//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10: Siren's Call 
// Story: Harmony's Creed: Brotherhood 
// by Gapeagle 
//------------------------------//

"Ah, Octavia, you're back! How was the investigation?"

Octavia stared at the Grandbearer straight in the eye. "It yielded no results on the women. I could not find any warm trails to follow."

"Eh," the Grandbearer shrugged. "Do not be discouraged, Octavia. We'll find out where they hide soon enough. You earned some rest. Please retire for the night."

"You should retire as well. Grandbearer, you've been up for far too long."

"You're right."

Twilight said nothing more but yawned. She nodded her head to acknowledge Octavia's advice before sending the Novice away. Once that was done, Octavia went straight to her own bed to sleep for the night. She did not say another word to any other Assassin but retired quickly and silently.





She never fell asleep, however, but waited for some hours to go by until it was very early morning. She could hear some snores from other Assassins, especially Vinyl, who was always a loud breather. Octavia listened to all the sounds she could hear while strapping on her hidden blade under the sheets. She had removed it to appear like she was going to sleep and not be suspicious to any of her companions. It was time now to return it to her wrist and silently gather any other tools for the deed she was about to commit.

Her body was restless, it lacked any true energy, but relied on mental determination to move. It had been too long since she heard the women's singing. Her memories of it were slowly fading or in her mind, become off and thus not perfect like she had heard it. She needed to win their favor, hear the song once more, and indulge in the melody. Every thought, every action, every moment was dedicated to it.

She removed the covers of her bed and stepped into the cold air. The Den was never a warm place, even in the summer, and her bare feet touched the dirty floor in silence. She checked the other beds, no one had stirred. Her pink eyes went to Vinyl first, as she would have been the easiest to awake due to how close their beds were. Vinyl was sprawled out on her bed with her mouth wide open. No, nothing was going to stir her, and Octavia stood up and took her first steps towards her target.

Having crossed the rooms a hundred times a day, she could navigate around the furniture in the darkness with ease. She wanted to try and hum the women's song, but that would create noise and also ruin their perfect melody with her lesser voice. Once she was out of the room, she silently walked down the hall towards the main room that separated the Assassins from the Bearers. It was not a long walk, but one that required focus to not bump into all the chairs, cushions, and tables that seemed to never be in the same place twice. 

Octavia made it passed there and was about to walk down the hall that led to the Bearer's Quarters, but stopped upon seeing Rarity walking towards her from that very hall. Her eyes were down, reading a book in her hand while the other hand created a magic light that allowed her to read in such darkness. 

The Novice stopped and sidestepped into a corner beside the hall's opening. Rarity walked right by Octavia, her eyes still reading the words on the old pages. If Octavia did not hold her breath, Rarity would have felt it. The Bearer of Generosity then walked over to a seat in the main room and sat down to continue her reading. Octavia was confused by this behavior, but seeing that Rarity was still in battle gear meant that she was on the night watch. She was usually in a nightgown and sleeping late hours into the morning. 

Octavia did not even sigh in relief before moving passed the Bearer and sneaked down the hall towards her target. It was going to be easy, she thought. All she needed to do was stab Twilight while she slept. After that, she would take Twilight's sword as proof of her demise and hear the beautiful song once more. 

The Novice reached the closed door and turned the knob. It was unlocked! The Bearer of Generosity must have left the room and left the door unlocked, Octavia concluded. She slid the old door opened with only the slightest of creaks. When it was wide enough for her to step inside, she did and shut it behind her noiselessly. The Map was still glowing, meaning the room was bathed in its blue light. Twilight never slept in complete darkness, it seems.  

Octavia extended her blade and carefully moved over to Twilight's bed. The Grandbearer was there, her face towards the ceiling, but her hips turned sideways. She was also clutching her pillow under her head and would say something incoherent as she slept. In a bed nearby was Spike, who was hanging off his bed and ready to fall right off. 

With restrained anticipation, Octavia readied to strike. Twilight was peacefully sleeping still and was completely unaware of what was about to happen. With the Map's light on her, she appeared almost childlike, but to Octavia, she was nothing but an obstacle in the way to her happiness. 

The door swung open, making Octavia turn around. Rarity was right in the doorway, her sword drawn and her other hand glowing with Elemental magic. The Novice gasped upon being caught, but could not even finish it as Rarity instantly sent a magical force wave across the room, slamming Octavia into the wall and awaking all within the Den. The force knocked books off from their shelves and scrolls from their holes.

"What's going on?" Twilight flailed and fell off her bed. 

"How dare you!" Octavia screamed. "Who are you to interfere! This is my mission!"

Rarity did not say anything and slammed Octavia again into the wall. By now, Assassins poked their curious and scared heads through the door to see the cause of all the ruckus. Twilight and Spike retreated to behind the Bearer of Generosity as they both were still confused of what was happening. The Novice wiped some blood from her lips, but was unfazed still.

Octavia roared and charged at Rarity. The Bearer caught the wrist that had the blade and flipped the Novice over and onto the ground. Octavia recovered and jabbed the blade at the Bearer again. Rarity only took some steps back before getting into a position to grab Octavia's head and pin it to the Map's surface. She also took the Novice's armed hand and pointed it at an upward angle to restrain her.

