Amazon closed her eyes, trying not to let her growing frustration and anguish over this whole situation get to her. She wanted to live. She really did. She would do anything to do that because Luster needed a mother. And because she just wanted to keep on going. She didn't want to leave Livius or their kingdom. She didn't want to leave so much of the world unexplored. She would do anything...but not that. She couldn't hurt her friends. She probably couldn't bring herself to hurt anyone, really. "I....I don't know. I'm..." but she didn't know what to say, nor how to finish. Livius was right. If she would do anything, then why wouldn't she do this?

There had to be another way to keep going. Why couldn't Livius come with her to do that?

The answer came to her a moment later. She was small. She was weak. She'd been sick for most of her life. She felt so sourly about Pride giving his health to her because it wasn't her in control. She had done nothing. Her own life was being handed right over to her because she was too weak to get it herself. She wasn't going to stand for that.

And now Livius was upset with her. She wanted to just burst into tears. Collapse on the ground and let all the pain and the anger out. But she couldn't. This was her test, to prove that she could be strong, like Livius had been strong. This was her time to make herself better. "You don't understand...well, I guess I didn't understand either but...I'll do anything to give Luster a mother. And I'll do anything so I can stay with you. I don't want to leave you or the Seven because I..." It was on the tip of her tongue but she faltered just as she began to say it. What if the feeling isn't mutual? It was her greatest fear - that all this time she'd just been chasing after a childish dream. That she didn't mean as much to them as they meant to her.

"But I just want to be able to do this. Myself. I can't let other people hold me up if there's another way. I promise...if my time runs out, I'll return here and..." she shuddered, but forced herself to say it "and we can go back to Tenzin. But if there's someone else that has the power to keep me alive, without making everyone in the Seven sick, then I need to be able to claim my own life. What worth am I otherwise?"

@Livius

Livius waited expectantly as Amazon trailed off. They could hear their blood pounding in their ears, and had to breathe deeply so as not to snap out. They felt themselves growing antsy. Their pawpads itched. And then, quills trembling, they began to pace back and forth. They carried on, even as she spoke, her words bringing a fresh stab of spite and... and... jealousy.

Clearly, they didn't matter at all. All of this emotion, all this drama drama was for the spike-dog child. They didn't matter at all.

The weasel gritted their teeth and clenched their jaw, finally looking up at her. What could they say? They slowed in their pacing.

She said they didn't understand. Didn't she remember their old name? Didn't she remember all the cycles they'd spent in the grip of agonized sickness? The days before their fur turned green, when their fur was patchy and their body nothing but skin and bone? And more than that... Didn't she know that they had a daughter too?

"I do understand, Amazon. I might be the only one in the cave who does," they finally said. Their voice was even now, yet had a tired, betrayed edge.

They looked back at her as she continued, quills lowering, blinking slowly. She spoke of returning here, taking their offer. Extending her life before her untimely demise. They listened. They considered. And finally, they nodded.

"Promise?"

As Amazon spoke of her worth, Livius frowned again.

"You're alive. That's worth a lot more than you seem to think. Certainly a lot more than a few dusty bones and a sad story of what they used to be."

Livius's response made her pause for a moment. They were right - she had, in a way, forgotten. Or at the memory least Envy the sick weasel had become less important then King Livius who stood before her now. They had made something out of their own problems, but she, so far, had failed to do anything more then give a single person a second chance. The rest of her life? It meant little.

She hesitated and then nodded. "I promise. Besides, I don't want to die alone. There's too many people I care about." She glanced up at them for a moment before looking away again. Her claws fidgeted against the ground as she considered. "Alive...I guess. Maybe I'm alive now, but the past few cycles I wouldn't call living. Surviving, maybe. I would very much like to continue living. I don't want to leave the world without accomplishing anything."

She shivered, closing her eyes for a moment before the tears started to run freely. "I've been a poor mother. And I've been a very poor friend to you. You don't deserve that. I'll come back and it'll be better. I'll find something so I won't have to leave you or make you feel any more pain."

An idea came to her head. A stupid idea. For a moment, she was too terrified to speak of it, but she steeled herself. "I want to leave you with something. So that...when I come back...I don't know, maybe it's stupid but..." She raised a claw but then froze. Wait, this is a terrible idea. To give Livius a part of her stone, the stone that had single handidly caused all the misery and pain and sickness she had suffered through her whole life...how stupid could she be. "Um...actually, perhaps this isn't the best idea. I...wouldn't want anyone to have a stone like this. I'm....sorry..."

