A/N: this is very different from most of my other works on ... just as an explanation, i wrote this for an English project in school about Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, and I liked it enough that I decided to post it.
It's very AU, set in another country at the same time as F451 takes place, as a parallel arc. There's not much in commen except for maybe one or two allusions.
Dawn
The cool air sends shivers down Luna's back as she finally exits the factory. After the blinding flashes and whirring machine-speak cacophony of the factory, the stillness outside quivers inside Luna, and makes her tremble in the darkness of the damp fall night.
Luna picks up her pace, wincing as she stretches the muscles that have been coiled since the Bell that morning. Her hands tighten into white-knuckled fists in her standard grade factory uniform, the cold metal of her daily wages pressing into her palms. Her hair is tied back into tight braid- one of the three acceptable woman's uniform hairstyles- but it's been up for nearly fourteen hours, and held up only with a worn, washed-out hair-tie, and a particularly strong gust of wind, dark with cold and spotted with silvery mist and wetness is all it takes for her mud-brown hair to tumble, unconstrained by pins and ties, out and around her face.
"Blast- " mutters Luna, pale, calloused hands flying up to her hair. For a moment, Luna allows her hands to hover in her hair, feeling its softness.
" Hello, Luna!"
Two words, guttural and low, tremble with raw emotion and calloused roughness. Luna quickly lifts her hair back up into a sloppy knot at the back of her neck, and spins to face the source of the familiar voice.
"Evenin', Sol," Luna says softly, blood immediately rushing to her face. Despite the stinging cold, which worsened with every passing moment as the sky faded to its inkblot shade, warmth rushes to her face, and she knows that blush is blossoming in her cheeks like the flowers that the Wealthies keep outside their windows.
"What, no good word for yeh Solly?" Sol leans closer to Luna, and Luna can smell the sickly-sweet smell of Blithe on his hot breath. Blithe, in it's tiny, glass vials sold from the skull-gray allies flanking the factories, handed close-fisted out of dark capes, is the only escape from the harsh reality of life in the city. It is a light at the tunnel, but hot light that burns and blinds and kills.
"Go home, Sol." It takes all of Luna's self-discipline to push Sol away from her. He is her guilty pleasure, her forbidden fruit, her Blithe.
"Don't ya wanna hear my news?"
"Do I have a choice?" Luna smiles, a moon-thin ray in her narrow face. Luna is only 17, but her face lined, not laugh lines as much as life lines, roads on a map of a life fought hard to live.
"I'm going off. To the war." Sol wraps his arm around Luna, and with a finger tough and roped with plume-veins, pointed up to the sky.
Through the heavy gray curtain of smog that cloaked the inky expanse, a handful of stars tossed across the folds of the sky gleam weakly.
"When?" Luna draws away, but her eyes follows Sol's to the stars. She inhaled deeply, the dirt-choked air heavier than ever before as it pours into her lungs, tasting like sorrow and smelling like an Ending.
"Tonight. I was s'posed to tell go to the Dock straight away from last Bell, but I wanted to tell ya-"
Luna turns away, blinking away tears that burn like chemical ice in her eyes.
"And you wanted to buy more Blithe, didn't you?" Luna can't help it- Sol's incredible weakness for the stuff is pathetic, but Luna can't really blame him.
"No- I came to tell you that. . . I love you, and-"
But Luna doesn't let him finish. She stretches to her toes, ignoring the wailing of the wind and the way that the eddies of rain are sweeping and swirling around them like some infinite cosmic dance, and presses her lips to Sol's.
He tastes like sweet Blithe and factory smoke on her lips, and his arms, tracing patterns on her back warm her like nothing else can in the long winter months.
"I need to tell you something." It is Sol, surprisingly, that pulls away first. His eyes are brighter than Luna has seen them in weeks, and his cheeks are rosebud pink. "This life, this world, this war is-"
Suddenly, his grip loosens on her back, and his mouth drops into a shocked 'O'.
"Sol? Sol!" Luna leans forward, confusion trickling down her back like acid rain, before pooling into panic at the small of her back.
But then Sol's hands go cold in her's, and the warm, live man before her just a second ago is falling backward, red flowers blooming on the gray of his work shirt. There is a humming in the air, and Sol's body falls, finally, sprawling against the mud. The flowers are now just blotches, their dark beauty gone like the light in Sol's eyes.
"Sol!" Screams Luna, not knowing what she's doing, pulling away his shirt and pressing it to the bullet-wounds in his chest. She knows its too late, but she keeps trying, up until the moment that the Lift comes to take him to the crematorium.
