For the better part of a few hours, Mollianne busied herself with getting reacquainted with her room, seeing that so little of it had changed. It would take her mind off of more depressing things (mostly) so that she could focus her energy and attention on reminiscing and recalling some of the fonder points of her younger life, and in truth, a lot of what she found reminded her as much of her home with Vireyda and her foster family as much as it did her time spent with Kaine. She had apparently brought a lot of stuff to his fortress when he had the room made, and it suddenly made a little more sense why Kaine had little interest in her 'junk'; there was quite a bit of it. Her mood improved over time, and she indulged herself in recovering little things here and there that she had forgotten about or thought she'd never see again. It was bittersweet, but then, most of her memories were.

At some point, Mollianne found herself on her stomach atop her bed, having retrieved an old coloring book that Vireyda had given her when she was ten. It had been her favorite one, full of all kinds of fantasy creatures and dragons and mermaids and things, and most of the pages had already been colored on (most of them very poorly), but there were a few that had been missed and were readily available. She had no small assortment of crayons and things at her disposal, and these were spread out over the top end of her bed where she lay. Idly kicking her feet in the air behind her, Mollianne busied herself with coloring the details of a vicious-looking dragon that had both foreclaws raised in an aggressive stance. She chose black, possibly for certain reasons, and was much more adept than her younger self had been, taking in the practice of shading and lightening so that it wasn't all just one solid mass of color and could be shown some depth.

On a small side table next to her bed was a cute little wind-up music pedestal of some kind, and she couldn't actually remember where she got it from; rather than any sort of person or animal or other visual depiction to go with it, there was a simple round base with what looked like a big splash of water frozen in time, as though something large had either come out of, or dropped into, a body of water at high impact. It was adorable and unique, and she wasn't bothered too much about not remembering where it came from. It looked good where it was, and that was satisfying enough for her. The door to her room remained slightly opened, as though she'd not remembered to close it or left it ajar intentionally, for whatever reason.

She looked pretty happy, all things considered.

The little shadow dragon watched Molly from his perch onhigh atop the wardrobe, giving the siren her space for the most part. It had curled up and had it's chin rested on the edge of the piece of furniture so it could look down at her easily enough without having to move it's head.

It remained like this for the duration of Molly's colouring of the dragon, curiously watching the act like it had never seen such a thing before. But when the sound of a door opening and closing out in the hall caught it's attention, it lifted it's head and glanced toward the ajar door. Footsteps approached.

Whether Mollianne hears the exterior door and accompanied footsteps isn't clear, since she continues right on coloring without obvious heed; she could be ignorant, too, and getting lost in her own little world is, by and large, not at all an uncommon thing.

What she does do, however, is put the black crayon down to exchange for an orange and a red one, because the dragon's eyes needed to be the color of flames if it wanted to continue being as fierce as she envisioned. It was very important.

Without looking back and still focusing on making sure she gets the colors and shading right, Mollianne calls back to Darkpyre, fully aware that he's in there (and the fact that it occasionally made those cute little dragon noises was pretty clear it didn't want to be forgotten about, either). "Does he know you are staying here with me, by the way?" she asked. "He seemed to care about you a lot, I would think he might get worried if you spent too much time here. Does he ever worry you might get lost and not come back?" There may have been a very small implication in that last statement, but it's said in such an innocent way that it probably wasn't intentional.

The littleshadow dragonet stood and stretched, shaking himself out a little before it hopped off the wardrobe and swooped down to land on the bed next to Molly. It had a little bit of a hard time walking over the bedding, having to lift it's legs high to step over the little ridges of fluffy blanket to get up to where the colouring book was located.

It made a few conversational chirps and trills, but ultimately it's attention fell on the picture that the siren had been working on colouring. It looked at the image, then back to Molly, then back to the image again, before it tried to immitate the pose as best it could.

Mollianne laughs, a short little sound. "Yes, just like that," she said, pointing at the picture. "That will be you when you get bigger!"

The footsteps halted outside the door with the ocean shore relief on it. He was fully aware that she had stayed, where she had gone and who she had spoken to. Not that he much cared. Salazar wasn't going to do anything too stupid.

