Episode Seven, Part 5:
Never Let You Go

Wynn watched as Quill disappeared out of sight, running as fast as he could through the knee-high water. As he began to move in his direction, determined to catch up to him, there was movement behind him.

Wynn turned around to see the Bunker door opening behind him and three people stepping outside with weapons at the ready, willing to do whatever it took to get their friends back inside.

Atlantis and Fenn took a couple of steps back, trying to muster up the courage to attack, but neither wanted to be the first to make a move.

Wynn glanced over at Sol, visibly gulping in fear now that he had to chose between protecting the others, and trying to find his brother...

"Go!" Sol encouraged him. "I'll take care of this. You just make sure that you get Quill back."

Wynn nodded, not sparing any time in fleeing the scene, taking off in the same direction he had last seen Quill.

With him gone, Sol knew Fenn and Atlantis would be in trouble - neither prepared to fight 3 attackers off on their own; Fenn wasn't trained to disarm someone else, and Atlantis only had one working hand, making everything twice as much effort for her than it would be for someone else.

With Elara still behind her, Sol glanced over her shoulder a little, mumbling so only they could hear.

"What do you say... Think you're ready for a little war?"

Elara nodded, breathing in a deep breath as she knew what she needed to do. She discreetly reached for the blade in Sol's waistband, pulling it securely into her hold so that they were both armed. 

"What's one more battle to fight?" Elara exhaled, giving Sol the go ahead to lead them towards the others, immediately taking control of the situation and beginning to raise her weapon against Lydian, Josiah and Xavier.

"Atlantis, go guard Hannah!" Sol yelled out her order, wanting to make sure her sister was out of as much danger as she could be.

Atlantis obliged, trading places and moving to stand in front of the older woman, her blade extended out and prepared to attack if Hannah tried anything against her.

Meanwhile, Sol and Elara were doing most of the work against their enemy; managing to knock Lydian and Xavier to their feet, allowing both girls to pin them down and lift their blades up, thrusting the weapon fatally into them.

Elara was still new to killing; her only victim had been Rhea in The City of Targo, and even though it was a horrible thing to comprehend - taking someone's life away - she'd never had any second thoughts about it; she'd never once been haunted by her actions or the unspeakable things she did. After all, when she thought about Rhea, all her heart could feel was the terrible, unforgettable things that had happened because of her: The Alteration, the visions, being hostage at the labs, losing her brother...

As she stood before these people, killing them, the only thing on her mind was all of the suffering they had caused to her family. Not only was the crushing weight of what was happening to Quill resting on her heart, but the horror of Bas being missing, and now Kodiak as well...

It had become her driving force; kill anyone who got in the way of her and the people she loved... She just had to hope that the feeling wouldn't consume her.

Beside her, Sol glanced over at Elara, seeing the way she continued to force her blade into Xavier despite him already being noticeably dead. She pulled it out of him, then slammed it into him, then out, then in again...

"Ell..." Sol murmured, stepping away from Lydian and hoping that she would mimic her actions, realising that the threat had died down now than Josiah had retreated over to Hannah - disarmed of his weapon.

But the young girl couldn't hear her through the heartache consuming her mind. The only thing getting through to her was the need to hurt those that had hurt her family. She was doing this for her brothers, for her family, for Kodiak.

"Elara!" Sol called out again, visibly concerned as she latched onto her wrists, refraining her attempts at harming the dead man any more.

Elara looked up, suddenly snapped backed into reality and realising that everyone seemed to be staring at her in some kind of weariness.

She adjusted herself, lowering her hands into the water as she saw they were drenched in blood, trying to fool herself into believing that no one had noticed how violently her desires had consumed her.

"He's dead. It's okay," Sol assured her, carefully pulling her in her direction and peeling the blade out of her hands, taking away that responsibility from her.

"You're all merciless killers!" Hannah cried out, trying to divert her eyes away from her friends' lifeless bodies as they sunk below the water level. "All of you! You're wicked, evil people. This is exactly why I didn't want my son anywhere near any of you."

"You put implants in the people I care about! You tortured them both! You're the reason two of my family are missing right now! Don't talk to me about who's the wicked one here, because we both know it'll be you," Elara growled, beginning to lunge forward in the water but Sol grabbed onto her.

