Episode Four, Part 3:
Small Sacrifices

Kodiak led Wynn down the hallway back to his cell, having to keep a tight grip on his arm to keep up his act as 'Ammon'.

He punched in the code to open up the door, watching as Quill stood up - overwhelmed to see his brother, but Kodiak could have sworn he was the most relieved man on the entire ship.

"Wynn," Quill exhaled, hurrying to pull his brother towards him and out of reach from Kodiak. It surprised Wynn at his brother's fearless protectiveness over him, but Quill stood in front of Wynn as if to defend him from whatever danger the guard might have had to offer.

Quill was waiting until the guard closed the door to their cell before he could ask Wynn all the questions he had been saving for him, but Kodiak remained with them in the room, sealing the door behind them.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"Quill, it's okay," Wynn assured him, forcing his arm barrier down and moving out from behind him. "Just... Prepare yourself."

"Prepare?" Quill frowned, looking over at Wynn, no closer to feeling even the slightest bit comfortable with a guard so close to them. "What are you talking about?"

As Quill was trying to figure everything out, Kodiak moved out of direct sight from the door, standing in the corner so he couldn't be seen through the window, and pulled off his helmet.

It took a couple of seconds for Quill to realise who he was seeing, but once he did, it echoed a repetition of Wynn's actions: a disbelieving murmur of his name; a sudden loss of breath; heavy feet running over to him until finally, arms embracing his long-lost friend...

"Kodiak," he said, refusing to let go. "How are you here? How is this possible? Is this some kind of weird dream?"

Kodiak laughed away the tears in his eyes, prying the younger boy off of him so he could see him clearly.

"It's good to see you," he said.

"You too," Quill agreed. "But how!?" He shook his head, looking over at Wynn to see if he was just as stunned as he was feeling; still trying to determine if it was real or not. "This definitely isn't real."

Wynn seized his opportunity and pinched at his brother's arm, earning a wince of pain and a reflective hit in defence.

"What?" Wynn laughed. "I was just proving to you that this is real."

"Real..." Quill turned back around to face Kodiak. "You're alive."

"Yes," Kodiak beamed, understanding how many times he would need to say it before he realised it was the truth. "Before the flood came, Neptunum picked Bas and I up and took us onto-"

"Bas is alive!?"

"The ship..." Kodiak finished, overjoyed to see the relief in Quill's eyes only grow. He nodded, feeling a little more safer in the truth every time he confessed it again. "It's a long story; Wynn will catch you up, but yeah, we're both alive. We've been on this ship ever since. I'm one of the guards, Bas is.... Is one of the prisoners," he dropped his head, suddenly feeling all the elation of their reunion fizzle away.

"I haven't see him at rations?" Quill looked between both Sovereigns for an answer. "Is he with Harlow? Wait, does Harlow know? Does Elara know!?"

"No," Wynn spoke for Kodiak, understanding how agonising it was for Kodiak to talk about it. "She doesn't know and she can't. Not until it's safe."

"Why?" Quill frowned. "If she knows you're alive, everything will be okay for her," he said, suddenly softening as a memory plucked at his heart. "Wynn... When you weren't there for the last few nights, she-"

"I know," Wynn dropped his gaze to the floor, feeling his stomach turn with nausea. "Kodiak told me. He was the guard that took her."

There was a realisation on Quill's face as he glanced down at the name tag on Kodiak's uniform, already piecing together which interactions he'd had with him without even knowing.

"Is she alright?" Quill asked, voice sore and unstable.

"She's doing okay," Kodiak said. "I let her see Izzy for a few moments so she knows she's safe, and she's with Dreea in her their cell, now."

"That's good," Quill said. "A good idea; it should keep her going until we figure something out, or until she knows about you... I'm guessing you're the reason Neptunum found our bunkers? I hope that also means you have a plan, too."

"Yeah, I do," Kodiak assured him, but there was an evident lack of spirit in his voice; a complete absence of the Kodiak they all knew and had mourned so long for.

"...Kodiak?" Wynn searched. "Are you okay?"

"Six months of planning comes down to this," he said. "I've been doing it all on my own and it's been tough, that's all. To add to that, Riv, Dreea and everyone else is here and I can't tell them I'm safe; I can't tell Elara; I can't take that pain away from her and I hate to think that I'm putting her through it for even longer."

"A couple days or weeks longer, yes," Wynn said. "But she gets you back forever. Trust me, she'd choose that every single time. Don't even worry about it for now; just tell us what the plan is so we can help speed everything up."

"I need you to go onto the trial tomorrow," Kodiak glanced over at Wynn, waiting to see the realisation on his face; the understanding of why Kodiak was so reluctant to carry on.

"Trials?" Quill asked.

"Mind trials and pain trials," Kodiak sighed. "It's where Luca was taken to; it's why we've all been able to hear that screaming every day."

