Work Text:
“So what fairy do you want to be?”
“Flower fairy and her name will be Flower Power,” Charlotte held up her favorite doll.
“Oh okay. Well, I’m the moon fairy and her name will be Moony,” Luna fixed her doll's hair.
“Ohh that’s so pretty,” Charlotte commented.
“Hehe thanks, Char,” Luna smiled.
Looking back, the only thing that could hold the two back was the moment their parents would call off their playdate.
Together they could go anywhere.
They could be pirates on a sinking ship fighting evil fish-men or dragons flying high above the clouds at a world they barely knew.
It was the kind of freedom Charlotte only knew with Luna.
Charlotte rolled down the hill in Luna’s backyard. The autumn leaves crunched under to weight as she rolled. The cold air was crisp as Charlotte caught her breath.
“Char watch outttttt!” Charlotte turned her attention when she felt something collide with her pushing her back.
Both Luna and Charlotte looked up at the sky as they lay on their backs. The two girls looked at each other before erupting into giggles.
“Wh- why did you roll into me?” Charlotte laughed.
“Well, why did you stop?” Luna nudged.
“Because the hill stopped?” Charlotte playfully scoffed.
The two looked up at the cloudy sky. When Charlotte had gotten there it had been sunny but after the hours they spent together it had grown cloudy.
“Oh wait Char, stay still,” Luna turned over and took a leaf from her hair.
The pink of Luna’s hair contrasted the gray and brown.. “Thanks, Luna,” Charlotte smiled.
“No prob,” Luna hummed. “Don’t want your mom getting mad at you,” Luna added.
“Thanks,” Charlotte’s mood soured a bit hearing about her mom. “But she wouldn’t,”
“You know when she’s getting here by the way?” Luna asked.
“Don’t know,” Charlotte confessed. “You think I can sleep over?”
“Hmmmhhhh~,” Luna hummed. “Well, we do have school tomorrow but maybe if we reallllyyyy ask my dad,” Luna sat up. “Ohhh we could say we have to work on that project for Mrs. Willson’s class,”
“The one due on Friday?” Charlotte questioned.
“Shhhh,” Luna put her finger to her lips.
“Luna! Charlotte!” Luna’s dad called. “Come inside!”
“Coming dad,” Luna called back.
“Coming Mr. Alexander,” Charlotte called back as well.
“Come on,” Luna stood up and offered her hand to Charlotte.
“Okay,” Charlotte reached her hand up to take Luna’s.
The two rushed back to Luna’s house, mankind sure to wipe their shoes off by the back door.
“Hey Dad-,” Luna opened the door but paused.
Charlotte looked around Luna to see what she was looking at.
“Oh hi Luna,” Charlotte’s mom stood in the entranceway.
“Oh hi Mrs. Nicole,” Luna stepped in. “You here to pick up Char?”
“Yup, Sorry I’m so late sweetie,” Charlotte’s mom looked pass Luna at Charlotte.
“It’s ok mom,” Charlotte hummed.
“Great, let’s get going then. Make sure you say thanks to Mr. Wright,”
“Well actually,” Luna tried to speak up.
“Right,” Charlotte stepped out behind Luna to her mother’s side. “Thanks for having me over Mr. Wright,” Charlotte turned to Mr. Alexander.
“Of course, see you next Thursday,” Mr. Alexander nodded.
Charlotte took her mom’ hand. “See you tomorrow Luna,” Charlotte noticed how Luna seemed a tad hurt but she hoped Luna could forgive her.
“Oh before I forget, you have any leftovers you can share? Sorry I keep asking,” Charlotte’s mom apologized.
“Oh ya, let me go get you some,” Mr. Alexander headed into the kitchen with Charlotte’s mom.
Once the two were out of earshot Luna stepped forwards Charlotte. “I thought we going to ask for a sleepover?”
“I know. I’m sorry,” Charlotte looked at her feet.
