SOL - Generation Four - Chapter Fourteen
I'm so sorry the pictures are bad ;_;
This game crashed 6..7? times this chapter. I don't even know why. I've taken out all my new CC and I don't understand ugh. I'm actually going to do a CC purge (rather than just saying I will) but that means the next chapter could be a while...
So yeah bad pictures and continuity errors. Just go with the writing and ignore these things, k? (im sorry gah)
WARNING: LOTSA SWEARING AHEAD!!
Also this chapter is very short
Last Time...
Missed more?
At some point through the training exercise - Risa reckoned maybe an hour ago, because the sun was completely down by now - she had been separated from Xander.
She was perfectly capable of doing this herself, but it was the knowledge that no one was at her back that was putting her off working properly. Her neck kept tingling, and she kept looking over her shoulder and peering into the darkness for signs of Q’s traps or tricks, because there wasn’t another pair of eyes watching out for her.
It honestly made her feel really uneasy, but she could do this. She was sure that she was close to the -
Snap.
Risa gasped and flung herself back behind a tree, pressing close to the bark and holding her breath.
Had she seen...?
No, it must have been one of Q’s tricks to put her off. It had looked awfully like...
Risa shook her head. Q was just making this as true to a mission as possible. And she was without her partner...
Risa heard a voice hissing and bit down on her lip, heart tripping. It was just so - so real. She couldn’t shake the feeling that... God, she had no idea. Something just felt off.
She closed her eyes and when she opened them almost screamed.
“Pride, Christ, don’t do that!”
The Sin looked at her with wide eyes, before catching her sleeve and trying to pull her back the way she came.
“What are you doing?” Risa whispered. The Sin put a hand over her mouth, the other one gesturing wildly, before calming and pointing to something around the tree.
Risa frowned but twisted around to look.
It was a good thing that Pride had a hand over her mouth, or she would have screamed.
Someone stood not three metres away, unmistakably a vampire. There was a mark on his neck, and Risa knew that this was a man from the Council.
Her heart thudded in her chest and adrenaline rushed through her body. This wasn’t a game. If that man saw and caught her, she would be taken to the Council. The stories of her friends and what they experienced were all too clear.
Risa swallowed and forced herself to calm. Pride glanced around the tree and began to tug her sleeve again. Taking in a deep breath, she let Pride tug her away from the vampire, avoiding the twigs and leaves on the ground. When they were far enough away, Risa began to run.
It only took half a minute until she began to hear faint sounds, parallel to where she was running. A vampire, having heard her?
She ran until her legs were burning, all need for quiet forgotten. She had no idea where she was going except that she couldn’t be here.
Something hit her from the side and she automatically began to scream; a cold hand landed over her mouth and Risa kicked out, all that she had learned about fighting coming in too late.
“Risa,” the vampire - wait, no.
“Oh my god,” she said shakily. “Xander.”
Xander nodded, sitting up and glancing around. “We should be safe. I’ve done a spell; they shouldn’t be able to sense us. We have to get to the safe house.”
Risa nodded and let him pull her up, hugging him briefly before letting him lead her - slower this time - out of the forest.
They came close to vampires a couple of times, but whatever spell Xander was using worked, and Risa was all too glad for him to use her fear to power himself.
She glanced back once, hoping that everyone else had managed to get out.
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They had come out of nowhere, and none of them had realised that was real until it was too late.
Fury tasted blood in his mouth, but his mind was too fuzzy to register it. His head thumped and his arm felt sticky with blood, and it was so much effort to force his eyes open; there was no way he could get up from the comfy ground of leaves anytime soon.
Blearily, he saw the three vampires surround Keely and Autumn. They looked almost as bad as he felt, but they weren’t down for the count quite yet.
Keely was adept at using her magic, and Autumn was one of the best fighters they had - even so, Fury could tell without looking that these vampires were old.
He bit down on a groan as he moved and his whole left side exploded in agony. Breathing heavily, he tried to push himself up, intent on at least distracting one of the vampires for a few seconds. It might not help his situation, but Keely and Autumn could have the chance to get away.
Turning over so that he could get on his hands and knees made him feel sick, and he was too close to collapsing under his own weight. A trickle of blood ran down his neck, and it took him a few moments to realise that he had been drunk from. It explained the exhaustion at least.
