I was like "yeha cyberpunk! ...I know like three things about cyberpunk." but then I realized quite some books I really liked when I was younger definitely fall into the genre so then I was like "Okay Yeha Cyberpunk!" and then it became... not very cyberpunk. but I tried. also I have named things after this song before (most notably my blog) but I just love it a lot :'D
of tomorrow
part III of the femslash Sonata Arctica AUs
Slowly we become the new species of tomorrow Mankind lives or dies by its boundless dreams
- Take One Breath
characters/pairings: Seychelles (Angélique)/Taiwan (Mei), Australia (David), New Zealand (Riley)
word count: 2921 summary: An unwanted visitor is sent home to her comfortable life, but Angélique thinks she’ll miss Mei even if she promises to come back someday.
“Angélique, come on! Hurry up a bit, will you?”
She keeps her eyes straight ahead and her fingers on the keys. Numbers flash by like lightning.
“I’m almost there,” she says through gritted teeth.
“Almost how? Almost—”
“David, kindly shut up,” she interrupts him, and ignores his grumbling when she hits the right file. She copies the contents quickly, then turns to David, who’s bouncing on his heels and peering down the brightly lit hall, where Riley is keeping watch.
“I’m done now,” she announces.
“Oh, thank fuck. Riles!”
Riley skids over to them, dirty shoes slipping on the glossy floor, eyebrows raised.
“Yes,” David confirms. “Now let’s get the hell out here. I can’t believe we’re going through this much trouble for a bloody wight.”
“Don’t call her that,” Angélique says.
Riley sighs and opens the door at the end of the hall, gesturing the both of them outside. Angélique tugs her bandana down from her hair and over her mouth. Her eyes water as she gets used to the heavy air and the ever-strong heat, but she blinks and follows David and Riley as they dash to the fence and clamber over it, careful not to touch its electric parts. It’s routine. They’ve done this before, though they have never actually gotten into the control building itself. The security has always been poor. No one expects those living here to be capable of even coming up with the idea of getting in here.
Joke’s on them, Angélique thinks, even if that’s far from the truth, if the ‘bloody wight’ hasn’t been telling lies.
Riley goes up front through narrow, dark streets. People scuttle away as they pass, watching from behind dirt-caked windows but never asking questions. You don’t ask questions. Questions only lead to answers, and that’s the last thing anyone here needs. Plausible deniability is where it’s at.
The tiny house the three of them share sits crammed between two other just like it, all unappealing angles and time-blackened walls. Angélique knows the neighbors actually tried to clean their house once, unveiling a surprising red color, but it had gotten just as bad again a week later. They haven’t bothered since. It’s like that most of the time.
All the city’s filth accumulates here. David would probably say that that is true in a figurative way as well. He has his cynical moments.
Mei is sitting where they left her two hours ago, back straight and knees pressed tight together. David scoffs at her and disappears upstairs. Riley sighs again, and when Mei’s eyebrows knit together, they shake their head, brown curls flopping from side to side.
“Don’t worry about Dave. We got what you need.”
She presses her lips together. The glossy pink lipstick she was wearing when they found her has long since worn off from all the worrying at it.
“He doesn’t like me.”
“He doesn’t need to like you,” Angélique replies, sitting down on the edge of the low table, facing the other woman. “We’ll get you back where you belong and you can both forget about each other.”
Mei’s perfectly symmetrical dark brown eyes search Angélique’s grimy face, and a slender, slightly tanned hand reaches out to tug the bandana down from her nose and mouth. Angélique forgot she was still wearing it; it’s become second nature over her life. She casts her own gaze down, letting her dark curls fall in front of her face.
David’s return is heralded by his heavy boots clunking down the stairs. Mei quickly drops her hand back into her lap, and all three of them turn to David when he steps into the room. He squares his jaw and fixes his gaze on Mei, who bites her lips again but looks back steadily.
“We’ll get you out,” he says, “but don’t expect anything beyond that.”
Angélique clenches her hands into fists and rises, but Mei only nods, stands up, brushes off her pleated pink skirt, and tosses her glossy black hair over a shoulder.
“What are we waiting for?” she asks. “Obviously, you want me gone.”
David opens his mouth, eyes narrowing, but Riley forestalls him.
“It’s still daytime. We’re going to have to get you to transport station when it’s dark.”
At this, Mei’s eyes widen. “It’s day still? But – it’s…”
Riley and Angélique exchange a confused glance. Riley shrugs.
“Well, never mind that,” she continues. “Thank you, whatever the case. You could have just as easily left me when you found me.”
A sharp look at David prevents him from making a snide comment. Angélique doesn’t understand what his problem with Mei is. Sure, she might be a… A ‘bloody wight’, but she by herself doesn’t pose any danger to them. Then again, for all her years of friendship with David – and Riley – there are still a lot of things she doesn’t know about either of their pasts.
