Angron settled into his seat as the shuttle around him was active in everything but flying to the Conqueror.
One of his sons, an apothecary, had been looking over his head in every which way. Hands firm but soft, scared – the every present taste of hot steel and bland ash was fading away and other tastes were slowly covering his mouth. The newest one was hard to say. It wasn't ash, it wasn't that hot steel that burned, it was something more. Something not bitter but something similar. A cousin of bitter that left a shallow aftertaste on his tongue. It was strong when staring at his son as he checked that Angron would not fall over dead, and it was even stronger when he looked at his brother.
Sanguinius was speaking to one of his sons with a few more close by. A circle of red with one golden figure in the middle with hands gesturing and eyes stern. The orders for them was simple and he didn't need to watch them or listen to his brother to know what they were ordered to do.
Whoever healed him had clearly ran. The Hive that the World Eaters had put their backs to was the closest Hive to them and the best bet to find someone who was trying to hide. The tunnels of the underground and the maze of allies on the surface fulfill that purpose well. With all the people and the chaos of the Orks; disappearing into into a mass of people wouldn't be all that hard to do.
If they baseline or something similar that is.
Angron knew there was no way in hell that he, his father, or his brothers, would be able to blend in with normal humans. He would even add his sons and all the other Legions into that! They were just too noticeable.
To big to fit through normal doorways, to scared to be anything but a warrior, an aura that broadcasts what they to even those without psykers abilities.
Even with that – in the chaos of a Hive City? With millions trying to leave all at once?
Things slip through the cracks.
Angron knew that and Sanguinius did too.
Which added another layer – where was Sanguinius' missing son?
Astartes did not disappear that easily. They are too big, too clunky when in armor, they were too loyal. Even more so with Blood Angels.
"To the best of my abilities I would say you are healed." His sons voice was breathless was to focused to breath deeply, and with his words bitter's cousin was released it's hold on his tongue slowly. Hesitantly. A hovering presence that was ready to act at any time. "Truly something that –" was a miracle his son did not say but was on the mind of everyone. "The Emperor is coming, yes? I would like if one of his may look you over if you will allow."
"Father will." Angron spoke with certainly. He would kill any of the Custodes that tried to get near him. His Father would have to be the one to look him over. If he wanted him looked over.
Sanguinius' impromptu meeting came to an end as his sons took their duties and orders and as Sanguinius walked to Angron. The look of worry and anger – a new taste of hot sauce was spreading rapidly in his mouth – so rarely seen on the normal calmest of the Primarchs. The Blood Angels spilt, some to the swamp, some to the No Man's land that was between the World Eaters and Orks, and other to the Hive.
"Still no word." He said as he crouched down to look Angron over. His wings were folded tight, mindful of those who were running around them getting ready to send Angron off to his flagship. His eyes jumped from looking him in the eyes and looking at his head.
He had been doing that a lot, looking Angron over, like he was disappear in the wind. "We know he made it to land. He know he was working on get an idea of what was happening. He was to Hail us when the Orbital Bombardments were to happen so we knew where to aim away from. He missed that check in." Sanguinius sighed. "I thought it was a break in communication. I should have had someone check and try to get through to him. We knew where he was planed to land so we aimed away. But still we – we could have tried something."
"There was nothing you could have done. Your son seems to be caught in the middle of someelse's plans. There was nothing be done. There was no warning." Angron watched his brother. Words fell from his lips without the threat of the Nails stealing them away. It was something that was a wonder. He had forgotten what it felt like. "Whatever happened, it happened in the window after I was healed and the Orbital Bombardments."
"So small and yet –" Sanguinius turned back to the Hive to where that Shuttle should have landed.
"– Anything can happen within a blink." Angron said when Sanguinius didn't finish his words. The taste in his mouth was getting worse, stronger with Sanguinius so close. It was like how the smell of someone's soap could be smell in sniffs in passing; a sign that they were there a trail as it were but it became clear when they were right in front you. The scent of them being second nature to notice. "It is not your fault and we will find your son. The likely hood that he is helping civilians or even buying time against an Orks. We will find him and he will be okay."
Sanguinius offered him a smile. That taste was lessening and joined with another flavor. Something sweet.
Angron frowned at him. "Why wouldn't it be 'we'? The –" he waved his hand around. They needed a name for them soon. The 'Them' being the one who healed him. "–was after me clearly. Your son just got caught up in it. I'm coming with you."
"If that was what truly happened." The hot sauce was back.
"Of course that was what happened. Do you think so little of your son that an Ork could take him down?"
