Work Text:
The day had started off like any other. The Phoenix had risen with the sun once more, going through the motions of her morning routine. First her morning stretches and then an hour of meditation on the surface, her form bathed in the light of the rising sun.Topped off with a refreshing cup of tea, it had been a rather peaceful morning. Nevertheless, there was a strange feeling of unease gnawing at the edge of her mind. Something felt off, but what? The ancient warrior couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Everything around the base seemed perfectly fine. It wasn’t until she finished her daily training that the woman had an epiphany. Everything seemed perfectly fine… that was just it, wasn’t it? Her morning routine had never gone so smoothly in her modern life. She hadn’t seen much of her friends today. Or even her girlfriends. Not even Kiana interrupting her morning meditation with her usual boundless energy.
Upon checking, their rooms were similarly vacant. What was going on? There had been no alarms, the patrols around the base were uninterrupted, she had checked her phone about six times and there were no urgent messages waiting for her. She had eventually come across Doctors Einstein and Tesla in the mess hall only to discover neither Doctor could help her either. Though the way Tesla had started upon realizing who was behind her made her quickness to dismiss Fu Hua’s questions rather suspect. Fu Hua was quickly sliding from concerned to annoyed. She’d have thought at least those two would be able to keep track of their resident Herrschers.
Fu Hua huffed, blowing a lock of gray hair off her glasses in her irritation. She hadn’t spent the last 50,000 years as a MANTIS to fall for such obvious attempts at misdirection. It was almost cute how bad Tesla was at lying. Fu Hua paused, a door sitting ajar in her path drawing her gaze. A quick glance at the nameplate told her all she needed to know:
RESEARCH LAB 05
ASSIGNED: DR. TESLA
A positively wicked smile grew on the woman’s face. That was all she needed to know.
An insistent buzzing finally pulled Tesla from her discussion with Einstein. A quick, cursive glance morphed into an exclamation of disbelief.
Einstein raised an eyebrow, “Something wrong, Doctor?”
“An alarm is going off in one of my laboratories!’ She squished her face closer to her phone as if it would make the message make more sense. There was another buzz and Tesla’s expression grew dark with unbridled fury, “Someone’s dismantling my equipment! I don’t know who this prick thinks they are but I’ll fucking smash them!” Her fingers were a blur of furious jabs across her keyboard.
Einstein leaned over and sent a lazy glance down at the screen, “What about the cameras?”
“I’m working on it, mophead!” Tesla snapped
Einstein shrugged and relaxed back into her chair, completely unfazed by Tesla’s anger.
“There!” Tesla grinned as she dramatically stabbed down at the screen one last time. A chime sounded from her phone and the camera feed flickered to life on the screen. “EEEHHHHH?!”
Einstein watched with feigned disinterest, “You’re making quite the scene, Doctor. What is it?”
Tesly roughly shoved the phone at Einstein’s face, “WHAT IS SHE DOING TO MY BOTS?!”
Einstein’s gaze fell to the screen. Upon which the camera feed of one of Tesla’s labs showed a lone, gray-haired woman with tools in hand waving the disassembled chassis of one of Tesla’s hoverbots in front of the camera. Einstein huffed a small laugh, “Impressive.”
“It’s not impressive, she dismantled my bot!!”
Einstein shrugged, “We are hiding the location of her loved ones from her. She probably picked up on that, you’re not exactly the best at lying.”
Tesla slammed her palms on the table, “ARE YOU SAYING IT’S MY FAULT??”
Einstein sighed, “No, I’m saying she’s trying to get answers.”
Tesla snarled, “Fine! I’m done playing along with those kids anyways!” Tesla jumped out of her seat and marched towards the door, “I’m gonna give her a piece of my mind!”
Einstein chuckled as the furious pig-tailed girl disappeared out the door. Once she was out of sight, the doctor held her own phone up to her ear. After a moment, someone picked up the other line. Einstein smiled, completely unconcerned, “Yeah, it’s me. She got into one of the labs and Tesla’s lost it, you probably don’t have much more time……… Understood, I’ll be there soon.”
“I feel I must apologize once more, Doctor.”
