Chapter Text
Rocks and ore veins glistened against the light seeping through the holes above, carvings from the humans that once lived on copper-9 remained untouched by the battle of the absolute end, more ancient artifacts and relics were unearthed and studied by the now sentient drones
Archeological sites were a popular study and field of research among sector 1, historians liked discovering the ancient ruins of the planet’s people before colonialism began on the exoplanets,
The class was there for 3 weeks studying caves, relics, technology, and other subjects for credit recovery and college courses,
“This is beryllium aluminium cyclosilicate right?” A girl holding a green stone asked Emery who was writing with a clipboard on the ground with Uzi next to her,
“…yes…I’m pretty sure it's just Beryl,” Emery stared from below,
“We’re done collecting if you wanna bring the basket of stones up here’s the checklist of them,” Em finished writing on the sheet and handed the clipboard to the girl who took it and the basket up the cave path,
“Where’d N go off to?” Em asked Uzi
“Good question, I don’t know..!” Uzi shrugged
“Ughhh… let's go find him then,” Emery got up and Uzi did the same getting up and walking around the cave excavation site, there was a barred off area the led deeper into the cave site
“He wouldn’t go down there would he?” Emery asked as she spotted something then feeling a sense of pulling towards the blocked entrance
“No, he’s smart to know what not to do in a horror movie,” Uzi answered
“True, maybe he went back up?” Em wondered
There was a gutteral noise then suddenly N and another voice screamed loudly that It made Uzi’s Gradient eyes hollowed
“N!?” She called out
“He’s right there Uzi,” Em pointed at N who was on the ground trying not to laugh as Deacon and another male drone were laughing
“N WHAT THE HELL!? YOU SCARED ME!” Uzi pressed her hand against her shoulder and exhaled
“Sorry! Sorry!! Deacon scared Mason and I!” N sat up with laughing tears,
Uzi was relieved that N was okay, she was also happy to see him laughing,
“It’s fun scaring people,” Deacon said nonchalantly and he and Mason walked off after N got up,
N and Uzi watched them leave and then realized Em wandered off herself
“Are you kidding me!? Where’d she go!?” Uzi looked around and then realized
“….this girl I swear to robo god.” She got up and N followed her back to the blocked entrance sure enough there were fresh footprints on the ground
“EM?! ARE YOU DOWN HERE!?” Uzi called out but Emery didn’t respond,
“EM!?” N called and Uzi jumped in without hesitation but she slid and fell into a small puddle of mud that got all over her boots and sides of her jacket
“Are you okay?” N asked her knowing full well a little fall wasn’t gonna hurt her but he wanted to ask anyway
“Yeah, just soaked and dirty,” She replied getting up and brushing herself off before taking a couple steps forward,
“Wait, are you actually going further!?” N’s tone sounded more worried
Yeah! I am, are you coming or not?” Uzi turned back to face him
“Yeah..! I’m coming..!!” N responded as he stepped to follow
“Watch out, there’s anoth-“ Uzi couldn’t finish because N also stepped wrong and also slid into another muddy spot
“AH-!!” N yelped
“You okay?” Uzi asked pulling him to his feet and he nodded
“That’s good” Uzi took his hand and they walked down the caves tunnel
“EMMY?” N called out
“WHERE ARE YOU?” Uzi also called out
Emery still didn’t respond to their calls
“Jeez, it's dark down here..” Uzi tried to see despite having neon eyes
“Because we’re in a cave,” N flat out spoke before deploying his hand into a Flashlight,
“No really!? I didn’t know that!!” Uzi smiled at N and he did the same knowing she was teasing him, he playfully elbowed her with a smile one his face
With Em she had crawled into rocky crevices and was in a small cave holding small stones that were strangely oval shaped with ridges that felt like scales,
She took a moment to look at the walls that had painted flying figures on them, not like birds,
“WHERE ARE YOU?” Emery jumped hearing Uzi’s shout and her optics hollowed before almost dropping the stone but catching it and she quickly stuffed the stones into her bag
“I’m right here” she popped her hand out and both N and Uzi jumped back in surprise N deployed his sword with high pitched scream,
“You wanna try that again and sound less like a cat?” Em asked sticking her head out of the crevice
“HOW’D YOU GET IN THERE!?” N shouted worried she was stuck when Emery dropped placed her bag and effortlessly crawled out of the rigid crevice
“Like that,” She picked up her bag
