Warning in advance: this is a very long chapter, but I didn't really think splitting it up was appropriate.
For the second time in as many hours, Samias found himself walking towards the Persephone's Sanctum through the empty halls of the ship, a coolant pack that Strask had handed silently to him pressed against his eye as he neared the room's baroque doors.
For all he tried to ignore it, Samias was trembling. Not because of the impending disciplinary censure he would undoubtedly receive from the Inquisitor – he would be lying if he asserted that the man didn't terrify him, and that was when he'd been on his good side – but because of all the stress of the past twenty four hours finally catching up with him.
It had been an awful day, though Samias didn't know if it had ranged over multiple or not, especially now that he was above his planet. Fighting for his life, witnessing the death of his friends, drowning in the bleak darkness of crushing betrayal and then culminating with almost killing Aurelius who hadn't deserved that.
He'd seen the boy in the corridors, no doubt heading to the same destination, equipped with a similar coolant pack gently soothing his bruised neck. He had, understandably, flinched violently when he'd noticed Samias, and quickly changed his route away from the Chrome Fang.
Samias did want to apologise. He hadn't forgiven Aurelius for what had been said between them nor how it had been his plan to sacrifice the gang, but accepted that blame did not lay solely on the boy's thin shoulders and that taking out his rage on the Interrogator in such a way wasn't the right thing to do.
He didn't know if he'd get a chance to, particularly since he had no intention of forcing himself into Aurelius's personal space again. His bruises attested to the folly of that. It would be logical for them never to speak again outside of the context of the mission, yet Samias didn't want that. All the anger he had felt towards his situation and directed at Aurelius (who he had decided was the manifestation of that) had become remorse.
Besides, it wasn't like Samias to make enemies instead of friends. Back when they were escaping the Inquisitor's first hideout, Sam was certain that Aurelius was warming to him and the other two – even if all that consisted of was deigning to act cordially around them instead of ignoring their presence as much as he could.
Well, you definitely fucked that up.
He opened the unlocked door to the Sanctum, gulping as a pair of intense eyes pierced into him the moment he entered. Samias watched as the Inquisitor's gaze flicked to Aurelius already kneeling before him in the central area, and quickly followed suit, presuming that this was another time Julion would be flexing his authority over them.
The blonde didn't look up as Samias knelt a comfortable distance to his side, his still slightly bloodshot eyes remaining fixed on the engraved floor. Samias didn't dare say anything, not with the Inquisitor's presence looming over him.
"From what Strask has informed me and from what is plain to see, it is obvious there has been an altercation between you," Julion spoke to them with a harsh resonance to his words, as if they were petulant children – which, Samias supposed, wasn't entirely unjustified. "Would either of you care to shed some light on the event?"
A tense silence descended, punctuated only by the Inquisitor tapping the golden edge of his cuffs in an impatient rhythm. Aurelius remained silent, perhaps too scared of the potential repercussions for speaking, perhaps waiting for Samias to say something so that he could attack his position. The ganger suddenly found himself bereft of the ability to form words, and didn't know what he would say if he could. I went to the training bay looking for a fight, found one, and almost choked Aurelius here until he was unconscious? Yeah, I'm sure that'll go down well.
Julion exuded exasperation, and Sam definitely got the impression that they were wasting his time with this - confirmed as he sighed, and irritably said, "I'm sure you are both aware that I have more pressing matters that require my attention, so please indulge me."
Aurelius whispered something and then coughed painfully before speaking, "It was my fault. Samias was angry at me about last night, and I provoked him and hit back instead of diffusing the situation, causing our fight."
The boy's voice was hoarse, causing Samias to wince in both sympathy and guilt, before being startled when he realised the content of his words. Aurelius sounded dispassionate, but beneath the habitual blankness was a layer of sincerity that Samias could have easily missed had there been nothing left to focus on.
He turned to the blonde, words spilling out unbidden, "Aurelius, wha-"
"Be silent," the Inquisitor's command silenced the protests on his lips, Samias snapping his eyes back to the floor meekly. He didn't agree with what Aurelius was saying, it was him who had walked in there and laid his hands on the smaller teen when he had been explicitly told not to in the past and shouted in his face.
"Aurelius. Are you accepting responsibility for this altercation?" Julion asked, voice brooking no further interruption. Samias felt the weight of his gaze shifting from him and pinning his student to the spot, wondering if the man himself had some latent superhuman potential but dismissing the ridiculous notion.
"Yes sir," the youngster replied after a short delay, adjusting the coolant pack strapped loosely to his neck with an anxiety his voice didn't reflect.
"Very well then. I expect better from you, Interrogator," Julion's speech was laden with disappointment, "In all the years of your service under me not once have you acted in such a childish manner. It is unbefitting of a servant of the Emperor. Because of your record, I will not act upon this misstep this time. But I want you to keep in mind that I will not hesitate to strip you of your newfound responsibilities if I feel that you are unsuited for them. Have I made myself clear?"
"Yes sir," Aurelius kept to the same neutral tone. Without the ability to look at him, Samias had no idea at all as to what the other boy was feeling – though he could guess. He wanted to object, to share the blame if not have it laid solely at his feet, but was too much of a coward to say anything. He wasn't sure the Inquisitor would have been so "forgiving" had Aurelius told him exactly what had happened.
"You are dismissed. Ensure that this does not happen again," Samias didn't raise his eyes as the heavy presence of the blonde retreated silently, though he did when Julion called his name.
"Have you anything to add?" he asked with a level tone that heavily suggested he shouldn't. Sensing he was getting off lightly because the Inquisitor was willing to overlook it as a result of what he had just been through, Samias shook his head slowly.
"A wise decision. You are also dismissed. But, before you go," Julion paused as Sam rose to his feet, "Know that Aurelius was not solely the creator of the previous operation's plan. It is obvious that you resent both it and him because of it, yet I was the one who suggested we use the Arbites' assistance as motivation. I do not regret it, and in time you will understand."
Samias didn't reply. He turned and left without another word.
As much as it pained him and as much as he didn't want to accept it, he already did.
.*.*.*.
It had taken several hours for Samias to even approach sleep, and woke up almost screaming barely half of one later, images of his friends drenched in crimson dancing beneath his eyelids and the blood of those he had lost fresh on his hands.
He had resolved to stay awake but still try to rest after that, before slowly succumbing to fatigue and entering a fitful but deep slumber until a point the chronometer on his bedside table twelve hours after he'd originally buried himself beneath the covers.
"Breakfast" had of course come with questioning from Michael and Valeria, whose darkened eyes attested to a rest as fruitless as his own. Samias had kept his rendition of the events brief, trying not to paint Aurelius in too much of a negative light – the two already most likely hated what the boy represented much as he had.
It was clear from the lack of any of the Inquisitor's retinue and the fact that he had been permitted to sleep for so long that they weren't required at the current moment, so once he had his fill of his friends (who both wanted to go back to sleep) he decided to do a bit of exploration since he was in a better mood.
And that was where he had randomly happened upon Aurelius for the second time, as if he was somehow drawn to the location of the boy.
Passing through some regions of the ship straying slightly away from the central region, still renovated to a degree more than the very functional path from the hangar, Samias had slid through a small space in a door which had seemed to have jammed in its opening mechanism before crawling under swaying wires hanging down from a low-ceiling passageway ahead of him.
His interest had been piqued by what the map had informed him was an out of use Observatorium, with another located not too far from the Sanctum. It could be a good place to collect his thoughts without the chance of running into anyone else. Someone smarter might have given up at the broken door, but then Samias had never prided himself on his brains (even if maybe he should).
He emerged into a small space furnished with dusty, faded fabrics gazing out into the void itself. Samias stared through the reinforced window at the darkness beyond, distant, twinkling lights making his heart stutter with wonder even as the sheer blackness swallowing up the space between them made him feel insignificant.
He turned, surveying his surroundings. To the other side of him was a sealed off location which probably would have been space for those observing the stars but was now a wall, making the space between it and the vast window about one and a half times his armspan – cosy, but not claustrophobic.
And at the end of this small, unused passage was Aurelius, nestled comfortably between the window to the void and the wall behind him which wasn't part of the Observatorium's original structure. He appeared so peaceful, staring out into the darkness beyond the ship with his own darkness visibly saturating the recycled air around him that Samias didn't want to bother him.
He needed to, though, if things were ever going to become right between them.
Samias coughed, quietly, enough to have Aurelius snap his head up to him, his gaze instantly assuming its usual guarded, empty annoyance, shoulders tensing and relaxation dissolving from his skinny form.
The blonde flinched as Samias stepped forwards. Internally, Samias cursed. Well, you can certainly elicit reactions from him now, although they aren't really the ones you were hoping for.
He didn't say anything, nor made any moves to reduce the intensity of his Pariah aura, perhaps hoping that the shimmering void would act as a barrier between them and deter Samias from approaching.
"What do you want?" Aurelius asked with a mix of irritation and barely perceptible fear when it became clear Samias wasn't going to leave. The taller steadied his breathing before stepping into the coiling blackness, feeling the painful clarity he had come to associate with the Interrogator clenching into focus, static nothingness crackling in his head.
It was simultaneously better and worse than the sensation of touching the boy when he had his collar on a higher suppression of his powers. There, it was tensed beneath his pale skin, leaping out at the touch into Samias and inciting fright and disgust in the ganger – something that had, to his shame, already resulted in violence.
It was nauseating, though he found that the more he was subjected to it the more he accustomed to the feeling. At this intensity, it was bearable, and Samias opened eyes he had reflexively shut as if that would somehow nullify the feeling. Aurelius made no moves to reduce the intensity of his aura, though his hand was on the crystal at his neck – most likely to increase it to repulse Samias if necessary.
"I just wanted to apologise," Samias near-whispered, his confidence drained into meekness at the way the blonde had already backed away from him, "Do you … Do you mind if I sit here?"
The full force of the Null field receded with an accompanying sigh from Aurelius, which Samias took as confirmation his presence would be tolerated for now. He gazed over at the smaller male, guilt blooming in his chest at how he was curled up, dejected and vulnerable – though he had no doubts that would snap into merciless readiness if Samias made a single wrong move. He sat down where he was stood, still about a metre and a half away from the blonde but not wanting to invade the boy's personal space any more than that.
A tense silence descended, Aurelius clearly waiting for him to speak now that he had permitted his solitude to be broken.
