Episode Two, Part 5:
S e r u m

Kodiak's body was heaving against the bed. By now, the serum had been in his veins for 20 minutes, and he had been unconscious for almost the entire time. It didn't seem to have as strong as an effect on him as it did with Elara; he wasn't screaming as such, but he was grunting and breathing heavily, and his hands would form fists at his sides, bashing onto the bed underneath him every now and then. 

Sol was pacing around the room, hoping that it was worth it for Aeryn and Fenn to get the answers they needed, but she couldn't stand to watch her friend suffer any longer. 

"I need to get some air." She announced to the group, gesturing to the door. "Someone alert me when he's awake." 

There were a few nods around the room before everyone's attention drifted back to Kodiak, waiting to see when he would wake up. But Wynn's eyes remained focused on Sol as she left. He felt empathy tugging in his heart that they both had to watch someone they love endure the physical precautions of the serum. 

He looked around, seeing that there were enough people there already, and hurried over to the door to follow Sol. It hadn't completely closed from when she had left as she was in such a hurry to get away, but as Wynn turned around to carefully shut it behind him, he noticed Elara sitting on the ground, just a few feet away. 

"Elara?" Wynn asked, not expecting to see her. "What are you doing out here? I thought you were resting." He crouched down in front of her, resting his hand on her knee. 

It was instantly noticeable how upset she was and Wynn worried that it had something to do with what she had told Sol. 

"Are you alright?" 

Elara nodded, wiping her cheeks to rid any evidence of her crying, but her eyes were red and swollen making it a dead giveaway. 

"What's wrong?" Wynnlow pushed. His tone was now firm and more serious, implying that he wouldn't leave until he had an answer. 

Elara forced a tired smile onto her face and rested her hand on top of his. She squeezed slightly, sniffling away her emotions. 

"I could hear what was going on in the room," she admitted. 

 Wynn shifted. None of them had wanted her to find out that Kodiak took on the serum, especially with the intent being to know what was going on in her head. 

"You know about Kodiak..." He muttered, shaking his head at himself. 

"Yeah," Elara mumbled. "And I heard what Riverly said as well." 

At the mention of her name, Wynn looked down the opposite end of the hallway, wondering if he had any chance of catching up to her now. He looked back at his sister. 

"She told me she knows what's going on in that head of yours." He frowned, tapping on the side of her head. 

Elara laughed and pushed his hand away, almost knocking him back as she did so. 

"Hey, don't take it out on me just because you've gone crazy," he continued to tease, desperate to keep that bright-eyed smile on his sister's face for as long as he could. All he could hear was Sol's voice in his head, repeating what she had said to them - that the thought of confessing what was going on made Elara fear that it would change the love they had for her. 

Even though Wynn knew that wasn't true, he was able to find the strength to refrain from digging deeper and let the opportunity of knowing her mind, pass him by again. 

With a sharp inhale, Wynn pulled himself to his feet, and he reached his hand down to pull his sister up as well. 

Elara hesitated but took hold of his hand, swiftly brought up to stand. 

Wynn opened the door to the room he had come out of and nodded his head as if to tell her to go inside. 

"No... I-I shouldn't be in there." Elara stuttered, not sure what she was afraid of in particular, but knowing that feeling was there. 

"No one's gonna ask you anything," he assured her. "And besides, I know you're not even going to say anything until you're ready. So go in there for Kodiak. I'm sure you can appreciate how relieved he would feel if he wakes up and you're there." 

Elara nodded. Through her brother's words, she was able to find a reason to push away the fear of her own mind, and worry only about Kodiak. As Wynn stood with the door open for her, the young girl hurried inside, and the only thing that mattered was him. 

As his sister fell out of sight, Wynn jumped straight back into his venture for Sol, hoping he could find her before she got caught up in anything. 

"Sol, hey, wait up!" Wynnlow called after the Sovereign, running down the hall to where he could see her up ahead.

Sol looked over her shoulder and slowed down her pace to allow Wynn to catch up to her.

