justinewt

[justinewt]

In a World of Hurt - THE 100 REWRITE Chapter Fourty

[THE 100 MASTERLIST]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter (07/23/2025)

Summary: The situation was critical for Michelle, having been shot as she defected with Echo and the others, from Polis.

Words: 3.2k

Warnings: The 100 season 5 spoilers (covering episode 7 "Acceptable losses", episode 8 "How We Get In Peace" & episode 9 "Sic Semper Tyrannis"), blood, angst

They landed near the valley at the dead of night. Kane carried his daughter’s leg, keeping his hand putting pressure on the blood-soaked piece of torn jean, blood had stained his own clothes, and one of Diyoza’s people helped carrying her upper body as they brought her to the camp in the heart of the Shallow Valley. Michelle had lost consciousness a while ago and with the state she was in, the sick paleness of her skin, if she wasn’t breathing so rapidly, she would look more like a corpse than a living person. Time was running out if she was to be saved. They walked near Diyoza at the head of the cortege, with a brisk pace but not too quickly. They had to be careful with Michelle. She was, as he had said earlier, in a critical condition, and it would soon not be any other condition than dead if Abby didn’t get to work as soon as they got there.

She was laid on the table, on her stomach and while Kane kept his hand on the cloth, they took her jacket off of her and threw it on the back of a nearby chair. Abby had jerked to her feet. She had been nodding off against a piece of furniture and was shaken up by their sudden arrival, chooked at the sight of Michelle, not expecting to see her like this.

“Wh—what happened?” She put a trembling hand on the top of her head.

“She was shot when people defected from Polis. Please, please, Abby, do something.” He was basically crying out for her help, begging her. She turned her back to them, bringing her hand to her mouth and drinking water from her bottle before swiftly turning around and walking to the operation table, her eyes darting all over, thinking. She stretched out her arm, dragging the drip stand closer and searched for a bag to hand on it. She took a saline IV bag and connected the tube to it, going down the tube to reach the needle. She attempted a tourniquet around her arm and clicked her tongue on her mouth palate repeatedly, getting a little frustrated but refusing Kane’s help and ultimately managing to tie it tight enough to then insert the needle, which she struggled because her hands were shaking so much.

“Let me help.”

“No.” Her refusal was so abrupt and almost aggressive, she looked down, clearing her throat, “Just— just keep applying pressure on the wound.”

He stopped talking and watched her quietly. She paced around, taking another needle and inserting it in a small hole to the side of the bag, and pushed its content in the saline bag, “Morphine.” She said, feeling Kane observing her intensely. She put a small piece of tape over the needle in the crook of her arm, stabilized it and brushed back her hair from her face with a shaky hand, closing the other into a fist. She took another look at Michelle, replacing Kane’s hand with hers and applied pressure, requesting a sheet before pulling down the girl’s pants. He put if over her bottom and Abby just lowered the left side enough to access the wound. He took back the role of applying pressure as she cleaned around the wound.

“No exit wound.” She gently palpated the area around the wound and stopped not even a second later. Her movements looked strangely slow and she sounded like she was forcing on each word in order to stay or sound focused.

“What? What is it?”

“The bullet, it… it must have shattered her pelvic bone.” She raised her tone out of nowhere and caught herself, pressing her lips together as she watched the wound, looking at the bleeding, blinking a lot as if she had trouble staring at something or keeping them open, but in any case, the bleeding was lesser than what it had probably been earlier. “I could attempt to remove the bullet but there might be too much internal damage, or, or if it's embedded in her bone… and without a blood transfusion, I won’t be able to manage the blood loss caused by the extraction and she could die.”

“Take my blood.”

“Marcus… no. If you’re not the same blood type—”

“She’s the same. Just take mine. Even if you can’t take out the bullet, just do anything to save her.” He had already rolled up his sleeve to show his bare arm and she took the tourniquet she has used on Michelle and came to put it around his arm, putting enough pressure to make the veins pop out and proceed to connect a tube between the two. She grabbed a pair of tweezers and clean water and poured it into the wound, flushing out tiny debris. With a flashlight Kane held up for her, she got up close, closing one eye and peeking inside, regularly flushing more water so she could see inside. She could only see the shattered edges of the bone within, and guess it was greatly fractured. She picked a thing metal probe, or at least something that looked like it because she wasn’t sure if she had an actual probe anyway and inserted it in the wound. The bleeding increased a little and the tip of the probe was stopped by something solid inside. It wouldn’t move.

“The bleeding. Abby-- ABBY.”

“Yes, I see it.” She almost yelled at him and took the needle out of his arm and out of Michelle. “I can’t take the bullet out. I can’t.” She sighed and rummaged through drawers to find a knitting needle and a thread and crouched down. Her hands shook as she tried to put it in the needle’s hole, and she got beyond frustrated and shouted when Kane tried to help her. “There’s too much internal damage, and the bullet’s too deep. I can’t do anything. I can’t get it out.” She let herself fall against the table, bringing her knees to her chest with a deep sigh.

He stood up, looking around, brushing through his hair with his fingers and his eyes fell on a transparent pill bottle with a yellow lid. He went towards it and picked it up, “You took those again.”

Abby snatched the bottle from him, “Your daughter’s shot, Marcus. If she dies, her blood’s on Octavia Blake’s hands, not mine.”

“My daughter will not die. I will not let her die just because you can’t do anything more or because you took drugs. I know—” His voice shook, fighting back tears. “She came because I’m here. I can’t let her down.”

“I’ve done everything I could. If I try to take the bullet out, she will die.” She walked away and he gritted his teeth, running to her, gripping her shoulders.

“I put my life on the line for you, and you promised me that you would quit. Right now, my daughter’s life is on the line so you will go and close her up. I don’t want to hear you lying, telling me you will quit, go, close her up, before she bleeds out because of you. This, all this, was supposed our second chance. That’s why we’re here.” As he spoke, he folded a corner of the sheet and used it to apply pressure on his daughter’s wound.

“Wrong. We’re here because of me, because I serve a purpose, and I can only serve that purpose if I’m functioning.” She raised her voice on that last word, and continued, “If I don’t find a cure soon, people are gonna start dying.”

“People are going to die if you continue with these pills, and I won’t let my daughter be the first. You call this functioning? You would let my daughter die and call this functioning?” She was pressing her lips, her eyes shining. “Close her up!”

This heated argument because of her drug abuse came to an end, because Kane’s priority was his daughter’s survival, no matter what. Abby took back the needle and the thread and proceeded to close her wound. It took her some time. She cleaned it and went outside to get some fresh air, while Kane dragged the chair closer to the table and sat down. He had rolled Michelle on her back after she had dressed her wound, or rather he dressed the wound because she couldn’t get herself to focus anymore.

He held his daughter’s hand, putting a kiss on its back and stayed with her the whole night.

Michelle moved her head around, her vision blurry because of her eyelashes. She was finally coming back to and squeezed the hand that held hers. There was a throbbing pain radiating from her hip, that felt like something was gnawing its way out from inside her bone. She let out a moan of pain and fully opened her eyes, her breathing quickening.

“I can’t feel my leg. I can’t—” Michelle wailed, from both the pain and panic that were overwhelming her. She clenched her jaw, tried to sit up and screamed as a sharp pain shot through her hip, but Kane jerked to his feet, making her lie back down. “I want- to move.”

“Abby couldn’t take the bullet out without making more damages. It fractured your pelvic bone.” Her face distorted from the crying and he cupped her face in his hands, caressing her cheeks with his thumbs, “Hey, hey, hey, I’m here.”

“It hurts—” She cut herself off, breathing frantically and bawling, and her pain had worn off of Kane who was fighting hard not to cry as bad as she did, trying to keep it together for her.

He then stood up, walking around the table and approached the IV stand. He picked up a half-filled needle on a table and injected the whole of it into the saline bag and within a minute, the pain softened, becoming duller, like a heavy ache rather than a throbbing pain within her bone. It wasn’t gone, but the warmth and fuzziness that engulfed her forced her to calm down despite the panic she still felt, her breathing slowing down. Looking at her father’s face, she got flashes of the previous night, she saw his face above her too, lying down in the same way, but in the ship. He had spoken of a bullet in her hip and she remembered now; she had been shot, as they ran with the other defectors. When she tried to swallow her saliva, she winced, pressing her lips together before parting them. Her throat was sore. “Here.” He went back to the chair, grabbing something out of her field of vision, and sitting down with a bottle in hand. He slid his hand under her head and brought the bottle’s neck to her mouth, slowly pouring the water into her mouth. She gulped the water down, only then realizing how thirsty she really was.

He put her hand in between his and put his lips against her knuckles, “I wish I could put that bullet in my hip instead of yours. I’d do anything for you.” Her lips quivered as she pressed them together, and his voice got tinted with sorrow, his breath and lips caressing her skin, still holding her hand close to his face, “I’d die for you… I love you, honey.”

She sniffled, “I love you too, dad.”

“I promised your mother I would protect you, and I failed. I’m sorry.” He leaned forward, pressing his forehead on hers, his hand around her face still.

The door opened and someone took a few steps in the infirmary, and Diyoza’s voice rose, “Sorry to interrupt, but I have to move Michelle out of here. I can’t wait longer for Abby to start treating my people again.”

“I need people to carry her with me.” He had wiped away his tears, though his eyes still looked abnormally shiny, and looked over his shoulder at Diyoza.

“I’ll send you a couple of men to assist you.” She turned around with a nod and closed the door behind her. They were left alone for a few minutes before two prisoners from the Eligius IV ship walked through the door. They grabbed a corner of the sheet under Michelle, Kane had an arm under her waist to keep her hips stable, and they carried her through the camp, resting her on the bed. It was much more comfortable than the table in the infirmary, and for now, the morphine was still having effect, so the pain subsided once she was settled. He set up a makeshift stand and came back with a new saline bag which he connected to the catheter still in her arm. He had come back with a few biscuits to give her, but she wasn’t feeling like eating so he left them nearby, kissed her forehead and had to leave her alone for the day, though he would have preferred staying with her. She had been fighting sleep for over ten minutes now, her eyelids weighing so heavy, but the second he left, she nodded off.

She slept a dreamless sleep and was woken up by a throbbing pain in her hip she triggered after trying to roll over in her sleep. She gasped, tears immediately flooding her eyes and face and she gritted her teeth, forcing her eyes shut, muffling a groan. She spent the next few hours in utter pain, unable to fall asleep, until her father came back and she begged for more morphine, crying out to him. He rushed to the infirmary and came back with a needle Abby filled for him, and pushed the liquid into the IV bag, bringing her relief for the night to come, but in the morning, the cycle repeated. Her father slept in the tent to watch over her and was woken up by her cries and had to go fetch some morphine.

She spent the day in a daze, her mind feeling foggy, like in a cloud, and she went in and out of sleep, not realizing the time that was passing by until it wore off in the evening, and she heard shouting outside, followed by cheering. She was blind to whatever was going on and listened, wondering what the hell was going on in the settlement. When her father came to check on her, getting her a dose of morphine to get through the night, she jumped on the occasion to ask what had happened – McCreary had brought Murphy and Emory as hostages in the camp.

“Murphy?” She leaned on her forearms, and he pushed softly on her shoulder, accompagnying her back down. “Do you think Diyoza would let me see him?”

“I don’t know. It’s a little tense with McCreary back in the camp. I’ll see what I can do, but I can’t promise anything. Try to rest, for now.” He caressed her cheek and stepped out. The morphine quickly clouded her mind, and she fell asleep. And again, the cycle repeated. The next morning, he came to see her with a dose of morphine, dosed by Abby, enough to relieve her for most of the day, but not too much. And then he left to accompagny some prisoners check the perimeters and do some reconnaissance work.

“Hey.”

Michelle opened her eyes at the sound of voice in the tent and blinked, coming back to. She hadn’t even realized she had fallen asleep, but she became fully awake when she rolled her head on the pillow and locked eyes with John Murphy standing by the tent’s door. She could tell the usual smirk he had on his face had disappeared the second he saw her hooked to an IV. Given the look on his face, he wasn’t expecting to find her like this, with one lef of her jeans torn off up to the knee, her skin normally tanned looking pale and slight puffiness around her ankle, nothing compared to the swelling around her left hip, which he couldn’t see covered by her clothes. He approached and sat down by the edge of the pain, his eyes darting to her legs when she winced as pain shot through her limb because of the movement of the bed.

“Are you okay?”

“As well as one can be after being shot in the hip, having to be hooked on an IV and injected with morphine, I don’t know how many times a day, or the pain makes me want to kill myself.”

“Fuck. Abby couldn’t do anything about it?”

“My dad told me that, if she tried to remove the bullet, she would make it worse cause the bullet fractured my hip.”

“Great. Another fun day in paradise.” He shot up his eyebrows. “How did that happen?”

“Well, uh, we fled Polis with Echo and other defectors. I just remember pushing a grounder forward and collapsing. The next morning, I woke up with the worst pain I’d ever felt, and I couldn’t move my leg— I couldn’t even feel it anymore. Bellamy didn’t want me to go, and I really should’ve listened.” Her eyes got a bit watery, but she didn’t cry.

“You’re paralyzed?”

“Yeah, and I can’t even use my other leg anyway or the pain is just unbearable. All because I helped this guy and got shot in his stead.”

He shook his head, with a smirk which didn’t match the shadown looming over his eyes, “Damn it, Michelle… you brave idiot.” Before leaving, he told her about the plan he and the others had discussed, how they were going to take advantage of the discord between Diyoza’s team and McCreary to flee from the camp. Michelle wanted to go with them but she couldn’t even stand on her good leg so she could only come with them if her father and Murphy went back for her and they would have to carry her using the sheet she was lying on as a makeshift stretcher. Even Murphy knew Kane wouldn’t ever leave his daughter behind, but she’d have to be taken off the IV and the thought of having to endure the pain without morphine for however long they would hide out terrified her, but she’d rather be with her father than among Eligius IV’s criminals.

She knew the plan had started when she heard rucus outside and waited. She was surviving on a small dose of morphine in the meanwhile, that her father had brought her sometime after Murphy’s visit, which she found out had never been authorized by Diyoza like she had assumed, and it made her smile through the pain. She gasped and froze upon hearing gunshots and fighting. A tearing sound reached her ears, and she turned her head to the back of the tent, seeing a blade cut through the tent and held her breath but she relaxed upon seeing Echo, aven and a man with bruises all over his face. They grabbed the corners of the bedsheet and, counting down, lifted her from the bed, taking the saline bag along because it would have taken longer to take it out of the crook of her arm and dress the bleeding hole. They went back through the cut they made in the tent, checked the surroundings and proceeded cautiously into the forest.

They had an especially fragile package in their hands.  

[To be continued…]  

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter (SOON)

Published (07/20/2025) by Andrea

Taglist: @mirellef2001

[justinewt]

No Exit Wound - THE 100 REWRITE Chapter Thirty-Nine

[THE 100 MASTERLIST]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

Summary: Wonkru had lost some of its people after their trip in the middle of the sandstorms. Octavia still refused to accept Echo's presence and Diyoza set a message to the people in Polis as she dropped packages around the camp, offering them a chance to be free of Octavia's command, and join them the following night. Octavia wasn't taking this lightly.

Words: 4.6k

Warnings: The 100 season 5 spoilers (episode 6 "Exit wounds"), some fluff, lots of blood, gunshot wounds

After having assessed the number of fallen among Wonkru’s ranks, they marched back to the bunker. They couldn’t possibly keep on moving forward. Jackson was tending to the wounded grouders in the medbay while Clarke and Madi were in the office with Octavia, tending to her personally. Michelle walked outside, in the rain, her braided hair getting wet and a strand sticking to her face, alongside Bellamy. Some civilian grounders were scattered around the ruins that was Polis while hundreds were still refusing to come out of the bunker. They spotted Octavia coming out and Michelle followed him as he headed towards her.

“Glad to see you back on your feet. Echo tried to get in to see you, but they wouldn’t let—” Echo was standing right behind them and Octavia glared at her, her face impassible, not even frowning, but her gaze held all the aversion she felt for her.

“What is she doing here?”

“I just wanted to thank you for saving my people."

“They’re not your people. Azgeda is a memory. There is only wonkru, and there is no place in it for you.”

Bellamy attempted to act as a mediator between them, “I know you two have history, but Echo is on our side. She proved herself dozens of times on the ring.”

“This isn’t the ring.” She rose her voice, addressing loudly to everyone around them, pointing her finger at Echo, “Wonkru, I banished this murderer from the bunker 6 years ago. My judgement still stands.” She ignored Bellamy’s attempt to call out to her and reason with her and continued, “She has 24 hours. If she’s still her by then, she fights in the arena.”

She just walked past them, forcing them to move aside, but Bellamy wasn’t letting this go so easily and went after her, leaving Echo and Michelle standing there. The latter crossed her arms over her chest, watching the two siblings walk away. She could only imagine the weight of all those stares that Echo was getting, but she didn’t have much hope for Bellamy’s plead to Octavia to succeed anytime soon. Octavia despised the former Azgedan spie, and even Michelle used to dislike quite a bit, she could honestly not even recall why other than she didn’t like her, but she thought it had been a long time, and much had happened since then, but Octavia was as vengeful as it gets. Not even a minute later, the two women glanced at each other and looked around as they heard horns sounding through the camp.  A man shouted, telling everyone to move.

“You should go get in the bunker. I’m banished, you’re not.”

“I used to be banished too, before coming down here. And I’m just fine staying in the rain.” She was talking while staring in the distance, in the direction in which Bellamy had gone to follow his sister. Her eyes left him when Echo motioned for her to look up, and she frowned at the sight of a ship flying by. One of Diyoza’s ship, Michelle guessed, and it was an easy guess as only Diyoza had ships. Before it dropped a first package, they ran to safety and Michelley kept an eye out, trying to see if Bellamy was coming for them, and if he would find them really because they weren’t out in the open anymore, concealing themselves behind a wall. But there she saw him, “Bellamy.” H caught her in his hands, taking a second to come to a halt as the floor had become muddy and slippery.

“People of Wonkru, this is colonel Dioyza’s offering you a chance for peace.” The triangle shaped packaged dropped, one side opened, and a couple of fruits rolled out, “I know you all suffered, I know you’re hungry, and so many of you are weary of Octavia’s rule, but now you have a choice. Abandon your weapons, leave Wonkru behind, and join us in the valley. We have plenty of food and shelter for those seeking a better life.”

“She’s recruiting.” Echo wasn’t falling for this, but there was something in Michelle’s heart that tempted her to accept the offer and go to the valley and that something was beyond obvious; if she agreed to this, she could be reunited with her father, but it might cost her Bellamy, and even Clarke, as she doubted that they would agree to go with Diyoza. She could feel Bellamy’s gaze on her and avoided looking at him or he would get the confirmation, by just one look at her eyes, that she was actually considering this, though he was probably more than already sure of it.

“When our ship returns tonight, head for the wasteland. Anyone waiting for us outside the ruins will be rescued. But come unarmed. If Octavia attacks our ship, we will retaliate against your city with lethal force. We’re watching everything, always.” The signal got shaky and the voice coming to their ears crackled, “There is a place in the valley for all of us, so please choose wisely.”

Michelle was still thinking whether or not it would be a good choice to go, but she kind of knew going to her father was her priority. She kept quiet, following Clarke and Bellamy into the bunker, along with Harper and Monty. Octavia was having a meeting in the office, but this wasn’t stopping either of them from bursting in. Miller stopped them, but they stood their ground, waiting to talk with Octavia, or rather, Clarke and Bellamy, and Michelle stayed right behind him, merely watching the scene unfold. She had her mind made up, and hopefully no one would stop her when she sneaked out tonight, and hopefully also, Bellamy wouldn’t be too mad of her doing this, nor would he feel too betrayed. She prayed he understood her reason to leave.

“It’s a private meeting.”

“It’s fine.” Miller sighed and obeyed Octavia, shaking his head, pinching his lips as he stepped aside.

“We all have people in that valley that need our help.” Clarke spoke.

“If you’re talking about your mother, or her father,” she gave Michelle a brief sidelong glance, “I’m not interest in rescuing traitors. I’m trying to prevent more of them.”

“Your people are hungry and you’re worrying about defectors?” Bellamy rose his eyebrows. “We should stop wasting time looking for enemies in Polis, and we should start trying to find a way back to that valley.”

“Last time I checked, Diyoza can see our every move.”

“That’s where Monty comes in.” Harper retorted, attracting Octavia’s attention to the latter, standing silently behind Michelle.

He came forward, holding something in his hands, “Laser-com. It’s dialed right into their mother ship. All I need is a relay tower on the ground that we build out of scrap and a computer. I should be to blind the eye from right here.”

“Good plan.” Miller nodded, hands on his hips. “Once it’s down, we can attack.”

“Fine. Miller set Monty up. Cooper, shoot anyone who tries to defect.” Michelle kept her body still, merely glancing down at the floor without letting any expression on her face betray the thoughts she had had previously, but she pondered. If they had a plan that could get them into the valley anyway, she might not try to defect, but it had to work for sure, because she wouldn’t risk not being reunited with her father, and she also thought it was worth getting shot for defecting, if she got rescued by Diyoza’s ship afterwards. “We’re done here. Time to train.”

Clarke and Bellamy, arms crossed, walked out of the office, and Michelle followed them with her eyes, taking a second before turning around, “That is not my sister.” Clarke didn’t respond. “Clarke?”

“I’m sorry, I have to go.” When she walked away was when Michelle decided to come out of the office.

“I know you have something in mind.”

She didn’t even bother acting clueless but still wasn’t too straightforward, “What do I have in mind?”

“Michelle. I know you. I’m sure you actually considered Diyoza’s offer. I just want you to be honest with me.” She didn’t speak, just glancing down again and went to leave the bunker but he grabbed her arm, speaking close to her face, “Do you think I would keep you from going back to your dad? I just don’t want you to risk being killed.” His voice, and the look on his face softened and she gulped slightly, looking away, “Michelle. If you really want to leave, please, just tell me. Do not just leave me behind.”

She couldn’t look at him and remained silent for a hot minute, wanting to promise him, but at the same time, she wanted out of there, and take the opportunity to quickly be reunited with her father, but since Bellamy wasn’t letting go, keeping his eyes on her, his eyebrows pulled together in dismay and concern, “Promise me.”

“I promise.” He let his hand slid down against her arms, caressing her hand with the back of his fingers and she wanted to kiss him, and she had no idea why she didn’t do it, but instead, she just went away and exited the bunker. There was a dull but heavy feeling in her stomach, and she felt sick, dragging her feet, taking a deep breath. She wasn’t even sure now, if she was going to try anything tonight, but having promised him she wouldn’t, if she did, she would feel like the worst person on the planet. Her heart and mind were incredibly conflicted. She wanted to stay with Bellamy, but she desperately wanted to be with her father. She went in a corner, out of sight, sat down, her elbows sitting on her knees, holding her head in her hands and closing her eyes, pressing her lips together as they trembled. A tear rolled down her cheek and she closed her eyes. Quickly, more tears streamed down her face, and she cried quietly, sniffling. He wasn’t even mad that she wanted to leave, and it was almost as though she was the one punishing herself because he wasn’t. Just to compensate because she felt like she was guilty of something and thought she deserved some negativity towards her. 

She got up, wiping away her tears and heade for the tent she shared with Bellamy outside the bunker. As she approached, holding up her hand to push the tent door aside, Echo’s voice rose nearby, “I’m leaving Polis, tonight.”

“I’d have thought as much.” She took a second, thinking about her conversation with Bellamy, “I’ll go with you. Come find me later.” The spie nodded and left, while Michelle went in the tent, grabbed her bag and stuffed some things into it, not much, but still, there were some things to be stuffed in it. That’s when Bellamy decided to reappear.

“I’m coming with you. We survive together, all of us, like always.”

“All of us?” She looked at him, over her shoulder, “Monty and Harper are coming too?”

“Yes.”

“No, we can’t all go.”

“Michelle.”

“They will shoot defectors. I’m willing to risk it, but I’m not willing risking your lives. You’re not dying just because I want to go see my dad.” She sighed, putting his hand to the side of his face, the tip of her fingers buried in his hair. “Octavia needs you here, bellamy. She needs you by her side. And I’m not going alone, I told Echo to meet me later.”

“You’re leaving with Echo?”

“Yes,” A silhouette passed through the tent door and stood in the opening, “and she’s right. You need to stay here. Octavia’s fighting an enemy she can’t beat, and Diyoza is uding the fact that her people know it to pull them apart.”

She had taken a step inside, her bag hanging from her shoulder, and Octavia’s voice came from outside, pushing Echo to step aside, “So what would you do about it, spy?”

“The truth? Surrender. Only a fool fights a war they can’t win.”

“I’ve got a better idea. Spy for me. When that ship comes back tonight, people will try to defect, and I can’t let that happen.”

“Octavia, that is not what I meant.” Bellamy spoke.

“It’s smart.” Michelle agreed, meeting Echo’s eyes. She thought the same.

“Yes. If no one goes for the ship, Diyoza will think Wonkru’s still unified. She’ll lose faith in Kane.”

“What happenes to the people that she turns in?” This frown of worry that Bellamy looked at her with, in the bunker, didn’t seem to want to leave his face lately.

“Root out the traitors, bring me their names before they defect, and your banishment is lifted.” There was a possibility that Echo would actually go through with it and snitch on those who wished to leave but Michelle thought, that maybe, she wouldn’t. This was up to her in the end. The deal didn’t include Michelle. There was no banishment to relieve her of. Michelle didn’t ask for Octavia to say outloud if she was free to go, and she didn’t ask before the latter left. Bellamy went to see Monty, and Echo and Michelle were left alone.

“Are you gonna do it?” Echo stayed silent checking her bag but not actually doing anything with it. She straightened her head and two people came in.

“What do you want?”

“We just want to talk. I’m Tarik. This is Karina.”

“We saw Blodreina cast you out.” They mainly spoke to Echo. “Where will you go?”

“I haven’t figured that part out.”

“We have.” The girl rolled up her sleeve, revealing a tattoo on the inside of her forearm; a round crossed by three wavy arrows pointing upwards. She then glanced at Michelle, “And we guessed you have too.”

“We heard you’re Kane’s daughter. If we had the courage, we would have left with him, but now we have a second chance to go home.”

Nothing either of them could have said could have convinced them not to defect. The threat of Octavia maybe killing them was lesser than anything they apparently had to go through to survive until now, and those things they had to do, no question could make them speak about it. They closed their mouths but there was this palpable sense of shame emanating from them, whatever it was they had had to do. They only told them others were leaving too, “Will you join us?” They had then asked, and of course they were but once they were gone, Echo straight up concluded she could not possibly rat them all out.

Michelle’s pushed the door. Inside, Bellamy and Monty stood in front of a computer screen and looked up upon seeing her come inside.

“What’s the matter?” Bellamy walked around the table, coming to her, “No takers? Where’s Echo?”

“On the contrary. There were. And she went, somewhere, I don’t know.  She won’t turn them in.” She shook her head. “Two of them came to us, and— some bad things happened down there, Bellamy. They wouldn’t even tell us about it. I don’t if Echo managed to pump anyone about it, but I’m quite sure she didn’t. It must be really bad, if even the ones wanting to defect won’t talk about it.”

He tilted his head forward, taking her hand, “Then let’s defect with them.” Michelle’s lips parted slightly, and they looked at each other.

“Bellamy.” Monty called.

“You said you can’t do it from here, but we could do this if we had inside help, right?”

He rummaged through a pile of cables on the table, “I could put the backdoor code in a thumb drive.”

“Bellamy,” Michelle voice already pleaded to him not to come. “Octavia wasn’t joking when she said defectors will be shot, and she will never let you defect either.”

“Admittedly... not a perfect plan.”

She pressed her lips together, sighing though her nose and nodded. There was no way to talk Bellamy out of it right now. They went to get Echo, as Octavia would be waiting for her resolutely, demanding to be given the names of all who thought to defect tonight. The door opened with a screeching sound, and they stepped inside, instantly shot with a question, “So, what do you have for me?”

“Nothing you’re gonna like.” Bellamy said, glancing at Echo.

“I’m not turning people in so you can execute them.”

“A spy and a murderer, witb a conscience. You’re right Bellamy, she has changed.”

“Do you have the names or not?” The guard by her side spoke.

Bellamy held his hand in front of him, his thumb stuck in between his belt and pants, “There’s something else. Monty was wrong. He can’t hack the eye from here, not without inside help.”

“So you’ve both failed.” At the sound of her voice rising again, Michelle looked at the grounder through the corner of her eyes.

“Not exactly.” He stepped forward, holding up the falsh drive.

“What is that?”

“Inside help. Which opens the backdoor to their system, giving us control of the camera on their mother ship. Monty says it’s easy to use if we can get inside their firewall.”

Octavia raised her eyebrows, digging the wrinkles on his forehead, “You want me to let you defect?”

“Either that or your people starve to death here in Polis when your farm stops producing.”

She shook her head, “Out of the question. I’m not sending you on a suicide mission.”

“Octavia—”

“Diyoza knows who you are. She knows you’re my brother. She’ll never believe you’re a defector.”

“Send us. She’ll believe us.” Michelle shared a look with Echo. “She will believe that I wished to defect to go to my father.”

“And I already have the perfect cover.” Echo added. “I’m banished. The defectors think I’m one of them. All you to do is let me go-- let us go.”

“I don’t like it.” The guard turned her head to her leader. “Letting traitors go will promote dissent.”

Echo nodded, “You’re right. It’s a political sacrifice, but a necessary one if you want your people to survive.”

There was a brief but heavy silence, as they held Octavia’s gaze and waited for her to respond to what they had told her, “Call off the patrols. That’s an order. But once you’re on that ship, you’re on your own. You both.” She rose from her seat, her hands on the edge of the armrests, leaning forward before standing completely straight, her head held high, looking down at them. “If you’re discovered, or you fail to take down the eye,” She came up close to them, stopping right in Echo’s face. “no one is coming to save you.”

Nothing else had or needed to be said. They left, rejoined with Monty and Harper in the tent. He had built a bracelet in which he could conceal the hard drive and tied it around Echo’s wrist. The plan was simple, on paper. They would get in, find Raven and get her the drive so she could take down the eye. She would, of course, know what to do, as Monty assured them, but Michelle didn’t need him to say anything of the sort. She knew of Raven’s abilities.

He drew Echo in a friendly embrace, scowling, “Don’t get killed, okay? You’re like the one who liked my algae.”

She gave him a pat on the back, “Actually, I was just being polite.”

Monty then turned to Michelle and hugged her as well before silently leaving along with Harper, and Echo gave Bellamy and Michelle a nod before stepping out, “Meet me later.”

“It’s gonna be fine.” Michelle said after a moment of silence. “We’ve got this.”

“Yeah, I- I know.” He didn’t look at her immidietaly, his eyes down, raising his eyebrows with a shaky nod. His voice was just as shaky and she pressed her lips together, feeling he wanted to cry, and so did she, “So, um, once the eye is taken down, it’ll take 6 days for Octavia and her army to get there, but, you know, I’ll be in the rover, and I can get there...”

He stopped himself when she put her hand on the side of his neck, her thumb stretching across his cheek, and then, he met her gaze, “When we landed on the ground, nothing could have made me believe you would be the love of my life. But you are. It was always gonna be you. So whatever happens, we will find each other again.” His nose rubbed against hers and he sniffled, letting his forehead rest on the bridge of her nose before putting his hands on each side of her fac, with a gentle firmness to the way he held onto her. Her hand fell to his chest, and she pinched his t-shirt. The kiss grew more passionate, her fingers ran through his hair and soon, they were stripping each other of their clothes, kissing and holding tightly, the warm feeling of their bodies pressing against each other.

The horn was blasting throughout the camp. Michelle and Bellamy stood outside their tent, squeezing each other in their arms. She wished she didn’t have to do this, to leave him behind, but he couldn’t come with them. Her heart ached but with a last kiss, she turned around and upon walking away, she noticed Clarke standing outside her own tent, across from theirs. She looked away quickly and fastened her pace to go find Echo further down the street. She took deep breath after deep breath, her hands closed into fists, her nails digging in her palms. The thought of seeing her father again didn’t do anything for the unrest she felt.

“Good, you’re here. Come on.” Echo motioned for her to tag along, and they jogged towards the square, finding Tarik and Karina crouched behind a wall and urging them to stick with them. Echo’s face was turning in all directions, her eyes darting all over the place, hoping on her feet. They had to stay alert and aware of their surroundings. The sound of the ship’s engines as it hovered over the city was deafening. Michelle could barely hear herself think. More and more defectors were running behind them. Michelle slowed down, hearing Tarik trip in the mud.

She turned around, rushing to go help him up and they resume their run but as she pushed him forward, she placed herself behind him. She gasped, her left leg suddenly collapsed, she lost her balance altogether and fell to the ground. Her eyes were wide, moaning in pain as a weird and burning feeling spread in her hip, as if her bone had been struck with a burning hot nail, slammed through her flesh with a sledgehammer, full force. The pain radiated from her hip to her thigh and lower back and as she put her hand in the area, she felt the sticky feeling of blood. She crawled in the mud, having trouble putting enough force in her hands to close them into fists, staring ahead of her, feeling faint and weren’t it for Echo who had backtracke, she could never have stood back up. She couldn’t even stand and let her leg drag in the mud as it was beyond impossible for her to even think putting pressure on it, and struggled to walk on just one leg, clinging onto Echo for support. Her rapid and shallow breathing made her head even more so dizzy, and she had trouble seeing clearly or focusing on anything other than the pain.

“Stay with me, Michelle.” Her voice got muffled, as though she had plugs in her ears and she could barely keep herself from nodding off. Before they climbed the ramp to get in the ship, Michelle fell to her knee, letting out a scream from the sharp pain that shot through her leg at the fall, and vomited her guts out. Echo put her hands under her armpits and lifted her, with the help of another defector stopping by.

Echo swore under her breath and groaned, gritting her teeth and settint her eyes on the ship, staring ahead of her. Inside the ship, they were stopped in a corridor, ordered to stay against the walls and for a hot minute, Echo’s urging requests for a doctor were ignored while they were stripped of any bracelet or anything shiny, they might have on them. This alerted Echo, glancing at her own bracelet. She had to lie Michelle on the ground. Blood was pooling right at their feet. Michelle’s stomach was heaving at a frantic rate and her skin shone from the sweat.

“Got any weapons? Anything shiny?”

Echo kneeled beside Michelle, her hand holding the side of her hip, “Nothing. She needs a doctor.” She was forced up, ordered to stay quiet and made to turn around as the woman checked if she had anything, eventually setting her eyes on her bracelet and deciding to take it.

She mumbled something, her throat desert-level dry, “Ne—ed… need water… wa—ter…”

“Parker, that’s enough.” Diyoza finally arrived, ending this mayhem. Kane was walking behing the colonel.

Echo spoke to get their attention, “She’s been shot.”

He looked at her, recognized his daughter lying on the floor, in an ever-growing pool of blood and rushed to her, his face dropping in concern, crouching down next to his daughter, “I’m here. I’m here…”

“Da-d…” She struggled to lift her hand, wanting to grab his. He checked around him, looking for something to use to put pressure on the wound. It was bleeding profusely. His eyes stopped at her jeans, noticing that the bottom had been torn and it gave him an idea. He ripped more of it, all the way up to her knee and folded it as much as he could. Echo carefully rolled her off her back, just so he could find the gunshot wound and they just as carefully put her on her back, placing the cloth against it, keeping his hand in between it and the floor. She moaned, fighting to keep her eyes open but it was so tempting to just close them and sleep.

“Abby will treat you once we get to the ground.” He kept his eyes on his daughter’s face, cupping her cheek in his free hand. Her skin was freezing and sickly pale. He requested some water and had to repeat himself many times, with always the same urgency in his voice, for Diyoza to eventually ask someone to get him some as no one was reacting to his words until then. Kane asked Echo to lift up Michelle’s head and he carefully brought the water to her lips, while keeping his other hand under her hip. He then poured some on her forehead, set the bottle aside and held her hand.

“We appreciate the risk you’ve all taken, but until we get to know you better…” One of her men unlocked a box, containing over a dozen of metal collar.

Kane looked up at Dioyza, telling Echo to keep her hand under the folded piece of fabric under her hip, which was now entirely soaked in blood, and stood up, “What is this?”

“Just a precaution.” She replied, as the collar wer locked around the grounders’ neck.

“Do I get one too?”

“Stop worrying, Kane. I take care of my friends.”

“Why would my daughter get one? She wasn’t Wonkru, nor is she a threat. Look at her. She’s in a critical condition and even when Abby treats her, she was shot in the hip. She will never be a threat. I vouch for her.” He had said it all in almost a single breath.

“If you vouch for her.” She motioned for the collar to be taken off the young woman. “You better keep her on a leash when she comes badk to. Just in case she got any grand ideas. Now, come on, let’s go home.”

[To be continued…]  

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

Published (07/16/2025) by Andrea

Taglist:  @mirellef2001

[justinewt]

Back from my hiatus, i'll get back into writing

@mirellef2001 i should be able to post a new chapter of The 100 by the end of next week

[justinewt]

Shifting Sands - THE 100 REWRITE Chapter Thirty-Eight

[THE 100 MASTERLIST]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

Summary: The situation escalated quicker than they could have predicted, or even expected, though they did expect it to not go too smoothly with a bunch of criminals.

Words: 3.7k

Warnings: The 100 season 5 spoilers (episode 5 "Shifting sands"), blood, cuts, introspection

They were at war now. The situation couldn’t have gotten worse in so little time. They tried negotiating with them and they tried to fuck us over. Octavia, or Bloodreina as her “followers” liked to call her with her blood-colored facial war paint, was dead set on going to war with the prisoners of the Eligius. Michelle could understand her sentiment. They were so many corpses, so many casualties from the shooting last night. It was terrible. Trails of blood, wounded grounders everywhere. Michelle was putting things away with Bellamy when they heard Clarke chasing after Miller with a determined step, calling after him, but the latter kept on ignoring her. Bellamy went straight towards Miller and the grounder accompagning him as they headed for the gate. Michelle just stood there, watching them as they spoke, hearing them just fine as she was not that far.

“Where are you going?”

“Wish I could tell you, Bellamy.”

“Octavia told you not to?”

Clarke finally caught up with them and looked at Miller who purposefully avoided looking at her. His gaze also instantly turned into a glare the moment Clarke entered his field of vision, and even though he wouldn’t make eye contact with her, she quickly understood what they had in mind, “They’re going to shallow valley.” Michelle lips parted slightly, dropping what she was holding. This was the place where their parents had been taken. Clarke took off, followed by Miller, shouting and eventually grabbing her arm, making him turn towards him. Michelle approached, going to stand beside Bellamy.

“You can’t just do whatever the hell you want here.” Michelle observed him, his face, the way he looked at Clarke and couldn’t quite understand why he seemed so angry or hostile towards her.

“I’m guessing you’re moving ahead of the army,” She responded to him with just about the same energy as he was giving her. “to scout forward terrain. Which route are you taking? It’s sandstorm season. The wind moves in a predictable path. I’ve made the trip dozens of times. Trust me. You need my help.”

He kept quiet, thinking, looking down but without lowering his head. He knew she was right. She was the one who lived on the ground for the past 6 years, and got to know how it was like now. He, and Octavia and the rest of them lived sheltered in a bunker, and Bellamy, Michelle and the others had been stuck in space. If there was one person, they should be listening to in order to get anywhere now, it was Clarke. Michelle and Bellamy followed the three others to where Octavia was and there she was, discussing strategy with two of her people and looked over her shoulder upon hearing the door open behind her.

“Miller, your orders were to go—”

“I know my orders.” He glanced at the woman who addressed him and continued. “I think we should listen to what Clarke has to say.”

“You can’t take the sea route.”

“Why? You said the sea is gone?” Indra asked. “Is it passable, or not?”

“Yes, maybe. But you have to understand—”

“Maybe’s good enough for me. Let’s move out.” She went to walk straight past Clarke and was stopped in her way by her brother. He raised his hands slightly and grounders pulled out and cocked their guns and he stopped moving. “Stand down.”