"This is gonna sound so fake, but, I am really, truly sorry for how I acted, for what I did to you," Samias tried to let the words spill naturally out, not wanting to force them to sound genuine but also unwilling to adopt a monotone. He twisted his hands in his lap, gazing down at them instead of Aurelius. "I wasn't in a good state of mind, but that … doesn't excuse it. You didn't deserve any of that, I shouldn't have hurt you like I did."
"I … I should be the one apologising to you," Aurelius spoke so softly Samias nearly missed it. He glanced back over at the Interrogator, Aurelius's own icy blue eyes pinned to the ground. The ganger was quick to protest, "No, Aurelius, you shouldn't. You haven't done anything wrong."
"You weren't saying that earlier," the reply lacked anything approaching malice, but Samias still rightfully felt stung by the words. He sighed himself, watching as Aurelius tensed his hands in the fabric of his trousers, twisting and untwisting in an anxious pattern. They were pale and delicate, though the throbbing of Samias's face could attest to the fact that such didn't mean they weren't strong.
"I know. And I'm sorry for that. I shouldn't have blamed you for everything."
"Why shouldn't you? Like I said, you're not the one who should be apologising."
Samias screwed his face up in consternation. This wasn't really what he'd expected – he had anticipated sitting down, firing out an apology to little response and leaving once that was finished.
"I almost killed you, Aurelius. I started a fight with you just because I was angry, shoved you against a wall when you told me not to ever touch you-"
"Samias," Aurelius cut through his stream of words. He was staring out into the distant void now, an expression of genuine guilt worn on his patrician features, and that more than anything silenced the ganger. "Please … let me do this. Just let me say what I need to say."
"… Ok," he breathed out. The sincerity of the boy's words, not quite on the level of anyone else but impossible to miss, touched his heart. He knew he shouldn't be doing this, should be making sure Aurelius knew just how wrong he thought what he'd done to him was, that he wouldn't have to worry about anything like that again, but could no more do that than he could stop his heart from beating.
"I'm sorry for what happened, for lying to you and your friends," the younger gripped his knees tightly. Even though it seemed to almost pain him, Aurelius looked over at Samias, his eyes meeting the ganger's own. The blue in them didn't seem quite so cold now, even if their soulless blankness wasn't entirely erased by the emotion leaking through the walls.
"You told me yourself: you did what you had to do," Samias couldn't help himself, interjecting into the pause Aurelius had left, his words coloured with acceptance of that fact. He felt almost obligated to try and comfort the blonde, and with contact completely off the table and teasing inappropriate for the situation all that was left was attempting to verbally soothe his guilt.
"That doesn't make it right," the Interrogator pulled his eyes away. "Samias, I want you to know that I hate what happened. I hate what I forced you and the Fangs to go through. Please, believe me when I say that. I know what it's like … to lose people. I wouldn't wish that on anyone."
"Would you have been able to infiltrate the Red Eye base if we hadn't provided a distraction?" the Samias of only a few hours ago would have been disgusted with what he was saying. He could scarcely believe it himself, but as much as he despised it and himself for it he understood why the Inquisition had acted as it had.
"No," the younger of the two seemed almost defeated, shrinking in on himself and bringing his knees up to his chest.
"And we would never have agreed to help you if you had told us the truth. So, as much as I don't like it – You did the right thing," Samias was convincing himself as much as he was Aurelius.
"There should have been another way. We should have tried to find one. We – I – threw away the lives of your friends for our mission," Aurelius argued back, though his voice was a mix of exasperation and sorrow.
"And I'm telling you that I understand why you did it," Samias could have spat the words with anger. He was sure he would be able to find some if he searched, but right now he kept them level.
"Why are you forgiving me so easily?" the blonde speared him with an almost incredulous look, self-loathing that Sam suddenly wanted nothing more than to erase prevalent in those icy orbs.
"Yeah, bet that seems like a change after last night," he rubbed the back of his head in mild abashment, before forging on, "It's because I can tell you mean what you've just said – that if there was another way to get in the stronghold without using us as bait you would have done so. I know you well enough by now to work that out."
"You don't know anything about me."
Samias shifted, bringing one leg upright so that he could rest his arm on his knee. "Maybe. But what do you want me to act like? I tried anger already; it doesn't help. Would you rather I was still raging at you, blaming you for everything? Would that make the guilty part of you feel more justified?"
Aurelius gave a small nod.
"Well tough. I forgive you. I don't blame you for what happened to my friends," Samias infused each word with as much determination as he could muster, his throat raw as he fought tears. To do otherwise would allow the grief eating away at him from within to surge into ascendance once again. "And I'm sorry for getting into a fight with you and … and hurting you, like I did."
"I'd do it again, if I had to. But I never wanted you to suffer," Samias eyed the smaller for a few seconds, amazed that Aurelius was showing this much emotion, steel creeping into a voice still coloured by regret. It was still less than any normal person, yet it was very plain if one knew where to look. It made Samias … feel better, slightly, to know that Aurelius felt such a way – that he felt at all.
"I know."
Samias wondered if he did, truly. The words felt right, and believing in them was so easy. But knowing his friends died for a good cause didn't make their loss any easier to stomach.
Aurelius didn't reply, silence falling once more. This time, it wasn't quite so uncomfortable, though it would still be a stretch to call it companionable. Samias would be lying if he said he didn't feel improved, and turned away from the blonde when he figured his eyes had lingered for long enough.
He had to try to put on a positive front. He'd realised that holding onto his misery so tightly it filled every inch of him with a violent rage wasn't going to help him overcome any of it. Squeezing his hands around Aurelius's throat with as much force as he had in him hadn't solved a thing, had only helped him destroy someone else as much as all of the anguish inside him was destroying himself.
"I should go," Aurelius murmured, rising. "I need to help with analysing the evidence and leads we found, plan our next move."
"I'm going to stay here for a bit," Samias wasn't sure the other cared what he did, but responded nonetheless. He stood himself and flattened himself against the sealed edge of the Observatorium to allow Aurelius to pass.
The boy sat once the aura had dissipated, staring out into the vast expanse of space and ruminating on how much his life had irrevocably changed in the span of a few days.
"Samias?" the addressed jerked his head round, eyes finding Aurelius gazing back at him, stood on the cusp of the exit. A flicker of something more danced behind that blue stare, like half-formed emotions too weak to break free of the empty walls holding them in. "Thank you."
The eighteen year old wanted to brush it aside, flustered slightly by the unexpected earnestness from the other, but before he could reply the Interrogator had already departed.
.*.*.*.
Kariyen Camellia tapped impatiently on the armrest of her chair, the drumming rhythm of her fingertips on the mahogany harvested from the once-lush jungle world of Erujun III not quite drowning out the incessant droning of her courtiers.
Minor nobles all, their banal conversations ranged from gossip concerning other members of the great house to what events would be occurring in the near future. They were of diluted Camellia blood, and such sullied individuals had risen as far as they could in the hive's hierarchy – to her feet, clamouring and begging for her favour.
Kariyen pretended to listen as they shared critiques on the refurbishment of the new governor's palace at the centre of the upper hive. Usually, she did deign to encourage their vapid chatter – while most of it was nothing more than an irritation, there were enough nuggets of potentially useful information that it wasn't a complete waste of mental capacity – but today she had her mind on bigger things.
She checked the ornate chronometer in her pocket, frowning when she realised only thirty three seconds had passed since she had last done it.
Lounging in the ornamental terraces of her own palace complex stashed away out of sight in the vast swathes of upper hive territory owned by Camellia was simply to keep face. She was expecting someone – or had been for the past five minutes. It was never a smart idea to keep a noblelady waiting, but in this instance Kariyen would have to push past her own displeasure at the tardiness that she would have ruined others for.
The current subject of the conversation was beginning to irk her as one courtier she had never quite learnt the name of regaled her with what he had seen of the lavish interior of the planetary ruler's home – as if the feckless idiot thought she hadn't laid eyes upon it countless times before.
Whatever her dear sister had done with the place, she doubted it would be that different from the décor the previous incumbent – a distant uncle – had favoured.
The fact that Lyrae had been elected to the role still chafed despite having seen it coming years ago. Borne a mere three years before her sister and out of wedlock, Kariyen of course had never been considered in her parents' machinations – despite the fact that she was infinitely more capable and suited for the role, to have a bastard child ruling Karvonis IV would cause outrage amongst the many candidates within House Camellia alone.
Then again, her aptitude was another reason her parents favoured installing her idiot sister. With Lyrae on the proverbial throne, father and mother were the de facto leaders of governance whilst all the focus remained on their child, allowing them to secure the ascendance their small portion of Camellia's vast bloodline.
Kariyen would never have let herself be manipulated by "mama and papa". And that was why she was here, tucked away, their little, frivolous mistake as her sister became essentially the most powerful person in the system without the wit to do anything with that power.
Yet in the end, it made little difference who out of her House was ruling the planet. The other noble families were shrivelled, pitiful little things barely fit for their role as Camellia's playthings, and any competition they might have provided had been extinguished centuries ago.
Her sister would benefit the branch of Camellia's vast tree that held her immediate family and their allies, whilst a several times removed cousin would tip the balance towards their own, shifting power across the House but affecting little in the grand scheme of things.
Proper ambition had left Camellia long ago. Kariyen's family was content to squabble amongst itself, fighting to be at the top of the hierarchy when they were already there, securing miniscule increases in influence and wealth but too afraid to step outside of the comfort zone of ascendancy in the Karvonis system carved out generations ago.
House Camellia had become bloated on success, with no rivals to force them to aim higher since the days of her distant ancestors and revolutions which had once shook the hive. And having Lyrae as the planetary governor would simply trap them in that petty cycle once again, consigning them all to luxurious mediocrity.
The Karvonis system was a supplier of numerous polymers essential to Imperial manufacture across the subsector, and yet their world was barely known outside of Administratum lists, a footnote compared to the system-spanning influence they could wield.
With Kariyen – or someone of equal ambition, she wasn't so narcissistic to believe such a task could only be done by her – at the helm, Karvonis IV would be the richest planet in the entire subsector, or even the whole sector beyond. House Camellia's wealth would be tenfold, and perhaps their regency could spread to other, less prosperous systems, their name spoken across a hundred Imperial worlds.
Her parents and her puppet sister were content with average, with shifting the riches Camellia had already accumulated towards themselves and being the envy of Hive Enchellus's ruling class.
