Iktome Plains dead souls and a really big globe.
461 Posts
Ooc — Stevie
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#1
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The world should've ended that day. It should've been done. It should've let him go and everything just have been over.

It didn't.

Artaax woke the next day acutely aware of how terribly cruel life had been in forcing him into his continued existence. There had been maybe ten or perhaps twenty incredible, blissful seconds before reality had caught back up to him and that terrible truth had made itself known to him again and he'd felt every ounce of contentment crumble into ashes.

Nomi was dead. It was inconceivable, and yet he found himself unable to deny it as he managed to do so to so many other truths he didn't want to believe. She had been the very center of his universe - his mentor, his motivation, his purpose. He had been her soldier, and it had defined him completely. Without her now... what was he? What did he have? Nothing. He had nothing. He was nothing. He was just a single, solitary planet, spinning wildly out of control across the stars with nothing to pull him back into orbit.

And worst of all, she had chosen to remove herself from him. Artaax was a good son of the kru. He knew the commanders could not be denied, and yet, and yet. It gave him no comfort. If anything it just rocked him all the more off kilter as it challenged the faith he'd always had in the culture he'd been raised in. What madness would possess his ancestors to demand this of their chosen heda? Something so unforgiveable? Something so devastating? And how could she have obeyed? He was a soldier - he lived to be commanded and to serve without question, but this... How could she.

Two mothers. Both parted from him by their own choosing and tearing away from him the few he had allowed close to him. Artaax was rent now apart from his siblings, all of his family. She had taken away from him everything by taking herself away. And now he had what?

N o t h i n g.

Artaax stood, unaware that his face was twisted in anger and heartbreak and once more wet with tears. He had worked all his life to emulate nomi and to hold himself calm, stoic, unreadable. But now the story was painted in violent red all across him and he had no will or care to reconstruct himself into what he had been. What was the point? Heda was gone. He had nothing to mold himself after, no purpose to serve. He was gone, dropped from the cliffs to crash away into oblivion with the one who had made him, shaped him, and given him all that he was.

He breathed heavily, raggedly as he lifted his head to stare across the snow-covered plains. Surprisingly, his bearings came to him and he found himself turning. There was a howling fury inside of Artaax that roared his pain and aimed it like a knifepoint to the South, towards the only thing that made any semblence of sense for him to turn towards in that moment.

He began to walk.
 
565 Posts
Ooc — Starrlight
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#2
As Artaax turned south, fate seemed to be working some mysterious hand, because Kiwi had turned north.

Everything these past few months had drawn the girl out, and they'd set her thinking.  She'd not shared these thoughts with anyone, not even Sequoia, but they'd driven her further and further towards a single end.  She wanted to go back, just for a minute, just to see.  

Wildfire didn't miss it like she did, but Kiwi... she'd loved home.  And while she realized now she'd always been destined to leave it, that didn't mean she had meant to turn her back entirely.  She had more to learn from Artaax, and things to show him.  How she'd become their mom's new Regent, her Fleimkepa (no, not at all.  But it was how she thought it).  She would be the one to pass his lessons onto their younger brothers and sisters, but how could she do that if she didn't know them all?  She needed to learn more about the ducks.

It was stupid, and there was a big chance he would not greet her well.  He'd said as much last time they'd met, but she couldn't believe it.  She was his pupil, and he was her mentor.  Niamh had tried to fill his shoes, but there were some shoes that couldn't be filled.

She missed her big brother.

If she was going to go, she needed to go now, before Wildfire grew more pregnant and she had more responsibilities to fill.  So the young girl set off, striking north on what she hoped would be a short trip.  Along the coast, the path was narrow, and narrowed even more by the packs that bordered the strand.  There was really only one way she could go, and it was the direction in which he now lay.
Kiwi will internalize lies and twist things to her benefit until this becomes her reality.  Her thoughts are not my own <3
461 Posts
Ooc — Stevie
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#3
Artaax had no real thoughts about what he was doing, or what he would do next. He knew where he was headed, but was yet unaware of his purpose in going there. He knew who he was looking for, but what did he want with them? His mind was a seemingly endless abyss of heartache and anger with the truths about his situation playing over and over and over again to an unwilling audience. Not that it particularly mattered - he had never been one to carefully consider his actions prior to taking them, no matter how important it seemed that he do so. He was obedient to his instincts, and these drove him South towards some inevitability that he would simply meet when it came.

It was an hour or so before he saw her. She was a red blip on a white canvas with a line of dark trees at her back. It remained unclear to him what his purpose here was - after all, what purpose did he have anywhere anymore with her gone - but he drew a straight line in the snow and headed towards her with an almost feverish intensity, never knowing what would happen when the distance separating them ran out and their paths collided.
 
