Alright everyone, this is it. The three part finale covering the final chapter of Golden Son. And yes, the chapter is actually called "Golden Son". This chapter is going to be book-compliant for now, since it's just covering the parade portion of the Triumph, but next chapter is when you'll start to see how differently things are going to go.
2/18/18: Combined the last three chapters into one. I cut out the parade section so I could focus more on the banquet. Because of that, half the chapter is from Darrow's POV, and half is from Shiro's. I also made modifications to explain why Tactus isn't at the banquet or parade. As of this update, the rewrites for Hic Sunt Leones are 100% complete. Rewrites for Omnis vir Lupus will start later this week, with regular updates to the sequel resuming after I binge Season 5.
Chapter 36: Golden Son:
Agea
Mars
March 15th, 2841
Darrow POV
"Try not to look so damn pleased with yourself," Lorn said to Darrow as they stood amidst the white-pathed gardens of the Citadel. A gentle breeze blew through the area, stirring the bells hanging in the trees. The parade held for Darrow's Triumph had been a gross spectacle that put the gala on Luna to shame, literally lasting from dawn to dusk. It was a grand affair to signify the beginning of a new era – a Solar System led by Mars, instead of Luna. In contrast, the private banquet held for the Golds who'd fought in the Siege of Mars was a much simpler affair. Small tables sat beneath ivy-covered boughs as Pink attendants cleared away the food from the feast. Peerless stood on green grass and white paths, laughing and impressing one another while cradling glasses of champagne. Darrow could sense the Jackal's hand in the planning behind the dinner. For all his manipulation, Mustang's brother was a tastefully modest creature.
More Gold dignitaries came to the dinner than to the ceremony, and Darrow and Augustus had to greet all of them. Naturally, they'd come to the Reaper and the ArchGovernor in a line based on hierarchy. Eventually, Darrow had grown tired of glad-handing and sought out Lorn near the base of a thin white tree. His arms were crossed, his face all stormy and scowling as he tossed his champagne into a shrub.
"I hate this sort of thing too," Darrow said. "Soon as I get my Mask, Augustus wants me to cozy up to some of the Moon Lords. Then it's bed for me." While he would have enjoyed the festivities more with Mustang there, he knew that she didn't want to let her guard down around her brother. And in any case, she was busy processing her father's true intentions. To maintain the illusion of their false fight, Darrow stayed away from his datapad for the entire day, using Shiro as a go-between to relay messages to Mustang in orbit. Their last message had been to relay his conversation with her father. As Darrow and Shiro had suspected, Augustus' talk of giving Reformers a seat at the table were only there to gain their support, and the Reformers would be imprisoned or executed once they defeated Octavia. Mustang was still upset about the deception, having finally began to hope that her father could change. Lorn's voice snapped Darrow out of his thoughts.
"Alone it seems," the old Rage Knight commented, squinting as he looked around for any sign of Mustang. "Where is you girl? Been looking high and low."
"Don't know," Darrow lied, wondering how many other people had noticed her absence. After they had returned from Lykos, she'd gathered the group together and warned them that she didn't trust her brother not to sell them all out to the Sovereign for his own personal gain. Unlike Pliny, she felt that Adrius had a chance at succeeding. So, they'd spent the last twenty-four hours preparing their contingency plan. She, Tactus, and the Telemanuses abstained from participating in the Triumph, waiting in orbit aboard the family warships so that they could swoop in and extract everyone if her brother's allies attacked the festivities. Meanwhile, the others made sure to have concealed weapons on them durin the ceremony, with gravBoots hidden in their saddle bags.
If the Jackal tried anything, they would do what they could to fight off any potential ambushes and evacuate the ArchGovernor and his allies from the Citadel. The Jackal had noted his sister's absence when he arrived at the Citadel the previous night. Darrow had pacified his curiosity by telling him they'd had a fight about their father. The Jackal hadn't been surprised, although Shiro privately doubted any of them would be able to tell even if Mustang's twin was surprised. After that conversation, the Jackal reassured Darrow that even if they weren't allies they could still be civil, and poured the two of them enough drinks to give Darrow a dull headache behind his left eye.
