Twilight's Terminus - Season 1, "Uniform Sky"

It’s silly… but Saranyu finds herself hoping to hear from Kukali soon after breaking into her apartment. Sure, the train – and thus the beginning of the mission – isn’t for around a month or so after that day… but it takes a week for Saranyu to realize that she’d been expecting Kukali to slide into the spot that Yilmaz left vacant with his vanishing. She doesn’t, and expecting that isn’t… that wasn’t fair to Kukali. The legendary ice princex is a whole different person, after all, she’s not ‘Yilmaz lite’.

So waiting for Kukali to reach out isn’t really doing anything. That realization leaves Saranyu itching for something to do.

The LAGOON itself seems to be in something of an almost.. strange holding pattern. Things go as normal, sure. Riptide Agents go out on missions, classes go on as usual, and whispers haunt the hallways for rumors and tales. But there’s a new undercurrent that has never been here before, and Saranyu can’t stop noticing it. It’s like everyone – every single faction, from the instructors, to the fanclubs, to the various cliques and clubs that aren’t supposed to exist but do anyway because the LAGOON is much a mercenary outfit as it is a school, still – is holding their breath.

Terrified to breathe in case the slightest disturbance sets off something disastrous.

Even Saranyu catches herself feeling it, and it makes everything so much… well, worse. Her usual job is simple anyway, because complicated tasks get all mixed up in her head and stress her out. But she can sniff out a good rumor and keep her mouth shut and let folks assume what they will based on how she looks. So she does that, but it still doesn’t feel like she’s doing something. It’s passive in a way that Rehema’s research and secret excursions and Chaisee’s calling in favors and getting them supplies for the mission that fit in those special bags that are way bigger on the inside… aren’t.  In a way that Saranyu is sure Kukali isn’t being either.

From the outside it seems like the infamous ice princex is the same as she always is – but Saranyu is skilled at sifting through rumors. And now, now she’s had time to ask Rehema for what Yilmaz told her specifically about Kukali, from back when he’d assumed he was going to make Riptide alongside Kukali and that there were going to be times where she was going to be all alone because the Duce is a cruel bastard that doesn’t know how to make proper teams. And as the rumor mill churns, Saranyu picks up information on how Kukali is handling mostly by listening to how others pick their words about and around her. Namely – how Kukali handles others trying to interact with her less and less well. More frigid and cold. Aggressive. Her nickname is more and more proven right as time ticks by.

It’s a frostbitten sign screaming leave me alone, and the more folks ignore it – which is most of them – the more aggressive Kukali gets. That’s what keeps Saranyu from reaching out. She doesn’t want to be yet another one of those folks ignoring what seems like a pretty clear sign. And… well, Saranyu doesn’t know Kukali well, aside from everything Yilmaz has ever said, and now she finds herself wishing that she’d thought to try to include Kukali in things long before all of this happened. How lonely must-

“You two do realize that there’s a pretty good chance that she’s planning to sell us out to the Duce or something, right?” Chaisee asks, slurping her noodles like punctuation. She arches one pierced pink eyebrow, glancing between Saranyu’s nonstop pacing and the way Rehema’s been staring into her noodles for the last ten minutes with an expression that Chaisee just can’t parse. It’s… frustrating, in a word, but it’s the kind of frustration that’s probably obvious so there’s no real reason to bring it up and annoy everyone with it now. “Also both of y’alls lunch is getting cold.” she points with her fork at their respective bowls, eying the other two pointedly.

That, at least – unlike the other things she’s said since they picked up their lunch together – spurs both of them to blink at her. Saranyu picks up her bowl, cradling it in her large hand, while Rehema plucks at her noodles and disturbs the sheen of the broth.

Chaisee stares at them both until Saranyu’s ducked her head and taken one of those weirdly silent bites she does, and until Rehema actually takes a bite as well. Only then does Chaisee start talking again. “We barely know her, and okay, I know we all trust Yilmaz with our lives-” she won’t use past tense for him, she won’t, even if that’s the ruling theory at the moment. “and that he trusted her, but the Duce hasn’t done shit to her, even though we know she was there when McCrae tried to kill Yil. Discord said she tried to get all the vids, but couldn’t be sure. We can’t know that the Duce has no idea.” and trusting blindly is asking for trouble, but Chaisee’s pretty sure she doesn’t have to explain that bit. “I don’t think we know all of the angles.” she draws a box in the air with her fork, then takes another bite of her lunch.

