Chapter Text
Dim fairy lights danced along the edges of the bulletin board hanging from one of Marcy's walls. Red lines of thread crisscrossed along the entire board, stretching over a myriad of blurry photos and sticky notes. The ravenette's hand traced gently along each line, as if to read them through touch, like one might read braille with their fingertips. Furrowed brows framed sharp, greenish-black eyes that flitted meticulously over the spanse of papers, scanning each one for what she needed, before finally her hand stilled over one smudgy newspaper clipping.
Marcy let out a "hmm" noise as she lifted the tack pinning the scrap of paper to the board, freeing it from it's cluttered post amid the swarm of photographs surrounding it. She ran her thumb over it in idle thought, scanning the select paragraph of text on the clipping. Water damage from some bygone time had tarnished some of the letters and reduced them to black smears, but Marcy could've read the newspaper clipping clear as day out loud if she'd been asked. It had sat in her mind, pacing over and over like a caged beast waiting to be freed.
CLEAREST NIGHT IN 20 YEARS PREDICTED TO COINCIDE WITH LUNAR ECLIPSE, HUNDREDS PREPARE THEIR TELESCOPES
Tonight is the night.
Though Marcy would be lying if she said she had no interest in space, it was not the fine intricacies and beauties of the cosmos that caught her interest tonight, though appreciate the view she still might do in between scanning the skies for her true target.
No, Marcy's planning for tonight had nothing to do with the eclipse. The clearness of the night had more reason to have captured her ambitions, but it alone was not her reason for going out on her own into the outskirts of town just to look at the night sky for hours. The ravenette grinned to herself, feeling her heart pick up just slightly as the reality of her plans began to set in like a bird alighting upon her shoulders.
Tonight, Marcy would find proof of extraterrestrial life.
Her mind was ticking away at a hundred miles per hour as she pocketed the newspaper clipping and spun on her heels to another corner of her room. Rummaging through the piles of things that littered her messy floor, she easily procured her backpack and a few other basic supplies she would need for the night, hauling them onto her bed with ease. A second scan of the clutter brought to her hands the bagged telescope leaned against one wall, as well as her polaroid and her good camera. She'd need all the coverage she could get, every last bit of certainty that tonight she wouldn't fail her mission. Weeks of preparing in her head had led her to this moment- this night, where everything would change.
Marcy Wu was probably the best expert on aliens to ever exist. She'd had a fascination with the idea of the extraterrestrial since she was a little kid, always reading children's books about aliens coming to visit her humble little space rock. As she'd gotten older, her fascination spun itself into a greater hobby. For years of her life, she'd spent her time scouring the internet for every last trace and report of the creatures that lay beyond the Earth's scope. Every raving of crazy farmers, every chunk of odd material found in fields and every blurry photo and shaky camcorder recordings, they all found their way to her, and her to them.
Something had to be out there. She just knew it.
She'd studied runes in unknown languages until her eyes would cross, stayed up late just watching the cosmos drift past her window, wondering all the while what was out there, what had contacted her people once- and continued to taunt them from such a grand, incalculable distance? To exist at the shadows of humanity's eyes, jumping out occasionally for a peek and a scare.
Marcy wouldn't consider herself crazy in any capacity, like many would think when they first heard someone say they researched aliens. Her believing was something more mathematical, more calculated, something that challenged the rules of the cosmos. By all means, something had to be out there. There was no way humans were alone in this starmass. And tonight... tonight Marcy would prove it. She just had to.
It was why the ravenette hauled her bulky backpack over her shoulder, clutching her spiral-bound notebook to her chest as she picked her way down the stairs and out of the house. Her janky, secondhand station wagon beeped in the driveway when she hit the button on the key fob, the only noise echoing down the street at this hour. It wasn't that late, but it had been dark for a bit- nobody was out and about anymore. Marcy shoved her bag in the backseat with a grunt and swung the backdoor shut unceremoniously.
Her hand paused on the front door handle. The sky was already glinting red from the eclipse, but the light pollution was too bad here. A hundred streetlights illuminated the skies over all the town, amassing into a bright, annoying light that threatened to take all her planning away from her if she couldn't get far enough away from this town tonight. But Marcy could see the brightest, most determined of stars flitting beyond the manmade screen, and her own determination didn't waver for a moment.
"I'm going to find you." She muttered under her breath, eyes not leaving the admixture of bright specks, and then she got in the car.
