A little friendship is all you need (Hyper and Clary)

[Ruby_Fehu]

Iris purred under her breath in reply, nuzzling her sister back contently. "I am hungry though, I wonder how their hunting went." She said, reverting back to her cublike innocence of not having much of a filter, her hunger almost acting more important in her mind.

---

"Sleep is nice though." Ruby replied, dragging her feet a little as they walked along. "When can I sleep?" She asked after a few moments.

[Hypercube]

(OOC: Happy tenth page!)

"I'm sure it went well" Sola said using the conversation as a distraction from her injury, "mom and dad are probably putting all of their energy just to get home with what they've caught!"

---

"Once we make sure that you're okay" Xoren said tenderly as they moved, obvious exhaustion saturating his voice. As he and Ruby reached the base of their temporary home, he laid her against a larger rock and looked to the mouth of the cave. "Sola! Iris!" he called in a calm tone, "we need your help!" "See?" Sola said with a smile, "What did I tell you? Go help them, we'll deal with my issue once you're all up here."

[Ruby_Fehu]

Iris trotted out of the cave and look down at her parents before grinning and calling out 'mummy' and running down to nuzzle Ruby who pulled away before Iris could nudge her head, so she wouldn't have an even more painful headache. "Hey Iris, where's Sola?" Ruby asked slowly.

Iris look over her shoulder and then back at her parents. "She hurt herself and can't walk." The cub blurted out, not realising her mother needed help also.

[Hypercube]

"What?" Xoren said with painful concern in his voice as he started to walk towards the mouth of the cave before stopping and turning back. As much as he cared for his daughter he knew that she would be okay; it was Ruby that needed attention right now. "Iris," Xoren said with a slightly calmer tone, "I'm going to need you to help me with getting your mother back into the cave. Just stay slightly ahead of us and make sure we aren't about to walk into anything that would cause us to fall okay?" Xoren knew that without Sola to help bringing Ruby up the incline to the cave would be a difficult task in her current condition, but he was determined to at least try. "Alright Ruby," he said nudging back into a walking position, "are you ready?"

[Ruby_Fehu]

Iris tilted her head to one side and puffed out her chest in pride at being given what she felt was an important job, with a smile the young cub turned and marched up to the cave, being very deliberate in her steps so that her parents could clearly see where was safe to walk.

Ruby grumbled under her breath before slouching her flank against Xoren's and starting to move slowly, almost sluggishly.

[Hypercube]

After some struggle Xoren finally managed to bring Ruby to the mouth of the cave where he rested her gently on one of its walls. Hearing their entrance, Sola spun herself along the ground so that she could face her parents with an embarresed smile. "What happened?" she said with a worried voice upon seeing her mother's state. "We had a bit of an accident" Xoren said as he calmly began to lick the open would again as to clear the fresh blood.

Luckily it seemed that the gash Ruby had suffered was beginning to clot; the blood only came in small drops rather than full flow. "It looks like the bleeding has almost stopped..." Xoren said softly as he backed away from his mate while still remaining close, "how are you feeling?"

[Ruby_Fehu]

Ruby blinked and moaned loudly, her head pounding a little, "I'm fine, can I sleep now?" She whined, slumping down to the ground and resting her head on her paws whilst her eyes started to droop. Whilst Iris stood in front of her, looking up at her father curiously.
"Why can't she sleep daddy? Why does she have to ask?"

[Hypercube]

"No!" Xoren said with an obviously worried tone in his voice as he rushed over to Ruby and used his paw to lift her head up and wake her as Iris asked him about the situation. "Well..." he said attempting to think of a false reason, "Iris, I'm not going to lie to you. Your mother is sick and her ability to stay awake is imperative right now. Can you please keep her awake while I attend to your sister?" "No dad," Sola said from a bit further back in the cave, "I'm okay, you deal with mom right now." "It's okay Sola," Xoren retorted, "I need to make sure you're okay too. Please keep her awake Iris" he said softly as he swiftly walked over to his daughter and began examining her injury.

[Ruby_Fehu]

Ruby moaned weakly slumping down to the floor again and nestling her head between her paws. Everything was swimming around her and flashes of red and black kept blocking her sight of Iris. After a few moments of keeping her eyes opened the eventually shut and she slumped to the floor, breathing heavily.


Iris noticed her mother pass out and began to whack her face but with her paws only being small they had no affect. She bit her lip and looked over at her father and Sola before continuing to hit at Ruby's face to try and wake her up from potential unconsciousness.

[Hypercube]

"What happened to you?" Xoren asked his daughter as he lied down in front of her and began to examine her paw. "Iris and I were playing around and - ow!" she stopped her sentence short as her father touched the paw that caused her pain, "that hurt a lot..." "How badly?" Xoren asked hoping desperately that he didn't have two serious injuries on his hands. "It wasn't unbearable" Sola said with a child-like response, "but I doubt I could walk on it." "Okay" Xoren said as he began to reach for Sola's paw again only to have her pull it from his reach, "Sola, I know it hurts but we need to make sure it isn't broken before it's too late to give it the proper conditions for healing." With a reluctant sigh Sola closed her eyes and handed her father the injured paw and he began to run his own across it, checking carefully for any unusual bumps or fractures. "It seems to just be sprained," he finally said after what had felt like an hour to Sola, "just don't put any weight on it and it should be fine."

Upon determining Sola's injury Xoren quickly rose after giving her a slight pat on the head and walked towards his mate. "Iris!?" he nearly shouted when he saw Ruby passed out on the ground, "how long ago did she fall asleep?" Before waiting for an answer he ran towards Ruby and began to paw at her softly and then a bit harder as he spoke her name, his face in a desperate knot as he tried to wake his mate.

