14: Himbo in Distress

Sabine Hallow stood in the middle of a scene of bloodshed and destruction. Her chest heaved with each panting breath. Her head hung back limply, eyes staring up at nothing. Hundreds of heretics and traitors lay around her, dead and dying.

And yet, despite all the death and all the good she'd just done in the Emperor's name, Sabine felt nothing. All her anger had been vented. She was left feeling numb and hopeless. Octus was gone… Again. Maybe permanently this time… And Sabine couldn't muster the energy to do anything but stare at the cracked and broken ceiling and compare it to how she felt right now.

The red in her vision was only just now beginning to fade. As it did, it left her world colorless and monotone. All the light was gone. Sabine felt as weary and empty as she did before she met Octus.

Behind their barricades and fortifications, gangers watched her motionless form with awe. They'd watched, unable to do anything to help, as Sabine tore through a thousand traitorous fanatics. She'd been akin to a mindless berserker, a force of nature, an instrument of His will in their minds. They couldn't possibly comprehend the utter emptiness she felt right now.

Diana and Violet could though. Violet especially, thanks to her gifts. The gothic shortstack experienced every ounce of pain and woe that the Sister of Battle felt. She'd followed Sabine's mental state as fury faded and was replaced by a void of emotion.

It was honestly worrying. Sabine had almost completely collapsed in on herself. It was becoming clear to Violet how much of the Sister's world had started to revolve around Octus. Without him, she was lost and purposeless. Even the call of the Emperor couldn't immediately shake Sabine out of her funk…

Violet wouldn't give up on Sabine though. She could feel a spark of willpower buried beneath all of that apathy. Somewhere deep inside, Sabine still believed. She believed in Octus. She believed in the Emperor. She believed there was a plan and that this wasn't the end for them. Violet just had to pull that spark out of the Sister and nourish it until Sabine regained her trademark conviction.

A shiver of anxiety washed over Violet. She'd never used her powers in such a direct yet delicate way. She typically just stayed in the corner of the room, feeding Diana the thoughts of those she negotiated with. She'd dipped her toe earlier when bolstering the spirits of the defending gangers but this would be the first time she consciously manipulated such an essential part of someone's being.

But… it had to be done. Violet's small shoulders squared themselves. An adorably determined expression fell over her face. Then she became the first one to approach the Sister's motionless form. Diana blinked in surprise at Violet's initiative but followed her pet, trusting that Violet had a plan.

"S-Sister Sabine?" Violet asked. "A-Are you o-okay?"

Sabine's head lowered to look at Violet almost creepily slow, "No…"

Violet and Diana shivered. They could've sworn they heard the Sister's neck creak…

Still, Violet was trying to bring Sabine back from the edge, "H-He's not g-gone, you know? You can't give up now."

"Give… up?…" Sabine said softly. Then she started laughing, quietly at first before building to an almost manic peak. "Hahaha! HAHAHAHAHA! Give up?! On my Octus?! Never! I will die first! The Ruinous Powers won't be able to tear us apart! We have the blessing of the Emperor Himself!"

Violet 'watched' as that spark of will within Sabine surged back to the forefront of her soul. It struggled at first but burned brighter and brighter until Sabine's soul shined in the Warp. The emptiness and depression that had ruled her being just moments ago were burned as fuel by Sabine's conviction. She would get her Octus back. The Emperor willed it and nothing would stand in her way. Not even the Four in the Warp…

A breathless exclamation went unnoticed by Sabine, "Holy shit!…"

Violet and Diana turned to greet Miko, who had just arrived to see the scene of carnage with Sabine standing in the middle of it all. Miko was looking around at the hundreds upon hundreds of bodies in shock. She was joined by what had to be her entire family. More than two dozen bunny girls and boys stood behind Miko, in similar states of awe and disbelief.

"Hello, Miko. So nice of you to join us," Diana said without a trace of sarcasm in her voice.

"What the fuck happened here??" Miko hissed, trying not to disturb the still-distracted Sister at the center of it all.

Diana hesitated, "… Quite a bit actually."

"No shit," Miko deadpanned. "We ran into a few cultists on the way here but I wasn't expecting anything like this!"

"Cultists?! Where?" Sabine's attention snapped to Miko.

