#bellaegis

[teufortyaoi]

Stargazing

a ficlet about some ocs (read pages here)

summary: helen shuts down the fucking power grid to watch shooting stars

“--and don’t forget to keep an eye on the sky tonight! Scientists say this meteor shower will be the clearest in years!”

“I sure hope I’ll be able to see them. That’s the problem with living in a city, though, isn’t it?”

“Ha ha, you’re right! You’re watching WJZ 1.5, we’ll be back after this break.”

A commercial for bathroom cleaner begins to play on the television, but the channel is changed before it finishes. Melanie leans back against the couch and sighs, taking a long sip of bitter coffee. She flicks through a few channels, before the remote is swiped away from her hand by her sister.

“You always scroll through, like, ten channels,” Sadie says as she sits down with a bowl of cereal. “Just deal with commercials, dummy.”

“You know I’m impatient.” Still, Melanie lets her choose the channel, and unsurprising to the rest of the team coming in to eat their breakfast, she settles on some ghost hunting show.

“Shit, is that Zak Bagans?” Bellamy grins as he plops next to her, and nearly drops his plate. He ignores a glare from Melanie and takes a bite from his breakfast sandwich. “I love this episode.”

Kerin takes a seat sitting in front of the couch, leaning back against the seats and setting a plate in her lap. Helen follows and sits beside her, though she holds only a glass of orange juice. Kerin’s system for converting food and liquid into usable energy for Helen was still experimental. So far orange juice had been the only thing to produce results.

Kerin glances up to Melanie as she begins to cut up a fried egg. “So what was that news guy talking about?”

“There’s supposed to be a meteor shower tonight. We won’t be able to see it, though. Too much light pollution.”

“Really? That sucks.” Kerin looks back to her plate. “I’ve never seen a meteor shower.” She blinks as Helen taps her arm. Her hand is cold, like it always is.

“Meteor shower?” Helen tilts her head questioningly. Kerin smiles. It’s a cute expression on the robot’s face. Curiosity.

“It’s when there’s particles in the atmosphere. They look like stars falling.”

“Oh. Do you want to see them.”

“I’d really like to, but we can’t with all the lights from the city. It’s okay. Maybe there’ll be a different one somewhere with less lights we can see.”

Helen nods slowly, before looking down. She watches as the juice in her glass swirls with the tilting of her wrist.

Somewhere with less light.

It wasn’t hard to get into the transformer. Kerin had enough tools, and she never really questioned when Helen took them. The robot did sometimes have her own little projects she liked to do.

In fact, it wouldn’t be all that hard to grab a hold of some wires and just go to town on the electricity.

The real challenge would be shutting down the power grid without shorting her own insides. Her talent was more in corrupting computer systems than it was in dealing with the electricity output itself. But hey, Kerin could always fix her, couldn’t she?

Kerin could do anything.

Helen nods to herself, and picks up a rotary saw as she starts to cut down on the insulation of the transformer. It takes longer than she had expected, and by the time she sees the copper, the sun is already setting.

She needs to hurry.

She takes a breath she doesn’t need, and grabs the copper inside.

All Melanie hears is something like a thundershock, and suddenly the oven she’d just turned on was dead. She hears several yells of frustration from Sadie, Bellamy, and Aegis, who’d most likely been playing games together. She frowns and flicks the light switch to the kitchen.

The lights don’t turn on.

“Fuck,” she mumbles and pulls out her phone to look up any electrical blackouts in the area. She’s surprised to find that she has no signal. Hell, did the phone towers drop, too?

She glances out the window to see Kerin emerging from her workshop, presumably grumbling obscenities from her work being interrupted. Then she stops, and looks at something across the street. Melanie raises an eyebrow when she starts to run towards something.

Kerin was running towards Helen, who was still shooting sparks from where she laid ten feet from the transformer.

