This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening.

This was all just a nightmare and he'd wake up under the falls or in Canis and everything would be okay and he'd just feel silly for being so terrified.

This couldn't possibly be real.

When the voting had ended, he'd lingered behind the falls to watch Leon stride out first, and he'd stepped out just enough to hear the results. Leon had won, obviously, which he smiled about- it was good that he wouldn't have that responsibility on his shoulders again. He could focus entirely on his family...

...his family, which so suddenly, was being attacked. He remembered grimly how he'd been frozen in place at the sight of Bevy launching an attack at her own daughter, at his daughter, and poor Remmy. He remembered how Kerberos had launched in to protect her, and in only a sinful second, he remembered with a frozen shiver, how his beloved Bevy had been torn so suddenly apart. He remembered wretching, dry heaving, nothing came up, and Amaria had taken the kids, and he'd used his magic to disappear against the shadows of the back walls, and he'd run. He'd run so fast away the horrid scene that he hadn't had time to think.

He didn't want to think about it now. He didn't want to believe it. He couldn't believe it. It couldn't be true. His Bevy bird couldn't be dead. She couldn't be.

His Enna. His best friend. His heart felt as if it'd been torn apart as brutally as the tiny bird had been. When that beam of light had burst through her, his soul had felt it tenfold. Maybe this was why he ran. Maybe it was why he stumbled in a blind daze towards Canis, through Orion's backmost roads to home.

Home. It couldn't be home now. No place could be. He felt empty, broken inside. His Bevy. Gone. No. NO!

His rage ignited as he reached Canis...

...and with a savage roar that echoed through the cave like thunder, he slammed his paw against the stone, and with a bright burst of light, jagged spikes of dark red quartz shot out from the ground ahead of him, sharp and broken, a visual representation of his fury, his agony. He stared at it a moment, teeth bared into a savage snarl, then with a wretched sob, he collapsed against the new growth of crystal, sinking to the floor in a heap of shivers and tears. He curled in on himself, the picture of grief, of loss. His Bevy was gone...

...and he felt as if, by making the object of that aggression, it had been entirely his fault.

Azazel had stayed inside Canis for some time now, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the bastard deer with his daughter. At this point, he'd trade anything. He just wanted her to be alive and well. Ashtoreth didn't deserve what she had. The Bone King was completely and utterly sorry that such evil ran around in the Caves. The Ave usually wore his armor now, as if expecting the whole of the Caves to march into Canis and destroy his family and make him watch. Sometimes... he had nightmares about death. Cancer, Amaria, and the twins had gone out to Pisces. It was the eighth cycle of the caverns they lived within, and it was time for Maji Walezi to change leaders once again.

The Bonebound had had Azazel Vita as their leader for eight cycles. They claimed he was the best to lead them, but he wasn't sure. How could he be if he couldn't even protect his own daughter?!

Carmine eyes hidden by the obsidian mask glanced downwards to find a dark figure amongst the rocks and bones. Well, as if the massive roar of fury had not alerted him first. Diving down, Azazel perched upon one of the quartz points and looked down. Lifting a wing, he pushed back the crystalline mask and stared at Cancer. What had happened? Raising a brow, he leaned down and prodded the feline's forehead lightly. "Carcino, what happened at the election?" Was he upset that he didn't win? But didn't he want to go back home? So that Remedy could be with her mother?

@Cancer

He was so stricken, he hadn't heard Azazel landing above him. When the bird pried his attention upwards, the cat didn't even flinch from the surprise. He looked up at his old friend with a shell-shocked expression, and for a moment, something didn't seem to register in his head. The reality behind the distant expression was simple; he was trying to rationalize what had happened. He sat up with a weak smile, tears still spilling freely down his cheeks. His fur was sodden with them.