"W-Wha… What's happening?" Miko stuttered, completely taken by the golden flame burning in Sabine's eyes.

"Righteous vengeance," Sabine replied firmly, not explaining anything. "Now… where?"

"Right. Don't worry then, Sister. We'll get 'em," Miko reassured Sabine. "I've got a couple of my boys trailing the ones we saw. They'll call me when they find the HQ."

Sabine breathed a sigh of relief but that moment of repose didn't last long, "Good, anyone else have anything to tell me?"

Violet and Diana were glad to see the usual Sabine back. At the request for anything else, they glanced at each other. Thoughts passed between them. Was now the right time to mention Violet's abilities? Almost instantly, they both decided that that would be a terrible idea at the moment. At the very least, they wanted Octus with them to back up their claims.

When no one spoke up with anything else, Sabine nodded, "Very well. Let's get moving people. We have a VIP MIA. I want him found and brought back to me safe and sound. If not… There will be Hell to pay…"

Octus woke up to the sound of someone humming. It was a sound he didn't expect to hear based on his last memory. It was sweet on the ears and peppy. An unfamiliar tune that lifted the spirits and invoked the spice of life. If he could have, Octus would've hummed along.

He kept his eyes closed, trying to gauge his surroundings. As he did, the person humming became more and more familiar. He was pretty sure it was his captor, Sona. But as much as he tried, he couldn't associate that charming tune with the woman who antagonized Sabine and kidnapped him.

The scent of spiced incense hung in the air. Octus took a breath and slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was Sona's face, hanging upside down very close to his. His gaze absently traced her beautiful features and the wide smile that looked like a frown from his perspective.

Her lips were plump and kissable. Her eyes sparkled with mirth and something else… something a tad unhinged. There was no denying to himself that he found Sona attractive though. She didn't have the same stoic beauty as Sabine but she had a different kind of appeal to the himbo Guardsman. If only she wasn't fighting for the other side…

Octus blinked, wondering where that thought had come from. He shook it off and looked around, trying to figure out where he was. The room around them was cozy and well-lived-in. Various knickknacks and curiosities were scattered around here and there. Everything seemed to pop or hold some interest or another, which made sense with what Octus knew about Sona's aversion to everything boring. The space looked to be Sona's personal bedroom if Octus had to guess.

"Hiya, Sona," Octus greeted eventually. "Nice place ya got 'ere."

Sona giggled, dropping from her upside-down perch, flipping in mid-air, and coming to stand in front of Octus, still just as close, "Thank you, Papi. I like to keep the things around me… interesting~"

"I noticed… What's up with that anyway? Ya seem awfully focused on not bein' boring," Octus said.

"Well, that's a silly question! It's a good thing you're so cute, Papi~ I just like things that get my blood pumping, my heart racing, my ~juices~ flowing! Things like you~"

"Me? How am I interesting?" Octus asked to keep Sona talking.

"Another silly question, Papi. Don't you know you're the hero?~ So big and strong and pure~" Sona swooned. "I could never get bored of you~"

"If anything, Sabine's the hero," Octus mumbled.

Sona nodded, "I agree. She's so determined, so driven, so… heroic. But that doesn't make you any less of a hero either. You two fit together perfectly. She's the sword and you're the heart. Does that make any sense?"

"Not really," Octus shrugged. "Like, I think Sabine and I make a good team but I dunno about all this 'hero-junk'."

"Ah, humble to a fault," Sona sighed. "But if you were any different, you wouldn't hold my attention so, Papi~"

Octus shifted around, a bit uncomfortable from the praise. Then he realized he wasn't restrained at all. And he was in a very comfy chair. This… wasn't turning out as he expected.

"Ya didn't tie me up…" Octus half stated, half asked.

Sona's head cocked to the side cutely, "No? Why would I do that? I'm sure I'll be able to ~convince~ you to stay with me until your Sororitas comes to rescue you without them."

"Oh… It's just… Last time I was kidnapped, there were a lot more ropes involved."

"I smell an interesting story there~ C'mon, spill!"

"I mean… I guess I can," Octus said. "I don't believe yer gonna hurt me or anything anymore. Just, like, a gut feelin'. And we gotta waste some time as you said… Alright, settle in."

