Belladonna had taken control of Clover again, as easily as flipping a coin to face the other side. The pure-hearted doe was as weak as wet paper when Bella wanted her way, what with her broken state of mind, and just feeling her flimsy pathetic denials and cries for her to stop just made Bella laugh. She was the one who ruled this beautiful body, she was the one who ruled the throne. Eventually all of Clover would be slowly eaten away by Bella's shadows, and there was nothing the dying woman could do about it.

She'd taken their body to Eridanus just because she could, aimless in her ventures, desiring only to eat and rub it in Clover's face that there was nothing she could do. She could literally eat poison and then let Clover take control only to let her suffer and vomit and shiver and quake, and she would sit back in her shadows and laugh, watching her plaything almost die....but at the very last moment, she would wrest back control and find some little creature to help and nurse them both back to health. And then, when Bella felt herself...she would kill them for their kindness and laugh and laugh and laugh.

While Bella was amusing herself with such idle thoughts, a deep rumbling sound brought her back to attention. Something big was coming, something with a deep, dark intent, and Bella reached out to their minds, hiding in the shadows, waiting until she had a taste of them before giving herself away.

She reached out, ready to snag her talons into the newcomer with a nonchalant arrogance, when Clover, shuddering and snarling from hearing Bella gloat and laugh inside the mind that they shared, raised herself up at the very point of the casting and struck her with all of her might. The spell was bungled and lashed back onto them both, the ability to open and tear into a mind reflected back onto themselves, and the both of them screamed with the blinding, searing pain of it.

The sound that echoed into the forest was that of two voices, one young and pure, lyrical almost in its scream, the other once twisted and vile and threaded with hatred. They were like an unsettling and discorded harmony.

"......."

Bella seethed, her breath coming in harsh pants, her eye scrunched tight with the massive, blinding headache and her mouth set in a nasty grimace. She would rip Clover apart for bungling that spell, the bitch, she would find her daughter and probably break one of her legs -

A voice pierced through her rage, a childish voice that sung of blood and murder, set with an infuriatingly annoying undertone that set her teeth on edge, like nails on a bloody chalkboard. And what-- they wanted to kill her? Belladonna? Scourge of the Caves, Haunter of Dreams? Fuck whoever this was with their violent arrogance. They would soon learn. She sneered and brought up her magic again.

She made a clone of herself to walk out from a nearby bush, proud and full of herself, like she'd just come from a full and satisfying meal, glutting herself on blood, her mouth dripping with it, like she was the one who had made the source of the screams. She was a sight to behold - blood from her mouth, shadows dripping from the voids of her eyes, mixing with the red, and a hollow, nasty glow around her body. Bella made her clone walk towards the piece of shit with a haughty smirk and an arrogant tilt of the head, and the clone said, "Please. Violent child, so high and mighty, you mistake yourself. Crude in your ways, your tiny little mind fails to comprehend the finer ways of murder. Blood-lust? Really? You call that a game?"

"Die, die die die die,"

Bella caught a glimpse of the big creature when it focused on her clone, this big raging elephant with scars and blood-stained tusks. What a big gigantic fool - to think that just plain coming up to someone and telling them they were going to murder them was all that needed to be done, to only show a display of force. No, the way to go about it was like that of a snake - coil around your prey slowly and with the calm inevitability of death, cut off all routes of escape with your sweet tongue that drips poison and bite them over and over and over again until they couldn't stand the pain anymore. Not to just stomp of them and kill them; where was the fun in that?

Then, when the stupid elephant spoke, Bella felt the air grow thin and she started to choke, and she blindly began to panic. She started to pant shallowly but it wasn't enough, nothing was getting into her lungs fast enough, and she stumbled away through the bushes, her clumsy flight masked by the idiot's triumphant bellow.

She got out of the spell's range and was able to breathe again, and she drank down the air like a starving child, fury building in her veins. Belladonna would ruin this piece of filth if it was the last thing she did.

And while the true Belladonna fled, the clone just stood there, one brow arched, and she grinned and laughed in the elephant's face. "What was that? Some flimsy attempt to kill me? Come on then, you have to try harder than that."

From Belladonna's far away hiding place, hidden in the shadows, She reached into the elephant's mind and bore her talons into it, tossing thoughts and secrets and wishes aside till she found what she truly wanted.

The clone slowly smiled then, showing her blood-stained teeth. "You call yourself a killer, Gadanai? One, two kills; well, I should suppose it's a good start, but you could hardly bear to miss when you weigh a fucking ton. It's not as if it's difficult for you, now is it? Just lift a leg and stomp, oohhhh, how awful she is, she killed someone with barely any effort, give me a fucking break."

She sighed, smiling, her head high. "No, your true achievement is what you're doing with your lovely Jasmine."

Round: 1/8
Attempt: Pry into the elephant's mind
Injuries: A really really bad headache

"I'm going to fucking murder you,"

"I know what it means to be a treasure that belongs to you, Gadanai..." She said slowly, her voice coming from a vague place through the trees, edging slowly through the forest, feeling the beast's fury like a physical thing. If she found her hiding in the grove, she would pick her up with that powerful trunk and bash her against the trees, game over.

To better hide herself, she tread as lightly as she possibly could, and she kept utterly silent, using her magic to make her voice solely in the elephant's head. Her voice was constant, clear, and nasty in its tone.

"To be your treasure is to be your slave, your pet, your toy to break and mold and whisper sweet nothings to and corrupt. That is the path to murder, Gadanai. To hurt and maim a physical form is one thing, paltry, child's play, but to play with one's heart, that's how you truly kill."

She walked slowly, but her focus was all on her choice of words, and she half-ignored the rustling of leaves as they both made their dance, the air heavy with the intent to kill.

"Why, if I wanted to, I could find your lovely Jasmine and tell her all the awful things you want to do to her....give her more scars, break her bones, watch her cry and sob and pet her and tell her its all for her protection, and when she leaves you, won't you despair? Won't you be so heartbroken? Don't lie and tell me you won't."

Bella made sure to stay out of sight always of the elephant, her heart racing, using her words to mislead and distract.

"I can see into your head, Gadanai...Don't you see? When you play with one's head and one's heart, that's how you take everything dear to them and snatch it away and break it."

Round: 2/8
Attempt: Speak into the elephant's mind and hide
Injuries: A really really bad headache

"...."

Her heart was pounding in her chest and her throat, a drum beating the tune to their dance, the pressure making her aching head pound. Her face was tight with concentration mingled with fear. This was the first time that Belladonna was on the opposite end of a power play, and it coiled in her stomach, acid in her mouth.

"Oh, I'll touch her, alright," She replied, straight into Gada's head, a heartbeat after her thought. "Do you really think Jasmine so steadfast? All you had to say to her was that you would be faithful, when her only friend was off lollygagging and forgetting her and when it came time to choose between you two, she decided to stick to you like a leech. Jasmine knows no better, she's a sheltered, naiive child...."

She swallowed and brought up her magic, nervousness in her gut. This was a dangerous game she played. But she managed it well enough, and created that same illusion of her with the hollow aura and the bloodstained mouth smiling and laughing at Gada, and the sunken, filth filled eyes.

"But when I get to her, oh, what sweet misery she'll know." The clone turned and smiled over her shoulder, taking steps straight towards Jasmine's and Gada's home, the information gleaned straight from the elephant's head. Then the clone bolted through the brush, her laughter echoing in Gada's head.

Round: 3/8
Attempt: Create another clone of her to lead Gada away
Injuries: A really really bad headache

"....."