Early Awakening

Heartpup lay in the sleeping den, her fur ruffled from hours of sleep. Her white fur was a dim gray out of her gloomy eyes. But then loud chirps of a bird woke her even more, and she blinked her eyes open. She aroused to see an early morning, around dawn. She yawned, knowing she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. As she stood to her paws, looking around the den; She couldn't see any of her siblings in the darkness of the cave, and she yipped lowly to wake them up.

Heartpup turned back to the outside of the den, she stood to her paws and stretched. She shook her body from nose to tail, her ears making slight flapping noises. She blinked her eyes a bit more, licking her lips slightly. She yawned once more and sat, waiting for one of her siblings to awake; If any were asleep.

Cloudpup was running for her life, she could hear the crashing of a large animal behind her. She had no idea what this creature was, only that she had to get away from it, and fast. She ran as fast as her little legs would take her, stumbling over rocks and foliage that covered her path. She yelped out loud when she tripped over a small fallen tree, knocking her to the ground. She wriggled desperately, but she couldn't get up. Then the crashing noise stopped, only to be replaced by the continuous footsteps sounding behind her. Cloudpup was terrified, but she dared to look back, just to get a glimpse of what was chasing her. There, standing before her, was the biggest grizzly bear she had ever seen, towering above her, with claws as big as tree trunks. She cried out hopelessly as the creature lowered its massive paw over her.

Cloudpup awoke with a start, yelping out loud. She suddenly got very still, her heart thudding against her chest as if it was going to break free. She looked around her, but found nothing but darkness. She heard a yip in front of her, out in the darkness of the den, and finally realized that it was her sister, Heartpup. Relief flooded over Cloudpup as she slowly got to her paws, still shaking from the terrible dream she had. She shook the dust off of her pelt, sending it flying every where. She padded up to the enterance to the den to meet her sister outside.

"Good morning," Cloudpup said, blinking away the dim dawn light. Her eyes were still used to the darkness of the den. As her eyes got used to the light, she turned her back to the rising sun and felt the warmth of it on her back. She stretched her jaws wide to let a yawn escape, and stretched all of her legs, also arching her back, making her fur bristle a bit.

Heartpup gazed at the beautiful sunrise that shone half-way into the nursery. Her ear flicked back, she could hear one of her siblings squirming on the den floor behind her, though didn't look to see who, wanting to see every second of the dawn. The white pelt of the pup was like solid snow and stood out against the warmer season's surroundings. Then when she finally heard a voice, she easily recognized it as Cloudpup's. The young whelp practically jumped around to face her beloved sister, wagging her tail happily. Heartpup rumbled her throat a bit, not a growl, just a rumble. For some reason she seemed to have a bit of a soar throat today. "Good morning, Cloud-" Before she was able to finish, the pup was interrupted by hard coughs that could probably wake the rest of her siblings. "Sorry, I don't feel so well today," she explained, flattening her ears a bit.

She shot her ears upward again, smiling at Cloudpup with a caring expression. She licked the edge of her mouth, which soon made her maw open up wide in a yawn. She was tired, yes, but she didn't want to go back to sleep. She knew that she'd become more awake the longer she didn't sleep. "How are you? Are you better than me this morning?" Heartpup asked, turning her fluffy, white neck towards the entrance. The best part of the twilight still had a while to end, so she could hopefully watch more of it later. For now, she looked back at Cloudpup, wishing to talk with her for a bit.

Runningwind was waiting by leafpool's den it seemed like days since she left for kenos pack for mint, he was worried about her. he tried to persuade her into letting him just go. but she just said that she was a just a healer so they wouldn't hurt without good reason but he wasn't so sure kenos pack has never been friendly towards there pack and there was no reason for them to start. his ears twitched to what sounded like coughing, it had to be one of the pups Leapool told him to stay away from them until she got buck but he couldn't just leave them alone while no one else was here. besides if no on greeted them they would think something was going on.

Runningwind trotted over to the nursery he could see both Heartpup and Cloud pup were up. as he padded towards he greeted the two pups, "good morning young ones i hope you two have slept well." he laid down in front of the pups, " i see we are enjoying the rising sun. tell me Heartpup how are you feeling?"

(I'm moving Dawncloud over here since the other thread with her sorta died... <.<)

Dawncloud yawned and blinked her eyes open. She stared sleepily outside where the sun was shining bright. Her ears twitched, detecting voices outside. She recognized her pack mate's voices immediately; Runningwind, Cloudppup, and Heartpup. The brown femme perked up and got to her paws. She made her way outside, shaking the loose dust off of her pelt on the way. She grinned at the pups, but restrained herself from joining the group. Leafpool had told them not to go near the pups in case of spreading the disease, but something was off. It seemed Cloudpup hasn't been effected by the disease yet. Either that or she was in the early stages of it, Dawncloud couldn't tell. She knew very little about herbs and what not, so she decided not to jump to conclusions.

