~After the war~ Orc × Reader

Raging rapids

Several hours later you woke up to the sun setting. You rubbed your eyes and glanced around to see Claude. Eating a raw fish....?
"Uh...what the hell are you doing..?" You questioned.
"I'm eating obviously. Not much else but fish and bugs here."
"But raw...? Can't you get salmonella from that or something?"
Opting to just ignore you he sighed and went back to eating.

Though trying to ignore the aching in your stomach it betrays you and growls. Seeming to perk up at this sound Claude looks back at you with a smirk.
"Oh is someone hungry now? You want some fish?"
"No I don't want your damn fish."
"Huh, suit yourself."
He shrugged and went back to ignoring you before your stomach let out another loud growl. The fish was starting to look good right now but still a little scared at the prospect of getting sick you stay silent.

You look at Claude again as you hear him shifting around. Only to see him rubbing a rock against a stick seemingly trying to start a fire...in a wooden boat. You panic and grab his arm to get his attention.
"Woah Claude what the hell are you doing!?"
"Let go it'll be fine. You need to eat." Continuing to cause a major fire hazard, Claude sparks a fire. You watch as he holds a fish over the fire, of course wanting to tell him to put the fire out but also being too hungry to care if he burns the boat to ashes.

After a few minutes he tosses the stick in the water and hands you the fish.
"It ain't fully cooked but it won't kill ya so eat up."
Thanking him you take the fish and pretty much immediately start eating it. Discarding manners and the fact that Claude was staring at you, you devour the fish pretty quick.

As you finish you hear him chuckle and being tease you.
"Geez kid, you eat worse than me. You have it all over your face."
"Oh shut up, I don't think you can blame me for being starving."
You wipe your face and check your clothes to make sure you didn't look too bad before looking around and questioning.
"So where are we going exactly?"
"To fairy cove, it's probably the next easiest thing we can cross off the list."
"Are you an expert in making fairies cry or something?"
"Yeah you could say that."
You were going to question him more but then you hear what sounded like...a waterfall?

Hoping that you weren't about to fall off a cliff in this flimsy boat you whip your head around towards the sound of the water. As you look ahead all you can see are sharp rocks and white waters. Not knowing what else to do you tug on Claude's hair to make him look ahead.
"What the hell was that for you brat-?" He cuts himself off as he notices what you're pointing at.

Claude tugs you next to him and keeps a firm grip on your arm as he speaks.
"Don't move alright? And hold onto me so you don't fall out." You simply nod at his demands and hold onto his arm. It probably was best to listen anyway. The rocks look like they could tear you to shreds.

He sits you between the seats in the middle of the boat and sits on the seat behind you.
"What the heel are you-." Your protests are cut off when the boat slams into a rock causing you to yelp and grip onto Claude's arm tighter.

You started to panic at the constant jolting and cracking of the boat. "What are we going to do- the boats breaking apart and- what if we have no boat!? Are we gonna die!?" Claude seems a bit disturbed by your hysteria and pats you on the head, attempting to soothe you.
"Shhhh calm down (Y/N)..we're gonna be fine so stop screaming like an idiot."
"And you think calling me an idiot is gonna help me calm down!?" You pause for a second staring ahead before you practically scream.
"Shit Shit Shit! There's a waterfall!"

Claude's eyes widen at your statement when he glances at the quickly approaching drop. Almost immediately he picks you up and sits where he had put you earlier with you on his lap. Reflexively you cling onto him and turn your back to the waterfall.

Claude tenses a bit at this before wrapping his arms around you in a tight, protective embrace. Though this calms you down for a second your panic flares back up as you feel the boat tip then drop off the edge of the fall.

You could barely hear Claude's screaming over your own as you fell. A vice like grip on his arms, nails digging so hard they might break skin.

Crack

Your boat broke to pieces as you hit the river below. Now underwater you let go of Claude and try to reach the surface but can't as you're unable to move one of your legs.

Thankfully after a bit of struggling Claude helps you up to the surface and swims you both to the shore.

As you crawl up the bank you feel the grass and mud between your fingers and squishing under your knees. You glance at Claude as he collapses next to you and coughs up some water. Before you can say anything he speaks first.
"You alright kid?"
"No, not really."
"Yeah me neither..."
You watch as he puts a hand to his now bleeding head. You let out a hum and glance at your leg which had a pretty big bruise on the shin.

You sit in silence for a moment you both looking over your injuries. His undoubtedly worse but he's taking it better then you are yours. You look around and take note of your serine, dream like surroundings.
"Hey Claude..? Where are we?"

"Florence's Unicorn farm."