Episode Three, Part 4:
Never Let Me Go

Can I help you not to hurt anymore?
You're angry, and you should be. It's not fair. 
Who cares if one more light goes out? Well, I do. 

Fenn was on his way back from the radio tower, returning to the dam and hoping that Wynn and his siblings had managed to get Ares in time. He'd heard Ares' goodbye come across the channel, but there had been no other noise on the radio, and he wanted to believe that it was because everyone was too busy helping him to keep him updated. 

On his way to find them, a few hundred metres away from where Kodiak, Quill and Elara were, Fenn could hear commotion on the lower ground at the bottom of the cliff. He approached the edge, trying to stay out of clear sight as he watched on, trying to understand what he could hear. 

Targo and Riders were walking below, but there was a noticeable decrease in their numbers - surely more than half of their people missing. There was a relief in Fenn's chest, seeing how the majority of the people appeared to be soaking or staggering forward, clearly a result of the flood. 

Ares had done it, Fenn thought, smiling at how proud he was of him. He couldn't wait to see the relief on his face when he revealed the scale of people he had successfully taken down. 

Wanting to get a closer look, he pulled out the monocular that was clipped onto his belt, bringing it up to his eye so he could spy on the people below. Trying to get a rough count of how many armed guards he could see, something caught Fenn's eye and momentarily stole his breath away from him. 

Towards the front of the wounded army, Rhea and Kane were still standing, still alive. Fenn knew that even with a vastly lower population, as long as the two of them were still around, the clans were still a threat to Ares' family. 

Sighing, he pulled out his radio, urgently needing to get the message to his Sovereigns. 

"Riverly, are you there? It's Fenn." He spoke into the device, hoping it wouldn't be long before she picked up. 

"Fenn..." Someone else murmured his name. Kodiak. He sounded defeated. 

"Hey, Kodiak, I need to tell you something-" 

"Yeah, me too..." The Sovereign replied, his voice hesitant and weak. 

Fenn frowned, having to assume that his news was more important, and beating him to speak. 

"It's about Targo," he began, knowing he had his attention. "I'm at the top of the cliffs now. I can see them below; it looks like the flood's wiped out half of them, if not more." 

"Fenn-" 

"But Rhea and Kane... I don't know how, but they seemed to have dodged the water. They're fine. They're... They're alive," he admitted regretfully, not understanding the bitter irony of his words. 

"Fenn," Kodiak pushed, unable to assert much strength into his voice. It didn't matter, though: there was something about his fragileness that was equally as powerful. 

Fenn fell quiet, waiting to hear what the Sovereign had to say to him, feeling his heart well up in his throat. 

"You need to get here, it's... It's Ares." 

It didn't take anything else to spring Fenn into action, running away from the cliff's edge and towards the dam. 

He was on the opposite side of the water to the three of them, and when he looked around, he realised what had happened: that the higher section of the dam had been the one to initially collapse, not the section where they were like they had planned for. 

He saw that Ares wasn't there, but Quill and Elara were - crying against Kodiak, all huddled up on the ground. That was when he knew - that the boy he loved was gone. 

Before his emotion could get the better of him, Fenn ran out into the water, hurrying to get across. Most of the water had fallen down, so he didn't have to worry about stepping in and getting swept away. 

Kodiak looked up at him mournfully when he reached them, knowing that he was smart enough to figure out what had happened by now, he just didn't know how. How had Ares died? What had gone so wrong that their attempts to save Elara had killed her brother? 

Knowing he had to be strong for Ares' younger siblings, Fenn crouched down beside Quill, taking over in comforting him and allowing Kodiak to focus on Elara. It was obvious that he was in psychological shock - unable to pull himself into reality or clearly comprehend what was going on. 

"Is he okay?" Kodiak asked softly, his eyes motioning over at the younger boy. 

Fenn took his jacket off and wrapped it around Quill, wanting to ensure that he was warm and comfortable. 

He nodded, wiping at his own eyes to bury his emotion away. "Yeah, it's just shock. He'll come around soon. He just needs a few minutes." As he spoke, Fenn sat down beside the boy, squeezing tightly onto his arms so that even if his mind was groggy and struggling to make sense of anything, he might be able to feel him there and know that he wasn't alone. 

Knowing that Kodiak was distracted by Fenn's response, Elara - who had managed to calm herself down a little - jumped up from the ground and took off from Kodiak, heading down the slope after her brother. 

Kodiak didn't waste any time in running after her, desperate to get to her before she hurt herself, or someone found her. He didn't know if Elara had been paying attention to his conversation with Fenn on the radio, or if she knew that some of Targo were still alive, slowly moving away from the river below. Either way, he had to get to her. He had to keep her safe. 

///// 

Ahead of his sister, Wynn continued racing down to the bottom of the cliffs. He had fallen several times, scraping his skin open, bashing himself against the rough edges of exposed rock sticking out from the mud, but it did nothing to stop him. 

Far more used to the elements of the ground, Sol was able to keep her balance for majority of her chase, and each time Wynnlow fell down, it moved her forward, closer to him, until she was finally able to grab onto the back of his jacket. 

Wynn tried to keep running, hoping that she would lose her hold on him, but she didn't. Sol managed to heave him backwards, crashing him into the ground. She stepped around, still holding tight onto him, and did the only thing she could think of to stop him from running again. She hoisted herself over him, a leg either side of his waist as she straddled him. 

For a moment, Wynn didn't seem to care about what he did, trying to push her off of him, but as he caught her gaze for a second, he stopped fighting so hard. 

"Sol, get off me," he begged, "please." 

The Sovereign shook her head, tears freely falling down her cheeks. "No," she said. "I'm so sorry, Wynn-" 

"Don't do this... Let me go. I need to get to him!" 

"Wynn-" 

"That's my brother!" He yelled out, his voice dangerously loud, but it was breaking - slowly dissolving into an agonized, wretched whisper. 

Sol cupped his face in both of her hands, trying to get him to look at her, focus only on her until he had calmed down. Her thumbs caught the tears that rolled down from his hazel eyes, rubbing circles delicately onto his skin as he stared up at her, his lips trembling, and every other part of him, too. 

"He's my brother," Wynn murmured. 

"I know," Sol whispered back, her heart breaking for him. 

"My brother... My brother..." Wynn repeated, letting his head fall flat against the ground, feeling like it could explode from everything that was going on in his mind. 

He was struck by a sudden thought - a memory; it was when he and Ares had snuck out of Basilisk in an attempt to find where Riders' were keeping their family, a few days after they had first arrived on the Ground. The same thing happened that night... Thinking that Ares had been shot, Sol pinned Wynn to the ground, sitting on top of him to keep him safe as he cried out the same, grievous words: 'He's my brother... My brother... My brother...' 

The only difference was that this time, it was real. Ares was really dead. There was no one to bring him this time, even if he needed him just the same as he did back then. 

Three // Part Four
He's my brother.

I love how Sol has grown to care about him this much. The reference is to Book 1: Episode Two, Part 5. I think it's quite interesting if you want to skim back to that chapter and then re-read this scene. I think it really shows the development between the two of them, and how Sol has changed to comfort him, rather than just hold him down.♡

Also, my heart breaks for Fenn.

17/04/20