Dawncloud settled herself down beside the enterance to her den. She lowered her head and rested it on her forepaws, closing her eyes slightly. She was fully rested and didn't feel like going to sleep again, but basking in the sun was just as well with her.

Stormpup followed the trail, the burning scent tingling her nose. Her dark gray paws skimmed across the forest floor as if she were flying. The pup leapt over fallen trees and darted through brambles like they weren't there. She moved as quick and silent as a snake, while the rabbit she pursued crashed through the briars, creating no end of annoying noise. Finally they came out of the woodlands and back into the flat open plains of the mountains. Stormpup snarled in triumph. She had the dusky cottontail rabbit cornered up against a rock face. The dark gray female slowed to a stalk, a grin on her face. Just then, the rabbit opened it's jaws to reveal a sharp set of buck teeth...and had an attack of harsh coughs.

Stormpup blinked her eyes open. The stormy pups annoyed amber gaze flicked over to Heartpup, who had imterrupted her dream with a seizure of racking coughs. "Do you mind?" she said, obviously aggravated. "I was chasing this big fat rabbit and I was about to..." she trailed off, seeing how awful her sister looked. She immediately scrambled to her feet, scattering moss all around. She nuzzled her sister comfortingly. "Aww, Heartpup! It's okay. Want Runningwind to fetch something from Leafpool?"

Cloudpup smiled at her sister and dropped down on her front legs, waving her tail in the air. She wanted to play after her nightmare to brighten her mood, but the playful ness of her posture dissapeared quickly when her sister started coughing. Her eyes widened slightly in worry and she frowned. Stormpup had already been sick, but now Heartpup is too? she thought. That's not fair. "I'm fine," she said, her voice light. "I hope you feel better soon."

She was about to say something else, but she was interrupted by Runningwind. She turned to look at him and flattened her ears. She inched behind her sister, only barely poking her nose out to see him. "Hi Runningwind," she said, obviously letting her shyness take over.

Heartpup turned around to see Runningwind enter the den. Normally she was slightly shy around other pack members, but she'd gained a good friendship with him over a couple of months. She was about to say hello, but before she could speak he asked her how she felt. "Not so well," she explained, lowering her head and heaving a small sigh. "I think I'm getting sick." Her wasn't a very happy one, she felt terrible. The pup shifted into a sitting stance, coughing a bit more, much harder than before. She peered outside to look a little more at the rising sun, and caught glance of Dawncloud in front of her own den. Heartpup smiled, and began wagging her tail by seeing her awake, she was even more attached to her than Runningwind. "Hi, Dawncloud!" She shouted in joy, but soon returned to her sad reality of sickness.

Once she finished her glance at Dawncloud, Runningwind, and the dawn, she heard her other sister yelling at her. The small whelp winced as she spoke, jumping into a standing position once again in surprise around the beginning of her words. She peeked open one of her eyes, then the other followed when she heard the last of Stormpup's speech. "Thanks," she said with a rough voice. She smiled a bit when her sister nuzzled her, it made her a bit happier knowing that Stormpup wasn't too mad at her."No, I'm fine.. Really." Heartpup didn't want to be a burden, and right now her coughing wasn't that bad, though she could feel it getting worse quickly. "But how are you?

Her question was soon answered by Cloudpup, which didn't surprise her since she had asked her a moment earlier. "I'm fine," she heard her say, which made her flatten her ears and look to Stormpup. "I hope you feel better soon." "Thanks, Cloudpup." She had just said almost exactly the same thing to Stormpup, but it was right to repeat it to Cloudpup as well.

Running wind looked towards stormpup she was always the adventerous of the three pups Leafpool siad she was the sickest of the three but it didn't seem like it, "leafpool is out gathering herbs, she will be back soon." or at least he hoped she would be back soon. his ears twitched when heard a small voice coming from behind Heartpup. he already knew who it was, Cloudpup has always been shy around him even though he visited the pups just about every, "hello young Cloudpup i hope you feeling alright"

Runningwind looked towards Leafpools den, he wondered if she had returned from the Kenos pack yet. he decided to check and find out. he stood to his paws and bowed his head to the pups, "i must take my leave but hopefully i will be back soon with leafpool" with that he turned and padded towards Leafpools den

Cloudpup, still hiding behind her sister, peeked around Heartpup and looked at Runningwind. "I'm fine," she said in a small voice. When the white male turned and walked away toward Leafpool's den, Cloudpup stepped away from her sister and watched him leave. After she was sure he wasn't coming back, she turned her attention back to her siblings, the old worry for them returning.

"Stormpup, I hope you feel better," she said hopefully. "It's no fun when both of you are sick." The wind picked up, so strong that it almost knocked her over. She stumbled over a bit and looked up in the sky. Dark clouds were spreading over the perfectly blue sky, ruining the beautiful dawn.