Takes place shortly after this thread.

The strange moth-like creature, with its many-eyed dog face and broad black-feathered wings, swept down to land neatly before the Throne of Orion. Many blue-banded legs carried it forward, and it looked around quietly.

This was where Wilder had sent it to seek those who had deliberately tormented another Gembound to death.

"Envy. Pride," it called out, knowing only their names, and nothing more.

@Livius

The thought that it was all over was bittersweet. As they settled on the throne, the adrenaline had faded, leaving in its place the leaden ache of exhaustion. Their ears still rang from Blackberry's agonised screams. Half of them was glad that Pride had gone, leaving them at the Throne, whilst the other half ached for the sound of voices to distract them from the fresh, raw trauma.

They allowed themselves a moment to recuperate, even if the silence was deafening, their breaths ringing in their ears, their eyes watery. They told themselves that Pride would be back soon. That it was unlikely they'd have to defend the throne as they'd promised. And soon everything would be back to normal, despite the terrible, awful feelings inside of them.

The goose was dead! That was a good thing.

...Right?

Envy's head had drooped forward. They hadn't realized that exhaustion, and emotion, was getting the better of them until the sound of a voice jerked them back to lucidity. They shook their head, struggling to dispel the rising panic and nausea, their spinning thoughts suddenly reaching breaking point, their breath quickening.

Too much... they thought, looking out fearfully, their eyelids drooping, quills standing on end as fresh waves of adrenaline sent aching, seething fire through their veins. It's all too much....

Envy considered simply leaving the source of the voice to its search. Let them find nothing, and let them leave.

But despite it all, they found themselves getting mechanically to their feet, and pattering out towards the sound. it could be a trap, they reminded themselves, but were too tired to care, their mind too full to come up with a reasonable plan. They just wanted it to be over. Pride would be back soon.

Besides, they had to think of something else. Anything to take their mind away from the awful screams.

The creature that they soon faced was a distraction, at least, but as they padded out into the open the weasel's tired gaze gave away nothing. "Pride is away," they said drily. "What do you want?"

They looked the oddity up and down.

Speech. Thought.

The weasel was--tiny. Aether had somehow expected a massive beast, and this little thing surprised it; but perhaps it was skilled in magicka. Wilder had hinted at as much. Its greeting came across as rude, abrupt, though perhaps Envy hadn't intended it that way.

Slowly, it looked around for the other one, as if only half-registering the idea that only one of the two was presently here. Then Aether looked to Envy, again. Ahh, well; it could handle one at a time, then.

"I come because I was called upon. I am a guardian of the caves. I was told that the Pride and Envy had tormented another Gembound to death, deliberately. Explain." It did not sound demanding, or hostile. It did not sound anything, really, as if simply expecting Envy to be perfectly reasonable in response to its apparent command.

@Envy

Some guardian you were, Envy thought sourly, but bit their tongue to keep the words from coming out. They clenched their jaw as it continued to speak, sitting upright to listen. They felt their heart flutter again, their quills rising, anger flashing across the surface of their mind like fire.

"You have the wrong Gembound," they said, once they'd gained their composure, although their voice cracked, threatening to break. "Pride and I hunted down a murderer. A goose who... killed and tormented and maimed for fun. It was... it was supposed to be a... a quick death."

They trailed off, evening their breaths, quills rattling as they struggled to describe it without thinking about it. But it was impossible. They laid their ears back flat to blot out the world, but everything was already muffled, the pounding of their heart in their ears drowning out everything.

And yet, they could still hear the screams.

Was this supposed to be a trial?

And then, a sudden, piercing, seething chill of clarity ran down their spine. They narrowed their eyes at the creature, so strange, so malformed. They raised their ears. Suddenly focus came easier.

"Did the black cat send you?" Envy asked, their voice growing shriller. "...Because it's a liar and a traitor."


Speech. Thought.

Pride came in weary. He'd spent the last hour or so travelling to Canis, searching out Aure, updating him on the situation--and how he'd returned here to find Aether apparently confronting Envy. It didn't seem to be a hostile interaction, at least not yet, and his surprise was evident in his tone as he approached the Throne.

"Aether..?"

