6 6: Into the Underhive

Sabine sat there for a while, simply waiting for Octus to wake up. After she had settled her resolve, she spent most of that time watching Octus. Her hand stroked gently through his hair. She burned his features into her mind. She resisted the urge to strip him out of his Guard uniform in case they had to move fast but it was a close thing.

Having Octus so close to her and so defenseless had lit an unfamiliar fire in Sabine's core. She yearned for something and she couldn't figure out what that was. The fire flared when she looked at his stupid, peaceful face, which meant that Sabine was fighting her unknown instincts the whole time.

She had to bite her lip to keep herself from doing whatever her body wanted from her. The way Octus unconsciously nuzzled into her touch pushed the heat in Sabine's loins to the ragged edge. That he felt safe with her, that he trusted her this much had Sabine rubbing her thighs together, even though she was in power armor.

As she usually did when it came to emotions she didn't understand, Sabine turned to prayer to distract herself. Her eyes squeezed closed. She took her Aquila into her fist, even as her other hand stayed with its fingers laced through Octus' hair. Faith bloomed in her chest and mind.

She prayed for guidance, for the Emperor to hear her questions and provide answers. Was what she was feeling normal? Did His other chosen feel the same way? Just as strongly as Sabine did for Octus? Was this another quirk of her destiny with Octus? How should she quench the fire in her loins?

Sabine could have sworn that she felt amusement and surprised laughter at her last question. But answers were not forthcoming. She knew the Emperor was with them but it seemed that they would have to figure a way out of this situation on their own. Sabine took the challenge in stride. She would prove herself to her god and show Him that He was right to bring Octus into her life.

Unknown to the Sister, her faith and conviction were rubbing off on the Guardsman in her lap. The psychic aegis around Humanity saw her conviction, saw the worship in her heart for both the Emperor and now the mortal man she claimed and protected. If it was possible, He would have breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, someone who didn't just worship Him in their entirety. It was refreshing and unique and the Aegis of Humanity felt that deserved some reward…

Neither Sabine nor Octus noticed as His blessing settled over them and Octus began to stir. He groaned and stretched, barely noticing how close he was to someone else at the moment. He smacked his lips and sat up, leaning against the wall with Sabine and putting his arm around her shoulders without realizing what he was doing. Sabine did her best to melt into the half-embrace without being too obvious or startling the still-waking Octus.

Octus sighed as a feeling of contentment settled over him. That feeling quickly spread to the Sister by his side. Whatever happened before he woke up was the farthest thing from his mind. All he knew was that he felt good. He felt relaxed and utterly safe. The world could have ended and all he would do was shrug and say "Ah, well". A simple mind was often a blessing in the 41st millennium and that truth had never been truer than with Octus Humblestock.

For Octus, the silence that followed his awakening was comfortable but Sabine had more on her mind, "Uhm… Octus? Are you well?"

"Hmm?" Octus hummed. "Yup. Sittin' pretty, sweetheart."

Sabine tried to ignore the way that pet name sent shocks of something to her core, "V-Very good. What do you remember? I suspect you may have a concussion."

The worry he could hear in her voice made Octus' brain start slowly moving, "Oh… Well, that ain't good…"

That simple statement, said so matter-of-factly by Octus, almost made Sabine snort, "No, I do not believe it is. We appear to be in a predicament."

"If that's how Sisters say 'in a right pickle' then I can't help but agree with ya," Octus nodded.

Despite the seriousness of their situation, Sabine couldn't stop the corners of her lips from twitching up into a smile, "Quite… We have been completely separated from the regiment. We are someplace utterly unfamiliar and, I suspect, quite hostile. The city is still in open rebellion and we now also have to worry about everything the Witness hinted at. We were rather lucky to survive the fall but I suspect you were injured in the initial explosion. In all, our situation does not look promising…"

Octus took in all that information for a moment before shrugging and relaxing again, "Ah, well… We still got each other at least. I trust ya, Sabine. We'll get out of this."

