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skepticalcatfrog · 3 years ago

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This fic is now available on AO3 as well! Here's the link to read it there.

Collateral Damage, Chapter 1

First Chapter Next Chapter Masterpost

Summary: Four test subjects have lived inside of a lab for as long as they can remember, with barely any memory of who they are or how they got there aside from what they've been told. When they start suspecting things might not be exactly as they seem, they see no option other than escaping into the outside world to find answers despite knowing close to nothing about life outside the lab. Meanwhile, four completely normal teenagers just out of highschool find themselves wrapped up in a mystery involving shady organizations and illegal experimentation.

POV: Finian de Seel

Pairings: Aurora O'Malley x Kaliis Gilwraeth, (Eventual) Scarlett Jones x Finian de Seel, Zila Madran x Nari Kim, and Tyler Jones x Saedii Gilwraeth

Word count: 5,343 words

Author's Notes: It has been ages since I've written anything! Bet a couple of you forgot I was even a writer. But I am, and I have returned, please hold your applause until the end. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this! I'm also working on getting an AO3 account, so I'll be putting this there too when everything's all set up.

He's fiddling with a loose thread on the sleeve of his shirt, an idle task with the sole purpose of keeping him occupied. Just as he starts to feel like he's about to lose his mind, the door beside the mirror on the right wall opens. In walks a middle aged man in a very plain-looking shirt and tie, a look on his face not unlike what one might see when they're about to be sent to detention by their high school principal. He sits down in the steel chair opposite the similar one the boy is in, and folds his arms on the table. He places a recording device between them.

~~~

A teenage boy sits at a flat metal table in a dark, otherwise empty room. There's a mirror inlaid in the wall to the right of him that he's pretty sure is a window on the other side. The room is cold. A weird sort of dry cold that, in his opinion, is colder than any room should be. But he isn't exactly in a position to complain. He's already been sitting there for what has to have been about a thousand years, and he's just about at the end of his rope. His shoes are heavy, his whole body is sore, his exosuit is getting uncomfortable, and he needs a break. He has a feeling he's not going to get one, though. Not for a while.

"Hey, son. Sorry for the wait, we're pretty backed up with all of this." The man explains, tone apologetic. "Hopefully you haven't been too bored in here."

"Well, I haven't exactly been having the time of my life." The boy sighs. He quits messing with his sleeve to rest one of his pale white hands on the table, tapping his silver-tipped fingers in an indiscernible rhythm.

"Again, really sorry about that. But I'm here now, so we can get started..." The man trails off, glances down at the boy's fidgeting hands, then further down to the shoes he's wearing. They're clunky and metallic-looking, with a number of industrial strength buckles that go up to around his mid-shin. "What're those shoes for?"

"They keep me on the ground, sir." The boy answers simply.

"Alright then." The man purses his lips, not fully satisfied with the answer he got but not willing to push it. He presses a button on the recording device, causing a small light on it to start blinking red. "I'm Detective Adams, but you can just call me Adams if you want. You'll have to answer a few easy questions for me, tell me a bit about what happened to you, then you're free to go. So, can you tell me your name?"

"I'm Finian de Karran de Seel. But you can call me Fin, if you don't feel like saying all that." Fin answers, focusing on the blinking red light rather than on Adams. A small red dot is reflected in the black lenses in his large eyes.

"Got it. How old are you?"

"19 years old."

"And how long has it been since all of this started?"

"I… I'm not sure. I wasn't keeping track. I was sort of preoccupied."

"That's just fine, we're talking to your friends too so you don't have to remember every detail. Now, I want you to tell me as much as you can remember about what happened to you, starting from the beginning."

"The beginning like the very first thing I can remember, or the beginning like when we escaped?"

"Let's go with when you escaped." Adams decides, evidently not interested in hearing this boy's entire life story.

"Okay, I'll see what I can do…"

~ ~ ~

The four of us- Kal, Auri, Saedii and I- were sitting in the cafeteria of the GIABSA. Crazy long acronym, I know, but it was quicker to say than the full name. The Global Intelligence Agency for Beings with Superhuman Ability. Much worse, right? The GIABSA was a real hoot. It was the type of place where, if you got bored enough, you'd keel over on the spot. They called us 'students', and I guess there wasn't a better term since we were technically learning. The place was all plain metal floors and dull steel walls. The lights were artificial, but reasonably bright, especially since there were no windows. Not any that I'd seen, anyway. At least the cafeteria had those little round tables you usually find in places like that. Despite being almost completely irrelevant, that was fun.

For a long time, none of us had questioned anything about the place. But we'd noticed a while back that things were really weird there. Not even just the odd choices of decor, either. Every so often, people would disappear. We never really knew any of them, or at least I didn't, but we definitely noticed they were gone. Because once people left, they never came back. And the crowds had really started thinning. That didn't mean much, because there was a serious number of people in there, but the point was that there were a lot less than there had been. No one new was coming in, people were just leaving. So we started planning. We came up with something we were about 60% sure would work. We slowly learned the quickest path from the cafeteria to what we were thinking was probably an exit. We needed to get out of there, and fast, before one of us got picked off.

That was… yeah, it was a couple months ago. I remember that bit now. But anyway, back to that table in the cafeteria. It was the day we planned on escaping. None of us actually had any food. We couldn't eat then, not with the nerves we had.

"So, remind me again. How are we doing this?" I steepled my fingers on the table, turning my gaze from Aurora to Kal to Saedii.

"When everyone leaves the cafeteria, we deviate from the pack." Kal explained, admittedly being quite patient with me. There were a couple times, when we'd gone over this, that I hadn't been listening. "Hopefully the rush will be able to distract the guards long enough for us to make our escape."

"Really, how many times will we need to explain this to you?" Saedii hissed. With her in particular, I was pretty positive that she'd leave me behind if I even so much as blinked the wrong way. She might even kill me herself if she got the chance.

"Don't be so hard on him, Saedii. We're all freaking out about this." Auri’s brow furrowed, her mismatched eyes fixed down on the table. Saedii responded with the loudest eye roll I'd ever seen in my life.

"Agreed." Kal reached over to take Auri’s hand, squeezing it reassuringly. Remember when I mentioned that if you got bored enough in the GIABSA, you might die? Well, it was either that or you'd end up dating your friend. Kal and Aurora had started dating a little while before we started noticing all the weird goings-on. I'm pretty sure they would've gotten together eventually anyway, even without the blandness of our humble abode. I unfortunately hadn't gotten the romantic end of the bargain, so I was just waiting on the organ failure. "Although, I will say that it would be helpful to all of us if you could commit this to memory, Finian."

"Alright, alright. You've got it." I waved my hand dismissively. Truth be told, I was already trying my best to not fuck this up for the lot of us. But staring in the face of the most terrifying thing you've ever done in your life, you tend to start shaking in your lead boots. I was just trying not to make a big deal about it, despite the fact that it was a very. Big. Deal.

Just then, the obnoxious buzzing sound signaling the end of our lunch break rang out. No matter how many times I heard that thing, it always made me flinch. But that obviously wasn't the most important thing going on at the moment. All the other people in the cafeteria got up and filed to the doors in a steady river of plain gray jumpsuits. My exosuit hissed as I stood up with my friends. And Saedii, of course. We barely spared glances for each other as we made our way to the exits.

GIA agents in charcoal grey uniforms lined the crowd on either side, any bit of identification that could've been placed with them hidden by their armor, helmets, and mirror masks that covered the lengths of their faces. Not to mention the spooky, mechanical distortion that was put on their voices. They didn't appear to be armed, but I knew they were. They always were, just because of the batshit crazy things they had to deal with. I'm positive there was at least one person at the GIABSA who could pop those guys like water balloons. So the soldiers stayed armed, even if they weren't openly holding weapons. No one said a word as we marched down the hall. It felt like we never could unless we had time free from training, like when we were supposed to be sleeping. Who knew why the GIABSA worked us to the bone, but it couldn't have been anything good.

Speaking of things that weren't good, our plan definitely didn't get off to a fantastic start.