“Please, O, just hear us out.”

“Octavia, we’re all on the same team.” Clarke spoke and what she said, or her words, or something, seemed to make a sort of smirk appear on her interlocutor’s face. “No one wants to get to that valley more than me. It’s my home. But this way is too risky.”

“Risky how?” Indra wondered.  

“Show me.” Clarke walked up to the table as Octavia turned around. She looked at the map, following the paths with her index finger.

“You chose the shortest route, which makes sense, but the dry seabed is hit by almost constant sandstorms.”

“We have the tents from the second dawn. Sand won’t be a problem.”

“It’s not just sand. Some of it crystallized in praimfaya. I’m talking shards of glass like razor blades. Your tents will be torn to shreds, and so will you.”

“Bloodreine is right.” Her guard insisted. “Besides, we can only carry rations for 7 days. The sea route will take 6. The next shortest path adds 50 miles. That’s two days, if we’re lucky.”

“How do we know there won’t be sandstorms on the longer routes—”

She cut Indra off and cut short any other comment that might have been made, “Enough. We’re doing this. The hydrofarm is barely feeding us now, so if this is the last living valley on earth, then it should be ours.”

“Diyoza thinks the same thing.” Bellamy said with a concerned frown.

“And so we fight.” The grounders in Octavia’s guard walked out, bumping Bellamy's shoulders without much care. Indra addressed him, but her words weren’t of much reassurance to him.

“Your sister needs you, Bellamy. I’m glad you’re here for her.” On her way out, she turned to the three left in the room, mentioning the packs of rations by the door, and left, calling the first battalion to mount up already.

“Am I crazy, or were they gonna kill me for getting in her way?” Bellamy was pretty dumbfounded, frowning still.

“She has amassed a following in that bunker. They’re not just loyal, they’re devoted to her. Fanatical. It’s like she made herself her own little cult. It’s just— insane.” Michelle crossed her arms, sighing quietly and Clarke couldn’t help but shake her head in disbelief.

“What do we do?” She then said.

“Raven and Murphy are in trouble. I have to go with them.” Bellamy nodded to himself, his eyebrows still brought together, his forehead now visibly wrinkled from how worried he was. Michelle didn’t like seeing him like this. He picked up a bag lying by the door, “6-day hike through sandstorm country with a gladiator cult. What could go wrong?” and handed one to Michelle, and another to Clarke.

They walked until nightfall. Bellamy, Michelle et Clarke were sitting together, apart from the rest of the clan, and watched Octavia in the distance, as they ate their rations around their small fire.

“All of me for all of us.” Clarke said, repeating the phrase they had heard on repeat. It seemed to be Octavia’s clan motto. “It’s kind of beautiful.”

“On paper, sure.” Michelle was leaning forward her elbows and forearms on her thighs, tearing bits of the slice of dried meat in her hands, and taking her time chewing each and every one of them. She felt Clarke looking at her, and the feeling it gave her was the same as when she used to date Murphy and let his personality rub off on her. Her face showed no reaction to her thoughts or anythign else, but it got her thinking, wondering if she had always been a little sassy or if it really all came from her time with Murphy, or at least in his vincinity. Maybe she was always a little like that, though she used to really follow Clarke’s every move and decision back on the Ark, like a good, little soldier.

It had been some time since anyone had called her that, too. Maybe she had become her own person eventually, setting herself apart from Clarke. It was true that until they were sent to the ground, she never interacted with people outside of Clarke and Wells. Never cared enough to talk to other people anyway. It seemed obvious and natural, that after becoming surrounded by a hundred people her age, it would make her change in some aspects, and she didn’t even really think about it, or realize. She was too focused on the losses she went through. It occupied her mind, for the most part. And after spending years in space, she spent quite some time alongside Murphy again, so he maybe rubbed off on her more than he did the first time. She also caught Bellamy giving her the same look on Eligius when she sided and agreed with Murphy a bunch of times. She wasn’t too sure what to make of it though, ans she had lost tracks of the conversation, so she had no idea where they were at right now. “What did you say?”

“I didn’t say anything. Clarke was talking.” His tone wasn’t what she expected. For some obscure reason, she expected him to have almost of an accusing tone, as though he could hear her thoughts and would be mad or something, almost as if she had forgotten he did love her too and was rarely mad at her, especially for no reason, and without talking it out. They were sitting on the same narrow crate, pressed against each other, his hand on her lower back and slid it all the way up to her shoulder, gently tucking her hair behind her ear.

“Are you okay? You’ve been chewing on the same bite for a while. You look preoccupied.”

She shrugged, sitting up, “I’m just worried about my dad. I can’t get it out of my head.” And it was only partially true. She was preoccupied with her father’s safety, but it was not at all what had been on her mind a moment before. Clarke seemed to accept that answer, though she maybe suspected there was something else, but Bellamy clearly knew she wasn’t telling them everything. He squeezed her shoulder. Michelle gave him a smile and continued eating her ration. It was small and she was barely halfway through it. She tried to look less lost in her thought and finish her piece of food.

“I’m tired. You can have the rest of my rations. Omon gon Oson.” She handed her food to them, but Michelle declined as she wasn’t too hungry, so Bellamy grabbed it. Clarke stood up and left the pair by the fire.  With his arm around her, his hand now on her side, under her ribs, he squeezed slightly, and she let herself fall against his chest with a sigh. Only then did she realize that they hadn’t shared a moment like that in a minute, probably since going on Eligius actually. She rested her eyes, listening to him trying to reach out to Monty on the radio, not getting much more than silence in return. He let his hand fall on his thigh and put his face on the top of Michelle’s head, dropping a little kiss and breathing into her hair, thoughtfully. It was so soothing; she was almost falling asleep when she was awakened by screams in the distance. Bellamy’s arm went from just holding her side to wrapping around her stomach, and across her chest with his hand holding the radio, as though to shield her, before recognizing the scouts, including Miller and standing up to go and help them. The latter was carrying his partner and screaming incoherently. At first, everyone thought they were under attack because of how alarmed he was but he began shouting and rambling about how something was wrong with the other guy. He put on him on the floor. They stood around him in a circle as he was having what looked like a seizure, but it was clearly not that.

“Out of my way. I can help.” Clarke had even brought the med kit but a guard stopped her. The guy on the ground was violently twisting his body in all kinds of directions. Clarke called out to Octavia, who was just standing there, watching, and finally, she ordered for her to be let in the circle. The poor young man had seemingly calmed down and stopped moving around. “He’s breathing, but his heart is racing.”

“What the hell happened out there?” She questioned Miller, who was just beyond upset and distraught.

“We separated to cover more ground. Then I hear him screaming that they’re everywhere. Then I get to him and there’s nothing. It’s just more screaming and—” They all let out a loud gasp, stepping back instantly as something moved in the man’s abdomen, pushing against his skin. Bellamy had his body turned towards Michelle, his eyes looking at the man on the ground. It had become clear that there was something inside of him, but none of them knew what. They hurried, getting him in a tent and cutting off access to anyone else but Clarke and another few. Bellamy seemed to notice something on his left as she was making the hypothesis that it could have been caused by the rations. She looked closer as he held his flashlight a little higher, revealing a hole in his leg.

“It came from the sand.” Clarke guessed. “We have to go back.”

“No.”

“Octavia, he told Miller that they were everywhere.”

“Yes, but Miller just said he saw nothing.”

“Everywhere could mean everywhere inside him.” A guard added. “I agree with Bloodreina.”

“Of course—” Michelle was about to mumble to herself, unsurprised the latter agreed with her dear bloodreina, and heard Indra having a similar reaction to the guard’s comment.

“We march on at first light.”

“And Obika?” Miller wondered.

She turned back to the young man, “If he’s not better by then… I’ll end his pain myself.” And she left, coldly, emotionless. It prompted Clarke to look at Michelle and Bellamy, shocked. The latter frowned, slightly shaking his head. The guards followed her outside. Clarke got to dress Obika’s wound and Bellamy sat there, staring into space, and it was clear to the two young women that he was very much concerned with his sister’s change of behavior. This wasn’t who he remembered she was, but his memory of her was outdated. The memory they all had of her was quite old. Bellamy had trouble to reconcile the two versions of his sister that he now had in his head. They clashed.

“Octavia’s not the only one who’s changed, you know. You could’ve killed those prisoners in cryo,” Michelle turned her head to the opposite direction. She had sided with Murphy on that decision and wanted to kill those prisoners in cryo, but Bellamy was opposed to it. “but you didn’t. Diyoza would have killed me if not for you. Madi would be alone. You got that bunker open.”

“Who knew it would turn out to be Pandora’s box?” He said heavily and shrugged, looking away as though he was ashamed or guilty of something that wasn’t his fault.

“I’m serious, Bellamy. The heart and the head.”

“The heart and the head.” He repeated quietly.

“So… what does your head say about two armies fighting a war in the only green place on earth?”

“Same as yours.” The conversation was cut short when they heard screaming outside again. Bellamy jerked to his feet. The three of them ran outside the tent, alerted. Their eyes widened. Large clouds of sand had formed over the hills in the horizon, pierced through by lighting. The infamous sandstorms that Clarke had already warned Octavia about.

“Can we outrun it?” Indra asked.

“As long as it keeps moving laterally from east to west, we shouldn’t have to, but if the wind shifts…”

“The wind hasn’t met Wonkru.” She turned to the people behind her. “Now there’s no choice. We keep moving.”

Bellamy got in her way, “Keep moving? Thanks to you, we’re stuck between razor-blade winds and burrowing, parasitic bugs.”

“Thanks to you, we’re at war, Bellamy.”

“Only if you insist on fighting it.”

“Fight or die. That’s all there is.” He frowned, looking at Clarke and Michelle who were just as concerned. “You don’t understand. I get it. Because you’re not one of us.”

“Is Obika one of you? Hmm? Because you’re about to end his life like he means nothing. I understand that.” He raised his voice. The female guard always agreeing with Octavia stepped forward but was grabbed and stopped by Indra while another of the grounders urged Bellamy to show respect. It was just surreal.

“I’d stop if I were you.” Octavia advised her brother to lower his tone. When Obika started shouting, Clarke rushed out. He had woken up and when they got to the tent, he was violently twisting his body around again, yelling, telling them to get whatever was inside of him out. They held him down as strongly as they could and stared with wide eyes as what lurked inside his stomach pushed hard against his skin, bursting it open like a balloon, splashing them with blood and bits of flesh as they gasped. Clarke and Michelle lost their balance and fell, holding onto each other as they landed on the ground. Michelle’s hand was shaking as she wiped some blood from her cheek.

“Everybody out! Now! Go!” Bellamy shouted. He helped Clarke and Michelle out as well and Octavia then ordered Indra to burn down the tent, along with all the parasites inside. She urgently lit up a torch and threw it inside. Octavia had fallen, tensing up in her brother’s arm as a parasite slithered under her skin. They dragged her inside another tent, putting her infected arm on the table. Clarke was adamant; they couldn’t let it reach her torso. What happened to Obika couldn’t possibly happen to Octavia. Clarke was panicked by the urgency of the situation but as always kept focused. She spoke fast, telling Michelle to get anything she could find to make a tourniquet around Octavia’s arm and the latter nodded, quickly finding a lacing cord and gave it to her. The second thing she asked for as she was tightly wrapping the cord around her bicep was a knife. Octavia groaned as the blade cut through her skin. Clarke stuck her fingers in the open wound and searched for the parasite, eventually getting a hold of it when someone called out to them on the radio. “Monty, it’s me. Something tells me we got your emergency beat.”

“I doubt that. The prisoners have an eye in the sky on the mothership, and a missile system on their transport ship. They’re on their way to you right now. You have to move. Hide somewhere. Take cover.”

“Hide from an eye in the sky? How are we supposed to do that?”

“Murphy says we have a friend inside. If he’s right, the eye won’t be watching. You have a window, but you have to move now.” The parasite wheezed as it was pulled out and shoved into a jar.

“Where do we find cover from missiles in the middle of a wasteland?” Indra inquired.

“If they see us retreat, they’ll stand down.”

“You still don’t understand.” Octavia’s voice was a little weak, but she still hadn’t changed her mind despite what just happened to her. “Wonkru does not retreat.”

“You do if you want to live.” Bellamy tried reasoning with her.

“Now is not the time for a debate. Even if we did retreat, the path home puts us in the middle of a sandstorm.”

“Those ruins are not our home.” Octavia added, glancing at Indra. “That valley is, and we’re taking it back.”

“Octavia, easy.” Clarke helped her stand. “The venom’s still in your system.” But the latter didn’t care and while her brother stared at her in disbelief as he did since he saw what she had become now, she advised for him to understand, and quickly, and she left, despite barely standing on her own.

In any case, they had to move. They left the tents behind and ventured in the middle of the sandstorm, everyone from the bataillon huddled together, forming a dome over Octavia and Clarke. Indra shouted for them to hold, repeatedly. Michelle felt shards of glass fly over her head and back, wincing as the sharp edges cut through her shirt and skin. When the storm cleared and they let go of each other, Michelle straightened up, took one step and lost her balance. Her jacket had suffered some cuts here and there but, it was an old US Army jacket, so it wasn’t too destroyed, and it had seen other battles anyways, but the back of her legs was another story. Bellamy caught her, instantly worried and saw the blood stains growing at the back of her pants and cried out for Clarke. She made sure Octavia was alright and went to her best friends. Michelle’s calves and a part of her thighs were riddled with tiny pieces of glass. She couldn’t possibly take them all out by hand. She deemed the pain Michelle must be feeling as worse than the bloodloss from the cuts, which was thankfully not too bad, but she was a little more concerned about the large shard of glass stuck across the top of her calves. Less than half an inch higher and it would have cut through her knees’ tendons. She wanted to use a piece of fabric but feared that tiny pieces of shards might be in her pants and hurt her more, so she didn’t know what to do, until Bellamy pointed out that the bottom of her jeans was stuffed inside her boot. With the tip of a blade, she cut it and after taking off the big shard of glass, wrapped it around her leg. Others fell around them. By the time the sun had risen, some even died, about a dozen according to Miller.

Octavia was lying on the sand, Indra a few feet away from her, wheezing and having trouble breathing. From what Michelle heard Clarke tell Octavia, the grounder probably had glass in her lungs. Michelle could stand up now too, though she did have a subtle limp because of the sting at the back of her knee.  

“Thank you for saving my life.” Octavia spoke quietly.

“You saved ours.” Bellamy approached, joining Clarke by his sister’s side. “You were right. Wonkru is strong. Just like their leader.”

She clenched her jaw a bit, leaning on a mound of sand and then on her brother’s arm to sit up, “I’m glad you’re alive, big brother.” The softness in Michelle’s eyes as she watched Octavia place a kiss on his cheek and embrace him soon disappeared with her following words, which were literally a threat; “But if you ever speak out against Wonkru again, then you are an enemy of Wonkru.” She grabbed his head, “And you are my enemy.”

Michelle saw the expression on Bellamy’s face; he was disturbed by what his sister had told him, and just stood up and walked away.

[To be continued…]  

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

Published (03/30/2025) by Andrea

Taglist:  @mirellef2001

[justinewt]

Stir Up a Hornet's Nest - THE 100 REWRITE Chapter Thirty-Seven

[THE 100 MASTERLIST]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter (SOON)

Summary: They had found out who was on this ship, and who was down there, so it was time to try to get back to the ground, and get their own people out of that bunker.

Words: 5.3k

Warnings: The 100 season 5 spoilers (second half of episode 3 "Sleeping giants"; episode 4 "Pandora's box")

“Not too long ago, I’d have thought this was magic.” Echo declared as she stared at the cryo coffins along the walls of the room. 300 people were in those, minus one. They all stood there, just looking. They needed to figure out how to deal with this, before those criminals woke up, because they were actual criminals, nothing like the 100 teenagers that had been sent down to the ground years ago. As she thought about it, it hit Michelle in the face just how long it had really been. How long her mother had been dead for, and how long she had spent separated from her dad. She felt her heart ache and she quickly swept those depressing thoughts aside.

“Any advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Raven said, as she studied the panel of one of the cryo coffin. This one was open, so it was easy to suppose or guess that it was that of their aggressor.

“How long can they live like this?” Bellamy had taken the words out of Michelle’s mouth as her lips parted slightly.

“Technically? Forever.”

“Or we can kill them all right now.” Murphy barged in, walking with a determined step and Michelle shot up her eyebrows. She didn’t completely disagree with him. They could just get rid of all those dangerous criminals before they even became somewhat of a threat. As he walked up to them, he glanced at Michelle standing with one hand on her lower back and Bellamy with his tumefied face.

“One of them woke up.” Echo replied, with her split lip.

“Question is how.”

“No, the question is what the hell are we waiting for?” Murphy cut him off. “I’m serious, ok. We’re all gassed up. Let’s pull the plug on this sleeping army and go home.”

“I agree.” Michelle added, crossing her arms over her chest. “If we wait, they’ll just wake up, and either fucking kill us or join this Diyoza down there and still kill all of us.”

“That’s not an option. Kill thiers, they kill ours.” Bellamy contradicted. “Raven?”

“The pods are all jacked into the mainframe. I’m guessing they activated this one remotely from the ground, probably in response to us tripping their alarm.”

“When he doesn’t check in, they’ll wake more of them.”

“I’d say that’s a good bet.” Raven exchanged a glance with Echo and turned, looking down at the endless room.

“So we should do something before that happens, at least get the hell out.” Michelle concluded, supported in her proposition by Murphy and his want to get the hell out of there as well. They were seemingly on the same wavelength at the moment, looking at each other. Michelle thought it a little weird how he quickly broke eye contact for no reason, and she looked over her shoulder at Bellamy, staring at Murphy. She sometimes forgot how their exchanges could look from his perspective and given that they were exes. His brows were a little furrowed. She put a hand on his back, softly moving the tips of her fingers around.

“Bellamy, you know what happens when these guys get to the ground.” They turned their heads to Echo. “Murphy and Michelle aren’t wrong. This is an army.” He thought, frowning harder, looking down, conflicted. “I know how you feel, but it took four of us to take out one of them. Giving them reinforcements when we can stop it is a strategic mistake.”

He gave Murphy and Michelle a glance, “We’ve been off the ring for less than a day, and we’re already talking about murdering hundreds of people.”

“Hundreds of people that would kill us the second they wake up. And then kill our people on the ground.”

“Exactly.” Voices were raising and statements were being made with a much stronger tone, though they weren’t actually arguing. Murphy once again backed Michelle. The way Bellamy looked at them, raising his eyebrows and digging the creases on his forehead, showed Michelle that the dynamic going on between the three of them wasn’t ideal, even though it felt nice to agree on something with Murphy for once in a while. She was afraid that it would make Murphy and Bellamy’s relationship worse if he thought the two exes were getting close again. She sighed in her head. It had been less than a day off the ring and so many things were going wrong. Or many she was overthinking it because of stress or something like that. She would know at some point, if they ever argued or what not, Bellamy would bring it up. “This is survival, not murder. Just like Michelle said, they die now, or we die later. If Clarke was here, this wouldn’t even be—”

“Clarke’s not here.” Bellamy kept his eyebrows raised, pulling their heads together. He wasn’t just annoyed at Murphy, he was sad to think about Clarke, and Michelle knew exactly how he felt. She felt the same way about her.

“Exactly.” He repeated himself. “She died so we could live, Bellamy. This is how we do that.”

“Maybe not.” Raven spoke, quietly. Murphy took a step back from Bellamy after getting up close in his face as things got heated. “We can leave them here like this but block the signal from the ground so they can’t wake them up.”

“They have a shuttle. They can just come back up and do it themselves.”

“Can you rig it so we can kill them remotely?” Echo wondered.

“It’s tricky… But possible. Why?”

“That way we can have leverage.” Michelle figured, speaking as she locked eyes with the former Azgeda spy.

“Put down your weapons or we pull the plug.” Bellamy added. He walked to Raven, Michelle’s hand sliding down and off his back. “How long do you need to make that possible?”

“I don’t know, but I’m on it.”

“Wait, Murphy.” The latter was walking away, leaving them in the room until Bellamy called his name. He stopped in the door frame. “I want to know what you think.”

“I think it’s a risk.”

“You’re right. It is. But Clarke didn’t die for us to live just so we can go back to the ground and make the same mistakes.”

“What the hell?” He smiled, pressing his lips together, not looking directly at them and shrugged. “Let’s be good guys.”

Michelle was pacing around. They were waiting for Bellamy to come back after he went to check on Raven, see if she had figured out how to rig the remote control of the cryo coffins and prevent Diyoza and her people to wake them up from the ground. Emory, Echo and Michelle all exchanged confused looks upon not seeing their fellow engineer.

“Where is she?” The others got up from the benches on either side of the boarding room.

“It’s technical, but, um, someone had to run things from up here.”

“So let it be John.” Michelle’s eyes were on him as Emori pointed at him with here hand. He was hurt that she wanted to be rid of him so bad. He felt her gaze and they looked at each other, and whether or not he interpreted her compassion as pity, or appreciated it, he looked away after a couple seconds.

“I said, it’s technical.”

After some silence, Monty spoke up, already walking away, ignoring Harper’s choked voice as she called out to him, but Bellamy stopped him in his tracks. “It has to be Raven. Once we have a truce, she’ll come down with the prisoners. If we fail, she’ll take the ship’s escape pod. Either way, she will be fine.”

“If I’m flying solo, she’ll be the only one.” Emori wasn’t about to let this go. Bellamy eventually walked past them, towards the pod. When he turned around, Murphy had stepped out of the boarding airlock.

“I’m staying too.” He declared. “Look, Raven might need backup.” Everyone was just staring at him in silence. “What? With Emori flying, this is the survivor’s move. See you on the other side.”

He then pressed on the button to the side of the door, closing it as he walked away.  They all put on their suits and got inside the dropship, Emori and Bellamy taking the commands, counting down the meters as they descended to the ground, lighting and firing up the engines. It shook quite a lot once they entered the atmosphere, and Michelle gritted her hand on the edge of her seat. When the robotic voice repeating Emori’s commands said the landing had been successful, they all had pleasantly surprised looks on their faces. They were on the ground. After 6 years, they were finally back. With a relieved breath, they took off their helmets, one after the other. Emori was so shocked by what she had accomplished, managing to keep all of her friends alive, that she didn’t respond the first time that Bellamy called her name.

“We didn’t die.”

“No. No, we didn’t.” He smiled.

“We’ll celebrate, once Murphy and Raven are back down, too.” Echo wasn’t as happy and cheerful or relieved as the others. She was, as always, much more pragmatic. “There’s no telling how many people saw us. We need to take cover in the trees before they get here.

“Yeah.” Bellamy agreed, passing his gloved hand in his hair to get the locks out of his forehead and unbolted his seatbelt, everyone doing the same and then following him outside after he opened the hatch. It was pitch black outside, and so quiet. So much so it was almost disturbing, and pretty scary given they didn’t know who could be watching them, but if it was someone like that dude on the Eligius, maybe those people wouldn’t be so discreet, but still they were on high alert. “Ok, so how do we dinf them?”

“We don’t. They’ll find us.” Echo stated.

Michelle’s thoughts on those people’s lack of discretion, or rather lack of need to be discreet, were confirmed when armed men appeared before them, aiming at them and ordering them to get on their knees. They already found them. Bellamy took upon himself to do the talking and stepped up as they all rose their hands in the hair.

“It’s ok, it’s ok. We don’t want to fight…”

“Now!”

“No, wait. We just want to talk.” One of the men took a radio, signaling that they had six hostiles in front of them, and they were told to standby. They all looked at each other until they heard a female voice, probably Diyoza’s, telling them they had lost four of their people, and that it was time to even the score. Right when they heard those words, the group knew a peaceful conversation wouldn’t be in the cards for them.

“Congratulations. Two of you get to live.” As he was about to shoot four of them down, a spear was thrown at him from the forest. He fired a few shots but couldn’t aim correctly and just shoot up the trees. A young girl stood there by the dim light of the moon, looking at them. Just a kid, as Bellamy noted, baffled. The girl was staring at him with big eyes.

“Bellamy?” He didn’t respond, staring back at her in confusion as to how she even knew his name. She swept her eyes around, glancing at the others, looking for something, or rather someone else. “Is Michelle there?” The latter walked out of Bellamy’s shadow and the girl smiled. “Clarke knew you would come.”

Bellamy had been so taken aback, it took him a minute before he could speak, “Clarke’s alive?”

“She’s in trouble. We have to go.” The girl urged.

“What about the others in the bunker?” Monty took a step forward.

“Still there.” Michelle closed her eyes for a second, taking a shaky breath, thinking about her father. He wasn’t dead, like she convinced herself of those past few years. He was very much still alive, and she could soon be reunited with him.

“What? No, no. How can that be?”

“I’ll explain on the way.”  They were left dumbfounded, but the girl seemingly didn’t have the time to tell them everything right there and then, so they jogged after her, following her through the woods to a Rover parked nearby. She drove them to a grove where they saw a group of people – most likely the people from the Eligius – and a blonde girl on the ground, seized with convulsions. It was Clarke. Once her hair got out of her face, there was no doubting it, but even before that, Michelle recognized her hair and silhouette almost instantly. Upon seeing the car approach, the group turned towards them, some aiming their weapons in their direction. Madi was about to step out of the vehicle, but Bellamy stopped her, staring ahead of him, through the windshield.             They were outnumbered and this could go wrong so fast, and in so many ways. 

“Madi, no. Take the rover back. That’s the plan.” He spoke. “I won’t let anything happen to Clarke. I promise.

“Come out with your hands high.” A woman shouted outside. Bellamy put his hand on the door and looked over his shoulder, glancing at Michelle sitting in the back, reassuring her that he would be okay, and stepped out to Clarke’s shock.

“Unarmed. Just want to talk.”

“Give me one good reason not to kill you where you stand.”

“How about I give you 283?” They weren’t expecting that one given the face she made and the look a man next to her gave her. “That’s how many of your people are gonna die if you and I can’t make a deal.” He pulled out a mug that he took on Eligius, proving he had been on the ship and wasn’t talking shit and bluffing about being able to kill all of their people. He then raised in other hand, closed into a fist, signaling to Madi to reverse the car and drive off. Michelle had climbed onto the passenger seat at the front and was staring at Clarke and Bellamy. She was battling her urge to urge to just jump out and join them, even though he asked her to stay in the car with Madi, Echo, Monty and Harper.

“283 lives for one. She must be pretty important to you.”

“She is.” Michelle had gotten out of the car, which was actually driving off into the forest this time. Bellamy turned his head, looking at her, sighing through his nose. He wasn’t so shocked that she didn’t follow through with staying in the car with the others. As he would, she would do anything for Clarke, or him, even if that put her in danger. The pair then both looked straight at Clarke, still on the ground. This wasn’t exactly the reunion they had expected.

They sat around a fire, in a heavy silence. The woman with them, the so-called Diyoza, had asked over the radio that someone check whether or not Bellamy’s words were true, and it was confirmed to be. Raven had successfully blocked their remote access to the cryo-room and the coffin-looking pods. They were unable to wake anyone up.

“Do I have your attention now?” Bellamy asked, his hands on his hips. Michelle stayed right beside him; arms crossed. She let him do the talking.

“I don’t know how you got on my ship, but if anything happens to any of my people…”

“Nothing will happen to them, as long as we can make a deal.”

“I dsay we kill him now.” They gave a sidelong glance at the man with them. The latter was inspecting the blade in his hands, not even looking at them, but looking up at Diyoza with a smirk.

“What do you want?”

“We need your help opening a bunker. You’re miners, so that shouldn’t be a problem for you. If you do that, I’ll let your people go.”

“And then what, happily ever after?”

“Then we’ll split this valley down the middle. Whether or not you’re happy is on you, but I’d like to think that we can find a way to coexist.” The same man that thought they should just kill them began laughing and stood up.

“Threatening to kill 283 of my people is one hell of a way to start a friendship.” She continued.

“Can’t expect us to come here without leverage.” Michelle said, shooting up her eyebrows. The explanations seemed quite sensible, hopefully, Diyoza wouldn’t disagree. Bellamy didn’t really give her time to comment on what she had just said. Urging her to give an answer to whether or not they had a deal, and they did have one. Bellamy and Michelle were then led to a room on the small ship they came down on and a door opened after making a buzzing sound, revealing Clarke lying down on a bench in the room.      She looked over her shoulder, both worried and surprised to see her two closest friends at her doorstep. Or at least that’s what Michelle assumed were the emotions carried by the look on her face. They walked up to her, helped her sit up and she took a second to look at them as if they weren’t real, before falling in their arms. There was so much relief in her voice once she could feel them against her. They were really here, and it brought tears to her eyes. She wasn’t hallucinating them. She eventually broke the embrace, and the relief had been replaced by concern and fear.

“Madi?”

“She’s safe.” He reassured her. “She’s in the woods with the others. Diyoza won’t look for them as long as we’re in control.”

“You’re all still alive…? Murphy, Monty, Raven?”

“Echo and Emori. Yeah.”

“Clarke, you saved us all.” Michelle added in a whisper.

She chuckled softly, “Now you’re home.” They held each other some more, before she broke the embrace again, getting all worried, again. “Wait. Why’d she release me?”

“We made a deal.” He replied. “She agreed to open the bunker.”

She showed relired at the news. They could all be reunited with the others. Michelle was especially happy about seeing her father again. She had missed him so dearly those past few years and desperately wanted to be held tightly in his arms and hold him in hers. There were three people mainly making up her entire world, and she had been kept apart from two of them for 6 years. And her father was especially important. During her time away from him, she had realized how much he had made up for her mother’s absence, and not being able to see him had forced her to face the latter’s death, and his own potential death and she couldn’t bear the thought. Bellamy, Michelle and Clarke could finally leave together and contacted Raven on the radio.

“Raven, can you hear me? Come in.”

Her voice responded a few seconds later, “Tell me everyone’s okay.”

“Everyone’s okay. We reached a deal with the people from that ship, and, by the way, the laser-com’s an open line, so they can hear every word we say.”

“Nice to meet you. We’re not bad people. We—” Murphy interrupted the conversation and was quickly cut off, Bellamy taking back the lead of the conversation.

“Raven, keep him away from the radio.”

“Copy that.”

“Anyway, they know the rules, but just to be safe, colonel Diyoza, here they are again. If anyone tries to get around your security, you pull the plug. If anyone does anything that wasn’t agreed upon, you pull the plug, and if you don’t hear from me every hour on the hour, you pull the plug.”

“Is that all?” From the sound of her voice, they could tell it was already a lot, and it was.

“No. That’s not all. Someone wants to say hello.” He handed the radio to Clarke, who, for the first time in years, spoke to Raven and Murphy and the mechanic couldn’t believe it was actually her on the other end.

“Jeez, and they call me the cockroach.” Murphy joked. They laughed.

“You guys just be careful up there, okay? We’ll talk more pnce this is all over. I want to hear everything.”

“Okay, but first, thank you for saving our lives.” Raven’s voice was febrile and heavy with emotion but n ow was the time to leave and get Diyoza to honor her part of the deal and finally be reunited with their friends and loved ones. Polis was in ruins, with only half of the main tower still standing. The bunker door was unattanable, being under the rubble so they caused a bunch of explosions on the top of the bunker, while Bellamy, Michelle and Clarke put on harnesses. Bellamy went down first, soon joined by the two young women, who looked around them upon setting foot on the floor. Tall wire mesh had been mounted on the railings, with people looking at them through the holes. Michelle’s eyes swept the room and fell to the ground, where she noticed pools of blood here and there and just stared. She couldn’t understand what they had been doing in there for this place to turn into whatever this was. She only turned around when she heard footsteps going up to Clarke, and she saw Octavia, with a warrior-like attire and red war paint on her face, as if she smeared her face with blood. Michelle kept on observing the faces she saw through the mesh, but none were her father’s, or even Abby, and she would think that if either of them had seen her or Clarke coming down, there would have been vocal reactions. They would have heard their parents calling out to them at least.  

“Where’s my dad?” Her question was blatantly ignored by Octavia though the latter looked at her, but her eyes were caught by two other persons coming down into the bunker. Diyoza and this man, whom Michelle assumed must have been her second in command or something, unbuckled the cords from their belts. Clarke and Michelle glanced at each other, not understanding what was going on here, and what was up with Octavia.

“Who are they?” She held her chin high in this strange manner that seemed so unnatural to the Octavia that Michelle remembered, with this sense of superiority.

“We’re here to rescue you.” Diyoza told her.

Octavia’s gaze went to their belts, “Why are you armed?”

“O, it’s okay. We have an understanding.”

“Before we get to that, Michelle asked you a question. Where’s her dad? And where’s my mom?” Clarke enquired.

“I’ll take them to their parents.” Indra waited a second for Octavia to give her a go. The latter nodded and the grounder took the girls down a corridor. She led them into a room from which Abby’s voice rose quietly, sitting against bunk beds. Their parents were kept apart, fro some reason that Indra didn’t care to explain, but what she did tell, and only because Michelle was so insistent to understand what had been happening in the bunker, was that her father had been made to fight to death in what she called the arena; the fighting pit. Knowing her father could have died mere moments before they got into the bunker shook her to her core and she went quiet.

“Is it over?” She asked quietly.

“He’s alive… for now.”

Clarke and Michelle entered the room just as silently, “Hi, mom.”

“Clarke?” She couldn’t believe it, and it took her a hot minute to look over her shoulder. She stared at her in shock as she came closer, and helf her daughter’s face in her hands, tand tenderly hugging her. Michelle crossed her arms over her chest, looking away. She was happy for Clarke, of course, but it was still unbearable to watch when she still wasn’t reunited with her own father.

“Everything’s gonna be okay. But first, we have to get you out of here.”

“What happens to Marcus?” Those words brought back Michelle’s attention to Abby.

“I’ll get him to the ground. After that, it’s up to you.” She turned to the door, signaling for Michelle to come with her, and she didn’t need to twist her arm. She followed her down the maze that were the bunker’s corridors, walking with a brisk pace. They stopped in front of cell door. Indra unlocked the door and Michelle followed her inside. He was handcuffed, sitting on the ground, lost in his thoughts and exchanged a few words with Indra without noticing his daughter standing by the door frame.

“Dad.” Much like when Abby heard her daughter's voice, he froze at first, probably wondering if it was just his imagination playing tricks on him. But, eventually, he looked up, and he was unable to take his eyes off his daughter, unable to even blink, as though she would disappear into thin air if his eyes closed for but an instant. Her lips parted, trembling and as she repeated herself, her voice choked with tears that came flooding her eyes. She approached him, taking a peek at the cuffs before wrapping her arms around him and pressing her face against his shoulder, sobbing uncontrollably.

She had dreams and nightmares about what their reunion would feel and look like, and thankfully, it were her dreams that had come true. He was alive, and standing right there. She didn't lose him while stuck in space, like she lost her mother while stuck on the ground. Her father couldn't reciprocate the hug because of his restraints but she felt his hand grab her jacket and take deep, shaky breaths against the top of her head. She never wanted to let him go. She wanted to keep him in her arms forever. Her greatest fear was to lose him. She somehow continued living after the biggest heartbreak of her entire life, which was losing her mother, but her father dying would be the final blow, and she knew deep down that she would never be able to cope with it; with the loss of both her parents, and her love for Bellamy made her think. Too much. And she cried even harder, but her father couldn't know it was also about Bellamy. Her voice was beyond unstable and inaudible because of her crying, “I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too, honey.” Hearing the softness with which he addressed her made her bury her face in his neck, whimpering, and he brought his hand to her shoulder blade. Hearing her cry, on top of finally seeing her again, made him greatly emotional too and she heard him sniffing next to her ear, trying to contain himself, definitely because he didn't want her to hear him cry and be even sadder. Her only thought in that moment was how much she loved her dad.

“We have to move. Now.” Indra’s voice led Michelle to break the embrace and turn her head towards her, nodding. Indra advised to keep her father out of Octavia’s sight while until the latter was brought up to the surface. She led them back to the fighting pit and was gotten out of the bunker. She had a radio and would signal when it would be safe for Kane to get to the surface. Clarke was already up there, most likely, as there was no trace of her in the arena either, bu there was Abby with them. Michelle stayed down there until Indra called to tell them to bring him up once Octavia had left. He tried to convince his daughter to go up before him, but she refused and pushed him forward. They buckled the cord and pulled him upwards. He looked down to his daughter as he disappeared in the blinding light of the sun. She then motioned for Abby to go forth, but she wouldn’t, and Michelle sighed, nodding, and grabbing the cord when it was thrown back into the hole. She was lifted in the air and helped on the ground. She quickly unbuckled the cord and almost ran towards her father, joining him in front of Clarke. He turned his head to her and caressed his cheek before putting his hands on his shoulder, with Clarke looking at them, sweetly. They backed away from each other, hearing Indra come up to them, whispering to Kane as she dropped something in his hands.

“Wait for night. If you get caught, I won’t be able to help you.” She walked away. What she had just dropped in the palm of his hand was actually the key to unlock his handcuffs. Abby jogged up to them, taking Clarke in her arms. Michelle only then noticed that Bellamy was no where to be seen, but neither was Octavia, so she assumed they must have been talking somewhere, otherwise Bellamy would have been waiting for them at the bunker’s exit. They did as advised and waited until nightfall. Michelle stayed with Abby and her father, until Clarke came to them, and they slipped away.

“Okay. We’re safe here. Let’s get those cuffs off.” Clarke urged.

“If you’re right, and that valley’s the only survivable place, where will your mother and I go?” He asked, while Michelle busied herself with freeing him from those handcuffs.

“I’ll talk to Octavia, see if I can reason with her.”

“You won’t be able to.” Abby retorted.

“Regardless, that’s tomorro’s problem.” She shrugged it off. “Today we have to keep you out of sight until everyone is safely—” Their conversation was disrupted by a strange sound nearby.

“What was that?”

Clarke glanced at her mother, “I know what that was. Stay here.” They watched her run towards the source of the loud sound they had just heard and exchanged glances, but they didn’t stay there without moving for long. Abby and her father heard shouting about a doctor, asking where she was, and they came out of hiding. They refused to let everyone kill each other while they hid. Michelle clenched her jaw and could only follow them. The grounders and prisoners were all gathered around a blown-up fountain, the latter holding massive guns with blue lights on the side.

“Don’t shoot.” Abby spoke. “We’ll come without a fight.”

“I bet you will, traitor.” Octavia glared at Kane as he walked behind Abby, his hands up.

“We?” Diyoza came face to face with her.

“The two of us. Those are my terms.”

“I see where your daughter gets it from. Take them both.”

“Mom, what are you doing?” Clarke pulled her eyebrows together in worry.

“I love you, Clarke.” Two men of Diyoza’s came to take her and Kane.

“Dad—” She grabbed his arm, frowning, and one of the men pushed her away and grabbed him.

“I love you.” He told her quietly as he was taken away. Michelle watched him disappear from her sight without moving. They had just been reunited, and they were already separated. Her eyes went to Diyoza as she addressed the crowd and gave her a death stare.

“Here are my terms. The valley’s ours. Any attempt to get ther will be met by overwhelming force. As long as you stay here, we won’t have a problem. Is that a problem?”

“What about Raven and Murphy?” Bellamy took a step forward.

“For now, insurance. Let’s go, on me.” Most of her men followed her as she turned her heels, but one of those holding the large guns didn’t move. She insisted, ordering him to come with them, and he was about to, if Octavia didn’t provoke him with her smirk. He shouted, charging the gun and fired, obliterating the grouder that thres himself in front of Octavia to protect her. The crowd grew furious and Diyoza urged her people to get out of there and get ready for emergency evacuation. Michelle stepped back, watching Indra get to Octavia to help her as she was a little stunned though uninjured and watched the ship fly over their heads, while everyone ran around her, going in every direction, but she stayed where she was, just thinking about her dad being on that ship and not caring about anything else.

