Fern's Backstory (made for a friend)
Feb 2, 2021 18:22:57 GMT -5
Post by Shadowrunner on Feb 2, 2021 18:22:57 GMT -5
This is a fanfic i made a while back for a friend, she had this oc named Fern but she said she was bad at making backstories so I made one for her. All the names are made by my friend too.
*all puns intended
Fern’s Backstory
Prologue
A white lynx cub with purple-blue details on her back opened her eyes for the first time. She was surrounded by the warmth of her 3 siblings, and her mother, all mewling and pushing to reach the milk that they smelled. So warm, warm enough to block out the winter cold coming in through the hole in the roof of the den, so warm, that the family thought it would last forever. The purple cub crawled away after having her share of milk. She started walking around, curious about this strange new world. She walked towards a tunnel that looked like it would lead to the outside world, but her mother grabbed her. The mother would not let the cubs outside. But the cub wanted to go outside too. She was so, so curious… however, little did she know…
Curiosity Killed the Cat*
Chapter One
Fern woke up to find the sun shining into her eyes through the small sky hole in the den. She saw her family was still asleep, so she got up and groomed her bed fur. She looked at her family. Her 3 siblings were all brothers and they often made fun of her, but were there for her when it counts. There was the biggest one, Leaf, was brown, and is the one who is always joking around, sometimes those jokes nearly get him killed though. Fox is the reddish-orange one, he’s the trickster, and his name matches. He often plays mean jokes on their mom by hiding somewhere else in the den to scare her when she wakes up, and then he gets scolded. And then we have Cloud, he’s white and is the smart one, if you ever need a plan, ask him, he’s kind of mysterious though. And her mom, Akela, Fern looks the most like her mother out of all the 4 cubs.
By the time Fern was done flattening her fur her whole family was awake. Her mom, Akela, left them inside and told them to wait for her to get some food. But Fern was curious, Akela had never let them out of the den before because she said it was too dangerous, and every time Fern asked about her mom’s siblings and mother, Akela went silent and she looked sad, so Fern was pretty sure something had happened to them. But Fern wanted to feel the sun and see a color other than the gray of stone and green of moss. So Fern snuck outside, naturally her daring brothers Leaf and Fox chose to come with her, but Cloud, being the smart one, chose to stay inside so he wouldn’t get in trouble with their mom.
Fern walked outside with her two brothers by her side, when they were out there were so many noises and sights that she thought she would faint. When she finally got control of her senses she noticed something wet was hitting her. She looked up and saw… Rain! Akela had told the cubs about what the outside world was like and about rain before, but Fern never imagined it would feel this good! Fern saw a river nearby too, and they ran towards it. Finally! Water that wasn’t given to her in a small cupped leaf! She drank lots of it but then heard Cloud calling for them to wait up. He must have gotten curious and decided to come too. Fern wanted to know what swimming felt like too, she would only get one chance to go outside and that was now. She waded in and her brothers stayed behind, not wanting to get wet, Fern guessed. “The water isn’t too deep guys! I can feel the botto-!” Fern didn’t have time to scream for help as the water rose and she lost her footing. The last thing she heard was her brothers shouting her name as she sank under the surface of the rising water…
Chapter 2
Fern surfaced on top of the water, she was still alive! As she bobbed down the river she called to her brothers as they chased after her. Fern saw her mom going back to the den and called to her, as loud as she could. Luckily that was loud enough because Akela heard Fern and ran to her. Akela jumped into the flooded river, and grabbed Fern by the scruff of her neck, Akela struggled to fight the current, but when she was close enough, Fern’s brothers helped grab Fern, but her weight pulled them into the river with her. As Akela struggled to save her cubs she knew what she had to do, she was well aware that her 3 sons would refuse to be rescued until she saved Fern, they might tease her a lot but they would die for her. So Akela swam as fast as she could to reach Fern, the cold water starting to make her lose feeling in her legs, and grabbed Fern by the scruff again. The poor cub was shivering so much it felt like she would fly out of Akela’s mouth! Akela used all her remaining strength to spin around and throw Fern to shore.
