Rift was glaring at Regalia, the entire world red, rage pulsing through his head, watching the root come down on them and crush them. And the second they were out of sight, he turned back down towards Sebastian, the anger falling away, a purr of distress rising in his chest. "Hey, I'm here. I'm here, it's okay. It's gonna be okay." His paws were trembling as he raised one to rest on Sebastian's neck, where it seemed to bend unnaturally. He couldn't breathe, his brother couldn't breathe he had to do something, he had to do something fast or he was gonna lose him.

He tried to will the plant matter around them to rise up, to begin trying to stitch his neck back into the right way , try and realign it so that he wasn't suffocating anymore, but he let out a sharp hiss of pain as, instead, a sharp vine peek up right through Sebastian's skin and into his pawpad, trying the two together. He tried pulling away, but it had successfully weaved the two together.

As I thought. Dread rose in his throat. It was them again, their hundred chiming voices ringing in his ears. His head snapped up just in time to see them, hoving above their vine and staring past him. He didn't get the chance to look before there was a horribly loud cracking noise and he knew what it was doing.

Everything was falling apart around him. This couldn't be happening. This was a nightmare. Sebastian was at his feet, hanging onto the edge of life, he had suck himself to his own brother with magic and the tree was being ripped apart. His heart was beating out of his chest. What do I do what do I do?!

Puppets learn to pull strings

It watched them. It watched as the cat tried to save his friend No, his brother, I saw it in his head. but it knew that it was too late. He was going to die...and the King would follow his subject into death.

It looked back up at the tree, pulling out the same force of magic as before, thrusting it deep into the tree, as far as it could, the black hole opening up again in the middle of the wound it had already created. Another horrible creaking noise and the tree began to sway with so much of its support missing. Still, it stayed tall, flaring up more violence and chaos in Regalia, making it even more impatient to get this done.

And cut down the user's lead

He was trembling before his brother, feeling sharp snaps of pain across his body as fragments rained down over him, opening small wounds across his pelt, but he was wholly focused on Sebastian, too terrified to turn away because he was barely breathing (or was he not breathing at all?!). He was dying and he could do nothing nothing nothing. He grit his teeth and tried again, crawling vines and stems weaving into Sebastian's neck to try and right his bones, get it out of the way of his breathing so that he could live, please just live a little bit longer. He couldn't do it alone. He'd need to find help.

Maybe Mercurius had something in his arsenal that could cure him. Or, no, Oliver! Of course, Oliver would be able to help! And if then, then Pride would know. Of course he would, he was gonna be fine. Everything was gonna be okay. "I'll save you, Sebastian," he rasped, voice quivering with fear. "You're not gonna die. I promise, it's gonna be okay. I won't let you die. You can't die. Not now, not ever! Not without me!"

Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

death

violence

Suffocation

He knew little.

His brother's voice in his ear and 'Rift please help me I'm scared', something pressing on his neck and he tried to vocalize his pain but couldn't get enough air to do so, a pricking pain in his neck that held no candle to that in his lungs or the stabbing of his heart where it thumped quicker and quicker, trying to make up for a lifetime of beats though it knew it were nearing its end and was trying to make up for every one it would miss, 'please make it stop help me'

and the tree, he'd know the sound of their tree no matter what, crackling and roaring above them, little pinpricks of pain across him and water helped didn't it? trickling from his throat in tiny little streams, spluttering with each weakening cough until they pooled in an unmoving mouth.

-exit Sebastian

@Regalia

Puppets learn to pull strings

It wasn't over yet. The tree was still standing. Rift had completely turned his attention away from it and now all that remained was that accursed tree that wasn't falling. Rift said it was a symbol. Of passive growth, passive strength, and that in itself was a scourge against the Creator because He was not of passive strength but active chaos and destruction, growth through violence and suffering instead of careless apathy.

So Regalia looked back up at the massive tree and, instead of ripping a piece of it away with its dark energy, it grabbed it firmly with its own arcane, and pulled as hard as it could. It had never in its life pulled at something as resistant as the tree and it struggled for a second, pulling to not effect, when a loud snapping and crunching sound told it that its efforts weren't in vain. The tree, already weakened, began to move under its power, and then, one more tug, and there was a massive groan.

Regalia let go of control then and began backing up. It wasn't afraid of getting crushed. When the tree fell, it would be consumed by the branches, but it would be unharmed. Still, it would rather not get caught by the trunk and wasn't taking that risk. So it moved itself out of the way as, at last, the tree began to fall.

