Why?

[Amari]

It was a lot to take in...

Scarlet, formally Amari Ciel L'Olfsden, was an Ar'Tuel. That much she knew, but now... now she had so much more knowledge it was near overwhelming. Ar'Tuel... an ancient race born from the flow of mana itself. With a sole purpose to spread life throughout the lands, that much, she already knew - but now - now she had so much more knowledge. Amari was an elder, one of the ruling beings. Her job was to teach and guide the newborns, and to keep them away from the sway of corruption.

Oh how times had changed.

Eons passed, countless lifetimes of wandering Althanas to end up the broken and corrupted soul she was now.

Scarlet.

Scarlet wished she had the knowledge of her past way back when she first encountered Ulroke, there would have been a vast shift in the dynamic of their relationship, still... better late than never, now she had the knowledge of an ancient race, and its language thanks to Madisons strange new Archivist abilities. That knowledge was power.

She grinned, not even minding the long walk back toward Knifes Edge. The bitter cold barely bothered her, it nipped at her skin but she didn't feel it in her bones and remained largely unaffected, despite the lack of clothing she wore, having nothing more than a flowing Crimson dress on.

Her boots crunched in the freshly falling snow, an ever evident reminder that Salvar was still cursed, Scarlet sighed, her heated breath visible. She could see the outskirts of the city dotted along the horizon, and something else...

Scarlet paused, furrowing her brows. It looked like a child, waist deep in the snow. "Well, well, well." She said to herself as she approached the small figure from behind. "Are you lost, little child?" Her question was foreboding, her tone uncaring.

[FennWenn]

Mmm, snow…

With a sigh of contentment, Fenn reached forward and scooped another fistful of fallen flurries into his hand. They were summarily dumped onto the slowly-growing mound that had swallowed up his legs. By now, he was nearly half-buried in the stuff, and he figured he would sit here until he completely covered himself. The little Fae nearly forgot how much he liked it here. Corone didn’t snow so frequently, nor so deeply.

Fenn seemed to have a love-hate relationship with Salvar. On one hand, each trek into these lands usually lead to terrible things happening to him. Kidnapping, almost-death at the hands of a dragon, accidental murder, and the Sway were all previous hazards. On the other hand, boundless snow. Feeling entirely in his element made up for everything else. Probably.

Technically, he was supposed to be on his way north of the Scavian mountains, not lazing about in blankets of blissful ice-fluff. Fenn had an old not-friend he was going to have to visit. There were questions to be answered.

But, fuck that for the moment.

His questions weren’t life-or-death pressing (right now), and Daugi needed a few hour’s break. Snow was great, but slogging one’s way through mounds of it wore down an animal more accustomed to prairies. The great wolf rest peacefully in a snowdrift a few paces away. Her dark fur made good contrast against the white.

“Are you lost, little child?" called a woman's voice behind him. Daugi glanced up at the stranger, her muzzle twisting into a snarl. Lost? Fenn was never lost. With a snort, he glanced over his shoulder to greet-

A red-haired woman in a red dress, with eyes of similar hue.

Amari?

Fenn’s mouth opened and closed like a fish. A rather surprised fish.

It had been a very long time since the two had met. Last it happened, they were in that one beach-mansion-place with Vince. Even so, she was unmistakable to him.

Fenn wasn’t certain how long it had been, but it had evidently been too long, with much to catch up on. Amari looked much sicker now than she had last time. He thought Vince had promised to make her better? Stark black cracks marred her skin, as if she were made of nothing more than crumbling porcelain, and the green and gold flecks had faded from her eyes. Now they were only red. She wore so little for a human out here! Wasn’t she cold?

Her voice was new too. Confidence mixed with indifference. Something about it didn't seem quite right, but it was Amari all the same.

Fenn popped out of his sculpted snow mound with an excited squeak. Without any other greeting, he wrapped his arms around his old in a tight, frigid hug. It looked like she really could use one. What exactly had happened to her?

[Amari]

It was unexpected to see the Fae. Last she had seen him, he left her with Vincent. Convinced the stubborn and awful man would 'help' her. When all he did was spout insults toward her before throwing her halfway across the world.The tiny fae's grip caused frost to form on Scarlet's body, but it had little to no effect on her. She was virtually immune to the cold weather.