She also still isn’t sure what they are to each other, exactly, but there are more important things in life than her friends’ relationship. And really, contrary to popular belief, Angélique does know when to leave stuff alone.
“We should get some sleep,” Riley says. “I’m sure we’re all pretty tired anyway.”
“Are you all coming along?” Mei looks up at David, who sighs, but nods.
“To get in there, we’re gonna need all three of our areas of expertise. So yeah, we’re gonna have to put up with each other for a while longer.”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Mei says, perfect lips pursed in exasperation. It’s nice to see some emotion on her face, Angélique thinks. Usually, in the four days she’s been here, she has been unreadable, somehow perfectly serene. Her skin is flawless, and so is everything else about her. Her fingers are long and elegant. She works as well with her left hand as her right. She has perfectly straight white teeth set in a mouth with full lips and the slightest hint of dimples in her cheeks when she smiles.
Angélique didn’t understand why all this concerned David so much, unless he was jealous, which he’s never been the type for. He started glowering as soon as they got Mei cleaned up. It only started making some semblance of sense when she saw the real tipoff that Mei wasn’t human, at least not entirely. A barcode-like brand on her right hip, one of the only asymmetrical features of her body.
It hasn’t become entirely clear to Angélique what exactly sets Mei apart from people like herself, but Riley managed to tell her some vague speculation about a combination of genetic enhancement or manipulation and high-tech, before David began muttering about ‘wights’ again. He’s usually so chill about everything. There has to be something more there, but… Questions, answers. She might be better off not knowing.
Still, Mei has been nothing but an excellent guest despite his hostility. Angélique has wondered if all those David would call ‘wights’ would be like that, never complaining or asking unnecessary questions, or if that is something that is uniquely hers. It’s an admirable trait.
“Of course,” says David, and he stomps off again. Riley rolls their eyes, shoots Angélique and Mei an apologetic look, and goes after him.
“Well,” Angélique starts, “as I’ve said before; he’s really a good guy, usually.”
At this, Mei actually smiles, steepling her fingers absently.
“I will take your word for it, Angélique.” She folds her hands together, sitting back down and clasping them between her knees. “I wonder if they miss me back home.”
Angélique leans her hip against the wall, pushes her bandana back up into her hair.
“Why wouldn’t they? You said you have a brother, right, and you’re pretty close? He must be worried.” She scratches at her nose, catches some dust flaking off on her fingers. “And I think I’ll miss you when you go.”
“I suppose. Thank you. It’s just…” She furrows her thin eyebrows. “Now that I know all this…” A gesture at the gloomy room, the dirty air outside and the old furniture that’s nearly falling apart. She starts chewing on her lower lip.
“Now that I know that you live here like this, not only you three but so many people, I can’t help but feel that it’s unfair to just – return to how I was before. It was an accident that I ended up in the lower town, but I want it to be good for something. Like a lesson learned. I’m sure my brother would help me.”
“Help you with what?” Angélique asks, intrigued. She’s never thought of herself or her friends as a possible charity case – as far as life in this town goes, they have it quite well. They’ve got a house, and none of them have caught any of the nasty diseases that circle the population from time to time. But the stories Mei has told about life in the upper districts were fascinating. Some sounded made-up, but Mei swore high and low that she told nothing but the truth.
All around town, the upper districts are considered a nearly mythical area; no one ever goes there, no one ever comes out of them. Yet Mei is about to become possibly the first person who does both. Vaguely, Angélique is proud to be a part of it.
“I just mean that there must be something we can do to make life here better,” Mei is explaining. “More comfortable, you understand? This is simply inhumane. I can’t allow any friend of mine to live in all this dirt and outdated… Everything. I know people who have pull. And people will listen to me as well.” She smiles a suspiciously asymmetrical smile that has Angélique’s heart jumping. “David might not like it, but I was conceived to be trustworthy.”
Angélique grins back, then says, “But we really should get some sleep before dark, I think.”
Mei nods, and so they do.
Night has long since fallen by the time all four of them are awake and ready to go. It’s not a long trip to the transport station, an although there is some danger of being caught in the last leg, the real tricky part is getting Mei back to the upper district of Aintza Town, where she lives, preferably without anyone noticing until morning. That part is, nerve-wrackingly, also the part Angélique is responsible for; she’s the only one of them any good with computers beyond basic skill. But she’s never smuggled something out of town before, let alone a person.
It’ll be a challenge.
Getting to the station is easy. Mei has dressed in some of Angélique’s clothes, which are a little big on her but stand out less than her – supposedly fashionable – light skirt and blouse, stained as they are after her week here. No one asks where they’re going. Mei doesn’t lag behind to gawp at people and buildings and whatever else she finds extraordinary like she did when she first passed through here.
David, who is second behind Riley, seems to have calmed down some, and he is concentrated when they reach the station and he has to open the gate.
It doesn’t matter if someone sees them slipping in under the meager light of a street lantern, so long as it isn’t someone who works at the transport station. For all the people out on the streets at this hour care, they might as well be invisible.
