Camping Trip (Warhammer High)

This is a story created by Khor'neth for the purposes of deepening bonds between the Daughters via camping. This story takes place roughly before the events of Bleeding Out and Bound Fate. This is assuming that these events will not happen after the trip ends, as, after all, none of the fictions, including this one, are set in stone. Disregard as you see fit. One final note: I tend to favour the 'Traitor' Primarchs, so a lot of what I'll be writing here will be about their daughters. If you want to add some stuff about the Loyalist Daughters, feel free, just keep it in familial, jovial style.

Chapter One: How They Got There

'A camping trip'. Perturabo rumbled. The Iron Warrior was stood in his study, Petra in front of his desk, reviewing his daughter's latest report. 'For what purpose do you wish to go on this trip, Daughter?' 'Grandfather thinks I should.' Petra murmured. 'Daughter, speak up.' Perturabo sighed. 'Whilst I am capable of hearing you, I wish you to say things with strength and conviction.' 'Grandfather says I should. He says we all-' Petra stopped herself. She was well aware that her father did NOT get on with some of his other brothers, Dorn especially, and Remilia was also going. 'My father thinks so? For what purpose does he think?' Perturabo thought out loud. 'He says it's to deepen our familial bonds, Father. He says they're lacking.' 'Very well, Daughter. You may go.' Petra was a little surprised as to why her father had just let her go with no further questions- usually it was practically interrogation in the Perturabo household. Her attempts to find out why were rebuffed.

Meanwhile, in the Angron household...

'The FUCK does Father think?!' Angron thundered. He, predictably, had recieved news of the trip in typical Angron fashion- that is to say, he'd split both his log and the stump in half when Furia had told him. 'Yeah, Gramps says we need to develop our family skills or some shit like that.' Furia sullenly growled. A change came over Angron after hearing those words, like they were some sort of secret code. His rage, palpable as it had been, evaporated in an instant. 'Ok, Little Schnookims, go.' Angron said to his daughter, who promptly attacked him with a flying kick upon hearing that nickname, which she HATED with a passion. Of course, that was to no avail, as Furia was reminded when she found herself dangling from her father's grip by her ankle. She kick and screamed her head off, but with no result. 'LET ME GOOOOOOOOO!!' Furia wailed. 'Fine, go pack. I'll take you.' Angron told his daughter, with his carnivorous smile, reserved for good fights, select family members and his children.

Over in the Ravenspire...

'OK, Cora, you can go.' Corax told his daughter. 'I expect there will be much fraternizing...' he tailed off as he looked out the window. 'Thank you, Dad!' Cora squealed as she rushed forward to hug her father. Displays of affection like this were rare, and only ever in the Ravenspire, but the prospect of such a trip excited Cora in ways she didn't even think possible. 'You'll have to fly there, though.' Corax murmured, which brought Cora's elated mood crashing down as her thoughts swiftly turned to logistical problems, only to turn to familial outrage as she caught her father's smile.

Across Startseite, the scenarios were much the same- the Primarchs all agreed to take their daughters. Some lent a hand to the packing, some only readied the transports for various reasons. Whatever the reasons or circumstances, the Daughters were taken to a remote section of moorland far away from any civilisation, on another world even, somewhere the Primarchs hadn't visited before. The Daughters were dropped off one by one, building up to their full complement of 19 (don't forget Omegan). Tents were pitched, supplies were unpacked, and in the cases of Remilia and Petra, fortifications were dug and erected, though why, nobody could fathom. What was going to attack them all the way out here?

'Well', Isis said, stretching out in readiness for the rest of the day and the coming evening, 'what will we do?' 'Grandfather said to play this once we got here and were ready.' Alpharia and Omegan mentioned, holding a disk out to Isis, who took it, only to have it make a fart noise as she took hold of it. The Twins had done it again. 'Great.' Angela groaned. 'We're not here 5 minutes and they've started already.' Once the real disk was found, Isis loaded it up into a holoprojector, and a hologram of the Emperor of Mankind appeared. Though it was an automated message, His glory was still apparent, and each of the Daughters felt He was speaking only to them.

