Episode Three, Part 4:
You're Still a Traitor

Chessca stretched out her fingers at her side; they were stiff and ached, much like every other part of her body, but she couldn't figure out why. Upon realising that she was lying down, she fought to open her eyes, finding that they felt almost glued shut, as if she wasn't supposed to open them.

"Chess?"

Someone murmured her name; a whisper drenched in hope; a voice that meant she was safe, no matter what else was going on in the world around her.

As Dreea's hand caressed the side of her face, Chessca stirred from her slumber and flickered her eyes open, overly sensitive to every light she could see, despite it being fairly dark in the cramped hideout.

"Drey," she whispered back, smiling tiredly as she found her eyes.

"You're okay... You're okay. You're alive."

Before Chessca could even recall what had happened to her, Dreea was leaning down, resting her head on Chessca's chest and holding her as closely as she possibly could. "You pulled through," she continued to murmur, repeating her reassurances over and over to herself.

"I... I was hurt," the memory seemed to resurface, pounding in between the ache in her head. It was there when she first woke up, or perhaps it was when she had been asleep, but she initially brushed it aside as nothing other than a bad dream.

"...Yeah," Dreea said, trying her hardest to think of another answer, but there wasn't one. "You got hurt."

"I-I died. I died, didn't I? You were there, and Riv found me, and I died-"

"Shh, shh, take a deep breath," Dreea encouraged her, watching the same fear begin to return to eyes as had been present during the attack. She wanted to protect Chessca from ever feeling that way again; she wanted her to never even remember that kind of fear for the rest of her life.

Once Chessca was focused on her breathing, Dreea found the strength to talk, trying to tiptoe around as many of the gruesome details as she could, for Chessca's sake.

"Atlantis said you left the hideout because you were worried about me," she told her, motioning over her shoulder where Chessca's eyes followed, relieved to see Atlantis sleeping soundly at the far end of the hideout, right next to Aeryn.

Chessca nodded as best as she could, not sure which was more draining of her energy: moving, or talking.

"And I thought I had killed all of the Terra Firma that were around, but one of them got behind me somehow, and I... I don't know. I don't know how they got past me; that's never happened. I've never lost a fight to someone."

"You didn't lose."

"I did. I lost you. And what greater loss is there than that? To lose the person you love the most?" She took a deep breath herself, holding tightly onto Chessca's hand in between her own, only finding her strength through her. "You moved in front of me and killed the guy who tried to hurt me, but it killed you instead. You risked your life for me, Chess-"

"I love you. That's what you do for the people you love."

"No," Dreea shook her head, moving a hand up to run through Chessca's hair.

She managed a faint laugh, knowing that even Dreea didn't agree with herself, she just wanted it to not always be true. "If that wasn't true, then I wouldn't have made it out of The City. Riv loved me, so she saved me. I love you, so I knew I had to save you, too. And guess what?"

"...What?" Dreea asked, smiling down fondly at her, mesmerised by the sight of her through her tears.

"I'd do it again," Chessca said. "Without hesitation. Without even needing to think about it. A million times over."

"I know you would, and I'm trying to not love you for that, but I do. It just means that I'm never going to let you be in that position again, let alone come close to it. If you only knew what I've been like since it happened... I can't live without you, Chess; that much is clear. I don't want to."

"You don't have to," Chessca reminded her, careless to how much of her strength she was using just to reach up and run her fingers weakly across the side of Dreea's cheek. "Because you saved me, too."

"I didn't," Dreea said. "That was Riv, Aeryn and Fenn, and Wynn-"

"Wynn?" Chessca asked. "I don't remember him being there. Did he come after I...you know, died?"

"Sort of," Dreea let out a heavy breath. "There was a situation - with Tobias. It involved Kodiak and Elara."

"What happened?"

"They also needed the combination. To save Izzy. The decision came down to Wynn, as he was caught in the middle of it all. He let us save you-"

"What about Izzy!?" Chessca tried to force herself to sit up, but she couldn't manage it. Pain wrecked through her and it was impossible to hide her panic from Dreea. "Don't tell me you used it on me instead of her-"

"Hey, don't worry," Dreea cut her off, making sure that Chessca was lying down and wasn't racing to sit herself up. "Izzy's fine - back on the beach with everyone else."

"Then what are you talking about?"

"It's a long story," Dreea said. "Tobias needed the combination for Ivy, or else he wasn't going to let Izzy out of the shelter. But it's all worked out, and everyone is safe."

"And the war?"

"It's over, Chess. Terra Firma are gone."

There was an excitement to her voice that Chessca wasn't used to hearing in her; a hope, if she could call it that; like Dreea believed that everything was finally working out for their good.

"Riv?"

"At the beach," Dreea confirmed, smiling once again as she watch the relief wash over Chessca. "She came and saw you a few hours ago. She'll probably be back in the morning - ecstatic to see you awake, like Atlantis - over there - will be."

"...Everything's really okay," Chessca mumbled, closing her eyes momentarily as she tried to process how it was true.

"Yeah," Dreea said, suddenly shifting around until she was behind Chessca. The next thing she knew, Dreea was carefully lifting her head up and resting it on her lap, already running her fingers through her hair without a second passing.

Chessca hummed out a peaceful sound, knowing she was right: everything was okay, and as long as Dreea was right beside her, it always would be.

