Venna had walked this path a hundred times. Only this time, it was storming. Thunder cracked overhead, loud enough to send the entire world shuddering. Venna grimaced at the squelch of mud between her toes as she trotted along, her pelt fully drenched from the downpour. She had been out hunting when the dark, gray clouds had fallen over the sky so quickly that they had congealed before Venna had even finished her meal and began to pour torrents onto the world just after she’d finished. The red she-cat let out a growl, flicking her soggy tail. She hated the rain. She hated thunder, she hated lightning. It made her think of Peter, and Farro, and now Haunt. Getting to a river—the one she’d had to cross countless times before on her way back to her den—she paused. It was already bloated and swelling against the banks, the water gray and frothing. Venna let out a sigh and slipped to the side, where a tree had fallen over the length of the water, making a bridge to cross. She nimbly leapt onto it, sinking her claws into the softened wood and beginning to make her way across. She didn’t know how it happened. All she knew was that, under her paws, the tree suddenly shifted. At first, it was just the tiniest movement. Still, Venna froze, her eyes going wide and her heart and throat squeezing. Around her, the world quieted, narrowed, slowed, until the only thing in her vision was her two paws planted on the bark. She didn’t move. She only waited, the feeling of raindrops hitting her fur now distant. Just when she thought that she was safe to keep moving, the tree beneath her *lurched*. Venna’s scream got stuck in her throat as she dropped, dropped for a split second before hitting the water. It attacked her with force. With vengeance. Venna’s heart screamed in her ears, her claws unsheathed and entire body tight-wired with adrenaline as the water ruthlessly bowled her over, pushing her under the surface. She struck out her legs, trying to push anywhere, somewhere, only to feel something hit her in the water and knock her down again. Her head was reeling, her tongue thick in her throat and eyes wide and staring into gray-brown nothingness. The water seemed to cling to her legs, dragging them down, holding them in place, making it impossible for her to fight it. Venna kicked again, and this time her head broke the surface of the water with a gasp. She only managed to look around her for a second, seeing trees and grass rush by on either side of her as she was pulled downstream. Then, another wave, stronger this time, crashed over her head and she went under once more. Venna rolled over and over, sideways and upside down, being thrown this way and that until she didn’t know which way was up anymore. She felt something, perhaps the bottom of the river, scrape against her back sharply and she twisted in the water. She kicked out with her legs, hoping to propel herself out by pushing against the bed of the river, only to instead feel her back right paw sink in between two rocks and get caught. Venna’s lungs jerked in her chest when the river tried to push her further downstream but her back leg held her in place, twisting painfully. A few precious air bubbles escaped her lips and Venna’s throat tightened. She was stuck. Venna kicked through the water desperately, trying to pull her foot free as she felt herself rapidly running out of air. It was no use. She was stuck too badly, and the rocks seemed to only cling to her hind leg harder as she tried to swim away. So, she pushed back, curling downwards and clawing through the water until she felt her claws scrape against stone, beginning to claw at the rocks around her leg. /Please… Please./ If there wasn’t water all around her, Venna thought she might be crying. Her lungs constricted, blackness beginning to rim the edges of her vision. It began to burn. Really *burn* inside her as her lungs begged for air. Her head began to feel soft and heavy, and her movements became more sluggish, the water feeling stronger than ever.
cont. below vvv Was this… it? Was this it? Her end? A million thoughts filled Venna’s head in heartbeats. Because this *was* it. She was going to go down just like Dittalo, swallowed by the ever-waiting jaws of a watery grave. On one paw, if the afterlife was real, she would get to see him, all of them, again, and she would be happy for it. But, on the other… Venna didn’t /want/ to die. It went against her nature. Her nature to fight, and claw, and get bloodied and dirty, brawling for a chance to live. She wanted to see more sunrises, taste more prey, see just one more green-leaf… And she’d been so close. And then, she wondered how she’d be remembered. It wasn’t like she had many friends. Aleron had really been her only one, and he had gone earlier than she had. She really… Had no one. She had enemies. And now, the thought terrified her. What stories would they tell of her, if any? Would they warn kits of her mocking tone? Her flashing eyes? The taste of her teeth and the crack of her cruelty? What would her legacy be? Cruelty, cruelty, she was cruel. Just like her father. His eyes flashed in her mind, his lips pulled back in a sneer and, for the first time ever, she saw how it matched her own. /No../ Distantly, her heart ached in her chest. She had hated him, loathed him so much. Just like Kia. She remembered when she’d come to him bleeding, infected, almost dying and he’d turned her away. She remembered his red claws against Peter’s throat. She remembered the flash of his teeth and the crack of his word. And now his eyes were hers and their hearts indistinguishable. Suddenly, Venna’s claws hooked on a sharp edge of the rock and it shifted just enough for her foot to slip out. Immediately, the river took her away again. Venna kicked weakly, but her head was dark and her heart was like his and her legs were so, so weak. She tried as best she could, but with no oxygen and with her father’s haunting eyes above her… She succumbed to the dark, waiting arms of the river. <<<>>> Venna blinked open her eyes to the purple dawn. Distantly, her head ached and she heard the sound of gently lapping water. What… What… Where was she? Pushing a paw underneath her, Venna raised herself up slightly, only to immediately feel a tickling at the back of her throat, double over, and vomit up a gallon of water. Afterwards, her throat and eyes burned as she looked around. The world was wrecked. Broken twigs and tree branches lay scattered about, the dirt under her was still mud, and yet tiny droplets of water glimmered on every surface, reflecting the sun’s growing light like a thousand tiny stars. Venna turned her face to the river, its waters still lapping over her cut up, stinging, burning back leg. And, finally, her memories came back to her. The storm, the tree falling, her father’s black heart, and Venna felt hollow and small. “Why me?” She tried to speak, but the words came out in a creak and broke. This was the second time she had lived when she had no right to. When death had come running at her but somehow, someway, she had evaded him. Venna lifted her chin, a tear rolling down her face as she stared at the sky. It was purple, a shade lighter than lavender, with thin clouds laid across its surface like wisps of sheep’s wool. And, after the storm, the world seemed to glow. Last night under the water Venna had dreamed, pleaded to see another dawn. And now here one was, and, as if seeing the world for the first time, the beauty of it left her speechless.