'My Granddaughters.' the Emperor intoned. 'I suggested this trip to deepen ties between you and forge new ones, as I have noticed in some cases- Petra, Remilia, Furia, Victoria- this is sorely lacking. The purpose of this is for Unity between you all. Over the course of the next week, you will experience many trials and tribulations. It is only together you will pull through. And I promise you this- you will have need of each others' skills, in all ways possible. Good luck to you all.' The Emperor made the sign of the Aquila before the message ended.

'So this isn't going to be fun?' Remilia asked, looking rather downcast. 'Don't worry, Rem.' Roberta smiled, coming over to sit with her. 'I'm sure there'll be time to play.' Naturally, this made Remilia squeal in happiness. Roberta, though she couldn't have known it at the time, was indeed correct- there would indeed be time for fun.

Chapter Two: It Begins

That night, as the Daughters slept, there were plots afoot already, and not even on the part of the Alpha Twins. The first of these was to ship a whole herd of grox to the planet (don't ask me what planet, because even I don't know- Khor'neth), and have them stampede towards the campsite. You heard me right. A grox stampede. I know what you're thinking- they would all get crushed and their property flattened! NO, actually. Grox, it turns out, having been lobotomised before being farmed, have virtually no cranial capacity, so anything startling like the screaming of 'WHAT THE FUCKING SHITBISCUITS IS THAT NOISE?!' on Furia's part or the flicking on of lights on the part of most of the other daughters will startle them greatly, causing one of two things. Either a) the grox rears up in fear before running away or b) they radically change direction away from the campsite. Nevertheless, some grox charged right between the tents before passing on and away. The Daughters are superhuman in their own right, but in the dead of night, with no light to see what's charging around, it's pretty scary. The Daughters actually ended up leaving their own tents and scrambling for the tents of Remilia and Petra, as they were the fortified ones. Whilst all the Daughters managed to get into the two tents safely, the most bizarre development of the night was what happened to the owners themselves- both Remilia and Petra had heard the commotion, looked out of their flaps and seen the charging herd. Fearing for their lives, each, in a panic, ran into the other's tent, as they considered it was better fortified than her own. This, as you might imagine, caused much hilarity when the whole episode was over, though not on the part of those two. The situation was turning out like father, like daughter.

'Remilia Dorn, what is the meaning of this?!' Petra screamed, face Mechanicum-red in anger. 'I could ask you the same thing, Petra!' Remilia screamed back. The situation was escalating quickly. Roberta and Victoria attempted to stop the two quarrelling sisters, only to find them shove them aside and onto the ground in their fury. Clearly this was going to turn into a catfight, unless somebody did something to stop them, which none of the Daughters could, partly out of awe for the two, but Remilia particularly, as she'd never been seen this angry before. Even Furia resisted going any closer, kicking both the Alpha Twins when they attempted to do so.

When those two met, it was fists, nails and feet flying as the two laid into each other, slamming each other onto the floor or into other tents. Notable moments from that encounter were Remilia throwing Petra into Furia's tent, only for Petra to return with a flying kick, sending Remilia into Lyra's tent. Petra went on to pull Remilia's hair, only for her to reply with a natural elbow to the stomach (c'mon, admit it, you've seen that whenever someone's in something to do with the head). Remilia's straight punch to the face was met with a kick to the jaw, and Petra recieved a foot in the nether region when she punched Remilia in the stomach. The fight ended with both girls rolling around on the floor trying to pin the other, tangled up in a mess of hair, hands and feet, before both rolled into Petra's trench and collapsed with exhaustion at the same moment, almost as if someone had flicked a switch and stopped the fight.

'Should we get them out and clean them up?' Farah asked. 'Nah', Angela replied, 'they've come this far,let them work out what there is left on their own.' 'I dunno though...' Venus mumbled, though she left with the others. The two did eventually pick themselves up after most of the Daughters had left, muddied and bloodied. They shared a look. To the casual observer, it would appear no more than a cursory glance, but to them, it spoke volumes. In particular, Petra's look had a tone of respect that Remilia had never seen before.

