The sword pierced through her chest, striking her in the heart. Her own sword. No, her father's sword. Her own prized possession had been used against her by the giant green brute as he delivered the killing blow. Blood sputtered from Reed's muzzle and she looked down to see her father's cutlass sticking halfway into her. She looked up to see the laughing green brute grinning down at her with immense satisfaction. "But.... no...." she muttered to him as her eyes grew wide with shock. Her body started to grow limp and her paws collapsed beneath her. She fell on her father's cutlass, but strangely, there was no pain registered as it wedged itself deeper into her.
The green monster, for a monster is what he was to her at this point, stepped forward and yanked the cutlass from her chest. Blood started to pour from the wound and she felt her head start to swim with light headedness. Her vision faded, and the last thing she saw was his yellow eyes and grimaced smile staring down at her.
Reed Blackpaw had been vanquished. Her body had been sent out with a proper viking funeral performed. Words had been exchanged while those who loved the little spunky adventurer cried and mourned the loss of a life lost too soon. The cutlass had been returned to her pack and placed alongside her in the boat before it had been shoved off shore to be taken by the currents before a flame was lit to burn the body and items. The only missing component had been her familiar Pip - the blue ringneck parrot. She'd been sent to her watery grave, so her soul could at least find peace in Valhalla.
Water encompassed the tanned body of Reed as she woke from the depths of the seas. Her eyes shot around, searching for any immediate dangers. Strangely, she saw fish swimming around her, beautiful fish of all sorts of vibrant colors - yellows, blues, greens, reds, whites, and blacks. They swam in massive schools displaying both organization and chaos with their movements, flowing with the currents as the looped and circled. Perhaps yet more interesting was what she found herself within - a mixture of broken wood planks and shafts with coral, algae, and rocks growing across and over it. Barnacles breathed with the currents and she had an intense interest in watching as a particularly blue fish pecked at the living creature. Her mind slowly came to realization: she was beneath the water in some sort of coral or cave system.
Water.
Reed couldn't swim.
The beauty of the ocean surrounding Reed suddenly turned into a horror scene before her. Bubbles erupted from her muzzle as her lungs started to fight for oxygen. Her legs beat rapidly as they flailed, trying to get her to the surface. The calm schools of tropical fish scattered at the sudden movement sensing danger for their selves. Her nails scrapped against the hull of the sunken ship as she tried to find traction, slipping on the algae. More bubbles erupted from her muzzle and nostrils. Her muzzle parted as she tried to scream but no sound came out. She wanted to scream for help. She was scared and unsure of where she was. She couldn't remember anything. The last of her oxygen escaped her through bubbles rising to the surface and she knew that this was it. This was where she would die - deep beneath the ocean that she was supposed to love as a pirate, but was not suited for. She felt her consciousness slipping... then she felt her Will activate and around her formed a large bubble - a pocket of air.
Suddenly she started to rise from the depths of the ocean above a sunken ship - for she could now see the broken structure on the bottom of the water and stared amazed at the entire ecosystem that had grown over the wreckage. Up and up she rose further and further until the wreckage beneath the ocean became hazy and foggy in the depths beneath her. The light that filtered in from the surface grew brighter and brighter until she breached the surface with her air bubble. POP! The moment her bubble breached the surface the magic of her Will evaporated and Reed was left floating on the surface, desperately trying to keep herself afloat. Fill your lungs a voice whispered to her inside her mind. Without questioning it, she did so, and found herself able to remain on the surface, pushed to shore by the currents and waves.
It was a few solid hours that she kept herself afloat as she drifted to the beach ahead of her. She'd given up on flailing her legs to try and direct herself as exhaustion overtook her figure. Even floating became difficult and when she got closer to shore, the waves crashed over her body harder than before. She registered sand beneath her paws as her legs dragged and excitement struck her instantly. Sand meant she could feel ground. Her paws reached to dig into the loose and flowing sand, to propel herself the rest of the way to shore, and when she touched down on solid ground...
"Blughhhh" came the horrible sound of a seasick wolf upchucking nothing but salt water from her stomach. If there was ever a wolf who looked green without physically being green, it was Reed.