Almost immediately after we had enough time to survey our situation, a look passed from Saedii to Kal to Aurora to me like a game of telephone. We all got the silent message that went along with it. There seemed to be more agents watching us than there usually were, which meant we pretty much had no way of slipping past them, which meant most of our plan was for the birds. So much for committing it to memory, I thought, half-bitter but also half-smug. We had to come up with something else, and fast.

Through the heavy shroud of foreboding that clouded my vision, I spotted someone I'd only ever seen a few times before. A GIA agent in all white, standing out among the rest of them. Princeps. I'd gathered pretty early on that Princeps was the leader of the lot. As I said, I'd only ever seen them a few times before, and that made their presence much more startling because I knew why they were here. Someone else was about to disappear. My fellow students stiffened as they walked past the head of the GIABSA, hoping beyond hope that none of them would be the one to leave. I almost closed my eyes as the four of us passed, and I probably would've if not for what happened next.

"Stop." Princeps commanded just as he saw us. Everyone went as still as a paused video. A moment later, the robotic voice started up again. "Aurora O'Malley. We require your presence elsewhere."

Directed forward by their boss, a pair of GIA agents approached the crowd of students. My peers parted to allow the agents access to our group, and I silently cursed their apparent lack of empathy. The agents took Auri by the arms and began swiftly leading her away.

"Please, please don't take me, I don't want to go-" Auri pleaded with them quietly, trying to shuffle backwards to no avail.

And finally, as if things couldn't get any more complicated, shit hit the fan. As it became evident that Auri wouldn't be coming back from this, Kal began pushing through the flow of students to get to her. Saedii hurried after him, grabbing at his arm. But before she could do anything, he was swinging. He was lucky to have enhanced strength, because when he landed a hit on each of the agents, that was all he needed to knock both of them out cold. The two of them slumped to the ground, but Auri managed to stay upright. That was when the chaos really started.

Students broke into shouts, cheering Kal on as more GIA agents started ganging up on him. Every time he managed to get rid of one, another came to take their place. Saedii attempted to assist him, though her tactic of fighting seemed as much against him as it was with him. Aurora was helping Kal, one hand covering her right eye as if it was hurting her while the other one threw soldiers against the walls without even touching them. At that point I figured there was nothing for me to do but throw myself in the ring too. I ran forward, boots making the floor ring like a bell. I threw my arms out in front of me, and a few of the agents floated slowly upwards, floundering to find purchase on some kind of surface. Meanwhile, my knees bent involuntarily, and my exosuit buzzed with the stress of keeping me from folding in half.

"We have to get out of here, now!" Kal shouted over the commotion, tossing a few more soldiers off of himself.

"They're going to send for backup any moment!" Saedii growled in response, sending an elbow into an agent's ribs. "If we are to leave at all, we will fight our way out."

"Okay then, whatever, we will!" I squeezed my eyes shut, keeping the agents suspended. "Can someone get these guys?"

"I've got them, Fin!" Aurora called out to me. I let my arms drop and felt a wave of relief and familiar weightlessness wash over me. She sent them into the wall, and when she released them, they dropped like rocks.

"Now run! Before more of them arrive!" Kal waved Auri and Saedii down the hall, opposite the way we came. Saedii made her escape as soon as she could. Aurora was more hesitant before she took off, not wanting to leave Kal for too long. A few new GIA agents were already attempting to quell the roaring of the other students, and I had a feeling a few would be coming for us in a minute too. I wouldn't be able to run fast enough to get away from them, thanks in part to my unconventional attire and in another part to my physical condition.

Lucky for my chances of getting out of here in one piece, Kal seemed to pick up on my issue. He let me sling an arm around his shoulders and supported me as we ran through the halls. I was just glad the one who'd stayed behind long enough to help me was the one who could probably carry two cars on his back if he wanted to.

We caught up with Auri and Saedii pretty quickly. My guess was that Aurora had convinced Saedii to wait a second for us, because as I mentioned previously, Saedii would've had absolutely no issue leaving me in the dust. We didn't really have time to talk, and at that point I was glad we already had a path planned out. Getting to the door was easy enough. The guards were mostly occupied with the commotion a few halls over, so whoever we did run into was easy to deal with. But there were alarms going off now. More agents would be on us in a minute or two.

The door we'd mapped out was hidden behind a false panel of the wall that looked pretty much exactly like all the other ones. Just as heavy, just as metal. Your average Joe might not have suspected it at all. Scoping it out for us was one of my proudest moments. We hadn't been able to find any visible exits, so I started thinking that maybe a door to the outside would've been more hidden than we thought. It had taken us a couple tries to figure out where it might be hidden, and a couple more to actually find it. Since the fake wall didn't have solid architecture right behind it like the rest of the walls, hitting it hard enough would make a different sound. Kal had helped me with that part. He was also the one to move the wall aside for us now. Just as I'd predicted, there was an alcove behind it that ended with a thick, steel, probably airtight door. There was a keypad next to the door that was lit up from the inside, which we obviously didn't know the passcode to. That would've made things a hell of a lot easier. Trust me, if there was another option, we would've chosen it.

"What do we do now?" Auri asked, slightly breathless from all our running.

"I don't know. Break it? You've got your crazy mind powers, Kal's got his whole super strength thing." I gestured vaguely to her, then to him.

"Ah, so I'm not included in this at all?" Saedii raised an eyebrow at me.

"I'll be honest with you, Saedii. I don't even know what you do aside from being scary."

"We don't have time for this." Kal reminded us, stepping away from me. I was fine on my own, now that we weren't moving. He tried to stick his fingers into the spot where the two sides of the door met, to get as much leverage as he could. He then attempted to pull the doors apart, the muscles in his arms straining with the effort, but the doors weren't budging. When he realized that he wasn't going to be able to do it, he stopped and turned back to us, finding Aurora's eyes. "I don't think my ability is going to help us. Is there anything you could do, be'shmai?"

Auri shook her head. "I don't think so. A blast big enough to break through these doors would probably hurt you guys too."

The two of them kept trying to come up with a solution, and Saedii joined in, but I was completely checked out. I stared slightly slack-jawed at the keypad. After lights out, I had a habit of not sleeping. Instead, I'd study things that no one else seemed to want to teach me. It had started with my exosuit. It was standard issue, emphasis on was because I'd been fixing it up since I learned how. I didn't think anyone knew, and if they did no one said anything. But the point was, I'd gotten pretty good with machines over the years. I'd call it natural talent. I could figure out how things worked just by looking at them real hard for a minute. Which was exactly what I was doing with the door.

"Hang on," I spoke up, drifting to the keypad. "I think there's something I can do."

"Do it, then," Kal encouraged me.

I nodded, and extracted a multitool from a small compartment in my exo. That was something I'd added, I doubt I would've been allowed to have it otherwise. I found the flathead screwdriver extension of the multitool, and it flicked out like a switchblade. I held that with one hand, and with the other I put gentle pressure on each of the buttons on the keypad in turn, careful not to actually press any of them. It only took me a couple seconds to find what I needed. I positioned the end of the tool in the space between the 4 and 5 buttons. I held it steady, then closed my other hand into a fist and brought it down on the end of the tool with as much strength as I could, effectively jamming the screwdriver into the keypad. The whole thing sparked, and the light inside flickered and died. A prolonged hiss came from the door as the keypad settled into smoking.

"Try it again, Kal." I tipped my head towards the door, putting the multitool away. My brawny friend did as I instructed, and with the satisfying creak of success, the door slid open.

I heard my friends run out the door, and a victorious cheer that I was sure came from Saedii. But at the moment, I was frozen in place. As soon as the sun hit my eyes, I was in a great deal of unexpected pain, so my reflexes told me to close them as tight as I could.

"Shitshitshitshit-" I clamped a hand over my eyes too, because just closing them wasn't proving to be enough.

My friends came back to me, and I felt Aurora's hand on my shoulder. "What? What's wrong?"

"I don't know!" There was a note of panic in my voice that even startled me a little. I spoke through gritted teeth. "Something about the light out here is hurting my eyes!"

A silent beat passed where, just over the sound of blaring alarms, I could hear rapid footsteps coming closer to us. We were running out of time, fast.