"Everything was fine until you showed up. Quill was happy; he knew we loved him... You took that assurance away from him because of your own insecurity. Because you knew he didn't love anything more than the idea of you. At least I know he loves me; even if he can't figure out how to show it at the moment; even if you've filled his head with questions that say otherwise, I know he loves me. You can't take that away from me."

"Well then why isn't he here?" Hannah asked. "Why did he run away from you and your brother when I told him to?"

"Because he's scared!" Elara yelled. "Because he doesn't want to lose anyone else; anymore of the people that have actually been there for him in his life! He ran away before he could get left. But once Wynn gets a hold of him, I swear to you, you'll never see him again."

"Maybe we should let him make that decision..."

Elara couldn't get any words out for a moment. She knew she was right; she knew the only reason Quill had listened to Hannah and took off was because he didn't want to stay and see the blood bath the situation had the potential to turn into, but it was still something that made her chest hollow at the suggestion. What would happen if Quill did choose Hannah over her and Wynn? What would happen if she couldn't figure out a way to prove that they were the ones who loved him most in the world?

"...Fine," Elara said, voice sharp to disguise her doubt. "But he'll choose me and Wynn. And I think you're afraid because you know deep down that I'm right. You lost him all those years ago and now you're going to lose him again, tonight."

"Well," Hannah said. "I won't be the only one losing someone today."

Elara ran dry of words, almost choking on her tears as her gaze drifted down to the water by her feet, trying not to focus on all the other people still out there somewhere in the same water as her; all the other people she couldn't save.

///////

Quill flinched at every distant break of thunder he could hear rolling in the clouds above, trying to convince himself that the storms from the DeadLands hadn't travelled to where he was yet.

All he needed to do was run until his heart was ready to stop, wherever he would be when that happened - either inside the Bunker or here, on the ground. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to stop running; if letting the waves of fate take him would finally give him the peace he had gone so long without; that maybe there would be some kind of relief in leaving this world the same was as his brother had done.

"Quill!" He could hear a voice cry out behind him, a voice that resonated to his core.

He knew Wynn was running after him, but he didn't realise he would have caught up to him so easily. He thought he would have more time to figure out what he wanted and which piece of his heart he needed to listen to.

"Quill, where are you!? Please stop! Quill!"

He was running short of breath, trying to fight his way through the ever flowing water, unable to move swiftly against the currents trying to drag him back. The water was growing - now past knee-level, and the grey skies were beating down with endless rain. Despite how badly his heart ached for it, there wasn't anymore time.

"Quill! Please! Stop running!" Wynn called out, finally sounding close enough like he was within sight.

The younger boy turned over his shoulder, seeing his brother there, fumbling back a few steps in the water. As he slowed down, Wynn met his pace, both boys stopping with several metres distance in between.

"Quill..." Wynn breathed out, completely defeated. This is what it all came down to.

"I don't want anyone to die," Quill shook his head, trying to catch his breath before he figure out his next move. "I don't want to lose anyone else. I'm tried of it. Of fighting. Of grief... I just want it all to stop."

"It is going to stop," Wynn promised him, keeping his voice calm yet unable to do anything about the desperation that soaked through his words. "Everything is gonna get better, just like it's happened every other time before. Do you remember what happened after we lost mum?"

Quill tried to force his mind back towards that time, but he seemed to have blocked it out at some point, unable to recall anything other than when he found his siblings, and the four of them clung to their mother's dead body as she bled out on the floor.

"We all went back into the Bunker, together. We took some time; figured life out; we made it through everyone we had lost. And then when... When Ares died," Wynn's voice changed completely, falling as soft as the warm tears caressing his cheeks.

"I know I was pretty hopeless for the first couple of days," he admitted, still hating himself for how he had let it consume him; still wishing he could go back and forget about his own needs during that time and think only about what Quill and Elara needed from him.

"But I showed up eventually," he said, "and I did everything I could think of to look after you and Ell. It was just the three of us: no parents, no Ares - just me... I was the one who got you through that. I was the one always by your side, even when you woke yourself up crying in the middle of the night; even when you'd choke on his name and didn't know if you could ever say it again; even when I was hurting, too... I've only ever tried to protect you. I'm still trying to protect you, Quill."