Victoria was in the plunge pool of a waterfall near the camping site (I DID mention they were on a Paradise World, did I not?), washing herself and generally minding her own business, when she saw Furia slide into the pool a short distance away. Two emotions churned around inside her- her feeling of stylish superiority over the daughter of Angron, and fear- Victoria well knew of her cousin's combat prowess, and of her dislike for her, though the feeling was mutual, really. Victoria's fear increased as Furia came closer. Angron's daughter usually kept her distance like Victoria was radioactive. This suited Victoria fine, but Furia was a tad too close for comfort right now. 'Is this it? My death?' Victoria asked as Furia continued to advance. Furia said nothing, just continued to come closer, before slipping into the falls with her cousin. Victoria was more than a little confused by this- usually Furia would have thrown abuse or a fist by now. 'Furia? What is up with you?' Victoria asked, her bewilderment clear. That got a response- Furia grabbed her with one hand, pulling her closer whilst growling at her. 'I'm FINE, Victoria. Just FINE.' Furia snarled before pushing her cousin away violently. Victoria's curiosity, if it hadn't been aroused before, was very much active now. Furia wasn't usually this- placid. Something was wrong, and Victoria, against her better instincts, made a silent resolution to find out just what was wrong.

It was when Victoria had left the plunge pool that she started to investigate, heading straight back to the campsite where they had pitched their tents. The only ones around were Kelly and Cora, but they weren't about to start looking for their cousins in the morning- Kelly in particular was not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination. Victoria looked around and found the blue-and-white tent with the World Eaters heraldry on it. Summoning her courage (which is more than you think), Victoria pushed the tent flap aside and went in. If Furia was to find her in here, she thought, she'd be lucky to escape at all. However, Furia was less subtle than a primed cyclonic warhead, so if she was coming, Victoria would hear her before Furia got anywhere near the campsite and be out of that tent like a shot.

Just as Victoria expected, Furia's tent was a mess- you name it, it was strewn around the tent like a tornado had come in. In a way, Victoria thought, it had. She had no idea what she was looking for, just something to explain her cousin's mood. As she sifted through camping mugs, parachute cord and various bladed weapons (as World Eaters tend to carry), she happened upon a small journal with the World Eaters crest on the cover, but the scrawls across the cover said it was much more than a notebook, as it appeared. That, and the ECKSBAWKS FUCKHUEG padlock on it. Fortunately, Victoria was a little more skilled in certain skills than she let on, such as the picking of locks. It was child's play to get the lock off and open it up. Victoria trawled through pages of angry scribbling and scrawling before she got to a part that was actually legible. Now she had something! Furia's diary was actually a lot more complex than one who only saw her in passing would believe, like you or I, it contained a LOT more than tirades about school and derogatory comments about her cousins. In fact, quite out of character, she did say some positive things in there. Victoria's eyes were drawn towards an entry entitled 'Some fucking March day... gah, who fucking cares... and quickly skimmed the entry for any names. That entry was a goldmine. There was one passage that caught her attention. What it said was 'As for my other cousins, I'm not sure what to think anymore. I'm still angry- I always am, but I'm noticing that I'm not as angry as usual when they're around. Why it is, I've got no fucking clue. Maybe Gramps can help me out? I fucking hope so. This is definitely weird, and I don't like it. Still, I can't exactly complain either. I'm starting to think of my cousins as people I should actually care about, even that wimp Faith and the school slut Victoria, wimpy as she is. Maybe I should try and bond with them over this upcoming trip? I've got no fucking clue.'

To say Victoria was surprised would have been putting it mildly. Up until now, she'd only ever thought of Furia as being a raging, tearaway teen, rough and rude and not someone to mix with. Emotions began to churn around inside her, but she had little option to examine them and return them to her normal state of perfect karmic balance as a crashing sound began to carry to her ears. Furia was coming back, that was now obvious.

Fear seized a hold of Victoria. If Furia was to catch her in here, she would be unlikely to escape unharmed or possibly alive, depending on how Furia was feeling. Quickly, she shut and locked the diary, and hastily threw it into the pile of stuff, and began looking for a way to slip out unseen. With any luck, Furia wasn't keeping track of what was where, so if her stuff had been moved, she wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Fortunately, Victoria was able to slip out of a small hole at the back just as Furia approached the front of her tent. She managed to get back to her own tent in time, but she knew she'd been discovered when a roar tore through the air.

'WHO THE FUUUUUUCK WAS IN MY TENT?!!' Furia screamed. 'I KNOW YOU WERE IN HERE! COME OUT, YOU SNEAK-THIEF, AND DIE LIKE A WOMAN!'

Clearly Victoria had not been sneaky enough.

