❦ story ❦

(A/N: most of this chapter is just story plothole fixing... i'll tell y'all when the main apprentice appears)

the she-cat shot through the forest, her eyes wide with apprehension. she couldn't think clearly, or even look at her surroundings, but her paws seemed to know where she wanted to go. the midday sunlight lit the she-cat's path as her rushing paws adhered to it.

where are those foolish apprentices?

the she-cat's bushy fur rippled in apprehension as she imagined what might've happened to the two missing apprentices. for all i know, they've both drowned by now! three days ago, deltaclan had been hit by a strong flood; the river had swelled so much that it reached the top of the ravine. the grass near it would be slippery, and... a cat as light as peachpaw could easily get swept away.

and what about dolphinpaw? are they with her? i would've thought that they'd be more sensible...! or worse, they disappeared separately... then i may never be able to find them!

shallow breaths arose in the white she-cat's chest as she imagined the worst: peachpaw, a helpless light ginger and white ball of fur, being swept away by the relentless river, gasping for air but only swallowing water... and dolphinpaw's blue and white pelt following peachpaw's. she could only assume that dolphinpaw, despite the fact that they were only barely more than halfway through their apprenticeship, believed that they could save small peachpaw from the river.

well, it isn't true! subconsciously, the white she-cat knew why the two had disappeared: the clan was starving. so far, the clan was only surviving on aspenrise's meagre supply of basil and thyme. herbs weren't meant to be eaten as meals, but deltaclan primarily hunted in the river, and their land hunting skills were limited compared to how they were in the water. not much land prey lived in the territory anyway...

... and the white she-cat wasn't about to tell her clan to explore beyond deltaclan territory. that thought still invaded her mind with unwanted war scenes: claws three times as long as a cat's, slashing in fury... blood splattering the ground as a brown she-cat bled out and herself bring unable to stop it and herself desperately trying to bring her back to camp but they didn't have time so she collected moss from the nearest tree she didn't even have medicine cat skills if only dustrain had taught her oh starclan no-

the white she-cat suddenly halted to a stop, a scream building in her throat and cutting off all air. so it's like that, isn't it? she shook out her long, fluffy fur, trying to shock herself back into reality. she stared at her forepaws, her amber eyes wide as moons.

the last time she had seen her sister was at her nine lives ceremony. she remembered it well: it had been a short reunion, but in those few moments, so much emotion had overwhelmed her...

oh, i don't have time for this...!

white paws rhythmically pattered on the ground, slowly at first, then all of a sudden fast as the wind, as cloudstar raced off once more. i have clanmates to protect now.

...

i should be there by- there! there's the river... where are they?

cloudstar's eyes scanned the swollen, pigeon-gray river. white froth sprinted over the surface, and bubbles rose and were buried, but-

cloudstar suppressed a gasp as her gaze fell on a lithe, sand-yellow thing being tossed by the water. its limbs were thin and limp, and cloudstar couldn't see its head. the water swirled around the figure, making it almost spin in the water. flashes of white from the cat's underside surfaced the water, but that was all.

peachpaw?

cloudstar didn't want to admit it, but... it was most likely that the pale ginger she-cat was already dead. she wasn't even fighting the stream, fighting for breath. she didn't deserve this fate; all she wanted was to protect her clan.

wait, then where is-

cloudstar's eyes scanned the swollen river, searching desperately for dolphinpaw. was he even in there? or was he gone, or had he already been washed away?

a choked wail rang from the gray water, and cloudstar's head snapped in its direction. there, a few tail-lengths behind peachpaw, dolphinpaw was trying in vain to reach their friend. as cloudstar watched, dolphinpaw was swept aside by the current, and their head temporarily breached below the water before he came up again, jaw set in determination, but eyes filled with fear. dolphinpaw's tail, thoroughly drenched and now the same colour as the river, lashed furiously as he tried to steer himself back farther into the river to catch peachpaw's body, but from what cloudstar could see, he wasn't making much progress.

