Episode Five, Part 3:
W h o   A r e   Y o u   t o   C o m e   B a c k ?

I never needed any proof to know the heart that beats inside of you. 

A/N: This chapter gets quite raw with description of violence and verbal abuse. If you are sensitive or vulnerable to these kind of scenes, please skip to the bottom of the chapter where I will do a quick recap of what happened without all the gory details (so you can still keep up with what is happening in the story). <3 

Sol breathed out, like she had been holding her breath for a long time, looking at Noah like he held all the answers. 

How could a king not belong to his own people? 

She couldn't understand; the loyalty to Basilisk was the very thing that made her, herself - what kept her fighting when everything else only suggested to give up. She couldn't understand what it was like to feel that way, only certain that he didn't deserve it. 

"I don't want to die as Blood Riders. I don't want to be that person anymore, Riv."

"Then come to Basilisk. You can be one of us." Sol was filled with a hope - a vision of Noah abandoning his people to join her. 

Noah smiled for a moment, then chewed it away, shaking his head in an effort to deny himself of her offer. 

"I can't." 

"Noah-"

"I mean not yet." He clarified. 

Sol relaxed a little - the hope wasn't completely gone. 

"I have to make things right at Riders. I have to try and stop this before it's too late... And I can't leave my dad to be king again." 

"Who'll take your place then? There'll never be a right time to leave. Sometimes you just have to go, to make it out alive. And I need you alive, Noah." 

"Deacon." Noah answered, like he had thought about his answer before. "He's my cousin. I-I'll kill my dad and take Jonas away, and he'd be the automatic beneficiary. They wouldn't go to war with a new king." 

Sol stood up from the couch, shaking away the memories resurfacing. He was so naive, innocent - in a way - that he couldn't even begin to imagine everything Sol had felt since her father's execution. 

"Killing your father won't fix everything." Sol confessed. There was a sadness ringing in her voice, a pain so raw it might as well have been there all along because it hadn't healed. 

Then, as if she had really been saying the word to herself, Sol quickly felt an overwhelming desire to escape - a panic in her that was taking control of everything else. She hurried out of sight of Noah, heading over towards the Bunker's exit, and climbing up to the Ground - Noah catching up behind her. 

Sol pushed the entrance over, letting it crash onto the ground; as she got to her feet, pacing around the bushes as the moon peaked through the trees, her breath seized in her chest. For a moment, she could imagine that Wynn must have felt like this: that with the world - as big as it was - didn't always have enough air to breathe in. That it was overwhelmingly big and terrifyingly small all at once. 

But as he left her head, the fears drizzled back in, and her breath was still caught in her throat. 

"River... What's going on?" Noah exclaimed, unsure whether to approach her. 

Sol turned around, walking straight past him, then back round again.  

Finally, concerned by her relentless pacing, Noah grabbed onto her shoulders and pulled her to a halt. He tried one final attempt to calm down her panic. 

Noah leaned down, his hands moving from her shoulders up to the sides of her face, holding her firmly as he pressed his lips onto hers. 

He lingered like that, until he felt Sol freeze, knowing that she had held what was left of her breath as the surprise took over her. 

Noah pulled away, opening his eyes; a sudden fear of rejection creeping in. The last thing he needed was to lose her. Intentions underlining; he knew if he could make her hold her breath, then she would calm down, and that was the reason he was telling himself was behind kissing her. 

Yet, deep down, a doubt that they would have a moment like this ever again. 

"Noah..." 

"No, I know. I'm sorry-" He immediately stepped away from her, running his hand through his Chestnut hair, avoiding her eyes. 

"No..." Sol murmured, stepping closer to him once again. She reached up to cup his face, turning his head to look at her. 

Noah waited, resting in the pauses, desperate to read her. Sol answered by raising to her tiptoes, tugging on the back of his neck to bring him down, kissing him back. 

Everything else disappeared; there wasn't anything other than that moment, and just the two of them under the trees, by her sister's bunker. It was almost enough to not have to worry again: to say that whatever happened between their two Clans couldn't matter, because they had found peace. 

They both pulled away, unable to let go of each other completely. 

Sol smiled up at Noah, her face soft and glowing in the evening light. It gave Noah the reassurance to return the favor. 

"What took you so long?" She teased. 

Noah looked away bashfully, ready to fire back with a witty remark, but catching sight of something on the ground. 

"Jonas?" Noah asked, instinctively walking over to the young boy who peeked his eyes through the bunker's opening. 

