Yemi: don't worry. Now that we're past the escape from Luna, there will be fewer chapters that require quoting the book. There are time skips in the book that I'll be filling during this story so I won't be retreading the events of the books until the last few chapters. The next three chapter titles will be original, since there are no corresponding book chapters that the events take place alongside.

1/2/18: Since I moved the chapters where Roque and Quinn get brought in until after Europa, I cut out that original part of the conversation, and expanded on the conversation to focus on Darrow telling Shiro his secret, and I removed the gym scene to spend more time in Shiro's thoughts regarding Tactus' betrayal.

Part III: Conquer:

"When falls the Iron Rain, be brave. Be brave."

-Lorn au Arcos

Chapter 17: Into The Fold:

Pax Officers' Quarters

En Route to Europa

January 21st, 2841

I really hope Darrow knows what he's doing, Shiro thought to himself as he dried himself off in the shower of his private cabin aboard the Pax. He'd just spent the morning working out in the dreadnaught's fitness center with Vicra, Roque, and Quinn and it was almost lunch going by the ship's clocks. He had to find things to do to keep himself busy, and daily exercise routines were the easiest option. It had been a month since the Augustus household and their allies had fled Luna. Through crafty planning, the Sovereign's forces had already beaten them to Mars, forcing them to flee beyond the fourth planet's orbit towards the asteroid belt. Two days ago, the ArchGovernor had met with his bannermen and other vassals to plan their next moves. That had been where Darrow had proposed a daring plan to win the war with Lune. Since the plan required the fleet to split up, he hadn't seen Mustang since the day of the meeting.

Praetor Licenus had been given command of the Augustus fleet to lead the Sovereign's forces on a wild goose chase. While he kept Lune's fleet occupied, the ArchGovernor would lead a small strike group of corvettes and frigates to the Gas Giants and raid the shipyards of Ganymede. Mustang took a portion of the household fleet to attack the Institutes across the solar system, along with the Academy in the asteroid belt, and abduct all the students for ransom. Meanwhile, Darrow and the remaining lancers of House Augustus, including Shiro, were burning hard for Europa to convince the legendary Olympic Knight Lorn au Arcos to join their cause. They were three days into their two-week voyage to Jupiter's Galilean moons, and Shiro already missing being able to talk to Mustang. With her heading off to the Academy, he could only take off the mask in the privacy of his own room.

It was lonely without someone he could be honest with. He still hung out with Victra, Roque, Quinn, and the others, but he could never relax around them. Every word had to be carefully measured, every reference to his fake backstory consistent with each other. Still, it wasn't entirely bad. They were starting to trust him a little more, at any rate. He was an outsider to them, so they'd all been wary of him, before the Gala. Saving Quinn's life had bought him some leeway, and they were starting to include him in the group more. But there was still that lingering undercurrent of paranoia beneath their interactions. Which made sense, he supposed. Even if the suspicion and mistrust was a little annoying at times, it wasn't unjustified. Tactus' sudden betrayal had cut deeper than any of them were willing to admit.

Despite all the things he'd heard about Tactus, Shiro wasn't exactly sure what to think about the man's treachery. On the one hand, he'd seen the way Tactus acted around his friends, and that persona matched the way the others talked about him. But Shiro kept thinking back to the night they first met, when Tactus welcomed him to the Augustus household and offered him a drink. Tactus had practically bared his soul that night, stripping off the mask of snark and vitriol to reveal the wounded and insecure young man underneath. Despite claiming that he'd only invited Shiro for a drink out of boredom and timing, the Black Paladin suspected that Tactus had just been looking for someone to listen to him vent without judging. None of the others could see through Tactus' shell, and Shiro suspected that nobody but Darrow even recognized the man's rudeness for the armor it was clearly intended to be.

Maybe it was the fact that his teammates considered him The Dad Friend, but to Shiro, Tactus' hidden insecurities stuck out like a sore thumb. So, he was had a pretty good feeling about why Tactus had betrayed them. The others might say the man did it for his own glory, but Shiro remembered Tactus talking about the relentless stream of messages from his family trying to get him to ditch the Reaper for a position higher up on the social ladder. After a few days of it, it's possible they finally managed to pressure him into leaving, Shiro mused as lay awake on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. They'd only really known each other a few days, but Shiro hoped that there would be an opportunity to talk to Tactus if they saw him again. Darrow had tried and failed to inspire Tactus to let his guard down and be the man he wanted to be, but maybe he just needed someone with an outside perspective for it to finally stick.

His contemplation was interrupted by a knock at the door. Shiro frowned. After a month, the lowColors on the ship had gotten used to his odd habits (meaning he treated them like human beings instead of cogs in a machine), and so they knew that if another Gold wanted to see him they had to message his datapad or come get him themselves. But most of the Golds here preferred to message him, rather than come all the way down to his quarters. The others had talked him into joining them for a movie marathon on the HC that everning, but it was still a few hours before they were going to start. Taking a moment to sit up and reapply his contact lenses, he turned off the jamField and opened the door to find Sevro waiting for him with an impatient glare on his face. What did I do to piss him off? He wondered.