"Of course not!" There was a new flavor: hot sauce but with a sweeter tinge to it. Less heat and more spice.
"Then that settles it. I will go with you."
Snaguinius smiled, the spice and heat disappeared and it was replaced by something smoothing, calming, "I would love to have your aid with tracking my son. Though I doubt Father would be pleased."
Angron huffed. "Father wanted me away from the battle. He didn't say how."
Sanguinius laughed. "Of course, brother. Now, I believe that your captain awaits you."
He stood up then and looked at one of Angron's sons. He nodded and then looked back at him. "Do take care." He spoke with a gentle smile before patting Angron on his shoulder and then walked out of the shuttle. He stood with his sons and waved as the door closed and the engines started.
Sanguinius and his sons would not be on the planet for long. The Orks would be dealt with and they would be on the hunt for their missing soon enough.
The shuttle shook as it took off and in a few short moments it shook even as it fought the gravity and atmosphere. There was even more as it approached and then entered the first layer of doors of the Conqueror's docking bay.
Angron sat in his seat as he waited for his sons to finish the shuttle check. He wouldn't lie to himself and say he wasn't trying to hold off getting off the shuttle and onto the Conqueror.
He knew who would be greeting him.
He knew who would stand behind those doors. Not on her catwalk, high above her men, she would be there ready to see him. To see for herself what he was as a man whole.
Angron took a deep breath as the doors slid open and the straps that held him for the ride slid off him and he stood up.
It was Lotara that greeted him.
Hands behind her straight back. Lips in a thin, bloodless, line and eyes that were darting all over him. They found his head and lingered there like Sanguinius and the sons before her that saw. They widened and Angron found himself bending his head forward for to see better with the need for her to stand on something or for him to bow or kneel.
She only stepped forward when he exited the shuttle.
Angron smiled. A thing that he thinks he can get used too. The feeling of pop-rocks danced on his tongue. Cherry flavored pop-rocks. "Captain."
Her eyes searched him again before nodding and turning on her heel, he followed close behind her. There was an unspoken order that he was in no mood to argue against.
It wasn't till they were safe behind the doors of the main conference room that Lotara threw her arms around him. It was both a thing she had never done before but it was something that he would not rebuke her for.
Fear had a scent and he knew that scent well. It was something that lived in the wake of Lotara, it wasn't caused by the Astartes, it was not born from the wars and battles she had fought, it was from Angron – not of Angron but for him. It was something that he had to get used to.
Lotara wasn't a tall woman, but she wasn't too short by the ways of measurement that the Baseline Humans used. She was short by Astartes' and truly tiny by Primarch standards; but that didn't stop her from trying to wrap both her arms around him and to hold him as close to her as she could. Her hold was firm and arms were tight.
He returned that hug carefully and lightly. There was a true fear in him, a fear that had came to fruition with his brothers and sisters of the Ring, that him hugging someone with only the fraction of his strength could cause harm. Broken bones were the least of his worries. There were different injures that could be caused with carelessness. The Nails just added to that fear.
He did not want to break her in any way.
So he did not hug her even as she hugged him.
Now though – there was no Nails. He had long sense learned the lessons in watching his strength.
So he let Lotara hug him with all her might even as his own touch was that of a feather but firmer and more there then he had ever let his touch be.
"You are well." Though her words were muffled by her hold on him, she still said it like it was a statement. A fact. A truth that could not be denied or taken away.
Angron nodded his head even if she could not see it. "As much as we could tell." He pulled away and went to his seat. Lotara was quick to go to her own on his right.
His captain of the Conqueror and the Legion.
The Mortal Woman with the heart of an Astartes.
"Father will be joining us soon and will be looking over me to make sure it is truly healed."
Lotara nodded. "I have already been in contact with Lord Valdor to make sure we are aligned with any hand offs and precautions that need to take place."
He looked down at his hand he placed it on the table next to Lotara's own. The size difference was always shocking every time he was confronted with it – he normally never looked at her hands, normally he was too scared to even bring his sight to be longer then a moment or two, scared that the Nails would mark her for death in the next rage.
A sane man, a better man, would have sent her away at the sign that he could hurt her. That man would have never brought her aboard the Conqueror or let her stay in the first place. But he was not that man. He kept her on the ship, guarded by his best sons and known and marked for protection and first checks if anything went wrong. He never thought send her away because to send her away not something he could bring himself to do. The moment she walked onto his bridge and did not flinch at the sight of him – he knew with the all part of him that was not touched Nails – she needed to stay. She could not leave.
He gently took her small hand into his own and she gripped it. Tight. Unyielding.