“Why’d you come down here?” Uzi asked slightly narrowing her gradient optics at her daughter
“These cave paintings, I just wanted to look at them,” Em said starting to walk off but Uzi grabbed her arm spinning her to look at her
“I know you almost an adult but you can’t just wander off in a cave like that, this area’s closed off for a reason” Uzi crossed her arms
“That’s new coming from you Uzi, years earlier you would’ve done the same thing she did,” N stood next to Uzi nudging her
“That was before I knew we were parents, but yeah you’ve got a point,” Uzi admitted
“So do you Uzi, Em you shouldn’t be wandering around in cave’s alone, there could be a rockfall, an earthquake, a flood or you could get stuck!!” N’s voice got more anxious the more he listed possible scenarios,
“Calm down N, I’m pretty sure I can handle myself and it’s pretty unlikely any of you those scenarios would happen without me knowing beforehand,” Emery said leaning against a cave wall
“Still, your future vision isn’t going to always save you,” N mirrored Uzi crossing his arms,
“Wait, you're half blind too. How’d you not get lost??” Uzi realized
“I have night vision, I can only actually see in the dark, so it’s probably the only time I’m actually seeing you both,” Emery messed with her hair
“What was so interesting down here anyways?” Uzi asked and Em pointed up and N pointed his flashlight to the cave paintings, Figures of flying figures with large wings and tails were painted on the walls
“What are those?” N asked
“I’m pretty sure they’re ancient dragons, they were always obscured, from the figures shapes they might be wyverns, a different species of dragons,” Emery answered
“How can you tell?” Uzi stood next to Emery,
“The wings and the feet, Dragons usually have four feet and wings, Wyvern’s have Wings on their arms and two back feet,”
“I think I’ve heard of Dragons before, aren’t they just a fairytale thing humans made up?” Uzi asked
“I mean, maybe? Humans have come a long way since the technology of the 1930’s, I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to biologically engineer them into existence,”
“Why would humans do that though? Wouldn’t it be a problem for human civilizations if a flying creature was laying chaos down?” N asked
“Humans had tales and stories about them taming and riding dragons, sounds like something they’d pursue,” Emery answered “dragons were known for their chaos and massive destructive abilities, humans probably sought out a military force with dragons,” Emery finished
“Is that why drone engineers made you and Aria into dragon-like drones?” Uzi asked Emery looked at her
“Probably, I was the first Dragon drone, Aria was the fourth one,” Emery replied
“There’s more than you and Aria?” N asked
“Yep. We all keep our distances though, like other disassembly drones we’re territorial but civil when it demands it,”
“That’s…interesting, should we head back?” N pointed back at the way they came,
“Yeah, that’s a good idea, class is probably wrapping up anyways,” Emery nodded her head
They started walking back the way they came
“Flying figures laying destruction huh? Reminds me of you N,” Uzi nudged him
“Are you saying I’m a dragon?” N asked her
“Depends, I have technically tamed you,” Uzi asked with a playful smirk trying not to laugh
N blushed the statement and Emery who was farther ahead groaned loudly
“Uzi, you’re not Donkey from shrek. Calm down” Emery turned around at them
“WHAT!?” Uzi yelled and N started laughing
“WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING!?” Uzi looked at N
“Sorry!! I‘m sorry!! It’s just so funny!” N laughed holding his stomach
“You’re really laugh-y today N” Uzi noticed and when N stood back straighter he had a small smile that Uzi could feel was Genuine
They went back and gathered with everyone else at the entrance of the cave excavation site,
“Why are you both covered in Mud?” Mason asked N and Uzi
“They’re married and covered in mud? I know what guess I’ll take,” a girl giggled and some other girls with her giggled while all the other classmates looked at the girl and her friends with disgust
“Har har Sophie, you really outdid yourself there!” Emery said sarcastically with a slow clap
“Oh please, this new you is not the silent sad Emery everyone in high school knew, are you sure you’re not lying to yourself?” Sophie asked sweetly batting her light blue optics,
“You definitely are if you think batting your eyes like that is gonna get you anywhere,” Emery replied
“She’s right this isn’t high school Sophie, antics like that is not going to get you anywhere in life,” Mason added
“Ugh, taking this class was a stupid Idea since morons are here.”
