It was a shuttering gasp that rattled forth from her throat, the feeling of water escaping lungs after a near drowning. She blinked, rapid flutters of her eyelids that seemed to break frost from the tips of her lashes. She sat up slowly, wary hands clasping at the smooth metal walls curving in on her. The room she found herself in was abandoned, if the disheveled layout and dead lights that hung haphazardly were any indication.
She remembered one thing distinctly. Her name was Lapis. Everything else was a blur, a hazy deluge of images that barely passed for memories. She had no idea where she was.
Her senses adjusted, and Lapis heard the whistling of what she could best guess was wind slipping its way through the more than likely empty facility. She looked around, and then down at herself, and at what she was in.
It was some sort of pod, and she fit near snugly inside of it. She then noticed the faint wisps of smoke or steam or something similar wafting at the edges of the pod, from the surface of her dark skin. She then noticed how cold she was. She gave out a shaky breath and a plume of visible air followed.
Lapis carefully extracted herself from the pod and noticed a similar one next to her own. However, this one bore a glass casing, albeit with a large hole smashed into the center of it. The pod was empty. A myriad of computers and screens were stationed just beyond the two pods, and behind her a wealth of more. Not a single light flickered.
The power was out. Only a dusty light pooled through crumbled gaps in the far above ceiling. Lapis looked back to the pod she awoke in. How long had she been in there? Where even was this? Why was she even in there in the first place? Lapis felt an odd buzzing in her head and grimaced.
Her heart jolted at the sound of scuffling beyond the room, down what she assumed was a hall behind the double sliding doors with tinted windows. They were probably automatic at some point. As she tensed, a part of her was glad they no longer could hold that function.
She didn't know whether to take a step back or a step forward. She felt the light layer of grit on the linoleum under her toes, bare feet sensitive as the feeling flooded back through her nerves. She clenched her fingers.
Her body seemed to choose for her as she felt herself walk forward, body tense in anticipation. She heard the tapping of feet getting closer and she could feel her fight or flight response begin to kick in, every nerve ending buzzing to life with an energy that sent a wash of heat down her chest and into her stomach. And then something banged against the door.
Lapis jumped, mind now turning to a baser instinct that told her to run, now. But there was nowhere to run but the door. And she watched in trembling agony as the double doors began to creak open, long pale fingers curling through the sliver of space revealed.
With a groaning shove the doors opened, and Lapis saw another human being.
She was tall and had a soft sharpness to her jaw that was accentuated by the hard clench of it as she strained against the door. Her hair was the starkest color Lapis had seen so far, a soft peach cropped short and swooping that stood out against the slate steels and blues of the facility. When the stranger's gaze glanced up, she seemed to freeze.
They stared at each other for a long moment, before the stranger seemed to snap back into action, a wild look in her eyes as she looked behind her.
"Help me close this door," she said. Lapis was dumbstruck and stood there. The woman was already starting to shove the door back closed. She noticed Lapis not moving. "What are you doing? Help me!"
Lapis snapped into action, running forward and practically slamming herself into the coated steel as she grabbed hold of the opposite door of the stranger. Together they both shoved, the door sliding shut much faster than it had opened. The woman stepped away as it did, motioning for Lapis to do the same.
"Keep quiet. A bright seeker is out there." The woman did not take her eyes off the door.
Lapis furrowed her brow. "Bright seeker?"
The woman finally glanced towards her. This close, Lapis could see how light her eyes were. They were startling in their paleness, a blue that seemed almost unnatural in the low light, almost seeming to glow.
The woman finally looked at their surroundings, and Lapis took notice that she mumbled a curse.
"Not even a window in here."
Lapis looked around again. The woman's observation was accurate.
The woman then seemed to take notice of the pod. She looked back at Lapis, a crease etching itself at the bridge of her sharp nose.
"Did you just wake up? I didn't think there was anyone left in here."
"What?" Was all Lapis could manage. Her confusion wasn't being alleviated in the slightest. "I don't know where I am or what…any of this is. I don't know what's going on." The reality of the situation was suddenly bearing down on her. Her body unconsciously took a step back from the woman. "Who are you?"
The woman looked uncomfortable. She took another glance at the door before locking eyes with Lapis again.
"I think…I think you're a bright hunter. And I think I woke you up." That sharp jaw clenched again.
"Okay, that's really not explaining anything to me here." Lapis was trying to control the panic in her voice. "Is someone chasing you?"