He opened his mouth only to closing it again. The feeling of pop-rocks and now the flavor of mint filled his tongue again.
Bitter replaced the mint.
"My brothers have powers because they are whole Primarchs." he said suddenly. Lotara's gripped tightened on him and the cherry calmed down but the pop-rocks remained. "Unbroken." Unlike him went unsaid. "But I never had that aura, the powers I was to have, because of the nails. Father once said that I was the Empath of the family. That I was one of the few who were awake when we were scattered." He paused then. He wasn't really talking to Lotara but just uttering thoughts that had on his mind since he was healed. He didn't want to ask anything of Sanguinius, he didn't want to cause any more issue for him when one of his favored sons was stolen right out from underneath him. "I think those powers. That 'empath power' that I was said to have had. I think it's coming back."
Lotara jumped up. "Are you sure?" Her hand was still in his.
He nodded. "It's a taste. A flavor on my tongue. Most can feel the emotions of a room –" He had done the research when the Nails were quiet and there was moments between the rage and hallucinations. "I can taste them."
To prove his point unintentionally on her part, Lotara's emotions took a turn and with it the flavor on his tongue. The pop-rocks, a thing the must only belong to Lotara because it was with only her that they came into play, were still there but the bitterness of worry and with it the slightest hint of mint; of relief. The cherry underlined it all. She stood up from her chair and started to pace. It was then that her hand was pulled free from his.
"Anything else different?" She asked. She had stopped walking in that moment and looked over at him. One arm was crossed along her chest and the other was tucked under her chin with a finger over her lips as her eyes darted all around him and the room. It was like she expected the room to hold any answer to any question she might ask.
The bitterness was getting thicker but it was his shake of his head that brought her peace. That brought the mint back to his tongue. "The only difference is that of the quiet from the Nails."
Lotara smiled. "Okay. We can work with that."
"Okay," He echoed her. "It's going to be okay." He had the feeling. And for the first time in a long time he trusted that feeling.
His father showed up a two days after. Valdor had been in talks with Lotara and Sanguiniu's Flagship Captain about the best way to go about have the Emperor and the Primarchs meet.
Valdor spoke with respect to Lotara even if he paused when uttering Angron and his brother's names. They were just Primarchs, the failed experiments that the Emperor had claimed wrongly as sons, in his eyes. Of course Angron knew that Valdor would never speak against his father in such away. But he knew what he thought, had felt in his glares and slighted words, and now tasted on his tongue.
He would not bring up such feeling or issues as long as Valdor and those Golden Brothers of his did not turn them onto Lotara. She was innocent and free of any perceived crime that Valdor had bestowed upon them.
Sanguinius gave him a small but worried smile.
They stood together on the Red Tear's bridge. Lotara had stayed behind with Kharn, something she did not like but understood, and it was just him. He had no sons aboard and he knew Lotara ruled them with an iron hand and with words and a backbone of steel.
Sanguinius, stood next him, joined him looking out the large windows that led to the view of the planet.
They should be greeting their father. They should be waiting like good, little, sons for the shuttle to dock and for their father to exit.
But he was coming with Custodes.
And Sanguinius' sons had no issue in leading them to the bridge. If there was? Their father was a powerful Psyker that could easily find them if there was a need.
Angron shot a glance at his brother as they watched a Hive City, one that was far from them and was first attacked by Orks, burn from orbit. The City was not burning from them but because of Orks – it was surprising about how wide spread and powerful the fire was though. Sanguinius' sons were stilling searching for any sign of their missing brother in the Hive and in the swamp near by.
Angron placed his hand of his brother's shoulder.
Sanguinius did not want to be on the ship. He loved their father, that was a truth that was never hidden from anyone, but he wanted to be down there looking from his missing son. Angron knew that well, knew that if Angron had been any other brother, if Valdor had not been coming – he would on his own in greeting their father.
He was happy that he was not anyone else and that he was not facing the man by himself.
Though he could do without Valdor.
Sanguinius shot him a look as his hand fell and the doors to the bridge slid open with a hiss of air displacement.
Angron met that look with an even stare. Even as he subtly pushed him forward to their father.
The Emperor of Mankind eyes were scanning them as he stepped forward to greet Sanguinius. Valdor stayed to the Emperor's side but did nothing more then watch with steely eyes as Sanguinius met their father with a smile, folded wings, and a bowed head. He held his arm out in and in a warrior's greeting – hand to elbow in a firm hold – their father took that greet and even patted him on the shoulder as he passed him to greet Angron.
He hadn't taken his eyes off of Angron.