He knew that he had to do something. Every second he stayed here, Keely and Autumn were getting more and more hurt. If he could just distract them, give them a chance to run. They could warn others, if there was the opportunity to, or at least get to the safe house. Better two of them than none.
Fury winced at the burning at his neck, and it took him a few seconds to realise that it was the presence of Lust and not where he had been bitten. He glanced up, neck muscles trembling, and saw Lust in front of him. The Sin looked at him with a smile, happier than he had ever seen her. What was she thinking?
She held her hand up, palm out, with a trusting expression on her face. Fury looked at it for all of a second before pressing his own hand against hers, hoping that this was a good decision.
Strength flooded through his muscles but his vision went black; all his senses shut up. He had a moment of complete and utter fear before everything flooded back to him.
It was like a system restart. The sounds of the battle were so much louder, and the scents of blood and vampire stronger. He could see almost perfectly in the dark, every little leaf detailed as if he was looking at it through a microscope. He marvelled at it for a second, before realising that Lust was no longer with him.
But she was. Her strength was. Her senses - everything. Fury had a second of confusion before realising that this was what Q had meant to do when combining them.
Fury pushed the thought out of his mind and stood up, wounds healed. He watched the fight and it slowed, slowed until he could see every move that was going to happen before it did. He went forward and kicked out, snapping one vampire’s head back and grabbing the weapon - a gun - from his belt and aiming at the next.
He didn’t pause to think before he pulled the trigger.
The blast hurt his overly sensitive ears, and he watched as blood sprayed out from the wound in sickening detail. Fury spun around and shot the next vampire, and the last was quickly put out of his misery too.
“Fury? What...?” Autumn breathed, looking bruised and exhausted.
“I’m not sure what just happened,” he admitted, blinking and seeing faint wavy lines between Autumn and Keely. It took him a second to realise that it was because they were half sisters. Had Lust always seen this? “But whatever it was, it’s helped.”
“A lot,” Autumn said, wincing as she nodded. “We need to go.”
Fury nodded. “Get their guns,” he ordered. “But if you are going to shoot, make sure it’s not one of us.”
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Korra pressed her back against a wide tree, closing her eyes and resting her head against the cold bark for all of a second. She heard the steady breathing - perhaps a little harsher than usual - of Tore as he stopped beside her.
“What’s happening?” she whispered.
“It’s the council,” he murmured back, and she didn’t miss the shaking fear in his voice. She opened her eyes and looked at his drawn, pale face and linked her hand with his. He smiled at her briefly, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
“Are you hurt?” she asked, noting the tightness of his mouth. Tore hesitated but shook his head.
“I - it’s complicated.”
Korra nodded. There was no time to get into this. “We have to find a safe way to Q. Do you think he knows?”
“May as well assume he doesn’t. Should we try to find him or go straight to the safe house?”
Korra paused, thinking of her cousins, and her great uncles here. She squeezed her eyes shut and dug her nails into her other palm. “Dammit,” she whispered. “Safe house. That’s what he always said,” she muttered, hating that she was going to leave her cousins here. The fact was, it had been drilled into their heads. Safe house. Do not wait for others. Do not try to find them. Go straight to the safe house.
Tore nodded. “We need to know where the council is, or we’ll get caught before we go even a minute in any direction.”
“I might be able to help,” Korra said, thinking of Envy. Would she play along, like that time when she had shown Korra the way out? Would she even come to her calls? Korra had rarely attempted to summon Envy, and when she had -
“I can do it.”
“What?!” she hissed.
Tore looked deadly calm - of course. “I never told you what the council did to me.”
Korra paused. Not what I am but what the council did to me. She thought of her uncle Kian and bit her lip. “Tore -“
Tore gave her a small smile. “I never wanted you to know this, but there’s no sense in hiding it now. I’ll guide you along, but you have to be observant. You won’t be able to see me.”
“I - what?”
Tore smiled at her again, sadly, and let out a long breath. His lips pressed together and Korra jerked her hand away from his at the sudden cold feeling, the sudden feeling of - oh.
His fingers were slowly disappearing into nothing, his skin and everything inside becoming nothing but air. Her mouth dropped open and questions filled her mind; her gaze shot up to his face, contorted with emotion - mostly fear, but she had a feeling that this was due to the council and not what was happening.
And it was then that his mild persona made sense. Emotion did... this. Whatever this was.
