Kaedan was surprised at what a glum day it was, the day of the celebration. He'd realized he was one of the first in the group awake, seeing as the house was surprisingly quiet. As hard as he had tried, he really couldn't fall asleep again. There was just…Too much jittery energy from what was going to happen that night.
Maybe a walk would help.
"Couldn't sleep in either?" Kaedan had to stop himself from jumping as he heard a familiar voice, in a somewhat familiar drawl. He turned to see the dark-blue-haired woman standing outside the house, not even looking at him.
"Your Highness," He did a small, almost joking bow, "To what do I owe the honor of seeing you here?"
The young woman rolled her eyes as they flashed a siren red in amusement, "You know better than to bow to me. You and I are the same, former prince of Sector 1."
He sighed, "I suppose you're right. She couldn't sleep?"
"Oh no, she's quite tired. Not sure I really want to know why," Apocalypse muttered, "No, she's asleep. I'm the one that can't sleep."
"Why not?"
She sighed, turning to him, "...Just…Promise me you all won't take unnecessary risks. We stick to the plan, we don't get their attention, we get the Wings and we leave. I know the plan is to kill your father and Julian Rowlock but…"
Kaedan looked at her, tilting his head slightly, "But what? Do you know something?"
"...Walk with me, would you?" She asked, making her way to the steps.
The streets weren't terribly crowded, seeing as seven in the morning wasn't usually the time for casual stragglers to hang around. Most of the people were setting up their stalls or opening their shops, with only a few people here and there walking around like Kaedan and Apocalypse.
"So, what is it exactly that's making you so jittery about this mission?" Kaedan asked finally.
"...I honestly don't know," Apocalypse shrugged, "I couldn't tell you exactly why I'm getting a bad feeling but it just feels…Wrong. I mean, you do know we're probably walking into a trap right?"
Kaedan nodded, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure about it. That celebration is practically a mouse trap with cheese for us, they know we're coming. We just have to surprise them and hold them off long enough to get the Wings. It's not set in stone whether we're killing those two yet anyway, so don't worry about that. Actually, you know what's kind of weird?" He asked, "I swear, Elliot was also saying something along the same lines as you, like something felt wrong."
Apocalypse turned to him, her eyes widening, "They did?!"
"Might want to calm down, Your Highness," Kaedan hissed, "With reactions like that, Elliot and Chaewon are going to be onto you in no time and if you're so determined to keep your relationship a secret, then you'd better not react like that," He sighed, "But yes, Elliot seemed really bothered by this whole mission. Said they had a bad gut feeling about it."
"They were always pretty good at that," Apocalypse sighed as well, "Well, I guess that just means to pay attention to what I said even more. In and out, no unneeded risks. This is dangerous enough already."
Kaedan snorted, "Got it, Princess. We're trying our best, aren't we? Pretty sure we all want to come back alive."
"That's 'Queen' to you, Mister. I have higher authority than you."
"And I thought you said we were both former royalty so that wouldn't count."
"I'm still older than you."
"Jesus Christ, right, I forget that," Kaedan muttered, "Aren't you like…Middle-aged or something?"
Apocalypse had the most offended look on her face, which was really quite funny since it was actually Risále's face, "I'm only thirty-three, you brat! That's nowhere near middle-aged."
"Closer to middle-aged than I am," Kaedan stuck out his tongue.
"How does Xander stand you?"
"Oh, he wouldn't be able to get rid of me now, even if he wanted to. I always had a little bit of trouble with letting go of things that were mine," Kaedan grinned. They walked for a while longer in quiet but Kaedan opened his mouth,
Apocalypse beat him to it, "No. I don't want to hear it."
Kaedan rolled his eyes, "Well, you're going to hear it anyway as someone who went through exactly what you're putting Elliot and Chaewon through. You need to tell them the truth."
"I promise you, it's better they don't know."
The brown-haired man grabbed her arm and stopped her, "Listen, when I found out everything that happened to Xander, everything I had unintentionally done, everything that he went through for my sake? I felt like I was dying inside. Seriously, I felt absolutely horrible, like I wasn't worthy of living the life I had. Who was I to have been so happy when he suffered so much for me? Because of me? Mina was the one who dragged me to a therapist after that but let me tell you. That feeling? It doesn't completely go away. Sure, it's not as loud as it was before and I've mostly moved on, but fuck if I don't have my days where it takes all my strength not to just lie down somewhere and never get back up. When Elliot and Chaewon find out the three of you used to be in love, do you know how they're going to take it? Let me tell you, horribly. They will blame themselves for your death. And they will feel even worse if they don't find out from you."
Apocalypse hissed at him, "They're going to blame themselves either way, whether I tell them or not!"
"At least you can comfort them and tell them it wasn't their fault and they couldn't have saved you!"
The woman was silent, as if considering what to say.
"Apocalypse. What the fuck does that silence mean," Kaedan said politely.
"It means I don't want to talk about this anymore," The woman began walking away quickly.
Kaedan grabbed her arm, stopping her, "Oh no, no, no, no, no. You're going to tell me what the fuck that meant. It wasn't their fault and they couldn't have saved you, right?"
