- Apr 26, 2024
- 30
- 10
- 8
wordcount: 766
cw/tw: this thread contains depictions of drowning and death. please take caution when reading!
ooc: This thread abuses fluid time a bit, and takes place the same night as the meeting and gladefrosts death but before gladefrost's death is public please wait for @Mothpaw to post first
cw/tw: this thread contains depictions of drowning and death. please take caution when reading!
ooc: This thread abuses fluid time a bit, and takes place the same night as the meeting and gladefrosts death but before gladefrost's death is public please wait for @Mothpaw to post first
Ain't this a pity, watchin' your pretty smile so warm —
It is not the first time sleep has evaded Frecklepaws grasp - certainly not these days. But as sun begins to set and moon rises in it's place, and things wind down around camp, her restlessness serves a purpose. Truthfully, it's far easier then it should be to enact their plan - quiet whispers shared in the empty den while the others are busy, an idea spurned by a fruitless desperation - a need to be given one last chance. There is nobody left within camp to stop them - the absence of a certain queen suspiciously well timed - and nobody notices two figures slipping through the reeds amidst the the sleepy sounds of snoring, or if they do, nobody comments on it.
"C'mon," comes quiet voice - hardly more then a breath, everything from her whiskers to her tail quivering in nervous excitement. But despite the anxiety - the fear - that leaves her heart racing, Frecklepaw is filled with determination. Because this will work - it has to.
' A test to your endurance for swimming, even in undesirable conditions. ' Hazeclouds words still echo in the mollies ears, the embarrassment that had flooded her as Driftwood had looked on as Frecklepaw had failed - disappointing both her mentor and the deputy.
She thinks Mothpaw must feel similarly, though she doesn't pry too much - something about the fact the older molly has failed more times then her leaving her feeling guilty about asking.
"The stepping stones are... somewhere around here, I think," she says - but as eyes squint against the darkness, the stones are hardly more then dark blurs, water lapping greedily against them. But the apprentice presses on, undeterred - a little bit of water is hardly enough to stop a real riverclanner anyways, and Frecklepaw is tired of being scared of... well, everything. With a confidence she doesn't quite feel, she wriggles for a moment before hopping, paws landing neatly upon the first rock, and then the next. 'Easy, right?'
Head turns to make sure her companion is still following her - she can't hear the sound of paws splashing against the roar of the water, not with her poor hearing, but it's hard to miss the paler figure trailing behind her in the silver glow of the moon. Confident that they've yet to be separated, she goes to leap again - only for paws to slip against slick stone. Claws grasp at empty water, missing - and she hardly has time to yelp before she's plunging into cold waters.
The leaf-fall air leaves the river chilled, and as head remerges gasping for air, she can already feel her teeth chattering. The sound echoes loudly - so much so that she can't hear anything else above the noise. "Mothpaw! Mothpaw! H-help me! I c-can't-" she coughs, but words prove as useless as fighting the pull of the current. As she's dragged under again, mind wanders near absently.
Has the river always been this strong?
She can't remember, can't recall. Legs churn uselessly, but rather then emerge she only spins dizzily until she can't tell down from up. Teeth grasp at her scruff, but it isn't enough. Regret bubbles up as they are swept away, burning her eyes and throat as they drift. 'This was a mistake'. She never should've tried to do this - to be brave. Never should've dragged Mothpaw into her foolishness, in some misplaced attempt to prove themselves. As darkness burns her vision, there is a fleeting moment of guilt for what she believes she leaves behind - for her poor sister, who'd return from the dirtplace only to find her sister long gone.
At least she will not be alone - with kits soon to keep her company. Frecklepaw can only hope they will be better children to Gladefrost then she ever was.
When Frecklepaw wakes, it is to stillness and silence, the roar of the river left far behind her. For all that the air is cool, she no longer feels cold - the ice that had crept its way into her very lungs now thawed. And yet, there is something strange about this star strewn place - as though something is not quite right. It isn't until she is no longer alone that she realizes that it's her that's changed.
"G-gladefrost?" tears fill bright eyes, and the kit sniffles. Relief, joy, pain, grief - one after another, emotions burn so swiftly she can't hardly make sense of them. Small face presses into star-studded fur with a choked sob as she throws herself at her big sister, emotions caught somewhere inbetween. There is no questions about how or why - only the comforting sense that she is reunited with her family once more-
That Frecklepaw will never have to be alone again.
— and I am already halfway out the door