[Ruby_Fehu]

"A minute ago, I tried to wake her up daddy I really did." Iris whined, cowering a little in fear of how her dad would react to her.


Ruby groaned a little and shifted away from Xoren, her whole body felt weighted down so she couldn't even move completely away from him.

[Hypercube]

Xoren knew that yelling at Iris was not the right thing to do in this circumstance, but his panic did not allow him to consider a way of apologizing. As Ruby gave a small groan and her body showed signs of life his face relaxed a bit but his voice still showed his inner worry. "Ruby!" he said loudly, "Come on! You need to stay awake!" Xoren used one paw to pull Ruby's face towards his and the other to pull back her eyelid and stared to her. "I love you too much for me to let anything happen to you..." he said as he held this position.

[Ruby_Fehu]

"I'm fine Xoren, just let me sleep please." She whined, her voice was thick with sleep as she nuzzled her head between her paws. "I love you too but unless you sleep I'll take it back." Ruby continued, her voice half teasing. It was typical of the young adult to always try to tease even if she wasn't in the right frame of mind.

[Hypercube]

"I know you feel fine" Xoren said as he nuzzled her lovingly, "but you have to trust me when I say that your overwhelming desire to sleep is nothing but trick; if you fall asleep now-" Xoren stopped himself realizing that Iris was still behind him. As much as his head screamed for him to tell the truth, he could not bring his heart to the same conclusion and instead just continued to keep Ruby awake with his paws.

[Ruby_Fehu]

Ruby groaned noisily and tried to make herself fall asleep but the tight grip Xoren had on her stopped the hybrid from succeeding. "I will be fine, just trust me. I'll go to sleep for an hour and wake back up." She slurred, the exhaustion evident on her face. Iris watched her mother in dismay before turning and going to Sola, "What is wrong with my mum?" She asked, hoping her sister would talk to her.

[Hypercube]

Sola looked to her mother and the back to her sister with a smile that hid her anxiety with Ruby's condition. Iris's face was full of turmoil thoughm abd Sola knew that she would be the only capable of a assuaging her nerves at the moment. "Nothing serious," Sola bluffed, "she's just bumped her head pretty hard and if she falls asleep then dad wont be able to make her better in the least amount of time." Using her uninjured paw she reached out and placed it on her sister, the inner maturity within her showing as she spoke. "Everything will be just fine."

"I do trust you," Xoren said in a quiet tone as to not worry his daughters any further, "but I need you to trust me over your own intuition just this once. I can't lose you..." Upon coming back to the possibility of the worst case scenario tears began to form in his eyes as he looked to his mate. "We can talk about anything you want" he said in a pleading tone, "but if there is only thing I can ask of you it's that you stay awake."

[Ruby_Fehu]

Ruby pouted and rested her head on her paws, fighting to keep her eyes open, "I'm listening." She grumbled, looking up at him with her red eyes, once bright and sparkling but currently rather dim from exhaustion.

[Hypercube]

Xoren smiled, his heart beat returning to a normal rate as he laid down and looked into Ruby's exhausted eyes. "I don't believe I ever told you of the first time I realized I loved you" Xoren said with a sheepish grin; it wasn't like him to admit these instances of emotion but he couldn't help himself. "It happened right after we rescued Sola and Iris," he continued as he touched his paw to his mate's, "you had decided to go hunting while I stayed behind with the children. I don't think you realized at the time but I followed you out of the cave and watched you hunt; I still don't know why but it was as if something inside of me was pulling me towards you like a magnet. As I watched your body move with such expertise I began to feel a strange sensation that I hadn't felt since..." Xoren said as his eyes began to show slight sings of tears forming in their corners, "since I lost Avanti so long ago."

His gaze fell to the stony floor of the cave as his tears did the same, his smile larger than ever. "It had been so long since I had felt it," he said as he looked back to Ruby, "since I had felt true love again. From that moment forward I knew that I couldn't stand to be alone any longer and that if there were anyone I would want to spend the rest of my life with, if there were anyone I would want to raise cubs along side, it would be you." Tears streamed down Xoren's cheeks as he nuzzled Ruby affectionately, his own eyes now red from crying.

[Ruby_Fehu]

Ruby listened intently, even though it would be hard to figure that out from her tired expression she was listening. When Xoren raised his gaze to meet hers again she shuffled forward and nuzzled her head against his, she pulled away and looked at him, the adoration obvious in her expression. Even though her head felt like lead she managed to continue holding it up whilst she started to lick away the tears, "Hush now my darling." She said softly, hints of Ruby's usually tone returning. "I'm not going anywhere. I love you too. And I look forward to the many memories we'll be making.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Iris wearing a disgusted expression as she listened but she was bothered. She should tell her mate she loved him more. Whether their daughters appreciated the sappiness or not.

[Hypercube]

Sola giggled at her sister's childish reaction to their parent's interaction and gave her a small nuzzle before speaking. "You know Iris," she said with a grin, "one day you're going to find someone you care about just as much as they do for each other. I know you don't think it will happen now but trust me, it will."

Xoren used his free paw to wipe the remaining tears from his cheeks as a wide smile crept across his maw. It was not only Ruby's words that made him happy once again, but the obvious hint of her personality returning as well. "I look forward to those opportunities as well" he said with an adoring tone before giving Ruby's nose a slight lick. "Are you beginning to feel any better?" he asked with a calm concern.