returned in chains

Kyra did not feel the cold as her limp body dragged across the snowy grounds of Mt. Hakobe. She thought she had escaped, she thought that she managed to get away from the guild that had tried to exploit her sickening side of herself. The cannibal that she hated was only exacerbated and encouraged in the halls of Mt. Hakobe, and Kyra had managed to escape while Medeia was on a mission, making her way back to her hometown.

Unfortunately, she now found herself back where she was so scared of. Her mentor, the alleged angel Medeia, had managed to track her down with some help from the other girl that had gone along with her to the Urban Nights Festival, Amber Stone. Medeia had flown Kyra most of the way to the halls of Errings Rising, Kyra bound in a hogtie of rope, and now she was being dragged through the snowy mountain to the doors. Kyra did not even noticed when they entered until her back was no longer plowing snow and instead was being tracked onto the stony floors of the castle. She wiggled herself to a sitting position, looking around as she was still hogtied. "This place hasn't changed..." she mumbled as she wiggled to rest against a wall. Medeia was surprisingly good at tying her up, so Kyra could not even try to escape. Well, at this point, with Medeia's "experiments" on her, it was not much of a surprise to see and feel Medeia's aptitude. She looked up, staring at the angel. "I'm guessing you kept my room well? A-and you probably aren't too happy with me..."

She dipped her head down. She enjoyed her time back home, even if it meant having to see her father consistently. However, there was something that just felt empty. She did work for Tegan's guild, but something just did not seem right about it. Kyra was arguably more useless at Goldheart than in Errings Rising, but now Medeia for some reason had dragged her back, and Tegan just allowed it. Would the queen of Errings Rising arrive? Would Medeia punish her? Was Kyra going to be starved for another week? A month? Kyra's mind raced with what could possibly happen from whatever it was that Medeia or Saraphina had planned for her. She was gone for months, she escaped in the dead of night without permission, and now she was back. Executed for desertion? Treason? Just generally being useless? Kyra did not know what was going to happen as she said, bound and tied up, staring at the ground from a seated position.

Kyra made no response for around a minute, taking everything her mentor said. "I-I just wanted to be somewhere where I know my place," she finally said. "I-I'm just a burden to the people of Errings Rising, I'm just a burden to Queen Saraphina and to you, a-and I just wanted to be back with being one of the nameless masses. O-of course, I probably should've just gone to Crocus if I wanted that instead of my family's city, but..." she sighed. "Not even Tegan wants me. The day you showed up, Tegan handed me over like I was nothing. Not even my family waned me around them. I-I always thought it was just F-Father that hated me, but if Tegan doesn't care..."

Kyra took a few more moments of silence before jagged bones burst forth from her skin, snapping the ropes binding her body. She got to her feet, slowly walking over towards Medeia and placed her head against Medeia's softly. "It's not worth trying to run. You found me once, and you're going to keep finding me again. A-and if Tegan doesn't care about my betterment, then I only have you that cares about me." She stepped back, sitting on the floor, tears beginning to well in her eyes. "If I run again, you'd rampage through Reinford. Maybe Tegan, Rio, and Demi could take you down if they went against you together, but so many of my siblings would die. I... even if they don't care about me, I'm not going to let them be hurt because of me. I'm way less than they are, and if they're ruined because of their useless youngest sister, then that just makes everything worse." She sighed, tears falling down her cheeks. "Please... I don't know what I'm good for, Lady Medeia. You're the only one that keeps going after me, and I don't understand it. I'm a monster, and I'm worthless at everything else. Why me?" She looked up at the angel, her eyes wracked and red, yet somewhat glazed over even as the tears fell slowly.

A lump formed in the Velkhomme daughter's throat and chest. Medeia would not even deny it. This was the truth. In times past, people would tell her that "her family loved her" and "she was just seeing it wrong," but it held different weight now that Medeia, someone as strong, wise, and reliable as Medeia confirmed that for her.

"M-maybe..." she admitted. "M-maybe we were meant to find each other but I do not want to burden you. A-and I definitely don't want to hurt my family. I-I don't want revenge, I-I just wanted them to care for me. Father never did, but something must have changed with Tegan and my siblings. I-is it because I'm part of a dark guild?" She sighed, losing herself in her musings.

