Reseda soared from the tunnel that led to the bone room, quite enjoying this wonderful sensation of flight. Perhaps the little pleasure she had been able to capture since her time of emotionless squalor. Her heart was beating fast, excitement racing through her veins. This was it, this was what she had been waiting for for so long. A chance to strike back, however petty it would be.

Even if her demands were not met, it would be a reminder that she was still here - she was still active and she wouldn't rest until the Seven fell.

The familiar sillouette of the Throne was before her and she set herself down some distance away so that her approach would not be seen so easily. At her chosen distance, some yards from where the Seven lurked, she opened her jaws and spat out the little lizard.

It seemed the sudden movement stunned Amazon and she didn't move when she smacked into the ground, giving Reseda enough time to raise her claws and stab them right into the crevice between two of her scale. She set her claws there, just touching the skin - any attempt to try and take her away with magic would rip her scales right off and most certainly kill her quickly. She slid herself so that she was standing right over Amazon so that any spell they wanted to cast had a very real likelihood of hitting her as well. She was precious to them, she knew at least. They wouldn't let her be harmed so easily.

"ENVY!" she roared. "PRIDE!" And then she waited for them to come to her, eyes narrowed and wings pulled back but ready to go if she needed a quick exit.

@Pride @Livius

He certainly didn't like the sound of Reseda's voice. He'd thought that Envy should have killed her off outright; he'd suggested as much, but Envy--rather, "Livius"--had insisted on keeping her captive. Foolish, he'd thought, and he'd warned them. It would only enflame the lizard's rage further, and make her more of a threat, let alone leaving her to wander the caves.

Upon stepping out, he noticed two things: first, Reseda now had wings. That was new. With grim satisfaction he noted to himself that next time, they'd have to kill her outright, rather than dropping her in a hole. Second, and perhaps more importantly, she had something pinned beneath her claws.

Pride strode forward, not approaching too close, but just enough to see that it was Amazon held beneath her claws. Had he known it was a hostage situation, he'd have attacked at once--but some part of him hesitated, unsure if perhaps Amazon had been wounded somehow and Reseda was seeking aid. He waited perhaps thirty yards off, a good, safe distance, and reached his mind out to test the waters--to see what the reptile's purpose and plan might be.

Hopefully, Livius wasn't far behind.

He kept his own mind carefully blank, cutting the link the moment he had his answers. Reseda had her claws in Amazon's skin. She had demands--though what demands, he could not say--and she thought that somehow having her claws hooked in between Amazon's scales would protect her against magic. But what went in could come out--a simple lesson the komodo had apparently never learned.

Thinking fast, Pride called out, loudly. His voice held nothing--it was almost bored in tone--though whether that was an affectation or genuine was difficult to tell. "King Livius is not here right now, Reseda. I fear you shall be dealing with me. What is it that you want this time?"

He hoped that Livius would hear; it might give the weasel time to maneuver, and to think. Maybe they could hit Reseda from two sides at once.

Assuming, of course, that Livius was actually here at all.

Livius had hoped to never hear that voice again.

And so, when it boomed out over Orion, the cocktail of emotions that swelled within their chest was... unwelcome. Their head jolted upright in an instant from where they had been resting, hidden as they resupplied their strength. Part annoyance, part dread, their quills trembled upright and quietly hissed.

They debated on what to do, frozen, their head spinning, listening to the pounding of their blood in their ears.

It was Pride's voice, a moment later, that brought them to their senses.

And at first, his words brought relief. There was time for them to get away!

...Then, the sense of dread thickened. What did she want? Why was she here?

Livius remained where they were, frozen. But then, slowly, shakily, they stood. One look couldn't hurt. Reseda needn't even know they were here. The weasel pattered out of their hiding place and quickly scaled a pile of rubble. Their green form rippled and danced, and soon they moved along a crumbled wall. Pride came into view shortly after, and then the... strangely twisted shape of the lizard who'd caused them so much trouble. Their eyes narrowed as they tried to pick out exactly what was going on. And then their expression turned, their jaws slightly opening. A sick feeling formed in the pit of their stomach.

It took them a few moments to fully process what they were seeing.

But then their blood ran hot with rage, and equally cold with horror. They stood frozen, pins and needles forming in the tips of their paws.

...Amazon...?

They blinked, but the image remained. The tiny lizard beneath Reseda's traitorous claws was as real as she'd ever been.

They tried desperately to gain control of their body, but they couldn't think clearly. They opened their mouth, as though to speak, but no sound came out. Finally, they pushed down the ice that bound their limbs and rose up, standing, their tiny figure upright with quills standing on end, as high as they would go. Green fur fluffed out, eyes icy. Golden crown glistened in the chilly light of Orion.

Anyone looking at them would have seen, not fear, but anger. Their expression was carefully guarded, even though they felt as though their stomach was full of maggots.

