Aftermath [Open]

OCC: Continuation of this topic-- https://warriorclancats.forumotion.com/t31820-still-on-edge-open

The fluffy, white loner followed alongside Leafstorm as they made the trek to Thunderclan's camp. He felt incredibly out of place as they picked their way through the walls. A particularly nasty wound on his shoulder still stung from the fighting and he made a note to get it taken care of later on his own. So many cats wordlessly went about their duties around camp. There was a hushed silence that seemed to fall over the ground. His eyes scanned the clearing, sadness and compassion shining in their blue depths. He could not fully understand how much each one had been hurt by the tragic defeat at the edge of the territory.

"Blizzard Star." Artemis meowed the second he saw the she-cat among her warriors, "I'm sorry for what you all have been through. I wish I could have done more for your clan."

Leafstorm sat down beside the fluffy tom, looking bleakly around at the few clanmates who were allowed outside of the Medicine Cat's den. With a small sigh, the tom offered Blizzardstar a small, respectful nod. "This tom says he knows you." He mewed.

Blizzardstar was sitting right outside her den, talking in a low voice with some of her oldest warriors. After Ivystar had not only seen a warrior murder a mere apprentice without doing anything about it, but even dared to gloat about it, she no longer believed that she would stay true to her word and keep her clanmates safe. She was sincerely terrified with the possibility of receiving nothing but corpses to bury if they didn’t act fast, so she had started to plan a possible way to rescue them.

Her talk was interrupted by a known voice, causing her to raise her ears and turn around to face the same rogue she had talked to so long ago “Artemisodan!” She still thought the name was a prefix and suffix, much like Artemis called her Blizzard Star instead of using both in a single word. She got up as quickly as she could without reopening her wounds and approached him “I wasn’t expecting to see you in my clan’s camp” She turned to Leafstorm with a small smile and nodded politely as a greeting “Yes, I know him, we talked near the borders of the Twolegplace some moons ago, thank you for bringing him to me”.

She listened to the rogue’s kind words and couldn’t help but sight and lower her gaze “T-there is nothing you need to apologize for…”

I should be the one apologizing, this is my fault, I led my clan to war…the blame is all mine…only mine…

“…You helped us when you didn’t need to, you put your life on the line against a clan that proved to be fox-hearted enough to kill a young apprentice without remorse…you did more than what any of us could’ve asked of you and for that we thank you”.

Emberpaw had followed Leafstorm and Artemis all the way back to camp, and stood not far from the rogue - no longer a stranger, she had a name to call him by. Artemis Odan. A small part of her had to repress the urge to laugh at the way Blizzardstar spoke his name as one word, and Artemis spoke hers as two, but these were serious times.

Hearing that Artemis knew Blizzardstar caught her by surprise, but then she remembered what he had said - that he had known Blizzardstar was wise and caring. He wouldn't have been able to infer that without having at least spoken to her, would he?

Weedblaze huffed upon seeing Artemis. A rogue... but a rogue that had fought for ThunderClan. His feelings were mixed about this outsider, so he said nothing-- he wanted to sort out how he felt first.

If circumstances were different, he would have chuckled at the way she spoke his name. His voice was low as he said, "You can just call me Artemis." Their customs seemed different, so he did not want to confuse the she-cat by correcting her. As the leader lowered her head, he felt a pang of sympathy tighten his chest. There were so many things she had lost as a result of this war, and she had only set out to make things better for her clan. Artemis took a step forwards to attempt to comfort her, but stopped himself short. This was not his place. Instead, he just stood there, searching for the right words to say to a cat who had just suffered so much. He so longed to address the unspoken guilt that obviously now plagued her.

"I only did what needed to be done, Blizzard Star, and I would do it over again. My parents did not raise me to turn away from injustice. And that... Riverclan has committed some of the highest sins against your clan. There is no one to blame but them." Artemis' voice held a mixture of conviction and compassion. So many emotions crossed through his mind as he internally recounted the recent events. As he remembered Thistlepaw's body, torn apart on the rocks, his claws dug into the ground. There was a brief pause as he thought, but when he did speak up once more, his voice did not waver, "I am here to help. Whatever you need to me to doin assistance to your clan, I will be here. There would be no greater honor than to fight at your side against Riverclan."

