Rise in Revolution (Chapter Fifty-Eight)
Sep. 30th, 2016 05:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tanadin posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
saladloveChapter list: https://tanadin.dreamwidth.org/650.html
World map: http://tanadin.deviantart.com/art/Kaldri
Chapter Fifty-Eight
One
Street 16, Sector TZI. April 12, 2272. Time instance 842N.
Emma wasn’t sure how they’d convinced her to do this.
Cataclysm seemed to have completely forgotten about his birthday, so Kyir, Jase, and Dare had decided to bake some cupcakes (correction: Jase was going to bake the cupcakes. Dare was going to supervise. Kyir was banned from the kitchen) while Emma kept Cataclysm out of the house so that he wouldn’t suspect.
She felt like a fool for not having a gift for him, as she’d only had a few hours’ notice, but she supposed there was nothing to be done. The guilty feeling in her stomach didn’t go away, however, even as she sat with Cataclysm on the roof of one of the buildings, watching the rising sun
She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to keep Cataclysm distracted for a couple of hours, what with her terrible social abilities and lack of interesting conversation topics.
“So.” She hesitated. “How are you?”
“Fine, all things considered. You?”
“Good.” Awkward.
“I’m glad.” Cataclysm stretched his wings before folding them against his back once more, not noticing Emma’s barely hidden stare. His wings were fascinating, and Emma really wanted to pet them but she figured that would make the conversation even more awkward than it already was, if that was possible.
“How’d you sleep last night?” The question startled her and she blinked a few times, almost guiltily dragging her gaze from his wings to his face.
“I...didn’t. Not really.”
“Me neither.” Cataclysm pulled his wings in closer. “I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”
“Yesterday was brutal.”
“Today won’t be any better. I can guarantee that most people in TZI are still freaking out. Tanadin’s probably not doing too well.”
Emma shivered. Tanadin. I hadn’t even thought about her. Shit. “I hope she’s okay.”
“She’s probably with Seven or Shawn or someone. She has a habit of clinging to the nearest safe person when she gets freaked out.”
“Did you know her before the invasion?”
“A little. She was an acquaintance of Kyir’s and a friend of Xela’s. I never knew her very well, but,” he shrugged, “I’m glad she’s one of the revolution’s leaders. She won’t lead us astray.”
“What about the cyborgs?”
“What, how do I feel about them? They’re fine. I don’t have a problem with either Seven or Nine just because they’re cyborgs. We need them to survive, at this point. They seem perfectly friendly, Nine especially. Seven’s...he’s, well…”
“Seven?”
“Yeah. He’s Seven.” Cataclysm grinned at her. “I think it’s the hat.”
“The hat?”
“Yeah. It’s a douchebag hat.”
Emma rolled her eyes. “You and Kyir are both strange.”
“We are friends, you know. What does that say about you?”
“I’m perfectly normal and amazing in every way?”
“Normal, no. Amazing, yes.”
“I was kidding! I’m not!”
“Hmm.” Cataclysm raised an eyebrow. “I disagree with that.”
Emma crossed her arms moodily. “Why do you keep insisting I’m things that I’m not?”
“I don’t. You just have low self-esteem.”
“Cata!”
He laughed and wrapped a wing around her, pulling her close in an approximation of a side hug before letting go. They fell silent for about a minute after that, smiling and lost in thought, until Emma spoke.
“You’re pretty great, yourself.”
“Are you forgetting what I am?”
“No. I’m not.”
Cataclysm looked at her, surprised, and Emma squashed down the urge to hug him. Don’t. Don’t. Don’t.
“I’m a monster, Emma. I’m not-”
“Oh, shut up, no you’re not.” Emma shifted closer and hugged him, making him freeze momentarily before relaxing and hugging her back. “You’re Cataclysm, and that’s all you need to be.”
“I could stand to be taller,” he mumbled. “It’s embarrassing that even you’re taller than me.”
“You say that like I’m short!”
“You’re shorter than half the revolution!”
Emma sighed. “That’s...true.”
“Mmm.” Cataclysm shut his eye and Emma realized that he had no intention of letting go of her unless prompted.
She was okay with this. Maybe more than okay with this.
“Emma?”
“Hmm?”
“I’m pretty fond of you, you know that?”
Emma raised an eyebrow. “Well, I’d hope so. We do seem to be friends.”
“No, I mean…” Cataclysm’s wings shuffled and he sighed. “I...I just...shit, Emma, I like you and I don’t know what to do about it.”
