ORIGIN - ;; worth fighting for

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Nemesis

Nemesis wasn't sure how long it had been since she passed out in the faint glow of the vibrant, green tunnel. She didn't really consider it for much longer than that brief second, her attention turned towards her hunger. She struggled to the wall, shoved her face against the cold surface, and tried to eat what little of the moss she could reach.

The pain was constant, but she managed to drown out the thought of it. One of her legs hurt to move, and breathing caused a particularly sharp pain in her side-- broken ribs. She didn't care, really. Perhaps she would die. Her chrysalis hadn't come to save her this time. Perhaps she wasn't broken enough, or perhaps she didn't have the magic to save herself. She had more bruises then she could count, easily identifiable by the sore stiffness. It all hurt though, and she found it all too easy to ignore.

For now, she decided to wait it out. Be patient. The cave was silent aside from her labored breathing, and she found the reassuring huffing to be soothing. Her ears flicked, she ate another mouthful of sweet moss. The trino slowly started to drift off to sleep once more.

table by shax
@Magdalena

Fire. Fire. Where is my Fire.

Magdalena had lost track of the time it had taken since she started her search. When she first realized that her Fire wasn't lurking the platforms of Monoceros, she felt that ever familiar fear. The one that burned in her when she couldn't find the rhino the first time. She had dared to enter the canyon, her fragile limbs so delicately reaching and taking her, risking injury to find her, risking everything to find that chrysalis again - she followed the footsteps she'd taken so many times to the shell of the beast yet it was empty, and she didn't know what she'd been thinking in assuming that she would be here. She had even reached out without feeling, reached out for the warmth, and it was not there. Her Fire was not there.

Silent, Magdalena had not spoken of her woes again. She clambered out of the canyon and drifted through the tunnels like an amaranthine ghost searching for respite. She wandered, probing the caverns for signs of her Fire, hoping to feel even just the slightest pull. It wasn't like when she'd been trapped in her chrysalis. Now she just couldn't find her - she was lost without even a trace of where to find her. But she would search still; Magdalena wouldn't give up until she had tracked down the trinoceros, dead or alive. Perhaps that was among the dog's most redeeming qualities. Or perhaps it was among her greatest flaws. Maybe it would even get her killed.

She had traveled this far before. But only once - twice? Her paws scraped across the floor of the room of stars. It was eerily silent, but she recognized the layout of the room. The pull of the bacteria was familiar to her and it laid out an invisible, only tangible image of where she was. It was hazy, but she knew. And eventually, after stumbling many times over her paws, she had followed the wall and dipped into another tunnel. The phantom drifted through the dark, unseeing eyes raised - they were useless anyways, her mouth ajar as she breathed in the scents of the cave. One came strange, like it didn't belong. Thick and coppery. Blood. For a moment, her stomach churned - then she felt a malevolent hunger.

Her magic reached out, searching. She dragged those revenant fingers along the floor, up the wall and the ceiling, hunting. Then they found it. Her mind blanked. Magdalena paused, her head skyward. The pull. Fire. Blood. Fire. What have they done.

The dog bolted, her gangly limbs churning as they threw her forward, following, desperate. She had to go, to go, what damage had been done - what heat from the rock - would she feel it again, would she be met with silence, only a heart beat? Would she feel even that? Magdalena tripped and stumbled, cracking her toes against the rock - a snarl, but mostly the sound of her own racing heart drowning the sound of the tunnel. She ran as the pull became stronger and she ran even harder, she nearly collapsed as she ran into a jagged boulder near the wall but she picked herself up again and she ran, she ran until she felt something -

A great, warm mass. Thick skin. Blood. Magdalena barreled into the body but she knew that it was her, for the pull emanated from all around her. It consumed her and she crashed into the rhino's flank, like a frightened child to their mother's hip, she whimpered and grasped at her Fire, searching for any sign of life.