The conviction in his words was palpable enough that Sabine turned her head away to hide a blush, "I will make sure your trust is not misplaced, Octus Humblestock. We shall survive. Of that, I am positive."

"'Atta girl. There's that conviction I like. Felt wrong seeing ya so put out like that," Octus said, squeezing her shoulder as best he could over her power armor. "Now, let's get a plan working."

"Do you think you can walk?" Sabine asked.

Octus nodded, "Yeah, I think so. I feel good. Never better actually. You must've been mistaken about the injury thing."

Sabine raised a concerned eyebrow, "Was I? You were unconscious for a good while, Octus… Something must have happened."

"I dunno what to tell ya, Sabine," Octus shrugged.

"That is slightly worrying…" Sabine muttered. "You will tell me if you suspect anything is wrong, yes?"

Octus answered with that goofy, reassuring smile of his, "Sure thing. We gotta look out for each other now, right?"

Sabine barely kept a giddy smile that would have matched Octus' own in brightness off her face, "… Yes. Now, to planning. I do not believe we should commit ourselves to anything before we have a better idea of our situation and our surroundings. I did not see much while finding this place but we seem to be in the city's Underhive. All I've seen so far is a series of tunnels. I very much doubt that is the full extent of this place. The danger present here is something we should take note of but I think we should explore more before putting together a concrete plan of action."

Octus nodded, deferring to Sabine's wisdom and experience but before he could reply verbally, something in the room changed. The light from the ChemLight flickered, something impossible for the result of a chemical reaction. The shadows seemed to stretch and grow. Sabine was instantly on edge, bearing her weapons and putting herself in front of Octus. Octus stood slowly with unease clear on his face.

A ghostly wind blew through the room, carrying with it the whispers of the damned. A figure faded into existence at the entrance to the room, clouded by unnatural darkness. The air chilled until crystals of frost appeared, floating freely around the room.

"Identify yourself, witch!" Sabine barked. No anxiety or fear showed on her face. If she was to be the only thing between something unholy and wrong and her Octus, she would stand unwavering, strong, and proud.

The figure stepped from the shadows that shrouded it, revealing it to be in the shape of a mortal man. It was a projection of some kind, of that Sabine was sure, but the worst thing about the figure was that Sabine was painfully familiar with it. Glowing orange eyes met her fiery gaze, smiling back at her with a false pleasantry that set Sabine's hair on end.

"Hello again, Sister," the Witness said, smiling at her from behind his gas mask. "Hello to you as well, young one. I see the two of you have stepped into the stage lights. How wonderful~"

"Witness…" Sabine growled. "You saw this. This is your doing. You hurt my Octus!"

The Witness nodded, "Indeed, I saw this happening. But it is not my fault. I do not pull the strings. I am as much a victim as you are, my dear."

Sabine scoffed, "Victim? You don't know the meaning of that word. Maybe I should teach it to you…"

The Witness had the gall to laugh, "Haha!… Ah, you have a wonderful sense of humor, Sister. Ha!… Did you think I chose this position? Did you think I chose to be branded by laughing gods?! We all have our roles to play, Sister. You should know that better than most…"

He took a moment to calm himself with a deep breath, "… My apologies. You seem to have struck a nerve. It is like this, Sister… I was destined to Witness. You were destined for something… someone… greater. I am resigned to my role in all of this. You do not have to be. Seize control of your fate. Accelerate it, embrace it, or even abandon it if you must… We may have our fates in this life but we still have a choice as well."

"I would never abandon him-… it…" Sabine stated in indignation, only stumbling a bit as Octus' presence behind her made her self-conscious of her words. "It is mine. Given to me by the God-Emperor Himself! I would sooner die than abandon my destiny, my future!"

