Recovery and a Promise

"Quentin?"

"Yes Ben?"

"Why is it that you're on all those posters?"

Ben's older brother frowned at him, his tawny coloured locks drifting across his blue eyes as he put h hand on the young boy's shoulder. "What posters are those?"

He pointed at the wall, where several pieces of paper had been pinned, at least two of which had an image drawn in the likeness of the oldest surviving Finn child. Underneath the images were the words 'Obsessive Gambler' and 'Dead or Alive', but they were too far away for the young boy to read; that or, he just didn't want to.

Unfortunately, several other men had noticed this as well, along with the price attached to it.

Ben wished it were raining, so that the men couldn't see their faces, but the sun was out, and there was almost no one on the streets as it was harvest time, and most people were either making an offering to Avo or out working the fields, so there was nothing to stop them from being noticed.

When they turned, the two Finn boys were the first things they saw.

"Ben…" Quentin's grip tightened around his shoulder, causing his younger brother to cry out in pain, "We… we have to go. Now." And with that he took off at a run, pulling Ben along with him, several shouts arising behind them as the men scrambled to keep up. It was in his confusion though that Quentin took a wrong turn.

Somehow, they had managed to get themselves cornered in the only dead end in Gunk, the hamlet that the young Ben had called home for the past thirteen years, the place where he'd been born, and where he'd lost his two eldest brothers. He was not about to lose another!

Drawing his gun, he filled it with the ammunition he kept in a small bag he attached to his belt and pointed it at the lead man. He smiled slightly as the man's grin wavered, but he knew it wouldn't last long. He pulled the trigger.

With a pop, a pea flew into the man's chest, bouncing harmlessly to the floor, and then another from between his eyes. He laughed. "Do you think those would do you any good boy?" he asked, slowly walking towards them.

He kept shooting, bull's-eye after bull's-eye, but no matter how many shots he fired, they were only dried peas, and it didn't do any damage; in fact, it seemed to have the opposite effect, making Quentin's pursuer that much more eager.

It didn't take long for the peas to run out.

When his pellet gun clicked, Ben felt his heart sink. He had nothing left to defend them. "No more peas Quentin." He said, unable to say anything more as the fear crept in. Here he was with a toy, a young boy who'd not gone more than a mile outside of Gunk, facing a full-grown man with many battle scars, wielding real weapons; weapons he was aiming at them.

He really was going to lose him, wasn't he.

No!

He charged at the man, raising his gun in the air so as to hit him in the head, but he was too quick, brushing him aside as though he was water, sending him crashing to the ground.

"Please! No! I can… I can pay those… I can get the money, I swear!" Quentin pleaded, but the man continued his advance, "I just need more…" He suddenly drew in a rasping breath, and Ben could see his eyes widen over the man's shoulder as he held his arm.

"Time?" He stepped back, letting the young man fall to the ground, "Should have though of that before." As he passed the shocked boy, his eyes grew sympathetic, but he didn't say anything.

"Quen… Quentin?" No reply. "Quentin? Can… can you hear me?" Slowly, Ben crawled towards his brother, hoping… praying that he was all right. Then he felt it; thick warm liquid flowing through his fingers, seeping into his trousers. "N-no. Quentin."

When he tipped his brother over, he could see the hole in his chest, just over where his heart was, a stain growing in his shirt, eyes staring blankly out at the world.

"No. Big Brother! Y-you can't leave me!" He felt the hot tears begin to flow down his cheeks as he gripped onto what was left of his brother, "No! Quentin! No!"

But it was too late. He was already dead.

Milena jumped at the sudden outburst. Ben had been tossing and turning for some time now, which is why she was there, to keep him down, but this wasn't something she'd been expecting.

From what Kalin, the leader of the Aurorans, had told her, it was unusual for anyone to be held down while they were in the darkness' sleep, as it usually rendered them paralysed, so speech was somewhat of a miracle.