"Mollianne? I didn't expect you to still be here." He did, but he didn't need to convey that.

He reached out and pushed the ajar door open with a hand and peered in, seeing Molly comfortably idling away some time with some of her old things.

Mollianne looks up from the dragonet to Kaine, but doesn't remove herself from her stomach upon the bed, one taloned foot still lifted idly on the air. The sweater she's wearing hoenstly looks like it was probably just a little small on her, but a little tummy never hurt anyone. "Yep, I am still here," she said, offering him a happy little smile that he probably didn't want. "You can shoo me out whenever you need me to go, but I did not have anything else better to do."

She turns her attention back to the page she's coloring, and goes back to it. "It is a waste to be given a room and not make use of it," she continued, using alternating red and orange for the second of the dragon's eyes. "I could have been looking around, I guess, but like I mentioned when we were talking last night, it is rude to take liberties in a home when you are a guest. Plus you probably have secrets and things all over the place, and I do not want to stumble into any of those by accident." Her tone is conversational and innocent.

He leaned against the door jam, arms crossed, watching the siren neutrally.

"If I have a secret hidden here, you wouldn't find it. There is nothing you can access that you shouldn't access, I assure you."She really hadn't changed much since they were kids, the scene before him felt like he was looking back in time.

"Find anything you'd forgotten existed?" He asked, making a slight gesture toward the room with a hand. "I imagine there was quite a lot you'd left here."

With another smile, she nodded, but didn't look up as she attempted to finish the other eye before pulling her attention away. She could multitask at least a little bit, sometimes. "Lots of stuff," she said. "And even some stuff I did not know I had. That music box on the table right there..." Her right wing flips up a little ways, as if pointing. "I do not remember if you got that for me or if it was from someone else. But I really like it."

She stops coloring, then, seemingly pleased with her stopping point as she puts the crayons down and gives Kaine her attention again. "I found some of my old stuffed animals, too, and even the clothes that do not fit me anymore are still here." A thought crossed her mind as she said that, then, but she didn't know the right way to ask him of it, so she abstained for now. "You really did leave everything pretty much the way it was when I was last here. I had forgotten how much of my things I brought from the Tower over here when you had this room set up for me." Her smile changes to a grin. "Anyone would have thought I was moving out."

"Fairly certain the music box was from Rose." He wasn't entirely certain, it seemed to be like something his sibling would do. He would rather attribute it to her, than his mother.

"I have a few questions I was hoping you could answer for me, since you don't have anything else going on, I figure now would be a good time." His gaze flicked to the little shadow that was sitting on the bed with the siren, then back to Molly.

"I'd like you to tell me what all you know about this other home. The Cleft. Anything and everything you can think of."

That request stopped her cold, and one could literally see the happiness melt clean off her face. She doesn't frown, specifically, but it's very apparent that concern for his motives with that question as the spearhead has wiped clean her good mood. She takes a second to get up off her stomach, folding her wings in against her back from where they'd been laying flat on either side of herself as she resituates to sit on the side edge of her bed, feathered legs hanging over it, and gives him her full attention.

"That is kind of a broad question, Kaine," she said. "It is an entire world, and there is probably not a lot I could say about most of it, since I stick to one particular part of only one country, usually." She considered her words, attempting to be explanatory but also cautious. "It is not a very big place, really. But it is a very strange place. The landscape changes a lot from place to place, and seasons function one way, in one place, but then change drastically a mile down the road. The city where I live and work is covered in eternal night, for example, and has no 'daytime.' But if you go a short distance south along the highway, all that goes away and it has a normal cycle again.

"Magic also functions differently there," she continued. "We do not use 'mana crystals' or have magic inherent to us while we are there. It comes from a different source."

"A different source? What kind of source?" He asked with a carefully schooled expression on his face as he pushed off from the door frame and casually strolled into the room without asking if it was okay. He moved till his back was to the wardrobe then he leaned back against it.

"Tell me a bit more about that." He had found quite a bit of information on these strange little pocket realms, in all honesty he sometimes mused if his own domain would ever be seen as one of them.

