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fan_flashworks2013-12-01 11:20 pm
down) wrote in fan_flashworks2013-12-01 11:20 pm
Entry tags:
Magic Knight Rayearth: Fanfic: Unwarranted Aid
Title: Unwarranted Aid
Fandom: Magic Knight Rayearth
Rating: PG
Length: 1200 words
Content notes: War-with-giant-creatures situation.
Author notes: Never-Ending Giant Robot Shenanigans. The Z in this is for Zagato - who has something of a past with Clef and Emeraude...
Summary: Unwarranted: not justified or not authorised.
oOo
The alerts went off at about three in the morning, just late enough for Clef to have finally dragged himself to bed and fallen asleep deeply enough to be desperately groggy when he half fell, half jumped out of bed. He stumbled into the clothes he’d abandoned about an hour previously, shoving bare feet into his boots and stuffing the laces inside so he wouldn’t trip over them, without the co-ordination to do them up. He was running a hand through his hair when he pushed the door open, and the brightness of the strip-lighting in the corridor struck like a blow: he nearly hit himself in the face when he tried to shield his eyes from it.
“Hey, Madoushi! You okay?” Someone called out, coming from the corridor which branched down to the rest of the pilot’s quarters. The klaxons were loudest here, demanding immediate attention and wakefulness from the people who might be in control of exceptionally dangerous machinery in a short amount of time.
Mostly, these days, it just gave Clef a headache.
Clef couldn’t recognise the voice under the loud wailing from the speakers, but the tone of the words labelled Umi just as clearly. She skidded to a halt next to him, wearing warm pyjamas, heavy boots, and a pilot’s jacket without the decoration which would brand her as Selece’s pilot once both she and the Mech were ready for service.
“M’fine. Lights’re bright.” He muttered, waving her off.
“I guess so? Um. …How much sleep have you had tonight?” She asked, falling into step beside him. Clef winced at the reminder, and glared at her.
“Not enough for you to ask that.”
Umi stared right back at him. “I don’t think it’s a bad question, not if all this racket means you’re going out in Griffin! Giant robots and sleep deprivation don’t seem a good mixture, and if Ferio can only pilot Silence, then-“
“S’okay, Umi. We’re a research base, not an active unit. Most we’ll be doing is mopping up any remains which bash past the front line. We’ve got the Alaska base one side and Kamchatka the other; the Bearing Sea is covered by both of them.”
They were out of the Pilot’s area by now, and the relief as the noise-levels dropped was out of proportion with the actual change in levels. “Isn’t there another base on these islands, though? Over closer to the Americas?” Umi asked, without the challenging stare. “I’m sure there was one on the maps we were shown? About halfway round the curve. There was something, anyway-“
Clef shook his head, fiercely. “No, that’s-“ He stopped, swallowed, and looked down at the buttons which would call the lift down to their floor, take them to the control room. He stabbed at it with one finger, sharply aware of Umi’s attention resting on him. “That’s just another research base. They aren’t active either, don’t bother about him.”
“Him?”
“Them. Don’t worry about them.”
oOo
An hour later, he was cursing himself for those words, his whole body shaking with the strain of hauling Griffin back to his feet with the water crashing against the side of the mech, head ringing from the blow which had hit the control pod dead-on, sending him over with a crash which had slammed him about in the rig. His left arm was aching badly, his legs didn’t want to work, and he was barely on his feet again before another blow tore into the shoulder, metal sheering apart with an unearthly howl.
Ferio was yelling something over the comms, and Clef got his head up far enough to see Silence charging in to slam the creature aside and get between Griffin and it, as it spat blue and howled, claws reaching out – then Emeraude was the one yelling in Clef’s ears, as Silence went down under the iron-grey of the waters, darker stains rising like black blood as oil started leaking badly.
Gritting his teeth, Clef flung his weight forward and thought move! at Griffin, who groaned, but responded as the creature dove down on top of Silence, sharp teeth flashing as the head vanished under the waves. Even as he grabbed the scaled shoulders and yanked, one hand was on the controls, trying to call up the plasma cannon, a secondary weapon – anything. But the displays were a cascade of red, error messages piling up, and all he could do – all he could think of to do – was get himself in the way, just as Ferio had done, and brace himself.
