Clover paced away from the unconscious Vazi, unable to bear being there while Cayenne did her work, feeling sick inside. Her whole world felt upside down and wrong. She always thought that if one was polite, others would be polite to you, regardless of who they were. If one was sweet and kind, others would be too. That was the way of her world! Or at least, it had been, until recently.

She still remembered the feel of Aleera's teeth on her neck, the sound of tearing flesh, the warm hot blood running down. Aleera was made for inflicting pain....as was her delicate and sensitive Pounce, her beautiful Vicktor, who hurt her deeply by hurting others, not once, but twice.

Pounce didn't mean to....but her darling cub still could, and did.

She stopped, lifted her head, and screamed, trashing her hooves against the floor, throwing her side against the wall, till her screams dissolved into sobs. Her insides felt toxic and sick, her mind a rotten mess. Why? Why?

"This is how I speak."

Everything was pain. His face was screaming, the skin aching as it touched the cool air; it didn't feel cool, it felt like lava, it felt like fire, ripping across every inch of him. His back was bleeding and boiled, erupting in thick blisters in a thick layer of glossy red gore, as were his shoulders - his obsidian had been scorched and now looked dull and burnt as it spired up from his shoulder blade. Small scratches and pock marks covered it, each of them lending a new realm of ache to the massive bear. His eyes stung, and each time he blinked it was like sending spikes of fire through his optic nerves into his brain. Most of all, though, his throat was resounding with anguish. Fluid was quick to fill his lungs in the advent of so much damage and he'd coughed, spewing up mouthfuls of sick blood and phelgm. He wanted to return to Pisces, to collapse in a heap and let Bevy and Makyna take care of him, and at the same time he feared what they would think. He'd done it once before and it had earned him a trial and a demotion. Would Bevy crucify him for once again losing his temper on another Gembound?

Either way, his wants didn't matter. He could wish to walk the entire length of the cave and it would mean nothing, for his strength had betrayed him. The bear had made it a few steps out of Orion, fleeing after Vazi had fallen and the moose had appeared. He couldn't find the little lion after that, and it was useless to stay and search; if he had, the moose surely would have finished him off. But upon entering the tunnel, his legs suddenly buckled. He collapsed on the ground, and then pulled himself up a second time only to drag himself towards the wall. There, at least, he could support himself while he tried to catch his breath, but all he knew was the pain. The bear gritted his teeth and lifted his gaze up to the tunnel stretching onward and the lights that shone in from Polaris - beyond that, Pisces. His home. Safety.

Leon had fallen to his rump, his hind legs splayed out to his side while he leaned one shoulder against the wall. The cold rock offered little reprieve from the constant burning in his torn skin. He hung his head and wheezed, trying to still his heart, to fight through the pain so that he could at least make it back to Maji Walezi, when sounds had echoed through the tunnel - he nearly missed it, but they were quick to rise in volume, echoing through the cave, the harbinger of herbivores - the clack of hooves - Leon's stomach tightened, he turned his head, fearing who he would find.

At that point, the air lit up with a desperate scream. Some one thrashing against the rocks. His stomach lurched again, his heart palpitated with fear. He thought it could have been Vazi hunting him down, but it was the sound of a woman - a familiar voice. Leon coughed, grunted, and through the pain he stood again. It must have been by some miracle that Leon found the strength to lumber back down the tunnel. He had no idea what drew him to the noise as he was in no shape to fight again, he was hardly even in any position to save anybody from whatever may have been troubling them. He needed help. Yet still he followed the mangled sobs until they revealed to him the pristine white doe, Clover, in the throes of despair. His heart twisted. What had happened to her?

"Clover-" His voice gurgled with the roughness of his scalded throat and he coughed, shoulders quaking. Leon struggled to keep his eyes open - he stunk with the wretched smell of burnt skin and fur, and he was bleeding, nearly unrecognizable. The bear sought her out, taking one weak step forward, then another, raising his head to peer at her. His mouth hung agape, vying for words, but his throat would not permit him to speak - he only gawked tiredly at her, tongue lolling between his teeth, a pained whistle crawling through his breaths.

@Clover

She smelled them before she heard them, and she yanked her head up from her pathetic self-pity to see who it was with a wide eye. Immediately she recoiled with a harsh intake of breath, (Run) her mind blanking in fear as she saw this hunk of boiled and burnt flesh lumbering towards her, (Run) its voice harsh, raspy and fluid all at the same time. (Run) It called her name, she it was all she could do not to dash away. (No) Who were they? Did they need Cayenne's help as well?

"Who-" She said, her legs shivering, forcing her legs to take a step forward to see them better. They looked in even worse straights than Vazi did, if that was possible. Did Leon burn this poor beast to near death too?

