Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 4

What Earth Needs

Hye paused.

This was the most human she had looked in a long time.

But at what cost.

He approached softly, carefully so she could see him in the reflection of the mirror.

Her long, dark hair was pulled up into a tight bun, her spine stiff and straight, like she had always been until what had happened to her. He could see her face in the mirror expression flat an unreadable. As he watched, a momentary glitch passed across her skin zeroing out her face and leaving behind a blank canvas of stars before reverting back again. They had both hoped that would go away, but while she was mostly human now, it seemed she would not remain untouched from her ordeal.

He walked up behind her, standing at her side where, together they looked in the mirror.

WHen did he get so old?

Kelly, for the most part looked unchanged, in the prime of her life, which he had always thought as her late thirties rather than her early twenties like most people.

"I always liked you in a uniform." He commented, and it was true, not just because of how it fell on her frame, and accentuated all the right places, but how it made her feel, powerful, competent, expert, and other complimentary adjectives that he couldn't list just at this moment but would have added in a heartbeat.

She had always felt more alive wearing that uniform, and he had loved the way her eyes burned, the determination she always had. He liked watching her climb and navigate through military politics, like the expert she was, and standing here he remembered how she was as a young pilot, a newly commissioned officer.

How simple those days had been.

When intergalactic travel was still a dream.

Now here he was living on a terraformed planet without a sun.

Strange how these things can happen.

"I always liked me in this uniform too." She said softly, glancing down at the little UNSC pin on the front of her uniform.

He wrapped an arm around her, and together they contemplated the people they had become. He was looking older, though he liked to think he was aging well, and she....

Another shadow passed over her body, glitching her out for a moment before returning.

""You Okay?" He said, trying not to prove to deeply but hoping to gage her reaction.

"I'm..... angry."

That was a response he had not expected. He glanced at her face, and then at her, "You are doing a pretty good job of hiding it."

She sighed and turned to look at him. He paused for a moment, taking the cap from her hands and gently placing it on her head. He rested a hand on her cheek. Tala was shorter than him, but every time he held her, she had always felt larger than life, taller than him by several feet. Being married to her was parallel to being married to a Drev in some ways, "Why are you angry..... Is this about kazna."

She rested a hand over his and shook her head, "No, I am mad because.... Of what has happened to earth. All of the things it has gone through in the past few years could have been prevented if I was there, if I was there to protect people. Hunt has ruined everything." She took a deep and regrettable sigh, and then shrugged, "I don't know. I guess I'm just being dumb." She turned back to the mirror, "thinking about the past."

Hye paused, reaching out again to take her hand. There was a long silence for a moment before.

"I just wish I had had the chance to do some real good." She looked down at her feet.

Hye stared into the mirror, looked at her in hr splendor with all her medals, and watched another glitch pass over her body.

"You can still do some good."

The words were out of his mouth before he had really thought about it, but even now that they had passed his lips, he didn't bother to retract the statement.

She turned to look at him, "What?"

"This isn't over. You... in fact, this could be the beginning of something. You have maker power, you are basically immortal now. Why not do exactly what you intended to do?'

She frowned at him, still not following.

"What are you talking about."

"You could still do it!" he was growing excited now, agitated with the audacity of his own idea.

"Could do what?"

"You could be president!." there was a silence around the two of them, and she stared at him with a slowly widening expression of shock and surprise followed by confusion and concern.

"Are you ok-"

"No no, hear me out, you were elected weren't you, fair and square and he was only appointed because you died, so just show up back on earth and reclaim your position."

She stared at him with a look of incredulity on her face, "WHAT! Hye that-"

"No no, hear me out."

She shook her head at him, "Hye you listen to me, that would never work." She pointed at her body, and the soft glitch that took over the right side of her face before vanishing, "The people of earth would never let me back in a state like this, and I am pretty sure one of the rules to being president is that you have to be legally alive. Besides, the end of my term would be lapsing anyway."

"Then run again, on a new platform. Anyone could beat Hunt at this point. He has so royally screwed up, the people of earth would probably elect ME in a landslide, but if you were to return, to explain to them that you understand the cosmic threats we are facing have great ties with he GA, well it would be a no brainer NOT to choose you."

For a moment, the look on her face almost brightened , her eyes widening slightly with the prospect. Behind her eyes he could see the cogs turning in her head weighting the possibilities, but as soon as they started, her thoughts ground to a halt and she shook her head, "No."

He frowned, "What do you mean no."

"I.... Im not ready for something like that Hye."

Generally speaking Hye was the backseat in this relationship, the cheerleader and the support team. It was usually her encouraging him to do things, to ask for a promotion, push him to take on more responsibility, to run the department at his university. All his success had been due to her encouragement.

But this time it was his turn, and he reached out to grab her by the arm, "Tala..... No one is ever ready. You weren't ready or prepared for what would happen on the Enterprise, you weren't ready to take on being an admiral and you won't be ready for this. Anyone who thinks they are ready is kidding themselves." he took her hand in his and squeezed it tight, "No one is ever ready, but even if you aren't you are what earth needs right now. You are what she deserves, and after all she has gone through...."

There was a pause.

"I will support any decision you make, you know that. If you want o live out here for the rest of my life watching me grow old until I become a maker too, than we can do that. We can live the simple life. If you want to become a professional ballerina or become the queen of arcadia, Adam would probably let you, I will support you in whatever you chose, but.... I do think that earth needs you, after all shes been through these last few years, you could do some real good."

Kelly lifted her head eyes staring hard into the mirror, to her pristine uniform.

He could see the memories pass along on her face and squeezed her hand, giving her some time to think.

It wouldn't take her long to reach a decision.

She had never had trouble deciding .

There was a pause and then.

Tala gave a slow, thoughtful nod, "You're right,

I owe Earth enough to try."