"Ah," Lorn grunted, jolting the Reaper out of his train of thoughts. "Lovers' quarrel? Well, I won't pour advice in your ear except to say, swallow your pride. She's a gem if you can keep her."
"I'm glad you came," Darrow replied. "Even if your advice is shit." Lorn laughed gruffly and nodded to the Jackal, who was in the middle of a conversation with several Politicos from Ganymede.
"Your "friend" made it possible," the old Rage Knight chortled. "Augustus somehow forgot to invite me, even though my men won him a planet. Manners are so conditional these days. Speaking of, how long do you think I have to stay before it's not rude to leave?"
"It's not even nine," Darrow laughed. "Aren't you presenting the Mask in a few minutes?"
"I was," Lorn answered with a chuckle. "But it's tedious statecraft. I asked your friend Roque to do it, but Augustus' son insisted on doing it as a "gesture of gratitude and friendship."" Darrow frowned at the news. He'd figured Lorn wouldn't recognize the Jackal's penchant for manipulation, but still, this last-minute change of plants was a significant warning flag.
"But if I don't get another chance to talk to you before I sneak out," the retired Olympic Knight went on. "I just want you to know that you're like a son to me, no matter what Color you are." Darrow froze. How did he find out? He wondered frantically. How long has he known?
"I'm sorry?" he asked, feigning confusion.
"Don't play stupid with me, Darrow," Lorn retorted. "I know Shiro told you that my family was descended from one of the Paladins of Voltron. We both know he would never be so invested in the outcome of this war if he didn't feel that any side represented anything he stood for. I noticed the similarities between his forged credentials and your own history. It wasn't that difficult to figure out the rest from there" Once again, Darrow was stunned, standing there silently as he waited to see how someone he considered a friend would react to the revelation that he had been lying to them.
"And?" he asked nervously.
"Honestly, Darrow," Lorn began. "You're changing things. I used to support the hierarchy, even if I didn't agree with how it was enforced. But seeing the way you treat the mid and lowColors on your ships, the way you expected them to do things I was raised to believe they weren't capable of. I read some of Virginia's dissertations on the way to Hildas Station. At first, I simply thought that her ideas on the hierarchy were misinformed, or born out of ignorance. But seeing the atmosphere of camaraderie and friendship across Colors was enough to change this old man's mind. When the time finally comes for you to fight for your people, House Arcos will stand with you."
"Thank you," Darrow whispered as he hugged his razormaster, tears streaming down his face. "You have no idea how much this means, to have so many people support this dream." For a minute, the two simply stood there in silence. After Darrow finally wiped his eyes, Lorn leaned back against the tree.
"My old bones creak at night," the old man commented jokingly as a ripWing passed by overhead. "I'm going to check on security so I don't have to talk to any of these slippery people."
"Let someone else do that," Darrow replied as a Pink handed Lorn the tumbler of whiskey he'd ordered. The Rage Knight's favorite label. Lorn sniffed the drink, subdued. "I only get to see you in armor," Darrow continued warmly. "Act the proper mentor and stay with me. We have two bottles of the Lagavulin for you."
"Back to the old tricks," Lorn laughed. "Two bottles for an extra two hours of training, wasn't that the deal? I should have charged more. Ha!" He limped off with the whiskey to play tag with his grandchildren in the trees. Darrow frowned as he watched the Pink who delivered Lorn's drink slip back into the crowd. Her movements were vaguely familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on why. He was distracted when a woman looped her arm in his, and he turned to find Victra standing by his side with a glass of wine in her hand.
"I do hope the Violets put lions instead of a Pegasus on your Mask," she commented, laughing at his expression. "Yes, the rumor is already aflight. Darrow au Augustus." She paused, shivering playfully. "The women will come running."
"Oh, shut up," Darrow retorted jokingly as he rolled his eyes.
