𝑀𝑒𝒶𝒹𝑜𝓌 𝑜𝒻 𝐻𝑜𝓅𝑒 ✧.*

~ Chapter V ~

After we chased the humans off, everything went back to normal. Tadpole started getting better and joined the hunting group I was in  that morning. It was wonderful where we lived, the burrow was almost kinda complete. Dens were being built in  all around, and decoration had been installed. Flowers hung from the ceiling and dandelions spread across the moss covered floor. The walls were being worked on still, but it was coming along. Once we got back from hunting, me and Tadpole took a walk around our home area. We talked about things that were on our mind, then he said something that still was making me kinda queasy. "What do you think happens to our dead food once we bury it?" The question itself didn't mind me, just a bad memory. I was still stuck on that as I was laying in my bed eating my prey for the middle day snack. Tadpole was watching one of the kits, Pumpkin to be exact. He was teaching her how to pounce on a leaf. I peeked my head through the willow tree and saw them. Tadpole was stalking a maple leaf with Pumpkin by his side. Autumn was coming, and we were hoping to be prepared for it and have our burrow done by then. Maybe the kits would become fledglings as well. I rested my head on my paws and stared. Then I would become a backbone, and so would Tadpole, Wolf, Autumn and Sparrow. I wonder when the other brackets will make their fledglings backbones. I watched them jump, and laughed as Pumpkin skidded on the leaf.  "I can't do it!" I heard her wail. Tadpole rolled his eyes and grabbed the leaf back, setting it where it was originally. "You can do it, might take a few tries though." I smiled at this and watched him slowly demonstrate it again. He was surprisingly patient, something that seemed out of character for him; but it was good for the young vixen. I watched them do it once more, this time Pumpkin perfectly landed on the leaf without slipping. She jumped around while Tadpole congratulated her. She ran off to go tell her momma and Tadpole walked over to me, laying by me. "Took her long enough." I passed him the rest of my prey which he gulped down. "She did good for a kit I thought, you seemed patient with her." He nodded and finished off my sparrow, pushing it away. "thanks for the extra prey." I nodded and watched everyone else do there thing as he curled up beside me. "You tired?" I asked with a bit of laughter in my voice. "Yeah. That cub wore me out." He smiled and closed his eyes, and I laughed in agreement. He drifted off into sleep while I was studying what everyone was doing. Prystone and Laura were talking,  Sparrow and Autumn were practicing together while Wolf watched from the side. Pumpkin and Fang were pestering their foster mother, Bunny. Seron and Winely were talking to a few of the backbones, which happened to be Shoreline, Rosemary and Oasis. The other backbones, Ponderdrop, Marie's tail, Stick, Angel, Soar, SpringingLily and Omish were washing off their paws from digging.  I purred, everyone was doing okay. Sparrow seemed to being do okay without her leg; After she got shot Laura had to detach her leg, she wasn't able to walk for a while. She seemed to being unbothered by her lost leg, I guess she got used to it. I rested my head on my paws, imaging stories in my head until I fell asleep. 