The last thing Fern saw was her family run into a series of boulders and faint, as they sank underwater. Fern tried to reach them, tried to SAVE them. But all she could do was watch, as she fainted from the cold…
Fern woke up, shivering. She was alone, scared, and confused. It took a second for her to realize what had happened. When she did though, she shot up off the ground. The river was calm now and she could easily wade through it. She ran as fast as she could, hoping it wasn’t too late… but when she found her brothers and mom… they has already stopped breathing.
Fern cried out in sadness, and then she heard a twig snap nearby. She knew the surface was dangerous so she needed to be quiet. She slowly dragged her family to shore and licked their bodies, to dry them off. She then dragged them home and put them there, curling them up so it looked like they were sleeping. By the time she was done the sun was already high in the sky. She exited the den and covered the doorway with rocks, protecting her family’s grave from predators. Her stomach growled, she needed to find food, and as Fern looked up she realized she needed a new den too. Fern was starting to regret her decision to leave the den. She would probably die out here.
Chapter 3
Fern searched for food, berries or prey would do she didn’t care. Suddenly she heard a twig snap, and then another, and then a 3rd. something was following her… and whatever it was it wasn’t very sneaky. Fern spun around, hoping to catch the possible threat of guard. She ran towards the source of the noise and lashed out with her claws. Fern heard a pained ‘Yip!’. She looked at the source and saw a.. bundle of red fur? Fern remembered her mom telling her something about a creature called a fox… and that they hunted lynx cubs. But this one was just a small bit bigger than Fern, and it looked too weak to hunt anything. It was just skin and bones! It lay on the ground in front of her, whimpering from what was probably hunger, and even though Fern could easily kill it and have free food, she couldn’t.
It looked like it was a cub, just like Fern, and from how small it was it must have lost its parents too. It was in the same situation Fern was in, she couldn’t bring herself to kill it. Nearby she found some berries and brought two of them to the young fox. Once it had eaten it looked at her curiously “w-why did you s-save me?” she said. “Well… you’re in the same situation I am, homeless with nobody to feed you”. The fox stared at Fern, confused and in awe “Well my names Vixen… what’s your name” the timid fox cub asked. “I’m Fern” Fern replied, happy that she had a new friend in this crazy wilderness. Fern walked over to the berry bush with Vixen and they both ate happily, normally Fern would have hated berries but, it was all she had right now. The two friends walked off to find a den. Hoping their lives would be easy. But they were very wrong, very wrong indeed.
Chapter 4
Fern woke up; it had now been a month since her family died, and a month since she met her new friend, Vixen. Although Vixen was a fox, the two had connected. Both of their families had died and Vixen had been starving but Fern couldn’t bring herself to kill Vixen for food. They had found a den a bit after they met, and had lived there since. They were self-taught in hunting and were still pretty bad, but there were lots of berry bushes nearby when they can’t catch anything. Fern had frequent nightmares about her family’s death, and from how sometimes Fern woke up to find Vixen twitching and talking in her sleep, she did too. Fern got up and did her morning routine, sat up, flattened her fur, by the time she was done Vixen was awake. And they both went out to go hunting.
They split up to cover more ground and started searching for food. Fern sniffed the air, searching for food. She smelled a mouse, and heard it too. It was in an open area of the forest, searching for food. Fern snuck up on it, and pounced. She killed it in a quick bite. It was small though, so she buried it and kept searching. She could hear more mice in the field, and started stalking. Suddenly, she heard a cry so loud even her dead family could probably hear it. She looked around searching for the source when she suddenly saw a shadow coming towards her fast. She looked up to see something flying there, like a big white bird. But it looked more like a big HUNGRY white bird that was swooping down to eat her! Fern ran as fast as she could, but couldn’t escape. It was about to grab her when she heard it cry out in pain. She looked back to see Vixen fighting off the bird. Fern now remembered her mom tell stories about Eagles, this must be one. As Fern stood there, paralyzed, watching the young fox fight the dangerous predator. She wanted to help, she NEEDED to. But she couldn’t, she was paralyzed, Fern couldn’t move.
