Lost Creek Hollow and as I set to face it, I'm unsure should I embrace it, should I run?

Keeping his previous thread vague, i have the muse and I wanted to kick him over here

Edit: whoops forgot to tag @Silvertongue @Crowfeather @Ash Paw sorry about that guys!

Demon. Spider. Adder.

They all hissed across the back of his head. Aquillius didn’t recognize the person he was becoming. The demon had ripped chunks from his body, the adder and the spider whispered dark magicks. His dreams twisted dark and low.

His ankle clicked every three steps like clockwork. He began to count his steps, using them to stay present. If he lost count, he would fall into the dark all over again.

His father wasn’t here. He was healed. He had a debt to pay all his own, to the healer woman who had pulled him from death’s door and then spent the next several weeks whipping him back into shape.

The ragged, rawboned boy held a rabbit in his shaking jaws, visibly unsettled as he made for the borders of the hollow pack. 

1, 2, 3, 4

He paced the borders like a spooked horse, before freezing in place, stiff as a gargoyle.

5, 6, 7

Hello, Crowfeather greeted in his soft voice. 

One shadow met another. The dark star moved from his place in the lush underbrush. His honey gold eyes traveled the length of their visitor. 

Though the stranger carried prey, his legs did not look fit to hold him. His eyes were weary and guarded, shimmering with the softest touch of madness. Crowfeather found himself grow uneasy. He couldn’t determine the visitor’s intentions by looking at him. If he had been forced to guess, he would believe the young wolf was there for healing. Riverclan had a number of talented medics in their ranks. 

Do you need some help? Some healing? he inquired. 

Another step forward would reveal that Crowfeather walked on three legs. The mangled flesh was a reminder of the lost limb.

Aquillius was fortunate enough to be approached on his seeing side, so the eagleson met the eye of the shadow as he came from the underbrush.

He would turn his head to face him, muscles jumping under his pelt every few seconds. Constantly ready to lunge into flight or fight at any moment. But he did not run, not yet, only dipping his head to place the rabbit on his paws.

G-Greetings. A voice crack around his paranoid spirit.

I wanted to..gift this. To your pack. For the help I received from Faun. He swallowed what felt like a thousand coals, not registering he hadn’t even spoken his name.

The rabbit was a gift. Cracking from the young man’s voice as he lowered the prey to his paws. He had said that it was for Faun, for the help she had offered him. 

The dark star nodded his head, knowing that Faun was skilled and that her kindness made her talents with medicine even stronger. He hoped that she had been able to restore the dark stranger. It did not look as though the road had done him much good. 

Crowfeather drew a few steps closer. His movement was tentative. It could have been for the benefit of the boy. More than likely, it was to ease the Riverclan leader into a closer proximity with someone unknown. 

Why don’t you come in? We’ll see if we can find her together. You can give that gift yourself, he said, motioning to the rabbit.

The man was gentle, calm. Aquillius did not ease, but he loosened up some, less stone gargoyle more seasoned soldier. The boy swallowed thickly again, his ears twitching.

If you are certain.

Faun could protect him. She would know what to say to him, to banish the demon and the spider and the adder from his mind and cast their dark shadow off his psyche.

He dipped his head down to pluck the rabbit from the ground. The soft fur tickled his palette, a grounding point.

As soon as the dark man began moving, Aquillius would follow behind.

1, 2, 3, 4

I’ll throw Doedapple/Faun in after your post!

Perfect! ^^

Crowfeather nodded his head as if to say of course I am certain. A small smile lifted his dark features. His eyes shifted to the boy’s rabbit before he turned to lead their visitor through the hollow. He would touch on some beautiful landmarks on their way to the healing dens. It would hopefully ease the young soldier into a calmer state. There would be no duties for him in Riverclan, no strict regime.

You remind me of someone, Crowfeather tried for conversation.

Germanicus was the only soldier that the dark wolf had known intimately. The man seemed suited for leadership more than following orders. There was something about him that radiated his dutiful heart. The boy with the rabbit had a similar air to him.

Are you a soldier?


They neared the healing area.

Talking, outside her den. She recognized Crowfeather’s gentle voice, enough to perk her interest.

Doedapple turned her body towards the voices, watching with a critical eye that she would swear later on helped her hear better. The three beat step of Crowfeather, and the anxious but measured step of another. It was only when they came into view that she was blinking, shocked.

Aquillius? Germanicus’s son? Her frown deepened her face, the healer taking a few steps forward to greet the two.

Is your ankle alright? You didn’t fracture it again, did you? What on earth was the boy doing here? Last she’d seen him had been before her heat. He should have been just fine by now.

He would follow half a step back, offering the older man the same respect he would offer to anyone he identified as leadership. He kept to his seeing side, one ear constantly used as a radar while the other focused on the dark stranger.

Slowly, he would relax as the man pointed out places in the territory, the shadows retreating from his eyes and his body becoming less stiff. He kept his steps as measured as he was able to, still feeling out of his depth.