"Make me," Victra teased as she slid her hand along his back. She nodded to a group of young Peerless from the Gas Giants as she leaned in close. "It's a shame you already settled down. But does it mean you can't play?"
"Do you just enjoy trying to make me blush," Darrow asked rhetorically. He already knew the answer.
"You've found me out," Victra replied, pulling the laurel wreath from his head and placing it on her own as she curtsied foolishly. "In all serious though, I'm happy for you and Mustang. In retrospect, you two were practically made for each other. No wonder I never stood a chance with you."
"There's always Sevro," Darrow suggested, only half joking. Shiro wasn't the only one tempted to tell those two to get a room when they started bickering, but they both agreed that they would let Sevro and Victra figure that out on their own before resorting to "playing matchmaker" as the Old Earth saying went. Victra laughed at the suggestion, but Darrow didn't fail to spot the faint hint of blush on her cheeks. A few minutes later, Roque and Quinn walked up to let him know it was time for him to gather for the Mask presentation. Roque looked dashing with his sleek black Praetor's uniform and slicked back hair, but unfortunately, he didn't know where the gathering point for the ceremony was. Quinn looked equally as elegant, with her white dress draped elegantly around her lithe frame.
Citadel staff was still discombobulated after the battle. The Bellona had only controlled the place for a month, but the Jackal was still combing through the Pinks for spies, even more so after the Sons of Ares raided his citadel in Attica. Mustang's brother had his men everywhere tonight, from the security down to the Pinks. Yet another reason that Darrow and his lieutenants were on their guard for a potential betrayal. Shiro and the others went on ahead while Victra set the laurel wreath back on Darrow's head, and pulled him toward the clearing in the gardens where the other Golds were assembling before Sevro cut across their path and stopped them.
"Darrow," he said quickly. "He's still not here." Darrow's expression soured. The Rage Knight had been a no-show at the ceremony as well. Something was wrong.
"Fitchner?" Darrow asked. "You call his datapad?"
"Isn't going through," Sevro answered. "The bastard said he was coming. So, if he isn't here, something important must be happening. I should check."
"Check," Darrow ordered before grabbing his friend's arm. "But call Ragnar. And be careful."
"I'm always careful," Sevro replied before he rounded up four of the Howlers and left the banquet. Darrow felt strange watching his friend leave. It was like watching his shadow depart and realizing that its destiny might be separate from his own. Perhaps in the end, he's more important than I, he thought to himself. Truly, a child of two worlds. With the conversation concluded, Victra split off to pass along the news to Quinn, Shiro, and Roque. If the Jackal was planning anything, it would happen soon.
Darrow followed the crowd through the trees until he reached the clearing. Little lanterns made homes in the tree branches and bathed the area in a warm white glow. There were no Whites present. No formalities here. This would be as understated as the Triumph was grand. The crowd parted for him as he walked onto the white cobblestones where Lorn sat with his grandchildren on the edge of a dolphin fountain. Augustus motioned for him to stand by him near a statue of a blind maiden holding a scale and a sword, drowned in ivy. The Jackal joined them a minute later.
"It looks as if we're going to be brothers," Darrow told him.
"Well, who says you can't choose family" Adrius replied, glancing distractedly at his datapad. "Better you than that bastard Cassius. Congratulations on proposing by the way." The Jackal's attention to his datapad was a warning flag for Darrow.
"Something the matter?" he asked his future brother-in-law.
"More gorydamn requisition orders," The Jackal answered as he looked up from his datapad. Darrow didn't believe that answer for a second. "Sorry. All's prime on Mars, my goodman. Just wish my sister were here. You still wouldn't know where she is, would you?" Darrow shook his head, missing his fiancé even as he understood the necessity of her contingency plans. The ArchGovernor's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Your pardon! My goodmen!" Augustus announced, cutting through the murmur of conversation. "Thank you." He paused to clear his throat before extending a welcome to Mars's many guests, tipping his head to the ArchGoverness of Triton. "Though our glass sparkle and bellies are full, this night will not last," he began, peering through the guests. His voice firm and dry in the damp air as fireflies glowed among the trees. "We know that this is only the beginning. War will require much from us. But let us not be so hasty as to pass over a victory such as the one we saw just a few weeks ago. A triumph of will, loyalty, strength."