Scarlet's calculating gaze lifted from the Fae who was nuzzling into her toward the dog he kept as a pet. It kept its distance from her, ears flat against its furry head. Good. It wouldn't be a bother. It'd serve a useful purpose later, but for now. She'd leave the beast be.

"It's been some time...Fenn..." Her hands crackled as an ominous red glow spurt forth from them they hovered over the child, ready to rip him to pieces. She stopped short. No... just doing away with him wasn't right. He would learn no lessons. Seth had been right in one thing, Scarlet relied on physical pain to quell her adversaries, there was so much more she could do. Fenn needed to learn what the world was like, he was far too innocent, too oblivious. Wrapped up in the whole 'good vs evil' thing. When neither such thing existed. She'd open his eyes, she'd show him what the world was truly like.

Her lips twisted into a small grin as the light disappeared from her hands, they gently landed on Fenn's head. She ran her fingers back and forth through his hair. "I've missed you Fenn. We have so, so much to discuss. Don't you think?" Her hand fell from his head and snaked up under his chin, lifting it so she could stare into his large, green eyes. They stared up at her with mild curiosity, relief and acceptance. He gave her a small nod. Amari's grin widened.

"Good. Good..." She purred as she let go of him. "There's a small abandoned house, not too far from here, let's go there. I can start a fire for us, of course -" She paused as she glanced over her shoulder at him. "For light. Not for warmth, I know how you dislike it." She held her arms out wide, "and as you can see, Fennick. The cold doesn't bother me."

[FennWenn]

It was nice to meet an old friend again. Amari didn’t seem to mind his enthusiasm, instead standing as steady as a statue as Fenn clung to her. He hadn’t had much good company besides Daugi lately. His friends were all either far away, busy, or both. Though he was used to wandering all on his lonesome, it did get lonely at times. He wondered how long it had been since he’d dipped in to visit anyone. His personal quests sometimes became all-consuming, and he forgot to keep track of time.

Amari tapped her chin thoughtfully as she looked down at him. “Why don’t we get a drink first, to get us relaxed, and then I can take you to the house?”

Drinks sounded good to him! Beaming in agreement, Fenn allowed his old friend to take him by the arm and lead him down the icy road toward town. Daugi, he noticed, trailed after them reluctantly, keeping a certain distance. She seemed uneasy around Amari. That struck him as odd.

Few words came from Amari as they walked. She seemed to be pondering something heavily. Perhaps she was thinking about all the things she had to tell him about since their last visit! Fenn certainly was going through all the adventures he would have to tell her about -- the dragon he tried to steal from, Jake, his quest for knowledge about other Frost Fae. They came to a somewhat rickety bar near the edge of the crumbling city, the edge of the Knife’s Edge. Daugi, stay, Fenn asked with a few short hand gestures. Her response was to bare her teeth in Amari’s direction, causing Fenn to sigh and the woman to chuckle lightly. Something weird had to be going on with Amari’s magic. Last time, Daugi had been delighted to be with her! A more jealous bit of Fenn’s heart was perfectly fine with this. Stay, he commanded firmly.

With a resentful glare, Daugi slunk down into a sitting position and watched the two enter the bar. The door creaked as Amari pushed it open. That was the loudest sound in the vicinity; at midday, it was pretty quiet. Aside from a gaggle of patrons chatting in the corner of the room, it was just them as the bartender, a gruff man who wiped at a dirty glass with an even dirtier rag.

Amari sauntered up to the counter, glancing behind as if asking him to follow. A hushed whisper was exchanged with the bartender as Fenn hoisted himself onto one of the tall stools.

The bartender bustled off to prepare drinks. More than just her appearance was off. He wanted very badly to know just what had gone wrong, and what he could do to make it better. Whatever Vince had tried obviously hadn’t worked, but that was okay; Fenn probably just needed to take matters into his own hands, like he sometimes did when he stumbled into other’s problems by mistake. Sure, those times often ended in a mess, but it was messy success!

WHAT HAPPEN TO YOU WHILE GONE? LOOK A BIT SICK. VINCE HELPFUL? he scrawled eagerly as two mugs were set before them.

“We can talk about that later,” she purred, pushing his drink closer to him. “Let’s drink and enjoy each other’s company. You do drink, right Fennik? Since, you’re not a child.”

Fenn nodded resolutely and grinned, pleased that she would say that.

“Good.” She took a swing of her drink, and he took a swig of his. It was a bit bitter, causing him to scrunch his face, but he wouldn’t complain.