He had been there for this gembound's hatching, not too long ago--its perfect, full-formed emergence after the life-giving of half a dozen others. For a moment Pride paused, taking in what was going on, and then grimaced, a little. He felt no danger from this gembound, and he was weary--and standing up wouldn't particularly help him to cast his magicka, anyway--so as a sort of show of good faith, he lay down at the Throne. Legs folded beneath him as he spoke. "I'm afraid Envy is right. Blackberry had tortured many, killed many, and was considered the enemy of most of the caves. I think you are too young to know of the Bloodberries, but they are--were--her organization of children she had created or kidnapped, twisting them to her cause, which... was sadism, primarily."

He didn't know Aether well. He hoped that the creature was not particularly prone to violence without reason; he hoped that it would listen.

He had no idea how powerful it was, and he didn't want anyone further hurt over Blackberry's--and Wilder's--mistakes.

"We had initially been considering taking the goose for a trial, but Wilder contacted her mind-to-mind to warn her we were coming, despite agreeing to this. And when I touched her mind, I could hear her asking what to do about us, though she kept that same sweet, naive face while claiming she'd merely been tired, and had done no magic at all. She left us little choice but to act quickly, lest a trap be lying in wait. We do not trust her," he added bluntly.

And then, a faint grimace coming over his face, he addressed the worst part of it all. "I was aiming for a quick death. A spike to her heart, and when that failed, a magic that would simply destroy her in an instant. I have no idea how she survived that for as long as she did, but you are right, it was not... fast, as I had intended. But it was not intentional."

He hesitated, and then tried to open his mind, to establish a link to Aether's--but whether the stranger had some sort of barrier against such things, or his magic simply backfired, he didn't know. A lancing pain shot through his skull and he briefly collapsed back, his eyes wide and blinking. "...I would try and show you, mind-to-mind, from my memories," he told it hoarsely, "but it seems that my magic does not wish to cooperate."

The hybrid listened, stoically silent, as Envy responded. And at Pride's arrival it turned to him.

It remembered him; the stag had not been one of his life-givers, no, but it had been present. And he remembered distinctly that it had seemed friendly, at the time, with Wilder--and with the white wolf who had been there, and with the tiny parasite, Squick.

It contemplated all of this, and looked to Envy.

Aether had been given life by a variety of Gembound--with a variety of elements. It itself held innate, if distant and unrefined, knowledge of a number of spells. Though it did not know it, Wilder herself had imparted the same magic that would allow creatures like Pride and Envy to touch it mind-to-mind, and this is what it graced its own magicka over now, considering.

"Show me," it agreed simply, attempting to open its mind toward Envy.

@Envy

Envy was quite unable to disguise their relief as Pride appeared, and they pattered over to him, settling beside him as he lay down before clambering back up onto the Throne. They let him take over the explanation, relief visible in the slight relaxation of their long body. They remained strangely silent throughout, adding a small, tired nod at various intervals.

As Pride's magic failed, though, and the guardian instead turned to them, Envy's expression sank, marked suddenly by a lingering expression of horror.

They did not want to show him. They did not want to think about it any more. They wanted to blot it out, and go back to the way things used to be, and forget about this whole, horrible ordeal. Envy stared at the creature as though looking at it for the first time, meeting its gaze, small eyes watery.

Finally they turned away, struggling to close it all off.

"I can't," they forced out.

The exhaustion, the horror of it all. Despite themselves, they felt emotion bleeding from them like a noxious cloud. They sank down onto the Throne, trying to keep it back, trying to keep it to themselves, trying desperately to shove it all back where it belonged.

But they couldn't.

Before they knew it, Envy was sobbing, their blood full of fire and their eyes wide. They heard the death, felt the aftermath as though it was happening again. Their ears rang a steady note. Their stomach clenched tight with nausea even though there was nothing left inside of them to hurl. Their quills trembled violently as they crouched low to the stone like a cornered rat, turning themselves away.

Still their thoughts turned in circles, dodging the point, avoiding looking at it. Yet there were flashes. The first blow, the nauseating scent of blood. The black hole, tearing pieces off of the already mutilated goose.

And the screams-- well, they were constant.

The feeling of guilt was all consuming, the horror eating them alive.

They couldn't deal with this any more. They had to get out of here. The weasel curled up into a tight ball, and not even a moment later, they were gone. When they did not reappear, it became apparent that Envy had fled.