“Alright, come on Charlotte,” Charlotte heard her mom call.
“Ok mom,” Charlotte called back. “Maybe next week,” Charlotte whispered back to Luna before meeting up with her mom in the foyer.
“Sorry to keep troubling you Mr. Wright,” Charlotte’s mom held a Tupperware with some kind of dish in it.
“It’s no problem,” Mr. Alexander repeated. “Don’t let me hold you up. I’m guessing Charlotte would want to get back before it rain,”
“Ahh right, let’s go,” Charlotte’s mom opened the front door and let Charlotte leave first.
Charlotte looked at the car parked on the side of the street opposite from Luna’s house. She really didn’t want to get in there. The door shut behind them as Charlotte’s mom stepped out.
“Here sweetie,” Charlotte’s mom handed her the Tupperware. “You know how to reheat it right?”
“Yeah,” Charlotte looked at the tubewear she now held. “30 seconds in the microwave for small dishes and 45 for larger ones,” It wasn’t going to be as good as when Luna’s dad made it fresh but leftovers from Luna’s was one of the highlights of the week.
“Oh and don’t forget to wash your dish and pans from this morning,”
“Yes mom,” Charlotte pulled open the car door to the passenger side.
“So proud of you honey, Mama’s little helper,” Charlotte’s mom joined her in the car.
“Right,” Charlotte tried to shirk away.
The car started and they started to drive away. Charlotte looked out the window as they passed the community’s gate. Little drops getting on the passenger window before soon pelting the window one after another. The silence in the car was so loud. No music played so all there was the sounds of the car and the now hailing rain.
“Hey mom,” Charlotte broke the silence.
“Yes hun?”
“You know when dad’s coming home?”
Dangerous to ask but maybe with the good mod she was in- “Who knows? Maybe he’s dead,”
.
.
.
“Well shit,” Charlotte whipped her nose with the back of her hand and felt the liquid above her lip. “Luna’s going to kill me,” Charlotte walked down the sidewalk. The only light being the street lights every couple of feet. “Well, either that or go back home,” Charlotte thought out loud. “Luna’s it is,”
Charlotte had the way memorized. From the gate up front’s code to what houses had flood lights and how to avoid them. A few trips through some backyards and Charlotte had made it to Luna’s yard.
And only 10 minutes. A new record.
The trick with the lights in Luna’s yard is they only lit up when something crossed the front of the yard. Not if someone snuck on the side.
Knock knock.
Charlotte quietly knocked on Luna’s bedroom window with two knuckles. (Trying not to leave anything on the window.)
Took a few seconds but the blinds were pulled up and Luna opened the window. “Char?”
“Hey there Luna,” Charlotte mustard a smile despite the pain on the right side of her face.
Luna picked up her glasses from beside her. “Jesus what happened!?” Luna panicked in a hushed whisper.
“May have gotten into another fight,” Charlotte half mumbled. “But I swear it wasn’t my fault this time,”
Luna closed her eyes and sighed. “Alright, come on,” She stepped back from the window and let Charlotte climb in. “But be quiet, my parents are watching TV,”
“I know I know,” Charlotte whispered as she got her feet to Luna’s floor. “Do they still hate me?” Charlotte carefully closed the window behind her
“Maybe not hate but I don’t think they’re happy about all the fights you get into,” Luna pulled a small first aid kit from under her bed.
“Yeah- Sorry about that…,” Charlotte took a seat on Luna’s bedroom bench.
“You want to talk about it?” Luna pulled out a damp rag.
“Not really…,” Charlotte looked away a bit.
“Alright then,” Luna picked up Charlotte’s chin. “But you promise it wasn’t your fault?”
“Yeah,” Luna dapped the damp cloth under Charlotte’s nose, cleaning up whatever dried blood was there.
“I trust you then,” Luna pulled a bandaid from the first aid kit.
“Thanks, Luna,” Charlotte let Luna brush back her bangs to get more access to her bleeding cheek.
