Diagnosed with a developmental disorder at a young age, Duskelle Waterlee has always been special - but not necessarily in a good way. Even at the age of fourteen, she is still unable to truly grasp human ways of life.
Her only relief is River, a st...
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Graysplash held Duskelle's gaze for a moment before looking past her to the other apprentice, who was still hunched over Stormpaw.
"Mosspaw," he called, and over the haze of tiredness, Duskelle was able to realize that this was the tom's name and he was the cat Seapaw had talked about the first time she'd met Duskelle.
There was no response from Mosspaw. Graysplash sighed and made to gently push away Hawkkit to go over, but the other cat, Dapplerush, beat him to it. She padded over to Mosspaw and laid her tail over his shoulders, which were trembling. Duskelle felt a twinge of pity for the tom. Obviously, he was one of those who would've suffered the most if Stormpaw had-if Stormpaw had - no. She couldn't think about that. Not when the possibility was still there - no, she couldn't even think that the possibility existed. She had to put it behind her and push ahead.
Dapplerush raised her sleek head, her sharp hazel eyes fixated on Duskelle. "I don't know what you did," she began, a streak of something Duskelle couldn't quite identify underlying her words, "but if you were - if anything you did was the cause-if this happened because of you-" the she-cat's gaze was harsh "-it'll be the last thing you'll regret-because you won't be there to regret anything else." Dapplerush's attention shifted back to Stormpaw as Graysplash joined them.
Duskelle felt a sliver of fear slide into her mind. What if - what if Stormpaw didn't - didn't survive, and nobody was there to tell the other cats of what had really happened? What if they thought that - that Duskelle had done this to him? She shook her head, disguising it as an attempt to rid the water on her head-fur. No. They wouldn't do that. She was sure they wouldn't.
At least she thought she was sure.
Something warm pressing against her foreleg made her look down. Hawkkit. Duskelle could feel the kit's shivering through her fur. How could she have been so stupid? She'd made the kit walk through the forest in the rain for who knew how long. Now all she needed was for Hawkkit to get sick. That'd make a perfect ending. Bitter thoughts filled her mind as she watched the three cats awkwardly raise Stormpaw onto their backs. She watched them pass in front of her and it took her a moment before she realized that she was getting left behind. She scampered to lift up Hawkkit onto her back and tell her to hold on before starting to drag herself after the others, her injured leg screaming in pain as she did so. It looked like they hadn't noticed that yet.
Suddenly, the clearing brightened and Duskelle looked up to see that a cloud had just moved out of the rising sun's way. With a jolt, she realized that she'd spent the entire night out in the forest. River had told Duskelle that her mother always said 'Time flies by when you're having fun'. A half-bitter, half-wistful smile spread across her face. Apparently, it also flew by when you were trying to find a missing kit and bring an gravely injured cat to safety.
She mentally pushed away the crazy laughter that bubbled up in her mind. To add to this mess, she was also losing her mind.
A rock jolted her leg and a fresh wave of pain brought her back to reality. Duskelle winced and kept on going. The other cats in front of her didn't seem to care about her. They kept on going, Mosspaw occasionally whipping around from side to side to stop Stormpaw from slipping off and murmurs of conversation from Dapplerush and Graysplash came to Duskelle, though she was unable to actually make sense of their words. Something told her that they were talking about something to do with her.