As he drained his cup, Fenn spelled out excited bits and pieces of stories to his friend. He didn’t get much opportunity to just sit down and spill out his thoughts. MUCH HAS HAPPENED SINCE LAST MEET. THERE WAS DRAGON, AND SHE WAS SCARY, BUT I LIVED! AND THERE WAS SPOOKY HOUSE AND IT HAD A SPOOKY CREATURE BUT I DIDN’T SEE MUCH, PASSED OUT. DAUGI FOUGHT IT I THINK. LEARNED MORE ABOUT PEOPLE LIKE ME, NOT MUCH THOUGH. WANT KNOW MORE. AND I FOUND LOTS OF SHINIES. MAYBE SHOW YOU SOME LATER?

Amari nodded in unspoken amusement. He started to feel fuzzy in the head, as if cotton was being shoved through his ears and up into his brain.

His cup was mostly empty now. STRONG DRINK, he noted. His writing was looping oddly, somewhat out of his control.

“It’s good stuff, isn’t it?” She was smiling. It was an odd grin, a composed coyote waiting with bated breath. Fenn tilted his wobbly head at it. She was smiling, so she had to be happy, right? And if she was happy then everything was probably fine.

His head bobbed forward awkwardly, and he wasn’t sure if he meant to nod or not.

THe boundless energy he usually had felt... drained…

The little Fae laid down his head for a moment. It felt so heavy, and he just wanted to get his bearings back. Amari brushed a flick of hair out of his face patiently. Nothing felt quite right about this situation, but he was too out of it to put his finger on what had gone wrong. Trying to think too hard made him more tired. With his cheek pressing against the chipped wood of the counter, lightly frosting the planks over, Fenn dropped off into a dark sleep.

~ � ~ � ~ � ~

Fenn awoke with a dry taste in his mouth and a vague numbness in his limbs.

Grogginess yielded to the sudden realization of pain. His breath caught, and his eyes watered. It felt as if molten bracelets had been shackled to his wrists and ankles, a deep burning that made his skin itch and crawl. The soles of his feet burned too. Had someone poured lava over him? He shouldn't be this hot. His natural cold should have hissed away any heat pressed to his skin; this was wrong in so many uncountable ways.

No, no, lava was not his torment. Rusty iron cuffs had been callously clapped onto his arms and legs. Looking at them made him woozy. His skin around the cuffs was char-grey, fading out into an ugly pink. Beads of black blood dripped from cracks made by the burns. It was a few minutes before Fenn could stop staring at it in horror.

What? Why?

He seemed to be in some sort of cage. The room beyond the cage was familiar, if dusty and rundown, but he had trouble placing it. “Good morning, Fennik,” a cold, pleasant voice called out. “Did you sleep well?”

Fenn’s breath tightened in his throat. Amari?

[Amari]

The little Fae man child had been asleep for only a few hours but Scarlet had been oh so busy during that time. She carried his lightweight form to a place the both of them found very familiar. It was the perfect place. Not too far from Knife's Edge, and it was already equipped with the cage and iron shackles, things Scarlet had been very accustomed to.

The surrounding area was dim, the morning light streaking through cracks in the burnt out wood and windows, sunbeams hit the snow laden floor where the roof had caved in. Scarlet sat on a wooden chair, facing the cage. Scelera eyes watching as Fenn stirred. She hadn’t entirely figured out what she wanted to do with him yet. All she knew is that she felt like doing this. She wanted to see him struggle, just as he watched her struggle against Vincent, and did nothing to help. Cause and effect, little one.

A soundless groan fell from Fenns lips as his tiny blonde brows furrowed in concern. He hissed through clenched teeth as he tenderly touched the burnt skin where the iron had been chafing against. "What, no greeting back?" Scarlet asked, a bemused look on her face.

Fenn halted his movement, his eyes widening in both fear and realisation. Scarlet felt her heart still at the expression. Something about it… it made her actually feel something. Excitement. Thrill. Just how far could she push him? “Don’t worry. You’re safe here.” She said as she stood from her chair and approached the cage. “Nothing can get in… or out.” Fenn gave her a pleading look, shaking hands started scrawling on the ground with ice. Scarlet leaned over, feigning interest.

‘WHY DO THIS?’

Scarlet rubbed her chin, as though she were in thought. “Hmm…” She didn’t answer him, instead she straightened her back.