Emma’s heart either stopped or started beating so fast that she couldn’t feel it anymore. She stopped breathing for a few seconds as she turned his words over in her head. Kyir was telling me the truth? Cataclysm...he...but...why? I don’t…
“Emma?” He pulled away, feeling her stiffen, and wouldn’t meet her gaze. His wings folded tightly against his back. “I’m s-sorry. I should just-”
“No.” Emma took a deep breath, feeling her lungs shake with the effort of her action. “No, I was just...just a little...Cataclysm look at me I’m not going to kill you!”
“With your temper, I dunno.” He reluctantly shifted his eye to meet hers. He’s shaking, she realized. He’s not sure what to think.
She mentally kicked herself for not speaking sooner as she shifted closer and just fucking kissed him.
Cataclysm froze momentarily, surprised, before relaxing and happily reciprocating.
In that moment, Emma felt like she could do anything, warmth spreading through her limbs and an emotion she couldn’t describe bubbling within. Even after they broke apart seconds later, she felt a warm, happy pulse all throughout. Both wore ridiculous matching grins, but it was Emma that broke the silence.
“Happy birthday.”
Cataclysm frowned slightly. “It’s not- oh fuck me it is.”
“Not now.” Emma winked and laughed at his expression. “I’m kidding! But Kyir wanted me to distract you so they could set something up. This, um. This wasn’t exactly planned though. By me, at least. Maybe he intended…”
“I’m gonna kill him,” Cataclysm said cheerfully. “But, first…” He pulled her in for another hug, then a kiss, and it took them five minutes to even bother to get up and start walking down the stairs to Kyir’s workshop.
~~~
Gali awoke screaming.
Jimmy just about jumped out of her skin and off the couch, dreams shattered by Gali’s shriek and her instincts immediately going into combat mode. Her eyes snapped open and she scanned around for anything that could be threatening them, anything that could hurt Gali, but she saw nothing other than Gali breathing heavily, eyes wide and face drained of blood.
“Gali! Gali, are you okay?”
Gali just started crying, confusing the hell out of Jimmy and making her very, very worried. Gali hugged her tightly, burying her face against Jimmy’s shoulder and shaking. She gasped for air as she sobbed, great ragged breaths that came out as shaking echoes of fear and grief.
“Gali, what happened? Are you okay?”
“Th-thought you were d-dead,” she sobbed, hugging Jimmy tighter. “C-can’t get the battles out of my head, they w-want you dead l-like SOV, we alm-most lost you, we could have-”
“No, no no.” Jimmy hugged her tightly. “I’m okay. You’re okay.”
“B-but you might not have been, all those people-”
“I’m okay. Our friends are okay.”
“Sadie’s gone! What about the rest of us?”
“We’ll be okay.”
“You don’t know that! We’re just regular humans, Jimmy! We can die and I’m scared!”
Jimmy shivered. “I am too. I’m worried about losing you.”
“I’m worried about losing you!”
“Well, then, we’ll just have to not get lost, huh?”
Gali hugged her so tightly that Jimmy thought she might crack a rib. Her sobbing had quieted to sniffles and without her mask she looked more terrified than Jimmy had thought possible. “Promise you won’t die?”
“Promise.” I hope these battles stop haunting your dreams. You haven't gotten a good night’s sleep since before we took out IAL.
She didn’t say that, though.
It never helped and the dreams never stopped.
~~~
Xela crossed her arms and turned around in her seat when the door opened and a paint-covered Scott strolled through the doorway.
“You should be asleep. You fought off a cyborg invasion yesterday.”
“I had something very important to do.” Scott sat on the couch next to where Clash was asleep, leaned back in his seat. “Absolutely vital.”
Xela shot him a withering glance. “Was it messing with Kyir again?”
“Oh, absolutely.”
“Lovely. Now get off my couch before you get any more paint on it than you already have. Wash that off and then you can sleep.”
Scott pouted. “You’re no fun.”
“Yes, I, Xela Pyrox, am a massive spoilsport. Now go take a bath or something, sheesh. You’re very purple.”
“It’s stylish.”
“It’s stupid. What did you even do to Kyir, anyway?”
“Oh, you know.” Scott grinned. “The usual.”
~~~
“Everything’s moved,” Kyir complained, looking around at the workshop. “Again!”
“It’s the same, Kyir.” Cataclysm rolled his eye, smiling slightly as Emma squeezed his hand. This is one of the best days of my life, he decided, figuring that most of his days had really, really sucked.
“No, it’s different,” Dare agreed, walking around and frowning at the furniture. “What’s different, though…”
“Everything is an inch to the left,” Jase announced, moving her chair back before sitting down. “Someone very strong with a mischievous streak must be messing with you, Kyir.”
He frowned. “Xela?”
“Scott,” Emma suggested. “He’s been messing with people a lot more now that he’s a vampire.”
Kyir growled. “What an asshole.”
