SPECTATOR

By MargaritaDaemonelix

Chapter 6

Sometimes, you hate your brother for putting you on the fiftieth floor.

You love your brother, and you love your penthouse, but being on such a high story in the Core has its disadvantages. For one, if you want to get anything, you have to either take the elevator downstairs, which can take twenty minutes, or you have to call it up, which goes through your brother's approval. And you know that never works out well.

Chung has taken his perch on the couch, after you took his armor to get at the power source. It's a biochemically formulated battery called the Guardian Stone, designed to turn kinesthetic and thermal energy into usable electricity to assist with movement in the clunky armor. It's virtually indestructible, cased in laminated glass and a soft plastic, and it's only granted to the guardians of the top Alterans.

For whatever reason, it also buzzes. With a little luck and a little messing around, you can connect it to the phone line by synchronizing their frequencies. Your brother can't trace you through the Guardian Stone, if only because the signal is so shitty.

You do love Adam, if only because he's your only living family, but he's been trying to push his ideals on you a lot. In light of the recent events happening-the protest in Elder, the Head Librarian being assassinated-he knows you're aware of the outside world. As much as you want to stay in Altera, you know there are people suffering out there, even within Altera's city borders. Maybe one day you'll take over the reins of Altera and all of Elrios. When that day comes, you'll make sure no one suffers.

Not after the last time.

"Eve, are you sure you know how to put together my gear?" Asks Chung, coming back from the kitchen with a bag of chips.

Whoops. "I believe so," you offer before turning back to your work.

Chung is the only member of your guard, unlike your brother, who literally brings an armada with him everywhere. You had more guardsmen when you were younger, but after you bonded with Chung during the mess when you were ten, you decided to dismiss the others. The two of you have been through thick and thin together. You know him better than you know anyone else. He's your best friend, and you wouldn't have it any other way.

When he stands up, you steal a few chips from the bag before letting him sit beside you on the ground in your fortress of sound equipment and dismantled gear. The two of you spend a solid five minutes tweaking the mess that is your makeshift sound equipment.

You pick up the microphone(an old karaoke mic; neither of you are very fond of karaoke anymore) to check the sound quality for what you want. "Test," you say softly, clicking the replay button.

Chung literally jumps up when the sound comes out of your laptop. You want to claw your ears out. It's just that bad.

"Try applying more reverb and less direct sound," he suggests, wincing.

You toggle with the controls on your laptop, trying to reduce the screeching. "Test two," you say."

This time, the microphone picks up your voice and spits it out as a deep rumble. It's like your brother just inhaled a ton of heavy gas and tried to recite one of his speeches.

Both you and Chung break out laughing this time, because in comparison to the last attempt, this one is just ridiculous. Chung grabs the microphone from you. "I'm Batman," he says as low as he can muster, which isn't too far out of your own vocal range.

You hit the replay button. The feedback is so low that it's little more than a hum or a buzz. "ERM BURRMURR."

The two of you roar with laughter.

"We need to focus," you remind him, covering your mouth out of habit as you try to swallow your laughter. "Rena only has about an hour until my brother deploys his police, maybe less."

Chung immediately stops laughing and turns solemn. "We should have done more," he says, pounding the sofa with his fist. "I could have gotten someone to erase her from the system. I could have-"

"It is alright, Chung," you assure him. "As long as we can protect Rena now, our project will not have been in vain."

Your words ring hollow, even to yourself. Chung seems to be pacified for the time being, though.

A few tweaks later, and you've achieved the effect you want: a robotic hum that retains very little of your own voice. While Chung attaches his Guardian Stone to your laptop and connects it to the phone line, you take your tablet computer out of your hoodie pocket. While you're not the best at hacking, the Core's security protocols can easily be overridden with the executive passwords.

Your brother changes the password every few days or so, but you've built an algorithm that can figure out what it is pretty quickly. The new passcode, updated only just last night, is a string of randomized letters and numbers, which you plug into the Core's security system.

Your tablet lights up in pink. You now have control over the entire Core.

It's definitely not authorized, but you can now regulate temperature, security cameras, lighting, everything in the entire building. You only need to alter one little thing, though. Maybe about three or four years ago, you and Chung discovered a hidden microphone in your room. A little investigation concluded that not only has it been there for as long as you've been living here, but the sound feed goes directly to your brother.