Somehow keeping his cool, Kal made a split second decision. He took a deep breath. "Alright. We'll solve this problem when we come to a safe place to stop. For now, Finian, I hope you don't take issue with me carrying you."

Before I had time to protest- which I probably wouldn't have anyway- Kal lifted me off of the ground in what I could only describe as an impromptu bridal carry. Then we were right back to running.

My eyes were still closed, so I don't really know all of what happened next. But from what I've gathered since it did happen, Auri took a second to use her powers to close the door behind us again. Obviously that wasn't going to keep the GIA goons back for very long, especially with the way I'd broken it, but it was better than nothing. We weren't out of the woods yet, though. For a couple reasons. Firstly, if I knew anything about the GIABSA, I knew that they weren't going to quit until they found us. They wouldn't have put that much effort into their security if they didn't want to keep us there.

Secondly, we had absolutely no clue where we were going. None of us had ever been outside of the GIABSA, so we didn't know where any towns or cities or anything were. We were just running as fast and far as we could and hoping we found something. Not to mention that even if we did somehow come across a town, it would be a real miracle if anyone would actually be willing to give us a hand.

I couldn't hear any footsteps other than our own anymore, so hopefully that meant good things and not GIABSA-assassins-hiding-in-the-woods things. Oh, and speaking of the woods, I was pretty sure that was where we were. It seemed like my eyes had adjusted a little more, so I took my hand away from them, but still kept them closed. I could tell that I was too close to the precipice of feeling that crazy burning thing again, so I wasn't going to risk opening them. But I could see the sort of erratic patterns of the light around me from behind my eyelids, which told me the sun was probably coming through some leaves.

Suddenly, we stopped. I tried for a second to think of why it might've been, and all I could come up with was that they'd found something. "What are you seeing?" I nudged Kal's side with my boot.

"A road." Kal muttered.

"A real one. Paved." Saedii supplied. What struck me about it was that for a second she seemed to lose that facade she had where she acted like she was so much smarter than everyone else. She sounded really, genuinely… confused.

"We should follow it." Aurora decided. "A road probably means a town, right? Whoever's there might be able to help us."

"Or turn us in to the authorities." I shrugged.

"Now is not the time for a devil's advocate, Finian." Kal said gravely.

"No. He's correct." I almost didn't believe my ears when I heard Saedii say that. But there wasn't any time to fire the confetti cannons before she kept speaking. "We have to go into this with caution. We've made ourselves fugitives. Simply talking to people and hoping they will listen isn't going to work."

Aurora's voice came next, slightly timid. "Do we have another choice, though?"

"Always."

"But this isn't like always!" Auri pointed out. "We don't need to isolate ourselves again, we need help."

"We need no one but ourselves, and if you're unable to see that then you won't last long in this world." Saedii snapped. See what I meant about her acting like she was smarter than everyone else?

Auri seemed to give up then, knowing Saedii was too stubborn to be convinced. "Fine, you can do whatever you want, but I'm following this road." Based on the footsteps I heard after that, she was doing exactly what she said.

And obviously Kal was going with her, which meant I was too. I probably would've gone anyway, even if I wasn't being carried. Which reminded me- "I think I can probably walk on my own from here. Just, you know, lead me a little."

Kal responded with an affirmative, and put me back down. If I didn't know any better, I almost would've called the ground beneath my feet familiar terrain. It was just as solid as the floors of the GIABSA. But it made a different sound, and I knew the rest of my surroundings would be really different if I opened my eyes. I was still wrapping my head around that.

A couple seconds after I got my feet back on the ground, I heard another set of footfalls behind us. I couldn't puzzle out why Saedii had chosen to come with us after all, but I didn't have the energy or confidence to question it. She worked in mysterious ways, and I was used to it by then.

It took a while for us to find anything interesting. Saedii and Aurora didn't have anything else to say to each other, Kal was more the strong-and-silent type, and I do my best work bouncing off of other people, so there wasn't much conversation. But my first indication that we were getting somewhere was when I heard Auri gasp and announce the presence of houses. It sounded to me like we'd gotten to the edge of a town. I couldn't hear much of anything else, though. There probably weren't many people out and about. Maybe it was just a smaller town.

A few moments passed and all of a sudden I heard Aurora take off, then she started yelling. "Hey! Hi! Can we talk to you for a minute?" Either she'd seen someone, or she'd finally snapped. Based on the way my other friends picked up the pace too, I was guessing it was the first one. I stayed put where I was, given that I had only a vague clue of where my friends had gone, and I wasn't looking to wander aimlessly until I found them.

Whoever it was that they'd seen, though, they didn't seem eager to talk to us, because the conversation Auri had initiated didn't continue. But we wouldn't be deterred so easily. My friends came back to get me after realizing I'd been left in the dust, and we moved right along. Every so often we spotted someone on the street, but when we went to talk to them, one of two things happened. Either they took one look at us and decided to bounce, or they stuck around for a minute and only left once we started explaining things. It was me doing most of the explaining, only because I knew someone had to, and no one else was doing it. We also stopped by a few houses, and it was a similar situation. Sometimes people didn't even answer their doors, and I guess there wasn't much we could do about that.

After a few dozen times of trying and failing and trying again, we spotted someone walking back to their house. We caught up to them before they reached their door.

"Wait! Wait, hi, sorry to bother you but do you think you could help us out with something?" Aurora asked the person, having gotten significantly less timid than the first time she'd done it.

Then there was the voice of a very concerned and bewildered boy.

He's probably trying to figure us out.

He sounded young, probably around the same age as we were. "What… what do you need?"

I took that as my cue to give this guy the run-down. If anyone in my group was good at talking fast, it was me, so it was actually kind of convenient that I'd taken up this job. "Well, we need help because we just got out of a pretty intense situation that can be expanded upon later, and we're kinda on a time crunch because we're being chased, so we'd really appreciate it if you could kindly direct us to your local authorities or anyone else you might deem helpful, please and thank you."

When I was done explaining, a good few seconds of silence passed where I could only imagine this guy staring at the four of us with a cartoonishly dropped jaw.

"I… I'll be right back." I heard him speed-walk away, followed by a door closing.

Saedii groaned. "How much longer are we going to continue this? We've had no luck, and if you would simply stop and think for a moment, maybe you would see that we aren't making the correct decision."

"He said he'd be back." Aurora mumbled, daring to be hopeful in a situation that definitely wasn't looking too good for us.

"I doubt he plans to stay true to his word, Aurora." Kal told her, trying to be gentle in breaking the news. "No one else has returned, even if they told us they would. Why should he be any different?"

"No, he'll be back." Aurora insisted, sounding like she was trying to convince herself as much as us.

"And why do you so stubbornly think this?" Saedii challenged her.

"I'm not positive, I just... have a feeling."

"It's not the end of the world if he doesn't come back, either. I don't know how many houses there are around here, but we've already been to a couple. I'm sure there are other people we can catch the attention of." I gestured widely, but carefully, to our surroundings. I didn't want to hit anyone.

"Maybe we would have better luck if you didn't immediately divulge our situation to complete strangers!" Saedii growled.

"What else am I supposed to be doing?" I was, admittedly, getting a little defensive. "I don't know if you all have noticed, but we're not exactly a classic group of picture-perfect modern teenagers."

"Which is precisely why we shouldn't be here in the first place!"

"We have nowhere else to go, Saedii!" Kal shouted.

"How quickly you switch sides, Kaliis. Just when I thought you had some sense about you!"

"Saying something that aligns with your thoughts doesn't mean I think you are entirely correct! You have no better idea of what you're doing than the rest of us."

Based on the stunned silence that followed, Kal's sister was absolutely seething at that point. Just as she started speaking, and I came to terms with the inevitable triple murder she was about to commit, a real miracle happened. I heard the door creak again.

The boy from before opened with a simple "Okay," seeming about as unsure as a person could be. But if just his coming back wasn't good enough, then he spoke again. "I talked to my friends in there-" I guessed that he gestured back to his house- "and they were both pretty opinionated. But the details aren't important. Long story short..." In five simple words, I could almost feel some of the tension being released from the air. "You guys can come inside."

