Episode Seven, Part 1:
Life Support

I just wanted you to know 
that this is me trying. 

//

And I hate to make this all about me, 
but who am I supposed to talk to? 
What am I supposed to do if 
there's no you? 

As Wynn began to follow after Athena, he could hear the agonized pleas from his brother behind him.

"No! Wynn! What are you doing!? You don't mean that! Don't leave with her!"

Wynn turned around to face him, watching as Quill tried desperately to escape the hold of the guards that had caught him, but he couldn't manage to break free.

"I'm sorry," Wynn apologised. "I have to do this to get Ell back. For you guys."

"It'll kill you!" Quill yelled. "They'll push your past your breaking point! They'll get what they want and they'll kill you do to that!"

"I know," Wynn said, surprised with how little fear he felt at the thought of walking straight into his death. "But Elara deserves to live, and I'm not going to stop until they save her, and-"

"Wynn-"

"Take care of her," Wynn silenced his brother. "Keep each other safe. I'm... I'm sorry I won't be here, but I love you. So much."

Quill shook his head in recognition of where he had heard Wynn's words before. He'd lost one brother already, and now his sister was dead right in front of him, and Wynn was walking to his death, too.

"Wynn, I can't do this without you," Quill cried.

"You won't," Wynn said. "And you'll get Elara back. You know that's all I ever wanted; the two of you to be okay."

"Wynn!"

"And you will be. I love you. I'm so sorry, Quill," he apologised one final time, having to force himself out of the door in fear that it wouldn't take much persuasion for his brother to change his mind. He shut the door behind him, heaving for a deep breath as he leaned up against the wall in the hallway.

"I need you to tell me the truth," Athena said, bitterly shooing her guards away, demanding them to give her and Wynn some space. "Do you really have an implant in your head, or are you just trying to buy some time for us to keep your sister's body alive?"

"I have an implant," Wynn confessed, something miserable in his voice. He turned around and pulled the collar of his shirt down, revealing the scar on the back of his neck. "Now are you going to put me through the damn tests, or are you going to tell me that you were lying before, and there's really no way to save my sister?"

"Tests it is," Athena replied, nodding for him to follow as he led him through the level of the ship and back into the familiar medical room which was heavily occupied with guards.

"Not this guy again," Leander sighed, already beginning to approach Wynn and Athena the second he had seen them. "It's hopeless continuing the trials on him. It's wasting our resources-"

"Leander, you don't have any idea what you're talking about," Athena rolled her eyes, instructing Wynn to sit himself down on the bed.

"I see he's doing this willingly. How'd you manage that?"

"She killed my sister," Wynn interrupted, glaring up at Leander, wondering if there was any ounce of sympathy somewhere inside of his cold heart.

Leander wasn't fond of him speaking out of line but was far too interested in why Athena was continuing with the trials to worry about his attitude.

"Athena, I'm just trying to understand here," he said, moving around the medical bed to where she was standing, adjusting a fresh set of gloves on her hands. "There are 200 other people on Neptunum we could use. Why are we insisting on him? Is it just to figure out why it's not working?"

"He has an implant in his head," Athena sighed, growing frustrated with his relentless questions. "My guess is that it's stopping our signals from getting through to him. He seemed to reckon that if we activated his implant, it could help us to figure out the combination on him."

"But wouldn't that kill him?" Leander asked, keeping his voice quiet. "Or at the very least, bring him close to the edge? Surely he's figured that part out. Why would he hand himself over to us? He's gotta have an ulterior motive."

"Like he said," Athena nudged him away for her, reaching for a scalpel that was ready at her side. "His sister is dead. Wouldn't you do everything you could think of to try and bring her back if it was you? I hope so. You are a Neptunum, after all. That's our entire mission, Leander."

"No, o-of course I would," he agreed rather hastily. "I"m sorry for questioning you."

Athena hummed, satisfied to have received an apology, and began to make the incision on the back of Wynn's neck. He didn't so much as flinch despite the discomfort it must have brought him and instead, sat silently as he waited for Athena to locate the implant.

"There's definitely something in here," she muttered digging a little deeper into his flesh until she was able to feel the small device in between the instruments. "Someone get me a light," she ordered, waiting until she had a better view until she began to investigate her findings.

