The Vault

Silvia blinked for a moment, her eyes adjusting to what she was seeing. She brushed her fingers against the rough metal surface of the heart shaped locket. It's golden exterior, dull and dented, the dingy old bauble having seen far better days. Gingerly holding it up to her ear she could hear a faint ticking inside.

"What do you think you're doing?"

It took a moment to register the sound, her mind still reeling. She turned to find her sister shuffling impatiently near the door.

"It's almost time for another security sweep. If there's nothing else in this vault, we need to leave."

"Yeah I...uh sorry Vee. Got a little distracted. I found something made of gold and it seems to be mechanical. It may be worth something, but it's the only usable thing here."

She takes one last look at the necklace before shoving it in her pocket. This locket seems oddly familiar, she wanted to examine it longer but if they got caught by Reagan and his men something like that would be the least of their concerns.

"C'mon" Vee beckoned, peaking out of the door to the vault "No one is out here yet, there's still time to get back to camp." Silvia stands up and gives one last look at the inside of the otherwise empty vault and meets her sister at the door.

Vee gave a curt nod and they walked back into the interior of the bank, climbed back into the maintenance vent, and scrambled out onto the roof. The sun was just beginning to set, they had left just in time.

They didn't say much on the way back to camp, the two of them working in tandem to keep lookout for any of the heavily armed soldiers that patrolled the city. The dilapidated buildings and burned out cars littered around this part of the city provided more than enough cover to stay vigilant and remain in the shadows.

Ducking down through the street, skirting through alleyways, and when needed dropping down into the sewers, all things considered it was a relatively quick escape. It took them roughly an hour to get out of the city proper and into the dense muddy woods on the outskirts. Within a few minutes they came to a cave. Hidden amongst a large pile of rocks they came to a door and Vee offered a swift sharp knock. A light knock back was the only answer.

Clearing her throat Vee responded,

Guided by his patient hand

We will salvage what we can

We stay the course and here we stand

We are the children

of Atavan

At this the door swung open and a small boy, about 7 years old looked up at them in disappointment, his small hands wringing the bottom of his tattered old superhero shirt.

"It's just you two." He sighs, rolling his eyes and stepping out of the doorway. "Did you see my dad out there? He went salvaging and he isn't back yet."

Silvia leans down, and gives him a soft pat on the head. "Sorry Danny, we didn't see him on our way in. I'm sure he'll be home soon though."

"I hope so, he's been gone a real long time..."

Vee interjects with a deep sigh "Oh my god he's fine! Your dad's probably just wandering around drunk, he's always drinking this time of day anyway."

Silvia gasped "Vee, that's inappropriate! How could you!"

Danny smiles sadly. "It's ok Sil, she's right. He does drink a lot, I guess. I don't mind if he comes home drunk as long as he comes home safe. You two go ahead, I'm gonna stand guard until he gets back."

Vee just nods and turns away, walking toward the camp, while Silvia ruffles his hair and gives him a soft smile. She rushes up to her sister and is able to catch her halfway down the corridor.

"Why are you always so mean?"

Vee stops but doesn't turn to face her sister. "What exactly is mean about telling the truth?"

"It won't kill you to be kind for literally a second of your life. You know how hard this is, sometimes people need it!'

"Sometimes people need a reality check." At this, she does turn and stares directly in Silvia's eyes. "I don't want Danny to think for a goddamn second that his dad's behavior is acceptable. If he learns now he won't grow up to be like him and he'll be better off."

"But it's not our place to talk down about his father. He is only a child, Vee! And if the council had a problem with the drinking they would have …"

Vee cuts her off angrily "The council left us for dead and so did Atavan! Stop pretending they're coming back or that they even care what we do here. The only ones looking out for us are us. You’re just as naive as he is, and you both need to grow up and stop putting faith in people who'll just let you down."

"Vee… I…"

"No” she sighs “We have work to do. If you need me I'll be in Gareth's tent debriefing him on our salvage today. You clean off that thing you found and figure out what to do with it."

* * * * * *

Silvia wiped her brow and dropped her cleaning rag. The locket was now polished, though still looked a little rough for the wear.

Its hinges seemed to be perfectly intact despite the denting and damage but there was no latch anywhere on it. It clearly seemed like it could be opened to access the inside. She got a small flathead screwdriver, wedged it into the seam, and softly pried it open.

Inside the locket was a faint blue glow and two identical watch faces. At first glance they would seem normal enough, but both faces had something very odd about them.

