SparkClan: Returning Home (Part Two!) \A PRP For Jet And Harvey/

Cloverpaw's olive eyes darted around the premises, searching for something to cross the river with. She spotted a loose branch on the ground, obviously fallen from some storm. Making her way over to the branch, she suddenly noticed that there was a LOT of branches and debris askew. "Something's happened...." She muttered.

"This area's been like this for as long as I can remember," Eaglepaw murmured. The tom swifty made his way through the broken trees, only pausing to sniff the air for possible threats. "As I kit I would... sneak away to visit," he admitted sheepishly.

Cloverkit was skeptical, feeling a weird presence in the area, but she shrugged it off. "Alright then, help me with these branches." She mewed, picking up one end of a moderatly large branch, "I think they can help get us across. They're just big enough."

Eaglepaw nodded in agreement. "Okay," he replied quietly, making his way over to help Cloverpaw with Lionpaw and Larkpaw at his heels. He could recall a particular moment when they had used this same method to get across a deep canyon. It had almost killed him. Eaglepaw wearily moved a few of the branches nearer to the river. Here he was- clever, charming, and cunning, yet afraid.

Cloverpaw sensed Eaglepaw's uneaisiness, but didn't say anything. She knew better. They struggled to cover the river with the one branch, so it took many branches to finally complete a bridge. She placed one paw gently on the structure, slowly applying pressure; her claws dug into the ground, protecting her from falling if it broke. She glanced breifly over at Eaglepaw before putting another paw on the bridge. It wobbled with her weight, threatening to break at any moment. Taking a deep breath, Cloverpaw closed her eyes and jumped onto the branches. They snapped, making her yelp in fear, but the water was shallow enough that her paws didn't touch the water. Quickly, she jumped over to the other side, and looked back at her friends to say, "I don't think we need anymore branches, but just to be safe we could."

Larkpaw moved across the bridge without making a sound. She made it look easy, balancing her weight in just the right spots to prevent the branches from breaking and throwing her into the threatening rapids below. The silver she-cat jumped from the make-shift bridge and landed with a light thud on the forest floor next to Cloverpaw.

Cloverpaw watched Larkpaw cross over perfectly. She's like a fricking ballerina in everything that she does. Cloverpaw thought to herself.

Lionpaw, determinened to do something to irritate Eaglepaw, made his way over to the branches. His heart started beating rapidly at the sight of the water, but he stepped onto the branches anyways. Halfway across, at the snapping point, Lionpaw just had to look down. Every part of him felt queasy and weak, making one paw slip and fall into the river, dragging him into the current.

Eaglepaw watched in horror as Lionpaw fell into the current. His first thought was, Good for him, but his second thought was about the prophecy, and how drastically it could be changed if Lionpaw were to make the final trip to StarClan. With a burst of adrenaline the tom flew into the river. Eaglepaw ferociously grabbed the scruff of Lionpaw's neck with his teeth and attempted to swim towards Cloverpaw and Larkpaw. However, he was not on steriods and certainly didn't posses any super capabilities [happy?], so the rapids pushed both of them under.

Cloverpaw watched in horror as both of the toms were pulled under the current. With adrenaline pulsating through her veins, she quickly grabbed a thick branch on impulse, chasing them down the river. It was hard to get ahead of them, with the currents so fast, but she managed to stick the branch in front of them. It took all of her strength to keep it there and protect them, so she shouted out, "Get up here NOW, mouse brains!"

Eaglepaw struggled to keep them above the surface, gasping for air at every chance he got. In a mixture of black and golden fur the river refused to let them go free, instead it threw the white water at them in generous amounts, clearly determined to claim two new victims. Eaglepaw grasped the limp Lionpaw and managed to elevate him. He hoped that Cloverpaw would be able to grab Lionpaw and drag him to safety- he was becoming quite a burden.

Cloverpaw wedged the branch into the ground, securing a place for them to grasp just as Lionpaw started to surface. Seeing him limp, she immediatly grabbed the scruff of his neck with his neck, lifting him up as much as she could.

Lionpaw's eyes fluttered open, slowly remembering the fall into the river. Weak from the water inside of him, he kicked his legs to help Cloverpaw get him out. It took a while, but he finally managed to get on dry land.

With a soaked Lionpaw on the ground, Cloverpaw sighed with relief, thinking that it was over. Eaglepaw's almost unaudible mew made her look up and rush over to him. "Eaglepaw!" She called, reaching one paw out to the apprentice.

Eaglepaw could feel his muscles growing weak under the intense pressure of attempting to swim upstream. He clenched his teeth together and dug his claws into soft riverbank creating somewhat of a hold. The tom was nearly shaking with the amount of strength that he was using to stay alive. Eaglepaw reached out for Cloverpaw. StarClan, help me, he thought, the roaring water rushing past his ears.

Larkpaw rushed to Eaglepaw's aid. This was her brother, not some wannabe warrior, and she truly cared. With fluidlike motions the she-cat extended a paw and dug her claws into Eaglepaw's wet fur and slowly began to pull him up.

Eaglepaw felt Larkpaw's sharp claws go into his fur, but only subconciously. He was drifting away while the water choked him and tested his abilities to the extremes, fading in and out of conciousness.