“Helen! Oh my gosh, what in the world happened?” She kneels by the robot, she sees that her clothes are singed and burning in some parts, particularly around her wrists. She frowns, she can feel the heat coming from her body. Thank god for heat proof powers. She reaches down and tucks an arm under her knees and behind her head, and stands. She needs to get her back to the house.

It doesn’t take long for Kerin to sort out the fried wires from the good ones and start Helen back up. As she does so, Bellamy finds a wind up ham radio in the closet and tries to listen for news.

Most of the channels are static, but they finally come across what seems to be a military news report.

“--some kind of terrorist attack on the city. Repeat, the entire city is without power, and we believe this to be some kind of terrorist attack. Please stay near your homes.”

“Shit, terrorist attack?” Aegis leans against the wall as he listens. “No one would attack this city. It doesn’t even have a name or location.”

“It could still happen,” Sera says as she sits in the chair next to him. “Strike the unexpected.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Aegis huffs and crosses his arms. Ever the sourpuss. He looks over where Kerin is sitting up against the wall with Helen halfway in her lap, bent over and the panel at the back of her neck open. Kerin picks through the wires with her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth.

“Okay, I think I got the wires fixed as much as I can,” she says and closes the panel on Helen’s neck. “Let’s wake her again. Subject Helen, start up sequence engage.”

There’s a few sounds that could possibly be described as a modem starting up, then Helen opens her eyes again. She blinks a couple times and looks around the room, slowly getting her bearings again. Kerin moves out from behind her and lets her lean against the wall.

“Helen? Are you okay?” She watches the robot with concern, perhaps a touch more than the rest of them. Helen looks at her and blinks slowly.

“Is the power gone?”

“What?”

“Is the power system gone?”

“I...yes? We just heard about it on the radio. Helen, what’s going on?”

Helen smiles, and everyone in the room is struck with the feeling of needing to protect this precious bot. “I shut it down so we could see the shooting stars.”

There were several different reactions around the room. Kerin’s eyes nearly busted out of her head. Melanie dropped the coffee she was holding. Bellamy let out a long ‘oh my goooooood’. Sera put her face in her hands. Aegis just howled with laughter. 

Sadie looks at Helen with wide eyes. “You shut down the power grid to the whole city?” Helen just smiles and nods. “Oh my god. We’re gonna be arrested for terrorism.”

Melanie frowns as she stands from picking up the shards of coffee mug on the floor and drops them into the trash. “We’ll be fine. Either Diana will fix this somehow, or she’ll put us somewhere else.”

“You have a lot of faith in her,” Sadie says as she looks at her sister. Melanie just wipes her hands on her pants and looks away. Sadie shakes her head. “Still, this really isn’t good! What about hospitals in the city? Or, heck, what about all the food that’s gonna go to waste without refrigeration? Helen, this is gonna affect a lot of people!”

Helen looks at her, blinking a few times. She seems to shrink back into her sweater as she looks down. “I...I just wanted to...see the stars,” she mumbles. Kerin sighs.

“Guys, I know this isn’t good--”

“This is fucking hilarious.”

“Aegis, shut up. I know this isn’t good, but Helen...she doesn’t understand far reaching consequences like that. I should’ve been keeping a better eye on her. Let’s just blame me, okay?”

It wasn’t much longer from then that the sun set. Bellamy was occupied with making some kind of alchemical freezer so they wouldn’t lose all the food in the fridge. Kerin worked on how she could fix the power grid, it shouldn’t be too hard. She built a prosthetic arm with just one working arm and a still bleeding stump, she could fix a transformer.

All the plans, however, were interrupted by Sadie laying on the horn of the truck in the driveway. “Guys! Come outside and see this!”

It didn’t take long for most everyone to come out of the house to see what the honking was about. And it didn’t take long to see why Sadie was doing the honking.

Without the light pollution of the city, they could look up into the sky and see the stars clearer than ever. The arm of the Milky Way stretched across the sky in purples and reds, and as far as the eye could see were pinpricks of light.