“Just leave it up to future doctor Luna,” Luna beamed.
Pretty.
Charlotte knew her face was probably heating up. “Sure. My life is in your hands, Doctor Wright,”
“Y- yeah, just roll off the tongue huh?” Luna stumbled a bit with her words.
“Hmh,” Charlotte smiled thinking about it.
Luna had a future. Ever since they were kids Luna wanted to be a doctor. Announcing to anyone who would listen about her ambition. It was something Charlotte loved about her best friend.
“See, all my fights are just practice for you,” Charlotte joked.
“Charrrr~,” Luna playfully groaned.
Charlotte on the other hand had no idea where she was going. She felt aimless. Like she needed something to give her life a greater purpose. To make a wave in her life together and make sense of what felt like the water she was floating in.
“Charlotte?” Luna called her voice a bit louder.
“Oh, yeah Luna?” Charlotte snapped out of her trance.
“Seriously though, please don’t get in any more fights,” Luna's voice sounded almost like a plea. “I know you’re capable but it still makes me worry,”
Luna was probably the one who cared for her- “Alright,” Charlotte agreed with no real resolution to do so.
-And she was stressing her out.
“Thanks Char,” Luna hummed. “Now-,”
Charlotte sat up from her chair and pulled Luna into a hug before she could finish. “Sorry Luna,”
Luna rested her arms around Charlotte’s back. “It’s alright Char. No need to worry about it. It wasn’t much trouble,”
Charlotte hid her face in the crook of Luna’s neck.
That’s not what I meant.
.
.
.
Well, to be fair she wasn’t getting into fights anymore. Well at least those in close quarters.
No one would even see her in the fights she got into now. Her skills in doing so even got her up the ranks and now an elite Marine.
“So they really want us to believe that they brought marines to this Tech expo for extra security?” A scientist asked.
“Ehh, sounds like bullshit to me too,” Stan hummed, taking out the cigarette hanging on his lips. “Not to mention the last minute invite we got,”
Charlotte did have to admit it was rather sudden. Not to mention it was the whole team as well. “I’m guessing this isn’t normal then,” Charlotte commented.
“Nah, normally have a park ranger or two out here,” The scientist shrugged.
“Best not to question it Charlotte,” Stan glanced down at her. One of those “For your own sake” looks. “Right Doctor?”
“You have no idea,” A drone or two flew over them. “Baha, Seems like we got some of America’s top minds here. What kind of Expo event is this?” The doctor playfully clicked his tongue.
“Don’t get distracted Dr. Brody,” Another man in a lab coat chimed in. “This whole expo is mainly about this shallow. Terrorism via unknown weapons- or maybe an attack from a foreign power,” The man reminded her of someone.
“Dr. Xeno please!” A much older scientist shouted. “That is still classified information,”
“Oh please give it a rest,” Xeno groaned. “After the meeting with the experts tomorrow, there are bound to be leaks,” Xeno picked up the stone statue. “Using glass wool soaked in nitric acid as a terminal I measured the voltage with a potentiometer and-,” Xeno raised the bird to his temple.
“Cool story man,” Stan cut him off. “But skip to the point will ya?”
Oh right. Xeno kind of reminded Charlotte of her captain.
“Of course. No need to drag this out,” Xeno grinned.
Xeno took out a slip of paper from his coat pocket and set it at the table for the rest to see.
“Vitals Dr. Xeno?” Someone questioned.
Charlotte started to tune the doctor out a bit. She was more focused on the surroundings. Called out to a national park for some Expo when normally a park ranger could deal with it.
“Pst,”
Charlotte stood up straighter from the sudden noise from behind her. She looked behind her and was agreed by a pink flaring-out bob.
“Hey Char,” Luna whispered.
“Luna?” Charlotte blinked to make sure she wasn’t imagining the girl in front of her.
Charlotte would be happy to see her under any other circumstances since it had been a while.
