And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
There were many, many times in his life where Apollo had been terrified. It had started young, following the death of his parents and the bickering of his herd. From there, it turned into an encounter with a monstrous sea-beast upon a hot summer day, a brush with a growling, snapping pack of wolves, followed by battles, by invasions into distant herds. 'Terror' was a shrill, unstable cry of 'Apollo, face me, coward!' bellowed amidst a thunderstorm by the devil herself, 'fear' were shadows and infections robbing away the sanity of the ones he loved and turning them into ravenous wraiths, 'heart-stopping' was the insurmountable grief of the loss of his loved ones, so, so, so many of them, Phaedra, Andreas, Midas, Lakota, and the ultimate, inevitable, damning end of the world.
'Pass through or die.'
There had been no ultimatum, no other choice. He could have stood with his brothers and sisters and fought, could have died at their sides, but for what? A land already doomed and rotting? A soldier he had never been, and a soldier he would never be, but Apollo would never have the courage to fight, and die, for something that held him no promise. Helovia was dead. Gone. Forsaken. There was nothing left, and he had passed through the Portal with Zola tucked neatly within the leather satchel about his shoulders, praying to Gods now dead and gone that safety would await them on the other side, and now...
Now...
Honey-brown eyes shot open, wide, bulbous, and rolling. The sound of screams rang in his ears, the stench of panic and death cloying his nose. He was frozen, splayed out upon the grass on his side like a dead thing, legs flailing, limbs thrashing, trying to find his footing but for some reason, he could not seem to find the ground. The sound of screams continued, until Apollo realized with a start that he was the one making such a terrible sound, shouting until his throat was raw.
Terror. Fear. Horror.
All at once, the Merciful stallion grew still and silent, flailing legs collapsing into a heap upon the soft grass. He lay there, chest heaving, monochrome hide drenched in sweat, reeking of fright and dismay. Fever cloaked his skin, burning hot to the touch, but slowly the overo's mind seemed to settle within his body, awareness seeping into his pores, the cushion of soft grasses seeming to hold him in a soothing embrace and doing wonders to calm him, to reaffirm that he was, indeed, alive.
Was this... The Rift? Had he made it? Were they safe?
"... Zola?" The cracked, warbled question hardly escaped his maw, but nonetheless, Apollo was startled by the sound of his own voice. Mentally he searched for the blind feline, reaching through the mental void of love and adoration, the mental bond connected in both heart and mind to try and seek out his precious ball of earth, but... There was nothing.
Instead of Zola's warmth, her love, her soothing voice reverberating in his ears, Apollo was met with the cold, heart-numbing black void of nothing. That was true terror. Never before had he felt such fear. No event in his life could even compare to the fear that he felt then, unable to feel the precious bond with Zola, and so with a desperate wail, uncaring of his physical well-being nor the fever that ravaged him, Apollo hauled himself upright, legs trembling as they lifted his considerable bulk. He wavered but for a moment, legs threatening to give out, but the stallions honey-brown eyes darted frantically around, trying to spot the black cat. "Zola!" Louder, more desperate, terrified. No, no, no...
Kaos could take his home, but he could not take his heart. Apollo wouldn't survive it.
"Zola!" With growing alarm, he realized that the leather satchel, Zola's carrying satchel, was no longer slung around his shoulders. It was not there, it was gone, not on his body and not on the ground around where he had been crudely deposited, and that meant... It meant...
... Had she not made it through? Was she gone forever? Was she lost, terrified and alone, without her sight to guide the way? No. No. He couldn't think like that. First? Apollo needed to find out where he was. Chills darted along his frame, his sweat beginning to grow cold, but he couldn't simply stand there and do nothing. Maybe she had wandered off? Their bond was severed, meaning that something had happened... But she couldn't be gone, couldn't be dead. Apollo would not accept it, could not accept it.
Wide eyes absorbed his surroundings to the best of his abilities, given his reeling thoughts and difficulty focusing, nostrils flaring as though to place the scent all around him. Tall green grasses arose from the earth, sparse trees dotting the otherwise empty prairie. The sun shone to the west, late in the evening but not yet robbing the sky of a beautiful, vibrant blue. It was picturesque, almost. Normal. Nothing like the shadows and wreckage of Helovia. There was a breeze in the air, that soothed the heat of the sun but chilled his feverish skin, and for a brief moment the Merciful stallion wondered if he was dead.
