HELLO EVERYBODY! :3 :D ^w^!

wow ok

chill, Azure. chill.

Breathe.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

Sorry.

I'm excited BECAUSE... COALY AND POPPY ARE GOING TO GET HIT WITH SOME GOOD OL' FEELINGS IN THIS CHAPTER!

BrEaThe, Azzie, breathe.

Ok. I scrapped the CinderBreeze. That was bullshit back in... what... chapter 2? God. No one look PLEASE. Younger me is such an attention-seeker, I swear. Someone kick me if I ever do that again.

And I'm really sorry this is so late... school was letting out... my crush moved two continents away... I had two weeks of speech and debate... camp went on for a month... school started again...ANYWAY!

Here we go!

The sun shone overhead, dappling the forest floor with crescents and polygons through the leaves. Birds began to chirp, creating an alarm neither person wanted to head. Poppyfrost woke up first, rolling onto her side to decrease the pressure on her back wounds. She opened her eyes and watched Coalstrike inhale and exhale, his hair matted from sleep, and smiled. It was good to see a Crowstrike that wasn't paranoid and sad. He finally looked peaceful. Slowly, he began to stir, and she looked away to avoid being caught staring. She rolled to the opposite side with another wince and closed her eyes again to think.

Coalstrike heard the birds and resented them. He REALLY did not want to get up. Groaning, he rolled over onto his back and rubbed his eyes. Finally, he opened them against the canopy of trees and blue sky above him. Nature was cool, but did those blackbirds have to be so LOUD? He looked around and was surprised to see a girl? It took a minute before he remembered who she was and why she was there.

Sitting up, he ran a hand through his hair, then walked over to Poppyfrost to wake her up. He watched her for a minute, her eyes shut and her lashes casting shadows down her cheeks, with her long red hair tangled from sleep. A wave of protectiveness surged over him, despite the fact that he had just met her. I saved you. I won't let anyone hurt you. Coalstrike noted that the bandages on her back were still in place (albeit dirty and with very small tears in places) which was good, because he didn't have too many of those and he wanted to preserve them. He sat down next to her, reaching out to brush her hair away from her pale and freckled face when she rolled over and opened those startling green eyes at him. He withdrew his palm quickly.

"Goddamn it, Poppyfrost, you..." He growled. "Were you just pretending to be asleep?" She gave him a tiny smile.

"Maybe..." she mumured, but then flinched as she sat up. There was a tiny dot of blood by her right shoulder. It didn't seem to be growing, though, which was good. Coalstrike furrowed his brow. "Do your bandages need changing? We don't have too many left, but I can-"

"No." Poppyfrost interjected. "I'll be fine." She stood up completely, pulling her hair back up into its ponytail after running her fingers through it. She sighed. "I don't suppose you have a brush with you?" Coalstrike shook his head. "Who carries around a hairbush?" he scoffed.

"My sisters." said Poppyfrost, pulling Coalstrike to his feet. "We need to go. Don't worry about me." Slowly, they erased all traces of their being in that spot, and walked away from the clearing.

X

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU HAVEN'T FOUND THEM?!" X screamed. A-X was his best worker. If he couldn't find them, he might as well just give up. "IT'S NOT HARD, A-X! HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN I KEEP YOUR FOOD ON THE TABLE?" He could hear the man pinch the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

"Look, sir, it's not like it's been hard. But they covered a lot of distance and I just started on the trail 10 hours ago."

"Well- LOOK FASTER!" X screamed in frustration and threw the phone at the wall. It cracked and slid down, leaving a dent. He groaned and slid into his chair, shoving the heels of his hands into his eyes. If they can't do it, I suppose I'll have to do it myself.

BERRYNOSE
It's getting worse.
My breathing speeds up, slows, speeds up, catches... then does the cycle again. I wish I hadn't dropped my inhaler. Lionblaze, Jayfeather, Dovewing, Honeyfern... their heads are close together in the center of the room as they discuss. I drop my head into my knees and groan softly. I hate asthma. It's gotten worse as the years pass. Stage 5 asthma sufferers die, and I'll get there soon enough.
Stage 3.
Nearly 4. As if I didn't already have enough to worry about.