[tinyember x HorseGirl private rp]

Cheyenne
     Cheyenna watched Gaia go after the snake as she kept her bitten leg off the ground. She was a bit confused on what had just happened, but she was still young. She could feel a painful sting coming from the bite, and she listened to Gaia's words as she stepped into the creek. The water gave a cold chill before she placed the venomous bite in the water causing the sting to grow worse. She hissed as the pain before looking back at Gaia, "What was that? I've never seen anything like it." she said as the yearling kept the bite underwater for quite awhile. She felt a bit foolish at the question, and that she didn't notice the black snake. It was the darkest black out there, and yet she hadn't noticed? After what seemed like awhile, Chey had looked at the venomous bite removing it from the chilly water. Though, it had started to swell a bit, and the two red dots from where the snake's venomous teeth sucked into her flesh had gotten a bit larger. She placed the bite back in the water feeling yet another sting. She felt foolish and embarrassed as she didn't look at Gaia. She just watched the water in the creek run downstream.

Gaia

Gaia watched as the filly stepped into the creek, carefully analyzing her every movement. She knew prayers would do her no good in this prison world, but she sent one out as a precautionary. "It was a snake sent by Aithion." she said, her eyes not meeting Cheyenne. She kept her eyes trained on the filly's leg, panic building. She didn't want to tell her that the snake was venomous. "It's not your fault. We got too comfortable here is all. He's toying with us." she said, her voice wavering slightly. Gaia was not the vulnerable type. The mare stepped into the creek with the filly, her eyes moving to scan their surroundings. It had gone back to being quiet, though there was an ominous grey cloud that had settled above them. It had only ever been clear and sunny during the day in this world, but clearly everything was about to change. They weren't safe. "How are you feeling?" Gaia asked tentatively, slowly looking back over at the filly.

Cheyenne
     Cheyenne slowly looked back over at Gaia, "Why would he be attacking us now? It's been months since we've been in here.." she said remembering the night she was separated from her herd. A cold chill just ran through her body remembering everything from that night. It still haunted her very once in awhile. She sighed looking back down at the creek, "Still...I should have paid more attention.." she said even though she was slowly learning despite being trapped. It had gotten completely silent for a few long moments. The only sound being that of the water running downstream in the creek. Cheyene snapped back into what had seemed like reality hearing Gaia speak again. She didn't say anything for a moment before looking at her sister, "I..don't..know. Painful I guess. I'm not so sure.." she said slowly starting to have a bit of a hard time keeping her eyes open. Her shook her head a bit as a way to help keep her eyes open, but it didn't really help. Chey had picked up her bitten leg just enough so the bite was out of the water as it was even more swollen and red. She started to get the feeling inside of her that something was wrong, but she wasn't sure what. The yearling had never felt like this before.

Gaia

Gaia watched as Cheyenne started to get sleepy, her panic increasing. There was nothing she could do to stop this. "Something must have changed to make him angry enough to do this." she murmured, concern written across all of her features. "Please, don't blame yourself. It doesn't do either of us any good." she said, stepping forward. "If... if you feel like you need to sleep, I want you to try and fight it. Please." she said, leaning down and ruffling Chey's mane with her lips in an effort to keep the filly conscious. Gaia's head was spinning and most of all, the feeling of guilt had settled on her shoulders like a bag of bricks. Cheyenne blamed herself, but Gaia blamed herself just as much if not more. It had been her responsibility to keep Chey safe and she had let them get comfortable in this prison. Aithion knew that as well. He wanted to stir things up for his entertainment. They had grown compliant. Gaia also couldn't help but feel like the attack was directed at Chey. The snake had wanted nothing to do with the green mare. What kind of sick monster would sent something to kill an innocent yearling, let alone his own niece. 