Maybe he had died and gone to heaven. Apollo had never believed in heaven, not really, but looking back on it, he would have thought it to look a place like this... But if he was dead, that definitely didn't account for his pain, nor his fever.
With considerable strength, the overo took a step forward, pulling his bulk along the grasses, wide eyes desperately seeking some form of familiarity.
Please, please... To anyone who's listening. Please let me find her. Let me find someone.
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am
KTULU and i've moved farther than i thought i could and i've missed you more than i thought i would
There were only a handful of times when Ktulu felt fear, but there was never a time that she could remember that she felt the sheer terror that sank its icy claws into her heart and made her blood run cold as ice. It was that terror that gripped her while she stood among the crowd listening to the screams of the dying and the fearful cries of those that began to realize that the world as they knew it was coming to an end. One by one friend and foe alike all stood before Kaos, defying his command and one by one they all where blown away like dust in the wind. They were nothing more than mosquitos, easily swatted away by the hand of a God.
It was the two foals and the grizzly at her side that kept the mare from flinging herself headlong into the fight. Rinne, only a couple of weeks old , Akeli, the orphaned child that had somehow wormed her way into the Constrictor's good graces, and Eytan, who was part of her heart and very soul were her responsibility. Both were scared, clinging to her, asking questions she couldn't answer, and begging her to keep them safe. "I will" she had promised them, though she knew it was one that she wouldn't be able to keep.
When the portal opened and Kaos demanded they go through Ktulu hesitated, distrustful of the god that had killed so many of them already. Every fiber of her being screamed that it was a trick, just an easier way to kill all of them ... but how could she know? She watched her brother's body dissolve into absolutely nothing then turned her head away and nudged the foals and the bear toward the portal. "Go through" she had instructed them, ignoring their protests. "It'll be okay, I'll see you on the other side. Just trust me." She promised and pleaded, but it wasn't enough. She shoved Rinne through the portal, then Akeli. A glance back was all she needed to break hear heart. "Ophelia!" She screamed as her sister fell at the feet of the god. Had it not been for Sunjata shoving her through the portal she would have joined the fight and met her end with her sister...
Ktulu sucked in a deep, gasping breath and her body jerked as she regained consciousness. Her eyes opened then shut immediately. Though the sun was setting it was still bright enough to sting her eyes. "Eytan?" She reached out mentally to the bear to ask if he was okay. At first when she didn't receive any response from him she thought that it was because he had not yet regained consciousness. Then she realized that .... something didn't feel quite right. "Eytan?" She tried again, more insistent. Again, there was nothing. Slowly, it dawned on her that she couldn't even feel his constant presence. For the second time in a short span of time she felt terror.
"Eytan!" Ktulu yelled as she surged to her feet, crimson eyes wide as she stared around the new world. "Eytan!" But there was nothing. "Rinne! Akeli!" Neither of the girls were there either. It was just her, standing alone in the middle of a grassy field. "...what?" She was confused at first, but that confusion gave way to anger. "That lying son of a bitch!" She seethed. He had promised them safety, and though she hadn't trusted his word -- because dieties were not trustworthy -- she had been hopeful. "That lying sack of horse shit!" He had taken everything. Her home. Her family. Her friends. Her companion.
"Zola!"
Her head snapped in the direction the voice had come from, her memory instantly recognizing the name and her heart recognizing the voice. Apollo was there? Apollo was alive? She heard his voice again, crying out for his companion and though he sounded panicked she couldn't help but be relieved. Apollo was there. He was alive. If he was there then maybe there were others, too.
"Apollo!" She yelled as her hooves carried her swiftly toward him. "Apollo!"
And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
One hoof in front of the other. One step turns into two, two turns into three. Three into four. Four into five. On and on, dragging his shuddering bulk across the picturesque landscape, a dark, unsightly mar against something so beautiful. Everything ached. His shoulders felt raw and disjointed, his legs wobbling and unsteady. Every step came with a grunt of pain from battered, weary lungs, a sharp exhale of breath, a physical manifestation of his everlasting exhaustion and sickness. He just wanted to lay down, to allow his tired legs to give out and crumple to the earth, splay out and wait for Death to take him like it had taken so many of his loved ones...