"I can't tell you-"

"No, I heard you." Wynn was quick to cut her off. Although he was frustrated that he couldn't figure out what was going on with Elara, he couldn't stay mad at Sol for too long.

"I'm sorry we went behind your back like that. I-I didn't want to, but Kodiak-"

"I know." Sol sighed heavily, now walking closely in front of Wynn. "But it doesn't matter what I could say to him. When you love someone, I guess you just do whatever stupid thing you can think of if it means keeping the other one safe. He's just trying to help Elara."

Wynn modded, then remembering she couldn't see him from walking in front, "Yeah, I guess so." He exhaled, suddenly brought back to terms with why he was following her.

"Where are you going?"

Sol came to a stop in the narrow hallway of the Quarters, leaning up against the wall as if impacted by the question.

"I've tried to avoid thinking about it, but the fact is that we have the... The king of Blood Riders locked up here." It was a hard thing for her to say: king. It meant accepting that Noah wasn't still the king and that he was gone... 

"What's the point of letting him rot in our cells? I know I should do something, but I don't know what." Sol admitted. It felt as if having Rogue locked up was just as frustrating as him being free.  

"I can't just buy my time either. I know I need to act on it; usually, I'd ask Dreea or Kodiak for advice, but- but Dreea's away with Bas, and Kodiak's-" 

Wynn shifted to move in Sol's line of sight, no longer looking down the hall at where Kodiak was, her vision now focused on Wynn. 

"You can talk to me. I might not be able to help, but maybe you'll figure something out just by talking..." Trying to lighten the mood, Wynn added: "I am your Nominated after all." 

"Oh, now you play that card." They both laughed a little, but it wasn't long before Sol grew serious again. 

"So what would you suggest?" She asked. 

Wynnlow bit down on his lip, searching her eyes as if to determine if it was safe for him to say; if he didn't have to worry about judgement or spite about the decision he had made the moment Sol brought Rogue back to Basilisk. 

"You could... You could kill him." The words didn't feel like Wynnlow, and as he said them, he wondered what kind of person he had become. It was a terrible thing to want, and he knew that, but if killing Rogue meant that Elara would be safe, then he wasn't opposed to it.

Sol was bent over, war-torn by her thoughts, looking up after Wynn's suggestion. There was something different about her gaze - like she knew he was different, and wondered when the Ground had got the best of him - stolen his innocence away.

She sighed heavily. "Yeah, I should. After what he did to-" she but down on her tongue unable to finish - Wynnlow looking over at her tenderly, as if to see if feelings for Noah were still there. 

"Jonas should kill him."

Something pounded inside Wynn's chest. An urgency of some sort. "No. No, he's just a kid."

The Sovereign sighed again. "I know. You're right. But he's a kid with 'grown-up' pain. We can't let Rogue live: the kill should be Jonas'." 

"So what do you want to do about it? If you agree that it's the best for Basilisk if we kill him?"

"We?" Sol asked.

Wynn softened, not having expected to be called out. "Yeah," he breathed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "We're in this together... We both have people that we want vengeance for against Riders. And I'm sure it'll have consequences. We'll face them together, like always."

Sol smiled at him fondly. "Thank you." Her voice was sincere, full of compassion as she was reminded yet again of their bond. Bound together. 

"I need to talk to Jonas about it first. But I agree with you. No one hurts my people and gets away with it." 

Two // Part Five
You can talk to me. 

Sorry that it's been a while since an update! Now that we're in quarantine and I have probably weeks of nothing to do all day I should be able to write non-stop (like I usually want to when I was at work), but I can't! It's so ironic that it's annoying.

I hope everyone's staying safe! I know it's a surreal time to be alive right now, but we're going to be fine! Just make plans for everything you're gonna do when the social distancing is over, or imagine what you'll be doing on this day next year! Will I have gotten to season 6 in this series? Season 7? Or will I have completed it? We don't know, but everything will be alright!

For I know who holds tomorrow. God bless you guys.