharkpaw's ascendance to sharkstar as his son, the new leader began to monitor tombspirit to be assured the medicine cat wouldn't leave again. threatened by their relationship with hawkpaw, sharkstar poisoned a member of his own clan to force tombspirit to visit the palmclan border, seeking herbs to cure the sick cat. when hawkpaw appeared, sharkstar attacked the two of them. hawkpaw fought violently to defend tombspirit against their former apprentice, and left the battle with one of his eyes severely injured.

disgusted with her apprentice, his mentor left the clans, leaving hawkpaw to treat his own eye and shoulder the role as palmclan's full medicine cat without ever receiving his full name or his mentor's approval. desperate to carry the weight of his clan, hawkpaw neglected his own injuries and health for the sake of his clanmates. as he began to decline, he made one final journey to visit starclan in a desperate bid to send someone to help him.

as he collapsed at the edge of the pool of life, the water barely lapping at his nose, he finally sprang awake with visions of his ancestors. they came forward, shamefully, admitting that they hadn't chosen him for any role, and had neglected to contact him in hopes that they could have a chosen cat fill the role instead. however, through his work and his fight to defend tombspirit, they finally realized their error. medicine cats of generations past all came forward to celebrate him, giving him the name hawkfletch and sending him back to consciousness. when hawkfletch awoke, he found his injured eye replaced with petals spilling from its socket.