If Leafstorm had a tail, it would be twitching with amusement. The way Artemisodan and Blizzardstar looked at each other... well, Artemisodan would definitely make a good addition to Thunderclan, and a useful cat to have in battle.
The fluffy warrior nearly said something to Blizzardstar. She looked so... defeated.
'It's alright.' He wanted to say. 'It's not your fault, it's mine.'
But some things were better left unsaid, so instead the tom shuffled his paws quietly.

If Blizzardstar noticed the attempts made by Artemis to try and comfort her, she didn’t showed any signs of it. Instead the uneasiness clear in her face seemed to increase with his statement as her own doubts flooded her tortured mind.

It could be for the life she had received from her mother during her leader ceremony or a strong emotion that she had been developing during all the moons she had been alive, maybe it was even for the fact she never had been able to have kits of her own and she had too much love to give, but in the end the results were exactly the same. She had grown to care about her clan just as much as a queen would care for those kits she had brought to this world, so losing one of them in battle and then having two taken away from her and be unsure of their fates had been a seriously hard blow for Blizzardstar. She had even found herself wondering if she had what it really took to be a leader, if it had been a mistake to make her deputy in the first place…and most important, if she could keep her clan safe.

And now the life of a friendly rogue was also being put on the line just because she couldn’t find a pacific solution for this mess.

“I…really appreciate your words and intentions, Artemisod-...hum...Artemis…but are you sure you are willing to fight at our side like this? You saw it yourself, not only did I lost a life against Ivystar in the battlefield, but also couldn’t do anything to save an apprentice from joining StarClan way before it has her time or keep RiverClan from taking two of our clanmates from us...” Tears started to pool on her eyes even if she tried to fight them back. She still clung to the mentality that she had to stay strong and optimistic for her clan, so not all hope could be lost, even if it meant to bottle up her true emotions for their sake and suffer alone in her den as everyone slept…but in these times even keeping on the same cheerful mask she had used many times before was proving to be a true challenge “I couldn’t protect my clan when they needed me the most…what if I can’t protect you as well?”.

As the massive, white tom watched the she-cat crumble before him, his heart broke. The tone to her voice and the tears at the edge of her eyes stirred something within him. While Artemis had always been a free spirit by nature, there were many other things at his core that had proven to be unshakable. One of those things was empathy. Between that and his strict belief in the values his of the Oasis that had been taught to him like many cats before him, he had been lead to fight at Thunderclan's side. The same thing that had brought him here was the very same thing that caused him to take a step even closer to the Thunderclan leader, forgetting any sense of the hesitation that had lead him to believe it was not his place to attempt to be a comfort to the broken she-cat. The top of his head pressed into her neck as he eyes squeezed shut.

After a second of standing there, in the middle of camp in such a strangely intimate moment with the clan's leader, he began to speak lowly, "Blizzard Star, it is not your place to take responsibility for every loss of this clan." Artemis had felt the very same weight she had over the situation. His entire life he had been taught to help, heal, and save those in need. Watching Thunderclan fall at the paws of their enemies had placed a weight on his chest. Despite not being deeply connected with the forest cats in either relationship or blood, their loss had pulled him down quite a bit as well. The adventurer's mind had been plagued with worries not truly his own and had temporarily shut out his knowledge seeking nature. The only thing that had mattered to him in the past couple sunrises was the safety of a clan not even his own. The loss he had been forced to watch. Oh, how he had wrestled with the same thoughts at the she-cat before him.

"You are only one cat. All you can do is try your best for these cats, that is all they can ask..." He continued to mutter softly. Even if he did not know each one here by name or even somewhat personally at all, he could feel how much they loved and respected their leader. Artemis moved back just enough to lock his blue eyes with the leaders, "I, along with every cat here, choose to fight this war knowing the risks. It is not on you to take all of that on. We all are responsible for ourselves, and choose to follow you regardless. Even myself, who is under no sworn oath to you or your clan. Regardless of what is to come, I will fight by your side, Blizzard Star." Artemis blinked slowly at the Thunderclan leader. Once again, he was amazed by the beauty of her spirit in that moment. All he longed to do was show her that she had no reason to doubt herself. Even if he too still struggled to not blame himself for the loses suffered at the rocks, Blizzard Star needed to see differently.