"TCoT," she mumbled, reading the imprinting on the implant. "What does that mean?"

"The-" Wynn cut himself off, suddenly recalling the details of Kodiak's cover story. He had told Athena that he was from The City of Targo and if Athena miraculously remembered that, she might think he was behind this...

"I don't know," Wynn corrected himself. "I don't know what it means."

"Well, I need you to tell me everything you know about this implant. How did you get it? Why did you get it? How many of your people have it? I'm assuming not everyone as the trials have already worked on some of your friends-"

"Why does it matter?"

"Because right now, I know nothing about this device and honestly, anything you can tell me about it would be useful."

Wynn sighed, reluctant to have to recall his encounters with Hannah. "A woman captured me and injected one into the back of my head. She was using it to control and torture me."

"Why you? What did you do?"

"Nothing," Wynn growled, emphasising his spite. "She wanted to take my brother away from me and I wouldn't let that happen."

"Pity it wasn't the same for your-"

Wynn turned around and lunged at Leander, not even letting him finish what he knew he was about to say. In his swift movement, he had managed to disarm Athena of the scalpel and was holding it up towards Leander who was backing away from him, smirking mockingly with his hands up.

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't stab this in your neck right now-"

"Because then there'd be no way you could save your sister," Athena stepped in, calmly setting her hand on Wynn's shoulder and guiding him to retreat the weapon from Leander. She knew he wouldn't hurt her; he needed her, and as far as Wynn was concerned, Athena was his only shot at saving Elara.

He glared back at her, trying to let his fury dominate everything and let everyone see how afraid they should all be of him; he had lost his sister, after all. That meant that there was hell to pay for someone. But all that happened was a violent quiver of his lips; his eyes flooding with tears; his hand dropping the scalpel to the floor in defeat.

"Thank you, Wynn," Athena said, her voice sounding soft as if she was emphatic towards his suffering, but Wynn didn't buy it for a second. He sat down on the bed, crying without making a sound, waiting for his next instruction.

"How long ago was it last activated?" Athena questioned, continuing her previous attempts at trying to turn the device on.

"Six months ago, give or take," Wynn said. "The person who put it in me - she's dead, now. The controller would have been on her when the flood wiped her away. But, you'll be able to find a way to get it working again, won't you? You can use it to help your trials and find the combination-whatever-it's-called? You can save... Save my..."

"If we get the combination, I promise we will save your sister."

Wynn let out a deep breath, feeling some relief at the words despite not being sure if he even believed them.

"I want to believe you. I want to believe that I haven't just walked into what might be my death for no reason at all, especially if it doesn't bring Elara back, but I don't know... Man, I left my brother back there," Wynn uttered, shaking his head miserably at himself, causing Athena to stop for a moment. "I'm all he has left, and I... I did this for him. Because I have to protect my siblings no matter the cost, but what if it doesn't work? He won't have me around anymore. Me or Ell... What have I done? He's my brother..."

"Wanting to believe is what gets you halfway there," Athena said. "Just leave the rest to me and I'll figure this out. We've been working at this for a long time, Wynn, and now, because of you, this could all work out. As soon as I understand how to activate this thing-"

"Some of my people know," Wynn didn't even let her finish the thought - certain that he had to do whatever it took for the combination to succeed.

"I-I thought you said that the person who put it in you was dead?"

"She is," Wynn confirmed. "But my friends were trying to figure out how to get the implant out of me. There was..." He hesitated, not wanting to risk giving away too much information, but it was vital to his story. "There was a kid who had one as well. My people tried to remove it, but it killed him. They figured out a way how to activate and deactivate it instead."

"Okay," Athena said. "What are there names?" She turned around to Leander, prepping him to hurry along as soon as he had instruction. "You need to find their cells and bring them here."

"Fenn Jakson and Liam Leighton," Wynn informed her. "They're in a cell together. Fenn's one of the doctors of my people. He could help you figure with the-"

"The people of Neptunum are trained for the trials," Athena said. "We'll just need them to help us with the implant."