The woman grimaced. "Well, something, yes. A bright seeker. It's what we were made to kill."
"I still don't know what that is." Lapis was getting frustrated. The uncertainty of the situation was making her palms sweat, and she just realized this was a complete stranger that could kill her or something at any moment. "Just tell me who you are."
"I…" The woman hesitated, looking away before seeming to steel herself, shoulders set hard. "I'm Pearl. I'm also a bright hunter."
"Okay," Lapis said slowly. "I don't know what that is." She was still apprehensive. Pearl took a deep breath, air exhaling in a misty puff.
"Bright hunters were made by The Mirror. That's the facility we're in now. We were engineered to kill bright seekers which are…. well. We don't really know what they are. But they're dangerous." Pearl pursed her lips. "This place has been long abandoned. I had come here to…. Try and find something. I tried to reroute power to the computers. I think I blew the fuse to the whole place. That's probably why you woke up."
Lapis blinked. She relaxed her shoulders slightly, but not completely. "How long have I been in here?"
Pearl shrugged. "Who knows. The place has been abandoned for three years, give or take. People have tended to stay away from The Mirror because of its high concentration of bright seekers. I'm not surprised no one found you or bothered to let you out during the infestation."
Lapis stared at her blankly. She looked to her feet, and then to her hands. She curled her clammy fingers reflexively. "So I've been in here for at least three years. The power has been on here unattended for three years?"
Pearl nodded. "Power for everything but the computers. I understand your confusion. The Mirror is an enigma of technology. I'm not really sure how it's had the capacity to stay on for this long."
"And you blew the power because you were trying to access the computers?"
Pearl cringed, a spindly hand rubbing at her neck. "Please don't remind me. I'm just… looking for something. I'm not sure what yet." A scowl weighed heavy on her brow.
"Well, good going genius. And now some monster is chasing you too. And I guess me, since you decided to choose my room of all places." Lapis crossed her arms, suddenly irked at Pearl's presence. Pearl shot an annoyed look her way.
"It's not like I did it on purpose. You would still be in that pod if it weren't for me, anyway."
Lapis couldn't stop her eyes from rolling. "Oh, am I supposed to be thankful?"
"What is with this attitude?" Pearl's voice rose, but she quickly clamped her long hands over her mouth, self-conscious at her almost mistake. She lowered her hands slightly. "Look, I'm not here to argue. Let's just get out of here before we get killed," she hissed between her teeth. Lapis heaved a sigh, nodding.
"Fine. Lead the way. And don't get me killed, I just got here." Lapis gestured her chin towards the entrance. Pearl begrudgingly nodded back, and carefully made her way back towards the heavy-set doors.
She put her ear against the door. She addressed Lapis. "Normally our heads buzz when one of those things are nearby. But The Mirror has a complex interframe and network within the walls that seems to interfere with the ability, so it's not a very reliable skill here. It's how I got jumped in the first place."
Lapis nodded slowly in reply.
"I think we're clear for now. We should take this opportunity to move." Pearl took a deep breath and placed the flat of her palms on one of the sliding doors. She gestured for Lapis to take hold of the other one. Lapis knitted her brows but complied. Together they opened the door, much more easily than Pearl had in the first place.
Pearl glanced around the corridor beyond, dark but for the faint light that filtered in through gaps in the structure, busted in or merely crumbled away. The light was cold, pale. Although she couldn't pick out any memories of weather, she could tell it was overcast.
"Follow me and try not to make too much noise." Pearl moved forward quickly, an agile grace to her long limbs that allowed her both silence and speed. Lapis was impressed, especially as she tried to avoid noisy rubble with some difficulty.
"You been through here often?" Lapis attempted to whisper loudly. Pearl gave her a sharp look that told her she failed in the whispering part.
Pearl stopped so Lapis could catch up to her, and then spoke. "Not as much as I'd like to. I don't usually get far because I don't typically stay long. Today was an exception, but I'm afraid I've pushed my luck." She sighed, dragging a hand down face, Lapis taking notice of the darkness that ringed beneath her eyes. "Garnet is going to kill me when she finds out I was out here."
"Well," Lapis spoke, "Only if we're lucky. You still have to get us out." Lapis shoved her shoulder. "Get moving!"
Pearl swatted her hand away but complied. "You remind me of Amethyst," she said.