Something, however, kept him from doing just that. The monochromatic overo pressed on, his gait uneven and bumbling, tripping over earth and grass alike. Honey-brown eyes roamed the horizon, watching, praying to dead Gods and ancestors alike for deliverance, for some kind of sign that all was not lost. A sign that he was alive, that he wasn't dead and that this wasn't heaven. Zola... Zola please. Please don't leave me. Don't leave me alone in this place.
What came, however, was far sweeter than any kiss of life, any embrace of deliverance. An angel beckoned in his ear, calling his name, a desperate, relieved cry of 'Apollo! Apollo!' No. Not an angel...
Slowly the Merciful lifted his head, half-lidded honey-brown eyes regarding the dark shape in the distance as it approached. Recognition cleared his gaze, brightening soulful eyes. Was it the fever? Was it the sickness? He could taste it, the sick ichor on his tongue that came with fever, the heaviness in his limbs, the delirious visions that danced in his eyes because that could not be Ktulu it couldn't it most definitely could not be her.
"Ktu...?" The dark lady's name came from trembling lips, croaked on a whisper, on a prayer. He was lost amidst an abyss of darkness, and she, his light. His salvation. Even if she was not truly there, even if she was an illusion brought on by illness, simply seeing her, even if it would be his last sight before death took him, would be far better than any heaven the Gods could have planned.
She drew closer at a brisk pace, all mighty raven black and ivory silk, disheveled and in disarray. Not thinking, his mind fueled by desperation, by the crude break of his connection with Zola and the sickness that lingered from passing through the Portal, Apollo stretched out his neck, reaching out to the Constrictor to brush his muzzle against her skin the moment that she was close enough. He sighed, her familiar scent filling his nose, calming him, chasing away his fear and his panic, soothing his turmoil like a balm.
"Ktulu, you... You're here?" She was far too solid to be an illusion. Ktulu was too real beneath his touch, dark lips brushing at her skin wherever she would allow, breathing in deeply, surrounding himself with her, and relief blossomed in his breast. "You're really here? I thought... I thought I had lost you, too. You're here. You're here." The Merciful looked around after a moment used to calm himself, to clear his mind to the best of his ability, desperately searching for the familiar brown grizzly that was always in Ktulu's company. Eytan was nowhere to be seen, just like Zola, and his stomach churned and his heart clenched painfully. "Where's Eytan?"
Somehow they had surved Kaos' tyrannical overthrow, but wherever they were, it seemed no one else had made it.
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am
KTULU and i've moved farther than i thought i could and i've missed you more than i thought i would
She could see him in the distance, staggering and stumbling as he forced himself to keep moving. With each movement he meade there was an impending sense of dread that kept growing and growing, clawing at the walls of her mind. The Constrictor had seen others move like that before and it never meant anything good. Was he injured? Sick? Dying? NO! The dark mare shut down that train of thought as soon as it emerged. Apollo was not dying. He couldn't die. She wouldn't allow it because she'd already lost so many that she cared about. Hototo. Her mother. Her father. Donovan. Lakota. Ophelia...
Gradually her pace slowed, but only so she wouldn't completely bowl Apollo over in his weakened state. She pulled up short, crimson eyes wide as she quickly glanced over his frame for any obvious sign of injury. There were no gaping wounds, no blood, nothing broken that she could see, and that alone was enough to make Ktulu breathe a sigh of relief. "Apollo." His name fell from her lips as she closed the distance between them, stopping only when her chest was pressed against his own. Ktulu reached, draping her neck across the stallion's back.
Gods, how she had missed him.
It had been so long since she'd seen him, spoken to him, touched him, that his wellbeing hadn't immediately come to mind when the world had begun to fall apart. He always managed to come back into her life in the moments when she needed him most and, once again, there he was. She squeezed her eyes closed to shut off the tears that stung them as the weight of fear, grief, and guilt from living -- from being happy that someone she love was alive -- flooded her body.
Ktulu did not trust her voice to be steady, so even when Apollo voiced his shock at her arrival she remained quiet and nodded, the motion causing her cheek to rub against the dark fur on Apollo's back. She didn't know where here was, but as long as Apollo was there with her she felt that they would be okay. They had been through hell and back together, they had invaded herds, had led herds, suffered loss and experienced joy together. If they could overcome everything that Helovia and its gods threw at them then they could certainly overcome the land that Kaos had thrown them haphazardly into.