She eyed him for a moment before speaking up again, but her direction changed. "I do not mind telling you all this," she said, keeping her expression level, "but can I at least ask why you want to know? If we had not had the conversation we did in the parlor, it would not be as big a deal, but given what you have told me so far, I feel like I deserve to at least know that much." There's an ounce of hesitation in her voice, as if possibly feeling like questioning him would be seen as talking back in some capacity.

Kaine tilted his head, observing Mollianne in a critical manner. He gestured with one hand as he replied.

"You live there. If I'm going to visit that place I need to know fi it will have an adverse affect on my abilities, because if it did, it could be dangerous for anyone or thing nearby." It was a partial truth at best, but that nugget of truth was enough for him to convey the words with a certain level of sincerity.

"You seem hesitant to tell me about that place. Why is that?" Those last three words were more of a sly purr than a question, his expression conveying that he was fully aware that she wasn't exactly comfortable with him asking these questions.

For all that she couldn't really defy Kaine in any major way, it didn't mean she couldn't be without her reservations. "For the same reason you just said," she countered. "I live there. You literally told me that you seek out worlds with high-ranking beings so that you can prove you are stronger than they are. It is within my concern that you could look for something similar in my world, too, which could upset a certain balance in the process." She watched him carefully, but she wasn't really all that tense or even nervous, really. It was an odd mixture of curiosity with an edge of concern associated with it. "I cannot say that is what you will do or that it is what will happen, but considering our conversation, you can at least admit that my reservations are warranted to some small degree."

"I said that I would tell you what you wanted to know, one way or another," she added, "and I intended to do so, regardless of your reasoning. I just feel like I deserve to know the basis of your reasoning for it, considering it is, as you said, my home."

"Hrm. I was rather hoping to keep it as a surprise, but if you would rather not, that is fine too." He looked down at her, as if asking if she was certain that she wanted to know.

His gaze was squarely focused on her, his attention briefly falling on the little red feather in her one wing. That hadn't been there before. That was new. He stored that observation away for later. At the moment he had other things to ask about.

She looked right back up at him, no shyness present at that time. "I am not really at a point right now where I want any more surprises, Kaine," she said, maybe a bit warily. "I do not really know or care what your intentions are, but if it involves my home, I would at least like to know so I can be prepared for whatever they are, should they involve me in some way."

"Well then, you mentioned the place would take things from elsewhere and make it a part of it. Stealing people and places. That means it must be very good at adapting to foreign energies. That can be useful." He pushed off from the wardrobe and took a few steps closer to Molly.

"So knowing how the magic works at least on a general basis would be advantageous and save me a great deal of time and effort."

At this point, Mollianne frowns. It was clear that Kaine wasn't going to give her as straight of an answer as he knew she wanted, so she might as well just stop trying and give him what he wanted, so she could deal with the fallout later. "The magic comes from a different form of 'mana' in the Cleft," she said. "Spirits grant people the use of this mana and act as intangible conduits. They, themselves, are born from a large tree in a separate realm that is the foundation for that mana, and sustains all the realms that make up the Cleft. The part I live in is known as the 'Middle Realm,' but there is also an 'Upper Realm' and an 'Underworld'' You can probably make your assumptions as to how those relate to other worlds of similar premise."

"And I am assuming, that this tree you speak of is likely located in the upper realm?" he asked interestedly. It always seemed like things of import were always located in an obnoxiously bright and holy place, at least if other places were anything to go by.

"Is there a physical connection between the realms?" He idly reached out to grip the leading edge of her wing with the red feather, attempting to lift it to get a better look at the anomaly.

Given, at least, that Kaine's approach was allowing her to become aware of him more, she didn't react quite as strongly to the sensation of his hand on her wing, especially since it was a grip and not just a light touch. The feather in question looks exactly like the other ones as far as physical appearance, save for the fact that it is colored a bright red, almost like it belonged within the wings of a phoenix rather than her own radiant down. Considering where it is placed, it is one of the larger of those feathers that make up that wing's inner lining.

She doesn't make any attempts to pull away or even resist in any way, her face still watching Kaine's the whole time. If it bothered her, she didn't show it. "It is," she admitted. "And no, there is not any form of physical travel between the realms," she said. "Only a select few know how to, or even can, go between the Upper and Middle Realms, and I am not one of them. And as far as I know, the Underworld is only for the deceased."