"...They couldn't have saved me," She offered.
"...Explain. Right now."
Apocalypse sighed as she shook him off, "Listen to me, okay? I know you think you were directly involved in what Xander went through. But I'm telling you, if Elliot and Chae find out the entire truth, if they find out exactly what happened…I know those two. And I know that they wouldn't want to live. Especially if they find out that all three of us were together. There would be no recovering for them from this. It's better if they don't remember it, any of it. I can't…I can't watch them break again."
"...Apocalypse," Kaedan started slowly, trying to get the pieces to click in his mind, "...You're not…They didn't—They didn't see you die, right? That's not—Please tell me that's not what you're implying."
The woman didn't respond.
"Apocalypse."
"Yes. They were there," She gritted out, "And God, I wish every day that they weren't so I could have spared them the sight of watching their fiance get impaled to death in an iron maiden."
Kaedan stared at her, "...Oh God. Oh, dear God, you're right. They can't find out. If they saw you die and they couldn't save you—"
"They'd practically consider it killing me themselves. Yeah. Do you get it now?"
"Jesus fucking Christ, what the hell, Apocalypse?" Kaedan exhaled gripping his hair, "Oh, God. Leon?"
Apocalypse shook her head, "He wasn't in Sector 4 by that time, Chaewon had gotten him out of there. He doesn't seem to actually remember me though so, that's good, I suppose. I think he actually kind of liked me since he approved of my engagement to Elliot and Chae."
"That's…That's good, I think," Kaedan said, "But, God. Why the hell is this so complicated?"
"You're asking me? Trust me, I wish this was easier as well. As good as I am at it, I don't exactly enjoy lying to my former fiances," Apocalypse scoffed.
Kaedan rolled his eyes, "You're not even that good at it. They've already asked questions, haven't they?"
"Shut up, let's go."
"Where are we going?" Kaedan asked amusedly.
"Shopping. I'm hungry and I want fruits," The woman responded.
"Alright, Your Highness—Hey, would you slow down a bit! Jesus, for someone so tiny, you sure do move quick."
"Do not call me tiny."
"I was calling Risále tiny."
"...Fair enough,"
The two found themselves at a fruit stall soon enough, but it didn't take long after that for things to take a turn, "Hey, Apocalypse, I think this is enough fruits—Apocalypse?" He turned to see the shorter woman was no longer standing next to him. Turning around he scanned, looking for her until the stall owner jumped in.
"She went that way," He pointed.
Kaedan nodded, "Thanks, here, keep the change," He said, handing the stall owner a couple of bills before making his way over to where the stall owner had pointed. As he moved past the people starting to make their way through the streets, he could see a familiar figure moving through the crowd, "Apocalypse! Hey! Where the hell are you going?!" He watched her movement and saw that she was headed towards a little booth where a young girl, a teenager seemed to be selling jewelry. Kaedan cursed under his breath as he moved quicker, catching up to Apocalypse right as she reached the booth. He grabbed her, "Hey, what the hell are you—"
She shook him off with more strength than he thought she had, before looking directly at the girl, "...You look like Carlos Novar. Do you know him?"
The teenager looked shocked, "Why…How do you know my dad's name?" She asked, looking at Apocalypse.
The woman took in a sharp breath, "There's no way," She muttered under her breath, "...Anha? Anha Novar?"
"Who the hell?" The teenager asked, her eyebrows furrowing, "Why do you know my name, who the hell are you—"
Apocalypse interrupted, "Your father, your mother. Where are they? Are they—Are they here?" She began muttering, "No, they can't—There's no way there here, that's why I distanced myself so they wouldn't get dragged into this…"
"Apocalypse, what the fuck is going on?" Kaedan whispered to her harshly. She simply batted him away.
"My dad was killed years ago, and my mom died from an illness last year—Who even are you? Why are you asking these questions? How do you know me?"
Apocalypse's eyes widened and she took a shaky step back, "No…No, no, no, no. Carlos is…Carlos is dead? They killed Carlos? But I—" She looked to Kaedan, her eye pleading but for what, Kaedan didn't know. They were blown wide, almost manic, and Kaedan was beginning to panic as well. He had never seen the woman in such a catatonic state, "I left so this wouldn't happened. I put distance, I tried to get out of their lives so they wouldn't…All of it…All of it was for nothing? They still…They still killed him?" She was shaking all over now.
Kaedan stepped forward, "Apocalypse," He said warningly, "You need to calm down or else—" He was cut off as she clutched onto the front of his shirt, hyperventilating and mumbling something, almost incoherent. Her voice was getting louder and louder and onlookers were starting to build.
Suddenly, he heard Apocalypse speak, "Kaedan, I'm knocking us both out, she's panicking too much! Figure out what to do!" No, it wasn't Apocalypse. That was Risále.
Within three seconds, Risále's body collapsed like a ragdoll, and Kaedan scrambled to catch her, easily scooping her up into his arms.
Without looking back for even a moment, he ran back toward the main headquarters of the rebellion.