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Ooc — Starrlight
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#4
She didn't expect to run into him, so when he appeared in the distance, she didn't recognize him.  As he came closer, though, it became apparent that it was him.

Her tail shot up and she smiled, forgetting for a minute what their last meeting had been like in her joy at seeing her brother again.  She'd admired him fiercely all through growing up and that hadn't changed now.  If anything, it was worse because she no longer had easy access to his training.

ARTAAX! she yelled, though it was apparent from how he shifted that he'd already seen her.  She wasn't close enough to read him and, as she drew close enough, it was likely he'd be as unreadable as always.  Kiwi hadn't quite mastered that skill yet - her face had broken out into a wide smile, and everything about her approach displayed her eagerness.  She had so many things to tell him!
Kiwi will internalize lies and twist things to her benefit until this becomes her reality.  Her thoughts are not my own <3
461 Posts
Ooc — Stevie
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#5
Artaax picked up his pace as he came closer, his mind still whirling as his emotions screamed for attention and warred with each other over the drivers seat. He let them go for it. He didn't care anymore. There was no right or wrong, no consequences. Nothing truly mattered anymore. He was nothing, and what he did or didn't do was nothing to him. Nomi was gone, and he was a tidal wave, endlessly crashing and rising and crashing again.

He slammed into her.

Kiwi crumpled beneath him like a daisy beneath a boulder. She was tangled in his limbs as he jerked his head around, his jaws snapping wildly as he aimed to grab her - to throttle her and tear her to pieces. Were he truly in control of himself, he would've had her throat torn free of her petite frame already, but he was chaos and rage, and his jaws closed on nothing as she scrambled beneath him.

This was her fault. She had left, and Thur had been too heartbroken to know not to listen to the commanders when they'd told her to jump. It was because of her. Because of them. They had to die.

He had to die.

He couldn't survive this.

He couldn't.
 
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Ooc — Starrlight
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They were similar creatures when it came to focus.  The idolatry Artaax felt for Heda Kiwi had felt too.  There was just one significant difference - Kiwi's was not unconditional.  When Nomi had lost it, she'd turned it to the next best in her life - mom for adoration and her brother for training.  He'd become a part of her guiding force, what she lived to live up to.

It was too late when she realized that his focus wasn't the usual Artaax focus, but something else.  She tried to wheel around, but he was already upon her, and the larger male had few issues in slamming his shocked younger sister into the dirt.

She hit hard and was dazed for a second, but as her head cleared she tried desperately to untangle herself from under him, now panicked at his lashing jaws.  She hadn't believed, ever, that any of them could actually be capable of hurting her.  Well.  Wasn't she wrong?  

ARTAAX! She practically screamed it, pushing at him desperately, claws and teeth both trying to deter him.  This wasn't happening.
Kiwi will internalize lies and twist things to her benefit until this becomes her reality.  Her thoughts are not my own <3
461 Posts
Ooc — Stevie
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#7
She screamed his name. He heard it, but he didn't. He snarled as she kicked against him, doggedly pursued her as she shoved away from him, but fell back as a well aimed kick smashed into his muzzle and threw him off course. He spun quickly, but the few seconds the blow had gained her was enough for her to escape his grasp. She could gain ground on him now, but only if she had obeyed his lessons and had learned how to use her swiftness to her advantage.

Artaax.

She had shouted his name. He had heard it.

He hadn't.

What did it matter. Artaax was gone. Nomi was gone.

Kill me.

He lunged at her again with an anguished roar.
 
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Ooc — Starrlight
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#8
She managed to kick him off and scramble to her feet, but once there, Kiwi did a very dumb thing.  She rationalized it.

This was training.

It was training and she was failing.  Instantly she grew angry.  It wasn't funny, throwing her down like that, acting like this.  She wasn't going to run.  He hadn't trained her to run, and she wasn't about to disappoint him.

She darted around and, instead of a front on, went for a hind leg.  Her teeth latched on and she bit down, not hard enough to maim, but hard enough to show she meant business.  All the while she watched him warily.

She probably should have maimed.
Kiwi will internalize lies and twist things to her benefit until this becomes her reality.  Her thoughts are not my own <3
461 Posts
Ooc — Stevie
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#9
She was so fucking tiny, god damnit.

Artaax flew, but she slipped past him. There were teeth digging into his back leg as he landed and promptly spun, his eyes blazing wildly as he snapped his focus shut on the creature now behind him. He kicked out like a stallion, pitching her away from his limb easily as she so foolishly hadn't been aiming to hurt him. She should have been. He wanted her to. He wanted her to end this before he did. Or did he?

He sprang at her again, his jaws gaping as he reaching to grab her neck. He had wanted her throat, but it was the scruff of her neck he sank his teeth into instead.
 
