Episode Three, Part 2:
Fragile

And maybe I don't know what to say, but I'm here 
in your doorway and I just wanted you to know 
that this is me trying. At least I'm trying. 

The door to Dreea and Elara's cell buzzed open and both girls stood up from their beds, trying to assess the situation. It was a different guard than Ammon and he already seemed impatient, tapping his foot against the ground as he waited for them to leave their cell.

Dreea took in a deep breath, nodding over at Elara to say that it was okay, and made sure to go first in case the guard had other intentions than what they assumed.

The two of them stayed close to each other, relieved to see the rest of their people also being let out of their cells and led down to the mess hall. They took their usual seats at their table, looking at every face that passed by in search for their friends.

Quill made his way over to Elara - to each other's relief - as did Fenn, Liam and Aeryn, but it was noticeable how empty their table was.

"Where's Wynn?" Quill asked, looking between Dreea and Elara to see if they had any answers.

"With Chess, I hope," Dreea said. "He took my place in the cell but I moved to Elara's... They should be here."

"Where's the guard that moved you guys?" Elara asked, beginning to look around the mess hall in search for Ammon, but it was no use. They all looked the same with their masks on and they were too far away for her to be able to read their name tags. "We should find him and confront-"

"Riv and Atlantis," Dreea breathed out, interrupting Elara to draw everyone's attention to the last set of prisoners to be brought into the hall.

Careless of the rules, Dreea stood up and embraced Sol as they reached their table, squeezing her just as tightly as when they first reunited on the ship.

"Are you two okay?" She asked, glancing between them both in a panic. "What happened to you?"

Sol waited until her and Atlantis had sat down before she spoke - turning over her shoulder to make sure no one else was close enough to hear.

"We attacked one of the guards," she said, glancing around the table to see everyone listening in close - suddenly overcome with a terrible fear that made her stop.

"Where's Wynn and Chess?"

Dreea sighed, sharing a nervous look with Quill and Elara. "We don't know," she said. "We just assumed that whatever caused you two to miss rations last night is the reason they're not here."

"Unless they coincidently conspired together to steal a weapon off of a guard, then I doubt it," Sol said, already feeling excessive amounts of heat consume her body. "We disarmed the guard of their gun when they were distracted but they hurt Atlantis and refused to give us any food as a punishment," she explained. "Maybe they're keeping Wynn and Chess away from rations for a night, but I can't imagine what they would have done as a retaliation. Chess would have been too anxious to do anything, and Wynn wouldn't get himself in serious trouble if he thought I was gone as well... This doesn't make any sense."

"I hate myself for saying it, but we should save our worrying for tomorrow," Dreea said. "You guys have a perfectly reasonable explanation for why you weren't here last night; I'm sure Wynn and Chess will be back tomorrow with their own version of events. If we want to figure out what's happening, we have to stay calm. These people are trying to make us panic and we can't buy into their fear... I'm sure Wynn knows what he's doing."

Sol hesitated, but she nodded, trying not to allow herself to believe that two of the people she loved most in the world were missing and there was nothing she could do to find out where they were.

////////

As Dreea and Elara were being escorted back to their cell after rations, Dreea could sense the fear bubbling away in Elara. She knew it was only a matter of time before the weight of everything caught up to her and she would collapse under the pressure of everyone she was missing.

As soon as the guard sealed the door behind them, Dreea faced Elara, hoping to console her before her fear got the better of her, but it was already too late; Elara was breathing heavily, walking circles in the room, terrified out of her mind.

"Elara, I need you to sit down," she asked, stepping over to her, but Elara moved away.

"Izzy's gone," she said, "and now Wynn's gone as well. I need some answers. I need to know they're okay."

"We'll figure it out tomorrow," Dreea reminded her. "Riv and Atlantis came back; Wynn and Chess will, too."

"It doesn't feel that way," Elara shook her head. "Something bad is gonna happen, I know it."

"You can't tell yourself that, Ell," Dreea said, grabbing onto her arm and managing to stop her relentless pacing. "You wouldn't tell Izzy that, so don't tell yourself that, either."

"...How are you staying so calm?" Elara asked, gazing over at the Sovereign miserably. "Chess is missing, too."

"Because I know your brother," Dreea offered a tender smile her way, relieved to see that although she wasn't any more hopeful about the situation, at least she was no longer hyperventilating. "And I trust him and I know he's keeping himself and Chessca safe. Have a little more faith in him that he'll find a way back to us. He always does."

////////

Elara and Dreea were sitting at the table in the mess hall, unable to spare a word for anyone as the others reached their table, all joining in their gaze to the entrance, waiting - hoping that Wynn and Chessca would be the next two to arrive.

Amid the crowd of people making their way inside, Joren was able to approach their table - managing a few moments beside the Sovereigns before one of the guards noticed that he wasn't sitting down.

"Riv, I noticed you and Atlantis were missing," he said, setting his hand on her shoulder. "What happened? And where's Wynn? ...And Chessca?"

"Atlantis and I secured a weapon from a guard," she was quick to update him on the important information, "but they locked us up without rations because we had to attack them to get the gun," she said. "We don't know about Wynn or Chess. They should be walking through any minute now."

Her voice was heavy with doubt, unable to shake the feeling that what she was saying wasn't the truth.

"Wynn approached one of the guards when you weren't here," Joren informed her. "I was worried it had something to do with that, but Quill's here, so I can't understand why he's not..."

"Dreea and I will figure out what we'll do if they're not back by tomorrow," Sol replied. "It might be best if you get the word out to Bianca, Nova, Foster and some of our fighters - just in case we need to call on them."