It really was beautiful.

Sadie smiles wide as she steps out of the truck. “Maybe shutting off the power wasn’t such a bad thing after all.”

Soon enough, most of the team were strewn about the front lawn, looking up at the stars in the sky. The power grid was down and they might be arrested for terrorism come morning, but for now it was just them and the galaxy above.

Sera had Aegis help her bring several armfuls of crystals out to the lawn and spread them on a blanket. She might as well charge some crystals with star power given the chance. She sat in the middle of the blanket and just enjoyed the cool night air.

Aegis sighs and stretches his arms out as he drops the last of the crystals onto the blanket. The bottom of his hoodie lifts with the movement of his arms, revealing a sliver of pale skin and dark markings. He gets the feeling that there are eyes on him, and he looks up in time to see Bellamy looking away from where he leans against the railing on the porch.

Aegis frowns slightly, and looks back at Sera. She’s already facing him with a hint of a knowing smile. He huffs. “What?”

“Mm, nothing. Why don’t you go talk with Bellamy? I’ll just be practicing magic, and I know you find it boring.”

Aegis huffs, but he mumbles a thanks as he walks up the porch stairs and goes to stand by Bellamy. The taller boy looks at him and smiles. “Glad you could join me.”

“Oh, shut up, ponytail.” Aegis leans against the railing and watches as Bellamy laughs. There’s a feeling like a fluttering in his stomach, but he ignores it. Ignores the way that Bellamy’s cheeks dimple when smiles, ignores how his eyes scrunch up when he laughs, ignores the way that his laugh makes him feel warm.

Bellamy shakes his head and looks back up at the sky, shoving his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. There’s a long stretch of comfortable silence, which is a rare thing for Bellamy to think about silence. Maybe it’s just the way he savors standing next to Aegis. He can hear Sera mumbling spells under her breath, and the faint voices of the sisters as they sit in the back of the truck. It’s a calm night.

Aegis blinks at him as he sighs. “Even the stars here are different. I used to know all the constellations back home, but I guess in this universe, I don’t know any.” Bellamy shakes his head. “It’s probably dumb, but it makes me...kinda sad.”

“I could show you the constellations,” Aegis says after a moment and stands from leaning against the railing. Bellamy looks at him.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I mean, I’ve been alive for like, seventy years, and sometimes constellations can do magic things, so Sera wants me to know them, so...y’know, I know a lot of them.” He rubs the back of his head, almost like he’s sheepish about offering his help. Bellamy smiles.

“That’d be great. Thanks.”

Aegis smiles for the first time that night, and Bellamy swears he can feel his heart skip a beat. He watches as Aegis looks up at the stars and starts to point out the constellations.

“See that one up there? The line of stars that sort of look like a triangle?”

“No, not really.”

“You’re looking at it the wrong way, dumbass. Follow my finger.”

“I still don’t see it. Hold on, let me try a different angle here.”

Aegis rolls his eyes and keeps pointing up to the stars as Bellamy steps behind him. He jumps a little when he suddenly feels warmth against his back, and Bellamy’s chin comes to rest on his shoulder. Perilously close to touching his cheek. It felt like his heart was caught in his throat, and Bellamy just smiles. “So what’s that constellation you’re pointing to?”

“I-it’s...it’s the...it’s called the...” Aegis stutters, and his face burns red. All he can think about is how he can feel the warmth radiating off of Bellamy, and how he smells like leather and metals and a little bit like burning from his alchemy.

Suddenly Aegis isn’t there anymore, and Bellamy lets out a yelp as he stumbles forward into the porch railing and smacks his head. He grunts and catches himself before he completely breaks the railing and falls into the front garden. He can hear Sera start to laugh, and he rubs his sore head as he looks up to see Aegis hiding behind the witch and pulling his hood over his red face.

