The Sanity Coma II: There is No Beauty Left Here...

Falconfang rushed across the barren strip of land separating him from the roaring river, not even looking behind him to see if the Riverclan deputy was following. Much to his surprise, the land sloped down as a waterfall crashed into a much calmer pool below. Unable to stop himself, the Windclan warrior tumbled head over paws until he crashed awkwardly into the ground below. Letting out a low groan of embarrassment of pain, he pushed himself up shakily and cast his gaze for Embershade.

Seeing her lying exhausted a few tail lengths away, he quickly ran over towards the barely-moving Thunderclan warrior. "Embershade, are you okay?" he gasped out.

Embershade nodded. "So... Much..."Her voice cut off. She she stared at the slope of water. Then she looked at her paws. Embershade slowly stood, her shaky legs making her wobble. She padded around the area, when finally, her legs stopped shaking. "Where are we? How do we get back?"She blurted out. Trying to see if she could figure it out on her own, Embershade looked at a pile of bushes, also on a slope. Seeing if she could push through them to get up, she started climbing towards them.

Embershade reached the bushes, and tried to claw her way through them. They moved a little, but not enough for Embershade to squeeze pass them. She started another direction, and tried to squeeze past a bramble bush. A bramble scraped at her face, she shrieked, and fell down the little stretch of hill. She got up in an instance, and sat facing Falconfang. "Where are we? How do we get back?" She asked again, already have tried what she was thinking.

Falconfang shook his head, allowing his gaze to take in the surroundings, though he knew it was fruitless. He never knew where he was in his dreams: they were just dark nightmares, nothing more... right?

"I don't know where we are," he mewed softly, a defeated sound in his voice. Why wouldn't these dreams just leave him alone?

As soon as she had heard Falconfang's reply, Embershade's eyes grew with worry. One thing popped in her mind. "What if-." She stopped and looked at the trees to verify her suggestion. "What if we climb through the trees to get back up?" She continued. Without waiting for an answer, she clawed up a tree and noticed that many trees were jump's length away. "It'll work!" She shouted to Falconfang. She smiled for the first time that dream. "Come on!"

Crossing the distance that her running had made between them, Falconfang stared up nervously at Embershade, standing confidently on a tree branch. "I..." A nervous shiver went up and down the warrior's spine. There were no trees in Windclan; he had no idea how to climb them! "I should stay down here, in case Silvershade wants to find us," he finished lamely.

"Ohhh." Embershade gasped. "You don't know how to climb trees?" She asked. "It's easy!" She realized her mistake and slapped her tail across her mouth. "Whoops."

Falconfang dismissed her suggestion with a wave of his tail, feeling his fur grow hot with embarrassment. "It's okay Embershade. I don't think Silvershade will be too happy if we disappear on her."

"But she's up there." She pointed upwards. "And if we climb the trees, we'll get there before she tries to find us and falls down here, too!" Embershade pointed out.

A nervous expression crossed Falconfang's face, but he could only nod shakily as he dug his claws into the bark of the tree and attempted to haul himself up. It was an awkward display to be sure: he looked like he'd never seen a tree in his life, which wasn't all that far off. As he continued to haul himself up, he had to shut his eyes so he wouldn't be tempted to look down.

Embershade smiled as the WindClan warrior started climbing the tree. As he closed his eyes, she almost shrieked the instructions. "Don't close your eyes, you might fall." She meowed calmly. "Once you get to the top, all you have to do is jump and get a hold on a branch. Like this!" She leaped through the air, catching her claws on a branch. She kept jumping through the trees until she came upon the last tree, which wasn't far from the first. "You try!" She shouted and jumped onto flat land.

Forcing his eyes open, the shaking Windclan warrior finally dragged himself onto the first branch, clinging to it as if letting go would drop him to the ground below. His temporary relief turned to sheer terror when Embershade called for him to start jumping between branches towards a tree that, while not truly far from the one he was perched in, may as well have been as far as the ocean was deep. "A-are you crazy?!" he yowled in fright, his eyes catching the distance between him and the ground and suddenly making him dizzy. Oh Starclan, I'm gonna die! he wailed internally, clutching that branch for dear life.

"Yes! I may be crazy!" Embershade called back to Falconfang. She laughed, then saw that Falconfang was scared. She stopped, and yelled, "you can do this!" As hard as she could. Inside, she truly felt he could do it. Even if that meant she was crazy.

There was no other choice. Shakily standing up on the branch, Falconfang gathered any shred of courage he had left and jumped, flailing desperately for the next branch. He got it... barely. While both his front paws reached, only one of his back paws did, and quickly he slipped off the tree, his front paws the only thing keeping him from falling to the ground below. Unable to quiet a scream of fear, the Windclan warrior attempted to pull himself back up, but he was slipping... his paws were meant to churn the earth, not jump from trees like a squirrel! "Embershade!" he yowled desperately, wanting to pray to Starclan but not sure that they would hear him in this dark place.

Embershade heard a scream pierce the air. "Falconfang." She gasped, and jumped into the tree. She ran back to the spot, just to see Falconfang fall. She grabbed desperately for his flank, and gripped it, trying to pull him up. As heavy as he was, she managed it and hoisted him onto a thick branch. "Are you okay?" She panted.

And then a flash of silver fur and luminous blue eyes peered through the dark green leaves. "Even I know how to climb a tree!" she giggled.