wassupppp this is vastly later than i thought it was going to be oops

i am (slightly) more active on ao3, my user is the same one! currently writing a multi-chapter owl house fic if that interests anyone. also if you want to read some of my other writing there is a 25k oneshot on the fallenclanrp account on ffnet two chapters into the most recent fic.

this is a slightly shorter chapter than usual but i just kinda want to update this and not forget it exists for eight months

review replies;;;;

mossy; i am sorry about the gathering shanking. i am also sorry about the cliffhanger! but thank youuu

misty;; cheers cheers cheers! also jlfj thank you sm ? that's so nice

catsonbrooms; jfc i am soRRy for the cliffhanger but hopefully this answers your questions! thank u for your review!

Wavepaw forced himself to step forward, paws dragging. He didn't want to see. Didn't want to set his gaze on what had made Driftwing scream like that.

He feared it would be something along the same vein as Fishskip.

The body he could see, at first, looked dead. They looked - they looked chewed, great hulking bites taken out of their body. He felt squeamish. Their paw was missing.

(He couldn't even see if it had been discarded by the same wild creature that had killed Fishskip. It seemed to just be gone.)

He stepped closer again. Narrowed his eyes, and stepped back with a low gasp, almost a horrified moan.

Because the cat was Duskpool.

Which wasn't right, he could have sworn Duskpool was supposed to be in their patrol, heading back from the gathering with them.

But he cannot deny what he's seen in front of him.

Driftwing skipped in front of him, her gaze widened and desperate. Her pale eyes bulged with fear, and Wavepaw scattered to get out of her way.

"She's- she's not supposed to be here," she babbled, "She said she'd wait for me by the sea! Not here!"

"I don't think she made it," Snakestripe said, doubling back behind them and rejoining their group. His mouth was set in a narrow, angry line. "Their scent just… stops. A little way on from here, it's like something's dragged them back."

Driftwing sobbed again, pressing the shell of her ear against Duskpool's chest. She cried out, storming back to her paws, movements darting.

"She's still breathing," she whispered, "Quick, someone, she's still breathing."

The reaction to her words was sluggish. Wavepaw, at first, thought she was imagining things. Thought it was somehow a figment of her imagination, but then he stepped forward, and saw the gentle rise and fall of her chest.

Deerpaw was the first one of them to act. She padded to Duskpool's side, pressing her head to her chest in the same way that Driftwing had done. She didn't look as desperate as the other she-cat; her movements were calm and measured, her expression focused.

"I've seen Redflower do this before," she said, pressing on the deepest wound. Her paws slipped at first, the blood slick and wet against her pads. She managed to hold, though, and Wavepaw watched keenly as the blood flow began to stop.

Deerpaw's concentration lapsed for a moment. "Don't just stand there," she snapped, turning around quickly, "Some of you - get back to camp. Get someone up here to help."

Shellstar nodded at her, flicking his tail. "Carppaw, Smokypaw, Wavepaw, and Snakestripe. Oh. And Amberpaw. You're all heading back to camp with me. Deerpaw and Driftwing, you can stay here."

Wavepaw blinked up at him. He didn't think leaving just Deerpaw and Driftwing on their own would be for the best, and he personally thought Shellstar should stay behind. But he also didn't want to head back to camp. Didn't want to head back when Starclan-knows-what was lurking in the woods, eating at cats like they were shellfish.

He gulped.

Before he could think better of it, he raised his head, meeting his father's gaze.

"I want to stay," he said, "Driftwing isn't going to be much help, and- and Deerpaw's gonna need someone to fetch her herbs. And sticks. And- and that sorta thing."

Shellstar blinked at him, long and slow and steady. Wavepaw wilted under the bright glint of his gaze, head bowed as he waited for his father - his leader - to speak.

"You're right," he murmured, with a sharp nod of his head, like a crease, "You can stay. Keep an eye on Driftwing, too."

Wavepaw had been sure that his father would take more convincing than that, but he wasn't going to question his decision in too much depth. Instead, he just stayed focused on the ground as his friends filed past him.

Carppaw and Smokypaw were still shivering and whimpering. Their fur was matted with blood from where they'd tried desperately to revive their mother, and Wavepaw recoiled back at the sight of it.

When they were gone, he turned to Deerpaw. She hadn't looked up from Duskpool's side. She had neglected Duskpool's paw-stump, clearly deeming it past saving, but he realised with a quiet relief that the worst bleeding had stopped around her neck.

"This wound wasn't that bad," Deerpaw murmured, "Just… in a soft spot. Meant that she bled more, but it's not…not deep."

She shook herself. "Right. I need - I don't know names of anything, I'm fucking- fucking useless-

"Deerpaw," Wavepaw murmured, padding up to her side, and trying to help her. Tried to stem the flow of blood beneath his paw, watching numbly as it flooded past his hold, spilling out onto the dry grassy ground, "You're not… not useless. You're doing the best you can."

With a sudden sinking feeling, he worked out why Shellstar had been fine with him staying behind. Why he'd allowed Deerpaw to heal Duskpool.

He didn't expect Duskpool to survive.

And all Wavepaw could think about was how that wasn't fair. How it wasn't fair that Shellstar would just give up on Duskpool without giving her a chance to pull through. How he'd seen Fishskip's body, and still managed to write off Duskpool's life.

Wavepaw dipped his head, and silently vowed to do all he could to ensure that Duskpool would pull through.

"I'm trying to do all I can," Deerpaw said, her voice too quick. Deerpaw was always one to slow down with her words, to carefully articulate every sentence. Wavepaw didn't like how she was talking. "But it's not gonna be enough."

"Yes, it will," Wavepaw murmured, and broke off to look for herbs.