Sabine didn't expect the look in the Witness' eyes to soften the way it did at her declaration, "Very good, Sister… That conviction is something to be proud of. Don't let those laughing gods take it away from you…"

With that, the Witness' projection faded away just as suddenly as it appeared, leaving Sabine more confused than anything else. The way the Witness' tone shifted when he mentioned his dark masters spoke of resentment and resignation. And everything he said about choosing her destiny and how he couldn't anymore… Sabine was struck into a thoughtful, almost pitying, silence.

A silence she quickly shook herself out of. In the end, the Witness' tragic backstory didn't change anything. He was still a heretic, willing or not. And Sabine was still committed to, tied to, Octus in everything she was.

Something in the back of her mind compared how she felt about Octus to how she felt about the Emperor and was slightly surprised by how little difference there was there. The comparison just ended up firming up her conviction even more though. Octus was worthy, sent to her by the Emperor in the first place, and quickly becoming everything she'd ever wanted and needed in her life. If she truly did have a choice in her fate, then it was a no-brainer…

The not-quite-pity passed and then came the anger. Anger at the Ruinous Powers, those puppeteers who were putting her and her Guardsman in danger of some sort of whim. Anger at her seeming lack of ability to change their current situation. Anger at a heretic for questioning her faith, her conviction, her devotion.

She walked away from Octus with an unnatural calm. No hint of her frustration showed in her movements or her expression. Then she reached one of the room's walls and in an instant, lashed out. She did not scream. The room shook as her fist caved in the already crumbling rockcrete of the wall. With a shuddering exhale, calm overtook the normally stoic Sister once more.

"Sabine?" Octus asked, hesitantly approaching her. "You good? What was that about?"

Panic flooded Sabine's mind for a moment. The idea that she could have made Octus wary, or even afraid, of her was utterly terrifying. Then Octus laid a hand on her shoulder and her whole body went slack with relief. She… She should have known better than to think so little of him…

"I am fine, Octus. Just… something I needed to get out of my system. So much has happened in such a short time. I must admit, I find myself overwhelmed," Sabine said softly, taking the chance to be vulnerable with someone for the first time in her life.

"We'll get through this together," Octus promised. "If it all somehow becomes too much for ya, I'll pick up the slack. We're a team now… Partners."

Sabine smiled, still looking away from him, "I would not have it any other way. Nor with anyone else but you…"

She didn't notice the way Octus blushed at her words but she did notice the slight silence before he spoke again, "… What were you and the watchie-guy talking about? 'Cause I gotta admit, everything about that conversation went way over my head."

"Nothing for you to concern yourself with," Sabine quickly changed the subject. "Now, I believe the God-Emperor has shown us another way."

She indicated to the hole in the wall she'd just made. Octus turned his attention away from her and she breathed a small sigh of relief. Octus may have been dense — 'bless his little himbo brains,' Sabine thought — but his eyes were sharp and Sabine felt that they saw more than he realized.

Behind the wall Sabine had punched down was a tunnel. It was as dark as the ones outside the room and led off to someplace just as unknown. But Sabine had a feeling. One she could not quite put into words. There was an invisible, guiding light at the end of this tunnel and Sabine would heed the Emperor's call.

"Can you feel it, Octus?" Sabine asked. "Can you feel His call?"

Octus hummed, "Hmm, sorry, Sabine, I can't say I do. But I believe ya. 100 percent. I reckon yer much closer to the Emperor than I am. And yer much smarter than me. So I'll trust ya here. Always."

Sabine was beaming inside at Octus' declaration of intent but outside, she just shook her head slightly with a neutral expression, "I think you would be surprised how close to the Emperor you truly are, Octus. He is with you always."

"If you say so," Octus said with a trusting smile on his face. "Shall we?"

Sabine turned her nose up at nothing, "We shall."

She grabbed Octus' hand and they stepped into the unknown together. Nothing immediately jumped out at them but they didn't let their guard down. Sabine took point, leading the way through the tunnel under the light of the ChemLight. Octus stuck close to her, cursing the fact that he'd dropped his lasgun at some point during their fall.