"Enough with the questions - you're worrying, like normal," Dreea teased, truthfully not minding one bit. "You just rest, okay? You're safe down here. I'm not leaving your side."

//////////

"Why do you believe that I am the answer to your predicament?" Tobias question, standing nervously in front of Sol, unsure what she was asking from him. "If my interactions with your clan have taught you anything, it is that my intentions never seem to pull through; I cause damage without wanting to."

"You have an entire clan of people here on this island; a bigger clan than mine. I want to know how you got that many people here."

"Ivy and I, along with the other two founders, snuck into The City after out escape to help people leave-"

"I'm not talking about The City. I want to know how you got here, on this island. I know the flood would have brought more water here, but I know there was already a body. How did you make it over from The City?"

Tobias dropped his head, reluctant to answer. "How did Basilisk make it onto the island?"

"Tobias-"

"You must have your own transport. You have been here what, a week or two? That flood was a while ago, Sovereign-"

"Tobias!" Sol yelled, unable to hide her frustration for him. "I am trying to give you a chance to make up for what you did to Izzy, Elara, and Kodiak! Why the hell are you wasting my time?"

"What happened to your vessel ships? I saw them lined up along the water on one of the many occasions I visited your people. What are you trying to achieve here, Sovereign?"

Sol huffed, tempted to abandon the conversation altogether, but she didn't want to return to the others without even an idea of how to get home. "They were destroyed in the war. When Terra Firma strays attacks our group at the beach, and when Kodiak and Elara put Izzy into your trusted shelter," she said, spite heavy in her voice, "they set fire to our vessels. Satisfied?" She folded her arms.

"Like I said..." Tobias looked away. "I do not think it is a smart idea to involve me with your people again. From what I can only assume about Sovereign Kodiak, he will want to hurt me the moment he next lays eyes on me. Perhaps I need to accept that I will not get redemption from him, or his family."

"Then what about redemption for Ivy?" Sol knew it was a dangerous game to mention Ivy and yet, she didn't hesitate to say her name.

"Do not bring her into this-"

"Seeing as making things right for Izzy isn't your concern, I don't think I have any other choice but to bring Ivy into this," Sol said. "Need I remind you that whilst Izzy was held hostage with Calvin, Ivy was the one who-"

"I know what she did!" Tobias yelled; this time, he was the one to interrupt her. "And I know where it got her: dead," he said, "and I am left here, trying to figure out where in this damned world to dig into so I can bury her underneath."

"You're not the first person to lose someone, Tobias."

"She was not just 'someone', she was the woman I loved. The person I lived for. Until you have lost that person, you do not get to lecture me about-"

"Actually, I have," Sol informed him. She didn't want to face the reminders. It would only make her fearful, or vulnerable as she relived every moment of her nine months apart from Wynn, but she had to brave it for her people. Visions of Wynn finding her in The City scattered in her mind, accompanied along with the night she left Basilisk, and of course, on Neptunum. "Twice."

"Yeah right," Tobias scoffed, beginning to turn around as if he was ready to leave, but Sol caught his attention.

"The first time was when I was taken by The City of Targo," she said, already wondering if the confession would come back to spite her. "And I had to go behind Wynn's back to save him, knowing that I wouldn't be around to know if it had worked; if he was safe. I thought that was goodbye forever, and it felt like it for the longest time, but almost a year passed, and he was the one who ended up saving me."

"We do not all get happy endings," he snapped, voice bitter and on the verge of breaking - an anger inside of him that Sol hadn't seen before.

"The second time was on Neptunum when he sacrificed himself to save his sister. You know that story, even in spite of what you did to her. By the time I found him, he had already given up and from then, he stopped breathing for a while. Yeah, I was lucky that he pulled through; it means more to me than I could ever say, but just because it ended well, doesn't mean I haven't known tremendous loss, or sacrifice, or trauma; doesn't mean I don't emphasise with that unending grief, or feeling like something is always missing, or every day that you wake up to is really just a cruse. I've been there, Tobias. Most of my people have. It's why I need to get them home so they don't have to know how this feels anymore. Why don't you want that for us? I'd want that for anyone who's been through what we have."

"I... I cannot think straight!" Tobias said. His anger seemed the result of knowing that what he was doing was wrong and unnecessarily cruel, but perhaps he was too far deep into his own darkness that there wasn't enough light for him to find his way out. "Nothing makes sense without Ivy. I cannot help you, Sovereign-"

"I'm not letting you give up."

"For your own benefit-"

"Yeah," Sol was blunt about it, but there was no use trying to hide it. Tobias would see straight through her lies and it would do her no favours. "Because I have a duty to my people, and my family. I know you do to yours; I know you still feel like you do to Ivy; make that count." 

Three // Part Four
I'd do it again. Without hesitation. Without even needing to think about it.

I love getting to show this side of Dreea. I also love seeing how Chessca has shifted form being the one who needed constant protection, to now having her own protective instincts over Dreea (even if she still needs their protection herself). And best of all, SHE'S ALIVE!!! You didn't actually think I could kill off Chessca, did you? She's one of my favourites and her relationship with Sol in S6 forever changed the course of this story. She's so important to me, and I love getting to write scenes with her and Sol, and now with Dreea, as well.

Also, I got the job!!! It seems like such a cute, little pub, so I'm praying that it stays this nice and it isn't just first impressions!

Some big things coming up for Sol in the next few chapters, and something big for Tobias in the next episode. Stick around!

18/07/21.