Wynn let out a deep breath, nodding his acceptance towards Athena. It seemed that the reality of his decision was finally kicking in and he found himself wanting a familiar face around; someone to stay by his side as the trials tortured him or dragged him to his death. He didn't want to die alone; not after everything that had happened; not after he knew Ares had done, but he didn't have a choice.

"They're in cell 103. Leander, bring them both straight here. If they have any questions, don't answer them. I have a feeling Wynn's friends aren't going to be too on board with helping us."

////////

Fenn and Liam stumbled into the room, pushed inside with a heavy force. They straighten themselves out and turned around to glare at Leander, not yet seeming to realise they were here.

"Good. You're here," Athena said, drawing their attention over to where she was standing beside Wynn.

Fenn and Liam snapped their heads around to face her, both startled to find their Sovereign sitting on the medic bed, making no indication that he wanted to leave. Instead, he looked up at them slowly, unable to conceal the devastation raging inside of him.

"Wynn?" Fenn murmured, hesitating, but beginning to move over towards him. "What's going on? Are you alright?"

"I need you and Liam to activate my implant."

Fenn froze in his place, trying to understand what was happening. In fear that they were trying to trick him into revealing Wynn's implant, Fenn played dumb to it.

"I don't know what you mean-"

"I told them, Fenn," Wynn sighed. "I need you to get it working so they can put me through the trials."

"Are you crazy?" Fenn asked, trying to move closer towards him but another guard moved from the side of the room, indicating to him to stay where he was. "Wynn, this isn't safe. And this definitely isn't the time for you to be the hero," he said, recalling the conversation he'd had with Wynn right after he'd gotten himself injected with one of Hannah's devices.

"Elara's dead," Wynn confessed, holding Fenn's gaze as tears rolled out from his eyes. "She's gone, Fenn. I saw her. She's dead."

"No..." Fenn shook his head, searching for any reason why Wynn would be forced into lying about this, but he couldn't find one. He couldn't even process the fact that it was possible for Elara to be dead when he, Wynn and Quill had already lost Ares. "No, you must have got it wrong. She's gotta be fine. Where is she? I'll-"

"Fenn," Wynn cut him off; the regret in his voice finally causing him to accept it.

"...What happened?" Fenn blinked back his own tears, gulping down a mouthful of nausea.

Wynn looked over at Athena, trying to figure out if the truth would stop Fenn from helping with the implant.

"She was out of her cell and someone shot her."

"Where's Quill? Does he know that she's... Is he okay?" Fenn's heart completely shattered in his chest. He could still recall finding Quill at the top of the damns after Ares' body had been washed away, and how there was nothing he could do break him out of his shock. What would he be like now? How would he survive losing another sibling?

"He's with her," Wynn dropped his head, unable to look at Fenn any longer. "Look, I need you to do this for me. The trials haven't been working on me because of the implant, but if you get it activated, Neptunum might be able to use it to find the combination. If that happens, there might be a way to-"

"To reverse the effects of clinical brain death? No... I'm sorry, Wynn, but that's not possible. I'm not going to assist you in your suicide mission just to try it out."

"This could be the only way to save Ell!" Wynn yelled, the breaking of his voice both an equal amount of anger and devastation. "Ares risked his life to save her, and you were there by his side, even though it got him killed. All I'm asking is that you stand by me today as I try to save my sister the only way I know how. If you're not going to do this for me, then do this for Ares because he would be doing exactly the same thing I am."

"He would be there for Quill because he knows that this plan is hopeless and he wouldn't want Quill to worry about losing you, too. Please, Wynn... I know you don't want to lose Elara; I know this should have never happened to you guys; to Izzy; to Ell; but she's gone. We'll figure out how to go on together, but this isn't the answer-"

"I'm not asking you for the answers, dammit, I'm asking you to turn on my freakin' implant!" Wynn yelled, unable to keep his cool as he stood up from the medic bed, unsure what would happen if he couldn't convince Fenn and Liam to listen to him. "I know you'll be there for Quill and Izzy if this kills me, and I know you'll be there for Elara, too, when this brings her back."