She was about to watch another precious friend die, and she was going to be able to do nothing about it.
Fern watched Vixen fight the eagle. She watched as her friend was wounded. It felt like everything was going in slow motion. Vixen was badly hurt and losing blood. She collapsed on the ground, looking at Fern desperately, and Fern saw Vixen’s look of despair as Fern didn’t help. The eagle grabbed Vixen and started lifting her into the air, but Vixen was heavier than the eagle thought, and it was taking a while to lift off. This was Fern’s last chance, it was now or never. She needed to save Vixen NOW… but she couldn’t. Her legs refused to move. She watched as Vixen was carried up into the air. Vixen looked at Fern, eyes wide with disbelief and despair. And only now was Fern able to force her legs to move. She ran, and ran, and ran, and ran, and ran! Running so fast and hard that her paws started to hurt and she tore so many muscles but she kept running. As the eagle carried Vixen back to its nest, Fern chased them. Fern ran as fast as she could… but she lost them. She couldn’t see the eagle anymore… Vixen was gone.
Chapter 5
Fern walked back to her den, she left the mouse she had caught in the field, she didn’t deserve to eat today after letting Vixen die. Fern lay down where she normally did, but it felt so cold and empty without Vixen there, and it took so long to fall asleep without the warmth to comfort her. She was alone.
Fern got up the next morning, and walked outside. She didn’t clean herself either. She felt like such a failure, twice now her friends and family were about to die in front of her, but she couldn’t save them. She grabbed some berries and ate them. Then she went out and grabbed the mouse from yesterday. It was buried in dirt so luckily nothing had found it yet. She ate it, slowly as she thought about what happened. But she suddenly heard the snap of a twig behind her, “Vixen?!” she shouted, as she spun around, hoping her dear friend had somehow made it back. And in front of her she saw A fox… but not the one she wanted to see. The last thing she saw was a flash of red, as its jaws clamped down on her.
Fern woke up to find the wind blowing through her face. She was still alive, but she felt a stabbing pain in her back. She tried to spin around to see what was holding her and saw a large bundle of red fur. The fox was bringing her somewhere, possibly to its den for its cubs to eat. She was weak, the fox was paying no care to how hard it bit down on her and she was losing blood because of it. As Fern was carried away she felt a strange feeling. An almost peaceful one and she saw some light, even though it was late in the night by now. She wanted to go to it. And as it filled her vision, consuming her, she closed her eyes. She was thinking “so is this what death feels like”, she wasn’t struggling to stay alive, she thought she deserved this; she let all her loved ones die. She didn’t think she deserved to stay alive. But before the light fully consumed her she heard an almost familiar yip. That yip snapped her out of it, she needed to see if it was who she thought it was. But the light was still trying to take her with it. She was too weak to spin around and see what the source was. The last thing she remembered was being thrown out of the jaws of the fox, landing hard on a rock, and seeing the predator run away from a much smaller creature. It walked towards her as she was starting to lose consciousness, and the last thing she heard was “Fern! Don’t leave please stay with me!”, in the most familiar voice she could think of.
Chapter 6
Fern opened her eyes, her head hurt and she couldn’t remember what happened. She stood up and found that her back hurt like as if it was on fire, at least that’s what Fern thought it was like, she had never seen actual fire. She looked at her back to find leaves on it, and her fur felt stiff. There must be some kind of herbs on it, she thought. Fern was fully awake now and remembered what had happened, a fox had taken her and was bringing her to its den, and that’s where the injuries came from, the fox biting her. She was about to die but then someone saved her. She suddenly remembered. She whipped around in circles a bit, trying to find the one who saved her. And found that she was in her den. The one she had lived in with Vixen. Fern tried to run outside but collapsed, her body was finally remembering how weak she was from the injuries. But then someone came in with the smell of prey. She looked up to see…. Vixen! Fern looked at Vixen in silence for a moment, not knowing what to say, and then suddenly burst into tears. She threw herself at Vixen and hugged her as tight as she could, to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. She’s was real, Fern thought, she’s alive! “Whoa! Hey Fern get off, I know your happy that I’m not dead but if you keep this up I will be! You’re heavy!” Vixen shouted jokingly, but Fern could tell Vixen wanted to cry too. They lay there for a few moments, embracing each other happily.
