onepassingnight | [011 ☿] Silent Planet Mercury

Unearthly quiet falls over everything. This place is empty and barren; nothing grows in its desolate grey soil. It's a void without atmosphere, but those who arrive here find themselves able breathe normally and withstand the incredible heat of planet Mercury's sun-turned side.

To the daughter of this planet, it's breathing the nostalgic air of thousands of years ago. Here, she is at her strongest and her best. She thrives in the sun that appears several times larger than it would on Earth, she basks in its intense rays despite the dark sky of space.

Without turning around, Mercury speaks with her eyes fixed on the sky. "Watch," she insists. She nods to where the sun travels towards its highest point - and stops for several long moments before beginning to unwind its arc backwards. It's a sight only seen here, and only now while it's been sped up enough to be observable.

Before she can say more, a second brightness flares so strongly that it almost overshadows anything else. Mercury suddenly lets out a pained whimper and shields her eyes from the holy light of Venus. She has that flesh-crawling feeling of a nightmare somehow.

(ooc: artist conceptions of Mercury sunrise. The effect described with the sun's path is due to Mercury's orbit and happens over the course of a Mercury day - about two months of our time.)

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He was glad she was willing to show him around, even if they didn't get along much in the past. Or... as much as he could remember. The mako was making his dreams pretty hazy and weird, so it was difficult to remember certain things. He followed her stride, chancing another look over the new and strange environment he'd found himself in.

Being here, in space... it was nothing like he dreamed of. Should he even be alive right now, out like this? There was a reason they were on Gaia all that time, with so many rocket prototypes failing.

But as they draw nearer, he can see more of what used to be a civilization. People did live on this lonely planet, at some point, and it was heartbreaking to see just what remained of it now. Was it natural, or... did someone intentionally do this?

"These were all homes..." He manages, barely a whisper and hoping the woman wouldn't hear. His curiousity turns to a low, mournful sadness, continuing his pace as he looks on to the destruction.

Oh, she'd be glad to tell him all of it, her long grudge against the person who caused this. Even vengeance, even ending the princess' life in return, hasn't cooled the burning anger over just how little she ever meant to Tsukino Usagi.

The ruins are very sparse; it's hard to even tell what sort of buildings they once were. Much of it looks like finely sculpted marble; they must have been a race that loved beauty and symmetry. There's little of either of those left here, now.

Mercury nods. "This was my home," she specifies. "The ones who lived here were my people."

The sight of something that looked to be so beautiful at one point, turned to rubble... it reminded him of too many tragedies, to too many innocent people. Because of what they did, and what they couldn't prevent. The SOLDIER has to look away, too horrified by the mere thought of thousands of innocents so violently shambled.

"It's still a beautiful home." He said sincerely. "Just... scarred. Given time, we'd probably be able to rebuild it..."

But he knows, they can't restore the lives lost. Even if the buildings were repaired, the damage reversed... it would still be an empty town.

"You're pretty brave, you know. Coming back here."

"It's not a question of bravery," Mercury asserts. The actual memories of this place are, at least, dimmed by both time and separate lifetimes, and the distance of the dream. "There are things I wanted to see here."

He's right, of course, and she's said it herself to others: Even if this place were rebuilt, who would live here?

The answer: humans.

"Near the poles, the fluctuations in temperature and climate aren't so extreme. With terraforming, it could be habitable. Colonized." Some day.

He steps closer, tempted to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder, before he decides against it.

It... wouldn't be enough, coming from someone she probably didn't even fully trust yet. He wanted to earn it, for them to be friends despite their pasts... but this was also just a dream. Would it even matter to her?

It mattered to him.

"New life would eventually form, given time. It... might not be entirely the same, but it'd still be somethin', right?" Something had to be better than an empty, lonely planet. Who knew if it had a Lifestream? With nobody left here, would life still thrive without a cycle?

"I'd like to help."

"Waiting that long isn't something I'm willing to do." The words are heavy, and come matter-of-factly, almost neutral in the depth of their resignation. She is no longer the girl who sat alone, and tried to hope; hope wears thin after disappointment.

"Then, what are you willin' to do? Because standin' around an' feelin' sorry for ourselves won't do anyone any good. Especially the people who died here."

And he knows this, from experience. When he'd returned to Banora after it had been reduced to shambles, a mere wasteland of his mentor's old hometown. The town would be rebuilt, but Angeal's mother... everyone who'd lived there.

Had it been necessary for ShinRa to burn the quiet village to the ground? Probably not.

"Can you tell me that much?"

"I've already taken vengeance on the ones responsible for this." The words are blunt, curt; she's insulted by the implication that she'd let it go, do nothing, that she'd been 'standing around' as he said.

"And I'm here." The most important thing of all. She hasn't forsaken her heritage or what she wants for its future.

He shrugs again, almost in a feigned-innocent manner.

"Hey, no, if you've already dished out justice, then I've got no more to say on the matter." His arms drop at his sides, moving a little closer to her side, but enough to keep her personal space. As much as he knows about her so far, she's not a very... touch-oriented person.

"Right now, I think that's all you can do. That and keep this place existin'."

This place can't be found by humans. Perhaps it exists only while she exists to know of it.

Or perhaps as long as she remembers.

"This place won't disappear," she says. That much, she has decided to be sure of. One way or another.

He shakes his head again, more solemn this time, and maybe his voice even drops an octave.

"As long as you're still kickin', it won't." Turning to her now, he offers his best, reassuring smile. "An' I still wanna help. In anyway I can."

Zack, you couldn't even breathe here without her. What are you going to do?

Somehow, she doesn't say that, doesn't mock him. "Some day," she says instead, trying out words foreign to her for their hope, "This place might be ready for people to live in again."

[011 ☿] Silent Planet Mercury

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