call it love — artemis

This is an archived version of FeralFront. While you can surf through all the content that was ever created on FeralFront, no new content can be created.
If you'd like some free FeralFront memorabilia to look back on fondly, see this thread from Dynamo (if this message is still here, we still have memorabilia): https://feralfront.com/thread/2669184-free-feralfront-memorabilia/.

    tags ✦ ✧ ✦ BloodClan had changed in the moons since Tam had last seen it, but all the important things were still there. Artemis and Jailbird made the group be home, and the little touches like the rat skull he'd won as a kit definitely helped. It was home, and all Tam had to do was shake the terror that the evil which had spirited him away would return and destroy his home and loved ones. Artemis, to his surprise, had not been dead, as his tormentor had had told him, but that didn't mean that it wouldn't kill her if it got the chance. Who knew who it had killed for real? Who knew who it hadn't been lying about? He hadn't seen Leopard or Gideon since his return, and although barely two hours had passed, Tam couldn't keep a feeling of sickened terror from engulfing him.


    It was still evening, but the twisting of his stomach and fear that the shadows might spring to life kept him from resting. He'd spent most of the past hour sticking to Jailbird and Artemis, until it had occurred to him that if the evil was watching, it would see that he loved them and come to hurt them. He'd sprung away without explanation, making his way to the top floor of the Blood House, where he sat against a window, peering outside to search for the evil.


    darkflower.

    ✦ ✧ ✦ tam and her had been the closest out of the silbings. all of them had been distant, of course, wandering far, not talking as regularly as they'd promised to. but that was the way of things in bloodclan- you grew apart or you stick like glue. it was survive or die in the concrete jungle that the clan called their home, and you had to make sacrifices to do that.

    but she and tam had stuck together, exploring and getting into mischief like any self-respecting kits do. she could still remember the time they'd snuck out and gotten captured by twolegs. both had been terrified, but they'd had each other, and that perhaps saved them. they'd gotten in real trouble when jailbird had found out, but they'd been punished together.

    and then... then all her siblings had left, slipping away in the night, or just going out and not coming back. from the time she was born, artemis was certain that she'd be loyal to bloodclan and only bloodclan- she wouldn't leave like her siblings, tam wouldn't either.

    but he did.

    once tam had left, misa's mind began to collapse on it's self. she tried to stay happy, to stay open minded, to stay the kit that tam knew. but she changed. she still watched for him every morning... every morning up on the dumpsters, staring out over the city. every morning... until that day.

    the day sheo died.

    the day she fell apart.

    tam didn't know his father had died. he didn't know that artemis had seen it, seen the blood pooling around the great beast's body, seen the magma eyes fall lightless, seen the rainbow collar soaked in red.


    tam was home now, he'd arrived battered and scarred. he'd grown a great deal- larger than she was. his white fur had filled out nicely, his build was strong. and yet he was scared, so scared. of things she couldn't help him with. something was hunting him? something had told him that she had died?

    so when the alabaster boy slipped away from jailbird's side, she noticed, eyes following him up the stairs. he was going to the window, a place she liked to sit to watch the city. on light paws she followed him, tail swishing behind her as she leapt up the stairs.

    "tam?" she made her voice loud (she was always sensitive to his hearing), calling up as she rounded the final stair. he sat against the windows, gazing out, searching for something.

    "what's wrong?"

    tags ✦ ✧ ✦ Tam had always thought he was a survivor. BloodClan blood ran through his veins, and although his ancestry had faint blemishes from the forest clans and loners, it ran pure enough to give him all the strength he'd ever need. He'd thought himself invincible once, able to face any challenge that came his way and endure. As he'd recently learned, the alabaster tyro had been wrong on all accounts. He wasn't strong and he wasn't a survivor. He'd barely pushed through the past few moons, and although he'd emerged, he'd come out with scars. Scars didn't show bravery; they showed just how weak he truly was.


