[PRP] Into the Belly of the Beast (Laurelin/Alyssum/Chima)

[Tsunake]

It had never truly occurred to her that this sweet-hearted stranger would ever even offer to accompany her when she should have other, more important things to attend to. As she stared down at the menacing maw that apparently swallowed up the golden stallion somewhere within its dark depths, Laurelin was grateful for the company. Visible puffs of mist streaming from her nose and mouth, the mare admitted quietly that this earthen castle was fitting for one of the earthen element... but had Chimalsi really spent so much time down here, locked away from the warmth of the sun?

Sighing softly to steady her nerves, the mare gingerly let her hooves feel for any rocks or dips in the stone, the sound of her steps all too loud to her ears. "Do you remember the way, Alyssum? ...Or is it all twists and turns from here?" She'd quietly ask the other, her tail unconsciously reaching out to brush against the other's forelegs. It was very dark, and the last thing she wanted was for them to grow separated. An injury down here could be fatal.

Her ears strained for any possible sound, perhaps the jingling of a heavy necklace or the sound of weighted hooves that could not belong to either of the dainty mares. Nothing so far, save for the nervous thump of her heart, her uneasy breath. It would have been wiser for Alyssum to lead, but Laurelin didn't want to chance a thing. No, if one were to stumble and fall in the dark, she'd much rather it be her than the younger--it was she who'd insisted to be brought here during the night, after all.  

[Quicksilver the Archangel]

Alyssum was grateful that the golden mare before her could even survive in the cave; she had feared, somehow, that the ceiling would be too low and destroy the living gift that perpetually remained on Laurelin's back, that the air would be too thick and choke one who had only been in the forest, but so far she seemed fine. The chocolate mare protected her new friend's flanks, settling for this as the only reason she was not leading the way.

The light touch of a tail made of hairs far longer, far finer than her own reminded her that Laurelin needed her instruction as much as the owrds did. Keep to the left. Follow the rubble. Chimalsi's last words to her before he had charged, and Alyssum communicated this, "Follow all the rocks, the small and broken ones. And... stay to the left. Eventually, it'll lead us to a place with only an entrance and no exit, and that'll be the treasure room... that's where I last saw him. Please... be careful, Laurelin. I don't want you to get hurt."  

[Lady_Ourania]

It was easy to lose track of time when the moon and the sun drove similar spikes of light into his exhausted eyes. He hadn't slept since the night he'd met Laurelin under the cover of trees, when she'd allowed him to lean against her, their breath mingling and their tails tangled like blind foals keeping track of one another by touch. When they'd woken again, he'd gently undone the knots, brushed his muzzle against her cheek and gone, and the moment of clarity had gone with her. On his own, he was lost and troubled again, thoughts flickering fast, wondering if he had been right to say such things to her. Their time together was so confined, a tear drop compared to the ocean of hours he'd shared with the one who waited for him at home. He knew it, and she knew it, but all concepts of belonging had blurred when the sweet mare admitted her feelings for him. Even before then, perhaps, though he hesitated to mark a specific moment. There was no dismissing it.

But the kirin had known better than to return home with the tree-mare's leaves still dotting his mane, her rich voice under his skin. He'd stopped once downstream to wash himself, hating the feeling it left him with, like he was trying to purge something he wanted to haul closer. Still, Chimalsi kept away until he felt reassured, pulling up the moat bridges of his mind, afraid she would pry into his whereabouts, Laurelin's love, all of it if he was not careful. If they were discovered, he could imagine only viciousness would follow, and he would not subject the garlanded mare to anything of the kind. But his silence hadn't sat well, and beloved had battered against him, thrown fiery suspicion over the walls and tried to smoke him out. Physical pain had done nothing but heal over, so now she had adopted another tactic. He could not leave; every step he made to exit was followed by a jab down his spine, a blinding ache in his head, paralyzed by whatever spell made him hers. So he sat, prisoner in his own lair, and every time weariness drew him in, she snapped him awake with a shriek of disturbed metal, an ominous rustle of obsidian arrowheads, the screech of unseen things grinding together. Sleep deprivation had started to settle into his bones, and when she struck out to punish him, it was as if she was shaking all the wands and stone-bulbs of his skeleton.