Switching the sound feed off, though, is important if you're going to call Rena. If your brother can't hear you and the recording of the call is warped, your two greatest concerns have already been taken of. You simply need to call Rena now.

As you settle back into the little nest in the middle of Chung's armor, Chung hands you the microphone. "Good luck," he mouths.

"Thanks," you mouth back.

There's still a while you have to wait while Rena answers and deals with the standard automated message that every call out of the Altera Core goes through. You're tempted to give Chung the microphone and ask him to tell Rena instead, but you manage to hold the microphone with trembling hands as you pull up the script you've prepared.

"Hello?"

Rena's melodic voice has become alien to you. Instantly, you sit up straight. Chung points at the laptop screen, trying to keep himself from bursting.

"Moon One, this is Sun One," you read, hoping that your voice manipulation software worked. "Do you copy. Do you copy."

A moment of silence. Then, "Sun One, this is Moon One. I copy. I copy."

You allow yourself to breathe out. She remembers. "Good," you say, drifting away from the script. "We have received word that you are waning. You must abscond immediately."

You pause for a moment. "Have a good day," you conclude, clicking the "End Call" on your laptop screen and clasping your chest.

It worked. Rena now has enough time to escape.

You sigh, letting yourself relax. You hadn't noticed until just now, but your shoulders were scrunched up, like they always do when you're nervous. "Assignment over," you murmur, falling back against the ground and narrowly missing a large piece of Chung's armor. "Rena's going to be alright."

Chung clears his throat. "Uh, Eve… What about my armor?"

You sit up again. It occurs to you that the Guardian Stone is still plugged into your computer. "Yes. Right," you mutter, gathering the pieces of Chung's shoulder pads and unplugging the Guardian Stone. He tosses you a screwdriver as you cross your legs and settle the pieces in your lap.

Even as a child, you loved putting things together. You recall clearly that when your parents brought you and Adam to Hamel in the winter when you were six, you were each given a thousand dollars to buy a souvenir or two.

Adam spent his thousand dollars on a small snowglobe. It was a nice snowglobe, depicting the beautiful Water Temple that is the centre of Hamel. When he wound it up for you, it would play a theme from a song and the little glittery snowflakes inside would dance around.

You, on the other hand, wandered off into a side street. You bought a tin of mints from a candy shop and a cheap wind-up toy from the toy store next door. As you sat in the private train car on the way home, your brother spent the entire time pestering you about your purchases. Even as he broke your toy and got subsequently scolded for, you didn't regret buying them.

Your father found you in his workshop the next day, taking apart the toy with a screwdriver and carefully putting together a tiny music box with the gears and pieces inside. You weren't in trouble, despite having snuck into his workshop, but instead, your father taught you to build. To create.

"Eve! Wake up!"

You blink. The shoulder pads lie reassembled in your hands. Chung is waving a hand in front of your face. "You blanked out again," he murmurs, stroking your back soothingly.

You sigh. "I'm sorry, Chung. I don't know why I do these things to you."

He smiles weakly. "Don't worry, milady," he says, like he always does.

You always feel so guilty when he says it, though.


Altera Core, 4:58 pm.

"Proto, you need to stop overworking the poor girl," chides your wardrobe artist when you and your trainer show up in her dressing studio on the thirty-ninth floor after an intense training session. "Now her hair's all sweaty."

Proto snorts. "We only went a few laps," she says, sitting on the edge of one of Apple's dressers. "And I only had her do fifty situps today. Evangeline's a tough cookie. She can handle it."

"That doesn't mean she's not covered in sweat!" Wails Apple, ushering you towards the seats. "Eve, sweet, come with me, we need to hurry and wash your hair."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Evangeline," says Proto, leaving the studio behind as Apple drags you away and sits you down at the first seat. The door slams behind her.

Apple sighs. "Sometimes I worry for her," she mutters as she lowers your chair back, dropping your damp hair into the water and ripping the elastic out. "Persephone, the argan oil shampoo."

Her assistant shows up with the bottle. "Persephone, prepare Lady Evangeline's ensemble," orders Apple, massaging the shampoo into your hair. "I want the A-thirteen skirt and the C-five blouse. Hold up, no, get the G-eighty five dress and the I-nine overcoat. I'll go pick out some nice shoes later."