"Do you remember this place?" Scarlet asked as she lightly drew a finger across one of the iron bars. "It's so nostalgic..." She trailed off and stepped away from the cage, holding her arms out wide, the place was burnt out and the roof had caved in in some places. Where it had not snowed, dust lay heavy and thick against the floor. "This place, Fennik..." Scarlet dragged her foot across the wooden panel and kicked up a plume of dust, underneath lay scratch marks from a battle so long ago it was almost forgotten.

"Is the place where we met."

Coughing from the dust, the boystared at the floor in leaden disbelief a moment, his eyes widening as the words sank in. Fenn tugged against his chains. Shaking, curled hands couldn't quite form the gestures he wanted to speak. Still, his snarl spoke well enouh for him. Why? Why are you telling me this?

Scarlet reached into the cage, her clawed and blackened fingers gently grazed against the top of Fenn’s head, curling into his mop of sandy blonde hair. “Don’t you see Fennick? I am going to fix you.” She placed emphasis on the word, and it dripped from her lips in a venomous tone, almost ecstatic at the prospect of what was to come. Her heartless gaze and cruel, twisted grin meant none of those things were good. She tightened the hold on his head and went to coax him closer, almost pressing his face against the bars.

She stopped when the sound of a whimpering wolf echoed from the next room. She lifted her head and let go of Fenn, hands snaking back to her sides. Daugi… no doubt the closest thing Fenn had to a family. Wouldn’t it be fun to see what would happen...

The two were silent, which made the pained howls and whimpers all the more prominent.

Scarlet made a sound that was similar to a giggle, but it sounded off kilter. “Oh. Maybe I should fix that first…”

[FennWenn]

The revelation that they were in the bandit hideout where Fenn and her had first met was not a happy one to the boy. In the years since, the kitchen where they stood had been laid to waste. He had sparse, pleasant memories of the old Amari he had met then. Yet even those were tinged with fear -- though then, it hadn't been of her.

Iron, iron everywhere. Fenn constantly shifted how he sat in the cramped cage, trying to minimize his contact with anything, because everything burned him. He crossed his frail legs together in a way that kept his feet off the floor. Yet, it wasn't enough; leaning back meant leaning on the bars, gesturing too broadly meant brushing up against them, and wiping the tarry blood off his wrists meant touching his searing shackles more than he already was. Worse, the only way he could communicate was to write on the rusty cage floor, singing his fingertips. All the same, he almost would rather have the iron than Amari’s skin-crawling hands patting his hair. That familiar gesture stung more than anything else.

Everything about this situation had been designed to be as cruel as possible, and Fenn was at a gaping, wide-eyed loss as to why. What mistake had he made to deserve this?

Why?

She hadn't answered his question yet, leaving him grinding his teeth in fear and frustration.

Why?

All that heart-racing uncertainty solidified into a cold ball of anger in Fenn’s chest as the forlorn whining, whimpering carried through the air. He strained against the chains that restricted him, right up against the bars of the cage.

Daugi!

The direwolf’s unhappiness echoed clearly around the building. If Amari had bothered to lock him up so cruelly, then what might she have done to his friend? That though yanked at Fenn’s heartstrings just a little too hard, snapping him into full alertness. His pain be damned! The seething Fae whipped to reach into his bag for his whistle, wanting to let her know that she wasn't all alone, but his bag was (unsurprisingly) missing from his side. He winced at its absence.

Amari knew him just a bit too well.

As he turned to glare hell at the fire-haired stranger who held him captive, she rolled her eyes and turned away. “Oh, don’t look at me like that, I haven't even touched your mutt yet. I’ll be ri-i-ight back,” she sang to him wickedly as she sauntered out the door. “Don't go anywhere!”

Fenn fumed at her retreating figure as the door wheezed shut. Like hell he could.

In all truthfulness though, Amari’s words had stirred a determination within him. Soon as she had left, his glass green gaze was examining every inch of the room, every crack in his cage. All he could think about in her short moment away was devising an escape. He didn't know if he could stand up against his old friend in combat, but he’d be damned for certain if he did nothing at all.

Escape was his specialty, wasn't it? A deranged giggle welled around the anger in his chest. He’d escaped dragons and bandits and all sorts of things. This time couldn't end any differently, he decided.