"Reaper wants to talk to you," the Howler said bluntly before gesturing for Shiro to follow. The Black Paladin shrugged, and closed the door behind him before he and Sevro headed off to Darrow's stateroom. Augustus was very particular about the social pecking order, therefore since Darrow took the ship, he had dibs on the largest room, a lavish suite that had once belonged to the Ash Lord himself. The two men arrived to find Ragnar, the hulking Obsidian who had been instrumental in taking the ship, standing guard outside the door. After the gargantuan knight made them wait for Darrow to come to the door and invite the duo in, the two young men followed the Reaper of Mars into his quarters. While he kept his expression neutral, Shiro noticed the telltale signs of Darrow activating a jamField before gesturing for the Black Paladin to take a seat at the table set up in the middle of the suite's dining room.

"Mustang told me about where you really came from," the man said. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around time travel, but I trust her. I just wanted to let you know so you knew that Sevro and I were here if you wanted to talk." Shiro sighed as he released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. Well at least I'm not alone anymore, he thought to himself. But now's my chance to confront Darrow about my suspicions.

"That's a relief," the time traveler remarked. But he didn't completely relax yet. He could tell from their body language that Darrow and Sevro had something else they wanted to tell him, and he had a pretty good feeling what it was. "I was worried I'd be stuck on my own on this ship for weeks having to keep up appearances in front of everyone. This whole color-coded hierarchy disgusts me, honestly. It may have been created with good intetions, but as it is now, it's just an engine of oppression that allows Golds to live a life of luxury built on the backs of everyone else." Darrow and Sevro nodded, and Shiro sighed in relief. It looks like they feel the same way, he noted to himself. Good. So how they react next will determine whether my theory is correct.

"You're right," Darrow began. "The hierarchy has become a pyramid where every Color exists to prop up Gold. Since you've managed to keep your secret for all these months, I feel it's only fair that I trust you with mine. I not actually related to the family Andromedus. You're not the only one with a false paper trail." I had my suspicions, but I wasn't expecting him to just come out and tell me, Shiro thought. But by the time the thought entered his head, his mouth was already ten seconds ahead of brain.

"You're a Red, aren't you," he blurted out, wincing as soon as the words left his lips. He bit his lip and mentally smacked himself for letting his relief at having someone to talk to about his real past lower his guard. He braced himself for Darrow to react angrily to the accusation, but when he opened his eyes, he found Darrow starring at him, dumbstruck as he slouched down in the seat of his own chair. The awkward silence was shattered when Sevro started laughing like a hyena.

"This is too bloodydamn rich, Reap," the Howler cackled. "We finally decide to tell him, and he already figured it out on his own." The laughter managed to break the tension in the air, and soon all three of them were laughing at the absurdity of their situation.

"What gave me away?" Darrow asked once the laughter had died down.

"It wasn't that you gave yourself away," Shiro replied. "But with how antagonistic you were towards the Bellona during your duel with Cassius, it felt like you were trying to provoke them into attacking us like they did. Combined with some of my thoughts on the Sons of Ares and the similarities between our official backstories, and it was the only explanation that made sense." Sevro chuckled.

"That's why I didn't trust you when we first met on Luna," the lead Howler admitted. "One of Darrow's friends from the Sons tracked me down during our layover on Triton and told me the truth. Showed me footage of Reaper's carving and everything. Darrow had already told me he hadn't been the only Red they'd carved. So, when I heard your fake history from Mustang while we were on Luna, I thought you might've been one of them."

"I'm fairly certain it was only me and Titus who were carved," Darrow commented. "The Sons of Ares were concentrated on Mars, so it's unlikely they went looking for Reds offworld."

"Still," Sevro commented as he turned to address the Black Paladin. "Made me think that maybe Mustang had been helping the Sons on the side herself with how invest she was in getting her father to hire you."

"Nope," Shiro replied. "She hasn't put the pieces together yet. She's still suspicious about how you antagonized the Bellona, but the last time I talked to her, she just thought that you knew in advance about the Sovereign's plot to have the Bellona assassinate her father." Darrow breathed a sigh.

"That's a relief," the younger man commented. "Part of me is afraid of how she would react, but another part of me wants to tell her. For two years I thought she would distract me or compromise my mission, but she's the point of it all. I've seen it break her to act as Golds are expected to. Even if the we declared open war tomorrow, Gold would fight to the last man. That would just be revenge, not justice. Mustang proves that isn't the only option." Shiro and Sevro shared a knowing smirk as Darrow talked. It was obvious how much Darrow loved her. Now if only they could find a time for him to tell her and for them to talk about his secret, the two would be even closer than they were before. If I could figure out Darrow's secret from my own secrets, Shiro thought to himself. Then it's only a matter of time until Mustang puts the pieces together herself.

So now Shiro, Darrow, and Sevro (wow, just realized that we have three main characters whose names all end with a "row" sound) are all on the same page. This is where the story is going to start diverging from Red Rising canon. You'll really start to see it in the next couple of chapters, since the two-week voyage to Europa is glossed over in the book, I figured this would be a good place to have a few chapters of character interaction, bonding, and development. We're really starting to diverge from canon now, with Shiro's presence convincing Darrow to tell Roque the truth instead of keeping him in the dark the whole time.

Lorn au Arcos is the former Rage Knight (the title currently being held by Sevro's dad, Fitchner). He retired to Luna in disgust after his son (who was married to Octavia's daughter) died in a shuttle "accident" engineered by Octavia as part of a plan to thwart her daughter's possible attempted coup.