Episode Five, Part 1:
Oikogéneia 

I'm sorry for the absence. 
I'm sorry for the pain I caused you. 

Kodiak sighed heavily, reluctantly standing up from the bed and positioning himself in front of where Elara was sitting.

"Ell..." He murmured, hoping she would understand without him having to say what he needed to.

"What, Kodi?" She whispered, knowing something bad was coming. Her eyes flickered down to the space between them, watching as his hands rested on her legs; her own hands clinging loosely onto his arms.

"You have to go back now."

"I'm not ready to leave you," she said. "I still don't know what's going on around here, what your plan is, and... And what happened to Wynn," she frowned, suddenly remembering that the last time she had seen him, he had jammed a sedative into her neck.

"He'll be fine. He knows what's going on; he'll make smart choices."

"That doesn't sound like my brother," Elara rolled her eyes, smiling up at Kodiak to see him chuckling at her remark.

"Well," he laughed. "He doesn't have a choice this time."

"He seemed to know what he was doing when he used that medicine thing on me," she said.

"A MediPen," Kodiak informed her. "The sedative, and yeah, he did."

"Why?" She asked. "And what happened after you took me here?"

"He was probably worried that you would say the wrong thing," Kodiak said. "That you'd blow my cover..."

"Did it also have something to do with the tests?" Elara searched, trying to get her answer from his reaction.

"...The trials?" He asked. "How much do you know about them?" Kodiak dropped his voice, taking a step closer to her; refusing to break eye contact.

"Nothing," she replied. "Athena was taking me there when I found you. She said she wouldn't tell me until it was about to begin. Why? Kodiak, you're scaring me a little..."

He let out a deep breath, squeezing onto her hand for his own relief. This was exactly why he didn't want her caught up in his mess; now she would have to find out what Neptunum were doing to her family; to relive the same demons she thought had died when she killed Rhea.

"Kodiak, talk to me," Elara said, moving her free hand up to the side of his face, forcing him to look and focus on her. "What's wrong?"

"Neptunum are putting everyone through trials," he said. "Pain trials, mind trials... They get in our heads and use our memories and losses and the people we love against us so that they can find a cure; a reversible effect when the brain has suffered too much damage."

"Our memories?" She whispered, figuring it out.

Kodiak nodded, trying to think of what to say to her.

"Like... Like the phases from The Alteration? What happened when we were in the labs?"

"Yeah," Kodiak said. "But I'm not going to let you go through that again. That's why Wynn and I-"

"Wynn's going through it!?" Elara panicked.

"It's okay," Kodiak hurried to calm her, worried that somehow, someone would overhear them. "I talked him through it and he wanted to do it. For you. He caused trouble with one of the guards at the end of rations last night and got taken to the medical wing - which is where Athena was trying to take you to. The trials didn't work on him which has never happened before; I have a gut feeling about why it went wrong, but I don't know for sure. I just needed to know that it was possible."

"That what was possible?"

"That he could go through the trials without letting the thoughts of me in."

"Because everyone will realise that you know us..." Elara began to understand.

"They all think I'm a guard called Ammon," Kodiak told her. "And if one of you went on the trials and they saw me in your memories, it wouldn't take long for them to realise that I was plotting something against them. I needed someone to go through the trials for me without thinking of me, just so I would know it was possible. So that person could warn everyone else to block every thought of me in case they were taken to the trials."

"Why didn't you just tell us all sooner that you were okay?"

"Because I was deflecting Athena's choices into taking some other people from Basilisk: people I knew wouldn't be mourning me like you; people who wouldn't think of me so easily. And because if it doesn't work and they realise who I am, then I... I didn't want you to have to lose me twice."

"Don't say that," Elara said. "Don't even allow yourself to think that anything bad is going to happen to you. You're alive after all of this; we found our way back to each other after everything that's happened to us; there's no way we're going to lose each other; there's no way there's ever going to be a you without me ever again."

"I don't have a choice, now," he bared a faint smile, looking up at her as if to remind her that she was the one had changed all of his plans.

