[freezing sun] x

[(aurora) of the problematique]

<sub>[]

Selenekit's gentle eyes blinked open and she turned hesitantly to Mottledkit. "I...think it was. Should we go after her?" she asked softly. The shimmering-black femme turned and stepped forward slowly, swallowing a lump in her throat. Her tail swayed side to side and she turned to Moonkit and then to Crystalkit.

Aurora's bright eyes lifted and she turned at Mottledkit's remark. "What?" she demanded. The she-cat frowned and turned to the kits. "I'll go after her. Mottledkit, come with me. Crystalkit, Selenekit, Moonkit, can you go make a shelter from the storm. I shouldn't be long." The black and white femme's muscled legs crouched and she turned away from them, sprinting through the grass. "Pecankit?"</sub>[/color]

[Spice..xx]

Mottledkit stuck closely to Crystalkit as the storm began to sweep over them. She twined her tail with the other kits so that they wouldnt get seperated as the wind began to blow fiercely through her ruffled fur. She rasied her head as Aurora spoke and dipped her head. "Just coming Aurora!" she shouted above the bellowing wind. She gently untwined her tail with the slender white femme and flashed her a smile that she was unsure was seen and swiflty flew after Aurora. She stuck close to the black and white females side, she didnt want to get lost as well. "Pecankit!" she called, as loud as her voice would go as her amber eyes searched their surroundings frantically.

[/color][/blockquote]

[SHADE. :D]

She had looked for shelter, but it was impossible. She was blinded by the thick flurry of snowflakes that rushed in front of her nose. Pecankit's tabby body was fiercely cold. Her nose and paws were numb, her eyes stung with sleet. The she-cat wheeled around in desperation - she had no idea where she was, or how far away from the others she had wandered. Pecankit stumbled over, trying not to cry. The young she-cat still did not cry out. The tears dribbled down her face, and her cheeks stung with cold. Eventually she gave up and flattened herself to the ground. She let the snowfall cover her body, only the furry tips of her ears sticking out. Though her body was extremely cold, she did not feel it through the numb envelope that had encased her.

[(aurora) of the problematique]

_{"Mottledkit, can you see her?" Aurora roared over the howling winds. The she-cat whirled around, the black of her body standing out against the growing mass of white covering the land. Her ears bent back and she turned to the dark ochre and ebony femme. Anxiety rushed through her but she didn't panic. The she-cat kept her cool. Aurora leapt forward into the snow, stretching out her pads to keep from sinking. Her tawny eyes narrowed as she tried to follow Pecankit's scent, only for it to get muffled by the increasing snowfall.}

[Spice..xx]

Mottledkit fought her way through the howling gales, her amber eyes half closed and her head and tail down as she walked. "No!" she shouted worridly over the wind, stumbling in every direction. A huge gust of wind suddenly bowled her over and she gave a yowl of surprise as she was thrown in the air and then with a loud thump, landed heavily in the cold snow. She opened her eyes and looked in confusion at what appeared to be two llittle brown things sticking out of the snow a couple a foxlength in front of her. She shook her head hard, wondering if she was seeing things or her eyes had gone funny again. Suddenly it clicked. Pecankits ears! "Aurora! Come quickly, i've found her!" she yowled as loud as she could over the wind. beggining to dig frantically at the snow where Pecankit was. "Pecankit! Pecankit, can you hear me? Are you okay?!" she called desperately over the wind, her oaws working swiftly to move the snow.

[/color][/blockquote]

[SHADE. :D]

She didn't want to be found now. The snow had suddenly become blissfully warm, like gentle flames lapping at her chilled body. The she-cat pressed herself into the frosty surface, her breath misting out from between her lips. She dimly heard a voice above her. No... Go away... Pecankit tried to move, but she found that she was unable to. She didn't care. It was comfortable down here, in this paradise... Pecankit snarled as she was pulled from the hollow. As soon as her young body was freed, she felt the cold burn her sides and limbs, everywhere. She yowled in pain, twisting away from Mottledkit. The snow had gotten into her eyes, blinding her, her mouth, muting her, her ears, deafening her. Why hadn't they left her alone? That warm blackness had been so comfortable, compared to this reign of agony.

[(aurora) of the problematique]

<sub>Aurora turned hastily and the lithe female lunged over snow and plant to be by Mottledkit's side. She unsheathed her claws, hastily thrashing at the ice coating the area and some of Pecankit's body. The tuxedo femme pulled up the BrightClanner, ignoring Pecankit's writhing protests. With a heavy grunt, Aurora pulled her onto the older she-cat's back.