"Similar to what dad and Rhea put Elara through at the labs," Wynn murmured, struggling to recall the horrors he had seen their sister endure as a lingering effect.

"They're testing the extents of the human pain tolerance to figure out how to bring someone back from the dead, essentially..." Kodiak added.

"And you're saying Wynn has to go through that?" Quill asked.

"One person has to," Kodiak said. "Just one so I know it's possible-"

"Know what's possible?"

"That you guys can block out any thoughts of me," Kodiak told him. "So I know it's safe if one of you gets taken before I have a chance to tell you myself that I'm alive."

"They use our memories against us," Wynn continued for him. "If they take Sol, for instance, and see her memories of her and Kodiak, they'll realise that Kodiak is one of us and it won't take long for Neptunum to realise that he's trying to help us instead of them. If I can go through the trials and hold off the memories of when I thought we lost Kodiak, then he'll know it's safe to tell the others that he's alive before we get off this ship. If I can't do it-"

"Then it's over..." Quill said. "Then it's all for nothing, and what do we do then?"

"...I don't know," Kodiak admitted. "But my plan comes down to this, and we need to at least try. I hate to put him through it just as badly as you hate the idea of something happening to him," Kodiak said, "but I haven't had anyone else to help me with this; I haven't had Wynn or Dreea or Riv - just me, and this is the best I could do. I'm sorry if I haven't done enough-"

"No," Quill shook his head, unable to fathom the amount of pressure he had been under. "It's not your fault... You've got us this far and that alone is an unbelievable achievement; I trust you can figure it out. I just-"

"Wish it didn't have to be someone you love on the line? I know. Me too."

"Small sacrifices," Wynn murmured, accepting it as just part of the job; as who he had been for his people - for his family, long before he was ever a Sovereign. "So, what's the plan?" Wynn asked, hurrying to finalise the details before any more doubt could creep in. "How do I get onto the trials?"

////////

Wynn and Quill were two of the last people to enter into the mess hall for rations, already noticing the group of eyes locked on them from the table. Before Wynn even managed a few steps inside the hall, Elara had ran over to him, wrapping her arms fiercely around him.

"You're here," she whispered, already letting her hot tears soak into Wynn's shirt. For the first time in a long time, they were tears of relief. "I thought something terrible had happened to you."

There was an emphasised cough coming from behind Wynn. He peered over his shoulder to see "Ammon" hovering close by, offering a subtle hint that Wynn and Quill needed to hurry Elara over to their table before someone else tried to take control of the situation.

"It's okay. I'm okay; I'm back now," Wynn said to her, pulling her along as they moved back to their table, barely having a second to process all the looks of relief from his friends - including Chessca - who were all waiting for him.

Wynn sat down beside Sol, leaving enough room for Elara at his other side, hoping that Chessca had already had a chance to explain why they were missing.

"Are you alright?" Sol asked, moving her hand up to the side of Wynn's face, finding a deep breath of air reach her lungs as she felt him underneath her fingers.

Wynn nodded, smiling fondly at her and wrapping his arm around her. "I'm alright, I promise," he murmured against her ear, quick to press his lips into the side of her head, hoping to give her the confidence that what he said was true.

"Chess said you two have been together. Did something happen?" Dreea asked from across the table, relieved that the three Sovereigns were finally together again.

Wynn looked over at Chessca nervously, unsure what she had said so far and not wanting their stories to contradict. Thankfully, Chessca could see right through him and was quick to answer Dreea's question.

"We were moved into a different cell together. I don't know why... One of the guards said that our relocation was a mistake and that's why we were moved back to the cells we're in now."

"But Wynn got to go back to Quill and Chess, you're on your own now," Sol pointed out, realising that things still didn't make complete sense.

Chessca shrugged, not knowing what to say. "It's alright. At least Elara's not on her own anymore. That's more important."

At the mention of her name, Wynn turned his attention back to his sister, breaking out from the conversation and trying to figure out if she was okay.

"Quill told me what happened," Wynn said softly, carefully nudging his arm into her.

Elara looked away from him, feeling incredibly embarrassed from how vulnerable she had been without him around.

"You guys are gonna make me talk about it, aren't you?" She asked.

"I don't want to cross any boundaries," Wynn said, "but this is something that you need to talk to me about. Not just because I'm your brother, but because I'm the one who's responsible for you two."

"Wynn, we're not kids anymore," Elara said. "And in case you forgot, I have my own child to look after-"

"Exactly," Wynn said. "Which is why I need to make sure you're okay. I didn't do a good job at taking care of you guys when Ares passed because I wasn't alright; I don't want you to feel the same way I did when you have the pressure of looking after Izzy."

Elara sighed, looking up to see both Wynn and Quill staring intently at her. She knew there wasn't any escaping the conversation.

"I know it was stupid," she told them. "And I'm sorry for scaring you, Quill."

Quill smiled empathetically at her, reaching out and squeezing her hand on the table. "I know how horrible it was when we didn't know where Wynn was," he said. "But you always have me."