“Doubtful.” Rehema shakes her head, though she does take another bite of her own noodles and fidgets with one of the thick braids hanging down from her long hair. “Old friends.” she adds. “Month over, still here.”

Saranyu stops mid-pace, nearly upsets her balance, and pivots on one heel in order to turn back and look at the other two – complete with a dramatic point at Chaisee. She holds the point until both Chaisee and Rehema are looking at her; though the former is doing so with noodles half in her mouth, having paused entirely in response to being pointed at like that. “That’s right! They are old friends! And… there’s been no movement from the Duce towards us.” she shakes her head, dropping her hand and setting down her food. “But… I understand why you’re uneasy. We’re really cut adrift without Yilmaz – the LAGOON as a whole really ignores us without him here, and that makes it really hard to tell what dangers are really in the shadows and what dangerous were always in the shadows but aren’t aimed at us.”

“I don’t like it.” Chaisee admits, putting her food down. “All of this uneasiness. Feeling so exposed and vulnerable. I feel like I can’t trust anyone but the two of you. The worst case I can think of is Kukali betraying us.”

“Mind control.” Rehema says, though the curve of her lips gives away the tease even if her flat tone doesn’t.

“That magic doesn’t exist anymore, and there’s no real way to prepare for it, so I think we’re good on that front.” Chaisee huffs, though she does laugh before she looks to Saranyu.

“What if the thing with McCrae was the tip of an iceburg and we’re all standing on an edge that we don’t even fully know we’re on? The whole LAGOON is holding its breath, which means a lot of folks are noticing something but there’s no way it’s all about Yil or even all about Kukali and it’s statistically unlikely that even most of them are noticing the same thing – there’s beyond thousands of people here! Which means there’s probably a lot of little things that everyone is too scared to talk about in ways I can hear about it, even though I’ve been the rumormonger for years now, and that kind of thing is turning the whole LAGOON into a powder-keg and not a single one of us knows how deep the fuel for the explosions runs or when it’ll go off or if we’ll even have a place to live when it does.” Saranyu says, all at once, in one breath. As soon as she says it, she claps her hands over her mouth and whines before adding – “I’ve been trying not to say something myself because I know how worked up uneasiness and uncertainty like this makes you, Chaisee, and I didn’t wanna make it worse but it always makes it worse if we don’t share our worst possible outcomes when you need ’em like this and I-” Saranyu falters, hunching her shoulders.

Chaisee chokes on air. “Well fuck. That’s uh… Guess I’m not sleeping tonight.”

“Sorry…” Saranyu says, staring at her hands as she laces and unlaces them.

“No, no – you’re right. When I want to hear worst possibles like this, it helps.” Chaisee says, even though the words are sinking in now and she shudders. “Fuck… uh… Rehema, help?”

“Something fun.” Rehema says. “Then extra measures.” a beat, and she pulls on that braid she’s been stroking twice. “Just in case. Train tomorrow; not much time.”

That settles that – at least for the moment. Chaisee and Saranyu quickly find out that Rehema isn’t joking about the first step being something fun, the most stoic of the trio stares them both down until they find something to take both of their minds off of the fears gnawing at them if only for a little while.

After that is additional packing in a hurry – until Rehema declares it bedtime, and hounds the other two to bed as well before they can work themselves back up. If she, herself, packs a few extra things once they’ve both gone to bed… well – no one needs to know.

—

Kukali exhales, slow and measured. Dark grey eyes sweep the train car one more time and she considers what she’ll do if the most likely course of action occurs. That being – that Saranyu, Chaisee, and Rehema ultimately decide not to trust her and don’t show up after all. She has no real reason to believe that they’ll arrive, not after years of how cold she’s acted towards them, and not after how she’s ignored them this past month. Ignored… isn’t quite the right word, and Kukali chews on the inside of her cheek as she keeps an ear out on the earbud in one ear and also goes over – one more time – her plans of action.