Noticing Octus' unease, Sabine asked, "Doest thou need a weapon?"

Octus chuckled awkwardly, "Well, I certainly wouldn't mind one right about now. I feel kinda naked without ol' reliable in my hands…"

"Tis perfectly reasonable," Sabine nodded. "I shall lend you my holy bolter for now."

Octus tried to refuse out of some form of decency, "I-I couldn't take a Sister's bolter. I'm just some lowly Guardsman… It wouldn't be right."

Sabine was having none of that, "Nonsense. You are not just 'some Guardsman'. You are my Guardsman. And I shall lend you my arms for as long as you need them. Remember this, Octus Humblestock, sometimes nobility does not pay."

Once again, Sabine was looking the wrong way to notice Octus blush at her words, "I-I'll try and keep that in mind…"

"Besides," Sabine added. "I will still have my bolt pistol and chainsword to arm myself with… Actually, that brings something else to mind. Do you still have a blade of some kind?"

"I do. Only dropped my lasgun when we fell. Everything else is still where it should be," Octus confirmed.

"Very good," Sabine nodded.

She passed her bolter backward without looking. Octus accepted it cautiously with awe plain to see in his eyes. He was holding one of the Emperor's holy weapons. It was… lighter than he expected. Like something grand and unseen was bolstering his strength when he held it. He absently accepted several magazines to go along with the bolter, still entranced by the feeling of it in his hands.

Sabine and Octus fell into a comfortable silence as they walked. Minutes passed. And then an hour. Still, the tunnel seemed to have no end. It was eerily quiet, with only the light of the ChemLight keeping away shifting shadows. Somehow, the passageway was devoid of life other than the two of them. No mutated creatures, large or small, skittered around in the dark.

Eventually, Sabine felt the need to hear her Octus' voice again, "Octus, tell me something about yourself."

"Hmm," Octus hummed thoughtfully, thankful for the distraction. "Well, I've always wanted a big family. Ya know, a lot of people who love me and all that. I think that's why I fit in so well with the Guard. Lady really makes the regiment feel like one big family. Like we're all connected by something more than just servin' the Emperor. Still, I think I'd like to have someplace… someone… to call home."

Sabine's heart heated up at the idea that she could be that someone Octus called home but she kept her cool, "Yes, the Commissar is very good at what she does. I found myself impressed by what she has forged your regiment into."

"What about you, Sabine? Something ya want in life? A family? Glory? Anything?" Octus asked.

"Perhaps…" Sabine hedged, her eyes darting to Octus without him noticing. "Sororitas rarely keep long-term goals that are not related to the Emperor. But I think I'm coming to find something just as important to me…"

Octus smiled, "Well, I'm happy for you, Sabine. I'll support ya in whatever yer goal is… Er… If you want to tell me, that is…"

A small serene smile crossed Sabine's face in reply, "Maybe one day, Octus…"

Sabine's focus turned inward as she considered Octus' words. A big family… It certainly fitted with the values Octus represented in her mind. Those of love and connection between people, from the little bonds she'd watched him form so easily around the camp when she first followed (stalked) him, to the reverent way he spoke of his sister before they'd marched into this hellish Hive. And Octus was surely worthy of love. Perhaps she could help make that dream a reality in some way…

They'd fallen into silence for a short while longer before the tunnel abruptly changed. After rounding a small bend in the passage, a light appeared at the end of the tunnel. Sabine and Octus sped up their pace at the same time without a word to each other.

The light at the end of the tunnel was the only light they'd seen down here other than their ChemLight. And as they approached, it grew and grew until it shined like the light of the sun. But something else drifted down the tunnel alongside the light. A rank and nauseating smell that curled the pair's nose hairs and set their minds on edge.

Sabine recognized the smell but was thankful Octus remained ignorant. It was the same smell that permeated fields of slaughter and grand battle. The same smell as mass graves and funeral pyres. It was the smell of death in such incomprehensible numbers that the Human mind quailed when it tried to process it.

