It felt a grim satisfaction for just a moment, holding the beast's face in its claws, ready to sink its long, oily blank talons into the soft, thin skin of its head, but then energy drained violently from its body. It only took a couple of seconds of holding there for the Ruby to unwillingly release it and stumble backwards, hissing with confusion.

It felt weak not weak NEVER weak don't make me feel WEAK and tired from absolutely nothing at all and it felt a strange sense of fear at this. A burst of angry, chaotic magic sent flames licking along its claws, burning tracks over its arms briefly. It hissed again, trying not to lose too much composure, but the sudden loss of feeling and strength was alarming and I hate it I hate it I hate it I hate it I'LL KILL IT

Its head, which had sagged, snapped back up towards Scion and it snarled, its muscles tensing, trying to warm life back into its tired bones, ready to strike out. Ready to turn this into a mission to burn Order into a mission to burn Scion. "You are going to pay for that."

Scion frowned and took a step back, feeling the rising anger like a dark cloud billowing from the ruby. Its tails lashed out of sync as it grew a bit nervous. It hadn't really meant to cast magic like that, nor did it expect the other to react so negatively. At this point, a fight might be inevitable, and Scion's skills were not in all-out brawls with beasts of chaos that could throw black flames around and crack the earth. It would lose quickly.

Trying to think hastily in the few seconds it had, it was distracted as its sharp senses picked up the sound of wings. It glanced up instinctively and its heart seemed to drop to its stomach. Birds - white, webbed, covered in fungus with eyes blank and white - all perched at places above them, staring down as the agents of chaos argued. Watched and relayed, as Scion knew that all Hive could see through the eyes of its lessers. Mother was watching.

Oh. Shit.

"V-Ruby-One," it said, trying to maintain a sense of calm, looking back down towards the beast and lowering its voice. "We need to leave. Now. Right now." The disbelieving snarl that was its response rose further irritation and it made to step around Helion, glancing up towards the birds again. "The Hive is coming. We need to go before they get here."

ORDER

Hmmm.

So one, at least, had sense. The birds could follow, of course, guide the Praetors to their prey. Unless the two Chaos monsters killed them. Or unless... they had some methods of hiding themselves, particularly through magic. Better to attempt to delay them from departing at all, then, just in case. She would make an attempt to provoke, to delay. Were they violent enough, impulsive enough, or would they show control..?

The birds, as one, inhaled. Tatter-feathered chest swelled, and then, with the broken repetition of a parrot, a chorus of mocking and discordant voices showered the Valkbeasts with a mocking echo of their argument. The words repeated, overlapping in a confused hissing.

"Cowards."
................................................... "beast"
.................................. "tantrum...".................. "...child...".................."useless."

"control yourself."

............................................................................... "weaker... useless..."

@V-Ruby-One

It was already on the edge, teetering on the border of the impulses and urges that rose like bile in its throat, swelling hot and angry and threatening yet another childish tantrum borne of fear and anger and hate and the innate instability. Its eyes widened, madness sparking in their pupilless pits as Scion didn't look afraid, or defiant, or even angry at its threat. No, it was calm. It defused. It tried to walk away.

It didn't look up. It didn't care. It was zeroed in on the cat-beast, barely even bothering to fight the chaos rising like fire in its gut. It has lit the fuse and the spark had almost reached the keg.

And then the birds began.

It wasn't a question of if it would explode now. It was a question of how violently. And the sudden surge of emotion mixing with the toxic waste of oily chaos in its blood made it feel afraid. The spark had reached the keg, but the powder didn't light.

Not yet.

It reached out one of its arms and grabbed Scion's tail and it made to walk by. Its eyes were wide as it looked up at the birds calling and crying and echoing, each word like a strike against the chains holding back the tantrum. Weakening every second, its body trembling violently with the force.

Its vision was tunneling, a strange combination of panic and anger wiping any reason left in its brain. Distantly, it heard itself hiss, "I'm...not...done with you."

And all the while, inside its mind was naught but shrieking and static. HATE IT KILL IT DESTROY IT BURN IT ALL BURN IT ALL TO ASH DESTROY IT RIP OUT ITS TONGUE GOUGE OUT ITS THROAT BREAK ITS STONE RIP THE SKIN FROM THE BONES KILL KILL KILL DESTROY

Everything was going bad very very quickly.

It felt one of its tail snagged in the ruby's claws and it glanced back, just as the birds began their shrieking echoes. It didn't know its stomach could drop further - for all it knew it had just dropped right out and onto the ground for how much the dread hollowed it out.

Shit. Shit. Shit!