”You remind me of someone.” Aquillius’s aquiline eye found the man, one eyebrow raised in curiosity.

He could smell herbs up ahead. They must have been getting close.

”Are you a soldier?”

His nod came slow. He was a soldier at heart, despite the abandonment of his post. It was simply how he had been raised, before the magicks and the demons. The thoughts soured his aura all over again. His name drew him from his thoughts, and he stiffly marched to the thin limbed woman, dropping the rabbit at her feet.

Nothing’s wrong. Everything was wrong and Aquillius didn’t know how to fix it, if he even could.

I wanted to offer you a gift. As repayment.

The boy nodded his head. A soldier, then. That would explain the similarity.

Until Doedapple appeared and spoke a name.

Aquillius?

Crowfeather’s body tightened until he could feel the muscles in his neck and back screaming for release. The breath caught in his throat. Fear struck his honey eyes. He had heard the name before. Germanicus had spoken it only a few days prior – his son.

The dark star did not know what to say. He watched the woman and the boy share a moment with each other. Watched as Doedapple came to the young man’s aid, seeking where he might need help.

Germanicus’ son.

Doedapple could see Crowfeather over Aquillius’s thin shoulder, the confusion on her face morphing into concern for the star. But she didn’t call attention to it, instead offering him a meaningful look before her gaze went back to the stiff backed boy.

So young to act as a soldier.

Well, thank you dear. Her voice was slipping into motherly as she spoke, pulling the rabbit closer to her.

But you didn’t have to do that. You should be resting, not gallivanting after rabbits. A gentle chide, compared to the ones she had given previous.

The chiding was ridiculously familiar to what he remembered of the healer but unlike before, he didn’t snap back to her. The boy stood instead, twitching with uncertainty, eye darting over his shoulder to check that the coast was clear from lunging jaws and skittering, laughing spiders.

He twitched back towards the woman, slowly maneuvering himself to be able to look at Faun, but in a way face them both. The eagleson twitched an ear.

Right. 

He paused, before turning to the dark coated man.

Thank you. For bringing me here. Now he would have to go back out there, where he wasn’t sure where to go next. Back to Kvarshiem, and bring his curse upon them again? Out into the wilderness? Unconsciously, his breathing hitched, and he stiffened up all over again.

Doedapple chided him for venturing while needing to recover.

Crowfeather’s eyes raced over the boy’s body again. The lump in his throat grew until it could not be swallowed. Even with the look from the healer woman, the shadow stood stiff and uncertain. The nervousness was difficult to fight. He did not know anything about this boy except for who his father was. Were they on good terms with each other?

Without thinking, the three-legged man dipped his head to the young wolf.

You do not have to leave. There’s p-p-plenty of places for resting in Riverclan. And you- you would not be far from your healer, Crowfeather offered.

The young man was a troubled kid, she had known that the first time he had seemingly rose from the depths of his fever to shriek in her face about demons and spiders. Looking at him now, she knew this was beyond her expertise. Whatever the boy was going through, it was deeper than the skin, muscles, and bones she knew.

Perhaps Kestrelcloud could assist.

He’s right. A pause, before she would open her mouth again.

And I have someone else who you should see, perhaps. Given you stay. Concern radiated from her chest as she watched the boy, and then the dark man in front of her. Shadows of each other in ways she did not know how to correct.

Doedapple could knit skin over wounds, could set broken legs, could help birth babes, but the mind was its own cruel mistress.

Not leave?

Aquillius’s body loosened for a half second in his own shock. He should leave. Rather quickly, all things considered. Let these people live in peace while he drew the magicks to himself. But that seemed no way to live for the common man.

But he? He had never been a common man. Aquillius was a soldier, through and through. He licked his lips.

I..don’t know. His eye left the dark man, sliding down to his paws, gripping the dirt.

Again to the concerned looking Doedapple. Than the nervous man.

I am healed. He tried to wheedle after a moment.

I do not need to take up resources that can be given to others.

There was an internal struggle in which Crowfeather wished to agree with the boy. They should let him be off and on his way, off to serve whoever he served with such a rigid body and stern expression.

Doedapple was the reminder that he could not let his fear drive him. She gazed upon the young wolf with the eyes of the a healer. It was only right that the three-legged star should do the same. The more he thought on it, the more it made sense to invite Aquillius into their home.

What are resources for, if not to treat the injured?

Crowfeather willed his courage to return, only to keep him buoyant in this sea of anxiety.

Some healers tend to the body. Some tend to the mind… Riverclan has many healers.

A huffing exhale through his nose.

And many resources.

Doedapple, had she the appendages to do so, would have flashed Crowfeather the biggest thumbs up of her life. But, seeing as she didn’t have thumbs, she merely just smiled as big and as wide as her face would allow.

Her eyes then went to the boy.

