Another book-quoting chapter. Slightly different this time but still playing out more or less the same.
Edit: Worked in some nameless prisoners into the chapter to make things more believable. Don't worry about who they are. They're just nameless, generic background characters of no real importance to the long term plot.
Guest: I am taking the story in a completely different direction than it went in canon, so I'm pushing certain things like the introduction of the Moon Lords back and moving other things like this up. Rest assured, the Moon Lords will make an appearance eventually, but it won't be until the second section of this fic.
Chapter 13: Betrayal:
Pax Brig
Martian Orbit
March 16th, 2841
As Darrow walked through the halls of the Pax, the ship throbbed with activity. While all boarding parties on the Pax had been repelled under Orion's leadership, the battle in space continued to rage. He and Sevro had been ferried up to orbit an hour ago when Mustang told him she had a plan she needed to discuss with him in person. There was real fear in the air, and the minds of Darrow's men, and the chatter they picked up over the coms from the enemy fleet. For the first time in centuries, Gold had shown weakness. Each city they took down on the surface of Mars spread the rebellion faster than his speech alone ever could.
Soldiers saluted the Reaper as they passed him in the hall on the way to their troop carriers and leechCraft. The squads were predominantly Red and defected Grays, but Darrow smiled as he caught sight of Green battletechs, Red mechanics, and Obsidian scouts and infantry in each capsule as well. He also saw dozens of wounded men and women being ferried to the dreadnaught's medbay. Darrow looked down at his datapad and resent the shuttle flight clearance order to the warship's flight controller with his authorization code, and it was quickly accepted and cleared. Under better circumstances, Darrow would trust the order to stand on his own, but he wanted to be sure, so he made his way to the bridge to confirm in person.
The Red marine captain responsible for the security of the bridge shouted his men to attention when Darrow entered. More than fifty armed soldiers saluted the revolutionary leader, while the Blues in their pits continued in their operations. Orion stood at the forward observation post, hands clasped behind her back as a hologram of Roque hovered in the air before him. On the holo, Roque caught sight of him and nodded in his direction. Orion turned to face the Reaper, her large pale eyes standing in contrast with her nasty white-toothed smile. Roque said goodbye and disconnected the call to return to his own portion of the battle.
"Reaper," she greeted warmly as Darrow joined her in looking out through the glass viewports. "The second Battle of Mars is going well."
"How does it look?" the young warlord asked as he observed the two armadas firing munitions and troops transports at each other across the darkness of space.
"The Jackal has pulled up his fleet in defensive array," the Blue replied as she clasped her meaty hands behind her back. "He and the loyalists look to be preparing to withdraw from orbit. They've realized they can't hold the planet much longer without risk of being captured or killed themselves."
"And they know that they need only get far enough away to regroup with the Ash Lord before they can go back on the offensive," Roque commented, his face tinted pale blue by the hologram projecting his image from his command ship.
"And the Sovereign?" Darrow asked. Orion and Roque exchanged glances.
"Still on the Invictus according to Quicksilver's spies," the Blue reported before changing the subject to his reason for coming to the bridge. "Now, what's this I hear about a flight clearance for a sarpedon-class shuttle from HB Delta?" Internally, Darrow winced. He knew she would notice, and he didn't want to explain it to her right then. Not everyone was as compassionate toward Cassius as he was. Even Sevro was still raw over the role the Morning Knight played in his father's death. Fitchner may have already fallen to the Praetorians, but Cassius delivering the final blow gave the small Howler a target for his grief.
"I'm sending an emissary to meet with the Rim," the Reaper lied. "Gauge whether they'll stand with us even knowing what I am."
"We both know you're not," she said. "What's going on?" He stepped closer, so no one could overhear them.
"If Cassius remains in the fleet while the war rages," he whispered. The Morning Knight had been transferred to the Pax from Mustang's warship two hours ago. "Someone will try to get past the guards and slit his throat. There's too much hate for the Bellona for him to stay here."
"Then hide him in another cell," Orion protested quietly. "Don't release him. He'll just go back to them. Rejoin the war."
"He won't," Darrow reassured her. She looked behind him to ensure they weren't being overheard.
"If anyone finds out…" she said.
"This is exactly why I didn't tell anyone," he replied. "I'm releasing him. You clear that shuttle. You let it go. I need you to promise me." Orion's lips made a thin, hard line. She nodded and looked back to Mars. As always, Darrow felt that she knew more than she let on.