She'd been told that Walter and Kalin had found them at the base of the stairs leading up to the city, the captain's arms wrapped firmly around her, even as he lay there no more conscious than she. When they tried to separate them, he only held onto her tighter, mumbling something about not letting it take her, and it took the Priestess almost an hour to make his body relax enough for him to release her.

Since then, she'd woken up, her eye sight as strong as ever and, though a little worse for ware, overall a 'very healthy, strong young lady', or so Walter had told her, and Ben's… fits, for lack of a better word, had begun. This was the first time he'd cried out, and it was more than a little disconcerting.

As Priestess Mara continued her work, Ben fought progressively hard against them, and hopefully, the darkness, though it was unsure if this was the case, as there were no signs to tell.

When the soldier tried to move again, Milena gulped, "Is he…?"

"Quiet. I need silence." The priestess interrupted, her eyes closed and hands busy, "I have not come across one affected in such a way before. I need to concentrate."

Closing her mouth, she looked over to Walter who was knelt next to her, holding down his legs. His face was set in an all too familiar shape; he was scared. To others, it would have looked like he was mildly worried, or even just concentrating on something, but she knew him too well.

"N-no. Swift!" Ben murmured, trying to lift his arm to reach for the unseen man.

Was that what was happening? Was he reliving the deaths of everyone he'd held dear to him? Was the darkness doing this to him, or was it something else? Could it be possible that it was his way of protecting himself?

Suddenly, his struggling ceased, and his face became calm and emotionless. Was he…?

"Ben?" She rested her hand on his shoulder, "Can you hear me?"

The priestess sighed. "He is past the worst of the affliction. He will come. He just needs time now." Milena smiled. He was going to make it! "I will stay here," the priestess continued, brow furrowing in concentration, "Although he is past the worst, I will need to guide him back, though it shouldn't be long."

"I suggest you get some rest as well," Walter said, putting a hand on her arm, "It's getting dark, so I think I might turn in for the night." Using her shoulder as support, the old man got up and walked towards the bed Kalin had given him. "I'm getting too old for this."

Milena sniggered.

She knew he was right; she had to get some rest, but she didn't want to leave Ben on his own. Then she felt a familiar body nudge her knee.

"Hey boy!" she said, stroking Tyson's coat, "I need you to do something for me." The small dog stuck out its tongue, "I need you to wake me up as soon as Ben does, okay?"

Tyson yapped in affirmation and lay down next to the unconscious man, resting his head on his paws, but his eyes continued to watch him.

Pleased that she'd solved her dilemma, she followed Walter's example and went to bed.

Ben felt something wet stroking his hand. It felt… familiar, and yet he couldn't quite place it. When it happened again he moved his hand, causing whatever it was that was doing it to bark. Bark?

"Tyson?"

Slowly, he opened his eyes, expecting to see nothing, but instead there was a great hairy face staring down at him, tongue hanging out of his mouth. He could see! Sure, it wasn't the best of sights, but he could see!

"I see you have returned to us."

He felt unfamiliar hands pull him up into a sitting position, Tyson jumping off of his lap as he moved. The woman he now saw beside him smiled, keeping a hand on his shoulder to keep him from falling. She was also holding a small wooden cup. "I need you to drink this."

With shaking hands, the captain took it, examining the thick liquid within. "What is it?"

"It is the juice of the sycone tree. It will give you strength."

Looking back at her for a moment, he downed it in one gulp, cringing at the bitter after taste. "Well, like my mother always used to say; 'If it doesn't taste bad, it ain't good for you!'"

The woman laughed. "Your mother must have been a wise woman."

He was about to reply when he heard groaning from somewhere to his right. Turning to face the sound, he saw Milena stirring from her slumber as Tyson nudged her with his wet nose, and Walter not too far away also beginning to toss and turn.

So they all made it. Thank Avo for that.

"Ben! You're awake!" the princess cried, jumping off of her bed and sitting down at his side, shortly followed by Walter.

The old man sniggered. "I knew you'd pull through. You're just as stubborn as she is!" he said, punching him lightly in the arm. "We thought we'd lost you for a bit there, but you came through."