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Ooc — Starrlight
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#10
Oof.  His kick sent her sideways, and before she could recover he'd latched into her scruff.  And it hurt.  Again, anger, and a welling sense of frustration as she found herself unable to twist free.

She twisted anyway, brining a paw up around his neck and scratching towards his cheek in an attempt to push his head away.  All the while her teeth gnashes uselessly, trying and failing to grab any part of his muzzle or neck.  Damnit, he was so strong.
Kiwi will internalize lies and twist things to her benefit until this becomes her reality.  Her thoughts are not my own <3
461 Posts
Ooc — Stevie
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#11
Artaax felt as though his entire body was in flames. He had been fighting with a passion akin to one standing upon the verge of death, as though he were actually driven to survive when everything in his mind and in his heart screamed at him to just lay down and be done with it. He couldn't, though. Hopeless as he was, he felt there might be something here. There might be venegeance here, and maybe, maybe it would be enough to make the rest bareable. 

It was just plain insane. Kiwi was so tiny and so inexperienced. It was David versus the Goliath but with David having just graduated from diapers to pull ups. It was his recklessness and his lack of focus that had kept her alive thus far, and it was madness that kept his actual talents at bay. Had he stopped to think for a single moment, he would’ve realized that he didn’t even fully know who this even was he was trying to kill. Was it Kiwi? Was it Wildfire? Was it Bobby for failing to stop her? Was it the cheka for failing to save her? Or was it Thuringwethil herself for being so impossibly cruel as to take herself away from him and subsequently destroy everything he had known and everything he had been?

Artaax jerked her back and forth once, twice, and then threw her down, slamming her into the ground before him. He was quick to follow her frame and stand himself over her, hackles raised and tail raised high like a flag as he stared down at her, teeth bared, face bloodied from her bites and scratches, and the roar in his chest screaming that this was it. This was the end. It was her throat or it was his.

And please god.

Let it be his.
 
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Ooc — Starrlight
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#12
It was when the first jerk came that she realized she had miscalculated, and cold fear flooded her. Skip the panic step.  She was in a position she didn't want to be in, and his teeth tearing at her with every snap of his head.  Her neck hurt, but lucky for her, the tense of her shoulders and the fact that he had only skin meant her neck didn't break.  Lucky.

He slammed her down again and this time she didn't recover quite as quickly.  She glanced up at him, dazed, and immediately her tail tucked as her breath hitched.  There was nothing of Artaax there.

She was terrified, frozen.  She should run, but the fact that he was looking at her like that made her legs refuse to function.  She couldn't even begin to contemplate fleeing, let alone taking the killing blow.  Just like she couldn't begin to contemplate what had turned her brother into this monster.  Taax?  It was the only thing her disarrayed mind could think to do.
Kiwi will internalize lies and twist things to her benefit until this becomes her reality.  Her thoughts are not my own <3
461 Posts
Ooc — Stevie
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#13
Taax?

The feisripa's snarl was a rumble that shook the ground beneath his very feet, and yet it was not loud enough to mute the single, terrifed word that escaped Kiwi's throat and slipped easily into the hurricane he had became, like a hot knife through warm butter. He blinked, realizing only then that everything had become a blur of swirling color. He couldn't really even see. Why couldn't he see?

Oh.

The tears.

They were back.

Taax?

Artaax fell back, away from her. He stumbled to the side and collapsed into the snow with only his forelegs to hold him upright, though they were shaking with such violence, it didn't seem likely it would last. He stared at the ground beneath him, unseeing, his breath coming in ragged gasps as his mind reeled. He was a tidal wave, yes. He had crashed upon the shore with all the wild thunder of a typhoon, but in the end, he was the one disappearing back into the ocean while the shore remained just as it had been.

What was he doing?

What had he done?

Taax?

It wasn't her fault. It wasn't anyone's fault. There was no one to find to unleash this wrath upon. The only one who deserved it had removed herself from the equation and left him powerless to expel this anguish. He was stuck with it. There was no where to put it, no where to hide it. There was no one to give it to. It was his, and his alone, and the weight of that realization had him choking helplessly beneath it.

"She's gone."

He sobbed.

"She's... She's dead. She's gone."

He fell.

"She's gone."
 
565 Posts
Ooc — Starrlight
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#14
She couldn't process that he might actually finish this, but the battering she'd received spoke differently.  Blood ran down her shoulder blades from the gashes he'd left in her scruff, and that last hit had knocked something more than a couple teeth loose.  She could hear ringing.

But suddenly, he just stopped.  She'd finally put two and two together that maybe she should run, but by the time that happened, he was sobbing something about death.  Someone was dead.

