short chapter, got tired of seeing this in my wip folder, didn't know what else to write uhh...yay lore and backstory? YAY!

x-X-X-x

She awoke with a sudden jerk as a loud scream echoed through the room. She nearly joined in, given the nightmarish surroundings she found herself in. Dana wanted to believe she was somehow still dreaming, this all just had to be a terrible dream. That she really was back with Alex, curled up in his lap in the small hovel they called home, as homely as it could be for orphaned street urchins.

But another scream ripped through the room, and Dana whimpered in fear. She had no idea where she was, and Alex was nowhere in sight. She whimpered again when she realized she was trapped in place. Eerie looking vines were wrapped around her arms and legs. The vines were all around her, shivering and pulsating where they were. In the dim light, Dana could see she wasn't alone.

Almost.

Her bright blue eyes widened in terror as she recognized other children were in the room. They too were trapped in the vines, but their eye sockets were empty, mouths hung agape as more vines slithered out. Their bodies were twisted, battered, and bruised. One had died from their face being ripped, nothing now but a bloodied skull peering out from behind ragged flesh.

Dana wanted to scream. And throw up. And cry. Especially cry. She didn't know what was going on, but she had a sinking feeling she would be next. She was going to die, and never see Alex again. It was truly enough to bring tears to her eyes, and Dana started to wail in despair. Her fate was surely sealed.

Her cries though, ended up not being in vain. Cause almost instantly it seemed, a soothing voice suddenly graced her ears, and the vines trapping her in place relinquished their hold on her. Soft hands pulled her free and and into a warm embrace.

"Shhh, there there," a wispy, angelic voice shushed her, a thin hand petting the back of her head. "There there, darling, there there. Mother's here now."

Dana sniffled and whimpered, but those quickly died down as she was comforted. They fully ceased when she realized, wait, she didn't have a mother. Dana looked up to the face of her rescuer. It was a woman, with long, crimson colored hair, and unnaturally green eyes. She was young, she was beautiful, she a smear of fresh blood across her cheeks.

The being that called herself Mother smiled warmly down at Dana. Centuries later, Dana would still be able to recall how the Mother looked at her, as if the Mother was gazing down her as if she was her newborn child, with maternal love.

"Such a pretty baby," the Mother cooed, still petting the back of Dana's head. Dana whimpered again, and the Mother quickly shushed her once more. "No no, more crying, I'm here now. Mother will keep you safe. Mother won't let anything bad happen to you."

The Mother giggled, and in turn, it felt like the whole room giggled with her. Dana closed her eyes as the Mother hugged her closer, and the young girl prayed to the Divines for help. Someone, anyone who was listening, help her.

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The attackers finally retreated at last. They were foolish, thinking they could break into Her realm, but She showed them how terrible of an idea that was. The tear sewed back, She drifted through the void of Her realm, past the decaying bodies of mortals trapped in living vines, past Her battle weary pets, as they all slithered and limped away to find rest.

In the heart of Her realm, there He would be, still sleeping as soundly as when She had left Him. She couldn't think of anything better right now, than to curl up alongside Her child, and sleep away Her weariness. A well deserved rest, She thought to Herself.

Except-

When She finally arrived-

He was not there. Not in His nest, not hiding away in the rest of His nursery-

But She could smell it. Mortal blood. The smell of the Outside World. A World She had not visited in many, many millennia. It reminded Her of bad times. But if Her child was not was not here, and the remnants of the Outside World were-

Oh no.

Oh no no no no no no no nononononononononono!

NOOONONOOOOONOOOOO!

He had been taken back from where She had gotten Him in the first place.

She threw back her head and screamed. The realm screamed in agony alongside Her. Her Child had been stolen from Her again.

x-X-X-x

Alexander's eyes snapped open as a cold chill ran down his spine. He had only closed his eyes for a few moments, his usual sleeping schedule thrown out of whack since his arrival back in the mortal world. Back in the realm of his Mother, days blinked by in mere hours. It had been two weeks since that blasted Prince had pulled him free from the other realm. Alexander was understandably, exhausted.

But even in the mortal world, he could feel it. He could feel his Mother's wrath, she had finally discovered his disappearance. Childish displeasure flashed in his empty chest. What had taken her so long? Didn't she love him enough to know where he was at all times?

'NO!' his mind screamed at him. 'Don't think like that.'

Don't miss her. Don't long for her. He was finally free. Free of her, at least. Cause despite how tired he was, Alexander could feel it. That idiot might have enslaved him, but Alexander could feel the Mother's influence slipping from him. For the first time in far too long, his mind didn't feel as muddled, his thoughts more clear. More importantly, his memories were coming back to him. He could remember better, without her filling in the blanks for him.

The King had yet to devise a way to safely send him back to the Mother, and if Alexander could freely speak his mind, then he'd beg him, please, don't. Rather, Alexander would beg for the King to find a way to turn him back, make him mortal, or at least subdue the demonic curse on him.

The King at least owed him that much.

Oh, he knew the King. More like, New High King William, formerly Prince. Alexander remembered begging the man for help, remembered stalking away from him when helped was denied. When he set off on that one-boy mission to recuse his sister, or die trying.

Or die trying.

It was the same man though. The same King. After all this time…All these years….And Alexander had this vain hope, that somehow, someway, his sister was alive as well. The same artifact that summoned him from the Mother's realm was the same as the one the King used to seal them away.

But no! No words he could speak! Not after a night he spent verbally lashing out at the Prince as he could not physically harm him. And as punishment, the Prince sealed his tongue, speak only when spoken to, and especially when the Prince demanded it. And ooonly then was it allowed.

Every day Alexander was forced into silence, every day more he hated the Prince. The more he wished he could just…rip that charred arm off the Prince's body and shove it down his throat. The more he wished he could break every little bone in those hands that would grip his hair at night, those slender fingers that would tease his jawline and his throat…

The madness of the Apple was consuming the Prince, and while he got handsy, he yet had done something that would truly deserve to be ripped apart for. But Alexander wanted to kill him anyway. Choke him with the very chain that bound them together. For as much as he longed for his humanity, he was still a monster, and he craved blood. And if it were the blood of his captor?

So be it.

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See you next time (maybe)!