Episode Five, Part 3:
Knocking on Heaven's Door

On their walk back to Basilisk, Sol had asked Wynn to lead in a hope that it would help him familiarise himself with the trail, but he was too lost in himself to do anything but walk behind her, his head down as his gaze was oblivious to the world.

Sol offered to take him to see Aeryn when they arrived back at camp, though, Wynn muttered something incoherent and disappeared, leaving Sol alone with her guilt.

"Riverly, come in," a voice sounded from nearby.

Groaning in frustration, Sol pulled out her radio, impatient to see what she was needed for.

"What is it, Kodiak?"

The boy on the other end was slightly nervous, a result of Sol's fiery attitude ringing through. "Uh, Eryx is in the Quarters. He's waiting to see you."

Sol rolled her eyes, then realized he couldn't see. "I've got other things to deal with. Tell him it'll have to wait."

Kodiak gulped, his voice now a little more desperate. "Please, Riv."

After a couple of seconds passed by, she radioed back, reluctant to give in to her father's orders. "Fine. Tell him I'm on my way." 

Sol pushed her worries aside and made her way to the Sovereigns' Quarters, finding Kodiak hovering inside by the entrance. It seemed he had been on the lookout for her to avoid having to face Eryx's wrath or be anywhere near him. Sol could hardly blame him; even on Erxy's good days, she still sometimes wanted to be as far away from him as she could. 

"Take your time, much?" Kodiak said, trying to be lighthearted but he was too nervous. "He's been nagging me for ages. Where have you been?" 

"Out," she said. "Near that Bunker. What does my Dad want?" 

Kodiak handed something to Sol and gestured down the hall to where Eryx was waiting. Sol didn't even spare a second to examine the bag Kodiak had given her before she slung it over her shoulder and trailed down the hallway to reach her father's room. 

"Dad-" 

"Do you think this is something I've had the time to deal with?" His words were immediately dominating over her attempts to speak - putting Sol in her place before she was even fully in the room. "With the position Basilisk are currently in - the plans we have in place - you think it's smart to be out here rebelling against you're own father? The Noble Sovereign, no less. If you were anyone else, your future would be very uncertain right now, young Sovereign." 

"Rebelling? Wait, what-"

Eryx pulled the bag from Sol's shoulder. He ripped it open revealing a stash of supplies: food, bottles of water, medicine, torches, weapons, and even a radio. Sol stared back in nervousness, confused at what exactly her father was accusing her of.

"This is going to take us down."

"I don't... I don't understand," she shook her head.

Eryx's hands rolled into fists, his grip on the bag tightening. "These supplies were stolen. Kodiak found them in the tent of one of the Bunker Clan's."

"Kodiak was going through their tents? What the hell, Dad! How do you expect me to get their trust if we're going around invading their privacy like that?"

"Calm down, Sol. I ordered him to check. But we already invaded their home, a little invasion of privacy isn't going to hurt them much more." 

Something shifted inside of Sol. It was as though she felt the need to defend Wynn and his family.

"It's not right."

"What's not right is that you brought these people into our camp and they're stealing from us. I trusted you when you said you had a plan. Sol, you need to be the Noble. You promised me you'd make that happen."

"We all know that decision is yours, Dad."

Eryx folded his arms. "And what do you mean by that?"

"You know exactly what I mean," Sol replied, stuffing all the supplies back into the bag. "Whether I'm decided as Noble or not, you can override. If you want me to be Noble, I will be. After all, isn't that what happened to Sovereign Elijah? He wasn't going to vote for me as the Noble, so you killed him before he could convince Sovereign Joren to do the same...." 

Eryx grumbled a low noise and pushed on Sol so that her back hit the wall. After regaining her breath, she stayed where she was, trying her hardest to be courageous by keeping her father's gaze. 

"Are you accusing me, Sol, or asking? Because there's a big difference." 

Sol huffed and shoved her father's hand from her shoulder. She moved past him and ventured over to the bag, trying to find a reason to convince her dad that it wasn't a big deal. 

As Eryx turned to follow her, his radio buzzed in his pocket, acting as some kind og saving grace for Sol. 

"Sovereign, we have a situation. Adair, out."

Not breaking his harsh gaze from his daughter, Eryx pulled out his radio. His voice was impatient but equally as frustrated at the potential of something else threatening to stir up trouble for him. "What is it, Adair?"

"One of the signals went off in one of the restricted zones. Someone's hanging by the vehicles. It's too dark to see much, but I think they've boarded one of them."

Eryx breathed deeply, trying to refrain his anger from spilling out onto Sol. He gave her a knowing look. "Well? It's probably one of your victims. This mess is yours, Sovereign. I want it dealt with."

Sol held back on her emotion. Her father's anger was usually something she could tolerate, but the disappointment was worse. In running for the Noble, she was required to engage a plan that would improve survival for Basilisk; Sol's was the rescue of a Bunker to recurit numbers for her army - a suggestion made by Eryx - and it was a lot of pressure to live up to; a lot of things she was expected to become, even if it meant sacrificing who she was.

Before the oceans spilled from her eyes, Sol pushed past her father. She stormed back through the Sovereign's Quarters, grabbing a pistol and a torch, past a very worried-looking Kodiak, and went on her way to where all the vehicles were kept.