"I promise," she finally said. "But you be careful, boy."
He met Sevro in the hall outside the ship's high security prisoner lockup. The head of the Sons of Ares was sitting atop the orange cargo crate and its floating gravRig as he drank from a flask, his left hand resting on the scorcher in his leg hostler. Given its guests, the hall was quieter than it should have been, but it was in the main hangars and gun stations and engines and armories where his ship pulsed with activity, not here on the prison deck.
"What took you?" Sevro asked, stretching uncomfortably against his new combat vest beneath his black fatigues. His boots clicked together as his legs dangled. After a few minutes of small talk, Mustang approached.
"Guards are redeployed," she said. "Marine patrols are diverted from hall 13-c. Cassius is clear to the hangar."
"Good," Darrow said as he touched her hand. "You sure about this?"
"Not entirely," she answered. "But that's my life."
"Sevro?" Darrow asked. "You still prime?"
"Obviously?" the Howler replied as he hopped down from the create. "I'm here, ain't I?"
Sevro helped Darrow maneuver the gravRig through the door to the brig. The guard station was deserted, food wrappers and tobacco disposal cups all that remained of the Sons team tasked with guarding the prisoners. Sevro followed Darrow from the entrance down into the decagon room of duroglass cells, whistling the old tune he'd made up for Pliny barely more than a month ago.
"If your leg's a little wet…" he sang as the group stopped before Cassius' cell. Sevro knocked on the duroglass separating them from Cassius. Two Gold prisoners stirred in the empty cells nearest to the Bellona's. They snapped to full alertness when they realized who was there, eyes burning with curiosity for what the Reaper and his most trusted comrades were doing here in the brig of their own warship and what they wanted the Olympic Knight for.
"Wakey wakey, Sir Bellona," he called. Cassius wiped the sleep from his eyes as he sat up from his bed. He took in the sight of Darrow and Sevro, but spoke only to Mustang.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"We have an offer for you," Darrow answered.
"What kind of offer?" Cassius replied warily.
"When you told Mustang you were tired of these wars, did you mean it?" Darrow asked.
"I don't understand…" Cassius replied.
"It's pretty bloodydamn simple, Cassius," Mustang interjected. "Yes or no."
"Yes," Cassius said from his cot while Antonia sat up to watch the exchange. "I am. How could I not be? It's taken everything from me. All for people who only care about themselves."
"Well?" Darrow asked Sevro, waiting for his friend's approval.
"Oh, please," Sevro snorted. "You think that's going to satisfy me?"
"What game are you playing at?" Cassius asked.
"Ain't no game, boyo. Darrow wants me to let you out," Sevro answered as Cassius' eyes widened. "But I needa know you aren't gonna come try to kill us. You're all about honor and blood debts, so I need you to swear an oath, so I can sleep soundly."
"I killed you father…" Cassius protested.
"You really should stop reminding me of that," Sevro retorted, his face betraying the anger he kept hidden from his voice.
"If you stay here, we can't protect you," Darrow told the Bellona. "I believe the worlds still need Cassius au Bellona. But there's no place for you here. And there's no place for you with the Sovereign. If you give me your oath, on your honor, that you will leave this war behind you, I'll give you your freedom." Cassius looked at Mustang, judging their proposal.
"You agreed to this?" he asked her.
"It was my idea," she answered. "None of this is your fault, Cassius. I was cruel to you, and I'm sorry for that. I know you wanted revenge on Darrow. On me…"
"Not on you," Cassius replied. "Not ever on you." Mustang flinched before she continued.
"But I know you've seen what revenge brings," she said. "I know you've seen what Octavia really is. What my brother really is. You're only guilty of trying to protect your family. You don't deserve to die here."
"They're lying to you Bellona!" one of the other prisoners snapped. "They'll shoot your gorydamn head off the minute you step out that door!"
"You really want me to go?" Cassius asked, ignoring the protests of his fellow prisoners.
"I want you to live," she said. "And yes. I want you to go, and never come back."
"But… go where?" he asked.
"Anywhere but here," she replied. Cassius swallowed, searching himself. Not just seeking to understand what he owes honor and duty, but trying to imagine a world without Mustang. Darrow knew the horrible loneliness the man felt now even as he offered Cassius his freedom. Life without love is the worst prison of all, the Reaper thought to himself. But Cassius licked his lips and nodded to Mustang, not to him.