“Here we are, then,” David announces, gesturing them into the dark, looming shadows of the brick building that houses the control room. Or so they assume, at least. Riley said it would be logical, and Riley has a good eye for things like that.
They get inside without trouble, and to Angélique’s relief, there are signs pointing towards the different parts of the building and indicating where they can find central control. Mei just looks baffled by the very existence of the signs, calling them ‘quaint’ under her breath so only Angélique can hear. She snickers, just as softly. It must be a bit of a cultural shock if even half of her stories about the upper districts are true.
No one seems to be around at this time of night. It would be, Angélique thinks, extremely easy to take over control of the lower town, but then who’d want to do that? There’s nothing of value here. The only thing the people here are good for is manning the factories, putting things together without even knowing what it all accumulates to.
Mei seems fascinated by the computers they find in the control room, letting her fingers ghost over the keys without pressing them and tapping at screens expectantly.
“I haven’t seen anything with buttons since history class,” she marvels when David has left the room to be lookout, Riley trailing behind. “And screens, really.”
Angélique hums noncommittally, focused on the buttons and screens in question. The directories are different than the ones at the control building, but she manages to wade through the layers of timetables and security measures to find what she’s looking for, and gestures Mei over. The woman hovers close to her back, which makes her shiver despite the dry heat. She somehow still smells sweet. Angélique has to stop herself from inhaling it deeply just because she knows it’ll be gone in a few short minutes, if all goes well.
“Look, if you can get on this carrier…” She points, and Mei nods, hair brushing Angélique’s cheek. “I can start it, and it’ll take you to the Aintza transport station more-or-less directly.”
It’s strange how many other stations there are; it’s never really occurred to any of them that the world is so much bigger than the lower town.
“More-or-less directly sounds good enough. I don’t know how to thank you, Angélique.”
“You’re not there yet,” she mumbles, standing up a little straighter, breath catching when Mei doesn’t move back, pressing them together.
“I can’t thank you when I’m there.”
Well, she supposes that’s true, yes.
“I can come back,” Mei whispers. Angélique closes her eyes and swallows. “And I will, if you want me to. I need to do something.”
“I’m not a charity case,” Angélique protests, fingers clenching over the keyboard. She shivers when she feels Mei’s long fingers slide down to her wrists. They spread over her hands, contrasting sharply against her own dark skin in the flickering light from the monitor.
“I know you’re not. It’s not because of that. It’s because I trust you, and I like you, Angélique.” She puts her chin on her shoulder. “And maybe it’s selfish, but I want to see you again.”
Angélique huffs, and Mei laughs softly, as if in wonder about something.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been selfish before. I didn’t think that was part of my makeup.” She strokes small circles on Angélique’s knuckles. “Guess you learn something new every day.”
“Lique!” David urges from outside in the hall, and Angélique snaps out of the Mei-induced reverie. Mei herself snaps back as well.
“Yeah!” she shouts back. “Sorry, Mei. I got… I got caught up.”
Her eyes have widened, as if she feels the same. “Yes. Of course. Sorry. Should I go now, are you… Are you ready?”
“Yes. I am. You should.” Angélique runs a hand through her dark curls, biting the inside of her cheeks. “But I do hope – selfishly – that I’ll see you again.”
“Selfishly,” Mei repeats, smiling. “I think that’s a very good motivation for both of us. I think we have more in common than it would seem, Angélique.”
Angélique nods, and Mei turns to the door, walking towards it briskly.
“Wait,” Angélique says. She glances at the screen, just to check, then hurries over to the other woman, who stills and turns back, and reaches up when Angélique catches her shoulders to tug her towards herself. The skin of her cheek is smooth and warm underneath Angélique’s lips. She smiling lopsidedly when they pull apart, then reaches up to kiss Angélique’s cheek as well, a thumb stroking her cheekbone.
“See you,” she says. “Take care.”
And she’s gone.
David enters the control room soon after she’s left, with Riley being the one in charge of getting her out to the right carrier. He hovers behind Angélique in a familiar, reassuring way, his steady presence returning now that the unknown factor is well on her way to gone. Angélique isn’t sure how to feel about it.
The icon for the carrier lights up, and all she has to is press start to let it go. She takes a deep breath and does it. Maybe Mei will come back. Maybe she won’t. It’s nothing she won’t get over, she tells herself. You don’t get this far in life in this town if you let things get to you.
“I hope she makes it home safe,” she does tell David.
He sighs a little. “Because you’re in love with her.”
She looks up at him. He seems resigned.
“Because I think she’s a good person, who deserves the life she’s told us about.” And, when David’s thick eyebrows rise and the familiar spark of humor lights in his green gaze, “The fact that I’m in love with her is secondary.”
“You keep telling yourself that, Lique. Keep telling yourself that.”
She laughs and pushes at his shoulder affectionately, and then they’re off into the lower town once more. They’ll see where they end up, same as always.
Life goes on.