Things had not always been like this, his existence a downward spiral, looping tighter and tighter toward the bottom where the sharp edges could cut. He'd been happy once. Content, at the very least. Now he was... something else. Wanted something else.

At first, he thought that the voices were merely beloved's way of denying him rest, the newest method she employed to crack open the keep in his head and leave it vulnerable to pillaging. But she was silent, and the last tone rang separate, his eyes rolling open while he pushed onto his legs. Intruders, arriving under cover of night, expecting he would be gone. He had been trained to deal with such problems, no question in his mind that they needed to be exterminated quickly.

Through the white pour of illumination from the ceiling, he saw a toed foot emerge out of the tunnels, attached to a golden leg and threaded with deep, woodsy brown. Then she was in front of him, covered in dust and trailing the lily-admirer, both of them trying to adjust. His heart clenched hard enough to make him dizzy. "Laurelin..." He'd told her not to come, not to cross her. His empire glittered around him, his bride, his beloved, sucking the life out of him in practiced steps. And now she was alert to his horror, vibrating through feet and lungs, raking into him. The carefully concealed information was ripped free, spread out before her sparkling eyes, assessed with a fervent desire to blame. It was all laid bare, and he was reeling still, half-praying he was hallucinating. But neither of the mares dissolved, and he felt the cool press of beloved infiltrating his despair, resurrecting the previous thought. Intruders, yes, and the same one he'd allowed to escape before, neatly caught up in their web again. When he was done, she wanted the golden one's corpse. It would be pretty for a while, blending with all their amassed splendor. And when it began to rot and lose its appeal, he could eat it as he had done with the flower.  

[Tsunake]

The rubble... Her gaze flitted across the telltale stones that led her closer and closer to the one whom she loved, ears straining to catch the warning left for her. She wanted to turn her head, to smile faintly at Alyssum and assure her all would be well--yet her throat tightened to choke the words into silence, refusing to let her speak. Her hooves carried her, as light as whispering leaves across the earth on a cool night until the sight of his large, familiar form sent her stumbling to a halt.

Her breath came far too easily now, slipping from her lungs in a whisper of denial as she took in his exhausted, gaunt form, horrified as her name slipped from his lips. "Oh, Chimalsi.... What has she done to you?" She heard herself ask, horrified and simultaneously feeling painful emotions ripple through her. She managed to pull her eyes away to stare past the stallion, into the room where mounds and heaps of glittering things, of exquisite furs and feathers and felt her blood boil. The very tree on her back began to quiver, roots tightening around her middle to better hold on tight while the golden mare took a single step forward, the menace that controlled her more jerky and uncharacteristic for a body that wasn't used to feeling this way.

"Have you no shame? No feeling?" A hiss snaked from her, drawing near to Chimalsi but not stepping past him just yet. "You spat on the gift he slaved to bring for you... You starve him..." Her body trembled with rage, her eyes wide and fixed on the silent towers of strange collectibles. "...How dare you. How dare you sneer at his devotion and affection for you..." She could hardly speak anymore, her teeth gritted and her tail lashing behind her like a well-groomed whip.  

[Quicksilver the Archangel]

Alyssum's whole life had been easy. Not truly given to introspection, she didn't think about such things very often. Usually there was too much else to do. New berries to taste. New plants to discover. New forests and hidden glens, mountain sides and water fronts, a world of new places, new Soquili, new things. And for her, it had all come so easily. She could always ask about what she didn't understand, and if no one could or would provide an answer, it was all the same to her. She could always find one of her own, one that would make her move on to the next experience, the next adventure.

THIS however, was different, and the chocolate mare hadn't realized it, really understood it until she followed Laurelin back into the pile of stuff that the Golden One considered a trove of treasure. When she laid eyes on what she could see of the stallion that Laurelin had begged to be led to, Alyssum just stared. The golden mare had someone to attack, to question, an invisible person that the younger mare could only trust existed. But Alyssum? She was silent.

