Her reply was instantaneous, a blurt of a lie that cut into Cera's heart. A whispering breath left his lungs to linger in his mouth, useless - like him. Clearly it had to be something wrong with him, there was nothing left to drive her away! Midas was gone, Ryuu was gone, Hototo was fucking dead. Cera was all that was left, there was no way it couldn't be him. Clenching his jaw, Cera stared down at the sand that shifted warily between his hooves, dancing over the keratin on the chilled wind. She couldn't even tell him why. What had he done? He had failed so much more than he had anticipated, and it was like his heart was happily shredding itself inside his chest, burning away into ash beneath the heat of his sister's lies and evasions.

And she backed further away from him, turning away, her words stuttering and frantic. Cera's molars ground together in anxious frustration, eyes gleaming emerald in the moonlight that struck across their glassy surfaces. Deadened, removed. If she was leaving him, then he had nothing. Nobody to turn to, nobody to love, and certainly nobody to love him. They had all left him, run as far and fast from him as their bodies could carry them. No matter how Cera tried, it was never good enough. He loved them with the intensity of the sun he carried around inside his chest, but all it was good for was burning himself irreparably on the inside. And now he had nothing left to give but her, and she was willingly turning away.

Running.

But Cera had watched in agony as too many of his beloved family members had done the same. He'd tried to reason with them, call them back to his side. He'd never thought of simply denying their escape, refusing them their freedom. But he did in that moment, watching her spin away from him. And something tender and broken inside reached its last filament, and he surged forward to meet her, wings tucked tight and hooves kicking furiously at the sand

They had always joked about his eternally coltish demeanor, his long thin legs and aerial-favored body. But it only aided him as he chased his sister down, eating up the ground on long strides as he sought to overcome her. The boy pursued her, her shadowed frame and winking gold a promise of everything he'd lose should she evade him this time (enough to break him this time, to destroy him, to leave him as dust and ash and memory) reaching to shove his shoulder mercilessly into her flank. Bruises would heal, but his heart never would if she left him. It may hurt her physically, but the mere action of her turning to run from him had already shown itself to hurt far worse.

He'd lost too much. He wouldn't let her leave. He wouldn't. If you love them let them go, the saying went. But Cera would cling to her, cage her, break her down, anything to keep her by his side a moment longer. Desperate in his loss, brutal in his grief. It was better to ask forgiveness than permission, he told himself. Wasn't that another saying? "Stop!" he bellowed, demanding she stay, explain at the very least. Should she not - Cera didn't doubt it, their stubborn streaks ran far too wide in cruel duplicates - Cera lunged for her mane, gripping tight near the base to keep her still, flinging his neck over the bridge of her wing so she could not lift it in proper flight. Should that not prove to be enough he lifted his own, flashing pale in the moonlight, innocent colors in comparison to the horrific display he was enacting on his sister, and brought them down upon her body.

Left over her wing, the one beneath his neck, and the right curled round her right flank and hindquarters. Only then did he tentatively remove his teeth, tears thick on his face. "I'm sorry," he whispered. His transgressions were too great in his own mind, still believing her to be leaving him. but perhaps she could still forgive him. "Please, please just tell me," was begged on a sob, air rushing out against her nape as he dropped his cheek to her shoulder and cried. Why was he cursed?