Kariyen had been given enough to buy her complacency from the governor's coffers, to stay out of the way of her parents' bid for the hive. That they believed mere credits would satiate her was a testament to how little they knew of the result of their premarital tryst.
Almost too caught up in her thoughts, Kariyen nearly missed the black-clad guard striding towards her from across the garden plaza. She was helmed, the Camellia flower emblazoned on her chest-piece, yet Kariyen was certain she could perceive purpose behind the faceplate's lenses.
She rose to her feet, impatiently waving away servants that scurried to attend to her, muttering an excuse to leave and pacing quickly to where the bodyguard waited in the shadow of an Ocerios tree.
"You're late," she declared with an air of noble impetuousness, interrupting the soldier's attempt at a greeting.
"My apologies, Lady Kariyen," she replied respectfully, tone neutral. Kariyen knew it wasn't her fault for the delay, the woman working under the timescale of her master, yet being kept waiting irked.
"The usual place, then?" the scion of Camellia had begun walking before she had finished the question, the messenger matching her pace as they ascended the stairs towards the more private rooms of Kariyen's residence.
The woman nodded silently. Kariyen couldn't help but notice that a new soldier was sent each time. It was probably wise. It prevented Kariyen from building a rapport with the messenger, keeping all interactions clinical and pre-emptively negating any attempt she might make to convince them to her will. Kariyen had a way with words like that.
They slipped into one of Kariyen's many bedrooms, checking the surrounding area for any sign someone might be spying in on them. There was no indication that anyone ever had, but it didn't hurt to be careful – especially now there had been reports of groups in the business of prying.
The messenger laid out the contents of a briefcase on a wooden table in the corner of the fuchsia-coloured room, activating the holo-vox apparatus as Kariyen lounged in a padded chair across from her. She presented the picture of nonchalance, though inside her heart was hammering with twinned anticipation and trepidation she would never admit to.
Departing with a bow, the emissary left to stand guard outside of the room, allowing Kariyen to activate the communication device when she was ready. She did so the second the guard left – enough time had been wasted already.
A red haze appeared above the holographic as Kariyen adjusted her hair. Her business partner had insisted upon the use of visual communication and proceeded to never show their own identity, an obvious ploy designed to be unnerving, to signal superiority.
Kariyen would have doubted their veracity and capabilities had results not already been demonstrated, and she was too far in now to think of backing out.
"Do you read me, Lady Kariyen?"
The addressed would be lying if she said the metallic, heavily-modulated voice didn't put her on edge. She understood that such was the idea, and that her partner was taking no chances with their identity, giving Kariyen nothing to go on if she suddenly decided that betrayal was preferable to co-operation.
"You're late," she repeated pettily, examining her perfectly-manicured nails. Staring into the shifting redness of the hologram gave her a headache.
"I know you may find this difficult to believe, but you are not my only concern, nor my greatest priority at this time."
Kariyen chafed, though feigned indifference.
"Strange … I seem to recall me being the primary sponsor of your endeavours, and that you wouldn't be able to progress your own plans without the facilities and funds I have provided."
"Do not jest with me, Kariyen. I suffer you for now because it is convenient. Do not make it … inconvenient."
Kariyen allowed herself a small smile, mostly to supersede the sliver of fear that slithered up her spine at the thinly-veiled threat. Obviously, she'd struck a nerve with her partner there, though usually it took more verbal sparring to reach this point.
She didn't truly wish to irritate her benefactor to the point they resented having to deal with her, because they were her only chance at success. Yet being pliant and unquestioning like her sister wasn't in her nature.
"What is it that you wish to discuss? My punctuality may suggest otherwise but I am a very busy woman," Kariyen focused her gaze on the red haze for a few seconds.
"I wish to ensure that you will be holding your end of the bargain once I have aided you in securing governance, and to further elucidate upon our strategy for doing so."
Her mysterious benefactor's voice was always serious, but a slight increase in its severity signalled they were done with their customary bout of exchanged insults disguised as greetings and pleasantries.
"So, you've dealt with those potential threats you identified?" she asked, leaning forwards in her seat.
"They will not interfere with our plans. My forces in District Loriath saw to that."
"Oh, I noticed that. Just about every news source in the lower hive did," Kariyen replied. "I curtailed most of the circulating stories and seeded rumours that it was simply an Arbites raid. So, you're welcome."
"Unnecessary. But I appreciate your devotion to our cause."
Our cause. She disliked it being referred to like that. Shared interest was more appropriate. Her benefactor would have her become the planetary governor and then she would devote as many resources as required to let them continue their "work" without disruption.
Kariyen had been assured that such work would not interfere with her own rise to pre-eminence, though didn't have much choice in the matter. She sincerely hoped her partner wasn't some lunatic wishing to bring about the rise of the Chaos gods or some other such heretical nonsense, though all that had been asked for from Kariyen so far were credits and access to Administratum facilities.
"Alongside the replacement of Camellia bodyguards, I will be assigning two special operatives for you to use at your discretion. They will be the main perpetrators of our plan for the coronation celebration, and will require you to provide them with targets."
Kariyen nodded. The only path that would lead to her progression was that of violence. She had realised this long ago, that only with the death of those standing in her way – her family and then the immediate line of succession – would allow her to claim to role of planetary governor.
Such a feat would be impossible even with the resources at her disposal. She had slowly seeded the bodyguard retinues of her immediate family with agents of her own, but never in enough numbers or in positions of enough authority to pose any sort of feasible threat.
Until her partner had come along and managed to forge their own records and identification for over thirty new Camellia houseguards, implanting them all across the house and in the Administratum structure of Hive Enchellus.
The reach of Kariyen's benefactor seemed unparalleled, and they could have already taken the throne for themselves despite presumably not being of the Camellia if they had wished.
"I have given the co-ordinates of their location to the emissary I sent. I would suggest not keeping them waiting, nor bringing anyone other than yourself to meet with them."
"You want me to meet with them today? Alone?" Kariyen's voice took on a note of incredulity. Usually, her partner didn't spring surprises like this upon her. She preferred to stay in the shadows, let her machinations be untraceable. Meeting with her benefactor's assassins was the exact opposite of that.
"The coronation celebrations culminate in six days, Kariyen."
"Yes, yes, I'm aware of that," the woman bristled. She was sat upright in her chair now, gripping the armrests. "I'm more concerned with the fact that you don't think just giving you a list of priority targets would be easier."
"I am risking much in order to further your goals, my lady. I feel it is only fair that you do the same. As is often said "accountability is the perfect counterweight to ambition". I'm afraid this is all the time I have. Uphold your end of the bargain, and you will have nothing to worry about."
"Wait-" Kariyen yelped before the hologram fizzled into nothing, the vox broadcaster disconnecting as it did so. She snarled, her gaze spearing into the door as it opened, the messenger beginning to repack the holo-vox equipment.
This was not what she had been planning at all. If she was seen dealing with unscrupulous figures, her reputation could end up in tatters and the suspicions of her family would rise.
If their coup had failed, Kariyen wanted to be in a position where she could not be blamed for it. She supposed that was exactly where her partner didn't want her.
"The location of the operatives is very close," the woman told her with a dispassionate voice. Kariyen let her heartbeat settle, clenching her eyes shut for a moment. If it all went wrong now, there was no way she would be able to escape culpability. Even worse was the suspicion she could be being led into a trap.
She could, of course, refuse, though didn't think the soldier here was about to give her that sort of choice. A rogue thought concerning the use of the laspistol stashed away in the under-compartment of her desk flitting through her brain before she dismissed the ridiculous notion. Killing the messenger would just cause her death – her partner had already demonstrated the ability to deal with anyone they chose should they become an issue.
Nonetheless, it wouldn't hurt to be equipped, so she slid the laspistol into her belt before turning to the waiting soldier.
"Take me," she growled before she could have any more second thoughts. If this was the price to be paid for greatness, then so be it.
Outside of the temperate conditions maintained within her mansion, the air was cold, sinking into Kariyen's bones as she followed the agent of her enigmatic partner across the upper hive. They took a shadowed route, stalking through the back alleys to extravagant markets and restaurants that sample the finest delicacies of the system.
The woman handed her an umbrella as they passed beyond the perimeter of the vast dome surrounding the pinnacle of the hive which protected those at the very top from the relentless rainfall, a scowl fixing itself to the noble's features at the downpour which awaited them.
This lower tier out of District Camellia was still residence to substantial wealth, only that held by those without aristocratic blood who hadn't yet bought their way into a noble family. Kariyen repressed a sneer at the pleasure dens they passed; it was a safe assumption to make that at least one of her family members would be sampling the products of such an establishment at any given time.
She was led into an empty back-alley behind one such business, gripping the finely crafted laspistol at her belt as the creeping unease within her reached a crescendo. Besides rudimentary lessons on its usage years ago, she hadn't ever fired the gun – the responsibility of protecting her had always fallen to her guards, not that she had ever been in a situation of any threat.
Two figures, black-clad and masked, were waiting for them. Kariyen wasn't an expert on the subject, but the accentuated slackness in the posture of the two radiated a readiness of kill.
Or maybe that was just her fear playing tricks on her. They didn't seem equipped, not with anything obvious.
The taller of the two, lankier than their much bulkier comrade but still taught with muscle underneath their black clothing stepped towards her, before spiralling to his knees in an extravagant bow. The other followed suit as the first spoke, his voice gilded honey, "Ah, you must be Lady Kariyen. Allow me to introduce us. I am Pride, and this," he motioned to the second man, "Is my brother, Joy. We are at your service, my liege."
"Our performance will begin at your word," Joy exclaimed, off-world accent much more pronounced than that of his partner and his voice hitching with excitement.
Kariyen frowned, bemused. When her benefactor, always very stern and focussed, had informed her of the assassins, she had expected merciless killers, silent weapons honed into a human form. Not this.
"Our benevolent client informed us that you would be providing the guest list to our show – is this correct?" Pride asked, visor-covered face still turned towards the ground.
"Yes. It is," Kariyen replied, sending a sidelong gaze at the woman who had brought her here. Something akin to a shrug played out across her shoulders, though that could have just been her adjusting her stance slightly.
"Excellent. I have prepared us a place in which we can discuss the details of this further. Right this way please, my Lady."
Pride sprung to his feet, exaggerated motions belying a proficient killer's grace. As long as these clowns were effective, Kariyen would tolerate playing along for the time being even if it grated on her nerves.