@Livius

Livius didn't know what to do but offer a small dip of their head, however much they felt she was lying. They didn't want to send her off on her own way. They knew there was little chance of her coming home. "Alright," they said, finally, letting out a breath.

They listened as she continued, occasionally letting out a small huff, quite unsure of how to progress, but neither agreeing nor disagreeing. They felt... glad, as she spoke of finding some way never to leave them. But also, they felt decidedly apathetic on the rest. They honed in on everything she said about them... their friendship, her never leaving their side, and that was what they clung to.

Livius looked up as she spoke again, and then froze. Their mind reeled briefly at what she was suggesting, and they noticeably flinched, their quills trembling slightly. They opened their mouth to speak, but were... partially relieved, and partially disappointed, as she answered her own question for them. They snorted. "Y-yeah, that's a terrible idea," they murmured, with a note of morbid amusement. They felt their quills droop slightly, their ears lowering.

No matter what they did, anything was a terrible idea. Their gem, toxic, even if they were immune to it now. Hers... even worse. The weasel glanced away, looking thoroughly miserable.

They couldn't give her a piece of them to take with her, and she couldn't give them something to remember her.

They really were quite the pair.

Even though Amazon had said it first, she couldn't help but feel a little hurt at Livius's comment. She visibly flinched, as if stung, but quickly recovered, letting loose a tiny chuckle as well. But now Livius looked even more upset then before.

Why was it always so hard to talk to them? What could she even do at this point to cheer them up? She closed her eyes for a second and tried to think, before words started pouring out of her mouth, seemingly of their own accord. "I'll leave you with something else, then. If you're willing, that is." She held out one of her claws, as if waiting for Livius to give her something. She didn't say anything, more out of having no idea what to say then anything else. The only other time she'd done this, the person she had done it on had already been dead. This was different. She was never the best at talking, especially when it came to Livius.

If a lizard could blush, though, she would have been as red as a cherry.

@Livius

Livius hesitated, quite uncertain of how to respond. They glanced down at their paws for an instant, then back up towards Amazon. "You know... that would also be a bad idea," they said at length, although they felt their chest tighten as they did so. Their tongue curled in their mouth, the toxic jewel at the back feeling as cold and uninviting as ever.

And Charity. As a mother themselves, Livius knew that parenthood was hard work. The very thought of raising another was... exhausting. But as much as they hated to admit it...

They missed Charity, more than anything else in the world. They hadn't seen the hybrid for some time, not since their name change. And aside from that, she seemed to be avoiding them. Their heart ached whenever they looked at the empty spot beside their throne. It was a void that Pride's presence couldn't always fill.

And now... here it was, the... the opportunity. To make another. To keep it going.

They were immune to their gem, weren't they? At least, now they were.

But not always. They couldn't forget all those awful days spent crying, retching in the shadows of Orion's crumbled ruins. All that pain, and the need to be horribly, terrifyingly, adaptable. It was the reason that magic molded to their whim so quickly, so easily.

After all, the ability to absorb food should have been far too complex for a newborn.

The weasel looked up at Amazon with a hollow gaze. And they saw in that moment, the hope in her eyes. The expression on her face, and her extended paw. The weasel's chest ached. Their heart sank.

They hesitated for a moment, briefly considering, pausing: what the hell am I doing? but before they could reconsider, their throat convulsed. They tasted fresh metal, and a shiver ran down their spine. Not a moment later, the weasel leaned forward, opening their jaws, and depositing a gleaming red gem upon the ground before them. Slimy, wet, and wickedly sharp. Livius felt their gem catch against the roof of their mouth as they retracted their tongue, and knew that the imperfection would bother them until it healed. Did it heal...? Would it?

Livius sure hoped so.

Amazon wasn't aware whatsoever of Livius's doubts. Her heart was hammering in her chest, loud enough to deafen her to reason. For a second she feared that they wouldn't want to, that they'd jealously keep their stone to themselves or refuse to offer a piece to her, for fear of how the child would be with a toxic gemstone. As long as it isn't in the mouth...it'll be okay, right? At least that's what she thought.

