When Silence Falls, To You It Sings [OPEN]

Morningstar sat upon one of the halves of the great split boulder. The sun had crept over the horizon and cast a warm spring glow over Skyclan's territory, chasing away all shadows... save for the ones that writhed and curled like smoke around the undead tom. He watched in a motionless silence as only a dead thing could as the sunlight spread throughout his former home. He might be the "leader" of Skyclan now, but he had been gone from Skyclan for so long he couldn't see it as his home ever again. His thoughts wandered to the barn where the Forgotten Order was stationed. He had seen the fearful look in his kits' eyes, Aether in particular, now that he had gone through his most recent, and final, transformation. They had all but forsaken him, but instead of resentment and anger that he had been familiar with in the past when such things had occurred between himself and his family members, there was only a quiet, somber acceptance. He'd had more than enough time to think about his past and everything that lead him to where he was now, not able to sleep and all, and this recent amount of extended meditation coupled with the complete realization of all of his goals and none left to fill in the empty gaps where more should be, a lot of his anger had been drained from him. Worse than that, a lot of his emotions at all seemed to have vanished like the ghost that he was now.

His fiery blue gaze lowered from the sky to the ground around him. Blossomstep had trained him right here. This was where he had learned to hunt under his grandmother's guidance. She had even helped him fight a raccoon, one that he had eviscerated with such brutality it was really a wonder that Blossomstep hadn't seen that as a sign of the things to come. He could almost see his young, apprentice self and his younger-than-he-last-saw-her mentor instructing him. What a life that had been. What a memory it came to be. He never would have imagined at that time that he would have caused her death, been destined to be Skyclan's most wanted murderer, or that he would be here again as a Dark Forest cat. Was this to be his curse for his immortality and limitless power: To keep living in the past, since he couldn't die anyway? These were thoughts that often plagued his mind nowadays, as something had to fill in for the gaps in his daydreams where scheming and outwitting adversaries was now no longer a necessity. His blue eyes narrowed as the images of a long-gone Dawnpaw and Blossomstep faded away from the bottom of Halfstone. All that was left was nothingness.

Aether was practically tip toeing around every cat at this point. There were cats in the Clan that knew he had his doubts about Morningstar, and about everything going on, but none of them knew what to do about it. And he didn't know how to act around his father if he couldn't be faithful. He had basically been cowering, trying not to draw too much attention to himself. The less cats that noticed him, the less chance he would be punished. 

He was definitely regretting staying in SkyClan at this point. His father was hardly even there. And Aether felt like he was just an outsider without any support. Sure, there were cats that were pleasant company, but even more that were not. He wasn't a Clan cat. Sure, he was learning, Spottedfrog had been teaching him, but he still wasn't one of them. 

It was a shock seeing his father on the territory. He had been so lost in thought, he hadn't even been paying attention. Now he hid in whatever underbrush he could find, holding his breath and praying Morningstar hadn't seen him.

It was a sad attempt at hiding, really. Morningstar had been sitting as still as any hawk would have while hunting. He spotted the movement from his cowardly son immediately, then glared as he retreated to hide. "I didn't raise you to be a coward." Morningstar said flatly. If Aether wanted to run, he'd let him run. He had no desire to go after anyone anymore.

"Am I really so frightening that you have lost all of your courage and ferocity that I have instilled in all of my kits, Aether?" He didn't care if his son didn't answer, but it would be nice if he did.