On the bright side, she hadn't been murdered yet, suggesting her patron still intended to go ahead with their plan. If they had hired these esoteric mercenaries Kariyen wouldn't question their efficacy despite their … dubious disposition.
Soon, House Camellia will taste greatness once again. I can't wait.
.*.*.*.
Aurelius stepped lightly through the empty halls of the Persephone, rubbing his eyes tiredly with one hand as he did so.
It was night, at least, the definition of the night that they went by whilst they were on the ship. Adjusting to ship-time after spending days on a world below wasn't usually that difficult for him – they usually employed the same cycles as the planet they had just departed for the first few days and gradually switching back to the timescale of the ship (set to match that of Holy Terra), but since they would be travelling back to the surface tomorrow such seemed rather pointless.
He knew he should be sleeping, having had a fight earlier today and spending the rest of it planning and assessing the evidence they had already captured with his master and Udanya.
Yet, as usual, his mind wandered, Aurelius's customary tight control of it slipping as he tired and allowing it to run rampant when all he wanted to do was get some rest. In the dark, he couldn't stop his thoughts from being dragged back to all of the sorrow he kept in a cage during the day, back to Medlia's Sepulchre.
The old Observatorium had been discovered by him many years ago, when a younger him had finally plucked up the courage to leave his room and explore the ship outside of the watchful eye of the Inquisitor – his handler, then.
He had numerous books and dataslates in his room, but was too tired and distracted to want to read, as with every other night this had happened. So he'd decided to visit the familiar Observatorium once more, spend a night gazing out into the distant stars before exhaustion finally claimed him – the blanket cradled underneath his arm a testament to that.
It was like a second sanctuary for him, other than the four walls of his room which he had seen all too much of in the past seven years. Everyone else on the ship was aware of it, of course, yet the updated Observatorium a few corridors across from the Sanctum was much more preferable for charting a course through the stars.
Aurelius had never seen anyone else in the older one, and as such it had become something of a private hideaway, where he could escape to and no one could bother him or remind him of what he was.
Well, that was until Samias had wandered in earlier.
The boy's throat throbbed as he cast his mind to the ganger, yet his thoughts weren't negative despite the violence which had raged between them. Their partial reconciliation had remained on his mind for the rest of the day, even as he had shoved it aside to concentrate on more pressing issues.
It seemed they had both suffered something of a change of heart after their fight. Aurelius had silently chafed at the Inquisitor's decision to continue working with the gangers, more so because of the forbidden guilt he had felt at their treatment of the Chrome Fangs than his dislike of having more members of the retinue to thinly veil their disgust around him.
That had progressed to actual concern for his physical wellbeing after his confrontation with Samias in the training bays. He would have made an effort to avoid the other boy for the near future if he hadn't looked so remorseful when they had talked afterwards.
Usually, the ones who hurt him didn't bother apologising. Though, then again, usually the others only hurt him with their repulsed gazes and repressed shudders whenever he passed, not with punches and kicks.
He was, admittedly, glad they were back on neutral terms. Aurelius couldn't say he had a strictly positive relationship with anyone in Julion's retinue, but he wouldn't have been able to function properly with the threat of impending violence if Samias had remained as understandably angry at him.
He was glad for another reason as well, a strange thing lurking at the back of his logical rationale for being pleased at the situation that he couldn't quite ascertain before it slipped out of his fingers.
Aurelius brushed it aside. He was just tired, overthinking everything as he was wont to do. His mind was forcing positivity upon Samias to distract from the far darker thoughts baying for his attention.
He slipped through the door to the Observatorium, crawling underneath the wires until he made his way into the room. Staring into space often managed to relax him in times of stress, beholding the near-infinite domain of the Imperium making him feel like a cog in a vast machine working for the good of mankind – needed, wanted, but small and without the weight of the world and his condition on his shoulders all the same.
Aurelius was surprised to see that he wasn't alone. There, emotive green eyes fixed on the majesty of the twinkling void, was Samias, sat peacefully in front of the observation window, long legs stretched out in front of him as he leaned on the sealed off section behind.
He considered leaving. Samias hadn't seen him yet, so he could quietly retreat back the way he had come and leave the other male to his silent contemplation. Aurelius didn't need the Observatorium, his room would suffice as a place of solitude, whereas Samias clearly required the time alone to unwind and recover from his recent trauma.
And yet … a part of him begged him to stay, begged him not to go back and let his bloody memories have their way with him. Samias wouldn't mind, and perhaps some company wouldn't be such a bad thing.
Wait, what are you thinking? You can't stay here. You're a Pariah, idiot. No one wants you tainting the air around them.
Caught in his indecision, Aurelius let his eyes linger too long on Samias's relaxed form. The ganger must have noticed his presence, gaze flicking up to meet his own and what almost looked to be a small smile playing on his lips.
"Oh. Hey," he waved, handsome face open and welcoming as the surprise on it faded as soon as it had arrived, "Couldn't sleep either?"
Aurelius shook his head, subconsciously curling into himself in an effort to look smaller, feeling exposed. Samias grinned, motioning next to him, still apologetic eyes seeming to say "it's alright, you can sit down."
"Bad dream?" he asked as Aurelius meekly stepped to the middle of the row, wishing he could throw away the blanket without Samias seeing it.
"I don't dream," the Interrogator replied blankly. It was true. Dreams were the product of an overreactive imagination combined with the soul's infinitesimal connection to the warp. Lacking the latter, all Aurelius could do was remember – in excruciating detail.
Samias actually laughed as he sat down. It was the first positive sound Aurelius had heard from him in a while. Not that he was keeping track.
To say that this was someone who had, less than a day ago, strangled him to the edge of consciousness, Aurelius didn't feel that uncomfortable being nearby him, not this time anyway.
"What?" he muttered, a streak of petty annoyance at being laughed at in his voice. The boy's chuckles subsided as he spoke a response, "Of course you don't."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, nothing. Forget I said anything," the ganger rubbed the back of his head. Aurelius hadn't ever seen him do that when interacting with anyone else, and wondered if his Animus was on too low a suppression setting and causing him discomfort.
"So … you come here often?" Samias was the picture of nonchalance, his eyes back on the large portal as they took in the stars. Aurelius followed them, trying not to let the part of him insisting he was making a mistake distract him, "Yeah. I have been for years."
"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to intrude on your personal space," Samias quickly apologised, bringing his legs back up and beginning to rise, "I'll leave you to it."
"No!" Aurelius exclaimed, perhaps too forcefully. Reigning in the strange emotion that had surged up and cursing inwardly at his tiredness causing him to act oddly, he repeated the word in a more level tone, "No. It's alright. You can stay. If you want to, of course."
"Oh. Ok," Samias slumped back down and stretched out again, his words not indicating he thought the blonde was being weird, "Sure."
Damnit, Aurelius, what was that? That was your chance to be alone.
A silence fell, Aurelius too nervous about doing something potentially embarrassing again and too wrapped up in his own head to speak.
"I've never seen the stars before," Samias was the one to break it, breathing out the words with wonderment dancing in both them and his eyes. "Back down there, the sky's too polluted to make them out at night. They're … beautiful. And there's so many. Not really like how I imagined."
That … made sense. Aurelius had seen the galaxy from a hundred different angles, both from the Observatorium window and from the worlds he had visited in his service to the Emperor. The majesty of the stars was never lost on him, but he was far more interested in what they represented.
He couldn't help but wear a small smile at the sheer awe on the boy's shadowed features. Samias obviously hadn't been paying much attention to them when they had talked in here before.
A sudden thought made its way into Aurelius's head.
"Would you like to see them closer up?" he asked, sucking in a short breath when Samias's ocean eyes fixed him in their expressive sights once again.
"What do you mean?" The boy's surprise wasn't unexpected considering his upbringing, but it still made Aurelius unable to suppress the slight curl of his mouth into a smile. Evidently Samias hadn't considered that the Observatorium's purpose could be anything other that staring at the stars with the naked eye, enraptured as he was in their distant twinkles.
"Move over," the blonde quietly ordered, waiting for Samias to shift a couple of feet to the left. Ideally, he would have preferred the taller to move more, but didn't feel like commanding him to go further.
Aurelius entered the space Samias had vacated, the other teenager almost touching him at his current proximity. Carefully, ensuring that there would be no accidental contact between him and Samias, Aurelius reached out to a panel which had been in front of Samias, almost blushing as he did so at the closeness of the other. To his credit, Samias remained almost perfectly still, only his relaxed breaths shifting his chest as he watched Aurelius.
It was strange that he automatically took such care in making certain he wouldn't even brush against the bigger male when they had plenty of times already during their confrontation. The Interrogator supposed it was because he could barely reconcile the fierce, violent Samias of a day ago with the serene, welcoming boy he was sat next to now. Then again, it probably wasn't a stretch to say his Null aura had exacerbated the ganger's desire to inflict harm, and he just hoped that it was at a tolerable level for Samias now.
Aurelius pressed the activation switch on the panel, light springing into life on the board and dancing beneath his fingertips. After a moment's delay, holographic illumination unfurled on the observation window, blue lines expanding across the vista and encircling each visible star.
"Woah!" Samias exclaimed, the amazement in his tone making Aurelius glad he had stayed so that he could share this with the Chrome Fang.
He flicked a few keys and drifted slender fingers across the control board, the stars that they could see shifting to be replaced by more – those that would have been just out of view in their natural perspective.
"The Observatorium was built for mapping routes across the galaxy and studying nearby systems in detail," Aurelius explained to fill the silence, slowly expanding his hand as the holograms on the window zoomed out, hundreds of distant stars growing to thousands of pinpricks, "A lot of the information in this one is outdated or incomplete, which is why the second one was constructed with easily modifiable archives. But personally, I don't think it has quite the same effect in a windowless room."
Samias nodded, though the other could tell he wasn't paying too much attention to the specifics, murmuring, "That's so cool. I should show Mikey this; he loves this sort of stuff."
Aurelius stiffened as he processed the words, forcing himself to relax when he realised he'd had a reaction. It was perfectly logical that Samias's first thoughts at seeing the display would be of one of his closest friends, and yet …
Aurelius was showing it to him, not to Michael, or anyone else. He hadn't ever seen someone else in the old planetarium before, nor felt the desire to reveal the discovery that it still had power.
"Though … I kind of like it just being us," Samias must have noticed him, yet his words were so soft and sincere that the blonde instantly discarded what he had just felt.