But she saw the bright orange of their eyes, and her mind knew the silhouette, if nothing else.

"Leon," She whispered, the realization stopping her dead.

(Monster)

The normally soft voices of the wisps that helped her storytelling were shouting at her now, making them more difficult to ignore than usual. They rang within her, making her afraid.

She fought the voices, images coming to her from the wedding and the happy beautiful couple, and the silliness from the festivities afterward, and they jarred and try to throw this current visage out, calling it a lie. There was no way such a creature in a state of such bliss could do any of this, become this. She recalled how Leon had sat in Pisces, humming to themselves with such a quiet contentment, love radiating from them as they picked up rock after rock to make the day with their wife more beautiful.

(Monster, Run Away)

The wedding had just been a few days ago.

"Why, Leon?" She said, her shaky, quiet voice the only thing to break the silence. Her head felt like it was in a fog, trying to find its way through this sense of wrong. "Why would you do this? Vazi's dying, Leon, and so are you."

(Monsters, all of them, they'll only hurt you, just like Aleera)

"This is how I speak."

He didn't know what he wanted; his protector's heart screamed for him to help her, ask her what was wrong and what he could do to remedy her ailments, but he had to think about this rationally. He hadn't the strength in him to help her. He barely had the strength to walk, and he found himself wondering, hoping even, that maybe she could help him - but that would be selfish of him, and even despite his thoughts, she stared at him with what looked like abhorrence. First he didn't understand. She had spoken his name, eventually realizing who he was, what wicked beast had come crawling up through the tunnel to greet her. But she didn't run to him, she didn't ask if he was alright, and then he was afraid that she'd look at him like Bevy and the rest of Maji Walezi after his fight with Cancer - maybe she would disdain him for what he'd done. It was his fears coming to life all over again.

Sure enough, her words confirmed the dread settled in the pit of his heart. Emotion struggled to sweep across his features, but when it had, his brows had quirked with worry and his eyes wavered, he swallowed down the guilt that festered at her accusation. His head lowered slightly, bitten by the horror of her words. He should have known... he didn't know about her and Vazi, but he should have... but why did she cling to him, did she not know what evils he had done? Leon's maw continued to hang open as he tried to find his words, but it was hard. His chest still begged him to stop. Each time he tried to conjure a response, his throat rippled and panged. His front legs could suddenly no longer hold him up - his shoulders, oh, the pain crawled across his skin like fire.

Leon bowed his head, his legs bending slightly in some vain effort to hold him up. He hadn't the time or energy to say much. If he could, he would explain himself entirely, yet - each breath was hell, each word threatened to be strangled by cries of pain. "Had to-" The bear grunted, resting his elbows on the ground, and his hind legs eventually bent to offer him respite on the cold, dusty floor. "-Vazi- Hasira-" He struggled and squeezed his eyes shut, and he wanted to say more, but another cough broke free from his lungs, wracking his chest.

@Clover

Clover waited while Leon coughed, frowning at the sick, wet sound of it. She wanted to help, she wanted to run back to Cayenne and take them to Leon and show the horrible mess their skin was in, and hope that the little creature could do something to help. She couldn't just leave Leon like this, looking at her with such horrible guilt in their eyes, barely able to walk.

But the other half of her wanted to condemn Leon for what they did. Vazi didn't have fire magic, Vazi couldn't have almost burned the both of them alive. The wisps were telling her to run, but she couldn't. Not now.

She desperately wanted to believe all of this was simply an accident of magic, that Leon tried to cast a spell and it just...exploded in the worst way possible. But the words 'I had to' ruined any chance of that hope.

"I don't know who Hasira is," She spoke quietly, after the coughing had subsided. "And I gather the two of you fought for a reason, that someone had gotten in the mix. Vazi mentioned they were protecting a...servant? And the only one I've come across is Beast."

She looked down, her voice bitter. "I've seen how Vazi treats the poor thing, starves them and beats them, belittles them. The thought of that happening to my little Pounce is....I can't. I've tried to help Beast, and I'm glad they managed to escape, wherever they are. Vazi is wrong to treat them so. I don't know what you two fought over, and I don't know who was in the wrong, but I do know that Vazi is.....different from who they used to be. They are wrong to condemn them for that, for they way they have to live. Carnivores have to eat meat, or else they..." She shut her eyes tight, leaving the sentence to die an ambiguous death.

"But Leon, I don't understand. I haven't met a single herbivore besides Vazi that deliberately inflicted pain upon others. Does Vazi speak the truth? Are carnivores something to fear for their ability to hurt? Even- even Pounce- even they hurt someone else, and I-"

She looked at Leon with such fear and hurt inside her. "Do I have to fear my own cub? Tell me the truth, Leon."