She felt the taste of Medeia's lips and a rumbling growled in her stomach. Since coming back to Reinford, she had eaten no meat. She had not left the city, and Tegan had only fed her vegetables and fruit. Tegan was one of the four that knew the specifics of Kyra's magic. Tegan, Rio, and Demi had figured it out on their own, and Kyra was jealous how they could just figure out something like this. They were all perfect. Tegan seemed to know just how to appease Medeia, and Kyra thought she noticed some glance from Tegan towards Medeia. How much had been paid for the trade? How much did Tegan give up just to get rid of Kyra? They must have talked about this before. Perhaps Tegan, just out of the request of someone - maybe Father, maybe Rio or Demi - just harbored Kyra as a public move. "Look! We have gotten our prodigal daughter back! We are reliable and trustworthy!" That had to be it. From what Kyra thought she gathered, Amber had initially found out Kyra's whereabouts, and then gave that information to Medeia. Once the gig was up, Tegan must have paid Medeia for Kyra. That had to be it, Kyra just knew it. Now Kyra was off of their hands, now she was not their problem.

Now with that taste on her own lips, her stomach roared. The lack of meat, that attempt to remove Kyra's cannibalism as a problem, to let Kyra fade into the background, seemed to have worked. The Beast subsided. It had not come up recently, but now with the taste of something that was not a plant on her lips, she hungered. She refused to mention this aloud, still wanting the beast to subside, but the hungry stare in her eyes could not have deceived the angel. She scanned the room, looking for something fleshy, something to dig her teeth into, even as the conscious nipped at the back of her mind. She did not want to go back to the Beast, but she may not have had an option. Instead, all she did was look away embarrassedly. "I-is there anyone else I remember here still A-anyone who remembers me?" she asked, trying to get her mind off of the hunger for food.

Kyra tensed up slightly as the familiar voice came. "H-hello, A-"

Before she could even continue, she noticed the carcass upon the familiar friend's back, the brutish blonde dropping it at Kyra's feet. She held the beast back.

"N-no, I-I think I'm quite alright..." She stared at the carcass, looking away in a hurry. "I just ate right before Lady Medeia took me away." She looked to Medeia, and at a single glance at her body took another hasty look away. "I-It was quite filling, a-actually." She looked to Amber, trying to plead for help. Once again, at a single glance at Amber's figure, Kyra hesitantly looked away, now her eyes focused on her feet. "Y-yes. Ozzie is a wonderful chef. A full array of vegetarian meals for lunch. H-he's been keeping me very well fed." She took a glancing look at the deer carcass, her stomach rumbling. "H-have you had s-stuffed peppers before? I-I don't know if peppers are common in Fiore, b-but Ozzie would fill them with different other vegetables." A glance at Medeia. Another rumbled stomach. "A-and cheeses, too. He always said that they were better with a meaty filling, b-but he'd make an exception for me. A-and then the watermelons! They're wonderful, a-and Ozzie would do such wonderful things with the display!" She looked up to Amber in her excitement, before quickly looking back down at her feet. A second passed and her stomach grumbled once more in anticipation. "B-but it does get a bit bland, e-eating vegetables and fruits and all that all the time..."

A flash of red. Smell of blood. Smell of bone. Smell of death. Beast rush forwards. Ignore Angel. Angel protect. Ignore Demon. Demon provide. Eyes lock on creature. Claw of bone burst forth from hand! Slice away head! Drink of life essence of cervid! Lick upon floor. Taste of blood. Beast starved, Beast hungers. Teeth and fangs tear at flesh, tear at skin, tear at fur! Bite! Crunch! Maw! Mar! Head consumed. Crunch of head bone delicious. Brain soothes palate. Juice of eye flow in mouth like ichor of gods, blood of animal ambrosia to the senses! Growl. Snarl! More! More! Tear into corpse! Leave nothing left! Tear and eat and rip and consume! Leave nothing left! Innards like candies! Bones and blood and flesh! Nothing left. Beast hungers. Carcass gone. Demon does not provide enough. Beast needs more. Beast lunge at Demon. Demon has failed Beast. Demon is little more than food. Beast must consume.

Shell of rock. Imprisoned. Not allowed! Bust through! Pound! Punch! Slice! Crush! Bite the one who strikes!