Fern stood up, “how did you… how is this possible… how are you alive!” Fern asked through her tears. “Well..” Vixen started thoughtfully, “I was being flown through the air by the eagle, when a large gust of wind put it off balance, I had given up on surviving but then I heard this little voice in the back of my head telling me to not give up, to use the wind as an opportunity to attack the eagle, and telling me that I couldn’t leave you alone with everyone you loved dead. So I attacked the eagles claws and ran away”, Fern was confused “But how did you save me from the fox? It was an adult and you’re only a cub” she asked, Vixen flexed her claws “You underestimate how much I sharpen my claws” she said, mischievously. And Fern laughed. She was finally back with her lost friend, she wasn’t an entire failure, and she was given a second chance with Vixen.
Fern awoke the next morning, and looked to her side. Vixen was still there, it wasn’t a dream. She did her morning routine and flattened her fur until Vixen woke up like always. And they both went out to hunt. This time they hunted together so they could be safe. But then Fern heard a strange noise, and then felt water fall onto her nose. It was starting to rain. But not just rain, it was starting to storm. And what’s worse, Fern’s eyes flew wide from realization.
They were right next to a river.
Chapter 7
“We have to get away from this river!” Fern shouted, but the rain was so heavy Vixen couldn’t hear her. Vixen was running to a fallen tree for shelter, but it was right next to the rapidly rising river. Fern shouted, and ran towards Vixen as fast as possible. She made it and shouted that they have to get away. But by the time she said that and they started to move. The muddy river water had already washed them and the fallen tree away.
Fern struggled, she has to save Vixen. She wouldn’t let the same thing happen again. Fern swam, and swam, and swam. The thunder was loud and the lightning bright. She swam as fast as she could, and Vixen did too. The water was rising higher, but they managed to reach each other. “Vixen! We have to find something to grab onto!” Fern shouted as loud as she could, and ended up swallowing a mouthful of water too. “I know but theres nothing to grab!” Vixen shouted in reply. Suddenly, lightning struck a tree up ahead.
It was going to fall right on them.
Fern watched in horror, staring at the leaning tree. She was trying to figure out what to do when suddenly it dawned on her. She wouldn’t allow her second chance to get away. She would save Vixen. Fern looked at Vixen, “Vixen, thank you. And I love you as much as my own family” she said, “But this s-sounds like you’re saying goodbye” Vixen said, about to cry… “That’s because it is…” Fern said, and with all her strength she pushed Vixen to a rock nearby. And the falling tree landed on her.
The storm calmed, and the water fell again. The tree wouldn’t have crushed Fern she just would have not been able to get out from under it. Vixen swam to the tree as fast as possible and found Fern. The water was low enough now that the spot the tree landed on was just the riverbed. “Fern.. please. Don’t leave me” Vixen said, crying. “I have to… Vixen…. I made this mistake with my family, a storm like this happened and they drowned… I was given a second chance with you… and I wasn’t gonna fail again” Fern said weakly. Vixen cried so much Fern could have sworn an eagle would swoop down and grab her too. “Don’t be sad Vixen. Thank you for protecting me from the fox, and the eagle… if you hadn’t then I wouldn’t have survived long enough to get my second chance to save my loved ones…. Thank you” Fern said. And then her breathing slowed, and then stopped. Vixen cried out “No! You can’t leave me! What about MY second chance, my family died too I need mine!”, even though Fern was dead Vixen could have sworn she heard her voice whisper in her ear.. “You already got two extra chances. When you saved me from the fox and the eagle…” and then the voice faded away.