"Not-not in a weird way though!" the ganger laughed somewhat awkwardly, though Aurelius paid it no mind. Samias's embarrassment at his choice words barely penetrated the warm glow the Interrogator felt inside of him, lighting the darkness within for a moment and leaving strange comfort in its wake.
He wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, so let it slide.
Glad that he was leaning over the control panel so that Samias couldn't see the small blush spreading over his pale features, made even more evident by the backglow of the holo-illumination, Aurelius gradually expanded the image until it became a representation of the entire galaxy, a mostly-accurate depiction of the Imperium of Mankind contained within a single hologram.
"So, what would you like to see?" he asked, turning back to Samias with a flicker of anxiousness in his chest.
Why am I so on edge? What are these emotions? Aurelius was confused. His mental profile of Samias was tangled, muddled between the boy who had constantly pressed forwards with attempting to interact with him and the boy he thought might have squeezed his life from him.
That must be it. I'm still affected by our fight. Once I get over that, I'll be in control again. As much as he tried to rationalise it, the second he met Samias's eyes any attempts at quashing the emotions shifting beneath the surface was abandoned.
"Where are you from, Aurelius?" he inquired, eyes earnest and filled with the reflection of the galaxy glowing in front of him. But Samias wasn't looking at that. He was looking at him.
You have to ruin everything, don't you? Even the majesty of the galaxy isn't enough to distract from you, your Pariah nature dragging everything down, blighting everything around you-
"Is that alright? Sorry if I'm prying," Samias mumbled, before his voice switched to concerned, "Is everything ok?"
Aurelius turned back to the Observatorium window, registering that he had been asked several questions and electing to ignore the last. "Yeah. That's fine. I'll get it up."
He located the star of his home system effortlessly, having done so countless time prior. Located in the same sector as Karvonis IV and yet still incredibly distant, Aurelius's world, the second in the system of seven, flashed into view.
"There we are. Verelion," he spoke, gazing at the planet as a series of images and an informational overview of the world appeared either side of the blue-green sphere. "The crown jewel of the Verelion sector, which this system is part of."
"Wow," Samias's voice betrayed a little impressment as the two took in the sight of an ornate processional bridge flanked by vast golden statues of Imperial heroes – the Champion's Walkway – in the main hive, massive cathedrals dedicated to the Twin Saints Solaria and Stellaria and the God-Emperor, sunny vistas of rolling grasslands draped in light from the system's twin stars (sharing the names of the saints).
"I don't remember it ever raining for more than a few hours, unlike here," Aurelius's words were infused with more than a hint of pride. He wasn't as impressed by the magnificence of his home world ever since the void took hold of him, but he would be lying if he said he didn't experience some vestigial feelings of satisfaction knowing he was a son of Verelion.
"It's certainly something," Samias replied, though there was a slight twinge of defensiveness and teasing in his tone as he continued, "Heh. I knew you would have come from somewhere posh, your accent gives it away."
"Excuse me?" the Interrogator was slightly taken aback. He'd always considered his voice to be refined and clear but lacking any sort of accent, usually perfect in enunciation and oration when he wasn't muttering.
"You just kind of remind me of people I've heard from upper hive," Samias mumbled as Aurelius turned to look at him, his playful composure dissolving into something more flustered, "It's not a bad thing."
Aurelius tried to force his gaze to soften, staring anywhere but Samias's face yet still in his general direction. He didn't really disagree with the boy's assessment, and didn't want to ruin the mood with his inability to act properly in a conversation.
"I'll take your word for it," he murmured, unsure of what else to say and stifling a tired yawn. Luckily, Samias came to his rescue before an awkward silence fell, the ganger's relaxed tone filled with a sort of casual curiosity Aurelius wasn't sure he'd ever been subjected to even if he had witnessed it in conversations held by others.
"So did the Inquisitor pick you up from there?" Aurelius couldn't fathom why Samias was so interested in his past, but it did give them a topic to discuss – and he supposed someone wanting to know more about him wasn't so bad.
"No. As is tradition for the sons and daughters of prominent figures on Verelion, my brother and I were inducted onto the Schola Progenium on the moon of Argiapa Minoris when I was five," the blonde explained, altering the view to the adjacent system and the barren planet the urbanised moon in question orbited. It seemed so close on the Observatorium screen, yet the slight ache of childlike longing which still slept inside of him attested to the falseness of that.
He leaned backwards after doing so, mere inches from where Samias was lounged, halting a tremor of nervousness that screamed at him to back away, that he would be causing the taller boy pain and inciting revulsion by doing this.
"It's an honour usually reserved for orphans of the Imperial elite, but Verelion works differently. I don't really remember why we were sent there," Aurelius admitted. The memories swirled within him, something that he would usually quell. With Samias beside him, occasionally interspersing with a thoughtful nod or encouraging question, Aurelius found that he could easily share them.
.*.*.*.
"We are concerned with the future. The victory of mankind depends on those who lead and those who serve. That responsibility is ours; that future is ours to bring to pass."
— Abbot Bernar Skrayling, Maccabeus Quintus Schola Progenium
The ten year old sat huddled in the corner of a detention cell. The lumen strips which would illuminate the bare room with a harsh white light were active, yet only darkness reigned.
It wasn't the darkness of night, the absence of the sun's beneficence or the shadows cast in its wake, but the essence of the void itself, an all-consuming tenebrosity that drowned all in its nothingness. It strained against the walls of the cell, seeping through the steel bars in pools of empty blackness that snuffed out any light in its path.
And it was coming from him.
Aurelius hadn't ever committed a transgression severe enough to land him in a detention cell as punishment before. While others in the academy wilfully tested the limits of the strict laws laid out by the Drill Abbots and the patience of their mentors, Aurelius had always been dutiful and obedient, questioning only if he truly did not understand instead of to annoy.
It had all happened so quickly, spiralling out of control. Aurelius and his partner Olenn had been embroiled in one of the many trials prior to the Progenium's internal Selection Day – where the youths would be streamlined from their original classes and assigned to a more specific domain of teaching to prepare them for their service to the Emperor.
The trial was a gruelling sprint through a fortified and trapped emplacement meant to weed out those who would be unsuited for military prospects, testing the candidates' endurance, wits and ability to work in a pair as well as pitting them against other pairs.
Though service to the Imperium as a result of their harsh tutelage need not be military in nature, none of the Schola wished to fail any of the trials. To do so would be tantamount to consigning themselves to banality, and many who had failed already had not been seen by their brethren since.
"Excel in all tenets of your duty to the Emperor, and those which you shine most brightly in will bring themselves to the fore," the Abbot Reja had told the youngsters, "Fail, and that stain will eclipse success."
After navigating through a maze that slowly sealed itself shut and escaping another pair of students that had decided to take a more direct route in eliminating their competition, Aurelius and Olenn had wanted to take brief respite in a ruined building along the trial course.
That had been a mistake. With a whirr of mechanised limbs, a set of sparring automatons had set upon them – and at a much greater level of aggression than the two ten year olds were accustomed to the few times they had fought against them instead of another Schola.
Aurelius had managed to hold his own, but Olenn had faltered. Beset by two relentless machines, the boy had screamed in panic and pain, light streaking from his eyes and arcs of unnatural, coruscating energies forming a corona around his head.
It must have been a psychic awakening of some sort, latent powers that Olenn had within him unleashed in his trauma. And yet the unearthly power crackling around Aurelius had triggered something even worse from the blonde.
Blackness had billowed forth from his limbs, blanketing everything around him and effortlessly snuffing out the brief surge of energy from Olenn. Aurelius had stood perfectly still, darkness choking every psychic imperfection from the air as he felt the emotions slowly stripped from his mind.
The machines were instantly deactivated, Olenn writhing and howling on the floor and Aurelius unable to process the endless void opening up inside of his head.
Numbly, the boy had been taken from the course by hands that didn't linger for long, orders and questions shouted at him ringing around in his head so loudly he could barely tell them apart.
Other students in his path had clutched their skulls, running howling with panic as he wished he could reach out and assure them he wouldn't hurt them (even if such would be a lie).
He had regained a semblance of control some time after entering the cell, and that was when he began to truly realise that the darkness was still pouring out of him.
Aurelius had cried then, inky, black tears streaming down his cheeks as he beheld the void twisting around him, unnatural fear and blankness warring for dominance in the young boy's distraught mind.
"The Emperor is my light. Through Him, I stand firm in the face of evil. The Emperor is my shield. Through Him, I protect mankind from its foes," he had repeated, over and over and over, in an attempt to gain some control over the darkness spilling forth.
He had managed to somehow curtail its advance, limiting it to his relative vicinity, but not remove it completely. Aurelius had huddled into a foetal ball, hoping that would help contain the spread of the nothingness.
I'm a monster. A freak. They've put me in here until they can decide how to kill me.
Aurelius had managed to stop sobbing, reinstating the control over fear that had been driven into him over the five years he had been at the academy. The child inside of him wailed for comfort, but the devoted servant accepted his fate.
Hours passed, though how many he couldn't tell. Aurelius didn't sleep even as exhaustion nipped at his limbs, too scared to break the limited control he had gained over his dark awakening.
Even as Null energies flooded his mind, his emotions still reigned, the childlike fear of the dark and the fear of what had happened to him – what was still changing within him.
A face suddenly appeared in front of the cell's bars, handsome and pale, twisted with urgency and a primal terror that shone through determined blue eyes.
"Lucas!" the boy abruptly sat up, surprise and hope pounding in his chest at the sight of his older brother.
At sixteen solar years of age, Lucas was a tall, lean boy beginning to evolve from a wiry, slender state into a more muscular form as a result of the Schola's relentless training regimes. His hair was blonde like his brother's, though a darker, more metallic shade than Aurelius's brighter gold.
Those inducted into the Schola Progenium were usually encouraged to forget their pasts, especially if said families had been slaughtered on the ruined worlds many orphan students came from, in order to embrace their peers as a new family.
An exception was made for the fraternity of siblings, which was kept and fostered within the academy halls – tightly knit bonds between students would be beneficial in service to the Imperium, and it would be fruitless to neglect those already in place.
The two shared a room, had done from the very first day at the Progenium facility despite their difference of six years in age. Other pairs of siblings had been permitted the same privilege. Lucas must have come for him when he hadn't shown up for their mealtime, or must have heard something from the other students.
The addressed smiled in a way that Aurelius, even at his tender age, could tell was forced, "That's me."
