Wilder nodded, relieved that Pride hadn't pressed further but perhaps in that relief she decided to grow bold. "Do you still have Blueberry's corpse? Or his gem? And...might I ask...who killed him? Why aren't they a part of the Seven anymore?" For a moment she thought back to the lizard. Her bet was on her which made her hatred for her even stronger, a feeling so foreign to Wilder that it almost scared her.

She hadn't met Jayberry, thankfully, but, just as she had done with Blackberry, she didn't totally believe Pride's judgement of her right away. There had to be something underneath. Nobody was inherently evil, right?

Well, maybe the lizard was. But, then again, she had only met her briefly. And she had insulted and attacked. And then Wilder realized exactly why Pride thought that Blackberry was evil and insane. He had only seen that side of her. It was terrible, of course, for her to have been so brutal and sadistic, but there were other parts of her too, emotions that Wilder had seen. And knowing that gave her more hope for Blackberry to recover and change.

Shit, she'd given too much away. She hadn't meant to be so bold, but it was too late to take back her words. Her ears twitched and she tried to keep her expression impassive and neutral. "No reason, really, I'm just curious." She nodded to herself and her tail flicked behind her. "I mean, gemstones can be revived, right? They're our most important pieces. I guess I just wanted to...know." It was kind of a lame excuse but she hoped it would be enough.

For a moment she was struck with a sudden fear that Pride would try to use magic on her. She knew a spell that could listen in on thoughts, she'd used it before. And she knew that Pride had many of the same spells as her. He could be listening in at that very moment.

Alarm caused the fur on the back of her neck to shoot up but she tried to smooth it down before Pride noticed. She tried to get herself focused completely on what was happening, shoving any thoughts of Blackberry to the side. It worked better then she thought - she found it actually quite easy to only focus on the present, on Pride, and maybe a distant thought of Blueberry in her head, just to make it less suspicious.

Finally, something that Pride had said upset her. All the gems found from the Bloodberries should be destroyed? And that was justice? She shook her head, growing more agitated. In an instant her focus broke and she was thinking back to her conversation with Blackberry. But when I went into my crystal to recover, Blueberry waited for me. I didn't know why...I couldn't understand. But when I came out, he was there for me, tormented with worry. But the time after that, when I truly recognized how I felt for him, that was the greatest time of my life. He didn't deserve that! Nobody deserved to die!

"Because," she blurted out, "everyone deserves a second chance! Blackberry, Blueberry, they all do! It doesn't matter what they did before as long as they see what they've done, see that they've done wrong and are willing to change! Blueberry is dead now...but can't he still have another chance? And the one that died in the fight...shouldn't he have one too?" She shook her head again, her ears pressing back against her head. "You just told me that they are all children, broken and damaged. But then you just said that I just destroy their gems! What about Huckleberry, the one you showed me? He was crying! You said he was broken! Should I kill him too?" Her tail was lashing around behind her. Wilder didn't often grow angry but the injustice of it all, the unfairness. It was too complicated for her simple, carefree mind to contain.

"Blackberry isn't evil! She's just broken too! She just wants to see him again," she wailed as she sprung back to her feet and began pacing around before the stag. She wasn't thinking about what she was saying anymore, just trying to release all of her pent up frustrations. It took her a second to finally calm down enough so sit down, although she wasn't directly facing Pride anymore. "It's not fair," she complained, sounding just as childish as the day she had hatched.

She didn't realize what she'd even said, that she'd completely given away her secret until everything was silent. She froze and horror filled her stomach. No...that was the one thing she had to have kept to herself and she'd completely blown it.

Well, since it was out now, she realized that she didn't have to hide anything from Pride anymore. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, steadying herself as if she were trying to break free from a trance. She prepared herself for Pride to start demanding things from her, she prepared for magic to touch her mind and force Blackberry's location from her but as the seconds stretched, nothing happened.

She looked back at Pride just as he began speaking again. She was caught a little off guard and a little confused. "A trial?" The word itself made it sound fair but as she took a second to think about it, she noticed something. "Hold on...but if it's only the ones she's hurt then it's hardly fair! I could tell you their judgement now. Why not...why not the jury be a neutral party? There could be both sides, a chance for her to change and a chance for those that have been hurt to get their revenge."

But still, Wilder didn't like it. If everyone sought justice and revenge then it would be never ending. There would always be someone to fight, someone to target and kill. That didn't seem right, that's wasn't fair. She shook her head but she didn't say anymore, unable or perhaps unwilling to put her complaints to word.

Wilder stood and turned back towards Pride as he began to speak, only to back away as he leaned forward. Her ears were pressed back and her tail tucked between her legs. For the first time in a long, long time, she was afraid. She was terrified. Of what, she didn't know, but maybe it was fear of Pride. Fear of Blackberry. Fear of her own ignorance and arrogance in assuming she could be the one to decide Blackberry's fate.

The memory rushed into her mind before she could prepare and her eyes widened with horror at what she saw and heard. Her legs trembled and she wanted to pull back but she couldn't. She watched it all and everywhere she looked she could see blood and death and torment and s̸o̶ ̷m̸u̷c̵h̸ ̷h̷a̴t̴r̶e̴d̵...

She was torn. Pride was right but what she had seen in the cave, the creature that Blackberry was, everything about her was different. It was like she was looking at two different creatures - one from Pride's memories and the other from her own. For a moment her own memory came forth for Pride to see, only if he was looking in. It was the moment when she had first moved the boulder, looking into the small hole in the wall. Blackberry was pressed against the back, her eyes wild with fear, her body shriveled, thin, ruined. PUT IT BACK. PUT BACK THE ROCK! LEAVE ME BE! And then closer, in much thicker darkness then before, but Blackberry was still visible as a silhouette. Her gaze was focused on Wilder and she spoke bitterly. I don't deserve help is why. And I don't want it. I don't want food or water. I just want to die. And finally, even closer, the bird was looking away, her eyes glistening and her whole body shivering. I loved them. I loved them all my heart. I still do and it hurts more then you could know to stay away from them. But they are safer without me. And overlayed it all was a sense of confusion and hurt because Wilder didn't know what to think. She didn't know what to believe. Which Blackberry was the real one? Which one mattered the most?

She didn't mean to think it. But Pride was right - when he asked the question, her mind instinctively flicked to a tunnel of ice and water with distant plants stretching at one end of the tunnel. Right in front of the boulder where she had left the goose.

It was just for an instant but Wilder knew she had totally fucked up. "No...wait..." He knew where she was now. She'd promised he she wouldn't tell anyone where she was hiding. She was just going to go out to find Blueberry and come back and help her more. But now...what had she done?!