"What are you doing? You shouldn't come out here on your own." He warned his brother, lifting him up from the ladder, setting him steadily on the ground. 

"I woke up and you guys were gone. I was scared something happened to you." 

Noah bent down, meeting his eye level. "If you think that, I don't want you coming after me. You stay where it's safe next time, okay?" 

Jonas nodded, trying to remember the words he was told. 

Noah watched, waiting to see if he would turn and head back into the Bunker, but instead his eyes focused on something behind him, a vision that seemed to move around. 

The older boy tilted his head, then turned around to try and see what had caught his brother's attention, unable to find anything. 

"What are you looking at, Jonas?" Noah asked. 

Sol began glancing around by this point, slowly taking her gun out, prepared to shoot at a moment's notice. 

There was an snapping sound - like someone had ran past, but the moment they distinguished where it had came from, there was another noise behind them, suggesting more than one person circling them. 

"Jonas, go back inside." Noah ordered, guiding him backwards as he held him close behind. 

The little boy gulped, looking down at where he walked until he reached the bunker. There wasn't even an inch of him that would have taken the safety of the bunker over staying on the Ground with his brother, but he heard him say enough times how important it was to Noah that he was alive, so he knew he had to listen. 

As Noah shut the opening, he pulled out his gun from his waistband, covering the areas Sol couldn't. 

"You should go inside with him. I don't need to tell you what will happen if its Riders." Sol mumbled, feeling him stand at her back. 

"I'm not hiding. I meant what I said about not being one of them anymore." 

Sol breathed out, trying to keep her focus on tracking the enemy. "I know. But you also meant everything about wanting to keep Jonas safe. How are you going to do that if you're dead?"

"Is now a bad time to ask if you would do that?" He laughed a little, out of nervousness, Sol's words forcing him to accept their reality. Whoever was out there knew that he had just sent his brother into the bunker, and there was nothing to stop them from getting to him if something happened. 

Noah fired his gun - a result of the tension building up, a hopeless plea that it would hit whoever was out there as they moved past. 

"Save your bullets." Sol snapped at him, trying to keep her voice low. "Wait until you can see someone. They're in no position to be scared right now." 

"I can see someone!" Noah exclaimed, shutting one of his eyes as he aimed his gun again. 

The girl he caught a glimpse of had ducked past, her clothing seeming to blend well with the dark colours of the earthy forest, but it was a wave of her platinum blonde hair that gained his attention as he brushed through the trees. 

"I'm tracking her now. She's moving round to your side. 2 o'clock." He told her the coordinates, allowing Sol to shift her aim to be able to shoot if necessary. 

"I've got 2 on my side." Sol told him. "Is there anyone else you can see, or can you help me out?" 

"I-I'm not sure-" 

As Noah began to answer, a noise erupted from the bushes - hiding out of sight where Sol was aiming. But she hadn't shot, and she hadn't been shot at... So what happened? 

Noah spun around, glancing over Sol afraid that something had happened to her, but she was fine. 

"It wasn't me." She informed him. "It was whoever's out there..." 

As they listened in, cautiously inching closer to where the gunshot had sounded from, Sol lowered her gun, retreating one of her hands down to hold onto Noah, pulling him further away. 

"River-" 

"They might be trying to lure us there. Cover my back. We have to get inside the bunker." 

"And then what?" Noah yelled in a whisper. "We'll be stuck down there with no way to get out. I don't think that's a good plan for either of us. You know, with you being the Nobel, and me being the king? We have to approach." 

Sol chewed on her lip, frustrated that they couldn't agree on what to do. Noah began to move past her, and she couldn't stop him, she couldn't do anything to control the sudden, overwhelming fear of losing him from taking it's hold on her. 

As Noah moved, the person in the bushes began to as well, rising up to aim her arrow and shoot. He realized what was happening without even a second to spare, ducking down as the arrow shot over him. 

"Judas!?" His eyes narrowed, half horror, half realization of what was happening. 

Judas snickered behind the trees, her confirmation to Noah that he had guessed right. Anger took over, it's power forcing him back up into a sprint as he went to chase after her. 

"Noah!" Sol yelled, grabbing onto his wrist and refraining him from following. "Are you crazy? She'll get you killed!" 

"No, she won't, because I'm going to kill her." He growled. 

"Please don't go." She held off the emotion from spilling out, instead, her words coming out more like an order than a request, but Noah could see through all that. Through to the fear that he shared. 