Even after that, she sits there in the dark night, her tears liquid fire as she sobs, mourning a life that had barely started for Sol, and a life that will never be the same for her.
"Miss. Final Call is in half an hour, so ye'd best be gettin' on home now." It's a man with a face that speaks to hardship, but no more than anyone else in the city, and a voice that's as ambiguous as a fleck of dust.
Luna stares up at him, her eyes tranquil pools of misery that quickly are brought to a boil of fury. "Sol just died! A man has just died- One of your precious action force-" Luna spits out the jargon-talk the Government hisses down the radio waves when referring to the factory-men "-You've killed someone, you know? And you tell me to go back to my house?"
Before she knows what's happening, Luna is screaming, shouting, her thin frame shaking with a passion she has never before known .
The man raises his eyes, but instead of pity or anger or anything else that would show that he is alive, living, real- because that's all that Luna really wants, in the end- his eyes are filled with resignation. His hands snake toward a worm of wire that coils down the sharp jut of his chin, and presses a nob.
"Class A hazard. Track my signal. Lift, ASAP".
Luna clasps a hand to her mouth, as if trying to grasp at the words that have sprouted flaming wings and soared, unchained, from her mouth.
But the acid has been spilled, and the burn is only increasing as Luna begs, pleads, cries, grovels on the mud path while the man stares off at the smoggy horizon.
Finally, when the moment begins to stretch into forever, a familiar buzz fills the air. Luna looks up with eyes clouded with filmy regret, her blue eyes skidding over the dented metal surface.
"C'mon now, yeah?" A second man, an officer, from the looks of his warm-looking jacket, smiles a smirk thinner than the trickle of a stream that runs through the Housing in the hot months.
He grabs Luna's hand, the softness of his pale palms catching on the roughness of her's as he pulls her toward the hatch of the Lift.
Luna's body stiffens as the officer's storm-dark eyes flit to her's. She knows him! Jull, the boy from the far corner of the Housing, who's Ma drank Blithe till the day she died. She hadn't seen in three years.
"Jull?" Her voice comes out higher than expected, and she winces at it's fragility, the way that trembled like a vase of glass on a precipice, and the frightening way that it hurdles to a point where it will shatter and break.
Jull doesn't respond, but he inclines his head, just enough for Luna to know that he knows her, he shares her past, whatever his future may be.
"James. Come on. We have a time-frame here!"
That was a women's, high and soft, but instead of the rugged rips and rough hewn edges of sound that Luna is accustomed to in the Housing and at the factory, it marches toward her in precise, clips bytes that seem to be snipped apart with the tiniest of blades.
"You heard Elizabeth. Move along!" Jull's voice is clipped like the woman, Elizabeth's, and he roughly grab Luna and pull her into the lift.
For a moment, she sees only dark spots in front of her eyes as they adjusted from the dark, rain-spotted night to the Lift's blinding white glare.
Then, a pair of muscular arms are shoving her down, and a viney rope of something frigidly dark was wraps around her arms, trapping them at her sides.
"Wh-where are you taking me?" If Luna's voice had been a vase teetering on the edge before, now it is shattered and spread on the ground glinting like sharp-edged diamonds in the light. She doesn't bother asking why- She knows it had to do with Sol, her beautiful flaming angle, extinguished before his time.
"We're going to Command." The woman, Elizabeth, spun her seat around to stare down at Luna. Her eyes scan Luna like a barcode, reading her scrapes and scars like numbers, and from the look in her eyes when she finally turns away, she has turned the data into a readable code.
"Don't bother asking why. You'll find out soon enough. In fact-" Elizabeth turns away for a moment, before her full, berry-pink lips twist into a faint smirk. "- We've just arrived. Get up."
Luna trembles, an earthquake ravaging her heart as the binds on her arms are loosened enough for her to stand, and Elizabeth's small, perfect hands pull her out of the Lift.
"Elizabeth Night, James Tar, reporting a Class-A hazard to Command." Elizabeth leans into a tiny silver box that glints brightly against a snow-white wall,and after a moment, a pair of metal gates swing open to reveal an infinitely long-looking corridor.
"C'mon." Jull, or James, or whoever he is takes Luna's arms, and pulls her forward. His eyes meet hers, and a faintest shadow passes over their inky depths . . .
Luna opens her mouth to ask why, what it is, to find a shred of wood to cling to in the flood of emotion that was overwhelming her.
But as she opens her mouth, the three stop short. They're in front of a small door, made of some sort of shiny, foggy-looking material that lets the light through. Luna's never seen it before, but she knows its expensive just from looking at it.
"Luna Domtar. Come in."