“Yeah well aren’t you repeating senior year? You can’t complain about being around morons when you’re clearly one yourself,” Emery said and Uzi elbowed her trying not to laugh,
“At least I have friends.” Sophie said the girls nodded in sync,
Uzi, N and Emery all looked at each other with pure confusion,
“Does she think she’s in a teen drama?” Uzi asked squinting her eyes looking at Emery and N,
“She thinks a lot of things but never the smartest things,” Emery looked back at Uzi
“And you do? You no parental-having freak? I’d bet if you even have parents they’d be soooo disappointed in you, oh yeah! They are because they abandoned you!” Sophie smirked
Emery rolled her eyes since she already knew the truth behind it,
But Uzi was a different story, since she knew what it was like to be treated like a freak and to be mocked for not having parental guidance her whole life, she held herself back from letting out a storm of emotions
Emery and N noticed Uzi was slightly shaking and unfortunately so did Sophie,
“Aww is someone cryingggg?” Sophie started mocking Uzi,
“Too far Sophie. I don’t give a shit if you mock me but you don’t get to mock my friends you “popular queen bee” wannabe, you’re an absolute embarrassment to everyone around you,” Emery glared at Sophie unfazed
“I’m an Embarrassment!? You can’t even read English fluently!” Sophie giggled “like what does this even mean?” Sophie held up a notebook that had “I'm gullible” on it
Emery squinted her face “Ouch…that…hurt…” she pretended to read off the notebook, making Sophie confused and she looked at the notebook
“What are you on about you dumba-“ Sophie did not get to finish her sentence because Emery punched her hard in the face
Everyone looked shocked and confused, N had hollow optics and so did Uzi, they had never actually seen Emery punch someone in the face that hard
“OW THAT HURT!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?” Sophie screams
“Everything. Everything is wrong with me bitch,” Emery responded with a slow nod,
“You should take that as a lesson Soph, you fucked around and found out,” Deacon laughed and Aria Nodded in agreement
The professor came back and everyone was guided off in groups again,
“You shouldn’t have punched her Em,” N put his hand on Emery’s shoulder speaking directly to her head
“I had a right to,” Emery looked up at N slightly annoyed
“Still..there’s better ways to handle things like that,” N told her
“Just so you know she’s an adult, She’s like 22 and I’m 20 and considered a child, she’s an adult harassing a child, plus she made mom shake, I’m not letting someone get away with that,” Em looked forward as they walked
“You didn’t have to defend me Em, I don’t want you to be a target,” Uzi peered over
“Too late for that honestly,” Em whispered to herself so quietly that luckily no one heard her,
They ended up in a large cave with paintings of dragons and humans that resembled ancient medieval paintings, they had colorful designs on them
There were writings underneath them
“The paintings are speculated to be about 3,000 years old, before the colonial era of copper 9, this cave system is like a step into the ancient past before the technological advances of modern civilization,” A Guide drone spoke
“What do the markings say?” A female drone asked
“No one really knows,” the guide answered
Emery found that strange since she could almost translate the language naturally she could translate the words “Battle” “East” and “Sun” which she figured was translated into “Battle of the East Sun” which depicted soldiers fighting while a figure of the sun rose over what seemed to be a hill
The tour lasted about an Hour before they went back to their residencial dorms they were staying in during their visit,
Uzi was sharing a Dorm with N and Em, since it made sense they were husband and wife and Em was their daughter,
Uzi was sitting on her bed with N sleeping next to her watching Em sitting in the corner looking through her bag
“What are you doing?” She asked and it startled Emery into almost tossing a stone out of her bag
“Nothing- just making sure I had everything before we leave for home tomorrow,” Emery responded and zipped her black and purple canvas backpack, it had a couple pins on it, there was a white star she painted on the face of the bag
“Aren’t the railways open again to the Vale?” Uzi asked and Emery nodded “Safer that way, so Valencia pulled some strings to get the class on the railways,”
“Finally..I wasn’t the biggest fan of the plane,” Uzi admitted
”Me either Zi, me either.” Emery nodded and face planted on her bed, the lights turned off and Emery looked at her bag in through the dark
She stared until she fell asleep