Where was he? Where was the scaled wonder that she had first seen in the sun, the one she had gifted a perfect blossom to? Or the fierce, unwilling guardian? He looked... like a prisoner. Must and decay filled her nose, followed by an aftersmell, the tang of blood, blood she knew had to have originated from the wasted male before her. Yes, this was different. This wasn't the adventure it had begun as; this was personal. This was one of the times she had spoken to Brioso about, when you had to protect those you cared for. Because she cared about Chimalsi and about sweet-hearted Laurelin too, and that was what had brought her back into the baking heat of the cave. Not adventure. Not curiousity,

Her thigh muscle set the tempo as she plunged into the area after Laurelin, holding her head high and her stance firm. This was more than an adventure, and it was not going to be easy. She understood that now, and it caused her to tap the rocky ground in challenge, "Whoever... whatever you are... you can't have him! You hear me? You can't have him!"  

[Lady_Ourania]

It was a waking nightmare he couldn't shake, everything gone so wrong, so quickly that he couldn't begin to separate the imagined dread from the kind that reached past his teeth to rip his tongue out. He was left to gibber internally, a trip of thoughts that caught on the trap strings fatigue had pulled taut, running around the gaping chasm where his love had stolen his secret away. Why was she here? In the one place he had told her not to be, occupying the same space as the single being in existence who could possibly kindle a sense of dislike toward her. Their presence, she and the thief's both, and he was being overwritten, beloved calmly shepherding his panic away from the surface, trying to force the murderer upward. Didn't the fact that they were here together prove that they had been scheming against him all along? Everything fell into place, the deceit stacking up, tottering high.

But Laurelin's voice made the hesitant feelings flock back, awareness parading near when she questioned him, her tone half-mourning, as if he fulfilled the dead role and it would be her task to strip his bones of flesh. The initial outburst caused him to shy away, amazed at the lithe mare's temper, but he felt beloved soar forward in response, and realized that it was not his shameless apathy being addressed. A sharp reply blossomed barbs in his sockets, and he squeezed his eyes shut against the chocolate filly's uncertainly aimed tirade. "No..." He shook his head and took a step back, balanced between the duo's righteous heat and the chilling deluge of beloved's loathing. "You can't... you must-" The words clashed in the air, tussling as he engaged in his own struggle, gritting his teeth against the insistence of his other half.

If he told them to run, would they? Could he even voice it when the idea ran so opposed to his loved one's wishes? He'd spared the naive mare once already, so there was no telling if he could repeat the gesture on her behalf. And Laurelin... she'd promised not to interfere. The stallion had made her, had all but bullied her into it. In the end, it seemed beloved had predicted a future lie. Another bloodthirsty injection roiled through him, his love's impatience growing, trying to usurp him completely and leave his mind stranded in the midst of a red haze. He exhaled raggedly and maintained the wrecked form by clamping down on the edges, long neck curving down while dust rose to coat his dirty muzzle.

He couldn't hurt her. Could not harm either of them, even if they'd squandered their chances, rubbed them like salt into his wounds. They were there to confront her, to tear her down, she accused angrily. Didn't he see how they spoke to him out of necessity? They were trying to clear the guard, lure him away and leave her open and alone. He needed to protect all that he had labored over, all that he adored. The she-fiend's declaration had been a sham. They barely knew one another, whereas he'd served her faithfully for years. His ears drew back as he wearily listened, stance widening with involuntary defensiveness. Chimalsi didn't know who he was preparing to attack. He was merely aware that he could not remain neutral for long.  

[Tsunake]

She couldn't have him... Brave Alyssum's words struck a chord with Laurelin, and she swung her head to stare at the bruised and broken piece of stallion before them. Her body was still swelled with anger, her neck arched and it likely would have looked haughty on any other mare. But his words were making her falter some, bringing her back to that night that they'd stood together, tails twined and a promise exchanged. She would never seek out the stallion's mysterious lover--but only because she'd seen the fear in his eyes when he confided that he was afraid his darling would hurt her. A swallow gripped her throat for a moment, her nostrils flaring before she lowered her head.

"...I have broken the promise I gave you, and I am sorry." She began softly, twisting her face away from him with shame. "...But I can't... I can't let you be hurt like this, Chimalsi. Even now, she's manipulating you, using you as a tool to try and drive us away." She was no fool to the way his ears has pinned, the aggressive stance that gripped his strong legs. Her tail twisted painfully at the thought, and Laurelin had to still to catch her breath for a moment.

