Chapter Text
It all started with the events that took place after City Drop, on a dusty country road, a truck filled with civilian hostages and the order to eliminate them. In that moment the seed of doubt and mistrust had been firmly planted, taking root inside her psyche.
Tally Craven had always idolised General Sarah Alder from a very young age, Alder was the nation's hero, the woman who had inspired her to do good, the very reason she had ignored her dispensation to answer the call. The same woman who she had been so devastatingly disillusioned by, with her secrets and her lies and manipulation. The same power hungry General who had puppeted the president and who had erased Nicte Batan, the founder of the Spree from history to cover up her own war crimes.
Many months ago, after the Tarim mission when Tally had sacrificed her own life to save the General's, she and Sarah had become close to one another and after the unbiddying process, when remnants of the bond remained they were pulled even closer. They had started out as companions at first, the severing of the biddy link had left them both with an overwhelming feeling of loss and an unbearable ache to be close to one another. They would spend hours talking in Alder's office, going on walks around the base and just enjoying each other's company. Despite Alder's desperate attempts to fight it, the relationship had eventually evolved into something more intimate. It was Tally who had first initiated things between them, when she eventually gave into what they both wanted and Alder found herself completely powerless to refuse.
But that had all be ripped out from under them, when Tally started dreaming Alder's memories, what she saw both shocked and devastated her. She had eventually confronted Alder about them and the older woman had shut her out, denying her any explanations, forcing the redhead to form her own conclusions and to seek the truth via her own means.
Fast forward a few months and here she was, sat in a hanger at Fort Salem, the leader of the Spree bound to a post after being captured by the Bellweather unit, Alder stood poised, scourge in hand ready to execute her.
"One for the heart, one for the head...and one for the soul." Alder said swinging her scourge, ready to strike.
"STOP!"
The room fell silent, Alder stopped in her tracks, turning towards the source, shocked to see Tally stepping forward.
"What are you doing?" Alder said through gritted teeth.
Tally walked towards the older woman, standing between her and Batan and in perfect mother tongue she called 'Right of Proxy' putting forward her life in exchange for the Spree Leaders.
Alder's eyes went wide.
"Craven I don't want to hurt you." She said.
"You're gonna have to...unless you want to tell everyone why we're really here." Tally replied.
Alder stepped back a few paces and went to turn away from the redhead who quickly drew her scourge, swung it and landed a blow to the older woman's cheek.
Alder stopped in her tracks, completely stunned, a painful sensation suddenly burning on her cheek.
She raised her free hand to her face, touching the area Tally's scourge had struck, drawing back to find her fingers covered in her blood.
She looked at the redhead who was stood in her fighting stance, poised and ready. Sarah found herself frozen to the spot, suddenly overcome by hurt and betrayal; she never thought Tally would have actually struck her.
"I'm not going to fight you Craven, stand down." She ordered.
"No...I have envoked an ancient right, a fight to the death!... My life for hers" Tally replied, doing her best to keep her voice from shaking.
Sarah sighed, so much had changed between them in the last few months, they had hurt each other enormously and had become like strangers overnight, it wouldn't even be much of a stretch to say they disliked each other, but despite this Sarah could never bring herself to physically harm the younger woman.
The brunette was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of a scourge cracking. She winced when the business end of Tally's scourge made contact with her arm. Gritting her teeth she straightened her stance and stared back at the redhead.
"Fight back General." Tally shouted.
"No." Alder replied calmly, throwing her scourge to the floor, eliciting a chorus of gasps from the audience.
"Pick up your scourge!" Tally yelled.
Sarah remained silent, placing her hands behind her back, her eyes never leaving Tally's.
The redhead swung her scourge again, connecting it with Sarah's left knee, causing the older woman to stumble to the floor. Sarah remained in that position, chancing a look at Tally who was swinging her scourge ready to strike again.
"And one for the head." Tally said, echoing the General's earlier words. Sarah locked eyes with her and nodded ever so slightly.
"STOP! Craven enough! Stand down!" Anacostia yelled, coming to stand protectively in front of her foster mother.
Tally dropped her scourge.
Anacostia turned to face Sarah who stood up again, her eyes held the older woman's, pleading with her to do something to stop this. They were both suddenly brought out of their thoughts by Tally's voice.
"Nicte is guilty of every crime she is accused of, but the world needs to know why she did what she did...tell them!" She said, turning back to face the General.
Sarah remained silent.
"Nicte was a soldier, just like us! Until the General betrayed her and tried to erase her from history!...She started the Spree and plunged us into twenty years of war! Witch against witch!"
"If Nicte is executed, it's one less witch in the world and that's just what the Camerilla wants, for us to keep killing each other whilst they sit back and watch "
"Nicte should pay for her crimes...but not like this! And she is not the only guilty one here..." Tally continued, looking at Sarah.
"General Alder is guilty of unspeakable war crimes, which she has consistently lied about and covered up...I've seen it in her memories, she has killed witches in cold blood!...she used Nicte's work to force scared, cornered witches to turn their own blades on themselves." Tally shouted, eliciting further gasps from the crowd.
Sarah remained silent not saying anything.
"General do you have anything to say in your defence against these allegations?" President Wade asked.
The General turned to face the president.
"No." She replied, her eyes downcast.
"It is apparent that you have lost the support of those you command and as a result General I can no longer deem you fit to lead this army, you will stand down as of immediate affect and hand your command to General Bellweather." President Wade said.
Sarah knew this had been coming for a while, in truth she was too tired to keep fighting it, if Petra wants to take her place, if she believes she can do a better job at leading this army in the fight against the Camerilla then she is welcome to try.
Sarah had come to terms with this long ago but what hurt the most was who had initiated her downfall, she had been betrayed by the people closest to her. Anacostia, her own daughter had gone behind her back and sided with Petra over the capture of Nicte, and Tally, the woman who she had let get closer to her than anyone, the woman she had opened her heart to, the same woman who had stolen her memories and used them against her. It was Tally's knife in her back that had done the most damage, that in this moment had caused her the most pain.
Reaching up, she snatched the military insignia off her shoulders and walked over to stand in front of the redhead, handing them to her. Tally took the insignia with shaking hands lifting her gaze to look at the General, her face bleeding from where she had been struck by the redhead's scourge, but Sarah refused to meet her gaze, instead she turned on her heel without a word and left the hanger, her biddies in tow, leaving a very confused and conflicted Tally behind.