The Song a Stream Sings

... Never sounded so beautiful until right now

Characters:
Hazel - Me
Milon - BosleyBoz 

Word Count: 1883

RP Summary:
After visiting the healer for some time Hazel sneaks out of camp to finally wash out her bandages and see if it will truly be possible to hear again. Milon, a concerned friend follows for moral support and to help remove the bandages.

Hazel x Milon RP - A whole New Beginning

Milon had just returned home from some personal matters. He was a little tired as he slowly walked into camp, hoping no one would question him as to where he was coming from. 
Life had felt pretty slow lately. All Milon's friends had suffered something. Boreas had been in a coma, Andromeda had been wanting to spend time with her immediate family since Polaris had been taken, Minerva had been captured... With a sigh he stopped, only a few feet after entering camp. He looked around camp. There were still a few areas where it was obvious that there had been an attack, but most of the areas were being mended with new branches.

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Hazel tiptoed out of the healers den. Good, there were few if any cats around. Usually Hazel would immediately go and see what kind of ruckus she could start on quiet days like this, but today was different, she didn't want a scene. With bandages wrapped all around her head Hazel headed towards one of the holes that hadn't been patched up yet from the war. Today could either be a miracle, or a tragedy, she was about to find out.

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While he was looking around the camp at the damages, he noticed Hazel, bandages wrapped around her head. He tilted his head in confusion when he saw her. What were the bandages for? He took a step towards her to go and ask then stopped himself. "I don't wanna be rude..." He watched as she walked up to one of the camp holes in the wall.

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Hazel squeezed through the hole and began her way down a familiar path. She was going to a stream, not the nearest one, but one a good distance away. It would be clean and cold, and she had been told to clean her ears out once the bandages were removed. 
Hazel had a lot on her mind. She was terrified, but so excited. Would this even work or was she getting her hopes up for nothing.

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Milon glanced down at his feet then back at Hazel who'd just made her way through the hole in the camp wall. He felt a small puff of anxiety in his chest. He'd only been made aware of her hearing condition after his... Emotional break down with Hazel about Minerva. He flattened his ears in embarrassment thinking about it even though he knew he shouldn't be embarrassed. He felt a little protective of the idea of Hazel going out of camp alone. He glanced around making sure no one was watching him attempt to look sly as he wandered over to the hole in the wall and leaped out. He followed her quickly until he realized she hadn't been going far and he crashed out of the bushes behind her. He hadn't been too careful since he was under the impression she wouldn't hear him. He did, however, come out of the bushes a little quick and he stumbled backwards when he saw that she stopped at a small stream rather quickly.

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Hazel hadn't heard Milon approach, but she had had to learn multiple ways to be aware of her surroundings. What she did feel was his vibrations jumping through the underbrush and moving to catch up to her.
Turning around with a start, she relaxed a little. It was Milon. She felt a certain kind of kinship with him ever since Minnie had been taken, but she stiffened a little, suddenly embarrassed that she had been caught red handed, looking stupid with these bandages all over her head.
"Hey Milon." She greeted softly. "What's up?"

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As he was trying to double backwards into the brush, he realized she'd already seen him so he lowered his ears and stepped back out into the open. "Sorry... I didn't mean to follow you and scare you." He kept eye contact with her while he spoke. "Is everything okay?"

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Hazel read the words on his lips and smiled shyly. He looked as awkward as she felt, which made it less uncomfortable. "I don't know yet, but I'm about to find out." She looked up the path then back at him. Maybe she wouldn't mind the company. "Um..Milon. you wouldn't mind coming with me would you?"

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He looked a little confused and intrigued but he nodded and said "Yes. Is everything okay?" He crossed the small distance between them towards her.

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Hazel made an amused teasing kind of face. One that she had probably picked up from Minerva. "So you Do mind them? And you asked if I was okay twice." She grinned. She was just trying to keep the attention off herself and teasing him helped lighten the mood.

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His ears perked right up to defend himself. "But you never really answered me...!" He had a bit of a pout on his face. Minerva definitely influenced this little girl all right. "What do you need help with, Hazel?"

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Hazel's smile faded slightly. "You're right, I didn't. But I don't really know yet you see..." She padded softly down the path, looking for a good spot to stop. "I've sort of been..." She hadn't come right out and said this to anyone except the healer, and it was hard. "I have been trying to hear again. I don't know if I can, but there is this one voice I remember in my head, and I won't ever be able to find out who it belongs to unless I can hear. Well...today is the last day. If I take off these bandages and clean my ears out in the stream and I still can't hear, then I never will." She finished softly.

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"A-ah...." He kept pace with her but he was a little shocked to say the least when she told told him all this. "W-wait, your hearing might be fixed??" He had no idea how all this was possible but he was so happy for her. 