    Tam hadn't intended to leave. He'd always been a patriot, looking down on those who weren't born in BloodClan. He'd argued against accepting newcomers simply because they weren't natural BloodClanners. He'd been more than an isolationist: he'd been proud of his clan, but that pride hadn't helped him when a voice in an alley had ordered him to follow it. The pride hadn't helped when the voice had threatened to kill his family if he didn't obey. It hadn't helped the first time the evil had punished him. It hadn't done anything but slowly crumble until Tam was a shadow of himself, jumping at the whispering of the wind and the merest hint of danger.


    As he peered through the window, magma eyes examining the poorly lit city below, Artemis' voice sounded in his ears, a mere murmur despite her volume. He turned slightly, ghostly figure tilted toward the silvery girl, shadowed gaze locking on her figure as he inhaled her scent. "Artemis." He couldn't resist a smile as the name left his pale jaws. It felt wonderful to be able to say it, to speak without worrying that the evil would overhear and decide to punish her as a lesson. It felt wonderful to know that she was alive and well, and hadn't suffered the same treatment he had. He nearly chuckled, grin stretching across his face, but as she continued, his smile flickered and faltered.


    What was wrong? Did she want him to revisit the trauma of the past few moons? Tam's chest tightening. Thinking of it, even speaking of it, would bring it back. He could not bear to do so. "Nothing's wrong," he replied rapidly. His lie was obvious, as clear as day, but he couldn't linger on it. "Nothing." Resolutely, he turned his head away, ears twitching. "W-Where's everyone? I didn't see them in our room. Did they move to other rooms?" Some of his siblings had faded away before he'd left, but he was sure that some had to remain—so where were they?

    ✦ ✧ ✦ biting her lip as tam spoke, she twitched her ears, simply taking a seat beside him. she'd always been able to tell when he was lying- he could always tell with her- but she wouldn't push the topic. he'd tell when he felt he was able (she hoped. she hoped to whoever was listening. she wanted to help him.)

    eats flattening only slightly at his next question, her golden gaze flicked to his alabaster form, as if searching for something in his eyes. "tam..." again she kept her voice louder than she'd usually speak, although because they were sitting close together, perhaps it would be heard clearly. "deerpaw and i are... we're the only ones left."

    the rest of her siblings had either left before tam had, or slipped away after.

    but he didn't know about sheo... oh spirits he didn't know! he didn't know about the great form, now resting under the ground. he didn't know about the riverclan kit who now bore sheo's spirit. he didn't know any of it.

    how could she tell a son that his father had been killed?

    she'd wait until he asked (it was inevitable that he would.) was there any way to let him down slowly? a lump rose in her throat at the thought of sheogorath. "mom and dad had another litter- you might see some of them around. and some of mom's sister's kids joined." taking a breath, she blinked. "but deer and you and i... we're the only ones left from our litter. they didn't die, tam. they just left. they're wandering alone. they're fine."

    (she hoped they were fine.)

    tags ✦ ✧ ✦ Tam's hearing might be subpar, but there was nothing wrong with his eyesight. As he took in Artemis' worried expression and flattened ears, dread coiled within him. Something had happened to the others, hadn't it? Something awful. He turned his head away from her, as if that would keep her from speaking, but it made no difference. His sister was among the few who always spoke at a volume that he could hear, provided that there was no background noise cutting in on the conversation, and looking away didn't change that.


    She and Deer were the only ones left.


    He let out a loud noise, half-groan, half-sob, fear coloring his yellow eyes. "It got them, I know it got them." He spoke queasily, twitching with unease. "It killed them, Misa, right? It's my fault." Gideon, Hannibal, Blushkit. Them and the others. They were all dead, and it was because he'd pushed the evil, made it lose patience. Their blood was on his paws, staining them as though he'd been the one to strike the blow.


    He nearly didn't hear his sister's next words. Sheo and Jail had a new litter? New kits to love and care for, to replace the ones who'd been killed because of him? His breath grew heavy in his chest, guilt gnawing at him. "How do you know they're just wandering?" he asked roughly, paws beating a hard pattern into the floorboards. "How do you know they aren't dead?" They were, he knew they were, they had to be. He wanted to believe Artemis, to let her words give him hope, but he couldn't. Artemis didn't know what had happened to them. Of course she thought they were fine. The evil wanted her to believe that, to believe that nothing was wrong, while he was burdened with the truth.