"All that grandeur of the parade was for them," the ArchGovernor of Mars continued, tapping his facial scar once. "Quiet moments like these are for us. Where we, despite our differences, can nod our heads and raise our glasses to a unique accomplishment of will. It was not done alone. But the Rain was called by one man. So, Darrow au Andromedus, we salute you."
"Hail, Reaper!" Lorn called out, mocking Darrow only slightly. And with that, everyone rose their glasses and murmured their agreement as they drank. Despite the tactical necessity of her absence, Darrow felt hollow looking to his left and seeing Mustang's brother instead of her. Smiling felt false to him, knowing that all of this would soon crumble. Victra seemed to sense his mood and winked, tilting her glass to him before giving him a knowing nod. Augustus motioned to the Jackal, who walked over to the fountain and returned with a large ivory box cradled in his arms. Inside would be the Triumph mask carved by Violets in celebration of Darrow's victory. Assuming the box isn't part of his plan, that is, he reminded himself as he signaled for Victra to be ready to act. She would relay his instructions to Roque and Shiro, and between the three of them, they'd be ready.
Darrow and the Jackal exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes, but the Reaper of Mars couldn't shake the sense of unease he'd felt all evening. His gaze drifted over Adrius' shoulder, where Victra stood whispering something humorous to her half-sister and their skeletal mother. Lorn was serving his grandchildren little plates of cake brought by a short Pink. But as the server turned, Darrow froze up inside. The man turned haughtily. Ruthlessly. Unlike any Pink ever born, breaking character for only half a second. Darrow knew that turn. He knew the man. It was Vixus, one of the most ruthless classmates of House Mars from the Institute. It had to be him. Darrow's eyes darted to the Pink who had delivered Lorn's whiskey. It was Lilath, the Jackal's Housemate who wore bones in her hair at the Institute, and had allied with the Bellona. The Jackal's allies were dressed as Pinks. Golds wearing fleshMasks and contacts.
Wolves playing lambs.
Darrow pulled back from the Jackal, about to shout when he felt the other man's grip tighten. A needle from his ring gently pricked Darrow's wrist, and he followed up with a kiss planeted on Darrow's cheek.
"And thus go liars, with a bloodydamn kiss." One word shattered a thousand lies. With his face colder than the marble status behind them, the Jackal opened the box's lid. With a gentle creak of silver hinges, Darrow's world ended. Augustus gasped in horror at what was inside the box. And the Jackal, his eyes full of long-dormant hate, smiled at Darrow as he cocked his head back like an animal to release a manic, mocking howl.
A signal of the end.
Shiro POV
As soon as the Jackal pulled back his head, Shiro and the others sprang into action. As Victra reached for her razor, Antonia stepped back and pulled a scorcher from a waiter's tray. She was about to fire into her sister's spine before Shiro charged over and knocked her to the ground. Her shot went wild, grazing Victra in the knee. Before anyone else could move, Antonia leaned up and fired twice at her mother's head.
"ARCOS!" Augustus screamed as he whipped out his razor. "TO ARMS!"
"HOWLERS TO ME!" Lorn roared, pushing back his grandchildren. "PROTECT THE REAPER!" But it was too late. As the handful of Howlers who hadn't left with Sevro began to move in the Rage Knight's direction, Shiro watched out of the corner of his eye while Lilath pulled a pulseDagger from under her tray and swept it across his throat from behind. Acting quickly, Lorn shoved his hand between his throat and the blade, losing four fingers in exchange for his life. He angled his body and strained against her, grasping her wrist with his bloody arm as his blade hummed to life. It was an intimate moment of horror as chaos reigned across the clearing.
