Rogues

Episode 24 | Fuck it

Sunshine stood to the side, completely in shock. The group had raced back to the lair after realising that Prince had given up its location, only to find it ransacked and in shambles. Even the small pool had been drained, likely to check it didn't lead to any other larger source of water that Sprite might have tryed to hide in.

Prince was inconsolable, sobbing and babbling about how he was to blame for Sprite being taken again. Em sat beside him, stoking his back gently and whispering quiet comfort to him. Her efforts all seemed to be in vain though as Prince was getting no better.

Bismuth and Poppy had been desperately searching the other rooms, praying that Sprite had found a suitable place to hide and the congregation who'd come for them had left in frustration.

They both knew it was only wishful thinking though. The cult had gotten to Sprite again, this was the main event Santos had referred too and they were powerless to stop it.

Sunshine glanced down, feeling Valerie moving slightly at her side. "Everything alright, V?"

Valerie hummed a reply, never taking her eyes off the ground. She'd been completely distraught after seeing the state of their lair, riddled with the guilt that the group she'd still been a part of only a few hours ago was responsible.

"I'm so sorry!" Prince wailed again, Em still trying to calm him down enough to see reason. "I did this, its my fault!"

"This wasn't you, Prince. You couldn't have known we'd left Sprite here alone." Bismuth reassured him.

Sunshine studied Prince's aura closely, suddenly noticing a slight quiver in it. The gorgeous sparkling kept flickering out and the patterns shivered with every word he spoke.

"Prince, are you feeling alright?" She interjected. "Your aura's doing something weird."

The shadow ghoul glanced up at her, confusion playing on his expression for a moment before he seemed to remember something. "The Zafer Rokur."

"What?" Em and Sunshine questioned in unison.

"Santos gave me this weird drug that made me completely unable to hurt him. He mentioned that it wasn't the full formula because whoever the Zafer Rokur were had an air born version of it that they wouldn't give him." Prince explained.

Sunshine tilted her head, exchanging glances with each of the other Rogues. "Any of you heard of them before? Because I sure haven't."

The others looked to eachother aswell but inevitably came up with nothing. The Zafer Rokur seemed to be a complete mystery to all of them.

"We need to get Sprite back." Valerie suddenly chimed in, still staring at the ground.

Bismuth frowned, wandering over and taking her from Sunshine. He wrapped his arms around her gently, resting his chin on her head as he used his influence to calm her.

Prince stood suddenly. "Well, you know that place better than any of us. How would you suppose we get them back?"

Valerie glanced up at him, frowning. "They won't still be there. They'd have moved to a different base by now but I don't know which one. There's no order to it."

Sunshine thought on it for a moment, desperately trying to think of something that would help them find Santos' cult. Her mind lingered on the Clergy for a while, reminding her over and over of their tracking systems. This wouldn't be the Clergy's first interaction with Santos and his congregation so maybe, with their help, the Rogues would be able to find them much faster.

But there was still the problem of the Rogues not trusting the Clergy. They were still convinced that they'd somehow let the cult know where they'd be meeting, so it was very unlikely that they'd want to work with the Clergy again.