Kaine made no effort to hide what it was he was looking at. "This is new. What happened?" The question came off as more of a demand for an explanation rather than an actual question as he manhandled her wing, but not overly roughly. She'd never mentioned anything about red being a colour change that would happen, just brown to white.

"I told you that I hurt my wing," she said, still not averting her eyes or changing her tone. "It's just an eyesore until it goes away." She left out the fact that it was very, very unlikely that it would ever go away, but despite being just short of an impossibility and not-at-all in her hands to decide whether it did go away or not, she wasn't absolutely, technically lying.

He released her wing, giving her a skeptical look. Just another thing to look into, he supposed. "I see." For some reason the way she was behaving was starting to get under his skin, though there was no way in the hells he would let that fact show.

He shifted from standing before Molly to sitting next to her on the edge of the bed. "Any idea who the people are that have access to the upper realm?" If she wasn't going to be open about the odd feather, he would continue asking questions about the Cleft.

"Yeah," she said. She was actually pretty proud of herself, internally, for being able to keep a straight face through all of that. It was miserable talking about it, and if she hadn't built up that bastion of happiness from earlier to feed from, she probably would have caved at some point. "There is a tribe of people that live in the Upper Realm that are basically caretakers of the Tree, and they are the only ones who can come and go freely between their realm and ours, at least that I know of. But they are extremely reclusive and do not do so unless it is heavily warranted, such as during times of danger."

Kaine turned, and locked his pale gaze on Molly "Do you know any of them by chance? You always struck me as the sort to get involved with adventurers and other do-gooders."

He could easily see her having been one of those stalwart hero sorts, had she never been involved with him. But no, here she sat on a bed in an empty fortress because she felt she had no other choice. A gloomy little bird in a cage of her own making.

It's only at this point that she hesitates. She'd been fine up until this point. Well, not 'fine,' specifically, but 'capable.' She was able to weather whatever Kaine was leveling at her. She was doing a much better job than she usually did. But the upfront thought of something happening to Ambience, and her being the indirect result of it, was a really heavy blow that broke through her resolve just enough to draw on some of that hesitation.

Why do you keep doing this to yourself?

Why are you letting him do this to you?

You cannot be happy because you keep finding reasons to be miserable. All of this is your fault.

It is like you thrive on being a wretched sump of existential anguish!

Do something about it!

All of those thoughts were clear and direct, and yet, simultaneously ignored. Arguing with herself didn't make it any better, any easier, any less painful. She couldn't fight against something she didn't understand. He was asking her for information, and she needed to tell him what he wanted to know. She didn't have a choice. She could hear herself crying out for logic and reason, but couldn't find anywhere to apply it. It was like the capacity for something so basic and rooted in common sense just... wasn't there.

"I do," she said, with a slight exhale through her nose. "I have a friend who came from the same tribe. We might not be friends anymore, though. I hurt him and have not seen him since." Despite her initial pause, she never actually looked away from Kaine's face, letting him know that she was still as attentive as ever she'd been. "Something is also wrong with him at the moment, and he cannot go back right now, anyway. So he is stuck in the Middle Realm."

Now that was useful. He could work with that. He laced his hands behind his head and flopped back so that he was laying across the foot of the bed.

"Hrm. I could probably fix what is wrong. Whatever it may be." He speculated idly out loud. Rarely did he ever come across a problem that he couldn't solve, even if it took some time. It was something Daemokus had taught him when he was barely even a teen.

"I could fix it." He nodded to himself, sounding more assured. "Could even resolve whatever problems you have with him." He speculated off handedly.

Mollianne was getting wrecked inside. Why did this keep happening? She was... literally having a really good day. Everything was great. She had her memories of better times, a cute little dragonet watching over her. Even the nightmare from the previous night wasn't a big deal anymore (and they rarely were, anyway, given how quick she was to bounce back from things). She was just coloring in a book on her bed, surrounding by happy things, happy memories, happy situations.

And then Kaine just... he just...

