The Boy from the Bunker - Season 4

Episode Four, Part 2:

Episode Four, Part 2:
C h e c k m a t e 

A/N: This chapter contains a character being killed and it might not be appropriate to vulnerable audiences. Please take caution and don't read this chapter if you think you might feel uncomfortable.

Sol whisked the cover off of Rogue's face, exposing his identity to everyone in front of her. It was a shock to some, and she could hear the talk break out among Targo and Riders, but Rhea's was the only reaction she was interested in seeing. 

She seemed to shift, not having expected Sol to have actually succeeded in capturing Rogue, although given his absence when she returned with her people, it didn't take long for her realize that she must have played some part in his disappearance. 

"What are you up to, Riverly?" Rhea asked. 

Sol shrugged. "You can't figure it out?" She taunted them, her voice yelling out with a playful tease to it. 

"We came here for the Heir. You're just buying time-" 

Sol clicked her tongue, finding a little too much amusement in the situation. She kept one hand clutched onto the collar of Rogue's jacket, and her other hand pulled out a blade from her waistband. 

Rogue was completely defenceless and well aware that there was nothing he could do to save himself. His only hope was that Sol was bluffing and wasn't strong enough to kill him cold-blooded. 

Rhea frowned, watching as Sol held her knife against Rogue's neck, still not sure what her plan was - if she even had one. 

"Whatever. I know you're making this up as you go along." Rhea called out to her. "And you're not actually going to do it. You don't have that in you." She dropped her voice low, almost condescendingly, starting to believe that she was right. 

"It's your move, Sovereign. Call it." 

Sol's lips tugged up into a smile, and she glanced over her shoulder, simply to remind Targo that even if they killed her, then her people would kill them. 

What do you say when the opposition can't make a move without the king being killed?

"Checkmate." Sol declared over to Rhea. 

She turned her focus back to Rogue, burying away the wave of fear that screamed to explode out of her, and gave him his last words - her breath hot against his ear. 

"This is for Jonas." 

As the king tensed up under Sol's hold, with his hands and feet bound together by chains, Sol dragged her knife across his neck, releasing her hold on him as his blood rushed out, killing him in seconds. 

She needed a few seconds to herself, trying to comprehend what she had just done. If Noah was still alive, this would have been the first step to forming a peace between Riders and Basilisk, but what it meant now was the opposite: Targo, Riders and Basilisk would all be at each other. In some way, she felt as though she had let Noah and Jonas down. 

As Rogue's blood dripped from her hands, she brought her gaze to look back to Rhea, noticing everyone's weapons aimed at her. 

"Don't shoot!" Rhea ordered, noticing that all of Sol's people were doing the same right behind her. 

"You think you scare me?" She yelled at the Sovereign, feeling a panic in her chest. 

"You should be scared. I know the deal Riders had with you. Rogue told me about it, and you've just let me kill their king without any hesitation. If I was you, I'd be worrying when Riders would turn on me, because if they had any honour for the king, they will." 

Rhea didn't have anything to say to Sol. She knew she had been outsmarted, and what angered Rhea the most was that Sol had made a fool out of her for having underestimated her. 

She began to give out orders to her people, and even though Sol was too far away to hear, she wasn't afraid of what she didn't know. 

"Retreat your weapons!" Rhea announced, finding that she had to give her order several times before people acknowledged her. She knew if she didn't take control of the situation soon enough, then Riders would doubt her abilities to defeat Basilisk, and they would turn on her, just like Sol had said. 

Eventually, people began to walk away, following those second to Rhea to see where they would go, but two people remained: Rhea herself, and Kane. 

Rhea began to walk towards Sol, not coming to attack, just to be heard. She stopped when she was a few feet away, glancing her up and down before speaking. "You were smart today, Riverly. But we'll back, and you'll see that Elara belongs with us. You can't fight it forever." 

"I will fight it," Sol assured her. "I'll fight it every day until you leave without her." 

"She won't survive. You know that, right?" 

"W-what are you talking about?" She wanted to pretend she was oblivious to what Rhea could be talking about, but they both knew. 

"You pulled her out of Phase 4. Without the rest of the treatment, without completing the Alteration, she will continue to deteriorate. If you and your people really care about that, you'll let her come with us. It's the only way she'll survive. At least Kane understands that." 

Both Sol and Rhea looked behind at where the man was standing. Knowing that her words had got through to the Sovereign, Rhea turned away and followed the rest of their people out of sight. 

For a moment, Sol was frozen in place - standing in front of Rogue's body, blood still dripping from her hands. That word Rhea had said - struck a nerve in her. Changed everything, because she knew she was right: deteriorate. 

She turned around to face the gates of Basilisk, slowly forcing her way home, almost more afraid to face what was waiting there than what had been out here. 

She could see the relief on all of her people as she returned and the threat of Riders and Targo were gone, but she couldn't feel it. And as she looked up, expecting to see Kodiak waiting for her, there was someone else. 

Jonas tried to hold himself up, but his brown eyes were watered over in tears. 

"Jonas," Sol murmured his name. She reached forward, holding onto his arm to pull him close, but she forgot that her hands were soaked in blood. The young boy looked down in horror, unable to take his mind off of the stain he had on him. 

"I-" the Sovereign tried to get words out, but she was so afraid of pushing Jonas away, of having already scared him enough. She didn't even think about him being out there; she just assumed he would be safe in the Sovereign's Quarters until everything was over, and not that he would have made his way out on his own, curious to see for himself what was going on. 

"I didn't mean for you to see that. We talked about it, remember? It was to keep you safe. That's my priority now, Jonas. I-I'm sorry if I didn't do a good enough job of that." 

Jonas nodded, perhaps to say he understood her intentions, but the reality of watching his father be killed was too much for him, even though he knew that his brother was dead because of Rogue. 

"I want to be alone," he choked out, quickly stepping backwards and hurrying away from Sol. Before she could run after him, he was lost among the sea of people all trying to figure out what to do. 

How was it that even when she managed to save her people, she always screwed something up? 

Sol dropped her head and walked towards the doors of the Quarters. Like the young boy, she thought she needed time to be alone, but as she walked, someone caught hold of her blood, red hand. 

Four // Part Two
She will deteriorate.