Episode Six, Part 1:
Stoic

Wynn stared onwards at his best friend, still in doubt that she was even there; that he had found her. Yet, so much didn't make sense. It was like he had taken one step forward, and three steps back: his brother was alive, somehow, but now his father was missing...

For a moment, Wynn glanced over to Sol, trying to figure out what she would do. With no answer, he put on a brave face and turned back to his friend, reaching his hand out for her. 

"We're gonna get you out of that place. You'll all come with us. We'll get through this together." 

But Lyra pulled away, stepping backwards from Wynn. "Tell me you're kidding..." Lyra spoke, the emotion in her voice something that he couldn't figure out. "All I've done is look for you."

"I've been doing the same-"

"And we've all been waiting for you to join us at Riders. You can't go back to Basilisk, Wynn. It's not safe. Look what they did to Ares."

Sol shifted uncomfortably in the distance, Lyra making no effort to hide her distaste for Sol's clan. Wynn knew that Sol would be boiling over with rage and ready to lash out at Lyra for speaking badly of her people in such a way, but what he didn't know was that Sol held it in for him, because she knew that Lyra meant a lot to Wynn and after all he had been through in the past week, he deserved to feel something good without it being ripped away from him. 

"What?" Wynn breathed out, his heart skipping a few beats. It felt like a blow to his chest. "No, Lyra, you've got it all wrong. Riders were the ones to shoot Ares. Sol saved-" he didn't know what to call it – what she had done. "I would've died if she didn't leave camp and come and find me."

Sol looked at the ground, the same aching in Wynn's chest now being felt in hers. After all she had sacrificed since getting him out of the Bunker, he couldn't even acknowledge the countless times Sol had saved him.

"You will die if you stay with them. You need to come to Blood Riders. Basilisk are the problem."

Her words hurt a lot more than Wynn had expected. For the first time since being on the ground, he understood what Basilisk had done for him; to protect him. What Sol had done.

"Is that a promise?" Wynn asked. There was a lump in his throat, his words coming out weak and shaky. "You'll let them kill us?"

Lyra's features softened, studying Wynn's reaction. She had thought she could do enough to convince him that she was right. Within a moment, her stare turned cold, looking at Wynn as if he was no more than a stranger.

"You're not coming with me..." She figured out his decision, but the regret in her voice rang out clear.

Wynn shook his head. "I can't... And I think you're wrong about Riders."

Lyra looked away, afraid that her façade would crumble. "Well, when Basilisk is defeated, I hope it won't be too late for you. I hope there's still time and that you'll see where we belong."

"We belong in the Bunker, Lyra. All of us do."

"The Bunker is another life away," she answered. "And so are we."

Before Wynn could get another word in, Lyra turned on her heel and disappeared back into the forest of trees. Wynn watched her until she was out of sight, tears threatening to spill from his tired eyes.

Slowly, Sol crept over to him, uncertain how he would handle losing her again when he had come so close to getting his family back.

"Wynn," Sol called, moving her way to replace where Lyra was standing.

His eyes met hers. "Do you really mean it?" He asked her. "Is Riders really as bad as you all say? Or are they just not Basilisk?"

Sol sighed, careful with what she said to him in such a state of mind. "They're dangerous, Wynn. So many of our people have been lost to them, reasons that shouldn't even exist. Unfortunately, they got to your friend; moulded her. She can't fathom any other perception than what they feed to her."

"And how do I know you're not the bad guys?" The tears had finally won their way over.

"Because believe it or not, I have given you the chance to leave," she answered. "Maybe not right away, as you would have been killed the minute you were left without Basilisk's protection, but I'm out here with you, aren't I? Trying to find your family when you know what's about to happen in my life. Lyra was allowed out of camp because she's conditioned; she's one of them. They know that she won't want to leave."

"What about the others? How come they're not allowed out?"

"If it's how I think it is, and how I hope it is, then it's because they're resisting Riders' ways. They see how malevolent their clan is."

"Why would they do that?"

"Because of Ares? Because he's been on both sides and he's seen what the Riders do to their own people, and what we would never contemplate. Wynn, half of Blood Riders are imprisoned in their own clan. Something my father has been considering to act on for years now."

"Woah, what do you mean act on?"

"The impending war that everyone always talks about. My father wants to attack Blood Riders from the inside, get all their own prisoners to work against them."

"So why haven't you done that before?"

"Because we haven't had the numbers. That's why I decided to open up the Bunker – so we could home more people to train for our army." 

"No offence, Sol, but if you want an army, you're gonna need a heck of a lot more than five people. Especially the five of us you took in. You're starting with nothing."

"I know," Sol sighed. "But that's why I've been trying to detect more Bunkers. It's not as easy as I'd like." 

Wynn let out a breath, seeming to calm down and begin to process his fleeting reunion with Lyra. 

"So... What do you want to do now?" Sol asked. 

Wynn exhaled, his movements slowing as he took the time to consider her question. The decision was his: he had the power to decide how to save his family.

"We can follow Lyra and try to find our way closer to Blood Riders' camp, or we can head back to our own and go from there," Sol prompted him. 

As badly as Wynn wanted to follow after his friend, he knew he couldn't. Not when Quill, Bas, MaReya, and Azha were all depending on him.

"We'll go back to Basilisk; plan our way in. I want to do this the right way." 

Six // Part One
Fleeting reunions.

18/08/22.