~~~

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ceceism · 3 years ago

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I Have Finished Aurora's End and I can no longer be trusted with spoilers

I'm still at the crying stage but also buzzing with excitement about the ending

All the spoilers are under the cut

First of all: TYLER X SAEDII SHIPPERS HAVE BEEN VINDICATED

(also I've been calling them the Tacticians in my head).

Not only have we been vindicated, but they got a kid!

And Caersan dies. I like that he didn't have some weird repentance moment even though he was the one to sacrifice himself to the Weapon. Like he was a bastard to the end and he died because he was a stubborn bastard that refused to surrender or compromise his murderous ways. He saved the galaxy but only to spite the entity trying to kill him. It was a very in-character end for the psychopath who refused to ratify a peace treaty.

Zila and Nari are very cute. I'm imaging them getting up to a lot of interesting shenanigans in the past, from stopping the Trask/Terra wars to starting the Aurora Legion.

Fin and Scarlett got their happy ending! and some TRAUMA. Multiple deaths. You know, that sort of thing. I am pleased for them. They need that vacation tho.

Now, Kal and Auri. I will now be calling them Aurikal in the style of chapter 31. I was fairly ambivalent on their relationship in the first book, and vaguely bored of it by book 2, but I liked them more in this. They were third-wheeled by his horrifically evil father for most of the book. Maybe I liked Kal more when faced with the literal destroyer of a planet that is his sire? I definitely liked Auri more when she was yelling at every second person and willing to fight them too.

The Free People were very United Nations with their exclusion of the Terrans, but it felt very weird against people like the Unbroken, but maybe without the Starslayer everyone just let it go? VERY weird, but also kinda believable. Lae was obvs the Tacticians' kid from the moment Tyler said her name, but I didn't mind.

Hmm, that's all for now. If anyone else has thoughts about it (even if you disagree) let me know.

#aurora cycle #aurora's end #aurora's end spoilers #aurikal #the tacticians

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writinginstardust · 6 years ago

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Fanfic (ship) Requests

hey so on my main request info page i’m quite broad in the list of what ships i’ll write for, mostly because i didn’t want to clutter it too much, but I’ve realised that being more specific is going to help both me and you guys so this is just a full list of all the ships in each fandom that i’ll write fanfiction for. a separate post with all the individual characters i’ll write for can be found here.

The Maze Runner:

Newt x Thomas

Minho x Newt

Thomas x Minho

Thomas x Newt x Minho

The Grishaverse

Jesper x Wylan

Nikolai x Isaak

The Illuminae Files

Ezra x Kady

Nik x Hanna

Hanna x Kady

Nik x Ezra

Aurora Rising

Cat x Tyler (Catyler)

Kal x Aurora (Kalora)

Cat x Scarlett (Scarcat)

Finian x Tyler (Tylian)

Finian x Scarlett (Scarlian)

Zila x Scarlett (Zilett)

Tyler x Saedii

Tyler x Auri (Tylora)

Tyler x Kal (Kyler)

Zila x Nari

Red White and Royal Blue

Alex x Henry

Alex x Liam

June x Nora

June x Nora x Pez

Bea x June

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Korra x Asami

Makko x Korra

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crumbly-apple-pie · 3 years ago

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thanks for the tag!!

i honestly don’t have very many wips because my writing process is usually: get idea, sit down and write it from start to finish, post, forget about it until someone comments and then get a ridiculous serotonin boost lmao. but i have a few

But Later Never Came

anderperry valentines?? idk i think its too late now

zila x nari gyeongju

anderperry park date thing (inahallucination tumblr post)

pretty sure all the writers i know have been tagged, but if you see this and you haven’t been tagged, feel free to add on!!

Fanfic WIP Tag Game

Thanks for the tag, @fairytale-lights!

Rules: List all your WIP titles, all meaning even the ones that are vague or nonsensical. Tag as many people as there are WIPs

(Bonus from me to you guys: Feel free to ask me about any of them, or ask for a snippet from any of them!)

7: Meddling Friends

A Sanctuary Wedding

Ashley Home Megaverse

Ashley Neal Meeting Megaverse

Blind Magnus

Coffee Shop Space Drama

Family Dinner

Jordan at the Sanctuary

Memory Lapses

Neal Free Megaverse

Sick Magnus Megaverse

Sicktember

Unexpected Complications, Part 2

I think these are all the ones I’m actively working on rn. 13. … We’ll see how this goes.

@taleasoldastime-andspace @cookiedoughmeagain @smokeyloki @christian-latte-anon @swinging-stars-from-satellites @imissthembutitwasntadisaster @magpie-trove @only-freaking-sunflowers @marvels-obscure-tophat @lumiereandcogsworth @freakwiththeknifecollection @zekelandon and for the last person, anyone else who wants to do it! Yes, this means you!

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crumbly-apple-pie · 3 years ago

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So... Hear me out... Zila and Nari just being two cuddle monsters in private... Because they deserve cuddles...

ok so firstly i'm so sorry it took me this long, but i finally found time to sit down and give this the story it deserves, so i hope you'll forgive me :)

also i'm gonna cross-post this to ao3 (and it'll be the first zila x nari fic on there, which is pretty cool. i mean, there is one other one but it's just a general aurora cycle fic and isn't really about them so it doesn't count lmao) i'll put the link here once it's up [https://archiveofourown.org/works/37031524]

anyways, here's our fave girls getting the cuddles and love they deserve

Zila knew it would be hard, staying back in 2177 without her squad. She knew there would be an almost impossible amount of work to be done, setting up everything so that in hundreds of years Squad 312 could save the galaxy, and not to mention the burden of founding the entire Aurora Academy. She knew all this, and of course it was work she wanted to do, but sometimes it felt endless, as if files would continue to fill up her computer system until she drowned in them.

She let out a sharp sigh and rubbed at her temples. Today had been one of the worst days so far.

She raised her hand to the palm-pad outside the door to Nari’s room. It blinked to life and the bar of light scrolled up the screen, scanning her handprint. It beeped, turning green. The door opened with a fwoosh.