She watched, speechless, as his body disappeared before her eyes. Was he becoming invisible? A ghost? What was going on?
She felt a brush of cold against her cheek and blinked. “Tore?” she whispered. There was an answering brush against her skin and she held out her fingers. “Show me where to go.” There was no obvious answer for a few moments, and Korra bit her lip. Why had he always felt like he had to hide this? “Tore, I don’t care that this is what you are. I have a second entity joined to me for God’s sake. Show me where to go,” she ordered. Perhaps he wanted something more, but it wasn’t in her to tell him that she still cared about him in a hundred different ways. Besides, he knew her, and he would realise that she had shared her own huge secret in return.
Something cold wrapped around her wrist and she felt herself being tugged forward. Obediently, she followed, and prayed that everyone was going to be safe.
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Dova and Ven sat in the bad excuse for a shack, just the two of them. Law and Q had gone out to help as many of the group as they could, trusting that the vampires wouldn’t get this far and find them. They had been instructed to move to a safe house as soon as they could, but the same thing stopped them both.
“Briony’s hurt,” Ven whispered. It was the first thing he had said since they came in here. There was no emotion in his voice; his - human, not wolf - face was carefully blank. “She’s hurt, Do.”
“We have to help her,” he agreed. “Do you think we can find her?”
Ven nodded. “I will be able to.” He took in a deep breath. “We need weapons, or we’ll be no use.”
Dova nodded. “There’s the weapons base about two minutes away. Do you think we can get there in time?”
“We don’t have any other choice,” Ven said determinedly. “I’m not - I can’t - She -“
Dova squeezed his good shoulder. “We’ll make sure she’s safe. You won’t lose her.”
Ven smiled at Dova tiredly, but said nothing. They both stood and slipped out the door, crouched low and ready. They moved without speaking, knowing each other and how they worked perfectly.
Ven moved first and Dova followed, scanning the area around them, all senses on high alert.
Ven paused, hand going to his shoulder, and Dova glanced around before moving beside him. “What’s wrong? I thought it was out?” he whispered.
The werewolf whined. “I don’t know. There might be a bit of silver still in the wound. All I know is that it hurts like a bitch.” He grimaced but kept going, and they rounded the corner with the building in sight.
“Dova-“ Ven started, but it was too late.
“Ven!” he gasped, watching the wolf go down yet again and land with a grunt. He didn’t sound as hurt as before, and Dova saw why - silver barbed wire had caught around his ankles, much like their first training exercise together.
“Get a weapon, they’re here!” the wolf ordered, hands tugging at the wire to unwrap it, and Dova didn’t wait to comply. He hated to leave Ven, but both of them knew that without a weapon, one of them wasn’t going to be much use against an older vampire, and Ven - well, at some point in their friendship, he stopped being scared that Dova was going to leave him for no good reason.
Dova wanted to look back but he didn’t dare; he ran as fast as he could towards the weapon hut, praying that he could get there and back before the vampires could get to Ven.
Dova grunted as he smashed into the rock behind, breathing through the fire spreading along his back. He knew it would heal, but he jerked his gaze up and fear threatened to leave him motionless; a vampire stood in front of him with a silver stake in his hand, glinting threateningly in the moonlight, and Dova pulled in quick, desperate breaths. His back hurt when he tried to move, he had no idea how hard the guy had thrown him but it was hard enough. He gritted his teeth and forced his body to stumble to the side, but the man still advanced, teeth shining wickedly.
Shit. Dova promised to himself that if he got out of this alive and found Ven he would skin the half wolf alive for having to stop because of the silver. He couldn’t even look up to make sure Ven was alright; if he took his eyes from the vampire for even a second -
The man leaped forward, too fast for his half vampire senses, and Dova had a terrifying moment - only one - to realise that a stake through his heart would leave him dead in seconds, and he’d never be able to see his cousins again or Ven’s annoying mug.
But a breath of wind passed his face and there was a body pressed against his, in front of him and in the way of the stake. Dova’s mind processed the body but nothing else.
Nothing else.
There was an all too familiar grunt and the pressure of the body disappeared, driving forward so that sharp teeth could snap around the man’s throat. “Don’t you dare hurt my pack,” Ven growled.
Dova started at the statement. He smirked and opened his mouth to make a dickish comment about how late Ven was as his eyes trailed over from the man lying on the ground, throat carved in and bloody, to Ven.