"I don't know." She finally murmured when he asked about Eytan. "...he was't here when I woke up, and I can't feel him." Ktulu rested her chin on Apollo's back and stared at the horizon. "Apollo .... he killed Phi."
And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
Warm.
She was so warm. Apollo relished in it, pressing himself as close to Ktulu as he dared. As she wrapped her neck across his back, he did the same, reciprocating the action as well as he could manage in his current state. Honey-brown eyes slid closed, willingly drowning himself in her warmth, in her presence, in the sound of her voice and the scent that clung to her; sandalwood and a musk that was distinctly Ktulu. It reminded him of days long passed, of living in dark forests like mercenaries, like running and dancing and playing in the fields so close to the heavens...
For awhile they were silent, simply thriving in one another's company. Apollo was content with it. He rubbed his cheek against Ktulu's spine, eyes half-lidded and tracing the pattern of gold weaving upon her back with his gaze. She was so warm against the chill of his feverish skin... And she was very much alive. When she breathed in, he did the same. When she released it, so did he. Nothing else mattered save this moment, this moment of having Ktulu all to himself, greedily, letting the Constrictor shield him from the world just as she had shielded him so many times in Helovia. Through trials, through tribulations, through war and death, through life and sun, they had always found their way back to one another, and this moment was no different.
Somehow they had found each other. They were together, amidst a strange land that neither one of them recognized, stripped of their magic and of their precious companions, but at least they weren't alone. At least they had each other. For now, that would be enough. It had to be enough.
Eventually Ktulu began to speak, her soft voice cast at a trembling murmur. Strong Ktulu. Proud Ktulu, headstrong and brash... But she was only mortal. No matter how strong, how proud, how fierce he knew she could be, she was only mortal, and like all mortal things, they could hurt. Hearing her speak of Eytan, that he was not with her when she had awoken, sounded so similar to his own experience with waking up without Zola at his side. It made his chest ache in a way that had nothing to do with his fever, and he swallowed thickly, maw parting to speak, when Ktulu spoke again.
'Apollo... He killed Phi.'
Oh.
Oh.
Ophelia. Ktulu's twin sister. She had been struck down by Kaos, along with so many others. They had never stood a chance. The usurper had struck them all down without any effort, followed shortly by the Gods themselves. Forsaken, they were, and for all he knew, only he and Ktulu had made it out alive. Was it a blessing? It sure as hell didn't feel like it. The guilt of surviving was a strong one, but at least they had survived together.
"I... I know," he muttered, his voice warbled and raspy, and the Merciful suddenly realized how very thirsty he was, his throat raw from his previous screaming, "I know. I... I'm so, so sorry, Ktu. I'm so sorry." Apologies meant little in the face of grief. He understood. Once more he began to rub his cheek tenderly along the Constrictor's back, hoping that such a simple ministration would soothe the terrible ache of her battered heart. "I'm here, though. I'm here for you. With you. I-I won't leave you alone, Ktu. I promise." With his last breath, he would not leave her. Not again. Never again.
Clearing his throat, Apollo shuddered, shivering from the cold of his illness. "We n-need to figure out where we are. And go from there. This... Whatever this place is, I wasn't expecting anything like it. Maybe we can find Zola and Eytan, too." They could try, at least. Despite his words, Apollo found himself reluctant to leave Ktulu's warm embrace. He sighed, a long, breathy sound, and allowed his eyes to fully drop closed, wrapped around the monochromatic mare. "Whenever you're ready..."
Maybe he was a little selfish. Maybe he didn't want to leave her touch, her warmth, her scent... But standing around amidst a beautiful prairie would bring them no closer to the answers they so desperately sought.
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am
KTULU and i've moved farther than i thought i could and i've missed you more than i thought i would
The contours of Apollo's body felt so familiar and natural to her that it was hard to believe the two of them had never shared any physical intimacy. She focused on his steady breathing, on the warmth that his body radiated. On the scent of pine and earth that clung to his flesh and reminded her of a time when they had called the forest their home. He had been a healer then and she the leader of a band of mercenaries. They had both been children, idealistic and driven by a desire to make the world around them a better place. They had grown in the time since then, both of them. They had drifted apart, had argued, fallen in love, then drifted apart again, but the seas of fate always brought them back together again.