When the tunnel ended, it opened up into a mind-bogglingly large open area. Sabine and Octus ended up high on the walls of something that seemed like several large processing plants. The ceiling of the area was still a good bit higher than them and seemed to disappear into the darkness in places. Below them lay an assortment of vats and machinery, pumping away at their assigned tasks without anything in the way of Human supervision.

"Corpse-Starch," Sabine said with an exhale.

"W-What?" Octus asked, stuttering as most of his attention was stolen by the scale of the sight before him.

His focus was locked on one of the conveyer belts piled up with corpses to an obscene degree. They dumped corpse after corpse into a great bubbling vat of mystery liquid where the bodies quickly dissolved into proteins and fats. Octus just couldn't stop watching. There were more corpses there than the number of living people he'd seen at any one time.

"Corpse-Starch," Sabine repeated herself. "The sustenance of the Imperium on worlds like these and its unfortunate reality. Have you ever stopped to wonder how a single world could hope to feed billions?"

"N-No, I can't say I have…" Octus muttered.

"It is almost beautiful in a way," Sabine mused. "Even a parent's death may yet feed their children…"

A bit of heat began to creep into Octus' voice, "And is that not sick?! Is it not wrong?!"

Sabine nodded soberly, "It is. But it is also necessary. There are some evils that the Imperium itself must bear."

Octus fell into a thoughtful, if pained, silence. To the simple and empathetic Guardsman, this place was something he could've never imagined existing. But he knew Sabine wouldn't lie to him. If she said it was necessary, then it was. A shockingly self-aware part of him cursed himself for his naivety. Then it cursed that cruel mistress known as 'logistics'.

Sabine interrupted Octus' pondering, "Octus? We should keep moving. Can you continue?"

With a deep breath, Octus nodded. Once again, Sabine took point as they started making their way into the Corpse-Starch processing plant. They walked along a path carved into the wall as it circled the great roiling vats below. They could smell the death and decay with each bubble that popped and the heat coming off the vats was oppressing even though they were many meters away.

Both of them tried their best to put the morbid contents of this cavernous room out of their minds. And in the process of trying to find anything else to focus on, Sabine started to hear something off coming from inside the walls. It sounded like the skittering of some kind of large creature or insect, interspersed with a harsh hissing sound that chilled even Sabine's battle-hardened blood.

She upped her pace, wanting to get far away from whatever was in the walls as quickly as possible. Octus thankfully matched her without a question. He felt something was wrong but he hadn't noticed the noises within the walls. He was more than willing to trust Sabine's instincts though.

By the time their path reached the floor of the room, Sabine and Octus were practically sprinting. The noises in the wall had gotten consistently louder until even Octus could hear them. And he agreed with Sabine's unspoken desire to get as far away from them as possible.

The wall behind them exploded when they hit the floor. They scrambled for a bit more distance and then turned to watch as something monstrous emerged from a burrow dug into the rockcrete.

The beast looked like a cross between a spider, a scorpion, a centipede, and a crab, with way too many legs to be any of those things. Its face was twisted with alien malice as venom dripped from sharp fangs in a snapping maw. Its segmented body was clad in pitch-black, gleaming carapace. A long whip-like tail, ending in a vicious barb-like stinger, curled over the top of the creature's back.

Paradoxically, Sabine relaxed a bit now that she could see the threat, "Ah, a Catachan Devil… I wonder if it hitched a ride here on some ship or if some idiot tried to introduce it to this Hive for some nonsense reason…"

Octus — never one to be a fan of insects of the normal kind, much less one as large as a vehicle — was very much the opposite of relaxed, "Kill it with fire!!"

Sabine had the audacity to laugh at that, "Haha! Spoken like a true servant of the Emperor. Very well, let us show this Xeno the true meaning of 'Holy Fire'…"

The Devil hissed at them, clicking its claws and mandibles as they spoke. Not a single spark of intelligence showed in its beady eyes. Just feral rage and hostility. It didn't need to kill them. There were plenty of corpses here for it to gorge itself on. It wanted to. It wanted the fight, the hunt, the pleasure of seeing them squirm as it slowly tore them to tiny bite-sized pieces.

