The furious cry of the Roc and the shrieking wind mingle with a pitiful moan inside the train car. Mittens doesn't even realize it's coming from her until she also starts shrinking into Eupheria's many arms as they try to push her toward the door. She's twisting, curling, struggling to bury herself in the Wicked Queen like a kitten seeking love and security from her Momma. The harder she gets pushed, the more she squirms and tries to find that comforting touch. Even a tiny brush! Even for just a second, just a teeny little pat. Her body trembles in the cruel absence. 

Then Gold flashes in front of her eyes! The pulse of warmth washes over her, and for a moment she could swear she hears her Mommy's voice calling out to her. Encouraging her. It'll be ok. Everything will be ok! Gold will protect her through this whole awful maze. Then Eupheria would realize what a terrible mistake she'd made, but it'd be too late! Mittens and her Gold could save everybody, and wouldn't Rita understand that was for the best? Sometimes, even in love, you have to be willing to make sacrifices to find the winning move. She'd heard that somewhere once before, right? It sounds so wise. Mittens wants to be wise. She wants to be warm and not scared anymore. Her hand reaches up...

But a tear starts beading up against her eye. She thoughtlessly reaches to brush it away instead of reaching for Gold, and her finger brushes up against the hard diamond and emerald she sees the world through. And then her stomach drops all the way down to her knees in a single ugly swoop. Her blood runs packed with ice. Her skin prickles and crawls. She's shearing, all over again she's fracturing and falling to pieces and it is the worst sort of pain there is, because nobody did this to her but herself, and you'd think she'd have learned her lesson by now, wouldn't you?

Mittens yanks herself away from Eupheria and stands in front of the portal. Her ears are still flat against her skull and her tail is frazzled and standing on end, but the rest of her is poised and resolute. She stares into the hard driving rain and wills herself to see it. Forces herself not see the nightmare, but the memory. The Roc screams from a thousand worlds away; her ears only pick up the soft patter of Rita's feet dashing away from her in the night. Her legs tense underneath her, desperate to chase after her all over again and yell all of her words into the storm again even though there's nobody there to hear them, and... good. Good. This is how it should be.

All at once she whirls about and snatches the hand Euphie's curling around Gold, quick as you please. But she doesn't take the light, or even make an attempt at it. Instead, she grabs Euphie by the wrist, and forces that hand further backwards toward her chest so that there's no offer being made here at all. Her eyes are fiercer than a dragon's. 

"You're wrong." she hisses.

Her tail flicks away her displeasure. [s]Mittens[/s] Alina Cascade turns away from her great-grandmother and walks toward her nightmare of her own accord. 

"You're wrong about me and you're wrong about love," she repeats, "And if you offered me the Caduceus itself I wouldn't let you touch a single hair on Rita's head."

She throws two sharp glares across the room at Azora and Old Adila each, and then she stalks with purpose and purpose into the biting storm.