-Maniacal laugher- Finished~

[TheSongOfTheStars]

What

[TheSongOfTheStars]

/ one the edge of the world
828 words
The energy blast let a black scorch mark where Kwet had been, before a heavy hand grabbed a fistful of wing and yanked him out the ventilation shaft. He ended up prone on his back staring up at Keyvar's face.
For a blank second they just looked at each other.
"Sir!" There was a clattering as Keyvar's defendant exited the vent "He was tying to kill you!"
Keyvar continued to stare at Kwet for a moment longer with an expression close to curiosity before looking up.
"I figured that, Ishton. Come down."
Kwet was too stunned to breathe.
A thin Vive slid out of the vent, his blade in one hand, blaster holstered, and clutched Kwet's gun in other hand.
He dropped the gun and angled the blade against Kwet's neck.
"That won't be necessary," Keyvar pushed Ishton away and drug Kwet to his feet. He gave the doctor another stern glance.
"If I may be so bold as to assume... Doctor Kwet?"
"How..." Kwet voice was barely a weak rasp and he tried again "How do you know me?"
"Several reasons," Keyvar said in a tone that was almost conversational "Reports of soldiers coming in, saved with extraordinary care for a scavenging neutral. No charge, no stipulations, you were just trying to save lives. So-"
Keyvar released him and stepped back, retrieving the commpad but before he could say anything, Ishton broke him off.
"He was trying to kill you! I don't care who he's saved, he's still an attempted murderer!"
"He...he said he'd kill him if I didn't," Kwet tried to blather out "I couldn't...I had to..."
Everything was a blur and he realized he still wasn't circulating air through his system. He took a breath and the wave of fresh atmosphere hit his circuits like a brick wall.
Everything went black.
----
"He's a genius."
"He still tried to kill you!"
There was a murmur of agreement from the small knot of Keyvar's most trusted associates.
Keyvar held up a finger "Every report has him with another Vive. Kwet's been helping anyone from either side, I have no doubt Diocore's heard just as much about him as we have."
"So?"
"So, Gaitraic, I think Diocore's using him."
There was a pause. Keyvar sighed.
"Listen. If Diocore's put him up to this, Kwet may know where he is. He might be able to help us find and destroy Diocore in exchange for assurance of his friend's rescue."
"We can't depend on him to be reliable for anything," Ishton flared his wings wide "He's a murderer."
"It's a risk," Keyvar conceded "But what else could you want than a chance to end this?"
Ishton hefted Kwet's gun "He's a genius. Like you said. This doesn't pick up on any of our scanners, but it has a powerful long range, narrow width beam. It's the perfect sniper's weapon."
"Yes, because he was playing sniper."
"He made this himself. He has the specs."
"You want to use him."
"Yes."
Keyvar's wings dropped fractionally and his eyes dimmed "What do the rest of you think of this?"
"It's a good idea," Daya grinned "We could shoot the enemy before we even show up on their radar."
"I meant about manipulating a Vive into giving us weapons specs in exchange for his friend's life."
"He's not going to get a better offer," Gaitraic pointed out sourly.
Everyone nodded.
"Right," Keyvar tucked his wings back up and settled them flat.
"Why stop at one gun? If he's so smart, why can't he make us a whole bunch of guns? He could change the whole war."
Keyvar fixed Daya in a steady stare "Maybe."
"So, why don't we make him?"
"Because then we're hardly any better than Diocore," Keyvar said "But of course, this all depends on whether or not he'll even agree to our terms."
----
"I'll do it. I'll do all of it. I'll show you where he is and give you the gun specs," Kwet's palms were pressed against the charged bars of his cell, sending sparks spitting off "But you have to let me come with you."
"NO," Ishton snarled.
"Deal," Keyvar snapped at the same time "Give him a weapon, Ishton."
Ishton obeyed but continued to snarl, albeit much quieter. He deactivated the field and stuffed a blaster at Kwet. In doing so he shoved his face close to the doctor's, eyes fierce. Kwet tried to back up, but the wall brushed against his flared wings.
"Keyvar might be giving you a chance but I'm not," his gaze was so intense, Kwet thought sparks would start dripping from his eyes "If you hurt my leader, if you make one wrong move, one misstep, I swear to the Seventh, I will end you and I will hunt down your friend just so I can end him as well." The only thing between them was the blaster Kwet now clutched against his chest.
"Do. You. Understand."
Kwet just barely managed to nod.