Nails used to hiss and growl and claw at any sign of the Emperor's attention. Used to be the worse kind of headache, the kind that sent him to the ground, and Lotara into the most secure room the ship could have as they waited for the Nails to claim the due they thought they were owed for baring with the Emperor's presence. It was his glowing gaze that made it all worse.
Recently, he had Kharn or Lotara deal with his father and all that came with him. Dealing with the aftermath of the Nails was getting too much.
He wouldn't be needing to do that anymore now would he?
The Emperor walked up to Angron and it was that moment that Angron took off the head scarf he had taken to wearing. The head scarf was soft and silky – one of Lotara's favorite that she had but forced into his hands and onto his head – it was a white background with dark blue lines that ran along it.
"World Eater colors," Lotara said as she tied around his head, "And one of the few colors I want to see on your head." She then playfully glared at him through the mirror. That scarf was dripping in the scent of her perfume. Something that was very light on scent and more easy on the nose for the Astartes and Angron.
He wouldn't mind she gets anything more there in scent, deeper in tones and headier in the clung of it all.
The scarf was held in one hand as the one ran along the barely there scars. "There's almost nothing to show for it." He said in lieu of greeting.
His father stopped in front of him and with slow moving hands took a gentle hold of his head.
Angron didn't need to be tugged or directed as he leaned forward to give his father the best view that he could, at the angle they were at, of the main points the Nails were dug in at. There were a mess of light pink scar tissue from what his son, Gahlan his best Apothecary, could see. They held no pain for him. They were not tender. They were just there. A bitter reminder of what was and something that gives him and his sons hope.
His father's touch was soft and careful as he traced every spot and then ran them down his brainstem. His brainstem held the worse of the scaring. Raised patches and with dried blood that was hard to scrub off – mainly because he was too weak when the adrenaline wore off to clean it himself and because Lotara and Kharn were too scared to hurt him; in the end, Sanguinius had to be summoned to aid him in cleaning his head and neck, it would be a cherished memory when the fear of the unknown wears off – but that was all.
"My son," His father finally spoke. "Any other changes?"
There was a few – he looked at the Blood Angels around him and then at Valdor – he would rather keep them to himself.
The taste of bitterness had burrowed deep into his tongue and seemed to be making a try for a permanent stay.
He missed Lotara's cherry pop-rocks with sweetness coming and going.
His father studied him for a moment more before turning back to Sanguinius, "Do you have the blood samples?"
Sanguinius stepped forward. "Of course. We also have pictures of the tent. The inside and the outside. They are in the Medical Wing as we speak."
"Good." Their father turned back to them. "I am happy that you are healed." He voice may have carried the same weight that never left, a tone that never showed great emotion, but the taste on Angron's tongue did not lie. The mint, the relief, came like a wave.
The Emperor of Mankind was relieved at his son's healing.
"Come, we must figure out who this 'Healer' is." The Emperor turn on his heal and marched to the Medical Wing.
Sanguinius and Angron looked at one another and then followed him.
There was no need for Sanguinius to lead the Emperor around the Red Tear, there was no need for him to even take the lead, every Imperium Flagship was made the same with little changes in the layout that varied from ship to ship. The Emperor had personally designed the Ship for the Primarchs and it was a ship that could be edited if needed.
Angron had not changed the layout of the Conqueror nor did most of his brothers. Sanguinius, of course fell into the same camp. Not that Angron could have changed the lay out of the Conqueror; it belonged to Lotara and every change had to go through her. He owned the Legion but was her that ruled the ship.
And he wouldn't have it any other way.
Sanguinius' wing bumped his shoulder as Angron moved closer to him. The wing had opened up and hid him as they walked to the medical wing.
The eyes of Valdor had tried to burned itself into his skin before Sanguinius moved to take the hit.
Angron nodded to him and his brother offered a tense smile that didn't reach his eyes. In fact his eyes were focused on the back of their father but had moments of looking to the side where Valdor walked.
The taste of syrup, the sickly sweet type that clung and was a sticky coat, laid on the back of his tongue as the bitterness sat on the tip.
Valdor looked straight ahead and had no issue in keeping pace – like always.
The Emperor pushed open the Medical Wing. It was empty of any Blood Angels, Apothecaries or otherwise, the beds were empty, a true blessing for any Legion if the Primarch cared kind about such a thing, and the machines hummed with the ship as they were not in active use. The Medical Wing looked both similar and different compare to that of the Conqueror.