"If you want to hurt me... that's one thing." And she lifted her head at that, unafraid and ready to take whatever punishment he dealt to her. "But otherwise... She is not making you happy. She is hurting you." The realization threatened to choke her, but she fought down her feelings to keep calm, letting her gaze quickly search the stallion's face. "...Are you happy, Chimalsi?" But she thought she knew the answer, prayed she did.

"If you were meant to remain with your element... you would not have been granted a heart, a mind, a strong body to carry you where she cannot go. I didn't... realize this until I met you, and I would have spent my life with the trees. But we were made to experience life! ...And I know, I know I have not known you for very long," Laurelin hesitated, taking a deep breath, "...But I want to help you. I want to show you this freedom, Chimalsi, and help you live your life...because I love you."  

[Quicksilver the Archangel]

Alyssum looked between the two Soquili before her, and she wondered how best she could help. She didn't dare approach Chimalsi, not yet, but she wasn't sure if her words would matter much when Laurelin's more cultured voice already filled the air.

The change in the stallion's stance made her nostrils flare, and she immediatly worked on positioning herself between the two golden Soquili. She would not have Laurelin hurt, not when she was begging, pleading from the bottom of her obviously warm heart for the Golden One just to LISTEN. No matter the cost to herself, she would protect this being of the forests, this gentle wanderer. Somehow, the other mare had to get through to the scaled being before them, help him realize how poor he had become, how dire the situation was to outside eyes.

Luckily, neither seemed to be paying much attention as her small steps led her towards her goal, though she froze at the tree Soquili's final comment. Love. It had not crossed her mind that the emotion motivated Laurelin, but it made sense, and from the rest of the conversation... it seemed as though Chimalsi loved her in turn. Alyssum's nostrils flared again, her purple eyes hardening with further determination. This had to stop. Her own parents had been committed, loving, and that close connection had rarely been recreated by another pair.

She tossed her head, sending her cream mane flying to the side as she faced Chimalsi, "Please... listen to her, Golden One. We're only trying to help you!"  

[Lady_Ourania]

There were cracks everywhere, flowering from the trephining hole where love confessions went. Perhaps he was foolish, a fissure down his vertebrae spoke up; easily led astray, remarked a rift that ached along his ribcage. But even as he began to submit, the kirin saw the attention shift, Laurelin recalling him, a banner of remorse all but fluttering from the post on her nose. He could take out her eye, one swift movement and it would film over, ooze clear. Or the pulse in her throat, the one he had become acquainted with from his sneaking episode, and let sweet life pour out over his horn, his face, his howling mouth. The worst part was that she could see it, the roiling violence he was trying and failing to subdue. It was ugly, so plain and ugly.

"She wants me to kill you." The words trembled out, unsteady and unwise. It wasn't his and it wasn't hurt; it was her and it was death. Happiness again, rearing up like the figurehead on a sinking vessel, and he didn't want to answer, because it would bring everything crashing down, because they knew on some level, the sunny mare and Chimalsi and his contemptuous keeper. He had denied her nothing, nothing before meeting this mare. One kind word from her and he was suddenly full of questions, resistance and uncertainty. A touch and the doubts were posed against years of praise. Wrong wrong wrong, she said. Die die die, she said.

Mind, heart - he couldn't be sure he had those anymore, if they were even his to gamble. And his body was unwanted, on the verge of terrible things. Beloved's influence squirmed through him in fiery surges, but Laurelin's earnest stare held him still. He was caught between two idols he worshipped, twin goddesses who had equal claim to his soul. And one of them loved him. Even after his blasphemies, the treacherous heart that he couldn't sense around the pounding agony in his head. Beloved shone bright with hate, reached through him to mold him into what he had been. And from the other side, there was only that compassion, tied in so deep that it cut her when she pulled him back.

Chimalsi searched her face, his dull eyes gathering light to their cause when they were suddenly separated, the little filly stepping up like a knight before an endangered damsel, allaying the dragon. He turned away, scar-etched neck stretching as he took in beloved's glittering minarets, the sharp angles and odd symmetry. He would do as he was told, and by the end of it, she would have forgiven him. They could go back to how it had been. She would be a greater companion to him, a better lover, constant, adoring. If he could only pledge himself to do away with both of them, it would be as though none of it had ever happened. What more could he ask for?