There was little for him to find inspiration in. Peering into the sun-spotted gloom, he saw that anything remotely useful was all the way on the counter, at other side of the room. His bag was there, and so was a pile of dubious… tools. They looked as if they might be useful -- sharp too -- but he couldn't very well reach them. Damnit. If any of the snow on the floor was closer to him, he could at least scoop some of it between his wrists and the iron cuffs, but he couldn't reach that either.

His only asset was that the floor outside his cage was peeling and rough…

Fenn cautiously stuck a frail arm between the sturdy bars, grabbing a splintering bit of the floor and snapping it off. It was about two inches long and twiggy in diameter. Quietly, he pulled up another of similar dimensions.

Holding his breath, he inserted the slivers into the locking mechanism buckling the shackle to his right wrist. They went in deep enough. His brows furrowed in concentration as he wiggled them around, searching for the tumblers by instinctual feel.

His ears flicked up as he heard a joyous clicking. Fenn’s breathing caught in his chest, a grim grin creeping up on him. Yes! Now all he had to do was push the tumblers down… And flinch as the flimsy wood snapped ineffectively, wiping the cheer from his face. Shitshitshit, no! Fenn swore on internal replay as he reached for another two splinters, and then another. They were all useless, all rotting and soft and unable to spring the lock. The hope drained out of his face, leaving him pale. An angry almost-noise -- a near growl -- was pent up in his throat. It came out as a toothless squeak.

“Oh Fennik...” a heartless voice called out from the other room, accompanied by a frightened yelp. “Someone’s eager to see you!”

The door’s knob turned.

Fuck! Fenn angrily swept the broken splinters out of his cage, certain that Amari would either laugh at or punish his piddly escape attempt were she to know of it. By the time she had dragged in her second victim, Fenn was curled up in a little ball of unspoken rage.

Daugi, to her credit, was taking this about as well as Fenn was. The wrathful beastie was bound by thick chains, flecks of froth foaming from under the muzzle clamped around her powerful maw. There were four writhing black tendrils sticking out of Amari’s back. Fenn shuddered at the powerful magic-warmth radiating from them. They looped around the direwolf’s bonds, pulling her inevitably into the room.

At first, Daugi resisted each forward step she was forced to take. But the moment her rolling red glare lay rest on her little Fae, the wolf barreled eagerly into the room. She butted her head against Fenn’s cage as if to squeeze herself between the bars, eyes wild with fear. His heart broke to see her so frightened. This was the friend that had stood with him though all his idiocy and all his frustration. The friend who had defended him from whatever horrors he brought upon himself, from the demons that would swoop in from his past.

Fenn strained against his own rattling chains to give her a reassuring scratch on the chin. Though her rigid stance relaxed, there was something unconvinced in her muffled wuff back.

Laughter rang from Amari. Her eyes glittered like pools of mortal blood. “How sweet…”

(Did I do it right? ^^’)

[Amari]

"How sweet, absolutely saccharine, isn't it Fennick?" Scarlet asked as she stroked the wolfs fur, it stood on end and the pup yelped in sheer terror at her touch and tried to wrench away. It amused Scarlet, seeing the stark contrast. The animal was once so affectionate toward her it caused jealousy to ooze from Fenn, now...now it recoiled simply from being around her and it looked as though it pained the pathetic creature just to lightly touch her.

How interesting...

Scarlet noted Fenn's look, startled and hurt and oh so angry. "What's wrong?" She asked as she cocked her head to the side, feigning innocence as she tugged the direwolf back away, hand over hand she pulled on its chains till the pup was forced to sit at her feet. "I thought you would have liked this, considering you were so envious of how much she adored me before. Isn't this better, Fennick?" His glare told her otherwise. She shrugged. "Don't give me that look. You should have known this was going to happen."

Scarlet began to slowly circle the tiny cage, dragging the direwolf pup behind her, her steps were slow and calculated. Each hard click of her booted heel echoed around them.

'Click'

'Click'

'Click'

"You left me with him, despite my protests, despite me trying to explain to you that it would not bode well." Scarlet stooped her voice lowering into a growl. "You didn't listen." She turned to face Fenn, and in turn purposefully stomped on Daugi's front paw. Daugi gave a yelp and tried to pull away, clearly too afraid to attack the redheaded assassin. "What kind of FRIEND refuses to listen to reason?: She stomped down on Daugi's paw again, this time her heel grinding into the bone and a sickening snap was heard. She stomped a third time and a splatter of blood burst forth, "WHO insists that it was for 'my best interests'?" Scarlet snorted, then laughed. It was a broken laughter that shook her body. Amari covered part of her face with her hand. "You were one of my ONLY friends...." She muttered between maddening gasps. "Oh you taught me such a lesson..." She breathed. She pushed her hair out of her face, her broken laughter dying down into a muted seriousness that was unbecoming of her sudden outburst. "And I need to return the favour."