Cheyenne
     Cheyenne listened to Gaia as she tried to stay awake. She knew that the snake had done something to her, but she wasn't familiar with venom or snakes in general. Her fetlock had grown at least twice the size, and her veins in that area were visible. The bite was bruised and red in color despite her leg still being black. The yearling tried not to move around much as her instinct had told her to do. Though she just wanted to move around to keep her from closing her eyes. As time passed though, Chey would close her eyes for a long moment or two before she realized it and opened them to see Gaia right by her side. As time passed, the harder it was for Cheyenne to stay conscious, and the feeling of the cold water and Gaia by her side that were the only things keeping her awake despite the struggle it was to keep her eyes open. Though, soon later she got the feeling that they were being watched. Little did they know that a black crow, just like the first messenger, was watching them from a branch above them. The only difference with this bird was that it would talk instead of just watching them.

Gaia

Gaia knew that Cheyenne was fading fast and she was out of options. That was when one of Aithion's crows landed on the branch above their heads. Aithion had a preference for the birds he sent to them and almost every single one had been a crow. Their eyes always glowed menacingly and they cawed loudly, as if they were cursing them. It had worked. However, this was the first time one of them had landed in a tree. It made it seem almost real. All of the others had landed on the ground and hadn't put up much of a fight. "What, afraid?" she asked the bird, not really expecting an answer. "No, quite the opposite actually." it squawked. Gaia snapped her head upwards and glared at the animal, wishing it would combust. She was not in the mood for this. It laughed and it sounded like thousands of dying animals all at once. The bird began to hop to one end of the branch and back again in some weird display. 

"Poor little Gaia, just so impotent." it cawed, flapping its wings as it cackled. "We had hoped that you would take after your father but clearly.. Denali played a part in your softness." the bird taunted. Gaia simply watched, her skin crawling with anger. The bird held onto the branch with it's talons and dangled upside down, it's eyes still trained on the pair of horses in the water. "No need to be so stoic, little Gaia. We know you're terrified she's going to dieeeeee." it sang, still dangling upside down. It's gaze shifted to Chey and Gaia felt every muscle in her body tighten. Without a moment's hesitation she stepped in front of the filly, shielding her behind her body. The crow only laughed harder, swinging back and forth. "Dead just like her parents will be. Say, what do you think they'll do when they find her body?" the bird said as it swung back upright on the branch. "Do you think Denali will die of heartbreak? Lost two babies. What a failure that one is." it said, peeling it's gaze away from Chey and back to Gaia.

Gaia resisted the urge to react. This was part of the test. Aithion knew what he was doing. The bird knew better to fly down to the ground but it was clearly growing agitated, flapping it's wings and jumping around on the branch more sporadically. Gaia watched it's every move but could feel Cheyenne slipping against her body. The venom was doing it's job. Finally, the bird seemed to have grown tired of this staring contest. "Aren't you going to ask how you're going to save her, you idiot?" it shrieked. As quickly as the words left it's beak, the bird disintegrated. Gaia's hard face faltered and panic overwrote her features, her head shooting up and scanning their surroundings. There's an antidote. Her brain was humming loudly with this new information and in a desperate attempt to save Cheyenne, she called out into the woods. "Aithion, please. She's a baby. She has nothing to do with this." she called, pain laced into her voice. "Aithion, you coward, are you a child murderer now? That's what you are? And you think you're worthy of calling me family?" she nearly screamed. "You're no more my father than Cyrus was."

That hit a nerve. Crows burst out of nearly every tree, cawing and screaming as they took flight. They had swarmed together and had manifested into a figure. It wasn't really him but it was his shape, moving constantly as the birds basically fused together in a horrid flap of wings. Thousands of crow eyes gleamed that deadly orange hue. "How dare you?" the creature bellowed. Gaia knew that this was as close as she was going to get, for now, to speaking directly to Aithion. She wouldn't apologize. She'd rather die. "How dare I? I'm not the one poisoning innocents." she spat back, her pupil-less white eyes glittering with anger and hate. The creature tossed back it's head and laughed. It was the worst sound Gaia had ever heard in her five years of life. She flattened her ears to her skull but didn't look away. "What do you want? Huh? You think you're going to gain a daughter from this?" she bellowed, staring at the broken-looking figure. 

