Long had the small shard of red cinnabar rested beside the empty throne of Orion, as the Seven's former king rested. The weasel curled and coiled within its stony prison, dreaming fitfully, racked with nightmares. Tail scraped against stone, sometimes audible from the outside world, but usually deathly quiet.

Within the red walls, they shuddered, tightly closed eyes flickering, a tremor rushing over their quills. Paws twitched and spine flexed, curling inwards in sudden and violent discomfort.

The outside world was silent, but they heard the screams and the crunching of bones as the hybrid died to their grasp. The grisly sight replayed before their very eyes, again and again, the emotion of horror raw and primal. In sleep, Livius did not register that the hybrid had been a twisted murderer; all they knew was that they had killed him.

The vision faded, and for a moment, the weasel's body stilled. Then it tightened again, tail curling in a distressed spiral.

"Now, grovel!"the grisly thud of Greed's head echoed throughout the weasel's mind as they drove her dying body to the ground at their feet, forcing her to bow. The fading emptiness in her eyes as the Sinful Seven died and rose again as a new Kingdom. Better now. And without them...

No... the nightmare grew faint, and feelings rose. First and foremost, the weasel felt cold stone pressing in all around them, hugging tight to their bones. And then claustrophobia rose to meet it. They moved, reaching out, struggling to uncurl. Familiarity rose with a sense of panic. What's going on...? Pride...? Lust...? Amazon? Where am I...? Their spines met smooth cinnabar. A lilac eye opened in the dark, and saw nothing.

They tried again.

This time a faint crack echoed in the small space around them, quickly followed by a splintering sound. They kept on pushing, until they finally felt their small world give way. On the outside, the chrysalis split open, and red-coloured fluid gushed out, finally followed by a small, limp form, stained with red. The creature that had emerged hacked and choked, expelling the poison from their lungs and heaving fresh air for the first time in many cycles.

They lay still for a while, their side gradually rising and falling. Finally, Envy... No... Livius raised their head, and then stood. Dripping wet and trembling in the cold and damp, the King had finally returned.

Livius blinked, the world around them coming into focus sharply. A familiar form stepped before them out of the haze. The weasel shook their head, a shudder rippling down their spine, rattling their quills. "Pride," they answered, seemingly surprised themselves. "Yes, I'm... awake, I think. Unless..." They paused, catlike eyes glancing around, watching and tensing slightly as Pride approached them.

Livius felt as though they had slept no more than a few hours, but something told them it had been far, far longer. Raising their head, the weasel sniffed the air.

The scent of smoke and ash hit their nostrils, acrid and sudden. They shook their head again, blinking rapidly as they looked past the deer. The blurred world gradually came into focus. Their kingdom... in ruins and ash. Empty apart from the familiar pale form of Pride. "What... happened here?" Livius whispered, voice vaguely trembling. "...How long have I been gone?"

As the deer reached down with his muzzle, Livius sat up on his hind paws and gratefully reciprocated with a small nuzzle. The contact felt more real than anything else so far, distracting them momentarily from the ashes and the silence, piercingly loud. Still soaked with red fluid, Livius took a moment to focus inward, pushing water from their pores until the fluid ran clear and their fur was green and damp once more.

They shook themselves dry, suppressing a shiver, before looking back up at Pride. "I'm alright," they reassured, although their heart still hammered, and their tail was twitching rapidly. They were suddenly struck with the feeling that something was missing, and looked around wildly. "Wait... Where's my crown?"

"The... black dragon?" echoed Livius, their ears pricking as they listened. nothing exciting like that ever happens when I'm around, they thought briefly, thinking back. They thought back to all of the things they'd seen in their lifetime. Then again... there was the sky-birds. There was the giant that awakened in Eridanus, too. And then... the troublesome Bloodberries and their homemade war, I suppose.

As Pride spoke again, they raised their head, and their blood ran cold. "T... Twelve cycles?" They looked down, quills letting out low rattle as they quivered. They listened, with wide, wet eyes and a twitching nose, as Pride continued on with his explanation. "And the bugs... do they still exist?" they ventured, with a slight curl at the end of their tail. "What about Nemean? What happened to her? Are we safe now?"

They nodded slowly as Pride continued with his explanation of what had changed in the Seven itself. Zothra. The name was vaguely familiar, as was Luster. But Nassir... no, Livius did not remember ever meeting him. And their magic... a shield? Their expression fell further. They had missed so much. So much. Were they even still worthy to lead? they had little clue of the threats that existed now in these caves, and little idea of how to stand up against them. the new members of the Seven likely didn't know them, or what they had accomplished in their former life in the caves.

Even so, as Pride created the small, topaz crown, Livius' expression lifted slightly. They scampered over to the jewel, lifted it in their paws, and ducked their head under it, placing the crown neatly back onto their head.

It felt, for an instant, as though they were home again.

"A symbol...? Yes, yes... of... course it is."

Livius hesitated for a moment, before scampering over to Pride, and slowly pulling themselves up onto his back. Not a moment later, they had reclaimed their position in between his broad antlers, settled just as they had so many cycles before. They smiled slightly, delighting at the feeling of his warm fur beneath their paws, so different to that of cold cinnabar. "Yes, yes, we've met," they murmured absently. "...But it was a long, long time ago."

"Always?" Livius asked, in disbelief. They had never really paid much heed to the wildlife of the cave; never having any need to, with their lack of a need to eat. Spiders and bugs had never really concerned them. Mice and rats were beneath them, too. But they were slightly appalled that they could have missed something like that.

Pride's voice faded to the back of their mind, for the time being at least. But then one thing he said brought a chill to their heart and their spines stiffened from the top of their head to the end of their rump. "Another war?" they hissed. "But who? ...Why? Was it the Berries again? We killed them, didn't we? Or did it never really end?"

As Pride continued, Livius forced their quills to lie flat, and then reluctantly nodded. "Er, yes. P-perhaps it is best to wait a time... I think I need to settle in." They turned. At his questions, their lip quirked slightly upwards. It really had been a while, they thought, if Pride was asking them if they required food, of all things. Their tongue curled in their mouth, feeling the hard, cold gemstone at the back. "It's still there, yes. I think... all I need is time." They glanced away.