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Seizure

The last few days, the body of Triage had begun to deteriorate. They had felt it coming for a while, some strain on them that they couldn't shake off. Like a chord stretched too tight, about to break. Headaches broke out frequently across the three. Breath came short. Their magic wasn't listening to them as they strained, day by day, to walk, to move. Were they ill? Were they dying?

Illness was what they assumed. And so Buckley took care of them, forcing the body to rest, in a small pocket of Pisces, away from excitement. Where the water was clear and the prey was easy to catch. Where they could sleep off this illness and continue on like nothing was wrong. It was strange, though, for Gore to be so silent. They often caught it staring into the distance, shaking itself out when one called its name. More concerning, it dropped the sword-staff on occasion during these moments. Its jaw muscles had gone slack.

Ishani had taken to keeping an eye on it. She had grown quiet, concerned, making sure that they were taking care of themselves. Her clever mind worked through explanations, solutions, anything she could think of to help the rest of the body get better. Buckley did his best, but nothing was improving. They only got worse.

The morning that It happened was a rough one. The body woke, groggy, exhausted, heavy. There was something heavy in Buckley's chest, like a heartburn. And on Gore's skull, and Ishani's forehead. The cord was fraying, they all knew, but they didn't know why. What was going to happen when it broke? Buckley pushed past it, heaving the body up from their nest, expecting a bleating complaint from Gore, but found nothing. The goat was lethargic, blinking slowly, its head lolling to the side.

"Hey," Buckley rumbled as he dragged the body out of the den with only the front legs. "Gore. Can you move for me?"

"Shhhh hhgghhh" it groaned, rolling its head so it was braced against Buckley's mane. "Hurts."

"I know." He didn't. Not really. But his heartburn was getting worse. He just needed water. Yes, water would cool it. That's what they needed.

Ishani was staring at Gore and then she leaned forward to nudge him, quietly asking, "Are you there? What do you feel?"

Gore swallowed, heavy, hissing quietly. "GGhhh...faint."

Worry consumed her. She pulled for magic, any magic, to try and feel what Gore was feeling, but Buckley's magic failed her, unpracticed as she was in it. She could only think and begin to realize herself what might be happening.

Why hadn't they seen anyone else like them? In the many cycles they'd wandered, no other gembound had more then one gemestone. Some had multiple heads, but they were all one. They...were three. They were different. And that wasn't always a good thing.

She'd been feeling it too, faint, like she wasn't quite all there. She had an idea of what was happening. And the pressure on her forehead, where her gemstone sat, was further evidence.

"Fight it, Gore. Okay? Stay with us." she whispered. The goat nodded, eyes squeezing shut.

They were okay for a while like that, as Buckley finally dragged them to the shore of the lagoon and reached over to take a drink. The cool water felt good in his throat, but it did nothing to ease the heartburn that was only getting worse. He squeezed his own eyes shut and backed up, laying there at the edge of the water. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. It was going to pass.

It wasn't passing. It was ramping up, getting worse, more and more painful, quicker and quicker. And then they seized.

All three of them, at once. Their vision whited out and consciousness flattened as the body of Triage convulsed. They were all weak and fading and losing themselves in that moment, but they hung on. Gore was losing the fight, bleating as its head swung. The burning on its skull was like fire on the skin, slowly being snuffed out as the other two raged on. But Ishani had told it to fight, so it did.

They could all faintly feel the tail that was Ishani curling in on itself, hissing wildly. They could feel three fires, desperately holding on, begging to be fed. It was all they could feel, three fires competing for a moment as the source began to die, and then, one stopped its fight and was snuffed out in an instant.

The body relaxed. Consciousness flickered, and briefly went out.

Buckley opened his eyes first, head pounding, but the heartburn was, thankfully, gone. He groaned as he pulled himself back to a sitting position, paw coming up to rub at his head. He looked back to the rest of the body, where Ishani, too, had raised herself from the ground and was turning to look at the same time. Gore's head was limp.

"Hey," Buckley croaked. "Gore."

His shoulder rolled back, nudging the goat's head, which also began to stir. It's eyes blinked blearily open with a growl. "Whaaaat...just happened..." It grumbled. It looked to Ishani, who was hovering nearby. "What were you...saying to me?"

She didn't respond. She simply stared forward ahead at Buckley, who looked back. Something dropped in his stomach. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. Ishani was always moving a bit, looking, watching, whispering. Now she stared blankly at him, looking without seeing. She gave no notion that she had even heard Gore speaking.

She was gone.

"Buckley is speaking!" "GORE IS SPEAKING!!!" "Ishani is speaking..."