[TheSongOfTheStars]

/ as we knew it
500 words
Kwet just stood there.
At first he'd fussed and panicked and demanded medical supplies. But after a while there was nothing else he could do. So. He just stood there.
He could've sat down, probably needed medical attention himself, but he seemed to tone out the rest of the world as he waited (and hoped) for his friend to wake up.
Which, the unconscious Vive didn't seem at all inclined to do.
Kwet tensed as he felt a hand on his shoulder and as he turned, the tension didn't alleviate in the slightest.
Keyvar stepped back and lifted his hand placatingly "Will he be alright?"
"Yes," Kwet pulled his arms to his chest and hugged himself "He'll be fine."
"When he wakes up-"
"We're leaving," Kwet said stiffly.
Keyvar nodded "Where will you go?"
"Offworld. Anywhere, absolutely anywhere but here."
"How are you going to do that?"
"I don't know.I'll figure something out. I'll build a craft out of scrap with my own two hands if I have to."
"And if you get caught? What do you think Diocore will do to you?"
Kwet's wings rattled at the name.
"Then what do you suggest? That I...we stay here, with you? And I build weapons for you and Aveth dies fighting?"
"Diocore has you marked down. He won't just kill you if he happens to catch you, he's hunting you. Both of you. You can't just go back to being nameless scavengers."
Kwet shoulders and wings sagged.
"Whatever you decided to do, we won't stop you."
Kwet buried his face in his hands and Keyvar left him.
---
"Where are we?"
The soft rasped question broke Kwet from his downwards spiraling thoughts. Looking up, he found Aveth trying to prop himself up on his elbows and failing.
"We're safe- sort of- that's all you need to worry about," Kwet said, nearly fainting from relief "Try to go back to sleep. You need rest."
"Hey, don't use that voice with me," Aveth continued try to sit up and failing "That's your bossy doctor voice."
"Is not," Kwet crossed his arms, but dropped them after a second "How do you feel?"
Aveth paused "Not too bad."
"Why do you do that why do you always lie?? You have to be feeling terrible, I built that weapon I know what it did."
"Then why did you even bother asking?"
"I don't know, maybe cause I care??" Kwet released a weak sigh and collapsed on the end of the bed "Sorry."
Aveth finally managed in succeeding to sit up and used Kwet's shoulder to steady himself "What happened, exactly? I can't remember a whole lot after Dicore dragged you in. You...did you kill..?"
"No," Kwet closed his eyes "I couldn't. I sort of... traded my weapon specs and Dicore's coordinates in return for them helping save you."
"Kwet-"
"Yeah, kinda don't want to talk about it."
"Okay. So, now what?"
"I don't know," Kwet resisted the urge to lean against Aveth "I really don't."

[TheSongOfTheStars]