"Gah! Let me go! You're not even who I want!" Octavia yelled.

"Excuse me darling, but you are trying to kill my friend, do you really think I'll let you go?"

"What is the meaning of this?" Whiplash demanded as he stormed in. "Octavia, what in Tartarus are you doing?"

"She was trying to kill me!" Twilight panted. "She would've too, if Rarity didn't save me. Thanks for that."

"A pleasure, darling," Rarity smiled. "However, this is serious, Octavia here has just committed treason against the Brotherhood."

"Never thought you had it in you," Whiplash shook his head.

"Tavi?" Vinyl broke through the other Assassins. "Wha....?"

Octavia sternly looked at her friend. "They have taken my happiness from me! All I ever wanted is gone! I need to hear the songs again!"

"What in Equestria are you talking about, dear?" Rarity asked and kept Octavia restrained. 

"The songs! The songs of the Sirens! You don't know the songs! You hate them! You hate them!"

"Well, she lost it," Spike remarked casually.

Twilight stood up and walked over to Rarity and Octavia. The Novice with her free hand, tried to reach for the Grandbearer, but Rarity pulled her other arm the wrong way, making her grunt in pain. The Grandbearer was curious and looked into Octavia's eyes. She then nodded with understanding.

"I should have seen the signs earlier. I...I should not have sent you on that mission," she said quietly.

"What are you talking about, Twilight?" Rarity was still confused.

"She's under the influence of an Alicorn Artifact. I sent her on a mission to find those three women we've been hearing about. I also knew that their powers come from music. Octavia heard one of these songs and apparently, it controls them. They sent her here to kill me. They must be Templar then."

"They aren't Templar!" Octavia hissed back. "They left the Order because of Starlight Glimmer. They do not agree with her beliefs."

"How can you tell she isn't lying?" Whiplash pointed out. "She could have been a Templar all this time! I mean, she even met their Grandmaster while in prison."

Twilight continued to look at Octavia's eyes. "Well, I've mind-controlled people in the past, and when I do, their eyes seem to lose emotion. Octavia has some of the most beautiful and expressive eyes I've ever seen, but right now, they seem lifeless. However, this is not the best conclusion. She could also simply be insane and snapped some time during this night."

"Tavi just can't become insane!" Vinyl argued. "She's been fine all this time. She has to be mind controlled."

"Or she is trying to make us belief she is being mind controlled," Rarity added. "Octavia is a crafty one."

"Why don't you all just let me go and kill Twilight?" Octavia snarled. "I'll leave you to your solemn lives and I'll hear the songs once more."

"You know, Octavia, we can let you hear the songs without killing Twilight," Spike said suddenly, a smirk on his young face.

"What?" Octavia looked at him, surprised.

"Spike?" Twilight uttered. "What are you-"

"Yup! Here's how: you can leave and act like ya killed Twilight, even give them something as proof. When ya go back, we'll follow you to them. If they don't sing to you, then we'll make them sing. Maybe even get them to sing forever."

"You are right!" Octavia squealed. "We can make them sing! Haha!"

"Spike, that's an awful plan," Twilight folded her arms. "We could all hear the songs and fall for them."

"Twilight, just plug your ears in with wax," he deadpanned.

"Hm, I think Spike has a point. We could simply go back to them," Rarity agreed.

"I'll lead you to them at once! I  can't wait to hear them again," Octavia squirmed.

"Not on your life, darling," Rarity tightened her grip. "It is the dead of night and we are terribly ill-prepared. We must wait until tomorrow. You can wait that long, can't you?"

"No!" Octavia shouted back in anger.

"Well then, if that's the case, you'll simply have to spend the time in the cell," Rarity huffed and shackled Octavia's wrists together. 

"You can't do this to me!" The Novice fought back hopelessly. 

"You only wish we couldn't do this to you," Rarity rolled her eyes and led the restrained Assassin away to the only prison cell in the Den.

All the other Assassins remained in the room and looked at each other. Some soon left to return to their rests, others talked among themselves in low whispers. Twilight then shooed them away from her quarters until she was alone with Spike and Whiplash. 

"There is another way to tell if she's lying," Twilight brought up.

"Yeah, ya want to call in the Bearer of Honesty from Ponyville, don't ya?" Whiplash shook his head. "I know ya two are close, but she can't leave the valley just to see if Octavia, a Novice, is telling the truth or not."

"C'mon, Twilight, we can do this," Spike encouraged. "All we need to do is follow Octy and kill those women. They are clearly misusing the artifacts."

"I know. I hope it goes well. There's a thousand ways it could fail. It seems like all they need to do is sing to control us."

"Yet not control us entirely," Whiplash said. "Otherwise Octavia wouldn't have agreed to go back. It could wear off for all we know. I mean, in all my years, I never heard of artifacts that work on music. These could be really weak artifacts and not like some that are out there."

"No matter it's strength, it's our job as Assassins to acquire it," Twilight concluded. "Tomorrow, we'll follow Octavia to these sirens and perhaps we can capture them. I feel that killing them at the scene would be a waste of valuable information, especially when we can barely gain any intelligence on the Order. Are we good?"

"Yes, Grandbearer," Whiplash bowed.

"Good. Let's get some rest before we start."


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