[for Serena.]

[octavia_minor]

For once, Octavia had left Georgina as soon as she'd been able without drawing suspicion to herself, retreating into the Compound with the excuse of wanting to shower. She'd never be denied if she went under the guise of getting herself accustomed to some of the island's technology, especially something from which she'd stayed far away for so long

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[octavia_minor]

Whether it was Serena's smiling, the fact that she was there alone, or that she was there at all that caused it, Octavia wasn't certain, but almost immediately, she felt a wave of relief hit her, even managing to return the smile as she walked inside. They had more in common now than Octavia ever would have known before, and just the sense of feeling less alone in that was a comfort enough. If Georgina had intended to waver her trust in Serena, she'd been wildly unsuccessful. It only served to make Octavia grateful that she hadn't said more than was necessary, had never publicized the things she'd done back home.

"I'm glad you're here," she said when they were safely in the room, making sure the door was closed behind them before she continued. So much information had spread back in Rome by people eavesdropping, overhearing or mishearing conversations, that she didn't want to risk that now. "I wanted to speak with you. It's - well, it's about Georgina." All she could do was keep her head held high, though her expression likely betrayed her worry. She was still shaken, chilled to the very bone by what Georgina had said. It wasn't an easy task, informing someone that a friend wasn't who they'd been thought to be, but it had to be done all the same.

[turnthebadinme]

Serena's usual cheer fell away as Octavia spoke, and she took a step back almost without thinking. It had been a week, it had only been a week, that she'd been stuck under Georgina's command, but every day had contrived to make her a little warier than she'd once been, a little less certain. Everything about Octavia now frightened her. She didn't want to jump to any conclusions, but anything involving Georgina couldn't be good, and Octavia's body language spoke volumes. "Georgina," she echoed, head tipping up. "Oh. Well. Um, what about her?"

She had to stay calm and composed. If she let anything spill out she shouldn't, Georgina would find out somehow, and Serena knew she would pay for that.

[octavia_minor]

Octavia was too wrapped up in both what had happened and what had to happen to notice anything amiss in Serena's reaction. There was no chance of her backing down, though. How to begin, she didn't rightly know, but it was a necessity, as important for herself as for Serena. She'd thought she should be punished for the wrongs she did. Perhaps now, she had a chance at redemption.

"She showed me something this afternoon," she said, the words careful, even, despite the nervousness evident in Octavia's face. "A... a film, I suppose. Of you. You, and a man. Who died." She paused a moment, but picked back up almost immediately, thinking of how she might feel if told only that much. "It seemed to me that she thought to turn me against you, or something of the like, but I thought perhaps you ought to know what she was doing." She'd only get into the details of her own story if prompted. Just then, it was unnecessary.

[turnthebadinme]

Serena paled and she shook her head, vehement but mute, all words strangled in her throat. That Octavia was there said that Georgina's attempt hadn't worked, but Serena couldn't see that then. She could hardly think of anything but what Octavia must have seen, of that night and Pete and how it had all gone so, so wrong. "No," she managed, staring blindly ahead of her. "No. No, no, no, she - no, she can't - she -" She struggled to catch her breath, but it came out again, breaking on a sob as she shook her head.

Trembling, she stumbled backwards, groping for her bed. She needed to sit or she'd fall. She needed something to steady her. "She can't," she insisted again, voice tight and high as the tears began. "There was - we had an arrangement, she said she wouldn't - I never meant for it to happen." It had only taken a week for everything to start falling apart. Serena could hardly breathe, dizzied by shock, let alone think what she should do next.

[octavia_minor]

Though the talk of an arrangement served only to stir up the kind of rage Octavia hadn't felt since the day she arrived here, she pushed it aside, in favor of crossing the few steps to Serena and taking a seat beside her, the look on her face nothing short of gentle. It was a rare state for her, but it seemed important all the same. If words would fail her, there had to be some way for Serena to at least know that she wasn't in this alone.

Octavia intended to give it a good try, though. It was worth the effort. "I know," she said quietly, ducking her head so she could try to meet Serena's eyes. "Neither of us did." She left a pause after that, if only to make sure that the meaning got through, then reached over to take one of Serena's hands in both of hers. "She couldn't have chosen a person more wrong if she'd tried."