There was at least a hundred beds that were in easy sight. White curtains that were pooled back to show that were all bed and were empty. Life support machines were on wheels and pushed but against the wall, secured and ready to be used at anytime, screens hung off the ceiling and were turned off. The floors were a tiled pale cream color and the cloth of the beds looked soft. Pillows were clean and puffed. Side tables that held sleeping dataslates and cups placed upside ready for use.
It was a medical wing, but a medical wing that wasn't just there for healing. There was something there that not all Legions had. Comfort.
That was what was different between the World Eaters' and the Blood Angel's Medical Wing; the comfort. The Blood Angels had that and the World Eaters were more ridged in that regard. Blood Angels went to into Medical wing for healing the body and mind, the World Eaters went in for the body and nothing else.
Maybe he could change that now.
They didn't stay in the main halls for long and walked into a small side room that acted as the main labs for the ship.
Sanguinius took the lead then. "My sons have had the samples running as we speak. It shouldn't be to long before we get any hits."
The machines hummed a different tune then that of the Red Tear but the tune was there nonetheless.
The Emperor stood in front of the main machine. The Machine that housed the blood sample, that housed the DNA that might lead to this 'Healer' that Lotara and Kharn was thankful for, the 'Healer' that Sanguinius might either punch or hug for two very different reasons, the 'Healer' that Angron and his father wanted answers from. "What database is it looking through?" He asked.
"The General Database." Sanguinius answered. He had ushered Angron to the only Primarch sized seat; their father didn't seem to mind, but Valdor tilted his head just so. Sanguinius stood between them. Wings still folded but feather were ever so fluffed up, he was displeased by the knowledge that Valdor was near.
This more then the usual disquiet with his presence.
Their father stepped away from the machine and walked up behind Angron. He tensed when cold fingers touched the back of his head but was quick to calm when they were light the touch. They tickled a little and Angron couldn't quite hide the huff he gave out under his breath.
The Emperor paused for the slightest of moments before going to counting scars and tracing where the scars once were. "There is not tell other then the scars to speak of the Nails." He said finally. His hands were steady but his words, while smooth and almost normal in every way, had a change to it. An every so slight change and with it; Angron's tongue was a bitter mint.
He tilted his head to see it in a different light and that still didn't change the fact that there was nothing there. Nothing hiding under the skin, nothing waiting in the dark, there was nothing but the light scars of the Nails.
His father stepped away and looked down at him; his face was stone. Carved and still and yet – the taste of mint came from him. There was a look in the Emperor's eyes that Angron turned away from.
"Brother," Sanguinius spoke up. "What was it that you refused to be speak about in front of my sons?" His tone was gentle as were his eyes. The question, Angron knew, could go unanswered. That Sanguinius would not push but –
"I think the Primarch Aura is coming into play." He said with a tongue that suddenly tasted with relieved joy. "The empathy. I thought I would feel it. I didn't think on how it would feel or what it would feel like. But I don't feel the emotions. I taste them."
"Explain." The Emperor broke in. Sanguinius was left blinking at both of them before turning his eyes to him.
Angron swallowed. Being under the intense eyes of the Emperor and the Angel? Not the best place to be.
"Emotions. I taste them. Relief in mint, anger is hot sauce, worry is bitter, joy is a sweet orange," He paused on that one. Those 'kind' emotions were hard to pin down but he knew that they were there and he knew them the moment they touched his tongue. It was just hard to put certain flavors to them. "Fear is a dry mouth, grief is wet." He shrugged then. "Those are the ones that I can pin down."
"Emotions have a taste." Sanguinius said. His tone was both impressed and shocked but also at the same time not. A mix of flavors soon dotted flood his mouth.
Angron nodded. His tongue moving behind his teeth.
"Anything else?" The Emperor held Angron's eyes in his own – searching for something, for anything, though what he was looking for was hard to understand.
"Not that I can place." He took a breath. Held it in his lungs before breathing easy. "I am still getting used to the Nails being gone."
"Speaking on the Nails being gone," Snaguinius budded in. There was something in those words, in his tone, that brought Angron and their father's attention to him. "You said something about 'hallucinations' before? You said it was a side effect of living with the Nails for too long?"
Oh. He caught that didn't he? And Angron did say that didn't he?
He let out a sigh, long and heavy. "Looked. The Nails were a death sentence to anyone who had them. My Ring Brothers and Sisters if they were 'Gifted' with the Nails and they lived with them long enough the Nails were what did them in and not a fights they were sent too." Many nights spent in cold, dark, cells. With one lantern in the cell block it see by. Chains raddling as the Nails took their dues. Screams coming Ring Brothers as they raged at things that only they could see. Ring Sister refusing food because of the poison their Nail Born paranoia said was there. "Hallucinations, paranoia, hunger fading, headaches that never went away, the Nails heating up and burning the scalp, eye sight going, trembling in the hands and the rest of the body." He listed them off. "That is the Death Throws of the Nails."