He glanced at Laurelin and her guard from the corner of his vision, not yet moving his head. Was he happy? Tired, so tired, bloody and confused, suffering from countless indignities. There were new, unexplored desires and there was the promise of change in a familiar climate. And it was bitter to finally have a vote, imaginary or otherwise, and not know where to cast it. "What has your... your freedom given you?" He rasped, beloved half-feeding the thoughts into him, the stallion letting her, desperate for an answer. "What has your love done, but hurt you?" And help had only bruised them all.  

[Tsunake]

For a moment, she found herself confused as Chimalsi's image shifted and blurred, seemingly swallowed by shadow until she realized the young mare had put herself between them. It was a thought that made her heart squeeze; he wouldn't hurt her, would he? And yet Alyssum obviously was concerned... Her ears flicked rapidly back and forth at his words, almost bewildered by the threat even as she tilted her head.

"Do you want to kill me?" The mare asked quietly as though merely observing this strange scene without playing a vital part in it. But the glittering, golden beast had turned as though unable to face them, and she found herself wavering for a heartbeat. A quick breath was enough to revitalize her strength, and she steeled herself like an oak caught in the rampagings of a storm, digging in her roots to weather out the questions unexpectedly thrown her way.

A million answers immediately sprang to mind, but she fought them down as she sought one that would soothe. But this place... it was sapping his strength even now, she could see it. The slick, damp walls felt like they were crushing everything she had to offer to Chimalsi, and after a moment, she stepped forward to be at Alyssum's side rather than using her as a shield. "...My freedom has given me life, and the ability to choose how I want to live. There are no shackles, and I never have to feel as though...I deserve... abuse." Her eyes flickered unhappily over his face for a moment, and then, slowly, she allowed her neck to crane out.

"And my love," Came the whisper, hesitant, but not about to falter as her soft nose touched to his. "...has brought me you. I will endure any hurt with that knowledge. ...Will you come outside with me, and let me show you?" She had shifted so her body could gently lean against his side, glancing to Alyssum quickly. Would the other mare help her lead the stallion out of this place?  

[Quicksilver the Archangel]

She wants me to kill you...

Words that were not directed to her but to Laurelin, but words that made brown mare thankful that she stood between these two beings of very different types of gold. Yet, even as she acted as a physical barrier, she knew that she couldn't stay there. Whatever was happening between the other two Soquili in this place made it necessary for them to be together. Chimalsi turned away after she took up her guard position, and almost as soon as eye contact was lost, Laurelin moved forward to see the scaled stallion again.

Her purple eyes locked onto the tree-adorned mare, softening as she listened to the explanation to the questions Chimalsi had asked. She recognized that tone, and her ear curved to catch more. Genuine care and love existed there, an emotion that (despite his resistance, despite his harsh words) Alyssum truly believed the stallion shared. If someone was telling him to kill and he resisted... didn't that mean he cared? And he had released her once before, faking an attack that had only knocked her towards the path of escape. He was fighting, and if only she knew how she'd join in, attacking whatever enemy it was that tore him away from what (in her eyes) was an obvious chance at happiness.

When blue eyes turned to her in look of support, Alyssum responded in the only way she knew how. She stepped around Laurelin to nudge at Chimalsi's flanks. The childish, somewhat affectionate action came from her foal days, the manner in which she had invited her siblings to play or edged them towards a new direction, and she used it now out of habit, in hopes that it would be as effective as it had been in her youth. "Golden One... Chimalsi. If you'll go outside... I think you'll find new treasures. Maybe ones even better than these. You can always come back if you don't like it. ... please?"

Words had never been her strong suit, as simple as her thoughts were, and she hesitated to add in the rest at first. Some of this... had nothing to do with her. But, direct as ever, she gave her final comment, "Laurelin loves you enough to come down here, in the dark, to save you. Doesn't that count for something as opposed to... to whoever wants to hurt her?"  