"On my father," the Bellona began. "On Julian, I promise not to raise arms against any of you. If you let me go, I will leave. And I will never come back."
"You traitor," a Gold woman in the cell next door spat in disgust at the Morning Knight.
"Still your call," Darrow told Sevro, nudging his friend. Sevro tugged the hairs of his burgeoning goatee as he contemplated the plan.
"Ah, hell," the original Howler remarked. "You better be right about this, you pricklicks." He dug into his pocket, pulled out a magnetic key card, and unlocked Cassius's cell door with a heavy thunk.
"Then there's a shuttle waiting for you in the auxiliary hangar on this level," Mustang told their prisoner evenly. "It's been cleared to fly. But you have to go now."
"That means now, shithead," Sevro said.
Cassius put a tentative hand on the cell door, as if he was afraid he'd push and find it locked, and then they would laugh at him and all the hope they'd given him would be ripped away. But he had faith and, steeling his face, he pushed. The cell's door swung outward. He walked out to join them, holding his hands out to be cuffed. But Sevro shook his head.
"You're a freeman," Sevro slurred as he rapped the orange box heavily with his knuckles. "But you gotta get in box so we can wheel you outta here without anyone seeing."
"Of course," Cassius replied, pausing as he turned back to Darrow and extended a hand. Darrow shook it, a strange feeling of kinship rising within him. "Goodbye, Darrow."
"Good luck, Cassius," Darrow replied. When Cassius turned to Mustang, he paused, wanting to reach out and give her a hug, but she merely stuck out her hand, cold to him even now. He looked at her hand and shook her head, not accepting the gesture.
"We'll always have Luna," he said.
"Goodybe, Cassius," Mustang replied.
"Goodybe," he said back as he went to the crate, which Sevro had opened, and looked inside. He hesitated there, wanting to say something to Sevro. "I don't know if your father was right," the Bellona said to Sevro as he extended his hand. "But he was brave. I'm sorry he's not here." Sevro blinked hard at the hand, clearly wanting to hate it. This wasn't coming easy for him. Darrow knew his friend had never been a gentle soul, but Sevro did his best and took the outstretched hand. They shook, but something felt wrong. Cassius wouldn't let go. His face was gold, his eyes unforgiving.
His body rotated so fast that Darrow couldn't stop him from jerking back on Sevro's hand, pulling Ares' smaller body forward towards himself just as he swiveled his hip, bringing the rebel warlord to his right armpit like they were dancing so he could strip the other man's pistol from his leg hostler. Sevro stumbled, fumbling for the weapon, but it was already gone. Cassius shoved him off and stood behind him with the scorcher pressed to his spine. Sevro's eyes were huge, staring at his friends in fear.
"Darrow…" he said weakly.
"Cassius, no!" Darrow shouted.
"This is my duty," Cassius retorted.
"Cassius…" Mustang tried to intercede as she took a step forward. Her outstretched hand was trembling. "He saved your life… Please"
"On your knees," Cassius ordered to them angrily. "On your gorydamn knees." Darrow hesitated as he felt himself teetering on the edge of a precipice, the darkness spreading out before him, whispering to have him back. He couldn't reach for his razor. Cassius could easily shoot him down before he could even pull it. Mustang went to her knees and motioned for him to get down. Numbly, he follow's his fiance's lead.
"Cassius," Darrow begged. "Listen to me…"
"I said on your knees," Cassius repeated to Sevro.
"On my knees?" Sevro retorted, smiling wickedly with a mad gleam in his eye. "Stupid Gold. You forgot Howler rule number one. Never bow." He snatched up his razor from his right wrist, trying to spin around. But he was too slow. Cassius shot him in the shoulder, jerking him sideways. The combat vest cracked, spraying blood onto the metal wall. Sevro stumbled forward, his eyes wild.
"For Gold," Cassius whispered before firing six more shots point-blank into Sevro's chest.
Yes, book readers, you all know what's coming. Antonia hasn't been captured yet in this universe so I was unsure of how this scene would play out without her there. If you feel the lack of other Golds present detracts from what comes after, please let me know and I'll edit in some Gold prisoners to help sell what we all know is coming.
And the reason that this chapter doesn't make any mention of Cassius confessing to Mustang that he has feelings for Darrow is because Mustang hasn't told Darrow. She figured that it was up to Cassius whether or not to share that information.