AUgust 24 01 Canon Divergence (Cross, Elma, Lin)

a/n: AUgust 2024 has started, wish me luck. The opening of the game, except Cross gets slightly injured when the skell blows up in NLA. No beta, we die like Ma-non.

Elma had lied to him. "You'll love it," she had said as the clouds cleared and the planet was revealed. He hadn't loved it. The land triggered something that transcended love, that filled his soul to overflowing. He couldn't look at everything enough. Was there a way to force more light into his eyes? The sky whales, the noble long-necked dinosaurs, the packs of reptilian wolves racing across the plains, the cliffs that curled like claws and floated in the air. And the city, a fortress of construction nestled in a tumbled crown of sapphire, he couldn't wait to get there and begin his life in this wondrous world.

So when Elma asked if he wanted to take the shortcut or the long way, he ignored the bite of his curiosity and opted for the direct route. He was glad for the decision later, because after half a day of chasing Elma, he was struggling not to wheeze. Her steady pace ate up the distance, but something in his lungs was starting to rebel. The atmosphere must be special here, higher in oxygen he guessed, relying on the smattering of vague concepts that remained in his freshly laundered brain. That's why he hadn't collapsed entirely, but he was reaching his limit. He was grateful when they stopped at an away station and Elma organized a ride for the last stretch. He sucked in air discreetly and willed his body to recover during the bumpy ride over dirt track.

Maybe it was just because he still couldn't get enough of this world. He could try to conserve energy but he couldn't stop gazing at everything around him.

His gratitude for the break increased exponentially when they reached the city and Elma started bounding up endless staircases without complaint. He could do that too, just watch him, even if his silver hair was an indication of age and not beauty. The gravity had to be weaker here, right? It would explain the flying whales and improbable rocks and Elma's willingness to leap off a cliff to take the longer route. He could and did keep up, but there wasn't much breath left in him when they reached the top. He was necessarily quiet as Elma led him through a tunnel, dim and unfinished, before introducing him to the city. What breath remained left him. "Home," he decided, certain in spite of zero supporting evidence, "this is my home."

After that, it was a bit of a blur. Elevators, introductions, the growing suspicion that his rescuer was anything but an ordinary soldier. He could barely take it in, and that was before he spotted the mechs. Mechs. MECHS. Glorious constructions, enhancing their frail human pilots into something almost divine. He was pretty sure he was open mouthed, not from being winded. They filled his addled and oxygen-starved brain with dreams. They even flew!

The dream exploded before his eyes as a mech dropped from the sky with a bubble of flame. The shock was almost physical, a slap to the face that left him stunned. But no one else seemed too concerned about the crash. Experiments often failed, he got that, but he still felt stinging disappointment very at odds with the cheerful bickering between pilot and researcher. Even Elma, his guide, seemed unconcerned. He kept to the background, embarrassed by his ignorance and unwarranted disappointment.

He was still struggling to calm himself while the matter was put aside by the others. Elma made more introductions without even turning. He tried to concentrate on the researcher. He fought off more confusion. She wasn't just short; she was a wisp of a child, which seemed wrong but must be normal in this new world. The girl was chattering at him before she had looked up from her data screen. "I'm Lin Lee Koo and ..." She broke off with a gasp. "Your ... your cheek!" Her eyes went round with shock

He touched his face, hot with a blush that hadn't faded. His skin was slippery and he realized the stinging sensation hadn't been purely emotional. He must have suffered a cut to his cheek from some fleck of debris. He'd been so overwhelmed by everything that he hadn't noticed. "Lucky it didn't hit my eye," he managed, and pressed harder into his skin. Honestly, it didn't seem that big a deal, but children were often frightened by blood.

"Elma!" Lin wailed. Maybe he should cover his cheek with his other hand, hide it from her until he got a bandage or something.

"I see," Elma said quietly. She looked at him carefully with her calm blue eyes.

At least she wasn't any more worried than he was. That was good. He pulled his hand away, relieved to note that his cheek wasn't growing more wet. The wound must be as small as he guessed. His fingers were stained red at the tips, so he wiped them hastily on his pants leg. "It can't be that bad," he reassured Lin. "I'll heal in no time."

Elma nodded "It's not bad, but it does change things."

a/n: If this is all I every write for the month, I am very satisfied and cheerful.

Next up: Colorless. I have some Prone headcanon I could jam in here...