The Boy from the Bunker

Episode Three, Part 3:

Episode Three, Part 3:

S o l

Training had worn him out. Wynnlow hadn't expected to be pushed so hard, or to be so bad at everything Riverly introduced. She disappeared somewhere after they were finished, not allowing enough time for him to thank her for being willing to help.

They had spent most of the day fighting, wrestling each other, trying to build up his strength, but there were still a few hours left until dinner. He didn't want to go back to his tent. The weight of being alone required a different kind of strength, one he had never even caught sight of.

Instead, Wynnlow roamed around Basilisk, familiarizing himself with his surroundings, still trying to get his mind around the endless new discoveries he was becoming witness to. Trees surrounded the camp, towering long into the distance, something he didn't have the time to notice when... There was a break in his thoughts. Something he didn't have time to recognize when he was out with his brother that night. 

He had circled Basilisk a couple times, each round feeling an urge to slip out the gates. A part of him still believed that his family was out there, but after seeing how instinctively they had decided to kill his brother, the cruel realities of this world were coming clear to him. Maybe they weren't  alive anymore. Maybe Quill, Bas, Azha and MaReya were all he had left, and maybe this new life required of him to make that enough, even though he knew it never would be.

Before he could think anymore about it all, dissolve in the waves of remorse, he caught sight of a girl between the bushes, sitting down by the fence. It looked like Riverly. Curious, Wynn decided to head down to her, following the little trail that led down to the hidden retreat.

She turned as she heard him approach, a look of surprise on her face revealing that she never expected to be found down here. "Wynn? You scared me."

"Oh, sorry." He apologized. "I just thought I'd see what you were doing down here."

Riverly sighed, diverting her eyes back to the view in front of her. "I just sit here sometimes." She told him. "It clears my head."

"You got a lot to think about?" He asked.

Tender voice, "Not here."

A silence drifted over them, a moment of peace new to what they had shared before, as Wynnlow looked out beyond the fence in front of them. It appeared they were on some mountain, or cliff: a higher ground of sorts, an auburn plain stretching on for miles. The evening sun setting over the red hills.

"Wow... This..." He was at loss for words. "Its-"

"I know." Riverly cut him off. "It's beautiful. Almost makes being on the ground worth it, huh?"

A lump formed in Wynnlow's throat, his lips trembling in consequence. No, he thought, no part of the world could ever make the loss of his family hurt any less. Could ever equivocate or justify them not being there with him to see it too.

It seemed Riverly noticed the slumber of his presence. "Wynn?"

He was torn between walking away, and staying. Leaving would mean he would drown in the pain, but staying would mean facing it.  

"Wynn.." Somehow, struggling to understand why, Wynnlow walked over to her, sitting down on a log beside where she was. It seemed that maybe facing it was possible if someone was willing to share the weight. Someone to show him the parts of the world that weren't all terrible and wicked and unkind.

"I wanted to say thank you." He told her. "For teaching me all that stuff."

She didn't look over, but a warm smile still reached her lips. "My burden."

Wynnlow titled his head slightly. "I heard some people say that. What does it mean?"

She looked over at him, completely honest. "My responsibility. My blame." He gave her a look, searching for more. "I got you out of the Bunker, I brought you to Basilisk. I kind of owe it to you to teach you how to live."

"Someone, or you?"

She contemplated her answer. "It has to be me. You are my debt."

three // part three