[To be continued…]  

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Published (03/15/2025) by Andrea

Taglist:  @mirellef2001

[justinewt]

Meet Eligius IV - THE 100 REWRITE Chapter Thirty-Six

[THE 100 MASTERLIST]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

Summary: 6 years into space. 6 years that had strained some relationships, and made others stronger. Time had become a taboo amongst them - they forbade each other to talk about how long it had been. They shouldn't have remained in space for so many years. They should have been able to go back to the ground and yet, there they were. Until they saw a large ship nearby - the Eligius IV - and they thought that maybe, just maybe, it was their ticket down.

Words: 4.7k

Warnings: The 100 season 5 spoilers (episode 1 "Eden" & first half of episode 3 "Sleeping Giants"), violence, blood, murder, some fluff at the end

This chapter marks the three-year anniversary of my The 100 fanfiction!!!!! <3

Michelle sighed quietly, watching Raven and Echo who were practicing fighting in the other room. They grunted, throwing controlled punches at one another and dodging. She turned around, taking a few steps towards Bellamy. He was leaning against the window frame, his arms crossed, looking outside, lost in his thoughts. They had spent the last 6 years in space, waiting for their chance – if they ever got one – to get back to the ground, hoping Clarke and their families and friends had survived down there. It was that hope that kept Michelle going. She didn’t believe in any god, but she started praying to herself at night, in her head, praying for her father mainly but also for Clarke and Abby, praying they were still alive and well, and that they would be reunited. And even if they were all dead, which was a lingering thought at the back of her mind, like a dark cloud hovering over her head at all times, she would rather be in denial. She had lost track of the number of nights she had spent crying over the thought that she would never see her dad and best friend again, and how Bellamy had to comfort her until she calmed down and managed to fall asleep. She would always wake up with the worst migraines ever the next day and she would have to rest, staying in bed the entire morning. No one would see her until lunch time. This happened the most the first couple of years and though it didn’t stop, she got a little more control over her nervous breakdowns, and they only happened a few times a week, three or four times at most, instead of every single night. But she did still look exhausted, with dark circles around her eyes.

Bellamy looked over his shoulder when he felt Michelle’s touch as she softly put her hand on his arm. His eyes were asking her if she felt okay, as he always checked on her. She felt bad for making him have to put up with her and her endless nightly crying sessions but even when she would tell him she could sleep somewhere else, just so that he could actually get full nights of sleep, he never even let her finish her sentence, as if it were unthinkable. He never gave up on her, holding her in his arms, rubbing her back and caressing her hair and never complained. She wouldn’t have held it against him if he did. She felt like such a cry baby and a burden, while he didn’t speak of Octavia, or barely. She blamed herself for not being able to give him the space to express his hurt over being separated from his sister, but, in any case, their relationship still worked out. They had grown even closer than they were the year prior to flying to space. At the same time, Monty walked by, shouting that the soup was ready. Bellamy stared into space – literally ��, caressing Michelle’s hand as he turned around, closing his hand over hers.

“It’s not eating. It’s surviving.” Harper commented while she set the table.

“Hey, the new and improved triple-G tastes better and you know it.” Monty replied, sitting down. They had managed to get his algae farm working and had kept themselves fed thanks to it, but it didn’t taste great, especially in the beginning. For a while, Michelle even had trouble keeping it all down, and she still wasn’t exactly used to it, but they couldn’t make any other kind of food anyway, so she didn’t complain.

“Triple-G?” Raven asked, catching her breath from the practice.

“He calls this one Green’s green goop.”

“If by better, you mean doesn’t want to make you violently hurl, then, yeah, it’s an improvement.” She shrugged.

“Speaking of green, how’s Eden?” Monty looked over at Bellamy and Michelle. He stepped away from the window, leading her along with him. Eden was the name they gave to this tiny green spot they had noticed on the surface of the Earth, while everything else was scorched.

“Still just a dot.” He then taped the edge of the control desk where Emory was sitting, telling her to take her break, and went to sit at the table. Michelle sat down beside him.

“I don’t know why you waste your time. I told you, atmospheric radiation blocks radio signals.” Raven spoke firmly.

“They’re down there. We just can’t hear them.”

“We waste our time so they know there’s a place they can live.” He leaned against the back of the chair, crossing his arms over his chest, looking at Raven.

“Ground radiation has been survivable for a year. They can live everywhere.” Everyone remained silent, until Monty broke the ice, serving the soup in each bowl in front of him.

“I think we can all agree that green is good.”

“Yes. He is…” Harper stretched her neck, kissing him. “But this stuff still sucks.” They brought the bowl to their lips, gulping down its content and coughed and gagged, trying to keep it down.

“Okay. Tomorrow, I’ll try again.” Raven then declared, turning her head to Emori. “But I need an assistant who actually listen when I tell her to come in.”

“I will do everything you say, I promise, no fun of any kind.”

Michelle glanced at Bellamy from the corner of her eyes, he was looking down at his hand, massaging it and slightly shaking his head, “or we could just figure out a way to get to the ground, and we could tell them about Eden ourselves.”

“Bellamy, she worked on the fuel problem all morning.”

“6 years and 7 days—”

“Hye, time violation.” Harper raised her voice, cutting him off as he stated how long they had been up there. After passing the 5-year mark they had set for themselves for going back to the ground, it had gotten quite depressing to think about how long it had been, so they agreed on a rule; never to say how long it had been, or they had to do chores. “Dishes, latrine, or Murphy? You choose.” Or go to see Murphy. He and Emory had broken up and he had been a mess for a while, isolating himself in another part of the station. Going to see him and check on him had become a chore, and Michelle usually volunteered to take care of it.

He sighed heavily, “I’m sorry. We said we wouldn’t talk about it, and I know that you’re doing everything that you can.” He handed his bowl to Monty.

“Seconds?”

“Yeah, right.” He stood up. “I choose Murphy.”

“I’d have gone with latrines.” Emory said bitterly, clearing her throat while he walked away. She exchanged a look with Michelle. The latter breathed through her nose and got up, the legs of her chair screeching against the floor and she walked away, following Bellamy from a distance. She wasn’t trying to catch up with him and just followed suit. Everytime it wasn’t her who went to see Murphy; a fight or argument would break out. This area of the ship was really Murphy’s land now, and he wanted to be left alone and not see anyone, but even if it might annoy him, he never got violent with her. Sometimes he shouted, but that was about it, and she would just stand there, arms crossed, staring at him. That’s why she didn’t hurry up when she heard some commotion in the distance, it was nothing. She heard their voices; the words became clearer as she approached.

“—I win, you come back to the group.”

“No deal.” Murphy grunted. “You have too many rules. Besides, there’s no one to disappoint over here.” She sighed. He always said stuff like this, and she knew what she would always say, because he made her repeat herself so many times, it was like lines that she had learned by heart from a script; “You disappointed me more times than I can count. I don’t expect anything you anymore, how the fuck could you disappoint me now? I became kind of a cockroach, like you, you know, you’re not gonna get rid of me by saying shit like this.” She was taken out of her thoughts when she heard a thud, a punch, cutting off Bellamy as he spoke Murphy’s name. She got a little startled but heard Bellamy play into it.

“That’s a good punch.”

“Yeah?”

“Now, if you shift your weight when you throw it, it might actually hurt. You know what I think your problem is?”

“This should be good.”

“You like being a hero, except up here there are no heroes. You’re afraid you’d become worthless again.” Michelle watched from behind a corner, leaning her shoulder against the wall, as Bellamy walked around Murphy. He stood, his back to Bellamy, looking at the floor and swiftly turned on his heels, trying to throw another punch aggressively. Bellamy had hit a nerve. They grunted; he blocked him easily, pressing him against the window. “You’re not worthless, Murphy.”

“Wait, wait. Bellamy, look—” He grunted loudly.

“Say you’re not worthless, and I’ll let you go.”

“Not kidding! Will you look? Look!” Michelle tilted her head to the side, wondering why they went quiet, and she walked out of the shadows, going up to them. The two young men didn’t even care, or were surprised, that she was there.

“What—why is there a ship?” She wondered, squinting her eyes, getting up close to the window. In the distance, they could see something looking similar to the Ark but much smaller.

“Let’s go.” Bellamy’s voice was firm as he left, urging the two to come along and they eventually took their eyes off the strange ship and followed him, joining the others in the main room. They stood there in the dark, looking out the window in silence.

“It’s been 2 and a half hours. Why, exactly, are we sitting here in the dark? We should light up the ring, let them know we’re here.”

“Quiet, Murphy. First, we find out who they are.” Bellamy turned his head, looking behind them. “Raven?”

“Nothing. Radio sounds. Their coms might be disabled.”

“Or the ship could be unmanned.” Emori said.

“Or it’s manned by aliens who prefer anal probes to radio.” Michelle rolled her eyes at Murphy’s misplaced sarcasm, which was often times misplaced. It hadn’t changed much since they first met, that was for sure. “Doesn’t really matter as long as they get us down to the ground. I’m turning on the lights.”

“You know what? That’s enough.” Emori snapped, standing in his way. “We make decision as a team here, even if we can’t stand the sight of each other.”

“Look, all I’m saying is, it wasn’t there yesterday. Now it’s in geosynchronous orbit, which means someone is piloting it, correct?”

“Could be an AI.” Harper thought.

“I prefer the aliens.”

“Something’s happening.” They all turned around, shifting their focus back to the ship outside when Echo spoke, alerting them. “A second ship. Look.”

“That must be a transport.” Raven figured. “It’s headed for the ground. Emori, fire up the radio.”

“Now she wants to talk.” Murphy mumbled under his breath. Michelle briefly closed her eyes, shooting up her eyebrows in annoyance. She didn’t even want to comment. He always had something to say to everything.

“Mayday, mayday. I am calling the drop ship now on re-entry to earth. We are stranded aboard the space station to your west. Please respond.”

The ship was already too far down, and Murphy had something else to say about this, “Great. Looks like we just lost our last chance to get back to the ground.” Raven insisted and kept on trying, repeating her message in case anyone out there could hear her but the only answer they got was complete silence. But soon everyone was walking around, packing their things. They were all going to go to the ship they had spotted. Maybe there was something in there that could help them get to the ground.

“Boys and girls, meet Eligius IV.” Raven announced, as the dropship they got into reached the large ship stationed right across from the Ark. A few words were written on it.

“Powering a better tomorrow.” Emori read.

“Must be a mining ship.”

“I’ve heard stories.” Harper said quietly, making others turn their head towards her.

“Missions sent to mine asteroids or search for habitable planets, but that was a hundred years ago.” Monty added.

“They got back somehow. Means they must have fuel.” Bellamy concluded, looking at the control screen, over Emori’s shoulder. Raven flew a large hole left by the destroyed engines. Michelle barely followed the two women’s conversation as they spoke of a hap and rotation and gravity or something like that, but what she gathered was that there should be gravity on the Eligius IV.

“Sorry, lovebirds. No zero-g space sex.” Raven’s joke fell rather flat with Bellamy and Michelle while Monty and Harper exchanged embarrassed glances and subtle smiles. She went to dock the ship as Bellamy voiced his concerns about the possibility that there were still people on board. Echo’s response was quite direct, and true; if they were still on board and seeing a foreign ship come towards them, they would have shot us out of the sky in no time. Raven then fired the thrusters and circled the ship to reach the docking bay. Once they were aligned with whatever they had to be aligned with, Emori initiated the docking sequence.

“We are so screwed.” Murphy mumbled behind her, prompting the grounder to tell him to shut up. Bipping sounds were going off all around them, and the ship getting unstable as Emory struggled to control it. Michelle grabbed Bellamy’s hand, making him glance at her while she looked at the the screens in front of them.

“Brace for impact. We’re coming in hot!” Emory warned. She managed to get inside the ship, and they all jumped on their seats because of the impact but they could finally take a breath.

“That was fun. We should do that again sometime.” No one really had any reaction to Murphy’s misplaced sarcasm. Michelle gave him a sidelong glance but that was about it. They were all just relieved and took off their helmets.

“Okay. Let’s go find that fuel.” Bellamy declared, standing up and opening the hatch. They took off their suits, leaving them in the cargo hold and followed him into the supposedly abandoned ship. They had to be quick. They had no idea what they were walking into. Echo took her sword out its sheath, while those who had guns held onto them anxiously. He went ahead and pressed a button, opening the door before them and setting off an alarm, quite annoying as Murphy noted. But at least, hearing this reassured them about the fact that there was no one left on this ship. Michelle was looking around at the corridor and turned to Bellamy, hearing him intervene in an argument between Emori and Murphy. She watched quietly, crossing Raven’s gaze. Neither of them enjoyed seeing their friends bicker like this every second of every day, and that for the past few years. It was annoying but a little upsetting as well. If it hadn’t involved Emory, Michelle wouldn’t have hesitated much to intervene in Bellamy’s stead, but she didn’t want Murphy’s most recent ex girlfriend to hate her even more than she probably already did.

“Harper can help Emory. Everyone else move, now.” They then proceeded to walk down the hallway, lights flickering and the awful alarm still blaring. This place was a litteral maze. Everything looked the same, which wasn’t helpful at all. They came to a halt as Bellamy held up his flashlight, highlighting something written right above their heads, “No inmates past this point.”

“Inmates?” Echo was puzzled by the meaning of the word.

“Prisoners.” Michelle clarified, hoping she would know that one, and she did.

“Yeah. Prison labor. The minign missions were dangerous. They sent people they thought were disposable.” Monty added.

“Sounds familiar.” Michelle wasn’t necessarily disagreeing with Murphy on that one, but his tone was still very much annoying to her.

“Relax.” Raven walked past them with her flashlight. “Our ancestors were prisoners a hundred years ago. Their descendants on that transpot ship are survivors, just like us. The bridge is this way. Come on.”

They eventually walked to a destroyed wall. Someone had blasted through it, leaving a large and tall opening through which they passed, slipping into the room, led by Raven. They had finally reached the control room and first thing Monty busied himself to do was to stop this fucking alarm. Some of them sat at the control desk, tapping on the screen, left and right, head tilted forward. Michelle stood by Bellamy, watching them, while Murphy let himself fall on a padded chair nonchalantly and making comments. But what interested the lot of them wasn’t what he could say, it was what Raven was telling them. She had noticed that their big Eligius ship could never have stored enough of whatever fuel they were running on for a long-duration mission – Michelle hadn’t listened carefully enough to really understand what she was talking about in terms of fuel.

“Well, what then?

“It looks like… hythylodium.”

“Must be what they were mining for, incredibly efficient energy.” Monty then said.

“Spare me the science lesson. Can we use it to land the pod or not?” Michelle looked at Murphy through the corner of her eyes, arms crossed, standing still.

“Sure, if you want to explode every cell in your body.”

“Raven.” Bellamy was staring at her, brows furrowed.

“Don’t worry. Just because this ship doesn’t run on hydrazine doesn’t mean they don’t have any on board.” Thanks to the brains of Monty and Raven, they found out they had a way down. There was a dropship attached to Eligius, on which the prisoners that were there flew down to the ground, so there must have been a supply somewhere for refueling just in case. That wasn’t all they had, according to Monty. He pushed a small lever upwards, and they heard a radio frequence; lasercoms. A woman was speaking to someone over the radio.

“Our radios were blocked by residual radiation on the earth, but lasercom was designed to cut through worse atmospheric conditions than that.”

“Well, can we talk to them?” Murphy jerked to his feet.

“Wait.” Bellamy stopped him, stretching his arms out in front of him to block his way. “We don’t know who we’re dealing with.”

“The woman said she lost men. I don’t know how’s the situation is like down there, but I’d assume they were fighting. Fighting against. Who could they be fighting against? Clarke, or someone from the bunker. I don’t know. On top of that, they come from a prison ship, so I don’t think I’m wrong when I say they might not be very friendly.”

“Yes.” Raven spoke suddenly, turning to Bellamy, Michelle and Murphy. She had seemingly been listening to the other voices they were hearing over the coms. “Michelle’s right. I think they’re hunting our people.”

“We don’t know that.” Murphy doubted that the two young women could be right but the way he fixed Michelle’s gaze, she guessed he was just worried and wished that the latter was wrong. For some reason, the eyes he was making while looking at her, as though he sought reassurance from her made her feel bad for being so annoyed with him so much.

“We know that there’s no one else left on the ground; Michelle’s gotta be right.” They were pulled out of their little discussion when they heard Raven asking Monty to move over. “Wait. What are you doing?”

“Finding out who we’re dealing with.”

While she tried to find out who were those people, they kept on listening to the conversation they were having over the radio. They weren’t actively fighting a group of people but rather tracking one single individual. Female, armed and dangerous, according to them. Michelle was frowing, trying to guess who that was. That could totally be Octavia. If she had been fighting with them, she would have been armed, and being Octavia, even if she were unarmed, she would have been dangerous. But hearing that the person knew the terrain they were on, being in her ‘backyard’, made her lips part as her mind whispered to her that it could very well be Clarke.

“Bell…” She whispered, unable to take her eyes off the radio wavelength on the screen as she kept on listening to what was coming out of the coms. Bellamy turned his head towards her. “I think it could be Clarke.” The fear and worry washing over their faces was quite overwhelming. Bellamy turned back his head to look straight ahead of him and grabbed Michelle’s hand, holding it tighltly. She looked down, thinking, but feeling Murphy’s gaze on her. He was standing so close, he couldn’t have not heard what she just said, not matter how quietly she said it.

“We got to get down there. Now.” Bellamy declared after they all heard the girl in question, which could very well be Clarke, had been caught by those people. Monty, Echo and Murphy left to get the fuel to the pod and some time later, Monty came back running, telling them about a room where they found a ton of people in cryo sleep. Bellamy sat down in front of the screen, skipping through the identity files of the prisoners. “Murder, murder, murder, arson resulting in murder, armed robbery resulting in murder. 300 inmates, 25 guards, and 12 crew.”

“Relax.” Raven’s voice rose. “Great-great-grandpappy blake was an astronaut with how many ph.D.S?”

“4?”

“And how many do you have? Oh, wait. Shut up. I got it. The captain’s log.”

“The last entry was over a hundred years ago.” Michelle squinted her eyes in confusion, looking up at the screen.

“Aye, aye, captain.” Raven then pressed a button, playing a recording of the Eligius’ captain. Bellamy stood up.

“I have to make this fast.” The man spoke with a certain urgency, a lot ot it. “The ship has been compromised. The prisoners found out about order eleven. They used an explosion in the starboard engine bay as a distract—” he was cut off when the door in the back exploded, the very wall behind Bellamy and Michelle. They looked over their shoulders at the hole in the wall. The video glitched. “Most of the crew is already dead. They’re about to take the bridge. Listen to me! With the engine damage, it’ll be decades, maybe longer, before they make it back home. I tried disabling cryo but couldn’t.”

“That’s quite enough, captain.” A few people had entered the room aand a woman’s voice could be heard in the background, addressing him.

“If Eligius makes it back to earth, blow it out of the sky! Diyoza can’t be allowed to weaponize the cargo! Do you hear me?! I said blow it—” A man came up from behind him and slit his throat. The captain choked on his blood as it filled his throat and fell heavily to the ground, disappearing from the frame. Michelle frowned, pressing her lips.

“The bridge is yours, lieutenant.” The killer walked away, not even bothering to cut the recording.

“You said you wouldn’t kill the crew.” All the men’s voices sounded the same because of the quality of the sound but one of them seemed to express some disagreement.

“I said I wouldn’t.” A shot was fired, killing another crew member who had until then been forced to his knees. “You did the right thing. I won’t forget it.” Another shot was fired. Same scenario. She was completely unbothered. “Now do your job, and get us the hell out of here, lieutenant.” The woman they had called lieutenant eventually approached the captain’s screen, glancing around, looking to stop the recording, and it cut. Michelle’s lips parted, wondering if that woman was the Diyoza that the captain had mentioned, but she was taken out of her thoughts when Raven spoke.

“Cryo? He said he was trying to deactivate the cryo…” She got up, turning around, thinking outloud when she suddenly shouted at Michelle and Bellamy and a loud growling rose behind them. This big guy came at them, out of nowhere. Bellamy had the reflex to make Michelle stand aside as he threw punches at their attacker – not that she couldn’t have landed a few either, which she then did, throwing her elbow in the stranger’s trachea, when Bellamy was pushed to the ground. She was then grabbed by the throat and lifted up in the air, throwing her legs around as she began to panic and the man began to squeeze her neck. She choked for air, her eyes getting wide, teeth gritted, and she hit his arm with her fist as hard as she could. When Raven came at him, he turned to her and threw Michelle against the wall. She gasped as all the air was suddenly pushed out of her lungs and she took deep, shaky breaths, bringing a trembling hand to her neck. The last time she had been choked like that, she lost consciousness and was bruised for a while, and that happened at the hand of her father. She wished she wouldn’t have been reminded of that incident. She had almost forgotten it, or rather, she thought that she had forgotten about it.

She looked up, hearing more grunting and saw Bellamy coming back into the fight, even more fiercely, throwing even stronger punches, brows furrowed, and jaw clenched, his teeth showing, so much so the creases under his nose and eyebrows were noticeable. He got heabutted hard and grabbed by the shoulders, the two men making each other circle around until Bellamy was thrown on a piece of furniture behind him and held down. Michelle’s nose flared up and she jerked to her feet, jumping at the man, putting her fingers on his eyes and pressing as hard as she could, pushing it in until she felt her fingers get wet from the blood coming out. But she didn’t just push them in, she cut into his eyeballs with her nails. He groaned like an animal and hit her in the stomach with his elbow, trying to make her let go and she cried out through her teeth, but she was holding onto his eyesockets so strongly, he hit her repeatedly, becoming completely crazy, spinning around, bumping into walls and every time she groaned and moaned in pain and eventually fell. Michelle’s breathing was laborious, and she held her hands around her torso, rolling on her side. She heard screaming and recognized the sound of a blade cutting through something. She took a peek above her shoulder and watched as Echo impaled him with her sword. He was still groaning and making sounds and snow also stumbling but managed to kick Echo, pushing her away. Bellamy came back at him with a thick metal wire he had torn from the wall and wrapped it around his neck, pulling towards him hard. He twisted the wire, and the man turned enraged beast made choking sound, falling to his knees as Bellamy kept going until he stopped moving and crashed to the ground.

“1 down… 299 to go.” Raven said with a heavy tone after a second of silence.

He was panting, catching his breath, one knee down and his arm resting on the other. Despite his exhaustion, when his eyes fell on Michelle, he got back on his feet and went to check on her, softly holding her face in between his hands. Michelle opened her mouth, about to talk, but Bellamy beat her to it, “Don’t tell me you’re fine.”

“My back is killing me.” She swallowed harshly. “Actually, my whole body is hurting, but especially my back.”

“You fought the most.” She looked into his eyes, and in a couple seconds, finding the most peace she had ever felt. He calmed and grounded her, and maybe she had a similar effect on him. She wrapped her arms around him, breathing into his neck, a sigh of relief and he carefully put his arms around her in turn, resting his hand at the back of her head, digging the tip of his fingers into her hair.

It was but a brief moment of quiet, for they still had about 299 problems to deal with, as Raven had just said.

[To be continued…]  

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

Published (03/03/2025) by Andrea

Taglist:  @mirellef2001

[justinewt]

Never Lost, Always Found - THE WITCHER Fanfiction Chapter Five

[THE WITCHER FANFICTION-MASTERLIST]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter (SUMMER 2025)

Summary: Geralt was in Aretuza, so Aretuza she went. She returned to this school free from the tutelage of some teacher or emperor but not free from love. Still she desperately tried to find her brother, and still she tried to bring Cahir back to her side, despite her anger for the latter. And she wasn't sure she could achieve both. But if she didn't try to bring back to her the two men she loved most, now that she had lost everyone else, she would have no hope to cling onto, for the third, and maybe final time.

Words: 9.6k

Warnings: The Witcher season 3 Part 2 SPOILERS (episode 6 "Everybody Has a Plan, Till They Get Punched in the face", episode 7 "Out of the Fire, Into the Frying Pan", episode 8 "The Cost of Chaos"), violence, blood, guts, fights, heart-to-heart, title is a reference to a line of dialogue said by Yennefer to Ciri

Her hair done in a braid that fell down her back, the diadem’s chaceldone shining on her forehead, she tugged gently on the reins, bringing her horse to a stop as she looked at the academy in the distance, taking a deep breath. She had taken a boat to reach the island early in the morning and here she was, back to this place, this time neither as a student nor as a Nilfgaardian mage. She knew that Geralt was within the palace walls right now and she wondered what reaction he would have when he saw her. She feared he would be angry with her for leaving with their mother and abandoning him in the woods, but she couldn't turn back now.

As she was about to continue her way, her gaze was caught by a strange, unnatural fog spreading in the bay. Frowning and squinting, she dismounted from her horse and approached the edge of the cliff. Around a dozen of hooded figures pulling boats on shore stood out from the mist. Something was happening on Thanedd. Revynah watched them head for the mouth of a cavern in the cliff and she quickly grabbed her black cloak from the pocket at her saddle before teleporting herself behind the newcomers. She had no idea who they were, but it was easy to understand their goal was to attack Aretuza. Tissaia would probably be unable to open the doors for her, so they were her ticket in. Her head hooded and tilted forward, no one seemed to notice her, and she blended into the crowd grabbing the bow that was handed to her as she passed. She looked at the tip of the arrow she was given and recognized it was made of dimetirium, which alarmed her. They wanted to handicap the mages by depriving them of their powers. The people she was amongst had to be from Nilfgaard for them to be so eager to come at the sorcerers. Then it hit her, and her eyes froze, staring into space. If they were Nilfgaard, maybe one of the figures of the group was Cahir.

They walked up a flight of stairs carved in the rock. She glanced around as she found herself among the first to climb the steps and followed suit with the others, going to stand against the wall to the sides, as three hooded figures walked up the passage they had left for them. She watched them as the one walking ahead of them raised her hands above her head. There was a thumping sound and the wall in front of them lowered itself, letting them inside a chamber. Tissaia stood there already, in the middle of the room, alone. She looked distraught. As everyone around her took their positions and unveiled their faces, revealing Cahir alongside the queen of the elves, Francesca, and her husband, Revynah raised her head and met the gaze of the headmistress of Aretuza. The sorceresses’ thoughts echoed in her mind as she wondered what was going on here. She had never been fond of Tissaia but she didn't want her thinking she was with the enemy.

“Today, we reclaim Aretuza as our own and we bring the Elder Blood princess home.” At the same time Filavandrel spoke, the mages made their entrance, coming to stand by Tissaia’s side as time seemed to slow down for a second. Revynah chose this moment to reveal herself and dropped the cape to the ground, letting go of the bow. Cahir looked over his shoulder and his face dropped, the confidence in his eyes fading away in an instant, as he caught a brief glimpse of the woman that had been his lover of many years, before she teleported beside Tissaia. The latter gave her an appreciative look, thanking her for her support without saying a word and Revynah nodded. She turned her head towards Cahir, who didn't seem so sure of himself anymore, and was quite shocked to see her there. She wondered if she had been haunting his dreams like he did hers and given the way he stared at her, literally unable to look any other way, she had her answer.

“You will never take Aretuza.” They stood their grounds, gathering their powers and the headmistress put up a magic wall to shield them from the intruders. Without taking his eyes off her, Cahir called to the archers, and they bowed their elbows.

“It’s dimetirium.” Revynah shouted, warning her peers as he ordered his people to fire. She ducked and dodged an arrow which went to bury itself right in the heart of the mage right behind her. An entire volley of arrows pierced the protective veil generated by Tissaia and more of them collapsed to the ground. The archers were their priority. They deflected the arrows that kept flying at them and Cahir yelled, telling them to keep going as he engaged in hand-to-hand combat. The light emanating from the stone on Revynah's forehead intensified. She had always been somewhat powerful but feeding her chaos with this new source of power was exhilarating. It felt like she had gained access to an endless source of magic that she could effortlessly tap into. She felt like the most powerful with in the continent. She zealously got rid of some enemies and took her place facing Cahir. They didn't seem to be able to decide whether to attack and turned around each other, fending off blows coming their way.

“How does the White Flame like the new forest outside Cintra?”

“You burned it down?” She levitated a sword off the ground and controlled it to attack Cahir without taking the slightest step towards him, knowing that he would counter her maneuvers perfectly. She counted on it. Hurting him wasn't her goal.

“Oh, I did more than that. I sent a message.” She held her chin high, slightly twitching her hand with every move of the blade. What cahir perhaps didn't see was that she was backing him into a corner. On purpose, of course. When a Scoiatel tried to attack her from the side, she snapped his neck, without even looking at him and he fell to the floor like a vulgar ragdoll. Cahir got distracted and widened his eyes at the sight, as if, in that instant, he got scared of Revynah’s powers and stumbled but he still reacted quickly when she kept on attacking him with the levitating sword.

“That soldier. He was missing a hand, and his guts were falling out. He kept repeating the same thing—"

“The Aguara lives.” She nodded, twisting his mind with the stone and forcing visions into his head so he would hear her voice overlapping with the one of agony of the man she put to death as he said those three words, her facial features merging with the ones of a rabid fox. She took no pleasure in trying to instill terror in him, but she was upset and hurting. “Emhyr didn’t tell you what it meant, did he? That it was about me? He didn't want you to know that I was alive.” Her voice got louder as she got carried away by her anger. She had felt - and still felt - betrayed by the one she had loved. “Not that knowing he had me tortured and starved for a whole year would have made much of a difference to your undying loyalty to him, would it, Cahir?”

“Revynah—” She grabbed the sword mid-air and pushed Cahir against the wall, hidden behind a pillar in a corner of the chamber and immobilized him, bringing the blade to his neck, a drop of blood beaded on his skin and spread over the sharp edge of the blade. Their faces less than a couple inches apart, their chests heaving against each other’s, they stared into each other's eyes. “I thought you were dead.”

“Of course you did.” Her tone softened. Looking at him so intensely revived a warm feeling in her chest. She felt his fast pulse throbbing in his neck, beneath her fingers. “He had everything to gain by letting you believe it. Your loyalty is as much your best quality as it is your worst flaw.”

“I saw your face… at night… and whenever I looked at my reflection in the mirror... I couldn't forgive myself. It felt like you were always there, looking over my shoulder, but when I turned… you were gone, and I was alone.”

“Stop lamenting, Cahir. Be your own man. Do not lose yourself to Emhyr.” Her voice quivered in frustration. Her words were just as much a lament, a final plea to make him stop following Emhyr so blindly.

She hoped the love and bond they shared would be enough for him to realize he shouldn't remain on the emperor's side, or they would become enemies, and she would have to kill him. She suddenly turned her head as she heard the doors slam shut one after the other, trapping them all in the chamber. It was Francesca. She was covered in blood, on her knees with Fringilla by her side and her eyes darted left and right. She looked up and the ring of fire that hovered above them fell from the sky, crashing down on them. Revynah held out her hand, shielding her and Cahir from the flames that engulfed the whole room. She gritted her teeth, her face tensed, and she grunted under the effort that was required of her. It was in that moment that she felt the exhaustion after not having slept since she had visited Anika and having worn the diadem ever since, but her survival instincts and her will to protect their lives gave her the energy necessary to hold on under the flames. When the wave passed, what was left was no more comforting. Screams of despair and pain, people on fire. She came to her senses, caught her breath, and pushed Cahir away, turning around to face two armored men behind her. Fatigue was visible on her face and yet she engaged in a sword fight, using her powers to accentuate the speed of her attacks, taking her opponents by surprise with her every move. When she cut off the head of one of them, there was a brief pause in the fight as the gesture was sharp and sudden. The body fell heavily, and the head rolled on the ground. She stepped towards the second, brandishing her sword. He countered and she raised her free hand, closing it into a fist as she pulled it towards her. His own sword was drawn to his neck and as she passed her hand across her throat, the blade slit his, cutting deep into his skin. Helpless against the sorceress, he widened his eyes and lips and gurgled as blood filled his throat and mouth.

She heard a door blast open and saw Triss and a couple other mages run in. Revynah exchanged a final glance with Cahir, and she joined her comrades across the room, hoping that next time they would see each other, he would be on her side again. She ran to Triss to help her with the poor Gerhart, who was having a heart attack and she watched Triss walk through the opening left by the door. She had no idea what had happened prior to her joining this fight but she was confused upon hearing Istredd call some of their peers “traitors”. Only when she got out of the fights did she feel this wave of exhaustion wash over her and she pulled the diadem off her head, stuffing it in a pocket in her dress. For but an instant, she felt her head spin a little but she got a hold of herself as she joined the others.

“Don’t waste your chaos.” Gerhart was slumped against the wall, his hand over his heart. He shook his head, begging Triss to leave him there.

“You’re going to be fine, I promise.”

“It’s too late.” Revynah and Triss stood up, turning to Tissaia, whose face was covered in soot.

“No, it isn’t. We’ll keep on fighting—” She gasped when an arrow hit her, and she lost her footing. Revynah and Istredd caught her. He called out to Tissaia and the latter quietly walked away, leaving a trail of blood on the wall with her hand. She let out a yell as Istredd pulled out the arrow and Revynah placed her hands over the bleeding wounds to heal her.

“If they’re inside, if they’re sacking the whole place…”

“The book.”

“What book?” Revynah's eyes flickered from one to the other, not having a clue what they were talking about. She had to catch up on a lot of things.

“The book of Monoliths. It contains arcane knowledge about travel through time and space. Tissaia hid it, so Vilgefortz will know if he orchestrated this whole thing.”

“I’ll be okay, go. But don’t let it get into the wrong hands.”

“I need you to be okay. I need you.” They pressed their foreheads against each other’s, and he stood up, asking Revynah to help her. The fight was still raging in the chamber when thunder rumbled. The two sorceresses looked at each other, knowing what this meant. Tissaia had gone to summon Alzur’s thunder, a spell of last resort that would strike anyone she laid eyes upon. It would also take an immense toll on her. They witnessed a rain of lighting bolts fall on people in the chamber. When it died out, Keira, Triss, Revynah and their fellow sorceresses joined forces and walked back into the battlefield, coming face to face with Franscesca, Fringilla and the Scoiat’el.

“Stand back or die.” Yennefer came running from behind the mages. Francesca shriked, throwing a blast of energy at her but she stopped it with a mere wave of her hand.

“You will not take what is ours.”

“You’re outnumbered. You have no choice.”

“Go to hell, you fucking mongrels!” Everyone was caught on the hop when Stregobord’s voice growled in the back of the room. He teleported up to the mages, arms spread out with flames coming out of the palms of his hands. He glanced at Yennefer over his shoulder. “Go. I’ll buy you some time. I’ve been waiting for this moment.”

“Yennefer.” Revynah called her name as the latter turned to her peers. “Where’s Geralt?”

“I left him with Ciri. Find him.” She let out a heavy breath, holding Triss and Revynah’s arms. They nodded urgently and ran out of the chamber.

Yennefer took another direction, and the two red heads found a way out of the academy. It was impossible to leave through the entrance Revynah took as it was right behind their enemies, and since they had no idea where to go to find Geralt, they went around the whole school. For now, their only plan was to go back to her horse, which she left by the cliff, hoping her mare would still be there. She had magically bounded the animal to her so they would be each other’s exclusive mount and rider and she couldn’t risk getting stolen so there were high chances that the horse would still be there. Revynah grabbed Triss’ hand and teleported the two of them off the island of Thanedd and back onto the plain. She put two fingers in her mouth and whistled as her diadem buzzed with magic in her pocket. They ran into the dead body of an elf in leather gear. She was no tracker, but she could tell the grass was trampled the same way it gets when a bunch of horses run around. She kneeled next to the body, putting the diadem back on her head, and hovered her hand over the wounds. His clothes and skin were cut in multiple places. Her diadem could let her know any ailment someone suffered from or the nature of any wound. Someone attacked this elf with a sword, but he was clearly not alone. What happened here really puzzled her but she couldn’t get anymore information out of just one corpse so she stood up, frowning and saw Triss, from the corner of her eyes, standing by her mare in the distance. She was calling to Revynah, waving her hand in the air, urging her to come. She left the dead elf and ran to her friend when the tower of Aretuza exploded and collapsed in on itself, sartling the two women. Triss then pointed to the agitated water in the bay, and she squinted her eyes. When she saw Geralt, she didn’t even wait for Triss, she got a hold of her horse’s reins and teleported herself on the beach. As she approached where Geralt was floating and the water got to her thighs as she crouched down and slid her arm in the water, grabbing his large shoulders to lift him out of the water. With her free hand, she pushed a strand of hair stuck to his temple out of his face. Triss quickly joined her.

The wind was blowing furiously in her hair, but she didn’t care about it, or the cold. She had her brother right there in her arms after searching for him for the past few years. She let out a cry and a couple tears ran down her face. It had been an entire century since they last saw each other and he was the exact white-haired man she was seeing every now and then in her dreams, and whose face she could never see clearly. He had changed so drastically. His brown curls and sweet eyes were gone. When he half-opened his eyes, grunting, she saw that they had changed into an unnatural yellow color. Her heart ached for all that he must have been through, and she would never be able to apologize enough. His whole face was covered in cuts and wounds and without a second glance, she could feel every single of his injuries. His spine and multiple ribs were shattered and one of his legs was broken. For some reason, she could feel all of his pain. He was dying and she started feeling sick, but she knew that with her extended powers, she would be able to heal her brother. She was taken out of her contemplation when she heard him groan and open his eyes, and looked at her, weakly. He was completely out of it but still called out to her, calling her with their mother’s name, and a pleading tone, as though he was again this little boy left alone in the forest and calling for his mother.

“We’ll take him to safety.” Triss put a hand on her back, and they nodded to each other as she repeated her reassuring words to the witcher. Before calling her horse to them so they could leave, Revynah cast a sleeping spell on her brother so he could feel no pain for a time. She let Triss take care of their destination and she brought them to forest of Brokilon. When she spoke of healing her brother herself, Triss was very much against it saying it would drain Revynah of all her energy and chaos, maybe killing her but it was because she didn’t understand how much more power her diadem granted her and she left while the dryads took the white wolf into their care. With her extensive knowledge of his condition, Revynah had told them and were bending over backwards to try and do what they could. Their queen had a bed m       ade for him and had her people fetch water and cloth. He was lying in the middle of the leaves, his breathing labored, not moving a finger. Revynah tried to let the people of brokilon help him but if it came down to it, she would dig into her stone’s power. Standing a few feet away, she watched them, all kneeled around him, speaking elven. An archer with dark hair bent over him, looking around, thinking as she sniffed. She straightened up, turning to her queen, whose gaze then fell upon the sorceress observing them anxiously.

“He’s dying. You were right, coch llwynog.” The queen addressed her, calling her with a nickname she understood to mean quite literally “red fox” and before she could respond, Geralt’s voice rose, speaking in elven, his eyes closed.

“Don’t… waste your time… on me.”

“It is not a wast, Gwynbleidd.” The dryads’ queen spoke in common speech, calling him as he was commonly known all throughout the continent, White wolf. She held up a golden crest, encrusted with colorful gems. He opened his eyes slightly and looked at what she was showing him. Revynah wanted to go to his side, but she was frozen in place, fearing he wouldn’t like to see her. “Your friend the sorceress left this for you. She said to tell you, “Something out there waits for you.”.” He wheezed, closing his eyes again. “Cirilla was once our guest as well. She found her way to you?”

“She did. But I lost her.” He gulped with difficulty, getting quiet again. The dryads then carried him into a hut and laid on a bed. Revynah finally stepped in and concocted a potion. He was conscious a moment prior, she could have spoken to him, but it was as though she was still too scared to reveal himself to him, fearing he would resent her so much so he would push her away the moment he would see her. She wasn’t sure what her healing powers would do to him, or herself, and she concocted some potions beforehand to revitalize her own forces and help her brother get through the pain of basically putting back together his bones. She had started to feel somewhat of a migraine and promptly took off her diadem, taking a deep breath before continuing. The dryads had provided her with the components to make what she needed and while she was grinding herbs and leaves with a pestle in a wooden mortar. Geralt, still asleep, sometimes let out groans and winced in pain and she hurried. She picked one and slid her hand beneath her brother’s head.