In a flash, Kyra returned to herself, the red color of her eyes dulling to their normal shade. She looked around, a throbbing pain in her right arm as she was completely encased in a stone tomb up to her neck. She had glimpses of what happened, but there was nothing for certain. She looked around, piecing together what happened. "S-sorry..." she meekly said. "I tried... I tried attacking you, didn't I?" Her head hanged low, catching a glimpse at her arm. Blood dripped down from the mangled mess, bones protruding from the arm, wrist, and hand in multiple locations. The arm was completely destroyed, completely unable to be moved, even without the shell of rock that the arm had punched through entirely. Sweat and tears mixed together on her face.

"I really am useless, aren't I?" she said as the dull pain of her arm soon began throbbing and increasing its intensity. "Lady Medeia, you shouldn't have brought me back. I'm useless. I tried attacking a guildmate. I'm unreliable, I'm a burden to the guild, and I could kill some people here. I don't want that. I don't want to hurt any of the people here."

She tumbled to the ground as the shell of rock was released, the broken right arm flopping against the ground, the entirety of her right forearm's bones popping out of place. She used her left arm to help herself back up to her feet. "I'm just a harm towards everyone, including myself." Her eyes darted to the completely limp arm. "Nothing I do could ever help anyone, and I'll just keep harming myself if...if it comes back." Her eyes now headed over to Medeia, the look of terrified prey dashing between the two compatriots beside her. "I'm scared of it."

Kyra looked at the angel with a pang of sadness in her eyes. She hated the beast so much, but... it made her something, at least. She was so weak without it, especially in comparison to her siblings. All of her family were masters at something. Even the ones that just focused on their magic were so powerful. Karos could bend lights and shadows to his will, and summon weapons out of nowhere. Kairi's magic let her control all elements. Tegan could bring forth things from her memory and was even better at requip than Karos was. The others were all just as strong, if not stronger, and they all had massive, important careers. Kyra was just the little, frail magicless girl. The disgrace to the entire family, no matter how many times Tegan, Rio, and Demi denied the assertion by Kyra. Kyra knew it. It was obvious, after all.

But with the power of this beast within... maybe Medeia was right. It was possible that Kyra may be something more. Nothing as glamorous or good as any of her siblings, but something that had some infinite potential. While Kyra did not recall Medeia saying the exact words, she did remember during her time back home that Tegan assured her that while Kyra was not as strong as any of the other siblings, because of the nature of her magic she could easily work to be stronger than all of them. That Kyra, of all people, could be someone that could have their name spoken across the world as one of the strongest mages. Even if it was with a dubious magic, with one that would bring no cheers and even less acceptance, Kyra could be something. This unlimited potential that Tegan talked about. Demi said that making such a lacrima was too much for even her.

"R-right..." she muttered, to herself more than anyone else. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Her arm soon began to snap back into shape, a thin layer of bone popping back into her arm. Since joining Errings Rising, she had become too accustomed to how quick her regeneration would be. Without having any more meat, she would fully heal within a week. But that would be too inconvenient. "D-does anyone have any meat? L-like a steak?" Her stomach rumbled just at the thought of steak, loud enough for the two girls to hear even though she already had devoured a deer entirely. She always loved eating steaks before...before her magic became a thing. Ozzie always was a master chef, always able to cook things to perfection, and Father always enjoyed steaks, mostly from things he hunted himself.

Once it was brought to her, Kyra wolfed it down in just a few bites, a slight shift in the color of her eyes the only indication that the beast was even there. As she ate, her arm quickly repaired itself, the bones and muscles and skin reforming on her forearm until it was good as new, seeming as if nothing had happened at all. She stretched the arm and the hand out a little bit, just to ensure everything really worked. Just as it always did, her hands and arms were just as normal. She turned to Amber. "S-sorry about that. I-I don't really control myself that much when...when it's there. I'm more animal than human, a-and..." She sighed. "Apologizing is useless... I don't deserve for you to forgive me." She moped over towards the stairs, ready to head back to her room when she paused in her steps. "A-and I still have the tattoo. Tegan couldn't find out how to remove it, s-so Liz would just paint on a new Goldheart tattoo every day. I-is that a problem that I still have it, L-Lady Medeia?"