Meant To Be

Chapter Two

For the remainder of the cycle, Hunter found herself unable to take her mind off the crimson slugcat. With every piece of prey she caught, she thought of how she would still be too exhausted to have caught it if the slugcat hadn't given her that lizard. Hunter also couldn't stop thinking about how she was able to glide through the air using explosions.

She spent the remainder of the cycle stockpiling food so that she could afford to take a rest in future if she needed to. Just as Hunter had managed to take down a pink lizard, she felt the first drops of rain on her pelt and began to drag the limp body back to the nearby den. As she ran, the water began to start coming down harder and harder until it began to flood the lands. Giving up on bringing the lizard to a den for later, she quickly ripped off as much as she could eat and quickly swallowed it before running, no longer weighed down by the corpse.

Hunter climbed up poles as the water rose below her, threatening to pull her down below. She turned to the right and saw the den, mere metres away.

Hunter was about to squeeze through the entrance when she heard a noise from outside. Poking her head back out of the den and looking down, she saw a frail figure being tossed around by the waves. The creature reached up at her, looking at Hunter with her remaining eye in terror as if she was begging for help before being pulled under. Without hesitation, Hunter dove back into the storm. I'm going to die soon anyways and she was kind and gave me food. Even if she'd just wake back up next cycle, she shouldn't have to drown here. She took a deep breath of air and dove into the violent waters, swimming downwards to where she could see the slugcat sinking. Grabbing onto her paw, Hunter began dragging her back up to the surface. Out of breath she inhaled a mouth full of water and coughed, terrified that they wouldn't make it to the surface. Hunter swam not like her life depended on it but instead someone else's. Her vision was beginning to go blurry, but they were almost to the surface. Just a tiny bit further...

Hunter broke the surface, gasping for air as the two slugcats rode the water up to the den which was now almost right beside them. Hunter looked over at the crimson slugcat to ask if she was okay only to see that she was passed out. For a moment a thought passed through Hunter's mind that she refused to even acknowledge. She dragged her into the den and the gates sealed, preventing any water from getting in. Hunter put down the slugcat in a corner, wondering what to do now. Her creator, No Significant Harassment, had dealt with injured creatures of all kinds and Hunter had watched him do so many times. That did not give her the slightest idea of how to help a half drowned slugcat, however. Trying to remember how her creator had always started, she remembered seeing him frequently check a patient's pulse. With a shaking paw, Hunter reached out to feel her wrist, afraid of what she might feel.

She's alive.

And there's chapter two! If you don't like angst, fluff and hurt comfort, this is your warning to leave because from here it gets really bittersweet. Cover art not by me.