“Drink up. I’m going to heal you, okay?” She said softly as she brought the vial to his lips. He sighed heavily and swallowed harshly. As she put it back on the table behind her, she turned back to him, and Geralt’s eyes were set on her. She held his gaze, regret and guilt washing over her entire face. Despite the pain he was in, she could see in his eyes that looking at her brought him back hundred of years in the past. He called her name quietly and winced as he cleared his throat. She stretched out her hand to grab her diadem and put it back, the stone resting right in the middle of her forehead and she drank one of her potions. She took a glance at him, head to toe, assessing his state again and it was just as bad as when they got him out of the water that same morning. Putting her hands over his torso, she spoke elder speech, in a whisper, and closed her eyes, focusing. She heard Geralt groaning through his gritted teeth, trying to bear with the pain and she frowned in worry, but she had to continue.

The notion of time slipped away, and she had no idea how long this whole ordeal took, but it most likely took many hours. All she could think of were the words of the healing spell and how her head felt lighter and lighter, her ears buzzing, deafened by the deep growls, and yelling of her brother. Her voice became less poised, and she felt her hands shaking. When silence fell over the hut again, she opened her eyes. Geralt’s chest was heaving with difficulty as he wheezed. Revynah looked at him, there was still blood on his limbs and face, but it looked like the open wounds had closed. Her diadem also let her know that his bones had been fixed. Trying to get up turned out to be the worst idea she could have had, and she collapsed to the ground. She now understood Anika’s warning when she gave her this magical item. She had it for just a few days and she had already used it almost as much as her mother did in an entire lifetime. She tapped into it so badly in order to heal her brother, she drained her energy. This was just the consequence of her own actions, showing her, she needed to use this item with parsimony and learn to use it instead of entirely relying on it like she just did. Though it took a toll on her, it allowed her to heal her brother without being unsure whether it had worked. The diadem let her feel and know everything about his affliction and general condition without thinking about it. What just happened was a warning for her not to take the easy way every time. The sorceress leaned on her hands but as she put pressure on them, she collapsed again, and had trouble keeping her eyes open, but she felt someone grab her arms and help her up. She supported herself on the man’s forearms as she got on her feet.

“Jaskier.” She came face to face with the bard. He pulled out a cloth and wiped her upper lip. Looking down, she saw the blood-stained tissue and thanked him before pulling the diadem off her head and motioning for him to give her the potion she pointed to. She drank it and sat at the table with a heavy sigh while he sat by his companion’s bed. Geralt was healed but not out of the woods just yet and unconscious for the time being so Jaskier faced the witch. The white wolf was strong, but he needed rest before being able to swing a sword as swiftly as he used too but she trusted it wouldn’t take much time for him to recover. “We meet again, bard.”

“So we do, Revynah of Nowhere.” She chuckled at the title, remembering that is how he nicknamed her when they met at the tavern, over a year ago. His sassiness than faded, replaced with concern for her as he observed every inch of her face. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine.” She massaged her eyes, putting down the empty vial after pouring it down her throat. “You’ll have to wait until he wakes up. He’s knocked out for now… and probably for the rest of the week.”

“What happened? Did you— did you heal him?” He looked at Geralt over his shoulder.

“Yes. I’m not sure he’ll be able to walk or fight right away but he’s not dying anymore.” Her worried frown came back above her emerald eyes as she followed the bard’s gaze. He saw the way she looked at her brother.

“I came straight from Thanedd when I heard he was here. Some of my old sandpiper routes. I’m glad you were with him, and I’m sure he is too.” She glanced at him but wasn’t as convinced of this as the strong nods he gave her, trying to make her feel better. She wasn’t sure saving her brother’s life would change his possible resentment for her. One thing she had heard of the man he became was that he didn’t like to have help imposed on him, and that’s kind of how she felt about what she just did. She feared he would be even angrier if he learned that she was ready to die to help him.

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that.” She sighed, taking back the diadem from the table and put in her pocket while motioning for Jaskier to come outside with her. He rushed to her, giving her his arm for support; They had to wait for Geralt to wake up anyway and she had to prepare herself for when she would come face to face with him, after all this time. She hoped he could forgive her and hiding all that she did during her time under Emhyr would maybe make it easier. She didn’t like to talk about all this anyway and they hadn’t seen each other in so long, it was certainly not the first thing she wanted him to hear about his sister, how she rampaged through Niflgaard, killing dozens – if not hundreds –  and then worked for the emperor. As they walked through the trees, heading for where she tied her horse, getting a little further from all the dryads, Revynah put a friendly hand on his shoulder. She wasn’t exactly tactile, but she wanted to show her compassion. He seemed preoccupied too. “How have you been since we last saw each other? It’s been a while.”

“Well, after we met at the tavern, I told Geralt about you. I had run into him at a waterfall, well, he found me, but anyway. When I spoke your name, I— I thought he was going to punch me in the face.” He was moving his hands around, raising his eyebrows as he spoke. His face was so expressive when he recounted things.

“What did he say?”

“He said, and I quote “Where did you see her, Jaskier?”.” He took on a deep growling voice when impersonating Geralt and that made her smile amusedly. “So I told him about our meeting at the tavern, told him you were looking for him. You know him, he’s about as expressive as a pincushion. We did try to look for you though. We went to Cintra but there were… tensions between Geralt and Yen, so we couldn’t get in. Were you and Cahir there?”

“Yes.” She clenched her jaw, petting her mare’s mane, as she remembered how Cahir let the guards drag her away and throw her into a cell, prior to an entire year of torture and starvation. Her response was pretty dry, and she saw him, from the corner of her eyes, mouth an exaggerated “okay” before pursuing. “I was in Cintra for a whole year after that.”

“Really?”

“Yes, but in the dungeons.” He was a little taken aback, and it quickly got to him that it meant she had been arrested upon setting foot in the city. He looked at Revynah as his face dropped. “It was worse than I expected. Too cold and humid, too much—” She cut herself off, sensing that she was letting her anger and bitterness get the better of her and she didn’t like how sarcastic she was being about her emprisonment and torture.

“Too much what?” He asked quietly. She turned her head to him.

“Too much blood for my taste.” He stared at her in shock, kind of frozen in place except for his eyes blinking every now and then. If she talked about blood, he could only guess that most of it had been hers.

“Were you— were you tortured? Revynah, I— I’m so, so sorry…” His eyes grew watery, but no tears fell as he tried to keep his composure before a woman he knew was about as emotional as her brother, when in front of others at least. She shook her head.

“It is not your fault, Jaskier. No one’s fault but Nilfgaard��s.” She lied, silencing the names of Cahir and Fringilla, who she blamed for her severe mistreatment. She quickly changed the subject. “Do you have any news from Yennefer?”

“Yennefer’s fine. She’s safe.”

“What about this girl I heard my brother has grown so protective of? Ciri?”

“Ciri— she’s— uh… She’s missing.” He admitted, his lips quivering under the emotion this news brought him. “Yennefer’s searching for her, but Nilfgaard, they… There’s this village… outside Roggeveen, and… they razed it… to the ground. I tried to find survivors, but… they were willing to kill everyone to find her.” He slipped his hand in the inside pocket of his coat and pulled out a piece of paper, grabbing her hand and putting it between her fingers. “Apparently, it worked. The emperor announced the celebration. She’s on her way to Niflgaard.”

“Can’t believe I’m going to have to go back there.” She said with a heavy sigh, a knot in her throat. She hadn’t stepped foot in the south ever since her deflection but if they had to go there to help Geralt’s kid, she would. She would help him in whatever endeavors they got themselves in. When she went to move away from her mare, she lost her balance, collapsing one more time and she heard leaves getting trampled upon and crushed around her, her vision was blurry, but she saw Jaskier rushing to her and trying to talk to her. Everything then went dark, and when she opened her eyes, coming back to her senses, she sat up and looked around her. She was in a hut. She heard Jaskier and the queen of the dryad speaking outside. They stopped by the entrance and entered. Jaskier walked towards her and handed her some water.

“How are you feeling?” He enquired.

“Better. Thank you. Tell me, Jaskier, how long did I sleep?”

He exchanged a glance with the queen, “almost three days.”

“Geralt—” She threw her legs over the edge of the bed and as she was about to stand up and rush outside, Jaskier grabbed her hand, stopping her.

“He’s still unconscious.”

“But fully recovered, thanks to you, coch llwynog. He should wake up soon too.” The dryad held something in her hand and Revynah’s gaze was drawn to it as she felt its magic, and within a second, she recognized it as being her diadem’s magic. “You could have lost your life to this stone. It is of immense power, but also immensely demanding.”

“I know that.”

“Then you must know that, even though you are just as immensely powerful of a mage, the next time you do this, you will die. It would be a great loss.” She put down the diadem on a table installed by the bed and left. Someone else, a young archer that Revynah had seen by the queen’s side when they arrived, came in.

“He’s awake.” Jaskier and Revynah looked at each other and hoped on their feet, speed walking towards Geralt’s tent, but quickly, Revynah slowed down her pace and stopped by the entrance, motioning for Jaskier to go without her. Geralt was asking him about Ciri, wheezing but not having to do many efforts to speak.

“Why are you standing there?” The archer appeared behind her, holding some grouse in her hand. Her question seemingly didn’t expect an actual answer as she walked past her and joined the two men inside. The hut was made of branches holding each other in place, with more or less wide holes, through which Revynah peered, without making herself known. “You should be able to get on your feet now, witcher. A few days ago, you were dying, refusing our help, and look at you now, a few cuts and bruises still but your friend saved you. She’s very powerful but it almost cost her her life.”

He grunted, sitting up, “My friend?” The way she worded it seemed to get him confused as he didn’t see Revynah as a friend, but no one here knew of the true nature of their relationship, so he probably wondered if it was the red head he saw, or if Yennefer had come around Brokilon while he rested, or maybe even Triss.

“Yes, one of the two red heads that brought you here earlier this week. Everyday you were mumbling her name in your sleep. Revy—”

“Revynah.” He turned his head to Jaskier. “Where is she?”

“Oh, oh, she woke up. She’s okay. Yeah, she, uh, she was in a coma too, but now she’s awake, she—” He turned around to look out the holes in the hut, but he couldn’t see Revynah anywhere. Though the leg that had been broken was healed, it was still quite stiff and his left leg in a brace put there by the dryads after Revynah performed her miracle. He leaned on a crutch and walked as fast as possible out of the hut, followed by Jaskier. They found the mage petting her horse in silence. Geralt briefly stopped in his tracks, staring at his sister in the distance, and approached. When a branch loudly cracked under his foot, she froze. It took her a second to fully turn around and face him. There was some apprehension in her eyes as she met his gaze, but all she saw on his face was the look of disbelief and relief at the sight of such a familiar face. 

“Geralt.” She spoke softly. They looked at each other for a moment before she dared take a few steps in his direction, and so did he, wrapping his strong arms around her, holding her tightly as if to make sure she was real and actually there with him.

“I thought I dreamt you. I thought I was hallucinating from the pain.” He said in her ear with his naturally growling voice, but softer, in a whisper.

“Oh, my brother—” She let out a stifled cry, her eyes getting watery, as she put her hands around his face, stroking his white hair and caressing his face carefully as if she feared he would crumble under her touch, like in her dreams, “my baby brother.”

“When Jaskier told me you met, I started looking for you too. Where were you all this time?”

She stepped away, and he watched her with this peculiar stillness, his yellow eyes staring at her, glossy from the tears that had filled it. Those who spread the rumor that witchers were incapable of emotions couldn’t be more wrong. “The day mother sent you to fetch water… I didn’t understand why she was leaving without you.            I wanted to go back to you, but she forbade me. I didn’t know that she had left you there for the witchers to find–  I could’t imagine. But she had plans for me too. She brought me to Aretuza, promised she would come back, because I was so reluctant to stay, but never did, of course. I spent… I don’t remember, maybe a little over a decade there. I hated every second of it. I hated our mother for separating us and leaving me in this place. So, when graduation neared and I found out what was to be done to me, I fled. I’m not sure how I managed but I did.” She shrugged “I also managed to lead a regular life for a while, even had a son.”

“You had a son?”

“Yes.” A sad smile dawned on her face but soon faded.  “and that’s when I realised I fooled myself thinking the council had lost my track. They had always been watching me from afar because I was a loose cannon – I was a huge threat to their order. They had my whole family killed. I lost everything – again. That’s when I ended up going south. Those mages couldn’t possibly get me there, and they really lost my track for many decades after that. But the political situation in Nilfgaard was unstable. I got imprisoned for being a sorceress, until Emhyr came to power. He freed us, making us work for him. One of Yennefer’s peers, Fringila, was the official mage at his court, and he made me do the dirty work for him. The council had no idea I was on his side, and that benefited him. He never questioned me on my past… I never questioned him… I didn’t have anything else to lose. I had nothing left. He would send me to the four corners of the continent to spy and kill whoever he told me to spy on or kill. But I stopped blindly following Emhyr when I heard of a witcher named Geralt. For a century I thought you were dead, so I couldn’t believe it was really you. I heard about you when you got nicknamed the Butcher of Blaviken. You made quite some noise in the Northern realms. Then, everytime I was being sent on a mission by Emhyr, I would spend most of my time trying to find you. It was only during the Battle of Sodden that I left Nilfgardian ranks for good.”

“You defected. Where did you go?”

“I went to Cintra.” She sighed, shaking her head as she remembered that night on the boat, when Jaskier had vanished from the upper deck, “I should have followed Yennefer off that boat instead and we would have been reunited sooner.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Why love makes us do anything?” She scoffed, looking at her brother, her chin high but with shame and guilt in her eyes. “I followed Cahir to Cintra. I was caught and thrown in a cell the moment I stepped foot in the courtyard. Emhyr had me tortured and starved – for a whole year. Never saw so much of my own blood.” Nodding, she shot up her eyebrows, pinching her lips briefly. “But I also managed to escape, and that was not so long ago, really. Some of the other prisoners died so Fringilla and I, we sneaked into the body bags and we were thrown in the forest like trash. Fringilla too off,  didn’… not directly.”

“Why not?”

“Prisoners died every day. I waited, and took my revenge on the guards. I couldn’t kill Emhyr so they paid the price of my anger. There was a fire near the place where they dumped the corpses, so I tapped into it, used fire magic, and burned down the whole fucking forest around Cintra to send a message to Emhyr – that I would come back for him. I escaped the flames and went to Annika.” She forgot the part where she toyed with the guards, mentally torturing them and gutting them, sending one back to Cintra holding his own innards in his hand.

“I went to her too. I’d found a girl who had been made to believe that she was Ciri, with magic.”

“I know. She told me that I missed you by a few hours. She took care of me, healed my wounds and—and told me about our mother… how she died. I wish I could have seen her again, just once.” Her eyes got watery again and she wiped a tear, her lips quivered. She took a shaky breath. Geralt went on to tell her how he briefly saw their mother again before finding Ciri during the battle of sodden, how he had always tried to please her and she couldn’t say anything but agree – she always tried to please their mother too, until she abandoned them. Just like Annika told her, they were the two sides of the same coin. They felt the same regarding their mother and dealt with the same things, they had always led parallel lives even while being kept apart, and all they had ever needed was to find each other again to deal with it together, because no one else would ever understand them as well as each other.

Eventually, the conversation went back to Ciri, and it was clear – and understandable – that Geralt was eager to go find his daughter. He looked at his sister, and Jaskier, still standing nearby, “Pack up. We leave in the afternoon.”

“Good, yeah. Uh, might I suggest we wait until your leg pus stops visibly oozing first?” As Geralt walked away, still leaning on his crutch, the dark-haired archer came around, stopping at Jaskier’s side. The girl frowned, glaring at Geralt.

“Your bones are healed but you’re in no shape to walk through the forest, much less the Continent! Can you even hold the damn sword?” He ignored her and she pointed at Jaskier and Revynah in incomprehension, “Aren’t either of you gonna stop him?”

“I’ve been telling him for months he needs to thing about himself, not just Ciri. But I was wrong. Protecting her, protecting his family, it’s who he is. I’d have to kill him to stop him. And even in this sorry-ass state, I’m pretty sure he could snap me like a toothpick, so no. I’m not gonna stop him. If he needs my help, he has it.” As he finished his sentence, he followed in Geralt’s footsteps and Revynah went after them. She sighed. She felt she could convince Geralt to slow down. In the blink of an eye, she appeared before him.

“You haven’t stood or walked in three days. Your bones are back in place, but you still need time.” He looked up at her, his hair falling to the side of his face. He was desperate to go find the girl and she understood. She nodded to herself, thinking and stepped away. When a sword came flying in his face, he grunted, letting go of his crutch and he grabbed it in extremis before it cut his face up some more. He made his way to her as she had a thick branch levitate in front of her and she effortlessly countered his moves, hitting his side every now and then, “you’d be dead. Again.”

They spent a few hours training like this, to get Geralt moving again and that turned out to be exactly what his body needed after days of immobility and rest. As time went on, he regained most of his reflexes and swiftness. Revynah nodded, her hands behind her back and the branch dropped to the ground as she relieved it of her control, “Your body has recovered. We leave tomorrow morning.”

He grabbed her arm as she walked past him, “Everyday that I spend here is another that Ciri’s in danger.”

“Look.” Revynah pointed at the sky, “it’ll be dark soon. We leave in the morning, don’t worry, brother.” She approached the archer, “Did he eat anything the past three days?”

“Sometimes he would wake up, groaning in pain, so we gave him the potions you brewed because the waters didn’t work on him, but he was never awake enough to eat anything.”

“Could you get him some meat, please?”

“I hunted a grouse this morning.”

“I don’t want it.” Geralt declared, loud and clear, behind her.

“Yes, you do.” Revynah replied as she walked away with the young woman. She left the two men together and went on to prepare something to eat. The girl was a skilled hunter. The grouse she had brought was big enough for the three of them. While the meat boiled in a cauldron of water above a fire, Revynah went back to her mare, smiling tenderly at the white beast, telling her some nice words in Nilfgaardian. It wasn’t even her mother tongue, but she had spent so much time in the south, it was looked as though she had become Nilfgaardian, as much by her dark clothes as by her manners and her lack of an accent when speaking the language.

“You sound like a native.” She looked over her shoulder and saw Geralt standing behind her.

“Well, whether I like it or not, Nilfgaard was my home for longer than anywhere in the North.” She watched him from the corner of her eyes as she took a closer look at the fox’s pelt resting on her mare’s rump. “A hunting token.”

“You hunt?’

“No.” She admitted, shrugging. “The fox was dying, but such a beautiful animal. I put an end to its misery and skinned him. It’s like a lucky charm too.” Of course, she kept quiet on the fact that she often wore it to make herself more intimidating and that when she skinned it, she put it on immidietaly, the blood dripping all over her. When that night she stood by the fire and tortured the guards, this only confirmed the merit of her nickname Aguara. But all that, including her murderous past, she didn’t want Geralt to know. Even though she was his sister, if he thought she could be a danger to Ciri, he wouldn’t let her come with him, at least that’s what she feared. Maybe he wouldn’t judge her, but in any case, she didn’t want to tell him about all this. They left her horse’s side and went to eat by the fire as night fell on Brokilon. Revynah asked Jaskier to sing some of his songs and she sang along, sharing childhood memories with Geralt, reminiscing the good old days before they all went to bed in their huts.

After not dreaming at all for days, this time around, she couldn’t sleep soundly. Her night was perturbed by flashes of her memories she had of Cahir. Intimate moments they had spent together, embracing him, kissing him, teasing him as she stepped out of the bath and walked naked in front of him while he stood there in his armour and probably fought with himself not to look away from her eyes, him shouting her name as she ran from the battlefield at Sodden, or staring at her as she was dragged away by guards in Cintra. Those memories ended up merging together, the voices got louder and louder, overlapping with each other, turning into a hubbub. A burning sensation spread throughout her back, as if her body caught on fire and an unbearable pain followed. Her skin was tearing as if her scars were reopening waking her up, panting. She anxiously patted her back, but her skin was intact. The sunshine was piercing through the hut’s branches. She took deep breaths and calmed down before getting up and putting all her potions into a small leather pouch. She stared at the diadem as she held it in her hand and threw it in the bag as well. She was going to use it carefully now.

It was time to leave Brokilon once and for all. She grabbed another pouch in which she had a bunch of herbs. Geralt wanted to train again this morning, before leaving. He made an elixir to sharpen his senses, and she brought him herbs and watched him busy himself with curshing leaves and herbs and mixing it all together. They went back to the same place where he practiced with Revynah the previous day, setting his sword on a stone before him, giving the vial a strong shake before opening it up and gulping it down. Revynah stood among the trees, her hands behind her back, and two long spears that were landed to them by the dryads, lying on the ground. He slowly picked up his sword, looking at his sister as he turned around. She put tensions in her fingers, twitching them left and right, while holding her wrist with her free hand and the spears flew off the ground. Her eyes darting around, following his every move as he countered her attacks swiftly. He split one of the spears in half with his blade and Revynah let the two pieces fall, surprising Geralt as she appeared in front of him after one of his twirls, holding the spear in her hands and fighting him up close. He put his sword up to her neck and she lifted her head with a smirk. An arrow came flying by his ear and the two siblings looked to the side. The dark-haired hunter was standing there, looking at them.

“You’d be dead now.”

“Hmm.” He groaned, turning his back to her. “We’re leaving.” Jaskier picked up his lute and he and Revynah whistled for her horse as she followed the two men. She just wouldn’t leave her dear White Rose behind. After leaving Brokilon and walking through the forest for a couple hours, they ran into a battalion of the emperor’s soldiers. Other people were waiting in line as soldiers asked them to pay in exchange for passage. Revynah looked around at the brown carriages lined up and sighed in relief. There were no wanted posters plastered everywhere but it comforted her in the fact that the emperor didn’t want everyone to know that he had lost track of such a high-profile prisoner. He felt threatened by the fact that she was roaming around the continent, and even more so if she had found her brother. They were the two people who threatened his claim to Ciri, and his own life. But there was no warrant out for her arrest because he knew that there was nothing, he could do about her. If she wanted to exterminate every Nilfgaardian soldier she encountered, she would. She was a powerful sorceress, and his soldiers would all die if they tried to fight her.

She saluted the fact that he was basically telling her to come find him if she wanted. He was trying to make her think he didn’t view her as a threat, but she spent enough time working for him to know that he did fear her, especially after the message she sent. Fire magic was forbidden, and he knew she was the one who destroyed the entire forest around Cintra. This message showed him she didn’t give a damn about rules. If she wanted to use forbidden magic, she would.

“You’ll need further identification. Empty your pocket.” A soldier urged two passerbys. The trio had stopped in their tracks, watching the scene.

“We’ll never get to Ciri if we can’t get past.” Jaskier said quietly. “There’s got to be another way round.”

“Not for days.” Without looking at his sister, he grabbed her wrist, feeling her arm tensing up as she opened her hand, spreading out her fingers. “Don’t.”

“You didn’t want me to open a portal. Now you don’t want me to kill those soldiers. Geralt, if they recognize me, it’ll turn into a bloodbath anyway.” She finished her sentence into a mumble under her breath as the two people in front of them were let through and Jaskier walked forward, talking to the soldier with a warm hello and a big smile.

“Papers.”

“We lost them.” Revynah let them do the talking while she stood behind Geralt, trying to keep a low profile. He didn’t want to make a mess, and she respected that, but she knew it wouldn’t work for long. The two other soldiers were giving her glances and one of them walked around a carriage while their commander spoke with Jaskier and Geralt. The bard was trying to buy their way through and the Nilfgaardian seemed curious, but he rose his hand in Jaskier’s face to stop him from talking as one of his men came back to him with a rolled paper in his hand. The next glances she got confirmed they knew who she was, and it was about to go south.

“Lady, come forward.” She used her horse as distraction, sending her mare galloping past the knights. She threw the knights off their feet with a simple spell, using the air around her and pulled their swords out of their sheaths as they stood up. One of them got his nose broken by Geralt while she made the blades dance around, cutting up the faces and necks of the soldiers.

“Revynah.” Geralt’s voice calling her name made her realize she was toying with her preys, slitting their throats with their own weapons. Their bodies dropped heavily to the ground. A dozen more soldiers came at them. Geralt had grabbed a hammer and Jaskier threw his sword at him, and with Revynah, he killed every last one of them, blood splattering from their necks and covering the dirt.  A few arrows flew over the siblings’ heads and the young archer appeared among the trees. She came to talk to Jaskier and Geralt while Revynah, her face sprinkeled with drops of blood, forced a soldier on his feet, pushing him against a wagon, she held a sword up to his throat.

“Who am I? Say it, you scum!” She shouted through gritted teeth.

“Your name—” He whimpered as she slammed him into the wagon, pressing the blade on his skin. “Your name’s Revynah… you were a sorceress for the Emperor, and now you’re a fugitive.”

“That’s all he told his men. I see.” She looked down for a second, thinking. He really didn’t tell any of his soldiers that she was the Aguara. He didn’t say anything more than that she was a mage at his court. “I already sent a message to Emhyr, but I’ll send another one. Tell that fucker that I will not rest until I have his head.”

“And tell him,” She glanced over her shoulder as she heard Geralt’s voice. He was standing right next to her, “that no matter his armies, I will free Ciri. Understand?” The knight groaned and nodded. He had to call Revynah’s name again to make her let go of the man. It was as if she needed to do to him what she did to those other guards, gut him and sent him on his way but she stepped back and let him slide against the carriage and fall on the ground. Geralt didn’t say anything. He didn’t make any comment on the savagery she showed and only gave her shoulder a good, comforting squeeze. She looked at him, surprised that he wasn’t upset. He didn’t know what was going on with her, but he didn’t judge her.

[To be continued…]  

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter (SUMMER 2025)

Published (12/26/2024) by Andrea

[justinewt]

The Haunted One - BALDUR'S GATE 3 FANFICTION (series masterlist)

meet Phy'raena Adrian before reading <3 

Summary: TBA

[Status: ONGOING]

New chapter on Sundays (no precise time, whenever i feel like posting really)

Words: 7k

Chapters:

ACT ONE

Chapter 1 - Blood Stained Memory Loss

Chapter 2 - TBA

...

!! My fanfiction follows the events/timeline of the game with lore from the first two as well for my oc background, so expect lots of spoilers (read the warnings thanks)!!

[justinewt]

Blood Stained Memory Loss - BALDUR'S GATE 3 FANFICTION Chapter One

[BALDUR'S GATE III FANFIC-MASTERLIST]

Next Chapter (SOON)

Summary: A drow, abducted and infected by mind flayers, fought her way out of the nautiloid ship she was stuck on. She had forgotten who she was and her past, but remembered two names, though she was unsure which was actually hers... She quickly understood she had to get rid of this parasite in her head, and figured having travel companions wouldn't hurt, after beginning to travel with a high elf and a human mage. She didn't trust them, but would make sure they grew loyal to her.

Words: 7k

Warnings: Baldur's Gate III Act One spoilers, blood

She half-opened her eyes, in-and-out of sleep, suffocating in this pod. She thought she was in hell for a moment. It was warm. Too warm. She was looking through her eyelashes, and in her blurred vision, she saw a figure fall to the ground, get up, struggle to keep their balance, and walk away before falling to their knees, but a second later, everything disappeared again. She blacked out completely. A great breath of fresh air tickled her nostrils and dashed into her lungs suddenly, pulling her out of her sleep. She gasped, sitting up in the pod, realizing that the lid had opened, hanging over her head. She leaned on the edges and jumped out of what she thought would be her coffin. It felt good, standing on her two feet, feeling the unevenness of the ground under the soils of her leather boots. A squishing noise behind her made her turn around and she watched the pod close. The blood in her head thrummed and pounded and she shut her eyes for but an instant, frowning at the headache with a groan.

That pounding blood obscured who she was. An overwhelming loss of memory. A sense of emptiness washed over her, and she looked into the void, pouting her lips. How she ended up amidst these hellish flames was just as hidden as her memories. She had nothing in her skull, besides her name and a headache. But she was in danger. She peeped around her. Phy’raena. No… Balfryn. She realised two names collided in her mind. Which one was actually hers? She was certain she remembered at least her name but now, she didn’t know who those monikers belonged to. Maybe none of them was hers. But she thought it couldn’t be both. It wouldn’t make sense for her to have two names, and they both had a different feeling to them. But it was yet too vague for her to decide on one. She would claw back the truth, but first, she had to claw her way out of here. She glanced back at her pod.

Mumbling, she recalled the crash of the ship, “Might still be stuck inside if we hadn’t been attacked.”

She walked around the room in which her pod stood on its tentacle legs. Next to hers was another empty pod. She figured it was the one from which she saw someone fall before blacking out. But not everyone made it out alive. There was a couple of burned corpses in ruptured pods. Walking in the middle of the room, through the fires burning here and there, she approached the very pool where that thing came from – the parasite now writhing behind her eye. The casing was fragile. The top was cracked, and the slightest touch could cause it to crumble. She bent forward, reaching out to the pool and widened her eyes, suddenly thrown backwards. It exploded in her face and went up in flames.

Destroying it was her intention anyway. She stood up and right at her feet was a corpse of one of those creatures, a mind flayer. A humanoid octopus with tentacles instead of lips and claw hands. She walked to the sphincter separating the room and entered another one. A dead goblin lied on a table in a pool of its own blood, and she stole gold from its corpse. Gold no longer was of any use to the dead, so she might as well relieve them of it. Looking at a rune slate on a desk, a schematic of a nautiloid flashed into her mind. Nerves, sinews, as much living being as a ship. Nearby was a sort of mind flayer horticulture. All to make more and more parasites. An eldritch table made a thousand years of humanoid history – elves, dwarves, humans and more – flash before her eyes. She, she was a drow. A dark elf. Her own memory was as dark as the history of her people.

A neural apparatus on a platform at the centre, a burning inferno right below, lifted her to the upper floor. She could oversee the whole room from there. In front of her, a dozen of brains floating in bubbles like containers and a body on a chair at the center. She walked around the dead elf, slowly. His skull was open and his brain, out in the open. She instinctively stopped in her tracks when the body twitched. A strange, high-pitched voice rose, but it didn’t come from his lips, his mouth wide open and his head titled backwards.

“Yes! You’ve come to save us from this place, from this place you’ll free us!” The drow looked at the brain with morbid curisioty rather than disgust. The exposed brain quivered in expectation. It begged her. She took a closer look. Never had she seen a brain talk. Blood and guts and corpses were far from unsettling to her but a talking brain, that was strange indeed.

“You sound afraid. Why?”

“The enemy. So many enemies.”

“Who am I talking to – a man or a brain?” She asked.

“A newborn. Born new from this husk.” The creature’s speech was in fact, unsettling. When she realized what it was, only then was she somewhat disgusted. She was talking to an intellect devourer, a minion of the mind flayers who abducted her. She violently dug her hands into the open skull and gritted her teeth, squeezing as hard as she could, blood spurting from the head, staining her already stained clothes and skin. It made a screeching noise. She took a step back and shook her hands, blood dripping from her slender fingers. She used the neural apparatus to get back down and continued to explore the ship. Maybe there were other survivors who could help her get out of this place. There was an opening. She followed the path. There was so much noise outside. The dragons flying by and the ship’s tentacles moving around. She couldn’t see far ahead. A thick fog covered dark mountains, but she could tell they weren’t in Faerun. It was a different plane. So, the ship could travel through worlds? She was lost in her contemplation until she felt a presence and turned around, only to see a githiyanki in armor leaping from a ledge and landing in front of her, threatening her with the sharp blade of her long sword.

“Abomination. This is your end.” There was a smirk on her face. The nameless, or two-named, drow didn’t even have time to say anything, she frowned and tilted her head, hands close to her face as she was about to grab it, fingers clenched. Her head throbbed and her skin tingled. Visions rushed past: a dragon’s wing, a silver sword – and a flash of her own face seen through the strange woman’s eyes. It was so brief that the memory of her face didn’t linger in her mind. She only remembered her red eye – or rather, bloodshot eye, as if its veins had bursted and spilled into the white – and the other, milk coloured as though a veil covered the iris, and the thick scar across her face, from her cheekbone to her jawline, and the fine tattoo of an upside down cross in a small circle on her forehead. The gith was panting as the connection between their minds broke. “My head. What is this… ngh. Tsk’va. You are no thrall – Vlaakith blesses me this day! Together we might survive.” She put her sword on her back, seemingly quite pleased to have an ally.

“What made you think I was a thrall?”

“We carry mind flayers. Unless we escape – unless we are cleansed – our bodies and minds will be tainted and twisted. Within days, we will be ghaik. Mind flayers.”

“We are turning into mind flayers? There must be something we can do!” The drow exclaimed, her panic growing, although her face didn't betray her anxiety so much.

“We can do nothing until we escape – that must be our priority. First, we exterminate the imps. Then we find the helf and take control of the ship. We will address the matter of a cure for this infection once we reach the Material Plane.” She followed her as she went back inside, and they looked at a bunch of those lesser demons feasting on a corpse. They sensed the women’s presence and as the gith pulled out her sword, ready to fight, she imitated her, taking off the blade from her back. The creatures screeched, their little, glowing red eyes staring right at them. They were easy to defeat. One strike and their winged, emaciated bodies fell to the ground in a thud. The warrior was pleasantly surprised with her new ally’s efficiency in battle. The latter was somehow just as much surprised with how effortless it felt to draw blood. She was covered in it and didn’t even care. They then ran through the room but Phy’raena – or Balfryn – she was still unsure what name to use, stopped the gith. “Not now – we must go to the helm.”

“Wait – who are you and why are you helping me?” She asked a question that even she wouldn’t be able to answer, would the very same question be aimed at her. Maybe Balfryn, the name reeked of blood in her mind, bringing a metallic taste to her mouth, though she had no idea why. It made her want to kill, to slaughter. She shook the thought without flinching on the outside.

“Who am I? Your only chance of survival. Now move. You are wasting time.” They jogged up the path, going through the rooms and sphincters, never stopping to catch a breath. The ship would never be able to take another dragon attack. They had to hurry and get out before it was too late. She was dead set on not dying in this hell. Climbing up arterial meshed, they reached another room, one yet to be explored. It was higher up in the ship so there was no fire inside and no monsters. But there was machinery. A control table with buttons on it, tables turned towards a red glowing beam at the center, some empty, others holding bodies. Balfryn took a look around, as she couldn’t make sense of the control table they came across, and not wanting to mess anything up by randomly pressing buttons. She stopped by one of the bodies. Life flickered in his eyes, but he seemed totally unaware of his surroundings. A fleeting image washed over her… An unwashed operating table… her innards without. The headache grew worse. She stepped back, walking away. Another control table, slightly different – no buttons, but slots, one of them empty – next to a closed pod. Someone was stuck inside thumping furiously on the lid. The woman called out to the drow.

“You! Get me out of that damn thing!”

“We have no time for stragglers.” The gith reminded her the urgency of their situation as she stared at the trapped person. Balfryn – she settled for that name for now – stood there, looking for a latch that might open the lid, but the construction was too alien. Nothing looked familiar. “This ship is crashing. Do you intend to die for a stranger?”

The gith was right, and Balfryn was too bothered to help and shook her head, “You might as well be trapped in Demonwebs. There’s no helping you.”

“Wait! That can’t be. There has to be another way. Please!” She cried out to them, begging for their help but they ahd their back to her and walked away, and continued their rushed exploration of the place, in search of the helm. Balfryn walked into an adjacent room. The sphincter opened as she approached. A mind flayer pod sat in the middle of the room, a four-legged brain walking around. It was what the brain that she crushed under her fingers would have been like. A dazed woman was trapped in the pod. She didn’t notice their presence. Walking around it, she approached a control table and put her hand on the console. As she placed her hand on the pod, she heard something: A presence to the pod, commanding the person inside to… change. She heard the woman’s muffled screams and rushed to see what was happening. Her skin became tainted, her eyes glowing red and her jaw cracked in multiple places, tentacles bursting out as she transformed into a mind flayer, smoke filling the pod. Once it was gone, there was nothing left of the red-headed woman she saw a moment prior.

“Kaincha! Changed at the pull of a lever? How? If we are not purified, this may be our fate.” The gith was right, and Balfryn felt a sense of dread fill her body. She had no idea who she was, but she wanted to remain herself, whatever that meant. The newborn mind flayer stared at the drow, weak and dazed. She walked out of the room, passing by the stranger trapped in her pod, who yet again cried out to her, and they took off. The next sphincter that opened led them straight to the helm, but tieflings, with dragon-like wings which was quite rare, were in the midst of a fight with two mind flayers dressed in leather capes. The beast wrapped his mouth-tentacles around his opponent’s head and crushed it. Imps flew right at him, slicing his tentacles and throat and he dropped dead. The one still standing turned to the newcomers, his voice, commanding and deep, sounding like an echo in their skulls.

“Thrall. Connect the nerves of the transponder. We must escape. Now.”

“Do it. We will deal with the ghaik after we escape.” Balfryn listened and while they stepped into the fight, the drow ran to the helm, dodging a few hits, reaching the transponder unscathed thanks to her ally, protecting her on her way there, taking down the imps coming for the dark elf. A few steps away from her goal, she stopped in her tracks, seeing a dragon fly through the air like a fury, right outside. They were about to launch another attack. The gith urged her to hurry before they struck the ship. An imp flew in her way. She dashed toward it and before it could attack, cut off its head. The body fell to the ground with a thump and the head rolled on the floor while she ran to the transponder, stretching her arms with a groan, her fingers brushing off the nerves as she leaned on the console to grab them but she did it, and as she connected them, she saw the dragon put its claws on the ship, peeking his head through the broken window. He spat fire and she fell to the ground, although shielded from it by the console.

Luckily, it was the only attack there was as the ship disappeared into thin air, teleporting away. Back home. Failing to remember who she was and where she came from, she still knew what world she belonged to. As it travelled through the planes, the ship flew vertically and Balfryn slid on the ground, her back crashing against the wall. She grunted at the shock and winced. Her body was tossed in the air by gravity and she barely held onto the edge of the helm, her legs hanging in the air. She stretched her arm, trying to pull herself up in order to reach the two nerves that she had connected. She grabbed it and the ship finally teleported to the Material Plane, bringing them back to Faerun. For a moment, she stood on her feet, but an explosion occurred on the ship and it nosedived, making her stumble and lose her balance, falling back to the ground and sliding to the edge of a broken window. She noticed, right across from her, on the other side of the window, the mind flayer stared at her. She looked back at him and didn’t see the large shard of metal that detached from the console and flew right at her head. The creature mentally pushed her aside and she flew out of the ship, losing consciousness during her fall.

Balfryn was awakened by sunlight, high in the sky, warming her skin, heating up her body through her brown leather clothes. She squinted her eyes, using her hand so as not to be dazzled by the sunlight as she looked around. She somewhat expected her memories to return once you were free of the mind flayer ship, but her past was still an aching void. If she didn’t find a way to remove the tadpole burrowed in her brain soon, her future would be as blank as her past. She frowned, tilting her head. It whispered vengeance: she couldn’t wait to slive her way forth, seeking whatever wrought this tragedy upon her. Stepping towards the water, she kneeled and cupped her hands to gather some to wash the dried blood off her face – and drank some, she was dying of thirst. Would she run into anyone, she wanted to at least have a try at getting them to trust her, and it wouldn’t be so easy if she was covered in blood from head to toe – she couldn’t do anything about her clothes though, or the fact that she was a drow. She would just change into something else when she found clean ones later.

There was a corpse nearby. Since she awoke on the ship, her mind had been cold and empty. But something stirred, with her hands close to this body. She sighed, knowing nothing of why. But she found a half-smile flittering across her face. She tried to remember the last time she stood above a corpse like this, but all she saw were flashes of flesh, all lumped together in a mass grave. No single image stuck out. Her memories would come back, eventually, but for the moment she ventured forth, pacing through the ravaged beach. In the distance, she saw the front of a building – a crypt – built in the cliff. There were bodies and blood everywhere and someone was pounding on the door heavily with a sledgehammer. She recognized the stranger trapped in the pod, who she chose to taunt and leave behind. If she was the one to have killed those people, the drow wondered if she would try to get back at her.

