Episode Six, Part 5:

O a s i s

Darling, when your feet are cold, wait up, I'm coming home. 

All of you, I will hold. My love with clothe your bones.

Sol knew already that they weren't going to make it back. She had underestimated the extent of Wynnlow's injury - how excruciating it was for him to use his leg, despite how many steps forward he took for the sake of trying to get Sol home. 

For all they had done, how many miles they had walked to get to each other, through what impossible trials, and it would all come down to nothing. A fate that ended in the middle of the DeadLands, far from everything they had left behind. Still, Sol refused to stop fighting until the moment it was over. Carrying half of Wynnlow's weight when he couldn't. 

When night reached them, Sol set Wynn down without so much as a blanket to keep either of them warm - only the clothes on their back that they had to make do with. It was very different to when she led him out on a search for his family, teaching him how to start a fire, to set up a tent, to source supplies that would help them through the night. Out in the DeadLands, there was nothing. 

"Can't believe we made it this far." 

Sol looked beside her where Wynnlow was lying down, gazing up at her, smiling softly. He hadn't spoke much all day - using all of his energy to try and survive, but he had finally caught his breath. 

"You can't even see where the caves are any more." He nodded in the direction behind him, informing Sol that they were out of sight now. 

She shook her head, laughing a little. "It's also night. That makes it pretty hard to see most things. Wait until morning before you get too excited." 

Wynnlow sighed. "If I make it till then." 

"No." Sol said to him. "No, you can't say that." 

Wynnlow shifted a little, turning his head away from her. "I'm just trying to be realistic here." He explained. "Isn't that what you've wanted from me since I came to the ground?" 

There was a pause. A moment of silence, Sol hesitating in her reply. "Not anymore. Not if it means this. I'd take it back." 

Wynnlow was caught off guard by her sudden vulnerability, always stumbling over how complex she was. He was afraid to reply, almost letting the moment pass by - fear of ruining the the trust she had to finally open herself up to him. 

"I wouldn't." 

Sol looked over to Wynnlow. Her breath hitched in her throat. 

"I mean I wouldn't take it back." He explained. "You made me strong." 

Her head shook, but Wynn was looking away. "You were strong when I found you." She said. "But you're right... You are strong. And you saved me. You saved my life, Wynnlow, ." 

-

Kodiak hurried on the walk back to Basilisk, Aeryn running somewhere behind, struggling to keep up. He was anxious about leaving the others alone with Noah. He knew Bianca was there to rival him if he chose to betray them, but he was still sending his own people out into the DeadLands with the heir to Rider's throne, knowing how deadly there conditions were out there alone. The list of what could go wrong was growing with every decision. ' 

"Kodiak! Wait up!" Aeryn called, trying to catch her breath in the pauses. 

Kodiak sighed, but reluctantly came to a halt. 

"We need to figure out how we're going to get in. And what we're gonna say when they start asking questions." 

"I'm a Sovereign. We'll get in." 

"I know, but..." Aeryn didn't know the best way to communicate her fears. "Eryx." She stumbled out. "If they did hear Riverly's message... If he know she's alive." 

"The radios are cut off. They can't hear any messages. Not ours, not Riverly's." 

Aeryn exhaled, looking away as she tried to formulate the right answer without breaking his heart. "I know you want to believe that, but if they did... If they know shes alive, Eryx won't let you back out to find her." 

"Then we don't get caught." Kodiak answered, adrenaline denying all fears and any possibilities of what go wrong. 

-

Atlantis sat in the Nobel's Quarters, head in her hands as her mind tried to piece the world back together again. She had no clue what she was doing. She still didn't know anything about what was outside of Basilisk, or what was even inside her own walls for that matter. Of the things she was sure of, she knew they would come crashing down on her; her sister being gone, her father some sort of sociopath who only cared about power, and the war he had brought on - set to meet them any day now. 

Dreea entered the room, cautiously, followed by Joren, looking around to make sure no one was in sight. She made her way over to where Atlantis sat, pulling on her arms for her to stand up. 

Atlantis shot her a worried look, everything moving too fast for her to comprehend what was happening. 

"There was some commotion in the woods outside. Just come with us." Dreea murmured, leaving her without a choice as they two led her through the Quarters to a room she hadn't been in before. 

