Snowmelt

XI

A day or two later, Firetrail walks up to me, completely out of the blue.

"I just realized something... You still haven't seen my- our den yet, have you?" He says with his head tilted slightly to the side. I shake my head, and he nods, silent. 

"I think it's time we change that, don't you?" And with that, he gestures for me to follow him and I do, walking lightly, as though I subconsciously want to leave no trace of my presence. We make our way into the den and I listen as Firetrail talks, wonder and joy tinting his words.

I follow Firetrail nervously as he walks, impossibly calm, into his den. It isn't much more than a dug-out tunnel and a single, large, chamber, but it looks like it would be more than comfortable to live in, though it would definitely feel empty if you were alone. It must feel suffocating, this emptiness... I think, still casting my gaze into the smaller corners of the den. 

It does. You know that. Why are you acting like you don't know? You know just how heavy the presence of nothing, the company of no one, can be. A voice murmurs in my mind, slowly getting louder as it goes on. You of all creatures would know what it's like to be alone, completely alone though you are surrounded by others, others who are completely happy, day in and day out. You of all creatures would know what it's like to see happiness and bliss at every turn, yet know you must live without.

My tail brushes against the floor of the den, sending a small cloud of dust into the air, which darkens my fur to a pale brown. I notice this as I start to feel ice along my spine, and I fall to the ground, curling in on myself into a ball, already falling deep into the dark, cold abyss of my mind.

"Snowfall! What's wrong? Are you alright?" I hear Firetrail call out, and I struggle to reply, only getting out a low grunt before the den fades to complete darkness.

Yes, I did just ret-con this chapter, but the way the story was laid out was bugging me, so I decided to fix it. The only difference between this version and the original version is that now the den sequence doesn't take place immediately after the chapter before this. Go on with that knowledge as cannon through the rest of the story. Sorry ahead of time if I forgot to fix anything later in the story.

~Khali