“Blasted door! I—what? Stop! Not another step or I’ll… Wait… you’re the one who left me to die on the ship.” Suddenly, Balfryn saw what she saw. Felt what she felt. Anger. Bitterness. A will to survive. “…agh! Did you feel that? You’ve got the same thing I do – in your head.”

“Yes, I felt this before, with another escapee from that ship.”

“If I were to guess, the things they put in our eyes. I assume that’s what caused our minds to… cross. But that’s the least of our problems. These things are going to consume us from the inside and turn us into mind flayers.”

“But I feel fine, all things considered… are you sure?”

“I’m sure enough. This is how the mind flayers breed. We host their spawn, and once they’re ready, they’ll tear right through us. I’m not sure how much time we have left, but I’m not going to wait to find out. You and I need a healer. Finding one won’t be easy. But first, we’ll need to survive the wilderness, I’d hopes there might be useful supplies through here. But I’ve merely made a dent in it so far.”

With one hand, she motioned for her to move out of the way, while searching her pockets with the other, “Stand aside – I have lockpicks. And the skills to match.”

“By all means. I’m going to see what’s at the top of this cliff. Hopefully, there’s no more of these creatures along the way.” Their glances brushed over the four-legged dead brains on the ground. The drow nodded to herself at the sight, shooting up her eyebrows.

“Quite some carnage at your feet. You have an admirable talent for violence.”

“Well, these things have been giving me plenty of practice. But I’d rather get out of here than push my luck.”

“Yes. I’m leaving before more things crawl out of the wreckage.”

“Likewise. Try killing a couple of these monsters before you die – lessens the load for me.” The young elf jogged away, Balfryn watching her before stepping towards the thick wooden door, patting her pockets again. The mind flayers might have snatched her from wherever she was when they raided the city, they didn’t take her things – most of them anyway. She still had a couple of lockpicks and her sword. She put one knee down and inserted her tools. The lock clicked and she pressed on the handle, pushing the door forward with her elbow and it hit something on the other side. She peered through the opening and didn't see anything other than a wood panel – a tall and large shelf was blocking the way. Better get moving, there was nothing else to do here. She wasn’t sure what was on the other side, who put a shelf in front of an already locked door. Whoever did that really didn’t want anyone to get in, and being on her own, she would rather not try her luck and instead come back when she had some allies, in case the place needed to be cleared of its occupants. As she backtracked, walking up the path around the cliff, she saw a strange symbol on the stone – an ancient sigil circled. Taking a closer look and putting her hand on it didn’t do anything so she observed it in silence before moving on. On second thoughts, maybe she should have asked the other survivor to stick with her. But she would have probably declined, more or less amicably, given how Balfryn left her to die on the ship.

There would be no reason for her to believe that the drow would have her back in the future. Maybe she was selfish or had a high sense of self-preservation. She went back to the ship’s wreckage. Upon stepping inside, she was faced with some more of these walking brains and it took her less than a minute to clear the area. She wasn’t at her best, but the creatures were small and weak. There was nothing interesting to loot from them as well, so she took off quickly, walking along the shore and up the cliff, where she heard seomeone crying for help. She didn’t rush to their aid, instead she observed them from afar before approaching. A pale skinned; white-haired man dressed in classy, richely adorned clothes. He must have had some money, if not just straight up rich. Nothing to envy to her rose ebony dress, made of fine leather, embracing her slender body like a second skin, giving her a lot of freedom in her movements with the double slits, one long piece of fabric in the middle. Less noticeable than the golden designs on his garment, there was embroidery in silvery thread which formed rosettes all over. Despite not having any memories, she could tell she herself was from the city, which was unusual for a drow. The man saw her approach.

“Hurry, I’ve got one of those brain things cornered. There, in the grass. You can kill it, can’t you? Like you killed the others.”

“Kill it yourself – you look capable enough.” She turned around but as she stepped away, she felt him move behind her and he brought his dagger up to her neck, dragging her to the ground with him. She gritted her teeth, holding the handle to keep the blade away from her, her eyes staring into the man’s – two red orbits. “Do elves often have red eyes like this”, she wondered. She knew of Lolth-sworn drow with red eyes, but not high elves. Balfryn herself had a red eye – her left – while the other was as white as seldarine Drow’s, but she had no connection to the evil spider goddess. There was no clear explanation as to why she had different eye colours, but there must be one, deeply buried somewhere in her mind. She tightened her grip on the handle, struggling against him and managed to twist his wrist, switching the power balance and taking the knife away from him as she pushed him on his back and swiftly sat up and rolled on her knee, throwing her leg over him, the soil of her boot digging in the sand as she bent over him, strands of her white hair falling in front of her face, holding his very own blade to his throat. He struggled against her but didn’t push her away. Her words were sharp. “What do you want? Speak, elf, and I might spare you.”

“I saw you on the ship—strutting about while I was trapped in that pod. What did you and those tentacled freak do to me?”

“What—agh.” She closed her eyes shut, holding her face with her hand as she got off him, stumbling backwards. He exclaimed as well. Their minds twisted. She was looking out of unfamiliar eyes, prowling dark, busy streets. And in this unfamiliar feeling, there was something… familiar. She tried to hold the memory, wanting to see more of this place whose souvenir lingered in a dark corner of her mind, but it faded to the worm. The light. The fear. The connection stopped and she opened her eyes to the elf standing in front of her, just as distraught.

“What was that? What’s going on?”

“Honestly, I have no idea.”

“It’s those tentacled monsters. Whatever they did – whatever they put in us – just created a connection. They took you too. I saw it during… whatever just happened. And to think I was ready to decorate the ground with your innards. Apologies.” He smirked and she couldn’t help but let out a scoff, crossing her arms, still holding his knife in her hand.

“Huh, more like I was going to decorate the ground with yours. You didn’t have the upper hand for long.”

“Yes, I must admit – you’ve got me there. My name’s Astarion. I was in Baldur’s Gate when those beasts snatched me.” She slightly parted her lips, about to say that she thought her name was Balfryn but she changed her mind and simply gave him a nod. “The strong and silent type? All right. Please tell me you at least know something about these worms.”

“Yes, unfortunately. They’ll turn us into mind flayers.” The gith she escaped with seemed quite sure of this at least. He bursted into laughter – a bitter laugh.

“Of course it’ll turn me into a monster. What else did I expect? Although it hasn’t happened yet. If we can find an expert – someone that can control these things – there might still be time.”

“Right. You should travel with me. Our odds are better together.” This time, she wasn’t going to pass up on having an ally. They seemed to be kindred spirits. Another rogue – a cunning soul.

“You know, I was ready to go this alone, but maybe sticking with the herd isn’t such a bad idea. And you seem like a useful person to know. All right, I accept. Lead on.” He ended with a bow, and she returned his knife to him. The soft smile on her face didn’t betray how, as he joined her side, her mind danced with thoughts of a perfect pretty corpse. She shook them away and they set off. As they walked, she questioned him – asked who he was. Though he didn’t get into details, he did mention he was once a magistrate back in the city, which confirmed what she thought – he was a magistrate, so he did in fact have money. It got her wondering how she got such well-made clothes – maybe she was someone too, she just forgot. In any case, he knew better than to return the question. She wouldn’t answer, but it was solely because she couldn’t give him any. Strange thoughts twisted her mind while two names were as if fighting a duel.

The duo ventured through the shipwreck, quickly passing by the corpses she left behind after her fight earlier. On the path outside, she saw footprints. There may have been even more that survived the crash, or it was the other girl’s footprints. Just a few feet away, there was another ancient sigil but the rune looked unstable. She approached the sigil on the stone. Magic glittered and swirled from it erratically, as if malfunctioning. It looked slightly dangerous. She stretched out her hand to touch it but a bolt shot at her hand, making her take a step back. A forearm than stuck though the circle and a voice rose, souding like an echo.

“A hand? Anyone?” Looking at the limb, Balfryn fantasized about hacking it off, but she fought against it and ignored the urge to maim whoever was on the other side. She grabbed the hand and pulled him out of there, losing her balance and almost falling on her butt if it weren’t for Astarion being right behind her and catching her. A tall man stood before them, his beard neatly trimmed, and his wavy hair elegantly swept back. By the looks of his outfit, he was a mage or wizard. And given how he just came out of a portal he was stuck in, this was most likely what he was. Balfryn watched him shake her hand with a frown on her face. “Ooft, hello, I’m Gale of Waterdeep. Apologies, I’m usually better at this.”

“At introductions?”

“At magic. Say, but I know you, don’t I? In a manner of speaking. You were on the nautiloid as well.” He was the second person to say he already knew her, but with him being a wizard, she felt more threatened than by her elven peer. Also, the stranger was a human, and even though she had no memories of her past, she remembered how humans came second when it came to discriminate her for her race – high elves coming first and by far, being the most judgmental and creative win the matter of making up derogatory names to refer to her, but it seemed as if Astarion was different. She didn’t trust him, and didn’t like his friendliness so she drew her sword. “Whoa – easy does it. You really, really don’t want to do that. Not a threat, just an observation.”

“And why would I really, really not want to attack you?”

“Ten years of bad luck if you kill a wizard. Why take the risk?” He still gave her a smile and she began to think she might be a tad ridiculous, overreacting like that. She sheathed her weapon. “Much obliged. Besides, I suspect the real villain is one we have in common. Back on the ship, you too were on the receiving end of a rather unwelcome insertion in the ocular region, were you not?”

She crossed her arms, “Couldn’t have phrased it more repellently myself.”

“No use sugarcoating it, is there?” He wasn’t wrong really. “The insertee we speak of, this parasite – are you aware that after a period of excruciating gestation it will turn us into mind flayers? It’s a process known as ceremorphosis and let me assure you: it is to be avoided. You don’t happen to be a cleric, by any chance, do you? A doctor? Surgeon? Uncannily adroit with a knitting needle?”

“I’m no stranger to high-stakes extractions, but these tadpoles are beyond even my light fingers, I can’t cure us.”

“I suppose few enough can. It’s not exactly a common affliction. We’re most certainly going to need a healer, and soon too. How about we lend each other a helping hand once more and look for a healer together?”

“Uh, okay. Sounds like a plan. You’re welcome to join us.”

“Most excellent. A parasite shared is a parasite halved. Or something to that effect. Oh! But before you think you’re about to embark on a journey with most ill-mannered a man: thank you for pulling me out of that stone. It was an act of foresight kindness I assure you, for I have the feeling ample opportunities will present themselves for me to return the favour.”

“Right.” She mumbled under her breath, just nodding as they resumed their walk. She wasn’t too fond of her companions just yet, a high elf and a human. She was waiting for the moment when they would end up being hostile towards her. The two men followed the drow east towards the ruins, whose door she couldn't open. The other dark-haired girl said there might be supplies in there, or anything really, so now that she had some backup, it was time to check the place out. She and Astarion remained silent while the wizard kept on introducing himself – his name was Gale apparently and he went on about how he sailed from Waterdeep, that he had a cat, which he seemed to love an awful lot, a library, and a fondness for wine.

He quickly quieted down but just a minute of his monologue was enough for her to see his character – he was no threat, and she could easily nurture his loyalty towards her. The chapel’s entrance overlooked the ravaged beach and Balfryn took a second to watch the wreckage from afar. They turned around and walked up a flight of stairs, glancing at a tall statue – the only thing not in shambles, standing proudly at the center. As they proceeded to explore the ruins, they ran into two men arguing loudly – one a high elf, and the other a gnome.

“…You’re both twice as tall as me but have half the bloody backbone!”

“But we don’t know what that thing even is! And what about the crypt?”

“I’m telling you, it’s a ship! And the crypt can wait! Mari and Barton have been trying to break in for days. Now we—Stop!” The gnome held out his hand upon noticing the trio approach. “Got ourselves competition already! That’s our ship!”

“I don’t want to hurt you, but provoke me, and I’ll keep stabbing long after you’re dead.” She stated, coldly.

“Well, uh, in that case…” He turned his head toward his companion. “C’mon, you lot, no point in getting’ killed. Second worm gets the cheese, an’ all…”

“Uh, second mouse gets the cheese, no?” The elf corrected, as if getting the saying right was of importance right now. The gnome yelled at him, and they ran away before the drow put her threats into action, which she would if they kept testing her patience. A cracked stone caught her attention, and she kneeled, leaning forward on her hands to investigate the hole. It was completely dark inside, but she could see an empty room with rubbles in the corners, a bunch of empty boxes and two single beds. She heard voices echo in the crypt also, though very low. She got up and glanced at her peers – they would get in one way or another. They walked to a door, a few feet away and someone inside must have heard their footsteps get closer because a muffled voice spoke to them through the door.

“That you, Gimblebock? Everything all right out there?” Balfryn saw an opportunity to get the door open and infused her voice with a false sense of urgency.

“Gimblebock triggered some trap. He needs help – now!”

“I told him it wasn’t safe out there. Get inside, and I’ll rustle up some bandages…” A satisfied smile dawned on her face, and they pushed the door open when the lock clicked. The man they encountered inside barely had a mace as a weapon, he was struck down by Balfryn’s blade in less than a second. She searched his pockets and took a key from him. If there was a locked door or chest, she would try it out. A dust-covered plaque hung on a wall in the chapel’s refectory. Ancient, indecipherable text covered the plaque. A dead tongue. Whoever worshipped here must have been long gone. A fire was lit in the fireplace, and she grabbed some food from the table – no need to let it all go to waste. Gale offered to put the rest in a magic bag to take it with them before they set up camp later. Having a wizard by her side might prove useful afterall. They pulled a lever by the door and someone else was in the chambers. A single blow from Gale, throwing a fireball at her, and they could wander around freely.

On their right, they found a door was locked – no lock, no handle. They continued to the end of the hallway and stepped into another room. They killed all four people inside and moved on – aside from dusty books, there wasn’t much to see in there. At the very end of the room, there was a second statue, like the one on the surface, by the entrance. The text on the plaque at the front was written in the same language as the one in the refectory – none of them could read it. Walking along the walls, she found a skull carved out of stone with a large ring hanging from its mouth. She touched it, and it seemed to activate a mechanism. The party returned to the door without a lock or handle and found it wide open. They stepped into a dank crypt; the humidity in the cold air was palpable. Something about this place made her think it wasn’t built for the living to begin with. Two heavy oak doors faced each other on either side of the room. One of them was locked so they turned to the other. On the other side was what seemed to be a sort of tomb, with an imposing coffin carved in stone – a sarcophagus.

The two rogues stopped Gale from walking into a trap. They would need to be cautious around here, there would surely be more. Balfryn approached the coffin and observed it closely. If she was to try to open it right now, she would trigger a trap, and something would blow up in her face. With Astarion, she proceeded to disarm it so they could take a look at whatever might be inside. A spear lied next to the skeleton and the magic in it tingled her fingers as she bent over to take it, along with an engraved key. Maybe this one would prove more useful than the first. And hells, it did. It opened the other oak door to the other side of the crypt. A huge opening on the right led to a cave and light from outside flooded into the crypt. This would be their exit. Here and there, skeletons lied on the ground – armed scribes, but no sign of a struggle.  

 “Jergal? This must be ancient - no one worships The Final Scribe anymore.” Astarion looked at the statue at the center of the room.

Balfryn stepped over a few decrepit bodies, still clad in their armor and helmets, damaged and eaten away by time, “Hey, there’s something over there.” She climbed a flight of stairs to the left as she noticed a button on the wall. She pressed it and a stone wall rumbled slid open, dust and rubbles falling. They didn’t even have time to peek at whatever was inside the secret room, the half a dozen skeletons in the dank crypt rose, as if back to life and attacked them. Balfryn rushed towards them, tightly holding the spear she ditched her sword for with her two hands and knocked a couple of the undead to the ground while the other rogue and the wizard took down the rest. Unsurprisingly enough, once their bones were scattered across the floor, they didn’t get back up and the trio moved back to the room the drow had opened a moment earlier.

Inside sat a large, richly adorned sarcophagus. She went to push the lid off but retracted her hand and took a step back when it slid off on its own and a bunch of greenish flames lit up all around the sarcophagus. Her eyes widened when a corpse flew out of it. Unlike the other he wasn’t a literal skeleton, but a decaying body, pale-brown, desiccated skin, lacking a nose and with clothes turned to rags by the passing of time, much like the other undead in the crypt. Her eyes went to the elaborate gilded strips of metal adorning his face, arms, and collarbone. He came down to the ground.

“So he has spoken, and so thou stands before me. Right as always. What a curious way to awaken. Now I have a question for thee: what is the worth of a single mortal’s life?”

“Quite the question. What’s the reason for it?” She wondered.

“Curiosity. Nothing more.” He did seem genuinely curious. “Will thou answer my question?”

“Yes. Ask away.”

“So I ask again: what is the worth of a single mortal life?”

“Mine seems worth little, as my blood calls me to harm others.” She confessed, though her companions must not have understood why she said what she said, or what she meant by it. They weren’t in her head to live and feel those urges. There was something beyond her – something that controlled her and yet she tried to control it. And it didn’t have anything to do with the worm.

“A life and how it is lived are different equations. Very well. I am satisfied. We have met and I know thy face. We will see each other again at the proper time and place. Farewell.” She followed the undead towards the cave mouth. He turned around, “We have nothing more to discuss. Continue on thy way, as if I were not here. I must attend this place, after so many years away. We will see each other again soon.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, “You seem very certain of that. How?”

“The mechanics of fate would be difficult to explain to one such as thyself. Regardless, it will occur.” And on these words, the cryptic individual walked away.

[To be continued…]  

Next Chapter (SOON)

Published (12/01/2024) by Andrea

[justinewt]

Meet Emily Holt - AS DUSK FALLS REWRITE OC

[AS DUSK FALLS - MASTERLIST]

Do not use my character without my consent thanks <3

warning: any arts and pictures you’ll see are not mine (I found them on pinterest) and I chose instagram model (insert actor)celeb used) to portray my oc, Emily is a character 100% created by me, Justine but the style of the bio has been inspired by (insert fic universe) wiki and bios made by director Guillermo Del Toro <3

words: 2k

EMILY CHARLOTTE HOLT bio by me

INFORMATIONS

DATE OF BIRTH: around late April 1980

AGE: In May 1998, Emily is freshly 18. She’s about about a month younger than Jay.

(Tyler is 25, so born sometime in September 1973; Dale is 21, born in mid-April 1977 – Dale and Emily are exactly 3 years and 1 week apart – and Jay is 18, born in around March 1980.)

ZODIAC SIGN/MBTI TYPE: Taurus/ISFJ

(headcanons for her family members: I feel like Tyler is ESTJ, so probably a virgo, Dale is ESTP/Aries and Jay INFP/Pisces)

SEX: Female 

NATIONALITY: American

ORIGINS: British (mainly)

OCCUPATION: High school Student at Bridgeley High (1994-1998, she graduated just a month before it all went down)

SKILLS: Horse riding and she was very handy, given she always wanted to work in the barn with her brothers

HOBBY: Horse riding, listening to music and hanging out with her brothers

CHARGES (if she was arrested/went to prison): Conspiracy (12 months of imprisonment); Complicit to burglary (class 3 felony) and guilty of 3rd degree burglary (3 years and 6 months of imprisonment); Complicit to hostage taking with no criminal intent, charged as Class 1 misdemeanour (6 months of imprisonment)

POSSIBLE TIME IN PRISON: minimum 5 years (if arrested, Tyler gets the death penalty if arrested, spends 14 years on death row before being executed in 2012, and if caught, Jay gets the same sentence but his death sentence is commuted to a life sentence without parole)

FAMILY

PARENTS: She’s the only daughter and youngest biological child of Sharon and Bear Holt

SIBLINGS: She has two older brothers, Tyler and Dale, and Jay, though they’re technically cousin.

RELATIVES: Brooke, her mother’s younger sister, Deceased. And unnamed paternal family members; mention of her deceased grandfather.

FRIENDS: Her best friend was the unnamed younger sister of Jessica (Dale’s crush)

EARLY LIFE: Emily was born in late April 1980, exactly 3 years and 1 week after Dale, and exactly one month after Jay, on the same day. So, when he was born and his mother, Sharon’s sister and Emily’s aunt died, and Sharon adopted him, she passed him as her daughter’s fraternal twin and raised her two oldest to consider him their sibling. While Dale and Tyler, their older brothers, grew up treating him as such, they both knew the truth, though Tyler, being older, was more aware of it. Emily was kept in the dark by her mother and learned about it way later.

Their brothers, Tyler and Dale, were respectively 7 and 3 years older than the “twins”. Both helped raising and caring for them, but essentially Tyler as most of the responsibility to care and protect his siblings fell on him as he was the eldest. Dale was very playful, and much more careless and tempestuous so Tyler also had to deal with him, on top of everything else, and was somewhat of a bully towards Jay, at some point using a BB gun on him. He teased him way more than he did Emily because when he did, Tyler would kick his ass (metaphorically speaking, or not), so he contented himself with making jokes. Sometime after Emily was born, Sharon let an almost 8-year-old Tyler hold his baby sister and it seemed to form some kind of bond already as he never forgot how she looked at him with her big eyes and smiled. He grew up to be very protective of his family but even more so of his sister, being on the contrary, quite distant and unaffectionate towards Jay, though he did care for him as well. But throughout their lives, he seemed to subtly, or not, make Jay understand that he cared more about Emily, as if he wasn't as much family.

Until she entered high school, Emily’s favourite brother was beyond the shadow of doubt, Tyler. He raised her and Jay since they were babies and kept Dale from teasing her, teaching her valuable skills, making her grow up to be someone very handy and skilful. She never realized that he felt some resentment and jealousy towards them still, but mostly towards Jay as he knew he wasn’t his biological brother and more or less subconsciously held it against him. He knew everything about his younger siblings, how they kept a squirrel as a pet when they were young, and he knew before she told anyone that she started liking grunge music when she was 11 or 12. For her 12th birthday, he got her the Nevermind album from Nirvana and a CD player, which she ended up sharing with Jay. He didn’t get such gifts for either of his brothers. She already idolized Tyler since she was a child, but he had officially become her favourite brother. At the time, and because she was too young to work, and they weren’t exactly rich, she wanted to find a way to get some money to get herself a pair of Converse, to do like Kurt Cobain so Tyler got her to help him fix things around the house and do chores and a month later, he came home with a box and gave her a pair of black converse, which she started wearing 24/7 at school.

She had a rocky relationship with her father and was quite scared of him for a while, mainly because he could get violent when drunk and hit their mother sometimes and would hit Tyler and Dale too when they got in the middle. But when she was younger, maybe 8 or so, he one day brought home some rabbit he had caught and she wouldn’t listen to him and sit down because she wanted to go play outside with Jay but also because she didn’t want to skin the animal, so he smacked her across the face, bringing her to tears and she ran off. She hid in the barn, in a corner, curled up and quietly crying, until Tyler, then 15-year-old, found her. He had a bruise on his cheek, and she cried even more and asked if he got hit because of her. He dismissed her worries and got her to come out and help him somewhere else on the property. At dinner, her father awkwardly apologised, coming up with excuses and empty words, talking a lot but basically saying nothing, and she just nodded, not really saying anything. She already didn’t trust her father, or feel safe around him, but she certainly wouldn’t after that. After that event, Dale would always crack jokes and used the fact that he was always teasing Jay to make her laugh. He very lightly teased her too but with Tyler watching her, he never went as far as he did with Jay. She was definitely Tyler’s favourite too. The first memory he had with her was her smiling at him as a baby, so he hated seeing her cry. He was as protective of his mother as he was of his sister. 

When she and Jay entered High school, they quickly found out how well-known their family actually was in that school, because all four Holt kids went there and the parents too back in the day. During their first year, Tyler was already 21 and very much working and Dale was already out of school, having dropped out about a year prior, and he would come pick them up everyday when Tyler couldn’t. Jay and Emily were in the same classes, so they were always together but as the freshman year went on, she made friends with other people in some of the classes they didn’t share, though always trying to include Jay in the group, but he went back to staying alone. By the end of the first semester, she had ditched her new friends and preferred to hang out with her brother, though she had kept one good friend, another girl from the group she hung out with and one boy that she liked. The two siblings began being isolated by their classmates. They would often call Jay a “weirdo” or “loser” and she would defend him. She acted exactly like Tyler did with their mom. She almost got into a fight with a couple of other kids at the school and after telling Tyler, he basically scolded her - more out of worry for her than actual anger - and told her not to get into any fights and not act like Dale, which for some reason made her want not to listen to him.

She began to act as Jay’s protector at school and it emboldened her, she was more rebellious, and it reflected in her relationship with her dad. She started to test his limits, which was probably not the best idea as he would get mad and try to hit her, but she often managed to dodge and run away, Tyler and Dale getting hit in her place, which she felt bad for. She began to think Tyler hated her because she realized he was more distant. In the beginning of the second half og her freshman year of high school, she met again a boy who was in the friend group she had temporarily joined in her first year, but he had developed a crush for her. She reciprocated his feelings and they shared a kiss. He asked her out and one week-end, Emily lied, saying she was going for a girl's pajama party as her best friend's house when really, she was going to the arcade with her boyfriend. The next morning, Sharon told Tyler to go get his sister and when he got to Emily's friend house and she wasn't there, he asked to use the landline to call his mom and told him. Sharon told him to drive around town and come home. He came home half an hour later and she was already there, getting scolded in the kitchen because she didn't want to tell them where she was the night before. At some point, she stood up because she wanted to leave, and accidentally yelled back at her mom and her dad got angrier. He swung his arm in her direction and upon dodging him, she fell against the fridge, curled up, her arms up in front of her face, eyes widened and her whole body shaking like a leaf.

Tyler and Dale got inbetween her and their dad and got hit in her place. Later, she told Tyler where and who she was with the night prior and told him she was with a guy from school. He told her not to lie and she admitted that he was her boyfriend. Dale heard and got worked up knowing a boy "touched her" and she yelled that nobody touched her and it took Tyler shoving him to make him shut up. One day at school, Dale came to pick up his siblings and he saw Emily come out of school with a boy. When she crossed his gaze and saw him, she put a distance between her and the boy but he now knew who her boyfriend was. He walked up to them and beat him up bloody. He was arrested and because he wasn't yet 18, he was sent to juvenile detention. She wouldn't talk to Dale for months after that, and didn't speak to him during the three months he spent in juvie. The boy was transferred to another school and wouldn't talk to her anymore, telling her her brother was a "fucking psycho". By the end of their second year of high school, as they turned 16, Jay dropped out and she really was alone now. She had her best friend left and that was about it for the next two years of high school.

Then, in May 1998, the events of the game happened. She wasn’t supposed to be involved in their plans, but she refused to stay behind, and Tyler agreed to let her come along, on the condition she did exactly as he said.

[AS DUSK FALLS - MASTERLIST]

Published (09/25/2024) by Andrea

[justinewt]

Finis Vitae Sed Non Amoris - THOSE ABOUT TO DIE FANFICTION Chapter 10

[THOSE ABOUT TO DIE MASTERLIST]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter (SOON)

Summary: Aldea's entire world had tumbled down, giving in on itself after her brother's death and after another tragic loss, it was as though Aldea's heart was ripped out of her chest. She felt like she had lost everything, and Tenax wasn't there. She felt completely alone, if it weren't for Elia, the only family she had left, and the son she was to have.

Words: 5.3k

Warnings: title means "the end of life but not of love" // Those about to die season 1 spoilers (episode 9 "The Die is Cast" & episode 10 "Let the Games Begin"), angst, grief, blood

Aldea hadn’t seen or spoken to Tenax in already two days, sleeping in Fonsoa’s room at the other insula, which also belonged to him. She didn’t sleep soundly, not only because she was so heavily pregnant but also because she knew Fonsoa was going to race, and so would Elia. Her thoughts were spiraling in her head. She was terrified of either of her brothers getting in a shipwreck. She couldn’t help but imagine the worst-case scenario and imagining her brothers to die as well made her feel so desperate and scared. The foundation of her whole world had been shaken and destroyed when Scorpus, a man she considered her friend, murdered her older brother for the sake of his ego and personal glory, and now she had lost her footing. It was as though a part of her had been torn off. She was anxious as she walked towards the Circus Maximus and felt as though her stomach was tied up in knots. She had no idea where Tenax was and didn’t really care at the moment, or maybe she wanted to convince herself she didn’t care, in order not to think about it. Her mind was far from the tension that had risen in their relationship. She wore her cloak over her head, passing her fingers on her necklace, a piece of Tenax’s love for her that she didn’t have the heart not to wear, despite being angry with him. She joined Gavros and Elia in the staging area of the Blue faction. Her brothers were in the very first race of the day. She breathed shakily. The stablehands were going back and forth, left and right, getting the rig ready before letting its driver and horses parade on the tracks before the race.

“Elia.” She put her hand on his arm, looking up at him, worriedly. He was softly pulling on the reins, taking deep breaths and turned his head towards his sister. He clenched his jaw nervously. She glanced over at Gavros from the corner of her eyes. He probably didn’t know that Elia wanted to avenge their brother, meaning beating Scorpus at his own game and the driver was right on the fact that it was a dangerous game. She couldn’t care less about it being dangerous for Scorpus. She wanted him to get his due and that was why she wasn’t warning Elia against going forward with whatever plan he might have to get Scorpus killed but she wasn’t stupid. She didn’t need to ask him what he was going to do. He was going to get him in a shipwreck. That would be the only way to kill him on the tracks. “Be careful, hermanito.”  She breathed shakily, squeezing his arm, asking him to not get himself killed, “Por favor, no te dejes matar.”

He bent forward, putting his hand on top of hers, “It’s okay. Vengaré a nuestro hermano.” They held each other’s gaze, looking very serious and she nodded. He was going to avenge their brother. He wanted to and promised her as such, and she trusted him, but she still showed a certain apprehension about what might happen to him, or Fonsoa.

“Elia. It’s time.” Gavros walked behind Aldea, and along a couple stable hands, headed for the doors leading to the tracks. The siblings exchanged a last meaningful look, and the young woman stepped back and watched him give a shake of the reins and drive away. She took another shaky breath as she went to sit on the bench on the opposite side. The doors closed. She was left alone and waited until, caressing her stomach, staring into space until the horns sounded in the arena and she rushed to the doors, stretching her neck to look out the opening at the top, to see the race as the drivers were unleashed onto the tracks. The crowd cheered. Getting on her tip toes, Aldea tried to keep her eyes on Elia and Fonsoa. The bell dinged the end of the first round and soon after, the first shipwreck happened. She was somewhat relieved. It wasn’t her brothers that got hurt. She squinted her eyes, trying to see what was going on as she noticed Elia driving close to Scorpus and she understood he was trying to trap him. The stablehands on the tracks ran away when the drivers approached but they hadn’t had the time to move all the debris from the first accident and Elia and Scopurs were on the front line.

Elia blocked him, only pulling the reins aside at the last moment and Scorpus went flying, crashing on the ground. But the satisfaction was short-lived. Fonsoa was right behind him, and she slammed her hand on the door, crying out his name. His Andalusians jumped over the debris, but his rig flipped, and he fell over. Aldea walked away, falling on the bench and whimpered as Gavros came running, urging a stablehand to get the physician. She stood up, stepping aside and watched Elia dragging Fonsoa inside, and with Gavros, they carried him, setting him down on the bench. She kneeled down, taking Fonsoa’s hand in between hers, sobbing. His eyes were half-closed. Her voice was trembling as she begged him not to die, speaking to him in their mother tongue. He faintly squeezed her hand, swallowing harshly. Aldea looked over her shoulder when she heard hurried footsteps and someone gasping, it was Salena. She had come with her son. She let go of the child’s hand and rushed to Fonsoa’s side, already crying as well.

“Please. Don’t give up, please.” She begged him to stay with him and seeing the hurt in her eyes, and how much she must have loved her brother, Aldea’s heart shattered even more. Fonsoa’s breath was strained. It seemed as though talking was hurting him but still, he called for Elia. He slowly approached, sitting on the side of the bench and wrapping his hand around his siblings’.

“Do you remember when I broke my leg?”

“Of course. Foolish thing.”

Elia chuckled sadly, “You carried me home. Grandfather… He was gone. You held me while Andria set my leg. Aldea and you, you helf me all night long while I cried.”

“It must have hurt.”

“Not like this.” He shook his head, apologizing quietly, in between sobs and Aldea stifled a cry. Fonsoa was struggling to keep his eyes opened. His head rolled to the side, and he stopped moving. Aldea’s head fell forward, the tears washing down her face. Elia sobbed, benting over, his hand on his sister’s shoulder, her head resting against his chest, and she wailed. It wasn’t just a part of her that she had lost, it was worse than that. Her entire heart had been ripped out of her chest and she felt as though she was left bleeding out. She couldn’t stand up. She couldn’t move at all and was just sobbing hysterically in Elia’s arms. There was a part of her that longed for Tenax’s reassurand and support but the overwhelming sadness that washed over her just clouded her mind. She couldn’t think about anything else but Fonsoa’s death.

“No— No sé si valió la pena, Elia.” It really got her wondering if their whole craving for revenge had been worth it. They had avenged Andria's death, killing Scorpus, but it cost Fonsoa his life. Aldea's worst fear came true. She clinged onto Elia, tightening her grip, as if she feared he would be taken away from her too.

She followed them as they carried Fonsoa’s body to the funeral grounds. Elia refused Gavros’ help as he spent the whole afternoon digging their brother’s grave. Aldea sat to the side, her eyes were closed and red from crying and her head tilted forward. For hours she had been pressing her lips shut, frowning. She was in more discomfort than she had ever been in her whole pregnancy. She was also puzzled as to why she was feeling such strong cramps and this low, dull ache in her lower back that came in waves. The sun was setting and the pain she was in only grew stronger, but she sucked it up. She sniffed, opening her eyes and looking at her brother without moving her head as she heard him repeatedly kicking the dirt with his shovel, in frustration and throwing it away, whimpering. She followed his gaze as he looked ahead of him. Salena and her son had joined them.

“Were it not for my rage there would be no grave to dig?” he was panting, his face blackened with dirt and dust.

“Blame the Fates,” Gavros spoke. “not yourself.”

He jumped in the hole Elia had dug, picking up the shovel and handing it to him and grabbed a second one to give him a hand. They stopped again, looking up at Salena’s boy as he approached, giving a kiss to a toy he carried in his hands before crouching down and putting it in front of the candles set by the edge of the grave. Aldea blinked, unleashing tears onto her cheeks. The toy represented a charioteer on its rig. He then returned to his mother, and they left quietly. Aldea stifled a groan. A strong cramp started suddenly, lasting a few seconds before fading away. It wasn’t very different from what she had been feeling the past few hours but the next time around, she gasped and groaned loudly, and Elia widened his eyes, alerted, jumping out of the hole and rushing to his sister as she breathed sharply.

“Are you alright? Aldea, are you okay? Are you hurting?” He was anxiously shooting questions at her, but she just gritted her teeth because of the pain, unable to answer.

“Elia. Get her home quickly.” Elia looked over at Gavros and acquiesced, helping his sister up. She was had her eyes closed, her face briefly relaxing as she breathed in and out slowly and they walked away. It took twice as long as it normally would to get back to the Suburra and during the half hour it took them, Aldea was going back and forth from groaning and moaning from the pain and sighing of relief when it faded away. She had no idea what was going on. She didn’t understand why she was feeling this way. Last time this had happened was when Claudia had made her a sort of abortion tea sometime after she had first gotten to Rome. The cramps were the same, but it was so early on in the pregnancy, there had been only blood coming out of her and yet it had felt as though she was literally giving birth. She stopped in her tracks. They were halfway there. Her eyes were wide open in horror at what she had just come to realize, or at least suspect.

“What is it? Aldea? Are you okay?”

She resumed walking, gulping, “I think— I think I’m giving birth. No—no, no, no, it can’t be…” They arrived on the street to Tenax’s insula. If she was giving birth, she had to go to Claudia, and hopefully, Cala would be there too. The Numidian woman had had three children. She could help better than any midwife. Breathing in, and out, Aldea climbed one step at a time. Elia pounded on the door, urging anyone inside to open the door quickly and a second later, Cala appeared behind the door. The confusion on her face was soon replaced by fear and concern. She let him in, closing the door behind her.

“Take her to the bedroom. Quickly.” He nodded and took his sister to the bedroom while Cala turned to Claudia, standing behind her in the kitchen. “Get me the birthing chair, right now.” The old woman rushed in and out of their room, giving her the chair. “Soak some cloths in warm olive oil, and then pour it in a bladder and bring it to me.”

Elia was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding his sister’s hand, placing a kiss on her knuckles. He looked over his shoulder, watching as Cala set the chair in a corner of the room. She bent over, caressing Aldea’s face with concern. The latter was panting, clenching her jaw and wincing, moaning and groaning at the contractions, squeezing her brother’s hand hard.

“Where’s Tenax?” She asked through gritted teeth, letting out a sob. She had put her anger aside and just wanted him there with her, but he was nowhere to be seen. She needed him.

Cala sighed and spoke quietly, “He had business to attend to. He will be home before the sun comes up.”

“Will she be okay?” Elia was greatly distressed.

“She will.”

“Cala…” The middle-aged woman turned her head back to Aldea as the latter called her name. “our mother— our mother died in childbirth.” Her voice broke, “I don’t want to die...”

“You listen to me, Aldea. You will not die.” She cupped her face with her hands and caressed her cheekbone with her thumb. When Claudia came in the room, Cala told Elia to go wait outside and he was so reluctant to leave that she had to repeat herself and closed the doors behind him. Aldea’s breathing quickened and she cried out in pain. Claudia and Cala helped her get up and walk to the birthing chair. She sat down with a groan, grasping onto the armrests.

“I will go fetch the midwife.” Claudia said, standing up. There were this Greek midwife that they had found in the early months of her pregnancy. Despite being low-borns and plebeians, Tenax wanted to ensure a smooth birth for his wife, and he had the money to do so.

“Go quick. Drag her from her bed if you have to.” Claudia nodded and rushed outside, running out of the apartment. The midwife lived on the other side of the Suburra. While she was gone, Cala placed the bladder full of hot olive oil by her side and applied the warm, soaked cloths to her abdomen to help with the pain and breathed along with her to help her calm down. She squeezed her hand, talking to her softly, making her take deep breaths in, and out, until Claudia returned with the two midwives.

They joined them inside the room, conversing with each other as they took their places around the chair, checking on Aldea’s state. One of them sat opposite and below her for the delivery. The pain and discomfort she had been in the whole afternoon was actually labour pain. She was in labour, but even the midwives spoke, with a quite noticeable Greek accent, “she shouldn’t be giving birth for another two moons.”

“Well, she is, so it doesn’t matter anymore.” Cala declared. The woman gave her a sidelong glance but didn’t say anything else and did her job, while Aldea groaned and moaned continuously, crying and screaming through her teeth as she was felt the urge to push. Claudia helped by gently keeping her in place so that she wouldn’t sway with the pain. She held her breath so much that the women around her had to remind her to take breaks and breathe but even merely breathing was extremely exhausting and she thought she was dying and that her body was being torn in half. She constantly lamented, saying she couldn’t do it and sobbing and having to be encouraged and reassured by Cala but after an hour of this, Aldea felt completely out of her mind with pain and exhaustion. She was shaking from the effort and covered in sweat.

 “I can’t do this—ugh, I can’t— I can’t do this." She shook her head and sobbed, crying out for Tenax. She needed him more than ever. Cala cupped her face with her hands.

“He will be home soon. Keep going. You’re doing great.” Aldea nodded, trying to catch her breath as she kept on pushing as hard as she could.

