Episode Four, Part 1:
Darkness Keeps Chasing Me

And in our hearts, we still pray 
for sons and daughters. 

Sol made her way down the all-too familiar trail to the beach, somewhat disappointed to see the sun beginning to rise as she knew she had missed her opportunity to catch up on sleep. There was still so much to figure out, so much she needed to do for her people, that she couldn't spend the day lying inside of her tent, sleeping.

As she walked in the direction of hers and Wynn's tent, she saw someone sitting outside by the extinguished fire pit. At first, it was too dark for Sol to recognise who it was but as she walked closer, she realised it was Izzy. Immediately she began to worry if she was trying to sneak out of camp again... Was she wanting to go back to the shelter to find something? Locate Calvin's body and make sure she had really killed him?

Eager to make sure another situation didn't arise, Sol made her presence known by coughing slightly, trying to approach the young girl without startling her.

"Izzy?" She asked. "Don't worry, it's just me, Riverly."

"Hey Riverly," her youthful voice had a soft rasp to it, and though she was tired, she beamed the brightest smile her way.

"What are you doing up? It's really early, Iz," she said. "Where are Elara and Kodiak?"

"They're asleep. Kodi said Ell did a lot of walking yesterday; I think she's really tired."

"Yeah, not much is able to stop Elara once she sets her mind on something," Sol smiled to herself momentarily. "How are you feeling? Do you want to come sit with your Auntie Riv?"

"Yes please!" Izzy said, hurrying up from her position and following Sol over to the logs, watching on in admiration as she effortlessly started a fire. "Uncle Wynn said he would tell me a story while we wait for Elara to wake up, but the last time he did that, I had to help him out because he kept forgetting..."

Sol laughed, knowing exactly what Izzy was talking about as she could remember in vivid detail the night Wynn had taken over Elara's storytelling details after she was too exhausted, and Izzy had tried her best to seem engaged when really, her eyes were screaming out to everyone to put her misery to an end.

"Wynn's awake?" She asked.

"Yep," a voice sounded from the tent across from them. Sol looked over, watching as Wynn stepped outside with his jacket in hand, passing it over to Izzy as he sat on her other side, keeping her safe between himself and Sol. "I woke up and the tent felt weirdly empty... I couldn't fall back asleep after that."

Sol let out a heavy sigh, not having considered how her absence would cause him to worry if he woke up in the night, which he had. "Sorry," she said, shooting him her best apologetic smile. "I couldn't stop thinking about everything; I needed to try and find some resolutions to what I could. I also went to see Chess."

"How is she?"

"Doing okay," Sol smiled warmly, her sincerity clear as day to Wynn. "I'm hoping she can come join us here, soon. I'll feel better once we're all together."

"What's happened to Chessca?"

Sol looked down at Izzy for a split-second, quickly turning her attention back to Wynn and shooting him a nervous look.

"She got a little hurt when she was out in the forest, but she's okay. She with Doctor Aeryn who made her better."

Izzy seemed to relax at Wynn's words, scooting forwards and moving over towards the other side of the fire where she began to draw pictures in the sand, clearly assured by what he had told her.

"She seems better," Sol observed, slowly drifting her gaze over at Wynn, unsure who she was smiling more for.

"Yeah, she does," he agreed. "Who would have thought that one kid could be that resilient?" He waited a moment before shaking his head, already correcting himself. "Who am I kidding? Elara is the very definition of resilient. It feels like everything she's gone through since we first left the Bunker was preparing her for this; to be who she is now, for Izzy." 

"It feels a bit twisted to say, but maybe that's a good thing," Sol pondered. "Izzy gets to keep her innocence for a little while longer; she gets to stay a kid. All because of your sister." 

"Yeah," Wynn smiled, the pride he was feeling deep in his heart noticeable to Sol. "It's really starting to feel like, for the first time ever, peace in within our reach. I mean, when you think about it, Blood Riders aren't going to be around when we get back; there's going to be no one. We can leave our gates open and not have to worry about being attacked, and our children will get to live, not survive."

"...Our children."

"Huh?" Wynn muttered, looking over at Sol with wide eyes, not having realised what he said at first. "Uh, Basilisk's children," he tried to correct himself "Izzy, Harlow, all the others to come-"

"You want a family. With me."

Wynn felt his breath catch in his throat, suddenly freezing in front of Sol, not knowing what to say. Of course he wanted that. There was nothing in the world Wynn loved more than his family. But did Sol want that? Would she ever feel safe enough to have a family with Wynn and leave behind her worries that danger was always right around the corner?

"You and me already are a family," he said.

"I know," Sol promised him, resuming Izzy's position and scooting close to Wynn's side. "And we're always going to be. And when we're home, and everything is over, and we have that peace you were talking about, maybe we could be an even bigger family, if you wanted that..."

Wynn felt emotion burn warm behind his eyes, but he kept it from spilling out. He reached down between them both, taking Sol's hands in between his own, and looked deeply into her eyes. "I want that," he whispered. "I want that with you so badly. I want everything with you."

"Good," Sol smiled, leaning forward and kissing him quickly. "Because I want it, too."

Wynn pulled Sol in, wrapping his arms tight around her and resting his head on top of hers, unable to find any words that would explain the way something had healed inside of him. But he came close with "I love you, Sol," and by the way she took a deep breath in his hold, he knew she felt the same way.

"Do you reckon Ell and Kodiak will be up soon?" She wondered.

"Probably," Wynn said. "She has a weird way of knowing when Izzy's not around. Like a...sixth sense, you could call it."

Sol managed a soft laugh, but the previous worries of her heart were finding their way back in now that the moment was still.

