Episode One, Part 1:
B r o t h e r

Quill knew what he had to do. His gaze flickered between Targo and his brother, forcing the secret out of him as he shoved Chessca over at Rhea. 

"Tell her where Elara is..." 

Everyone fell silent as all attention turned to Chessca; she was steadying herself, running her palm across her neck for comfort - now that she was free, coming to terms with what she had been dragged into. 

She looked back at Quill, relieved that he hadn't hurt her, but wondering how his plan was going to work... 

Chessca swallowed down her fear, trying to stand a little taller in front of Rhea, admitting to what she had seen outside of the labs when Quill captured her. 

"The Heir... She was there, at the labs." 

Rhea frowned, trying to search for any dishonesty in her hostage, but she couldn't. Nor could she figure out why this would be something she would lie about. As she continued to glance between Chessca and Quill, searching for any hesitation, panic broke out among her enemies. 

"Quill, stop!" Ares pleaded. He dropped Sol's weapon at her feet, hurrying over to his brother. His attempts to hold onto his shoulder, keep him steady in front of him - were all swatted away. 

"What are you doing?" Ares searched, his eyes welling up with tears. They needed to keep their sister safe. 

Emotion got to Quill. The reality of everything sinking in; Targo were right there, everything was so close to falling apart, and he knew that even the best of intentions might not be enough to protect those he cared about. 

"I'm sorry," he murmured. "...I'm sorry," a repetition, his voice much more firm this time around. "I can't do this anymore. Too much has gone wrong." 

"Quill, listen to me," Ares breathed in sharply. "You have to keep going! You can't give up, ever. Not today. " 

Ares knew Rhea was listening in, as well as Sol and Kodiak and everyone else who was close by. He knew that what had been said might already be enough for Targo to figure out where Wynn and Elara were, but the most important thing to him right then was trying to keep his brother calm. He couldn't let him jeopardise everything when they had made it this far. 

Quill was close to giving in. He stared back at his brother, seeing the real fear clouding his eyes, and wondered if what he was doing the right thing for his sister. He forced himself to look away, afraid that he was running out of time, and searched around until he found their dad. He took a step closer in his direction but was stopped by the sharp edge of Rhea's sword, grazing against his chest as if a warning: do not come any closer. 

Kane grabbed onto Rhea's arm, sending his own warning to her to lower her weapon. She scrunched her nose, exhaling quickly, and retreated her sword down with a huff. 

With the immediate threat gone and everyone still waiting for an explanation, Kane stepped forward to his son, a desperate look captivating his face. 

"Quill?" He asked. 

"Elara, she's-" he looked over at Ares for a second but it felt too long. Quill blinked away his tears before facing his dad again. 

"She's with Wynn... They went to the labs." 

Kane hesitated. 

"How do you know this?" 

"Because I was with them. That was their plan," he gestured over to the Sovereigns, intimidated by the glares they were sending his way. 

"I was supposed to stay with them whilst you and Rhea came here. They decided it was safer if Ell wasn't where you thought she was." 

"So why the labs?" Rhea asked. "Surely you were expecting all of our people to be there?" 

Quill gulped as fear shook through his entire body, a horror that maybe he had ruined everything for real. In a state of desperation, he hurried out the first thing he could think of.

 "The serum!" He exclaimed. 

Rhea narrowed her eyes, beginning to doubt his story. "The serum?" She looked for clarification. 

He nodded. "Uh, yeah... T-they wanted to make sure we had enough of it here." 

Rhea contemplated his words, beginning to move again as she circled around him. She knew it was making him nervous and that's why she continued, hoping that if he was lying then he would soon crack under her pressure. Of all of Kane's children, she could tell that Quill was especially innocent - the one she could break the easiest. 

"But your people raided our labs the other day... I'm sure you're aware of this, aren't you?" 

He gulped again, feeling like he was digging his own grave. 

"Then why would they go back so soon? You stole enough from us to last her a while..." 

As his breath quickened and his fingers began to tremble, anxiously searching his mind for a response, Ares jumped into to speak to Rhea, knowing that he had to try and make things right. 

"Leave him alone, Rhea," Ares growled. "He's- He's making this all up. He's scared!" 

"Be quiet!" Rhea snapped. She drew up her sword again, pointing at Ares. "He's not lying. You said they were all inside, but here your brother shows up, and he didn't walk out of Basilisk... You're trying to protect him." She pieced it together, calling Ares out on his lies. 

The older boy gritted his teeth together, trying not to become overpowered by his emotions. 

"He must have got out," he mumbled, knowing that she wouldn't believe it. "Please, just... Just let me get him back inside and then we'll talk... Dad-" He choked on his words, going to desperate measures to try and convince them; he only called him that again to save his brother. 

"Please," he begged. "We can talk about this." 

Kane sighed and stepped beside Rhea, studying his son intently. 

"I'm sorry, Ares. It's too late to talk about this," he said, throwing his words back in his face, having changed his mind already from their conversation moments ago. "I'm just here to get your sister." 

One // Part One
He's making this up. He's scared.

Chapter one of Season 5! That's insane. I can't believe I'm actually writing a fifth book of a series. Thank you guys for reading this journey with me! It's far from over.

13/04/20