Deathbelle brought Venom up to the Battlefield to scout out any potential Ashen recruits or slaves. She was severely lacking on having a handmaiden and was really hoping to find a sweet little things to rub and wash her royal paws. The journey brought them all of nothing.

Feeling defeated Deathbelle wandered farther north, the sounds of the earth coming from an odd cave entrance enticed her. The sound of voices was what really took her off guard. She couldn’t tell if they were words spoken by wolves or murmurs made by ghosts. ”Hello?” Deathbelle called out curiously as she approached the entrance of the mine with caution.

"Ow! Oi! Watch it ye big red oaf! Keep yankin' me feathers out like that and you'll end up bald yerself!" "Stop whining! You shouldn't have come flying in here and gotten yourself in this mess then!" He growled as he tried to pry apart the rusted metal contraption that held his damn bird captive. It looked like some sort of cage, but the spring hook that it had had somehow slammed closed on the black cockatoo and he was stuck inside. As Ignis' teeth sought purchase on the bars or even the clasp, his teeth would also manage to snag some feathers and he ended up pulling those, too. Grunting, he place a paw on the cage and tried to push with his paw and pull with his teeth. The rust tasted god awful on his tongue, but he was unable to get enough of it to pull the rusted spring away to unhook it. Growling with frustration, he took a step back to look at the trapped companion. "Maybe if I just shove you off the ledge over there, or drop this from higher up it might break?" He mused, a mischievous grin showing pearly white teeth. "Ay! You better not even think abou' doin' that! You tryna kill me with tha' damn scheme of yours!? Wot, ye got rocks fer brains eh? I always knew ye mutts weren't that bright!"

Ignis laughed at his companion, eyes rolling as he sat back. "Hey, at least I'm not the one stuck in that rusty old thing. Maybe I'll just leave you in there and you can figure out how to get yourself out, hm?" As the pair bantered back and forth, he heard a call behind him. Almost instantly, the pair fell silent. It didn't sound like his wolverine companion, no. This voice was feminine, but also not one he recognized. Ears perked as he listened, glancing back at his companion before answering. But then a thought struck him. What if whoever it was could help him get his buddy out? She could of course, refuse. But there was no harm in asking.

He got up and headed towards her direction, blood red pelt almost melting with the darkness from which he emerged. He spotted her soon enough, a smaller black and white woman who smelled of a pack he didn't recognize. "Hey there, stranger! You lost?" His tone was friendly as usual, and he stopped a couple yards away , half in and half out of the darkness (though to be fair, it was pretty dark in there and the light didn't reach very far).

For a moment she really thought that she was imagining things, but she could swear that there were voices coming up from the darkness. As she was about to give up after shouting hello the sound of echoing paw steps caught her attention. Mismatched ears perked and waited, ready for anything to appear from the shadows. There was a voice in return then, friendly as the form followed.

He was a huge red wolf, though his youth was still visible in his handsome features. The titan came to a halt a polite distance away, still partially shrouded by the mine’s darkness. ”Hello,” she offered again as a playful smirk found her lips and she let her lavender gaze roll over him again. ”No, I heard voices.” Was she coming to help? Not really, she’d been hoping to find someone much less capable than the man before her. ”I hope you’re alright?” She questioned with a quirked brow.

The babe before him greeted him, answering him back that she heard voices. A sheepish grin overtook him as his ears fell in embarrassment for a moment, but then realized...wait...what did he have to be embarrassed about? He wasn't the one stuck in the cage. "Ah, yeah...that was me and my dumb bird. He got himself trapped, and we've been in here for a while trying to get him out." He glanced back into the darkness before returning his attention to her. "Between you and me though, I'm almost tempted to just leave him there long enough till he learns his lesson." He raised his voice just enough for the words to carry further into the cave and got back an "I heard that you mangy mutt!" He couldn't help but chuckle a bit at his companions response. Well, he could wait. He got himself in that mess, and although it didn't sound like it, Ig was somewhat serious about letting him stew in his own mess. "Name's Ignis Praetor. A Knight of Winterfell," He introduced himself as he dipped his head to the pretty lady. "Where ya from?" He inquired politely.

She watched politely as the young man showed a bit of trepidation before explaining that he and his bird were indeed the source of the voices. He mentioned his companion getting trapped and Belle was sure that she would do the same for one of her companions were they to get stuck, but from the exchange between the two she couldn’t help but grin.

The Empress chuckled at his joke as well as the distant voice that emerged from the cave moments afterwards. ”Sounds ungrateful, maybe you should.” She prompted amusedly before he introduced himself. She wasn’t familiar with his name and she’d only heard of the pack he was from. For a moment she debated about using her alias, sometimes wolves changed around her after learning her position.

”Deathbelle Klein, Empress of the Ashen Empire.” She decided she wanted to be honest with the so far easygoing man. ”If you’d like, I’d offer my help in releasing your friend.” She added graciously, curious about the spitfire that was trapped in the mine.