"If she dies, I will spend every waking second of the rest of my life hunting you to the end of the earth. And that is a promise I will not break." she practically growled. Aithion's figure stopped and a broken grin split across it's face. "There she is. I knew you had that spirit in you. You hid it for so long, I had really started to wonder if Denali had completely ruined you." it said before the figure basically vanished. All that was left was a fledgling crow on the ground. "Go back to where you were born. The flowers on the tree hold enough nectar to keep her alive." it squeaked. Satisfied with this information, Gaia charged out of the creek and trampled the little bird into the Earth. It laughed as it died. 

Cheyenne
     Cheyenne had made little effort to look up at the black bird as it's dark caw had haunted her as she started to loose balance. She could pick out certain words like her mother's name, Aithion, her own name, and she could hear the bird sing one word in particular that gave her an unsettling feeling. The bird singing the word "die" made her feel even worse then she was and it made her realize she was in fact dying. Not only did she start to loose her balance, but her breath had grown heavy as she started to struggle to breath. Chey had looked up at Gaia as she stood in front of her as a way to protect her. The yearling stood as though she was just born, her legs spread out to her sides to keep her from falling over. Cheyenne didn't focus on what was happening, she only focused on her breathing, balance, and trying to stay awake. She was distracted by the swarm of blackness and caws as she barely looked up. Things went completely black for her as she fell into the creek. Water splashed as the yearling had fell into the water falling unconscious. Everything went back for her and she thought this was the end. The venomous bite had her fetlock a little more than three times the size it was supposed to be. The venom was spreading quickly.

Gaia

When Gaia had turned back around to look at Chey, her heart dropped. The filly was laying in the creek completely unconscious. Gaia trotted over and stuck her head under Chey's, propping the yearling's head up on a rock so her nostrils wouldn't submerge. It moved against her very grain to leave Cheyenne unprotected but she knew that was what Aithion wanted. And if he was truly after seeing her angry outbursts, he had gotten what he had wanted. She had to trust that he wouldn't hurt Cheyenne. "I'll be back, little one." she murmured softly, touching her nose to Chey's forehead before spinning around and breaking into a gallop.

Gaia was sure she had never moved so fast in her life. Her hooves barely touched the Earth that she was named after. Ears flat and mane whipping against her skin, Gaia flew towards the willow tree where she had been born. Thunder roared in the distance but Gaia paid it no mind as she ran faster. Her lungs were screaming and she could hear her heartbeat in her ears. It wasn't long before the tree was in sight. She skidded to a rough halt in front of it, nearly toppling over as she did so. She reached up, pulling a branch straight off of the tree without hesitation. It hurt a little bit, but the memory of that tree was not as important as Cheyenne. Branch clenched in her mouth she turned and started the trek back to her sister.

When she arrived, she wasted no time getting to work. She checked that Cheyenne was still breathing. Her breath caught in her throat when she noticed how shallow her breathing had gotten. She was dying. Without another moment to waste, she picked a flower off of the branch and started to chew it. And then, with a slight grunt of disgust, spit it back out onto Chey's bite mark. Gross. She did this with every flower on the branch. She probably only needed one, but she had a tendency to overdo things.

Cheyenne
     The darkest black there was for one to see was the only thing Cheyenne remembered. It felt like a eternity that she was trapped in the darkest void. It had taken awhile for the flower to start healing her due to the progression of the venom through her bloodstream. It could have easily been 30 minutes before Chey had started to gain consciousness again. She could slowly hear the running water more clearly as she slowly woke up. It could have easily been another 5 to 10 minutes before she slowly attempted to open her eyes. "Gaia.....?" she said slowly looking over at her sister. Her voice was raspy and quiet as she spoke forcing herself to say something else, "What....happened..?" said Cheyenne as she felt sore all over her body especially where the snake had bit her. She had attempted to sit herself up but she was still too weak to. The yearling couldn't remember anything as she tried to recall what had happened and everything hurt as she attempted to move.

Gaia

Gaia held her breath as Chey stirred and opened her eyes. She was alive. She nearly gasped when the filly spoke. "Hey, you need to rest." she murmured softly, her eyes watching the filly's slight movements. "You were bit by a venomous snake. I found the antidote, you're going to be okay." she said quietly, swishing her tail back and forth. "Rest, please. You don't have a lot of strength right now." she said quietly before she started to examine the bite. It was swollen still but not as much as it had been earlier in the day. Gaia would not leave the filly's side even though the creek was chilly against her skin. She wouldn't tell Chey about Aithion. She didn't need to worry about that. Gaia would take the brunt of the burden for the both of them. 