Cloverpaw felt sudden jealousy from Larkpaw's help, which might have been what saved Eaglepaw. She grasped all that she could of the tom, pulling him up with all of her strength. Together, Larkpaw and Cloverpaw pulled the cat out of the water. "Eaglepaw!" She practically shouted at him "Eaglepaw, can you hear me?" Every fiber of her being was praying that he was alright

Eaglepaw uttered a strangled sound and coughed up water, his chest heaving each time he did. The seconds seemed like hours, but finally he could feel himself breathing normally. This was all too much for the tom to bear, and he choked out "Thanks..." before becoming completely unconcious.

Lionpaw scowled at the tom. Sure, they run to his aid, but leave me in the sidelines. He thought to himself, This stupid phrophecy is driving me mad.

Cloverpaw sighed with relief as Eaglepaw spoke, but she was hesitant to leave his side with him unconcious. "We should set up camp for the night." She said to Larkpaw. "I'll go find something soft for him to lay on. If he starts doing anything odd, tell Lionpaw to come find me."

Eaglepaw stirred in his sleep, the energy he had lost rushing back to him.

Larkpaw watched intently as Cloverpaw left through huge, violet eyes. She curled her tail around her paws and closed her eyes. Almost instantaneously she looked directly at Lionpaw as if she could see right into his thoughts.

Lionpaw watched Cloverpaw leave, sighing with regret. He really wished he hadn't screwed things up with her.

Cloverpaw scanned the area, picking up a clump of moss from the trunk of a tree. She daintly dipped it in the river, soaking up drinking water. Gathering up more moss and soft leaves from the ground, she walked back over to Eaglepaw, Larkpaw, and Lionpaw. She set the moss next to Eaglepaw and bunched up the small pile of leaves behind his head, dragging his head ontop of them. "His head should be elevated for now." She mumbled.

Larkpaw watched as Cloverpaw re-entered the area. Lionpaw's eyes seemed to brighten just the slightest. She stifled a laugh- he really did love her.

Eaglepaw awoke as soon as his head hit the soft leaves, jolting himself upright. "How long was I out?" he said immediatly, looking around.

"Just a couple of minutes. We were about to set up camp for the night if you slept any longer." Cloverpaw mewed. "But I think we still should. We may be close to camp, but I want you and Lionpaw to rest."

Lionpaw practically beamed as Cloverpaw said his name. She still cared, he still had a chance!

"Now, how are you feeling?" Cloverpaw said to Eaglepaw and Lionpaw, but didn't look away from Eaglepaw.

"Oh just tired." Lionpaw mewed softly, knowing she wouldn't pay attention

"I'm fine," he muttered, now looking at Cloverpaw. He heard Lionpaw say something- but he didn't hear. It was probably uninteligent, anyways. Maybe he had confessed his love for Cloverpaw. Again.

Larkpaw knew that Eaglepaw had said he was fine, but it was clear he wasn't. "You're completely worn out," she mused.

Eaglepaw gave her a look, but didn't say anything.

Cloverpaw nodded. "I agree. You look terrible too, no offense." She smirked, "Alright, it's settled. We're staying here for the night, until everyone is better." She walked over to Lionpaw, hesitantly for that matter. "You're coming with me to go hunting. You're not as injured as Eaglepaw."

Lionpaw smiled and jumped up eagerly... Too eagerly. Cloverpaw scoffed at him, and he followed her into the forest with a hurt ego.

Eaglepaw layed his head down once again. "Lionpaw- he never did have a chance," he remarked smugly, closing his eyes.

Larkpaw smiled, but searched for a nearby tree to spend the night on. To her, it was most undignified to be sleeping on the ground.

[A little Cloverpaw and Lionpaw chat, eh?]

Cloverpaw padded along with Lionpaw, nose pricked up for anything.

"You know, Cloverpaw, what I said back in the other land..." Lionpaw started, not really focused on the hunt.

"Enough." She said sharply. "We're here to hunt, not talk about feelings." A rustle in the bushes made her drop low, sniffing out a rabbit. She prowled closer, and lunged at it's plump neck. An easy kill.

"But I need to say something about it to you!" Lionpaw insisted as she killed the prey. "Cloverpaw, I'm sorry, alright?"

"No apologies nessicary." Cloverpaw said in a hushed tone, picking up a mouse. She placed each step lightly on the ground, but Lionpaw made her jump.

"But it is nessicary!" He yelled, running close to her.

"Foxdung! Lionpaw," She rounded on him, "You're really pushing your luck, you know that?"

Lionpaw hushed, not wanted to ruin this anymore. They hunted for a few more minutes, getting plenty of prey, seeing as this place was full of them.

"We got food!" Cloverpaw called to Eaglepaw and Larkpaw as they entered their mini-camp.

Larkpaw watched as Cloverpaw and Lionpaw returned from the hunt. From the looks they were giving each other it was clear more had gone on than planned. She was already up in her prefered spot, greedily chewing on a small bird she had caught herself.

Eaglepaw looked over at the two entering cats, his once piercing green gaze dull.