Looking left and right until she found Mottledkit's and her pawprints, she smiled weakly and turned her scarred eyes over to the EclipseClanner. "Lead the way. We're depending on you," she called over the screaming wind.

Wind... Windstripe. That name rang in her ears, pounding relentlessly. She winced and the wounds on her eyes throbbed. He was watching her now. She could feel it in the very depths of her soul and the instincts prickling her paws and scars.

Shaking her thoughts aside, Aurora lifted her head to Mottledkit, nodding her head to show that she was ready.</sub>

[Spice..xx]

Mottledkit merely looked on in terror as Pecankit seemed to totally lose the plot, her body freezing as she watched the tabby. She gasped with relief as Aurora bounded to the scene, picking up Pecankit and lifting her on to her broad black and white shoulders. Nodding to show she understand she waited for Auroras signal to move, and then laying her tail under the older she-cats chin, so she didnt lose her she began to pad determindly through the snow.

The screaming wind buffeted and bashed Mottledkit as the femme tried to keep upright and on the right path. The endless white of the swirling snow seemed to go on forever as she ploughed through its depths, every now and then turning her head to double check that Aurora and Pecankit were still there.

Quite suddenly she came upon a cave and sticking her nose in she was sure she could smell the others. "Crystalkit? Selenekit, Moonkit? Its us, i mean Mottledkit and Aurora and Pecankit. Are you in here?" she called out and then deciding that they must go inside anyway, to get out of the wind. "C'mon" she said to Aurora and walked into the cave.

[/color][/blockquote]

[SHADE. :D]

Pecankit's sapphire eyes were wide open but unseeing, her ears pricked but unwilling to hear. The slender tabby felt nothing but the pain that pricked at her body like needles. The tabby she-cat felt tears spring to her blinded eyes, but refused to let them fall. She would not cry in front of the others, not again. This thought was the only thing that stuck firmly in the she-cat's numb mind. Pecankit trembled on Aurora's back, the pain beginning to die down a little. Every snowflake on her back was like a burning brand pressed against her skin. Even the warmth of the cave did not seem to rouse her. Pecankit lay limply on Aurora's back, the only sign of life the rapid rise and fall of her chest. The tabby and white she-cat still felt the warm hands caressing her fur, and again they tempted her with soft voices. Come on... Give up... Pecankit turned her cheek in Aurora's frosty fur, sinking into the darkness.

So this is death.
True death.

Her eyes opened. She could see. She could see. Pecankit moved her head, and agony clutched her body. Through her half-open eyes she could see the cave walls, and she could taste blood on her tongue. She felt as though her fur and skin had been peeled back by sharp claws, so that her body was left exposed. Pecankit shut her eyes, wanting to sink back into the comforting darkness - but it had evaporated.

[(aurora) of the problematique]

<sub>Aurora trudged through the blasting wind, deep snow, and Pecankit's dead weight. The black and white she-cat followed Mottledkit silently, scarred eyes squeezed shut at some moments to avoid the ice whipping around because of the wind. Her legs threatened to give out because of the intense cold gripping her. She groaned and fell, but struggled up again as she followed Mottledkit and the scent of the EclipseClanner.

Aurora let out a sigh of relief when Mottledkit found a cave. She picked up her pace slightly, shards of ice threatening to pierce through her. She collapsed again once she was inside the cave, nudging Pecankit off of her. "Mottledkit, rub Pecankit's fur to make her warm," she cried out hoarsely, rolling onto her belly. "or stay by her... Body heat..."

The ochre-eyed she-cat came to her paws and lifted them onto the BrightClanner's neck and shoulders, gently rolling circles with her paws to warm Pecankit. She sniffed the air and turned to Mottledkit, panic flecking her ochre eyes. "Where are the others...?"

Had they gotten separated...?</sub>

[KURI. (happy birfday to me :D)]

Crystalkit's black nose leather was the first thing out of the shadows. "A-Aurora?" she mewed, shaking as she stepped forward. Looking around rather blearily, she saw Pecankit's body, fur completely flattened by the snow, eyes dull but obviously working. The silver tabby hesitated, then padded lightly towards Pecankit. Feeling her knees buckle under her with relief, Crystalkit pressed her body against the brown tabby fur and was surprised at how cold it felt: colder than the air outside, as cold as a body that no longer held spirit. Only the faint breathing soothed Crystalkit's wildly beating heart as she tried to think of something that would keep Pecankit's body heat inside her.