Persephone bows politely and hurries off. You wonder how they keep track of all these numbers and letters. Heck, you wonder how Apple knows right off the bat what number she wants.

"Your brother is meeting with many people tonight," chitters Apple, rinsing off your hair gently. "He says he's formally unveiling something."

"The Morpheus Project," you mutter. He won't tell anyone what it is, or what your part in it is or will be. It's nice to know that you're finally going to find out.

"All the fine folk will be there," sighs Apple. "Ignis and Leviathan! Oh, how I wish I could go in your stead, Lady. There are going to be some fiiiiine men at the dinner."

"Will my fiance be present?" You ask.

"Possibly," she hums, raising your seat again and towelling off your hair. "I can't see why you hate him so much, Eve, he's so handsome!"

Your wardrobe coordinator, unfortunately, is just one of the many people in Altera who are smitten with your fiance. While personally you think Add is just an ordinary-looking guy, most of the women you know are constantly gushing about him, praising his looks and his talents.

"I have no intention to marry him, politically or otherwise," you tell her. "He's a brat and has no consideration for the people. Frankly, I couldn't care less about him."

Apple clicks her tongue as she reaches for the hair dryer. "Well, you're going to have to marry him eventually, Evangeline."

You sit through the warm air blast, trying to fight the urge to push your hair out of your face every few seconds or so. When the whirring of the hair dryer finally stops, you immediately blow your bangs out of your face.

As Apple combs out your hair, instantly flattening it down, she opens a jar of argan oil and dips her fingers in. Your hair is always at prime condition because she always insists on using entire crates of this stuff. Your naturally white hair begins to shine silver as she hums and works her magic.

You've been told that your white hair is a clear indicator of your high position. Your family, the Nasod family, claims heritage from the high Alterans of lore. The only real indicator of this is your white hair, which has been passed down in your family from generation to generation. Your grandfather had white hair, though that might have been merely an indicator of his age. Both your parents had white hair. Your brother has the same type of white hair that lies on your own head.

After Apple has finally decided that she's happy with the condition of your hair, you've only got about an hour until the dinner. She literally picks you up off the seat and carries you to the dressing room, where she scrambles to throw a dress over your head and wrap you up in the overcoat.

Her choice of shoes today is a pair of white boots, which you struggle to tug on as she drags you to a mirror. Her assistants, Persephone and Charon, are running all around the studio, grabbing accessories and pins as Apple barks out orders. You're faintly aware of a brush sweeping across your face, then a light mist settling across your field of vision.

"Lady Evangeline!"

You blink. Apple is spinning you around on the chair as you look at yourself in the mirror. "What do you think?"

Frankly, you think you don't look like yourself. Apple has turned you into an elegant young woman, no, a lady. As you fold your hands in your lap, you resist the urge to pluck the little headband out of your hair. Most of it has been wrapped in two buns on either side of your head.

Apple did a makeover on your face, too. Your skin looks like porcelain, and your eyes are vibrant and alive. "Thank you, Apple," you murmur.

She does a curtsey. "My pleasure, Lady," she replies. "Now go! Your brother awaits!"

Without further warning, she shoves you out the door and disappears back into her studio.


Cyclamen Banquet Hall, Altera City, 6:34 pm.

As much as you hate to admit it, you've always hated state dinners, and you always will.

Your brother insists on taking you to every single one, though, under the premise that someday, you'll "inherit Altera" from him. It's mean to be "practice" for a day when you become the ruler.

Yet you're always uncomfortable at these things. While your brother sits in his pinstriped suit, his white hair tied up at the nape of his neck, you can't quite sit still. The outfit-sorry, ensemble- that Apple had picked out for you isn't a long dress, thank El, but it's still scratchy and not nearly as cozy as your hoodie.

Chung stands behind you, as he always does. You feel ridiculously guilty that he can't eat with everyone, but you brother sends you a glare that reminds you of his rank and city of affiliation. You can only hope that Adam will let you take some of the food back to your penthouse.

Thank El Add hasn't shown up. The chair on your left remains empty. To your right, your brother is talking with the eight other people at your table, most of whom you can't name.