"These your 'bright hunter' buddies?" Lapis switched her view between the back of Pearl's head and down the hall, eyes only periodically flitting between the dark windows to either side of them.
"Yes. There are quite a few of us, actually." Pearl stopped as they reached an intersection. The mess of the building was more pronounced here, scorch marks trailing from floor to ceiling and deep gouges set into the metal walls. Lapis wasn't keen on imagining what made those.
"There's a city not too far from here, out near the ocean. It's barricaded well enough, so it's relatively thriving considering the state of things." Pearl chose to go left and Lapis followed.
Lapis did not say anything in return. Instead, she focused on anxiously glancing behind herself, down the hall they decided not to go down.
"Do you know your name?" Pearl suddenly asked. Lapis jerked her head back around, blinking.
"Yes." She said this after a moment's hesitation. "Lapis. I don't remember much else. But I… know things. Like the weather. What things are called."
Pearl nodded, glancing briefly back at her over her shoulder. "To be expected. I suppose the best term to use is that The Mirror essentially 'programmed' us with knowledge of the world and of ourselves. Makes things easier if they don't have to teach us everything."
"Freaky." Lapis shivered. "Are we like, robots?"
Pearl gave a light laugh at that. "Goodness, no. We're biological engineering. At least I am, anyway." She gave Lapis a cheeky grin. "I can also say the same for a few others."
Lapis stared blankly before a sudden warmness filled her cheeks at the implication. Her face pruned up. "Ugh, gross!"
Pearl stifled a laugh behind a hand. "You're rather easy, aren't you?"
"And you're a jerk," Lapis gritted out. "And you're one to talk. You weren't exactly picture perfect suave when you busted in on me."
Lapis could practically see Pearl rolling her eyes. "Please, as if anyone would be suave in my situation." Lapis only shrugged and kept on Pearl's tail.
Suddenly she was slammed against the wall, Pearl's arm barring across her chest.
"What the fu-?" Pearl cut her protestation off with a harsh shush.
"Bright seeker," Pearl hissed out, face suddenly too close to Lapis's own. Lapis looked at her incredulously but couldn't help the fear that swept her mind. Pearl tapped her own head.
Lapis suddenly noticed the growing buzz, but also something else beneath it. Like whispering, voices speaking in the distance of her own brain.
"You can feel it, right? One's nearby." Pearl lessened the pressure on her chest, only to grab Lapis's arm and drag her into a nearby room, door busted open and no longer viable to close.
"You didn't say there was also these freaky voices." Lapis gritted her teeth, eyes squeezing shut. Pearl whipped her head around towards her.
"What? What voices?"
Lapis didn't answer Pearl's question, because when she opened her eyes and looked past Pearl's shoulder, out the dusty and tinted windows, she saw someone. Something. Figure with eyes and mouth and neck so bright she saw spots when she looked away.
"What the fuck is that?!" She couldn't keep the rising panic out of her voice, ducking down and against the wall, breaths now coming short and frantic.
"Bright seeker." Pearl said this bluntly, a breath that seemed reflexive in its finality. "Blue one. I think it's the same one that chased me."
"What do we do?" Lapis felt her heart beating rapidly in her chest, a deep thump thump thump that made it feel like her chest was going to collapse in on itself.
"Well," Pearl whispered, "we keep quiet and hope it passes by us. If not, we fight it."
"Fight it?" Lapis gave Pearl a bewildered look, putting her hand to her own throat to stop the rise in her voice.
"We're bright hunters," Pearl said. "It's what we were made to do." She kept her head ducked low, placing herself between Lapis and the door. "But if we're lucky, we won't have to fight it."
Lapis felt her body tremble, fear leaking out through every nerve ending she had. She felt the sweat collect in her palms, chilling the back of her neck.
"Fuck." That was the last thing Lapis heard before a low hum reverberated through the room, choking her on the frequency. She then saw the cold light shimmering behind Pearl, highlighting her soft hair with an unnatural blue that cut Pearl out of the scene around them.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion as a crystalized hand wrapped itself around Pearl's left shoulder, the sharp skin piercing instantly and raising wells of blood. Lapis wasn't sure if Pearl made a sound, but she watched as she grabbed something from her back, off the belt around her waist. Something sharp glinted out in a quick movement, flipping from a baton like handle. And before Lapis knew it, the light was extinguished.