Shiro and Victra waded through the bloodbath, razors drawn and slashing at the Jackal's assassins. They found the ArchGoverness of Triton fighting off Vixus and quickly came to her rescue. As Vixus realized he was about to be outnumbered, he turned and hurled a pulseDagger at Shiro's head. The Black Paladin dodged in the nick of time and retaliated by lopping off the malicious Gold's head. Shiro caught sight of the Jackal gliding through the midst of the melee like a reptile over ice and fought the urge to attack then and there. The sadistic cannibal's relation to Mustang aside, he knew that going against a Gold alone in the middle of this chaos was tantamount to suicide.
They reached the periphery of the massacre as the ArchGovernor of Io collapsed with a bullet between the eyes. Shiro jumped over the falling corpse to find Antonia pressing her foot down against the head of the dead man's granddaughter. Enraged at the matricide's willingness to murder children in cold blood, he lashed out with his razor and cut off her leg at the knee. As her half-sister fell to the ground, crying out in pain, Victra raced forward and scooped the terrified nine-year-old up in her arms. Realizing that he hadn't seen Lorn since the battle began, Shiro turned and gestured for the others to head to the clearing without him.
"Go," he told them. "I'll go get Lorn and his grandchildren." Victra looked hesitant, unwilling to let him wade into the fray alone and unarmored, but she nodded in understanding, knowing that he needed to do this. The ArchGoverness of Triton guided Victra into the forest as Shiro sprinted through the crowd, stabbing and slashing at any assassin that tried to take a shot at him. He reached the dolphin fountain to find Lorn stabbing Lilath in the leg with a shard of broken glass. His grandchildren cowered in fear on the other side of the fountain. Shiro removed Liltah's hand and pulled her off Lorn so that the old man could catch his breath.
"Get my grandchildren out of here," he told Shiro as he gestured for the kids hiding at the other side of the fountain. "I'll hold them off."
"No," the Black Paladin replied. "I'm not leaving you here to die." Shiro knew why Lorn was doing this, but he refused to let the ex-Rage Knight die like this. In the last few weeks, the patriarch of House Arcos had become more than just a tangible connection to his past. The old man had become something of a mentor to Shiro in the two months since he'd met him.
"That wasn't a request," Lorn retorted. "This is an order. And Voltron isn't anywhere in sight, so don't you dare try to pull rank on me. I'm wounded enough as it is. I'd rather go down fighting so my grandchildren can live than live than have them slaughtered in the escape. Now go." Tears welled up in Shiro's eyes as he nodded in understanding. He didn't like it, but he knew why Lorn was doing this. Reluctantly, he gathered Lorn's grandchildren and lead them toward the forest, dodging scorcher fire along the way. As they fought through the bloodbath, pulse weapons warbled in the distance. Thunder ripped the sky as dark shapes descended, cracking the sound barrier as they raced down. They came from a stealth ship, Shiro realized as he bisected an assassin attempting to take one of Lorn's grandchildren prisoner.
It appeared that their greatest fear had been confirmed. The Jackal had collaborated with the Sovereign for his own personal gain. Despite Shiro's best efforts, three Arcos children were cut down before they finally reached the relative safety of the gardens. He resisted the impulse to run back into the clearing as Obsidians and Praetorians landed in the midst of the clearing, thumping down on the stone as they began to surround Lorn. The Jackal's classmates laughed as they peeled away their electronic fleshMasks and shook free their golden hair. Behind them, Aja landed in the clearing, her splendorous armor flashing in the lantern light. Her face was dark and content as she surveyed the carnage while Cassius landed beside her. Despite his urge to rush in and save the day, Shiro kept the group of frightened children moving.
They found Victra, Roque, and Quinn there with their own groups of survivors. As he did a quick headcount, he quickly realized that there was one person they were still missing. In their haste to escape with their lives, they'd left Darrow behind. I guess I'd better fix that then, Shiro thought to himself as he quickly threw his ghostCloak on over his lancer's uniform and grabbed a jamField out of his pocket.
"Shiro," Roque protested. "It's too dangerous."
"I know," he replied. "But we all know that Darrow would do the same for us. We'll catch up as soon as I can get him away from there." He was expecting more of an argument, but he was pleasantly surprised when Quinn simply handed him a dataSlip.