Cala turned her head upon hearing the door open and close, Elia talking to someone and hurried steps approaching the doors. Tenax came in, ignoring the disapprobating stare of the midwife as men weren’t supposed to be present at births but he didn’t care and neither Aldea nor Cala cared for that Roman convention. The Spaniard looked up and followed him with her gaze as he rushed to her side, sitting down next to her after Claudia brought a stool. He took her hand, placing a kiss on it. They locked eyes, pressing their foreheads together then she turned her head and continued to push for a while, until the midwife let her know that she could see the baby's head. She was almost there, and fortunately so, because she felt herself becoming very dizzy and light-headed. And then, finally, it was all over. Aldea let out the biggest sigh known to man and caught her breath, throwing her head back. Her tears weren’t only from the pain of the birth, she was crying because of the exhaustion and thinking about Andria and Fonsoa, her beloved brothers who she had lost in the span of a couple of days, and because she was frightened. She was scared to die after witnessing her mother literally bleed out after giving birth to Elia. Aldea was just 4 years old when that happened. But she didn’t die. She was still alive, and it took her a second to realize it was over.

After a few seconds of silence, Aldea heard a piercing cry and groaned as she straightened her neck. The midwife had stepped away with the baby and was washing it with Cala while Claudia left the room. Cala glanced over her shoulder at Aldea and Tenax, “It’s a boy.”

“He was born two moons early. He’s quite small, but if the gods will it, he will live through childhood.”

“They will.” Cala said, firmly. Claudia then returned with woollen bands and before wrapping them around the baby’s limbs, Tenax stood up and approached them to see the child. He had had many months to prepare for the fact he was going to be a father but the look on his face made him look like he couldn’t believe it, like he couldn’t believe that he was an actual father, with a child of his own. They then swaddled the infant in the wool, limb by limb and, holding him carefully in his arms, Tenax turned around and walked over to Aldea, crouching before her. Slowly, she held out her arms and he handed their child to her.

She was staring at the baby’s face and just started crying, “Amatus.” It was the name she had picked for their child, were it to be a boy. His name came from the verb amare, meaning to love, and meant beloved. Aldea couldn’t stop crying. She was a complete mess, and her emotions were all over the place, taking quivering gasps. The small baby in her hands opened his round, blue-grey eyes every now and then, looking at the tired faces of his mother leaned over him. Aldea smiled tenderly, softly caressing his cheek with the tip of her finger. She felt such a sense of happiness take over her heart and was completely overwhelmed. Tears flowed non-stop down her face. She heard the three other women in the room talk, catching a few words from the midwife telling Claudia and Cala what to do and Cala mentioning she had three children of her own and they left the room, leaving the new parents alone. Aldea lifted her head, looking up from her baby and meeting Tenax’s shiny eyes. There were so many emotiong going on on his face that she was unable to tell them apart, joy, regret, guilt, adoration and love.

“Aldea.” He spoke her name in hushed tones.

“We’ll talk later. We just had a son… our beautiful baby.” She looked back down at their child. Now was not the time to talk about all that had happened. She was way too tired to think about anything. “He has your eyes.” Tenax chuckled and acquiesced, kissing her lips.

“Aldea, give him to me.” He said softly after Aldea tried to stand up. She handed him their son and leaned on his shoulder to get up. He caught her as she stumbled, losing her balance because. She was dizzy and her whole body felt sore and bruised as she took a few steps towards the bed. Tenax called Claudia and the housekeeper came in, followed by Cala and the two women helped her lie down on the bed. Elia stood in the doorway, holding his hands in front of him, nervously. The concern on his face was almost too cute. Aldea watched through her half-opened eyes as her little brother slowly approached Tenax.

“Can I hold him?” He asked shyly. Tenax carefully handed the baby to the young Spaniard, and he took him, looking down at his nephew with a candid smile dawning on his face. Aldea grinned, amused, and closed her eyes to rest them a little and ended up falling asleep. It would have been physically impossible for her not to. For the rest of the morning, she was dozing off, coming out of sleep and falling asleep again right after. She didn’t know when, but she was woken up after a floorboard creaked under someone's foot. Her eyes were not completely open, her eyelashes blurred her vision, but she thought she recognized Cala's silhouette. Aldea mumbled her name, and the woman stopped in her tracks, turning towards her. She walked around the bed after grabbing something from the nightstand. She brought a cup to her lips. Aldea had no idea what she was drinking but it seemed to alleviate the pain. She grabbed her wrist as she went to leave.

“Where’s my— Where’s my baby?” She asked, her eyes closed. Cala caressed her hand.

“He’s with Claudia. Now, rest.” She put her hand on her chest and left the room, but Aldea was so tired she didn’t even realize it and kept on mumbling inaudibly until she fell asleep again. She came out of her slumber again when it was already dark outside. Aldea groaned as she stood up on her own, leaning on the chair by her side and on the wall as she pushed the door open ajar. She was hearing muffled voices coming from outside the bedroom. Cala was standing there with her younger daughter, Jula, and Elia. Claudia was sitting at the kitchen table, holding Amatus in her arms.

“How will you provide for her?” Cala questioned.

“I am riding for the Blues. I am their lead charioteer now.”

“Hmm. And when you are killed?”

“We drivers have a club for that. We save for, uh… well, just in case.”

Cala looked at her daughter, “Do you love him?”

“Yes. I do, mother.” She said quietly, the corners of her mouth lifting as she locked eyes with Elia.

Cala sighed, “Love, a weak basis for marriage. But it will do for now.”

“Thank you.” Jula wrapped her arms around her mother. Aldea smiled softly and walked out of the bedroom, putting a hand on her brother’s shoulder. He looked behind him, just noticing his sister.

“What are all those happy smiles for?” She asked with a smile on her face as well.

“I am getting married, sister. And I will be a father.”

“What? Really? Oh, hermanito.” She drew him into a hug. She was so proud of him and the thought of their children being so close in age meant they would be able to grow up together and be close cousins and it was such a sweet thought that warmed her broken heart.  They all broke their embraces when the door opened. Rufus came in, glancing at Cala and Aldea.

“Tenax wants you to come.” Cala nodded, kissing her daughter’s cheek and hugging Elia.

“Take good care of her. Or you will answer to me.” She spoke in his ear, “And to the Gods of Numidia.”

Aldea smiled amusedly, “Don’t worry, Cala. He will take good care of your girl.” Claudia came up to her, giving her back her son, who was sleeping soundly and Aldea left the apartment with Cala. As they walked down the stairs, she refused Rufus’ help, rather letting Cala help her and the man led them all the way to the Esquiline hill. Aldea recognized Scorpus’ house. She was a little confused at first as to why they would be brought here but she figured that maybe, since the driver was dead, Tenax might have made this luxurious home his own – their own. Rufus opened the door for them and let the two women inside. Aldea looked up. The ceiling was so high, and the the entrance of the house was about as large as their apartment in the insula. Even her family home in Hispania wasn’t that big, and it was her great-grandfather that built it. Rich roman houses like Scorpus’, on the Esquiline were beautiful and grand but quite ostentous. They showed off the wealth of the people living in this neighborhood. She was brought out of her contemplation when she heard Cala's voice raised, breaking the silence of the house.

“Your new home?”

“Scorpus isn’t using it. Anyway, he hated it.” His voice echoed in the high-ceilinged room. “He preferred brothels. Domitian, our new Emperor, has made me Aedile Ludi. You know what that means? Julius Caesar, himself, served as Aedile Ludi during his rise.”

“A deserved prize. For putting our new Emperor on the throne.” Aldea frowned as she listened. She had no idea what Cala meant by that.

He chuckled, “Now we both know that, but it’s not to be said out loud. Especially to Domitian. You understand…” his voice moved through the room. “that I need to kill you, don’t you?”

“What?” Aldea asked herself, in a whisper.

“I understand… that you believe that.”

“No surprise then. I expected you to try and bargain your way out of this.”

“Hmm.”

“It’s only through dumb luck that I’m alive.” The tone of his voice grew sharper. He spoke abruptly, sounding like he was scolding Cala. “Had that scroll reached Titus, I would be dead and Domitian as well. What then of Aldea, and my son? They would have nothing.”

“Then you should thank your Roman Goddess, Fortuna.”

“I do!” He paused. “I take no pleasure in killing you. But you’ve given me no choice.”

“I betrayed you. But did I ever lie to you?” There was another silence. “You are from the gutter. Your money, your betting, your allies, all your allegiances, your very beek all reek of the sewere. But you live on the Esquiline Hill now. You need someone honest… to manage what you leave behind. Without an endless flow of money, all this will fall apart, and the senators will roar with laughter as they kick you back to the gutter. And then, Aldea and your son will, indeed, be left with nothing.”

Upon hearing Cala take a sharp breath, gasping, and Aldea approached the door, looking into the room, the flame of the candle shining in the corner of her eyes. Tenax had his hand up to Cala’s neck. She had struck a chord with those words.

“Why should I trust you?”

She slightly shook her head, “Who else?” She grabbed his hand firmly and softly pushed it away, “For my children… I will betray you in a second. But beyond that, I will never lie to you. I never have. Who else can offer you that? Aldea? Yes. Do you remember, what I asked you at Andria’s funeral?”

“You terrify me.” He was staring at her, clenching his jaw, and Cala’s eyes invited him to answer her question, out loud and it took a moment before he spoke, “That I should seek Aldea’s forgiveness, not yours.”

“And?”

“If her love for me was greater than her love for her brothers.”

“What did I say to that, before I left?”

He swallowed harshly, “That it wasn’t.”

“I still wonder whether I was right to say that, or not. But I would advise you to tread carefully. She loves you, so much, and has a son with you, but her brother Elia is already like a son to her. You better make sure nothing happens to that boy, or I might prove right.” She patted his shoulder, and walked away, “You know where to find me.”

Cala stopped by the door, glancing back at Tenax and left, walking past Aldea standing in the hallway. She caressed the young woman’s cheek, in this motherly manner she had with her. Aldea then walked through the doors with a slow step, closing them behind her and locked eyes with Tenax, standing on the other side of the grand, main room. She walked around the three couches set up at the center, looking around her. It was even bigger than the entrance.

“So, it will be our home now? How could Scorpus live in such a big house alone?”

“He was rarely alone.”

“Yes. That was a stupid question.” She stopped in front of Tenax and met his eyes again. They looked at each other’s face in silence and she was the one to break it, “I am not going to pretend that I am sad that Scorpus died.”

“I know.”

“He had it coming. But I am sad for you, he was your good friend.” She caressed his cheek softly. “His death cost me my other brother. Fonsoa died because of Scorpus too.” It didn’t matter to her that it was Elia who got Scorpus killed and indirectly led to Fonsoa’s death, but she would never place the blame on her baby brother. To her, it was all Scorpus’ fault, and the dead cannot defend themselves so, who would ever say the opposite.

“I am sorry, Aldea.” She closed her eyes for a second, turning her head to the side. Tears fell down her cheeks and she wiped them off with her thumb. She couldn’t tell him that she forgave him, because for now, she didn’t. That didn’t mean she didn’t love him but hearing what Cala mentioned earlier, whether or not her love for her brothers was greater than her love for Tenax and it got the both of them thinking and now that her brothers were gone, she couldn’t think that she could ever love someone more than them. There was going to be a lot of work to get their relationship to how it was before her brothers came to Rome that summer, but she loved Tenax and their family, as well as the family that Elia and Jula were building together, was more important than anything else to her. She couldn’t risk losing any of them.

“Scorpus’ ego killed my brothers. And it almost killed our son.” She stressed each word and stepped closer to him, their faces mere inches apart from each other. “You’re Aedile Ludi now. And Domitian is Emperor. You’re an ambitious man, Tenax, but you need to be careful, or your ambition will get us all killed. You can’t afford to make mistakes with him.”

“I won’t let anything happen to you, our son, or your brother. I promise you.”

“That’s really up to Domitian. I do not trust him.”

“Trust me.” He took her face in his hands, speaking quietly.

“Then do not betray my trust again.”

He kissed her.

The future wasn’t as bleak as it might seem, but it wasn’t going to be a nice walk in the park. The threat of Ursus had been replaced by a much worse one, Domitian as Emperor. They had the sword of Damocles dangling over their heads.

[To be continued…]  

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Published (09/22/2024) by Andrea

[justinewt]

Familia Ante Omnia - THOSE ABOUT TO DIE REWRITE Chapter 9

[THOSE ABOUT TO DIE MASTERLIST]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

Summary: With Ursus gone from their lives and no longer lurking in the shadows, they could take a breath and relax. They spent a good few weeks. Aldea's belly grew as time went on, time she spent with her brothers. She enjoyed having them again and being able to see them everyday. She was getting used to their presence but this peace was disturbed when one man's ego took over his reason.

Words: 4.1k

Warnings: title means "Family over all" // Those about to die spoilers (episode 8 "All or Nothing"), angst, grief, mention of blood

Aldea rolled on her back. Her belly had grown significantly bigger, being now just a couple days away from her 8th month of pregnancy. She had become quite the insomniac the past few weeks and didn’t get much sleep. She would be able to sleep for a couple hours, then wake up, lying in bed and staring at the ceiling and thinking, thinking and thinking to the point of falling asleep again and this time sleeping until first light and waking up as Tenax would get out of bed. She was always in some sort of discomfort with the coming and going back pain, the leg cramps and the heartburn, along with feeling her baby moving around and kicking so she didn’t go back and forth between their insula and the Circus Maximus as much as a month or so ago and Tenax wanted her to rest as much as possible so she obliged because she really didn’t have the energy to go run around anyway but still, sometimes she went out for a walk, to stretch her legs, sometimes going to Circus Maximus when Andria and Scorpus would race. She wanted to be there for her brother, and seeing Elia and Fonsoa was always a pleasure as well. The three young men were always asking her if she was feeling okay and Elia was asking her questions about how she was feeling every other minute, and she often dismissed his worries with a chuckle and a smile and a rub on the shoulder. She would be fine if she was with her brothers and her pregnancy was not going to be stopping her from supporting her friend and brother on the tracks.

Aldea opened her eyes and squinted them as daylight penetrated the room. She hadn’t even realized that she had fallen asleep again after waking up in the middle of the night and she glanced over at the window as she sat up in the bed, listening to the drums announcing today’s race, which had most likely been the one thing to pull her out of her slumber.

“Is there a race today?” She asked, as if it wasn’t obvious but she was still kind of sleepy and yawned, closing her eyes and covering her mouth with her hand.

“Yes.” He had a slight smirk, amused, looking at her with a soft gaze as he put on his toga and tightened his belt. Aldea quickly got out of bed and with one hand supporting her lower back, she made her way towards the dresser to get her clothes. When he insisted, she needed to rest, she looked at him over her shoulder.

“If there’s a race, then my brother is racing. And if my brother is racing, then I will be watching the race. Simple as that.” She shrugged, and he let it go. There was no convincing her not to come. He knew being there for her brother was very important for her. They left the insula, walking to the Circus. They held onto each other’s arms and Tenax walked stiffly because of his leg. He didn’t need clutches anymore, but it was still a little difficult so he used a cane. It would get better in the months to come, she was sure of it, just as her shoulder got better and it didn’t hurt anymore, despite the bone being broken, like his. He forced himself to try and walk faster, to get to the Circus quicker but Aldea pulled back on his arm, telling him to take it easy. They would get there in time, there was no need to rush, the race had just been announced to the city. Right now, plebeians were probably just arriving to the arena and getting their tickets. Cala must have been taking all the bets too as she was already gone when the couple had woken up earlier.

They went straight to the entrance, and she walked by his side, as she had been doing at every race since the first time they walked together in front of the patricians after the Golden faction’s debut on the tracks. Aldea wasn’t intimidated by those people anymore and stood proud anytime she encountered them. Tenax and Aldea sat on their seats, with their faction’s banners on each side of them. The Gold of the wall hangings nicely brought out the lightly tanned color of her southern Spaniard's complexion, just as the golden jewelry she had been gifted by Tenax did, the coins necklace around her neck, and recently, the fine snake bracelet at her wrist. There was a certain glow about her that arrived since she passed the mid-point of her pregnancy. According to Tenax, she was more beautiful than ever before. His hand resting on hers on the arms of their chairs and her other hand on her round stomach, they watched as the crowd cheered loudly when Titus appeared on the imperial platform.

“I, Titus Caesat Vespasianus…” he spoke, loud and clear. “Give you this day’s games, on building civic baths! Already two months under construction. And I announce that I am giving our belived Rome… an heir!”

The drivers then paraded around the spina on their chariots, waving to the crowd. As they passed by the White faction’s booth, Andria looked over to his sister, waving his hand higher and she chuckled with a big smile, waving back happily. She felt such a sense of pride, thinking of what her brother was accomplishing in Rome. She could feel he was going to become an as successful charioteer as Scorpus’ was and she was so excited for him. Passus exclaimed, getting the drivers ready before they were unleashed onto the tracks and he let the white cloth fall to the ground, starting the race. Aldea eyes were glued to her brother’s back – she knew where he was on the tracks at any given time at any round. Andria’s horses looked like they were literally flying. Right at the beginning of the race, a shipwreck happened, putting Xenon and one of the Whites’ drivers out of the game. She let out a heavy sigh, holding Tenax’s hand tighter, relieved that it wasn’t her brother or Scorpus in that accident, especially so early on. When she then heard the crowd chanting Andria’s name, she looked around and smiled. He was making a name for himself. That was her big brother’s name that people were chanting in the arena – her beloved hermano mayor. Her eyes wouldn’t leave him.

She frowned slightly, squinting her eyes, confused as to why Scorpus was started to pull his reins to his left, towards the spina. She leaned forward. It was even more puzzling because he kept leaning to the side, pulling his reins inwards, because Andria was in between him and the spina and if the famous driver kept doing this, he was going to box the Spaniard in and trap him. But she couldn’t believe he would deliberately do this, until she saw the look on Andria’s face as the latter looked at Scorpus, his face straining as his lips mouthed his name before his rig rolled over the debris of the previous shipwreck and Andria went flying off the chariot. She let out a strangled cry, shouting her brother’s name. She instantly let go of Tenax’s hand as she jerked to her feet, her heart sank, and her stomach dropped. Aldea’s chest was heaving quickly, and she turned on her heels, ignoring Tenax as he called her name, and ignoring Cala who was standing to the side of their seats, walking past her without a glance and going as fast as possible, her hand to her stomach as she whimpered, unable to take deep and full breath. She prayed to herself, mumbling in Spanish on her way, hoping Andria would be fine. She didn’t even realize she had tears in her eyes until she began wondering why her vision was getting blurry and she couldn’t see where she was going anymore, but she was so used to going to see her brothers, she knew she was almost there. She even began running.

When she reached them, she could hear Andria’s labored breathing and weak and faint voice. She rushed to his side and stifled a cry as he set his half-closed eyes on Aldea, the corner of his lips stretching softly at the sight of her. He lifted his hand towards her, and she bent over, taking his hand and bringing it to her cheek, feeling his thumb caress her skin.

“You look so much— like our mother…” He parted his lips, swallowing harshly, and he looked at their brothers, “Take care of each other… Take care— take care of our sister…” His breathing quietened and they witnessed the life leaving his eyes and his limbs softened. His thumb stopped moving against her skin, his hand almost falling off her face if she wasn’t holding it up with hers and she gasped, choking on her tears, as her brothers weeped uncontrollably. Elia called out to him faintly. Aldea sobbed. She wouldn’t let go of his hand, her tears rolling down her cheeks and falling on his fingers. She sniffed, wiping her tears and turned her head, looking over her shoulder as Elia stepped towards the doors leading to the tracks. She realized the race had just ended and Scorpus had stopped his horses by the doors, proudly waving at the crowd cheering for him. He had won. The only thing that crossed Aldea’s mind was that he had won, at the cost of her brother’s life. He killed Andria. He killed him and she because she knew Scorpus well, she knew why he did it. He killed Andria because his inflated ego couldn’t take seeing people cheer for someone other than him. Her brother was good driver, a fresh face in Rome, and it was taking the spotlight off him. She gave him a death stare, glaring at him, as she watched him proudly getting off his rig. The moment he stepped through the doors, taking off his helmet, Elia threw a punch at his face, making him lose his balance, catching himself on the wall. He grabbed his clothes, shaking him up and shouting, confronting him with what he had done.

“You fucking scum! You killed him.”

He pushed him away, forcing him to let go off him, “he chose his line.”

“No, it was you. You pulled to the left.” He was restless and Gavros and Fonsoa held him back, keeping him from lashing out on Scorpus again. Aldea stood behing him, pressing her lips against each other to keep them from quivering, her eyes slightly red and shining from the tears. Fonsoa made his little brother face him, urging him to tell him what he saw. “He pushed Andria into the wreck. He boxed him in!”

Scorpus pointed at Elia, pissed, but never as angry as either of the Spaniards in front of him, “Touch Scorpus again, I’ll have your head.”

“And I yours for killing my brother!” Tenax walked around them, stepping in front of Elia, putting his hand on the latter’s shoulder.

“Andria is dead. It was an accident.” Aldea lips relaxed but not in relief and rather in disappointment as she stared at her husband without even blinking. It was no accident. They were sitting next to each other up there on the stands. She couldn’t believe that he didn’t see exactly what she saw – that Scorpus killed Andria. She had been watching her brother like a hawk and she knew Elia wasn’t exaggerating. He frowned, shaking his head. Tenax met Aldea’s intense gaze, glancing at her from the corner of his eyes, his hands joined, one on top of the other on the pommel of his cane.

“I offer my condolences.” Scorpus said, quietly, drawing Aldea’s stare to him. “It was a… tragic accident.”

“No, you lie!” Elia was walking back to Andria’s body and turned back, shouting. Fonsoa stopped him, his head down.

“Ours is a dangerous game.” Scorpus argued. “Your brother knew that.”

Aldea flared her nostrils, glaring at Scorpus. He met her eyes and looked at her sideways, taking a step back when she spit at his feet, “Que te jodan— maldito gilipollas.” her voice shaking from the anger and frustration, and she yelled, “Me cago en tu puta madre y en tus muertos.”

“Aldea.” Fonsoa spoke her name, rather firmly, because of the profanities she was throwing left and right at Scorpus’s face, who was looking at her having no idea what she was even saying, but he was smart enough to understand she was insulting him pretty badly.  

“No me des sermones, Fonsoa. Andria— Andria está muerta… because of him.” She urged him not to lecture her and stifled a sob, pointing an accusing finger at Scorpus, “Andria is dead because of him.” She saw, from the corner of her eyes, Scorpus shaking his head and parting his lips but Tenax stepped in, trying to grab her arm but she smacked his hand away, breathing sharply, her eyes getting teary again and she shook her head, backing away from him, speaking quietly, “do not touch me.”

“No, Aldea…” Fonsoa looked her before glancing over at Elia, “He’s right.”

He turned back to them, his eyebrows pulled together in a concerned frown, “you don’t believe us.”

“I just didn’t see what you say you saw.”

“He forced Andria into the shipwreck! He boxed him in!”

“No.” Scorpus stood his grounds and shook his head, refuting Elia’s every accusation. Aldea was watching Tenax and saw the latter look at Scorpus from the corner of his eyes. She frowned. She knew he was lying, backing his friend when he knew what he had done. She felt betrayed. She couldn’t think straight, she couldn’t understand why he would let Scorpus get away with this. She wished he was on her side – on their side – and support her and her brothers but it wasn’t what had happened. She was disgusted and looked at him in a different light, maybe it was the anger and the grief that were causing an inner turmoil.

“Aldea saw it too.”

“Neither of you can be sure.” Fonsoa insisted. Elia tilted his head forward, clenching his jaw, before looking at Scorpus and Tenax.

“I will have nothing more to doo with you… or this Gold faction.” Aldea couldn’t even look at Fonsoa and she followed Elia, kneeling with him by Andria’s body. Hearing the crowd cheer in the background made her stomach turn as she looked at Andria’s face, covered in blood. Her eyes filled with tears in mere seconds, and she pressed her forehead against Elia’s shoulder.

Tenax approached and sighed, “Elia, Aldea… it wasn’t Scorpus, it was a shipwreck. It happens…”

“You are just as bad as he is.”

“Maldito mentiroso.” Aldea mumbled and stood up, stepping towards Tenax, getting up close, shaking her head, looking into his eyes, “why do you lie…”

“It was an accident, Aldea.” They spoke to each other in hushed tones.

“Repeating something will not make it any more true.” He finally crossed her gaze and for half a second, she thought he was going to take back what he had said and if he did, she knew she would have forgiven him, but he said absolutely nothing and she shook her head subtly, in disappointment. He held out his hand to her, wanting to touch the hand she had on her stomach, but she backed away from him, again, “I said, do not touch me.” She was bitter and angry and wanted to be as far from him as she could. Never had she felt like this about him, and it was breaking her, heart, as though someone was tearing it to pieces with their bare hands.

“Aldea.” She lifted her head, looking at Elia. “No vas a volver con ese hombre. No es un marido digno de ti.” She couldn’t help but sob more. He was telling her things she didn’t want to hear, things she didn’t want to be true. She loved Tenax and it made her s ad to hear her brother say those words, telling her how she wasn’t going back to that man, basically that he wouldn’t let her, and that he wasn’t a husband worthy of her. She loved Tenax so much and didn’t want it to be true. She was all over the place and felt so conflicted. On one side she desperately needed him in this moment of great loss, but on the other side, she would rather be on the other side of the world than in the same vincinity as him. She couldn’t look at her husband’s face as he disappeared from her field of vision, the sound of his cane tapping on the ground fading as he walked away. Elia gently grabbed his sister’s shoulders and pulled her up along with him. “And you, brother? On what side are you on?”

He looked up at them with a sad look on his face but stayed quiet. Later that day, at nightfall, they met outside the city wall, on the Esquiline hill, to bury their brother. Insects were chirping, and the flames of the candles crackled as they lowered Andria’s body into the grave they dug. Elia had his arm around Aldea’s shoulder, their heads low.

“May the winds take you to Elysium, where the Gods will it… we will meet again.”

“Nos volveremos a encontrar—” She repeated his words, slowly, under her breath and cut herself off as she whimpered, breathing sharply. Elia drew her closer to him, cradling her head with her hand. She was the only one audibly crying but she couldn’t help it. Her brothers had always been her entire world since she was a little girl. They were her best friends, her protectors, the only three people she knew she could rely on no matter what and losing either of them made this entire world of hers crumble. She left the funeral with Elia, and they walked back to the Suburra. He brought her to the insula where he shared a room with Andria and Fonsoa and angrily began to pack his things.

“Aldea, you do not go back to that man. You will stay here, with Fonsoa, and I will come and get you to go back to Baetica. I’m done with this hell of a city.”

“What are you going to do?” She instantly got worried.

“No se preocupe. Don’t worry about it. I have something to do, and then we can go home. Fuck those Romans. You will find a good husband— a good Spaniard.” She lowered her head with a sigh and sat down on the opposite bed, looking up when she saw Fonsoa step in the doorway. They glanced at each other as he addressed their brother.

“We used to chase you by the river Baetis when you were young, now I do so again?”

“We’re no longer playing children’s games.”

“The last thing Andria would have wanted is that we are divided.” He grabbed his arm, stopping Elia as he picked up his bag. He threw it over his shoulder.

“So come with us.”

“Us? You mean you want to drag our pregnant sister back to Baetica? Elia!” He rose his voice as the latter walked past him and rushed down the stairs and went after him, calling out to him. “You would deprive a boy of his father? And if I were to walk away with you, what of Salena and the boy?” Aldea slowly walked out of the room, watching them from the top floor.

“Says the man who never walked past a brothel with a few coind in his pockets?”

“That was before.”

“And this is now!” He yelled in his face and Fonsoa grunted, gritting his teeth, following him downstairs.

“I can’t turn my back on her.” They stopped in their tracks.

“Go on. What else?”

“Scorpus and Tenax offered me a second driver with the Gold faction.”

“This city has twisted you in such a way that you would drive with the man who killed our brother.”

“Says you alone.” He hit Elia’s chest.

“Y yo. I saw it all too. I tried to tell you, Fonsoa.” She slowly walked down the stairs as they looked up at her. Elia breathed fitfully, staring at him.

“Scorpus has taken two brothers from me. Take care of Aldea until I can come back for her.”

“Elia!” He grunted, slammed his fist against the wall and rushing after Elia as he exited the insula through the front door. Aldea sighed. This was the worst day of her life. She didn’t even look forward to going home. She didn’t know what she wanted, and she felt lost, and alone but she would rather feel like that than face Tenax, for now. As she was going back to the room, she stood in the middle of it, looking at the two beds, imagining her brothers coming in there as they first arrived in Rome, excited and happy to be here. Fonsoa joined her, waving towards the bed on her left, the one she had sat on a moment ago.

“That was Andria’s bed. You can take this one.” He gently squeezed her shoulders, and she stepped away and lied on the bed as he blew out the candles, plunging the room in the dark. She hadn’t had such a bad night in a long time. After weeks of everything going well and getting used to having all three of her brothers back, it was all taken away from her abruptly, again. Spending years without them, but knowing that they were alive in Hispania, proved to be way easier than knowing that she would never get to see Andria ever again. She cried. So much so that Fonsoa came to sit with her on the bed and held her and comforted her for over an hour until she eventually managed to fall asleep. The next day, she woke up with the worst headache she ever had in her life. Fonsoa gently rubbed her back, telling her he was gonna go get something at her place, maybe Claudia, her housekeeper would have something to ease her pain. He returned, a little less than an hour later, with a cup which he covered with a piece of cloth.

“She prepared some willow bark tree tea. She said it would help.”

“Thank you.” He helped her sat up and she took the cup in her hands, bringing it to her lips. After drinking it, she put the cup aside and he left her to rest. She slept, she had no idea how long, but she did, unlike the previous night. She woke up when someone lightly knocked on the door.

“Aldea?” Elia called her name, and she stood up quickly and went to open the door for him. He was panting as if he had been running.

“What’s going on?”

“I know who can back us up.”

“Back you up – as a woman, my voice wouldn’t count in court anyway. But who would that be?”

“Xenon.” He exclaimed. “He was on the tracks. He saw everything.”

“Okay. Let’s go then.” He took her wrist and dragged her along with him, rushing down the stairs and speedwalking through the streets, all the way to the Esquiline hill where Xenon’s home was, as well as Scorpus, but the latter didn’t interest either of them. Half a dozen people were gathered, standing here and there in the small courtyard in front of the house. They arrived just as Scorpus stepped out.

“It’s a… terrible thing. Xenon… is dead. A loss for all of us.” The driver walked past the two Spaniards, glancing at them but only when everyone had deserted the courtyard and went inside, did he turn to them and stare back at them. They held his gaze, glaring at him. He wasn’t even trying to lie to them anymore. He probably felt untouchable now. A woman, who could never testify against him, despite having seen the whole thing, and a young man, Spanish, and a mere stable hand.

“What will you do now?” She wondered.

“I will go find Gavros. I can do what I sought to do now. Kill Scorpus.”

“Kill—” She looked over one shoulder and the other, fearing someone might have heard, but they were alone. “How are you even going to do that?”

He sighed, “Right now, Gavros and I will go to the Blue. I will drive for them.”

“And how are you going to take revenge on Scorpus by driving for the Blue?”

“I can defeat him on the tracks. Aldea, go rest. I will come fetch you when all this is done.” She watched him walk away and she breathed out through her nose. She prayed nothing happened to Elia, her little brother, her baby brother. She wouldn’t survive losing another one of her brothers, or both of them.

[To be continued…]  

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Published (09/21/2024) by Andrea

[justinewt]

Meet the Hayashi sisters - TOKYO GHOUL REWRITE OCs

[TOKYO GHOUL-MASTERLIST]

Do not use my character without my consent thanks <3

warning: any arts and pictures you’ll see are not mine (I found them on pinterest) and to portray my oc I took AI generated OC on Pinterest (CREDITS TO LILY/FREESIYA & V I R U S/HARSHXRYU), Junko and Rei are characters 100% created by me, Justine but the style of the bio has been inspired by the Tokyo Ghoul wiki and bios made by director Guillermo Del Toro <3

And PLEASE, you are all very beautiful as you are, DO NOT feel bad about my character’s body/weight/height/measurements or anything !! And you are all beautiful humans <3

words: 4.2k

Hayashi Junko bio

INFORMATIONS

FIRST NAME: Junko

LAST NAME : Hayashi

JAPANESE NAME: 林淳子

ROMANIZATION: Hayashi Junko

MEANING OF NAME: 淳子 means “pure child” and 林 means "grove" or "forest"

ALIASES: Her main alias is The Chimera, or キメラ (kimera). It is unrelated to the look of her mask which is just meant to be creepy and show her unstable character. It is entirely about her condition as a chimera ghoul, having multiple kagunes (Chimera Ghouls have a 0.1% occurence)

Her second alias as a member of the Clowns is Three-face or 三つの顔 (San-tsu no kao), which some people thought echoed Uta's alias of No face but it's, again, all about showing her unstable character

SPECIES: Ghoul

STATUS: ALIVE

AGE: 16-17 (during flashbacks); 28-29 (Tokyo Ghoul; season 1 & 2); 31-33 (Tokyo Ghoul: RE; season 3 & 4); 38 (after the 6 years time jump)

GENDER: Female

DATE OF BIRTH: October 31, 1986 (28 BSBI)

HEIGHT: 172cm (5’7”)

BLOOD TYPE: B

ZODIAC SIGN: Scorpio

NATIONALITY: Japanese

OCCUPATION: High School student (formerly); unemployed

AFFILIATIONS: Uta’s gang (formerly); the Kyoto massacre (her real name isn’t affiliated to the serial murders and mass killing that ensued, her alias The Chimera is); HySy ArtMask Studio; Clowns

WARD: 20th Ward (formerly); 4th ward

RC TYPE: Rinkaku and Koukaku // kakuja

RATING: SS+ (Multiple Special Class Investigators are needed)

FAMILY

RELATIVES: Unnamed parents (mother deceased before the start of the first season); they are direct descendants of the founder of the Confucian scholars' branch of the Hayashi clan, Hayashi Razan (1583–1657), as they are the granddaughters of the 10th Daigaku no Kami, Hayashi Gakusai (1833–1906), formerly Hayashi Noboru, head of the temple Yushima Seidō in 1867.

FRIENDS: Itori; Renji Yomo

LOVER: Uta

FAMILY HISTORY: The Hayashi are direct descendants of the founder of the Hayashi clan, Hayashi Razan, formerly known as Hayashi Nobukatsu, who also founded a clan school in the 1700s, which is nowadays a Confucian temple in Tokyo where the sisters’ parents often took them over the years. They raised their children in the Confucian philosophy, aiming to instil in them ancestor worship and ghoul-centered virtues for living a peaceful life. A phrase that they told the two girls often was “Do not do unto others what you would not want others to do unto you.”, which is the golden rule of Confucianism.

They are the great-great-great granddaughters of the 10th (and last) Daigaku no Kami, Hayashi Gakusai, formerly Hayashi Noboru, head of the temple Yushima Seidō in Tokyo in 1867. He died 80 years before Junko's birth and was the first to have a child with a ghoul, in 1860, unknowingly at first but with his Confucian philosophy, he eventually accepted her true nature as he loved her dearly. They set a trend in the family and their children married and had children with ghouls but hid their nature well and were very peaceful, so they never drew any unwanted attention to themselves. The Hayashi sister's father was first married to a human before meeting their mother and having them. He fell in love with a young human woman and tied the knot with her in 1955. She fell pregnant but the pregnancy killed her; she died basically eaten from the inside by her baby who didn't survive either and his wife and son died in 1957. He became greatly depressed after that, spending his days at the temple or at the graveyard until his good friend, whom he had gone to college with, the heir to the Tsukyama empire, Murimo Tsukiyama, offered him a job at his father's company.

He began working there in the early 60s and from then on, he didn't interact with human much and was often thought to be snobbish as he basically ignored and disregarded them. In 1978, he met a 23-year-old young woman, also a ghoul a she began working as a front desk attendant at the company he worked at. Despite being twice his age, the two grew closer and becama couple in the early 1980s, having their first child in 1986, a daughter, Junko. By then, he was a higher-up at the company and could provide for the family on his own so his wife decided to quit her job and become a stay-at-home mom. To her, her child was the most beautiful thing she could ever have in her life. That is why she named her “pure child”. The couple would often be invited over at the Tsukiyama manor for diner, and they presented their first child to them, a few months after she was born. As a child, Junko started displaying traits and behaviours that her parents for some reason overlooked. She never felt any guilt or remorse over eating human flesh and never thought it was strange to like the sight of blood. When she was 7 years old, her mother got pregnant again and gave birth to her younger sister, Riona and the arrival of this baby really forced their parents to admit to themselves that something was wrong with their eldest daughter. She wasn’t the pure baby they thought they had. Junko had a strong dislike for her sister from the start. She thought she looked weak, and viewed her as an enemy from the start.

As a child, Riona looked up to her sister and idolized her, worshipping the ground she walked on and following her around which annoyed Junko but her sister kept coming back even when she pushed her away and she realized she could do whatever she wanted with her so she made her do things for her, treating like a pet rather than her little sister. She was often told by her parents to be nicer to her sister but she was pretty convincing and always managed to get them on her side. When Riona was 6 and Junko 13, she pushed her sister down a flight of stairs and because they're ghouls, they heal quickly so she would do it multiple times a week, leaving enough times for her to heal before their parents saw it and doing it again. When she was 15 and Riona 8, one of Junko's classmates, whose younger brother was Riona's classmates, bullied Riona. Junko didn't take kindly to her toy being used by someone else so she got into a fight with the boy, breaking his nose and biting off his earlobe with her teeth. He was sent to the hospital. The Tsukiyama helped sweeping the whole thing under the rug and the boy was expelled while Junko was pulled out of school by her parents and began being homeschooled by her mother. One evening that same year, she hunted down the boy and stalked him and cornered him in an alleyway where she tear off his tongue so he couldn't scream and began torturing him, eating him alive and disemboweling him.

Around the same time she began hearing about things happening in the 4th ward and thought it sounded pretty cool and entertaining. There was a ruthless gang that basically ruled the area. She wanted to know about it and see it for herself so she tried to find a way to get their attention. She was from the 20th ward and no one had ever heard of her there so the moment she stepped there and began hunting there, she stuck out like a sore thumb and became a target of the gang since it was their hunting grounds. That's also when she was first called the Chimera as no one ever told her it was strange for a ghoul to have two kagunes. Until then she had no idea. The rumour of a "chimera" ghoul hunting in the 4th ward spread quickly because she would attack other ghouls but leave them alive so it could get to the gang members and leader. After the second attack, she also began cannibilizing the ghouls she attacked, eating flesh from their thighs, arms and bellies. It tasted gross compared to human meat but it was fun to her and she kept doing it. By the time Uta finally caught up with her - it took a few weeks because during the day she was in the 20th ward and no one knew so at first he thought people were fucking with him and he murdered those telling him there was a chimera ghoul and he shut them up saying it didn't exist and he thought it must have a lone ghoul attacking people and ghouls at night -, she had attacked and cannibalized half a dozen ghouls and almost ate and killed twice as many humans.

They faced off one day and showed to be of equal strength until she showed her two kagunes which shocked the gang members and only further picked Uta's curiosity. No one had ever seen a chimera ghoul. There she met Yomo, who was the one to step in and put an end to the fight when it was clear neither Junko nor Uta was going to prevail and he talked Uta into allowing Junko to join the gang. She became a member that night and didn't go back home which got her parents incredibly worried. Her mother was worried for her eldest daughter's safety while her father was more worried for the humans, and other ghouls, of wherever she had ran off to. Riona was only 9 and didn't really know what was going on. Their father spoke with the Tsukiyama patriarch, and his old friend, Mirumo and they sent men working for their organization to look for Junko. The orders were clear: look for her, find her whereabouts but DO NOT engage. She was young but they knew she was ruthless and a chimera which already made her a threat, even to older ghouls.

A week later, it was brought to Mirumo's attention that a chimera ghoul was wrecking havoc with the 4th ward gang. He asked them to confirm if it was Junko and they did; it was her, and from what they were told, she was close to the gang's leader and right arm. Her mother desperately wanted her daughter back and asked her husband to find a way to bring her home but Mirumo and him decided against it and left her to her own device, thinking that, eventually, she would be caught by the CCG and they would put an end to the threat she was but less than a year later, as Junko turned 17, her mother ventured in the 4th ward. By then, the CCG was actively searching for the ghoul they had nicknamed "the Chimera", alrealy labelled a SS+ ghoul, having no idea it was a teenager who. They knew of her cannibal tendencies and speculated she must have a kakuja as well though there was yet to be a report of her using it in combat. By then, her Rc cells level was SO high that her kakugan couldn't be turned off anymore.