The room really wasn’t much, just a standard suite that housed a bed, desk and small couch. The couch wasn’t a luxury offered to most people, but Nari was a lieutenant, and Zila didn’t have a room of her own, so the Higher-Ups had relented and let them have it, as long no damage came to it. Zila didn’t think it was possible for the couch to be damaged. The standard issue lump of fabric and steel barely even deserved the title of ‘couch.’

Nari looked up from where she was sprawled on the bed, smiling as Zila dumped her bag onto the floor.

“Hey,” she said by way of greeting, walking over to pull Zila into a hug. Zila relaxed into her arms, burying her face in Nari’s neck and breathing in the scent of her shampoo. Nari’s hands trailed lazily down her back and Zila felt some of the tension seep out of her shoulders.

“Hi,” she mumbled.

“Bad day huh?”

“I did not think it was possible to hate talking to people so much.”

Nari laughed, and Zila felt it reverberate through her body. It was nice, she thought, being this close to someone.

Nari moved her hands up to Zila’s shoulders, easing off her jacket for her and hanging it on a hook by the door. She manoeuvred them to the bed, pulling Zila into her as they both fell, exhausted, onto the sheets.

Nari shifted so that her body was pressed into Zila’s side, an arm around her waist and the other carding softly through her hair. ZIla let her eyes drop closed, content to let her girlfriend hold her.

“I love you,” Zila said, still hesitant to say it, still quiet and reserved. She was scared to let herself love again, after… everything. But then again, after everything, love was worth it.

“I love you too,” Nari murmured into the spot between her ear and her neck. Zila shivered as her hot breath washed over her skin.

Nari’s hand inched up under Zila’s shirt, tracing nonsensical patterns into her back.

“You know,” she said after a while, “I have a break coming up. I could take you to Terra. If you like. It’s just, I know you’ve never been and I thought it might be nice-”

Zila cut her off with a kiss, pressing their lips together gently. Warmth spread through her as Nari sighed slightly, hand moving from her hair to her jaw. Even something soft like this sent electricity shooting down her spine. When she pulled away she smiled and said, “Yes. I’d love to go to Terra with you.”

Nari grinned. “Alright then. Let’s do it. We can go wherever you like.”

“Wherever?”

“Yeah. As long as we make sure there’s a double bed.”

“Nari!” Zila squeaked, batting harmlessly at her chest. Nari’s smirk just grew wider.

“What?” she laughed, her eyes twinkling.

Zila just smiled. “Okay then, we can go anywhere as long as there’s a double bed.”

Nari grinned. “Deal.”

She pressed a soft kiss to Zila’s temple and brushed her hair away from her eyes. “You should sleep.”

“So should you.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” She stood up and moved to where their clothes lay, piled next to each other in the tiny shelves. Zila’s pile was considerably neater than Nari’s. She pulled off her Lieutenant’s uniform and slipped on a large shirt in its place. Zila reluctantly got up from where she was lying and put on her own sleep clothes. She smiled as she felt Nari’s eyes on her, and her smile only grew as she felt arms wrap around her from behind and a voice whisper in her ear, “You’re beautiful.”

She let Nari pull her into bed and turn off the light, leaving them alone in semi-darkness, cosy under the sheets. Zila reached for Nari’s hand, intertwining their fingers and letting their palms rest in the space between them. Zila had never been very poetic, but there were certain things about Nari that couldn’t be thought about in simple terms. Like her eyes. Even in the darkness, they were pretty, endless pools of ink-dark love.

Nari pulled Zila closer to her, letting her hand rest on her lower back. She kissed her softly, slowly, smiling all the while, and when she pulled away she rested her head in the crook of her shoulder.

“I know it must be really hard, and I can’t even begin to imagine how insane all of this must be, but… I’m really glad you’re here. And you’re not alone,” Nari said.

“No, I’m not,” Zila agreed. “You’re right here with me.”

Her hawk smiled and snuggled closer to her. And as their breathing evened out and they drifted off to sleep, their hands stayed clasped together like a promise.

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crumbly-apple-pie · 3 years ago

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Zila "touch starved" Madran and Nari "physical touch as love language" Kim

Breath of you agree

ok so i was going to write a ficlet for this but *gestures vaguely* life happened, but yes i agree completely

#aska #ask #aurora cycle #aurora's end #zila madran #nari kim #zila x nari #nari x zila

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crumbly-apple-pie · 3 years ago

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So... I've read that you're in the mood for some Zila/Nari fic, so... What about Nari taking Zila to meet her massive family and giving her a Gyeongju tour?

Like, Zila's never been on earth, and, well, I give from the Kim family the "welcoming and warm himbo family" vibes.

I just think it would be neat to see

Okay, so. I've started on this fic, and it ended up being a lot longer than I expected, so here's the first part. I think there will probably be 2-3 parts in total, but I haven't written those yet so that's just a guess. I hope you like it, I love these girls so much and people need to make more fic for them //

Lieutenant Nari Kim’s ship is not a wonder of mechanical engineering. Especially not by Aurora Academy standards. This could be for two reasons. Firstly, the ship is a standard issue one-person vessel intended for short range missions around a highly classified, highly volatile space station. Also, it was made approximately 70 years before the Academy was even founded.

“Are you doing okay beck there?” Nari asks.

Zila stares at her, eyes wide. “I am sitting in the back of a ship made over 1000 years before I was born, in a cargo hold that is not meant for lifeforms to be occupying.”

Nari grins, but it’s hidden by her breather and helmet. “Exciting, isn’t it?”

“I do not think that exciting is quite the right word, Nari.”

But if Zila thinks about it, she knows that maybe exciting is the right word, because her heart is beating faster than it is supposed to and she’s never done this before.

“ETA, 10 minutes,” Nari says from the pilots seat, as if she’s the captain of a passenger vessel. She flicks a panel of switches that line the roof to ON and settles back in her chair. The small viewscreen at the front of the ship is dominated by a massive planet, green and blue with a few large continents and a number of small islands. It’s pretty standard stuff, but not to Nari.

“Welcome home,” she says quietly.

Zila looks at the planet for a moment. “It is alive.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your Terra is greener than anyone in my time ever saw it. I think that people forgot what was worth saving.”

Zila pushes herself up from where she has been sitting on the ground, stumbling on a crate marked LIEUTENANT KIM - BELONGINGS. She straightens up and joins Nari at the cockpit, one hand resting on the back of her chair. Nari turns to her and smiles and Zila can see it in the soft crinkle of her eyes.

Nari turns away to focus on entering Terra’s atmosphere, gripping the steering tight to make sure the ship makes a clean entry. The ship rattles around them, seemingly threatening to tear itself apart. Zila holds Nari’s seat tighter in a desperate attempt to stay standing.

“I see why many of you are religious,” Zila remarks.

The ship touches down in one of Gyeongju’s ports, a floating multi-level platform full of ships of all shapes and sizes. The landing equipment connects to the dock with a loud CLANGG that echoes through the ship. Nari takes a deep breath and removes her helmet and breather, shaking out her long black hair. Zila finds the clip at the back of her helmet and places it down next to Nari’s on the ship console.

“You ready?” Nari asks.

“Yes.”

Nari pauses, tugging at her sleeve slightly. Her gaze meets Zila’s and she whispers, “I’m really glad you’re here.”

ZIla ducks her head slightly, her hair falling over her face. “I’m glad you wanted to bring me here.”

Nari smirks. “Wait til you meet my cousins, they’ll be all over you.”