This is her first official Riptide mission, and there’s something… angry in that. How many years did she and Yilmaz egg one another on in order to become better and better at what they did only for it to end up like this? Kukali imagined this moment being rife with excitement, not mentally checking her magic stores and going over the arrangements she made with the workers on this train.

…Yilmaz is supposed to be here too. They’d planned this all out once – down to the celebration afterwards.

She shakes her head harshly, breathes, sets her jaw. Focus on the mission – not on what else is at stake. Not yet. Besides, there’s a much larger hurdle than that staring her in the face and… yeah no, Kukali isn’t ready to look at that one either. Going over the details one more time it is then!

The train car is more fancy than she expected it to be. On the books, the one she purchased is standing empty two cars down, and it – as well as this one and the cars around both of them – have all been swept of bugs as far as Kukali can tell. Anyone listening in – if any bugs were missed – will think that she’s alone in the train car she paid for and will hear nothing but the sound of papers being gone through and the occasional noise of consideration from herself. In this, the fact that this train company works with the LAGOON a lot is a boon – all of the cars that are potentially in danger are standing empty, the workers have been informed of what’s going on, and the illusions make it seem like all is well from the outside.

It does carry a small assortment of meanings for Kukali herself – the workers won’t be dropping by to check on her, given how remarkably unsafe it is. What she hadn’t realized is that that apparently means that the train company simply stocks the room in question with a mini-fridge of its own, like the sheer idea of one of their customers going unfed or thirsty is some kind of personal offense. It also means the seats are incredibly soft, and that the rumble of the train on the tracks is muffled by what’s most likely magic if Kukali had to put any kind of guess at the matter. She feels… spoiled. The train car is better than most rooms she’s ever had, growing up.

The conductor and the trio of workers she’d spoken to had all taken great pains to reassure her that they knew how to replace everything in this particular room easy as pie, and that’s also good, considering… well. If she’s lucky – then all of this is a matter of Kukali still being paranoid so many years later and going overboard. If she’s not lucky, then… jokes on the universe, Kukali makes her own luck and she’ll be lucky to have all of this thought of and ready to go. That’s really all there is to it on that note, after all.

Footsteps, outside of the car. Her attention snaps to the noise and she ignores the way her tail shakes back and forth with the intensity of her focus. The door slides open – a soft noise as the latch comes undone, and then silence after that. Three shapes, and then shouting.

“Kukali!” Saranyu shouts, bounding into the room with all of the excitement and stealth of a big dog. Her eyes are wide, and she looks unharmed – and unworried, though she does bound almost directly up to Kukali before skidding to a stop like she remembered only in the last few seconds that she doesn’t know Kukali’s stance on getting attack-hugged. “It’s been so long how are you doing?? I couldn’t tell if you would be okay with being checked up on at all and I so wanted to break into your apartment and check on you again but you made me promise that I wouldn’t and I didn’t want to break the promise unless it was absolutely an emergency but I was so worried because you’ve been all alon-“

“Breathe.” Rehema says as she ducks into the train car, pale green gaze sweeping the room and eyebrows inching up as she takes in the details of it. “Bugs?”

“This car is two up from the one I paid for under my name. No bugs here or in the surrounding ones that I could find, other than my own. I cleared the concerns of an attack with the workers as well.” Kukali says. She watches the way Saranyu drifts over to another part of the couch against the wall and sits down, oozing into the space with a drawn out exhale. Rehema leans against the wall near the doorway, though that seems half because she wants to keep an eye on Chaisee – who is still lingering just outside of the train car like she’s having second thoughts or something.

Rehema nods and relaxes.

Saranyu fidgets, and then blurts – “So, so how are you?”

Kukali blinks. “I…” she falters, frowns, rubs at the strap of her eyepatch. “You’re… confusing.” she says after several long minutes. “I mean, I won’t lie and say that I haven’t been considering checking in on the three of you because you’re important to Yilmaz, but you hardly know me. Why are you so invested…?” all these years and the three of them haven’t really gotten involved with Kukali before. They’re Yilmaz’s friends, not hers.

“Same thing.” Rehema shrugs. “Important to Yilmaz.”