"Hannah's not as bad as you-" 

"She is," Wynn cut him off regretfully. "I meant everything I said; she put those implants in Bas, Chessca and Kodiak... She put one in me... She just held a blade up to our sister-"

"Because she thought you were going to take me away from her. It's a- a mother's instinct. That's what it's called, right? She's just trying to-"

"You don't need her! That's what you have me for! That's what I'm telling you: I'm the one who looks out for you, who makes sure you're safe, who makes sure you're-"

"Why is it too much to ask for both?" Quill interrupted. "Why do I have to choose one or the other?"

"I never needed you to choose," Wynn lowered his voice. "Because I thought I knew what your answer would be: I thought it'd be me and Elara. Come on, Quill. Deep down, you still know you'd choose us... You still know that... Tell me you know that... Please tell me you'd choose us."

Quill whimpered out an incoherent sound, swallowing back his tears as they caught on his lips, flowing out of him ceaselessly.

"I feel like everything's changed," he admitted. "Every time I try to turn back to what I know, something stops me; I don't know what."

"Nothing's changed," Wynn insisted, taking a step forward thinking that he was finally getting somewhere, but Quill took an opposing one away from him, unable to figure out that what his heart was really telling him was to move forward, straight towards his brother.

"Quill," Wynn whimpered. "We can figure this out. We can talk about everything, but we need to get you inside where it's safe. Elara, Sol, Harlow and the others are all back there, waiting for us. If you don't get inside, neither will they."

"You can take them to the second bunker," Quill said. "There's still time to make it there. You can leave me-"

"I'm not leaving without you-"

"I need you to-"

"Tell that to Elara!" Wynn yelled, his voice heightened with desperation, far from rage. "Because she's already lost Ares, we have no clue where Kodiak is, and now you're willing to let her lose you, as well. Come back for her," Wynn begged, "because I don't know how I'll ever be able to help her if she looses all three of you... Tell me you don't want that for her."

"Of course I don't want that!" Quill argued. "But you're better off without me. Look at everything that's happened! Look at where we are! This is all because of me - because you're all trying to get to me. I want what's best for her, too, so you need to take her and get to the second bunker before it's too late. Because you don't need me-"

Wynn had heard enough, sure that if he heard Quill say anything else along the same lines, then his soul would shatter into a million pieces. He raced forward, more determined than he had ever been in his life, and ran straight towards his brother. Quill could see him coming, trying to dodge his attempts at being caught, but he wasn't fast enough.

Wynn latched onto his jacket, holding on for dear life and trying to bring Quill to a still, but he was still resisting. He didn't want to hurt him, but more than that, he didn't want to lose him, so Wynn did the only thing he could think of, dragging Quill through the fast-moving water and over to one of the large rocks leaning out. He pushed Quill against it so he was leaning back on it, half lying down as he stared up at Wynn who still had his hands gripped securely on his collar.

"Wynn-" Quill mumbled, pinned down by the weight of him. He was sobbing so heavily that his tears were distinguishable from the rain - falling at twice the speed as the agony from the skies.

"No!" Wynn yelled at him. "No, I'm not letting you push us away! I'm not losing you! I can't!" He was crying, too, but even as the water clouded his vision, he still wouldn't release his grip on the younger boy to wipe them away.

"I don't care what anyone says," Wynn continued, choking in his own misery. "You're my brother! My brother! ...My brother!" He leaned down ever-so-slightly, leaning his head against Quill's chest as he sobbed for a few seconds, remembering the words every other time he had said them; when he thought Ares had been killed outside Basilisk... When Ares had actually died at the dams... It didn't matter that the threat wasn't physical now: the fear of losing Quill was all the same as it had been when Blood Riders had dragged Ares' unconscious body away from the woods; all the same as when when he had witnessed the waves crash into Ares and drag him down the cliffs, and Sol was pinning him onto the ground knowing that it was already too late.

"Please," Wynn whispered, his voice almost completely faded. "My little brother... Please don't leave me, too. I love you, Quill. ...I love you so much."