"I've got a homing beacon in my bag," she said. "Frequency is on the dataSlip. Go save the Reaper." Shiro nodded as he activated the ghostCloak and raced back toward the fray. As he ran, he inserted the dataSlip and frantically typed out a group message to Mustang, Tactus, and the Telemanuses on his dataPad. As he approached the clearing, he turned on the jamField so that he wouldn't be overheard while he ran. Despite the insulation, he bit back a wail of pain at the sight of Lorn's dead body, surrounded by bleeding Stained and Praetorian corpses as blood flowed from an open wound in the man's stomach. His blood boiled as Aja bent over and took Lorn's razor from where it had fallen and closed her former mentor's eyes forever. As he crept silently through the trees, he saw Cassius stop at Darrow's feet and got down on one knee to watch his former friend.
"Can he move, Jackal?" Cassius asked Mustang's brother. Shiro slowed his pace as he made his way around the perimeter of the clearing toward where Darrow was slumped against the statue, paralyzed, the ivory box that was supposed to have contained his Triumph mask resting in his lap.
"No," Adrius answered. "But he can hear." Shiro breathed a quiet sigh of relief. At least he's not completely catatonic, he thought to himself as he stopped behind the statue.
"You killed my family, Darrow," the Bellona said bitterly. "All of them. Me, Julian, that's one thing. But the children? How could you?"Shiro's brow furrowed in confusion. The Bellona mansion had never been a target. Darrow and Mustang had expressly forbidden anyone from headhunting any Bellona who weren't active combatants.
"I'll find Sevro," the Morning Knight continued as he touched the enameled hilt of his razor with his new arm. "I'll find Mustang. There will be no mercy." A theory began to form in Shiro's mind, but he didn't have the opportunity to act on it right then and there. He'd have to wait until he was certain he was correct.
"You can't kill him," the Jackal warned from a few feet behind Cassius. "You know what he is. The Sovereign's orders were clear." Shiro couldn't make out what Cassius had said next, but he could see the Bellona heir lean down and take the House Mars class ring from Darrow's finger. In any case, he could probably guess what the Sovereign wanted to do with the Reaper. She probably wants to have him publicly executed for defying her, Shiro surmised as he waited for an opening to run in and grab Darrow.
"Julian. Lea. Pax. Harpy. Rotback. Lorn," Cassius continued as he rose from his knee to tower over Darrow. "They deserved better than to die for a slave." Shiro's eyes widened as he realized what those words meant. It meant that there was more to the ambush than just the Jackal gaining power for himself. Somehow, Mustang's brother had figured out Darrow's secret.
"We must hurry," Aja drawled at the center of the massacre. "The survivors will have notified the fleet in orbit. They know we're here. Bring your father and let us go."
"A moment, if you please," the Jackal requested with a nod. Several meters away, on the other side of the clearing, Augustus lay pinned to the ground by three waiters. They hoisted him up as the Jackal approached, stepping over Lorn's desecrated body.
"Is the Mask not as you like, Darrow?" he called back. "I made it just for you after you revealed your true self to me in Attica." Well, Shiro thought to himself as he reached the statue. That pretty much confirms it, then. After finished speaking, the Jackal stood in the clearing next to his father. Aja and Cassius stepped in front of the waiters keeping the ArchGovernor restrained, unwitting ensuring that Shiro would be able to move Darrow without scrutiny. He fought the urge to vomit as he removed the ivory box from Darrow's lap and saw Fitchner's severed head sitting inside, the Rage Knight's eyes gouged out and his mouth stuffed with grapes.
"What do you think, Father?" he heard the Jackal ask Augustus. "Was this a ploy worthy of your name?" Once he'd set the box down close enough behind Darrow that it would look like it had fallen, he began to carefully inch Darrow over until gravity did the rest and the reaper fell onto his side.
"You monster," the ArchGovernor of Mars snapped, spitting in his son's face from the sound of it. "What have you done?"