His presence alone was enough to drive away the grief and fear that plagued her heart, and so she clung to him, selfishly soaking up every bit of comfort she could from him. As she stood there, however, listening to his breathing and feeling his warmth she began to realize that he was too warm. When he exhaled and their chests were not touching for the brief period before he inhaled again her own chest felt damp. She was no healer by any means, but Ktulu knew a fever when she felt one and the comfort that she had felt moments before was replaced by worry. Sickness had a way of ravaging one's body, gradually stealing away one's life force.
Had she been reunited with Apollo only for whatever sickness he had to slowly steal him away from her again?
Before she could voice her concerns he was apologizing for the loss of Ophelia. While that did not make her feel better his promise to never leave her again did. "I missed you so much, Apollo." She whispered against the dark fur on his back, though she thought he knew her well enough to already know that she had missed him.
Reluctantly, and very slowly, Ktulu withdrew from Apollo's embrace, stepping back to look around the praire they both stood in. While she didn't know where they were every bit of her instinct told her that they were not in the Rift. This land was far too beautiful. "This isn't the Rift." She finally said, her crimson gaze returning to meet Apollo's. "When the gods pulled the Rift lands through to Helovia they were sick. Diseased. This ... can't possibly be the same place. It doesn't feel the same. It doesn't smell the same."
So where exactly were they?
Ktulu's expression turned doubtful when Apollo suggested that maybe they could find Eytan and Zola. She didn't want to dash his hopes, but she was not one to typically cling to unlikely hopes. "I can't sense Eytan." She said, her tone hollow. "Our bond has been broken before, but I could still sense him." Her voice trailed for a moment before she spoke again. "Remember the endless night? When the sun would not rise... I could not communicate with Eytan then, but I could still sense him ... feel him. Here .... there's nothing." Had he died? Had he been thrown into the Rift without her? And if he had would he be able to survive on his own after living all of his life under her care and protection?
Probably not.
She could not let her mind travel down that path, not yet, and so her full attention returned to Apollo. "Before we do anything we need to find someone to heal you." Ktulu said, concerned over the feverish look in his eyes and the sweat on his skin. "You're sick ...." And I can't let sickness take you away from me like it took Kota.
And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
The dark lady's admittance, a softly spoken 'I've missed you so much, Apollo,' warmed his heart in a way that had nothing to do with fever or sickness. Soulful, honey-brown eyes grew soft with sentiment, rubbing his cheek once more against the gilded hairs of her back. She had missed him... She had missed him. The knowledge was empowering. It was humbling. It was so much more than he could ever put into words.
Their history was not a juvenile thing. Since the day he had arrived in Helovia, Ktulu had been apart of his life. For years, their histories had been intertwined, woven together like stitches upon a tapestry. Worn, frayed, stained by the passage and stresses of time, but no less precious and beautiful.
"I... I've missed you too," he murmured in response, eyes inadvertently falling closed as he relished her warm embrace, "So much." And he had. Wholly, completely. Perhaps not fully aware of it at the time, but right now, with her so close that he could smell her scent, feel her warmth, hear her voice, Apollo couldn't imagined how he had survived his life without her by his side.
The past, however, would get them nowhere. Relishing in once was would bring them no closer to their answers, nor would it help the Merciful stallion's deteriorating condition. Eventually Ktulu pulled away, and even though it was only because they needed to part in order to progress, Apollo found himself yearning for her warmth already. Still, he let her go, listening to the wise words that poured from her lips.
This wasn't the Rift? Turning his head, the monochromatic overo regarded the prairie once more with a more careful eye. She was right. Nothing about this land seemed to display the same warped, diseased state that the Rift lands had carried. Nothing about it was the same. This was perfect, heavenly. Peaceful. "Then I suppose all we can do is find out where we are... But we can't give up on Eytan and Zola. They have to be out there somewhere." Severed bond or not. Apollo wouldn't think of a world where Zola was gone from his grasp forever. He couldn't. He just couldn't.
The concern that Ktulu directed to him made the stallion swallow hard in affection. He was sick, but not dangerously so. Not yet. Not like with Lakota, when help had come far too late. Reaching out, Apollo brushed the velvet of his muzzle against Ktulu's own, breathing deep. "I'll be alright," he soothed, hoping to ease her worry, "I'm not that sick yet. A fever and chills, some aches and pains, but... It could be worse. I can still walk and travel. If we could find some meadowsweet or yarrow, maybe some elderberry, that will do the trick to lower my fever. Meadowsweet and yarrow are both stemmy herbs with tiny yellow flowers that bloom on top, and elderberry is more leafy, with little white flowers."