At some point, streetlights had stopped whizzing past her peripheral vision, and she'd become guided only by the brilliant glow of the moon in the sky. At some point, the concrete and asphalt and freeway barriers had given way to tall fronds of untamed wild grass. At some point, the light pollution had gone away.
Marcy wasn't sure how long she'd been driving, but she also just didn't care. She wouldn't be missed tonight. Everyone that knew her knew what she was planning to do today. When she finally pulled over to the side of the rough dirt road that split the field into two halves, the only thing on her mind was the same thing that had been on her mind all night. As she stepped out of the car, shrugging her bag over her shoulders once more, the red light of the eclipse bled into everything around her, brilliant and vibrant, turning her and everything else into a canvas of red and black. Marcy had never been in the direct path of a lunar eclipse before, especially one on such a clear night; it painted everything in sharp red light, and creased the corners of everything with vivid, ominous shadow. A perfectly unnatural night for a perfectly unnatural find.
Her boots stomped the ground as she forced a path through the trailing grasses. Farther away from the road, a clearing emerged, roughened earth suddenly coming up beneath her feet instead of crunching fronds. It was a small space, but she didn't need any more room than it took to put her telescope down. Grass didn't bother her much at all, especially when she already wore two thin jackets against the cold of the late night's wrath. She busied herself instead with settling her telescope up, distracting herself from the chill that managed to occasionally wriggle through her layers of clothing, although she hardly needed to be distracted any more. Anticipation and excitement fought in her veins. Out here, beneath nothing but moonlight, stars folded around the entirety of the sky from horizon to horizon, coiling thousands of flickering ghosts around Marcy's vision. Alien find or not, this was certainly a remarkable night either way. She could only hope it would get more remarkable.
Her camera thudded against her chest from where it hung on a strap around her neck. Her telescope caught the red moonlight and reflected it right back against black metal. Marcy set up a folding chair, but she knew she'd hardly be using it tonight. Her eyes were pinned on the stars, and she was already peering through her telescope every ten seconds. Stars glinted in the brilliant red tapestry of the skies, but nothing moved, nothing blinked, not even through her telescope's lens. But, patience was key, and Marcy had plenty to give tonight. Nowhere to be tomorrow, nothing to do tonight- this would be her and the stars, and by chance, maybe a visitor.
So, she let the hours pass her. Her excitement did wane, as any person's would after hours alone, but she didn't lose her confidence. As the old day's 11 p.m bled into the 12 a.m of a new day, she kept checking her telescope, then her phone, then the bare sky, and repeat. It fell into an easy routine, a cycle of checking, checking, checking.
So, when something broke the mundane, she almost didn't even think about it. For a moment.
Her eyes caught on the shifting shape of a star, writhing in an unnatural way unlike any shooting star she'd ever seen. Like a planet was trying to claw it's way out of the sky's tapestry and fall onto the horizons, just a speck of light wanting to become something more.
But planets didn't do that. And that was when something seized Marcy's heart like claws of apprehension.
She was at her telescope in a moment, and yes- there was definitely something there. More damning was the fact it was definitely headed her way. And even more damning was the fact it glowed a bright blue.
Something was coming. And it was no asteroid.
The world seemed to fall out from under Marcy's feet as she pulled her eyes away from the telescope after a long, breath-holding pause. Everything crumbled out around her, holding her in a pit of nothingness for a moment. And then suddenly, bright, vivid realization pierced the darkness, her mind suddenly seeming to comprehend all at once what was happening, and the world fell back in like a tidal wave crashing down on her head. Marcy sucked in a deep breath as her cogs began running again, springing yet again for her telescope.
She checked again. And again. And again.
Oh my god. No, that was no asteroid. That was no rock. That was no natural object at all.
Marcy Wu had spotted a UFO.
Another glance at her telescope told her its' trajectory- near here, but not enough to be a threat to her. When she pulled away again, she could see the gleaming metal object now coming unmistakably into view even to the naked eye. It was spiraling in a manic arc through the sky, sputtering and smoking, blue light vivid like jay's wings against the bloodied sky that stretched all around. Marcy's heart clenched.
This wasn't a landing. This was a crash.
Her feet were moving before she could even think. She clutched her notebook close to her chest, darting through the tall grasses as they sprung up around her again. The ravenette felt like she was fighting all the furious tides of Poseidon himself as she stumbled and scampered through the fields, tumbling over her own feet and the sturdy stalks on the ground. What once had been an easy obstacle to conquer became impeding in her manic frenzy to try and help this otherworldly stranger. She could hear the rushing sounds of the approaching aircraft overhead, sounding almost exactly like a plane coming in for a landing. Except there would be no landing gear, no flat runway, for this troubled pilot. Dread dragged Marcy's heart down, down into her stomach.
