Episode One, Part 4:
Hoizons 

I dreamed of you; it was real enough to 
get me through. I swear, you were there.

Kodiak and Elara were relieved when they finally came in sight of the shore again, feeling comforted just by the fact that they could see the rest of their people spread out across the sandy plains. They had tried to be subtle about their hurried pace, hoping Izzy wouldn't pick up on the hidden worries that were pressing under the surface of what they already knew. Before she could ask any questions, Elara knew she had to distract her so she didn't dwell on the fear that had almost consumed her.

"Izzy, go find Uncle Quill or Harlow, okay? Kodiak and I need to talk with the others."

She nodded and happily obliged their orders, taking off in the opposite direction where she could already see Harlow play-fighting with some of the others children, eager to become involved and show off her new tricks to everyone that Kodiak had taught her.

"Do you think she'll mention it to anyone else?" Kodiak asked, already leading them to where the temporary Sovereigns' tent had been established. "It could end up like a game of Chinese whispers if we're not careful. You know, word getting out and gradually changing as everyone tells it."

"I don't think she'll say much. She might tell Quill or Wynn if she thinks we haven't told them, but I think she'll know not to go telling everyone. I think she was scared enough by it that she wouldn't want them to worry."

"Good," Kodiak let out a breath relief, waving over Sol and Dreea who were sitting with Chessca, leaving Elara to call Wynn over.

As if they could all read their nervous expressions from far away, they all hurried over to meet, following Kodiak's lead into the tent.

"You guys alright?" Wynn asked, already assuming that it had something to do with his sister's wellbeing. "You were gone a while-"

"There's other people on this island," Kodiak said.

"We think," Elara corrected for him, subconsciously taking a hold of his arm and curling her fingers around his sleeve to comfort him.

Kodiak exhaled, managing to resolve his anxiety somewhat as he focused on her touch.

"We think there's other people here. People who've set traps up. We found one."

"What kind of trap?" Sol stepped forward, already feeling restless with unease at the thought of these people being a problem for Basilsik.

"...Land mines."

"Mines? As in explosives? As in bombs?" Wynn asked.

"As in land mines," Elara teased. "They're different than bombs. Bombs are timed whereas mines are set off by-"

"Set off by direct contact or triggered by pressure. Yeah, I know," Wynn nudged his elbow into her arm, getting his payback for her showing him up in front of the other Sovereigns. "How do you know it was one, though?"

"We set one off."

Everyone frowned at Kodiak's response, trying to understand what exactly he was saying.

"We found an old house; it was pretty obvious that no one lived in it, so Izzy wanted to explore it. Ell and I were just talking when Izzy called out after she noticed it. We had to to climb out of the window to get out and then I chucked something inside to set it off so that it wouldn't explode on one our people if they went inside. I'm guessing there's more where it came from and obviously, someone put it there. Someone who wanted to kill whoever didn't that it was hidden."

"It could have been there for decades," Dreea pointed out. "For all we know, all the others could have already been set off by now. We've been here for a few days and nothing has happened to any of us. Chances are-"

"Chances are that if we're not careful about this, one of us is going to wound up dead. That's kind of our luck," Kodiak interrupted. "Bad things follow us around."

"Kodi," Elara whispered from his side, tugging on his arm softly so he was looking at her. "You just saved our lives out there. Everything's okay."

Kodiak nodded reluctantly, unable to hide pessimism from everyone and croaked out an apology to Dreea for snapping at her.

"Don't be sorry," she said. "You're right, anyway. We should be careful; we need to discreetly check everywhere around here to make sure there aren't any hidden or that one of our people aren't going to accidentally step on one."

"We should also send a few of us out a little further - perhaps to where you guys found the first one, and try and figure out if there's more around there or any evidence that there used to be."

"Dreea and I will go with you," Kodiak volunteered, already beginning to pick up what few possessions they had in the tent: a couple of weapons, a flask of water which was half empty.

"You guys need me to come?" Wynn asked, noticing that they were all in some kind of hurry and trying to avoid his eyes.

"No, the three of us will be enough," Sol smiled, momentarily squeezing onto his arm for reassurance. "Why don't you guys find Quill? Sit down for a little while?"

She didn't wait to hear his answer before she disappeared from the tent to join Kodiak and Dreea, leaving him alone with Elara.

"Do you feel like they're being... Careful around us?"

"Glad I'm not the only one who's noticed it," Elara laughed. "Kodiak won't even let me get up to get my jacket by myself. Last night, he made me stay down so he could get it. It's like he's seeing everything as a possible way for me to get hurt and he'll do whatever it takes to make sure that doesn't happen."

"Yeah, but he's always been like that with you," Wynn pointed out.

"True. But it's even more so now. And not just from them. Everyone who knows what happened on Neptunum have been tiptoeing around us. I know they're just trying to be polite, but we're okay, and I hope it won't take them long to realise that."

