'ello, peoples of the earth!

Gosh, it feels good to say that again.

So, ah, I actually don't have much to say about this one. (That's new.) Just a little oneshot I whipped up - nothing major. The summary kinda says it all, so...

I guess I just have to say I hope y'all enjoy!

"This is so stupid. Why isn't the lift working?"

Cadena and Kira stood outside a closed turbolift station, Cadena frustratedly punching the button that was supposed to open the lift. Kira, too, was frustrated, and working hard to keep that fact hidden. "You think you've got it bad? I've got a class in nine minutes!"

Cadena looked up from the button long enough to stare at the shorter blonde. "You know your schedule down to the minute?"

"Never mind that now!" Kira stepped forward and gave the button one last frantic push. The button didn't light up, nor did the lift doors open. "It must have a faulty circuit."

Cadena was annoyed. "How long do you think it's going to take to alert Temple security?"

"Longer than nine minutes, that's for sure." Kira gave up. "We've got to find another way upstairs."

Cadena shrugged helplessly. "Walk around to one of the other lift stations? There's a set of three on this level."

"On the other side of the Temple, Cadena." Kira suddenly remembered something from one of her classes - and the Temple evacuation plan. "We could take the stairs."

Cadena raised an eyebrow. "You're kidding, right?"

"No. Stairs might be old, but they're still in use. And they're safer than lifts if you're trying to escape a burning building." Kira looked around for a side door, hopefully marked with a helpful sign or something of that nature.

"You're joking, right?" Cadena was aghast. "You want to climb up fifty flights of stairs to get to your classroom? Kira, no one is going to kill you if you don't show up once."

"I have no good excuse to miss class," Kira said, defending herself. "Besides, the classroom's only two levels above this one. Surely there can't be too many stairs, can there?"

Kira was dead wrong.

It took the girls a few minutes to find the little-used door that led to the Temple stairwell. When they finally did find it, Cadena was the first to step into the high chamber; she stared upwards at the steps that spiraled above her head. "I thought you were supposed to be the rational one."

"I am being rational." Kira squeezed past Cadena and headed toward the next flight of steps. "Come on. Again, it's only two levels."

Cadena sighed. "I'm going to regret this." But she followed Kira onto the stairs.

One level, the girls found, was equivalent to about ten flights of stairs, with a square landing outside the door that led to the Temple hallway. "Please tell me this is our stop," Cadena wheezed as they approached the first door.

Kira shook her head, as disappointed as the older girl. "Nope. One more level to go."

If looks could kill, Cadena's glare would've bored a hole into Kira's brain. "Remind me never to listen to you again."

Kira didn't blame Cadena for saying such a thing, but the comment still stung. "Then next time, you come up with a backup plan," she snapped, already setting her foot on the next flight.

Cadena scowled. "At least wait for me," she grumbled as she followed Kira.

By the time the girls reached the next level, Kira's thighs burned from climbing all those stairs. Beside her, Cadena gasped for breath as they made their way up the last few stairs. "Let's agree to never, ever take the stairwell again."

"Consider it done." Kira examined the keypad beside the door. "Wow, this thing is old. It looks like it was made during the -"

"Insert random fact here, yada yada yada, oh, look, we're done!" A fake grin burst onto Cadena's face, and she clapped her hands together once. "Now that that's out of the way, why don't you plug in the entry code so we can get out of here?"

Kira rolled her eyes, turned back to the keypad, and punched in the entry code that opened most of the rooms in the Temple. A beep sounded, and the keypad flashed red.

Kira frowned. "Uh-oh." She tried the override code, used in the Temple only for emergencies. The keypad flashed once more.

Cadena, standing by the door, looked over. "Any luck?"

Kira shook her head. "Maybe they forgot to change the stairwell keypads when they updated everything else. It would explain why the keypad is such an old model. Do you have your comlink?"

Cadena examined her wrist and touched a button on her comm. A negative beep sounded. "No signal."

"Ugh!" Kira pounded on the keypad. "I'm going to miss my class for sure!"

Cadena studied the keypad from behind Kira's shoulder. "Isn't there some way to get Temple security to investigate if something goes wrong?" she asked. "It'd be faster than running all the way to the ground level."

Color returned to Kira's pale face, and she hurriedly tapped in some random numbers. "That's right! If someone gets the code wrong three times in a row, security sends a guard in case of a breach. Good call, Cadena!"

Cadena smirked. "I'm full of good ideas."

Kira punched in another four-digit code for good measure. "Now we wait. It shouldn't take them fifteen minutes."

Cadena leaned against the wall. "Fine by me. I don't have somewhere to be."

Kira's head shot up. "That was really bad timing, Cad-" She stopped when she saw the telltale smirk on her friend's face. With a huff, she said, "Laugh all you want. It's not funny."

"People are entitled to their own opinions," Cadena smugly shot back.

Kira chose to ignore that.

Ten minutes later, Kira caught sight of a pair of Sentinels heading toward the door through the viewport. Though their masks concealed their identities, Kira thought they seemed surprised to see the two girls in the stairwell. "Finally!" Kira cried, rocking on the balls of her feet as she watched them approach.

Cadena looked up. "What is-whoa!" The door opened from the other side, and Cadena nearly fell into the corridor. Regaining her balance at the last second, she managed to keep herself upright.

In two strides, Kira was out of the stairwell and breaking into a sprint. "Thank you!" she called over her shoulder as she ran.

Cadena, who was left standing beside the Sentinels, awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck. "So, uh," she began, "we need to talk about getting those keypads updated."

Based on a true story. :D

This story takes place during Eyes Open, sometime between Kira's arrival at the Temple and the incident on Belsus. I'm thinking Kira was about nine years old – that would certainly explain her impatience.

If you liked it, hated it, or wanted to light it up and watch it burn, review and let me know! :)