So she breathed out a sigh of relief when the weasel leaned forward and deposited a piece of cinnabar in front of her. Without hesitation, she reached forward, touching it gently, not minding at all the saliva that clung to it, careful not to touch the sharp edges. A moment of silence and nothing happened and Amazon's heart dropped. Could she not? She had forgotten that she'd lost the power of magic some time ago. Did it extend to this as well?

But then there was a surge of feeling through her head, draining out through her leg and into the stone. For a moment, a faint glow came from the inside - pale green mixed with red, before it died away and the gem was a simple shard once again. She stared at it for a moment, wondering if it had worked, but the sudden drop in energy told her that it had. Just like with Luster.

She sighed and moved her claws off the shard. "Thank you, Livius. Now...even if I fail, and I come back with no time left, there will be a piece of me that lives on. Because...I need you to promise me right now." She turned her gaze up, deadly serious, and a shiver went down her spine as the words came out. "Whatever happens, if I come back with nothing, you won't bring me back. You won't give me life again. Nobody...nobody deserves to live with this."

@Livius

The missing shard from their gem felt terribly sharp against the roof of their mouth as Livius listened to Amazon's thanks, unable to ignore it, and already feeling a sense of regret growing in the pit of their stomach.

caves... What have I done? they briefly wondered, with a shiver. Livius had made bad decisions before; a lot of them, in fact. But none of them like this. This one could follow them until their dying breath. They could see it already, the child hatching weak with poison, barely able to walk. It would grow up to curse them for ever giving it life, living forever in the shadow of their older sister, massive, majestic, and strong.

They only-half-listened to Amazon's heartfelt plea, and even then it couldn't help but strike them as hypocritical. Because they should never have wished their poison on anyone else, either.

They had, of course. That was just part of their nature. But not like this.

"I...--" Livius began to speak, but the jewel's rough edge snagged, and the weasel's quills lifted. They shivered in discomfort, narrowing their eyes. Finally, they simply nodded their acknowledgement, swallowing with a tightly clenched jaw.

She noticed the discomfort in Livius's posture - how they seemed to be upset and how they shivered with discomfort - but she didn't quite understand that it was because of the gemstone that they were like this. To her, this was good - a better alternative then hers, at least. It was, after all, be born weak and pitiful and grow stronger or be born strong and grow weak until a horrible death. The former was preferable. After all, if they didn't want to do it, they wouldn't have given her a piece of their gem.

She sighed and stepped over the shard, closing the distance between her and Livius, pressing the side of her head against their green fur. It gave her butterflies to do it, to finally show the kind of affection she'd wanted to show for a long, long time, but, if they allowed it, it'd only last a moment before she stepped back. "I'll come back to you. I promise."

She stared intensely at Livius for a moment more before, giving the shard one last glance, before turning away, heading out of the tunnel of Pisces. Now her heart hurt to leave them both but she was struck with a much stronger resolve now to make sure she came home - and to come home with more time or the full cure to her illness.

*exit, unless stopped

@Livius

Livius couldn't meet the lizard's eye as she stepped forward, but remained where they were as she came forward to rest her scaly head against theirs. Their tail curled slightly, and they said nothing, gradually lowering their spines against their back and neck. So this was it, then. The end.

Either she'd come back ready to die or all the suffering and pain would be over. Livius didn't want to admit it, but... they felt like this would be the last time. They almost couldn't let her go. But, stoically, they simply let their heart sink, and looked away. They heard the sound of her small claws carrying her away, and looked up one last time to see her disappear into the shadows.

After that, Livius didn't have the heart to move, for a while. Pride might be waiting for them back in Orion, or he might be looking for them in Pisces. Either way, it really didn't matter any more. Their belly felt hollow. The weasel didn't know how long they waited there in the tunnel, listening to the rythmic dripping of water droplets as though they expected her to return. Perhaps they did.

Eventually, though, Livius reached out and, with a trembling paw, scooped up the shard. They turned over the glittering red crystal, feeling once again where it had lain inside their mouth.

They looked, one last time down the tunnel where Amazon had disappeared, before gently transferring the crystal to their mouth, as though it was already a newborn child. Then, with it clasped delicately, safely hidden in their jaws, they pattered back towards Pisces.

The journey back to Orion had never felt so long.

-Exit Livius-