Adair was already for waiting for her, along with Ellery, amused smirks on their faces knowing that Sol had gotten in trouble with her father.

"Think he belongs to you, Riverly," he announced, shining a light in the direction of the vehicles. "You know, as one of your people, I really hope you're keeping Basilisk safe," he taunted. "I'd hate to think that just anyone is allowed to wander in, given that a war might be around the corner. Maybe keeping a better watch on your victims is a good place to start."

"Shut up, Adair, before I make you myself!" She didn't care that it was her father's senior guards that she was yelling at, nor that she was blatantly threatening them. She'd decided long ago that one of the first things she'd do as a Sovereign was to make sure neither of them kept their privlidged roles within camp. 

"Threatening your own people? Well, if that's what you have to do to become a Noble around here..." Ellery chimed in.

"Haven't you heard? Her father is the Noble. Her path is set in stone-"

A loud blast echoed from where Sol was standing and the two older men fell silent in an instant. They looked at her, suddenly nervous as Sol held her pistol pointing up towards the sky.

"I told you boys to shut up," her unwavering gaze caused both of the men to stumble backward, with Ellery appearing somewhat apologetic and Adair, on the other hand, vengeful.

He held his hands up as some sort of show of defeat, but the glimmer in his eye reflected nothing but rage. "I guess we'll leave you be, Riverly. Seeing as you have everything under control."

She huffed and watched as theydisappeared further into the camp - the darkness of the night slowly swallowing them from her sight. She jumped down from where she stood, breathing out tirelessly and hoping that the day was nearly over. 

Sol turned her light on and began beaming it into the windows of all the rovers and trucks they had parked up, searching for the only boy she knew it would be: Wynn.

As Sol looked around, debating where to start, the towering shadow of the bus stole what little light the night offered her. And then it clicked... Sol ran over, the silhouette of the boy now visible as she ran past. She pryed open the door to the bus, exhaling deeply as she stepped on board.

Alone, Wynn sat curled up on one of the seats, his gaze lost out the window. He didn't flinch at the sound of Sol, nor seemed to notice her presence in any way. 

She stared onward at him, the hint of her smile fizzling out at his silence. A strange feeling grew inside of her, something she could only describe in colours. Blue and black all over. Feelings of sorrow she had never felt before. 

She stepped forward, her movement slow and considered, stopping a couple rows away. After a moment, Sol sat herself down on one of the old bus seats, turning around to face Wynn.

"Hey," she spoke.

Wynn glanced over. An 'I see you' sort of look; an 'everything hurts'. His gaze drifted back out the window.

"If you ever want to disappear to somewhere quiet, your best chance is just to get out of Basilisk altogether. I know a place, and I'll have to show you sometime. Of course, you can't leave at night. Not out the gates anyway. You'll have to go through the tunnel again."

Wynn looked up at her, a mixture of fear and surprise coating his features.

"What?" Sol asked him. "You're wondering how I knew about the tunnel? The one you and Ares crawled out of?"

Wynn gulped, hesitant to meet her eyes. Sol only laughed. "Who do you think made that tunnel?"

"It was you?" Wynn asked. His voice was raspy and strained, indicating to Sol that he had been crying for a while.

She nodded. "Dad couldn't let anything happen to his precious, young Sovereign. I was 'never allowed to pass the gates of Basilisk alone,'" She recalled her father's words. "So, I made my own way out."

Wynn smiled a little. 

"But don't tell him. I still don't think he knows about it, even though I've been using it since I was 11."

They both smiled at her story, but the bus fell silent again after a few moments.

"I am going to find them, Wynn," there was a softness to Sol, but in so much more than just her voice.

From his seat, Wynn looked up at her with a depth of admiration. He kept his eyes on her a little longer - as though she was a distraction from all the horrors trying to resurface in his mind. 

"I saw the bodies," he admitted. 

Sol shifted in her seat, sitting up a little straighter. "The... The bodies?" She was unsure why she was wanting to deny it. She couldn't protect him from the truth.

"I didn't think it was real, but it was, wasn't it? Outside my Bunker?"

Sol dropped her eyes, unable to look at him. She nodded. "Uhh, yeah. There were some casualties-"

"How many? I don't remember how many I saw. Everything's a bit...clouded."

"I counted seven," she said and watched as Wynn's face fell. "But two of them were Riders - not from the Bunker."

"Who were they?" Wynn asked. "I mean, what did they look like? Were they..."

"Four girls," she answered. "One guy."

Wynn did the maths... Four girls. That meant four chances that his mother, sister, or best friend could be killed. And there was even a chance of losing his father, too.

"Two of them were kids." 

"How young were they?" The panic in his chest was rising. He couldn't lose his sister. He couldn't lose her as well as his brother.

"Quite young. I... Wynn, I'm sorry. I think I'll take one of your friends in the morning. We'll get them identified, then we can go from there."

"No!" Wynn booted up in his seat. His hands gripped the railing in front of him, a sort of desperation taking over his entire body. He calmed himself down, then proceed to explain. "No, I don't want any of them going there. There's no need for another one of us to see it as well. I don't want any of them to feel like this."

Sol nodded, signaling to him that she understood what he wanted to do. "I'll take you tomorrow."

"Thanks, Sol."

"No," she shook her head. "Don't thank me. Nothing about it will be easy." 

Five // Part Three
Are you accusing me, or asking?

18/08/22.