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Hazel gave him a sad smile as she sat down at the waters edge. "Well, I may not be healed. If I can't hear anything when I take these bandages off, then I won't be able to hear again for the rest of my life." She sighed. Looking down at her reflection in the water. "What does water sound like?" She asked softly. I know what it feels like, I know what it tastes like, I know what it smells like, but what does it sound like? Does it even make a sound?"

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Milon felt an immediate feeling of sadness for her and he shifted a little on his paws before looking at the water in front of them. This wasn't fair. A cat who is born deaf doesn't know any different. They're used to it. Hazel wasn't born that way... The world worked cruelly against her and caused her this tragic fact that she couldn't hear. He felt a puff of emotion surge through his chest; anger, protectiveness, the need to help. "You know that feeling of cold water when it hits you for the first time? The look of a small puddle being splashed around throughout the air as a cub pounces into it? That's what it sounds like." His tail curled over his paws as he looked from her back down to the water, however, he was smiling a little. "I wouldn't worry too much, Hazel. I... I think that you'll be able to hear again. You have a tendency to heal time and time again, at least from what I know about you. And even if it turns out you can't hear... I know you'll be okay. You can use what you see and smell to help you hear. And I could... Try to help you find out who that voice belongs to. However long it takes." 

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Hazel gave Milon a soft smile. It was good to have friends, friends that looked after her. She didn't know what she had done to deserve it. It seemed everywhere she went she was reminded that she wasn't alone. "Thank you Milon. That means a lot." Facing the water again she took a deep breath, and then lifted her paw in an attempt to grab at the bandages. She was trembling slightly, and found she couldn't get it. So giving up she asked without looking at him. "Um...Milon, would you mind, lending me a paw?"

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"I-I-yes, of course Hazel." He stepped into the water carefully, only wincing slightly at the coldness. He gently reached up with his teeth and helped her pull the bandages off, making sure not to remove them too harshly or quickly. He held his breath a little as he was nervous. He really really wanted Hazel to be able to hear again.

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Hazel seemed to stare into nothing as Milon worked so carefully. She felt numb, but managed to take a deep breath when he finished.
"Here goes." She said her voice shaking slightly. Lowering her head Hazel dipped the right side of her head into the cold water. She shivered as the hot mesh of plants and herbs washed away. With it came a rushing sound that to Hazel was only a louder version of what she had always heard. But then a ringing began to sound, a ringing that reminded her of a time long forgotten. Lifting her ear out of the water she looked up at Milon, forgetting to breath as she waited for his mouth to move.

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Milon was kind of biting his lip in anxiety when she was washing her ears out. He was also slightly in an anxious daze until she looked up at him then he realized she must be waiting for him to speak. Of course, he didn't want to speak at first because the idea of her not being able to hear scared him to death. But she was waiting, and he figured that whatever the outcome, Hazel still had a lot of people who loved and supported her and would help her no matter what. "How do..... How do you feel?"

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"How do..... How do you feel?"
The first two words were muffled, sounding distant behind the rushing and ringing in her ears. But as Milon finished asking the question each word seemed to grow clearer, and she jumped, startled that she had heard him. "I heard you." You said, but then she heard herself talk, at least louder than she had ever heard before, and she gasped outloud. "I hear me!" Her face completely dumbfounded stared at him, before she looked at the water. She could hear the water rolling over the rocks. It was beautiful. She didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. So she cried. Looking up at Milon she couldn't believe it. After so long of silence, or ringing, of having to watch carefully for every word to be formed on a friends lips she didn't have to anymore. She could hear the birds in the trees above her head and for a moment, the sound seemed to carry her back to a moment that she had long forgotten. She didn't know what it was, but the voice that had haunted her memory seemed that much closer today. 

"Now when I find him, I'll know." She whispered out loud.

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                                                                     END


It's TRUE EVERYONE! Hazel has received the blessing of hearing once more!
<syb> RUNS AROUND SCREAMING HEAD OFF IT IS SO BEAUTIFUL
HUGE THANKS to BosleyBoz for RPing this with me. I'm sure Minerva would be at peace to know that Hazel wasn't alone should she find out that she couldn't ever hear
BUT THIS IS NOT THE CASE

Brief Description of What is going on:
So Hazel was never rendered COMPLETELY deaf. She could hear very loud noises though they seemed soft to her, and every now and then her ears would ring something she found very annoying.
Still, for the past year she has only had one voice in her head, the voice of a cub she can't remember.
Thanks to the healer, whatever blockage of earwax she was suffering from her fever has been cleared out.
Now that she can hear, it isn't perfect. Her left ear hears better than her right ear and always will. 

A whole knew chapter is starting for my twins, I'm so excited guys!!!