A Very Fracture Holiday
Fracture didn’t do holidays. For decades, any luxuries at all were entirely foreign to them, and there was nothing quite so luxurious as setting aside time to simply be… happy.
But times had changed. A tyrant was dead, they’d been given weekends off, and holidays could be enjoyed. Theoretically.
Of course, a gift was only as good as its usefulness, and unfortunately Fracture had no use for holidays.
That was exactly why Delilah thought it was time she took over.
Her mother, Grim guide her soul, had once loved the solstices.
Looking back, Delilah thought it might’ve been something of an escape for her to throw herself into the planning of elaborate events, the gifting of offerings to temples, and decorating what felt like the entire city.
Delilah left the religious and decorating parts of honoring her mother to Winnie. Her responsibility was making sure those who’d been forgotten for too long were brought into the light.
Or, more accurately, given an absolute banger of a Burden’s Moon.
Her body practically vibrated with excitement as she sat in the passenger’s seat of the blacked out military transportation vehicle. Behind her, sitting with perfect stillness, were the helmeted members of Fracture — all of them.
She’d made sure to coordinate with Kaz and Valen to have all of them home for the start of the holiday. Like always, they thought she was nuts when she told them her plan, but they also agreed that if there was any way to give Fracture a holiday, this was probably it.
It wasn’t a terribly long drive to their destination, but that was only the first half of their journey.
No one asked any questions when she exited the vehicle at the dock in Marin and instructed them to do the same.
The argument could be made that Fracture was too well trained to question orders, but Delilah knew that wasn’t the case.
The truth was that Fracture did everything in their power to circumvent orders.
It was a game to them, created out of the decades they’d been used and abused by her father as attack dogs.
Every member constantly assessed a situation to find the cracks and loopholes that would give them a bit of power.
Once, that’d been necessary to save as many lives as they could. Now, it was mostly so they could get away with mischief.
So when she ordered them onto the small boat and no one said a word, Delilah knew it wasn’t because they were blindly obedient.
No doubt it had occurred to most of them that there was a possibility she was leading them to their execution and watery grave or something worse.
They just knew that if murder at sea was on the docket, they’d get out of it.
One way or another, Fracture would survive.
Luckily for them and everyone she’d conscripted into helping her, she wasn’t taking them out to sea for a tidy execution.
Delilah held onto the railing of the boat with her gloved hands, a wild grin on her face. The wet, salty air blew through her curly black hair and knocked the white fur-lined hood back onto her shoulders. The boat danced over choppy waves as they approached the tiny island.
They disembarked on what could only generously be called a dock. Left to rot some fifty years ago alongside the rest of the buildings on the island, it was only barely capable of supporting their combined weight as they all jumped lithely over the ship’s railing.
Turning to stand with the island behind her, Delilah tucked her hands behind her back and called out, “Attention!”
The black-clad members of Fracture snapped into formation instantly. Lining up shoulder to shoulder, they stood with their gloved hands pressed to their sides and their spines rigid, awaiting orders from their commander.
Looking over them all, Delilah felt something akin to pride. Not in their obvious fitness or that they were a powerful group of elves who’d do almost anything she told them to, but in their survival.
Against the odds, they’d all managed to outlive the bastard that’d made them.
“Fracture,” she said, voice carrying over the crashing waves and the call of seabirds overhead, “you are being given an assignment.”
Tilting her head toward the rundown buildings and island nearly overtaken by greenery, she continued, “In a moment I will board that boat. You will not. You will stay on this island for the next thirty days. The objective of your assignment is this.”
Extracting a silver moon ornament from her pocket, she held it aloft.
Winter sunlight glanced off its shiny surface, scattering light across Fracture’s black visors and the creaky, swollen boards of the dock.
The ornament dangled from a blue velvet string and swung gently from side to side like a hypnotist’s watch.
“There are ten moons hidden on this island,” she explained, watching the ever-so-slight tightening of shoulders and flexing of claws before her.
“There are also supplies to last you the thirty days and caches of rewards, including but not limited to new weapons, video games, upgrades for vehicles, and more.
“However, alongside the supplies and gifts, there are also over one hundred traps designed by yours truly. I will return for you on day thirty. Whoever has the most moons on my arrival will be declared the winner of Burden’s Moon and given a prize of their choosing — no limits.”
There was very little that could excite Fracture into breaking formation but the promise of a game was high on the list.
The once perfectly straight columns of elves before her began to lose their shape as they shifted their weight. Their shoulders rounded and their heads lowered as they prepared for a hunt.
Instinct and excitement had begun to take over, as she knew it would.
Still holding the ornament in the air, she gave them a wild grin. “There are only three rules. First, no killing or maiming. Second, you may not leave the island. Third…” Delilah paused. Anticipation electrified the salty air as she looked at every visor-covered face in turn.
She didn’t need to see them or even smell them to know exactly who was who. She’d grown up with these elves. She’d been trained by them and with them. They’d survived horrors beyond reckoning together, and she loved them with every fiber of her fucked up being.
Heart heavy with the weight of their bond, Delilah took a deep breath, turned on her heel, and chucked the moon ornament as hard and far as she could.
As it sailed through the air, she cried, “Have fun!”
Her hair and heavy violet cape flapped as the elves bolted by her, nearly too fast for the naked eye to see.
A gleeful burst of laughter exploded from her lips as she watched her friends race down the abandoned dock.
Some went after the ornament she’d thrown, but others immediately split off, headed for the old shipping warehouse she’d filled with traps or the crumbling lighthouse she’d also filled with traps.
Confident she’d finally found a way for them to enjoy the holiday, she briskly rubbed her gloved hands together and strode back toward the boat. As much as a part of her wished to join them in the madness that was to come, Winnie was waiting for her.
Someday they’d all understand what a gift it was to be loved, but for now, this would just have to do.