She had just enough time to look up as the UFO whizzed overhead, parting the grasses in it's wake and shoving Marcy to the ground with the force of it's speed. Only a second later, the loudest noise Marcy had ever heard shook the heavens and sent a shockwave through the disturbed air with a deafening BANG!
Marcy's back hit the ground hard as she was knocked over, and the breath left her in a sputtering wheeze. Hacking and coughing in a feeble attempt for air, the ravenette hauled herself back onto her hands and knees, grasses rustling all around her with an unsettling, overwhelming noise. The blood roared in her ringing ears, and her eyes could comprehend nothing except the brilliance of the red moon, watching her like the eye of some unforgiving deity.
When noise and breath returned to her in the same motion, suddenly her next objective was as clear as crystals, and the eye looked away from her once more.
Still coughing, Marcy stumbled to her feet, off-balance and still dazed from the force of the crash. This wasn't about gathering research anymore, and it hadn't been since the moment she'd seen that UFO struggling to stay aloft. This was about saving a life, even if it was the life of something entirely unlike her. Besides, if someone else found them before her, someone who reacted with fear or violence or greed-
The thousands of terrible scenarios suddenly clouding her head were like the tarriest, darkest plumes of smog, and she could feel them weighing down her every step. No, Marcy couldn't let those things happen. Desperate, the ravenette fought on, breaths still coming ragged. A blue aura lit the fields not far away from her, illuminating the area in an unnatural color that stood out like a sore thumb against the reds of the eclipse. Tall fronds of grass clawed at Marcy's clothes as if trying to hold her back, but she persisted, until at last she staggered into the newly-formed clearing and found herself overlooking a crater, with something comparable to a giant metal beetle writhing and dying in the middle of the crash site.
For a moment, the blue lights and unbearable heat almost brought Marcy's already-exhausted body to her knees, but adrenaline raced through her. The wonder of standing at the edge of a real live UFO combined with the desperation to save whoever was in there.
Coughing caught on her ears through the loud noises of the dying machine. It was a horrible, desperate cough, someone fighting through smoke and ash and dust to find sweet oxygen at the end of their struggles. Marcy yet again found her muscles responding before her brain could, rushing to the side of the aircraft where she'd heard the coughing come from.
"Is anybody in there!?" She called, her voice hoarse and shaky. She wasn't even sure if this thing could speak English- her guess was no, considering it wasn't even from this solar system- but she hoped the sound of a voice was enough.
Surprisingly enough, recognizable words met her ears, albeit incredibly laden with an accent unlike anything she'd ever heard before. Coughing and wheezing, a voice shouted out, "Here! Help!" in something that sounded just inhuman enough to flick a switch of unease in the back of Marcy's brain. Regardless, Marcy had no time to act on the basic instinct of a scared animal. She shuffled down the edge of the crater, boots scrabbling on the loose dirt, and made her way to the base of the crash site. She inched along the edge of the aircraft, careful not to touch the surface of the thing itself- she could feel the heat from the crash still radiating off the bare metal like a stovetop- before her boot caught on something just barely disturbed from the rest.
And from inside, a blue eye peered out. Caught on her.
"Here!" The voice yelped out again.
"The surface is too hot for me to touch from outside! Try to open it just a little more from inside!" Marcy called out. She wasn't sure how much English this thing understood, but she had to try. For a moment, there was no response, and Marcy worried she'd have to do more of this by herself than she'd planned for.
Then, the blue eye disappeared from the crack, and the trapdoor began moving, metal groaning as it fought against itself. Relief burst in Marcy's chest as she rushed to the creature's aid, managing to wedge her hands in the now-widened gap and pull from the inside of the trapdoor. There was a few moments of pure force, and then suddenly the door gave way, sending Marcy stumbling backwards. A new billow of black smoke rose at the disturbance, enravelling around Marcy in such a thick haze she could hardly see through it. She stumbled for balance, then slowly inched her way back through the cloud of smoke. She could just barely see the limp form of a humanoid laying in the newly-opened doorway, now unmoving. In a matter of moments, she had her hands hooked under the arms of the creature, dragging it out from the wreckage and up the edge of the crater. For a moment, the smoke seemed to only get thicker as she tried to escape its encompassing reach, but then suddenly, the brilliant red moonlight broke through the cloudiness again, bathing her and all the world around her in that bloodred light once more. Marcy took a heavy gasp of crisp air, gently flopping the body of the alien against the ground before collapsing down next to it, sides heaving from the effort.