He smiled. "You ain't getting rid of me that easily!"

"So it would seem."

The new voice made everyone turn to face the entrance, in which a woman stood, he head shaven and decorated in tattoos. Her eyes were kind, but Ben could see that they had known much sorrow. He knew they'd never met, and yet he knew he'd seen her before "My name is Kalin. I am the leader of the Auroran people, with whom you now reside, Ben Finn."

He frowned. Where? Where had he seen her?

"Have we met?" he asked, hoping she might be able to answer his question.

She shook her head, "No, not before now. Unless you were conscious while we brought you in. It has been known to happen."

"No…" he tried to think. What had happened? "There was something about… a promise…"

The Auroran's eyes widened. "There was a promise made, and broken, and not by you, but that was almost four years ago." She seemed to think about it for a moment before she tilted her head to the side. "Perhaps the darkness gave you a glimpse of his last near-victim's memories."

He tried to think of who it could have been, who… "Logan? The King of Albion came here?"

Milena stood, "What? My brother came here?"

Kalin turned to her. "Yes princess. He came with many men, and he watched as the darkness took them, and then nearly died himself. But he survived thanks to our care. He left with a promise," her eyes wandered back to him before returning to the princess, "That he would return with an army and save us from the Crawler. We never saw him again."

"The Crawler?" Walter asked.

"Yes. The creature you saw in the caves. It has haunted us for the past five years and taken many of my people… including my father." Her voice faded as she spoke, but then she shook herself and turned back to Milena. "You have been in the city. You have seen how the Crawler has tarnished our once great people. I ask you, for the sakes of all my people, that you do what your brother would not.

"Sir Walter has told me of your quest. Of your revolution. There are not many warriors left amongst us, but we have ships and we are willing to fight beside you. Not because your brother wronged us, nor because we thirst for revenge, but because we want protection. We require aid if we are to survive. That is the promise you must make.

"Help us rebuild Aurora, and allow it to become a true part of your kingdom. Not a colony, not a thing to be used, but a place with a voice in your court."

Milena seemed to think about this for a moment, but Ben knew she'd already decided. She took Kalin's hand in her own and smiled. "I promise."

"Then let us go to war."

The captain stared at the next queen of Albion. He hoped she knew what she was getting herself in for.

"Well, we didn't exactly find the army we were hoping for, and I think Ben's probably a little worse for ware, but we're finally ready." Walter said, smiling at her as they stood on the dock, the sun beginning to rise over the horizon, "You've surpassed every hope I had for you. You're the queen Albion needs. So come on. It's time to gather your generals and prepare for battle."

Milena smiled at him as he yawned. "I think maybe it would be a good time for you to take a nap."

"Balls. I didn't realise I was this tiered," he said, as the sailors pulled in the gangplank, "Perhaps it's for the best," he walked towards the stairs leading below deck, "I'll see you in a few hours then."

"Have a nice rest Walter," she replied before she went to the bow of the ship, leaning on the railing as it began to plough through the water. She was really doing it, wasn't she. She was really going to overthrow her brother. And then she was going to become queen. Was she even ready for that type of responsibility? Did she have what it took to be a fair and just ruler?

Her conversation with Theresa kept playing in her head. Like almost all of their conversations though, it had been short, succinct, and one sided. It had left her with the weight of the world on her shoulders, and hadn't made her feel any better about herself.

"Having second thoughts princess?" Ben asked as he leaned next to her.

She shook her head. "It's hard. Knowing what you have to do but not being sure if you can do it."

"And what do you have to do?"

She blinked. "You know what I have to do."

"Yeah, but do you?" Milena turned to face him. He was looking at her with concerned eyes, but it soon turned into a smile. "You think that all you've got to do is finish your revolution, become queen and keep all your promises. I'm sure there's a lot of responsibilities heaped on top of all that too, but that's the gist of it, right?"

She nodded. "And there's Logan too."

"Hmm…" the captain turned back to face the sunrise, "Look, Milena, about what your brother's been doing."

