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The following is a fan-based

FICTION

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Chapter 16 - Break what can be Broken

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Failure. Expected Failure at that.

Oryx sat on her throne calmly, unresponsive to most glances and whispers, attention focused almost mechanically to her duties as she seemed outright unwilling to deal with anything that was currently going on around the Hive and within her mind.

Father's escape had been predictable. It had been a matter of time. She had decided against ruining it for Savathun, all for the right reason- just not the one many would predict for a sibling to be thinking about. In a sense, Oryx wanted her youngest sister to hurt. Not because she was a mongrel, no, it was the fact she had made a mistake. She had allowed her giddiness to blind her and she had to be punished.

And a punishment was given as Savathun was quick to find out.

The loud slamming of the main doors of her domain stirred Oryx just slightly from her throne, and not even Savathun's furious march through the gates and into her court. Guarded by her trustworthy yesmen of intellectual value, the little runt was ready to squeak loudly against the behemoth.

'How dare you?!'

Silence, apathy, a general lack of-

'I gave you my everything, my all! We both sacrificed much and yet you decided to 'punish' me, sister?!'

Yes.

'I gave my whole life for this, and you think that a mistake should be worthy of punishment?! Xivu Arath the Traitor should be given that! Not me!'

And yet Oryx refused to provide a judgment in absentia. It was a futile gesture and one that didn't fit at all with what she saw through this failure. What she should have seen so many centuries ago. What she should have started to see even before she took the deal with the Worm Gods. Before she decided to wage war for 'salvation'. Before she had to give up a son that, by all means, was far from tarnishing what legacy she had already shredded.

'I want access to the Holy Archives back!'

'Denied,' Oryx finally spoke, her voice spent and uncaring.

It was a gesture that Savathun didn't ignore. She was too clever for her own good to realize something she too should have seen coming from the mere gesture. The reason why she was being punished was not for having failed to keep Father with them. No, it was for starting this mess. It was for prolonging the lie. It was for her to lie that everything was going to be fine.

It was not. Everything was fake. This powers of her that she claimed, to TAKE, it was not the consolation price she wanted or needed. It was a necessity for sure, but she could have lived without it if she had not been claimed by the Worms and the Witness.

And now Oryx was not bound to either. The Worms were weak, the Witness had retreated as damaged in ways that had surprised her- he could bleed! Of course he could!

So, now, she was here to make the right amount of cleaning needed. And she stood up from her throne before Savathun could have retorted her denial. With a single gesture, the silence attained a new meaning. It wasn't laziness or apathy. Oh no, it was anger. The kind of which Savathun had already seen herself.

Oryx was baffled herself of this. How easy it was for her wrath to be so quiet and yet so evident. To be so present and yet so subtle. Silence and gesture, a truly deathless couple.

'S-Sister-'

'Enough, Savathun. Enough is enough,' Oryx muttered, anger now unleashed to act as fuel for her strong front. Tired as she was to keep the Hive united, she couldn't be given mercy in this particular spar of words. Not with Sathona.

Sathona was her baby sister, the one that Father had told her to be quite careful and caring with. Oryx failed to realize what he meant with it until now. She was meant to be a kind and good sister, but she had to also make some questionable choices if those would help Sathona to understand her flaws and stop making mistakes.

Hence why this was not a proper war of words. But an ambush, and one that needed a bit more time to properly spring.

'You say you gave the Hive much with your knowledge, but the truth is that all your projects tend towards failure. The notion of a Doctrine, the so-called necessity to fulfill an alliance with the Witness, the desperate need to reunite with Father. Tell me, Sathona, and I am asking you not as your Overlord or King, but as your sister, as we used to do when we were young, do you feel worthless?'

The question gained stiffness from Sathona. 'W-Worthless? N-Never! I am the worthiest of the Queens, Oryx. Believe me."

...

'That's not my question, Sathona. Do you, subjectively speaking, feel like you need to prove your worth to me?' To me, Xi Ro and Father?

It was a valid reason. It's been so long since she had thought of what became of her family- even without considering her Father as part of it.

'I-I don't understand you, Oryx.'

'How do you feel, Sathona?'