"Speaking of," Wynn said, moving to stand by the edge of the tent as he gazed out among the faces of his people. "Have you guys told Izzy what happened yet?"

"No," Elara sighed, following to stand beside him, focusing her eyes until they found Izzy, smiling somewhat somberly as she watched her antics with Harlow. "But she's smart: she knows something happened to me, she just doesn't know what."

"Are you going to tell her? It might make her feel a little less worried if she knows what exactly Neptunum did. It might even help her wrap her mind around how Kodiak is suddenly alive after all of the stories you told her about him."

"She knows how Kodiak's here. We told her before... You know," she said. "But if I tell her that I was shot and I died, not only is that not going to make any sense to her when we explain how I'm alive now, but it's going to terrify her even more than she already is. She's always going to think I'm one step away from being killed or that at any moment, she could lose me. I know in the grand scheme of things, we haven't known each other long, but she's everything to me. And I don't want her to know all the things I had to when I came out of the Bunker."

"I hear you," Wynn said, unable to forget all the trauma he had watched Elara go through since they came to the ground. It was what made him so protective of her; part of the reason why he had been so quick to sacrifice his life for her - because she deserved to live.

"I was just like her - so young and thinking that everything was my responsibility or that I couldn't allow myself to depend on people or let them take care of me. I wish I had done a better job at that when Ares was still around because he was always so good at looking after us," she smiled in reminiscence. "But I didn't; I tried to do everything to help and it messed me up a little. I have the chance to make sure Izzy doesn't feel all those awful things I have, and if the only way to do that is to not tell her the truth about what happened on Neptunum, then that's what I'm going to do. She's still grieving her dad, understandably, but sometimes, I can't help but feel like that was my fault."

"Ell," Wynn sighed. "Josiah died when that tree collapsed on him. I've still got the scar on my leg from where a part of it landed on me, remember? You're not the reason she lost him."

"I'm the one who spoke to Quill on the radio to lure him out of the Bunker. If we didn't do that-"

"Then Hannah would still be around and we'd have lost Quill for good and who knows if we'd had ever found Bas and Kodiak again. I know it's tough but Izzy loves you and I know she wouldn't trade you for the world. Don't forget that."

"Thank you," Elara whispered, overcome by the need to wrap her arms around him and hug him so tightly.

Wynn chuckled, a little surprised at her strong grip, but he hugged her back. "You okay?"

Elara nodded, pulling away after a moment and smiling at him through her watered over eyes. "I'm just grateful about a lot of things at the moment, and you're one of them. You've always been here for me. I don't think I've ever told you how much that means to me or really thanked you for keeping me safe all this time. And what you did for me on Neptunum... I could never repay you for that."

"You're alive," Wynn smiled, nudging her arm softly with his hand. "That alone is enough. I don't need anything other from you or Quill except to know that you guys are safe. That's all I want."

"Well, we are." She said. "And that's because of you."

"Because of each other," he corrected, "because of all of us. And nothing is going to change now that everyone's together. For always, okay?"

Elara nodded, wiping away the tears of relief that had managed to spill, repeating the same thing back to him. After a moment of contemplation, she looked at him, unsure whether it was a smart thing to ask at that time. 

"How are you coping after everything that happened?" 

Wynn glanced over, trying to figure out if his experiences on the ship were as similar to her's as he thought they were. "I'm doing alright," he assured her. "Sol and I had a long talk; it really helped. I think a lot of it came down to the fact that I've been bottling everything up for a few years - since Ares died, really. And it didn't help that she was gone, as well." 

"I've always known you've grieved for him more than you allow yourself to let on," she said. "I just didn't know how to bring it up. Especially when it hurt me just as bad to remember." 

"Do you want to talk about him now?" Wynn offered. "I'm here if you do. Quill would be more than happy to do the same." 

Elara shook her head. "I think I'm... Okay," she told him. "I feel like a part of him was with me on Neptunum and I'm alive because of it. Do you know what I mean? It doesn't hurt the same. It's like I've learned how to notice all the ways that he's still around and it just... Doesn't hurt the same." 

"...Yeah," Wynn breathed out, knowing exactly what she was trying to say. "I feel like he's around too, sometimes." 

One // Part Four
You've always been there for me.

Ah, I love how amazing Wynn is with his siblings. He doesn't give himself enough credit for all he's done for them and all he's helped them through. I just really love writing protective siblings, okay!! By the way, I can't wait for the dynamic in the next chapter (three people who I have been wanting to write a scene of together for SO long)!!

Can't believe how much I'm writing! Already surpassed 10,000 words for this book! Just gotta do that 9 more times now, haha (haha)... No, but seriously, if I don't make this book reach 100K, I'm not ever gonna let myself hear the end of it.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Hope you're having a good day! I've been listening to One Direction all day so it's the best day I've had allllll week (and this week's been pretty tough).

30/01/21.