"Good," Elara beamed, running her hand through his hair. "Because I'm never leaving you."

////////

After Elara had persuaded Kodiak to make a detour on their way back to her cell, she waited alone in the room they had been in, trying to wrap her head around everything that was happening.

It felt like the past few hours had all been some kind of a dream. Scratch that - it felt like the past week had been some kind of a messed-up blur of both dreams and nightmares and she couldn't keep up with the constant highs and lows of her heart.

But the one thing it kept returning to was Kodiak and how he was alive. Instead of spending the rest of her life missing him for every waking hour, she was given a second chance; a new lease; the person she loved most in the world, back.

Distracting her from her whirlwind of thoughts, the door to the room opened and Kodiak ushered a young boy inside - anxious to get him out of sight of any potential guards passing by.

"Elara?" Harlow asked, still confused but feeling somewhat safer now that he knew he was alone.

Elara opened her eyes wide for him as he made his way over, kissing the top of his head; wishing she'd had the chance to see him earlier as she had done with Izzy.

"What's going on?" He asked. "Is everyone okay? Izzy said she's seen you and Sovereign Dreea, but none of us has known what's been happening."

"Everyone's okay," Elara smiled. "I don't want you to worry about anything. I just want you to meet someone..." She slowly turned him around, giving the nod to Kodiak to remove his helmet.

He took a deep breath, wondering if Harlow would instantly figure out what it meant, and finally revealed his identity to him.

Harlow froze, taking a moment to understand that his vision wasn't betraying him. He looked over his shoulder to see what Elara's response was, finding that she was nodding at him and smiling.

"Kodiak!" Harlow exclaimed, hurrying over to him, giving him the firmest hug he could muster. "You're here! We all thought you were gone!"

"I know, buddy," Kodiak smiled, surprised by how much taller he had grown over the past few months.

"What happened to you?"

"The people on this ship recused me after you shut the Bunker," he said. "Me and someone else."

Harlow took a step back, not wanting to believe all the hopes that were bursting to life inside of him. He couldn't let them consume him - even for a moment - after he had worked so hard to come to terms with losing both of his parents, his sisters, and now his brother, too.

"I don't know what you're trying to say," he said, not brave enough to guess.

"Harlow," Elara murmured his name, moving around to stand in front of Kodiak. She knew exactly what was running through his mind; the fear to feel what he wanted to in the chance that he would lose everything again... But nonetheless, it didn't change what was real.

"Bas is alive."

Harlow's eyes filled up with tears, trying to accept her words. It should have been easy given that Kodiak was standing right in front of him, but he still hesitated.

"Bas... Is alive? He's here?"

"Yeah," Elara nodded, feeling her tears pool in her smiling eyes.

"He's not dead? He's really here? I can see him?"

"He and I have been here the entire time," Kodiak said. "We've been doing everything we can think of to bring you guys onto the ship so we can all go home together. Do you want to see him?"

Harlow nodded, the desperation spilling out of his eyes as he hurried forwards, never having wanted anything so badly in his short life.

////////

Bas shifted as he heard his door open, barely having the strength to glance up and see who was there.

It felt like it had been a week or two since he was last taken to one of the trials, but he couldn't determine if he was right or if the after-affects of the trials had just been so agonising that time felt like it was passing by slower.

But he relaxed a little when he realised that the guard standing in front of the now-closed-door was Kodiak, wheeling inside a large, industrial laundry hamper.

"Oh, Kodiak," Bas said, continuing to lie down on his bed, returning his gaze back up to the ceiling. "It's just you... You haven't visited the last few days," he said somberly, indicating to Kodiak how his frequent visits were about the only thing that kept him going.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Kodiak said, removing his helmet and setting it down on the empty table by the door. "I've just been a bit preoccupied with some of the new people we brought in... I thought you might want to meet them."

"Not interested," Bas mumbled, missing as Kodiak opened the hamper and allowed Elara and Harlow to climb out, the both of them instantly landing their eyes on Bas.