She smooths her hands down her flightsuit, pushing away the wrinkles and running a finger over the two diamonds at her collar. Zila is overtaken by a stupid urge to do it for her. Nari grins again, as if she knows exactly what she is thinking and Zila flushes.

She opens the door of the ship, jumping down onto the dock. “Welcome to Gyeongju.”

Zila steps out after her and is immediately struck by the beauty of the place. The city stretches out beneath them as far as the eye can see, bordered by large mountains to the West. There are old temples and houses that have been well-looked after in the years since they were built, standing next to brand new monorails and skyscrapers with screens promoting space programs and educational opportunities. The city glows golden in the afternoon sun and Nari glows with it. She is home.

The port around them is full of ships, most of them in a similar condition to Nari’s; old tech held together with spit and hope. A few of the larger ships, mostly pleasure cruisers and corporate sail barges look more advanced. The platform is swarming with people, some military types like Nari, plenty of tourists, stressed-looking mechanics rushing from ship to ship.

A hologram plays at the far end of the platform, showing a video of a woman that repeats over and over. Nari takes Zila’s hand in her own and starts towards the exit. As they get closer, Zila can hear what the hologram woman is saying.

“WELCOME TO GYEONGJU! HERE IN THE TERRAN KOREAN REPUBLIC, WE WELCOME VISITORS FROM ALL OVER THE GALAXY. TO EXIT THE PORT, USE THE STAIRS TO THE RIGHT. TO PROCEED TO ANOTHER LEVEL OF THE PORT, OR THE FAMOUS ROOFTOP GARDEN, TAKE THE ELEVATOR TO THE LEFT. TO PROCEED TO COMMERCIAL DEPARTURES AND ARRIVALS, PLEASE GO TO LEVEL 1 TO HAVE YOUR TICKETS VERIFIED. WE HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR STAY HERE IN GYEONGJU, AND IF YOU ARE RETURNING, WELCOME HOME.”

Nari pulls Zila towards the elevator.

“I have to show you the gardens!” she shouts over the sound of the crowd and the hologram.

Zila let Nari pull her into the lift. The doors close with a ding and Nari turns to her. “Is it very different form your time?”

“Yes. We don’t have all the… glitchy holo displays. Our ports are bigger, too. Here they’re much smaller, just a place to park your ship.”

“What’s a port for in your time, then?” Nari asks.

“Well it’s not that we don’t have to small ports, but we have big ships that have space for smaller ships inside of them. The biggest one is Sempiternity; the world ship.”

“That sounds wonderful.”

Zila grimaces slightly. “There are… a lot of people.”

Nari laughs loudly, earning disapproving looks from the other people in the small space.

The elevator doors open on a small garden. A cherry blossom tree sits in the middle of a pond the spills over the edge of the platform.

“Where does all the water go?” Zila asks.

“It’s similar to an infinity pool,” Nari tells her. “All the water that spills over the side is caught at the bottom of the port and is pumped back into the lake.”

“That is a lot of effort for a lake.”

“But it’s beautiful, don’t you think?”

Zila nods in silent agreement and shyly slips her hand into Nari’s. The corner of Nari’s mouth curves up slightly, and she pulls Zila towards her by her waist.

“Hi,” Nari says quietly, and then she leans in and kisses Zila. Zila’s breath catches and she kisses back.

They break apart as a woman tries to push past them into the garden.

“Bloody military,” she mumbles. “Can’t keep their damn hands off each other.”

Zila laughs, leaning into Nari to stay standing up straight. Nari giggles too, and the woman rolls her eyes. // Thank you so much for reading! Hopefully I'll have the next part up soon, and in the meantime there might be some more anderperry mini-fics :) @iamheretodomythingrip @aurora-cycle-unofficial

#aurora rising #aurora cycle #auroras end #aurora burning #nari kim #zila madran #tyler jones #scarlett jones #finnian de steel #saedii gilwraeth #cat brannock #aurora o'malley #kaliis gilwraeth #squad 312 #nari x zila #zila x nari #aurora cycle fic #fanfic #fanfiction

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crumbly-apple-pie · 3 years ago

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pie’s top 5 of 2021

i saw someone do this a while ago so i thought i’d give it a go! they aren’t all things that came out this year, but they’re things that i either watched/read/etc for the first time in 2021 or i just really really enjoyed them this year. also, they’re listed in no particular order :P

music artists Crawlers Taylor Swift Garbage Cavetown Something for kate movies No Time To Die The Matrix: Resurrections In the Heights Dead Poets Society Knives Out

books Circe - Madeline Miller The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid One Last Stop - Casey Mcquiston Red, White, and Royal Blue - Casey Mcquiston Aurora’s End - Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff ships Neil x Todd/anderperry (Dead Poets Society) Crowley x Aziraphale/Ineffable Husbands (Good Omens) Nari x Zila (Aurora’s End) Alex x Henry (Red, White and Royal Blue) Jane x August (One Last Stop)

tv shows The Middleman (it’s the 2008 one if you’re curious) Good Omens Shadow and Bone Stranger Things (but only s1 and s2, s3 sucked imo) Loki

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crumbly-apple-pie · 3 years ago

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i just finished aurora’s end and please tell me i’m not the only one who screamed out loud when zila first said “she’s not tall”

like ma’am you have just murdered me

#zila should be on that cover bro #i love fin but still #also WHERE ARE THE ZILA X NARI FICS #I NEED THEM #aurora cycle #auroras end #aurora o'malley #zila madran #finnian de steel #tyler jones #scarlett jones #kaliis gilwraeth #nari kim #saedii gilwraeth #cat brannock #auroras end spoilers

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crumbly-apple-pie · 3 years ago

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Nari Kim is a total nerd for 2020/21 series and her gay awakening was Jinx from Arcane, pass it on

this is where i admit i haven't watched arcane but agree that jinx is really hot

#nari kim x zila madran #zila madran #nari kim #aurora cycle #aurora's end #arcane #arcane netflix #jinx

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skepticalcatfrog · 3 years ago

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Collateral Damage, Chapter 2

First Chapter Next Chapter Masterpost AO3 Link

POV: Tyler Jones

Pairings: Aurora O'Malley x Kaliis Gilwraeth, (Eventual) Scarlett Jones x Finian de Seel, Zila Madran x Nari Kim, and Tyler Jones x Saedii Gilwraeth