[Lady_Ourania]

Did he desire death? If he could have blood on the ground, on his conscience, bright red murder-spots spattered across his scales to signify a virulent nature-- "No." He answered instantly, the mere idea making his insides recoil, face heating with abhorrence. Then he hesitated, beloved's metallic contact tightening against the juncture of shoulder and neck, and revised it while he turned to look at her. "I don't know." She was there, intrinsic to thought, and he wasn't sure who Chimalsi was, what he wanted, if there was enough that belonged to him for it to matter. The voices were starting to meld to his ear, twining until they were hard to pick apart, and if his resolve was winning out, he was afraid to move and test it. But they were both listening, conveniently interested in what the groomed she-tree had to say. When she mentioned abuse, he found that they were still split at the topmost canopy of his consciousness. Their feelings were disparate, cultivating raw shame in him, and a sense of violation in his lover. Personal events were out in the open, scattered like the fragments of a seashell, things that this stranger had no business knowing. She said love like it was a catchphrase, like it was something sung instead of meant. And he was little better than a hanger-on, a hopeful, panicked fraud.

Their noses touched, and the noise level dropped, the stallion prying his eyes open to gaze into hers. Outside. She wanted to take him away, to a location where he couldn't aid Beloved. And the young one, the thief, was at his flanks, pressing, insistent. Laurelin had come to save him, had turned her birth-tree, her sunright upside-down to venture into the catacombs of his dark earth. He shuddered and leaned into her, remembering his last attempts to escape, the feebleness that infused him when he even tried to stand. The punishment, the refusal, his balking now, it added up to nothing. Her body smelled of cool wind and fresh life and he was contaminating her with his grime.

"I can't." Chimalsi's voice broke, too many words floating around, sticking needles of crisscrossed meaning through his brain. An armored foreleg buckled suddenly beneath him, landing the kirin in the dirt, the other leg spread out before him at a painful angle. He was half-mummified by shadow, saved from the rest by sickly, rust-green lights. He couldn't. His world was falling apart in hunks, and it was his fault, because he couldn't.

There was so much at stake, but the odds were hidden from him. His body hurt, his indecision infuriating, grabbing at loose ends and tugging desperately. He'd been a finder of lost things once. He'd been a brother, a son, a creature of ties and relations that were heaved and shipwrecked on a coast he couldn't set foot on. Where had they gone? Alone, solitary, they'd left him. But Beloved had filled the emptiness, made him exist again. She animated his form and orchestrated its actions, giving him a mockery of his old duties, a purpose that made her beautiful, that made him useful. She had called him from the brink of desolation, crafted him anew.

But it was Laurelin who had brought him back to life. Her love, her shy slyness, the way she opened him up and poured things in where he hadn't realized they were missing. He puffed air through his nostrils, head sunk down, and felt a solid coolness pushing into his windpipe. The necklace, the emblem of his servitude, the piece of beloved that he carried with him always, everywhere. It was choking, heavy and preventative. If he could slip it off, then maybe, maybe, that would be a first step. He weakly dragged it, lipping at the sun wheel's gold, nudging it away, torn as his love shrieked. If he could just work his head out of the loop of possessive beads...  

[Tsunake]

She barely even had time to feel grateful for the chocolate mare's continued support when Chimalsi unexpectedly crumpled to the dank stone, and she was sure she cried out with horror. She cut herself off sharply when her mind caught up to what had happened, and the golden mare made to nose the scaled stallion fervently as though prying for signs of life.

"A-Alyssum, please, I think if we can get ourselves underneath him and stand..." It would be difficult, practically impossible at first, but with the pair of them, perhaps they could support his weight and slowly ease him outside. Distracted, she tried to lip comfortingly at his mane for a moment, frowning at the sound of metal scraping against stone. What was he doing...? But then she saw the necklace around his neck, the way he was pushing at it with his nose as though trying to remove it from his person.

Tentatively, Laurelin let her teeth close around the thickest beaded chain and gently, but firmly tugged it free. It was tricky with his horns, but she allowed it to drop before going back for the smaller. Soon, that too, was laid in front of Chimalsi's golden hooves, and though her ears flattened at the sight of her poor, golden love... Well, they couldn't stay here.

"Chimalsi, please, you've got to try and stand..." But she was already glancing hurriedly for Alyssum once more, pressing her flank against his. "On the count of three, we'll push against him and try to get him up. One... two... three--" She grit her teeth and pressed hard, legs straining to help her lift the male. This was the hard part, had to be, and then, and then they could try to move him into the open air...

The necklaces lay, forgotten, on the stone.  

