Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

New Normal

Yuna ran down the dusty corridor, alarms blaring all around her. Overhead the old speakers crackled “alert this is a code 46 I repeat a code 46” a voice murmured quietly, a stark contrast to the alarms. Yuna’s pulse quickened as she pulled her mask over her mouth and nose, noting that the once bright colors were fading. She flinched as the cold metal edges touched her face, she only ran faster, the alarms continued to blare. As she rounded the corner she ran her fingers through her long black hair, before pulling her glowing dagger out of its holster on her black cargo pants. As she burst into a large chamber, she came to a stop looking around, the dust was so thick in the air that it caught the light. Yuna was thankful for her mask. She, like the others who had also run to the chamber, focused her attention on the huge metal/stone doors in front of them. She quickly scanned the room obviously looking for someone. She crouched behind a stack of dusty crates, next to a boy and a girl around her age.

“Yuna,” the boy next to her whispered, glancing at her before refocusing on the doors. His eyes cold and focused, his jet-black hair was a little longer than his ears. The boy readjusted his grip on his weapon, a small weathered red blaster.

“Hmmm?” Yuna was laser focused on the door in front of her, her eyes didn’t leave the door for a second.

“Have you ever done a code 46 before?” the boy asked, clearly trying to mask his genuine curiosity.

“Of course, I have, Kai” the sharp answer, her tone gentle but making it clear that there would be no further discussion. The boy, Kai, was visibly shocked; he risked another glance at her, once again tightening his grip on his blaster. The doors creaked and slowly began to slide open, the cold moonlight a jarring contrast to the warm lanternlight inside. Yuna tensed as the cold outside air rushed into the chamber, she tightened her grip on her dagger. She mentally tried to calm her nerves, going over the many times she’d done this before. She though back on her first time going out on a code 46, remembering her excitement at not knowing what was out there. She no longer got that excited about a code 46, but regardless still got chills just thinking about it. The moon is full, that’s good. I’ll be able to see it easier. She thought, appreciating the tactical advantage it gave her. This was almost normal.

“Really Yuna? A dagger, for a 46?” A girl with short blue hair in a black t-shirt and a plaid skirt next to her, asked laughingly, while tightening her chunky knee-high boots. The girl gestured at Yuna with her baton, the ends crackling with purple electricity. “A dagger won’t protect you nearly as good as this.” The girl stated confidently, rotating the baton around in a small circle.

“You wish it did, Ryujin unnie, but nothing beats a dagger” Yuna paused to quickly glance at Ryujin, then focused intently on the doors. “And judging from the collection of knifes hidden in your boots, you aren’t as confident in your electric stick as you claim to be.” Yuna retorted.

“How, how did you…….” Ryujin trailed off, fidgeting with her baton. Yuna smirked. All around them the alarms quieted, as the now open doors revealed the sprawling dusty moonlit plain in front of them.

“Everyone you have your target or areas to sweep and resource list on your communicators, if you have a group you know the drill. Code 46 is in effect for the next 24 hours starting, now! Remember the doors will open for 15 minutes every three hours and will be open the entire last hour that the code is in effect. Good luck.” the voice on the speakers murmured. Yuna stood up as people started to run out of the bunker, she looked down at Kai.

“Hey, good luck and a word of advice if you need to sleep out there, sleep by a stream.” Yuna smiled at him one last time before grabbing Ryujin’s hand, “come on Lia-unnie’s waiting for us!” And with that they ran out the door and into the night.

Chapter Text

“Okay let’s see who we’re after” Yuna said, pulling out her holo-communicator. Ryujin and her had stopped on top of a rock outcrop a few miles from base, this was a favorite spot of hers because she didn’t have to climb a tree. Yuna’s holo-communicator was unique and customized to fit her. This was nothing special as everyone customized their communicator. Yuna had gone for a sort of Star Wars aesthetic; a round disk about two centimeters thick that was about the size of her palm that projected a flickering blue hologram. She turned it on and they were greeted by a holographic image of an older girl with long brown hair in space buns, along with information about her.