He ducked his head into the undergrowth, paws rooting around for anything he thought may be able to help. He clawed at a hearty clump of sea-kale, and nosed loosely at a patch of moss. The sea-kale was large and easily moldable, he knew that Deerpaw would be able to wrap it around Duskpool's leg without any trouble. And the moss was absorbent.

He was mainly looking for larger folidage. Things to cover wounds, stop bleeding, rather than heal. He knew that they weren't at that stage yet, and hopefully, Redflower would be with them soon enough to fix any mistakes they made.

He heaped up the plants he'd gathered, and carried them back to the group. Driftwing was more alert, waiting by Duskpool's side once again.

She still seemed listless, though, eyes downcast and devoid of hope. Wavepaw didn't blame her. Duskpool didn't look much better - whilst the bleeding had almost stopped, she looked lifeless. Her breathing was shallow, Wavepaw could barely make out the gentle rise and fall of her chest. He had to stop closer to check that she was still alive, feeling a wave of relief when he spotted the signs of her breath.

"Here," he muttered, dumping the plants beside Deerpaw. She didn't give him a word of thanks. She picked up the moss nimbly, pressing it to the worst of her wounds, before her paws shifted to a new bite mark or lacing in her fur.

"There," she murmured, "I'll… I'm going to wait for that to… to properly soak up the blood before binding it with that," she nodded at the clump of kale, "And then- then hopefully Redflower will be here. She'll know what to do with her paw."

"Her paw is missing." Driftwing said, turned away from them both. It was the first thing she'd said in a while. Her voice was low, shaky, but distinctive. "I just - who would do that? It's like- it crosses every code. Every rule."

"It was probably a badger," Wavepaw told her, tone wary.

"Badgers don't…" Driftwing sighed, turned back around to face them. Her chest fur and paws were matted with blood, thick and as dark as the sea at night. "They don't live around here. And they don't attack unless they're provoked."

Deerpaw glanced up from where she was delicately winding sea-kale around Duskpool's stump. "You don't think she would have provoked a badger, then?"

Driftwing frowned, thinking over the question. "I mean. I can see her… her doing it maybe to defend Fishskip," she mused softly, "But she wouldn't have picked a fight on purpose. She's a proper fighter, but she's not stupid."

"Right," Wavepaw nodded, "So if it wasn't a badger… what was it?"

Driftwing shrugged, gaze downcast. "I don't know," she murmured, "Might have been a fox. But they don't stray this close to the coast, and they don't… they're not that strong. So if it was a fox, it would have had to be two, maybe three."

Deerpaw hummed thoughtfully. "I can't scent foxes."

"We've never seen any foxes," Wavepaw pointed out, trying to be helpful. "So you wouldn't. Uh. Know what their scent was."

Deerpaw rolled her eyes at him, clearly unable to stop herself. "I've still scented them. On the way to gatherings," she said, "But there's none of that scent here. It's just… kinda earthy."

Driftwing raised her head, clearly thinking something over. "Maybe it's a seal," she guessed, and Wavepaw raised a brow, "One of the larger ones. With the…" she made a vague motion with a blood-splattered paw to her muzzle, "With the tusks."

"But why would a seal be so far from the sea?" Wavepaw questioned.

Driftwing shrugged. "Why would- why would any of this happen?" She sniffed. Her gaze drifted down to her paws. "I love her, you know." She murmured softly, and both him and Deerpaw looked away.

He didn't know what to say. Didn't know what he could say. Didn't know what he could do, other than press himself gently against her, and pull away again, wincing at the sticky sweet feel of the blood in his fur. He knew it would be a nightmare to clean out later, but he didn't have the willpower to worry about it now.

"I'm sorry." Deerpaw murmured. Her voice was as brisk and as blunt as it had always been, but there was a hint of sympathy written into the way her brows sloped, in the way her tail traced the ground. "That's… that's horrible."

Driftwing's gaze seemed fixed on Duskpool, on the way she breathed slowly, like a lifeline. "It wasn't horrible," she murmured. Wavepaw didn't think she understood what Deerpaw had said. Wavepaw thought she was in her own world. "It was… beautiful, loving her. Really. I'm just… I was gonna tell her, today. And now I can't."

"You can," Wavepaw said. He was quiet, but determined. "She'll pull through. I know she will."

Driftwing seemed to perk up at that, the delicate slope of her shoulders lifting. "You think so?"

Deerpaw blinked between them both. "She's as tough as a crab shell," she murmured, "If anyone's gonna pull through something like this, it'd be her."

"Yeah, ex-" Wavepaw started to say, but he found himself cut off by Driftwing's voice.

"HERE!" She shouted.

The close proximity between her and Wavepaw made him wince. He covered up his ears quickly, shrinking away from the sound like a wilting daisy.

"WE'RE OVER HERE," Wavepaw squeezed open an eye to see Driftwing frantically waving at the shadows of some cats through the trees. "QUICKLY! Please…"

(He didn't think anybody was supposed to hear that last bit.)

He forced open his eyes. He was just in time - as his gaze widened, he saw Redflower rushing over to Duskpool's prone body, herbs clamped tightly in her jaws.

Deerpaw staggered away, leaving Redflower to it. She sagged heavily against him, and he let her. He didn't have the heart to tell her to move. "You okay?" he murmured, his voice soft.

She shook her head. "No," she mumbled, "Let's just… let's just get back to camp."

Wavepaw swallowed, and nodded, padding after her and leaving Duskpool and the pool of her cooling blood behind.

woooooOOoO

ALSO uhhh general life updates;; i have my exams in two months so if i update it'll be next month, and then i don't think i'll be able to update again until like, july. so enjoy this ! also got a unconditional offer to my dream uni which is very cool and swag

anyways hope you're all doing good!