W A S P P A W
Frost bit at his toes, causing the calico tom to shiver and fluff up his pelt against the cold. Snow continued to fall in ShadowClan territory and it didn't seem like it was going to stop anytime soon. It was times like this that he was grateful for his long fur to keep him warm when temperatures dropped. He didn't know how cold it was now, but their streams had frozen over and Hareflight was adamant that they had to collect as many herbs as they could before they died from the freezing weather. Wasppaw looked over at his companion, a ginger tom who wasn't as lucky as he was when it came to the thick pelt department. Though, when he had asked his clanmates if anyone wanted to volunteer to assist him in herb gathering, Applepaw hadn't hesitated to join him, despite the dropping temperature.
"Try to use your nose and eyes equally," he advised his fellow apprentice. "The snow is going to cover up most of what we're looking for, both scent-wise and sight-wise, but if we take our time and we're careful, we should be able to uncover most of what we need." He was hopeful, anyway. This wasn't his first snowfall, but it was his first time gathering herbs in weather this severe without his mentor by his side. He hoped that he wouldn't have to have her doubt her trust in his abilities to do this without her.
With Applepaw not too far away, Wasppaw set to work in finding what he could as quickly as possible. While he knew that it was important that they take their time to look, he didn't want to be out in the cold for more than necessary and he was sure that his fellow apprentice felt the same way.
Unfortunately, he hadn't gotten too lucky and neither had Applepaw. They had only managed to find a few usable herbs as most of the others had become too frost-bitten and were no longer salvageable. He wasn't too thrilled with this discovery and he knew that Hareflight wouldn't be either. A-ah, that's okay! It's b-better than nothing! He could hear her voice already in the back of his head, trying to cheer him up for not bringing anything back worthwhile. It could only mean that they had to be scarce with what they used throughout Leaf-Bare.
"Hey, let's cut through this way!" his companion suggested, motioning towards the thicker piles of snow a little ways ahead. At Wasppaw's befuddled expression, Applepaw went on, "Yeah, we'll probably be up to our chins in snow, but it's the shortcut to camp. We'll get there quicker."
"Okay.." Wasppaw hesitantly agreed, following the red tom. "Just be sure to keep the herbs out of the snow, we can't afford to lose them."
The pair made it through a few fox-lengths of mounds of snow before they felt a soft tremor. Startled by the sensation, they stopped in their tracks. The two of them were still young and hadn't yet experienced the terrors of what too much snow could cause in the mountains. Unfortunately, realization dawned on him much too late. The tremors increased in intensity and sure enough, within a matter of seconds that flew by far too quickly, the pair was covered by the snow and swept underneath.
Juncostar
shadowclan leader
Juncostar barely managed to scramble out of the way as the layer of snow beneath them collapsed. He stood in shock for a moment, breath coming in quiet pants as he blinked, wide-eyed, at the tunnel beneath them. What luck the apprentices had had, ending up in there rather than encased in snow. His relief was quickly washed away as the strong scent of blood hit him in the face. Panic rose in his chest, and he creeped to the edge of the tunnel opening, dreading what he was about to see. It was too dark to really get a good look at the damage, but he could, at the very least, see that Wasppaw was mostly unharmed.
Of course he knew that that could only mean that Applepaw was the one with serious injuries, but in that moment the grey tom was more worried about his friend. He squared his paws as Scorpionthroat lifted Wasppaw, leaning carefully to grab the medicine cat apprentice by the scruff. He was shocked at how light the little tom was, and how cold. He carefully pulled him out of the tunnel, lowering him to the ground and wrapping himself around him in hopes he could warm him up even a little. "StarClan's kits, Wasppaw," he breathed, pain in his voice, "You're ice cold. What were you thinking?" It hurt him to see the young tom in this state; he felt like he should have done something to prevent it. Surely there had to have been some way he could've stopped this.