She was brought into a bedroom - neat and tidy, but it was dark inside, as if was trying to keep something hidden. Joren locked the doors behind them, both him and Dreea scurrying over to the bed as they began to push it aside. 

"I thought there was something happening? What are you doing? We need to go out there in case it's Riverly." 

"It wasn't River." Dreea answered. She stepped closer to Atlantis, revealing the trap door hidden under Joren's bed. He knocked a sequence onto the wood before opening it up with a key he had tied around his neck. Slowly, someone stepped out from the whole in the ground, appearing in front of Atlantis. 

"It was Kodiak." She answered. 

She had so much she wanted to ask. What did her find out there? Why had they been gone so long? Where was everyone else? But he beat her to it. 

"Riverly's alive." 

"We know." Atlantis replied. The shock on Kodiak's face was the same one he had been expecting to see on the girls' when he revealed Riverly's fate. 

"We heard her message." 

Kodiak stammered in, interrupting her before she could answer his questions. "We've been trying to send you a call for hours. Your signals are all shut down. How did you hear her message?" 

"Same way you did, I'm guessing. But I had to shut off our communications before Eryx had a chance to listen. He doesn't know that she's alive and were going to keep it that way." 

"Where is he now?" Kodiak asked, looking to Dreea expectantly. It was a relief to hear the reasoning behind the faulty radios, but as long as he was in Basilisk, he knew he couldn't let his guard down with Eryx around.

Dreea looked over to Atlantis, arms folded, forcing her to answer the question. 

Atlantis gulped, coming to terms to admit what she had done. Guilt hollowing her insides.   "I put him in the cells. He isn't a Nobel anymore. He isn't a Sovereign. And he isn't a father." 

"So..." Kodiak turned to Dreea, uncomfortable with the question he had to ask. "Which one of us steps us as Nobel?" Then, choking the words out, "until she's home." 

"I step up." 

Kodiak kept his eyes locked on Dreea, searching her for confirmation, trying to understand why she would allow that to happen. 

"Basilisk law states that at least one of the three Sovereigns have to be blood related. With Riverly being...absent, that makes me first in line to the position." 

"Atlantis..." Kodiak was caught on what to say. Grateful that she had taken action over Eryx, but knowing how Sol felt about her, and with the awareness that she was now Nobel, he was afraid that she would be consume in the familiar greed for power as her father. 

"I know what you're going to say, and you don't need to worry." Atlantis told him. "I don't want to be a Sovereign. I just know that the only way to get her Riverly home safely is with our dad out of the picture. Once she's returned, she's the Nobel as far as I'm concerned." 

Kodiak nodded reassuringly, exhaling in the relief her words brought him. It was then that someone stepped out from behind him. Aeryn, followed by Fabian and the rest of the group that had been hiding in the annex. 

Kodiak turned around when he felt their presence, Joren moving over to help the group up. Kodiak reached over, grabbing onto Elara's arm as he helped up the narrow staircase. As soon as she was stable on her feet, he noticed that she immediately began glancing around the room in search for any one of her brothers. When she realized they weren't around, she looked to Kodiak expectantly,  believing that they had left the annex because they were finally home. 

"I'm sorry. They're not back yet." He felt a great empathy for her as he watched the hope on her face fade out. It was the same defeat he felt waiting for Sol to return home. The same, relentless agony that was yet to depart from him. 

"Where is everyone?" Fabian asked, holding Harlow closely in front of him. 

Kodiak sighed, having a hard time finding the courage to answer them all. 

"They're in the DeadLands." 

"You're kidding?" Dreea stood up, disbelief washing over her. 

"What's the DeadLands?" MaReya chimed in, overwhelmed by the horror on everyone's faces. 

"Miles and miles of nothing." The standard answer. He didn't want to raise anymore concern than necessary. "But we know where they are now. And we know they're alive... Riverly sent out a message," he elaborated. "Telling us she was safe, and where-" He almost let it slip that Wynnlow was missing too. 

The only thing that stopped him was that he could have sworn to have heard Elara's heart beating beside him, and he didn't want to break it. 

"Where to find her. We came back because we need to pick up the jeep and some better medic equipment just in case." 

Six // Part Five

I know this part is really bad, and that is why it has taken me soooo long to update because I couldn't write through this chapter (even though I have the rest of this book planned out part by part). Oh well. Here it is.

4 years, Caleb. Still on my mind. Still love you. Always.