Word count: 3,667

Author's Notes: I know it's been a loooooong wait since the last chapter, but chapter 2 is finally here! I was super preoccupied with life stuff and didn't have much time to write, then when I finally finished this chapter, I didn't have the energy to post it. But here we are! Enjoy!

~~~

At the same flat metal table in the same dark, otherwise empty room, another boy sits. He had only been there for a short while before the detective across from him had entered the room. He's admittedly getting a little irritated with the situation he's in, but he's significantly more patient than Finian, and if he's being honest, he'd probably say he's a bit more respectful too. He pays close attention as the detective presses the button on his recording device.

"This is Detective Adams, here with…" He trails off, gesturing to the boy as if to cue him in.

The boy leans forward to make sure he'll be picked up by the device. "Tyler Jones."

"How old are you, Tyler?"

"18 years old."

Adams nods. "When was the first time you met the kids from the GIABSA?"

"Well, they came up to me outside my friend Cat's house to ask for my help." Tyler explains. "I didn't know what they wanted me to do, they just told me that it was serious, and that they were being followed by someone."

"Wait," Adams holds up one of his hands as a signal for Tyler to stop speaking. "So these four total strangers just walked right up to you and asked for your help? They didn't give you any context?"

Tyler drags a hand through his blond hair. "Right. To be fair to them though, they did give me a little context. But it wasn't like that helped. I was still freaking out."

"So what did you do about this?"

"Honestly? I'd probably say I panicked, sir."

Adams raises an eyebrow. "Do you mind elaborating?"

"No, yeah, of course…"

~ ~ ~

The first thing I did was just stare at them. Obviously it was awkward, but what else was I supposed to do? Thinking back on it, I'm pretty sure my mouth was hanging open a little. It took me a minute even to just fully take in what they looked like. There was a girl and a guy who looked pretty alike. They both had tanned olive skin and sharp, piercing features. One had black hair, but one had silver hair, and that was the first odd thing I noticed. The next thing was that they both had purple eyes, and pointy ears like elves from some kind of fantasy romance novel my sister would read. Not to mention that they were both pretty ripped. Honestly, either one of them probably could've torn me in half. And believe me, I'm capable of putting up a good fight.

There was also another girl who looked a lot nicer. She had choppy black hair, with a thick white streak in her bangs. Her eyes matched her hair, one of them a dark brown and the other one white. Last but not least, there was a boy who looked a little like a coloring page that hadn't been done yet. He had bright white skin and hair, and for whatever reason, his eyes were tightly shut. There were a lot of other things that I could've let my brain not connect about them, but I didn't have a chance to, because at that point I was finally connecting what the girl with the mismatched eyes had asked, and what the white haired boy was saying to me.

A couple of thoughts ran through my head at the same time. What kind of 'situation' are they in? Why are they on a time crunch? Who are they running from? That was when I'd say I really started panicking.

All I could say was, "I… I'll be right back."

Then I turned right around and practically ran to the house. I closed the door behind me a little louder than I meant to, which made the other people inside glance up at me. My sister Scarlett was in a chair across the room, and our friend Cat was stretched across a couch nearby scrolling on her phone. We were at her house, one that technically belonged to one of her relatives who was never around.

"What're you running from, Ty? Did you see a scuffed boot outside?" Scarlett wiggled her fingers at me, clearly amused by my fear.

"No." I shook my head, slightly out of it. "Actually, there might've been a ghost or something." There was the boy with the white hair. Who knew what his deal was.

"I'm sorry, what?" Cat sat up then, suddenly interested.

"Okay, I'm going to start this by telling you guys that either I might be crazy, or the people outside might be going to some kind of costume party."

A gentle, slightly concerned smile crossed my sister's face. "Ty, did you drink that milk that's in the fridge? Because that was just a little expired and you might be delirious."

"No, I didn't- and also you should probably throw that away- but that's not the point." I went to the window to the left of the door and pulled back the curtain a little. "It'll be hard to explain, so I just need you to look."

Scarlett raised an eyebrow at me, but still got up to look. She stood beside me and saw who I was looking at right away, given that this was a small town and they were really the only people of interest out there. "Oh, shit, yeah. Those look like cosplayers if I've ever seen them. What were they talking to you about?" She glanced at me, then back to the group.

"That girl in the middle, the short one with black hair, she was asking for my help. Then that tall guy in all the metal brace things started talking about how they were being chased." I explained. "I didn't get a lot more than that, but they seemed pretty serious."

"Are you gonna help them, then?" Scar nudged me with her elbow. "Seems like something you'd do."

"I don't know. Probably."

Cat, who was now standing behind us, decided to pipe up. "You've got to be kidding me, Ty! You don't even know what they want! It could be something insane for all we know. And look," she pointed to the group outside, who were clearly arguing about something. "I'm getting a bad feeling about this. I'm really not sure we can trust them."

"That's a good point, Cat," Scar admitted. "But still, wouldn't you rather at least try? I mean, if they really are in trouble, then I agree with Tyler. I want to help them."

Cat stared at her like she'd just suggested playing a drinking game with the milk in the fridge. "Have you both lost your minds? We don't know how bad their issue is. There's no way in hell I'm involving myself in this, and you shouldn't either. Just go outside, tell them to fuck off, and we can go back to enjoying our summer."

I had to admit, those were some good points too. Helping total strangers who seemed to be in some kind of danger was definitely a risky move, especially when they looked the way these guys did. Because sure, from far away they could've been costumes, but up close? All those weird things about them seemed just a little too real. There had to be a story behind that, and I wasn't sure if it was one I wanted to hear. Plus, Cat was right. We'd only just graduated a week before. It was our first summer out of high school, and personally I thought that the idea of spending it six feet under after having been murdered by a pack of wandering trick or treaters was a real bummer.

I heaved a sigh. "Alright."

Scarlett shot me one of those looks she did when she thought I was being dumb. To be fair, this whole situation was a little too complicated for any solution to not seem dumb. If we helped those people, and they were lying, they might murder us. If we didn't, and they were telling the truth, there was a chance that might put them in danger. I returned a look to her, just to let her know I had a handle on things. I turned away from my friends and opened the door again. I saw all four of the people on the sidewalk look up at me, stopping in the tracks of whatever argument they'd been having. Even the one with his eyes closed had turned his head towards me. The tall one with the black hair still looked pretty pissed, though, so I made a note to keep my distance from her.

I'll admit, I was a little nervous to tell them what I had to tell them. The short girl and the white-haired boy weren't all that scary, but the two taller ones were definitely not helping my nerves. "Okay," I began, speaking slowly and not making any sudden movements. "I talked to my friends in there-" I gestured back to Cat's house, where I got the feeling Scarlett and Cat were still watching all of this go down- "and they were both pretty opinionated. But the details aren't important. Long story short..."

I trailed off, finally meeting the wide gaze of the girl who had mismatched eyes. She seemed so… hopeful. It was like she was silently pleading with me, asking me to hear them out, and somehow I understood her perfectly. And taking in her face, I just couldn't see how she could possibly be a bad person. There was no way I could've really known, but I did.

Cat's not going to be happy with this.

"You guys can come inside."

The girl's face immediately brightened, splitting into a big grin. "Really?" Before I could make another move, she practically pounced at me, catching me in a tight hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Recovering from the initial shock of it, I gave her a polite pat on the back. I saw the tall boy with his eyes closed pretend to wipe sweat from his forehead. "We owe you, man."

The girl hugging me let go and turned back to the other girl in their group. "Not to say I told you so, but…"

"Tread lightly, Aurora." The tall girl snapped.

"Anyway," I piped up again, partly to remind them of my presence and also partly to distract the angry girl. "Just follow me in, and then I'm going to need you to explain what's going on here."

"Of course." The silver haired boy nodded serenely. "That is a perfectly reasonable price for what you've done for us."

Still questioning my decision a little, I led the group behind me back into the house. The group of strangers, back to the house, where my friend lived. Yeah, I know, not my brightest moment.

