Reborn

26: Dive

Breaks:

[L1,2 or 3] represents the beginning of a flashback to one of Elena's past lives. There is more than one past life, which is why I have put up the numbers. Though, these memories are usually told as she sleeps and Elena herself cannot remember them.

[/L1,2 or 3] represents the end of a flashback to one of Elena's past lives.

[P] represents the beginning of a retelling of a memory in Elena's current life.

[/P] represents the end of a retelling of a memory in Elena's current life.

~3~ is just a time skip

A/N: Sorry it's a day late guys- December has been busy! Hopefully you'll enjoy the chapter anyways, huh? 

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Maybe it was thanks to the fire that the ground wasn't quite yet frozen where I laid. It was much more comfortable than I had expected it to be considering that we were attempting to sleep outside despite the snowy landscape around us- which stretched as far as the eye could see.

It took a little while before I could find sleep that night. I laid there staring up at the stars, occasionally watching my breath appear with a puff in the cold. Dally and Evangeline had gone to hunt more bow wows while Yugo, Adamai, and I had been speaking by the cliff. Their fur was added to the fur Dally, Yugo, and Ruel had gotten earlier and now there was enough for four blankets of the stuff.

I hated it. It itched and it smelled of wet dog and made my skin crawl in general.

But it was warm and it cut off the chill of the breeze.

It was also what let me be outside of Ruel's bag without worry about freezing to death in my sleep. 

Ruel had crawled back into his bag when it came time for bed. The rest of us had the fur blankets distributed amongst us- with Amalia and Evangeline sharing one, while Yugo shared with Adamai. Dally and I got lucky with having our own, I supposed. With the fire and the lack of frozen ground directly below us, it certainly wasn't a night cold enough to require close proximity to others. And while I already knew that I wouldn't have minded staying close to Yugo, the situation brought to light that I actually would have minded if I had to share space with anyone else. 

As everyone found their comfy positions and steadily drifted off to sleep a peaceful sort of quiet settled down over everything. The sort of peaceful quiet that always came to me while sleeping outdoors. Every now and then a spark from the flames would crack upward, bright enough to trace across the inside of my eyelids when I blinked. I didn't mind it. It reminded me that the warmth was still there.

The air felt colder at my face than it did under the blanket. My nose kept going numb, then warming back up when I tucked half my head down and breathed out into the fur. My ears would tingle every time a shift of wind swept over camp, brushing agains them and sending a shiver down my spine. Eventually I curled a little tighter under the fur, covering my ears, let my legs stretch out toward the fire, soak up whatever heat still drifted off of it.

Yugo let out a soft snore. It was barely a sound- more like a tiny hum- but the moment I heard it, something in my chest loosened. Adamai didn't snore at all, though his tail occasionally thumped against the ground when he shifted. Amalia muttered something once, too quiet to understand, and rolled closer to Evangeline's unused spot on the blanket beside her.

I didn't realize Evangeline had moved until my brain caught up with the empty space.

I lifted my head a little. Not enough to really look around, just enough that the blanket slid off my shoulder and cold air crept in to poke at my skin. With shiver at the sudden chill, I pulled it back up automatically then held it there as I finally pushed myself up an inch more.