Harlow didn't waste any time in running over to where Bas was laying, jumping on him and wrapping as much of him as he could in his arms. He barely had a second to look at him; to see all the bruises covering his skin, or notice how much weight he had lost from his complete loss of appetite, or even allow Bas to realise he was there, but none of that mattered.

After a few seconds passed by, Bas wrapped his arms around Harlow, breathing in deeply as he closed his eyes.

"Sometimes," he said, wishing he could force himself to pass out, "I can still imagine he's right here. And it feels real every time."

"Bas..." Kodiak had to cough, trying to force a strength in his voice. "Open your eyes," he instructed. "It is real this time."

Bas frowned, wondering if his mind was now able to mimic Kodiak's voice in his head and echo what he wanted to hear. But he listened nonetheless, feeling his breath seize in his chest as he peeled his eyes open to see a scruff of dark-brown hair belonging to a young boy who was wrapped around his chest.

"H-Harlow?" He choked, shooting upwards, suddenly squeezing tighter on him, realising that the vision of his brother wasn't disappearing this time.

"Harlow, you're here? You're here... You're alright," Bas cried, rocking his little brother in his arms, never having known a love quite as sweet as the one he had for him.

Amidst the wreck of his heart, Bas flickered his eyes over to Kodiak, somehow finding the strength to mouth a 'thank you' over to him.

"I love you so much, Bas," Harlow whispered, finally pulling away so he could see him clearly. "I've missed you more than I've ever missed anyone."

"I know," Bas said, wiping his tears away, gazing his eyes over his baby brother. "I've missed you just as badly."

"Have you been here all along?"

"Yeah. Me and Kodiak," Bas said. "We've been waiting for you."

He felt guilty to say it; Kodiak had been the one who had never given up hope of finding everyone again; he was the one who had dedicated the past 6 months of his life into keeping that hope alive. Bas had surrendered to Neptunum and allowed himself to be their prisoner - used freely for continuing the trials, always hoping one day soon it would kill him. He never believed this moment would be possible; he never thought he'd see his brother again, but because of Kodiak, it was real.

"We're staying together from now on," Harlow declared. "Nothing is ever going to take us away from each other again."

"Never again," Bas repeated, trying to get a good look at him. "You're so big!" He exclaimed. "You're so much taller now! Where's my baby brother gone!?"

Harlow laughed, beaming proudly at Bas who was yet to realise that there were so many more aspects of him that had grown than just his height.

"Are you okay?" He asked, hoping he hadn't spent the past six months drowning in grief just as he had done.

Harlow nodded, softening at his brother's question. "It was weird to be back, but it was also kind of nice to live in the Bunker again. Quill and Wynn were in there, too, and Elara. She took care of me and the others."

Bas followed his brother's motion as he pointed behind him, only just realising that Elara was there, too.

"Ell," he murmured, stepping up from the bed and hurrying over towards her. He swung her side to side as tears continued to pour out of him, overwhelmed in the relief to see her again; to see her at Kodiak's side.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Elara told him. "Wynn, Quill, Azha had everyone are going to be so happy to see you."

"I can't wait," Bas smiled, pulling away and reaching for his brother again, wanting to savour every second he spent in his company.

"What about Dreea? Atlantis? Everyone else?"

"They're all here," Kodiak said, pulling Elara a little closer into his side. "But we have to hold off on the reunions for the most part. We have to be careful. But I wanted you to see Harlow. The two of you have waited long enough."

As Bas returned his attention back to Harlow, Elara looked up at Kodiak, feeling as if for the first time in a long time, she wasn't afraid of having a future. 

Five // Part One
It is real this time.

So happy for Bas and Harlow. ♡ They've lost both of their sisters, but they don't have to live without their brother anymore.

50,000 words so far!

Really hoping to finish this book by the end of the year, but we're driving down to Florida soon for Christmas and it's Thanksgiving next week, so it's looking pretty busy.

18/11/20