Now, I'm going to describe the way Cat looked when I walked back in. Have you ever been to a farm with chickens? Well there will sometimes be this moment when you're interacting with chickens when you lock eyes with one of them, and you just know, deep down in your soul, that this chicken is the one in charge. It's trying to keep things under control, keep everything cool. You're not a part of that, not even a little. And it. Hates. You. That was the exact same way Cat looked at me when I stepped back through the door with the four strangers.

Scarlett, on the other hand, seemed perfectly happy. At least she still had faith in me. "Hi!" She greeted the group in her best 'trying to make everyone comfortable' voice. "You guys can sit wherever you want, there's plenty of room."

While she continued to be the hostess, Cat grabbed the front of my shirt and dragged me into the kitchen.

"Are you crazy?" She hissed in a hushed tone, putting her hands on my shoulders and shaking me a little. "What happened out there?"

"Cat, they really don't seem that bad." I gently removed her hands from my shoulders. "I know, this wasn't the plan, but I need you to hear me out on this one."

"I don't really have a choice now, do I? They're already in my living room." She pointed accusatorially back the way we came. "I swear to the Maker, Ty, if you're wrong about this-"

"I won't be. Promise." I assured her.

She seemed to attempt to think of a good response, but settled for an exasperated sigh and a stomp back to the living room.

The four newcomers were settled in seats around the room. The scary girl was occupying the chair Scarlett had previously been in. The silver haired boy and the other girl- Aurora, I remembered her name was- were sitting next to each other on one end of the couch. The boy in the metal frame was at the other end. I positioned myself near the center of the room, with Cat standing nearby. "Alright, so. Explanation. First things first, can I get your names?"

Aurora spoke up, pointing to each of her friends in turn. "This is Kal Gilwraeth, that's his sister Saedii, that's Finian de Seel, and I'm Aurora O'Malley. Auri for short."

"I'm Tyler. That's my sister Scarlett, and our friend Cat." Scarlett waved to them from where she was sitting on the floor. Cat just continued glowering. "Now that that's out of the way, can someone please explain what's going on with you guys?"

The other three all looked at Finian, who obviously didn't know since his eyes were still closed. "Based on the silence, I'm assuming you all want me to do it?" He raised his eyebrows. "What happened to not 'immediately divulging our situation to complete strangers'?"

"Shut up and talk, Finian." Cat snapped her fingers.

"That's an oxymoron." Finian pointed out. "But anyway, allow me to explain, because I'm afraid of the angry girl." His speaking sped up about ten times after that. "So basically, we're from this crazy place called the GIABSA, or Global Intelligence Agency for Beings with Superhuman Ability if you want to be fancy about it. What that means is just that we've got these weird powers, like superheroes or something, and the people at the GIABSA were helping train us. I know that sounds totally sick but it's definitely not, because we're pretty sure there's some fucked up stuff going on behind the scenes, since a bunch of people kept disappearing and not coming back. We didn't want that to happen to us- because why would we- so we escaped. We had to escape because they were keeping us locked in there, which is definitely a red flag we somehow missed. But now the thing is, they're after us, and we've got no clue what they're going to do if they find us, so our only choice is to somehow figure out how to not get caught. Plus, we want to figure out what happens to the people who disappear, so on top of everything else there's also that." He breathed deeply, and it was only then that I realized he'd done all that in one breath. "Any questions?"

"Uh… yeah." Scarlett nodded, looking about as confused as I was feeling. "Do you always talk that fast?"

"Yup." Finian nodded.

"And he never stops, no matter what anyone may do." Saedii helpfully informed her.

"You know you love me." Fin waved dismissively in her direction.

"I despise you."

I interjected then, ignoring all of the other insane questions I could've asked in favor of asking a simple one. "Do your eyes open?"

"Yes, actually, they do." Fin explained. "But I found out immediately after leaving the GIABSA that bright lights hurt my eyes real bad, at least that's what I think the deal is."

"We could dim the lights, if you want." Scarlett offered.

"That would be great, thanks. Are there windows in here? If so then we'll also need to close the curtains, I think."

Scarlett got up to do what he was asking. Cat shot me a warning glare, and I wished I could've properly communicated to her that I was a little more nervous now too. Luckily, when Scarlett closed the curtains and turned off the lights, nothing crazy happened. What did happen, though, was that Fin finally opened his eyes. What I hadn't picked up on originally, due to his eyes being closed, were just how big they were. They were definitely bigger than normal human eyes, just enough to put him on the edge of the uncanny valley. Not to mention that they were completely and totally white like the rest of him, no iris or pupil or anything.

"Damn, if I knew how good looking you all would be then I would've worn my good uniform today." He tugged on the collar of the grey jumpsuit he was wearing.

"So you can see us, good. Now that that's out of the way..." I nodded, considering which of my many questions to ask next. "What were you saying about superpowers?"

Kal was the one to jump in this time. "We all have them. Everyone in the GIABSA, that is. And every ability is different."

Cat chuckled. "You're kidding. You can't possibly expect us to believe that."

There was a sound like ripping paper. I hadn't seen her move at all, but suddenly Saedii was directly behind Cat. "It doesn't matter if you believe it. That doesn't change that it's entirely true."

Cat startled, whirling around, but by the time she'd turned, Saedii was right back in her chair.

"Woah, okay." I continued as Cat settled back into frustration, directed more at Saedii than at me now. "So how did you get them? Were you born with them, or were they given to you, or what?"

The four of them exchanged a glance, and I got the feeling that they were all expecting someone else to know the answer to my question. Auri spoke. "We… don't really know."

If I hadn't already been concerned, I was definitely concerned then. I briefly caught Scarlett's eye, and I knew we were thinking the same thing. She was just the one to say it out loud. "How could you not know how you ended up with crazy magic powers?"

"I think it's probably more science than anything, but I mean… as Auri said, we don't know." Fin gestured to his friend. "That'd probably be a good thing to look into, though. Personally I'd love to know how we ended up with crazy magic powers."

"I think we all would." I muttered, brow furrowed in thought. Pieces of a solution started floating together in my head. "Fin, you said the start of all this has to be science, right? I've gathered at this point that going back to that GIABSA thing is a dead end, but obviously it would take a supergenius to crack this."

"I consider myself a pretty smart guy, I-"

I cut him off. "But you've been living with all this for how long, and you still don't have a clue what's going on?" I turned to Scarlett and Cat. "We might need a fresh pair of eyes on them. Someone who has enough experience with freaky science to be able to look at the situation and give us something new."

After a moment, Scarlett understood. "Ty. She's probably busy, you can't just drag her into this."

Then, Cat got it too. She glared at Scarlett. "What, with us it's fine but now that he's getting that science girl involved he's crossed a line? I could've used this energy before, Scar."

"Okay, it's different." My sister held up a finger as if that would do more to prove her point. "I'm his sister and you're his best friend, we're special cases and we're required to go along with all of his stupid plans just as he's required to go along with all of ours." She gave me an apologetic look. "No offense, Ty."

I held up my hands in surrender. "None taken."

"But anyway," Scarlett continued, "'That science girl,' as you so eloquently called her, is a third party person. AKA, off limits."

"And I get that, but we don't really have another choice here." We technically did have other choices, but for the most part they involved things I didn't really want to do, so I didn't feel the need to mention them. "We'll bring these guys to her, and she can help us out. It'll be over and done with before you can say 'summer vacation,' I promise."

When I heard Aurora's voice, it occurred to me again that there were four other people in the room who should definitely be involved in this conversation. "Can… someone fill us in?"

I brought my attention back to the group, where I was met by a frustrated glare from Saedii, a confused expression from Aurora, a sharply focused gaze from Kal, and a distinctly un-focused one from Fin. "Right. So, there's this girl who goes to our school. She's probably the smartest person I've ever met, it's a little scary. With luck, she'll be able to help you figure out a little bit more of what's going on."

"Is she trustworthy?" Saedii crossed her legs and leaned back, like I wasn't worth much of her attention.

"I've never had an issue with her." I shrugged. I heard Saedii make an unsatisfied 'hm' sound.

"That will have to do." She examined her nails, which I only then noticed were weirdly sharp. Somehow I got the feeling that the arrangements we were making wouldn't do, but I had nothing else at that point.

"What is her name?" Kal asked. I decided that I liked him a lot more than his sister. He was nicer, at least. That time, it was Scarlett who answered.

"Her name is Zila Madran. And as much as I regret having to drag her into this… she'll definitely be able to help you."

~~~

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