Luna jumps at the musically low voice that floats from behind the shiny door.
"Well, you heard her. Go one." Elizabeth sounds almost bored, her eyes fixed on a point in the distance as she gestures for Luna to go in.
Luna's legs shake like dry grass in a summer wind as she slowly pushes open the door.
"Close it when you're in. And take a seat."
The speaker is seated facing away from the door in a chair the color of death, so Luna can't see her face when she walks in.
She darts to close the door, her heart hammering louder than the machines in the factory as she finally takes a seat in the hard, silver chair across the glinting mahogany desk.
"So."
The person spins around in her chair, and regards Luna with ice-blue eyes that seem to glow in a moon-pale face.
"Why am I here?" Luna clenches her hands into fists on the cold edges of the chair to stop her body from shaking. Her heart rate doubles again, pounding hummingbird fast, as the woman's wine colored lips curve into a twisted smile.
"He was your lover, I assume?"
Luna knew she was talking about Sol, her Sol, and hesitantly, she nods.
"So tragic." The woman's smile only widens. "So, so sad." She smirks at Luna. "What will you do? How will you go on?" Her voice is saccharine-sweet, dripping with gooey pink malice. She stares at Luna for a moment, before her hand shoots out to grip Luna's cheek.
Luna quivers, her breath catching in her throat as the woman's nail's- painted a glimmering ebony lacquer- dig into her face.
"I said, what will you do?" The woman is hissing now, her face twisted in anger as her nails draw a faint trail of blood down Luna's face.
"What are you talking about?" The ferocity in Luna's voice shocks her.
The woman removes her hand and settles back into her chair, leaving Luna to blot the bloody crescent on her face.
" I suppose we haven't been introduced yet, Luna darling." The madness disappears from the woman's eyes as quickly as it comes, draining away like dirty water down the drain. "I'm Thanata Vesanus. And I know who you are, Luna..."
Luna's pulse pitter-patters and scamper's like a cornered animal. Why is this happening to her? She's good. She follows orders, works hard, sucks in the poison that she is fed although she know's it'll kill her one day soon. But Sol. . . Sol burned brightly and lived free, or at least as free as he could in the birdcage that was there life. As sure as she knows the machines in the factory she had worked her whole life, Luna knows that she was there because of something that Sol had done, or would have done. A memory, so poignant and fresh it brings hot tears to her eyes, slides, unbeckoned, ito Luna- their last moment together, the mist making lace on her hair and Sol's eyes brimming with life as his hands draw infinity on her back, and his last words- "This life, this world, this war is-" Is what? Luna wonders if she'll ever know, before it hits her with the intensity of a boulder that Thanata and Command know, and they thought it was important enough to kill over it.
"What. Did. Sol. Ignis. Tell. You?" Thanata's eyes gleam with a dark intensity, and she leans across the desk once again, her sunset-colored hair falling into her face.
"N-nothing," mumbles Luna, her words catching in her throat with fear. "What w-would Sol tell me about?"
"You liar. Tell me the truth, you filthy girl!" Thanata slaps Luna across the cheek, hard, her lips twisted into a wolf-like snarl, and the sound echoes around the room.
Luna's hands fly to her cheek, to the smarting venom-red mark she knows the slap has left. She wonders if anyone knows what Thanata's doing. But then again, she realizes, Thanata seems fairly important, if raving mad, and she is just a factory-girl. If she dies in this room- a thought that makes a cold sweat break out on Luna's freezing arms- no one may know, and even more terrifying, no one will care.
"I said, what did Ignis tell you?" Thanata stares directly at Luna, with a look that could almost stop a heart with it's pure fury.
"Nothing! I swear, oh please! He was a dreamer, I promise you, but he would never...rebel, if that's what you mean!" The flow of words gushes out of Luna's mouth unencumbered, and for the second time that night, Luna wishes that she could pull the words back. The word 'rebel' tastes bitter on her tongue.
" I don't think you're telling the truth. I think your little lover-boy must have told you something. Something about. . . America, maybe?" Thanata's voice is now butter-soft and wraps around Luna like a hot bath.
Luna opens her mouth, but then hesitates. America... It sounded familiar. She had gone to school for three years, the requirement, before work started at the factory. Perhaps she had learned of it then? Luna tries to pull it back from the thick curtain of elapsed time that cloths her mind. But whatever America is- The thought dawns on Luna, adnd it nearly electrifies her. Ifshe can just get Thanata to keep talking, she could find something else out, maybe. Alarm bells chime shrilly in her mind- Do you know what would happen? If it really has to do with something illegal? You aren't prepared for the consequences!- she bite her lip, determination coloring her mood.