“I can’t believe you!” Sera laughs harder than she has in a long time, and falls back on the blanket. Aegis just groans and tries to hide himself deeper in his hoodie.

Bellamy watches him, and he can’t help smiling. It’s cute, seeing the usually aggressive and hotheaded demon look so embarrassed. And it’s better that he made him that redfaced. He shakes his head and sits down on the porch as he looks at the stars. He blinks when he sees a star fly past, and he smiles. He mumbles a wish under his breath.

“I hope this reality starts to feel like home.”

“What’s Sera laughing about?”

Sadie leans over the edge of the truck bed to look back at the lawn. All she sees is Sera laying back on a blanket and laughing as Aegis tries to disappear from this reality and escape embarrassment. She leans back into the truck and shrugs. “Maybe someone told a bad joke.”

Melanie glances at her and shrugs as well. She crosses her legs and digs in the pocket of her jacket for a moment, and pulls out a pack of cigarettes. Sadie frowns as she watches her take out a cigarette. “You know I don’t like you smoking.” Melanie blinks a little and sighs.

“Yeah, I know, bubblegum. Sorry.” She shoves the pack back into her jacket. Sadie laughs a little.

“Bubblegum? That’s a new one.”

“Shut up, you said you like it when I give you cute nicknames.”

“It’s just unique!” Sadie smiles up at her older sister, who just rolls her eyes. But she’s smiling, too. They both stare up at the stars, watching the arm of the galaxy. “Y’know, I don’t think I’ve ever been able to see the Milky Way before.”

Melanie looks at her. “Yeah. We’ve always just lived in the city, huh?” Sadie nods, and after a moment Mel looks up again. There’s a few minutes of just silence as the stars twinkle above them.

“I used to see the stars like this all the time,” Melanie says quietly. Sadie blinks and looks at her.

“Really?”

“Mhm. A long time ago. Before the crash.”

Sadie holds her breath for a moment. It isn’t often that Melanie talks about their family, and she understands way. The car accident was a painful subject. Still, she wanted to know more. She wanted to be able to help her sister. So she pressed forwards. “Can you...can you tell me about it?”

Melanie closes her eyes, and Sadie thinks that she shouldn’t have ask, and she’s worried that this peaceful night his ruined. But Melanie opens them again and sighs. “Yeah. Sure.”

“I was six, I think. You’d only just turned two, and...and Mom thought we’d celebrate by taking a family camping trip.” Melanie smiles, and it’s sad. “God, Mom loved camping. She took every excuse to pile us into a truck and drive us into the middle of nowhere so we could build a fire and tell stories.”

Sadie listens, and watches her sister with wide eyes. It was even rarer to hear anything about their parents. Melanie just watches the sky.

“Dad didn’t like camping all that much, but she humored Mom and always let her pull us along. I don’t even remember where we’d go to camp, but it was always the same spot. A clearing in the middle of some woods, and a pond within walking distance. There was a little hole we dug out for the firepit. Ashley had found a couple bench-sized logs a few years earlier, so those were set around the pit. It was...a home away from home.”

“And then the stars. It was so amazing. We’d lay out there on the grass, looking up at the sky while Dad told us about the constellations.” Melanie laughs a little bit. “Turns out Dad didn’t know any of them and he just made them up. I learned about it in class and got in trouble for insisting that there was no Orion constellation, but there was a Donkey Butt constellation.”

Sadie laughs. “You can’t be serious.”

“Nope, I’m telling the truth. I deadass thought that there was a constellation named by some old Greek motherfucker called the Donkey Butt constellation.” Melanie grins at her, and Sadie just laughs harder. Mel looks at the stars again and sighs after a moment.