[Quicksilver the Archangel]

For a moment, Alyssum felt sure that she and Laurelin were winning. As much as it pained her to watch Chimalsi's expression, to hear the desperate tone of his words, the fact that he was looking at them again, nuzzling with the tree-mare and holding a conversation were good signs. Hope tinted her firm determination. Maybe it would be over soon, all of this pain and thick emotion that smothered them all.

However, this slip of hope vanished soon after. Her violet eyes widened as the scaled stallion slowly fell to the ground, her hooves moving nervously as she moved to avoid him. If he crushed her or caught her with his horn, she could be of no further help. The other mare would be all alone against the enemy, and she couldn't let that happen. From her safe distance, she observed both Laurelin's horror-filled scream and the Golden One's attempts to be freed of the dead metal that captured his throat. What could she do now?

Alyssum took orders sent her way gratefully. She needed to fulfill Laurelin's instructions to help Chimalsi rise, mimicking the Great Lady's actions while taking her a position at the opposite scaled flank. If her strength could help, she would give it, and honestly... this felt better than fancy words that didn't suit her. Now she could act instead of simply watching, and she chuffed warm breath in an effort to soothe the collapsed stallion. The only thing that mattered was the counting.

One.

Two.

Three.

She dug her dark hooves into the earth and pushed as hard as she could, her straining muscles nothing in her mind if it meant that Chimalsi could be free of whatever bound him here. Alyssum gave a determined growl, repeating her earlier resolve to whatever entity haunted this place, "You... can't have him!"  

[Lady_Ourania]

The concerned prodding and words hardly registered, too preoccupied with the assignment he'd set himself. Get it off, fling it down, march out and breathe. If only he would stop forgetting the last part, every gulp a fight to draw in air. Warmth on his neck, mistaken for his own blood as beloved constricted around his throat, and he might have gone on thinking that if a lung-born breeze hadn't stirred his cropped mane. He went still, imagining that the teeth were obsidian-sharp, already inlaid with crusted garnet, about to bite down and maim him. But they were tugging on the clasp instead, and he redoubled his efforts, ducking his chin and helping the swimming golden creature in front of him. Tangled, the stallion dimly wondered if he was having some out of body experience, his past self half-dragging him through the transition. And then they were gone, the weight absent from his neck, beloved's cold implements coiled like a snake before him. His things, his lovely, shackling items. Without them, she could still scream at him, try to tear him down below where he'd already fallen, hundreds upon hundreds of ways to injure cramming his mind.

But then Laurelin's voice was there, chipping through miles of fuzzy distance to find him again. He felt compressed, his legs instinctively snapping down onto the ground and pushing up as well. Once at a stand, the kirin swayed dangerously, vertigo making him want to roll, rip open his hide on the glinting grandeur that layered the floors. But he held his position, panting, eyes wide and showing the wakefulness-worn whites. He could walk, but with travel limited to the space between the brackets of their bodies, he ran into stationary objects less. The tunnels weren't big enough to pass through abreast as they were, so they needed to take a circuitous route, one that he muttered out in a feverish tongue, unaware that he was making little sense. All along, he heard beloved, alternately begging and hating, and some of her words hooked across his tongue, acidic sentiment, biting fears about being left alone. It was all garbled, his voice changing to accommodate first him then her, and he couldn't see anything in the dark halls. Against closed eyelids, the edges of him ceased to exist, and it might have been more, if not for his escort. They marked the places where he needed to maintain solidity, where he could not flee. If he dissolved, it would just be two mares running with their sides pasted to shadows.

The further they made it away, the less she cut across his vocals. Left with his individual, uncompromising thoughts, the male was mute. There were still the echoes, but they were tattered, draining like a pus-filled sore. He would come back, he was not strong enough to leave. All he would find was more misunderstanding, more carelessness. He would come back, back to her, bring her pretty things and grovel to make up for it. He would see she was right, he was wrong. The b***h would disappoint him. They would be together and he would feel a fool. Wouldn't he?

When they sailed through the last doorway, out into the presence of the moon, its pale countenance made him cry out. The brightness stabbed into him, made him real, unfurled bright skin and scales over the throbbing exposure of muscled bones. The revelation of being brought him to his knees again, a low, moaning note snared in his chest while he buried his face in the earth.