"This is how I speak."

He nearly couldn't believe his ears when she spoke again, that innocent voice - too innocent, too untouched by the evils of the world. She didn't know who Hasira was. It all made sense. Everything else did make sense after that. The way she defended him, pointing out that they must have gotten into a fight and that he was protecting something, someone named Beast, that must have been the little lion. His brows furrowed slightly. His eyes had dropped to the ground, rolling over the dust and the dirt in thought. And yet she acknowledged how poorly he treated the lion. She knew - and all at once, it had stopped making sense again. He felt himself grow angry at her. She described every way the stag abused the poor lion, she even openly admitted that it was wrong and that she feared the same would happen to her little Pounce, who Leon didn't know, but could only assume they were a carnivore like he and Beast.

She spoke with fear and uncertainty. He hated Vazi for tainting her mind; she seemed so kind and loving when he had met her first, decorating for the wedding, but he had a feeling that the doe was universally loved. A creature so pure would have no other reason for being loved than just that: her purity, her innocence. Yet Vazi had embedded lies into her head. He made her fear the ones who were rational; him, and her cub, and Beast, and he developed reason for hatred and ingrained it in her. He twisted her. Yet he couldn't help but wonder if, perhaps, Vazi may have been right.

He was a carnivore. He subsisted off the lives of others. But they were only lesser Gembounds... they were the fish that swam in the water, and the cave deer that would never be smart enough to speak with them, no matter how hard they tried. It was the tiny cave lizards that scurried across the floor and the rabbits that scuttled out of sight when one came lumbering through the tunnel. He had never caused harm to another regular Gembound for food, but... what if somebody else had? He stared at the floor, lost; his eyes brimmed and glossy with moisture, from pain? Or guilt? "I... I don't know..." He struggled.

"I never... I would never..." Leon managed to say, closing his eyes completely. It took him a while, but he sucked in a long breath - he held it in his lungs and then released it, and breathed again. He was quickly exhausting all of his energy in speaking. He didn't even know if he'd be able to return home at this point, or if he'd have to take another break, rest, regain his strength. His lungs ached. He just wished he could explain everything to her.

She took a deep, shuddering breath, studying Leon, searching for some consolation, comfort, denial of a world gone wrong, but all she got was Leon looking lost and guilty, looking around at the ground as if it would provide an answer. She waited there, staring at the broken bear, waiting for anything, something that would stitch everything back together. Their stuttering words were the only sound in the tunnel, and they made the world worse, if that was even possible. , replaced by the sound of deep inhalation of one deeply exhausted.

"Even you can't answer that." She whispered, tears falling from her eyes.

With a sniff, she lifted one leg and wiped her eye with her knee, and looked at Leon, her expression bleak, her voice a deadpan, a monotonous sound. "I wish the wedding never ended."

Silence filled the tunnel, and Clover scrunched her eyes shut, grimacing, her head low, her shoulders shaking. Neither of them spoke for a long while, and Clover's heart felt grey and twisted like a snake's garden in her chest. Nothing was right, nothing was good, if even the wonder and splendor of a wedding could be ruined like this. This is the sort of heartbreak and turmoil that should only reside in stories as a reminder that life was sweet and wonderful in comparison. This wasn't right. But it was real.

In a low broken voice, she said, "I know you would never, Leon, but you could. It would be easy for you. It's what your form was made for."

She took one more look at the bear, devouring their burned and ruined flesh, the guilt in their face. Then she turned and walked away from them, her head down at her knees, barely looking where she was going. "Go in peace, Leon," she said softly. "Stay away from Orion."

[exit Clover]

"This is how I speak."

When he stared at her, he was lost. He was helpless. There was nothing he could do to prove his innocence, and even if he had the strength in his chest to explain it, would she believe him? He had only wanted to save that little lion... The lion who reminded him of Makyna, and Quintus, and his future children. A future he feared at risk of oppression. He was but a frightened father, but she wouldn't know. Nobody else really knew about those slow growing chrysali and he wanted to keep it that way, lest Vazi catch wind. No. He couldn't think that way - he couldn't let bitterness into his heart as he watched her walk away. She just didn't know.

She had to be saved. He had to be redeemed.

The bear grunted as pain fired through him, again and again. He slowly rose to his feet and dragged them back through the tunnel. There was no time for him to stop and rest now. Clover's warning had peft him uneasy, incomplete; if he could not justify himself to her, then at least he would have to find Makyna, she would understand. They wouldn't look at him like he was a criminal again. He was right to try and save that lion. Wasn't he?

(Exit Leon)