“That was our last camping trip. I still remember it. Ashley got carsick because she ate too many roadtrip snacks. And Mom ended up with poison ivy on her back from tripping into a patch.” She closes her eyes for a moment. “I remember swimming in the pond, with you in one of those baby floater things. I swam out too far, and Mom and Dad couldn’t see us anymore. My leg got caught up in something, pond grass or weeds. I was so scared I was going to drown, but I didn’t want you scared, too. So I just held onto that little floater and waited until Dad found us. I remember him yelling at me, but he felt bad for making me cry, so he made me extra s’mores that night. You weren’t supposed to have any, but I shared with you anyway. Probably gave you your sweet tooth.”

Melanie smiles a little bit. Sadie’s still looking at her, and she’s pulled her knees to her chest. “...this is the first time you’ve ever talked about Mom or Dad or Ashley.” Melanie blinks and looks at her.

“It is?”

“Yeah. It’s...nice.”

“I didn’t realize that...I never talked about them.” Melanie looks away again. “Maybe I should start doing it more.”

Sadie looks at her, and she shuffles over, leaning against her older sister. “Can you tell me the constellation that Dad would show you?” Melanie smiles.

“Yeah. Sure, bubblegum.”

Helen looks up through the bare limbs of the tree she sits against to see the stars above her. In her limited memory. she doesn’t think she’s ever seen so many. She gave up counting them an hour ago.

She blinks and looks away from the sky as she hears footsteps coming closer, and she sees Kerin. The other smiles as she sits down next to Helen. “I guess it wasn’t so bad for you to shut off the power, huh?”

Helen looks at her for a moment, then down at the ground. “I didn’t...mean to cause trouble.” Kerin blinks and pats her shoulder. It’s even colder than usual from the surrounding temperature.

“It’s okay. I know you were just trying to help everyone.”

“I was trying to help you.”

Helen looks at her again, with those glowing, robotic green eyes. “You said you wanted to see the stars. And I wanted to help you.”

Kerin looks away from those all-too-sincere eyes as her face heats up. It always does when Helen is just so honest about everything. She smiles and rubs the back of her neck. “Well, thanks.” She looks up at the sky in hopes to hide her sheepishness.

Helen looks back up, too. She thinks she’s never seen something so beautiful. Well, almost nothing. The galaxy is a close second. She blinks when she sees a flash of light dart across the sky. Kerin smiles widely.

“Did you see that? That was a shooting star. Look, there’s more.” Kerin points to the sky as more streaks of light make their way across the horizon. “You’re supposed to make a wish when you see a shooting star.”

“A wish?”

“Mhm. Something you really want.”

“Oh.” Helen looks up and watches as a shooting star falls. She closes her eyes for a moment, then opens them again. Kerin looks at her.

“So what did you wish for?”

“More orange juice.”

Kerin blinks, and laughs a bit. “Really? Orange juice? Is there nothing else you want more than that?” Helen shakes her head.

“When I’m with you and the team, I have everything I could ever want.”

Kerin blinks, and she can’t help laughing again. Helen blinks at her and tilts her head. “Did I say something funny?”

“No, no, it’s not that, it’s just--gods, Helen, you’re too good for this world.” Kerin smiles at her. “You’re too good for me.”

Helen blinks, not understanding what she means. So she just looks back to the sky. Kerin watches her for a long moment, before reaching over with her nonprosthetic hand and taking Helen’s. The robot looks at her, and looks down at their fingers intertwining. She can feel the warmth of Kerin’s hand against her freezing porcelain skin. And she smiles.

They both look up at the sky again, and Kerin sees another star shoot past. She smiles.

“I think I have everything I want, too.”

The stars all twinkle and glint in the sky, and as they look up at them, there’s someone else looking, too. Someone who for once doesn’t let herself be seen.

Diana sits on the edge of the rooftop, and she smiles. For once, that robot does something helpful. True, she could go wherever she wanted to look at the stars, but this was easier than traveling.

She hums to herself as she watching the shooting stars. She wonders, just for a moment, what a being like her might wish for.

“Hm. I wish...to have more fun.”

epilogue: their neighbor got arrested for terrorism bc the blown transformer was right in front of their fucking house