Title: An Artificial Night
Fandom: Magic Knight Rayearth
Rating: Pg
Length: 2750 words
Content notes: environmental damage to a fictional world, and characters who think they're dying. (Possibly triggering suicidal/martyrish themes, because Eagle.)
Author notes: This came out nothing like I planned. It was meant to be fluffy! Instead it's more gloom with a hint of fluff for at least the first half. Hints of Geo/Eagle/Lantis left to be interpreted by the reader...
Book used as a prompt is 'An Artificial Night', the third of the Toby Daye books by Seanan McGuire, which are AWESOME.
Also for cottoncandy_bingo, 'cold (illness)'.
(Three challenges in a row! Whoo! ...though the wordcount is slowly creeping up...)
Summary: Eagle, and Geo, and two different quiet evenings.

oOo

The skies of Autozam were stained rusty shades of ochre and umber by day, poisoned clouds spitting acid down onto the Domes shielding the residential areas and the dull pitted metal of the buildings outside that protection. Roads snaked in looping grey lines against the yellow sky and the dirty brown of the earth where it was visible under the patchwork layer of the man-made Plates, built in hotchpotch stages as the ground was abandoned for buildings higher and higher in the atmosphere, searching for a layer of air still clean enough to live in.

It was a full generation since the scientists had admitted there was no clear air left to find, and turned their research to methods of keeping it out, of filtering it. But the artificial ground was easier to live on than the earth, which drank the poisoned rain and fed on the rusting hulks of buildings and vehicles left behind. Only the mountains which stabbed up through the Plates and into the sky were free from debris; they were too steep to build on when there was level ground available. But the mountains too had been scoured by the rain and the wind until nothing but stone remained, and even that was eroding.

Eagle could see it all from the viewing platform by his quarters in the Watchtower. With his father’s position and his own rank, he could have had a room out on the Plate, in a comfortable shielded area where he could indulge in the pretence of walking ‘outside’ without armour. But he preferred to stay with the soldiers, where he could hear what they said and understand what drove the men and women he led.

He was the only person who bothered to step into this room and confront the truth of Autozam’s decay. It was smaller than the platforms higher in the tower; far smaller than the one at the very top, where the struts of the windows curved back until they were lost in the gloom overhead; where the clouds and the air were thin enough that Cephiro glittered blue in the distance.

From here, he could imagine it was the clouds which hid that fascinating brightness from view. That it hadn’t flared into a beacon so violent even the stripped-bare mountains of Autozam burnt bone-white and haunted him when he closed his eyes.

That it hadn’t illuminated Lantis’s face, starkly mapping out the loss there.

(That Eagle hadn’t stood on the platform and held him, stood and let him go before he could be given orders which would have made him a traitor; orders originating with Eagle himself.)

This morning, with the light burning out and Cephiro becoming all but invisible, Eagle had spoken to his father; three hours ago he had stood before Parliament. They were deliberating his proposal now, but the outcome was inevitable. If there was any chance Autozam could be saved, they had to take it.

Eagle had to take it.

And, then…

Eagle’s hands tightened on his own arms as he sat, one knee hitched up to rest his head against, the other leg dangling over the edge of the platform. Autozam was running out of time… and so was he. If there was something to be done it needed doing now – his body was already demanding more and more sleep, fighting to recover the energy he had used up so irrevocably. He was cold, now, all the time; a chill in his hands and feet which was slowly spreading. His doctors gave it perhaps a month before the numbness swallowed him whole, and that was if he stayed and rested.

Eagle rested his head more firmly against his arms as they crossed over his knee. There was no one here to be bothered by his undignified pose, white uniform gathering dust from the neglected floor as he watched the daylight give way to night illuminated by the artificial lights of the Plates, glimmering about him. Starburst patterns marked out the main roadways, the shimmer of green warning lights played over the domes.

They had stories still of a time when the sky was clear enough there were stars, and more planets glittering like jewels in the sky above. Now, there were few things to be seen alongside Cephiro even from the highest levels of the Watchtower, everything hidden by the glow from buildings and the ships which hung half shrouded by cloud.

Behind him, in the gloom, he door hissed slightly when it slid open. But Eagle knew the sigh which followed it and stayed where he was, leaving Geo to cross the space between them.

“The voting has ended. They’ll announce the results in the next hour.”

“Parliament will order the NSX to leave by the end of tomorrow.” Eagle said, turning and putting the smile back on his face. “I have written out the requisition orders we’ll need, though I can’t file them until it’s official, of course.”

“Of course.” Geo said, rolling his eyes. Then he focused on Eagle, who gave him his very brightest smile.