Cataclysm raised an eyebrow. “And you’re not?” He moved to sit in his usual seat but hesitated, looking at Emma and trying to figure out what to do about her. A mischievous grin lit up his face and Emma didn’t have time to ask before he sat down and pulled her into his lap, ignoring her protestations as he hugged her and grinned wider.
“My birthday, my rules!”
“Fight me!” Emma was not, however, really trying to get away and seemed to prefer to shift into a more comfortable position.
Cataclysm laughed at her and flipped off Jase as she wiggled her eyebrows.
Someone knocked on the door to the workshop.
“Come in!” Kyir called, looking up at the door.
Nine carefully stepped in, shutting the door behind him. “I hope this isn’t a bad time.”
“Nah, we just finished up the festivities. What’s up?”
“One of my wings was damaged yesterday.” Nine extended his wings. One of them stalled and stopped moving about halfway there, clicking quietly. Bulletholes pocketed the metal and wires could be seen hanging out of the destroyed bottom of the wing. “Festivities? For what?”
“Cataclysm’s birthday. Come here, let’s see what I can do.”
“Happy birthday,” Nine said cheerfully as he approached Kyir and sat on the table. He paused, looking around. “Why is everything except Jase’s chair exactly one inch to the left?”
“Scott,” Dare explained as Kyir examined Nine’s damaged wing, grumbling the entire time.
“Ah. That would do it.”
“What the hell happened?” Kyir demanded, motioning at Nine. “This thing is trashed.”
“A six thousand unit with a bad attitude.”
“Six thousand?” Emma questioned. “I haven’t heard of them until now.”
“They’re like assassins. They have cloaking devices, don’t show up on scanners easily, and have ridiculous weaponry. Once they’re seen, though, they bolt because they’re not built for prolonged combat, especially not against other cyborgs. He shot, I moved, he hit my wing, Caroline jumped in, we destroyed him.” Nine shrugged. “I’m just concerned that they’re sending six thousands in against us. They’re actually registering us as a decent threat if they’re doing that, not to mention the eight thousands. Dropping cyborgs in on us...I honestly hadn’t predicted that. I didn’t realize that we had such terrible guards on the cannons.”
“Don’t tell me there were two thousands on the cannons.”
“There were, unfortunately. Hazon passed on the guard-assigning duty to another cyborg, one who is apparently not as good with tactics as others.”
“You mean they’re stupid?” Jase raised an eyebrow.
“Not necessarily.”
“Yeah, well, you’re gonna need a new wing,” Kyir declared. “Are there any building or repair stations in TZI?”
“Not of the kind we need.”
“Guess you’re on the next train out to SOV.”
Nine sighed and got to his feet. “Damn you anyways.”
“I could do it myself but it would take far, far longer.”
“I know. I’ll get this fixed in SOV, then. Seven’s in charge while I’m gone. Don’t let him do anything stupid.”
“How am I supposed to stop him, supposedly?”
Nine shrugged. “Be creative. I’ll only be gone a day or so. The chances of the Mainframe attacking again so soon are slim, especially considering that we have the cannons almost repaired again.”
“I love your enthusiasm. Now get out of my workshop.” Kyir paused. “Sir,” he added sarcastically.
Nine rolled his eyes, saluted, and left. He stuck his head back in the door, though, to ask, “Should I keep this from Fan or do you want the entire revolution to know?”
“Know what?” Kyir demanded.
“Not you! Cataclysm and Emma.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Emma told him. “It’s not like it’s a secret.”
“They’ll all know soon enough anyways.” Cataclysm shrugged. When Emma looked at him curiously, he just glanced away in an attempt to look innocent.
“And what does that mean?”
“Nothing.” He laughed as Emma threatened to hit his shoulder and barely noticed Nine leaving, smiling with amusement.
“Use protection,” Jase advised, and only hid a grin behind her book at their protestations.
Cataclysm hummed softly as he and Emma remained in the chair, Kyir working on something and swearing quietly in the background while Jase read her book and Dare occasionally commented on something.
Things weren't exactly back to normal, but at that moment, he couldn't have cared less.
no subject
Date: 2016-09-30 10:53 pm (UTC)“Seven?”
“Yeah. He’s Seven.” Cataclysm grinned at her. “I think it’s the hat.”
“The hat?”
“Yeah. It’s a douchebag hat.”
It always comes back to the douchebag hat XD
She mentally kicked herself for not speaking sooner as she shifted closer and just fucking kissed him.
HUZZAH!! About bloody time!
no subject
Date: 2016-09-30 10:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-09-30 11:02 pm (UTC)Jimli are facing storms, nightmares are horrible.
no subject
Date: 2016-10-01 01:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-10-02 02:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-10-03 10:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-10-04 03:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-10-04 08:58 pm (UTC)