"Yeah he can be an ungrateful jerk sometimes," He agreed, though there were times the palm cockatoo had been helpful in gathering things he needed, even though he complained about doing it more often than not. When the woman introduced herself as Deathbelle, Empress of the Ashen Empire, he nodded his head (though more to himself than to her). "Ah, an alphess eh? My uncle's an alpha too, seems like pretty hard work, no offense." In truth, he wasn't sure how hard it was being an alpha. He could only go based off what he saw with his uncles, all the decision making and the potential criticisms from others if they didn't like certain decisions and all that. His uncle seemed stressed out lately, but that could also be the fact that he was a single dad with four kids running around on top of leading a whole damn pack.

His thoughts came to a pause when she offered her help to free his companion. "Sure, I'd appreciate it. And I'm sure he would too...maybe...don't be surprised if he isn't, or at least...if he doesn't say it." All of a sudden he heard squawking coming from the darkness as his companion started his near ear-piercing screaming. Ah, cockatoos...he hated his companion so much when he did that but he only seemed to do that in high stress situations. "I think he's learned his lesson!" He shouted over the screeching, and he promptly turned around and headed back into the cave. "Alright! Alright! We'll get you out!" He shouted at the black bird as he approached. Thankfully, the cockatoo stopped screeching as he eyed the wolves, impatient and irritation clear in his beady black eyes. "Get me the hell out of here! It's too cramped! Hurry up!" He squawked.

"Yeah yeah, we're working on it." Ig retorted as he stared at the cage. He had tried to spring the door loose before but the damb thing was too rusty and the latch was stuck as far as he could tell...sighing, he glanced at Deathbelle and wondered what she thought of the situation. If she called herself an empress, she probably thought poorly of him and the situation. Why, out of all days, did his stupid dumb bird have to get into this predicament? Ah, whatever. Though he was embarrassed, in the end, she was like anyone else he supposed. "Any ideas? I tried the latch but my teeth can only do so much and it's pretty stuck..."

”Not everyone is cut out for such a position.” She agreed as she shook her head and dismissed his comment there was certainly no offense taken. Ignis certainly had no idea how similar Acere and Deathbelle were, leading huge packs while simultaneously raising their children alone. Thankfully Ashen was full of her family who she could easily lean on to help her raise the young Kleins.

He didn’t deny her help with releasing his bird, and its sudden squawking made clear that it was completely done with being left in the dark. The ivory marked she wolf visibly flinched at the ear piercing noise, but still she followed the young man forward into the darkness. It was difficult to see in the darkness but he showed her what he had attempted thus far and the daintily built Empress let her lilac gaze look over the cage.

It was indeed rusted heavily, but if it sprang shut they could get it open once more. ”Hmm..” She muttered quietly as the gears in her head turned, thinking about a situation that had nothing to do with her Empire was almost exhilarating. ”Maybe we should both try, give the lever a try and I’ll work on the door.” She offered, and if that didn’t work she was also willing to try switching spots. Deathbelle wrapped her jaws over the gate and prepared to lift when Ignis said go.

While he didn't respond to her comment about not everyone being cut out for alphaship, he mentally agreed. His sire was a total failure at it. He hadn't thought about him at all for a long time now, but he definitely did suck at being an alpha and was glad now that his sire had decided to abandon them all. Now he was dead, and Ig didn't have to ever worry about him again. Was it harsh of him to think that way? Not in his book. Especially after all the shit Elias had done. The way he was. The way he hurt everyone else...

Good riddance.

As the pair stood over the cage now, he thought about how they could open. When Belle suggested what they could do, he nodded. "That could work! Alright, let's try it then."As she got her teeth around one part, he settled in and grabbed the other with his own jaws. Now...being a two year old male who hasn't been around many other females outside of the pack, (and especially so close to a pretty one at that), it was safe to say he felt awkward being in such close proximity to her. He began to briefly wonder when he had last been interested in girls, and the answer was...well...never until recently. He was always around his sister or half siblings or older pack mates, so not many choices for him if he really thought about it. And when he shifted into a better position for a better and more comfortable hold, he could feel their fur touching (if only slightly). He felt heat rush to his face and he was glad there wasn't much light in here so it helped to hide his awkward self. Taking a deep breath, he began to count down so he could get this over with (although he reeeaallly didn't want to now, sort of).

"Okay..ready?" He asked with a muffled tone. He hoped that by the end of this, his companion would be wet with drool after their efforts of freeing him. "Go!" With that, he tugged and pulled at what he had in his mouth, while Belle did her part.

She couldn’t see the blush that flushed over his features, but the way he held himself and how his words filtered from dark lips clued her in. Had her jaws not been around the bars already Deathbelle would have grinned. She wondered if she could have figured out an easier way, but the proximity was amusing. The Empress likely would not gain much from her efforts here, but she couldn’t deny that she enjoyed the encounter.

Ignis positioned himself close beside her, and the difference in their sizes was even more apparent with their proximity. She knew that he couldn’t see her quick wink when he asked her if she was ready. The young man counted down and then the two of them were both working on the hinged trap. Deathbelle put all of her effort in lifting the gate as she assumed Ignis was doing on the lever.

For a long moment she wasn’t sure if it was going to work, and the bird would be stuck for the rest of its life. Right before she gave up there was a sudden snap and Deathbelle’s exertion suddenly had the gate open. The bird didn’t hesitate and right before Belle lost her grip the avian took its freedom. Deathbelle let out a victorious sigh as she retreated from the rusted cage.

”And he’s out!” For a few moments she wasn’t an Empress, she was just another wolf helping a stranger.