Chaisee finally takes a deep breath and slinks into the train car – letting the door slide shut behind her as she does so. She eyes Kukali for a long minute, frowning, then announces – “I’m having a lot of trouble trying to trust you.” It’s the first thing Chaisee has said since the trio arrived, and even now as she finds a spot to sit – she finds a spot that’s the furthest away from Kukali that she can possibly get.

Curly brown hair falls in her face as Kukali considers her words and how to respond, “That’s fine.” she says, first. “I don’t expect you to trust me.” is that the right thing to say? Kukali isn’t entirely sure. Move on to further words that might help? Yeah, that seems like the right course. “If it helps, I investigated the doctor you told me about before I let them at the bullet wound at all.” she shrugs, then pulls out the folder to look at it again. “I’m sure this mission is a setup.” small talk really isn’t one of Kukali’s skills, so she shifts into mission talk without much of a second thought. “I’ve been cross referencing the information within since I received it. I still can’t make sense of some of it.” that… that rubs her fur all against the grin; makes her angrier than it probably should. Kukali hasn’t  been able to come up with a single reason for her briefing folder to have information that’s in some kind of code she was never instructed on in it. Even taking into account that the mission was reassigned from a different Riptide Agent – she looked into their qualifications and saw nothing that stood out at all.

Rehema starts, then groans. “Right. Forgot. Incoming.” she pushes off the wall at last and walks over, holding one hand out for the folder and taking it so she can flip it open and look through it. She stays standing while she does so, leonine tail swaying back and forth while Rehema scans the pages with paragraphs written in code. Silence takes over the train car, leaving nothing but the steady rumble of the wheels on the tracks as it moves. Kukali’s own breathing is nearly silent – as is Rehema’s, a quirk of their shared species. Chaisee fidgets with the knobs on the club on the end of her tail, scowling at it. She continues to sneak glances at Kukali, clearly still not trusting her. Saranyu picks at part of the plush couch, chewing on her bottom lip.

No one speaks, not while Rehema is reading the folder.

It means the other three all jump when Rehema throws the folder onto an empty part of the couch with an angry snarl. “Trap.”

“Pretty bad one, if I had to wager a guess.” Saranyu says, eying the folder like it might turn into a creature and come after her if she’s not careful. “Well… you did say that you were pretty sure this message was a setup…?”

Kukali heaves a soft sigh. “I did. How bad is it on a scale of one to ten?” she glances over at the folder again, then up at Rehema. It’s an active decision, trusting Rehema’s input like this – and even if she partially wants to go over the folder again and immediately demand Rehema translate it so she can make her own decisions, the only way something like this is going to work is if Kukali tries.

“Eighteen.”

Chaisee squeaks and goes pale. “…Tell me you’re joking.”

Rehema shakes her head.

Slow, steady breathing is the first order of business for Kukali. “I’ll have you three shipped back to safety as soon as possible then.” she says, first. Her tail lashes against the plush of the couch, and the socket under her eye-patch itches. The Duce wants her dead or worse judging by the way Rehema’s lip has curled, and Kukali decides it really doesn’t matter which of the two it is. “This train has to make another stop in a few hours, so just deal with me until then. After that, I’ll make sure you get on a train back to the LAGOON.”

“What if that’s not any safer?” Saranyu asks. “We came all this way, and what if sending us back isn’t any safer? What if it’s less safe?”

She flinches, and Kukali bares her teeth at nothing. There’s not an easy response for that, as much as she wants there to be. “I don’t want to put you three in an eighteen level of danger.”

“Not your decision.” Rehema says, shrugs. When Kukali opens her mouth to argue, Rehema steps forward to tower over her. “I refuse. We let Yilmaz handle the whole McCrae situation alone and look what fucking happened! I’m not going anywhere, kitty cat, and you’re going to let the other two decide for themselves.”

Kukali shuts her mouth. Blinks.

Chaisee chokes and laughs. “Well shit. Guess I’m not going anywhere.” she says as Rehema steps back and plops down on the couch beside Kukali like some sort of non-verbal challenge. “Especially not if Rehema decided it was worth that many words. Besides, who put you in charge?”