He is going to take everything away from you. The little things you even had left. You knew this. Why are you surprised?

Is it really 'love' you feel for Kaine? What is it, really?

Why couldn't he just..? Why couldn't she just..?

WHY!?

He does not love you. You are a tool to him. You will never be anything else.

And you are okay with this. You know you are. You have to be okay with it. What other choice do you have?

You. Took. Him. Back.

You did this.

Mollianne looks like something is seriously wrong with her. Her left eye twitches, and then twitches again. Her wings begin to shiver and tremble. She doesn't say anything at all; a flurry of all manner of everything can be seen going on behind her eyes, like some kind of massive battle taking place somewhere in the recesses of her skull, or possibly elsewhere. But all she does is stare straight ahead through those wide, shining aquamarine eyes, never blinking even a single time.

It goes without saying that Kaine doesn't get a response to his offer(s).

The little shadow was still sitting over by the colouring book and kept glancing back and forth between Molly and Kaine with an anxious little shift from foot to foot. It was evident that the dragon was picking up on the sudden tension and in an instant, he bamphed out of the room in a hurry.

Kaine paused and brought one hand from behind his head and glanced at it with an idle consideration for a long moment before his gaze turned to the silent Molly.

"You wish I was dead, don't you." He said calmly, as if he wasn't at all currently in a vulnerable position directly next to the siren.

"Part of you must. It would only make sense. I've killed you once already. I've pushed you away. I've treated you like a possession. I've given you every single reason to want to leave and never look back. But you don't. If I could break this bond and free you to make another, would you even accept that chance?"

Kaine's words pierced through everything going on like an arrow through a paper target. Everything abruptly vanished, and she only heard his voice. It spoke to her, and the actual words didn't matter. In this state, with her resolve already broken, when she was at her most vulnerable, the sound of his words was not unlike a salve on the wounds she didn't realize were open. She needed it. She had to have it. It was beyond insane, but it didn't change the fact, even a little bit. Ambience didn't matter. What Kaine did to her world didn't matter. He mattered.

"No..." she muttered. She pulled herself up onto the bed, crawling partways across it so she could curl herself up against Kaine's chest and lie there. Her wings stopped trembling. The look on her face was far from readable, but she looked far calmer than she had been just moments ago. "I need you, Kaine. I would never... want anything to happen to you. Even if you looked in my head right now, you would see that I am not lying." She curls up tighter. "Just.. just do not leave me.. please.. I need you."

Kaine looked down at Molly who was now curled up against his chest, his first instinct was to prepare for a dagger to the ribs, his second was to use that desperation of her's to get the information about the one that could get him to the tree, his third instinct, buried under a lot of other things, was to comf-

Before the possibility of that third option had completed forming the door flew open and Salazar and Darkpyre burst in, the younger man looking ready for a fight

Despite the fact Molly had been curled up against him, before the door was even fully open, Kaine had somehow managed to pull away and get to his feet AND summon his sword to his hand from a portal of orange-red and blackness.

Fully summoned his sword. That wasn't something that Kaine tended to do. Not under normal circumstances. The blade looked like it was made of a single piece of jagged black glass with a hint of a red hue and it was now pointed directly at Salazar's throat...no..it was IN Salazar's throat...

"I told you to mind your own business, Salazar."

Mollianne barely had time to register that Kaine's chest was no longer under her head in the one-point-five-seconds that next occurred. Everything changed so rapidly, and when her head connected with the feather bed instead of his shirt, her eyes were treated to quite the mood whiplash playing out in front of them.

Lying sideways on the bed, the siren watched as this new acquaintance burst in to what was likely intended as a rescue attempt on her behalf, and she hadn't even realized Darkpyre had left her room until she saw the dragonet with Salazar in that moment. Kaine's movements were so quick that it was like his son walked into the room and impaled himself on the end of Kaine's weapon. Mollianne just... stared at the scene. Everything she'd just experienced in the last three or four hours all came rushing back. From her post-wakening mental freakout, to Salazar's introduction, to his offer to be her shield, to the happy few hours she had to herself, to Kaine's questionnaire, and then to this. She absolutely could not comprehend how things could change so rapidly, and so devastatingly.