They didn't know what possessed them, suddenly, but squashing their fear in favour of anger felt oddly empowering. Livius reached for their magic... not knowing, at least not consciously, what it was they were searching for, but feeling some kind of instinctual pull guiding them. Rather than trying to take from others, they instead forced their magic on Reseda, taking the strings from her.

"Let her go, you bitch."

It was as much a magical command as it was a physical utterance. And the words only cemented their will.

They felt their magic take its hold like fishhooks into the Komodo Dragon's muscles, and, with all of their strength, began to pull the strings. They tightened their jaw as they started to drag Reseda's claws from Amazon's hide and tried to force her away from the lizard, step by forced step.

They were here. Reseda tensed, knowing what was going to come next. Pride would probably try to kill her immediately. Her grip around the lizard tightened, knowing that they wouldn't, not with a friend in her claws. Not with her about to sink her talons into her scales. She bared her teeth at Pride's words, a little infuriated by the bored expression. She knew he was just covering. Thinking quick. She had to admit, she at least respected that. She opened her mouth to give him some snarky remark, but just then the one and only appeared.

"King Livius?" she asked with mock surprise. "What a strange name! It doesn't suit you, though. Sorry." She stared unblinking at the two, a small grin crawling up her face. "Make a move, try to take her, and she dies." But, then, it seemed that she was going to be the one to move. The instant her claws began to pull up, she knew that they'd already cast the first spell. She snarled low as her legs moved on their own, but her grin didn't fade. "Nice try," she hissed, her jaws opening just enough for the lizard to slip through.

Just as she'd done before, she pulled Amazon away with magic. The lizard squeaked with protest, but she was clamped in Reseda's jaws a moment later.

She couldn't do much, stuck under Reseda's claws. She struggled, sure, but pain started blossoming where the claws were touching and she stopped, fearful that she'd do any more damage. She shivered there, terrified, but furious. Humiliated. Captured again, totally helpless. She hated this, she hated being weak. She'd gone to the trials so she could live, so she could become stronger, but it seemed that that hadn't really happened. She got to live, yes, but she was as useless as ever.

At first, there was hope. Reseda's claws began moving away and she was scurrying right when she could, sprinting away towards Livius, when that magic, that terrible, unfair magic grabbed her again. She squeaked as dark and warmth engulfed her again and the light was shut out. She was inside the lizard's mouth again.

She wasn't going to stand for this. She wasn't going to do nothing. She was getting out, because Livius was there, Pride was just outside, and she wanted to get back to them. And she feared that they'd attack without a care for her. Why wouldn't they?

She launched herself forward and began scratching at the dragon's teeth, screeching and hollering as she tried to smash her way right out, but her attacks didn't do much. After a few hits, she missed her mark and her poor little hand came crashing down right on the top of one of the points. She squealed and flinched back, slipping on the lizard's tongue as blood began dripping from the little wound. Shit.

@Pride @Livius

Pride stared. His blood ran cold as he realized what was happening. He didn't know what Livius had done--he only knew that the weasel had shouted, and that then Amazon was crying out, and bleeding... and Reseda threatening her life.

He'd given cycles of his own health so that Amazon could live. A cold, black rage slipped over him. A flicker of memory--Blackberry, screaming, tearing apart. And suddenly, Pride didn't care. He didn't care that it'd been violent. He didn't care about the pain he'd caused. Blackberry had brought it on herself--and now, so had Reseda.

The black anger welled up and overwhelmed his magicka. He aimed it--focused it--his cold fury guiding it to Reseda's back... not enough to kill her, no, but enough to tear her wings away. And if he managed, he'd drop the spell at once.

They couldn't allow her to escape--not with Amazon in her jaws.

Magicka flickered and lashed around him, briefly visible as remnants of the spell--which did not, perhaps in his fury, properly form. He focused on perfecting it, speaking as he did so, and his voice took on a cold depth that had not been present before. With it came authority--and cruelty.

"Counter offer," he growled. "Put her down and flee now, and we do not tear you apart where you stand."

@Livius

Livius's stomach shook with rage as Reseda defied them, again. Using magic to bring the little lizard back towards into her mouth. They were deaf to her words, the venomous slime that dribbled out of her mouth.

Livius' blood ran cold as they heard Amazon's scream.

Livius peeled back their lips to reveal red-stained fangs, their quills letting out a quiet hiss.

"I said... let her go," they said, their voice not wavering. They tried to keep a hold of their magic, tried too keep it going, to wrench open those treacherous jaws.

...But the magic didn't come. Perhaps Amazon's agonized cry was too much. Or perhaps it was the faint feeling of energy crackling from Pride's failed spell, bringing them back to terrible reality. But they felt their hold slip, the power drain fro their limbs, and the hooks they had on the lizard slide loose.