Nemesis

Nemesis heard a noise. A frantic noise. A snarl, claws on rock, a rushing, barreling creature coming through the cave. Closer and closer. For some reason, she heard it, and yet she didn't react, as though simply laying on the dull grey earth would make her battered grey body blend in, and she would just disappear. Yet it was even less than that, less than choosing not to react in case that would save her skin. No, it was more apathetic than that. She simply did not have the energy or will to consider what the noise meant, choosing instead to simply lay and let what would happen happen.

Something barreled cold-nose first into her flank, sending hot white flashes of pain up through her ribcage, rattling her spine, and she let out a pained groan. The rhino could no longer ignore the world, lifting her head up with great effort. Her body trembled with the effort, her bleary, dark eyes searching the room filled with warm, foggy green light. She craned her head around, her nose hitting soft, white fur before her eyes even registered.

... She had come. A satisfied snort rolled out of her body, her tail curling around the princess that had come rushing after her knight, her head pressing into the warmth of the sickly, blind dog, reassuring herself that the small body was indeed her precious friend. She had come, against all odds, and although she should have been angry, even upset, that Magdalena had risked her own skin for her-- the rhino found only fuzzy warmth so unlike her inner fire wash over her. She felt sick, a strange, delusional feeling, but it was muddled and mixed with joy.

Her princess had come. It would all be okay now. Everywhere Magdalena touched, pain flared up, but it only served to prove that this was real, that this moment was true. "Princess," the word escaped her throat, pain searing at the effort of breathing and speaking. A wetness came to her eyes, stinging in a way that made it hard for her to keep her eyes open, but she didn't need to see to know that the only thing that mattered to her was right there, right beside her.

table by shax
@Magdalena

She'd barely noticed any kind of response from the beast, so involved in her hysteria that she was too distracted pushing her nose against the hide and searching for warmth, or for a heart beat, to realize that the beast had started to tremble and move. Only when she felt something suddenly press into her fur, Magdalena paused. She waited and listened - the rhino's nose had bent around to make contact with her, quietly assuring her that she was still alive. Magdalena blinked, she froze in her place and then turned her head slightly. She couldn't see, how she wished she could, but there was nothing that could tell her that her Fire was alright other than that subtle touch and the heat that rolled off of her skin. A low whine began to push up her throat, then that massive tail of hers picked up and curled around her, soothing her into quietude.

Magdalena shifted slightly. The scent of blood was still thick around them, but now she feared accidentally irritating her wounds. She hadn't realized before how badly crashing into Nemesis would have hurt her but she was all too aware of it now. Nemesis' voice croaked out, finally breaking the silence between them that had been tainted only by the sound of grunts and whimpers. Magdalena bowed her head, slowly picking herself up and adjusting her body. Her shoulder made gentle contact with the rhino's side, following along until she was perpendicular with the rhino, then her nose pointed up to her friend's cheek and lingered.

"How did this happen." She whispered, and she couldn't help her voice from shaking. Memories of the first time she lost Nemesis had flooded into her mind. The fear that she might lose her again - more so that she wouldn't come back. "Who did this?"

Nemesis

The princess' voice took a while to come out. For a moment, they shared a brief moment of peace, enough so that the pain seemed to leave and Nemesis could nearly drift off-- but before that, damp dog nose to her cheek, the canine spoke. Her voice was shaking. The rhino wondered idly if she was worried, and how bad her wounds seemed to the ghostly princess who could only see with some supernatural sense that she didn't understand clearly. Her thoughts were foggy, lost in the bliss of having her favorite gembound by her side, despite everything. Why did anything else matter, anyway?

"The moss here is sweet," her thick grey hide heaved with each word, and she greedily inhaled the dusty warmth of the princess' fur despite the agony of her broken ribs. What the borzoi said rattled around in her brain, trying to find purchase in the fog. It took a moment, but she eventually put two and two together. Magdalena was worried about what-- who-- had hurt her. The smile that lingered on her snout crept a bit higher as she tried to blink the dampness from her eyes.