Oh look. You warned him that this was going to happen, and he still came to your aid. He has a bigger death wish than you do.

At least you tried. Good thing you did not allow yourself to get too close, huh?

Kaine said you are not cursed, but people sure do have a hard time staying alive around you. But then, what is one more body on the floor in front of you, anyway?

Mollianne's eyes dilated. Her body began to shake, and she raised her hands to her face, partially obscuring her eyes in the process. She saw the world through the thin slits between her fingers, but at the same time, she wasn't seeing anything, anymore. Her reality began to twist and warp as her own fragile sense of sanity began to crumble, constant screams of 'why' and 'how' reverberating around inside that thick skull of hers. Fleeting thoughts of seeing her own throat on the end of Kaine's sword flashed between everything else going on upstairs, and her body curled itself up the rest of the way into a fetal position upon her bed.

You can blame Salazar all you want for being a hero, but this still has your bloody fingerprints all over it.

You were there. You met him. You drew him out. You brought him here. You.

His blood is on your hands.

But Kaine still has your everlasting love, right? Poor Kaine. Look at everything he has to deal with, because of you.

Mollianne's Soul Gem glowed softly, gently illuminating the space between her chest and the bed where she lay, but she was otherwise silent.

Kaine sneered at Salazar as a line of black ichor started to form around the blade a hissing sound starting as curls of smoke rose around embedded in the younger man's neck.

Kaine glanced back at Molly then back to Salazar. "Not in here, Idiot." he growled irritably and abruptly kicked his son back, off the blade and out the door into the hallway before he prowled after him.

The last thing he wanted was for Mollianne's room to be scarred by Salazar's caustic blood, she seemed overly fragile enough as it was and he did not need her having a breakdown every time she went to her room.

He was annoyed. What did the boy even think he could do? Stop him? What a joke. He walked over to Salazar who's throat was already healed, though he was coughing and sputtering a little. Standing over Salazar he looked down at his spawn with disdain and drove the sword into the center of his chest, pinning him to the floor like a bug on display.

"Next time you get the urge to play hero, don't. Or we will find out just how much of you you can regenerate back from. Are. We. Clear? The only reason you still exist is because you will cause me more of a headache dead than alive. Now, apologize for startling her, and then go back to your little hide away." his tone was ice cold as he ripped the sword out of Salazar's chest, the hissing sound more prevalent as fumes curled off the blade.

The little shadow dragon was on the floor next to Salazar after having been knocked off the younger man's shoulder by his ejection from the siren's room. Concernedly the tiny creature looked at his companion as Salazar let out a gargling cry of pain as the blade was ripped out of his chest, each droplet of his blood hissing upon contact with the ground, the shirt that came in contact with the blood, devoured by it's acidic nature.

But Salazar didn't stay down, his chest already healing, he climbed to his feet with an angry glare at his father, wiping blood that had collected at the corners of his mouth and on his chin, with the back of his hand. An angry defiant glare, that immediately changed to a look of concern as his gaze flicked past Kaine toward Molly on the bed in the room he'd been in a moment earlier.

"You okay?" He called to Molly, his tone when directed at her was gentle and concerned. He knew speaking to her might be pressing his luck, but he didn't care.

Mollianne didn't hear any of that, and what little she actually 'saw' was questionable. She shook like a single leaf attached to the end of a thin branch that was caught in a gust of wind, hands splayed over her face and curled up in the tightest possible ball of wings, talons and flesh as she attempted to hide from the world around her. She didn't hear Salazar. She didn't hear Kaine. All she heard was herself, the self she regretted, despised, lamented. She could do nothing about her own problems, let alone anyone else's. She fought back her gut reaction to fall back on her baser instincts, because that had just worked out so well for her, last time; one could only imagine what a focused scream like that would have done in a small room like this, anyway. The only thing she'd be doing is destroying her own stuff in the process, and that wouldn't do anyone any good, least of all her. Against the unmitigated horror playing out inside her head, one small cry rose above the rest, distant and faded, yet somehow clear and poignant at the same time as it called from her heart, a plea from the darkness that threatened to envelop her all elsewhere.

Please... please save me... someone...! Please..!