Chapter Three: The Infection Strikes

Morticia was in her tent with her meds to try and abate her disease for another day when she heard Furia scream in more rage than she'd head from her cousin in- well, ever, really. She'd never heard Furia this angry before. Poking her head out, she saw Furia standing in her tent's 'doorway' (insofar as you can call a tent flap a 'doorway'), face already Mechanicum-red and deepening to beet with every passing second. Veins bulged as her cousin's rage only grew ever stronger. The anger was almost palpable, it was that strong. Morticia quickly decided this was not something she wanted to get involved in any time this side of the Ides Of Never, and quickly ducked back in her tent. Furia, however, was nowhere near that passive, and it wasn't long before her shadow fell across Morticia's tent, with something long and thick held in one hand. Morticia looked outside again, seeing Furia holding a baseball bat wrapped in razor wire, which she looked ready to use on just about any poor sucker unfortunate enough to get caught in the blast zone. Furia's head snapped around like a hawk to focus in on Morticia, and seeing her sickly cousin, she visibly made an effort to control her anger, but still came over.

'Mort', Furia said, with all the threat of an Imperial Armada poised to virus-bomb you, 'you wouldn't know who was in my tent and looking at my diary, would you? Wait- it wasn't you, was it?!' Furia growled, raising her bat to inflict Exterminatus-level damage, before realizing who she was in front of, and dropping the bat again. 'N-no, Furia, I d-don't know-w who w-was in your t-tent. I d-don't want to die l-like that!' Morticia stammered. Though her cousin had the policy of no angry shit around the Daughter Of Death, she was still in the worst mood Morticia had ever seen her in. 'Someone was in my tent and looking at my diary!' Furia growled, like a volcano poised to blow. 'I'm gonna find out who did it, and...' Furia tailed off, her rage evaporating faster than water on a hotplate as she looked at her sick cousin, seeing a fresh round of bloody tears pouring from her eyes and some blood dripping from her nose like a tap. Morticia was having another disease attack, and had no medicine in her hand. She needed her inhaler in hand to counteract fits such as this, but it was in her tent, and Furia hadn't the foggiest of how to use it. Anger turned fully to fear, then increased to horror as Morticia got worse and worse right before her eyes, with Furia unable to do anything about it. What Furia was truly afraid of, though, was that it was her not holding back her anger that had caused this attack.

Furia turned her face skyward, and sent out a call with her voice, famous at Imperator High, in a cry of desperation, the likes of which would never be heard again, or at the very least, by nobody but her cousins.

'MORTICIA'S HAVING ANOTHER ATTACK! SOMEONE, ANYONE, HELP!!!'

EVERYONE heard that call and came at the run. The first to arrive was Faith, who promptly dove into Morticia's tent and returned with the inhaler, Victoria arriving to prop her cousin upright to make sure the medicine went straight into her lungs when it was administered. All the other Daughters stood around, waiting for Morticia to stop making hacking noises like her guts were trying to exit via reverse peristalsis (that's a fancy word for puke, dimwit).

Thanks to Faith and Victoria, Morticia was soon back to her usual fragile self, but Victoria looked more tearful than somebody who had just helped save her cousin had any business being. When she turned to Furia and confessed, Furia's anger quickly swelled, but peaked and began to abate when Victoria told her she'd been concerned about her and wanted to help. Naturally, Furia was a long way off buying it, but it was an explanation, at least. It would have to do for now. 'You. Me. Over there. NOW.' Furia growled at her cousin, pointing to a hard patch of ground outside the tent circle surrounded by thorns. Victoria looked around, but got no sympathetic looks.

'You caused this, Victoria. Now you need to face the consequences.' Faith intoned, like reading a verdict that the Church might have passed on a heretic on Old Earth before they burnt them at the stake. So it was that Fulgrim's and Angron's daughters fought. Naturally, the fight did not go anywhere near well for Victoria. One small mercy was that Furia caused no injuries that would swell up, and none on the face, either. Furia later said it was her showing restraint as Victoria had confessed, so she couldn't be that angry. The aftermath found Furia with a few bruises too- Victoria may have been vain and avoided fighting, but that didn't make her defenseless. It was another Remilia/Petra situation- there was a mutual respect beginning to develop between the two cousins- though, in Furia's case, tempered with a healthy amount of caution.

