Colours in Shadows: Book 1 Flooding and Fury

Chapter 12

"Sapphire?!" Tide yelled, watching her get tossed into the water by Talon ThornHawk. He turned to Talon and growled.
"Well, it looks like my work here is done. I guess I will see you later... or not." Talon laughed, looking at the three remaining cats. "Anyway, I must be heading back to work. Toodles!" and with that, he disappeared into a ball of thick, black smoke.
"Come on! We have to go after him!" Branch ran towards the smoke.
Tide didn't listen, he had other plans. Not wasting any time, he ran and quickly dove into the water after Sapphire and began swimming deeper and deeper into the lake. He opened his mouth and took a deep breath, letting the water fill his lungs and after a couple of seconds, he changed from breathing air to water.
'Water puts out flames.'
Panic flowed through him as he swam deeper and deeper into the water. He couldn't shake that thought.
Suddenly, Sapphire appeared ahead, sinking into the depths of the dark, icy water. She wasn't moving. Tide swam over to her as quickly as he could, gripping her scruff in his jaw, taking big strides as he swam to the surface. His head finally broke through the surface of the water and he took a quick breath, changing again, while trying to keep Sapphire's head above the water. He swam as fast as he could to get her to the shore.
Tide got to the shallows and gripped tighter to her scruff, dragging her onto the dry grass. He laid her down gently. The sun was just peeking through the clouds where Sapphire was laying. 'Perfect timing! The sun will help her out and give her the strength she needs. Fire works with fire.' he thought, knowing that the same element must work together. He panted, catching his breath. It had been a long time since he had had to swim that fast. He swam a lot and his fur was soaked. He looked around to see if anyone was there. Looking back at Sapphire, he had a terrible sinking feeling as he realized that she still wasn't moving. She was entirely limp. Her fur was pale compared to the bright red pelt she had before she went into the water. This was not normal, his heart dropped.
He rose to his paws and put his head to her chest to listen. 'Oh no.' he thought. There was no sound, not a heartbeat or a breath, just silence. He lifted his head and noticed that her pelt had completely extinguished. What she told him earlier repeated in his mind, 'If my pelt goes out, I die!' That's when he knew, he had to do something and fast!
Tide placed his paws together, one over the other, and began pushing down firmly on her chest, counting in his head as he pressed down. He wasn't just going to let her die. He tilted her head slightly, raising her chin and bent down to listen. Hesitating for a second, he cringed just thinking about what he knew he had to do. He took a deep breath, breathed heavily into her mouth and tilted his head to the side to listen again. He heard a small exhale then waited a second before giving her another breath. Suddenly, Sapphire spit up water, gasping and coughing a black substance onto the grass.
He let out a sigh of relief. Her pelt sparked again, getting brighter and brighter as she regained some of her strength so Tide took a step back. He watched her from a distance to make sure that she was okay. Suddenly, he smelled smoke. His nose twitched as he realized that it was coming from the tar-like substance that Sapphire had coughed up. It was burning the grass! He quickly spit out some water from the side of his mouth to extinguish the grass. It began to sizzle. A drop of water touched Sapphire's nose and she twitched.
"Tide?" she meowed, softly. Twitching her nose again and blinking.
Her eyes snapped open as soon as she saw him. She jumped up, barely an inch off the ground, and scooted backwards. "Tide!" She meowed in surprise. She looked confused and angry. She tried to get to her feet and stumbled.
"HA! I SHIP IT?!" Tide heard Branch yell from a short distance behind him. It was like he was trying to tell the whole forest.
"Not now, Branch." Tide muttered under his breath.
"What? What is he talking about?" Sapphire asked, looking between Tide and Branch, confused.
"It's nothing... It's-"
"TIDE KISSED SAPPHIRE?! I.. SH-MUMUMHU."
"Shh!" He heard Misty say.
"YOU WHAT?!" Sapphire snapped, quickly sitting up. She stumbled again.
He guessed that Misty must have covered Branch's mouth to stop him from saying anymore but now Sapphire was getting defensive.
"YOU KISSED ME?!" She yelled.
"No! It's not-"
"What?! It's not WHAT?! A KISS?!" she roared, her pelt sparking with fury.
"It wasn't a kiss and if it wasn't for me, you-. Just calm down and let me explain!" he meowed.
"Calm down?! No! And I don't care!! You kissed me, you FISHBREATH! You-" Sapphire was just being rude. Suddenly, he snapped...
"Well, since it looks like you're fine now, let's get back to this journey then!" he yelled. He stood in front of her as if to challenge her. After a brief moment, he turned his back and headed towards the forest. "I would like to be almost out of the forest by nightfall."
He stormed off, into the trees. It felt like a tsunami was raging inside of him. His pelt was still dripping wet and tons of thoughts flowed through his mind like a rapid. 'How can you be rude to someone who just saved you? Pathetic! Just because I am a water element, doesn't mean I always eat fish... and if it wasn't for this "fishbreath", she wouldn't have survived!'
Once he was far enough into the forest, he sat under a tree and held his head in his paws. The thoughts continued: 'Why did she do that? I literally just saved her life... so why? I guess she is just a rude being and I don't want to be around someone like that! Branch is so immature but Sapphire has been rude to me since we met! I've shown her nothing but kindness and tried to get along, tried to be friendly. Enough is enough! If you're not going to show me any respect, then you'll get none at all.'