And his mind just stopped.
“Ven?” Dova shrieked, diving forward to the other body on the ground.
He rolled Ven over and saw the wolf panting, front bloody. “No, what -“ he sucked in a breath as he remembered the man coming at him with the stake, and Ven making sure he was in front of him. “No, no you idiot. I’m going to skin you alive, Ven, I’m going to - fuck,” he said, wiping away tears as his hands pressed on the wound. Ven choked on his laughter. “If I take it out will it heal?”
“Should do,” Ven grunted, and there was way too much pain in those words. Dova wrapped his sleeve around his hand and jerked it out, wincing at the howl of pain from the half wolf.
“Ven, we have to go find Q. He needs to see you.”
“I-“ Ven whimpered. “Do, I don’t think I can move,” he said, in between pants. “Not healing,” he grunted.
Dova swallowed and pressed his hands down tighter. “Dude, you fucking whimpered, you wuss,” he babbled, mind reeling. He had to do something. Would Q have seen this? Would he come? What if he was too busy helping the others? What if someone else was hurt?
Dova squeezed his eyes shut and turned his thoughts to Wrath. There had to be something he could do, right? Maybe this was it. It surprised him that, when he opened his eyes, Wrath stood there. The sin looked at him curiously, eyes trailing down to Ven. His gaze wasn’t quite expressionless. “There’s a vial that holds something to help the healing process. Q has it somewhere in the medical area. Please, please get it,”he begged, crying. “Please, Wrath, I swear to God I’ll do whatever you want, just please help me.”
Wrath’s expression softened and he disappeared. Dova had to believe he was doing what he asked.
“Who the fuck... were you talking to?” Ven asked, breathless. There was blood on his teeth and Dova felt his chest tighten.
“You remember I told you how my cousins were different? This is it. Stay alive and you can know more, alright? I know how you hate mysteries.”
“I do,” Ven agreed, wincing. “Dova, I -“
“No, no, no. No last words. Shit. Ven, you’re staying with me, alright? I need you to help me get with your sister,” he went on, even though - and it only just occurred to him - he hadn’t thought of Ven’s sister in days. Weeks. And she’d told him the other day that she wasn’t ready for that kind of relationship anyway -
“None... at all?”
“No, I forbid you from them,” Dova said through his tears.
“Aw... please.”
“No, dickhead.”
Ven laughed, but it sounded forced and painful. He drew in a ragged breath. “How else am I... supposed to confess my... undying love for you... and all that sappy shit?”
Dova tried to laugh, he did. “God, Ven, I know. I’m just irresistible, aren’t I?”
Ven opened his eyes - shit, when had they closed? - and looked at Dova with utter seriousness.
“No last words,” Dova begged because he couldn’t fucking handle this. He realised that he was sobbing, hands clutched at Ven’s darkening hoodie. “Jesus Christ you’re my best friend don’t go, don’t freaking go.”
“Unbelievable,” Ven coughed, and his words were so quiet and strained that even Dova couldn’t hear them that well. “Friendzoned right to the fuckin’ end.”
Dova looked at him dumbly. “What?”
Ven barked a laugh, blood dripping down his chin. His breaths were slowing and he was pale, so, so pale, but his hand curled into the neck of Dova’s shirt. With as much strength as he could muster, he jerked Dova close, close enough that Dova spluttered and had to flail and catch himself with his hands before he head butted Ven.
Ven’s eyes were the only alive thing about him.
He just smirked once, and pulled again until he could grab at Dova’s hair and tug him down so that their lips met for a few seconds before his arm weakened, went slack and then dropped to the ground.
“Ven?” Dova whispered, hand flying to the blood on his lips that he had got from Ven. “Don’t you - don’t you just do that and then die you dick!” he yelled, shaking at Ven. “Don’t you fucking die on me!” he couldn’t breathe, fuck it, couldn’t pull in a breath and it felt like everything was going black and the only thing he could see was Ven, pale and bloody, eyes just - just staring. “No,” Dova whispered brokenly. “No, no, no, no, no don’t. Ven, Jesus, don’t,” he cried. “Please. Please,” he sobbed, and he hugged Ven close to him until someone touched him on the shoulder, and then nothing mattered any more anyway so he closed his eyes and let denial do the rest.
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