The world was a blur, shapes warping around themselves and others to create even more illusions that shouldn’t have been nearly as confusing as they were. Things had been dark for a while, briefly broken only to return once more. He didn’t know how long they stayed that way, hours or months, but eventually, as if by the crack of a whip, his surroundings crashed over him.

With the sight of the room came pain, blinding and throbbing through every inch of his body. He groaned, closing his eyes the moment he tried opening them, and rolled over onto his side.

“Officer Norton, can you hear me?”

The voice started him out of the daze and he tried again, propping himself up on one arm only to sink back down to the bed once more. He squinted to focus on the blurry image of the figure standing beside him, swallowing the nausea twisting in his gut.

“I’ll take that as a yes, then?”

“Where am I?” he mumbled, words slipping together.

“The infirmary, sir. There was an accident. Do you remember…anything?”

He shook his head, swallowing what felt like ice shards in his throat and wincing. “I- Should I? How did I get here?”

His vision cleared enough to where he could see the boy standing beside him, name slipping his mind but face somewhat familiar.

“I’m sure someone will explain it to you. But I don’t think it’s my place to talk about the crime-“

“Crime? What crime?” Daniel asked, closing his eyes again as agony hammered in his head.

“Sir,” the boy called, putting a cold hand on his bare shoulder and nudging him gently. “I’ll call for someone. They should be right outside or nearby. I’m sure someone else can explain-“

“No,” he said, shaking his head and swallowing the taste of bile, “don’t. What happened to me? As chief officer, I order you to tell me-“

“I-“

“Please.”

“I can’t, sir.”

Daniel opened his eyes, faintly recalling very little beyond a large amount of noise and Aurora. Though, even with only that, it was an incredibly worrying shred to remember. A patrol, he thought, grasping at anything he could, that’s what they’d been doing.

A frown appeared on his face as he shook his head again, watching as the other Dravara lifted a glass and held it out for him. “Drink this. I was told to give it to you once you woke up. I’ll go fetch someone to explain,” he said carefully. “Just…stay here, please.”

He pulled himself up to lean, raising the glass to his lips and cringing at the taste that he’d expected to be the familiar nothingness of water. Instead it was bitter and he coughed, nearly gagging at the taste that clung to his tongue.

“Where is Aurora?” he asked, lowering himself down again. “He was there with me. I remember him being there.”

The young Dravara set the glass down without a word, not meeting his eyes and leaving Daniel struggling to focus once more. He laughed, or something similar, and wrung his hands nervously in front of him.

“That’s…part of the problem actually, sir.”

“What do you mean? Aurora isn’t hurt, is he?”

Silence.

“Answer me,” he snapped much more harshly than he’d meant to. “Please, I don’t know what’s going on.”

It was driving him insane that he couldn’t remember more than faint shreds of what he should have known. But whatever he didn’t remember couldn’t have been good based on the boy’s unsettling reactions.

“You aren’t going to answer me, are you?”

“I’m sorry, sir. I was told not to say anything. Should I call for someone? She said she’d would come by-“

“She?”

“Rowena, sir.”

“Oh.”

Daniel shook his head, sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of his bed only to find the pounding in his head reached a point where his vision faded entirely for a brief moment. He blinked, pulses of pain extending down his body, throbbing through his limbs and leaving him shaking with his arms braced on either side.

Nausea.

He stood then, ignoring the panicked stammering of the boy, but was quickly forced to find the wall to keep himself on his feet.

“Officer Norton, please sit down. You’re going to hurt yourself if you get up. I’ll go get someone-“

Daniel ignored him, leaning off the wall and walking forward a few wobbling steps towards the cracked door before it was slammed by the young Dravara.

“I don’t need to be watched like a child.”

“I’m sorry, sir. It’s just orders.”

A mirror caught his attention then, drawing his eyes away from the boy’s face and to the wall to his left. Bandages, white and wrapped tightly around his head, marked with crimson on one side that had long since faded to something that was closer to an ugly shade of brown. There was a scratch running along his jaw and another beneath his eye, scabbed over and dull.

“Sit down, please, and I’ll try to explain as best I can until someone comes.”

