Alainn’s voice pulled Peacock back to reality as a chunk of meat landed beside him.

“Why did you do that?” she asked.

Peacock swallowed and paused, waiting for his brain to comprehend her question. Why had he done that? It had seemed like a good idea. Now that everything throbbed like someone had beaten him with a club, or more in reality, heavily poisoned and stabbed him lots of times, he wasn’t so sure. “It felt right.” He gulped another piece of food. “Not sure I want to do it again, though.”

Peacock grunted and held his head as a slice of meat hit, sending jolts of pain through his skull.

“I’m sorry! I… I mean, good. Never do that again! I can take my own punishments.”

Damn ingrate. Peacock tried to stand up, to tell her to piss off face-to-face, but his limbs wouldn’t cooperate. He got halfway up before his legs buckled, laying him out on his side. He had, at least, landed facing Alainn, and took the opportunity to growl in her direction.

Alainn dipped low, pushing her face against the bars of her cage as she got as close as she could. “Look, I think it’s amazing you did that for me. I haven’t been here as long as you, yet after everything I’ve seen in here, I don’t know how you’ve not gone insane, let alone still care about anyone else. But throwing yourself into more punishment isn’t going to help you. It’ll just break you down quicker.”

Peacock pushed into a more dignified position and stared at Alain in confusion. There was something wrong with her, he was sure of it now. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get a grasp on what her deal was. “If you don’t understand how I’ve dealt with it all, why the hell were you asking for even worse? What makes you so different?”

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She squirmed. “Well, not much, I guess. What I said to Nex… just sort of slipped out. I’ve seen what he’s done to others, to you, but I’ve been able to pass all of his tasks, so… I haven’t been punished. I guess I got a little cocky.”

“Wait, what? You’ve never been punished?”

Alainn shook her head and frowned. “No, not even for insulting him. I felt for sure I’d be next after he was done with you, but he just grinned and carried you back here. It was… weird.”

Peacock groaned. Of course, jumping in front of Alainn had been a terrible idea. Even if Nex had decided not to punish her this time, there was never anything to keep him from hurting them both. He hit his head against a stalagmite bar. Stupid.

“Hey!” Alainn reached out a hand as if to stop him. Her hand didn’t quite reach. “Please stop. I’m sorry if I upset you.” She sighed. “I’ve been completing Nex’s stupid tasks because they’ve been against mobs. I didn’t know we’d be moving on to Rebirths, although I guess I should have. Not like murder, abduction and torture isn’t already part of Zenith Flight’s skill set, and as far as I can tell, they’re trying to make us as messed up as they are. I don’t know why they’re doing all of this, but I don’t plan on just going along with it anymore. That means punishments are coming my way, and I need you to promise to let me take them. You concentrate on not letting them break you. Give me some time.”

“Time?” A jolt shot through Peacock as he remembered what Nex had said. He knew everything that went on in the nest, which meant everything they were doing put them in danger. “Don’t talk anymore. It’s not safe.”

“Hmm, I guess you’re right,” Alainn said, right before her voice echoed in Peacock’s head. What about this?