Sanguinius was silent. The Emperor was silent. Valdor stood like a statue at the door.
"You thought the intruder was an hallucination to the point of rolling over in bed when you saw it." Sanguinius pointed out.
Angron nodded. "Yes. I had one just the morning too." A creepy fucking hand that he didn't want to see again. Or feel.
"You had a hallucination." The Emperor said.
"And you didn't tell me?"
Angron opened his mouth. A faint heat was starting and getting stronger.
"How many symptoms of the 'Death Throws' have you exprenced." It wasn't a question but a demand.
The heat laid on his tongue like a warning.
"All of them." The words fell from his lips at the went numb with hot sauce that took over inch of his mouth and even some of his lips. "Look we knew that I wouldn't survive. So I didn't let anyone about how many steps closer I was to death."
"You should have told us." Sanguinius' voice was wet and soon Angron's mouth full plain flavored gruel. "Told anyone."
"I did. I told Lotara. To help her and the men to get ready to be a Legion without a Primarch." It wasn't easiest of things to speak of. Looking back on that day. Lotara's bitter eyes even as her hands were solid and her voice steady as she swore to take for the Legion. It was the same day that tremble in his hands could not be hidden and she and Kharn had to start signing paperwork for him.
"You didn't think to tell us?" 'Your brothers' went unsaid but was very much heard.
"You wouldn't been able to help me." Angron looked over at the Emperor. He had shut himself off with those Psyker powers of his and there was no taste coming from him. He had turned away from him and was watching the air in between him and Sanguinius. Valdor tightened his hold on his Apollonian Spear.
"And want about you? What is going on with your son Virgil that you are desperate to get him home?" Angron tore his eyes away and focused on his brother. Worry was thick on his tongue and something else that he didn't have a name for.
Sanguinius just looked at him. "Virgil is one of my captains. Of course, I worry for him."
His words taste like a sour lemon. It was the truth but not all of it. Angron smiled, an odd feeling that he was going to have to get use to. A feeling he wouldn't mind learning to like. "Want to try that again, Brother?" He stuck his tongue out.
Sanguinius stared at his tongue before locking eyes with him.
"Sour Lemon," He said suddenly. "I do not know what it means. Maybe uncomplete truths? Words that dance around a lie without uttering it?" His words were left hanging the air.
"Sanguinius," The Emperor of Mankind spoke. A command and a demand; all rolled into a simple call of a name.
Sanguinius looked down. His wings sagged and a taste of sadness and worry were becoming well known.
"Virgil – Achean Virgil, he's one of my oldest sons." Angron watched his brother as he started to pace. "A remnant of my revenants. As the saying goes. I have only a handfull of them left – the ones that were mine before I met them."
"That is not what causes you worry." Their father said when Sanguinius words fell off.
Sanguinius – Sanguinius was the most melancholy of the Primarchs, that was a fact. There was no dancing around it. There was a weight that laid heavy on him; Angron tried to stand up, tried to go to him as the taste of everything became mush in his mouth, The Emperor's hand on his shoulder kept him seated though.
"What do you know of how my sons kept a line of command even when they were dying in droves?"
Angron had to no answer for him. "I do not know." He said.
Sanguinius looked down. Not looking at any of them. "What I say can not be repeated."
"My sons have a geneseed flaw called the Red Thirst." The way he said 'Red Thirst' made a chills go down his back. The hand on his shoulder tightened. "The Red Thirst is the reasoning my sons were called the Revenants before I was found. Consumed by bloodlust. Not just for battle but for the blood itself. They drink it – in the heat of battle they lose themselves a little each time that the Thirst wins over their control." Sanguinius suddenly looked up. "You have to understand. The Thirst can to kept in check. I know it can! I have seen it. My sons fight it everyday – I fight it every day."
"Why did you not tell me?" The Emperor asked.
Sanguinius swallowed and then straightened his back. "Father. You know why." There was a fire in his eyes before he looked to the side.
He was looking at Valdor.
He did not need to say the words – to say the name that hung in the air. The history that laid there in that name.
It felt like the Emperor stopped breathing.
It always came back to them, didn't it? The fate of weapons that no longer had their uses; when something bigger and better came along.
Valdor took a slow step out of the doorway, out of the room, where he had been standing, but did not leave completely. The room had a change in the air, a feeling that was there was there no longer. He didn't know what to make of it.
