A Volatiles Claim

Daniel

Woah, it's a long chapter! :0
Hope everyone enjoys it!
IMPORTANT TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Please be warned that there will be torture and mention of r*pe (only mentioned, not actually written nor performed). I will put a warning for those scenes and where you should be safe. Please let me know if I need to insert a trigger warning anywhere else! The writing may be light and not that graphic to some but I want to make sure everyone who reads this chapter is comfortable and properly warned!

also, pic of how I think daniel would look like, well close enough. I had a reference at one point but I lost it... 

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             'He didn't mean it... I know he didn't, but fuck did it sting... ' Aiden mulls over the conversation he just had. Aiden knows he is a pilgrim, it's not like the people here let him forget that, but for the first time since meeting Marcus, he feels uncomfortable by the unremovable title. 'Outsider' was the word his friend used; it was like he wanted to say 'pilgrim' but decided to use a softer word for it but in a spiteful tone.

"Aiden! Aiden, wait up!" a female voice shouts from behind him. He stops in front of a shop selling fresh produce and turns around to find Veronika jogging toward him. Wasn't she heading to Marcus' place?

"Veronika? What's wrong?" he asks thinking if she needed him to clear the abandoned military convoy right outside Marcus' home.

The dark-haired female gently grips his gloved hands and looks up at him. "I just wanted to apologize for what Marcus said, it was uncalled for, and I hope you know he didn't mean it."

He nods and gently squeezes her hands. "I know. And I know that wasn't really him talking. Right now I need to focus on finding the real killer. Do you by any chance know anything that would help?"

Veronica sadly shakes her head and takes back her hands. "I don't. And I hope you find them and soon; although I wish you would let me have a few moments alone with them to... have a quick chat." She says with a dark smile.

Aiden chuckles at that knowing full well that when he is finished with them, she would thank him. "Maybe..." he pauses for a moment. "Would you... make sure he is okay? He probably doesn't want to see me right now, especially after I may have given him the impression that I don't believe him." His voice is quiet and reveals to Veronika how hurt and guilty he feels.

"Oh, Aiden... it's not your fault, if anything all that has happened today messed him up big time. We all know what rumors and false accusations lead to." She explains as she reaches up to pat the taller male's head.

"What happens?" Aiden's curiosity had been piqued. And he will deny this if anyone asks, but he discreetly leans into the small gesture of comfort she gave.

A sorrowful look grows on her face. "More often than not the accused person gets ostracized and treated similar to the PK. With disgust, verbal abuse, sometimes violence depending on how bad the crime is." She adds the last part when Aiden looked like he wanted to ask how the PKs are treated.

Aiden's body stiffens at the thought of anyone getting treated like that for something they didn't do; hell, a burning need to protect his friend floods his mind. The same instinct was present as he was using his body to block those guards from taking Marcus from the infirmary, and a dark voice in his head was urging him to grab his friend and slash his way out but he was stronger than that voice. He knew if he did that, not only would he be hunted down by the people of the Bazaar, but Marcus wouldn't forgive him for killing people who mean something to him, even if they are quick to turn their backs on him.