Elara nodded, but she couldn't smile back. "I thought you were the only one I had left. I really thought Wynn was dead and Izzy was gone and that it was just a matter of time until something happened to you, too. I didn't want to be around to see that."

"We've lived through it before," Wynn said. "You know you can survive anything, including losing me."

She shook her head, looking away as if she was ready for the conversation to end. "No. Not one of you," she said. "Not again."

"I need you to be prepared that one of us might go missing again," Wynn told her. "And that doesn't necessarily mean something bad has happened, like what just happened to me and Chess for example. I need to be sure that you're not going to hurt yourself or put yourself in danger or-"

"I won't. I promise. It was stupid of me and I was just overwhelmed," Elara said. "I'll listen to Quill next time or Riv or whoever else is there. Besides, one of the guards confronted me about it after they knocked me out-"

"They did what to you?" Wynn asked.

"Knocked me out," Elara repeated. "Sedated me or something. They gave me something else when I woke up, as well."

"Who was it?" Wynn asked, seizing this as his opportunity to follow along with Kodiak's plan. He looked over at Quill, trying to assure him that this was the bait. "Which one did that to you?"

"Wynn, it's fine. He didn't-"

"No one does anything to you," Wynn said firmly. "Especially when you're in a mindset like that. Anything could have happened; you could have acted out of impulse; you could have-"

"Wynn, please. Calm down!" Elara whispered, though the desperation in her voice was anything but quiet. "One of the guards will come over if you're not careful."

"I don't care what happens to me. No one hurts my family and gets away with it."

"I care what happens to you," Elara said. "I don't want you to get in trouble with one of the guards."

"They need to be put in their place-"

"Wynn..." Elara warned. "Listen to me for once: shut up, sit down and eat your rations."

Wynn frowned, torn between his decisions; he knew he couldn't leave his seat without panicking his sister and making her fears and paranoia worse, but he needed to follow through on Kodiak's plan; he needed a way for one of them to take him...

He shared a nervous look with his brother - both of them knowing what was at stake. Biting back everything he wanted to say, Wynn hoped that Quill would realise that he was carefully debating his time, waiting until their sister was out of sight before he could surrender himself to the trials.

////////

As everyone stood up from their tables at the signal of rations being over, Wynn looked for every excuse possible to stall and Quill seemed to notice - nervously drifting beside him until everyone had passed.

"Are you going to do it?" He asked.

"Yeah," Wynn nodded, hating that he could already see how worried Quill was. "Hey, I'll be fine," he assured him. "You know who will be there and if something does go wrong, he'll get me out."

"I know," Quill said. "Just... Be careful."

"Don't worry about me," Wynn said, slowly moving away from the table and towards the doors as everyone else was already ahead of them. "Just try and keep Ell distracted until a guard takes her and Dreea back to their cell. I'm going to approach one of them."

Quill nodded, trusting that his brother knew what he was getting himself into and hurried up ahead to Elara's side, knowing it would only be a matter of seconds until she began to look around in search for them.

With both of his siblings making their way to the exit of the mess hall, Wynn began to look around for a guard to walk up to. He located where Kodiak was and walked in the opposite direction until he reached a guard, doing his best to channel all the anger he had locked up inside of him.

"The door's that way," the guard said.

"I know," Wynn swatted his hands away, not needing them to steer him in the right direction. "I came to tell your people to leave my people alone."

"You're the one who keeps causing trouble around here..." The guard seemed to recognise him. At the same time, Wynn glanced down at his name-tag, learning that the person was called Leander.

"Yeah, and you better keep expecting it if your people don't stop treating my people like prisoners. One of your guards knocked out my sister last night!" Wynn yelled, cautious of how much noise he was making. He wanted the guards to grow annoyed with him; he wanted them to take him away in punishment, but he didn't want Elara, Sol and everyone else to realise what he was doing.

"Is that your deranged little way of threatening me?" Leander took a step closer towards Wynn.

"Is that yours?" He fired back, slightly smaller than Leander which gave the guard the upper-hand Wynn was wanting to give to him...

Leander laughed in his face, pulling something out of what Wynn knew was his weapon belt, and swinging something into Wynn's side before he could defend himself.

He let out an agonised grunt, doubling over in anguish as the baton Leander was holding left an instantaneous bruise on Wynn's ribs.

Knowing he was too weak to fight back, Leander tucked his weapon away and secured a set of handcuffs around Wynn's wrists, gesturing for the two guards either side of him to take him away.

"You think that's uncomfortable?" He teased, taking satisfaction in the way Wynn tried to conceal his injury. "Just you wait until the trials." 

Four // Part Three
No. Not one of you. Not again.

Uh oh... Wynn's been taken to the trials.
Is Kodiak's plan going to work?

What if the people of Neptunum realise that he's really one of Basilisk?

13/11/20.