Chapter Four: The Phoenix and the World Eater

It was later that afternoon when Furia entered Victoria's tent. Her cousins had lectured her a few times, but all agreed that due to her part in helping Morticia, they would do nothing further to her. They were preapred to put this all behind them, even Morticia. All except Furia, who Victoria now found herself facing. What was puzzling to Victoria was Furia's lack of weaponry- she thought Furia was going to come in and beat her up all over again.

'We're not close, are we?' Furia asked, her voice more relaxed than Victoria thought it would have been. Then again, perhaps this was a deception- Victoria dismissed that thought. That was far from Furia's m.o- if she had it in for you, she didn't waste time or hide what she felt.

'No, we aren't.' Victoria replied, sitting cross-legged in the middle of her tent. Furia came over and sat in the same way facing her.

'You know what I think now, don't you?' Furia asked. 'I ought to be strangling you right now, but I can't muster the rage to do it.'

'It changed my mind as well.' Victoria confessed. 'Up until now, I'd thought of you as a raging ragamuffin, someone to be avoided at all costs as a matter of principle. This episode changed my thoughts on you just as much as you, it seems.'

'Crazy shit, ain't it?' Furia asked.

'It is indeed 'crazy shit', as you put it, Furia, dear.' Victoria said softly, a grin beginning to creep across her face.

'What are you smiling at?' Furia asked, then caught her cousin's eye- she was looking at her muscles.

'I've got to admit, they are well defined, hon.' Victoria grinned.

'Yeah, sure. You're never gonna want these-'

'I do.' Victoria interrupted.

'What? You're having me on!' Furia gasped.

'Today's fight showed me that my muscles are an aspect of physical perfection I lack, hon.' Victoria told her stunned cousin. 'Truth be told, I've been just a bit jealous for a while now.'

'Well, Vicky,' Furia went on, already using a more familiar nickname for Fulgrim's daughter, 'I've looked at our cousins and then myself. I'm also seeing that it's not just in anger management I'm lagging. Our cousins can pull pretty much anyone. Even Freya. Not me.'

'Answer me, Furia, this question- how come we're being so familiar?' Victoria asked.

'I can't speak for you, but today cleared a bit of bad blood between us, as far as I'm concerned. You're not the scandalous tart I once thought you were. You showed that today as well.'

The cousins sat in silence for a few minutes, letting their minds drift and clear some bad blood, and consider how to move forward now that they knew they were not what the other had once thought them to be.

'We could help each other out, ya know.' Furia murmured after a few more moments.

'I shouldn't agree more, hon.' Victoria replied.

'So how? How can we help each other out?' Furia put to her cousin.

'Well,' Victoria said, 'I'll make you up for tonight's tales round the fire, and you can show me what it is you do from tomorrow. We'll help each other that way. I'll teach you social things, you can help me in gym matters.'

'Alright, Vicky.' Furia said. 'Deal.'

'Great, hon!' Victoria enthused. 'Now let's get started!'

The cousins crossed to Victoria's dressing table (because you just KNOW that she was gonna bring that sort of thing along), and for the last couple of hours of the afternoon, sounds of making up, Victoria's dainty laugh and Furia's machine-gun bark were heard from Victoria's tent.

Chapter Five: The Hydra Does It Again

That night, a campfire was started just beyond the tents as the moon of the world rose into the sky, full, round, and much closer than Luna was to Terra. Anyone would have thought, had they been there, this was a night for sorcery, witchery, or whatever word you want to use for the casting of some dark magics- all are equally true. Cans were opened, marshmallows and hot dogs were roasted on the fire, and a good time was had generally by all. When all had been eaten/drunk and the fire had died down, the idea arose for the old telling of spooky campfire tales, something that seems to be a time-honored ritual whenever anyone goes camping. However, this being the Daughters, you and I both know these tales are not going to be just any old laaaame stories. Don't forget, Miranda was there, and she made illusions of the monsters spoken of in the stories appear around them when the stories were being told, in exchange for the promise of candy from the Alpha Twins. (Did you not know candies boost psychic abilities temporarily? Well, you do now- Khor'neth.) By far the scariest story was the one told by Kiara, the one about the chain-weapon-wielding maniac running around at a lakeside summer camp. (What, you didn't think Friday the 13th survived into the Imperial age? It's really more a cautionary tale than anything else in the Imperium.) The Alpha Twins were determined to change that and tell the scariest story. The tale they told was pretty scary, too. What was it, you ask? The tale of the Whisperhead Mountains on Sixty-Three Nineteen. You know, the one with Xayver Jubal being possessed by a daemon and going batshit crazy? Read Horus Rising, then. The problem was, Miranda was a psyker. Conjuring an illusory daemon was a risk. Granted, she was unaware of it at first, but, hidden in the woods, watching as her illusory Xayver Jubal took on a life of its own and stalked off towards the campfire, she became aware of the risk pretty damn fast. She had succeeded, you see, in conjuring the illusion, but she had also accidentally summoned a daemon to possess the illusion as well.