"So... I've been talking to Tobias."

Wynn shifted next to her; Sol wasn't sure if it was because he was surprised at her statement, or triggered by the mention of his name.

"Not to shock you or anything, but he's not being the most cooperative."

Wynn laughed, but there was frustration to it. "I'm glad I was sitting down when you told me that," he joked. "But do we really need to have anything to do with him anymore? The war's over; shouldn't the alliance be, too?"

"I know how hurt you are," she said. "I am, too. I hate that he tried to pin us all against each other out there, and to imagine what Kodiak and Elara must have been going through; I still haven't had the chance to tell Elara how sorry I am. But in case this doesn't turn out how we want it to, we have to keep the alliance, just in case we're stuck here for a little while longer."

"A couple more days maximum," Wynn said. "And then I'll start swimming."

Sol laughed, grateful that he was always at her side to lift her spirits. "Well, I need to-"

She was cut off by the sudden appearance of Elara who stepped out of her tent, yawning, with Kodiak doing the same right on her tail.

"I'll be back soon," Wynn said, wasting no time in pushing himself to his feet.

"Where are you going?"

"To talk to Ell," he said, brushing the sand off of his pants, not catching Sol's disappointment that he had beaten her to it.

"Morning," Kodiak said, letting out a deep breath as he sat down next to her, smiling tiredly over at Izzy, glad to see that she was okay.

"Morning," she muttered back, unable to draw her eyes away from Wynn and Elara who were now joined by Quill, slowly strolling along the water's edge. "What are they talking about? Has something happened?"

"No, no," Kodiak assured her. "They were going to talk last night, but Ell and Izzy were so tired that they fell asleep right before you came back. I think Quill and Wynn just want to make sure she's okay after what happened with Tobias, and if she's hurt after how much she pushed herself."

"Is she hurt?"

Kodiak sighed. "I think a little, but you know Ell; she doesn't like to show it, even to me sometimes. What about Chess? How is she doing?"

"Surprisingly okay," she said. "I just came back from seeing her; I couldn't sleep," she explained.

"Good. But lets hope no one else bites the dust, because there's no more of the combination where that came from."

He laughed a little, but there was an evident fear in his voice that wounded Sol to her heart.

"I have an idea," she said. "Something that I think could be beneficial to us, but I don't think you're going to be up for it..."

Kodiak looked over at her, squinting as he tried to predict what she was about to say.

"It could be worth going to the shelter to see what clues it could offer us. And maybe, as much as I know you're going to hate it, we should consider asking Izzy to tag along."

"Izzy? What? Why?"

"You know that ship I gave you when I came back last night?"

Kodiak nodded. "That one the size of my hand?"

"It's name is Hestia," Sol said. "And I found it in the shelter after speaking to Tobias. Did you take a closer look it at?"

"I just gave it to Iz when I got back to my tent."

"Well," Sol sighed. "It has an inscription on it: salvation from The City," she recalled.

"You think it's what they came to the island on? A bigger one, obviously."

"No, I think they shrunk it using a shrinking machine..." She teased, nudging her elbow into him as she laughed. "Yeah, I'm guess Tobias or someone made a figurine of it some time. Point is, the ship they came here on - Hestia, most likely - is still here on the island."

"Okay... But how does Izzy come into this? And why do we need to go to the shelter?"

"Because I figured this out by going there and I'm sure there's more clues where that came from. And, Izzy was in there for a few hours and managed to figure out a secret escape that none of us knew about. She's curious and inquisitive; she might have found out more from her time in there than we're even aware of."

Kodiak let out a sharp breath, shifting his focus over to Izzy. Sol had a point; Izzy was curious and always exploring wherever she went and chances were, she had a lot more information about the shelter than she even realised - information that went right over her head, but could be useful to everyone else.

"Tobias and his people won't be there, and all of Terra Firma are dead, so we don't even have to worry about that. I just think it could be worth a shot; she is becoming quite the young hero, after all. But no pressure, either way."

Kodiak smiled at her comment but knew that he still had an important decision to make. "I'll talk to Elara about it in a little while, depending on how things go with her brothers. But, if Izzy goes, Elara will certainly want to go, as well, and I don't know if she has the energy to make the trek up there after everything. I guess I'm just a little nervous about them both being out there."

"I understand," Sol said, squeezing onto his hand as she took hold of it. "I know Elara's still healing and this was no doubt a setback in her recovery, but I thought I'd mention it, anyway. And, like I said: no pressure." 

Four // Part One
You and me already are a family. // I want everything with you.

That scene with Sol and Wynn was SO cute!!! They revealed that they want to start a family with each other once they get back home to Basilisk and everything is rebuilt!

Do you think their dream is achievable? Do you think they'll even get back home to Basilisk? All I can say is I can't wait for you guys to read the epilogue and see how this series reaches its conclusion!

I also loved Wynn's comment about Elara and Izzy: "Elara is the very definition of resilient. It feels like everything she's gone through since we first left the Bunker was preparing her for this: to be who she is no, for Izzy."

Also, the lyric up top? It's from Sons & Daughters by Allman Brown and I highly recommend you listen to it. It's featured in my Season 10/Epilogue playlist on Spotify for The Boy from the Bunker! My username is NicoleNoelle on there if you want to search me up and find those playlists, and I also have playlist for most of the main characters which I feel really capture their feelings or stories/journey in this series! Overall, I think it's just such a sweet line and definitely the song that I played on repeat whilst writing that conversation between Sol and Wynn. 

What are you predictions for how this book will end?

Do you think every character will get a happy ending? Do you think we'll lose any more characters before we reach the epilogue?

25/07/21