The five course meal sounds like a lot to digest, but doesn't really boil down to much. The salad course is introduced as a "rapunzel greens arrangement with scallions and exotic dressing", which translates to, in pleb language, a lettuce salad. When it arrives, you can't help but feel like it's just a miserable little thing, a few leaves of lettuce, arranged with scallions in some complex flowery structure. A light drizzle of what smells like mango dressing adorns the piece.

It's like the chefs are creating artwork instead of food. Just one of the reasons why you don't call up food from downstairs-the chefs would turn a bowl of cereal into a Dadaist interpretation of Elrios' growing economy. Their arteries would probably pop if they found out that the young Lady Nasod subsided off apple fries and mayonnaise.

You look over the display of cutlery before you. There's a simple knife, fork and spoon, a basic trio. A glass of water and an empty champagne flute sit just beyond your plate; you wonder if you'll have to toast today. There's also a pair of black chopsticks lined with golden threads on a tiny white and blue porcelain chopstick holder, possibly for sushi or sashimi.

"Not hungry?" Your brother smiles at you warmly. His own salad is long gone.

"Quite the contrary," you reply. "I was merely thinking about the chopsticks."

Adam's smile never wavers. "A young lady shouldn't be thinking of such superficial things," he chides. "Eat your salad. The next course is coming."

You flatten the entire salad flower with your fork, scooping the entire thing up and putting it in your mouth. The vegetables are all a little mushy, but the mango dressing surprisingly packs a punch. You make a personal note to buy some mango dressing if you have time to.

As soon as you drop your fork, a waiter appears to sweep both your plate and your brother's away. Immediately, the dish is replaced by a new one, covered with a dark blue translucent cover that twinkles with little glitter stars. Another waiter whisks the covers away, revealing a small red lacquer bowl of soup.

You instantly fall in love with the bowl. It's beautifully carved with dragons and clouds, reminiscent of Sanderian motifs. The soup, however, smells like literal death. You turn around to give Chung a desperate look. "Help," you mouth, wrinkling your nose.

Chung's nose is also wrinkled. "I can smell it from here," he whispers back.

Beside you, Adam has already downed his entire bowl. "Eve, aren't you enjoying your soup?" He asks. "It doesn't taste as bad as it smells, I swear."

When you don't respond, he tries to entice you with more information. "It's called the soup of pearls, emeralds and white jade. White rice represents the pearls, nappa cabbage and spinach represent the emeralds and cubed tofu presents the white jade. It's a very traditional soup."

You sigh. "I really am not comfortable consuming this, brother," you admit. "It makes me want to hurl my lunch."

Adam's smile is still as serene as ever. "Leave it," he says. "It's an acquired taste. I couldn't stand it the first few times either."

The main course eventually does come, and while you do enjoy the well roasted chicken, the scent of the soup has left you with no appetite whatsoever. Your brother does give in to your pleas to let Chung have some dessert, though, for which you're grateful.

As the two of you enjoy your rich chocolate hazelnut ice cream, your brother stands up and moves to the podium to speak. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are here today to formally unveil the Morpheus Project," he announces. "Now, I'm sure that all of you have heard something or other about the Morpheus project at some point in this week, after it was heavily publicized."

Chung shovels the last of his ice cream into his mouth. "Finally," he mutters under his breath.

You have to agree. Ever since the press got the news that the Morpheus Project existed, the entire country has been predicting what the project is. The most logical theory you've heard so far was that Adam is going to put the entire country to sleep.

You really hope that's not the case.

"The Morpheus Project will be one spanning across the next few years," says Adam. "Recently, threats have been made to Elrios. Our nearest ally, Empyrean, is busy fighting a war of its own, and cannot help us against this enemy. To combat this enemy, a group of very talented individuals and I have chosen to put together the Morpheus Project.

"The basis of this project is to enhance our military in the less economically stable cities of Elrios," he explains. By "less economically stable cities", you suppose he really means "all of the cities that are ranked under Elder".

"This project will create more jobs for those living in the cities, and overall it will increase the security within the country," he concludes. "If you would like to ask any questions, now would be a good time for me to answer them."

The reporters and journalists at the back of the room all fly into a frenzy, shouting out questions as your brother's guardsmen hold them back. "You there, the one in the orange shirt holding the camera."

"When will the project begin taking place?" Asks the reporter.