Marcy always knew she shouldn't have read through so many gym classes, but dammit, that cat book series was so good.
When she'd taken a few good deep breaths, she turned to check over her survivor- and felt the breath once again be snatched from her chest, but for entirely different reasons than smoke inhalation and exhaustion.
Shimmering, blue-and-purple iridescent scales trailed in bright patches along the form of a dark-skinned humanoid, covering her hands and flickering up her arms. There was a scattering along her cheeks that grew denser along the bridge of her nose. Her face, serene in it's current lock of unconsciousness, was framed by a shock of tangled, curly dark brown hair. Two antennae, the ends glowing faintly blue, sprung up from just above her forehead, and curled back over toward her face. Her chest rose and fell in steady, easy movements (which was incredibly relieving to see as confirmation the stranger wasn't dead). There was webbing between each finger on both of her hands, and something similar to subtle, soft pawpads on her palms. A giant, tadpole-like tail sprung from the bottom of her spine, currently splayed at a slightly awkward angle alongside her legs. And despite the scrapes and dust, all of her scales shown like vivid sapphires and amethysts in the crisp red moonlight.
She was... beautiful. Extraordinarily so.
For a moment, all Marcy could do was stare, her heart gripped tight in a feeling that was not exactly common to her, but still sickeningly recognizable in the way it seemed to lift her whole chest up and yet stretch it to it's limits.
She hadn't felt this in a while. She knew the trouble it meant. Especially for this insane situation.
Still... Gently, so cautiously, Marcy reached a hand up and let it rest ever so lightly against the stranger's cheek, cupping the scale-flecked face in one hand. For one heartbeat, all the chaos and terror of the world around the two of them seemed to fade away, replaced only with a glowing silence. In the next heartbeat, though, police sirens reached Marcy's ears, and the peace was shattered as reality came crashing back in all at once.
Sirens. Someone had called in the crash.
Panic set in heavy in Marcy's bones, reaching all the way too her marrow. She looked over her shoulder, just barely seeing the red-and-blue flashing of police car lights through the brilliance of the UFO's light. They weren't here yet- they'd parked farther away than even Marcy had- but they'd still be here soon, with all this noise and light. And when they found this beautiful, strange alien, defenseless and scared...
This time, Marcy's brain did work before her body moved, and yet the same response was carried out. Marcy hauled the stranger up into her arms, holding her close against her chest protectively, and took off through the tall grasses, running as fast as her legs could carry her back to the car. Marcy could hear the distant shouting of the approaching cops fading behind her as she disappeared before they could ever catch a glimpse of her or the beautiful alien in her arms.
When she finally reached her car, she fumbled around the mass in her arms to reach the backseat door and carefully shuffled the stranger into the backseat. Her eyes flitted through the dark space, carefully scanning for what she was looking for. When her eyes caught on it, Marcy sprung for the blanket stuffed underneath a seat, unfolding it and carefully pulling it over the majority of the unconscious girl’s iridescent scales. As she pulled the blanket up over bescaled shoulders, Marcy paused, finding herself hovering yet again over the stranger.
Another brief, vivid moment passed of noticing just how pretty this alien girl was. Marcy’s breath caught in her throat at just the sight of the gorgeous, subtle intricacies of the girl’s face. The two antennae were still glowing faintly, their blue aura more noticeable in the darker shadows of the car.
But Marcy had no time to stare. She heard another distant shout from farther off in the fields, startling her from her trance. With a hiss of panic, she cast one more glance down at the alien, then stumbled backwards and shut the car door behind her. With an internal curse, Marcy realized there’d be no time to go get her stuff without risking the police seeing her and questioning her all night. She’d just have to hope all her things would be there the next day.
Marcy sighed through her teeth, gazing forlornly out over the rippling fields of grass and the distant haze of blue light and onyx smoke. Red stars glinted like shimmering bugs in the cosmic spiderweb of time. The moon’s red eye was on Marcy once again.
She turned to look through the slightly darkened windows of her old, busted-up station wagon. Marcy couldn’t see much, but she could make out the sleeping form of the alien, the exposed scales in her face just barely visible, catching what little light there was. A wave of protectiveness unexpectedly washed over her.
Marcy got in her car and sped away under a cloak of bloodred sky, her own shard of the cosmos asleep in the backseat.