Cutting himself off, Apollo smiled somewhat sheepishly. Living the life as a medic for so many years had its perks, especially right now, when ironically, he might need it the most. Bumping his nose against the Constrictor's once more, he pulled away, letting out a long, strained breath as he shivered from the breeze. "Help me keep an eye out for them, and we can try to find out where we are. There has to be something or someone around to let us know..." They couldn't be the only ones in this prairie, or this world. It seemed too vast.
Only when Ktulu was ready did Apollo scan the horizon and pick a direction, his pace slow, but far easier now that he could fall into step beside the dark lady, drawing closer to brush his side against her own with every step that they took. It was easier to walk, easier to face the reality of what had happened, now that he wasn't alone. Ktulu instilled in him a strength that he had no idea that he had possessed. Like fighting Confutatis amidst a mid-summer's storm, he would press on, fighting against his weaknesses and uncertainties for the hope of a better tomorrow.
Hope. It was far more than just a word. It was the dawn after night, rains after a drought. Life after death. Apollo clung to it, just as he would forever cling to Ktulu. With her, and hope, his future seemed far more bright.
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am
He watched them from the shadows, wraith-like and silent as he listened, silver eyes glowing in the near-darkness. Reichenbach was rarely cautious of strangers within the boundaries of Denocte: theirs was a city that prospered from trade, a city birthed from all shapes and sizes, home to foreign and native. The symbiosis of new and old blood was what made them different, what made Denocte one of the most sought after places to live within the vast expanses of Novus.
Something hovered in the air between these two though, a companionship birthed from... what? A joint trauma? Blood? This was why he watched, silent and invisible within the shadows that curled around him so lovingly. The King of Thieves had never intended to lead The Night Court, yet here he was: as roguish and jovial as he had always been, only holding hundreds of lives within his hands now rather than a scattered few.
There has to be something or someone around to let us know..
He'd always liked making entrances.
"And so there is"
Came his musical voice, a low baritone humming with humour. The Night King cast aside his shadows, melting from a copse of trees at the side of the Prairie, dancing upon his neat, hard hooves with vigour. Time had passed as the two had spoken, allowing Calligo to drape the sky with her darkness, the evening star winking brightly above them as Reichenbach arrived a few feet from the pair. The scent of night jasmine and woodsmoke arrived with him, mahogany skin gleaming in the evening light, his wild ebony curls framing that ruggedly handsome face chaotically.
Reich grinned, warmth emanating from him as if he were hot coals - not just flesh and bone. He dipped his head, lowering his lashes slightly as he wiped all thoughts of the last month out of his mind.
"Reichenbach, citizen of The Night Court, at your service."
KTULU and i've moved farther than i thought i could and i've missed you more than i thought i would
Apollo was right, the only thing they could do was try to figure out where they were aside from not the Rift. What she wasn't so sure about what that Eytan and Zola were lost somewhere in ... wherever they were. She had never before had her bond with the bear severed completely, and the complete detatchment that she felt now only made her assume that they would be separated forever. Of course she couldn't voice that concern to Apollo, at least not yet. Maybe once they figured out where they were and he got better they'd be able to have a frank discussion about the very real possibility that their companions had been lost forever.
The assurance that he would be alright did little to appease Ktulu. Lakota had said the same thing at first, but her illness progressed to the point where healers could no longer help her. Even the God of the Earth turned down her request of being healed, saying it wasn't within his power. How, after that, could she just believe that Apollo was going to be okay when she'd believed Lakota would at first?
"You know I'm not a healer, Apollo." The dark mare replied when her companion started listing off plants that could help. She knew how to fight, she knew where to hit someone to inflict the most pain, she knew how to cripple, she knew where to stab with her horn to increase the liklihood of her opponent bleeding out, but she did not know how to heal or what plants could be used to heal. Still, he explained what they were looking for, though to Ktulu most flowers looked the same. How he could tell them apart and know of their uses and benefits was beyond her, though she could admit that it would be good to at least know a little bit.