Daniel only sighed, stepping back over to the bed and sitting down heavily once more. “Well?”

“You’ve been unconscious for a few days. You were leading a border patrol and Aurora followed you. Some of the other officers were concerned and went out after your party but by the time they got there…”

“What?”

“Sir, I really don’ think-“

“What happened?” Daniel demanded, knuckles going white as he grabbed at the side of the bed.

The boy swallowed. “The party was dead. You were one of only two to survive. I-I’m sorry, sir.”

Daniel couldn’t answer beyond an unintelligent string of stammers until he stopped, clearing his throat and feeling as if he was choking when he spoke again. “Who else survived?”

“Well, Aurora, sir. But-“

He was smiling, sighing in relief before he could stop himself, a moment later. “I don’t mean to sound insensitive but Aurora is-“

The door opened.

Silence.

“I would like to speak to Officer Norton, please. Thank you for your assistance.”

The boy nodded to the both of them, not saying a word as he ducked out of the room and the door closed heavily behind him. Daniel got awkwardly to his feet only to be pushed gently back down again by slender hand.

“There is no need for that, Norton. Please, sit. Would you like me to get you anything?”

“No, thank you.”

“Something to drink? Water,” she asked, smiling, “or something a bit stronger? I’m certain I can get my hands on something.”

Daniel shook his head, wincing as she spoke. “I’m fine.”

“I assume you were given a basic understanding of what happened. Do you remember anything at all?” Rowena asked, not waiting for him to answer before continuing. “They were rather worried about you. But I must say, I didn’t expect you to be on your feet so soon.”

He swallowed. “Where is Aurora? The boy started saying-“

“He did? Well, I will have to speak with him about that. I do hope he didn’t say anything too devastating, did he?”

Daniel frowned, swiveling to lean back against the pillow again with a groan. “What happened to us?”

Silence.

“I’m sorry, Norton.”

He craned his neck to look up at her, panic rushing through the clouded fog in his head. “W-why?”

She walked forward, heels clicking along as dragged a chair up to his bedside. For a moment, she was quiet, brushing the hair back from her eyes and reaching forward to pile her hands on his arm gently.

“I really can’t put this delicately-“

He sat up quickly, vision spinning to the point where he was certain he was going to faint. Her fingers snapped and he found himself staring up at her from his back again, head still resting on the pillow.

“Easy, you shouldn’t be moving around so much. Lie down for a while and get some rest. I can come back later-“

“Aurora’s alive,” Daniel blurted out before she could finish. “Please, tell me what happened. T-the boy told me Aurora was alive but I-I don’t remember-“

“Calm down,” she said, tapping one hand on his arm. “He’s alive. But I have no right to keep anything from you. Like I had ordered you to do, you led a retrieval party to send a group back east. Aurora insisted on joining-“

“How did he know about them?”
“I told him,” Rowena answered plainly, sighing. “It was a mistake but I didn’t think things would go so far. I told you this once, don’t you remember?”

Daniel thought for a moment, shaking his head. “Vaguely…but why did he want to come along?”

“I’m not sure anyone, even you, could have known why he wanted to come along. The gates were ordered to remain closed but you know how persuasive Aurora can be-“

“In other words,” Daniel said, shaking his head, “he threatened the gatekeeper.”

“Precisely,” she answered with a nod, “but that’s not the point. Once he left the stronghold, he tracked down your party. He just…he-“

“Goddesses, what did he do?”

Rowena swallowed, eyes turning to him with something that frightened him. “He killed them,” she choked on her words, taking a breath inward sharply, “he killed all of them and he nearly killed you.”

Daniel’s face fell. “That’s not funny. What kind of a joke-“

“I truly wish I was lying to you, for the sake of those killed, I really wish I was. We both knew he’d snap one day but…” she trailed off, turning away and blinking furiously against the tears shining in her eyes. “I never knew it would be something like this.”

“No, no,” Daniel replied, sitting up and shaking his head despite the pain it caused him, “take me to him. There’s something wrong here. Aurora is many things but he’s not…he’s not…”

“Norton”

“He’s not that!”

“I understand your grief but you are starting to overstep your boundaries here. I have told you what happened and I don’t appreciate being interrupted every moment I try to speak, understand?”