“You really don’t need to, once is more than enough.” Tesla grumbled as the two women walked together, “At least you didn’t do anything permanent…”
“So where are we going?”
“They commandeered one of the hangars.” Tesla groaned, “They better not have messed up my mechs.”
The two women approached the blast door leading into the hangar. Tesla gestured for Fu Hua to wait before rapping out a pattern on the thick metal with her knuckles. After a few seconds of impatient foot tapping from the scientist, the doors groaned open with the hiss of hydraulics. Once they had stepped inside the doors closed once more, blanketing them in darkness. Tesla took a hold of Fu Hua’s wrist and pulled her deeper into the hangar.
“Shouldn’t we use a light?” Fu Hua asked, “It’s rather dangerous to go walking around a military hangar in the dark.”
“No! No lights,” Her exclamation echoed around the hangar, a rather disconcerting sensation in the darkness. Tesla glared at the woman though neither of them could see each other’s faces at the moment, “And the hangar was cleaned for this. If they left shit on the floor, and I trip over it, I’ll kill them myself.”
Fu Hua couldn’t help but chuckle. There was a humor to be found in Tesla’s crude words that she could not help but indulge in. Tesla’s pace was quick and surefooted, and in no time Fu Hua surmised they had crossed about half the hangar. With her heightened senses, she began to feel the uncomfortable feeling of being watched that always came when she sensed others nearby. Tesla came to a stop not a moment later.
“Alright, we’re here.”
All at once the lights blared to life, blinding the two women. Fu Hua blocked out some of the light with her arm and blinked away the tears that had formed in her eyes from the sudden strain.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!”
Fu Hua blinked her eyes into focus just as the shouts echoed through the hangar. Before her rested a cake skillfully decorated with frosting carefully shaped into a phoenix. Around the table stood the grinning forms of her friends. Bronya, Seele, the two Doctors, Theresa, Mei, and… Fu Hua frowned, where was Kiana?
“HUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!”
Any further thoughts were blasted away as a white blur slammed into her chest. The two women crashed to the floor in a tangle of limbs and the white-haired girl’s giggles.
“Kiana be careful!” Fu Hua cradled the girl’s head under her chin as the duo fell with a metallic thud.
The girl didn’t respond. Instead she pressed her lips to Fu Hua’s cheek, giggling all the while.
A shadow hovered over the two women, black and red boots coming to a stop next to their heads, “Kiana, please don’t give Hua a concussion again.”
Kiana reluctantly crawled off her girlfriend, rolling her eyes good naturedly, “You worry too much, Mei, I’m sure our Hua can handle a little hug.”
The two girls held out their hands in unison, the girl on the floor gratefully accepting their help back to her feet. Fu Hua dusted off her pants, the lull in activity serving as the perfect time for Mei to swoop in and plant her own kiss on the woman’s cheek.
Taking her hands in theirs, the lovers guided her back towards the others.
Bronya rolled her eyes, “If Kiana idiotka is quite finished, we should not leave the cake sitting out for much longer.”
Kiana cracked her knuckles, smirking at the gathered friends, “I got this!” With a snap a massive greatsword materialized in her hand and she assumed a ready position in front of the cake.
“Kiana Kaslana!” Theresa’s authoritative voice halted Kiana’s blade mere centimeters from the dessert.
The girl cringed as Mei’s grip descended on her shoulder. “We will cut it properly with a regular knife so we can ensure everyone gets some.”
“Awwww but I’ve always wanted to use a big sword like this to cut a cake…”
Mei smiled, “We can make another one later, right now this is for Fu Hua.”
The sword dissipated into flecks of golden light, “Yeah, you’re right… I guess we can let Bronya have some too.”
Bronya glared at her friend from across the table, “Kiana idiotka is lucky the Bronya does not defend her honor with Project Bunny.”
“I’d like to see you try, Bratnya!” Kiana fired back.
Theresa stomped her foot on the metal floor, “Girls, take it outside! If you ruin the cake I’ll ground you!”
Fu Hua chuckled, “It’s okay, Theresa. I am more than happy just to spend this time together with all of you.”