"If I don't stop her, she'll go back to Riders and tell them I was with you. That we're working together, that I betrayed my people. Then they'll come after me, then Jonas, then you. I can't let that happen. I have to stop her, even if it kills me." 

Sol gulped, not knowing what to do or what to say. "Well don't let her. I meant what I said, too. I need you alive." 

Noah nodded, keeping his eyes on her for as long as possible, until he knew he had to turn away before he lost track of Judas. 

He weaved through the forest, completely disorientated as he spun around trying to follow the creaks of the footsteps on the earth's floor. 

"Judas!" He screamed out. "You want to kill me? Huh? Is that what you came here for? Well give it your best shot!" 

Adrenaline pulsed through him, testing his heartbeat; the taste of danger was exhilarating, and the wild chase against Judas was a battle he had desired for as long as he could remember. He couldn't let her have the satisfaction of winning. 

Another arrow shot past Noah, sticking into the bark of the tree right behind him, grazing past his arm. 

"You're going to have to a lot better than that." Noah taunted, glancing in every direction except the one where she was hiding. 

As he moved past, Judas debated her timing, springing down from the branch of the tree and knocking Noah to his feet. She had him pinned down after a moment of surprise, kneeling on his arms so he couldn't fight back, curling her hands tightly around his neck. 

She watched as he fought to breathe underneath her, taking the clawing and shoving for the price of taking his life. 

"I've been waiting all my life to do this." Judas whispered to him, pushing him further against the ground. 

"I'm gonna be the king." She laughed. "The Queen. The Commander. Everything you'll never be. I'm gonna kill you, then that precious brother of yours will be delivered to Rogue, and he'll see me for what I really am. Did you know that he sent me to follow you? He wants you dead. Everyone wants you dead. And don't worry, I'll kill the Sovereign as well-" 

Noah's skin was turning blue, and he was struggling to hold onto his consciousness, only able to hear what Judas was saying to him. 

He felt a sudden release - wondered if maybe he was on the verge of suffocating, and caught in some strange sort of limbo where he couldn't feel any pain. He was terrified to try and open his eyes, not knowing if he would be able to, but against all odds, he could. 

He could see the darkening sky above him, the leaves overhead, but no Judas. Turning his head to the left, he found her lying next to him, face down in the dirt as blood slowly began to pool around her. 

"River?" He tried to call her name, to see what she had done, but his voice was completely gone. 

"River?" Someone answered, presumably reading his lips. "Nope, just me." 

Struck with the fear that his fight wasn't over, Noah found the strength to push himself to sit up, needing to know who had killed Judas. 

"I never liked her anyway." Lyra rolled her eyes, smiling a little in relief. 

'What are you doing here?' Noah tried to ask, but failed once again. He could taste blood on his lips, running down from his nose and inside of his mouth from where he had been biting his tongue so hard. 

Lyra reached into her pocket and pulled out a loose piece of fabric, extending it out to Noah for him to use. 

"Take it." She said. "If you can manage to breathe out of your mouth, you should pinch your nose to stop it from bleeding." 

Noah hesitated to accept her help, questioning her motives, but took hold of the fabric and held it to his face. He exhaled in disgust, his hands completely covered in his own blood, every part of his body exhausted and oxygen deprived. 

"Can you stand?" She asked, still kneeling beside him like she was waiting for something. She rolled her eyes at herself, remembering that she needed to explain why. 

"I need to see Riverly. If I go up to her alone, she'll think I've killed you... I did just save your life after all." 

Noah exhaled again, frustrated that he couldn't speak. He glanced her up and down, then eyeing over the bag she had beside her. 

"I've got two guns in there, a knife under my shoe, and this gun that I just used on Judas." She revealed them all as she named them, showing them to Noah as she stuffed them into her bag. "You can carry them so you know I don't have them. Please, Noah. She needs to hear what I have to say." 

 Five // Part Three

I meant what I said, too. I need you alive.

Rest in paradise. 26/01/20.

Recap in case you decided to skip over: When Sol begins to panic after Noah mentions his own plans to kill his father, she exits the Bunker in an attempt to catch her breath. Noah follows her up, and in an effort to make her hold her breath, he kisses her. Not long after, Jonas appears and spots someone circling them. As Noah returns his brother to the safety of the Bunker, he learns that the person trying to attack them is Judas - sent by his father to kill him. She catches him and ends up strangling him. She would have succeeded in her mission if it wasn't for the reappearance of Lyra who kills Judas instead. In return for saving his life, Lyra asks Noah to take her to see Sol so she can deliver some valuable news.