The first blow struck the left shoulder, and then there were teeth ripping into the neck-joint, and the circuits in Clef’s suit were burning on his skin as they overloaded. This was it. Nothing left to do but hold on, and hope he could buy enough time for Ferio to get away – if Ferio got far enough, he could start a reactor overload. He and Griffin would go down, but at least they would take this thing with them, before it could get back to the base-
Even as he was trying to get their right arm about the thing, pull it closer and get enough air to tell Ferio to get clear, it shook, shuddered – and then it was falling back, and pulling Griffin with it, claws locked into the damaged side. Clef cried out as he slammed against the side of the rig again, and then he was pushing up, pushing away – trying to get his hands up, waiting to grab on again when it came back – but it never came.
His vision was bursting with static, all the voices over the comm blurring together into a pain slicing into his head – but he could see, just about, the figure stood beyond the bleeding corpse that the creature had become. A shillouette so familiar – one he hadn’t seen for years, not since – since Eleru, since Zagato had argued with Emeraude for weeks, weeks he didn’t dare interrupt them, before he left.
“I-innouva?” He gasped, and that was it; all he could see was the grey of the water, and then it was swallowing him down.
oOo
He woke up to the too-familiar beep of the heart monitors, and blue eyes above him. “That- was that-“ he tried to sit up, distantly aware of the pain in his arms and his neck under the muffling of heavy painkillers, which had him lightheaded, but certain of what he had seen.
“It wasn’t him.” Emeraude said, pushing him back down, her hands gentle but unmovable on his shoulders. “Clef, it wasn’t him.”
“But it was Innouva- if it wasn’t Zagato, then-“
“It wasn’t.” She shook her head. “It was – his new suits are battle-ready, Clef. It was one of his new prototypes. And – it was piloted by Alcyone.”
“Ferio?” He remembered, and her hands loosened on his shoulders.
“Safe. Better than you, actually.”
“And – it wasn’t Zagato?” Clef swallowed, letting himself be pushed back down. Alcyone had saved him? That was still… that was…
“Not Zagato.” Emeraude said. Her hand cupped his face, thumb soothing over his cheek. His eyes closed, and the world was fuzzing back out into static. “It wasn’t him. He didn't save you, Clef.”
That was the last thing he heard.
oOo
Fandom: Magic Knight Rayearth
Rating: PG
Length: 1200 words
Content notes: War-with-giant-creatures situation.
Author notes: Never-Ending Giant Robot Shenanigans. The Z in this is for Zagato - who has something of a past with Clef and Emeraude...
Summary: Unwarranted: not justified or not authorised.
oOo
The alerts went off at about three in the morning, just late enough for Clef to have finally dragged himself to bed and fallen asleep deeply enough to be desperately groggy when he half fell, half jumped out of bed. He stumbled into the clothes he’d abandoned about an hour previously, shoving bare feet into his boots and stuffing the laces inside so he wouldn’t trip over them, without the co-ordination to do them up. He was running a hand through his hair when he pushed the door open, and the brightness of the strip-lighting in the corridor struck like a blow: he nearly hit himself in the face when he tried to shield his eyes from it.
“Hey, Madoushi! You okay?” Someone called out, coming from the corridor which branched down to the rest of the pilot’s quarters. The klaxons were loudest here, demanding immediate attention and wakefulness from the people who might be in control of exceptionally dangerous machinery in a short amount of time.
Mostly, these days, it just gave Clef a headache.
Clef couldn’t recognise the voice under the loud wailing from the speakers, but the tone of the words labelled Umi just as clearly. She skidded to a halt next to him, wearing warm pyjamas, heavy boots, and a pilot’s jacket without the decoration which would brand her as Selece’s pilot once both she and the Mech were ready for service.
“M’fine. Lights’re bright.” He muttered, waving her off.
“I guess so? Um. …How much sleep have you had tonight?” She asked, falling into step beside him. Clef winced at the reminder, and glared at her.
“Not enough for you to ask that.”
Umi stared right back at him. “I don’t think it’s a bad question, not if all this racket means you’re going out in Griffin! Giant robots and sleep deprivation don’t seem a good mixture, and if Ferio can only pilot Silence, then-“
“S’okay, Umi. We’re a research base, not an active unit. Most we’ll be doing is mopping up any remains which bash past the front line. We’ve got the Alaska base one side and Kamchatka the other; the Bearing Sea is covered by both of them.”