Daniel nodded, looking away. “I’m sorry.”

“Aurora is a monst-“

“No, he’s not.”

Rowena’s eyes narrowed into a glare. “He has become something horrible and we both know that. We this would happen even if you won’t admit it. I should have had him locked away long ago. I’m so sorry, Norton. None of this ever should have happened.”

He was quiet for a moment.

“I’m sorry-“

“Aurora may not be,” he paused, “perfect. But he’s…he’s my friend, more than that even. I just…where is he? Let me speak to him and I can figure out what happened.”

She sighed. “He has already been tried for his crimes. If this had happened anywhere else, he would have been executed but instead, he was locked away. You should be happy, and forgive me for how insensitive this sounds, but you should be glad it didn’t happen elsewhere.”

Daniel didn’t answer, couldn’t answer, and found that he could do nothing but stare back at her blankly. Part of him wanted to fight, to demand to be taken to Aurora in order to figure out exactly what was going on. But as much as he hated it, he knew that would be in vain.

Aurora was a trap waiting to spring, steel teeth waiting to snap after so long of straining against the coil.

He’d sworn to make her pay more than once, in fact, but part of Daniel refused to believe it, any of it was true. Aurora was many things and while unpredictable was one, he wasn’t a killer. Taking one life had ruined him to a point Daniel knew he’d never be able to mend, never be able to fix the hole that had been torn in him.

Impossible.

“I’m sorry, Norton.”

Improbable.

Killing in cold blood had no honor, nothing Aurora would ever dream of doing. He wasn’t heartless despite the guise, the snarls and the words that cut deeper than Daniel would ever admit.

Daniel cleared his throat, voice cracking. “Just let me speak with him, please.”

Rowena placed an unsettlingly cold hand over his. “Daniel, who are you going to believe? Me or Aurora?”

Inevitable.

~ ~ ~ ~

Everything hurt.

Even when they left him alone, didn’t beat him, and left him to sit in silence, it felt as though every joint, every part of his body, had been torn somehow, and stitched back together the wrong way. Being alone was easy enough, or hard enough, depending on how the day felt, but with the added pain, the added sense of being totally isolated, made it all more maddening to deal with.

Aurora climbed to his feet, knees aching as he made his way across the cell only to return to the very same spot. His arms stretched over his head, tugging until there was something of a satisfying crack, and he groaned at having to move again. It had started quickly, a constant annoyance quickly turned worse, but Aurora never thought too much about it. Being stuck in a cell, left to pace, certainly had some effects on the body.

It had to.

“Piss off,” he mumbled to a rat that weaved its way between the bars, only to disappear back into the shadows, back where his eyes could no longer follow.

Often, he could hear them, hear their shrill squeaks and cries that went on even after he had finally fallen asleep. Those times were sparse, he had to admit, and nightmares that had begun to quell over the years were starting to return, just as ugly, just as terrifying as before.

“Got nothing better to do but bother me,” Aurora sang, walking forward to grip loosely at the bars, “do you?”

Of course, the rats didn’t answer.

The never did.

He swung himself forward against the bars, then back, and back again, again, and again, until he finally stopped himself to rest his forehead against one of them. A smile cracked across his lips, and he laughed, stumbling backwards and throwing his arms in the air.

“Find something better then!”

Stopping, he reached down, picking a stone up from the floor and hurling it as far as he could, only to hear it ricochet off the back wall and then finally fall still. The cell went quiet, aside from the dripping, his only other consistency, and the rats, but even they seemed to disappear, taking a breath as the stone found its mark nowhere in particular.

“Am I dying in here?” he sighed, cocking his head to the side, voice growing louder as he spoke again. “Am I?”

He took a step back, whistling as best he could and listening to the sound it made in the silence, against the walls, tucked into the corners.

“I’m not sure I want to,” Aurora continued, “but I don’t know, I really don’t.” He paused, leaning an arm against his cage. “No, I don’t, I’ve decided. Hear that? I don’t want to die, rats.”

Of course, the rats couldn’t answer.

They never could.

There were times he swore they did anyway.

Next Chapter: Chapter 23