/ deep
895 words
"So, couple of hours you said?" Aveth asked, leaning back on one elbow.
"At the very least for the beacon's signal to be picked up, longer for it to be traced and a ship sent out for us."
"How long does this planet's day-cycle last?"
Kwet squinted thoughtfully "Approximately as long Kataria's."
"So we've got a while before it gets dark," Aveth shifted, causing the the piece of hull wreckage to bobbed unsteadily in the buoyant liquid.
"Ye-es," Kwet flinched at the unexpected movement and curled in tighter on himself. The doctor looked the utter picture of misery. He'd centered himself on their makeshift raft, pulling his arms and legs to his chest and his wings flat. His eyes darted towards every ripple on the endless ocean's surface in terror.
Aveth couldn't help his smirk "Great."
"What? Why's that great? What are you doing?!" The last part came out as a squawk as Aveth stood, wings out for balance.
"I'm gonna swim."
Before Kwet could make it past his shock to list out all his objections, Aveth stepped backwards and plummeted into the glimmering liquid. A blindingly bright spray shot up and doused Kwet.
"Aveth!" His voice cracked and he scrambled to the edge. He ignored the dangerous tipping of the hull in favor of peering frantically downwards. The liquid was clear but the sun was at it's zenith and the resulting glitters were blinding.
He hovered, pawing anxiously at the lapping waves, willing Aveth to reappear.
Aveth kept perfectly still and let himself sink. Until the raft was nothing more than a smudge. Deeper, until it was gone.
Deeper and it was still bright. He was sinking into an endless liquid sky.
He could swim back up, the liquid was high in sodium content if what he'd been filtering what Kwet had said correctly. Therefore just a twitch would send him upwards.
He grinned and lifted his head up. Spread his wings. And gave a twitch.
Upwards he went. Not quickly, more a slow glide, like flying on a summer evening thermal. He coasted to a stop directly beneath the raft.
Kwet fretted at the edge for several minutes, waiting for Aveth to resurface. When he didn't the panic kicked into overdrive, one paranoid scenario after the other filing through his brain.
He steeled himself and dipped the tip of one finger into the water. When it wasn't violently severed, he cautiously lowered his head into the water. Scanning the glass-like depths, he saw nothing but empty light. Panic twisted tighter in his chest.
Where was he?
He started to straighten back up, but a shunt against the base of his wings flung him forwards. He shrieked into the liquid as swarms of bubbles blinded him. Thrashing and trying to gag the liquid out he fired his thrusters and blasted out of the ocean. Blind and panicking even harder he didn't stop shooting upwards until he heard Aveth shouting for him. He paused and hovered, waiting for Aveth to catch up with him.
"Kwet, Kwet, it's fine," there was apology and laughter in Aveth's tone "It's not going to hurt you."
"I. Can't. See." He grit out.
There was a choking sound and it went on for several seconds.
"Kw...Kwet...your eyes..."
Kwet felt a twinge of terror "What?"
Aveth burst out in a howl of laughter "Try opening them."
Kwet peeked at him, scowling "You pushed me!"
Aveth was still laughing, but not so hard that he didn't have the presence of mind to duck as Kwet lunged. Droplets rained off of both of them as Kwet chased Aveth back and forth through the cloudless sky.
When Aveth noted his partner beginning to tire he slowed and allowed himself to be caught. Kwet reached out and gave his arm a sharp irate tug, that being the full vent of his anger.
"You're too funny," Aveth grinned teasingly. He kicked back, leaning his full weight on his wings and let his legs dangle.
"I am not, you're just mean," Kwet snapped back, arms folded over his chest.
"Yeah, I know," Aveth had a thought and he couldn't stop the wicked smirk that crawled across his face "You're so nice for putting up with me."
Before Kwet could even process that reply Aveth rushed him. His arms locked around the doctor's wings, pinning them flat. Then he killed his own thrusters and let his weight drag them out of the sky.
Kwet's shrill protests were cut off as they descended below the surface once again. They sank several feet down before Aveth finally released the doctor and Kwet went thrashing back upwards. Aveth grinned and shook his head as he followed Kwet back to their raft.
"I'm sopping wet," Kwet hissed as he crawled back onboard and curled his knees up to his chest.
"And this planet's sun is nice and warm."
"My armor is going to rust."
"Oh, no it's not," Aveth unfurled his wings and tilted his face up to the sun. For several minutes they were quiet and Aveth soaked up the comfortable warmth. Eventually Kwet sighed in defeat and stretched out his still dripping wings.

[TheSongOfTheStars]