*all puns intended
Fern’s Backstory
Prologue
A white lynx cub with purple-blue details on her back opened her eyes for the first time. She was surrounded by the warmth of her 3 siblings, and her mother, all mewling and pushing to reach the milk that they smelled. So warm, warm enough to block out the winter cold coming in through the hole in the roof of the den, so warm, that the family thought it would last forever. The purple cub crawled away after having her share of milk. She started walking around, curious about this strange new world. She walked towards a tunnel that looked like it would lead to the outside world, but her mother grabbed her. The mother would not let the cubs outside. But the cub wanted to go outside too. She was so, so curious… however, little did she know…
Curiosity Killed the Cat*
Chapter One
Fern woke up to find the sun shining into her eyes through the small sky hole in the den. She saw her family was still asleep, so she got up and groomed her bed fur. She looked at her family. Her 3 siblings were all brothers and they often made fun of her, but were there for her when it counts. There was the biggest one, Leaf, was brown, and is the one who is always joking around, sometimes those jokes nearly get him killed though. Fox is the reddish-orange one, he’s the trickster, and his name matches. He often plays mean jokes on their mom by hiding somewhere else in the den to scare her when she wakes up, and then he gets scolded. And then we have Cloud, he’s white and is the smart one, if you ever need a plan, ask him, he’s kind of mysterious though. And her mom, Akela, Fern looks the most like her mother out of all the 4 cubs.
By the time Fern was done flattening her fur her whole family was awake. Her mom, Akela, left them inside and told them to wait for her to get some food. But Fern was curious, Akela had never let them out of the den before because she said it was too dangerous, and every time Fern asked about her mom’s siblings and mother, Akela went silent and she looked sad, so Fern was pretty sure something had happened to them. But Fern wanted to feel the sun and see a color other than the gray of stone and green of moss. So Fern snuck outside, naturally her daring brothers Leaf and Fox chose to come with her, but Cloud, being the smart one, chose to stay inside so he wouldn’t get in trouble with their mom.
Fern walked outside with her two brothers by her side, when they were out there were so many noises and sights that she thought she would faint. When she finally got control of her senses she noticed something wet was hitting her. She looked up and saw… Rain! Akela had told the cubs about what the outside world was like and about rain before, but Fern never imagined it would feel this good! Fern saw a river nearby too, and they ran towards it. Finally! Water that wasn’t given to her in a small cupped leaf! She drank lots of it but then heard Cloud calling for them to wait up. He must have gotten curious and decided to come too. Fern wanted to know what swimming felt like too, she would only get one chance to go outside and that was now. She waded in and her brothers stayed behind, not wanting to get wet, Fern guessed. “The water isn’t too deep guys! I can feel the botto-!” Fern didn’t have time to scream for help as the water rose and she lost her footing. The last thing she heard was her brothers shouting her name as she sank under the surface of the rising water…
Chapter 2
Fern surfaced on top of the water, she was still alive! As she bobbed down the river she called to her brothers as they chased after her. Fern saw her mom going back to the den and called to her, as loud as she could. Luckily that was loud enough because Akela heard Fern and ran to her. Akela jumped into the flooded river, and grabbed Fern by the scruff of her neck, Akela struggled to fight the current, but when she was close enough, Fern’s brothers helped grab Fern, but her weight pulled them into the river with her. As Akela struggled to save her cubs she knew what she had to do, she was well aware that her 3 sons would refuse to be rescued until she saved Fern, they might tease her a lot but they would die for her. So Akela swam as fast as she could to reach Fern, the cold water starting to make her lose feeling in her legs, and grabbed Fern by the scruff again. The poor cub was shivering so much it felt like she would fly out of Akela’s mouth! Akela used all her remaining strength to spin around and throw Fern to shore.