The head thunked against the dirty floor, light no longer pouring from the deep sockets of its eyes, beyond the blunt and long incisors that lined its open jaw. The head was a murky but translucent substance that Lapis was sure was crystal. No blood came from where the head was severed, but a thick water like liquid seeped from the neck on both the body and head.
Pearl fell to a knee, hand grasped over her wounded shoulder. "Lucky its gem was in the throat."
Lapis stayed put, legs too weak to function and move towards Pearl. "What?" Her voice trembled.
"Gems." Pearl winced. "They're like the heart of the bright seeker. Can only kill them if you destroy that. Bright hunters can see them. That's why we're the ones sent to kill these things." Pearl took in a deep gulp of air before pulling the yellow bandana off her left arm. She let go of her shoulder to wring the bandana tight. "Regular humans can't see them. They only see the bright that comes from the mouth and eyes. We can see the extra bright, the one made by the gem. Like the throat on that one." Pearl nudged her head in the direction of the decapitated bright seeker as she wrapped the bandana rather sloppily over her wounded shoulder.
"Here." Lapis finally found her nerve, getting up and moving over to Pearl. "I'll do it. Your wrap job is a joke." Her fingers lightly brushed over the bandana, gently undoing the messy knot.
Pearl gave a breathless laugh. "Thanks." She looked away in silence as Lapis worked, retying the bandana in a much more secure manner. The yellow was already turning to a muddy red.
"Can you see very well?" Pearl suddenly asked.
"What?" Lapis was caught off guard by the question. "I mean, yeah, it was bright, but I don't think it was enough to damage my eyesight. Wait, can those things damage your eyes?" Lapis jerked back, although her hands stayed on Pearl's shoulder.
"No," Pearl cut her off. "That's not what I mean." She looked to Lapis, and then Pearl gestured to her own eyes. "Your eyes they're… cloudy. I thought maybe you were completely blind at first when I ran into you, but obviously not."
"My eyes are… cloudy?" Lapis could only ask. She narrowed her eyes. Come to think of it, she didn't even know what she looked like. "Well, I can see pretty well, I think. I can see that you suck at bandaging." Up close for this long, Lapis had a better chance to look at Pearl's face. "And I can see this cool scar." She poked a finger against the pale mark above Pearl's brow, in the center of her forehead. It was a rough and jagged mark, but small enough she didn't notice it before.
Pearl jerked back, instinctively slapping Lapis's hand away. "Here." She reached inside her jacket, bringing forth a compact mirror from the inner pocket.
Lapis raised a brow. "Really?"
"It's to look around tight corners!" She defended. "They're useful. If there's a bright seeker, the light will reflect off and- anyway, it doesn't matter!" She shoved the mirror into Lapis's hands. She took it.
It clicked open silently, the thing well worn that the clasp barely even worked anymore. Lapis looked into the surprisingly clean mirror and saw exactly what Pearl meant.
A cloudy haze seemed to cover her irises and pupil alike, creating an almost silvery sheen. However, she didn't imagine this was quite what blind eyes would look like. These eyes, her eyes, were like light reflecting off the glassy surface of dark water, the faintest glow that was even more unnerving than the paleness of Pearl's eyes.
"Oh," she breathed. She broke her own gaze, trying to fill her sight with something besides her own unsettling stare. She traced the purple under her eyes, the freckles that spattered her dark cheeks and the bridge of her nose. Her hair was dark, a blue like what her mind saw as the ocean at night. It was cropped short like Pearl's, but with a longer bob and a tangle of bangs. She locked eyes with herself again. She snapped the mirror shut.
Pearl seemed offended when Lapis shoved the compact mirror back into her hands, standing up and dusting off her loose pants. "Well, you're all wrapped up, let's go."
Pearl opened her mouth to say something, but then clamped it shut. She looked away in contemplation before nodding and getting up, careful not to put weight on her bad arm. The weapon Lapis could only describe as a switchblade rapier was snapped back into the handle and placed back on Pearl's belt.
"You're right." Pearl grunted when she moved her shoulder awkwardly. "There could be more bright seekers here. We're almost out. Follow me." She marched out of the room, a hand waving for Lapis to follow. She did.
Lapis had no idea what the fuck was going on, and what was going on with her. And a part of her, a very loud, insistent part of her, didn't want to find out.
But another part, a nagging one at the back of her mind, told her she was going to find out anyway.