"She's okay!" He suddenly chimed, voice broken and quivering, the fluttering in his chest as audible as his labored, too-quick breathing. "She's f-fine! N-nothing happened! Leon's leader n-now, i-i-isn't that g-great?" He wore a smile, but it was twisted, grim. False. Delusional. "I just a-ate some b-bad meat, that's all! Saw th-things that w-wer-weren't actually h-happening!" He wasn't looking at Azazel. He wasn't seeing with his eyes. As easily as he stood, he suddenly started to crumple in on himself, shivering as if he'd been in ice water. For a moment, he seemed to freeze, a sharp inhale of breath and then, with clenched teeth, he slumped back to the cave floor, claws unsheathed and digging deep as he scoured his paws across his face. Blood seeped from the scratches in turn, fur snagging where there was already scar tissue formed, from that now ancient wound by Makyna.

That's about the moment that, by some unseen force, the traumatizing even sinked in on him. He began to mutter, at first under his breath to himself, rapid speech slurred and senseless. He suddenly shot upright, perfectly still, and turned his head almost mechanically to look at Azazel. The red glow was almost a delayed after-image as he stared across at the bird.

"Kerberos did this." It was a sentence more growled than spoken, his jaw hanging open, teeth revealed. The expression on his face was feral, savage- but his eyes were dark, hollow as he bore into the Bone King from where he sat. "That dog did this." The glowing red suddenly brightened...

...and for the briefest moment, Azazel might feel a tingling through his skin, from head to toe. It would pass as soon as it came, though, counterpointed by a dreadful screech as Carcino's bloodied face suddenly engulfed in a horrid black-red light. That light than burst into a dreadfully bloody mess, and when the cat fell back to his paws, his hanging head bled freely from the right side of his face. He was still screaming, stumbling backwards as if to escape the agony, one paw still furiously swiping between steps as if to wrench himself free of some offensive attack. He didn't stop until his back end slammed against the wall and he pressed himself upright against it, holding his face in his paws and sliding down and sideways. The screaming choked into a horrid sob, and then into pained wailing.

@Azazel

Cancer looked up, tear ducts shiny and fur sodden and wet with liquid. His paws were soaking as well. As the feline sat up and gave a weak smile, it was that moment that Azazel knew... something was wrong. There was silence for just a moment before he choaked out words. She? Who was the feline referring to? Azazel stepped forward and opened his beak to speak, but was cut off by the dark king's rambling. Leon was leader now. He wasn't sure if he trusted the bear with the responsibility. It was nothing against the man, but he was busy with children now. The cat grinned, but it was almost uncertain, muscles twitching as if they were being forced into that position. Azazel noticed something else.

Cancer wasn't even looking at him, but at some random object behind him. He seemed to implode, collapsing in a crumpled heap and shivering. Azazel couldn't move fast enough as the feline drew his own claws across his face, blood spurting from the wounds. Old scars on Carcino's face were opened, and the Bone King cried out, "Carc, stop!"

And he did.

But he began to mutter senselessly to himself. The muttering grew into jibber jabber, words slurred into other words until they sounded like the ramblings of the insane.

Azazel stepped back as the dark king shot straight up, head turning and pale yellow orbs locking onto the Avian. Those eyes glazed over and became a candy apple red, and he knew that Cancer was about to cast magicka. He hoped that maybe he was just sensing. But no. The feline's jaw went slack and teeth were bared. "What are you talking about, Cancer?" Cancer didn't answer his question, but instead saying it again, speaking with much more malice and hatred. For a brief moment, the feline's eyes glowed brighter than ever. A black-red light engulfed the feline's face and cast Azazel in a bright glow.

He only felt a small tingling sensation, but a sickening wet POP! caused him to throw his head to the side as blood and skin spurted onto his form. The sanguine fluid and bits of fur clung stubbornly to his armor, and the Ave listened to the blood-curdling wail. Stumbling backwards, the cat swiped at the air. Azazel swallowed the urge to vomit and focused on his magicka. He hoped to hold the feline in place and cease his thrashing about. It would only make the bleeding worse.

Cancer would feel resistence from the air, and the avian glided closer. He landed before the melanistic Gembound. "Cancer, thrashing won't help. Calm down." He'd leave the question of what the feline was talking about alone... for now.