/ "Do it."
802 words
"Surrender," Ishton bit out the iron hard order even as he pressed the tip of his sword harder against Shrring's neck, his feet digging into Shrring' splayed wing, grinding it into the dust.
"No," Shrring rasped out, his fingers curling around Ishton's ankle "Never."
Ishton's grip on his sword tightened and his face hardened "Do it."
Shrring couldn't get enough air to answer but he managed to shake his head.
"Do it you idiot! Or I'll kill you!"
"I won't....surrender," Shrring broke off in a gasp and his eyes fell shut.
Ishton made a noise that sounded either like a suppressed scream of anger or an anguished sob and lifted the sword above his head with trembling arms.
"Won't give you...the satisfaction..."
Ishton's eyes were bright and burning and he was leaving dents in the sword hilt as he held the blade poised.
Shrring pasted a faint smile over his face.
"Are you really going to die for this?" Ishton whispered.
"I've proved that over and over, to you and everyone else," Shrring paused, blinking rapidly and his grin widened, even as Ishton dug his foot harder into Shrring's wing "I won't surrender."
Ishton brought the blade down.
"However-"
The tip froze, a fraction of an inch above Shrring's chest.
"I'd be willing to negotiate the terms and conditions of a fair and equal treaty."
Ishton's shoulders relaxed a fraction of an inch.
"Of course there isn't the glory of a surrender enemy or the spoils of war, which you'd still get even if you did kill me."
Ishton lowered his sword and deactivated it, sheathing it as he did so. He stepped off Shrring's wings and knelt.
Shrring stared at his extended hand for a bare second, the grin falling off his face and a look of utter shock replacing it, as if he hadn't really thought that Ishtron would except his proposal.
Then the cocky, self assured grin was back, twice as wide and he brushed aside Ishton's hand.
----
The door closed with a hiss and they were alone. The two of them, the second in command turned sole leader of the two opposing sides of a war that had waged for decades. Now it was time for them to negotiate the end of the war the two Vives they most admired had begun.
Underneath the white light every scratch and scuff showed as Shrring turned to face Ishton. His grin curved high on his face and he opened his mouth to speak.
Ishton slammed his wings open and flung himself at Shrring who made a distinctly undignified sound tried to throw his hands up to defend his face. But he wasn't fast enough and ended up with his arms pinned against his sides. The momentum threw them both back against the wall.
Shrring went rigid. For several seconds he waited for something to happen, but something didn't happen. Ishton stayed as he was, arms locked and head tilted down, breathing hard.
It took Shrring a good few minutes to realize that Ishton wasn't just breathing hard, really, only when he felt the tears dripping against his hands did he really realize that Ishton was sobbing.
"What...what's wrong with you?" he stuttered out, trying to pull his arms free "What are you doing?"
Ishton let him pull his arms out, but tightened his grip around Shrring's chest after they were free.
"What is wrong with you?" Shrring tilted Ishton's head up and with his now free hand tried to brush away the oily tears.
"You-" Ishton pulled back, angrily swiping at his face and he fixed Shrring in a furious glare "I thought you were going to make me kill you!"
"Oh," Shrring managed a huffy laugh "Is that all?"
"Is that all?!? Anything more and I would've straight up fallen on my sword!"
"Oh, don't be so dramatic, not when you have me for that."
Ishton took a full step back, his wings hanging low and shaking "Do I? Do I have you?"
Shrring shrugged lightly "I suppose that depends on you, brother dear."
Ishton took several steadying breaths and folded his wings up slowly. He nodded.
"I'm not going to let this happen again."
"Oh?"
Ishton nodded, shaking all over now "We're not going to end up on the wrong sides again. Promise me, promise me whatever we do, we don't do that."
Shrring studied the floor, face gathered up in a thoughtful frown. Ishton felt a swirl of despair as his brother deliberated and released a weak sigh.
Shrring looked up, wings flaring out as a smile touched his face, softer than his typical sneer.
"Whatever we do," He reached out one hand "We won't do that."
Ishton regarded Shrring's hand with a look of utter surprise. Then he wrapped his arms around Shrring in another hug.

[TheSongOfTheStars]

/cyan
285 words
"Hey, Veem," a cold hand wrapped around his forearm and shook him gently "Aveth, wake up."
Grumbling and feeling less than well rested, Veem sat up and shook his wings out.
"Shhh," Transe whispered, giggling a bit "Come on."
"What time is it?" He mumbled, letting her pull him to his feet and drag him out of the communal sleeping area.
"Just past dawn."
"What!? Transe I'm going back to sleep."
"No, please," she wrapped both hands around his wrist and tugged harder "It's beautiful, nothing like you've ever seen."
He heaved a sigh and let her lead him out of the grounded ship into the weak light of early day "What is it Transe?"
She gestured him a bit further away from the Farriser, then pointed upwards.
He tilted his head and his eyes widened.
"Have you ever see a planet with a blue sky before?"
A smile split his face and he shook his head.
It looked like a massive unending page of absolute blue. It rolled wide and deep above the mountains.
"It looks like you could fall upwards forever."
"I mean, technically you could, if you somehow broke past the atmosphere and the gravitational pull of the planet."
Veem's brow knitted "You mean if we got to the infinite?"
She laughed "Baisically. But have you ever seen such a lovely color?"
He beamed at her laughter "No. Especially never not that much of it either."
She flopped down, wings uncurling out lazily "What shade of blue would you say that is?"
"Um, bluey-blue?" He sat down oppisite her, chin jutted upwards.
"No, there's ah, there's a specific- teal? No, cyan, that's it."
"Cyan, that sounds nice."
She hummed another soft laugh.