It couldn't calm it down. It couldn't stop it from its tantrum, not from the look of it, trembling out of control, the shrieking of the birds overhead. The hive was coming. They were in danger. It remembered those hulking beasts, the armored insectoid monsters that had appeared in the fighting. If those came...they were both dead.

Well...fuck this thing, then. If it was going to get them both killed, it would be better left behind, a failure, useless.

Scion made to race forward, to rip itself out of the others grip, but the claw wrapped around its tail tightened, stronger then it expected, and it tripped forward with a winded "Oof!". Bones scattered as the beast collapsed and then quickly began to struggled back to its feet.

"You idiot!" It spat, voice shaking from the panic. "You're going to get us both killed! Let me go and run with me or we're both dead!"

ORDER

It seemed to be working. Mother continued her calculated attempts to stoke these Chaotic flames, her birds squawking past their broken, empty-eyed tongues.

............................. "...idiot..."
......................................... "IDIOT...".................. "...idiot...".............................."idiot iDIOT IDIOT IDIOTIDIOTIDIOT-"

@V-Ruby-One

"SHUT UP." The beast snarled, releasing Scion's tail to grip at its head as Chaos welled further and further up its throat. It was right on the precipice, it could feel the ghost of flames lighting like candles over its fur. But it was gripped by a sudden sense of fear. Terror. Not for the birds overhead, bringing its inner hatreds out for the world to hear, not for the impending Praetors coming to cut the thread of more beasts of Chaos. No, it was this loss of control it was so close to giving up. It was the need for utter, senseless destruction that would take control of its every movement, running hot through its blood like its own kind of toxic fire.

It groaned and hunched over, now fighting back. Physically fighting its own darkness from taking over. All it could hear was the shrieking of the birds and the constant static in its mind screaming for the death of Scion for its crime of insult.

Its groan had risen to a yell of its own and it realized that words were tumbling from its mouth. "Stop it stop it stop it I hate you I hate this go away go away help me STOP IT." Time wasn't real. Blood was flooding through its brain, melting each thought into putrid oil. It was being crushed under this fight, yet still it held out. Determined, stubborn, falling apart.

Admittedly, it was surprised when its tail was suddenly released from the crushing grip. Instinctively, it turned to run, only making it a few paces when it paused, looking back. There hadn't been any flames or other chaotic, corrupted magics thrown its way. No, it was falling apart instead. Probably the worst time ever to have a meltdown.

By all logic, Scion should leave the ruby here to die. Let it bait away Mother's forces. In its state, it would be nothing but dead weight. But there was a moment of hesitation as it took a final glance back. A strange pity and...empathy? Was it because that was Scion's stone on its head, even if cracked with streaks of disorder? Because it was another of the Chaos Forge, whom Scion was supposedly overseeing? Because it had taken on the responsibility to protect it here, as the elder and the leader of this mission?

Or maybe the thought that it would look real bad to Vargas if Scion not only came back with a failed mission but a dead Forgemate?

With a curse under its breath, it ran back and shoved its shoulder under Helion's torso. "Fuck you," it snarled as it heaved the demon over its back as best it could. It would definitely be getting pricked with quills, but that wasn't important. "If you get both us killed I'll never forgive you!" With the large, heavy weight on its back, it took off at an awkward, slow gait, but it was better then leaving it there to die.

As soon as Scion had shoved itself under its body, Helion began to struggle. A ferocious snarl, from both the warring sides fighting for control. It did not want to be controled, it did not want to be carried, it did not want to be pitied! RELEASE ME OR SUFFER It was already reaching to grip Scion's flank with its claws, to inject lightning through its veins and nerves so that it fell and screamed and let it go.

But rational thinking somehow prevailed and it stopped itself before that ugly chaos ruined everything. Through the haze of a mental state falling apart, through the screaming of the birds above, he realized that if Scion didn't take it out of here right now, then it was very possible they'd both be caught by Mother's soldiers. And she surely had tools in her arsenal to take out a couple of not-quite-valkhounds.

It grit its teeth. It raged, it beat itself internally, it wanted to rip the world to shreds and pieces and kill every single one of those FUCKING BIRDS but it relented and went lim on Scion's back, trembling in its rage and hatred, but allowing itself to be whisked away.

Scion would be paying for this later.

*exit

With the weight on its back, it couldn't fly, nor could it go particularly fast, but it pushed on, an awkward gait out towards the tunnel leading to Orion. It felt claws digging in and it tensed, waiting for some horribly painful corrupted magic to end both of them right there, but nothing came. There was an angry huff and suddenly the weight sagged and went limp.

Shocked that this was somehow working, that Helion had given up the fight now, it pressed on, trying to outrun whatever horrors Mother had sent their way.

*attempted exit