Sanguinius noticed none of this though.
He looked back at the Emperor.
"My sons had no true control before I came to them. It was because my own anger, my own sleeping rage that must be kept in check, it because they are my sons that the Red Thirst comes for them. They were monsters of the battlefield. They were brutal, killed and ate the dead, but they are my sons. With the help of Horus and his Luna Wolves, I was able to bring them peace. Make them more then the monsters that my rage turned them into." Sanguinius locked eyes with the Emperor. "They became honorable, they know loyalty, they know love, and they are mine just I am theirs. It is because me that they have the Red Thirst." He smiled bitterly. "I too carve blood."
Sanguinius took a deep breath. "The Legion Master of the Nineth Legion has always been the same man even if he wore different faces. The way it would go was simple; in battle, if the Legion Master fell, it was up to the physically closest of a set chosen brothers to eat the brain and heart of the Legion Master. Memories would be passed between the Legion Master and the brother who ate him. It was a way to keep command going even in the worse of fighting." He paused then. "There was another way, a ritual, I have only seen the aftermath of that once."
"My Legion Master was named Ishidur Ossuros."
Grief, sadness, rage. That was what followed that name.
"Ishidur did what he could to keep his brothers alive through the worse of battles. My sons were called immortal, called unkillable," He spat that last word like a curse. "They thrown into battles that were already considered lost and came out on top. One of the first battles I fought alongside my sons; I had pushed to far ahead. I was surrounded and locked in. Trapped. Sons laid at my feet even as more enemies swarmed. Ishidur had led a suicide charge to get to me. He had only known for a mouth at most – and yet." He took a deep breath. "I brought him back to the ship and as he laid dying, I asked him if he wanted to continue the tradition. If he wanted a new face as it were."
Sanguinius shook his head. "He said no. He asked to sleep, to rest, and so a granted that for him. There was no need for him anymore because I was there – so he let go."
Angron – he could understand that and he did. He knew the feeling of holding on to make sure everything would be fine before letting go. Many of his Kin of the Rings did as much.
"There was some though – some that didn't like that idea. Didn't like not having Ishidur around."
"Someone betrayed you." Angron said plainly. The Blood Angels were considered the most loyal sons to their father, right there with Guilliman's sons. It was infallible that a Blood Angel could go against his father's wishes.
Sanguinius nodded. "Ishidur's chosen brothers that would be his new face had survived the battle. One of the Achean. Achean was hurt pretty bad and he was some of the few who were in the room when Ishidur passed. He was in and out of consciousness and was on a touch and go basses. Somewhere in the night cycle; a group of brothers hatched a plan to bring Ishidur back."
The Emperor's hands fell away without force.
Valdor sucked in a deep breath.
"They –" He couldn't utter it. Couldn't bring himself to say it.
It was one thing if you chose to eat the dead or your kills; whether they be human or not. The Night Lords were known for it. It was another to force someone to eat another's flesh.
"Achean couldn't fight back. When my sons went to tend to Ishidur's body and prepare him a proper funeral that he had been denied over and over because of the needs of the Legion. There was no guessing on what happened. It was just a matter on finding out who."
What a scene is must have been.
To have a body cut and butcher and a living son covered in blood. Because Angron was sure the meal wasn't pretty and neat. There was no forks or knives, just flesh being shoved down the throat of a defenseless man.
"I was the one who found Achean, and was the one to hold him as the fear that Ishidur would take his body, that Achean would die in but body, consumed him."
"You found who did it." Their father, who had been shockingly silent, spoke up. His ever-so-slightly glowing eyes were locked onto Sanguinius who nodded.
"I executed them. I made it so that Achean would never be a Dreadnaught. That that was a fate not for him or Ishidur. Ishidur never took over and Achean healed, climbed the ranks, and stopped at the Fourth Captain position. He could go higher but –"
"He can't because it could cause unrest for those that know." Their father finished for him.
Sanguinius nodded. "Promised myself to look after him. Not only because he is one of my eldest but because he has the knowledge of how the Legion works. He knows the Red Thirst well and if the information gets out then –"
A silence settled over them.
Angron got looks for his words.
"What? It's true." Turned to his brother who been getting tense, who had spilled the secrete of his Legion, something that could get them all killed. "It's funny though. Before me, my sons were seen as the honorable ones and yours the Revenants – monsters." He gave his brother a crooked smile. "Now, it is the other way around. I am the feral hound with sons that have the Nails, we are the butchers, the World Eaters. And it is you that bare the title of 'Angel' who's Legion is looked up to."