There was a time that Fenn's betrayal greatly upset the woman. She felt hurt. She felt that she couldn't trust the fae anymore, how could she when he was so ready to give her up to a man he didn't know too well, to a man who claimed to help her, but instead shat all over her cooking and threw her halfway across Althanas? There was a time where she would have sought Fenn out with tearful eyes, asking him why. But that time had passed. Those emotions were nothing more than a fickle memory that Scarlet struggled to place and comprehend. Her actions were spurred by those broken memories, and a dull feeling ebbing inside her soul. She felt at peace, she felt a resounding clarity, but she felt dull. There was a void she had to fill and Fenn just so happened to be in the wrong place, at the right time.

Something about seeing Fenn in pain, seeing his heartbroken green orbs switch from her to Daugi. It excited Scarlet. Perhaps this was what she needed. Scarlet's lips fell into a stoic line as she pulled the chain above her head, lifting a whimpering Daugi off the ground. The chains dug deep into it's black matted fur. Her black and red eyes did not leave Fenn's. "How it must feel to loose a friend." She tugged hard on the chain and the direwolf gave a sickening broken howl. "How it feels to loose everything." Another yank and the dog's yelp was cut off. Scarlet dropped the chain, Daugi crumpled silently to the floor, barely breathing.

At first all the boy did was reach out helpless towards his hurting mutt, wincing as his arm brushed the bars of his cage. But the last sentence, it did something to him. Stark realization lit up Fenn's face. One could almost see the gears in his head turn as something clicked. No, he shook his head in disbelief. Weak, curling frost spread under his hand. I WAS HELPING. I WAS TRYING. MISTAKE. YOU ARE HURTING. DIFFERENT.

Scarlet's eyes glanced over his hurried words. "Hurting? No. I am free." There was a pause in her words. Free. Yes, that's right. With the help of the madman she had been stripped of her humanity, her emotions. Even he, the man who slaughtered a nation, the man who pit his own men against each other and incited a war. The man who took down everything around him and tore it apart called her a monster. His own creation. She was above him. She was above them all, perhaps it was time to share this gift with others.

Scarlet dragged the barely conscious pup to the cage and knelt down. "Do you want freedom, Fennick?"

[FennWenn]

Freedom! A hiss drawn from the back of his throat, Fenn seethed and bared his teeth. She had no right to speak of freedom when it was she who caged him in the first place! The sight of Daugi, limp and bloody, made his hands shake and twitch in anger. He had stopped truly listening to her the second she smashed his precious pup’s paw into pulp. The direwolf’s slumped form seemed smaller than normal, weaker. Her fur was matted with drying blood.

And Fenn? All he wanted to do was reach out far enough to console her. That he couldn't manage that… Fenn pressed his hands tightly to the sides of his head, wondering faintly if it he had it in him to knock himself unconscious.

That way, he wouldn't have to watch.

“No, you're right,” Amari replied to his disbelieving hostility. She sighed. “You've had more than your fair share of freedom in the past, haven't you? Freedom, so much freedom, while I’ve had to rot...”

Heavy-heartedly, Fenn shook his head. This wasn't happening. The room was starting to spin woozily. This was not how his friends were supposed to think of him. There was only one rational explanation for her irrational behavior.

Amari was dead.

The fiercely kind woman he once knew, who took blows from bandits for him, who led him to safety at cost to herself, was dead and gone and bones. Only monsters acted like this. A monster had ripped out her insides and crawled into her skin. That was the only way Fenn could understand what she was doing to his best friend. What had Vincent done to her? Fenn ground his teeth. Or was it that faint name he recalled from conversations long past, conversations that long ago flew over his head? Ulroke? It couldn't have been Fenn’s fault. The little Fae trembled, avoiding the deeper implications of Amari's barbed accusations. He never intended to harm his old friend.

Amari paced the length of the broken kitchen as she considered her next move, each footfall ending in a resounding click and a puff of snow-touched dust. His senses were starting to dull and blacken at the edges -- bloodloss, he blamed -- but those clicks remained.