'Angry,' She swiftly answered, yet stiffened again as she saw Oryx approach her with a slow walk. 'A-And unsure. At times, maybe- maybe even-'

'Weak?' Oryx guessed loosely. 'Lost? Confused? Worried?'

...

'Y-Yes.'

Oryx nodded and then- and then Sathona panicked as Oryx was upon her. Arms grasping her frame and pulling her close, leaving both sisters pressed in a moment of connection that worried the youngest Ruler. Her cohorts tensed, but Oryx's own guards were put as they waited for command.

A sigh left Oryx as vibration made it like a dull purr.

'The last time we hugged, sister... was it before we forged the deal with the Worms?'

Confusion exploded, but her ever-active mind, already switching to high-gear to leave that situation, unconsciously looked for an answer deep in her mind. Hugging... how long was it since she was hugged? How long since she hugged someone?

Sathona's unease shifted within seconds. From fear of dying, to genuine perplexity over this very simple and yet odd dilemma.

'It... It was.'

'I am sorry. I should have seen this happening. I should have stopped you.'

'S-Sister, Oryx, you- you can't just-'

'I was the leader. I was the one you looked up for answers and guidance. Father told me that I had to lead. He told you and Xi Ro too.'

For a moment, that confusion melted as realization appeared within Sathona's mind. In a moment where she felt truly defeated, in a moment where she felt the only one behind this mess, the one that felt as the troublemaker that led to all of this.

She realized that her sister was blaming herself for it all.

'I... I was the one that urged for the deal. The one that believed-'

'We were all desperate and you looked at me with those eyes- Sathona, you were an insecure child. Even now, you are afraid of failure. I will not kill you, but I want you to do something for me. For yourself.'

Another punishment was coming and while part of her wanted to brace, nothing had prepared for said punishment.

'T-That is?'

'I want you to write a non-religious book.'

...

'Beg your pardon?'

'Wasn't that what you craved when you were young? To write a book about us? About our adventures?'

'T-That was a childish endeavor-'

'Then do something like that. Write a book that is not to be bound to our doctrine. Spend your time doing something else other than scheming and plotting.'

...

'W-Why? Why do I have to do that?'

'First, because I am your older sister, Sathona,' Aurash reminded, the same words with different and older tone now hitting her fully. 'Second, because you need a break. The ban will be lifted but this... we are no longer bound to the Witness. You are smart and have time, find the solution, find your chance to be happy and... we will make it work. Together.'

Gulping nervously, Sathona nodded. Remembering once more the little sickly child she once was. The one that stared at her Father with wondering eyes, always listening and taking notes. Those wonderful moments now stolen away... but perhaps... perhaps those weren't fully lost.

Conceding 'defeat', Sathona wandered back to her own court. The last words of his sister ringing harshly against her ears.

'And do remember to visit me for the meals. We need to keep to break what can be broken, those horrible habits of ours.'

Soon sitting on her throne, Sathona realized that, for a while, she hadn't been worrying about being outpaced and crushed. The sense of competition, of proving her worth to her siblings. It wasn't... there. For some reason, she was just sitting there, idly so, and thinking of the past rather than the future. Of the 'fears' behind said future.

...

She realized she was also sitting as her children knelt before her. Waiting for orders, for commands, for scheming and tests.

...

And she thought of what Oryx had told her, the words giving her a rather loose idea on how to distract those three.

'Balwur?'

'Yes mother?' The firstborn daughter of Savathun inquired and Sathona hummed.

'Are you still... interested in that garden project you wanted to try?'

Sathona remembered how her daughter had offered to build a garden for new fruits to be tested. Food and fuels. It had sounded so unimportant but... in insight, maybe she had been too harsh. Especially when Balwur flashed a hopeful look in that moment.

'I-I do, mother.'

Sathona hummed in bliss at that beaming, approving the project together with her other children's little hobbies. Maybe... Maybe she could write that book about her childhood. With some silly alterations but, nonetheless, a story worthy of some giggles rather than growling.

AN

Fix what you can fix, but break what should be broken. The circle is fracturing as a new Era is soon to come.

Next time, a timeskip and... Humans! (Plus a certain new daughter get on with someone and presents her to her second dad!)

P.S. Not gonna lie, this feels so therapeutic to write.