The last thing Fern saw was her family run into a series of boulders and faint, as they sank underwater. Fern tried to reach them, tried to SAVE them. But all she could do was watch, as she fainted from the cold…
Fern woke up, shivering. She was alone, scared, and confused. It took a second for her to realize what had happened. When she did though, she shot up off the ground. The river was calm now and she could easily wade through it. She ran as fast as she could, hoping it wasn’t too late… but when she found her brothers and mom… they has already stopped breathing.
Fern cried out in sadness, and then she heard a twig snap nearby. She knew the surface was dangerous so she needed to be quiet. She slowly dragged her family to shore and licked their bodies, to dry them off. She then dragged them home and put them there, curling them up so it looked like they were sleeping. By the time she was done the sun was already high in the sky. She exited the den and covered the doorway with rocks, protecting her family’s grave from predators. Her stomach growled, she needed to find food, and as Fern looked up she realized she needed a new den too. Fern was starting to regret her decision to leave the den. She would probably die out here.
Chapter 3
Fern searched for food, berries or prey would do she didn’t care. Suddenly she heard a twig snap, and then another, and then a 3rd. something was following her… and whatever it was it wasn’t very sneaky. Fern spun around, hoping to catch the possible threat of guard. She ran towards the source of the noise and lashed out with her claws. Fern heard a pained ‘Yip!’. She looked at the source and saw a.. bundle of red fur? Fern remembered her mom telling her something about a creature called a fox… and that they hunted lynx cubs. But this one was just a small bit bigger than Fern, and it looked too weak to hunt anything. It was just skin and bones! It lay on the ground in front of her, whimpering from what was probably hunger, and even though Fern could easily kill it and have free food, she couldn’t.
It looked like it was a cub, just like Fern, and from how small it was it must have lost its parents too. It was in the same situation Fern was in, she couldn’t bring herself to kill it. Nearby she found some berries and brought two of them to the young fox. Once it had eaten it looked at her curiously “w-why did you s-save me?” she said. “Well… you’re in the same situation I am, homeless with nobody to feed you”. The fox stared at Fern, confused and in awe “Well my names Vixen… what’s your name” the timid fox cub asked. “I’m Fern” Fern replied, happy that she had a new friend in this crazy wilderness. Fern walked over to the berry bush with Vixen and they both ate happily, normally Fern would have hated berries but, it was all she had right now. The two friends walked off to find a den. Hoping their lives would be easy. But they were very wrong, very wrong indeed.
Chapter 4
Fern woke up; it had now been a month since her family died, and a month since she met her new friend, Vixen. Although Vixen was a fox, the two had connected. Both of their families had died and Vixen had been starving but Fern couldn’t bring herself to kill Vixen for food. They had found a den a bit after they met, and had lived there since. They were self-taught in hunting and were still pretty bad, but there were lots of berry bushes nearby when they can’t catch anything. Fern had frequent nightmares about her family’s death, and from how sometimes Fern woke up to find Vixen twitching and talking in her sleep, she did too. Fern got up and did her morning routine, sat up, flattened her fur, by the time she was done Vixen was awake. And they both went out to go hunting.
They split up to cover more ground and started searching for food. Fern sniffed the air, searching for food. She smelled a mouse, and heard it too. It was in an open area of the forest, searching for food. Fern snuck up on it, and pounced. She killed it in a quick bite. It was small though, so she buried it and kept searching. She could hear more mice in the field, and started stalking. Suddenly, she heard a cry so loud even her dead family could probably hear it. She looked around searching for the source when she suddenly saw a shadow coming towards her fast. She looked up to see something flying there, like a big white bird. But it looked more like a big HUNGRY white bird that was swooping down to eat her! Fern ran as fast as she could, but couldn’t escape. It was about to grab her when she heard it cry out in pain. She looked back to see Vixen fighting off the bird. Fern now remembered her mom tell stories about Eagles, this must be one. As Fern stood there, paralyzed, watching the young fox fight the dangerous predator. She wanted to help, she NEEDED to. But she couldn’t, she was paralyzed, Fern couldn’t move.