Ktulu couldn't help but grin in return when Apollo cut himself off and smiled. She had always thought that his sheepish smile was cute, but had never voice that opinion, and she didn't then, either. Her grin faded, gradually morphing into a frown when the breeze made Apollo shiver and she was reminded that he was sick. "Yeah..." She agreed, though the word felt heavy with her impending sense of dread, but there was little that she could do besides try to identify the plants he had described as they looked for their companions and tried to figure out where they were.
The pair had only taken a few steps when a stallion seemed to melt out of the shadows before them. Ktulu, being the more aggressive of the two and the healthier of them, immediately stepped in front of Apollo, effectively putting herself between him and the unknown stud. It was then that she tried to call upon her magic, to have it ready and waiting just in case his smile and warmth were a lie, and felt nothing. Crimson eyes widened as she realized that not only had she been stripped of her companion, but her magic as well. "Fuck." The single curse was muttered under her breath, but there was no time to dwell on it then.
"Reichenbach, citizen of The Night Court, at your service."
"Night Court?" Ktulu caught herself repeating. "What's the Night Court? Where are we? Do you have a healer?"
And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
Apollo knew his companion well enough by now, through all of their shared years of triumph, failure, joy, and sadness, to know when she was troubled. Ktulu was exuding that very atmosphere, the subtle hint of uncertainty that she, normally so poised, so defiant, rarely possessed. The overo stallion knew exactly why she doubted herself when usually she was full to the brim of virile confidence. He would be a fool not to know. Lakota... Still, he did not speak of it. He would not speak of it, not here. Not know.
"I know," he soothed, stretching out his neck to reach out and brush his muzzle against her shoulder, against the warmth of her flesh, "I'm not asking you to be." Oh, he knew where Ktulu's strengths lay. She was a warrior, capable of challenging the mightiest of foes and bending them to their knees. Where he was gentle and timid, she was fierce and opinionated. They were polar opposites, but they worked. Somehow, Gods willing, they worked, and he would trade her for no one.
They traveled, side by side, through the bountiful prairie, watching as the sun dipped further beyond the horizon and the skies changed into the inky blackness that came with night. With the missing warmth of the sunlight, however, the chills increased, but Apollo did his best to remain strong for Ktulu. She was distressed on his behalf, and he loathed the fact that his own inadequacy, his own poor health from the strain of what they had both just cruelly endured, was the culprit. So long as he did not grow worse before finding herbs or assistance, he wasn't worried. Not yet. Whatever ailed him, be it the shock of what they had witnessed, the passage through the Portal into this new land, or the severed connection between he and Zola, it was not yet severe enough to render him unable to walk, or talk, or fend for himself. That was when he would grow concerned.
When a stallion seemed to form from the very shadows themselves, the Merciful stallion balked, jerking his head at attention, ears swiveling forward in alarm. He gave a snort, tired, lethargic, honey-brown eyes peering through the darkness to better see the male who had abruptly joined them. The smell of jasmine and wood smoke filled the air, reminding Apollo briefly of passing gypsies, before his vision was stolen with the form of Ktulu as the Constrictor bodily placed herself between he and the other stallion.
He remained silent during their silent standoff, watching the muscles in Ktulu's back bristle at attention, ready for a fight, ready to defend him. It warmed his chest, but Apollo could see that the way in which the unknown stud held himself that he was posing no threat. No, if he had wanted to harm them, he would not have called out upon slinking from the shadows. He knew well what those of ill-intent were capable of, and nothing of this earthy fellow screamed that alarm.
"Ktu..." Apollo once more soothed, albeit more vocally. "It's alright." Or so he hoped. Once more, he reached out, allowing his lips to trail along the Constrictor's rump and up her spine as he stepped his way along her side, so that they once more stood side by side. His gaze sought out her own fierce crimson, the honey-brown depths of his gaze pleading, imploring. Let me stand with you. Not behind you. Always at your side. Nowhere else. he wanted to say, words that were intimate and meant only for her ears, but they were words he could not bring himself to utter. Not in the company of a stranger.
Allowing his gaze to focus once more on the rich bay gentleman before them, who named himself Reichenbach, the monochromatic stallion dipped a cerulean horn in his direction. A nod of acknowledgement, accompanied by a weak, strained smile. For now, he would allow Ktulu to handle the conversation, at least until they learned a bit more as to where they were.
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am