Seele sidled up to Fu Hua, the two women watching as Theresa grabbed her former students by the ears and dragged them a safe distance away. The two girls argued all the while.
Seele leaned closer, hesitating for a moment before asking, “Have they always been like this?”
Fu Hua adjusted her glasses, “Pretty much. I’m sure Bronya has told you I was their class monitor during our time at St. Freya.”
Seele nodded.
“I bore witness to Kiana and Bronya butting heads many times. However, never once has it truly harmed their friendship. After everything she’s been through, it is rather comforting to see Kiana still has a close relationship with Bronya.”
The two fell into a comfortable silence. The girl was still rather shy, but that suited Fu Hua just fine. Sometimes a comfortable silence could say more than words, and the spectacled woman took her own kind of comfort from the fact that Seele remained at her side while Theresa and Einstein passed around slices of cake.
She accepted one with a quiet utterance of thanks. Kiana and Bronya soon reapproached the table, Kiana’s arm thrown around her smaller friend’s shoulders. Fu Hua watched with a soft smile upon her lips as Seele excused herself and rejoined her partner. The now vacant space at her side was soon filled once more with Mei’s comforting presence. A moment later Kiana took her spot on the other side.
Kiana grinned, holding up her fork to Fu Hua’s lips. She giggled, and her gaze dipped low from her partner’s eyes as Fu Hua’s lips wrapped around the bite of cake.
The gray-haired girl hummed her approval, “It is excellent. Did you make this, Mei?”
Mei’s fingers gently grasped the woman’s chin and pulled her into a quick kiss, “Of course, only the best for our Hua.”
Kiana suddenly jumped, her exclamation muffled by the cake currently stuffed into her mouth. An attempt was made to mumble something around the food before Mei reached around and gently smacked the back of Kiana’s head, “Don’t talk with your mouth full.”
The two girls waited as Kiana attempted to swallow as quickly as possible. After a moment she held her finger up in a “wait a second” gesture, “Before I forget!” The girl ran off before she had finished talking, jumping up to one of the shutdown mechs nearby. The women gathered watched her rummage around in its cargo compartment.
Kiana jumped back down with ease, bundles of fabric and string in her arms.
Her happy bouncing and wide eyes as she ran back brought a smile to her girlfriends’ faces. An excited Kiana was, as always, reminiscent of an excited puppy. The girls could practically see a tail wagging behind her as she screeched to a halt before Fu Hua, who could now see the bundles in her arms were disassembled kites.
“Remember a few months ago when you said your only wish was to fly kites with us?” Kiana’s smile fell into the most adorable pout, “Though that was also back when you kept changing the subject whenever I asked about Shenzhou’s birthday customs, so I had to just go with what I already know.”
Fu Hua couldn’t keep the smile off her face, “Kiana, you know if you want to plan a surprise party, asking the person it’s for what her country’s birthday customs are is sure to give it away, yes?”
“I wanted to do something special for you!” Kiana whined
The girl’s pout abated slightly as muscled arms circled around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug, “Kiana, no matter what it is I will cherish these memories with you. Both of you.” Mei’s arms slid around the both of them as the lovers simply took a moment to enjoy each other’s touch.
Mei smiled into the crook of Fu Hua’s neck as the sound of Tesla’s playful gags reached their ears, “How about we get out of the good Doctor’s hair and try these kites Kiana was so kind as to get us?”
Fu Hua smiled, the trio releasing each other from their embraces, “That sounds like an excellent idea. Once I’ve had more time to prepare, I would also like to show you two how to craft your own kites sometime.”
Kiana’s eyes lit up, “You know how to make them?!”
“It is an old technique, but it still works wonderfully, yes.”
“With your help I’m gonna make the best one ever!” Kiana pumped her fist excitedly. “Wait, what if it’s not windy outside? Mei you can help right?”
Mei shook her head in amusement, “Kiana I’m the Herrscher of Thunder, not wind. If anything it should be you helping, you have the Gem of Desire after all.”
Kiana cupped her chin thoughtfully, “Wait you’re right… What if I can do wind stuff but I haven’t ever tried? Whelp! Only one way to find out! Lets go!”