If you aren’t sure, why not just stick around for a little while, see how you fit in. At the very least, just stay for one session. She could play dirty here, bring in the obvious want to please his father, but she didn’t. If only because that would be rude.

Here, you look somewhat faint. Go lay in my den for a bit, make your decision with a clear head. Doedapple twisted to gesture to the den, flexing her toes to attempt a point.

Theres a sleeping place in the corner. A little soldier would want the wall at his back, and everything she knew of Aquillius would speak to that as a truth.

Was he?

Aquillius couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually slept through the night. Maybe it was when he was fevered and his sleep was split between deep nothing and nightmarish dreams with a thousand figures he’d loved and lost.

He looked between Crowfeather, Doedapple, the dark woods, and crumpled externally, his entire demeanor softening into that of a very tired boy. Wordlessly, he nodded, turning to shamble into the healer’s den. He was halfway in when he paused, whipping his head around to look at Doedapple, fear in his single eye.

They came back, you have to not let them in. You have to. His words were a hoarse, harsh whisper, and he turned into the soothing dark without noticing Doedapple’s flinch back. It was easy to find the place in the corner, made of soft moss and a skin like they had used in Akashingo.

Aquillius pressed his shoulder to the wall, slid down, and fell into a pile of limbs. Sleep would not find him for many hours, but he would be found by those visions all over again.

This time though, feathers would settle over his vision. Protection, a shield, a hallucination all over again.

”What will you do to them?”
Burn them, drown them, draw and quarter them.

Aqui is now skippable!

Doedapple’s words were a sound follow-up. The boy’s body appeared to loosen. Weariness was evident in the depths of his eyes. Crowfeather could not stop himself from watching Aquillius – so similar to Germanicus and yet so different, so hurt.

Fear bubbled to the back of his throat.

What if Crowfeather’s children turned out the same? Wounded and left wandering.

The dark young man slipped into the back of the healer’s den and found the place in the corner where he could rest. The dark star watched him until he had disappeared in the shadows. Crowfeather’s eyes were fixed to the darkness for several seconds. When he pulled them away, his features were distant.

What’s wrong with him? he asked quietly.

Doedapple watched the boy leave, staring at his dark shape for a time, before looking back to Crowfeather.

He was attacked. Twice in a short span. She explained, her ears folding back towards her head as she spoke.

Once up in the mountains, he had to jump off a small cliff to get away from his attacker. Then, near Kvarsheim, but I don’t think that encounter was physical. He got a severe infection on top of some breaks and fractures. The fever was high enough to cause him to hallucinate. He sees things, dark things, a demon and a spider from what I remember of him telling me. She sighed out a long noise.

I did my best, before I came back here. Germanicus did too. But that experience…it doesn’t just leave a man, especially not one as young as Aquillius. He seemed to be doing better when I left him. She folded one paw up to her chest.

I wonder what triggered it all over again… It wouldn’t do her much good to ask him, would it?

Crowfeather’s eyes welled with sadness.

Aquillius had endured so much. It was too much for someone so young. The damage that had been caused to him had likely scarred his mind. There were not many things that could be done to heal such torment. At least, nothing that could be done in a short time. Such recoveries could take years, a lifetime!

The dark star glanced back toward the den and hung his head. Doedapple had done well to tend to the wounds that she could. She had likely worked wonders on his body. The scars would be a reminder he would carry all his life. As he thought of his, his eyes shifted to the stump where his leg had been.

I would like to help him, the shadow stated. If he will let me.

And how would Germanicus feel about his son being in Riverclan?

I think that- I think that the stars could heal some of what has been damaged in his mind.

Doedapple’s ears flicked.

Perhaps you are right. She mused aloud, one ear kept facing the den as the boy stared into nothing.

I don’t mean to speak for him, but you have my permission as his main medic. I feel as though he would benefit from such a thing. Aquillius had a long road, even longer if he continued to stumble his way back to that dark space in his mind.

The doe spotted healer could only wish for the best, and prepare for the worst. It was what all good healers did. She stood and stretched after some seconds of silence.

We should leave him to rest. Doedapple was no fool, she knew the boy would likely remain awake for a while yet, but discussing him where he could hear was never good.

She let a gentle smile curve her lips.

How are the children?

Crowfeather could only hope that she was right, that their combined faith might restore some piece of the dark-furred youth who rested in her den. He knew that the dreams with the stars were important. It was against the Starsea's core beliefs that an outsider should be allowed to sleep in the sacred place. Yet he could not help but feel overwhelmed with the urge to help Aquillius.

Following Doedapple to a place where they could talk without disturbing the young wolf, Crowfeather's ears drew to a point at the mention of his children. A soft smile brushed the man's lips. His eyes shifted away, shyly seeking to focus on something else.

They are good. Better than good… they- they're amazing. His tail waved thinking of the two young wolves and the bright futures they would have ahead of them. I do worry that I will not be a fitting father to them. Shame creased at his brow and he turned his face away from her in an attempt to hide it.