And cut down the user's lead

He was getting more desperate by the second, trying daintily to weave the bone back into place because it was crushing his windpipe and if he just got it back into place it would all be alright, wouldn't it? He was going to be fine, it was all going to be ok! Oliver or Pride would help him out, they'd help heal him! It was fine! It was all fine! He'd figure this out, because he'd always figured it out, there was always a solution! If it didn't Sebastian could just go back into his chrysalis, right? Right?! He wasn't going to lose his brother!

Tears were lowing down his cheeks now as more water came dripping from Sebastian's mouth. His jaw was trembling but he forced his paws to be a stable as possible. "Just hold on, brother, okay? It's all gonna be okay. I'm gonna help you and then Oliver will fix you up! Just hang on...a little....a little..." His voice trailed off as he looked into his brother's eyes. No more coughs were coming from his mouth. Eyes stared forward blank and sightless. There weren't any more strangled breaths coming from his chest.

The roaring of the tree behind him was nothing. He didn't hear it. All he could hear was the beating of his own heart, a beat which, for once, was not resonating in his brother, stretched out before him. Only one heart beat between the two of them. Only one breathed while the other was still. Sebastian was gone. Rift was alone.

He choked out a sob and sunk down next to his brother, the pain in his heart reaching a climax. He couldn't think. He couldn't breathe. It was like the entire world had suddenly been stolen right out from beneath his feet, reality swept away from within his heart until he was drowning in absolute nothingness. Head pressed against Sebastian's and he could almost imagine that he was still as warm as ever, a deep purr in his throat to be by his brother.

He didn't register the pain. He didn't realize what had happened to the tree. One moment the world had been unreal. The next it was all dark. He could hear the loud crash as the tree fell on top of them, but it didn't matter. It didn't matter because Sebastian was dead. Not gone, not living somewhere else or journeying on his own, not separated for a time because of a petty argument that didn't matter, but because he was dead. It didn't matter that his Hometree had fallen. It didn't matter that it had crushed his entire body. It didn't matter how many bones broke in that moment because nothing was going to compare to the pain of losing his brother. Nothing.

He found himself unable to breathe or move, crushed under the weight of the tree, but he could still see him. He was still there. Still and gone, but...he was there and Rift reached for him. "H-h-hey..." he coughed. "S-seb..." His paw couldn't reach the other lion, not strong enough to make it all the way, falling to the ground. He was tired. Everything hurt. Darkness was calling to him, but he had to stay with him. But maybe he's waiting for me? Still, they were here together, one last time. Rift smiled, a small, weak, pained smile, but as gentle as the day he'd first met the younger cat. "R-r-remember...th-this one?"

And from his paw, plants began to sprout, shooting up from the ground and surrounding the two of them. Tiny little lives surrounding the dead. Rift very faintly saw them beginning to grow before a soft echo, a young voice in his head, cried out merrily - My friends! before thought, at last, ceased and everything went dark.

*exit

Puppets learn to pull strings

They were dead. They had to be. Regalia couldn't see them - perhaps this hadn't been the smartest way to kill the two, but it had certainly been the most satisfying and most appropriate. Crushed by the thing that had been protecting them, killed by the symbol of pacifistic growth and strength that they so revered. They didn't care if there were other members of the Kingdom around. Hopefully they would take this message to mean that Rift was wrong and the pacifism they hid so foolishly behind would only lead to their own destruction. Or they would take it another way. Regalia didn't care. If they reformed to have the same ideals again, then it would come around again and tear them apart.

The thing that sucked, though, was that now they had no way of getting to the bodies. Their magic was exhausted and they doubted they'd be able to move the tree off of the two just to get at their oil and their stones. Ah, the stones would be lost, then, and it would have to find its meal somewhere else. He would not receive this offering, unfortunately.

It turned to drift away but, just then, something panged at the back of their mind. Consciousness, perhaps, realizing what they'd just done. I just murdered two brothers that dedicated their lives to peace. That's...horrible! What were they doing?! How could they do something like this, when they were supposed to be protecting them! They were supposed to be watching over their flock not murdering them right and left over the whims of some creature that would never show its true face!

And, just to get here, it had hurt its own m-

No. NO. Not your mother. Not your life-giver. She's nobody to you. Nobody at all. Right. Right Wilder was just a lowly cat that it had used for information. Information to get it here, to do the Creator's will. He told it to make chaos. He instilled within them the urge to do violence, to kill, to destroy, to consume, and it was doing just that. It was suffering too, just as it had in the cave. Suffering from the heart, after all, was more torturous then the suffering of the flesh.

It forced itself forward, hovering over the ground, making its way through the tangle of branches it had found itself in, until it had pulled itself free, disappearing into the forest with one mission complete.

*exit

And cut down the user's lead