She was about to watch another precious friend die, and she was going to be able to do nothing about it.
Fern watched Vixen fight the eagle. She watched as her friend was wounded. It felt like everything was going in slow motion. Vixen was badly hurt and losing blood. She collapsed on the ground, looking at Fern desperately, and Fern saw Vixen’s look of despair as Fern didn’t help. The eagle grabbed Vixen and started lifting her into the air, but Vixen was heavier than the eagle thought, and it was taking a while to lift off. This was Fern’s last chance, it was now or never. She needed to save Vixen NOW… but she couldn’t. Her legs refused to move. She watched as Vixen was carried up into the air. Vixen looked at Fern, eyes wide with disbelief and despair. And only now was Fern able to force her legs to move. She ran, and ran, and ran, and ran, and ran! Running so fast and hard that her paws started to hurt and she tore so many muscles but she kept running. As the eagle carried Vixen back to its nest, Fern chased them. Fern ran as fast as she could… but she lost them. She couldn’t see the eagle anymore… Vixen was gone.
Chapter 5
Fern walked back to her den, she left the mouse she had caught in the field, she didn’t deserve to eat today after letting Vixen die. Fern lay down where she normally did, but it felt so cold and empty without Vixen there, and it took so long to fall asleep without the warmth to comfort her. She was alone.
Fern got up the next morning, and walked outside. She didn’t clean herself either. She felt like such a failure, twice now her friends and family were about to die in front of her, but she couldn’t save them. She grabbed some berries and ate them. Then she went out and grabbed the mouse from yesterday. It was buried in dirt so luckily nothing had found it yet. She ate it, slowly as she thought about what happened. But she suddenly heard the snap of a twig behind her, “Vixen?!” she shouted, as she spun around, hoping her dear friend had somehow made it back. And in front of her she saw A fox… but not the one she wanted to see. The last thing she saw was a flash of red, as its jaws clamped down on her.
Fern woke up to find the wind blowing through her face. She was still alive, but she felt a stabbing pain in her back. She tried to spin around to see what was holding her and saw a large bundle of red fur. The fox was bringing her somewhere, possibly to its den for its cubs to eat. She was weak, the fox was paying no care to how hard it bit down on her and she was losing blood because of it. As Fern was carried away she felt a strange feeling. An almost peaceful one and she saw some light, even though it was late in the night by now. She wanted to go to it. And as it filled her vision, consuming her, she closed her eyes. She was thinking “so is this what death feels like”, she wasn’t struggling to stay alive, she thought she deserved this; she let all her loved ones die. She didn’t think she deserved to stay alive. But before the light fully consumed her she heard an almost familiar yip. That yip snapped her out of it, she needed to see if it was who she thought it was. But the light was still trying to take her with it. She was too weak to spin around and see what the source was. The last thing she remembered was being thrown out of the jaws of the fox, landing hard on a rock, and seeing the predator run away from a much smaller creature. It walked towards her as she was starting to lose consciousness, and the last thing she heard was “Fern! Don’t leave please stay with me!”, in the most familiar voice she could think of.
Chapter 6
Fern opened her eyes, her head hurt and she couldn’t remember what happened. She stood up and found that her back hurt like as if it was on fire, at least that’s what Fern thought it was like, she had never seen actual fire. She looked at her back to find leaves on it, and her fur felt stiff. There must be some kind of herbs on it, she thought. Fern was fully awake now and remembered what had happened, a fox had taken her and was bringing her to its den, and that’s where the injuries came from, the fox biting her. She was about to die but then someone saved her. She suddenly remembered. She whipped around in circles a bit, trying to find the one who saved her. And found that she was in her den. The one she had lived in with Vixen. Fern tried to run outside but collapsed, her body was finally remembering how weak she was from the injuries. But then someone came in with the smell of prey. She looked up to see…. Vixen! Fern looked at Vixen in silence for a moment, not knowing what to say, and then suddenly burst into tears. She threw herself at Vixen and hugged her as tight as she could, to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. She’s was real, Fern thought, she’s alive! “Whoa! Hey Fern get off, I know your happy that I’m not dead but if you keep this up I will be! You’re heavy!” Vixen shouted jokingly, but Fern could tell Vixen wanted to cry too. They lay there for a few moments, embracing each other happily.