"What are you doing? You shouldn't be here," Aurelius longed to run up to the edge of the cell and reach out to his big brother, but stayed still. His shadow, as if in response to the boy's desires, enveloped the point where Lucas was stood, coiling around the youth as he stiffened and his face twisted in pain.
No! Get away from him! Do not touch him! Aurelius tried desperately to corral the blackness emanating from him, yet it didn't listen, holding his sibling tight as if to embrace him in the hug Aurelius always gave to his brother before he went to sleep.
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm busting you out of here," Lucas ground out through clenched teeth, using a key clasped tightly in his hands to unlock the cage.
"You can't. You'll be expelled," the younger couldn't hold back a plaintive sob, tears threatening to cascade down his face again, "You need to go away. Give back the keys to whoever you took them from."
Lucas quietly opened the metal door, his expression severe and angry, cut so clearly across his face in the empty dark.
"Like hell I'm doing that. I don't know what's happened to you, Aure, but I'm not about to leave you here whilst the Abbots decide how to deal with you. Besides, I knocked out the Warden. I'm in deep shit already."
"Go away. I don't want you to get in trouble," Aurelius whimpered, though stronger than his desire for Lucas not to be punished for his flagrant disregard for Schola rules was his wish that the older boy wouldn't be hurt by the void in him. He shrank away from his brother, a barrier of black nothing pooling around him.
"Aurelius," Lucas was using his stern voice now. He never called Aurelius by his full name (complaining that it was too long – "if two syllables is enough for me then it's enough for you too"). Naturally, that got the boy's attention, peeking up at the elder stood in the entrance to the cell, "Please, listen to me. You don't want me to be punished, I understand. But what sort of a brother would I be if I abandoned you here? They could kick you out, or worse. I'm getting you out, and then we're leaving together."
The sixteen year old made to come closer, but shuddered back with a muffled grunt. Though the void was already intense where he was stood, its power increased almost exponentially towards his little brother.
"Just go away. I don't want to hurt you," Aurelius wasn't able to stop himself from crying again. He'd always found it difficult to connect with others, but with those he managed to he felt powerful empathy for. And there was no stronger connection than that he had with Lucas.
He knew that it was causing Lucas distress to be here, to be so close to him, and it hurt him even more than being thrown into isolation and fear had.
"You'd never hurt me, little bro. You're too kind to ever do that."
There was reassuring affection in Lucas's strained tone, and it tugged at Aurelius's want for comfort in the wake of this trauma. It took every inch of his willpower not to throw himself into his big brother's arms, as he whispered despondently, "You don't understand. I … I can't control it."
"I'm … not … leaving … without … you," Lucas snarled, bracing himself against the darkness as if by sheer physical determination and strength of will he could push it aside.
Aurelius pulled himself into a curl again, bawling like an infant despite his age. It would have earned him a clap round the head and a summary order of fifty press-ups if a Drill Abbot had been nearby, and yet he couldn't halt his tears as if even they were desperate to flee from him. Darkness surged round him, winds of black so painfully real they cut through even thoughts.
A hand clasped round his small arm, and he opened his eyes, the swirls of nothingness abating into more gentle wisps of Null force.
"Told you, didn't I?" Lucas's face creased with a smile even as it strained with horror and exertion. Both of them were trembling, Aurelius through his sadness and his brother through the instinctual urge to flee screaming. "You'd never hurt me."
"Lucas …" his brother's hand didn't move even as it shook, wrapped so tightly round his arm Aurelius could feel his circulation being cut off – as if Lucas was afraid that if he would inadvertently let go and be pushed away if he put anything less than the full force of his grip into it. Despite that, it was a calming, grounding presence, warm and protective, everything he had come to associate with his older brother.
Lucas's face reflected his suffering, the effort of maintaining his composure in front of his little sibling plain to see. But Lucas was stubborn, and never backed down from a challenge, not even when it was the right thing to do.
As much as he knew it was selfish, Aurelius was glad his brother had come for him, glad that he wouldn't have to be alone anymore.
"I'm fine. We need to go," the teenager shifted the position of his hand, sliding it down to clasp Aurelius's own smaller one and gently pulling him to his feet, all severe and serious again. Lucas was relentless, single-minded in achievement of his goals – a fact that had often earned him praise from his teachers.
Aurelius tried to emulate his brother, tried to apply the older's perseverance and dogged determination to his own trials, even as Lucas fondly teased him for it.
Still holding onto his younger brother's hand, Lucas quickly left the cell, stalking his way through the empty detention block with Aurelius following dutifully at his heels.
It had been a long time since they had held hands like this, with little Aurelius trotting at his brother's side. Back on Verelion, what limited memories Aurelius had of the place told him Lucas had had no qualms about clasping onto his sibling's hand and dragging him wherever they went.
Since coming to the Schola Progenium, Lucas had significantly reduced the amount he would do it in the early years, only for short spans of time if a younger Aurelius was being stubborn and he wasn't in the mood to carry or yell at him.
Later, Aurelius had outgrown it, and his brother had stopped. Yet he would be lying if the familiar feeling wasn't welcome after all these years and in this time of darkness and stress.
"We'll sneak onto one of the cargo transporters bringing stuff from Hive Carlai. Then we'll find a ship going to Verelion, and go back to mum and dad," Lucas told him as they scampered through the empty hallways of the facility, void emptiness shrouding paintings of Imperial Saints and maxims etched in gold fixed on the stone walls.
Aurelius had many questions – how they'd be able to get onto a transporter without being noticed, how they would travel through the hive without any money, and who would accept someone like him in his current state aboard a ship bound for Verelion's system – but didn't voice them to his brother.
Incessant questioning was a catalyst for censure from a Drill Abbot, so usually Lucas had been subjected to the full bombardment of his brother's inquisitive mind whether he liked it or not. But right now, he was content to just trust his older brother and let him take charge.
"Okay," he signalled his assent not because his brother needed it from him, but to try and reassure them both. Lucas was risking everything aiding Aurelius, although he would never be convinced to do otherwise, and it was the least the younger could do to try and assuage his own fears. He added, after a moment of silence, "Thank you for coming for me."
"Don't sweat it."
If Lucas was regretting breaking a multitude of academy laws and embarking upon a journey that could ruin both of their futures, the sixteen year old showed no discernible sign. The brothers hurriedly but quietly stalked through the silent corridors, the lack of students suggesting it was well into the night – and the curfew that came with it.
All of the Progena were expected to spend the night hours in either reflective study, prayer or sleep – which had, admittedly, been somewhat difficult for the brothers to manage at first, though now they were both thoughtful students dedicated to their studies.
Aurelius always followed the shining example Lucas had set for him, and even if he was of a more introspective bent to his charismatic brother it didn't stop him applying himself in all aspects of their curriculum. He'd often been told that he was very easy to trust. He wondered if that would happen anymore, if the darkness which had taken roost inside of him didn't disperse.
Lucas had been this way for as long as he could remember – coming through for him when it counted and expecting nothing, not even thanks, in return.
"I mean it. You didn't have to," the ten year old murmured, trying not to think of what might have happened to him had he been left in the cell.
Before Lucas could reply, a strong, booming voice halted them in their tracks, "Lucas and Aurelius Glorina, stop where you are immediately."
Shocked, Lucas froze for only a second as he took in who had spoken, before dragging his little brother's small form behind him and backing up against a wall.
"I won't let you take him back there," the sixteen year old growled, using himself as a shield for Aurelius in what would almost certainly be a fruitless act of defiance. The younger peeked out from behind his older sibling, sucking in a scared breath at who had spoken to them.
Caligulon Martas, Abbot Prime and the head of the entire facility stood across from them, stern and regal in equal amounts and flanked by newly trained Tempestus Scions levelling their hellrifles at the boys.
Lucas had begun official training for induction into the Tempestus Militarum's elite ranks, a fact that whilst the boy didn't boast about made him veritably glow with pride – and thus Aurelius was also proud of his older brother. He himself had only begun trials for a preliminary selection day which would inform the one held five years later, and wasn't entirely sure where his strengths lay.
Now all of that was to be thrown away because of the darkness that had burst from within him that he didn't even understand, tarnishing both him and his older brother who had discarded his duties for familial love.
Behind them stood the Warden which Lucas must have dispatched earlier glowering at the offending youths, and a tall figure Aurelius didn't recognise clad in a tight-fitting black bodyglove that the others seemed to give a wide berth.
Even though he'd never seen the famed Abbot Prime so close before the boy's eyes were drawn to the unknown woman. Her face was non-descript, so utterly unrecognisable that Aurelius got the impression he would forget what it looked like should he look away, and she radiated an unsettling calm in the tense situation.
She stared back at Aurelius, dark eyes locking with the boy's own impassively.
Caligulon closed his fist, the Tempestus Scions surrounding the pinned students in a semi-circle at equidistant points along its radius, before they cringed back from the aura of blackness drenching the area around Aurelius.
"Lucas Glorina. You are in violation of four precepts: Remaining in the Schola halls in the period of curfew without a permit; assaulting Schola staff; entering areas forbidden to students and removing students from detention cells," the Abbot Prime incanted, pointedly ignoring the lapse in discipline from his contingent which would have seen them punished in another circumstance. "Aurelius Glorina. You are in violation of two precepts: Remaining in the Schola halls in the period of curfew without a permit and exiting a detention cell without authorisation from a member of Schola staff."
The man, shorter than Lucas by several inches but several times more imposing (even if Lucas could be scary when he was rarely angry at his little brother), tapped his golden hammer against his palm before continuing, "As I'm certain you can imagine, the punishment for these combined transgressions is extremely severe. However, in light of the … curious event that we find ourselves in, I will offer you an ultimatum, Lucas. Leave Aurelius in our care, and I will issue you the standard penalty for a minor transgression."
"Not a chance, sir," the older of the brothers snarled in a way that was somehow fiercely protective and yet respectful. If Aurelius hadn't been paralysed by fear, he would have begged Lucas to take the man's unheard of offer of mercy and leave him to whatever fate they had in store for him.
They couldn't fight their way out. It was impossible. The ten year old believed in his brother more than anyone else he had ever known, but the task would be too much even for him. He didn't know why Lucas was doing this, would have questioned what his defiance was supposed to achieve if he wasn't deathly afraid of being left alone again.
Caligulon signalled to one of his men, who approached in a sudden blur of motion, swinging the butt of her high-power lasgun into Lucas's side. The adolescent cried out in pain at the blow, raising his arms to defend himself from another strike and tackling the Scion.