@Cancer

He wasn't there anymore. He wasn't Carcino anymore. In that moment, he was only the pain, the sheer burning agony, skin and muscle torn, eye completely removed, the remains shed a bloodied mess across the floor, the avian, himself. He is a sunken wreck and for a moment, his wailing continues uselessly. When Azazel's magic tightens the air around him, it does nothing to sooth him. Fact is, it only makes matters worse. The cat panics, reacts instinctively and with one eye gone, the other a blinding red- almost white in the center- he let loose a horrible sound, not a roar or a scream, but something in between. The cat's magic never ceased it's constant, red and black sheen...

...an eerie light that suddenly spread to cover the bird, and as if it were sinking into his feathers, Carcino's magic found purchase and he sputtered a snarl as he forced his focus inwards. His aim; to physically crush the bird, from the inside. His magic wasn't quite that focused, though, and with weakened body, the effects would not, could not, kill the bird. That's not to say the experience would be any less unpleasant. He'd keep the hold for now, to force Azazel's magic to die away, or else worse.

"HE KILLED MY ENNA! HE DESTROYED HER!" He suddenly shrieked, voice unrecognizable in its agonized pitch. "HE TOOK HER FROM ME! MY ENNA! MY BEVY!" If there were any tears left to be spilled, they ran red with blood now. "HE DARES! HE DARES!" The hold would finally end- should Azazel's own spell fail at least- and he'd stagger sideways blindly, tail lashing, claws unsheathed. The left side of his face, torn and bloodied, drooped as if it had become numb. He wasn't sure if it had. His whole existence was pain right now. He continued to screech.

"SHE WAS SICK AND HE DESTROYED HER!"

@Azazel

Carcino... was gone? Painted in crimson, the Bone King focused on his spell, trying to hold the thrashing feline in place. The lone eye of the feline was trained on the Avian, glowing bright red. Before he could attempt to fly just out of range... he felt as if his blood were constricting him, holding him down in place. He screeched, writhing in the invisible hold. His focus on magic faded and the dark king would be freed, but he continued to struggle against the hold. Biting back tears, the avian looked down as Cancer shrieked.

Enna? Wh— Bevy?

Bevy... was dead?

Kerberos killed her?

It was just so... surreal. He forgot to struggle, and he stood there limply. The pitohui had been there when he first emerged, and now she was dead. But... Kerberos didn't kill without reason. It had to have been an accident. He couldn't have meant to kill her! There had to have been a reason. When the bloodhold faded, the Avian gasped for breath. "Kerberos doesn't kill without reason. What happened before she was killed?" He had to know, even if the cat was raging blindly. He had to have an answer! Before the feline could come closer, he attempted to form some sort of a protective barrier out of the air, but it failed. Instead, he constricted himself once more, and he gasped for air. Still determined, however, he glared up at Cancer and waited for an answer.

@Bones

"Speech"
He was tired, bleary-eyed. Sat in front of his wall, he had finally finished his latest painting: the horse that was friends with Kerberos, and that was attacked by Baratheon. He didn't know her name, but he was positive she was important, in some aspect or another.

He breathed in, licking the blood from his paws. His ears flickered as he picked up on some unknown gembound in the distance, screaming, and chose to ignore it. But it didn't stop - no, now it kept going, agonized and painful. It reminded him of the final cry of a rat before it's life vanished from it's grasp.

Words - it was forming words. He killed my Enna.

His heart sank as the dog looked back at the wall. Next to Giggle, drawn on the wall, was Bevy. The reason he was walking - the reason he was able to hunt and paint her there. Bevy had saved her - people who save others don't get murdered, do they...?

He reached out and touched the beak of the drawing affectionately. It couldn't be true; but the familiar screech of Azazel caught his ear and before he knew it, he was running towards it, mind bouncing.

Bevy was dead and gone. Who done it? Who was fueled with enough hatred and anger to do it? Why did they do it? What had Bevy done?

He was still running as a bloodied Azazel came into view, and a rather faceless-looking bigger cat. Self-defense? He hoped, at least, as he came to a stop with his forelegs pushing the vulture under him, shoulders hunched as his teeth bared back into a snarl. "Who are you?" he growled quietly, paws and legs still bloodied.

"What have you done?" he asked again - this time however, it wasn't directed at the half-faced cat, but rather at the wheezing bird under him.