"dolphinpaw!" but the roar of the current drowned out cloudstar's yowl.

cloudstar gritted her teeth and crouched, bundling up her haunches, eyes fixed on her clanmates.

if i can't save peachpaw, i still might be able to save dolphinpaw.

after all... i have no choice. i will not stand by as they drown!

cloudstar took a few hurried paves back. bracing herself for the cold shock, cloudstar ran... a few steps, a leap, and suddenly she was in the air, as far from the shore as she could manage, adrenaline pumping higher than ever. a second later, the fluffy white she-cat plunged into the river.

for a split second, cloudstar's whole world was suspended in freezing water. time seemed to slow down... white paws began to churn on their own upon instinct, not knowing which direction was which, not sensing where land was, or dolphinpaw. then she went up.

cloudstar's head burst through the river's face, and the water's spell broke as time resumed as normal in its fast-paced running. dolphinpaw's blue-marred pelt floated to cloudstar's left. his eyes were half closed from exhaustion.

the cold was already starting to creep through cloudstar's thick coat, but she did her best to keep swimming, praying that her limbs wouldn't go numb.

stretching out her head, she just managed to grab dolphinpaw's scruff in her jaws; it took her three or four tries to catch it for the rushing waters. her legs churned endlessly- she hoped that dolphinpaw's were too- trying to steer both cats to the shore. keeping hold of dolphinpaw was challenging, especially when the cat in question was pretty much unconscious, which meant that cloudstar also had to keep their head above water. she could no longer see if dolphinpaw's eyes were still open, nor could she see his legs or paws because of the torrent and its bubbles, but as long as he was alive, it didn't matter to her.

the shore was little more than a blur, with the river carrying cloudstar and dolphinpaw. trees raced past trees, bushes danced at the water's edge. sparkling liquid droplets shone like stars as they leapt from the river, so many that cloudstar could feel them prickling at her muzzle.

kick, kick, kick. cloudstar's amber eyes locked onto the riverbank; it didn't seem to be getting any closer... then her strokes grew stronger as determination surged through her again. she needed to get to the shore...

the coldness continued to sap cloudstar's strength...

but i have to keep going! dolphinpaw's life depends on it...!

inching closer to the shore now.

but at least two fox lengths still separated the cats from safe land.

churning water all around. cloudstar scarcely had a clue where they were. she didn't know how far the current had taken them, or how long it would take to get back to camp; usually, deltaclan could thrive off of the patch of river nearest to camp.

cloudstar's muscles burned, but still she kept swimming. her jaws ached from holding dolphinpaw for so long, and she had to actively try not to swallow water. she was breathing hard, but she wasn't getting enough air from her nose, and she didn't dare try to support the apprentice from underwater, lest one of them get swept away.

...

...

(A/N: here's where the main apprentice actually appears guys idk i had a plan in my head-)

cloudstar felt exhausted. but for all her determination, she couldn't fight the river on her own, carrying a deadweight in her jaws. her neck was sprained from holding dolphinpaw's head above the water, and her whole body ached from the power she had been forced to exert. tiredness clouded her mind... her eyes were still fixed on the riverbank, which seemed to be rushing by faster than before.

even if cloudstar died today, her only regret would not being able to save dolphinpaw.

the shoreline seemed to shimmer before cloudstar's eyes. cloudstar assumed that they were just more water droplets. then the shimmering formed into a sort-of mist, and a second later, a silvery apparition ran beside cloudstar, who almost choked at the sight of it.

pineconerain!

there was no mistaking pineconerain's lithe, leggy form; the she-cat's sleek, ticked brown pelt, now semi-translucent, shone with starlight, and her stormy gray eyes glittered with worry. her long, well-muscled legs let her keep up with cloudstar and the torrent easily.

"do your clanmates even know you're here?" the she-cat demanded. but she knew her sister well enough to know the answer.

no, cloudstar thought. i came alone.