Another shot forwards and wrapped strong arms around the teenager, pulling him back as he bucked and attempted to escape the hold.
"No! Stop!" Aurelius shouted, running forwards and barrelling into the woman advancing on Lucas as he grabbled with the second Scion, punching and kicking at the graduate's carapace armour to little effect.
She hissed in surprise and a sudden panic as he approached, flinching and shoving him away hard. The boy fell back against the wall, hitting his head against it with a painful cry.
"Don't hurt him!" Lucas roared, kicking back against the man endeavouring to hold him down and launching himself at the Scion who had harmed his little brother. She cracked her gun against his head, sending the older sibling sprawling with a whimper as he crumpled to the floor. Lucas tried to stand, dazed, as the Scion pair closed in on what they considered to be the greater threat.
"I said STOP!" Aurelius shrieked, the shadows which had been gradually intensifying around him pulsing outwards, radiating like a supernova of void darkness and washing over everything around him.
The Scions closest to him clutched their heads and fell to the floor sobbing and screaming for a short moment before they fell silent. Lucas followed the same way, bawling as thick tendrils of purest unlight curled round him until he was wrenched into unconsciousness.
The remaining circle of Tempestus troopers and the Abbot Prime also crashed to the ground, falling to their knees and crying like infants as the void surrounded them, pulsating like onyx blood from the wound that was Aurelius.
Aurelius stared in mute horror at the unnatural power billowing forth from him, before panic set in as he realised that Lucas was being hurt by it as well.
"No, no, stop it! I don't want this!" he scrunched his eyes shut, willing with every inch of his mental determination for the tidal wave of darkness to rush back into him and leave his big brother alone. But the release wouldn't stop, more and more Null force pouring out of the youngster and consuming anything that reality could hold aside from itself. He opened his eyes again, crawling through the gloom of his own creation to his brother's side and shaking the bigger boy in a feeble attempt to remove the clutches of nothingness from him.
He cried, tears dripping like ink down his pale cheeks yet leaving no stain as they splashed onto Lucas, the older boy's face drawn tight into a rictus of agony and his breathing shallow.
"You can't control it, can you?"
Startled, Aurelius's head shot up, meeting the gaze of the strange woman. She stood perfectly still, seemingly unfazed by the pitch-black shadows swirling around her. The ten year old shook his head despairingly, his breath hitching as tortured gasps began emanating from the victims of the void.
One moment she was stood a few metres away from him, the next she was stood directly in front of the distraught boy, who gazed up at her with eyes hazy with tears.
"But you want to, don't you?" she asked without emotion. Aurelius nodded this time, not wanting to waste time with this strange individual unless she could help him help his brother, shoving out a: "How can I?" between sobs.
"I know what you are," stood next to the blonde, she was in the eye of the empty storm, but was no less affected than she had been further away, "For you and I are the same."
The woman clasped onto his arm with a grip that was neither loose nor hard, and for the first time Aurelius felt the blank darkness thrumming above the surface of her bodyglove. It was a strange non-sensation – his mind registered that it should be uncomfortable, but there was nothing beyond that recognition.
"We are Pariahs. Soulless Nulls, the antithesis of the psyker and the Warp, and carriers of a dominant Blank gene," she explained in a level tone. Despite the void's power raging around the two, it was deathly silent aside from her voice, the stilted moans of those rendered unconscious gone now.
Aurelius absorbed the words without comment. He had known it wasn't something psychic – as Olenn's traumatic galvanisation had been undeniable psychic in nature, and whatever had risen within Aurelius had suppressed it – but he hadn't ever heard of a Pariah before.
"I don't have a soul?" Aurelius asked with a hint of disbelief. The other Pariah shook her head, "Not anymore. Not now your true nature has arisen."
"Admittedly, I've not witnessed a Pariah with quite the same raw anti-connection to the Immaterium as you, though that could be a result of your gene laying dormant until now," the woman continued, "But such power cannot go uncontrolled. The released void drains both the life and the very souls of those caught in its embrace."
"How do I stop it?" the boy near yelled. He found it difficult to care about any of this whilst Lucas was still being hurt because of him, especially if his brother's life was at stake.
"You cannot. This soulless darkness is a part of you that will define every moment of your life from this point," the woman replied in what could have been a grave tone, though lacked emotion as with every one of her words. She let go of Aurelius's shoulder, before holding out her other hand in front of him. A malevolent crystal, geometrically flawless, sat in her palm, attached as a pendant to an Aquilla sigil at the centre of a collar. "This, however, can suppress it. Consider it my gift to you."
The ten year old took the proffered amulet without hesitation and placed it around his neck. The void energies seemed attracted to the black gem which shone with its own unnatural, lightless glow, curling fingers around it in an imitation of their source only seconds ago. It didn't scour the shadows away – in fact it somewhat amplified them – and more panic shuddered up Aurelius's spine as he gazed back at the woman.
She pressed down on a metal rod which she must have equipped whilst Aurelius was distracted, and the Aquilla shaped mechanism surrounding the crystal twisted it to the left.
Immediately, the darkness which coated everything in soulless black flooded back into the child. Aurelius pressed his hands to his head, moaning with pain as pressure built up within it, a buzzing sound rising as the silent dark retreated into the crystal and then pressed itself in against him.
"You will grow accustomed to the pain," the woman offered no aid as the youngster writhed for a short moment before training set in and he forced himself to push past it. He knew, instinctually, that it wasn't his Pariah nature itself affecting him – he was immune to the darkness which had debilitated all others except his fellow Null – but the pain was a by-product of having such powers limited. "We Pariahs cannot exist around ordinary men with our Null auras unrestricted."
He opened his eyes again, the hallway once again bathed in cold light, and gazed down at his brother. Lucas was still unconscious, but his breathing seemed to be returning and his face was no longer screwed up so much in fear and hurt – though it wasn't at peace. Aurelius was tempted to try and awaken him quickly so that they could reattempt their escape, but quickly dismissed the ridiculous thought.
"I believe it is time I introduced myself. I am the Director Primus of Clade Culexus," the other Pariah stated. Aurelius had anticipated that he would be getting a name from her, before he properly processed what she had just said.
"Clade Culexus?" his young voice was coloured in disbelief. "As in-"
"Yes. A Clade of the Officio Assassinorum."
Aurelius would have scampered back or placed himself protectively in front of Lucas had he not known there was no point – as the Director would surely be able to unleash her own darkness. He had heard of the Officio Assassinorum – some of their recruits were seeded amongst the Schola Progenium's ranks, though their identities were guarded.
But his studies hadn't ever mentioned a Culexus Temple. Vindicare, Eversor, Venenum, Vanus and mysterious Callidus, though nothing more than their names.
"I came here for you. It would be a waste of your abilities to stay here. It has been agreed that I will take you and you will begin training as a Culexus assassin. You will be taught better control over your abilities and how to use them in service of the Emperor."
The boy blinked. It was an awful lot of information to take in. Instant, automatic denial and rejection of her proposal thrust itself to the forefront of his mind. He didn't want to leave the Schola Progenium, be dragged away from Lucas to become a human weapon. He couldn't really remember his homeworld and his parents which he had left behind there, yet still felt homesickness despite the fact that the academy had quickly become his new home. Now that he had the crystal which subdued his newly awakened Pariah gene, he wasn't a danger anymore, right?
But as he stared at his older brother as the teenager began to stir as if awakening from a fitful sleep, Aurelius realised that there was no other choice.
I can't stay here. Not with what I've become. I'll just end up hurting everyone around me. I don't know how this crystal works, how any of what I am works. And I don't want Lucas to have to suffer because of me.
Lucas suddenly sprang to his feet, spinning round to gaze down at his little brother and reaching across to grab him. He flinched back without thinking before his hand touched Aurelius, as if forgetting what had happened to his sibling in the time he had been rendered comatose.
The Tempestus Scions and Abbot Prime rose less than two seconds later, the man's authoritarian voice booming out, "Now do you see why Aurelius cannot be allowed to remain free? His monstrous powers are a danger to us all."
The younger blonde cast his head in shame as his brother stood protectively in front of him once again, pressing a hand to his bleeding temple. The Militarum soldiers didn't close in, their weapons trained on the siblings.
"I will be taking the boy now, as per our agreement, Abbot Prime," the Culexus stated coldly. Caligulon glared at her, replying angrily, "Yes, please do. Get him out of my academy."
"Aurelius isn't going anywhere!" Lucas shouted, as if nothing had occurred between his last outburst of defiance and this one – as if his little brother hadn't just almost killed them all.
"Lucas," Aurelius almost whispered the older's name, although it still cut off the addressed's next furious snarl. He felt a blockage at his throat, tears gathering at the edges of his eyes again, but soldiered on regardless, "They're right. I can't stay here. I have to go with her."
"Aure?" the sixteen year old didn't turn around in case the Scions used that as an opportunity to attack, but Aurelius could still picture his incredulous expression. "What are you talking about? Everything's fine now, isn't it?"
"Temporarily. This level of suppression cannot be sustained forever without killing your brother. Yet he must be taught control before I will alleviate it," the Director informed them in her usual soulless tones.
"I don't understand."
A moment of weakness. A crack in the show of strength, the first fracture in the armour of the protective guardian.
"Your brother is a monster, a threat to every living person inside this academy. If only we could have discerned this sooner," Caligulon spat. "The Director has offered to take him. Death is the only alternative."
"I need to be able to control my powers," Aurelius added even as he felt something breaking inside of him. "I don't want to hurt anyone else. I've already hurt you."
"No, you haven't, I'm fine," Lucas blurted out. He spun to look at his brother, "See? You haven't hurt me. I'm fine, you're fine, everything's fine."
"Lucas," Aurelius said his brother's name with a strange mix of pleading finality, "If the Director hadn't given me this," he brushed his fingers against the crystal at his throat, "I would have killed everyone here. Including you. That's why I need to go, big brother."
Lucas stared at him for a short moment, fear and defiance and love prevalent in his blue eyes, before the damn broke.
"I can't lose you as well."
Lucas's voice was so heartfelt and sorrowful that Aurelius was stunned into silence. They didn't talk much about their parents – such was heavily discouraged for those who still had living progenitors – but Aurelius knew his brother had suffered much more from their induction than he had. It was only logical. He'd been a year older than Aurelius was now at the time.
He didn't know what to say. He knew he should be saying something, anything, to comfort his brother, but couldn't find any words nor force any out.
