Towards the dim lights that glow like fox fire around the cave, she runs. Rathunax clings to her mane, still learning to fly, and his emotions are haywire as they connect with hers so intimately. Nayati is a mess of baubles, glass and wood clinking in a discordant rhythm as she runs. There is nothing physical to run from, merely her own memories and fears. Everywhere around her there are horns. Long-healed though it may be, her side burns like acid, a wicked reminder of the jagged scar that takes up nearly the entirety of her side. Wings rustle threateningly, sweeping out at her and sending her skittering when she least expects it. Panic is clawing at her chest like a demented wildcat, howling and hissing and spitting, terrified and cornered. Rathunax is frantic, his cute sounds transferring into childish versions of threats that will in time become terrifying.
Pristine white hooves click against the stones below them like rapid blasts of gunfire, urging her even further on, faster and faster, terrified by the sounds that echo from her own movements. Hardly caring if she brushes past others, for once not minding the skin contact that normally makes her wither inside, wide red eyes stare at the lights ahead of her as if they're a beacon of hope. Nostrils are flaring pink and red, the whites of her eyes large and plainly visible, tiny velveteen ears tucked into the wild mess of her endless locks. She stumbles, nearly sending Rathunax flying from her mane, and shrieks in a painfully young fashion as the skin of her shins tears and bleeds freely. Her knees were already scarred...maybe it was okay to further destroy what little beauty she may have. Rocking crazily to her hooves she half-limps, half-runs through the last stretch of caverns. A blood trail is left behind her, flecking into her snowy locks and staining her forelegs until it seems she has two perfect crimson stockings.
Tiny frame lurches into the cavern where Rathunax had hatched, where she had met Evangeline and her companion. It has been a comforting place for her ever since she'd suffered her first panic attack in these very halls, had first seen Rathunax's eyes staring up at her from a mess of shell fragments. Stumbling about, whimpering and sobbing, she almost misses the figure similarly collapsed in the corner. In fact, the smell is what touches her first. It's a scent she knows, and flashes of memories tug at her head, blinking like little fireflies of recollection in her eyes. A thorned bush, a sinister night, the familiar feeling of despair that never failed to strike her prostate to the ground. A soft voice, and kind gold eyes, gentle touches and shared warmth. A guiding light, a similarly broken soul, the only one who had ever understood Nayati, even in her darkest moments.
Resplendence.
Since her home had fallen, Nayati hadn't been able to find her. She'd bitterly accepted that like all the others, Resplendence would not be returning. Nayati was a cursed object, driving all others away from her, never to be seen again. Why should this time be any different? In her terror, knowing with each second she wastes the panic attack is closer and closer to consuming her, she decides in an instant not to question it. Crawling from the depths of her lungs comes a singular word, tears tracking down her cheeks as she stumbles and hurries towards the other long-haired fae, lyric cracking and shaking as she practically cries it out for everyone to hear.
"Mommy!"
Rathunax gives a throaty trill, sounding distressed as Nayati staggers towards the pink and white laced maiden. She collapses all at once, as if every part of her body seized up and refused to move any longer. She jerks and drags herself pitifully to curl up as close as she can to Resplendence, but she can't quite manage as her panic attack takes hold. Clutching onto whatever she can, her breathing switches from hyperventilating to completely still, holding it deep in her chest as she scrabbles at the earth in terror she can't fight off alone. Rathunax repeatedly cries out, crawling along her tresses, growing more and more agitated as he watches his bonded suffer both mentally and physically. Large fire-and-brimstone eyes turn to Resplendence, draconic and slitted, desperate for some sort of aid. He doesn't know what to do, and his bonded is lost to him.
In his mind, he can hear her screams.
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