The Boy from the Bunker - Season 8

Episode Three, Part 6:

Episode Three, Part 6:
Fragile

You will find me in places that we've never been, 
for reasons we don't understand. 

After Izzy was safely returned to the youth sector, Kodiak fought to hold himself together, feeling as though he could collapse right there in the hallway.

He hadn't expected anyone to find out, let alone Izzy - who he was only trying to get to know for the sake of helping Elara. But now that someone did know the truth, he couldn't keep away the urges to tell someone else; to confide in someone and let them know that he was alive.

Not thinking too much about his decision, Kodiak hurried through the ship, entering the 3rd level from the bottom of the ship - which almost no one ever entered - and made his way to Wynn and Chessca's cell, assuming that they wouldn't be the safest option and who to tell.

He took a deep breath as he paced outside of their door, completely forgetting that his mask was on as he had grown so used wearing it, and finally forced himself to punch in the code for their cell.

He wasn't sure if he was going to come right out and say it or if it would be best to warn them that the news they were about to hear would come as a shock. Before he could even decide, someone lunged into him from the side, pushing him down to the ground and pinning him there.

Kodiak struggled to make sense of what was happening at first but soon realised that Chessca had jumped on him from the side and was keeping him down long enough to allow Wynn to raid his weapon belt.

Terrified of what would happen if Wynn came into possession of his gun, Kodiak had no choice but to burst the revolution out, simultaneously trying to push them both away.

"Wynn, it's me!" He yelled, choking on his emotion. It was so liberating to be able to confess.

But the Sovereign ignored him - barely even registering that he had said anything - too focused on disabling him so that he and Chessca could make an escape.

"Wynn!" Kodiak called again, feeling Wynn's hands grab onto the gun in his waistband. It was now or never. "Wynn, please!"

Wynn held the gun aimed at him, resting his finger on the trigger but suddenly coming to a halt as he stared down at him.

"Wynn, now's your chance!" Chessca yelled at him. "Do it!"

But Wynn didn't listen to Chessca. Instead, the gun fell out of his hands and crashed against the cold, cement floor by his feet.

"What are you doing!? Why have you stopped?" Chessca panicked, refusing to let go of the guard she had her arms wrapped tightly around despite the fact that he had now stopped trying to break himself free.

"Because he's... He's..."

Kodiak felt Chessca let go of him and he pushed himself to his feet, bringing his shaky hands up towards his mask and slowly removing it, revealing his identity...

"...Kodiak?" Wynn whispered.

He nodded once, causing the tears pooled in his eyes to roll free, watching as the hope, denial, confusion and everything else clouded Wynn's features.

Without so much as a second passing, Wynn closed the distance between the two of them, crushing his fellow Sovereign in his arms, unable to wrap his mind around the fact that it was real.

"I've missed you so much," Wynn said. "I love you, man. I thought you were gone."

"I love you, too," Kodiak replied, savouring the moment for just a little while longer.

"You're alive..." Wynn muttered as if slowly coming back into the realisation. "You're alive... How? W-we all thought you were dead? You weren't in a bunker when the flood came?"

Kodiak pulled away only for the sake of being able to explain. Before he had a chance, Chessca jumped on him again, embracing him in her own relief.

"Neptunum were in the area on their transport ship looking around for anyone who was still alive and in need of rescue. We headed back to Basilisk which is where they found us-"

"Us?" Wynn searched.

Kodiak nodded, smiling a little. "Bas and I."

"Bas is here, too?" Wynn exclaimed, feeling as if all the weight that had been suffocating his heart was finally gone. All he could think about was what it would mean for Harlow to get his brother back; what it would mean for Sol, Dreea and Elara to have Kodiak back.

"Yeah, but it's different," Kodiak said.

"What do you mean?" Chessca asked, noticing the hesitancy in his voice.

"I'm one of Neptunum's guards," he said. "Bas is one of their prisoners."

"I don't understand," Wynn shook his head. "Why is he a prisoner if you're not?"

"I complied with their orders when they first took us onto the ship," Kodiak answered, moving over to sit on one of the beds in the room, weak not only from their attack but from the pressure of unravelling his secret. "Bas didn't. And when they realised that I could be useful to them, they allowed me to be one of them. I-I've been working undercover this whole time, trying to convince them to go back towards where I knew everyone was. I finally managed to get a signal from one of the bunkers and had proof to Athena and everyone else that there were survivors over here that we could harvest for our mission. I'm still working on it, but there's dry land not too far north from here; if I manage to hijack the ship, I can evacuate everyone there out of Neptunum. I knew you guys wouldn't be able to get out of the bunkers without us and I knew..." He stopped short, letting out an agonised breath. "I knew I had to do whatever I could to return to Basilisk... To Elara. But I hope I haven't made the wrong choice."

"...What do you mean? Wrong choice? How so?" Wynn searched, unable to process how any part of this could be bad news; how there could ever be any hesitancy is Kodiak's mind over saving his people from the bunkers and bringing them all together.

"Because of the trials."

"The trials?"

Kodiak nodded, gulping away as much fear as he could swallow. "Mind trials. Pain trials."

Three // Part Six
Kodiak? You're alive...

YOU THINK I COULD KILL OFF KODIAK? NO WAY.
KODIAK AND BAS ARE MY BABIES.

I'm glad they're back. ♡ I've been so desperate to reveal this to you guys! I kept it a secret for 17 chapters (yes, I knew all along that they were going to be picked up by Neptunum - even before I finished writing Season 7)!!! And you get Bas, too, not just Kodiak!

11/11/20.