He could hardly believe it. No fighting. No hurt feelings. He wasn't used to it anymore. Niru looked to him with awe and wonder, inspiration, but Cancer had grown so used to being either hated or distrusted... it felt strange to be cared for like this. It felt... alien. From Amaria, maybe, he'd learned to expect some affection, but from Bevy... the bird who, for the longest time, feared touching more than his horns lest she infect him. It was almost bizarre, but the leopard dearly loved both attending females. Loved them very much, in fact. He sighed into Amaria's fur, legs numb, cold, but his heart pumping a mile a minute.

He hoped, for a brief moment, that they'd never leave.

"...please don't go away again." His voice sounded so young for a moment, his tone that of a lost child. His mind slipped, eyes closing slowly- he fought to stay awake. "I don't want to be alone anymore."

(Amaria should do the stoney thing next post, if for no other reason, make it an accident? XD)

Amaria promised not to leave. He didn't believe it. Not for a second. But, she was there now. She wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, and that... that was good enough. He pressed his face into her fur and didn't even notice when Amaria's stone cleaved off. Not until she voiced her reaction did he lift his head and with soaked eyes, look. There, on the floor, a tiny blue shard. So tiny and precious. He narrowed his gaze at it. Just like the ones he had from Leon and from Bevy...

For some reason, the sight of it scared him. For some weird reason, he felt sickened by the sight, the thought of tiny shards like it. No, not the shard. No, that wasn't it. His stomach turned, violently. He suddenly didn't care about the pain in his legs. He wrenched away from the two of them and in his movement, flung the tiny shard against the back wall with a clang. Not quick enough. He stopped half-way to his feet and keeled over, expelling the contents of his stomach across the stone in one foul noise. As soon as his stomach stilled, he crawled after the shard he'd sent flying, legs all a quiver, vision unclear. He didn't know what he was doing. He just couldn't stay still.

It was some sort of instinct. Carcino pulled himself across the stone floor, pushing himself as his front legs, bloodied and raw, gave out time and again beneath him. There, against the back wall, hidden from the view of the main cave, he settled to the floor and closed his eyes, tucked around the tiny shard of blue Amaria had shed. There, he breathed, quiet, sobered. There, with eyes closed tight, he felt a pulse of a feeling, a bursting sensation in his chest. He'd messed up time and time again- and for that incoherent moment of weakness, he wished only to make things right. A soothing cherry-red glow surrounded him, and with a whispered vow, the shards around his neck, the shard on the ground as well, glowed with him. A second later, a new sound of fear blurted from his mouth.

He was stuck. He couldn't lift his head and the glow disappeared instantly in turn. He howled his resentment, his panic, and with a mighty heave, broke himself free of his unidentified restraints. The cat snapped backwards and away from the shards, the leather lace around his neck breaking, sending shards flying in all directions- save for two. Amaria's, and Bevy's. Red, blue and green sat together, fused to the floor, like twin glimmering points against the smooth black stone.

He lay gasping nearby, shaking, sobbing, crying. A mess. There, tired and unknowing, he fell into unconsciousness. In some many hours, he'd wake. He'd learn a lesson, one of life and birth. He'd learn that magic and shards were not simply tools of trade and tech, but served also to give them all life anew. He would find Bevy, find Amaria, should either wander off in his time asleep, and inform each of their new life... and then, his life would change forever- but for now, for this quiet, tense moment, the King in Exile slept, crippled by his plight- ruined, but not forsaken.

-exit cancer-