“We can pose as civilian aid in the target area.” Saranyu says, bouncing up and coming over to sit on the other side of Kukali, squishing her between them. “There’s always a budget for that, so we can use that to start putting away money as soon as we arrive. That way, when and if they cut your card, we have a safety net!”

…Well, sounds like the decision has been made. Kukali puts her hands up in a placating motion, far too aware of how close Rehema and Saranyu are now. “Good idea. That said, for the sake of noting it down, I’m still not happy about putting the three of you in this much danger, but I won’t refuse your decision. I’ll probably… need the help.” she frowns at the folder. “So. Lets use this time to work out how to minimize what internal dangers we’ll face. Rehema, can you brief me on anything in that folder that you understood? I assume there’s some in there that has contingencies on if I know, so don’t tell me everything.” a beat, and Kukali shakes her head. “No, before that – I don’t know you three as well as Yilmaz does. Tell me what you’re good at. Please. That should be priority number one. We need to know each other’s strengths and what we’re all working with so we know how to back one another up.”

“No wonder you made Riptide.” Chaisee says, half hoping it’ll draw attention away from the way she bristles at how brisk Kukali’s tone is. “That getting down to business… fuck, this whole thing must be shitty.” she scowls, rubs harder at some of the knobs on the club of her tail. It’s shitty for them, it’s shitty for Kukali. Maybe- wait… “Hey, Rehema, you hear that? Two cars down, wasn’t it?” Chaisee looks to Kukali for an answer. As soon as the other woman nods, she’s standing up. “Sara, get the gas-masks, we’ve-“

“Don’t.” Kukali cuts her off, standing up. “Away from the door, they’re far away enough for something else. Save the gas-masks for later, just in case.” she cups one ear with one hand, feline tail swaying back and forth. “Chaisee, go to your friends.” Kukali repeats, jerking her head back and away from the door as she strides up to the door and places one hand against it. No time to get to know the trio, no time to adapt any of her plans to them. She can hear the way the incoming enemies are already frustrated with the fact that she’s not where the train logs said she’d be, and there’s really only one thing for it.

Behind her, as she focuses her magic, she can hear the three of them start shivering as the temperature drops in the train car. Frost starts collecting on each little exhale she makes, and there’s a surge of perhaps irrational pride at the soft oh that Rehema lets out when Kukali releases her magic. “It’s only going to buy us some time, and perhaps not even a lot of it.” Kukali says, nodding at the two-foot thick wall of ice that she’s put between the four of them and the door to the train car as she pulls her hand back and the space closes up around where it was. The shocked faces are more than a little bit entertaining, and Kukali flashes the three of them a quick grin. “What, did you think ice princex was only a joke based on my personality?” her little chuckle is a short thing, two notes at max, and then she’s moving. “Come on. Be quiet. You’ve got your stuff with you, right?” relief, when all three of them nod. Good, she’d hoped they had the sense to use bags that would let them do just that.

—

Silence dominates the group as Kukali starts moving, and the other three follow – Chaisee takes note of the way the folding down beds fold strangely to enable access to a completely different car. There’s a tingle of magic as they pass through it, though the spell’s signatures are far beyond anything she can recognize. A tap and glance at Rehema gets a shake of her head in response, which leaves Chaisee feeling uneasy. How did Kukali have this exact kind of plan set up?

Kukali’s the one leading the way through the cramped passageway, with Rehema directly behind her. Chaisee’s behind her, and then Saranyu’s bringing up the rear of it all. No chance to turn around, no matter how uneasy it makes her. By the time she can see the end of the cramped passageway, there’s swearing and the sound of gunfire and chipping ice back behind them- so it certainly looks like Kukali’s timing is …way too on point.

And then they’re through the cramped passage and in a different train car.

Kukali puts one frost covered finger up to her lips as soon as Saranyu makes it through the passage. She places her hand beside the opening to the passage, and ice shimmers as it starts to grow.

Chaisee watches as the ice grows – takes note of the spikes that point back the way they came, carefully concealed among other ice. If those that are after them aren’t careful, this kind of trap is more than capable of killing one or multiple of them- though it’s certainly not the kind of trap that’s ever been taught in the LAGOON…

…What if this isn’t really Kukali at all? But that’s not a question she can ask in front of the potential fake, now is it? In part because it’s not safe to, and also because Kukali keeps putting her finger up against her mouth when she glances at the three of them and whisks past them to stride down the train car and go through it into another. And another. And another.