"Your sons have the Nails."
Angron nodded. "A civil war within the Legion. Take the Nails and suffer with me or die."
Sanguinius' mouth opened, closed, and then. "That's fucked up."
He nodded again with a bitter chuckle.
He wondered if he could order the Nails to be removed.
Or would that be a step too far? A spit in the face those who died in the infighting? Or something else.
"Wasn't the sanest when it happened." He looked down as his own hand. "I don't know how to feel about clear thoughts."
"I am sure you will get use to it."
"We will speak on this." The Emperor ordered as they stood in silence. "Both of you."
Angron and Sanguinius shared a look between them. That was something they weren't looking forward too.
The Emperor watched them; his feels were still blank to Angron's tongue.
Sanguinius looked over but before he could move The Emperor beat him there. His eyes and hands went to the machine that was going to give them a piece of the puzzle.
"What?" He uttered. His hand flew over the screens and buttons and before long a holo image was brought up in the middle of the room.
There was four DNA strands. There were clustered together and the last was off to the side. The far one had 'Unknown' underneath it and the others had 'Sire', 'IX', and 'XII' underneath them.
The Emperor was quick to highlight some parts of the DNA lines. "This is your DNA." He said. "This –" He highlights a few things in blue. "Is what shows that you are not only brothers but full brothers." An area pops-up green. "This is what makes you a Primarch."
Angron understood nothing. Sanguinius may have a better idea but they both were hanging off their father's every word.
"See this?" He said. He pointed to two lit up areas. "This is what makes you my sons of blood and not just of bond. This –" He points again. "Is only shared between Twenty One of you."
"So why," He hits a few more buttons. "Is the 'Unknown' sharing those same DNA markers?"
"What?" Sanguinius said. Eyes wide as they jump from one DNA strand to another. "Do you have all of us on file?" He asked.
"Yes." Their father paused them as he went through the files. "Wait. The only ones I don't have an updated DNA file for is Second and Eleventh."
There was something heavy that settled in the silence between them at that.
No one wanted to be the who breathed the idea into being.
"My Lord, is there a way to compare the DNA of the Missing to the DNA of the Unknown?" It was Valdor who spoke up.
"I will need a fresh sample to do it." The Emperor stared at the 'Unknown' DNA. "I have a vial of unused DNA on Terra. That could take months–." What he said next was just murrurs to himself and Valdor who came to his side.
"Is there anyone of his Legion left?" Angron asked. "Surely we can use their blood or even geneseed, right?"
Angron never had to work with the Orphaned Legions as they were called. In fact, he barely ever heard of them. He knew they were dying off when he took over his Legion and then heard nothing else. No news of battle fronts or final last stands, not even supply runs.
"That's not a bad idea." Sanguinius agreed.
"The Secound are all dead." Their father said. "The Eleventh is down to a company. I placed them with Fifth."
"That's the plan then. We go to Russ. He's not to far is he?"
Sanguinius nodded. "We'll head to Russ and then figure out if your savior and my son-steeler is our brother."
It was then, much like before in his tent on the planet below them, that a Blood Angel ran into the room. He stopped in the door, breathing heavy. "Father! We have a ping for Virgil's shuttle."
Wide-eyes passed around him.
It was Angron who spoke up, "A change plans. We track the shuttle and have Russ meets us."
"Yes. I think that will do nicely."
So this was big as hell. 8k words for this one chapter! And i bet it will get bigger when i go through and fix the Emps lines and all that.
Yeah, I know, Sanguinius telling anyone about the Red Thirst? Why would he do that? Well, he had to to get across how Virgil being missing is bad. Like the man knows secretes of the Legion bad. If he was kidnapped by anyone else, it would have ended bad, very bad, but it's Robel. So he's safe. Not that anyone knows that.
I lost steam toward the end with the DNA. DNA is not a strong suite of mine so i have to go back and research the fuck out of that.
Angron's Empathy. Yes, he tastes emotions. I did this for you reasons, one: I wanted there to be repercussions from the Nails. Like yes, the Nails are out, but he is still altered by them. He didn't walk away scott free. Two: So i can write 'I can taste your lies' and it actual mean something. I will make a list of flavors so they be kept track of. Any ideas for knew flavors the emotions do tell.
Any ideas on who to improve the Emps who thing is this chapter? He did not want to work with me.
Also how's the Romance going on with Lotara and Angron? I trying my hand at romance in general so hopefully it came out well.
Tagged: @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan @sleepyfan-blog @ladysmugleaf