Kiana rushed off in a blur of white and red as she activated her powers and her valkyrie suit materialized on her body. Mei and Fu Hua shared a loving glance as they moved to follow the excitable woman.
“I do hope you didn’t give Tesla too hard of a time, Hua,” Mei’s expression was set to a serious, concerned look. The twitching of her lips told a different story, however.
Fu Hua scratched her neck sheepishly, “I probably could have gone about it better, but I was rather irritated at her poor attempts to mislead me.”
Mei giggled, “I’ll apologize for roping her into this later. Kiana was very insistent on surprising you.”
Fu Hua smiled,“I can imagine.” The ancient warrior lifted herself onto the tips of her toes for a moment to press a chaste kiss to Mei’s lips, “Thank you for this wonderful time.”
Mei’s smile softened as she met her lover’s gaze, “It’s the least we could do, Hua. Lets get outside before Kiana breaks something, shall we?” She held her arm out as an invitation. One Fu Hua gracefully accepted, her arm slipping around Mei’s as the two left to join their girlfriend.
Tesla watched as the small party gradually began to dissipate once the lovebirds wandered off… somewhere. She wasn’t really paying attention. Before she knew it, only her and Einstein remained. It was then that she laid eyes on the mess of crumbs, plates, and the table that had been left behind in the center of the room.
“Hey, who’s gonna clean up this mess?”
Einstein shrugged, hopping down from her seat on one of the sleeping mechs, “Well, it is your vehicle bay. You really should keep your workspaces clean, Doctor Tesla.”
Words of wisdom delivered, Einstein quickly vacated the room, a small grin on her face as the doors closed on Tesla’s exasperated growl.
“MOPHEEAAADDDD!”
Fu Hua sighed. Not in disappointment, but in that happy way that comes when you finally catch your breath after a busy day with loved ones. She went through her nightly routine and quickly settled into bed. Gazing at the bland ceiling of her quarters, hands tucked behind her head, her attention turned inward. Her voice echoed into a special space within known only to her… and one other. In her mind the space appeared as a massive chain stretching across the red tinted room, stretching into the darkness at either end. Fu Hua herself manifested sitting on this very chain. A few seconds later, so did she.
“ I know you’re disappointed I didn’t let you out today, but did you enjoy having a celebration regardless? ”
The other woman’s slightly distorted voice carried a slight pout with it, “ Come on, Old Timer, how can it be a celebration for me when I’m stuck in here?”
Fu Hua smiled, holding out her hand. Light swirled into her palm, bulging and shifting until it formed into a perfect replica of the cake Mei had made for her earlier that day, “Luckily in here we can do this, hm?” Fu Hua manifested a small plate and a knife to cut away at the cake as well.
The Herrscher of Sentience glared at her counterpart, “Not much of a celebration with just two people.” Nevertheless, she took the offered slice when Fu Hua offered it.
Fu Hua hummed, though in agreement or not the Herrscher couldn’t quite tell , “ It’s your first birthday, being the active consciousness in my body or not, I didn’t want you to spend this whole day alone.”
“Well… thanks, I guess,” The Herrscher shrugged, stuffing another bite of cake into her mouth.
The duo fell silent for a moment, Fu Hua kicking her legs and gazing at the abyss below. “You know,” Fu Hua began after a minute, “I could talk to Mei and Kiana about you. Maybe I can start letting you have some time in control for yourself again.”
The Herrscher scoffed, “Like they’d trust me in their precious lovers body.”
Fu Hua shrugged, “All I’m saying is we could try. I need my body still, but that doesn’t mean you have to stay here unable to experience the world forever.” Fu Hua’s soft eyes met the Herrscher’s cautious ones, “Just think about it.”
She huffed, turning away, “Fine.”
Fu Hua closed her eyes, feeling the edges of sleep beginning to overtake her, “Thank you.” She rested a hand on the Herrscher’s shoulder before pulling her consciousness from the mind space. The last thing she saw was the small beginnings of a smile on her counterpart’s lips, “And Happy Birthday.”