As soon as Luna left a strange twisting anxiety settled into Ash's chest before she got up to clean her dishes. Suddenly she felt sure that if she left her grove she'd never return to it. She managed to talk herself through the unease, to remind herself that she was safe and that Sidus was guarding over her. Even as she thought it, she realized that he hadn't showed up to check on her despite the pain she was in and another lance of worry slid through her, bringing with it a sharp stab of pain.
Feeling a presence behind her, she whirled to face what she assumed would be Lucrum, not in the mood for the god's antics, another lance of unease and pain winding through her as she swore she'd just been sitting.
The phantom reaper towered over her, its cloak of power so much stronger than she remembered. She felt small and fragile, as if she was a simple toy that it could break whenever it wanted.
A smirk touched the creature's face as it leaned down, fingers caressing her cheek, "That is exactly what you are, false pure one. A fake, a toy, the one that was never what it was meant to be, the one that should have died so the others could live," suddenly her grove twisted and was gone. Yarrow lay bleeding on the floor with Gardenia fallen beside him, Fel was crumpled into a broken pile with Fi collapsed on top of her as if she'd fallen trying to save her, "As promised, you will watch them all perish. Again and again until I see fit to finally consume you myself," its inky voice made her feel like she couldn't breathe.
Distantly, she felt her true body and the hibernation spells bearing down on her. She'd fallen asleep in the chair from sheer exhaustion, she was dreaming. It chuckled slightly and the world shifted around them, her grove returned but different once more. She stood in her true home, healers gathered around the pod in which she slept, desperately working.
"There's nothing you can do," its voice slid through her like a chill, "You've stopped breathing already and your soul is mine. Even if you wake in this world, your original world will still be doomed. Stella wouldn't have made the mistakes you have. Stella would have known how dangerous my power was to her and in his disappointment your precious god has abandoned your soul to my grasp. You are corrupted, damaged beyond repair."
She slammed raw power into the reaper, uncertain even of where she gathered it from and ran. The world morphed, nightmares weaving and unweaving around her as she fled and fought in turn. She felt the passage of time keenly, slow at first, cold and painful as her body on Terra refused to draw breath.
Eventually, though, she felt the pure air of her grove slide through her lungs, felt the relief of the healers settle into her horns to aide their new growth. She fought harder, ran faster, gave everything she had to escape the phantom's grasp for even a brief moment.
When she jolted awake in her chair, grasping desperately for someone to help her, dusk was falling already. Lucrum's sudden appearance came with a twisting certainty that she was still dreaming. Perhaps the reaper wanted to torment her further, to remind her that her own death would cause his as well, would drag an entire world and a member of the pantheon into the darkness. Just as likely, her dying body had conjured something soft for her last breaths, some small kindness for her to hold onto for a brief moment.
Ash slammed into his arms, kissing him like he was the only thing that mattered. Lucrum already knew from Sidus that she was likely under the effects of corruption but it still took him a moment to regain his wits and pull his lips gently from hers.
He moved intentionally, using care to make certain it didn't seem like he was rejecting her. With her emotions spiraling out of control a sense of rejection, a sense of loss, could be enough for her to throw him from the grove. He had to keep hold of her to help her, even if it hurt a bit that the certainty she was feeling was because of her emotions being amplified far beyond her control.
He kissed her cheek and leaned in to speak softly into her ear, "I feel like the starseeing pond at the temple would be a beautiful place to visit at this time of day," he said gently, hoping to coax her into letting him help her.
The corruption was already wound too tightly for him to remove alone. He could break its hold on her but her psyche would be terribly damaged in the process. She needed Sidus to do what he was best at and cleanse it, to force it to release her emotions so that it could be removed without hurting her.
She kissed him again as they appeared on the small island and he found himself looking past her to where Sidus appeared in a crack of power, hoping he wouldn't end up gored half to death. Sidus had asked him, though, practically begged that he go to Ashterra if she called him. She was sealing her grove from the interference of all of the gods so whoever she called would have to convince her to seek help in whatever way they could. Gods couldn't generally die from wounds but he still wasn't particularly eager to bleed.
When she turned to face her father, Lucrum draped his arms around her shoulders to keep her from fleeing, or at the least to be dragged along with her if she ran. Her pink eyes shimmered with tears as she looked at Sidus.
"I was hurting and you didn't come," he could hear the pain, the heartbreak and insecurity in her voice.
He stepped forward, moving to touch her cheek. Her emotions were already wildly beyond her control. He could guess based on the pain in her eyes the kind of things her internal doubts were telling her about his absence.
"I know and all I can do is let you know that I regret being unable to reach you these past few days," he said, avoiding explaining because it could make things so much worse.