[TheSongOfTheStars]

/ equilibrium
113 words
Look at me and see the empty sarcophagus shell
In the ancient days they'd remove the heart before burial
but I think they took mine early/Or tried to
I've been smiling like I'm happy/shouting like I'm angry/frowning like I'm sad
But my emotions run skin deep/It doesn't touch my core
My panic freezes my body/on the inside I'm on autopilot
An emptiness/it is it's own emotion somehow
I don't know how to deal with it/does this happen to other people
I've never read a story/that had characters like this
In the books/they are on fire
Is it me/or have I been lied to

[Ranger of the North]

Oooh, I like that poem

[TheSongOfTheStars]

Thank you, I wrote it bc I couldn't think of anything intelligent for the prompt

[TheSongOfTheStars]

/ the eye of the beholder
692 words
"I need medical!"
"She tried to kill you!"
"I know!"
"She's bleeding because you stabbed her!"
"I know that too!"
Cassiopeia deactivated her armor, not even feeling the way the broken plates scraped against her bruises. When the sequence was finished she yanked off her sweater, ignoring how cold the air suddenly became when she was only left with her T-shirt. The sweater had already turned from pale lilac to crimson and it wasn't doing any good.
She glanced up and realized that no one had moved, the crowd was staring and still.
"You!" She snapped, making eye contact with the first person she could manage to focus on "Call an ambulance! Now!"
Startled into action, they did as they were told, whipping out their phone and dialing.
She turned her attention back to Siren and the sweater really didn't seem to be helping. It was only a minute or so, but it categorized as one of the longest minutes Cassiopeia lived through as she applied pressure and studied Siren's chest, hoping to see it rise and fall. But it was impossible to tell with the broken armor.
Somehow she toned out the sounds of the paramedics arriving and didn't realize until she was surrounded by them.
Gently she was led away and everything blurred.
----
Serpens dashed through the hospital foyer, ignoring the nurses and crashing through a pair of double doors. It would've been mayhem if the young man hadn't know exactly where he wanted to go. From the minute he'd gotten the call, to his arrival at his destination was exactly 8 minutes and 13 seconds.
Cassiopeia flinched when he burst into her hospital room, but just sighed when he rushed over to her.
"I'm fine," She said in reply to his concerned glance "Siren isn't though."
"I didn't kill her," she added at a raised eye "I didn't...mean to do that to her. I only meant to stun her. I didn't realize how close to the edge she was."
Cassiopeia hissed softly through her teeth and Serpens placed a steadying hand on her arm.
She nodded and offered him a quiet smile "Thanks."
He removed his hand and stepped back, turning his palm out flat.
"You should tell them," he said "If Siren is here, so might Auryen."
She sighed and accepted the round transmitting device "What will they do though?"
"I'm not certain. Auryen and Siren or Ishton and Shrring?"
"Both, I guess."
"I can't predict Auryen and Siren's response, I don't know enough about them individually. I do know they are our enemies."
"That's just it," Cassiopeia huffed "That war is over and a new one might be starting. I don't want loose ends like them drifting around."
Serpens frowned.
"I guess what I mean is- they work well together, really well Serpens. I want them on our side."
"Call me pessimistic, but they've tried to kill us both multiple times. I want them dead."
Cassiopeia turned away from the window and limped back to the bed "I don't."
"Why?"
Why did he always sound like a bored computer when they were having these kinds of moralistic debates?
"I don't know.I feel bad for them I guess."
Uh-oh, she'd caused a glitch, cause that information sure caused some lag. Serpen's put on his loading face and it stayed that way.
"I mean, I think I might have done some of the same things Siren's done if I was in her place."
The internet crashed.
"You'd never have done any of those things, Cassi, you've proven far too many times that your moral code is beyond reproach-"
He spent waaaay too much time with AIs and his cat and his Greek philosophy books.
"I'm only human," she cut him off "Just like Siren. I see myself in her sometimes and sometimes I see you, or Lynx, or Andromeda. I look at her and I see us, if we'd gotten caught up in the other side. She fought for loyalty and she made friends, she cared about Diocore and we cared about Mayveth. Serpens, do you understand? Can you get that through your head?"
He only stared at her.