![[Image: dacxj7e-a1ea4e28-6af6-4389-9a95-334976ee...XOR3tQtJ0o]](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/1d9059de-ffc4-4479-9fcf-03972a53ab72/dacxj7e-a1ea4e28-6af6-4389-9a95-334976ee3040.gif?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzFkOTA1OWRlLWZmYzQtNDQ3OS05ZmNmLTAzOTcyYTUzYWI3MlwvZGFjeGo3ZS1hMWVhNGUyOC02YWY2LTQzODktOWE5NS0zMzQ5NzZlZTMwNDAuZ2lmIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.1-JNNB_5Mz7pG0om70bRMXPYOaHHjaew6XOR3tQtJ0o)
TW drowning + death
Winslow should have been more careful. For once in her life, she should have heeded the warning that blared in the back of her mind, urging her to take another route, no matter how much longer it might have been. It was her brother’s voice she heard, his low vibrato scolding her, as it had so often since their separation. But her stubbornness pushed aside the warnings, though she longed to hear that voice in person again.
She should have listened.
Now, regret curled within her bones now as she cautiously padded across the frozen lake. The cold air gnawed at her fur, her breath fogging in the biting air. Her ears flapped in the wind, and she blinked against the blinding frost. It was hard to see clearly through the frozen wind, and god–were her lashes frozen? They felt like it, and she bit back the panic as she squinted, trying to see a path to freedom.
Above her, Emris called out, his cry sharp and shrill, so unlike his usual tones of annoyance or boredom. This call was urgent, fearful, slicing through the icy air down to her. A warning? The woman, though now more hesitant, shrugged it off and kept on, her paws scraping against ice. The pads of her paws ached with how cold they were, the numb bordering on painful and she tried to quicken her steps, until suddenly, she slipped.
Winslow landed with a gasp, pain coursing through her willowy frame as her shoulder slammed into the ice. Before she could right herself, she heard it. A crack. Loud and deafening. It made her still, and her heart clenched tight, fear rising quickly. Smaller cracks followed, sharp and fast, spider webbing out beneath her. And then the sound of Emris came again, desperate and keening as he dove closer. He began to circle her, his wings flapping wildly in every direction, his scarred face twisted with fear.
Winslow’s gaze flickered to him, wide and filled with desperation, just as the ice gave way. Water engulfed her, its icy grip unforgiving as it yanked her under. It wasted no time filling her mouth, her lungs—she tried to scream but no sound came out. Her long legs flailed, her claws scraping uselessly against the jagged ice above her, and every breath grew more painful as the icy water filled her lungs and water roared by her ears. There was no escape.
Above her, Emris swooped down, his sharp talons scratching and clawing at the ice, as if trying to dig her out. He was unyielding even as his claws began to splinter and blood streaked the ice where he tried. The sounds of his squawking wails blended into with the loud groans of ice, a symphony of both desperation and futility.
Each breath burned. She was choking, suffocating. Drowning—was she dying? Winslow wasn’t ready to die. She didn’t want to die. Not alone, not here. But the water didn’t listen, it dragged her down, and the world above her became a distorted blur of light and shadow as she sank lower, and lower, bubbles floating up in one last effort. Soon, the lake stilled, sleeping once more. In the eerie silence that remained, only the sound of the raven's frantic scratching echoed across the still, frozen lake.
Silence.
It was new to her.
She felt everything, and nothing at once. For a moment, she simply existed, weightless in the vast emptiness. The cold no longer bit, and the ache in her chest faded. It was….beautiful, she thought, marveling at it all. She was content, maybe—for a moment—but that peace was gone too soon, stolen away from her before she could accept her fate.
A cry left her, grief-stricken as light flooded her vision, blinding and cruel, dragging her back, Winslow gasped for air and before she knew it, she was struggling again in a different pool of water, limbs wild and frantic. This one no longer pulled her down, but her throat still burned as she scrambled, unaware that the water here was shallow, that she could have stood and simply walked out.
On the shore, a bit away, Emris was somehow already there waiting for her. He watched with a narrowed gaze, his once wrecked talons whole and pristine, and his feathers dry and devoid of splinters of ice. Exhaustion etched the lines of his sharp features, but his expression said it all: Stupid girl, he seemed to tell her, his eyes a mirror of the brother’s voice she’d ignored.
![[Image: 90967006_WDYGdwBWhXbQa5S.png]](https://f2.toyhou.se/file/f2-toyhou-se/images/90967006_WDYGdwBWhXbQa5S.png)