"So, you're not proud?" the Jackal asked rhetorically as he wiped his face and looked down at his hand. "Damn."
"Stop this," Augustus begged. "My son, you've ruined us." As the conversation continued, Shiro carefully repositioned Darrow's legs so that he could be rolled onto his back. For once, he thought to himself. I'm glad Tactus isn't here. Aja would have killed him on sight.
"Adrius," Aja warned impatiently. "We must go." But the Jackal wasn't finished yet, and took a step toward Augustus.
"So now, you call me son?" he snapped, clucking his tongue scoldingly as he straightened his father's jacket. "Was I your son when you put me on a rock for the elements to claim me? Three days. I was a baby. The Board didn't even want an Exposure. But you thought I was so weak, and Claudius so strong. Was he strong when I had Karnus put him in the ground?"
"What?" the ArchGovernor gasped, his voice so quiet from shock that Shiro almost didn't hear it. Shiro himself stood frozen in surprise at this revelation.
"I paid Karnus au Bellona seven billion credits and six Pinks to sully Claudius' girl. I knew Claudius' honor would lead him into the ring. Funny thing is… it was your money. I asked you for it so I could "invest in my future". And I did." He paused, and Shiro imagined that he was frowning. "Father," he continued. "Did you really think a ten-year-old cares about the Silver market? You should have paid better attention."
"You killed Claudius," Augustus said bleakly, his voice breaking under the strain and shock as he sagged into the arms of the waiters holding him, shaking from sadness. "You killed my boy." Shiro's heart sank. Though he'd never known Claudis au Augustus, he'd heard enough to know that Mustang would be crushed by the knowledge that her own twin had engineered her older brother's murder.
"I am you boy," the Jackal sneered. "I was a good son. I worshiped you. I feared you. I obeyed you. I learned what you wished me to learn. I went where you wished me to go. I did only as your will commanded. Yet I was not enough."
"I should have strangled you in your crib," the ArchGovernor snapped. Shiro grimaced.
"Come now, Father…" the Jackal replied. Suspecting what was about to happen, Shiro slipped his arms under Darrow's knees and shoulders and prepared his gravBoots for takeoff.
"You are not my son," Augustus snapped. Adrius flinched, and even Shiro resigned himself to what he knew was coming. With those few words, Augustus had released something. Now, the small part of Adrius that held out hope to be loved disappeared. The ArchGovernor's son shook off his humanity, leaving only the Jackal.
"Then farewell hope," the Jackal began, his voice just loud enough for Shiro to hear as he whispered to some distant, fading part of himself as he shifted his stance enough for Shiro to see the scorcher being lazily lifted to the ArchGovernor's forehead. "And with hope farewell fear. Farewell remorse: all good to me is lost. Evil, be thou my good."
"Stop," Aja demanded. "Adrius! In the name of the Sovereign – "
Her words were cut off as the Jackal shot his father in the head. Realizing that he'd never have a better opening, Shiro engaged his gravBoots and took off into the sky, cutting off the jamField once he was far enough away from the clearing so the sonic boom wouldn't deafen him within the field as he accelerated off into the night. Tears and sweat streamed down his face as he glided across the Citadel gardens and the full force of what had just happened hit him like a freight train.
Nero au Augustus, ArchGovernor of Mars, was dead, killed by his own son. Lorn au Arcos, Hunk's he-didn't-know-how-many-times-great-grandson, the first person in this era to give Shiro real, tangible hope of returning to his own time, had been killed making sure that Shiro and the man's grandchildren would make it out of the massacre. Fitchner, Ares, the first person in centuries to stand up to Gold's rule, had been butchered. Shiro shuddered to imagine what had happened to the rest of the Sons of Ares. Hundreds of the Sovereign's political enemies, many of them members of the Reformist block, had been eliminated. Half the governors from the gas giants were cut down in the bloodbath, cutting off the Augustus power base at the knees. Every group resisting the Sovereign was now in tatters.