“Heyyyy, I didn’t know you’d be here,” She hummed, still whispering.
“Uh yeah- it was a last minute invite…? What are you doing here??” Sure nothing suspect had happened yet, but something just felt wrong.
“Oh well one of dad’s inventions actually made it into the expo,” Luna answered.
“Still-,” Charlotte started.
A sudden gasp broke her conversation.
Like the world had forgotten any other color other than green, it started to flood over the crowd. People stood for a second before chaos erupted as people started to try to run away. Charlotte was getting ready to be one of them when she noticed a certain pink bob not behind her.
“What is that?” Luna was frozen in place looking at the flooding green light.
“Luna!” Charlotte tried to reach her.
“DON’T LET YOUR MIND FADE!”
And just like that. The world had gone from different hues of green to nothing but black. She could no longer feel the clothes on her back of her hair on her face.
Stan told us not to let our minds fade. I bet it has something to do with what happened to that bird.
It was eerily quiet. Not even the sounds of birds flying overhead reached her. If her guess was right- Right now she was a stone statue along with everyone who was at that Expo.
Shouldn’t be a problem. Staying awake for days was just part of my training.
But Luna-
No Charlotte. She’ll be fine. She heard Stan’s warning the same as I did. I know she’ll be fine.
But it started to eat at her that she didn’t know for sure. All those times Luna had taken care of her and Charlotte couldn’t even reach her when push came to shove.
Shit.
.
.
.
Crkkkk crak.
Finally, she could feel some breeze against her skin.
More and more stone shards fell and she could see again.
Definitely not the Expo anymore.
She looked down and noticed the cloth draped around her. Seems she wasn’t the first to wake up.
“Oh hey- you’re awake,” Charlotte heard a loud voice behind her. “Worried you may have slept,”
Charlotte turned, fist up, in case it was someone unfriendly.
“Woah woah,” It was the scientist Stan had been talking to at the Expo. “It’s alright. Your squad is just that way,” He pointed behind himself.
Charlotte relaxed. “Thank you,” Was definitely not the welcome she was expecting. “You were one of the scientists at the expo right?”
“Yeah, one of Xeno’s buddies,” Dr. Brody explained.
“Makes sense, thank you,” Charlotte brushed the rest of the stone off her.
“OHH Char you’re awake!!” That voice she knew. “Oh you had me worried there,” Maya came up and squeezed her into a hug.
“Ah- yes, I’m fine Maya,” Charlotte struggled to breathe in the crushing hug. “Please let me down,” She begged the former MMA fighter.
“Oh yeah, You must want to see the others,” Maya let her down. “Funnily enough some of the civilians also woke up,”
“The civilians,” She thought out loud.
Though it may have sounded like a question. “Yeah, a few of them at were at the expo-,”
“Excuse me,” Charlotte ran past the two.
It seemed the clearing in the woods from the Expo had stayed mostly in place. Well, that and the construction going on.
“The hell,” Charlotte mumbled to herself.
By her outfit, she had judged it had gone back to the stone age but the progress made- far reached that.
She looked around for her best friend. For the pink of her hair to stand out against the rest of the brown and gray.
Finally, she noticed Luna. She was okay. She was hauling some kind of lumber.
“Lu-,”
“Charlotte?”
Stan!
“Yes commander,” Charlotte stood up straight when she noticed the grayish blue of Stan’s hair.
“Good, so you woke up,” Stan almost seemed dismissive.
“Yes, I’m sorry for my absence,” Charlotte replied. “May I ask what is going on?”
“We’re making a new society,” Stan replied, like what he proposed wasn't conspiracy against the US.
“What-?”
“We’re making a just society,” Stan repeated. “Any objections lieutenant?” Stan’s glare turned sharp.
The options were clear. A society that cast her as a delinquent or betray the very thing that gave her life a purpose.
“No sir,”
Imagine her panic when she learned Luna was planning to go angist that.