"Good thinking, Sovereign," Joren patted her on the back. "I'll figure out what I can. Until then, you two do what you can to stay together."

Sol and Dreea smiled up at him, reluctant to see him hurry onwards to his table, but quickly turning their attention back to the entrance of the hall.

"They're not coming," Elara muttered, burying her head in her hands.

"There's still time," Quill said, leaning closer to her to make sure she could hear him, but Elara had made up her mind.

"But this isn't the same as what happened to River and Atlantis," Elara argued. "Wynn and Chessca were taken somewhere by a guard for who knows what? This is different and we all know it..."

No one at the table could say anything. The truth was that what Elara had said was right; their absence was glaringly different than when Sol and Atlantis didn't show up for rations, and all their deepest fears seemed to be confirmed when the doors shut behind the last of their people to enter the hall, and neither Wynn nor Chessca were one of them.

"And what about..." Elara hesitated, scanning her eyes around the hall. "Luca and that other boy that was taken? They're not here, either..."

Sol frowned, taking a couple of moments to observe every table in the room, desperate for Elara to be wrong, but she wasn't.

"Ell's right," she said to Dreea. "They're not here."

"Now do you think it's the right time to panic?" She snapped, frustrated with everyone that it had taken them so long to accept that something terrible had been surfacing and they all pushed it aside.

"Yes," Sol reluctantly agreed, not wanting to spark the young girl's fear any further, "but we still need to be rational about this. We need a plan-"

"No we don't," she said. "We need to find them, that's what we need to do."

"Elara, calm down and listen to them," Quill grabbed onto her arm, sensing that she was about to do something irrational. "Wynn left his seat last time and now we don't know where he is. I'm not letting the same thing happen to you. Sit down."

Elara tugged her arm free, surprising herself with how harsh she was. "Exactly: he didn't sit and follow orders when he thought some of our family were missing; I'm not going to do that, either."

"Elara-"

She ignored her brother's warning and pushed herself from her feat, narrowly avoiding Dreea's attempts to grab onto her from her other side.

She began heading over to the locked door on the far side of the building where she remembered Luca being dragged out of, knowing that the Sovereigns were hovering by their table - unsure if they should follow her or not.

Immediately, a guard moved in front of her path - showing no sense of urgency as he reached his hands out, clearly assuming that his warning would be enough for her to back away, but Elara pushed her hands against him, carelessly continuing past him until she reached the door. She began pulling on the handle, knowing that it was pointless, but glancing around nonetheless and trying to figure a way out.

Two more guards approached, this time managing to grab onto either one of her arms. She grunted and resisted their hold, yelling at them to leave her alone as her voice projected out into the tension-filled hall, everyone watching on in nervousness - dreading what consequences were to follow her actions.

"Get your hands off of me!" She argued, kicking at one of the guards and managing to gain one of her arms free, but it didn't last long. As several more approached her - desperate to stop another riot from unfolding - Quill, Sol and Dreea hurried up from their seats, running over to them with their hands up.

"We don't want any trouble," Sol announced, debating how close she could get to Elara without causing the guard to panic. "Just let her go and we'll take her back to our table," she said.

The guards huffed, sharing a look with each other as they fought to keep Elara still.

"You're being too rough with her. She doesn't like it," Quill snapped at them, feeling a rage grow in his chest at how vicious they were handling his sister. "Let me take her back."

"She shouldn't have come over here if she didn't want a struggle," one of the guards replied. "She's seen from the last few nights where that lands you people-"

"Yes, and you took their brother away from them and now they don't know where he is. He hasn't been here the last two nights," Sol pointed out, refusing to conceal her anger any longer.

"And it'll be longer for him and this one if the rest of you don't get your asses back to your seats."

"If you take her, you're taking me, too."

"Quill-" Sol sighed, understanding his intentions and instincts to protect his sister, but it wasn't helping.

"Alright, all of you get the hell back to your seats or I'll-"

The guard was cut off by a grunt, suddenly pushed aside as Elara managed to get herself free again. As they composed themselves and readied themselves to grab her again, Elara pulled out something that she had been holding up her sleeve, holding it out so no one could come any closer...

Everyone was shocked at her sudden possession of her blade - quickly realising that she must have disarmed it from one of the guards when they were too busy trying to keep her away from the door.

"Elara..." Sol murmured her name, daring a step closer in her direction, unable to predict what her next move would be. As the immediate guards around her all retreated out their weapons, there was a commotion behind them as everyone began standing up from their tables.

Sol worried that it was the start of another riot and in fear of the weapon she had, the guards would hurt her to eliminate any potential threat, but within moments, everyone was being escorted out of the mess hall and taken back to their cell, leaving just her, Quill and Dreea alone with the guards.

"What's going on over here?"

Sol and Dreea turned around to see one of the guards jogging over - clearly the one who had initiated the evacuation of all the other prisoners. The closer he got, the more readable his name tag became, and neither Sovereign was sure if it was a good thing that it turned out to be Ammon...

"She was trying to get out," one of the guards answered him. "And she took one of our blades somehow."

"Okay," Ammon breathed out, hurrying to think of a solution. "Round the rest of them up and take them back to their cells. I'll deal with the girl." 

Three // Part Two
We need to find them. That's what we need to do.

Ohhh, do you think it's a good thing that Ammon was the one to come and break up the situation? Is he going to be good news for Elara, or is she going to go 'missing' like Wynn and Chess?

09/11/20.