"oh, you foolish cat," pineconerain murmured. her gaze fell onto the blue and white cat hanging from cloudstar's jaws. "you'll be glad to know that peachpaw has joined our ranks, but dolphinpaw has not."

cloudstar raised her head in a kind of gesture. take dolphinpaw.

a flash of shock and confusion crossed pineconerain's face. "i came for you. i can't take both you and dolphinpaw at once."

but shouldn't pineconerain have expected this? the cloudpaw- cloudstar- she knew had never been one to put herself over others... but that didn't mean that pineconerain wanted to leave her sister behind.

cloudstar repeated the gesture, her eyes flashing in warning. i'm losing energy.

pineconerain felt like the air she breathed was choking her, but she jerked her head down in a nod, showing she understood. she crouched for a split second, then jumped, using the momentum from running to propel herself into the river.

pineconerain dived under the pair of cats and slipped the limp blue and white cat onto her shoulders without trouble. her webbed paws- yes, webbed paws, which she had been born with, unlike her sister- caught the water and helped her feet propel her upwards, now carrying dolphinpaw on her shoulders. the young cat's forepaws draped against her right side, the hindquarters and tail against her left. she didn't have to worry about running out of breath; being dead meant breathing wasn't really a necessity anymore.

pineconerain resurfaced.

suddenly, it felt like the current was fighting her, and at the same time, threatening to carry dolphinpaw away. pineconerain quickly realized that swimming underwater would be much easier if it meant that she would be able to flow easier.

turning her head right to get a grip on one of dolpinpaw's forelegs, pineconerain dipped under the water again, trying her best to stay as close to the surface as possible so she could be certain that dolphinpaw had access to air. her cedar legs kicked strongly against the river as she spurred herself in a slow curve towards the shore; fighting the current would be slow and hard, and as long as she was able to stay underwater, pineconerain knew she could swim long enough to bring dolphinpaw to the riverbank.

progress was slow, especially with her having to nudge dolphinpaw onto her shoulders every few heartbeats, lest the current sweep them off from above water. from time to time, pineconerain would peek above water to see how far they were from the shore.

two fox-lengths turned to one, then that too halved. the sun was making its descent across the sky when pineconerain's paws touched the shore.

i did it. pineconerain's first solemn thought reached her mind only after she'd dragged herself and dolphinpaw onto land. she stared closely at the blue and white cat's body... there, the faintest stirring of a breath fluttered, indicated by the smallest rise and fall of their flanks. a touch of closeness pricked at the brown she-cat's heart as she gazed at his unconscious form. had things been different, we could have been clanmates.

but i have no regrets. and now my sister is... cloudstar!

pineconerain's head snapped upwards, staring past the seemingly endless river. there was nothing to see.

nothing.

a fresh pang of grief threatened to spill pinreconerain over. she had followed her sister's final request, but at what cost? to be honest, pineconerain wasn't sure if cloudstar's six remaining lives would survive the river, seeing as she was exhausted and she would be rendered helpless- out of her own body for a while, as was necessary for the healing trance to occur- after losing just one. what if starclan couldn't save a cat when their lungs were bloated with water? there were things that even starclan couldn't cure... pineconerain wasn't completely certain as to what they could fix and what they couldn't. after all, losing every single life at once was a rare occurrence, to say the least.

but pineconerain needed to put her storm of thoughts out of her head. she moved, as if in a trance, towards dolphinpaw and slipped them back onto her shoulders. pineconerain had to bring them back to where they had taken the plunge. hopefully, the poor apprentice would remember nothing.

***

"it's been two days since she disappeared. are you sure there's any hope?"

it was nearly sundown, and two days after dolphinpaw had slunk back into camp proclaiming peachpaw's death- only to discover that another cat was also gone: the clan leader.

now, four deltaclan warriors travelled along the edge of the river, which had now shrunk back to its normal size: hornetmoon, cloudstar's deputy; seablossom, hornetmoon's former apprentice; ashenspirit, to whom the dead peachpaw had been apprenticed; and dolphinsplash, for whom dolphinpaw had been named; she was well on her way to the elders' den, but had insisted on joining one last mission.