"Wynn-"

"You'll do it because it's what you've been doing for us ever since we lost Ares. And because I'm the damn Sovereign and this is my damn decision. If you really cared about me, you'd do this. Because I can't live in a world where my sister is gone."

Fenn found the courage to inhale a deep breath, wiping at the tears which spilled under his cheeks as he nodded, hating himself for doing so.

"If this is what you want-"

"It's what I have to do," Wynn replied.

"River and Dreea aren't gonna be happy with me. It'll be just like when Aeryn assisted in what happened with River and becoming Commander..."

"I know," Wynn dropped his head, not able to look at him any longer. He couldn't think about how Sol would probably hate him after he chose to become a sacrifice - again - or how Dreea would spend years cursing his name if he died right after Kodiak came back. "Just tell them that I'm sorry. Sol will understand."

"If we don't agree to help with the implant, what will happen to you?"

Wynn shrugged. "They'll try and activate the implant themselves which will most likely kill me if they don't do it the right way; they'll put the rest of our people through the trials; Elara won't wake up."

"So, I don't have a choice. That's what you're telling me?"

Wynn nodded.

"Fine," Fenn whispered, looking over and gesturing for Liam to join them as they approached Wynn, waiting to accept the pairs of sterile gloves from Athena and all other equipment she had waiting for them.

Fenn moved to stand behind Wynn, as did Liam, and they gazed in at the open wound on the back of his neck, seeing the familiar, taunting sight of the implant.

"But just so you know," he said, speaking so quietly that he wasn't even sure if Athena could hear them. "Ares wanted you safe, too."

Wynn swallowed down a mouthful of misery, having to block out Fenn's words so he could focus on sitting there and allow them to reactivate his implant; so he could focus on not breaking out of the room and killing every Neptunum in sight so he could spare the rest of his people from suffering.

He flinched and squeezed his eyes shut as he felt the pressure in the back of his neck, half-preparing himself for the implant to shock him or send him into a seizure just like he knew it had done to Kodiak so many times. But after a few minutes, he could feel Fenn and Liam take a step back from him, looking over to Athena with their announcement.

"It's done."

Athena nodded and move around the bed to stand on the other side of Wynn, guiding him to lie down now that he knew her plan could work and his wound was stitched up.

"Leander, put the boys in restraints. I need them in the room in case something happens with the implant, but I don't want them interfering with what we're doing."

Leander nodded, beginning to approach them, but Fenn interrupted.

"Wait," he said, holding up a hand to Leander and looking over at Athena for approval.

Although she wasn't entirely sure what was coming, she nodded at him, waiting to hear whatever it was he had to say.

"Wynn," Fenn murmured, setting his hand on his shoulder, waiting for him to look up and meet his gaze.

"...What?" He asked, his voice full of regret, wondering if this was the last time he would ever see him.

"I..." Fenn choked, suddenly void of all words, unsure what to say to get Wynn to change his mind. He tried to think of what he would have said to Ares if he knew how that day was going to turn out; what he thought Ares would be telling Wynn right now, or even Elara, or even Quill, but he was completely empty.

"Don't worry about me," Wynn said slowly, flickering his eyes away. "This is the smart decision. Neptunum are right." 

Seven // Part One
I can't live in a world where my sister is gone.

YO. Sorry that I haven't updated in almost 2 weeks! I have literally just been so worn out by my work for a while (I live with and look after two young kids full-time and it really feels like my work doesn't end, even when I've done my 10 hours for the day), and I've been ill on top of that. BUT - I am getting 2 weeks away from the kids so plenty of time to myself and writing all day long! I might even be able to start Season 9 in that time! I'm really hoping to get this book over 100K like the previous two, but I still need 20,000 words and there's only 6 chapters left (so not likely). 

Anyway, should be back to more frequent updates soon! Hope you're all enjoying your Christmas holidays (we've just had a MASSIVE snowfall here in Philly (more than in my entire life, I think), and I moved to Australia when I was five, so a white Christmas is still very exciting to me).

What did you think about Wynn's decision? A classic, selfless and stupid idea on his part, but that's our Wynn. Of course this would be his solution. And of course he's doing it to protect his siblings (even though Quill might not look at it that way). I can't wait for what's coming up!

18/12/20.