Rift was glaring at Regalia, the entire world red, rage pulsing through his head, watching the root come down on them and crush them. And the second they were out of sight, he turned back down towards Sebastian, the anger falling away, a purr of distress rising in his chest.
He tried to will the plant matter around them to rise up, to begin trying to stitch his neck back into the right way , try and realign it so that he wasn't suffocating anymore, but he let out a sharp hiss of pain as, instead, a sharp vine peek up right through Sebastian's skin and into his pawpad, trying the two together. He tried pulling away, but it had successfully weaved the two together.
Everything was falling apart around him. This couldn't be happening. This was a nightmare. Sebastian was at his feet, hanging onto the edge of life, he had suck himself to his own brother with magic and the tree was being ripped apart. His heart was beating out of his chest.
It looked back up at the tree, pulling out the same force of magic as before, thrusting it deep into the tree, as far as it could, the black hole opening up again in the middle of the wound it had already created. Another horrible creaking noise and the tree began to sway with so much of its support missing. Still, it stayed tall, flaring up more violence and chaos in Regalia, making it even more impatient to get this done.
He was trembling before his brother, feeling sharp snaps of pain across his body as fragments rained down over him, opening small wounds across his pelt, but he was wholly focused on Sebastian, too terrified to turn away because he was barely breathing (or was he not breathing at all?!). He was dying and he could do nothing nothing nothing. He grit his teeth and tried again, crawling vines and stems weaving into Sebastian's neck to try and right his bones, get it out of the way of his breathing so that he could live, please just live a little bit longer. He couldn't do it alone. He'd need to find help.
Maybe Mercurius had something in his arsenal that could cure him. Or, no, Oliver! Of course, Oliver would be able to help! And if then, then Pride would know. Of course he would, he was gonna be fine. Everything was gonna be okay.
This post contains potentially sensitive material:
He knew little.
His brother's voice in his ear and
and the tree, he'd know the sound of their tree no matter what, crackling and roaring above them, little pinpricks of pain across him and water helped didn't it? trickling from his throat in tiny little streams, spluttering with each weakening cough until they pooled in an unmoving mouth.
-exit Sebastian
@Regalia
So Regalia looked back up at the massive tree and, instead of ripping a piece of it away with its dark energy, it grabbed it firmly with its own arcane, and pulled as hard as it could. It had never in its life pulled at something as resistant as the tree and it struggled for a second, pulling to not effect, when a loud snapping and crunching sound told it that its efforts weren't in vain. The tree, already weakened, began to move under its power, and then, one more tug, and there was a massive groan.
Regalia let go of control then and began backing up. It wasn't afraid of getting crushed. When the tree fell, it would be consumed by the branches, but it would be unharmed. Still, it would rather not get caught by the trunk and wasn't taking that risk. So it moved itself out of the way as, at last, the tree began to fall.
He was getting more desperate by the second, trying daintily to weave the bone back into place because it was crushing his windpipe and if he just got it back into place it would all be alright, wouldn't it? He was going to be fine, it was all going to be ok! Oliver or Pride would help him out, they'd help heal him! It was fine! It was all fine! He'd figure this out, because he'd always figured it out, there was always a solution! If it didn't Sebastian could just go back into his chrysalis, right? Right?! He wasn't going to lose his brother!
Tears were lowing down his cheeks now as more water came dripping from Sebastian's mouth. His jaw was trembling but he forced his paws to be a stable as possible.
The roaring of the tree behind him was nothing. He didn't hear it. All he could hear was the beating of his own heart, a beat which, for once, was not resonating in his brother, stretched out before him. Only one heart beat between the two of them. Only one breathed while the other was still. Sebastian was gone. Rift was alone.
He choked out a sob and sunk down next to his brother, the pain in his heart reaching a climax. He couldn't think. He couldn't breathe. It was like the entire world had suddenly been stolen right out from beneath his feet, reality swept away from within his heart until he was drowning in absolute nothingness. Head pressed against Sebastian's and he could almost imagine that he was still as warm as ever, a deep purr in his throat to be by his brother.
He didn't register the pain. He didn't realize what had happened to the tree. One moment the world had been unreal. The next it was all dark. He could hear the loud crash as the tree fell on top of them, but it didn't matter. It didn't matter because Sebastian was dead. Not gone, not living somewhere else or journeying on his own, not separated for a time because of a petty argument that didn't matter, but because he was dead. It didn't matter that his Hometree had fallen. It didn't matter that it had crushed his entire body. It didn't matter how many bones broke in that moment because nothing was going to compare to the pain of losing his brother. Nothing.
He found himself unable to breathe or move, crushed under the weight of the tree, but he could still see him. He was still there. Still and gone, but...he was there and Rift reached for him.
And from his paw, plants began to sprout, shooting up from the ground and surrounding the two of them. Tiny little lives surrounding the dead. Rift very faintly saw them beginning to grow before a soft echo, a young voice in his head, cried out merrily -
*exit
The thing that sucked, though, was that now they had no way of getting to the bodies. Their magic was exhausted and they doubted they'd be able to move the tree off of the two just to get at their oil and their stones. Ah, the stones would be lost, then, and it would have to find its meal somewhere else. He would not receive this offering, unfortunately.
It turned to drift away but, just then, something panged at the back of their mind. Consciousness, perhaps, realizing what they'd just done.
And, just to get here, it had hurt its own m-
It forced itself forward, hovering over the ground, making its way through the tangle of branches it had found itself in, until it had pulled itself free, disappearing into the forest with one mission complete.
*exit