The freezing traps once all of them are through continues for a while, at the end of each of the cars. And sure, there’s no real way to mask which way they went – this is a lot of rather deadly traps isn’t it? Chaisee finds herself wondering about it… this is Kukali’s first Riptide mission, but these actions – secure location, freeze space through which persurers will come with thick ice, continue onward, are so routine that Chaisee swears that Kukali – if this is, in fact, really Kukali – has either had a plan like this in place for a long time, or just is this practiced with them. Either way it goes, it really doesn’t leave any space for the three of them to help at all. It mostly leaves them trailing around behind Kukali, uncertain and afraid and waiting for any kind of cue about what to do or when to so much as breathe.

The longer it goes on, the more uneasy Chaisee gets. How did the enemy know where to look? Weren’t there multiple trains? Did they go after many trains or just happen to luck out somehow? Or did Kukali clue them in somehow, because the attack happened after Rehema had a chance to read through the file and give a rating on the contents within, and not before. Or-

“We should be fine now.” Kukali says, exhaling slowly. A cloud of frozen air collects in front of her mouth as she does so.

Chaisee looks around now, frowning and wary. They’re in a train car, that much is clear – but it’s… strange. Not like the one from before. The one from before seemed practically luxury compared to this one, which may well be just fair. There’s a couch and some beds – multiple beds, and a few chairs. It looks like the kind of train car one expects to stay in for potentially a while if that’s what things come to. Chaisee immediately doesn’t like it.

“I don’t know how much sleep you three got before you got on the train, but catching a nap now might not be a bad idea.” Kukali says, gesturing at the beds. “They have straps – you may want to strap yourselves in. I bought us time, but-“

“We could have helped!” Chaisee snaps, unable to hold it all in anymore. Her tail thuds against the ground, clubbed end of it making the metal creak with the force. “There was no damn reason for you to just take over like that and keep shushing us, how did you even know that they were coming?! How did you even know that the ice would only slow them down?! How do we know that you’re the real Kukali, that this is safe, that this isn’t some elaborate ploy to secure your safety by turning in the rest of us because we’re Yilmaz’s friends!”  She steps forward as she shouts, aware of the fact that she doesn’t even come up to Kukali’s collarbone and even madder because of it. “Why are you two so fine with going along with all of this?” that last is directed at Saranyu and Rehema, but Chaisee can’t afford for her attention to stay on them – not when Kukali rumbles like an angry cat.

“Tell me again when we had time to tell each other what our skills are?” Kukali shoots back, tone starting out arctic and rapidly climbing into a yell. “We had only just started to communicate when things went sideways-“

“Yeah and that timing was real convenient wasn’t it?” Chaisee tries to take another step forward and finds that she can’t, practically touching Kukali now as it is.

“I could say the same.” those words are frozen over and clipped. “But that would be uncharitable, and in bad faith.” her tail lashes back and forth.

Saranyu swallows, opens her mouth to speak, shuts it when Rehema shakes her head.

“Communication.” Rehema says, gesturing at Kukali and Chaisee. “Even if loud, still good.”

“-You didn’t even try to include us in your escape plan!” Chaisee’s shouting, fists balled.

“I don’t know how!” Kukali snaps, and those words send Chaisee rocking back on her heels. “I don’t work in teams! The only pair I ever work in is with Yilmaz! I don’t know how to adapt to strangers! I stay away from teams on purpose! I am out of my depth and all I could think was to rely on what I knew! I thought we had more time!”

Chaisee glances back at the last of the ice walls, then over at Kukali. “…The LAGOON doesn’t teach ice traps like those.”

“They don’t.” Kukali’s gaze flicks over to them. Her rounded ears flick back into curly hair, and she deflates- stepping back and away from Chaisee. “I taught myself, before the LAGOON took me and Yil in. I… I don’t- is this where I apologize? I don’t… I didn’t mean to exclude you three, especially if you’re going to be helping. I just… didn’t know what else to do.