Thanks to Imperia and Iselotta, Tiger had been managing to get more than three hours of sleep each night, and had slowly, but surely, was gaining back his focus. Unfortunately for him, it seemed like the canine couldn’t go more than an hour or so without experiencing some sort of nightmare. Normally they weren’t too bad, and he could just stay up for a while before going back to sleep, but tonight things took a turn for the worse. The canine had done everything as usual, he had taken a brief walk, read a chapter of one of his nature guides, and taken some Valerian before climbing into bed and falling asleep. Though it seemed like only a few minutes later that his eyes flickered open, and Tiger found himself in a place he thought he would never see again.
Tigerlily, known simply as Tiger back then, was around a year old when he first started attending to the prisoners in secret. A couple of them were actual threats, and had injured or killed one or more of his clan-members, but you had to understand that the rest of them were innocent, captured from their homes when nobody was looking. They didn’t deserve the abuse that they received on a daily basis, nor did they deserve to rot in these disease filled cells. He had just started to practice medicine back then, and since his father outlawed any medical practice within clan walls, Tiger took it upon himself to help those in need. When everyone else was asleep or when the guards were on a break he would sneak in with a medical bag he had hidden in one of the nearby bushes and tend to any wounds or illnesses the prisoners may have, no matter how much they yelled and clawed at him. If his father were to find out what he was doing, well, there was a good chance that they all would be punished, and that was something he couldn’t risk.
Due to this he ended up enlisting his mother as a lookout, one of the few people he could actually trust not to tell his father. Originally he had planned on asking his sister, but his mother had insisted that it was too dangerous for her to get involved, and that his father was less likely to attack her in case they were found out. Everything had went surprisingly well for the first year, he would tend to his patients while his mother would stand in front of the prison and alert him of any possible danger. But somebody must’ve ratted them out, whether it was a clan mate or prisoner he wasn’t sure, for one day when he was applying some cobwebs to a feline’s wound there was a shout from outside. ‘He’s coming, my love! Quick, hide!’ Although her cry was heard, there wasn’t enough time to clear up his stuff and get out of there. By the time he had finished packing up his bag he felt a heavy paw on his shoulder, soon followed by cold claws. Within an instance he had been forcefully turned around to face his father, who was glaring at him with cold, furious eyes. ‘You ungrateful brat!’ The larger canine growled, backing Tiger against the wall. ‘I’ve done nothing but treat you with love and respect, and what do you do? You go and tend to these worthless, good-for-nothings behind my back! Don’t you have any respect for your father?’ It was all lies, every single word of it. His father had never treated him with love or respect, had never shown him kindness. No, unless you count physical and verbal abuse as ‘love and respect’, the leader had never shown him much of anything. But despite Tiger would find himself flinching at every word, trying to not let his true feelings show. He wouldn’t let his father’s words hurt him, no, he couldn’t. Not in front of him, not in front of his patients, not even in front of himself. If he were to cry now…
He was snapped out of it by a sharp smack to the cheek, the pure shock of it causing him to recoil more than the pain. He should’ve grown used to it by now, the abuse, but he couldn’t help but feel betrayed every time. Fathers were supposed to love their children, right? So why did his hate him so much? What had he done to deserve this? “Are you even listening to me?” His father would growl, shoving his muzzle into Tiger’s face until they were mere centimeters away from each other. “You’ll speak when I talk to you!” When Tiger only responded with a nod he would be met with another smack to the face, this one harder than the last. “Good, now I’ll only ask you one more time, how long has this been going on? How long has this disrespect been going on?” For a second Tiger said nothing, and when he did open his mouth to say something, his voice came out rough and quiet, blood speckling his lips. “A year.” He would murmur, but a warning snarl from his father would cause him to speak up. “A year.” It was his father’s turn to go silent, and for a moment they were suspended like that, Tiger fearfully pressed up against a wall and his father’s piercing gaze staring right through him. But it didn’t last for long, for soon his father had grabbed him by the scruff, picking him up as if he weighed nothing before tossing him outside, where Tiger spotted his mother huddling less than a foot away, her clear blue eyes glazed over in fear as his father stomped up to them both. “A year.” The leader growled, turning to his mother. “He’s been tending to the prisoners for a whole goddamn year. Did you know this?” Tiger’s eyes would quickly dart over to his mother, who simply looked at the both of them for a moment before shaking her head. “No,” She would rasp. “I had no idea of what he was doing.”
By now the rest of the clan had gathered around, and although Tiger couldn’t hear what they all were saying, the canine managed to pick up one or two whispered words. Traitor, betrayal, worthless, punishment, they all rang around painfully in his head. His father only seemed to be encouraged by the crowd, and singled for some of the guards to go into the prison before grabbing his head and forcing him to look at the entrance. There was silence, and for a moment he was confused, but soon the screaming started. Blood-curdling wails erupted from inside, mixed with wailed pleas. His father had ordered them to kill the prisoners. Within moments Tiger was up on his feet, barely getting a couple of feet before his father had knocked him down with a swift blow to the back of the head. “They did nothing wrong!” Tiger screamed, struggling against his father’s grip. “You can’t kill them! Please, I’m sorry, I’ll do anything! Just, make it stop, make it stop!” His pleas fell upon death ears, and within moments the noise had stopped, leaving Tiger to watch as one by one the prisoners dead bodies were marched from the prison’s depths and dropped right in front of him. He could’ve attacked his father right then and there, he could’ve done something, but what did he do? Tiger stared at the corpses with a blank gaze, only looking up from them when his father turned his wrath over to his mother. “You.” The large canine growled, ignoring the whimpers that erupted from her throat as he came closer. “I used to love you, we could’ve been happy together. But no, I know you were apart of this. The fucking lookout.” A bitter laugh escaped his maw as took a moment to pace back and forth, appearing to think for a moment before smiling. “You’re a traitor now. And do you know what happens to traitors, sweetheart?” The last word was spit out with menace, and he barely waited a minute before answering his own question. “They get put in the prison.”
Several things happened at once. His mother seemed to crumple in on herself, sobbing as she heard her husband’s words. Tiger once again tried to get up from where he was lying and rush over to his mother’s side, this time succeeding in going over to her and attempting to shield her, though he himself was visibly shaking. His father just watched the whole thing happen with a smile on his face, almost as if he didn’t care, that his family meant nothing to him. “But don’t worry.” His father would soon continue, lacing his voice was a fake sweetness. “I know you’re not built to spend the rest of your life there, and since I once loved you, I’ve decided to show you mercy. Instead of becoming one of the prisoners your precious son tried to save, you’ll die by my own paw in front of the one you love most.” Once again a sob would come forth from his mother’s throat, and Tiger’s eyes would visibly widen. No, no, no, his mother couldn’t die. Anyone but her. “No, I won’t let you!” He aimed to lunge forward and sink his teeth into his father’s neck, but it was too late, red suddenly filled the air.
He woke up to the sound of something falling, opening his eyes to find that he had just rammed right into one of his stacks of books. Even though he would glance around at the books surrounding him, all he could see was the color red, his mother falling limp to ground despite his best attempts to stop it from happening. His eyes were unfocused, and he found himself backing up into the wall, tears streaking his cheeks as he curled up on himself and started to sob, seemingly unaware of all the noise ramming into the books could’ve caused. It was because of him that his mother was dead, it was all his fault.
[Ah, this is super sloppy, but at least I had fun making it!]