I woke up in a white room. I was still in my bed, but Tadpole was no where to be seen. I got up and stretched. I'm having a  dream.  I shook my fur out and trotted down into the white hallway, arriving in another white room. "Christopher?" I turned around swiftly and saw Sparrow standing there. "Are we sharing a dream?" She asked quietly. She wasn't fake? "That's crazy." I said back to her. "Are you sure you're dreaming and not a part of my imagination?" She laughed and shook her head. "No I don't think so, where are we?" She looked around and I followed her gaze. "I do not know..." everything was white, and slightly glowing. My paws illuminated against the floor and it made me look angelic in a way. "Well, we should try to find out then." She stated. Limping, she made her way towards the next room. I was close at her heels when we entered. This room was basically the same, pure with and slight glowing. But this one had a red paw print trail on it. "Should we follow it?" I asked quietly. There was a fork in the road, a hallway going one way and the paw prints leading down the other. "Heck yeah." She padded over there and I followed once more, being thankful that she was so much braver than I was. We reached the next room at the end of the hallway, and I paused. "I think this is a loop, like what?" She pointed towards the hallway leading down. "I don't even wanna do this anymore." All of the sudden, a loud screech could be heard, we snapped our heads around and froze as the whole area started to shake with loud thuds accompanying it. We looked at each other then darted down the hallway. Even without her leg, she was still very fast, it seemed to have no effect on her. We raced through hallways and rooms, but the thumping only grew louder. When I turned around I saw a giant almost cat like creature chasing us. It had long whiskers and a cream coat. A short tail and black eyes. I yelped and sped up, unintentionally out running Sparrow. I heard a loud thump and turned my head around, seeing Sparrow had fallen. Before I could react the creature quite literally ate her, and then looked up at me with a hateful glare. I was froze in place, not being able to move. It lunged at me, and I immediately woke up with a start. I perked my ears and saw Sparrow staring down at me, panting. "Was that real?" She shout-whispered. I looked up at her and shrugged quickly. "I mean... I don't know. I guess we shared a dream." I confused myself with that but went with it anyway. "Hm. That's strange. I wonder what it meant." I paused when she said that, I hadn't thought about that it could mean something. Though I didn't have much time to think about it anyway. I paused as Tadpole stirred a bit. "We should talk about it later." She looked over at Tadpole whilst saying that, and I nodded. "Okay." She went away and I looked down at Tadpole, who was stretching his legs out. I licked his head and then looked outside the tree, everyone seemed fine. "I wonder what it meant." Did it have to mean something?  I shook my head, I didn't even wanna think about that. I wonder how Quere is doing. I remembered the white and dark blue vixen. I hope she didn't get in trouble. I sighed, wanting to not think about anything bad. "What time is it..?" I heard Tadpole speak and looked down at him. "Not long after since you fell asleep, so a bit after the middle of the day." I licked his head again. "Oh-Kay." He got up and shakily stood up in one place, then just tumbled back down. "Are you okay?" I asked, suddenly getting worried. "Yeah, I just think that chase to get rid of the humans wore me out." I let him lean against me, staring at him with a sympathetic gaze. "That was a few days ago, is it just bothering you now?" He closed his eyes and sighed. "This is the worst it's been, I've been able to handle it the past few days; it would go away eventually. But now it just feels like I can't walk." I purred and set my tail over his back. "Okay. I can get Laura if you want." I looked over to where Laura was, sorting herbs. "That's okay, I'm fine." I nodded yet felt unconvinced. "I'm gonna see if I can get on a hunting patrol, if I find any prey what do you want most?" I looked over at him and he swished his tail, I assumed he was thinking. "A mouse or a bunny." I nodded and wished him goodbye, telling him to rest. I went over to where my father was, sorting through flowers for decoration in the burrow. "Hi." I said quickly. He turned over to me and smiled. "Hey there! What's up?" He rubbed his head against mine, and I smiled. "I was wondering if I could go on a hunting patrol, if I have to go by myself that's okay." He paused and thought for a moment. "That should be fine. You can go by yourself if you want." I nodded and paused before I left. "Can you keep a eye on Tadpole? He's exhausted." My father nodded and I said thank you before heading off into the forest. Mouse or bunny....mouse or bunny. I made my way through the trees, jumping over logs and stumps. I quickly scented a squirrel  and stalked it. I found the squirrel and jumped instantly, landing on it awkwardly. It let out a squeal before I bit it down on the neck. I carried it around until I scented something. Mouse. I followed the scent until I saw it's tiny brown body scurrying through the roots. I jumped on it but missed, it darted away but I was faster. I slammed my paw down onto it and killed it with that blow, picked it up in my mouth as well and trotted back to the camp with my tail high. I set my squirrel on the prey pile and brought the mouse to Tadpole, who was snoozing. I purred and set the mouse beside him, putting his tail over it to keep it warm. I trotted away and sat in the sun, clouds partly covered it, and so did the leaves. It cast goofy shadows onto my fur because of the giant oak tree but it felt good anyway. Suddenly I felt someone sit beside me, I looked over and saw Sparrow, carrying the squirrel that I had just caught. "Hi there." I said happily. She greeted me with a flick of her tail, laying down to dig into the squirrel. "Here to talk about the dream?" I asked quietly. She nodded and swallowed her morsel. "Yes, I wonder if it meant something." I nodded and laid down with her. "Do you think that thing is like....coming to our territories or something?" I asked in my hushed voice, in case anyone was listening. "Maybe, if you think so do you think it will be that huge?" I paused and remembered that it was M A S S I V E. I sighed and shook my head. "I don't know." She took another bite and pondered  for a bit. "What if that isn't exactly what would be coming, but yet just a small warning that something was gonna come. Does that make sense?" I listened to what she said, nodding slowly afterwards. "Maybe." Suddenly, her advisor called her over, and she had to go. "We can talk about it another time." She whispered to me before picking up here squirrel and limping over there. I thought over what she said, still uncertain. Clearing my thoughts I purred as the warm sunshine soaked into my fur. Nothing bad is coming, it was just a dream. Yeah, maybe we shared a dream but that isn't crazy rare. I think....