But something stung Crystalkit harder than this. She wanted to do good. She wanted to help out. So why hadn't she gone to find Pecankit? Why had she been content with the easy way out, finding a place to shelter? All she had to do was find somewhere warm and dry, then her work was done. She was safe after that. But what about Mottledkit and Aurora? They had tom find someone that could be anywhere, snow flurrying in their face, then they had to follow her, Moonkit and Selenekit's scents back here. The warmth that had just a moment ago felt like a blessing became a curse, and she pressed closer to Pecankit just to feel the icy shards poke into her fur.

[/blockquote]

[[xoxo] shard. :)]

<sup>Here, in the cave, they were warm and safe while Aurora and Mottledkit faced the cold. The wind whipped at their faces as they trudged back with Pecankit in tow. And what did the other three do? They found a cave to warm themselves in, simply hoping that the others wouldn't die in the cold. Rubbish. He dreaded the shelter in a way.

Relief flooded over the silver tabby as Aurora and the other two kits arrived. "You're alive!" he cried with glee. Then he noticed Pecankit.

She looked dreadful. Her fur was matted and peppered with icy shards of snow. Her eyes were dull, empty. It was almost as if she were dead. She was clinging to life by a thread, it seemed. She seemed okay, but he pressed against her to keep her warm after beckoning to Selenekit.</sup>

[SHADE. :D]

She could see, but she didn't want to. She longed for those comfortingly warm hands, so hot that they burnt her skin, though it had not felt unpleasent. Pecankit could feel pelts pressings against her, but their felt intrusive, unwanted, so she moaned and struggled against them. But the cold was melting away, and she had lost the numbness that had encased her. She lay, shivering, shaking with pain and chill. She was now grateful for the warm coats and bodies that surrounded her, and cracked open her sore sapphire eyes. A silver-striped face was above her. She quickly summoned his name. "M..M-Moonkit..."

[Spice..xx]

Mottledkit breathed a sigh of relief as the others appeared out of the dark depots of the cave. She watched silently as they all rushed to Pecankit, though she herself was shivvering and jittering from the freexing snow that had encased her in the heart of the storm. She desperately wanted to press against someone, she was so cold, so cold but they were all with Pecankit. Though the tabby femme needed their heat more though, she was almost dead. She walked shakily over to Aurora and sat as close as she thought the black and white she-cat would mind. "What now?" she asked, blinking the snow from her eyelashes. She knew they had to rest, wait for the storm to pass but she had to speak, break the silence. For she didnt know if Pecankit would make it and that terrified her.

[/color][/blockquote]

[(aurora) of the problematique]

<sub>Aurora shook her fur out, spraying water, ice, and snow everywhere. The older she-cat quickly padded over to Pecankit and laid her body down, realizing how much Pecankit had grown since they had first met. At the meeting at Jay's Hollow, she seemed to only be about a third of Aurora and now she was nearly equal to the black and white femme. The female smiled down at Pecankit and laid her head upon the auburn BrightClanner.

"Never leave a fallen compatriot," she said softly, "and do whatever it takes to get them to safety." The she-cat was exhausted, unused to such exercise and not as young as the other cats around her. She had spent nearly everything she had simply looking for and carrying Pecankit in the snow. She wasn't as young as she looked to be, but she could still finish this adventure.</sub>

[KURI. (happy birfday to me :D)]

"Never leave a fallen compatriot," Crystalkit repeated, testing the word on her tongue. She decided that the best thing for her to do right now was stay close to Pecankit, and help her keep in whatever little heat she had left. As she gazed around, she was once again reminded that they were indeed a group, not by blood or body but by spirit. Just by going through this together, by falling into the swampwaters, by nearly freezing to death, they had become closer. Crystalkit felt strangely connected in a way she had never felt before, and it made her happy to have all these other cats she cared about around her.

So why could she never do anything for them?

"Aurora, will the storm pass over?" she asked in a small voice, looking to the mouth of the cave silently.

[/blockquote]

[(aurora) of the problematique]

_{"By the time we depart in the morning, it will have dissapated," Aurora assured Crystalkit. She gave the she-cat a weak smile, trying her best to cheer up the little CloudClanner. The femme coughed slightly and turned over to Moonkit. "Can you keep first watch? Selenekit can take your place when you get too tired. If need be, you can wake me up, alright?" Her eyes crinkled at the ends as she smiled, nestling herself against Pecankit's cold frame}.

ooc;// whoever wants to can post the next thread in the land of ice or I can do it. I don't care.[/sub]

[KURI. (happy birfday to me :D)]

ooc; I'll make it, seeing as no one else is. :3