Uther and Tiera

> Fest

December 22, 792 A.R.
02:30
—

“On December 31st, there will be a total solar eclipse.”

Oh, that’s exciting. For you, at least.

You glance at your partner as your guardian continues to detail the older systems that will be active pre- and during the eclipse, noting the troubled crease of his brow. For the duration of the eclipse, 99% of your tech and infrastructure in the surrounding area will be rendered useless, it seems- that’s just how it works, unfortunately.

He’s likely worried about maintenance afterwards. Or perhaps having to go without- you don’t have his brain; you’re not sure how much his prosthetics rely on the network, but it seems like a significant amount.

...The ‘T’ in Tiera stands for technician, after all.

“It’ll be fine, Ti.” You smile, fondly; earnestly. “Might even be fun. If we can’t go out during that, it could just be considered a vacation, right?”

Your guardian chuckles. “That it is.”

Turning away, Ti fidgets with the collar on his neck the way he does when he’s anxious. “I guess so, yeah.”

“Yes, please rest up; we’ve been working you two pretty hard lately.” The corners of your guardian’s eyes crinkle fondly as he adds, “anything you need, I’ll see if I can get it.”

Eclipse is lucky. Some other pairs don’t have quite such caring handlers.

.
. .
December 25, 792 A.R.
0:02
—

Tiera cuddles up to you like he’s feeling the cold more than usual. You wouldn’t be surprised if that is indeed the case; he is roughly 9% machine at this point, and tiny on top of that. It’s begun snowing these past few weeks as well.

Tiera is troubled by something. You don’t know what it is, and he doesn’t seem inclined to share. Which is nothing new- he’s kind of a… blank, secretive type. You know him well, and are at least a little more perceptive than he thinks you are, so he probably hasn’t even noticed that you’ve noticed.

Tiera dwells on things too much, but that’s just how he is. You’re bad with words and don’t have the same kind of technical smarts as Ti does, so you just hold him close and try to reassure him as best you can.

...If only Ti would trust you a little more.

Nestling your chin on his head, you tuck him in close and idly play with his long locks as you try to fall asleep. His hair is mostly black, but gradients to a pale silver near the tips. It’s probably..? a side effect of his numerous body alterations- you don’t remember the fading being there when you two were little. Then again, both of you had had much shorter hair when you were small.

But if he doesn’t want to talk about it, you won’t force the issue. Ti will open up when he’s ready, and you-

You will always wait for Tiera.

.
. .

December 25, 792 A.R.
21:09
—

There’s a full week until the eclipse, and no work during the whole thing. Hopefully Ti will actually take the time to relax.

But yeah, no. You should’ve known better, because over the next few days, you catch him fiddling with his collection of parts and tools. There’s maintenance stuff; gears; gear grease; circuits and more- Tiera makes a majority his- and your- own armaments and equipment, but none of it makes a whit of sense to you. You can, however, follow instructions, so you usually try to help out however he directs you.

This time when you ask, he just gives you a wry grin, and shrugs. “No, s’ okay. This… I don’t really know how to explain it.”

He gestures at a pile of bolts and assorted metal bits on the table in front of him. “It’s all old. Like really old.”

You peer at them curiously. There’s at least one ‘hard’ switchblade, deconstructed, in there, maybe two. Like the one he modded into his prosthetic arm during that one civilian recon back in November. “Stuff that isn’t dependent on the network..?”

He goes back to… whatever it is he’s doing, and for a moment the only sounds are the base’s constant light humming and an occasional clink of metal.

A long pause, and then-

“Yeah,” he finally replies, gaze still fixed on his project. “...Just in case.”

December 30, 792 A.R.
23:00
—

Like clockwork, you move at exactly two hours to midnight. The eclipse has already begun- you can feel it; the first contact of shadow is over the horizon is chilling, even in the dark winter night.

Normally, all three occupants of this quarter- Eclipse and their handler- would still be around, doing something or other. None of you are particular about bedtimes, and more often than not the work you do demands late hours anyway.

