When the camp begins to flood, she is taken back to almost two leafbares ago, now... When the camp had first flooded, when she had been infinitely younger than she is now, when everything had been lost and they'd been forced to start over from scratch... Her first thought is of Horizonpaw, then Hazecloud, and then Lichenstar; she finds her apprentice easily, still keeping a lookout for his mothers.
She appears behind Horizonpaw as the water grows ever higher, nervously watching him as he helps Moonbeam and Twinklepaw, gathering the bundles of herbs that her former apprentice would have lost otherwise.. Another push of the current has her nudging him forth, her own paws beginning to paddle. "
Just keep calm, Horizonpaw, remember what i've taught you." her voice is eerily calm despite the frenzied panic that ignites in her chest. She blinks away for just a second, paddling in place as she searches for Lichenstar and Hazecloud, praying to
Starclan that they had gotten out. Her eyes skip over Lichenstar, and then catch on something.
There is a flash of fur beneath the waves and for a second, she replays what she had not comprehended fully: Claythorn, stuck with a kit clutched in her teeth, Lichenstar, a diving savior to unstick her... And then she hadn't come back up.
She can't... Where is she? Desperate eyes search for her leader. Moments pass. Lichenstar does not resurface. "
LICHENSTAR!" her voice comes out a rabid screech, hoarse, raw and full of pure, unbridled emotion. "
No- No, no, no, no!" she pleads, floundering in the water for a second, fighting against the rising current because maybe, just
maybe she can be quick enough for once in her life. Maybe she will be quick enough to save her, maybe this won't be a Riverpaw situation. Hope begins to die as every centimeter she moves forwards shes pushed an inch back... "
Someone, help Lichenstar!" it tears from her throat with claws- she was too far away, and not many cats were left at this point, already having evacuated... "
Lichenstar!" she
keeps screaming, not sure why, her throat beginning to grow sore. She should have resurfaced by now! It feels like just yesterday they had slipped in mud, sharing giggles... And now she's more than likely gone.
Not too gone, it seems. Another flash of pale, pointed fur and she pinpoints exactly where Lichenstar was. Theres an idea that would risk her getting killed, too, quieting the screaming as it breaches her mind... It is a risk that she's willing to take as Lichenstars body drifts further down. She will not be fast enough to get there, she will not be fast enough to retrieve the body before Lichenstar succumbs once more. She does not think twice as she takes the deepest breath she could muster in her panic; she sends one last glance back to Horizonpaw incase it is the last she will ever get, paddling further and further away, as she dips below the swirling surface. She is pulled with the current, faster than she could have made it swimming, a perfect execution to the beginnings of her plan. She bumps in to the pale figure and her paws outstretch, having already been prepared for the impact, and fasten around them. Now she just... Needs to break the surface. Her mouth opens, cold water rushing to invade and she blows bubbles out- releasing what air she can afford to as she fastens her teeth around Lichenstars scruff.
Her efforts prove to be fruitless. A particularly strong current catches her and she goes tumbling, yanking Lichenstar with her. For a second, she's sworn shes lost all of her teeth with the pain that rips through them from being yanked... The water roars above her head, the light seemingly further than ever and shes afraid, for just a fleeting moment, that they will both pass. Lichenstars body is stiff, her life snuffed for now, and she thinks briefly of Starclan, she thinks of Hazeclouds face, upset when she learns that her mate had been washed away. She thinks of Horizonpaw, of Shellpaw, Pebbletail, Twinklepaw, Eveningpaw, all left without one of their mothers… Would Riverpaw be there to greet her when she breaches the starry lands?
Oh, Starclan, give me strength... She had failed to save him and she will fail to save Lichenstar. The thought makes her chest ache even more than it already is.
If I can save someone... Then my life will have been worth it... And if that someone is Lichenstar, then she will have been more than satisfied. The thought brings her back to her senses and shes finally able to stabilize herself and the body she is about to drag, with effort that zaps more and more of her energy.
You will not die here, you will not die again, there is not a single thought in her mind that screams of herself as she pulls, her legs aching with the effort it takes to swim upwards. The light grows closer with each kick of her legs despite the burn, despite the gnawing fear at the back of her mind, the dots of black that begin to prick the edges of her vision.
I'm going to save you, everythings going to be okay, she cannot stop moving lest she wants to be torn away from the rest of the clan. Paddling, paddling, harder and harder she tugs the scruff of her leader, and if the water was not covering them then there would be tears that freely fall from her face; instead, her tears are mixed with cold, unforgiving river.
Just a little further...! Her head is light. Stars, she can't breathe and she feels the strength in her legs fading fast from the lack of air. The black threatens to block out her vision and she can feel herself slipping-
And then their heads break through the surface, water spraying from her nostrils as she exhales desperately, trying to clear her nasal passages so she can
breathe. Her lungs scream, her chest is tight but she is
alive and she is determined to bring Lichenstar to the beech copse. She is determined to bring Lichenstar back, alive just as she is, she is determined to bring her back even if she perishes in the process; her devotion will bring her back, ghost or not, to drag her leader home. She cannot imagine a world without her in it. She cannot imagine a world without Hazecloud, without Lichenstar, and so she pushes harder than she had, inhaling sharply as her eyes screw tight, against the current she begins the swim towards the beech copse. She's got her groove, now, despite how much she aches; eternally devoted,
I won't let anything else happen to you!
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saving @lichenstar and bringing her to the beech copse; they will be one of the last to arrive & the post is set after Mostly Everyone has evacuated o7
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❥ salmonshade ʚ♡ɞ
salmon
❥ cis female ʚ♡ɞ she/her ʚ♡ɞ 44 months
❥ riverclan warrior ʚ♡ɞ mentoring horizonpaw
❥ chocolate tortie smoke with blue eyes ʚ♡ɞ tall & regal
❥ "speech, fd9367" ʚ♡ɞ thoughts
❥ single ʚ♡ɞ lesbian
❥ smells like freshly cut grass & rain ʚ♡ɞ echoes of greenleaf
❥ penned by chuff
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