On the right face the numbers on the watch were strange. There was a combination of letters and numbers that seemed to constantly shift as the hands spun past them even some letters she didn't recognize that had to be from other languages.

On the left face the numbers rotated slowly around the hands. Still shifting and changing but rather than the hands moving, the numbers themselves were in constant motion.

She picked up the watch and touched the left face, when she heard a scream. Silvia clutched the locket in her hand and rushed outside her tent.

Everyone else in the settlement was either already standing in the camp or coming out to investigate just like she was. She caught Vee's eye as she came out of Gareth's tent, and they exchanged a frightened glance. The stomping of boots could be heard coming from the entrance to the cave. A group of soldiers, fifty or so strong clad in the city's insignia of a dragon, entered the camp. All of them impossibly large in their thick plate armor and holding heavy artillery rifles.

In the front of this group dead and center was a hard faced man with slicked back jet black hair and an ornate tattoo of a dragon on his face. To his left, two soldiers were half walking, half carrying a man in chains who seemed to have been beaten. As they got closer she could see it was Danny's father. To the man's other side Danny struggled against the grasp of a soldier who was carrying him under one arm.

Vee pushes her way to the front of the crowd and aggressively addresses the man. "Reagan, how did you find us, and why are you here?!"

At this he laughs and signals his soldiers to halt. "Well hello beautiful. I'm here because I found this-" He snaps his fingers and the guards throw Danny's father to the ground. "-half drunk buffoon wandering around the edge of my city."

He puts a heavy boot on the man's face and he sobs and slacks under the weight of it. "The only reason I didn't kill this pathetic excuse for a man is because he led me here."

Danny screams and struggles "Dad! You let go of my Dad you monster!"

Reagan signals and the guard throws Danny to the ground as well. Vee rushes to his side. She makes sure Danny is ok, and then stands between him and the soldiers."What do you want with us?"

He scowls and steps up to meet her. "I'm sick and tired of you little rats scrounging around my city looking for crumbs. This time one of you has taken something valuable to me. And I want it back NOW."

"I don't know what youre talking about!"

"Oh you know exactly what I mean. The Amulet you stole. If you took it, you know damn well what it’s worth. I want it back right now and I will kill each and every last one of you little rats until I find it."

"Please, we don’t know anything about an amulet. Leave us alone." Vee whispers, her voice cracking.

Reagan scowls at her and snaps his fingers at the guard. "Fine. If that's how you want it. Kill them. Start with the kid."

A soldier raises his gun at Danny, and before anyone else can move or speak, he fires, and Vee jumps in front of the bullet. She falls to the ground in front of Danny, and every denizen in the camp panics.

The soldiers fan out, people are running and frantically searching for escape. The sounds of gunfire and pain ring out in the cavern. Silvia desperately pushes through the crowd to reach her sister, the herd of desperate people pushing against her like a turbulent current.

By the time she finally reaches them, Danny has his shirt on Vee's stomach and is desperately trying to stop the bleeding.

"Sil… she… she won't wake up. What do I do, she won't wake up.."

She sits down next to Danny and holds her sister's hand. It's warmth is slowly fading. "No… Vee please. You gotta hold on. I know how stubborn you are. If anyone can make it...if anyone can..'' mid sentence she feels her sister's hand slack in her own. She holds her sister's hand tighter, her tears blurring her vision. "No…oh god no…Vee, why did this all have to happen? I don't understand."

Silvia looks up at the panic and chaos around her, slowly realizing she's still in the middle of an invasion. Her eyes come across Regan loudly arguing with a guard. "I need that Amulet, when you shoot them search their fucking pockets for it, don't just stomp over them like some kind of moron. If you break it we'll have nothing. We need it intact!"

Silvia looks down at her left hand, despite everything the locket is still held fast in her grip. She opens it and stares at the glowing faces. He wants this so bad, there has to be something it does. Some way to use it. She puts her finger on the hour hand on the left face of the watch.

"You! Hey what is that you've got!" The soldier yells, holding up his rifle and pointing it at her. As he pulls the trigger, she softly turns the hand of the watch, and prays for something to happen.

* * * * * *

Silvia brushed her fingers against the rough metal surface of the heart shaped locket. She covered her mouth with her hand, stopping a sob before it could escape, tears streaming down her face. She's inside the vault again.

"What do you think you're doing?"

She turns to her sister weeping, barely able to speak "Vee...I'm sorry… I'm so so sorry."

"What are you talking about? It's almost time for another security sweep. If there's nothing else ….wait why are you crying?"

"How many times, Vee? How many times have we done this?"