It is dead silent in the quad as you slip out into total darkness, disabling each backup power source you’ve spent the past two weeks replacing with a little snap. Old and analogue as they are, they’ll be very difficult to fix. Especially right now.

After all, these were installed in preparation for the eclipse, when none of the usual infrastructure will be usable.

You’re lucky you’re so trusted; it makes your little sabotage job easy. Well, easy and hard, because for all that this is what you want, it is also a betrayal. You hope Uther will not wake before you’ve left him long behind.

A dose of a drug often used in your missions, hidden in warm drinks… you’re all resistant to every poison in your inventory, so you used more than a normal dose. But well below a lethal one- as much as you need out, you aren’t ready to pay the price of their lives.

Ha…

All three of you will probably live to regret this night.

.
. .
December 30, 792 A.R.
23:22

The eclipse proper will happen just as the sun comes up on the morning of the 31st. You have a lot of ground to cover before then, and completely blind at that. It will be a long, long night… you are ready, and you aren’t, for what will happen when dawn breaks at last.

This isn’t a spur of the moment decision, it’s something you’ve spent over a year preparing for. Recording data; gathering resources; making contacts… the final piece you needed was an opportunity to act.

And it is perfect, the one presented by this solar eclipse.

(Perfectly ironic, too.)

Having made it out of Eclipse’s quadrant, your next task is to sneak past the two more pairs between you and the boundary of your parent organization’s HQ. This is the hardest part, or rather, the most luck-dependent. You don’t know their schedules, nor what preparations they’ve made for the eclipse. For better or worse, each pair is mostly left to their handler to manage; you are familiar with Sormr next to you, but not the pair beyond them.

((surprise meeting with sormr’s handler, who will pretend he saw nothing. earthes wonders if snow and lyle will one day make the decision that you have and uther hasn’t. make it out and meet exa, then…

where will you go from here?))

tbc

You can still feel that cold morning of November 1st, four years ago.

Eclipse was still together, back then. It was a morning you’d spent peacefully, watching the sunrise shoulder to shoulder against the wintry chill in a rare moment of idleness.

You had glanced at him, hoping your gaze would betray none of your inner thoughts.

“‘S like light clearing out the darkness… the opposite of an eclipse, huh.”

Uther had laughed in reply, leaning his head against yours in that familiar, comforting way.

“If it’s with you, I’m fine being in the dark.”

And then meeting Uther’s adoring gaze as the two of you sat in silence, you came to terms with what you’d already known; Uther would not be with you when the time came to break away.

The shadows are your birthright as Id Myrddin and Id Morgana of Eclipse. You both lived it; you still walk it. The difference is that Uther loves it. He loves feeling useful and doesn’t care about anything outside of Eclipse and you.

Being used; being useful. Uther doesn’t see any difference. He’s pure in ways that you aren’t. In the same vein, he’s also an endless, terrifying abyss.

Uther was fine being kept in the dark. But you were not, and you knew that the dawn would someday have to break.

“If I had asked, would you have turned traitor too?”

“Yes.” His former partner’s answer, even now, is immediate. Uther doesn’t have to think about it at all.

“You know i’d follow you anywhere.”

Tiera looks away from his hurt, trying to say it gently. “That.. is why I could not.”

Of course he didn’t want to go alone. To forge his own path without his other half. But if Uther had simply followed him out of Eden on blind devotion, then nothing would’ve changed at all.

Uther’s not as simple as others tend to assume. even, or maybe especially for someone like Ti, who knows him inside and out.

Perhaps there’s something wrong with him that lets him happily ignore things he knows Ti hides his real feelings about. But he follows orders perfectly, no matter how terrifying the command. He loves the praise and acknowledgement that he earns.

More than anything, Uther is the type who needs to be useful.

But even so…

To betray all he’s ever known, to follow all he’s ever loved into the scorching daytime world was a simple choice he would’ve made in a heartbeat.

If only Tiera had cared enough to ask.

Tiera had always been chasing the sun. But Uther; Uther’s comfortable in the shadows and night- the moon is all he needs.

The moon was all he had.

.
. .
If the sun and moon collide, and the unforgiving earth swallows them both, then- then isn’t that the fated total eclipse?