"Yay, storytime!" Sona cheered, settling herself at the foot of Octus' chair and looking up at him in a way that was both surprisingly adorable and slightly intoxicating. Her position below him and the utter focus she looked at him with gave the situation a heady feeling of power for Octus.

"Ahem, right," Octus cleared his throat. "So this was pro'lly about two or three deployments ago. I can never keep count. That's what I got Lacey for. Anyway, we, the regiment, were stationed on this backwater world. Even more backwater than this one. Not a Hive on the whole planet. Reminded me of home actually…"

"What's void travel like?" Sona interrupted, too eager and curious to compose herself. This was a man who'd traveled the stars after all. Any stories he had to tell would be far more interesting than her life.

"Mighty boring, I reckon. Yer trapped in a tin can for weeks, or months if yer unlucky. Sure, it's a big tin can but ya ain't got anywhere to go. Even the view gets old after a while and they don't let ya look out into the Warp for obvious reasons. Now, don't be interruptin' me," Octus chastised lightly without taking any offense.

Sona nodded and Octus continued, "Nothin' happened during that deployment. Just a lot of sittin' around and actin' busy. Wasn't so bad, really. Might've appreciated it more if I knew what was coming next.

"Outta nowhere, we get this alarm. None of us had ever heard this one before but Lady, our Commissar, paled immediately. I remember her face. In hindsight, it was totally justified. 'Cause the alarm was for a Drukhari raid," Octus shivered as he remembered.

Sona listened, 'oohing' and 'aahing' at the appropriate points. She was enraptured. Her world narrowed down to this moment and this moment alone. Her own personal storyteller, regaling her with tales of faraway places and evils she'd never heard of.

Octus saw the burning curiosity in her eyes at the mention of the Drukhari so he explained, "The Drukhari are just about the worst Xenos ya could hope to encounter. They're knife-ears. You probably heard of their nicer cousins, the Eldar. Eldar ain't that bad. At least ya can work with those ones in the right situation. Drukhari, though? Never. They're pirates, scum, and worse than any Human could ever be. The tamest Drukhari dreams of things that could make even the most twisted heretic sick to their stomach. Err… no offense."

"It's okay," Sona waved it off. "I don't even consider myself a heretic. They were just the most interesting thing to happen to this planet in my whole life. It's not like I'm married to the idea of the 'Ruinous Powers' or anything."

Octus nodded, tucking that piece of information away for later, "Right, so these Drukhari… They quite literally feed off the suffering of sentients. They'll raid a system and take everyone. Men, women, children, Hell I bet they take the pets and the Grox too."

Sona listened with disturbed, morbid curiosity as Octus painted a picture of the true horrors that lurked in the dark corners of the galaxy. It was awful. The way Octus talked about the Drukhari made her skin crawl. Sona may have been obsessed with everything 'interesting' but even she had limits she wouldn't cross. She was still Human after all.

"So there we were, minutes away from becomin' Elf Torture Fuel. Thank the Emperor there turned out to be only one ship. Otherwise, I doubt I'd be here to tell ya this story! When the spikey bastards landed, we were ready for 'em. Gave 'em a real good taste of Human brute force, we did!

"Still, it wasn't an easy fight. Those fuckers are sadistic and vicious. And at one point, I got separated from the rest of the regiment by this one knife-eared chick. She seemed like she was obsessed with me for some reason… She didn't pay attention to anyone else. If she just wanted to get her jollies off, surely some of the other boys would've been better choices, right?" Sona just stared at Octus with fond exasperation like he was an idiot.

Octus snorted, "She had me tied up with spikey ropes of all things. Freaky bitch, that one. It was a miracle I got out of there with my purity intact. She kept goin' on and on about keeping me as a 'pet' and all the 'delicacies' we would experience together. Naturally, I took offense to that. If I'ma be in a relationship with a Xenos, she'd have to be the pet, not me."

Sona giggled at that and Octus belatedly realized that some of his deeply-hidden inner thoughts had leaked out into his story. They both blushed, though Sona looked more excited than embarrassed. Octus cleared his throat and continued as if he didn't say anything weird.

"As I said, I took offense to that. So when she had her back turned, I managed to wiggle myself free. I cut myself up somethin' fierce but what can ya do? She was playin' with herself or something so I snuck up behind 'er. I got her in a hold and gave 'er the meanest noogie I've ever done. And I've got a little sister so that's sayin' something."