It was too much, too much. They hated this.

It was as though they were watching the happenings through someone else's eyes, using magic that wasn't theirs.

Still, they wouldn't let themselves stand down.

"Or... or else. You've seen what I can do, Reseda. You've seen what Pride can do, and you're outnumbered," they said, in a voice that didn't feel like theirs. "I've killed before, Reseda. And I'm not afraid to do it again."

In truth, they were afraid.

But what else could they do?

She could feel Amazon throwing herself against her teeth again, but it was no use - her jaws were stronger then the tiny lizard could break through. She could taste a bit of blood on her tongue and she wanted to laugh, but she didn't dare open her jaws. Unable to speak normally, she projected her voice outside of her body, a whisper between Livius and Pride. "Try to do it. I dare you. Of course, if you do anything to me, it'll happen to her too. I suggest you quiet down now and do what I say, unless you want your friend tossed in a black hole. Ah, and right after she found the cure too."

She paused, glaring at the two, but her gaze shifted to Envy. "Yes, your murder of the half-moose was, uh, quite impressive. How did it feel, to watch his bones break into pieces, to hear his scream cut off into a garble of blood? Did you like watching his entire body crushed into nothing? Mmm, I would very much have liked to see that. I did, after all, murder his father. So I guess we have the same amount of murder experience, then." She paused again, wanting to see the horror pass through their eyes. She wanted to see every emotion on their face as they relived what they had done. Not everyone was cut out for killing or hurting and that particular spell was quite the gruesome way to go.

"Now...will you listen to my demands? Or will you continue trying to dance around me? You'll only get Amazon killed if you try anything. I only have a couple of simple requests."

M for, um, really gross stuff and gore.

Amazon went quiet. She could hear them, right outside. They were close, so close. Both of them. And Livius...they were terrified. Was that for her? Or from the prospect of killing again? She was frozen there as Reseda's voice whispered, just loud enough for her to hear. And she decided that she was going to be a victim anymore.

Reseda should have kept her in her claws. In her mouth, well, she was made to make some pain if anyone tried to eat her. She slipped around, facing the revolting inside of the dragon's mouth, the end of her throat. She hesitated for a moment, wondering if this was a good idea at all, fearing what was going to happen. If this worked...she'd be a murderer too. She would have killed someone. If it means staying with Luster, giving my daughter the life she deserves, I would do anything. And I'll do anything so I can stay with you. Right. She would do anything.

The thought of returning to the people she loved, not because they helped her, but because she fought through herself, that was enough. She dived forward, straight towards the back of Reseda's mouth, and pushed herself at the dragon's throat. Immediately, the muscles flexed around her and faint light illuminated the dark as Reseda gagged, but she didn't stop, scrabbling against her tongue, feeling blood well beneath her claws. She pushed herself through, her sharp scales scraping against the edges of Reseda's throat, before, at last, she began to dig in and tear at the soft flesh with everything she had.

Immediately, blood began welling from the wounds she made. It wasn't exactly in her throat, but it was close enough. The entire mouth lurched as Reseda stepped back, a horrible gurgling noise coming from her throat, but Amazon ignored it. She scraped and scratched and dug as best she could, but within moments there was way too much blood for her to even hold on. She managed to get one last attack in before Reseda keeled forward and vomited, dumping Amazon, torrents of blood, saliva, and bile all over the stone in front of her. The cold air hit her scales and light glared into her eyes, freezing her for a moment as the horrible knowledge of what she had just done washing over her.

@Livius @Pride

There was little that could surprise Pride anymore.

Reseda's blabbering was certainly not among thos things. He was already preparing another, slightly different magic.

...Amazon's attack, however, caught him wholly and powerfully off-guard. The little lizard-... At first he thought that Reseda had swallowed her, before he saw blood. He was shocked--and what little of him could think was pleased. She is pleased.

He didn't bother to mock Reseda, or even to refuse her demands. To goad her, to point out that after all her attempts at manipulation had failed, she'd fallen back on the most base of things: brute force. He'd wanted Livius to kill her when she'd been in the crevice, and after her life had been spared, here she was: little more than a whining child who couldn't get their way.

Pride did not care for tantrums. He aimed his magic at a specific point--just where he knew Reseda's stone was. He did not know if it would kill her but he felt strongly that without it, she would be unable to cast her magic--and that, for the komodo, was perhaps her greatest strength. He was careful to limit it to the stone, however; he didn't want it to rupture into the lizard's skull and strike the other lizard apparently tearing Reseda's neck apart from within. His goal was merely to flash Reseda's stone into white-hot plasma... removing it from her body, perhaps, and badly-burning the tissue around it. Perhaps, he thought, the removal of the stone might even blind her, at least in one eye.

@Livius