@Cancer

The red glow grew ever darker the longer it sustained around his horns and eye- and eye socket, blaring bright candy red like fire now, static crackling across his fur with the force of it. He didn't stop moving. He swerved side to side, pacing like a caged tiger, leaving a trail of blood and as Azazel spoke, it only served to boil his blood hotter.

What had she done before the fight? What had she done before Kerberos had so brutally murdered her? She'd made a horrible sound. That wasn't her, though. The voice hadn't been any of the Bevy birds he'd met. This had been a new voice, a new personality. A new Bevy.

But they were dead now, and that didn't matter, did it? The only thing that mattered now was the pain. The pain, oh, how it charred his bones and twisted his skin, marring muscle and clenching teeth, like acid through his veins. He'd not realize its true source, the strain of his constant casting, that ever present glaring gleam across his pelt.

A new shape moved in the murky vision of the feral cat, and this set off an unfortunate chain reaction. Fury blind, Carcino panicked. That glow flared up again, but this time, black static danced wildly through its blinding light...

...and a split second later, deep crimson shards of quartz shot from the ground in random locations, like spikes that cracked the stone ground apart with their eruption. As the spikes launched up as high as three or four feet in places, the red and black effects spread through the floor like veins, ebbing and flaring in places where the shards shot up. He screamed as he cast, the pain hot like white fire in his chest, his skull.

"MY BEVY IS DEAD BECAUSE OF THAT THING! SHE DID NOTHING TO DESERVE THAT! SHE WAS INNOCENT! SHE WAS PERFECT!" He was bleeding from the mouth, nose and good eye now. A trickle even seeped from inside of his intact ear, staining the gray fur there. Atop his skull, his horns gleaming brighter in splintered lines- he was quite literally about to fall apart at the seams. It would appear as if nothing could end the fury, though with the rage mounting, his body covered in an increasingly darker red glow, he hardly even looked like he'd ever been that happy cat who'd left that morning with his family in tow, for what should've been a fabulously happy occasion.

Now he was desolate, fury embodied in the form of a cat, heart as shattered as his vision, as his precious Bevy's stone. Where was the point in calming down? He hurt too much for that.

@Bones @Azazel

Azazel writhed against his own spell, lungs screeching for air. Why did he fail every time he used this spell? It hurt so fucking bad. He felt like he was going to die, once again. Carmine eyes watered, but he almost found relief as he saw another form... Bones. The long-legged canine stood over him protectively, baring his fangs against the still-yet screeching feline. Soon, his magicka faded and he was free, and he sucked in great lungfuls of air. But then when he was asked what he did... he stopped. "Bones, I'll... explain. In a minute... hold on."

The candy red glow of the feline grew brighter, and red quartz crystals rose from the earth in dangerous spikes. Beneath his own feet, the earth shook and ruptured. The avian jumped up, hoping to shove Bones out of the way as he flapped his wings, a spike growing beneath him. He perched on the stone and stared down. He used a wing to push his mask down and he stared down at the cat.

There was no calming him down... unless.

Azazel hopped to the next crystal spike and to the next until he was at a pile of bones on a ledge that was higher up. He hoped that Bones would serve to distract the raging Karkata as he went in search. The Bone King nosed through piles and piles of bones, trying to find the hardest one he could. Once he did, he took it into his talons and flew into the shade.

He snuck up behind Carcino, and he took a whack at the cat's skull, hopefully knocking him out for a little bit, or long enough to get him somewhat patched up.

@Bones

Before Bones could even shield Azazel from the enraged cat, he was shoved away and directly behind him. He was stunned, shaking his head and preparing to move forward when a red spike shot up next to him, piercing the flesh on his shoulder and blood cascading onto the ground.

He yelped and whined, shaking as he tried to concentrate on Azazel and the jaguar. He flinched briefly, watching as the vulture slammed a bone against the feral's head. He paused. He waited. He was bleeding. In pain. He didn't mind.

"We... we can... I can get Bevy...?" he said thoughtlessly. He had forgotten already. Bevy was dead. Bevy wasn't coming back. Who did it? He was screaming, at Azazel. Who did it. Who did it. Where was she. Were was her body. Who did it. God, who did it?

He paused. He hadn't said any of those things at all.

He was watching. Waiting. Bleeding.

@Cancer