Buckley stared at the blank eyes of the snake, a cold realization crawling through his veins. But-no, no it was impossible, right? She was right there. Looking at him. No injuries on her, no broken gemstone, nothing. She was fine!

Buckley smiled, gently. "H-hey, Ishani, you're alright, yeah? I know that was kind of scary but its alright now. We're fine, see?" He showed off how body, his arms and head and the snake head moved to look where he wanted. See? See, she's okay!

But Gore was staring at her, bewildered. It scared Buckley because he had never seen an expression like that on its face before. Gore was angry and loud and proud but it was never unsure, never surprised. Never sad.

But that was sadness, creeping into its eyes. Agony. As it came to the same realization as Buckley. "No...no, she didn't."

Buckley blinked away the tear threatening to form in his eyes. Why did he need to cry when nothing was wrong? "Do what? She didn't do anything. We're fine, right, Ishani?" The snake nodded. He breathed with relief. She was moving.

Just...not talking right now. That's ok, maybe she was still in pain. Maybe she wanted to be quiet for a moment.

"Shut the fuck up, Buckley," Gore snarled suddenly and the force of the goat's will suddenly overwhelmed him. He lost control of something just as Ishani started to move about strangely. Moving her head right and left, opening her mouth and closing it, wiggling her body in odd patterns. Gore looked horrified.

"What are you doing?" Buckley wasn't sure who he was asking.

"I...she's..." Gore looked at the lion, an odd look on his face. "Just...try to move it - uh, her. Take control."

Buckley frowned. He didn't really like doing that but...fine. He gently pushed his own will back to take control and was likewise also horrified at how easy it was. With no effort at all, he found himself able to move the snake here and there and do what he wanted. Nod its head. Look at the places he wasn't injured. Look...alive.

"I don't...I don't under...understand..."

Gore grit its teeth and looked away. "Fuck....FUCK. Dammit, Ishani. You weren't supposed to go. It was going to be me." He squeezed his eye shut, such an ugly, raw look in his expression. Every word fought tears back down his throat. "Fuckin....stupid caring bitch. She had to. She had to."

The lion was lost. He simply stared at the limp head of Ishani, dropping control like he was dropping something that was burning him. The tail immediately drooped, hovering as a tail normally would. The lights had gone out in her eyes, the sharp, cunning intelligence had lost its luster and clouded over with emptiness.

Buckley turned to look at Gore, slowly. "What do you mean. What do you mean it was going to be you?"

It didn't answer immediately, swallowing heavily. When it spoke, it didn't look at the lion. "Y-you felt it, right? Something dying. That was me. I was almost gone. But Ishani she said...she told me to fight. So I did. And she let go. She's gone and I'm still here." It snarled and spit. "Fuck. FUCK."

Whatever Buckley had been pushing down were rising up rapidly like bile from his stomach. His skin felt itchy, his muscles twitched, his eyes burned. He turned to the snake and suddenly lunged forward, grabbing the head in his paws, so gently, so so so gently. "Tell me its not true. You're still here, Ishani, right? You're here! Say something, please!"

He shook her a bit, but the eyes simply stared at him, blankly. The tongue didn't even flicker to taste his grief. He shook her more, but it was more of the same. "Stop fucking around with me! Stop teasing me! It's not funny!" But she wouldn't joke. Not about this, never. She'd see Buckley was hurt and she'd drop it immediately.

She didn't respond.

His blood felt like ice, cold fire replacing the warmth he always carried. His head whipped around and lips curled back to reveal his teeth as chilling anger blazed in his chest. "You. YOU! You did this!! Always pushing us, always so mean! Ishani cared and you never did! It SHOULD have been you! You don't care about anyone but yourself!"

Gore looked at him out of the corner of its eyes and Buckley immediately regretted everything he'd just said. The goat bared its own teeth, but there was no venom or fire behind its eyes. "S-sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"No. I know what you meant. You hate me. You would rather I have gone and Ishani stayed. Now its just us stuck together, yeah? No more mom to keep me in check and tell you what to do. It would be so much better if she was here instead of me, huh?" Buckley opened his mouth to refute it, but Gore hissed. "Shut up! You said it, now you can't take it back."

It looked back towards the snake, some mixture of grief, guilt, and anger twisting its face. "I'm sorry."

It turned away from Buckley, then, the best it could do to get away from him, leaving Buckley alone to stare at Ishani's corpse, still hanging from the back of their body, and dissolve into his own grief.

"Buckley is speaking!" "GORE IS SPEAKING!!!"