Chapter Text
Fumble’mask hacked and gasped, barely managing to drag herself and an unconscious Bluebell’star back into their clan’s camp.
Wary’pear, Fumble’mask’s son, saw them first. He spotted them crawling into camp as he was strutting back from a hunting patrol, with a humongous rabbit in his mouth. His triumphant smile quickly turned into one of awful dread. He looked down at the rabbit—then back to Bluebell and Fumble—frantically, wondering if he should drop his amazingly great catch. Come on, me, this is important! This isn’t a hard decision!
He sprinted towards them, throwing the rabbit onto the ground.
“Mama!” He yelled. Fumble sharply snapped her head in Pear’s direction and faintly smiled, tears already spilling down her face.
“Mama I’m coming, don’t w-“
PFT! Pear fell forward and was planted face-first into the ground. He spat out some dirt from his mouth and looked up wearily.
River’stem.That no good, mother-leavin’—ugh! Wary’pear swiped angrily at the ground in front of him, sending up a thick cloud of dust that flew right down in his throat, causing him to violently cough and hop around crazily.
River’stem flapped his wings hard towards the injured leader and deputy. He stopped right in front of Fumble’mask’s face and frantically asked, “How is your well-being? I-I implore you to s-stay awake! Fumble! Stay awake,” He panicked, seeing her eyelids fluttering closed. He thwacked her muzzle with his tail feathers. “FUMBLE, PLEASE! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?”
She hacked out a glob of mint green phlegm, speckled with red, and gave River a playful grin.
River perched himself on her muzzle, lifting one of her floppy ears up with his wing. Inspecting it with care, along with the other ear. He then checked her eyes, nose, and gums. She giggled, which made River even more distressed. “Fumble, clearly you’re in a state of deliriousness-“
“My condition is ‘feeling beautiful’ and ‘has probably got pneumonia’, thanks for a-“
She puked up a lot more phlegm, now shaking. River saw some wounds on her underbelly, back, and left hind leg. He looked back up at her, the horror on his face contrasting with her sweet smile. “Hehe, you do care about me.”
Wary’pear bounded up behind them and stuck his tongue out at River’stem—behind his mother’s back, of course. He wouldn’t be caught dead doing that in front of her. He shimmied himself under Bluebell’star and gave River one last glare before hastily padding as fast as he could towards the doctor’s grotto.