A low, pained hiss drew through the forest, scattering a few smaller, easier to startle fauna. It grew quiet, then minutes later came again, animalistic, scared. This went on for an hour, at least, and soon the entire area was as void of life as the glowing blue eyes masked behind unkempt hair.
It had been a day like any other, really. Tromping through the underbrush, Sciore got caught on a few stray bushes and branches here and there. He always did, he was used to it. But this was different. Something had snapped and swung at him, something purposefully set there, and now he was trapped. Struggling had only wound his noose tighter around the object and it was too well attached to the trunk of the closest tree to simply carry it along with him.
Most rational thought had gone out the window now and though his growling whines had stopped, he was now tossing his head uselessly again, fighting against the bonds. Why was this happening? It was just like his life, captured and bound over and over again. This was just like being a slave.
"Sci…ore…?"
The voice came as a surprise, but it effectively stopped his struggling. Looking up as best he could, he saw exactly who he had been expecting. Apocalypse. The monster. The source of all his lifelong suffering. The ability to think straight slowly seeped back into him, because this guy… this guy deserved so much conscious hatred. The Usdia let out an angry growl.
"Ahahaha, you recognize me. So it is you! You've gotten big, haven't you?" Apocalypse looked amused, he always did at other's expenses, a sharp smirk stretching his face. "What are you doing there, anyway?" The larger stallion leaned forward, peering into the brush.
Earlier in the day he had awoken to find Kathreftis gone. He didn't much mind, he knew she would return soon. But he was easily bored and just couldn't keep waiting there doing nothing. So, he had wandered off, as well. Little did he know he would come across such perfect entertainment as this. And while he didn't really care what the smaller male was doing, persay, he was interested to figure out why he looked so hilariously vulnerable.
"Go. Away." Was the first response he got. And the only one for a while, too.
"Aw, c'mon now. Is that any way to treat an old friend?" Oh yes, this was fun.
"You're no friend of mine, you snake!" Sciore spat, struggling against the binds of the strange contraption. The anger that welled in his stomach allotted him enough strength to pull away some, but not to free himself completely.
"I'm hurt." It was mocking. "Weren't we so close before?" Kathreftis had not been his first traveling companion, although he could say she was the only one he gave two shits about. No, this little thing had been one of the others, when he was only a foal. How easy he had been to manipulate, so simple and willing. Without a mother, baby Sciore had so quickly sought new love and care that Apocalypse found he barely had to lift a hoof to get what he wanted. All he had to do was feign affection.
"You're disgusting!" It was this stallion's fault. The gargoyle had led a life full of emptiness because of this very stallion. "Leave me alone, I don't want to see your face!" Sciore never used so many words with anyone else. They were resolute and cold. And if nothing else a sign that he could speak. Others who had met him before were probably unaware of that fact. He didn't hold conversations for fun, not anymore, and only tended to speak when absolutely necessary.
"Leave you alone? But don't you need some help?" By now Apocalypse had discerned the situation. The Usdia was caught in some sort of trap, a rather sophisticated one, but not one he had ever seen created by human hands. "Or would you rather stay there until you die?"
"Die." The word seeped from his mouth with venom. It was left hanging in the air as to whether he meant he would rather die or whether was condemning Apocalypse. Probably a bit of both.
"Really? Wow, wooow, ahahaha. It was really that bad, I don't believe it. Please, ahaha, continue to blame me for your own idiocy, it's completely endearing!"
Something in Sciore snapped then. How dare he. How dare this monstrous stallion that could so hardly be called a horse speak these words to him. He had been willing to do anything. The love of his new 'father' had sustained him in the first weeks after his mother's death. The poor Usida… he truly thought he had found a new home with this male. How could anyone with a pure unicorn's horn on his head be so vile and cruel.
Hissing, Sciore pulled against the restraints, gaining enough new ground that he could snap at the stallion's leg with his overgrown fangs. Apocalypse pulled back, looking surprised, but not daunted. The gargoyle snapped a few more times, still tugging at the noose which constantly held him back.
Apocalypse had taken care of him, had nursed him back to health and kept him warm. When those first weeks of happiness were up, the pink male wanted something in return, which Sciore had been more than willing to give. Something from a human encampment, full of men with guns and knives and anger. He didn't seem to mind, though, his thoughts were so fixated on getting what his 'father' wanted. He had been able to use his small stature to his advantage for a while, he was still a foal, after all, and an Usdia one at that. But some of the captured horses had seen him and kicked up a fuss. He was caught. And Apocalypse never even tried to save him. Casualties were to be expected in the war against the two-leggers.
"Haven't you done enough…?" Sciore had remained trapped by those humans, not physically abused or anything of the sort, but emotionally abandoned. From them, he never received any love or attention, he was barely brushed by even a finger whenever he was fed or moved to be tied to a new post. A foal starved almost his entire life of affection. Of course he would grow up disturbed. "Leave me alone as you did before!"
There it was. Apocalypse's smirk grew even wider. So this was all about being left, he knew it was.
"You know I'm not your dad, kid." His voice was dull, purposefully bored. "I didn't force you to go off on your own, you were all too eager. You shouldn't just assume that someone cares about you. I sure didn't."
For a moment, Sciore stopped strugging. Yes, he had known this. He had known Apocalypse never truly loved him at all. Still, hearing it directly from the stallion in question was… hard. The affirmation of his years of loneliness. The death of any hope he had left. Hate. He had to feel it to keep his other emotions from rubbing him raw. So he did. He hated. And he looked at his once loved 'father' with so much disgust that almost anyone else would have cowered.
Roaring, the Usdia pulled again until he could make another attempt at biting. The camp was gone now, burned to the ground, but that didn't matter. All that mattered were the memories and the anger. Apocalypse reared up to avoid the attack.
"If you're so eager to die, then die!" Powerful hooves came flying back towards the earth, aimed at Sciore's head. He was able to move out of the way, though barely, and retaliated with flying limbs. He really didn't know how to fight. This would not end well, untrained and tied down. Apocalypse stomped a few more times.
"Stop flailing, it's ridiculous." The larger stallion kicked, catching one of Sciore's legs painfully. The Usida let out a howl, recoiling into himself. "Until you can stand on your own hooves, you can't blame anyone else for your problems."
Lowering his head, the part-unicorn planned on using the horn he had inherited. Giving one last twisted grin, he shot forward, poised to pierce flesh.