Sona couldn't hold it anymore, breaking out into full-blown laughter at the noogie comment, "Ahahaha! A noogie?! Really? Is that the best you could think of?"

Octus grinned, glad she found humor in the ridiculousness that was his life, "Nah, that was just the start. Then I hit her with a titty twister, a couple of Indian burns, and a mean dead leg. 'Course, the freaky bitch just enjoyed all that pain so that kinda backfired… It gave me time to run away while she was cumming her Xenos brains out though."

Sona was still laughing but managed to gasp out a question, "What happened next?"

Octus sighed, "Unfortunately, that's about the end of that story. I joined back up with the regiment and we managed to force the Drukhari bastards to retreat. I didn't see the chick that kidnapped me again and I figure she cut her losses. Hell, she probably considered that a victory since she did get her jollies off."

"Nothing else important happened after that," Octus chuckled. "Well, Commissar Lady started callin' me a 'Himbo in Distress' as a joke but that's about it."

"Aww," Sona pouted as her laughter died down. Then she smiled a smile that lit up the room, "I liked that story. Thank you for sharing it with me, Papi~"

Octus rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Shucks, it wasn't that special, was it?"

"It was," Sona deadpanned goodnaturedly.

"Yeah, well, now it's your turn. Tell me a story, Miss Maestro," Octus turned the focus back onto her.

"I can't…" Sona said with a serious, almost pained expression on her face. "That's part of the problem with my life. Nothing interesting happens. That's why I 'joined' this rebellion and started this stupid cult. I just needed something… anything… interesting to happen."

"So…" Octus said slowly. "What I'm hearin' is that yer willing to switch sides and stop all this heretic nonsense as long as we got something interesting for ya to do. Why haven't you?"

Sona giggled, "That's basically right… But I won't switch yet. If I do, I won't get the chance to set off the ritual. And that promises to be almost as interesting as you, Papi~"

"Do ya have to?" Octus asked, wincing uncomfortably at the prospect that Sona was willing to invoke the Dark Gods and potentially damn everyone in the Hive for her twisted sense of entertainment. Other than her at times insane pursuit of that entertainment, she was honestly starting to grow on him.

"C'moooonnnnn~" Sona whined playfully. "It's the climax of this story~ Don't you wanna see the peak with me?~"

"I ain't gonna change yer mind, am I?" Octus sighed.

"Not for this, Papi~" Sona giggled. "And besides, it's not like I could do anything to stop it now anyway… But I'm sure it won't be that bad! This isn't that kind of story… "

"And I'm sure ya've been blinded by yer pursuit of something interesting," Octus retorted sharply.

"Do you really think so?" Sona asked, uncharacteristically serious and worried at Octus' assertion.

"Nahhhhh," Octus drawled sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "It's just an honest-to-Emperor Chaos ritual with unknown effects and consequences. Not like those fuckers are just as bad as the Drukhari or anything."

"T-They are?…" Sona stuttered in a small voice, sounding nothing like her usual boisterous self.

Octus felt frustration creeping into his voice and his volume raising, "Who the fuck do ya think yer working for, Sona?! They ain't called the Ruinous Powers for no reason!"

"I don't know!" Sona raised her voice as well just in time for it to break. "All I knew was it was better than my old life! Like, yeah, I knew they were bad but so was my boring, everyday-the-same-routine life! I thought the other cultist drones were just getting all worked up over nothing! That Chaos couldn't be as bad as they said it was 'cause nothing could! 'Cause nothing is that evil, right?! I didn't pay attention to the… the fucking philosophy of it all! I… I didn't know…"

Tears streaked down Sona's cheeks. Little hiccupping sobs tore themselves from her throat. All of her decisions, all of her evils seemed to catch up to her right then and there. She didn't mean for this to get so out of hand. She just wanted to not be so bored and depressed all the time…

Octus felt his anger leave him and cursed the fact that he couldn't hold a grudge to save his life, "Ya know… It ain't too late to do the right thing… Ya can still help me stop it. And dare I say, stopping a Chaos ritual that you helped plan sounds pretty damn interesting to me."

Choked laughter joined Sona's sobs, "It does, doesn't it? Oh, but no one else will ever forgive me…"

"Let's worry about that after we're sure we ain't all gonna die by Daemons…"