Whitewater Gorge The Scars on My Mind Are on Replay, R-Replay

@Miriam I'm doubling travel days since hotaru is still a kid @Haruki let me know if you want me to change anything I'm making a few assumptions based off what was said in the discord! You are also more than welcome to hop in since he's following hotaru. Also sorry this ended up long lol

Note: minor trigger warnings relating to Takeshi/suggestive content and drowning. Nothing happens just flashbacks

She didn't know what to do, the girl had given all she had, but it wasn't enough. It would have never been enough. The Empire crumbled day by day until only a few remained and at that point, she knew it was gone. The valley she had once loved and called home only grew more suffocating with each lash the real world provided. Maybe one day she would return with the stomach to put what had happened behind her, but for now, she just felt like running. So she did.

Hotaru paid one final visit to the outcropped cliff before fleeing. Beneath the earth laid her mother, the one she wished she could take with her, but now would forever belong to the vale. A soft apology was all that she could offer as tears easily streamed down her cheeks. It would never be her fault that their home was lost, it was simply too big of a task for a kid, but that would not stop her from blaming herself for not picking up the pieces.

One day. She would reclaim her lost home and build her mother's vision back from the ground, but it was clear that as things stood now, she would never be able to accomplish such a lofty goal. She needed time away where she could recover and grow, even if she hadn't fully come to that realization yet. When she finished saying goodbye, the pale girl gathered her siblings and explained her plan to leave.

Four days had passed since then. Somewhere along her descent from the mountain range @Sumi had wandered off. She had always been a wild explorer, it came as no surprise, though this time she wasn't able to go hunting for her. The Empress had no idea where to go, nor the skills to truly survive on her own and Sumi had bounded off far too fast for her to follow. The only difference is this time she wouldn't see her sister as night fell.

As each day passed, hunger began to gnaw at her stomach more and more. On the second day, she had tripped near the mountain's base and tumbled to the plains a short distance away earning a few light scratches. As the third day came to an end her pelt had been matted and dirtied from what felt like endless traveling. Her body ached and her pads were sore. It was hard to remain optimistic when she had no clue what she was doing. There were so many new sights to take in, though for once Hotaru remained rather tunnel-visioned to nature's beauty.

It was early the fourth day when she awoke from the harsh light beating down on the plains the duo had taken refuge at for the previous night. Slipping away from her brother, Hotaru continued on just a bit further to see if she could track down a meal, though her plans would be quickly squashed. The sound of water could be heard through the plains and she knew from their trek down the mountain that a river ran through these lands, what she wasn't aware of was the massive gorge that now sat between her and the land beyond.

The sound was practically deafening, or at least in her own ears. Her body tensed, chest tightening as Hotaru soon found it hard to breathe. It wasn't the same, it wasn't the calm waters of home yet she could see it so clearly. Perhaps it was the sound of the roaring water that made it worse, the falls echoing like the sounds of her thrashing against those cavern walls. Choked sobs freely left her as tears fell from her cheeks. She couldn't breathe— Not with his jaws forcing her head beneath the current. The pale girl fell back, her legs buckling beneath her as she closed in on herself like a ball.