'The Son of Horus looked at the little man-' Alpharia began, (they're still the Luna Wolves here, BTW), her twin finishing off- 'who murmured, looking at the body "Great Terra. He has been so ravaged. I weep to see this waste."' They spoke together here. 'With a creak of sinew, the monster raised its head, looked with infected eyes at the pair and groaned with tortured vocal cords-'

"Look. Out." the daemon groaned, right behind them.

Everyone screamed, even Furia. Don't forget, this was night, and the only light was from the fire. There was no good illumination to see the daemon by and nobody was expecting it to actually speak to them. It was only when Miranda came charging into the camp with a wide-eyed look of terror on her face that anyone figured out the thing was real.

Then there was much screaming.

The notable events featured Victoria and Furia going at the thing with sword and chainaxe, and Petra and Remilia rigging up landmines and razor wire to trip it up. The daemon was finally killed by Isis, who looked at Miranda for answers. She, however, told them the whole deal, so everyone then turned to the Alpha Twins with very dark looks on their faces.

What happened next can easily be summarised in Freya's own words- 'WEDGIE!!'

The Twins were left hanging from a huge tree by their pants. All. Fucking. Night. How huge? A literal 150-foot drop. The kind of height that says 'you really have NO hope of surviving if you drop from this high up. Bitch.'

Chapter Six: Religiosity

Kelly Curze was not a morning person. Nor was Cora Corax. Faith Aurelian, however, was. On this new day, she threw her arms wide to the morning sun, inhaled deeply and muttered a short litany to her grandfather the God-Emperor for this new day. It looked like it was going to be a good one. However, this was quickly disturbed by the calls for help she heard from a nearby tree. Looking in the direction of the calls, she saw that her cousins had left the Alpha Twins up there all night. For a moment she pondered getting them down, but considering the clusterfuck they had been responsible for last night, she decided to let them suffer in their own little purgatory. The sound of bare feet on grass behind announced the arrival of Roberta and Furia, a puzzling pairing at the best of times, given the track records of the two, especially their fathers. Faith knew that Roboute Guilliman, Lord of the Ultramarines, and her father, Primarch Lorgar of the Word Bearers, didn't always see eye-to-eye. They recognised the vital service the other provided, and worked together in the Emperor's service, but that was about it. Then again, Grandfather had said that the purpose of this trip was for Unity between them all, so perhaps this was why her cousins that she got on the worst with were approaching her now.

'So why are you here?' were the first words out of Faith's mouth, in her typically arch tone, before she could stop herself.

'Now why would you say that?' asked Furia. 'Just because we're here and together, it doesn't mean we've got something planned for you.'

'Oh, so I'm safe?' asked Faith, visibly relaxing.

It was when Furia and Roberta shared a evil/mischevious grin that Faith's suspicions were confirmed.

I won't say exactly what happened next. Let's just say it involved several canisters of flame-retardant foam, spare guy ropes, a lot of mind-fuckery, a camera, and a pressure washer. (Don't ask me who brought that).

By the end of it all, Faith was soaked from head to toe, and every bit in between. Her cousins were all standing around and giggling with that typical teenage girlish mischief. Even Furia. In fact, Furia was doubled over in laughter, her face cherry-red. You see, this whole shenanigan had all been her idea to begin with. As to why everyone else went along with it all, well, we all know how stuck-up Faith could be to atheistic people.

Naturally, Faith was not happy with the whole affair, but immediately after, when her cousins went off to bathe, they asked her to come with them. Faith initially was against it, but when you get picked up and carried between Furia and Freya, you're in no position to argue.