Gryphon was utterly paralyzed as Aiden clung to his mother. Tilly tried to drag them all outside when she heard a slithering voice singing a lullaby in another room. Heels clicked against the floor as the mourning family was greeted by a tall, slender woman. Jet black waves tumbled down to the small of her back, with an odd red fringe. Serpentine eyes flashed brightly, like a gentle breeze on burning coal. She was dressed quite regally, and it seemed ludicrous that someone in her state could cause such destruction, and yet the aura of madness that surrounded her was as good a proof as any. In her arms was a bruised and beaten Nox, but there was something unsettling.
Heat seemed to unnaturally radiate from the two as she entered the room, the Queen's smile widening to a shark-like maw as she purred. "More playthings? Goody." She tossed Nox across the room with a terrible ease. Tilly and Maggie rushed to him, leaving a frozen boy and a furious girl staring down the monster before them.
Without warning, Gryphon let out a pained scream and rushed towards her. The Queen dodged a couple a few punches before growing bored, and grabbed Gryphon by the throat and lifting her off the ground. As Tilly grabbed Aiden out of the way, Maggie tried to help her daughter.
"Please..just let her go. She has nothing to do with this." She pleaded, and the Queen nearly laughed. A soft red glow emanated from the fingers tightly curled around her neck, burning an imprint of her hand. Realizing that reason had no use here, Maggie grabbed a hunting knife off of part of his corpse, prepared to fight to the death.
Maggie had only taken two steps when with a flick of the Queen's free hand, she was engulfed in flames. Finding amusement in their agony, she made sure that the last thing Maggie would see was Gryphon's arm being torn off at the shoulder, her nearly lifeless body tossed like a broken toy.
Tilly sobbed, feeling helpless. She had tried to protect the boys, shielded them from the flames and the horrid sights. "G-get Gryph. Go. Please." Aiden croaked, inwardly praying this was another nightmare, but knowing that it was all too real. Tilly hugged him and kissed his cheek. "Get Nox before she sees." With that, she grabbed the unconsious Gryphon, using a strip torn from her shirt as a tourniquet, and took her to the hideout.
As the Queen took her sweet time in playing with pieces of the dead, Nox blearily woke up as Aiden tried to drag him away. He was dropped when what were once rich brown eyes fluttered open, now a terribly familiar scarlet. "Aiden..get out of here..If I go with her, she wont hurt anyone. Please.." He begged, standing back up.
"Wh..no. No! What the fuck is going on?" Aiden whimpered, not quite sure who, or even what now, he was asking. "Picking my son up from the sitter." The Queen scoffed, sauntering towards the two. "My little Avari, my sweet. I never knew you'd get such a cute little pet." She smirked, putting a clawed finger under Aiden's chin and forcing him to look at her.
Aiden spat in her face, and in a sudden rage, she conjured more flames with the intent of burning him. Nox jumped in the way, taking the full brunt to his chest.
Shreds of burned cloth fell to the floor, Aiden gasping when he realized that Nox himself wasn't burned. "What..what are you?" He said, terrified and confused as he saw exactly what Nox had kept hidden for so many years. Strange tendrils of black twisted and curved, a perfectly symmetrical 'tattoo', or so it appeared.
"GET OUT OF HERE." Nox snarled, but Aiden was frozen. Once again, the Queen made a move to attack the elder boy, and that was the final straw. Nox roared, teeth now sharper, and seeming more animal than human. Strange wings burst from the marks on his back as the aspects of himself that laid dormant for so long finally broke free, destroying what last fleeting hope Nox had of his previous life. The small fires littering the floor around them seemed to explode into a roaring wall of flames. There was no control to his power, bat-like wings covered in something akin to down shielding Aiden.
"Impressive. For a late bloomer, that is." She said with a smile, offering her hand to Nox. "Come. Enough of these games. You are my heir, the prince, and you will behave as such. Understood? I'll even let you keep your precious little human."
He lashed out, and in the blink of an eye caught the Queen off guard and snapped her arm like a twig. She hissed, and he sent a pillar of flame into her face. Snarling like a wild beast, wings ripped from the back of her dress, and the Queen fled to lick her wounds and plan anew.
Nox let his wings drop, the energy going out of him as he realized what had happened. He knew that someday his natural abilities as a Drayek would come to him, but it was supposed to be gradual. In immediate danger, they had manifested and protected him, but now it would be a fight to even begin to control them. These worries were on the back burner, though, Aiden's safety being first and foremost.
His eyes were wide, tears falling to the scorched floor. "You..she was..she was after you...what are you...WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU?" He bellowed, angry, scared, and yet too broken to know if he could even feel. Nox put a hand on his cheek, "Aiden, we need to go. She's gonna come back." Aiden slapped his hand away, muttering. "W-what?"
"Monster..you're a monster like her." Out of his mind, Aiden let the pain of the night fill him. "You lied to us. To me. If you hadn't..weren't...oh god...they wouldn't have died. They wouldn't have fucking died!" He screamed, shoving Nox away. The younger boy cried, the last bit of hope within him destroyed as he felt himself slip away. Every word from Aiden was like a sword running through him, and he deserved it. He deserved every curse and scream, and he stopped trying to reach for Aiden. The words burned him in ways fire never could.
"This is all your fault!" Aiden yelled, "Just..go away!"
The sobs that Nox tried so desperately to hold back wrenched their way from the pit of his throat. His mouth tried to form some sort of word, a phrase, something that could make it all stop, but no sound came out, so he turned, and he ran.