Shiro's muscles ached from holding Darrow, but thankfully his flight was brief, and once he caught up with Quinn's homing beacon, he disengaged the thrusters on his gravBoots and glided gently down to the ground. He landed one knee and found Victra, Roque, and Quinn lifting the last of the stragglers over the wall separating the gardens from the streets of Agea. Outside of the three of them, Darrow, and Shiro himself, less than twenty Golds had escaped the slaughter. What are we going to do now? Shiro wondered as Roque took Darrow so he could stand up.
"Is he…?" Quinn asked, leaving the rest of the sentence unfinished, though her question was obvious.
"He's still alive," Shiro answered breathlessly as he climbed to his feet. "Whatever the Jackal injected him with just paralyzed him. He can still hear us." Victra squeezed Darrow's shoulder in sympathy as they moved to take shelter in a nearby alley.
"Mustang was right," he commented as they stretched the ghostCloak across the alley like a curtain to give themselves a few minutes to catch their breath. "Aja and Cassius came in with the Praetorians. Augustus is dead."
"And Grandpa Lorn…?" one of the late Rage Knight's grandchildren asked nervously. Shiro's heart ached as he knelt to the boy's eye level as he prepared himself to deliver the bad news.
"I'm so sorry," he said sadly. "He didn't make it." He comforted the children as best as he could for a few minutes to help them grieve before he stood up and returned to join the others. For once, I'm not the shortest one here, he thought to himself with a sad smile as he tried and failed to cheer himself up so he could focus on the task at hand. He looked up at Victra and gestured with his eyes that he needed to talk to the rest of Darrow's lieutenants alone. They left the ArchGoverness of Triton and the other six adults while they moved further down the alley.
"The Jackal figured out that Darrow's a Red," he said bluntly once they were out of earshot of the rest of the group. "There was never a Triumph mask in the box. It was Fitchner's head." Quinn gasped in horror, while Victra and Roque stayed silent, their dropped jaws betraying their dismay.
"How did he find out?" Victra asked. "Darrow and I both made sure not to give anything away when we staged the breakout in Attica."
"How the Jackal found out doesn't matter," Quinn interjected. "What matters is that our power base has been cut off at the knees. The Sons of Ares are likely in disarray, if not completely shattered. Until Darrow recovers from whatever the Jackal drugged him with, it's up to us to salvage something out of this mess. But before we do anything else, we need to get back to our fleet in orbit and find a place to regroup." Shiro nodded as they walked back to the group and took down the ghostCloak. If they were going to survive, they needed to keep moving.
Darrow and Lorn's conversation is mostly the same as in canon, except for the part where Lorn reveals that he figured out Darrow's secret. That I added in myself, since Lorn died in the books without ever learning the truth, I wanted him to know in this story.
And with that, Hic Sunt Leones is over. I was planning on ending this fic right at the ending of Golden Son since I first started writing this, with Shiro's presence causing massive ripple effects on the story from there. With Darrow and the others free, lots of stuff from Morning Star is going off the rails. Victra never got paralyzed, Darrow never got put in the box (I'm still going to have a situation where he goes through that character development that The Stone Table gave him in a way that makes sense for this AU). Since Victra never put her emotional walls back up after being tortured for a year, her relationship with Sevro will develop sooner. With Roque not being given command of the Sword Armada, the situation with the Rim will play out a lot differently than in canon.
To mirror how the upcoming sequel series Iron Gold , which goes from one POV character to four, the POV sections for the sequel will have four main POV characters to keep things consistent so I don't keep jumping to other characters' points of view every few chapters. The POV will be divided between 2 Voltron characters and 2 Red Rising character: Darrow, Shiro, Keith, and Mustang.
I can promise that the sequel will pick up immediately after the end of Hic Sunt Leones (at least on the Red Rising side). With all that said, I hope everyone's enjoyed this story, and I look forward to starting the sequel in a few months.
Terminology:
FleshMasks: Masks worn by Golds to disguise their facial features and give themselves the appearance of another Color. Typically used for clandestine meetings in LowColor clubs/restaurants/businesses/etc.