Unfortunately, this was Geo. “You’re shivering.” He said, abruptly. “What are you doing, sitting here in the cold? You haven’t even brought a cloak with you – are you trying to catch an illness before we have to leave?”

“It’s warm enough in here.” Eagle protested.

“The air might be, you aren’t.”

That was a dangerous line of thought for Geo to be on. Eagle couldn’t take the chance that he would have Eagle pulled from the mission, if he knew. There was nothing to be done – and the very lack of time made Eagle the perfect weapon for this campaign, beyond his knowledge gleaned from Lantis. It was a drive unlike no other, a focus; Eagle had no reason to hold back, and every reason to give all he could.

He would see Autozam saved.

“Unfortunately, I think I may have already caught the cold.” He said, for Geo, putting as much wry humour into it as he could. “It’ll have to wait, though – I can’t sneeze my way through accepting our orders.”

Geo snorted. “Only you, Eagle.” He muttered, and then he reached and unfastened his cloak. He stooped to drape it about Eagle’s shoulders, and Eagle held onto it automatically, twisting the warm fabric about his hands. “Are you going to take too much cough medicine and start singing again?”

“I only did that once!” Eagle protested.

“Yes. In our final exams at the Military School.” Geo pulled a face. “I am never going to forget the expression on the invigilator’s face when she realised who it was.”

“I still passed, didn’t I?”

“You also passed out! On me! I had to drag you all the way back to the dorms.” Geo sounded terribly put out – but the warmth he’d wrapped about Eagle was louder than anything he said, and was helping Eagle in ways entirely unrelated to temperature.

“That was seven years ago, and yet you’re still trailing about after me. You could always ask for a different post, you realise.”

“No I can’t.” Geo snorted at that, too. “If I did, who would remember to bring an extra ration of sweets everywhere, and apologise for the chaos you cause? …Or find you when you hide away to plan the future of the universe.”

“…That might be true. I don’t think anyone else would look for me here.” Eagle said, thoughtfully.

“I don’t know why you come here. It’s so ugly.” Geo said, glaring out of the window. “It’s depressing.”

Eagle’s smile softened into something easier to hold onto. “I don’t think it is.” He said, honest.

Geo stared at him, that look which meant ‘you have taken leave of your senses again, and I’m going to be going about looking for them for days’. “It’s full of acid rain and broken things. How can you think it’s anything else?”

“Look again. Sit down with me, and look.” Geo folded down beside him, a process which involved a large amount of leg. He stared out of the window, expression dubious. “What do you see?”

“…Rocks. Clouds. Nothing living.”

Eagle smothered a laugh. “But look at the lights, Geo. The houses, the roads – all those people, living their lives. All those things we’ve built to protect ourselves, so we can stay here. Autozam. She may be in trouble at the moment, but she’s ours, and we won’t give up on her. Don’t you think that’s at least a little beautiful?” He looked out again. “No matter what it takes, we won’t give up on her.” He whispered. The lights were glittering brightly now; no stars from above could possibly look so much like welcome, like home. Like the courage to keep on going.

The artificial lights reached out to the clouds, and gilded them. The rain was drops of silver as it fell. The damp rocks shone, their proud surface unyielding.

This was Autozam, and Eagle would do anything in his power to save her.

Geo was silent, beside him, and Eagle let the view soak into him for a long minute before standing, Geo’s cloak warm about him. “Shall we go find out how long they are giving us to depart?” He said, holding his hand down to Geo. When he was up, Eagle turned for the door, reaching for the cloak. “Thank you for the loan of this-“

Geo’s hand landed on his shoulder, stopping him. “Keep it.” He said, gruffly. “…If you’re coming down with a cold, you need the extra layer. We’re going to be too busy for you to be ill.”

Eagle stayed still in the moment when he wanted to flinch, and kept his smile where it should be. “Thank you, Geo.”

“Eh. You can buy me a new one when we come home.” Geo walked to the door, waving a hand over his shoulder. “You go find out what our orders are, I’ll go find Zazu, see if we’ll need anything in his line before we depart.”

Eagle held the cloak tighter about himself, when the door shut. He took one last long look back at the view, making certain it was impressed into his memory.

He wouldn’t be coming back.

oOo

The night sky was a blue so dark and clear that it seemed to suck Eagle up and drown him in its vastness. There were stars and distant lands shining against the inky expanse; he’d seen the sky before, of course, from the bridge of the NSX, and from the cockpit of the FTO.

But he’d always been trapped behind a layer of glass, inside a road, away from the air. Not through an open window, not even a hint of a shield between him and the full force of nature.