Her hands fell from her face and fumbled blindly for the amulet at her chest. Salazar's question went unheeded as she furtively grasped at the cold black iron, clenching it and willing it to send her home. Her eyes were wide and open but she saw nothing through their unfocused gaze, and her hands continued to grasp the pendant for everything she had, futile as her efforts were. Silently she begged for it to take her back to the comfort of her dressing room, the darkness of Viorar, the sound of dancing, of music, of raucous merriment two rooms away. Of... of...

"Please..." she suddenly voiced, her tone harsh and raspy. In her state, the tears should have been free-flowing and unrelenting, but yet, there were none. She just didn't have them. "Please..."

Darkpyre climbed up onto Salazar's shoulder as it's companion took a moment to spit blood onto the floor and cast another loathsome glare at his sire.

Salazar, his voice now taking on an angry growl, addressed Kaine. "You could cut me into twelve dozen pieces and I wouldn't give a shit, Kaine. Look what you've DONE to that woman! She's a wreck!" The younger man's tail was lashing back and forth, little droplets of green viscous liquid being thrown from the end of the little cluster of tail spikes from the force.

Kaine leered at his son and pointedly made his way back into Molly's room, the sword vanishing from his hand as he did so. Upon reaching Molly's side, he reached out and placed a hand on shoulder, his gaze on Salazar the whole time, as if he was one hundred percent certain that just that act would calm the siren down, as if to spite his offspring.

"Mollianne." he said in a cool calm tone. "I'm still here. You are fine." Those words probably would have been seen as threatening by just about any other person, and he didn't much care if she was okay or not, but in that moment, he wanted to be a calming effect, simply to rub it in Salazar's face. And so, the words sounded very sincere.

Someone was yelling. Why were they yelling? Why wasn't Kaine's amulet doing anything? Did she break it on the way here? Was she stuck? Forever? Would she ever see her friends again? The nightclub? Her coworkers? Ambience?

In her mind's eye, she suddenly saw the lockscreen on her phone, sitting atop her vanity where she'd left it back in her dressing room. The date, the time, the weather forecast. The picture she set as her background.

Av--

Stop it. Did you already forget?

You did this to yourself. You have to figure it out. Nobody else will save you. But look, Kaine is here!

Kaine's voice was soothing. She couldn't make out the words he was saying. She thought she heard her name, but she couldn't even be sure of that. The warm of his hand on her shoulder spread across her skin, and her trembling subsided mostly, but not entirely. Minor, infrequent shivers yet remained, as though she were cold; her eyes remained wide, open, yet unseeing. She stared a hole into Salazar where he stood in the doorway of her room, looking past him, past the wall beyond him, and probably past that wall, too, into some abyss not visible to any of them.

Please... I cannot take this anymore... please help me..!

And still, she clutched the amulet at her throat, silently begging for it to work. "Please..." she repeated in a harsh whisper, not alluding in any way to what she could be begging for, and leaving it completely up to individual interpretation. "Please..." The chain pulled taut against the back of her neck as she yanked on it almost obsessively, the warmth from Kaine's touch still permeating throughout her body. He calmed her down, and it was visibly indicative as such, but only outside. Elsewhere, the storm continued to rage, unabated, undeterred.

Salazar glared at Kaine, he could tell that Molly was not okay, and his father's presence was not doing what Kaine seemed to want him to think it was doing. He straightened up fully. Defiantly.

"Send her home. She needs out of this place. Can't you tell that much?" He really wished he knew where it was the siren called home, if he'd been there at least once he COULD open a way for her, but as things were, he didn't have the skill or knowledge to be that way out for her.

Kaine sat next to Molly on the bed and put an arm around her shoulders, more in a possessive manner than a comforting one, his eyes locked on his son.

"I'll deal with her as I see fit, Salazar. Now run along and play." the last part was growled and condescending. He was fully prepared to teach his spawn a lesson if he didn't back down and go back to his little sanctuary.

