Most everyone was settling in to their temporary home, and Belle made to slowly gather her four daughters and son around her. She didn’t turn anyone away, and needed to have Dea there as well. She had suppressed herself so much until now she wasn’t even sure she would get through the words before tears fell from her eyes. Shyly Deathbelle found herself sketching their sigil into the ground as she waited for everyone to gather.

She held onto her children tight and waited only a little longer to look up at those gathered. The cavern was dark, not only because of its location but the ash in the sky had not let up. There was darkness everywhere, and she wasn’t even sure what time of day it was anymore. The Empress kept repeating, ”I must be strong for my children and my pack.” Once the children found sleep she would be allowed her own time.

With a heavy sigh she looked up and explained the previous day. ”Your father and I went to see his brother, your uncle Malleus.” She started, knowing that she hadn’t explained their destination previously. How much should she tell her tiny children, and the pack members scattered around? ”They went to to top of the mountain, and the earth began to tremble. The ground was unstable…” She thought she was about to lose her voice as it broke. She reigned in her tears but not for much longer. ”They were both thrown into the volcano.” Her voice was a whisper as her gaze lowered to the ground. The tears in her eyes would no longer be restrained and Deathbelle wept while she tried to hold her children close.

Pestilence' heart felt like it was going to stop beating then and there. Brother? Volcano? Dead? The small pup's legs began to shake and she slumped down further into her mother's hold. Her lavender eyes fixed themselves upon the horizon, staring blankly out towards the volcano that had taken her dad's life. The truth of it was plastered upon her mom's features and in her breaking voice. She wasn't lying - mom never lied. Dad was dead. Gone forever. Her eyes trailed to the sigil her mother had drawn and remained upon it, staring deep into the markings that symbolized her mother and father's unity. She felt detached, the sorrow was there but she couldn't entirely feel it. Pesto wanted to cry but the tears wouldn't come, she felt like she was floating high above them all. Dad was dead. No more sermons, no more lessons on ceremonial herbs, no more riding on his towering back. The small pup stayed small and quiet and a little bit broken laying in her mom's arms, knowing nothing could possibly soothe her in that moment. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

Toxicity refused to accept her mother's words at first. She stared hard through her mother, trying to see the truth past her words. Their father couldn't die. God wouldn't let him, would he? He and his brother were both Abraxas, weren't they? Her brows knit much like her father's did when he was deep in thought. No, there had to be a reason to this. There had to be a reason to God's works. Toxicity drug her claw into the ground to draw her own sigil, then her parents' beside it. There was a reason for this.

It had to be their uncle's fault. "God was purging the other Abraxas. Our uncle. The culling. Rid the weak blood out." Toxicity listed off her reasoning quietly. It had to be right. "Dad sacrificed himself for a purging." She spoke bitterly. Her mind tried to find some reasoning that made her dad a hero. She had to figure out why someone like him would die. "Malleus was culled by dad," she spat. "Dad was doing God's work." She carved their sigils deeper into the ground, tracing them again and again methodically into the ground. "Dad made a sacrifice to bring God's will to the mortal realm. That's all."

Toxicity tried to shrug it off, her carvings got messier as they got deeper. "I'd do the same," she said, biting back tears. "For God. If he asked." She drew rapidly, her eyes staring past the ground as tears clouded her vision. "Dad would want us to still obey God. Like he did. I can do it. I'm a good follower too. I could take another Abraxas down. If I had to, I could..." she trailed off, her sigils becoming unrecognizable as she scratched into the ground.

Venom was stunned into silence as Belle pulled her more closely to her chest. The tiny child felt the tears prick her eyes before she could even process what her mother said. Their father was gone, swallowed by the volcano that then drove them from their home. Her jaw opened and closed like a fish needy for breath as she tried to find words. Tox was much better, but even she was consumed by the grief in the way she fervently carved the images into the ground.

Venom whimpered as her sister spoke of the reasons behind Archon’s death. Was that truly the reason why he was gone? Wouldn’t it have been better to stay here and make them stronger, instead of removing an entity even more foreign than Abraxas himself. ”He’s… He’s…” She hickupped as the emotions overtook her. He was gone, he wasn’t coming back to them. Tears spilled over her eyes, but other than those words Venom was silent. Her young little heart aching for her father. Was getting rid of weak blood really worth this hurt?