Sweet Melodies (For me and Storm)

The moon hung high in the dark blue sky as Artemis sat in the shadows of a tree. His red eyes glimmered in the faint moonlight that fell upon him from the faint cracks that the leaves above him allowed. He had always enjoyed the life that the night held; the sound of Hoothoots' coos echoing from the forest not far from him; the cold breeze that the nightly winds brought that ruffled Artemis' fluffy chest fur. Nights had always meant peace and safety to the Absol...At least it did in the openness of the field.

However, the same could not be said true for the time before Artemis had met Nira and Shock; Pokemon he thought as of family. Having been born in the darkness of the forest; afraid of the tall Pokemon that loomed over him in the darkness that the night brought upon the forest; those had been the few times that Artemis had feared the darkness of the night.

Of course, he recalled one thing fondly of those times; simply tunes he would sing to calm himself when he was scared. Singing...it had been an gift that Artemis had quickly found he held and would use it to sing himself to sleep when he was hiding in the shadows. While he adored his ability to sing; he found himself all to shy to do it in front of others...Always afraid to repeat a mistake he had made one night in the forest.

However; here in the shadow of this tree with the moon high above and wide open fields surrounding him? He enjoyed the comfort it brought him and the peace it held; so much that he often found himself slipping away from Nira and Shock as they slept to enjoy the peace by himself. Having done the same thing tonight to bask in his musical talent; he gently let himself slip into humming a sweet, lovely melody.

Nira snuggled against her friends' fur in her sleep, enjoying the warmth they shared with her. She herself had no fur, but she was a fire-type, so she had some extra body heat to give off. The charmander was in a sweet dream of playing happily with her two best friends and family, Shock and Artemis. Her jolteon-friend was rushing around with his new-found electric-type speed, while Artemis was laughing along with Nira as they watched their goofy friend run around at high speeds to show off. It really was impressive...She wondered if Shock could evolve again, after already evolving once. She tried to picture what he might look like in her head, and her dream-self's eyes sparkled at the thought of the possibilities. Oh, now she kinda wanted to evolve! Not to change, but more because it seemed fun, and plus they got stronger, didn't they? Also, Shock shouldn't be the only one able to evolve! She giggled, and turned to look at Artemis, or what her mind had made of him for her dream. However, she tilted her head in wonder as she realized that he was no longer there.

The charmander glanced around, looking for her other friend as dream-Shock continued to run back and forth across her vision. She reached out at the space where Artemis previously sat and felt a sudden cool air. Her eyes forced open, her dream ending as she returned to the waking world. Her hand had moved in her sleep to pat the cold ground beside her, where she thought Artemis had been sleeping. Her blue gaze lazily drifted around, and she shook her head, blinking her eyes open wide once she realized that she couldn't see the absol anywhere. Carefully getting to her feet, as not to wake Shock, Nira picked her way out from under the low-hanging branches they had decided to sleep under, and took a better look at her surroundings. Artemis was missing, as she had worried. She wondered if she should wake Shock so they could go look for him when she heard something incredibly faint. It was a musical sound, like a pokemon humming a tune.

Deciding to follow it, Nira carefully and quietly made her way around some bushes and poked her head out into a clearing. She blinked in surprise as she saw that Artemis was sitting in the open, fine and seemingly content, humming a gentle tune to himself. The charmander couldn't help but listen a moment, finding the song soothing and pleasant. In fact, it was starting to make her sleepy again, her eyelids drooping and her feet swaying. Suddenly she fell forward, straight into the open with a thud that instantly knocked her awake again. Her eyes flung open and she got to her feet, looking up at Artemis with a happy grin. "Sorry I disturbed you, Artemis!"

The last thing Artemis had been expecting was the sweet sounds of the night to be interrupted by the sound of a thud behind him. His voice quickly grew quite; bringing an end to the sweet music he had been humming as he jumped to his paws and spun around. His red eyes blinked in surprise when he saw Nira picking herself up from falling. Had he...? No; he hadn't used that move, he was sure of it. He forced himself to be calm as he fought away the fears he held close to his heart.

He forced himself to sit back down in fear of maybe showing how nervous he really was. Why did she have to come along to hear him? He wanted to bury himself in the fluff of his chest fur; unsure what to do. Never had he let anybody listen to him sing; he was far to shy to so and now that Nira had stumbled across him...He took in a deep breath, shaking his head sightly as he forced himself to hide the small fear that he felt deep inside. "I-Its fine," he said as he stared at Nira.

Nira's smile disappeared as she noticed Artemis' nervousness. Instead, she became a little worried. Had her interruption upset him? She hadn't meant to, and hoped he wasn't mad in any way. To make sure, she decided to ask. "Are you sure, Artemis? That was a really pretty tune you were humming, and I didn't mean to interrupt." She explained, looking at her friend with an apologetic gaze. "I woke up and saw you weren't there, so I got worried and came looking for you. I'm glad you're not in trouble, but now I've gone and bothered you, haven't I?" The charamnder quietly looked down at her claws, which were twiddling worriedly. She tended to worry about Artemis a lot, even when it probably wasn't necessary, ever since they were younger and Artemis had accidentally referred to Nira as his mother. It wasn't like she took on the role of being the young absol's parent, but she cared deeply for him and sometimes found herself acting as if she really was his mother, despite the huge difference in their species. She'd hate it if he was mad at her for some reason.

When he saw how sorry Nira looked for interrupting his song, Artemis frowned slightly as she spoke. What he didn't mean to do was to worry her; but he had gone and done it...It felt weird, but Artemis adored Nira dearly; much like a young Pokemon would adore their parents. Never knowing his own; he kinda forced the role of his mother onto the Charmander. After all, the closest thing he had to a parent other than Nira was Shock, and that one Pokemon that had given him his name. But the fact that Artemis was now taller than the Charmander made things all the weirder.

But, instead Artemis shook his head as he took in a deep breath. "N-No, its fine. I-I shouldn't have made you worried," the Absol said, trying to speak as calmly as he could but he still stuttered on a few words. "I'm just..." he started, drifting off a bit but he forced himself to go on. "N-not all that used to others hearing me...Well...Ah, sing." It felt weird; but Artemis had always been a bit wary of his ability to sing after he had learned of a move he knew that used his songs; one that hurt everybody around the Absol if he used it. A move he had promised he would never use again unless he had no choice.

Nira immediately perked up, but lacked her usual smile as she nodded slowly in understanding. Was he perhaps embarrassed? Or maybe it went deeper than that? Either way, she decided not to delve into it if he didn't want to tell her. But, she did want to let him know that she was always there for him if he needed it. She showed him a small, comforting smile. "It's okay. You do have a pretty voice, Artemis, but if you don't want it to be heard then again, I apologize for walking in on your song." She reassured him, pushing away any worried thoughts that came to mind in hopes to avoid upsetting her friend.

The charmander glanced around at the clearing, then looked up at the moon. It seemed like a nice, clear night. No wonder Artemis seemed so peaceful out here alone, humming a tune to himself. It made her regret interrupting him yet again, though she pushed the thought away for now as to not look sad or worried again. "It's fine if you want to go out and find some serenity, you know? Sometimes a pokemon needs the peace of being alone. But, not to sound too protective or anything, could you maybe leave some sort of sign when you go, so that I know nothing bad happened to you?" She asked, trying a friendly smile. Was she being too worried again? Too protective? She hoped not. Ah, don't think about it. You'll just worry yourself pointlessly even more, she told herself silently.