Her mother was brought to Uta and Junko one night after letting herself be captured and she pleaded with her daughter. The latter turned a deaf ear to her mother's words and began attacking her, activating her kakuja at some point, shocking her mother. She destroyed her body to the point her mother had to crawl on the ground to move. She also crushed her spine, completely losing it. That evening, her father noticed his wife's absence and instantly knew where she must have gone off to. He went there with a few other men and found Junko's murdering her own mother. She didn't listen to him as he tried to talk to her, her kakuja having already gotten to her too badly and she murdered, on her own, her father and his detail. When CCG agents showed up, the gang members either managed to flee or were killed. Yomo and Uta watched the fight from a rooftop because Uta refused to leave and if he couldn't fight he was gonna watch. Junko's face was already kind of covered by her kakuja and the fight lasted half an hour but she killed the special agents and fought until exhaustion where she just collapsed to the ground and was picked up by Yomo. The fight and use of the kakuja had taken a toll on her body and mind and it took a while for her to recover.

The gang lied low for the next year or so. Riona was 10 when the massacre of the 4th ward happened and was taken in by the Tsukiyama and raised alongside Shuu and his cousin. Meanwhile Uta and Junko got into a relationship. She controlled her kakuja better too but at Yomo's advice, rarely used it, almost never really. By the time the trio entered their early 20s, the gang was no more and they kind of settled down. By the time they were in their mid 20s, Uta now had his mask shop, Yomo began working and helping the Anteiku and their friend Itori had her bar. Junko lived a carefree life, staying home, sometimes being a special guest at the Ghouls' restaurant. She was almost royalty among the Ghouls for the rarity of her condition, a chimera ghoul who also had a kakuja, but she was also greatly feared and people treaded lightly around her and being Uta's muse. She also struck a deal with the Anteiku, promising not to cause another massacre in any other ward and they thought she realy held up her end of the deal but really she was a member of the Clowns with Uta.

PERSONALITY : Like her sister and Uta, she has a very nice way of speaking and seems friendly when you meet her but the smile on her face quickly becomes creepy. She is very manipulative and a great liar and doesn't show remorse. She used to abuse her sister when the latter was a child, manipulating and gaslighting her. She lacks empathy and doesn't care about anyone but herself and is unfazed by most things. As a teenager, she was savage and sadistic and liked to see other ghouls fight each other - the fights were always very violent - and she showed to be brutal and ruthless, torturing someone for the first time when she was just 14, before eating him alive. It was fun to her.

Like Uta, she is quite hedonistic and sadistic in nature, which is probably why they got along so well and grew closer quickly, feeding off each other's inner chaos. Despite all this, she can show concern for others, though you gotta take it with a grain of salt. She shows genuine concern for Uta, for example when he fights Yomo. She had fun watching the fight but was very worried about him at the end as Yomo carries him on his back. She also sometimes shows concern for her sister, which does not erase the fact she abused her, but for example, the first human she ever tortured and ate was a boy that bullied Riona in junior high school and there are times when she fought with other ghouls, Junko would watch, until she was no longer entertained which happened when her sister got hurt. She would instantly step in and brutally kill the other ghoul.

Her relationship with Uta was ironically the least toxic of all the relationships she ever had - though being the only romantic one - because Uta and Junko see themselves as equal and never abused each other but their relationship was quite peculiar but it worked for them. Uta had a sort of eye fetish so when she played with her victims and then killed the, she would pluck their eyes out with her own fingers and bring them to Uta. She sometimes bit his lip when they kissed, just to taste his blood and they also sometimes bit flesh off each other, basically eating each other which aroused them.

Unlike Uta, she didn't develop this personality because of traumas or hardships she might have gone through in her childhood or things she witnessed, because her family was rather well off, though not wealthy like the Tsukiyama. She was just born like that and it got worse when her sister was born which seemed to be the trigger for her violent and abusive tendencies. She actually suffers - it doesn't really feel like suffering to her - from antisocial personality disorder. Because of the disorder, and the fact she remains undefeated among ghouls, she never learns from negative experiences and remains the same. Only after Uta kind of changes his views of the world does she question her behavior. She agrees to let others support her and though the lack of actual empathy remains, she manages her condition better and improved her behavior and her relationship with Riona and she reduced the harm she put her through.

APPEARANCE : Junko is a beautiful woman to the point it is almost creepy and the smile that always stretches her lips is just as scary and intimidating. In Tokyo Ghoul, she has mid-back lenght hair. In RE, and the time skip, her hairstyle has changed, adding bangs similar to that her sister had in S1 & 2 (her sister actually started letting her bangs grow out when Junko got hers) and her hair now reached the very bottom of her back. She also has tattoos all over her body, like Uta (see post time skip pic, she got them in her mid 20s)

Junko always dresses in black and her regular clothes are a turtleneck, with long sleeves, black pants and she always goes out with sunglasses to hide her eyes because her kakugan is constantly on (Because of her chimera nature, her RC level was naturally higher when she was born but her inability to turn it off came about when she started actively cannibalizing and stopped eating humans altogether - funfact: Uta greatly enjoyed/enjoys watching her fight and eat other ghouls). At home she always wears a black, kimono-like robe, with of course nothing underneath. It goes on to show how provocative she wants to be in private, because she is also dressed like that when people run into her when coming to see Uta. It amuses her to see them being embarrassed and awkwardly try to keep looking at her face. And, really, she couldn't be bothered to get dressed for any other reason than having to go outside.

Hayashi Riona bio

INFORMATIONS

FIRST NAME: Rei

LAST NAME : Hayashi

JAPANESE NAME: 林凛桜

MEANING OF NAME: 凛 means "dignity, majesty, awe-inspiring" and 桜 means “cherry blossom”

ALIAS: The doll (it's the only mask on which Uta didn't work alone, he made it, sculpted/painted the flowers but Junko painted the "makeup")

SPECIES: Ghoul

STATUS: Alive

AGE: 16 (flashback//Tokyo Ghoul Days); 21-22 (Tokyo Ghoul; season 1 & 2); 23-24 (Tokyo Ghoul: RE; season 3 & 4); 31 (after the 6 years time jump)

GENDER: Female

DATE OF BIRTH: May 4th, 1993 (21 BSBI)

HEIGHT: 168cm

BLOOD TYPE: O

ZODIAC SIGN: Taurus

NATIONALITY: Japanese

OCCUPATION: College student (formerly); Violonist; Peacekeeper

AFFILIATIONS: Tsukiyama family; Anteiku; Ghoul Restaurant (defected); Kaneki's group (formerly); Goat (formerly); United front; TSC

WARD: 4th ward (formerly); 21st Ward; 20th Ward (temporarely)

RC TYPE: Koukaku

RATING: S- (Equivalent to the ability of an average Associate Special Class Investigator)

FAMILY

RELATIVES: Unnamed parents (mother deceased before the start of the first season); Mirumo Tsukiyama (father-in-law)

FRIENDS: Ken Kaneki; Renji Yomo; Kanae Von Rosewald, the Anteiku crew

LOVER: Shuu Tsukiyama (to whom she's actually engaged in Tokyo Ghoul, gets married the year before RE, gets pregnant by the 4th season and gives birth to their son in the first year of the time skip, their son is already 6 after it, when he was around 4, they welcomed their second child, another son. // unlike them, Junko has no desire of ever having children and neither does Uta)

PERSONALITY : The Confucian philosophy greatly influences Riona's character. She comes off as a gentle and friendly young woman. She always has a sweet smile stretching her lips, and seems efortlessly elegant. She's also actually nice, caring and trustworthy and even though she is Shuu's fiancé, and Junko's sister, she's not manipulative and deceiving at all but that doesn't mean she's an open book either. People she interacts with and befriends always feel like they know her and easily see through her when they really don't. She's stronger than she lets on, though still weaker than the likes of Junko or Uta, for example.

She's also very selfless and puts Shuu's needs before hers. The latter had poor control over his emotions, with intense outbursts or "meltdowns" and she was always the one who had to deal with him. She showed great patience in those moments. He would always then gets to his knees and cry, his arms around her waist. She wouldn't react to him until he stopped and would just stand there.

In the early days of Tokyo Ghoul, she was pretty much like this already though she was less confident but again, she never showed it. During her adolescence, she was more self-conscious because she wasn't sure that the feelings she had for Shuu were reciprocate and she also felt unworthy of him reciprocating her feelings because she felt inferior to him because though she lived in the Tuskiyama's manor, she didn't feel like Shuu's equal. His father had only become her guardian since she became an orphan after her parents' murder and despite the ancient history of her family, the wealth they might have had had been watered down through the generations.

At the time, Shuu had trouble understanding other people's emotions - he viewed their only human friend, Chie Hori, as a pet - but he did care about Riona as she was one of the only people he valued. Knowing this made her feel better and realize he had actually always viewed her as a friend and equal. They even began dating when they were around 16 and Shuu's intetions were very clear from the beginning. He intended to marry her and after telling his father of their relationship, Mirumo Tuskiyama betrothed the two teenagers. They married when they turned 18 and began going to college.

Since that time, he wasn't well-liked by their classmates and other ghouls for his kind of haughty behavior and on the contrary, Riona was very well-liked by both classmates and professor and people really wanted to be her friend but she rarely hung out with anyone other than Shuu and Hori.

Regarding her sister, Riona has become quite scared of Junko. When she was younger, she idolized her and basically worshiped the ground she walked on despite the fact that throughout her childhood, she was abused both physically and mentally by Junko but she kept coming back to her. This toxic relationship "stopped" when Junko was forced to leave Tokyo. Riona was 12 or 13 at the time. Even as an adult, Riona is still fearful of Junko and she hides behind the power that's carried by the Tsukiyama name. Maybe the treatment she suffered at her sister's hand is the main reason for her overly selfless and nice personality as an adult. When Junko came back to Tokyo, and let her sister know, Riona became quite paranoid, never feeling at ease - she was right to be on her guards because Junko spent most of her days stalking her when Riona was still in college. It was so much that sometimes, at the end of the day, she broke down in tears, comforted by Shuu, telling her he and his family would keep her safe.

APPEARANCE : Rei is a really pretty young woman, just slightly shorter than her older sister. Her kakugan isn't always on, unlike Junko, and her eyes are grey. She has long black hair and until the end of Tokyo Ghoul season 2, she also has blunt bangs which by the end of it turn into curtain bangs as she bleaches one side of her hair, giving this dual black and white look. During the year before Tokyo Ghoul: RE, her sister cuts similar bangs so Rei ditches hers and let them grow out, regularly bleaching her roots to. She sticks to that look until the 6-year long time skip where she stops bleaching her hair after doing it for four years as it's damaging it and she was pregnant by the end of RE so she stopped. She goes back to plain black hair and most often wears them in a low bun.

Regarding her clothes, in Tokyo Ghoul, her regular outfit consists of a black mao neck jacket with gold buttons and black dress pants, she also sometimes wears a black yukata with flowers or a form fitting black dress when going to the Ghoul restaurant. By the end of Tokyo Ghoul and throughout Tokyo Ghoul: RE, her style seems less elegant. She wears a black zipped hoodie with white kanji on the left sleeve. After the time skip and becoming a mother, she starts wearing blouse dresses.

After the timeskip, she's just 31, while her sister is pushing 40 but when the two are around each other, people mistake the sisters for twins though they are 7 years apart, as they look like they're the same age which is because Rei does not cannibalize other ghouls unlike her sister, who has managed to look almost 10 years younger after exclusively and regularly eating ghouls since her late teens.

[justinewt]

Hi there 👋,

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[justinewt]

In Extremis - THOSE ABOUT TO DIE REWRITE Chapter Eight

[THOSE ABOUT TO DIE MASTERLIST]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

Summary: They were restless, with the threat of Ursus hanging over their head like a sword of Damocles. And it almost felt like it fell, about to cut off their heads when Tenax was rescued from a fire, his leg broken. Aldea was in great distress to see him in such pain but they were far from being out of the woods.

Words: 5.1k

Warnings: title means "in an extreme situation" and/or "at the point of death" // Those about to die spoilers (episode 6 "Blood Relation" & episode 7 "Death's bed"), angst, broken limb, blood, murder

The next few days were greatly anxiety inducing. After Ursus killed the Felix, they were waiting to see what he would do next, if he would do anything at all because since bringing the money to the corner room in Tenax’s insula on the Cispian Hill, things seemed to quiet down, or maybe he wanted them to think so. Tenax wasn’t reassured if Aldea stayed home, rather wanting her to be either at the tavern or at the stables with her brothers, as long as she was out of Ursus’ reach because he couldn’t bear to find her dead like the young boy, nor could he bear to imagine what Ursus might do to her before killing her. The thoughts going through his head must have been pretty nightmare inducing as he barely slept, waking up in the middle of the night, at the slightest sound whether it be a random citizen walking down the street or the wood flooring cracking. At home he was restless, always on alert. At the betting tavern, he went about his day, working, acting like nothing was going on and those not in the know would never suspect a thing. She tried not to think about it, but it felt like Damocles’ sword hanging over their heads and it put such a pressure on their shoulders. It was hard to completely ignore it.

When Mount Vesuvius erupted, at the end of the month of Augustus, the ground violently shook under their feet and everyone panicked, running around to go get cover. Aldea was at the tavern when it happened and at first, she didn’t know what was happening. Dacia was about as confused as he stood in front of her to shield her. The earthquake lasted quite a long time, so much so it was hard to keep her balance and she clinged on Dacia’s arm. It eventually stopped, but was quickly followed by thick, white and grey ashes washing over the streets of the city of Rome. People covered their mouth and nose with their veils and cloaks, and the streets had emptied out completely. The ash had covered the tables and other pieces of furniture in the tavern. She coughed, holding her cloak to her face and helped sweep the ashes off every surfaces.

Dacia took the hand broom she was using, and she watched as he shoved it into the hands of a man who had recently begged Tenax for a job. She stared at him. He had gotten down on his knees and begged, and from what she understood, he was the man who had bet – and lost – his wife’s shares of the Blue faction which had allowed Tenax to have enough money for the Gold faction. Dacia then urged Aldea to go sit down and she sketched a faint smile, acquiescing. He pushed the other man in the same direction, his tone of voice much less friendly, ordering him to clean a seat for her. She didn’t want to sit on her ass and do nothing while others worked but being bent over made her back ache. She stood up when she saw Jula rushing in the tavern. The young girl embraced her older sister. A second later, Tenax turned up and Cala, Aura and Aldea watched from a distance at the two talking behind the curtains. She had a new piece of information for him it seemed.

“We have been away for too long.” Claudia said once Tenax sent the girl on her way. He stood by the curtains, his arms crossed over his chest. Aldea walked over to her husband. He turned his head towards her, watching her approach while her eyes followed Jula as she and Claudia left urgently. The girl had to be back before her mistress noticed her absence.

“How are you?” He asked, softly. She met his gaze.

“I’m all right.”

“When Cala goes home. Go home as well. I don’t want you to linger at the stables. You’ll see your brothers later.”

“I understand. What did Jula come to say?” He took her arm in his hand and squeezed gently.

“I’ll tell you later. For the moment, I need to go meet with Domitian.” And on those words, he left the tavern. Aldea stuck around until Cala and Aura went home and she followed suit, as asked from her by Tenax. With the threat of Ursus hanging over their heads, she didn’t want to wander in the streets on her own and she only knew of Elia being at the stables with Gavros. She didn’t know where the two others were. It didn’t matter. She would meet with them at some poing in the following days. She must have fallen asleep before he came home because when she woke up the next morning, he was beside her in the bed. “You seemed to be sleeping well.

“I was.” She smiled, leaning on her hand to sit up and press her lips on his before lying on his chest, resting her head in the crook of his neck. “So, why did you go meet with Domitian last night?”

“Consul Marsus and some senators were planning a coup to destitute the emperor.” He explained. “I had to go tell him, so he could win back his brother’s trust and reinstate our Gold faction. Titus had them all arrested for treason.”

“When will know if you got your Gold faction back?”

“I’ll have to wait until Domitian calls for me, but I’m sure it will happen soon enough.” They cuddled in bed a little longer, until Cala said she was going to go open the tavern and he got out bed, got dressed, kissed Aldea goodbye and left. She eventually got out of bed as well, ate some breakfast and had Claudia walk her to the stables of the Circus Maximus. As they walked throught the streets, they heard people talking about what had happened, Mount Vesuvus erupting and all the refugees it led to Rome. She stayed with Elia, chatting and brushing the horses, doing light work around the stables, leaving the heavier things to the actual stablehands. When she went home with Tenax at the end of the day, he seemed quite content and told her how his discussion with Domitian went. It went very well. The Gold faction would be reinstated and on top of that, he talked Domitian into letting him lead the preparation of the inaugural games of the amphitheatre he had been building for years and whose work was finally nearing completion. She always thought she couldn’t be prouder of him, and yet he continuously showed her how cunning and smart he could be. He now needed to get Scorpus back on their golden chariots and out of his contract with the Whites, but she wasn’t too worried. He would handle it easily.

By the next race the following day, he had gotten his hands on new chariots and got Andria and Scorpus back on the tracks. She went to sit by his side, the gold faction’s banners set on either side of them. The crowd was cheering, chanting Scorpus’ name and she smiled, following her brother’s progress in the race with attention and an excited smile stretching her lips. Both White faction’s driver got into shipwreck and a bunch of people from the audience just got up and left, as did Tenax, holding Aldea’s hand proudly once Scorpus crossed the finishing line, victorious. She returned to the tavern with him, but they would soon part ways as she really wanted to go see her brother and congratulate him.

“Ah, the victorious faction owner, and his beautiful wife.” Cala exclaimed, coming up to them. Tenax gave Aldea a nod and she let go of his hand, walking in the opposite direction, heading for the stables. His brother, Andria, must have been in the drivers’ changing room still but she was obviously not going to walk in there. She waited and hugged him as soon as she saw him. She then went home with Tenax. The door was unlocked. Cala was standing in the kitchen thoughtful, holding her arms to her chest.

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

“A dark day.” She said with a sigh, shaking her head.

“Agreed… at the moment.” She walked around the table and stopped, starign at him, letting her arms hang along her body. “What is that look?”

“I’m reconsidering my association with you.” He turned around as she closed the door to her room behind her. He shared a glance with Aldea, and he looked quite taken aback and disappointed to hear those words. They sat down at the table to eat and drink something before going to bed but just a moment later, they heard running in the stairs at the center of the insula and Woola’s voice rose behind the door, urgently calling Tenax’s name.

“Big man, whip scars on his face.” He was panting. Cala came out of her room and walked across the kitchen as he told her to lock the door and followed the young boy. Aldea could feel her heart beating faster. She had stood up only to sit back down and nervously take a sip of her wine. She had a bad feeling about this and feared that something would happen to Tenax when he encountered Ursus again.

“What if he kills him?” It was clear in her sentence that she didn’t mean Tenax killing Ursus, but rather the opposite. She was frightened. Cala sat in front of her, wrapping her hands around hers, making her look up at her, giving her a nod that was meant to be comforting but it didn’t shake off the sickening feeling of worry that turned Aldea’s stomach upside down. The moment Tenax stepped out of the apartment, this feeling washed over her, overwhelming her to the point she couldn’t stand up. Her legs felt weak, even while sitting. Cala didn’t reply. She wasn’t sure that Tenax wouldn’t die that night. She couldn’t say anything. They stayed there in silence for almost an hour, when one of the kids came running back to the insula and pounded on the year, shouting, calling out Cala and Aldea’s names. The two women immediately stood up and Cala rushed to the door. It was Tenax. Something did in fact happen – a fire happened. The insula where he was supposed to find Ursus had been set on fire. Her husband was stuck in a fire, who knows in what condition she would find him. She thought he was dead. Aldea took a couple shaky breath, her lip quivering and a hand compulsively rubbing the base of her neck and her broken collarbone. Claudia gave Aldea her arm, to give her some support as they all went after the child, briskly climbing down the single flight of stairs and ran down the streets, quickly reaching the Cispian Hill. Cala and Aldea let out gasps and the latter’s eyes widened in horror.

“A physician, go quick!” The Numidian woman turned around, gesturing at Nica and the girl ran off. Cala stood in Aldea’s way, blocking her sight but she had seen him. He was unconscious. They carried him to a cart. Aldea sobbed. She took sharp breaths with difficulty, gasping as though no air was going into her lungs. The man pulling the cart behind him ran while everyone followed. Cala and Claudia had their arms around Aldea. By the time they came back home, the sun was rising and Tenax had woken up, in utter pain as Cala and Claudia took him to the room and helped him on the bed. Aldea walked back and forth in the kitchen, a hand to her forehead, concerned, and the other resting on her hip. She forced on her eyelids, closing her eyes shut with a sob as she heard Tenax grunting and yelling. She opened her eyes, letting her hands fall along her body before joining them at her waist, fidgeting with the tip of her index finger and looked towards the bedroom when it got quiet. She saw the physician and his assistant enter their home and, taking a deep breath, she followed them but stayed outside of the room. Tenax’s leg was broken, the bone sticking out. it wasn't so much the sight of the wound that affected her but rather feeling Tenax's pain. Every inch of her body ached from knowing he was in pain, and imagining how much pain he was in. She had been in quite a state of distress when Elia broke his leg when he was younger, and she was beyond distressed now.

“I came as quick as I could.” The man said, walking to the other side of the bed, where Tenax was lying. The assistant set up their portable box on the dresser and followed his master’s requests. And at one of his requests, Cala and Claudia untied the laces of his sandals and took them off. Tenax exhaled and groaned. He shook his head when the physician brought a cup of tincture of poppies to his mouth but ended up drinking it reluctantly. His breathing was laborious. They pulled the bedcover. “When I say “pull”, slowly and steadily, when I say “release”, very slowly.”

They hadn’t even done anything yet, Aldea was already turning her back to them and sped walk to the kitchen, sitting down and cupping her face with her hands, gasping and crying when she heard Tenax screaming at the top of his lungs as they were setting the bone back in his leg.  The yelling subsided. Tenax exhaled rapidly, grunting. Aldea’s heart sank. She held her breath, straightening up and looking towards the bedroom when he went quiet. Dacia barged in, crossing eyes with Aldea – she was a mess, breathing shakily, her eyes red and cheeks wet from crying – and turned to Woola standing nearby while the rest of the orphans waited anxiously outside.

“What happened?” He enquired.

“It was that shit, Noro… He set him up.”

Claudia went to the door, to close it, “He is alright. Go.” She then prepared the hot water and Cala went to Aldea, taking her in her arms, rubbing her back. The young woman desperately tried to steady her breathing. They broke their embrace, going up to the physician when he and his assistant walked out of the bedroom. They anxiously looked at him.

“If he moves at all, it will unset the splint and he’ll lose the leg. Tie him down if you have to. Three balls of resin with wine, morning, noon and night.” He put the resin in Cala’s hand. “He’ll want more. Don’t give it to him.”

“I understand.” Cala nodded.

“If there’s a hint of rot, come get me at once.” A hand to her stomach, Aldea took a deep breath, quietly this time and exhaled, while Cala closed the door.

“Noro, that treacherous dog. I should have known.” Dacia frowned worriedly, looking at the bedroom, taking a few steps towards Aldea, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. He was deeply loyal to Tenax but to her as well and felt for her.

“Well, he’s dead now.” Cala spoke. “But the one who did this to Tenax lives, and if he hears he has survived, he will come back for him.”

He turned towards her, “I’ll post guards. Men that I can trust.”

“Well, keep them hidden. Let the one who did this think he’s dead. Now… go to the apartment on the Cispian Hill, where he’s been putting the gold. See if it’s still there.” She spoke as though she was in charge, giving orders to Dacia, and something about her really made Aldea want to listen to her, despite wanting to go to Tenax’s bedside. The latter held her hands at her waist, standing by quietly but as Dacia argued, and Cala walked to the kitchen, she turned around and went to see Tenax. His chest heaved with his breathing, regularly. She carefully sat on the edge of the bed, softly taking the hand resting on his chest and stared at his bloodied face. She looked over her shoulder when Cala came in, carrying a bowl of what she assumed was the hot water prepared by Claudia.

“He will be okay.” She whispered as she set the bowl on the nightstand. Aldea’s only reaction was a sigh through her nose. She took the cloth she was being handed and began to clean his face after soaking it in the water, gently cleaning the blood off his face. She stopped, and they both looked in the same direction – towards the door. Footsteps were approaching. Cala took out the pin from her hair. It was long and pointy. She gave Aldea a look and walked to the door with light steps. Someone started knocking. She heard Aura’s voice from afar and relaxed, resuming what she was doing, cleaning Tenax’s face. Once she was done, she put away the piece of cloth and sighed as she went to stand near the window, holding her arms to her chest, peeking out in silence until she heard Tenax’s voice.

“Stop.” His voice was faint. She looked over her shoulder, wondering what was going on. It was a nightmare. “Please… stop.” He repeated himself, faintly and fearfully, the hand on his chest twitched.

“Shhh, Tenax… Tenax, wake up.” Cala came in at the same time, to check on him. Aldea sat by his side again, taking his hand, wrapping it with hers. He woke up and as he set his eyes on Aldea, his face relaxed and he calmed down and squeezed her hand, swallowing harshly.  

“You were in a dream.” She added, sitting on the other side of the bed. “You’re in your room. You’re safe.”

He rolled his head on the pillow, looking at Cala. He seemed somewhat out of it as he spoke, maybe a mix of how exhausted he was and the tincture of poppies. Aldea listened quietly. He told Cala about his past, how he lived with a great family when he was a boy, just as he told her, some time after they had met and gotten closer. He went on to talk about the master of the house he lived in, and how he liked boys, such as himself, but mostly Ursus.

Cala cut him off softly, “Stop. This is tincture of poppies talking.” She stood up, stepping towards the open bedroom doors.

“No. It’s me.” She stopped in her tracks. “Ursus and I lit a fire to escape. I got away… but Ursus was caught… because of me. He suffered… but I…”

“You did what you had to do.”

“That is what I always tell him.” Aldea spoke in hushed tones, locking eyes with Cala.

“I don’t know what I’ve done. He needed me…” His voice cracked. “…and I left him there.” He then waved his hand around, pointing next to hime, asking for more tincture of poppies and grabbed Aldea’s forearm as she let go of his hand to get him some tincture in the small cup. She slipped her hand behind his head to help him gulp down the drink. “More.”

“That’s enough.” Cala spoke. Aldea put down the cup, she heard the physician too. She wasn’t to give him any more of it, not right now. He began to argue with Cala, trying to get Aldea to give him more.

“You work for me, not the physician—"

“She works for you by obeying the physician, and I care for you by obeying the physician.” Aldea said, taking the hand he was pointing at Cala. The way he was looking at her, it was as though he stared into the depths of her eyes, hanging on to her every word. When she glanced at Cala, she saw a subtle smirk lift the corner of her lips. The woman seemed amused and happy to see her speak up and as she could see, her husband was actually listening to her.  She was so used to being quiet and letting others speak in her place, listening and staying in her place, she didn’t think her words had any actual weight to them, at least with Tenax, because of course, outside of these walls, it was very different. She did still need someone to speak for her out there.

Dacia walked in, interrupting them, “It’s gone. And no sign of this Ursus.”

“I sent him to see if the gold was still there.” Tenax rolled his head on the pillow, looking at Cala. She then left the apartment with Dacia, to go open up the tavern, as usual. Aldea stayed home. She didn’t want to leave him alone and she planned to stay home, to care for him, until he didn’t need her to anymore. She did as the physician told her and Cala, giving a ball of resin two more times that day, with a cup of wine, and a small amount of tincture of poppies to help with the pain when it became too much. Because of the medication, he fell into exhausted slumber and slept through the whole night. Aldea woke up with a start the next morning when he started yelling, terrified at the sight of his leg in a sling. Cala was alarmed by the screaming and barged in to check on him. He urged the two women to help him up.

“No, no, no! Do that now, and you lose the leg.” Cala rushed to his side of the bed and warned him.

“Poppies.” He requested, frantic. Aldea held his hand, and he squeezed, breathing heavily. “Come on!” He waved his hand around so she would hurry up and drank the tincture with a grunt.

“More at midday.” She said before leaving to go set up for betting. He winced, letting himself fall back on his pillows, his fists to his eyes. Aldea followed Cala with her eyes when he put his hand on her arm, making her look at him.

“Go with her. Go see your brothers. There’s a race today.”

“But—”

“Go. Come back with Cala at midday.” She acuiseced, leaning forward to place a kiss on his lips and she called Cala’s name as she heard the latter open the door, urging her to wait for her while she quickly got dressed and then followed her outside. As they neared the Circus, they heard the drums that always sounded, echoing through the city of Rome, before a race. As she was about to head for the entrance to the stands, Cala stopped her.

“Aldea, you understand that some of his enemies need to think him dead, and some need to think him alive?”

“Yes.”

“Your behavior needs to keep them guessing. Do not look too relieved, but do not look too worried either.” Then she let her go and they parted ways, Cala went to the tavern while Aldea didn’t go sit by the golden banners of Tenax’s faction, not wanting to be seen there on her own, when she wasn’t even an actual faction owner and not wanting the patrician or Domitian to see her up there, she went under the stands, watching the race through the openings at the top of the doors. The two Gold faction drivers would stop by this door when the race was over. She couldn’t wait to see Scoprus and Andria race together again. This was the only thing that brought her some happiness today. She was glad to see Andria as expected but was surprised not to recognize Scorpus on the second rig. She squinted her eyes, trying to see better and recognized Fonsoa. She gripped the edge of the opening, quietly cheering them on. A large smile stretched her lips when the horn sounded Andria’s victory. She chuckled, listening to the crowd clamouring. The stablehands present opened the doors, running to the rigs while her brothers stepped off them. She waited in the shadows, her hands at her waist, with a smile that she was now trying to contain. She noticed something moving from the corner of her eyes and looked over her shoulder, crossing Scorpus’ disenchanted look. His eyes were wide.

“Scorpus, where—” She cut herself off as he swung around on his heels and left, probably heading for Tenax’s place in the Suburra. She wondered where he had been, leading to Fonsoa taking his place in the race but she didn’t think too much about it and turned back to her brothers as they approached, congratulating them and embracing them, prouder of them than she could ever imagine. She went back with Cala after the latter had collected the winnings from the race. Aldea pushed the bedrooms’ doors open and walked around the bed, sitting on the edge, next to Tenax. He had unwrapped the bandage around his leg, exhaling painfully, breathing heavily.

“Shhh, lie down. Let me do it.” She said, gently pushing away his hands. She used some water to clean the wound, tapping around it very lightly before grabbing a new roll of bandage while Cala spoke.

“Hasn’t gone black, which is good.”

He sat up, “Where’s the tincture of poppies? I tried to find it.”

“Which is why I hid it.”

“Bring it to me.” He demanded, speaking through his gritted teeth as Aldea lifted his leg, inhaling sharply. She carefully and slowly wrapped the bandage around it.

“No.”

“You overreach yourself.”

“That I do. And… I overreached myself at the races today, as well. We took bets after the bell.”

“What?” He punched the mattress. “They’ll shut us down.”

“Calm down. We weren’t caught.”

He frowned, and glaring at her, “I can’t afford the risk.” At the same time, he finished his sentence, Aldea tied the bandage. He inhaled through his teeth, with a grunt.

“Perhaps you’re right.” She said with a sigh, before bringing her fingers to her mouth and whistling. The kids walked in the bedroom, one by one putting down half a dozen of small sacks on the bed. Coins jingled inside.

“All from today?” He asked. “All right. Well, just don’t get caught. And go and see Claudia. She’ll give you some rewards.”

“Yes!” Aldea smiled sweetly at the sight of the children’s joyful reactions, cheering. They left with the homekeeper, leaving Cala standing there, her arms crossed.

“We will need to renegotiate our deal.”

“I’m ill. Come back later.” She turned around and left and he let himself fall on his pillow, leaving it to Aldea to put away the bags of money. She pressed the tile on the wall by the bed and opened the secret door, storing them there. A few minutes later, Nica came back, holding fruits in her hands and jogged to Aldea.

“Want some? It’s good.”

“Why thank you, mi hija.” She returned Nica’s smile and took the fruit. Aldea looked fondly at the girl, caressed her hair and placed a kiss on her forehead before she took off running. Aldea took a bite of the fruit, walking to the other side of the bed to lie down next to Tenax. She spoke, imitating the accent and voice of her brother Andria with a chuckle, “You’re such a natural, Aldea.”

“He’s not wrong.” He raised his eyebrows, putting his arm around Aldea as she lied against his chest, her head resting in the crook of his neck. They napped and cuddled. She later gave him some more tincture of poppies for the pain and night came around, and in the blink of an eye it was morning – three days had passed since the fire. That day, there were some more drums sounding throughout the city, but it wasn’t a race, it was a gladiator fight, which didn’t interest Aldea, and never did so she stayed home, caring for Tenax as she had done since the incident. She brought him some food in the evening and went to lie down against him, quickly dozing off while he stared at the ceiling, taking in the restful silence. She slowly came out of her sleep, with a sleepy moan, when she felt Tenax move. In a whisper, he told her to wake up and she rubbed her eyes, confused, until she heard the heavy footsteps climbing the stairs of the insula. Her confusion was soon replaced by worry, thinking it was Ursus coming for him, which it probably was. He exhaled, puffing out his cheeks and grunted when he put his feet on the ground. Aldea swiftly rolled off the bed and he held onto her for support.

The loud footsteps grew menacing as they approached the front door. Tenax hoped towards the window and Aldea brought her hand to her mouth, muffling a shocked gasp at the sight of the man lying on the ground, with his throat slit. He was one of the men Dacia had put on watch around the insula. She was startled when the door was kicked opened, slamming against the wall. Tenax tightened his grasp and led her to the other side of the room, to the secret door. As they turned around, a floorboard creaked under Tenax’s foot and Aldea held her breath for a second, but they managed to hide before Ursus burst inside the bedroom, shouting, calling Tenax by his birthname. He held his knife in front of him, Aldea behind him, and they waited until Ursus’ footsteps receded, and they heard him leave the apartment. Only then did they come out. Aldea swept around the room with her gaze and saw the way Tenax stared at the bed. She let out a cry at the sight of Dacia’s severed head. Tenax sighed and held her, exhaling sharply. Ursus was going to kill all of them if they didn’t stop him.

Aldea glanced at the head with wide eyes, “Cala. She’s at the tavern… He’s gonna go look for you there. She—”

“I need to get there.”

“But your leg—”

“He is going to kill her.”

“Be careful. Please...” He kissed her and she let go of him. He went to get his crutches and quickly hopped away. It would take him longer than Ursus in order to get to the Circus. He had to hurry. Aldea anxiously paced around the apartment, breathing heavily, fearing once again for Tenax’s life. She exhaled audibly, relieved, when he did return almost an hour later. Cala’s face was covered in blood, and she stared at her in concern. The latter gave her a nod, to reassure her and Tenax drew her into a hug.

“He’s dead. It’s over.”

[To be continued…]  

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Published (09/06/2024) by Andrea

[justinewt]

Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum - THOSE ABOUT TO DIE REWRITE Chapter Seven

[THOSE ABOUT TO DIE MASTERLIST]

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Summary: Things went sideways quickly. One race and one win later, the Gold faction was already no more, cutting the grass under Tenax and Scorpus' feet and a demon from Tenax's past resurfaced, casting a glooming shadow over his and Aldea's life. It soon became obvious that assaulting and blackmailing the tavern owner was only the beginning when a child died at Ursus' hand.

Words: 5.5k

Warnings: title means "if you want peace, prepare for war" // Those about to die spoilers (episode 4 "Fool's bet" & episode 5 "Betrayal"), angst, fluff, mention of child murder

“How does it look?” Andria excitedly turned around, up on the ladder, after putting up the banners of the gold faction in their stables.

“Gold!” Elia exclaimed, applauding as the others cheered and chattered. After yesterday’s win, decorating the stables with curtains and banners in the color of gold, with one of its rigs – the one Aldea had understood that Tenax had stolen from the Whites – was the cherry on top of the cake. Aldea smiled greatly, watching her little brother, before glancing over at Tenax, standing right next to her. He was staring at the banner, practically in awe and certainly very proud of his accomplishment of finally getting his very own faction. Scorpus walked up behind him, and they exchanged grins, grabbing each other’s shoulders, but the happiness was short lived when a bunch of legionaries burst into the stables, their commander ordering to take down the curtains. The horses whinned anxiously as they ripped them off the walls. They were taking everyone by surprise.

“By order of Emperor Titus Caesar Vespasianus, permission to run in Cirucs Maximus is hereby withdrawn from the Gold Faction.” He then called his men, and they marched out of there as quickly as they came in. Aldea looked over her shoulder when she heard Elia’s voice behind her, he held Fonsoa back and the latter looked quite riled up, glaring at the soldiers as they left and while Tenax was able to contain himself and keep his disappointment within, Scorpus was a bundle of nerves, unable to calm down. He had given up on the Blues for this faction, and now there was none anymore. Aldea stood there, kind of in the middle, watching them.

“Calm down? I quit the Blue. I told Marsus and Antonia to go fuck themselves.”

“Better than than you fuck her.” Tenax shrugged. It was clearly not the time for sarcastic jokes; Scorpus was not in the mood for them.

“No! No, don’t make jokes. I am the one being fucked by you.” He put his hands on his hips, walking back and forth slowly, turning his back to Tenax and then facing him. “Atargatis, why did I listen to this Roman fool? Scorpus is the best driver in Rome, best ever. Highest paid in history. And I threw it all away for this ‘golden shitshow’?”

“Scorpus, settle yourself.” Tenax grabbed his shoulders, shaking him slightly. “Your greatness goes unquestioned. I can fix this.”

Leto’s voice rose at the stables’ entrance, and it was but another blow at their projects, “I believe those are my chariots.” The lead owner of the Whites leaned forward and scratched the golden paint off the surface of the rig, revealing the white pain hidden underneath, proving it was in fact his rigs. “Ah, white! Take them out immediately.”

“Wait! No, no!” Elia lunged forward and Gavros stopped him and Fonsoa from going after the stablehands taking the rigs away. One was distressed at what was happening while the other was just angry still, glaring at Leto. Aldea approached her younger brother, placing her hand on his back as Gavros tried to get the two to calm down.

“You’re nothing more than… common thieves.” He looked askance at them.

“I paid for those.” Tenax said.

“So did I.” He turned on his heels and left, the sound of his footsteps retreating.

Tenax tilted his head to the side, shooting up his eyebrows, “Well, I didn’t actually pay for them. But I was thinking about it.”

“I’m done.” Scorpus declared, pressing his lips tightly. “No more Gold faction for Scorpus. I’m out! Out!” He spat as he walked out, trampling the hay on the ground with each step, infuriated. The Gold faction had existed for just a day, and it was already gone but Aldea knew Tenax wouldn’t let this inconvenience put him down – he would fix this. Domitian was in on it, he had a share of the faction, so it was also in his interest to get them back on the tracks of the Circus Maximus. Aldea looked at her brothers beside her as Fonsoa kicked some hay, frowning and Elia picked up the banner at their feet. Andria just sat on a step of the ladder, defeated. She scowled, bringing her hand to her lower back to ease the discomfort she was feeling along with the subtle, rhythmic jerking that started in her stomach.

“Aldea, are you okay?” He asked softly, looking at her worriedly.

“I’m fine. I’m fine, really.” Tenax had his head thrown backwards, he straightened his neck and instantly turned towards them to check on her. For a moment, his focus was no longer on what just happened to his gold faction and his entire attention was now on his wife. Andria had stood up from the ladder, and the look on Fonsoa’s face went from blatant anger to genuine concern for his sister. Aldea took her hand off her back and her face relaxed.