They were out of the Pilot’s area by now, and the relief as the noise-levels dropped was out of proportion with the actual change in levels. “Isn’t there another base on these islands, though? Over closer to the Americas?” Umi asked, without the challenging stare. “I’m sure there was one on the maps we were shown? About halfway round the curve. There was something, anyway-“
Clef shook his head, fiercely. “No, that’s-“ He stopped, swallowed, and looked down at the buttons which would call the lift down to their floor, take them to the control room. He stabbed at it with one finger, sharply aware of Umi’s attention resting on him. “That’s just another research base. They aren’t active either, don’t bother about him.”
“Him?”
“Them. Don’t worry about them.”
oOo
An hour later, he was cursing himself for those words, his whole body shaking with the strain of hauling Griffin back to his feet with the water crashing against the side of the mech, head ringing from the blow which had hit the control pod dead-on, sending him over with a crash which had slammed him about in the rig. His left arm was aching badly, his legs didn’t want to work, and he was barely on his feet again before another blow tore into the shoulder, metal sheering apart with an unearthly howl.
Ferio was yelling something over the comms, and Clef got his head up far enough to see Silence charging in to slam the creature aside and get between Griffin and it, as it spat blue and howled, claws reaching out – then Emeraude was the one yelling in Clef’s ears, as Silence went down under the iron-grey of the waters, darker stains rising like black blood as oil started leaking badly.
Gritting his teeth, Clef flung his weight forward and thought move! at Griffin, who groaned, but responded as the creature dove down on top of Silence, sharp teeth flashing as the head vanished under the waves. Even as he grabbed the scaled shoulders and yanked, one hand was on the controls, trying to call up the plasma cannon, a secondary weapon – anything. But the displays were a cascade of red, error messages piling up, and all he could do – all he could think of to do – was get himself in the way, just as Ferio had done, and brace himself.
The first blow struck the left shoulder, and then there were teeth ripping into the neck-joint, and the circuits in Clef’s suit were burning on his skin as they overloaded. This was it. Nothing left to do but hold on, and hope he could buy enough time for Ferio to get away – if Ferio got far enough, he could start a reactor overload. He and Griffin would go down, but at least they would take this thing with them, before it could get back to the base-
Even as he was trying to get their right arm about the thing, pull it closer and get enough air to tell Ferio to get clear, it shook, shuddered – and then it was falling back, and pulling Griffin with it, claws locked into the damaged side. Clef cried out as he slammed against the side of the rig again, and then he was pushing up, pushing away – trying to get his hands up, waiting to grab on again when it came back – but it never came.
His vision was bursting with static, all the voices over the comm blurring together into a pain slicing into his head – but he could see, just about, the figure stood beyond the bleeding corpse that the creature had become. A shillouette so familiar – one he hadn’t seen for years, not since – since Eleru, since Zagato had argued with Emeraude for weeks, weeks he didn’t dare interrupt them, before he left.
“I-innouva?” He gasped, and that was it; all he could see was the grey of the water, and then it was swallowing him down.
oOo
He woke up to the too-familiar beep of the heart monitors, and blue eyes above him. “That- was that-“ he tried to sit up, distantly aware of the pain in his arms and his neck under the muffling of heavy painkillers, which had him lightheaded, but certain of what he had seen.
“It wasn’t him.” Emeraude said, pushing him back down, her hands gentle but unmovable on his shoulders. “Clef, it wasn’t him.”
“But it was Innouva- if it wasn’t Zagato, then-“
“It wasn’t.” She shook her head. “It was – his new suits are battle-ready, Clef. It was one of his new prototypes. And – it was piloted by Alcyone.”
“Ferio?” He remembered, and her hands loosened on his shoulders.
“Safe. Better than you, actually.”
“And – it wasn’t Zagato?” Clef swallowed, letting himself be pushed back down. Alcyone had saved him? That was still… that was…
“Not Zagato.” Emeraude said. Her hand cupped his face, thumb soothing over his cheek. His eyes closed, and the world was fuzzing back out into static. “It wasn’t him. He didn't save you, Clef.”
That was the last thing he heard.
oOo