[turnthebadinme]

Serena raised her free hand to press it to her mouth a moment, shaking as she tried to make the sobs subside. It had been too sudden. She'd expected the end around every corner and still was unprepared to find herself facing it. That there'd be someone there to hold her hand, though, she hadn't seen, and if the revelation that Georgina was telling secrets was a nauseating one, there was some small comfort in the fact that Octavia hadn't yet run away. Pulling her legs up under her as if that could make her feel less sick, she dropped her hand to cover Octavia's. "I couldn't tell anyone," she said, shaking her head. "I couldn't. And now she's talking and I did what she said, and she's still telling." It took a moment more for what Octavia had said to settle in, and she lifted her head with a sniff, blinking back what was left of tears. "I don't know how you can still be so nice to me."

[octavia_minor]

Octavia just nodded as Serena spoke. The details were different, but the positions were similar in so many ways -- Servilia had had leverage of her own, using Octavia's dead husband to turn her against Atia, and Octavia had complied, bringing down the whole damned Republic for her trouble. For all she knew, too, Servilia could have held it all against her afterwards, kept Octavia under her control as was becoming more apparent that Georgina had done with Serena. She'd ease into that, though. For the moment, she just kept her hands around Serena's, with the most reassuring look she was capable of.

"Because," she replied, "I know how you feel." She felt a hint of worry, a slight turning in her stomach as soon as she'd spoken, but she had to trust that Serena would have a similar reaction to her own. She'd always trusted too well. "Back home, I - I got involved with the wrong person, and because of what I did, what I told her, two people were killed. The wife of a soldier, who'd nothing to do with it, and my great-uncle. What I saw on that video was nothing more than an accident. You can't blame yourself." What to do about Georgina, though, would have to be figured out before too long. Octavia had no intention of letting this slide, not when she saw what it did to Serena. It hit too close to home, too.

[turnthebadinme]

Serena could, though, and did. That guilt had chased her from her home before, but there was nowhere left to go now. "Georgina didn't make me do any of it," she said, shaking her head. That was the heart of it. Where Georgina led, Serena had always followed, and they had been terrible steps to take, but this had been all Serena. "And she has the proof on video, and if she showed you... She's not gonna stop. She wants to ruin me, and she can do it." As much as it all hurt to say, there was some relief in it, too. She'd never before been able to discuss this with anything like a sense of freedom, never been able to confide in anyone about it for fear of dragging Blair down with her. To be able to do that - and with someone who understood - had seemed too much to ask for.

[octavia_minor]

"I did it all willingly, too. Thought I had good reason," Octavia replied, still uncommonly composed, even sympathetic. That was enough about her, though. Her past hadn't followed her here like Serena's had, and all that was left to do was make sure that Georgina didn't get away with what Servilia had. The two had nearly become one in her head, anyhow, as if by bringing down one, she could bring down the other, too. "We'll find a way to stop her. If she thinks she's succeeded in winning me over, that might buy us some time to work something out." She paused, intending to wait for a response, but then added, "Does anyone else know? Anyone who can help?"

[turnthebadinme]

"No," Serena said, shaking her head, miserable. "I left home after it happened. I couldn't tell anyone. If I got in trouble, I didn't want them to either." It was easier, though, to be a little more calm now, to keep from crying. She had to focus. If they were to stop Georgina, she would have to be clearheaded about it all. There was no reason now not for Blair and Chuck to know, except that she didn't know how well they would handle the information. If she couldn't trust them, though, then she really was alone in the world. "They can't get in trouble here, can they? If they know? It's not like home."

[octavia_minor]

"There's no way," Octavia confirmed, with a gentle shake of her head. She didn't closely follow the island's government, but what she did know was that the past didn't matter here, that no one could be punished for past mistakes. The past could follow people here, as it did Serena in the form of Georgina, but it wouldn't count for anything. Besides, what had happened was an accident. It wasn't Octavia's place to try to insist that, being unable to believe it about her own story, but she'd seen enough to know that it had all been unintentional. "You should talk to them, Blair and the others. Nothing will happen to them, and nothing will happen to you, either."

And if it did, well, Octavia had her ways of solving things the way they would have been sorted out back home.

[turnthebadinme]

As difficult as it may have been to stomach, Serena knew that no one could handle this like Blair. At home, it had been a matter of the law, but here it was about Georgina's silence, and what Serena had been paying for all week, she hadn't received. If anyone would still care about her on the end of a tale like this, it was Blair.

She nodded, obedient as a child. "I will," she said, "I'll talk to them." Her face crumpled again as she fought back fresh tears, her voice breaking. "Thank you, Octavia. I mean... thank you." She couldn't change the past or fix it, she couldn't ever make it right, but she could stop it from ruining her attempts to do better. Georgina had to be stopped before she showed the video again, and to someone who wouldn't understand, who would hate and ostracize her, who would spread the word that Serena van der Woodsen couldn't be trusted.