“Go home. Rest.” She was about to shake her head and argue with Tenax but Fonsoa and Elia chimed in, repeating they would walk her home, telling Andria to stay with Gavros at the stables. The three of them left, heading for the suburra. For the next 20 minutes until they reached her home, Elia kept on asking her how she was feeling but everything was fine now, and she laughed, always giving him the same answer. Claudia opened the door, and she went straight to her room, trying to do as told and rest but she kept shifting in the bed, rolling from one side to the other, barely sleeping that afternoon. The next day was pretty much the same, she didn’t really do anything, which she disliked but Tenax had business around town and couldn’t have someone walk her to the Circus to meet with her brother, so she paced around their apartment until Tenax came home for dinner and then they went to sleep. He didn’t have to leave that night and after a pretty boring day, Aldea was happy to be able to get some private and intimate time with the man she loved. He had been quite busy the past nights and days.

Then, there was the celebratory games for Titus’ ascension to the throne but she didn’t really care about it so she worked around the tavern a bit. Because of her pregnancy, Tenax wanted her to rest more but she would go crazy if she had to stay home and do nothing everyday. She needed to go out a little, which basically just meant spending time being useful at his betting tavern, and also be around her brothers. Now that she had them back, she couldn’t miss a single opportunity to see them. She was behind the counter, with Aura and Cala, counting and putting away their earnings after the day ended and they closed the tavern. Cala slammed a box shut and walked over to Tenax, placing the small chest on the table. It was full of gold jewelry people had used to place bets that day.

“You’re not as heartless as you pretend.” Aldea couldn’t help but sketch a soft smile at Cala’s comment. She had told him something like that sometime after their first encounter and she was glad someone else could see through him and was able to tell the way he publicly portrayed himself was false. He was not the insensitive and stony-hearted man he pretended to be, but maybe the fact she got to live with the two of them and see the way he looked at her and cared for her made it quite obvious to her what type of man he actually was deep down. Of course, he denied Cala’s claim and she brought up the way the children looked up to him, just as Aldea first noted years ago. And he gave her the same answer.

“That’s because they’re children. They look up to anyone who’ll give them a few scraps of food and an occasional coin— I did.”

Aldea approached, her hands brought together at her waist in this effortlessly put together and graceful manner she had about her, “I told you the same things, years ago. I’m glad someone else noticed it.” The two women exchanged knowing smiles, glancing at Tenax as he looked away. Aldea’s smile grew amused, and she pinched her lips so as not to laugh. A woman approach, speaking in another language, to which Cala immediatedly responded. Aldea and Tenax watched her, quite impressed with her and followed her with their eyes as she walked after the young woman.

Tenax leaned against the table, crossing his arms, “How many languages do you speak?”

“Not enough.” She stopped in her tracks, looking over at him her shoulder.

“You use them to great effect.”

“Really?”

“You disarm people… get them to do what you want.”

“That’s how you see it?”

He uncrossed his arms, turning to the side to close the box full of jewelery, “Good day.”

She walked back to him, “Which you owe to me.”

“To some degree.”

“And to that degree you will pay me and my daughter more.” Aldea smirked. She liked Cala. She admired her in a sense. Cala was a strong and driven woman, not scared to speak her mind, which Aldea rarely did, at least not in public but she was still quite soft spoken even in private. Cala didn’t seem to care that her requests might considered too much or be denied or lead to arguments. She lent an ear to their conversation while going back to putting things away and cleaning the counter.

“Will I?”

“Mm-mm. Aura’s salary up by half, and mine tripled.”

Tenax chuckled, “You overreach.”

“Fine. We’ll leave your rat-infested insula and find work at another betting tavern.” He stepped behind the counter and stopped, sucking his lips in, leaning back and walked away, beckoning her with his fingers to follow him so they could negotiate in private without the few people still present hearing them.

“You’ll do well in Rome.” He then said as she walked away.

“I am not here for that.”

“It will take a lot more money to buy Jula’s freedom. And Kwame, a gladiator, probably impossible.”

“I will find a way.” She seemed so unshakable to Aldea, like a reed, she could bend to the strongest winds without ever breaking, something the Spaniard didn't believe herself able to do. After Cala had left, Aldea’s brothers came to the tavern to see her before going home and ended up walking her home while Tenax went towards the latrines. She went to get ready for bed and paced in front of the window, peeking out the window. She didn’t know what was taking him so long and was growing worried. She walked back and forth for almost an hour. It was the middle of the night already when she heard the stairs of the insula creak under someone’s feet. She pushed the bedroom’s doors open and approached the door with light steps, she got her ear up close, trying to see if she could hear anything on the other side, wondering if it was Tenax or someone else.

She heard the noises stop right in front of the door and jumped back when he knocked on the door, bringing her hand to her chest, startled. Looking around, she picked up Claudia’s butcher knife in the kitchen and with a deep breath, unlocked the door and opened, holding the blade in the air but she let out a sigh of relief upon seeing Tenax but he was shirtless for some reason, which made his whole absence stranger. She didn’t think it over too much, relieved to see him in one piece and quickly ditched the knife, closed the door behind him and rushed to him, finally taking a closer look at him. Only then did she notice the water dripping from his hair, some bruising on his chest and cuts on one side of his face as if he had gotten into a fight with someone.

“Where the hell have you been?” She spoke in hushed tones but with no less urgency, touching his face and body, looking at his injuries. When Claudia, Cala and Aura joined them, wondering what was going on, he sharply told them to leave them, turning his head to the side to hide the wound on his face, and they did as he was clearly not in a good mood, though Aldea called Claudia back, asking her to boil some water and vinegar with wine. They then softly shut the doors behind them once in the bedroom and she stood there, staring at him in confusion. She wanted an answer from him. “Why are you injured?” He exhaled, still not facing her so she walked up to him and grabbed his chin, making him turn towards her. “Tenax? What happened? Who did this to you?”

“You remember what I told you… about my past?”

“Of course.” Her hand slid down along his neck and rested on his shoulder.

“I set fire to my master’s house and ran away. I left Ursus behind. I thought he was dead— I left him fr dead.”

“Is he not— dead? Is he the one who did this to you?” The look he gave her gave her the answer which sparked a deep sense of fear within her. If this Ursus was back from his past, and he beat him up like this, he wanted revenge and thinking that someone could try to kill or harm Tenax terrified her, even more than if she was the one being targeted, which could happen. She was his one obvious weakness. If anyone tried to hurt him and physically assaulting him directly didn’t satisfy them, the most effective way to take a blow at him was to harm her. And she was pregnant. She bore Tenax’s heir. And though that one piece of information was kept hidden from the public, he would kill two birds with one stone.  With the way he kept staring at her with fear and concern in his eyes, he clearly had the same thought. The irony of it – she was more worried for him, and he was more worried for her. “I’ll clean up your wound.”

“Aldea.” He grabbed her wrist as she stepped away to get something to clean the cut on his face. She had to go back to the kitchen to get the mixture she asked Claudia to make. She turned her head back to him. “It is going to get dangerous.  I will not let him hurt you, but you need to be careful. I want you with me, or your brothers, at all times and please, do not go out on your own.”

“Of course, Tenax.” He let go off her and she exited the room, coming back less than a minute later with the mixture Claudia prepared for her, in a large bowl, and a clean cloth, along with some honey. She got him to sit on the bed and set all her things on the nightstand before sitting beside him and soaking the cloth in the bowl, gently pressing it onto his wound. It seemed to be a rather deep wound over her eyebrow. He frowned slightly and gritted his teeth but kept silent. She chuckled quietly, “I haven’t had to clean a wound in years. Elia was always running around, always finding new ways of getting hurt. He even broke his leg once. Fonsoa held him while Andria set his leg, and I really thought Elia was going to break my hand with how hard he squeezed it.” After cleaning it, she took some honey with the tip of her finger and applied it, cupping his cheek with her hand.

“They would kill me if anything happened to you.” Maybe Fonsoa would, he could be quite hot-blooded, and Elia, he would definitely lash out at him, but Andria would never hurt a fly, no matter what might happen.

“Nothing is going to happen to me – to us.” She exhaled, bringing his hand to her stomach as they leaned into each other, presing their forehead together, sighing through their noses, their breaths caressing their skin. But he wasn’t exactly reassured that night, so much so that his nightmare came back full force and woke him up abruptly as morning came. He suddenly sat up as he reached for the knife by his side, flaring up his nostrils and panting. It had happened before, quite a lot actually, but it seemed to have kind of stopped the past year or couple of years and now, this encounter with Ursus had awoken the demons he tried to keep buried – the past he tried to keep buried. Aldea opened her eyes as she felt him move beside her and she sat up, caressing the burn scars on his back, her other hand on his shoulder, trying to reassure him and help him calm down. His heavy breathing slowed down. She gently caressed his face, brushing over his beard which he kept cut short. He exhaled heavily, putting down the blade and wincing at he slightly touched the wound on his face. She ached seeing him this distressed. She hadn’t seen him like this in quite some time, and she didn’t miss it. They eventually got up and dressed themselves while Cala spoke loudly from the kitchen, telling Tenax she would open up the tavern and that they needed more slates for the tavern. Because he didn’t respond to anything she was saying, she wondered if he even heard her.

“Did you hear me?”

“Yes.” He rose his voice, giving a sharp answer as he put on his tunic. Aldea got out of bed after him, getting ready as well. They heard her unbolting the front door and the wood creaking as Cala pulled the door open, followed by a silence but neither of them went to look what was going on. Once they were dressed, Aldea noticed Tenax touching his wound again.

“By the Gods, stop touching it.” She sighed through her nose and grabbed the bowl she used the night prior, still on the nightstand, covered by a cloth. She pushed his hand away from his face and he followed her with his eyes, staring at her face as she focused on patting the wound with the cloth, holding it in a ball in her hand after soaking one side in the mixture. She then patted it with the dry side and was applying some honey over it when Cala pushed the doors open and gasped at the sight of the injury. She hadn’t seen it when he came home at night. She took a step towards them, but he turned his face and sighed, raising his hand towards Cala to make her understand not to approach. Aldea gave her a nod, so she knew it was under control and the Numidian woman understood. The steps she then took in their direction were for a very different reason as she then held out her arm to Tenax, holding her small scroll in between her fingers. Aldea went to the dresser on the opposite side of the room to finish getting ready, grabbing her cloak from inside the drawer.

“This was left at the door.”

“Read it to me.” He said, adjusting one of the wide leather bracelets he wore at his wrists.

“It might be personal, I—”

“Just—” He gritted his teeth, about to speak harshly, getting aggravated but stopped himself and calmed the tone of his voice. Aldea looked at them from the corner of her eyes. She obviously knew that her husband was illiterate, but Cala didn’t. “Do it.”

“Don’t be ashamed.” She glanced at him, looking him up and down but not in jugement. “My people had no written language for a thousand years. Our past is silent.”

He didn’t look at her, throwing his cloak over his shoulder, “I’m not ashamed. Just read it.” She unrolled the scroll, looking down at it to read it but she began doing so in her head and he inhaled nervously, annoyed, “Out loud!” but then softened his voice. “To me.”

“All of your winnings, at the end of each race day, put in the corner room, second floor of your insula at Cispian Hill.” She inhaled, her eyes going from the words on the piece of paper to Tenax, whose face was growing ever angry at the message. “It’s the price of my silence…” He snatched the paper from her hands, and walked with heavy steps through the apartment, going to throw the paper in the fire in the kitchen. The flames cackled as it burned. Cala was puzzled, she didn’t understand what this was all about, but of course, Aldea wasn’t particularly phased, adjusting the coins of her necklace, as she knew the situation. She followed the woman out of the bedroom as they went after Tenax.

“No one learns of this.” He warned, before looking at the women around him, except Aldea. She already understood the gravity of the situation. No one else knew of his past. As he walked over to the door, he pointed at Cala, addressing her, and then showed his wife with his finger, “Get her to her brothers, no alleys, take the main streets.”

He left. On her way way out, Aldea told Claudia to take Tenax’s clothes to the fullonicas, to get them washed but for some reason, Cala chimed in and told Aura to go do it while Claudia stayed home so she could lock the bolt behind them. While they walked to the Circus Maximus, Cala asked about why Tenax was acting up like this and if she knew who sent him this threat, but Aldea wasn’t willing to answer, staring ahead of her, her hand joined at her waist as usual.

“It’s not my place to tell you about his business. Maybe he will tell you, and I believe he will eventually, but if he never does, why would I?” She tried not to sound patronizing or cold because she liked Cala and she didn’t want her to think she was full of herself but the look the woman gave her let her know she wasn’t taking it personally at all, which reassured her. A couple minutes of silence later, Cala put her hand on Aldea’s arm and they stopped in their tracks. Aldea was confused.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“I said I wouldn’t it’s his business, I can’t—”

“I wanted to ask you something, about you, Aldea.”

“We should get going.” She tried to escape the conversation, starting to feel uncomfortable. A bunch of scenarios of how this talk could go down went through her head and she didn’t like any of them, especially if it were about her shoulder, which she might have seen back home when she entered the bedroom before she could get her cloak on.

“You seem extremely close with your brothers.”

“I am.” They resumed walking because Aldea refused to stay still.

“Especially the youngest, he seems to be particularly attached to you. You mother him.”

“Fonsoa and I raised him after our mother died giving birth to him. He’s my little brother— he’s like my son.”

“Were you happy, back in Hispania?”

“Yes, of course.” She frowned slightly.

“Then why did you come to Rome without them?” Aldea felt as though her heart skipped a beat and she gulped, swallowing harshly, looking away. She didn’t know what to say to avoid having this conversation, so she stayed silent for quite some time, feeling Cala’s gaze upon her the whole time, but eventually, she spoke up.

“I loved Baetica. I thought I would spend my entire life there.” She shook her head, thoughfully. “I never intended to come to Rome.”

Her voice softened, “Can I ask why you came to Rome then?”

Aldea sighed heavily, “I often went to Portus Magnus with my brothers, we sold goods to make some money. I fell in love with this Roman sailor. One night, I took my horse and sneaked out to go meet him at the harbour. We fell asleep on the deck and the next morning— the merchant who owned the boat found me. He refused to turn the boat around and I was— I was taken to Rome to be sold as a slave.”

“You were a slave?”

“Yes, but I was quickly made a freedwoman.”

“You must have found a good master.”

“Indeed.” For some reason, she kept quiet the fact that this generous master was in fact Tenax – her husband and companion of two years. But Cala was no fool, she probably figured it out during the conversation. Still, Aldea felt that she still had things to ask her and yet she refrained from asking and they finished their walk to the circus. Now that they were there, they parted ways, Aldea went to find her brothers at the stables while Cala went the other way, heading for the tavern. Aldea would have wanted to go see the children at the tavern, but she understood why Tenax was so adamant on knowing her well surrounded – if she were with her three brothers, no one would dare approach her. Later that morning, there was a race and people loudly cheered for Xenon, not Scorpus, while the latter had recently signed with the Whites after the Gold faction had been forbidden from racing. She attended the race with her brothers. The crowd was going wild for Xenon. Scorpus lost, and the crowd cheered for the new lead driver of the Blue faction.

They then went on to share a lunch at the tavern right after the race. Cala was there, at the desk. Elia kept on candidly telling his sister about the horses and she listened patiently, with a soft smile on her face. Andria watched them, both amusedly and tenderly, and chuckled when Fonsoa nudged his brother, teasingly urging him to stop bothering their sister and they laughed. This nice moment they were having together was soon ruined when she saw a child running across the place, panting. He went to Cala and the latter crossed Aldea’s gaze. Her mind immediately went to Tenax’s blackmailer, Ursus. Something must have happened. She jerked to her feet, telling her brothers to go back to the stables. She jogged after Cala and Aura. They ran to a storage room, a little further, on the other side of the tavern. When they got there, Aldea could see all the children gathered in silence in the room. She slowed down and stopped, looking down as she felt a pair of small hands grab hers. One of the children was standing in her way, clearly upset and distressed.

“What’s going on?” She leaned forward, whispering, unsure if she actually wanted to know. The air felt heavy. Aldea instantly straightened up, raising her head, when she heard Cala gasp and whimper, muffling her scream with her fist. She gave a concerned frown, looking into the room at Tenax, breathing fitfully, staring at something in front of him. Cala came back into view, carrying Nica in her arms. The little one was crying. Aldea felt her heart miss a bit and her stomach dropped. She felt sick knowing one of the children had been killed by Ursus and put there on display to taunt all of them but especially Tenax. She brought a hand to her belly, blinking slowly, with a shaky breath. Felix, Nica’s older brother, had been murdered.

She closed her eyes and turned around when they took down the young boy’s body and went to wrap it in cloth. The funeral took place as the sun was setting on the eastern part of the Esquiline hill, outside th city walls, as all funerals happened in the city of Rome. An owl hooted in the distance and the children sobbed quietly. Aldea stood by Tenax, glancing at him from the corner of his eyes as he stared at the small body wrapped in linen being lowered into the grave. He was completely still, his eyes shining, and his cheeks wet from the tears falling. When he turned his head, she followed his gaze. Aura locked eyes with him and looked away and his eyes went to Aldea. The hurt and crippling guilt in his eyes made her heart ache and she softly put her hands around his arm.

“I sent him there.” His lower lip quivered. “I should’ve known.” He touched Aldea’s hand holding his arms and walked away, followed by Noro and Dacia as they left the funeral and headed home in a heavy silence. Aldea sat on the bed and followed the men with her eyes as they put all his money into large bags. Cala arrived in the apartment, walking into the bedroom as they were picking the sacks from the floor and carrying them outside.

“Are you sure about this?”

“He killed a child.” He slowed down, briefly coming to a halt as he walked by her. What had happened was a very grave and serious matter to him. He loved these children. By killing one of them, Ursus had crossed a line, but Tenax wasn’t about to risk the other orphans’ lives by testing him. Ursus had proven his cruelty and dangerosity already.

Less than half an hour later, he was back. No one really spoke during dinner, and they parted ways, all going to their respective bedrooms. The silence in which they had shared their meal continued into the night as Aldea followed Tenax into the apartment. He opened the cabinet in which there was his altar at which they had prayed before. She had done this a few times after finding out she was pregnant, praying to Goddesses such as Bona Dea, the Goddesses to which the vestal virgins of rome were dedicated to, or even the goddess of breastfeeding, Rumina, the wet nurse of the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus but she mainly prayed to Juno Lucina, the Goddess who protected pregnant women and helped to ensure marital harmony in the home, though it seemed she had been helping with that without her needing to pray that often. Next to the idol of Juno, was a small, almost dried up bouquet of wildflowers. She thought she should replace it soon or the goddess might get offended. She would go get new flowers the next day to avoid her wrath.

“When was the last time you prayed?” She gently ran her hand down his back, brushing over his skin with the tip of her fingers. He lit up the candles one by one and she watched his face as the dim orange light of the flames illuminated his face. He sighed quietly.

“You more diligent at this than I am. Butr you know me, I’m a gambling man. I’ve tried this before; it might work again.” He glanced at her, sliding his finger along her temple and putting a strand of her hair behind her ear. They were already basically whispering but his voice kept on softening. “I need to take the habit to thank the Gods more.”

“Thank them for what?” She asked, though she knew what the answer was – her, and their unborn baby. He looked at her tenderly, as if she were the most precious thing he had ever seen in his life. He caressed her face and then put his hand on her stomach.

“I never thought I would be blessed with a wife such as you, much less a child of my own.” She covered his hand with hers, staring back at him with a soft but sad smile. She knew he feared what could happen to them after what had just happened to Felix.

“We will be okay, Tenax. Nothing is going to happen to us.” She turned towards him, grabbing his hand and lifting up to her face, kissing the back of his hand.

“I cannot lose you too.”

“You won’t lose me, or him.” For some reason, she felt like they would have a son, so it felt natural to speak of the unborn child in the masculine form. Their little Amarus. The name she had thought of if they were having a boy, from the verb amare, to love.

Tenax’s lips parted slightly, shaking his head subtly, “I don’t deserve you.”

“Yes. You do.” She emphasized each word, taking a step closer to him, their chests heaving against each other’s, and she cupped his cheek in her hand. Their faces leaned forward, the tip of their noses touching as they kissed tenderly. She exhaled, “Stop torturing yourself. I love you, Tenax.”

“I put you in danger.”

She sighed, her hand falling on his shoulder, “Stop it.”

“You would be safer with your brothers.”

“Enough.” Her tone, though quiet, grew harsher for a second. “I am your wife, and I will stand by your side no matter what happens, as I have always done.”

This was a promise. A promise she had made the day she agreed to marry him, and a promise she had made herself when she first fell in love with him.

[To be continued…]  

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Published (09/05/2024) by Andrea

[justinewt]

Audentes Fortuna iuvat - THOSE ABOUT TO DIE REWRITE Chapter Six

[THOSE ABOUT TO DIE MASTERLIST]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

Summary: Tenax had brought home a young Numidian slave which sparked some confusion in their household and Aldea was even more taken aback when the girl's mother came pounding on their door but as usual she quickly got the answers to her questions and they went back to their routine, daily life, all while Tenax got his Gold faction ready to make its first appearance on the tracks of the Circus Maximus.

Words: 4.2k

Warnings: title means "Fortuna favors the bold" // Those about to die spoilers (episode 3 "Death's door"), fluff, mention of physical abuse

Tenax knew that the moment he closed those doors, he would probably get shot at with questions. He was standing his back to Aldea and turned around as he spoke, “Ask.”

“Where did you send my brother and Scorpus?” He stared back at her. He probably thought that she would have asked about the young woman and her mother, but it was obvious that her first thought, what would be the priority in her mind, would be for her brother. She still didn’t know where he had sent him off to with the famed driver, and to do what. He exhaled, taking a few steps in her direction. She was one of the few people she would ever agree to explain himself to, and it involved her brother, so he owed her an answer.

“I sent him and Scorpus to get yellow ash for the horses.”

“Yellow ash?” She frowned, tilting her head slightly. She had no idea what that was.

“A poison. But it might be the solution we need to save those horses, and my head, Scorpus, and that of your brothers. I told Andria to keep Scorpus safe.”

“Where are they going to find this yellow ash?” She was growing worried for her brothers’ safety, both regarding the threat that was Domitian’s impredicable behaviour and that was whatever trip the duo had been sent on.

“Pompeii.”

“How far is it?”

“It’s a 2-day horse ride.”

“Two days?” She looked away, thinking. Her brother had left with Scorpus earlier today so that meant he would be back in around 3 days. She wouldn’t hear from Andria for 3 days. She briefly closed her eyes, pressed her lips together in disapprobation. It seemed awfully difficult after having been reunited with him, Fonsoa and Elia just a few days prior. Bringing one hand to her belly, she sighed. It felt as though because she was so worried, she couldn’t express her anger. She was still keeping her composure and calm, but in truth, she almost never could get angry even if she wanted to. She did bicker with her brothers when they were children, especially when it came to Elia, but never real arguments that would escalate. Her brothers and father always stood as a kind of shield between her and people outside their family. When people from the village began telling her father that she should get married, he would tell them off, she would not. She learned not to speak in public settings and let her father speak, and she never thought much of it, not that there was a lot think to think about. Her father was very protective of her, and he wanted the best for her, so she didn’t really care to let him speak in her place but maybe that was because she got used to this that she had trouble expressing anger or things like that. She was taken out of her thoughts by Tenax coming closer, their bodies almost touching. He gently grabbed her shoulders. Shivers ran down her spine as he touched her collarbone, or rather lack of collarbone. She tilted her head to the side, the corner of her lips brushing over his hand. His hand migrated to her face, cupping her cheek I his palm, caressing her with his thumb as she lifted her head and looked at him.

“Your brother will be fine. I sent him to keep Scorpus safe.” The conversation had turned into an exchange of whispers in the dimly lit bedroom.

She couldn’t help but scoff, “To keep Scorpus safe. It is true that if anything happened to Andria, it wouldn’t pain you. What purpose does he serve to you? But if Scorpus didn’t return, who would be the lead driver of your faction?” She was surprised by the passive aggressivity of her comment, but she let herself be overwhelmed with the anxiety and concern she felt for her older brother. She moved away, walking to the window as she held her arms against her. She felt Tenax approach from behind and put his hands on her shoulders again. She spoke again, “That girl.”

“I’ll let her mother buy her freedom when I don’t need her anymore. Let me handle this.”

“When will that be?”

“Let me handle this, Aldea.” He repeated himself and she just nodded as she looked at the empty street. She turned toward him, their faces a mere inch apart, the tip of their noses touching, and they shared a tender kiss before getting ready for bed. In the few days that followed, she didn’t interact much with the girl, whose name was Aura, or her mother, Cala. She saw them looking at her but, thinking about it, Aldea wondered if they ever even heard the sound of her voice. She would only speak to her husband behind the closed doors of their room. She didn’t take kindly to having two stangers in their home and acted as though they were outside, not speaking her mind in front of them. But on the third morning, she woke up knowing her brother must have returned to Rome. She prayed that he and Scorpus were back, safe and sound and she shared those thoughts with Tenax as they got dressed. She approached the door and heard Cala speak in the kitchen.

“His wife, Aldea, is very quiet.”

“She is like this around strangers. Kept to herself but,” Claudia paused and Aldea opened the door ajar, seeing her, turned to the table, nodding. “she is a strong, young woman. She has come a long way.”

“Where is she from?”

“She came from Hispania, a few years ago.”

“I see.” Tenax went to open the double doors of their bedroom, and she let him walk out first as she followed suit. Cala was now asking about him. “Tell me of this man, Tenax.”

“Better than some, worse than others. I saw a subtle change in his character since he met Aldea. He lets her work at his tavern, go wherever she wants. He does business, betting at the Circus Maximus, buying, selling, doing things I don’t see… and would not speak of even if I saw them. I sometimes hear him tell her about it, if she asks, but I don't listen to their conversations. I wouldn't.” The old woman went quiet and seeing the other two look behing her, she looked over her shoulder and saw Tenax and Aldea standing there. The two glanced at each other and sketched a friendly smile before continuing to walk in their direction.

“Take her to the house of Consul Marsus and make sure she contacts her daughter.” He walked to the other side of the table to go sit and Cala moved aside to let Aldea take her seat opposite him. “I need ears on Marsus and Antonia.”

After breakfast, Tenax and Aldea left home and walked to the stables of the Circus Maximus, where they would find the brothers and Scorpus. Aldea immidietaly went to hug her brother, and he chuckled, reassuring her, telling her he was fine. They didn’t waste any more time and were joined near the poor Ferox at the end of the stable of the blue faction. Two horses had already died from the nightshade. The veterinary that Gavros had fetched earlier was resistant to try this last resort solution.

“This is madness.” He glared at them. “I will have no part of this.”

“Go then.” Tenax wasn’t about to fight with him. He didn’t care and showed the door with his hand. The old man was taken aback, clearly offended and he scoffed as he stepped away angrily. Ferox groaned and Elia caressed him, trying to put him at ease. When Scorpus got up, having finished to crush the yellow ash, Elia stood up and stopped him.

“He sait it could kill them.”

“And what else can we do?” The charioteer asked. “Put crows in their stalls? Bells to scare away the spirits?”

“Gavros?”

“They’ll die… if we do nothing. With this, perhaps they have a chance.”

After a second, Elia held his hand out to Scorpus, “Let me do it.” He gave the pot of yellow ash to the young Spaniard while Tenax rolled his eyes, his arms crossed over his chest. Elia and Gavros kneeled on either side of the horse’s head as he swooped some yellow ash with his fingers, applying it on his gums. Hopefully it would work. They would know soon. Aldea would be there for her brothers no matter what, especially Elia, who would be particularly affected if his precious horses all died. For dinner that day, Cala cooked them a meal with Claudia’s assistance. Usually, it would be either just Claudia who would take care of the cooking, or Aldea but even before Cala came around, she had kind of stopped. Cala had prepared them a quite large dish for lunch, which she placed at the center of the table. Aldea and Tenax looked at it, having no idea what it was and glanced at each other. Shooting up her eyebrows, Cala encouraged them to try it and they grabbed their fork, picking some of the food. It was pretty nice and Aldea knew that Tenax liked it as well, though he downplayed it.

“African.” She then said, with a content smile. Aura served some water to Aldea as her mother crossed her arms and went on to ask her daughter’s owner for a wage, and some work. As he told her of his betting tavern at the Circus Maximus, saying she and Aura could work there, they heard loud knocking on the door. “Pay?”

“We’ll see about that.” He turned his attention away from her as Felix ran in the apartment the second Claudia opened the door. Aldea followed his gaze and stared at the young boy. He came to tell them about the horses. She went with him to the Circus. They sped walk through the city and when they found Scorpus, Elia and Gavros, watching as the two other Corsi brothers tested the freshly recovered horses around the spina.

“Back from the dead.” Tenax exclaimed as he walked up to his old friend. Aldea stopped by Elia and couldn’t help but smile at the sight of the grin that stretched his lips. He loved his animals, and he shared a quick, but nonetheless comforting and sweet, hug with his sister and she rubbed his hair. “I owe Neptune a sacrifice.”

“They are weak.” Andria and Fonsoa pulled the horses to a full stop in front of the group.

“But getting stronger.” Elia added, holding onto his cloak, looking at Gavros.

“How much stronger? We race tomorrow.” Tenax enquired.

“Stronger than the nags we bought.” Gavros commented.

Scorpus turned his head toward Tenax, speaking in hushed tones, “You find me a second driver?”

“No one else is as foolish as you and I. No one wants to shove their thumb in the eye of tradition and join a fifth faction.”

“2-horse gigs, huh?” Aldea noted how Scorpus was looking at her older brother as he got off the rig leaving it to another stablehand to take the horses back to the stables.

“And fours.” There was a silence, the four siblings standing next to each other, in a practically perfect straight line, as Scorpus seemed to kind of nod to himself, gauging Andria with his eyes. He took a step forward, holding out his hand for him to take, to Andria’s confusion. Even when Scorpus spoke the words, “you’re in.” Andria shook his hand and just stood there. He couldn’t believe it.

“Oh, mi hermano…” Aldea chuckled and the Corsi embraced each other tightly, Elia and Fonsoa patting their brother on the back, proudly. They were so proud of him. After what happened to the horses, which they overcame, their lives were taking a great turn. Aldea took a good look at her brothers, caressing Elia’s cheek tenderly. She couldn’t describe how happy she felt in this moment. No word could be enough to describe what she felt as she looked at them. It felt so good to have them here with her, in Rome. She was blessed by the Gods, and she was more than grateful for it. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Tenax talking with Scorpus a little further and the two eventually left together because she wanted to spend the rest of the afternoon with her dear brothers. There was so much time to catch up. She enjoyed hanging out together, all four of them, like the old days, chatting and strolling through Rome. She laughed when Andria and Elia teased Fonsoa as they came across a bunch of prostitutes offering their services and the latter barely looked at them, when he used to always leave with one. Aldea could tell, from the look in his eyes when he crossed her gaze, that that was because he had met a woman. She held his gaze with a knowing smile. Fortuna was really smiling upon the Corsi.

When the sun set and the sky’s blue tint got dull, Andria returned to the Circus while Fonsoa and Elia walked their sister home. The latter clinged onto her arm, giving sidelong glances to anyone coming close to them, especially the drunkard wandering the streets outside the taverns, as if he was protecting his pregnant sister from them and it made her smile. He had always been the sweetest boy – and now young man – that she had ever known. They arrived in front of her insula and Elia instantly wrapped his arms around her as they were saying goodbye to each other. She chuckled, cradling his head in her hand and rubbing his back. After he broke the embrace, she hugged Fonsoa and the two walked away and as she turned around to go through the front door, she noticed a young Numidian girl in a cloak, staring at her. She frowned, gauging her. The girl reminded Aldea of Cala and Aura, but she wondered if there was a link between them or if the only resemblance only lied in their skin colour, but she might be Cala's second daughter, the one she offered to be a go between for.

“Are you here for Tenax?” Aldea watched the expression in the girl’s eyes, and they twitched a bit. She didn’t know who that Hispanic woman in front of her was.

She acquiesced and spoke quietly, “I have something to tell him.”

“Come.” Aldea waved for her to come into the insula with her and they went up to the first floor. She knocked at the door of her apartment and a few seconds later, Claudia opened the door. “She’s here for Tenax. Where is he?” The housekeeper pointed at the bedroom on the other side of the flat. Aldea put her hand on the girl’s back, softly leading her to the bedroom. Aldea stayed outside and glancing over to the kitchen, she noticed Aura and Cala standing there, watching the girl from afar.  

“Did anyone see you leave?” Tenax asked.

“No.”

“Good. What do you have for me?”

“They said they are going to kill someone.”

“Who?”

“Could be something with an S.”

“Scorpus?”

She took a second to think about and nodded. The second she confirmed, he briskly walked out the door, commanding Cala to get her back and to make sure no one saw her. Before leaving, the girl, whom Aldea learned was named Jula, went to hug her older sister. Her mother than quickly led her outside and Aldea retreated to her and Tenax’s room, closing the doors behind her. She wasn’t especially hungry, but she was in fact quite tired, and she knew that Tenax would be gone the whole night so there was no need to wait for him. She undressed, only keeping her tunic on and slipped under the blanket. Turning to her side, her cheek crushed against the cushion, staring into space, she smiled. She smiled thinking of her brothers and she smiled thinking of her and Tenax’s unborn baby, as she put her hand on her stomach. She was blessed with an easy pregnancy so far and couldn’t wait to welcome their child. Their family would be complete. Never did she ever think that she would look forward to having her own child so much. She spent her whole raising Elia. He was basically already her child, but this was so much different. This baby was the product of the love she shared with Tenax, and she cherished it so much. She fell asleep, imagining their life together, the three of them.

She was woken up the next day by the drums sounding through the whole city, announcing the games. But she fully opened her eyes when the floor creaked under Tenax’s foot, and she sat up in the bed. He stood by the window, his back to her, as he tied his belt around his waist. He turnd around when he heard her get up.

“I’ll go see my brothers before the games begin.” They shared a swift kiss. She stepped away, quickly swapping her tunic for her beige stola and the cloak she tied with a brooch over her shoulder.

“Stay with them until the end of the gladiators’ fight.”

“You know I will. It is too violent – too much blood. I don’t like it.” She pensively brushed her fingers over the coins adorning her necklace, which she always wore it, so much so she sometimes almost forgot she had it on. The violence of those combats had never been her thing and violence, and blood had never been her cup of tea in general. She had always been a pretty peaceful and calm person and even more so after being so viciously abused by this Roman merchant. She was maybe even more kept to herself than ever before. She didn’t realize how much these events actually affected her, she wasn’t too sure why, but she didn’t have the time to figure it out now, they had to go. He saw how the expression on her face changed as those thoughts raced in her head and he came up behind her, turning her around and caressing her arm as he held her gaze. Just looking in his eyes brought her peace. He was staring at her so deeplu as if she were some incredible works of art that he didn’t dare touch too hard so as not to break it.

They made their way to the Circus, parting ways upon getting there with Tenax going to fetch Scorpus – it made her think how she literally forgot to ask him about whatever happened the night before, but it didn’t really matter to her – while she went to find her brothers at the stables. She embraced Andria before he had to leave to go get ready with the other charioteers and she stayed with Elia and Fonsoa while the gladiators fought in the arena. It took a while but eventually it was over, and Nica came running to her and led her to the entrance. The other factions would definitely not like to see a new one appearing, seemingly coming out of nowhere. As they walked down a flight of stairs to the factions’ section of the stands, they walked past the White faction’s booth, with Felix tapping with a solemn rhythm on a drum and a couple other kids carrying golden banners. All the Whites and Blues turned around, looking over their shoulders in confusion upon hearing the drum and watched as Tenax and Aldea sat in their seats around the corner. They were both getting stared at, but it seemed the patricians were even more curious about Aldea, who clearly didn’t look like a Roman woman, but she was obviously Tenax’s wife as she sat beside him and he placed his hand upon hers, intertwining their fingers, all without giving one glance to the wealthy right behind them and simply listening to Passus while Nica poured them some wine in golden cups.

“Today, just literally four factions are running for victory. For the first time in history, we present to you…” the immense doors at the other end of the arena opened, revealing the new faction’s drivers with Scorpus on the leading rig. “The Gold faction!” the crowd got excited at the news and cheered loudly. “With driver, none other than the great Scorpus!”

It seemed that seeing Scorpus right there greatly shocked Consul Marsus and his wife. Senator Leto, lead owner of the Whites began to shout that the rigs Scorpus and Andria were driving were theirs and Aldea pinched her lips, forcing them into a tight smile but she couldn’t help the corners of her mouth to rise amusedly as she glanced at Tenax from the corner of her eyes. He crossed her gaze. He was pursing his lips, smirking, and softly squeezed her hand and raised his cup at Scorpus as he drove past, waving at the crowd and at them. She knew he had somehow taken Leto’s rigs and made them his. He was always such a cunning an ambitious man and she loved him for it.

As people in the crowd realized Scorpus was alive – which gave Aldea all the answers to the questions she might ask herself about the whereabouts of her husband last night – dozens of them left the stands to go back to the betting tavern around the Circus, including Tenax’s to place bets on the driver who now raced for the gold faction. Aldea held his hand tighter as the drivers were unleashed on the tracks, the bells ringing as the rounds passed. She watched her brother and Scorpus with great attention and anxiety. She was anxious about something happening to Andria and him, but they fared beyond well, with Scorpus taking the lead and winning the race, beating Xenon in the last round. A large smile dawned on Aldea face as she chuckled happily. She got up after Tenax and followed him to go collect his winnings. She wanted to go celebrate with her brothers as well, but Tenax wanted them to appear together before the other faction owners. She wasn’t an owner of the gold faction, but it wasn’t anyone’s business. They were glared at and looked down upon, but they marched forward, confidently holding their heads high and looking ahead of them, Aldea’s arm wrapped around Tenax’s. She wasn’t particularly comfortable with being watched so much by so many people but tried to portray herself as more poised and self-assured than she actually was.

People – and in this case the patricians – would talk, no matter what. It was unthinkable to see a plebeian man and his foreign, Spaniard wife owning a fifth faction. Tenax smiled, slamming his hands on the counter. The gray-haired man behind the des grabbed the big bags of coins and put them in front of Tenax. He picked them and the couple turned around, coming face to face with Consul Marsus and his wife, standing in their way and just staring at them, though mainly Tenax. Without a word, they stepped away and let them through. The patricians despised them, but it was really no surprise. They returned to Tenax’s betting tavern, and everyone cheered as he lifted the bags full of coins with a proud look on his face. Everyone at the tavern cheered and clapped as he put them down on the counter, patting him on the shoulder. Aldea smiled sweetly and stepped aside. She was looking around and heard the sound of coins clicking and turned around. Cala was right there, two small leather pouches full of coins in between her and Tenax. She wanted to buy her daughter’s freedom. She had won money from betting at Tenax’s very own tavern, basically giving him back money that she won directly from him. He grinned, pushing the pouches away. Aldea watched as the two negotiated, going back and forth until they reached an agreement, but she barely listened to what was actually being said, all she could think about was to go see her brothers. They must have been all in the stables right now, but she didn’t want to just leave without even telling Tenax.

When he was done with Cala and agreed to letting her daughter go, Aldea took a step towards her husband, but they looked to the curtains through which they entered upon hearing glasses smashing in the distance. One of his men pulled the curtain and called out to him, urgently.

“Stay here.” He pointed his finger at Aldea before quickly stepping away. She didn’t even say anything and didn’t move, her hands joined at her waist and stayed by the desk, not moving an inch as though his word was law. She could hear a bunch of men shouting and arguing loudly on the other side of the curtains. They were unhappy about the new faction that had been added, addressing Tenax directly. Cala and Aura stood by as Tenax got the tavern closed. Aldea looked down, saddened by the fact she wouldn’t be able to go see her brothers if people were rioting and making a mess in the streets and that was what happened, they rioted all night long, burning street stands and shouting unintelligibly. Aldea could barely sleep but it didn’t matter, she would go see her brothers the next morning, even if she barely got an hour of sleep, or less.

[To be continued…]  

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Published (09/01/2024) by Andrea