Octus was the first one to make a move. His loaned bolter spat a single panicked burst of explosive rounds into the Devil's face. The creature flinched back slightly but the only visible damage was a bit of scarring on its armored shell.

"Oh, Hell naw!" Octus yelled, grabbing Sabine and bodily picking her up — power armor and all — before running for cover as the Devil leaped onto the place he'd just vacated with a roar.

Sabine was still outwardly laughing, even as her stomach did flips at the ease Octus carried her with and the very fact that he was carrying her at all. It was touching that he'd overcome his — totally justified, according to Octus — phobia even momentarily to think of her. He could have fled without giving her a second thought but that wasn't who Octus was. And more than anything, that fact continued to reinforce Sabine's obsession, desire, and preconception that Octus truly was one of the Emperor's chosen.

As Octus ducked behind a rumbling piece of machinery, he could hear the Devil scampering after them. A whimper nearly escaped his throat but it was crushed by an iron will and a determination to protect the woman in his arms. He knew Sabine didn't need protecting but damn it all if he'd let that stop him from tryin'! Octus was raised right! He was more than willing to lay down his life to protect any Sister of Battle, much less one he'd come to care about like Sabine. He was, of course, completely clueless that Sabine wouldn't hesitate to do the same for him…

An icy calm fell over Octus, washing away his fear and panic. He set Sabine down with her back against the machine, not realizing for a second that he'd just picked up 400 pounds of power armor and nearly 200 pounds of woman as easily as he would hoist a haybale back home. He fiddled with her belt as the colossal creepy crawler bore down on them. He eventually took two egg-shaped devices — Octus couldn't tell the difference between them to save his life and he wasn't about to take any chances — from her without asking.

And as the Catachan Devil rounded the corner of their cover, Octus hucked the two devices into its snarling mouth. He didn't stick around to wait for them to go off. He swept Sabine up once again and bolted away from the Devil.

The beast had a strange, almost confused look on its face as it tried to figure out what its prey had just fed it. Before it could even chew, the two devices went off with a thunderous bang, revealing themselves to be grenades to a curiously enraptured Sabine. The Frag grenade exploded first, sending hundreds of shards of shrapnel into the Devil's soft insides. Then an instant later, the Krak grenade exploded as well, punching a hole straight through the heavily armored carapace that used to be the Devil's head.

Hearing the twin explosions, Octus breathed a sigh of relief. He almost instantly collapsed onto the ground, taking Sabine along so that she rested on top of him. He barely even noticed the extra weight as his adrenaline high peaked and started to wind down. Laughter bubbled in his chest as he realized his hastily thrown-together plan worked.

Sabine watched him laugh with a fond smile on her face. He was radiant in her eyes. A true hero, purging Xenos in the Emperor's name and saving Sisters in 'distress'. She wouldn't even mention his obvious phobia of insects. This time at least…

"You know, if you keep doing things like that, I might start to feel a little useless," Sabine teased lightly.

"You can have the next one," Octus chuckled. "I don't think I want to be fighting anymore giant scorpion-lookin' things anytime soon."

"I'll hold you to that," Sabine said with a twinkle in her eyes, adding her own giggles to Octus' laughter.

They took a moment to lie there and enjoy each other's laughter. Neither of them realized how much they needed something simple like this, especially after everything that had happened in the past day. The stress Sabine carried from the Witness' "friendly visit" partially melted away. The same happened to Octus as he realized he'd just killed an honest-to-Emperor Catachan Devil.

Caught up in the simple moment as they were, neither Octus nor Sabine noticed the glowing pink eyes watching them from the shadows. And, of course, they didn't notice the words spoken by the person attached to those eyes either, "~They're perfect~…"