Kiwi shook her head and got unsteadily to her feet, though a sudden rush sent her reeling. Who? She asked, but her voice was shaky, and tears were already starting to run down her own face.  Why did he attack her like that?  The full weight of what had just happened slammed into her, and she took a step back.  Who's dead?
Kiwi will internalize lies and twist things to her benefit until this becomes her reality.  Her thoughts are not my own <3
461 Posts
Ooc — Stevie
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#15
Who?

God no. Please. Artaax buried his head into his arms, hating this. Hating.. Hating it all.

Who's dead?

Don't make him say it. Please. Don't. Don't. Don't. Wasn't this enough? Wasn't it enough to destroy him like this? Leave him in a heap of misery, crying like an infant, unable to escape this... This what? How could you even describe this? Wasn't it enough without saying it? When would it be enough?

"Nomi," he choked, "Nomi is gone."
 
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#16
She couldn't believe it.  She couldn't believe Artaax was here, sobbing, in front of her.  That he'd done this to her.  That the wolf in front of her, broken, was her brother.

Nomi is dead.  It was like her mind suddenly disconnected from her body, and for a minute, the pain stopped.  Everything stopped.  Nomi was dead.  And Kiwi?  Kiwi was numb.

She felt nothing.  Just like she had when Bat returned, but this time, the numbness was worse.  Nomi was gone the moment she'd left her behind.  This didn't change that.  And now, seeing Artaax crying in front of her, Kiwi took another step back.

He was supposed to be stronger.  But now, she could be stronger than him.

Completely devoid of feeling, she stared at him.  Willing him to prove her wrong... to stop.  To take control and to step back in her place.  But also willing him to fail.  Because as her own tears dried, and her throbbing head lifted, it meant she'd surpassed yet another mentor who had decided to let her down.
Kiwi will internalize lies and twist things to her benefit until this becomes her reality.  Her thoughts are not my own <3
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Ooc — Stevie
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#17
Please.

Please.

Please...

Artaax continued to fall apart, slowly forgetting that Kiwi was even there. She was gracious enough not to remind him, to instead fade away from him as she was overtaken by the news and her own reaction. It allowed him a moment to deal with the overwhelming load of emotion he already had whirling around him. Only he needed more than a moment. He needed an eternity, and it still would not be enough. Not even close.

He curled away from her, willing her to just go away. He couldn't face what he had done to her, let alone give her anything more of what she deserved to know - How, when, why. He wanted nothing of this entire world, but as much as he willed it, it just wouldn't disappear, nor could he disappear from it. He was trapped in this devastation, and there was no way out. Maybe Artaax could've found a way, but not what was left of him. This was all there was now. Just endless black where he had once had a life.

"Get away from me," he whispered, shutting his eyes. His sobs had quieted a few moments ago without his notice. His was so exhausted. He justed wanted to sleep again, and never have to wake up again and face another day of this, "Don't let anyone find you."
 
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Ooc — Starrlight
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#18
He didn't get up.  He continued to lay there, and slowly, a perverse sort of scornful pleasure filled her.  It was wrong.  It was so wrong.  She should have been crying too, or trying to comfort him, or just feeling something.  

Instead, her hackles raised.  He was supposed to be strong.  He was the one who taught her to fight, to hide her emotions, and that Kru were supposed to be the best.  The terror she'd felt moments ago was gone.  It would have been better if he had remained that monster - anything was better than this.  He couldn't be this.

She growled as he finally spoke.  Let them. She said, and her fur spiked out.  Nomi was gone - at some point it would hit her, and she'd have to deal with that.  Right now, her focus was this.  Proving that she apparently did not need him anymore.  Last lesson.  I'm ready now.  She was a Regent now.  She didn't need any of them anymore.  Without another word, she turned and left.  Last lesson, last orders.
Kiwi will internalize lies and twist things to her benefit until this becomes her reality.  Her thoughts are not my own <3
461 Posts
Ooc — Stevie
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#19
Artaax ignored her as she spoke, but that didn't mean he didn't hear her. He would remember her words eventually. They might even be what inspired him to move again after spending hours just lying there, trying to will himself to dissolve into the snow and disappear. It was so terribly cruel to have his entire life and sense of self stolen away, but be left an empty husk that still needed to function and survive. He preferred to waste away, and maybe there was still hope for that. But it would take too long, and he'd be left here in the torrent of his misery until then.

He didn't notice when she left. He wasn't aware of anything but his heartache until long after the sun had set and his body hurt so much from cold and hunger that it was finally enough for him to pay attention to. Only then did the Feisripa move. This time, it was in no particular direction. The drive to exact revenge from the family that had been the first to abandon him was gone. He knew now that it would do him no good, and on some level, he still felt far too protective of them to truly hurt them. Artaax had so little left, and they unfortunately made up half of that meager handful. He would leave them be. He would go away and he would leave them all be.

He turned back East and began to walk.