The embrace, actually, does a lot more for her than the hand-on-shoulder managed to accomplish. A bit awkwardly, Mollianne pulls herself halfway up onto Kaine's lap like a needy child, curling up against his chest once more. Her shivering also ceases pretty much entirely as she settles into listening to the beating of Kaine's heart, a familiar rhythm that she seems to inherently seek out whenever she is this close to anyone. It's at this time that she seems to halt her pleas for aid, as well.

However, despite the calming sensations flowing through her from this effect, the siren's eyes remain open, if not quite as wide. Kaine can't really see them too well from where he's positioned, but they are still very haunted, very empty, and very pained. A look into those eyes still tells a very different story of what is going on that can't be seen on the outside, where a massive battle fought on a completely different battlefield is still taking place. Mollianne's taloned feet clench somewhat, as if conscious of the bed under them and not wanting to put holes in her mattress, and she speaks no further.

Kaine made a flicking gesture with his free hand and the door slammed shut in Salazar's face. "Stupid boy." He uttered under his breath as he just sat there, with Molly on his lap, not entirely certain what to do with her now. Clearly she wasn't behaving as she normally did.

"Mollianne? he whispered in her ear, but his gaze was still trained on the door, he could sense that Salazar was still standing out there.

"Can you hear me?"

The sound of the door slamming closed gives her kind of a jolt that seems to bring her at least somewhat back to her senses, and this coupled with the feel of Kaine's breath and the sound of his voice so close to her ear causes her wings to twitch. Some of the lack of focus clears up in her eyes, as they remain upon the closed door for a few moments longer.

This is just how it has to be. I have no choice.

I never did, did I?

She curls up a little tighter as her eyes finally close. "I can hear you," she said in a small voice.

Kaine kept his voice low, as much as he hated the fact he had to baby her, he wasn't interested in her having a complete catatonic meltdown either.

"Do you want to go back to your current home?" he asked simply. The amulet she had used to arrive at the fortress was a one way door. It was designed as such because he was confidant that anyone that came in, he could deal with, if by some chance Molly lost the damn thing again. However, he wasn't interested in intruders being able to LEAVE freely. If someone was going to enter his domain, they wouldn't be leaving without his say so.

Despite the comforting sound of Kaine's heart beating into her ear, Mollianne's eyes opened partly at his offer. Her sense had returned at least enough to give her coherence again, but to say that she was 'whole' was as far as possible from the truth. Her eyes flicker and glance across a couple of different spots in her room as the offer is mulled over in her head; her base desires told her that she didn't actually want to go, but fighting against those were also the screams of her self-preservation and general sanity, as well as side knowledge that she did have obligations in the Cleft.

This coming weekend was one for the clinic to open, and her selfishness could cost people copious amount of pain and suffering at best, or their lives at worst. Ambience had also told her that someone had been looking to sign on as a potential assistant, so she could probably need to track them down before then, too. A man named 'Dugar,' if she remembered correctly; she'd never had an assistant before, and it sounded like it might be a really good idea, especially if she ever found herself in a spot where she couldn't open or host on her own. Her savings was sufficient that she could even afford to pay him, too, even if the clinic itself was not-for-profit.

A host of other needs and whims shot through her head too quickly to capitalize on any thought processes regarding them, and it only resulted in a sigh coming out of her, though she didn't move from where she was. "I want to say 'no'," she said in what was, somewhere way deep down and buried, a very bold-faced lie, "but that is not responsible of me." She sounded like she'd calmed down considerably, at the very least. "Being an adult means having to do adult things." Her voice is still small as she speaks, but she seems okay in most other respects.

"Well then, I suppose it's time for me to see this place you call home now." He said simply and stood, carrying Molly in a bridle carry as a portal ripped open reality rather violently nearby.

Through the portal, Molly's room could be seen, her OTHER room to be precise. He didn't wait for her to reply to his statement, simply stepped through the portal and into The Cleft. He could have sworn that there was resistance to his passing into the place, like that world had tried to prevent his arrival, but ultimately, he lowered Molly's feet to the wood floor of her Cleft-side room.

Mollianne's eyes shoot open fully as she's hoisted up, the suddenness of it not granting her any time or mental capacity to voice an opinion one way or another. And by the time she even realizes what's going on, she's already looking around at the interior of her dressing room within the Evening Star Nightclub.