The princess really did care. "He's gone now... I don't think he'll mess with me again," she told her friend softly. "I need to get back..." There was something important that she had meant to tell Magdalena, but in the moment it seemed to be stuck, buried under the pain. "Need to tell you something... Show you..." She groaned, trying to shift her body, trying to find her legs purchase, but even in the smallest of moments the effort was too much to bare. She snorted, gritting her teeth. It was no good, that blasted dragon had messed her up something fierce. Not enough that her gem had reacted, so enough that she would survive, but enough to potentially cripple her.

table by shax
@Magdalena

Her knight's worn voice rose up through the air, tired, crackling against the silence. Magdalena blinked. If she could see, she would have sought out the rhino's gaze in search of recognition. Just to make sure that she was alright, but maybe she was delirious from the pain. Wasn't there anything she could do? She said nothing in response to the moss comment, instead sealing her lips and trying to think, trying to summon something deep down inside of her, what - what kind of magic could she use? She didn't want to harm the already damaged rhino, but it was all she knew how to do. She was helpless otherwise.

Nemesis, meanwhile, attempted to convince her that whoever had done this was gone now. Of course they were. But whoever it is, I'll find them. Whether or not he'd mess with her again didn't matter. But she knew that it was a he, so that ruled out anybody that identified as female. Almost instantly, one such Gembound appeared in the forefront of her mind, but she wasn't about to make assumptions. Not without more information. Magdalena parted her lips slightly, ready to push for more on her attacker's identity when she changed the subject again. Need to get back. Back to what? No, she needed to rest. She needed to stay here until her wounds healed. There was nothing Magdalena could do magic-wise, but at least she could care for the rhino while she was incapacitated.

"What do you need to tell me?" She asked quietly. "You can show me when you're better. You need to rest now." The dog added gently. She was curious - maybe it was about her attacker - but she could suspend knowledge for now, until Nemesis was better. She probably wasn't going to go anywhere for a while yet.

@Nemesis

Nemesis tried to focus as Magdalena's words reached out to greet her own, but frustration was kicking at her broken, battered body. If she could crawl she would have. If she could return home everything would be okay. There was something so important that she had to return to even if she could hardly remember where home even was.

"Princess..." Her breath stirred again as she tried desperately to stretch closer, to bury her muzzle against the long pointed expression of the borzoi. Her body protested and her flat teeth ground together as her blurry vision dug for purchase on the canine. How she longed to show Magdalena... Show the princess... Everything.

With a huff, her eyes fluttered shut and her head fell back to the earth with a thud that hit hard though she barely felt it. "Magdalena... Do you... Did I ever tell you how beautiful you are?" She wheezed, that same giddy smile gracing her expression. "Fang... Fang told me... She told me how I could..." A cough sputtered from her lungs and she gasped for breath, tensing as she tried to get her body under control long enough to respond. To tell the princess. Any other time she might have found it impossible, but if she didn't get the chance now... She might never be able to ever again.

She wished that Nemesis would just comply, maybe close her eyes and drift to sleep. Magdalena was happy now to curl up next to the rhino, indulging in her warmth and listening to her breaths slowly even as she slipped into unconsciousness. Magdalena could monitor her vitals easier, without the distraction of her Fire trying to speak to her, without feeling a pang of guilt and sympathy every time she spoke her words laced with evident pain. She'd be able to check her heart rate, her breathing, and maybe she could even go over her wounds and try to think of a way to fix them. Magdalena was hardly a healer - she didn't know where to start. Maybe she could go somewhere, find like... a big leaf... or maybe she could find somebody that actually knew how to heal. But even there, she was stuck - she didn't know anybody that would be effective.

