MEET ME AT THE CROSSROADS || ruth&luna

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    Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.


    ♚ Luna was gone.


    The reality hit her in a swift pang as she strode up the steps, halting her movements. The dilute torbie trembled, a swell of emotion clutching at the apple in her throat. She hadn’t been there. She hadn’t seen it. She had heard whispers, dark utterances that struck her cold.


    Another mother—dead.


    Where had she been? She didn’t know. She couldn’t pinpoint the time or the day anymore. She hesitating, took a deep breath, and stepped forward. Her gaze came even with the door to Luna’s Feast Room. What used to be Luna’s Feast Room. She had earned the scars along her shoulder blades here, survived the dog that sunk his jaws into her skin and tossed her like a ragdoll. Someone had died for her that day.


    She couldn’t remember their name now.


    What a disgrace. As an aspiring guardian of the Dark Forest she should know the name of every soul to pass into that night. She made sacrifices to a vengeful spirit, but did not watch those who went into that gentle night.


    Into the quiet darkness.


    She pressed her multi-colored pad against the wood and pushed, stepping into the quiet room. She didn’t know when it had happened. The blood had been wiped clean. A rusted hue stained the ground where the pile had stood, rotting away. She had never quite gotten used to the smell—funny how she missed the rancid tinge in the air.


    Severa sat herself down in the center of the space, her ringed tail of smoke and ginger curling around her dusty paws. The dilute torbie had considered this room like her nest once. It had been the first permanent home she’d ever had. She had known Luna longer than her real mother, she realized with a startled gasp. She had never stopped to think—


    She shut her burning amber gaze, steeling herself. She would not let it happen again. She would remember the names of the dead. Her breathing calmed, her thoughts cleared. That’s where she remained, a meditative statue, gathering the pieces of herself.

    WILLOWPAW.   .Luna.


    Ruth and Luna had not ended on the best of terms. In the stressful situation of trying to navigate a war, things were said between mother and daughter that should not have been said. Ruth was only trying to look out for her Clan, for their allies, and Luna thought the young leader was discrediting her suggestions. It hadn't been that, really. Ruth was just trying to do what was right -- to seek revenge for the death of Pitchstar and Chucky, to aid DarkClan in a war that she had promised to aid them in, but also keep her Clan from falling apart at the seems. The head guard's life had been lost before that could all be remedied and it still hurt every time she thought about it.


    The calico happened to be moving past Luna's old room when she caught a shadowy figure just past the threshold. Eyes narrowed in curiosity, Ruth pushed her way inside and found the familiar form of Severa there. Through Luna, the two were technically sisters by adoption. Though they had never been particularly close, one could only guess that the former guard was feeling just as saddened as Ruth was by Luna's violent and unexpected passing. "Missing her too?" the she-cat asked as she moved to sit beside the other.

    — ✘ —


    Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.


    ♚ The familiar scent of their leader wafted over to Severa, moments before the calico in question spoke beside her. She had come to regard the molly as a sister—hard not to given time, space, and Luna as a matriarchal figure to them both. Their relationship had changed since her ascension to leader hood, the trajectory of their lives drawing them apart. Her presence next to her now was a pleasant one.


    “Yeah.” She opened her amber eyes. “I regret that I wasn’t there, when it happened. Another part of me is relieved that I don’t have to carry the memory with me.”


    She shook her head and brushed a lick against her chest before turning to appraise Ruth. “How are you holding up?”


    Ruth hadn't been there when she had died either, thankfully, or she might have killed the cat who had killed Luna. Or maybe not, given that she still had no idea that the altercation between Nagina and Luna had been of the latter asking the former to take her life. Had she known that, Ruth would feel even more grievous in thinking that she had caused her adopted mother's bitter end. A sigh raised and lowered her shoulders as she turned towards Severa. "Seeing her body like that haunts me every time I close my eyes," she mewed, shaking away the terrible memory of Luna's bloodied body and open chest cavity.


    "I'm holding up as well as I can, I suppose. The Clan can't have a weak leader and so I try to deal with it as best as I can. You?" Ruth said. She wished life allowed her time to grieve, but just like Aleksei's disappearance, it did not. She couldn't have the time she needed when BloodClan was dependent on her. Though she knew she could trust Wildseas and Artemis to run things for a time, she just did not feel as though she was capable of letting her guard down for a second.

    — ✘ —


    Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.


    ♚ The skeletal dilute torbie dipped her head as her leader spoke. She could imagine how complicated it must be for the young leader. Ruth was only a few moons older than her, and Severa could clearly see the strain and stress of attempting to herd a bunch of savage cutthroats. Getting a moment to grieve must be difficult indeed.


    And how was she handling it? A lump of emotion swelled in her throat. She swallowed it down. "I take solace in the reminder that she's not really gone. I may yet see her among the tall trees of the dark forest in my dreams." Severa turned to Ruth and gave a sad smile. "Maybe one day, she will give a life to the next leader."


    She looked around the feast room, at it's empty corners. "I wish to move in here. Sleep where she might find me."