YOU'RE THE ONLY PERSON LEFT [✦] fireflypaw

[GREENEYES]

Another sleepless night finds Greeneyes wide awake in his nest.

Another verdant nightmare pulls him from the guise of sleep - leaves him scanning the warrior den with bristled fur and a pounding chest as empty spots around him grow larger with each passing day. Loss after loss; it feels never-ending, these days. Death is all around him, and he fears who might be next as his mind tries to take hold of reality.

And it’s a split-second thought of a dark-pointed face and pine-adorned fur that unravels any attempt to calm down, leaves him void of any need to sleep. Fireflypaw, so close to deadly sickness at any given moment in his role as a medicine cat apprentice. A plague that could so easily be transmitted to him, that could so easily take him away, just as it did Sheepcurl. Just as it might to Dandelionwish, to Sparrowsong.

He rises then, paws trembling, lungs tight as he carefully - but swiftly - leaves the warrior den. His paws guide him while his mind spins into tangled unease, and before he knows it - before he realizes he's even moving - he's at the mouth of the medicine den. Close to sickness, too close, probably. But he does not worry about his own state in this moment.

He has to know. He has to know that Fireflypaw is okay - that he does not have to mourn another, a loss he isn't sure he'd ever get over.

"Firefly?" he croaks out a whisper. He aims to be loud enough for the medicine cat to hear, but not too loud that he doesn't wake his resting patients, or worse: Dawnglare. Ears twitch at the night's silence, his paws still trembling beneath him as he waits for an answer - a confirmation that sickness hasn't consumed his best friend too. "Fi?"
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[Fireflyglow]

Fireflypaw is swarmed with dreams of lillies and chamomile, the scent wafting past his nose and calming him despite the tenseness of his situation. Amongst him is a plague, an illness that could threaten his life at any moment. And yet he faces it with determination, with a willingness that defies the very stars and their purpose. The sound of his friend's voice pulls him from his dream- rips him from it roughly, worry evident in his pale blue eyes as he rises to his paws. Sparrowsong is given a gentle nudge, a soft 'I'll be right back', before he makes his way out of the medicine den with a yawn.

"Minty?" He calls out softly, barely a whisper- he knew that voice better than anything in the world. Just like Sparrowsong's lullabies, he knew Greeneyes' worried voice like the back of his paw. He blinks sleep from his eyes momentarily, jaws stretching wide into a yawn as thick mane is fluffed out with a vicious shake. Each leg lifting with a stretch, joints popping with relief. "Is everything okay?" He asks, worried for his friend. He takes a step forward, hesitantly- attempting to press his nose into his friend's cheekfur affectionately in an attempt to calm him from his nervousness. "Bad dream?" He asks, patient. He knew what it was like to be plagued by nightmares; he'd gotten lucky, recently, with his dreams of herbs and Morningpaw. ​

SKYCLAN MEDICINE CAT APPRENTICE ✦ 13 MOONS ✦ CHUNKY, BIG-FOOTED SEAL POINT ✦ TAGS​

 

[GREENEYES]

His name is echoed back to him in a spell of relief, his fur flattening against his neck at the sound of Firefly’s voice.

It’s his nickname that the wind carries this time, he notices. Not the curt response of Greeneyes he’d been met with the last time he’d appeared at the medicine den’s mouth looking for his friend.

It’s another ounce of relief, only brought forth by his friend’s emergence - proof that Fireflypaw was indeed alive.

Still, his paws tremble beneath him, shaken up by restlessness.

“Fi,” he says once more, looking up as the pointed feline speaks. Sleep-laced words, Greeneyes feels bad for waking him up, so much that he almost misses his friend’s question as Fireflypaw moves to comfort him - a touch that the red tom leans into, his eyes closing for a moment as he processes, as he grounds himself, pulls himself away from tangling thoughts.

“I.. Yeah — Bad dreams,” he confirms, opening his eyes to look at his friend. Fireflypaw is aware of their means of takeover to his nights, though Greeneyes doesn’t think his friend knows how often they plague him. “They’ve been… They’ve been happening a lot, lately. But I just… I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

It’s an admission that leaves him trembling, embarrassed by how often he finds himself wide awake in the night, by what spurred him to rise from his nest tonight. It feels silly, the rush to the worst his mind experiences, in those moments.

And he does not think he will find sleep anytime soon - even with confirmation that Firefly is alive and, seemingly, well. So, he lets another moment pass, before he shares a question in return.

“Walk with me?”
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