"Yes. That-that sounds right..." She nods slowly, and a satsifed, cat-like smirk painted its way across Thanata's face.
"Keep talking, girl. And maybe we'll let you live."
"Maybe we'll let you live". Luna's heart picks up it's speed. She needs to keep herself together now. Her life depends upon it.
"Did he talk about a 'better life?' an 'escape'? Technology, leisure, 'fun'?" Thanata spits out the last word, like a curse.
Luna only nods, too afraid to speak.
"I see. Well, then, that's all we need. You may go." Thanata examines her nails boredly, and then flicks her hand in Luna's direction. "That's right, go! My guards will escort you out."
Luna gets to her feet, her legs trembling like a newborn's as she slowly leaves the room, but her mind swirls with confidence. She has clues, a faint path but a path all the same, to follow to lead her to Sol's final words. And she knows exactly where to go."
"Such a pity about Ignis, by the way. Just so, so sad..."
Thanata's mocking voice escort Luna out better than the burly guard that does the same.
This block of Housing is the poorest, and Luna can tell- the concrete walls have cracks deep enough to be holes, from which glimmering candlelight gleams from, and wind whistles through.
It's late, in the dark hours before dawn once again brings light and life and peace to world, but Luna is trembling with excitement, adrenaline coursing through her like a raft on a waterfall. The man who she's going to see lives here- or so she's pretty sure, from what Sol has said. Because he's said so much about him that Luna feels that she already knows him.
Luna's legs carry her to the far end of the Housing, to a plain door coated with peeling blue paint in a sad attempt to look nice. She raises a shaking, moon-pale hand and knocks once.
After what feels like an eternity, the door slowly opens, to reveal a stooped man with a face more ancient than time, and a shock of white hair that falls against his pale forehead like snow.
"Are you Aris?"
The man nods. "I've been expecting you, Luna. Do come in."
His voice was like sandpaper, but at the same time, it was warmer and softer than Thanata's could ever be.
Slowly, Luna follows him into his home. Its only a room, a tiny pallet shoved against the wall, and a tiny stove in the corner, but it feels like. . . home.
"Your Sol's girlfriend. And you want to know why he was killed." Aris seats himself on his bed, and regards Luna with eyes that have seen the whole world.
Luna nods again, before sitting down on the ground opposite the old man. "Tell me why. Teach my why it was worth killing for."
"Sol was daring. He dared to live life to the fullest. He knew that our lives should not be lived through like this, unhung with the fabric of love. He saw the cracks in the snow globe were reality began to seep in, despite Command's best attempt to staunch the flow. In short, Luna, Sol saw too much. "
"So they killed him, because he saw what was wrong? And no one else saw it?" Luna leans forward, her eyes glimmering as she drinks in every last drop of the man's words.
Aris closes his eyes, and he looks a million years old in an instant. "No. . . Others saw. I saw, and I see. But I'm too old to do much, anyway, and everyone else was too afraid."
Luna feels a searing rush of pride for Sol, the one who was not afraid, before the truth of the situation puts out it's warming flames. "But now- There must be something we can do. For Sol, to honor him."
Aris nods slowly. " I knew you would come to that conclusion. But there is nothing we can do."
"Nothing?" Luna feels disappointment drown her spirit.
Aris sighs deeply, the air rattling in his chest. "This life, here-" He spreads his hands, gesturing at the concrete walls through which the smoggy night can be seen. "- It's too damaged. It cannot change in an instant, nothing can. The only possible way is from ashes. We will run on until we burn and then maybe as we sweep the ashes we'll find a mirror and give ourselves a long look. And maybe then we can start to change."
Luna closes her eyes. "I can't stay here," she says, and the words feel right in her soul.
Aris's eyes were fixed on Luna, but he was seeing something far in the future, something far away. "You can go. . . beyond. . . the factory. There is a path, should you choose to take it, and there are others like you, that will wait for change more actively than us cowards here can."
Somewhere else! Luna waits for her eyes to tear, for her heart to bleed, for her soul to ache as the realization dawns that she will, indeed leave. But no pain, no sadness washes over her, and she realizes that she shouldn't mourn- she had nothing left here, anyway. Instead, a wave of contentment washes over her as she prepares to face a new life.
She quietly thanks Aris, before she leaves the Housing for what she hopes is the last time.
Just as Aris had said, a narrow path led into a thicket of diseased looking trees, which grow thicker and stronger as Luna walks further.
And she does walk. On and on and away from her old life, as a pink dawn blooms above her.
As always, feedback makes my day/week/month/whatever, so please, please write a review.