"i won't give up until we reach the end of this river." hornetmoon addressed seablossom, who had asked the question. "besides, we have nothing to worry about. i trust fishriver enough to keep deltaclan in order." the cream tabby's ear twitched with amusement. "even if he is an annoying, pesky fish-face."

beside her, ashenspirit snorted with laughter. "why do you enjoy teasing my brother so much?"

"because you can't tell me that i'm wrong," hornetmoon purred. ashenspirit chuckled, but said nothing in reply.

the cats walked the peaty sand, their paws sinking slightly into the damp, soft ground. where did rivers empty? not one of the warriors knew the answer, but still they kept going.

five deltaclan warriors travelled along the edge of the river as the first stars began to appear behind the orange sun. dolphinsplash was the first to speak at the sight of the river's mouth. here, the water spread wide, as far as the eye could see. rocky outcroppings stood against the sky before the liquid expanse, and clay and pebbles littered the ground where the sand ended.

in the middle of one of the stony clusters, a flash of white could just be seen.

the warriors' worst suspicions had been confirmed, and all rushed forward to greet it- all, that is, but one. the newest warrior, touched down to earth from the stars, had suspected this fate for herself, and yet, she only watched in silence as her former warriors crowded her abandoned, broken body. none seemed to notice her.

"cloudstar?" that was dolphinsplash's plaintive meow. "come on, come on..." the dark gray and white she-cat looked over at her deputy. "hornetmoon, how many lives has she yet to lose? surely she didn't only have one?"

"dolphinsplash, use your head." the cream tabby she-cat suddenly looked stern. "if she hasn't come back after two days, then it is most likely she has none left... unless she lost one only recently, which is probably untrue. ashenspirit, find- ashenspirit?" hornetmoon raised her head to search for the gray she-cat. she blinked, then focused on the she-cat's tail sticking out from behind a rock.

"ashenspirit?" hornetmoon's tone softened as she guessed what- or rather who- ashenspirit had found.

"it's peachpaw..." ashenspirit choked with a sob. "she deserved better. oh, starclan..."

"..." hornetmoon motioned for her warriors to stand back with a sweep of her wiry tail. "seablossom," she murmured, "will you go and tell aspenrise and fishriver what has happened?"

"yes, hornetm-" the white tom's meow faltered as his gaze flitted from his former mentor to his former leader and back. "yes, hornetstar," he meowed in a softer, almost whispery voice, before turning tail to run.

"seablossom!"

"yes?" seablossom's blue eyes flashed back at his former mentor.

"make sure that the apprentices don't know what happened. dolphinpaw doesn't need to know, and the other apprentices would tell them if any of them knew."

seablossom nodded before starting to run once more.

hornetmoon flashed back to seablossom's address of her. confusion crossed the cream she-cat's face, then realization: she was deltaclan's deputy. if the old leader was dead... hornetmoon's brown gaze fell once more onto the broken white she-cat's body, awe and shock and apprehension finally dawning upon her.

the spirit turned her sun-bright amber gaze towards the sunset sky, not saying a word.

five deltaclan warriors sat beside the river's mouth as a glimmer of starlight appeared just when seablossom could barely be seen in the distance, the new cat taking his place at the shore. whatever words the sisters had for each other were left unsaid; instead, cloudstar buried her soft, white muzzle into her pineconerain's dusky brown fur. then the white she-cat rested on her sister's shoulder, and there sat two of starclan's ranks- one ripped from the earth before her time, the other newly risen and well aware that she could've lived, but didn't.

a flicker in the air, and a new mirage appeared for only a moment: a visage of a pale cream and white tabby with sorrow in her deep brown eyes. peachpaw stood there for a second or two, wearing a face of uncharacteristic solemnity. and then she was gone.

and the sisters watched as the three living warriors stood by the jutting rocks in quiet mourning.

❦ winners ❦

first place: cinnamonbunns- with pineconerain

second place: Varulven15 with pineconedusk

third place: alulusa with pineconestorm