They were starting to drive him crazy.

Fenn halfheartedly raised his hands as if to work a spell. His traitorous fingers twitched from concentrated anger, itching to throw a solid clod of ice at his old not friend. Twitched, but did naught but bring about a paltry few snowflakes. His magic simply wasn't coming. It could barely summon a lick of frost, it could barely chill the air around him. The dull pain and heat of the iron was too much. Fenn could hardly comprehend the amount of blood that was dripping out of his wrists and down his arms; it was like the sand trickling through an hourglass.

Amari, damn her, noticed. “Poor, ickle bickle baby,” she sang, drawing close enough to run her fingers down his cheek. The unwelcome touch forced the boy to shudder and jerk his head away. Fenn reached out as if to slap away her hand, but she was too quick, and had already darted out of reach. That sweet smile of hers was sharp with malice. “You never did get any stronger since our first meeting, did you?”

Fenn clenched his hands into fists and stared at the floor. The icy ball of anger in his chest made it hard to breathe.

Tsk tsk, Amari sounded, lovingly picking up a sharp instrument from the counter. “You’ve barely changed, period. Sad, really. While you’ve been bouncing about from adventure to adventure, I’ve been torn apart and stitched back together again and again, learning the cruel lessons of life.” The twisted woman took a deep breath, eyes glinting in the gloom. Fenn’s eyes widened, almost pleading, as she strode over to his downed direwolf. “They've made me who I am today. They've made me strong. And you, Fennik, you helped-!”

She punctuated her last words with a new swift kick to Daugi’s side, causing the dog to yelp and whine.

“So much help, leaving me to figure it out on my own-!”

It felt as if shards of glass were being jabbed between his ribs. Fenn pounded desperately on the bars of his cage, only to recoil from the sting, a white-hot flash against his flesh. Stop! Tears welled up in his oversized eyes. He just wanted her to leave his damned dog alone.

Amari scraped the toe of her boot on the knotty floor, an automatic gesture that did nothing to cleanse it of the darkening bloodstains. Tipsy laughter rang through the room. Her voice rose a few pitches, drunk on his pain, the sharp tool gleaming in her grasp. “It’s about time you caught up on all the lessons you've missed, don't you think, Fennik? Let’s start with dear, sweet Daugi.”

The wolf, her breathing labored, shrank fearfully away from the woman looming over her.

[Amari]

Scarlet twirled the small scalpel she had picked up. She grinned as it glinted, Fenn finally catching sight of it. "Oh? This?" Scarlet asked as she lifted it up to her face to examine it. Unlike the rest of the place, it was pristine, sharp, new. Scarlet drew it across the top of her hand and a thin line of blood followed. It'd be quite silly of her to not test her tools now, wouldn't it? She watched with mild interest as her skin parted and new stains dripped onto the dusty wooden floor. "I thought the place could use a little...extra something, yanno?" She tilted her head to the side. "I mean, this is our home, after all. Isn't it Fennick?" The fae cringed and shrank away from her as far back as the cage would allow. "No? I suppose you didn't spend as long here as I did. It was what... a few days at most?" She asked, feigning curiosity. "I guess that doesn't exactly trump years now does it?" Scarlet said as she leaned down to pick up Daugi by the iron shackle around her neck. It's howls broke the silence and Fenn flinched before shifting closer to the cage, trembling hands scrawling notes that Scarlet would not read. She could take a guess at them. Why? Please stop! This isn't You! Etc, Etc. Maybe he was right, maybe this wasn't her, the real Scarlet, Red, Amari, or whatever may be crying out in pain pleading in the same way Fenn was.

Or maybe, just maybe, this was the real her. The longer she was like this, the more she struggled to comprehend or even remember what it was all like before. Before she gave into the corruption that ate at her, before she became stronger, before, when her emotions were awry. After all...was it not all leading up to this? Her life, for a better lack of words was shit. No matter how hard she had tried, no matter how good she had been, or kind... she was constantly abused and mistreated for it. So why bother with such a thing?

Scarlet dragged the whimpering beast toward Fenn, she wasn't finished with the Fae. She'd show him exactly how she saw the world, she'd show him how heartless and cruel it was, and when he was completely broken and torn apart. She'd be the one to stitch him back together. "You know what it feels like to have your eyes removed?" She asked as she knelt before Fenn. "I do." She picked up the barely conscious direwolf and pressed its face against the iron bars.