This was only the third day since he’d managed to open his eyes and look about, see the land he’d been hearing so much about for so many months. That first day had been full of too many people to see much, and he’d fallen back asleep frustratingly fast. The Master Mage kept warning him not to push himself too fast, but Eagle didn’t know how to do anything else.

For now, he was alone, and he’d come to the window to watch the sunset when it painted his room a gold just as bright as the artificial night of Autozam. He was already impatient to return, and see how she was doing, how the aide of Cephiro was actually affecting his home. But when he looked out over the gardens, the forest and the plains beyond, he lost track of everything but his awe at this place. Cephiro was so alive.

(If she could become this, when there had been nothing left but rock, then surely Autozam too could…)

The light had faded while he sat still at the open window, the fresh air cool and sweet on his face, scented with the evening-opening flowers that clung to the base of the castle. It was getting chilly now, with the warmth of the sunlight gone, but the night sky had mesmerised him from the first stars peeping through the sunset to this intense darkness.

There was a knock on the room to his door. “Come in.” He called, and heard it swing open – heard the sigh as he was spotted.

“You’re going to catch a cold, and be stuck in bed for another six months, while I have to keep doing your work for you.” Geo grumbled. “At least put something about your shoulders if you’re determined to be an idiot – here.” He picked up a cloak from the head of the bed, and brought it across, dropping it inelegantly about Eagle’s shoulders.

Eagle smiled up at him, hands buried in the fabric, and Geo frowned. “What?”

“Nothing.” He turned back to the view. Geo dropped into the seat beside him. “Did the meetings this afternoon go well?”

“They went exactly as you said they would. Unsurprisingly, as everyone there had come to talk to you before turning up.”

“Well, I can’t go visit them yet…”

“Not for a while, thank you! I don’t need to chase you all over the castle! …Though I guess Lantis might have some way of finding you. I’d have to send him hunting to bring you back.”

Eagle’s lips twitched at the image of Lantis being sent out like some tracking creature trained to ‘fetch’. He pulled the cloak a fraction tighter about himself as he relaxed into the chair, aware he was being watched, and not particularly worried by it.

“…Whose cloak is that, anyway? It’s too big to be yours.” Geo said, and Eagle laughed aloud at that. If Geo was insinuating things about Lantis –

“It’s the one I was wearing, the day of the trial. Hikaru brought me home wrapped in it. It’s been here ever since – don’t you recognise it?”

“What? It’s a cloak.”

“It’s your cloak. I still owe you a new one, though. You can’t have this one back.”

Geo’s eyes narrowed as he remembered that evening. “…You never did have a cold, did you.” His voice dropped, low and rough. “I haven’t thought about that, not since we left Autozam.”

Eagle winced at that, and turned fully away from the window at last. “I wasn’t well, and I was cold...”

“…Do you still say that Autozam is beautiful, after this?” Geo waved at the view out of the window, and under the grumpiness, he actually sounded curious.

“Yes.” Eagle told him, smile honest. “It’s not the same kind of beauty, but Autozam is ours, and she’s home. She will always be beautiful.” He glanced back at the clean night, and a smirk twitched at his lips, one he didn’t try to push away. “And when she’s as healthy as Cephiro is, I bet she’ll be even more beautiful than this. I can’t wait to see it.”

Geo laughed, sudden and strong. “I’m not mad enough to bet against you, Eagle. Just to follow you. Come on, if you don’t go back to bed now I’m going to end up carrying you, and I’ve a good mind to not bother and see how you like sleeping in an armchair.”

Between them, Eagle made his cautious way to the bathroom and then back to the bed, on limbs aching and weak from months of disuse. He was still in sleeping clothes – all he had to do was pull the cloak from his shoulders, and Geo folded it while Eagle manoeuvred himself below the covers. Geo stepped away to put it on the chest at the end of the bed – Eagle caught his arm.

“Leave it with me. Please.”

“Are you planning to walk about the halls in the middle of the night?” Geo glared at him.

“No.” Not yet! “I’d like to leave the window open, but it gets cold, in the hour before dawn. I can use the cloak as an extra layer. After all, it’s served me faithfully all this time.”

Geo hesitated, then silently tucked the cloak over the headboard. “…I’ll be next door if you want anything.”

“I know. Thank you, Geo.”

“Go to sleep!” Geo snapped, but he wasn’t looking at Eagle while he said it, blush high on his cheeks – and when he shut the door, he did it with as much care as he’d helped Eagle across the room.

Eagle lay facing the window and smiled, letting his eyes drift shut as the starlight burnished his room shades of silver. Maybe Lantis would come back with them, when Autozam was healing.

Maybe between them, they could make Geo appreciate the view.

oOo

end

oOo