*Art Of Citrus By Yours Truly*

|I| 12 YEARS LATER |I|

Citrus was curled up inside the den. He was sleeping on a moss pile, snoring away contentedly. His tail twitched every so often, and he dreamed. He dreamed of leaving the village and finding fields and fields full of dandelions, buttercups and valerian.

"Ciiiitrus," Blue said in a sing-songy voice. Her silky, royal blue fur was in a corner from when she had shed the day before. Her black spots on her paws had a slight sheen to them. Her emerald eyes had a warm glow, and Citrus found them very comforting.

"Oh, Citrus," Misty hissed, walking in his room. Her fur was baby blue and rough, and she had Papaya's black eyes. "Lazybones."

"Citrus isn't up yet? How?! It's like, the middle of the afternoon!" Fritz exclaimed, throwing her paws in the air. She had bright yellow fur with little turquoise stripes all over. Her eyes were a crazy bright red, and she was always a bit energetic.

"Ugh..." Citrus mumbled, waking up and stretching. "Why are you all in my room?"

"Dad's asked for you, Citrus. C'mon." Blue replied, walking outside. He followed his older sister (though she was older by a few seconds) through the den. They popped out of the tunnel that led to Citrus's room. There were six other tunnels-

Blue's room, Fritz's room, Misty's room, Lemon and Papaya's room. the washroom (obviously) and the entrance.

"Wait, Blue? Why does dad need me, exactly?" Citrus asked. He picked up his turquoise scarf from in front of his tunnel and sped up to catch up with his sister.

"He didn't actually say," Blue replied, stopping. "Maybe he needs your help with something?"

Citrus nodded at Blue and ran pushed aside the leaves at the entrance when he got outside- and tripped on a pile of papers right outside the door.

"Ow, who put that there?!" Citrus hissed.

"It's the morning paper, Cit," Blue replied, helping him up. She resumed walking- not towards the market where Citrus thought his dad would be- but the fields.

The two siblings walked along the stone path that slowly shifted to a dirt road as they reached the farmlands. Citrus could see Papaya talking to a familiar otter. The otter had deep orange fur, white paws, dazzling ruby eyes and a black underbelly.

...

"...but I don't think he's ready Papaya. He's still a kid." The otter said, fiddling with their paws.

"Cousin Tide?" Citrus said with surprise. "When did you get here?"

"Ah, Citrus! How's my little nephew doing? And I see we have the wonderous Blue with us as well!" Tide said, smiling.

"Tide? It's nice to see you again." Blue said, slightly surprised and happy. "So, when did you get here?"

"This morning. Your father and I had to discuss a few things involving you, Cit." Tide replied, looking at Citrus.

"Oh yeah! Dad, you called me here for a reason, right?" Citrus exclaimed.

"Right, right, I did. Well, I called you here because-"

Pitter patter pitter patter pitter patter pitter patter pitter patter pitter patter pitter patter pitter.

(I listened to 'Legend' by The Score for the following scene and I really got into it maybe you should try listening to it when you read this bit)

It began to drizzle. They decided to walk back to the village but then it started to pour.

Thunder and lightning struck across the sky. The ground shook heavily. It was an earthquake and a thunderstorm. The ground split in half. The trees fell onto dens. The river overflowed and began to flood the village.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" Citrus yelled before he got swept away with the water.

"CITRUS!!" He heard Blue and Papaya scream.

He held his breath and plunged beneath the water. Citrus tried to swim out, but the current was too strong. He crashed and banged against rocks and trees- at least until the river spat him out in a newly formed ravine from the earthquake.

"Ow..." Citrus mumbled, rubbing his head. He looked up and saw seven trees that had fallen inside the ravine as well. I could climb them I guess? Maybe? Citrus thought.

He dug his claws into the wood of the closest tree and began to climb diagonally. He stopped to rest at the top of the tree until he realized that he would have to make a pretty large jump to get out.

"Well. Either stay here and wait for help, which is safer. Or jump it yourself and potentially fall and maybe end up dying. Awesome optimism, Citrus..." Citrus said to himself, face-pawing.

He climbed as high as he could and stood on his hind legs. He backed up a little bit, crouched down and jumped.

...

...

...

...

Citrus landed (Not very gracefully, mind you) on the edge of the ground and struggled to pull himself up. He could feel himself losing his grip, and then...

*Crunch*

Blue gently bit Citrus's front right paw as happy tears flooded her emerald eyes. She pulled him up and hugged him. Then she punched him.

"I thought you were dead. You scared me..." Blue said, breaking into tears again.

Citrus didn't say anything though. He just pulled Blue in for another, longer hug. They simply hugged in silence, surrounded by cracks in the ground, charred tree trunks, fallen trees, stones that got moved by the flood and bones.

"Dad, Tide, Fritz, Lemon and Misty!" Citrus gasped. "Wh-what happened to them?"

"Well..." Blue looked down and whispered, "Mom's dead. Dad and Tide are badly injured, and Fritz and Misty- they vanished. Disappeared. They're gone, but they're not dead."

Citrus's eyes widened. He felt full of anger and fury. Lemon, his mother, his amazing friend. Was dead. "I-" 

*Crack*

Out of the Blue (haha, I made a joke in a sad time) Citrus had punched the nearest tree stump and he left a dent the size of his head inside it.

"We're going to find them." Citrus finally said.

"What?! Who?" Blue asked.

"Who do you think Blue? Our sisters? Misty and Fritz? Or should I come back a few years later when they'll probably end up thinking that we don't care about them anymore?" Citrus hissed.

Blue looked up, clearly hurt. "Cit, I... I think they might not wanna come back. I think we should maybe wait until they show up in a nearby town or someth-"

"NO!" Citrus yelled. "We. Are. Not. Leaving. Them. Behind. I won't ever do what you want to. You... are such an idiot. They won't come back. Ever. If they know what happened here, they probably think we're all dead. How can you not get that in your head?! We need to find them! It's literally that simple!" 

"Citrus..." Blue said, reaching out to put her paw on his shoulder.

"No." He said, turning around. "I'm going you a choice. Either you stay here and pray they come back, or you come with me. If you stay, I won't care. I won't stop until I find my two sisters even if it kills me." Citrus hissed. "So? Are you coming, or staying?"

"Cit, dad and Tide need us here. Death's knocking at their doors. I'm sorry, but I don't care if you'll hate me for this. I'm staying." Blue said, wiping away tears from her eyes.

"Fine then. If you wanna come to find me if you happen to change your mind, I'm heading to Lazuli Town. Goodbye, Blue." Citrus said, looking at his sister. Her eyes were red from crying and she whispered, "Please stay, Cit..."

He turned around and headed to the willow forest. He put his scarf on properly and walked off.

|' ' ' ' '| A/N | ' ' ' ' ' |

YALL THOUGHT THAT THIS WOULD BE A HAPPY STORY

SIIIIIIIIKE there will be more death, cliffhangers, adventure and MORE after you turn the page STAY TUNED KIWIS

(Im just gon' call the people that read my books kiwis hope that not a problemo from any yall ;3)

-Audrey