Fern stood up, “how did you… how is this possible… how are you alive!” Fern asked through her tears. “Well..” Vixen started thoughtfully, “I was being flown through the air by the eagle, when a large gust of wind put it off balance, I had given up on surviving but then I heard this little voice in the back of my head telling me to not give up, to use the wind as an opportunity to attack the eagle, and telling me that I couldn’t leave you alone with everyone you loved dead. So I attacked the eagles claws and ran away”, Fern was confused “But how did you save me from the fox? It was an adult and you’re only a cub” she asked, Vixen flexed her claws “You underestimate how much I sharpen my claws” she said, mischievously. And Fern laughed. She was finally back with her lost friend, she wasn’t an entire failure, and she was given a second chance with Vixen.
Fern awoke the next morning, and looked to her side. Vixen was still there, it wasn’t a dream. She did her morning routine and flattened her fur until Vixen woke up like always. And they both went out to hunt. This time they hunted together so they could be safe. But then Fern heard a strange noise, and then felt water fall onto her nose. It was starting to rain. But not just rain, it was starting to storm. And what’s worse, Fern’s eyes flew wide from realization.
They were right next to a river.
Chapter 7
“We have to get away from this river!” Fern shouted, but the rain was so heavy Vixen couldn’t hear her. Vixen was running to a fallen tree for shelter, but it was right next to the rapidly rising river. Fern shouted, and ran towards Vixen as fast as possible. She made it and shouted that they have to get away. But by the time she said that and they started to move. The muddy river water had already washed them and the fallen tree away.
Fern struggled, she has to save Vixen. She wouldn’t let the same thing happen again. Fern swam, and swam, and swam. The thunder was loud and the lightning bright. She swam as fast as she could, and Vixen did too. The water was rising higher, but they managed to reach each other. “Vixen! We have to find something to grab onto!” Fern shouted as loud as she could, and ended up swallowing a mouthful of water too. “I know but theres nothing to grab!” Vixen shouted in reply. Suddenly, lightning struck a tree up ahead.
It was going to fall right on them.
Fern watched in horror, staring at the leaning tree. She was trying to figure out what to do when suddenly it dawned on her. She wouldn’t allow her second chance to get away. She would save Vixen. Fern looked at Vixen, “Vixen, thank you. And I love you as much as my own family” she said, “But this s-sounds like you’re saying goodbye” Vixen said, about to cry… “That’s because it is…” Fern said, and with all her strength she pushed Vixen to a rock nearby. And the falling tree landed on her.
The storm calmed, and the water fell again. The tree wouldn’t have crushed Fern she just would have not been able to get out from under it. Vixen swam to the tree as fast as possible and found Fern. The water was low enough now that the spot the tree landed on was just the riverbed. “Fern.. please. Don’t leave me” Vixen said, crying. “I have to… Vixen…. I made this mistake with my family, a storm like this happened and they drowned… I was given a second chance with you… and I wasn’t gonna fail again” Fern said weakly. Vixen cried so much Fern could have sworn an eagle would swoop down and grab her too. “Don’t be sad Vixen. Thank you for protecting me from the fox, and the eagle… if you hadn’t then I wouldn’t have survived long enough to get my second chance to save my loved ones…. Thank you” Fern said. And then her breathing slowed, and then stopped. Vixen cried out “No! You can’t leave me! What about MY second chance, my family died too I need mine!”, even though Fern was dead Vixen could have sworn she heard her voice whisper in her ear.. “You already got two extra chances. When you saved me from the fox and the eagle…” and then the voice faded away.