"Don't worry, I won't do that to you. Yet."

Fenn's puffy eyes began to leak more futile tears as they widened in realization. Amari grinned. "That's right. I'll show you. Then, I'll make you a cute, little, matching pair..." He feebly reached out, hands twitching as they grazed the iron bars. Scarlet shook her head as she shuffled back just out of his reach. "Now, now, wait your turn."

She had felt it before, witnessed it before, even tried it before. So it wasn't hard for Scarlet to gently prop the scalpel neatly between the lid and eyeball, despite the direwolf's struggling she managed to neatly pop out its eyeball. She let the now unconscious direwolf drop the the floor and tossed the white gelatinous sphere toward Fenn.

"What do they say? An eye for an eye?" The irony was not lost on Scarlet, it was something Fennick wouldn't understand. She wiped the blood off her hands and leaned toward the cage. "Your turn... "

Fennick shrank further back, but, as luck would have it (at least for him) A small raven fluttered ontop of the cage and cawed at her defiantly. Scarlet frowned, it was a messenger, from Ulroke. He wanted her back. "What does he need me for? He's fully capable of - "

"CAW!"

"Tch." Scarlet dropped the scalpel and kicked it away from the fae so he wouldn't get any ideas. "I suppose you're in luck, Fennick. I have business to attend to." She turned her back on the shivering blonde boy, the clicking sounds of her heels echoing around him. Before she completely disappeared from his view she paused. Her back still turned.

"I'll be back, and if you are not dead, I'll ensure you see what I see. How the world is, and, if you so choose, we can rebuild it."

And with those last words, she was gone.

[FennWenn]

The heavy door screaked and thumped shut behind Amari, and Fenn snapped his teeth at the door his old not-friend had disappeared out of. Nothing she said could be trusted, not anymore. Except, he supposed, the promise of more pain. If her goal was to make his feelings toward her match hers toward him, it was working.

Though he was relieved that she was gone, there was an unnerving tension in the silence that followed.

An eye for an eye. The phrase was common, but Fenn remembered it in a very specific context. Amari had said it to him before, in their last encounter, as she healed a gash in his shoulder. A gash she had made with her own knife. The phrase suggested even distribution of pain, but what had he ever done to warrant this kind of hurt? Pulling his legs closer to himself, the boy smearily wiped away the tears still leaking from his eyes. He refused to look at the misshapen gob of goo on the floor of the cage. Why on Althanas had he assumed she was safe? Why on Althanas wasn’t she?

Nothing she said could be trusted, not anymore. Except, he supposed, the promise of more pain.

Fenn dared to lift his gaze to Daugi. Small spasms still jerked the wolf, but only minutely. She was unconscious, or asleep -- hopefully not dead. He really did not want her to be dead. That would leave the little Fae entirely alone in the world.

...was he dying? Fenn absently stared at the cuffs around his wrist; they were there, a heavy and tangible weight, yet… he almost didn’t notice them anymore. The skin around them was so badly burned, he wasn’t sure it was capable of feeling anymore. Was this how it felt to die? Pain, pain, pain, then nothing? His world was getting darker, but the sun was still shining through the small window above the stove, and through the ceiling. He thought he already understood how it felt to known oneself a condemned man, one slated for the pyre. Horrifically, he realized that he knew nothing of that dread until now. He had known the feeling of throwing oneself to the capricious hands of fate with death as a possible outcome. But now the cards were on the table, and Fenn knew himself a dead man with certainty.

A last stab of fear pierced his heart. Fenn was not ready to die.

And yet he was alone, trapped in this rotting room. That might have scared him, but Fenn was so emotionally drained that all this thought gave him was sense of listlessness. None knew where he was, or what had happened to him. No daring escape was around the corner, no second chances were being handed out. Fenn adjusted his cuffs listlessly. Lifelessly. He wasn’t going to get the chance to suss out where the other frost fae were; he wasn’t going to get to collect more little treasures for his personal hoard; he was out of adventures. Dulled by his mistreatment, the boy’s green gaze flicked up to meet his blood-soaked companion. Mostly, he was just scared of how Daugi had gotten dragged down with him. As the darkness close around his mind, Fenn reached out to give the still wolf one last on the matted fur of her paw -- that was all he could reach.

...maybe he did deserve this, and he just didn’t know it. Still, he wondered, why.