Cheyenne
     Cheyenne couldn't bring herself to say anything else. She looked at her sister for a moment with a small grateful smile before she laid her head on the rock closing her eyes once again. Chey listened to Gaia as she knew she hadn't had the strength to get up and she was incredibly sore all over. Though she felt a bit bad for Gaia. She was always watching over her, protecting her, and Cheyenne was never given the chance to do the same. Despite how long the filly was in the creek, the water was still a bit chilly as it splashed against her small body. As Chey rested, she leaned into Gaia a bit for more comfort. She tried to remember what happened before she fell unconscious. She started to see swarms of black birds that formed into one creature. She saw flashes of the black snake that had bit her and flashes of the birds. It was too much for her as she woke up suddenly looking around. Nothing was black, mainly green. She let out a sigh as she calmed herself down remembering Gaia was right beside her.

Gaia

Gaia watched over her little sister as she rested, her eyes scanning their surroundings every once in a while. She would never tell Chey but she was scared. Aithion's goal was clearer to her now. He wanted to gain a reaction out of Gaia. It was the only way he would give her the antidote. She still wasn't exactly sure why he needed this, but she felt gross for giving it to him. It was like moving against a current. Gaia nearly leaped out of her own skin when Cheyenne's head shot up. "Are you okay?" she asked as she dropped her nose to sniff the filly over. The swelling on her leg had gone down substantially. And her breathing had gone back to normal.  

Cheyenne
     Cheyenne just shook her head a bit before answering her sister, "Y-yeah I'm fine...thanks to you," she said her voice sounding a bit more normal a she slowly turned her head to look at Gaia with a small smile. She looked over at her leg seeing that it was still swelled, but she assumed that it was nothing compared to what it had been. Despite her still being weak and sore, she needed to get away from the creek and somewhere else. She didn't feel safe in this area anymore even when Gaia was right beside her. Chey looked back over at Gaia, "Can we get out of here, and go somewhere else?" she asked despite her still being fairly weak. She had somewhat attempted to adjust her body to a more comfortable position. When she had fell unconscious, she had fallen on some rocks which caused her body to be as sore as it was. Though she couldn't really adjust herself to a more comfortable position with the rocks and the water. The cold water kept splashing against her side as she shivered a bit. She felt miserable in this place even though her sister had just saved her life, but at what cost?

Gaia

Gaia watched as her sister shook and shivered in the water, tilting her head slightly. And when she asked if they could leave, humor glittered in her white eyes. "Well, that depends kid. Can you walk?" she asked. Cheyenne had been down in the creek for a while and she could only imagine how cold she was, but they couldn't go anywhere if she wasn't strong enough to move yet. "You can lean against me." she said as she turned her side towards the filly. Gaia was racking her brain on places to go. She wasn't comfortable bringing her sister to the mountain, especially considering how weak she was. She decided that the willow tree was the best possible place for them, considering it was what had healed her sister.

Cheyenne
     "I..don't..know if I can, but I have to try," she said looking at Gaia. Cheyenne took a minute to prepare herself before she adjusted her legs into a position that should allow her to stand. She took a deep breath before she lifted herself out of the water. It was like learning how to stand and walk all over again. Her legs were a shaky as she used what little strength she had to lift herself up all the way. Though, one hoof slipped in the water causing her to fall a bit, but not entirely. Chey got back up, and it was a bit easier for her to stay up this time. She leaned against Gaia as she slowly took a couple steps to get out of the creek. Once she was finally out of the creek, it was a bit easier for her to walk even though she was leaning against Gaia as well. Her body was still incredibly sore as well as her bitten leg, but she was still alive. It would take some time to fully recover, but Chey was still alive as she didn't know how could thank Gaia. After they had traveled a fair distance from the creek, Chey had looked up at Gaia as they slowly walked, "Thanks..for everything Gaia," she said with a small but grateful smile, "You've saved me twice...and I don't know I could repay you.." she said looking down a bit her voice still being a bit raspy.