-exit Envy-

Speech. Thought.

Pride blinked, swivelling his head toward Envy as the weasel seemed to... collapse. Their force words, the curling away--and then the sobbing-...

The stag was not so emotional, in general. He was weary--he was by no means emotionless, but he was driven by logic and had the ability (perhaps unhealthy, at times) to compartmentalize to an extreme. For him, the horrors of Blackberry's screams were locked away until such time as he could properly address them--for Envy, the pair of terrible deaths by black hole, the screams, the blood, it had all been too much. He scrambled to his hooves as the weasel broke down, moving toward them--but then they were vanished, gone, and he could do nothing but call out in bewilderment.

"Envy--?" Pride asked, loudly, worriedly--and he had no idea what had happened. He'd never seen anyone vanish, before, and he had no idea what they had done. Envy held magics far beyond his knowledge, at times, as he was certain he held some beyond theirs--but he had no idea where to even begin to look for them. His voice grew higher, louder, as he looked frantically around. "King Envy? --ENVY?" Urgent, one forehoof raised, he looked to and fro. But he could see nor hear no sign of them.

He feared what the weasel might do, in this state. What might become of them. Yet he had no idea how he could possibly help, if they chose not to respond, or to return.

Pride was left alone with Aether, helpless to aid, his face creased with fearful worry. At length, he turned to the hybrid.

"It-... It hit them hard, I think," he nearly whispered--and tried to open his mind to the hybrid once more, grim, to show it everything.

Aether observed as Envy first broke down, and then simply vanished. At first it tensed, preparing to give chase. It could take scent, pursue that, assuming there was any fresh scent to follow-... Yet Pride's reaction gave it pause.

Envy, Aether realized, hadn't fled. They were not fleeing justice. They were traumatized, if Pride's words were to be believed--and now its mind received knowledge, emotion, words and images. Patient, it stilled, observing intently what began as a trickle, and became a flood.

The past of Blackberry, her prior actions. The Bloodberries. Huckleberry, sobbing on the ground. Blood across the stone, and a screaming mouse. Elderberry vanishing in a cracking burst of gore. The attack on Eridanus. Actions, images, and most importantly of all, intentions.

It was nearly overwhelming, and through it all, the guardian attempted to pick any lie from the knowledge. It was difficult to tell for certain, but by the end, it felt fairly confident that Pride's story was the truth, at least how the stag viewed it.

Aether was certain that there were different perspectives, but they had not intended to go out and find Blackberry to inflict vengeance and pain, but to stop the threat that she posed to the caves. "You are not a threat," it decided, simply, at last.

It would need to find Wilder, then, and report back. Turning, no more words nor thanks offered--as if it never occured to it--Aether took wing, leaving the Throne behind.

Aether exits.

Pride watched Aether go, and the adrenaline struck him now harder than it had at any time in the past few hours bar the initial revelation that Blackberry was in fact still alive. Not anymore, came the dark, unwelcome thought.

He turned, shaking his head. He didn't know if Aether had been called by Wilder, or if it were merely... aware, somehow, of fights now occuring within the cave. If it remained reasonable, as it seemed, then the latter was almost reassuring. Yet, the stag thought to himself, his mind ever sharp, he said that he'd been told we tormented deliberately, and that was not true. Someone told him.

The stag brushed these thoughts away--he had too much to deal with, and this one would have to wait for another time. He almost understood Envy's breakdown, or what he assumed to have been one--so much had happened so quickly, and Blackberry's death was a half-cathartic, half-catastrophic conclusion to a long and horrific situation.

He'd have to go to Eridanus, he knew... Have to tell them what had happened. Rift would need to know... he'd leave it to Mercurius, perhaps, to break it more gently to Huckleberry. Cruel to leave it on the lion, but--he himself would be a bad choice, he thought, to tell the hybrid.

Pride stepped back behind the Throne, weary, sniffing and calling about.

"Envy--? Are you all right? Where are you? It's gone--... Envy?"

After a few long minutes of calling, of sniffing, Pride lowered himself down to lay there, worried. He didn't know if Envy was okay, or even how to search them out. Their scent was everywhere, here: this was their home and it was impossible to pick out their tiny body's presence by odor alone.

"I'm here," he called out at last, settling himself there to rest, "if you return."

@Livius