She let one of her eyebrows rise, "What? Has your survival of the Crawler suddenly brought you an insight into my brothers mind?" she laughed, fully intending it to be a joke. But he didn't join in with her mirth. "Ben?"

He didn't speak for a moment, just staring out at the waves, an unusually serious look on his face. "When…" he looked down at his hands. "When the Crawler… when it had me, it showed me… things. One of those things was when it had Logan. It told him it would come for him, for Albion, for every man, woman and child within its borders." His knuckles began to pale as his grip on the wood tightened. "Everything he did, all the wrongs he's committed against the people, they were to protect us from what he knew was coming."

"What are you saying?"

He turned to face her. "Logan kept us in the dark to protect us, to stop us from worrying. He's been trying to save us all from the Crawler and its 'children', and we've done nothing but get in the way."

Milena could feel her anger rising. "So, you're saying that we should stop? Give up? Pretend this revolution was some small dream that got lost in the wind?"

"No." he shook his head. "You need to replace him. The people need someone they can trust as a ruler; someone they would gladly stand behind."

"That still doesn't solve the problem of Logan himself."

Ben looked into her eyes. "Don't kill him."

"What? I thought you'd…"

"Want him dead? Well, what happened with Swifty… that was unforgivable, and from what you've told me about Elliot…" she let her eyes drop as she remembered the choice she'd been forced to make, how they'd dragged him away for his execution, "but it's heart breaking, losing a brother, no matter how corrupt they are." His eyes grew distant as he remembered something from his past. Perhaps that was who Quentin was, but she didn't press the matter.

She yawned.

Ben smiled. "Looks like Walter's not the only one who spent too long waiting at my bed side last night! With the revolution ready to kick off at any moment, you should get as much rest as you can."

"So should you."

"Is that and order, princess?" he grinned, his usual playfulness returning.

She smiled at him. "Yes, Captain Finn. I order you to go below deck and have at least a hundred winks!"

He made a mocking bow, "As my lady commands." And with that he left Milena alone with her thoughts.

Her many, confusing thoughts that didn't want to leave her alone. She wasn't going to get any sleep.

They were all there; Sabine of the Dwellers up in the Mist Peak mountains, Kalin of the Auroran peoples, Page of the rebels in Bowerstone Industrial, and of course Walter, Milena and himself, stood around a table with a map of Albion that the rebel leader was examining. He would have made a suggestion, but he knew she knew the city better, and would more than likely come up with a better plan.

"All right I've got it." Page exclaimed, moving out the way slightly so that others could see the map, "I take a small group of soldiers down this route, and blow up the West barracks," she pointed at one of the roads to the left of the city, "It will draw their attention and open up the main route."

"I want to be in the thick of the smoke and the fire and the glory," Sabine stated, waving his smoking pot-staff around to emphasise this, "If Page takes the west route, it's only fair I take the east."

"Which leaves the centre to us," Ben said, "Less chance of getting lost."

"My ships will take you to the beach here," Kalin explained, pointing at the dock just outside the main gate.

"We can expect heavy mortar fire," Walter chipped in, looking over at the future queen, "but most of Logan's soldiers will be busy dealing with Page, Sabine and their men."

"Then it's settled." Milena said before turning to face the captain, "Are you sure you're up to this Ben? Walter?"

"Who said I wasn't?"

Walter sniggered, "Oh don't you worry about us. Just because we may feel old and tiered…"

"Speak for yourself." Ben said, making the old man squint his eyes at him.

"… but the day hasn't come when we can't charge into a good old fashioned fight!" he balled his hand into a fist and held it over the table, which they all soon joined with their own, the princess putting her hand over them all, connecting them together. "Let the battle for Albion begin!"

AN – Yet another chapter! Wow! I should really get on with my other stories…

I hope you guys enjoyed this one. It was kind of hard writing a serious Ben, but I think I pulled it off… just… And I was getting a little stuck by the end, but I managed to get around it.

No promises as to when the next chapter will come, and I should be uploading more for my others (though I have said that before…)

Until next time!