Quill's breath hitched in his throat, suddenly causing the crumbling world around him to come to a standstill. His hands latched around Wynn's wrists, feeling Wynn's hold on him slipping as if he was all out of fight... Quill was shaking terribly and still crying softly, but a glimmer of strength found him against all odds.

"You... You still love me?"

Wynn opened his eyes, bringing his head up to look down at Quill, processing what he had asked. Was it all he had been waiting to hear? Had he finally gotten the message through to his brother than he loved him more than anyone else in the world? That he would go to unthinkable lengths to keep him safe?

"Yes!" Wynn exclaimed, nodded profusely. "Yes, of course we love you. Me and Elara and Ares; more than anyone else in the world."

"I- I thought you didn't need me anymore," Quill trembled. "I thought that now Hannah was in the picture, you wouldn't want to-"

"Want to look after you? Want to protect you? Quill..." Wynn breathed out, "We've always wanted you. We've always needed you; our family isn't a family without you. Can you really not see that?"
"I think I can now," Quill whispered, consumed by his instincts to move closer towards him, throwing his arms around Wynn's neck and letting all of the misery out; letting it all escape him now that he had his brother with him.

"I'm sorry," he cried, feeling like he could collapse in exhaustion as Wynn held him back. "I'm sorry I pushed you both away. You were right: I chose you and Ell," he said. "And I love you two. More than anyone."

Wynn pulled away, managing a smile his way despite the heartache on his face - still a feeling he was trying to let go of.

"We need to get inside the Bunker," Wynn told him, taking a step back and helping Quill to his feet. The water was already half-way up their thighs and climbing rapidly, leaving very little time to get to safety if anything went wrong.

Quill nodded, allowing Wynn to help him to his feet and following his lead back to the Bunker, stepping where he stepped, grabbing onto the branches he grabbed onto as a way to pull himself through the water.

As they moved, they could hear the thunder breaking above them, bolts of lighting shooting down and threatening to latch onto one of the nearest trees. Quill still flinched at every noise, but he felt a lot more assurance knowing that his brother was with him.

Finally, they made it back into the clearing outside of the Bunker, seeing everyone already facing their direction after having heard their movement, all wearing gazes full of hope that Quill would be there with his brother.

To their relief, he was, and despite the joy on everyone's faces, Quill couldn't help but feel guilty about standing there before them, or shake the idea that so much had already gone wrong because of his unwillingness to listen to Wynn earlier.

He thought he deserved their rage; he thought he needed to stand there and beg for their forgiveness, but it became quite clear that no one had any hardship towards him.

Still standing beside Sol, Elara felt overcome with emotion, beginning to run through the water in his direction. Quill mimicked her, hurrying over to her and meeting her half way.

The young girl almost left out of the water to embrace her brother, holding onto him for dear life, finally having the peace she had waited so long for; she wasn't going to lose her brother today.

"I love you so much," Quill said to her, hoping she hadn't forgotten it despite how distant he had been with her.

"I know," Elara assured him, holding on tightly, crying into him just as Wynn had done.

As they pulled away, Sol and Wynn also began to approach, ready to usher everyone inside to safety.

"Come on," Sol said, smiling at seeing all three of them together. "We need to start getting inside-"

Before she could finish her instruction or even notice the furious, enraged stares coming from Hannah and Josiah, there was a loud, hipping sound that tore through the space around them. A bolt of lighting struck one of the nearby trees, splintering the body of the tree into pieces and sending it crashing down right in the middle of the clearing, causing waves to roll and push everyone away.

Everyone screamed out in fear, all trying to navigate their way through the water and the storm, trying to make it into shelter, but there was one voice that rang out above everyone else's; one voice drenched in pain: Wynn's. 

Seven // Part Five
My little brother... Please don't leave me, too. I love you.

Oh wow, I've been waiting to write this chapter for so long. When I wrote this in the planning, I knew I had to parallel Wynn losing Quill to Wynn losing Ares (but he got Quill back)! It's one of my favourite patterns in the book ("He's my brother... My brother... My brother") and I was so excited to be able to use it for Wynn and Quill's relationship, too.

2 more chapters to go! 4138 more words needed to get to 100,000 (Season 6 was 129,123 words)!

I hope you liked this chapter. ♡ One of my all time favourites.

2 more to go until Season 8!

22/09/20