Lucas fell to his knees so that they were the same height, reaching out and gently clasping onto his brother's small cheek, his hand trembling against the soft skin. Even as his face was filled by pleading emotion, Aurelius could still see the flicker of discomfort at his brother touching a Pariah.
"Please. I want you to stay here," Lucas's eyes were desperate and imploring, and he choked back a sob. Then another, and another, until they overwhelmed him in a cruel assault. Tears streamed down his cheeks, broken whimpers emanating from his throat as he cupped Aurelius's cheeks with both hands, crying, "Please don't go, little brother, please, please."
Aurelius could feel something dying within him. The spreading void flooded to replace it. He wanted to reach out, brush his brother's tears from his cheeks and hold him like Lucas was with him. Lucas had done the same so many times in the past, when young Aurelius had come to him with his woes or with bruises and wounds after a training session.
Yet that would only cause him more pain; the darkness would spread from his fingertips into his undeserving sibling and wrap agonisingly round his pure soul.
Lucas wrapped him in a hug and rested his head on Aurelius's small chest, tears drenching his shirt, squeezing him so tightly that he thought he might break, as if by simple force of strength he could stop his sibling from being plucked away from him.
"I have to," he told him, as softly as he could manage. Any louder and they would both shatter. Leaving his brother was a horrible fate he didn't even want to think about. And yet hurting him was so incomparably worse that he had no choice.
Lucas had always protected him. He would do the same for his big brother, even if it meant sacrificing the time he might spend alongside him.
He turned his head to the Abbot Prime, forcing the emotion which would be drenching his tone to the side, "I'll go with the Director, but with one condition: you punish my brother only for a minor infraction like you said earlier."
The man met his gaze stonily at first, eyes brimming with revulsion and hate, though it did soften ever so slightly. He nodded, and Aurelius felt a small rush of relief.
"Lucas has not broken any laws prior to this point, and his devotion to your safety is commendable if misguided. I shall do as I stated prior, if you depart now."
The boy nodded thankfully and respectfully back to his senior, before turning to his distraught brother once again. Lucas's sadness made Aurelius want to renege on the statements he had just made, to stay with his sibling like he always thought he was meant to.
"You don't have to leave …" the elder stubbornly persisted, large tears rolling down his red cheeks as he sniffled, holding onto his small brother with trembling arms wrapped tightly round the boy.
"I'll miss you, big brother," he whispered, closing his eyes and resting his chin on a broad shoulder. He could stay here forever. But that would mean ignoring how Lucas tensed instinctively at the motions, his body reacting to the touch of a Pariah even if he refused to admit it.
He pulled back, gently releasing himself from the crushing embrace and held Lucas's hands as they stretched out to bring him back. "I want you to be strong for me. Can you do that, Lucas?"
The older of the two was too miserable to form a coherent response, but nodded in lieu of words. Aurelius was trying to do the same, knowing that if he fell into the pit of emotion grasping at his ankles their separation would be even more traumatic. He usually found it difficult to repress his own feelings should he experience this strongly when his big brother had always been a willing outlet for them, but now that Lucas was the one in need of reassurance and comfort Aurelius managed to shove them aside.
"We'll see each other again. I promise," he murmured. He couldn't say that for certain. The galaxy was a capricious place, and if he was to become an assassin of the Culexus Temple it was likely he wouldn't. Yet it was what they both needed to hear. "I love you."
"I…I l-love you too," Lucas responded shakily, letting Aurelius pull away without impeding it.
The boy walked to the Director's side, leaving his brother on his knees. The woman motioned for them to leave, and Aurelius followed as they began to pace away.
He didn't look back.
.*.*.*.
"After the Director took me to her ship, we spent a few days travelling to the Mandeville point in preparation for Warp translation," the Interrogator continued quietly, his eyes lost in the Observatorium's image of the Schola Progenium moon. "Another ship hailed us before we departed. It seemed the Emperor had a different fate planned for me. Inquisitor Julion requested that I be transferred to his retinue instead of becoming an assassin."
"Have you seen your brother since?" Samias asked. Aurelius flicked his gaze up to the larger boy in surprise, having almost forgotten his presence as he recounted his memories. Embarrassed by having opened up to such a degree, he shook his head, looking away into the darkness.
He could have shared more, as he remembered that fateful night quite well. He knew, somehow, that Samias wouldn't have minded, but that was all he was willing to give for now. Recounting it in any more detail would have made the emotion already creeping out from within its void-barred cage affect him to an even greater extent.
It had been over seven years since he had seen Lucas, and he was older now than his brother when he had left him. The blonde didn't even know if the boy was alive or not.
He would like to think that he would have somehow known if anything had happened to him, but as his Pariah nature truly took hold any familial bond which might have transcended the limits of reality would have been annihilated.
It wouldn't surprise him if something had. He'd lost much more than just his brother, at any rate.
"Enough about me," he blurted out after a silence had taken hold, forcing away the memories with a change of subject, "What's your origin story, then?"
"It's not quite as glamorous as yours," Samias spoke after a moment's vacillation. Aurelius turned back to see the ganger's eyes downcast, regretting his haste in asking the question. He paused, considered the words, and offered: "You don't have to tell me." before he could convince himself to stay silent.
"No. No. It's fine," Samias gave a small grin. "You shared yours, anyway."
The taller of the two leaned back again, stretching out his arms. If Aurelius relaxed against the side himself, he would have brushed against Samias's forearm and his hand could have patted his head.
He stayed deathly still until Samias drew his right arm back with an apologetic look. Despite himself, Aurelius hadn't been about to ask him to move, though he didn't quite know why.
"Well. Guess I should start at the beginning. I was raised in Red Eye territory. My mum lived on the outskirts. My father was a Red Eye himself. Neither of them expected me … or wanted me, I guess," Samias began softly. He swallowed, looking vulnerable and lost. Aurelius cursed himself for doing this. He hadn't seen any sign of parents back in the Chrome Fang headquarters, and Samias had never mentioned them before now. Obviously something tragic had happened.
"He wasn't around often. But I always hated it when he was. He beat mum, and then me when I started sticking up for her," the boy clenched his fists, anger seeping into his once peaceful tone, "My mum loved me, when she wasn't high on Red EX. I think she took it to help her cope. She didn't have to think about my bastard father or how she was supposed to provide for both of us if she wasn't conscious."
Samias took a breath. Aurelius had already been a recipient of the boy's rage, so had to force himself not to shrink back or tense up.
"One day, when I was eight, my father came in with red in his eyes. Mum locked me in my room, and I heard him hitting her again and again. I could have broken out, but I was just …" Samias didn't finish, gripping the edges of the platform tightly, his voice tight with emotion that Aurelius could tell he forced away as he continued. "I went to check on my mum an hour after I heard him leave. She'd usually take Red EX then, and I already knew not to try talk to her before it knocked her out. This time it was different. There were about five empty syringes next to her that night, and I … I just knew.
"I took the pistol, and my mum's pendant, and ran as far as I could. It was stupid, but I couldn't stay there until he came back. I spent a week or so alone, hunting sump rats for food, though that wasn't enough. And then the Chrome Fangs found me," he finished, shutting his eyes tightly for a moment as he relaxed his taut form. "You pretty much know the rest."
Aurelius didn't know what to say. He felt a desire to comfort Samias, but nothing his mind could conjure sounded like it would be of any use. It wouldn't have been unnatural of him to simply not attempt, to remain emotionally distant even after they had opened up a little more to one another.
It didn't help that the Chrome Fangs, the heroes of the tale, had been near-eradicated thanks to him and the Inquisitor.
"I'm sorry," he tried, as if that would somehow repair the wounds of a tragic childhood. Compared to Samias's own, his upbringing seemed significantly better, though as Samias's life would have improved over time in the company of his fellow gangers Aurelius's situation had gradually worsened – culminating in the disaster on Medlia's Sepulchre.
"It's alright. It's not your fault," the boy answered with gruffness and softness in equal measure. Aurelius didn't know much about emotions anymore, but he was versed enough to tell Samias was putting on a strong front. "Besides – that's what you – we – are here for, right? To make things better. To stop anyone else from going through the same."
Samias's words were so earnest, his eyes so full of sincerity, that Aurelius didn't have the heart to tell him no. To tell him that a societal upheaval wasn't their objective, that once they had expunged the root of the heretical corruption they would be finished here.
That the hierarchy which forced poverty on those at the lower rungs was essential for the Imperium's survival.
So instead he just nodded. Any words would have lacked conviction, and for some reason he didn't want to lie to Samias out loud.
I've done enough of that already.
Samias turned back to the cosmic expanse in front of them, and Aurelius mirrored the motion. Though he couldn't help but peek at the other boy, snatching glances without subjecting him to his nauseating gaze. He preferred the ganger peaceful and contemplative to angry and grieving, that was for certain.
The Interrogator quickly flicked his eyes away when Samias's own rested on him, hoping the taller hadn't been able to tell. Perhaps he shouldn't be pushing the boundaries of how he acted so soon. No matter that Samias seemed to at least tolerate and engage with his company, he was still a Pariah.
"You know, Aurelius … I'm glad we talked like this. I-I mean, it's made me feel better," Samias murmured, turning away himself. Aurelius paused for a moment, wishing words weren't suddenly sliding out of his mental grasp, causing Samias to continue – probably assuming the blonde had declined to reply.
"He. Sorry about taking up your alone time, though," he spoke jovially, though Aurelius was responding before he'd even properly considered it. "No. I mean, yeah. It's been … nice."
Smooth. You have a mastery of the Imperial lexicon, can speak High and Low Gothic fluently, and that's what you come out with?
Samias seemed not to notice his inability to say something meaningful, just grinned, as if he was just happy Aurelius seemed to share some of the sentiment. Then he yawned, reminding them both that they should be sleeping at this hour.
They chatted for a few minutes after that, mostly light, limited conversation about the stars, before the taller murmured that he really did have to go to bed.
"Goodnight, Aurelius. I'll see you tomorrow," Samias smiled at him, such an open display of friendliness that Aurelius hadn't experienced for a long time, before ducking under the wires and leaving the boy to the solace he had originally sought.
"Goodnight, Samias," he whispered after the boy had left.
He stared out into the vastness of space again, each twinkling star an Imperial system brimming with the hopes, dreams and fears of billions. They were beautiful, and yet …
The stars had nothing on Samias's smile.