Adam looks like he's contemplating his answer, but you know he's already got an answer ready to go. "The first reforms should take place by this May, but we're implementing some experimental troops alongside the Bethma River and Bethagara Falls at the moment. You there," he points, "purple dress and giant sunglasses."

"If you don't mind me asking, Sir," says the journalist, "who is this common enemy we must face?"

The room goes silent. Your brother sighs. "Well, I might as well get this out now," he says. "No, don't run, it's a valid question, I won't have you executed, I'm not that mean." A laugh ripples through the room. "About five years ago, there was an uprising that stemmed out of Velder. It was led by four people.

"One of these four people eventually left the group and led us to their weaknesses, allowing us to overcome the uprising. This person has been rewarded greatly for their service to the state and to Elrios. Another of the four died during an escape. Another returned to Velder. We have great reason to believe that this person has also died.

"The final person was a minor at the time of the uprising," he explains. "This person was interrogated but not punished, and was eventually sent to live in Feita. However, over the years, the final conspirator has become a naturalized citizen of Feita, and has raised a militia of their own. We have reason to believe that this may end in yet another uprising."

The room goes wild, but you don't notice them. You feel sick just looking at them, at their one-track minds.

You turn to Chung. "We need to leave, now," you murmur.

He nods. "Harrington, this is Seiker Two," he says into the microphone built into his gauntlet. "I'm taking Lady Evangeline home. She's not feeling well."

"Copy that. You are free to go, Seiker Two."

He helps you up and out of the room, into the lobby. The golden dragons adorning the red walls seem to swim as Chung lets you sit down and calls for a ride home to the Core. "Hey, Eve, wake up," he tells you loudly, shaking your shoulder. "Was the soup really that bad?"

"You were literally two metres away from it," you retort. "I'm sorry, Chung. It's not the soup that's making me uncomfortable."

The taxi arrives in only a few minutes. Chung helps you in as the two of you ride towards the Core. The Altera Core was once a complex built underground, then a mountain, and now the skyscraper that you and hundreds of others call home. The first twenty-five floors or so are your brother's working areas, with grand chandeliers and spiral staircases characterizing the first fifteen floors and machinery and office chairs representing the next ten. Almost all the floors in between those and your own are workshops and living spaces for the staff and guests.

Add, thankfully, doesn't live in the Core. No one actually knows where he popped up from, or why your brother dropped the two of you in a political engagement, but he just appeared when you were about fourteen, claiming his own relations to the high Alterans. He lives about a block away from the west end of the Core.

As you and Chung wait for the elevator to reach your floor(which usually takes about five minutes) you finally dare to take in a deep breath. "My brother has finally gone off the deep end," you declare.

Chung tries to calm you down. "Eve, it's only an experiment," he argues. "The Morpheus Project is still in the planning stages-"

"It's only going to get worse from here on out," you retort. "Look at our friends. EM and RS aren't from the higher cities. What about them? What about their families?"

Chung is silent. "We can't just let them be surrounded," he says quietly. "Censoring is going wild after the mess with the head librarian. There's an uprising in Feita. How can we save them without ending the Morpheus Project?"

A plan forms in your mind, a creation that isn't entirely your own. "We leave Altera," you say.

He stares at you like you're insane. "Eve, this is our home! How do we just leave?"

You sigh as the elevator doors open, bringing you back to your home.

"To be honest, Chung, I don't know."


A/N: I DUNNO IF Y'ALL SAW 2NA'S THING ON HIS CHANNEL BUT I AM COMPLETELY HEARTBROKEN OVER SOLACE AND THE EL LADY

On the other hand, happy day, my lamp finally arrived in the mail, new Yuri on Ice episode, Victuuri happened, my OTP in Els became 20% more canon. happy day.

Oh, and I do have some things on my tumblr that I'll be posting in a few minutes regarding this chapter! I'll be tagging them "blink saga" on margaritadaemonelix dot tumblr dot com, so plz check them out! They're part of the intense worldbuilding thing that I've been working on lately.

Please check it out if you have the time to! I've been working very hard on the Blink saga up until now(worldbuilding started April 2016) and in the time that it has taken to get here, a lot of it has actually been uprooted by canon T-T but this is an AU, so I'll still be going with some of my original concepts!

Hope your days goes as well as mine!

~MargaritaDaemonelix