The rhino's voice pulled her back out of her thoughts as she spoke her name, and the dog listened to the pronunciation of her calling slowly drip out into the tunnel enclosed around them. She could feel the rhino moving, but nothing came of her attempt to come closer; instead, her head thumped to the ground and Magdalena shifted slightly, crawling closer to where she imagined the rhino's head would be. There, she pressed her nose against Nemesis' cheek, then craned her neck to gently situate her chin atop the rhino's brow. She could feel reverberations of speech as the rhino spoke again, her name, then - the dog blinked, sheepishly pinning her ears back. She couldn't remember if anybody ever called her beautiful. Magdalena didn't know what she looked like, or anybody for that matter - she had nothing to compare herself to. But the words caused a flurry of heat in her chest. Her heart nearly skipped a beat, and she wondered if the rhino had felt it.

She'd been too busy clamoring over the sudden lightness in her chest when Nemesis brought up Fang. Fang told her... how she could... what? Then the rhino broke out into a thick cough, and Magdalena pulled her head back, giving her space to cough it out. It sounded horrible, as if she had rocks in her lungs. A sympathetic expression naturally made its way to her face, worried and fearful of what may become of the rhino all the same. What if she retreated to her chrysalis again? What if she left Magdalena again? Or worse... what if she succumbed to those wounds? She was working up emotions that very rarely ever made themselves known, and she didn't know how to handle it. "What did she tell you?" Magdalena pushed suddenly in a vain effort to distract herself. "Nemesis?" How she longed to reassure the rhino that it would be alright, but Magdalena knew not even that. She just wanted to hear her speak again, if only to affirm that she was still alive.

@Nemesis

Magdalena's cold nose brushed her cheek, the canine urgently trying to get the words out from her. Frustration boiled over in the rhino, the hard ground growing ever more uncomfortable for her. She wanted to climb back to her feet and race home... She wanted everything just to be okay. She wanted to show her princess the child she had brought to life, just for them. Yet all she could do was feel the rage in her chest, swelling flames that choked her in the struggle to explain, move, live for her princess.

The elegant dog's words ran through her mind again as her coughing cleared up, the taste of metallic crimson in her throat, and she tried... "She... In my den," she breathed, the strength in her words fading. She was exhausted, and despite her best efforts, the agony was becoming too much to struggle against. The rhino knew deep down she was only making it worse, but she hoped that her princess would understand her as she closed her midnight blue eyes.

Maybe she should rest before she strained herself any more. She could feel the borzoi's heart thumping against her ribs, hear the soft breathing aside her own ragged gasps. There was a quiet, soft warmth from the dog's wiry fur, one that was immensely conforting even in the wake of the firestorm in her body. Her attention was drifting, and quietly she thought to herself that if Magdalena just stayed by her side forever she would be blessed in every sense of the words.

"Magdalena Speech" "Nemesis Speech"

The words had just barely made it out, and Magdalena's curled ears twitched, pushing forward in an effort to glean as much as she could from them. Still, it didn't make much sense - she, who Magdalena assumed to be Diamondfang, only that she was in Nemesis' den. Was Diamondfang waiting in the den for Nemesis to come back? Surely she wouldn't have been waiting all this time, would she? Besides, what would she be waiting for, and was she not capable of venturing out of Monoceros to find Nemesis herself? Her brow furrowed slightly. She wanted to seek more answers from the trinoceros, but silence had slowly consumed the great beast and already Magdalena could feel her breathing begin to slow. Magdalena leaned forward, trailing her nose along her Fire's thick skin, feeling for her heartbeat - surges of life still ran through her veins, and her sides rose and fell with one inhale, one exhale, rinse and repeat.

At least she was still alive. Magdalena should be thankful for that. But with her consciousness slowly drifting away, the dog was left clamoring for an answer. Still, she wanted to know the details of the fight that had left Nemesis so mangled, she wanted to know what it was waiting for them in Nemesis' den, and what Diamondfang had told her. "It's alright." She decided. "Sleep... tell me later." Magdalena sighed and craned her neck, arching it over the trinoceros' head and resting her chin just above the ridge of her brow.

(yo... fade out?)

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