A machine whirs faintly, the constant noise only occasionally interrupted by the brief clicks and clacks of a keyboard. "Is it ready?" a woman's voice asks.
A man sighs, "No, Dawn. Give me a second."
"Oh come on, January! You said it would be ready twenty minutes ago."
January turns his head away from the terminal to face Dawn, his aged face covered with thin spatters of dirt, shaggy black hair falling over one of his eyes. "Need I remind you what the machine being activated means?"
"...Sorry."
January grunts, turning his attention back to the bright terminal screen.
Dawn runs her hand through her short brown hair, takes a breath and decides to start exploring around the room. Having only been introduced to the room the day prior by January, the head scientist of the Choir, she wants to pass some time by having a look around. Since the last time she was here, January had clearly done a fair bit of dusting, the dim fading light bulb had been replaced with a warmer bulb, and the swivel chair he was currently seated in had been repaired, the wheels no longer stuck. Looking to her right, she notices a figure with a large frame, broad shoulders and a rigid posture standing in the shadows, she hadn't noticed him before, the man is scarily sneaky for such a large figure. Dawn rolls her eyes, "Ambrose, stop sulking, V wouldn't want to see you like this." Ambrose seemingly agrees, stepping out of the dark, revealing that he is wearing a large suit of metal armour, an insignia that Dawn knows all too well on his chest.
"Was thinking of happier times. My mistake." Ambrose speaks quietly, but his voice is naturally booming to such a extent where you can barely tell he is trying to be quiet.
“The feast?” Dawn inquires, already knowing the answer.
“Yes.”
The room falls to silence for a few minutes, January continuing to work on the machine, Dawn pacing nervously, and Ambrose standing silently.
The moment of silence is interrupted by the door being slammed wide open, another woman, with shoulder-length golden brown hair, wearing a white dress, burst into the room, closing the door behind her. "I didn't get here too late, did I?! Dawn, please tell me she's not in there yet. Daw-" her panicked words are stopped when Dawn places her hand on the woman's shoulder, speaking softly.
"Cel, she isn't even here yet. It's okay. You'll get to say your piece." Dawn uses the same hand to wrap Cel in a one-armed hug, Cel smiles.
“Dawn…”
“Yes, Cel?”
“You’ll get to say your piece too. About what you wanted to say on the camping trip.”
Dawn’s eyes widen, “How did you-“
“I’m an empath, remember? Silly.” Silence hangs in the air, before Cel speaks again. “You forgot, didn’t you?”
“No I didn’t!” Dawn indignantly exclaims.
Cel raises an eyebrow.
Silence.
“Okay yeah fine I did…” Dawn admits. Cel barks out a short laugh.
The two women fall silent, until Cel breaks the silence, yelling a brief inquiry to January. “Jan! How long till’ V gets here?” January sighs, spinning around in the chair to face Cel, a bright red light now emitting from the screen he was typing at. “Celestina, you’re lucky I just finished getting the machine ready. She’ll be here in approximately…” January looks at the time on the terminal, “Now.”
The door creaks open, revealing the woman of the hour gently pushing the door open with her hand, stepping into the room. V speaks in a somber tone, closing the door behind her as she walks forward. “January. Is Project ACAPELLA ready to go?”
“Yes Ma’am.” January responds curtly, mimicking a Brotherhood salute. Ambrose rolls his eyes.
V gazes at Project ACAPELLA’s mainframe for what feels like the millionth time, the mainframe reminds her of a tree. The cables glowing with energy are the branches lining the walls connected to smaller mainframes and the central pod is the stalk.
She approaches the pod, looking at the base, she sees a small metal drawer, filled with several trinkets and sentimental items. “Dawn, Cel, Ambrose, you left these here?” V inquires.
Cel is the one that responds, speaking warmly, “We all left gifts for you, V. So you have something to remember us all by when you’re in there.”
A tear rolls down V’s cheek.
“Thank you, everyone.”
V opens the drawer, seeing what everyone left inside for her.
January didn’t leave anything. This may seem as uncaring to most, but V pays it no mind, for she knows that January is not one for keeping sentimental items in the first place. His presence here is enough to make her happy.
Ambrose left his old dog tags, so that he will always be there with V, protecting her.
Celestina left several pre-war postcards of national parks, particularly Zion National Park. Curiously, the postcard has a signature on it, signed ‘RC’. Not that it particularly matters, V won’t be concerned with things like that anymore.
V’s favourite gift of them all, however, was left by Dawn. A hand carved wooden statue of a deer, to show V how the world can and will heal after Project ACAPELLA’s activation.
V closes the drawer, smiling. She turns to face her friends for the last time. “January, could you please explain what’s going on, one last time?” January nods, getting up from his chair and addressing the group.
“What’s going to happen is V will enter the pod. The pod will harness her psyker energy and utilise it to clean up the wasteland. I won’t bother explaining the scientific details as I’m wholly aware it will go over your heads, but to put it simply, the wasteland will be purified. All of Northern Texas will be free of radiation within a few years of Project ACAPELLA’s activation. The grass will finally be green again, the air will be breathable, deer will roam the plains.”
“Now, as you’re all aware, once she enters the pod, she will never leave it. She will be placed in a comatose state, as that’s the only way the pod will work. If she is ever taken out of the pod, she will be left in a vegetative state permanently.”
“Any questions?”
No one speaks up, having heard this speech twice before. V takes the reigns of the speech, clearing her throat and addressing her friends.
“There’s something I want to say. Cel.” V turns to Celestina, a solemn smile present upon her face. “You’re going to be an amazing leader of the Choir. Don’t worry about it. You have Dawn, January and Ambrose as your advisors even if you’re feeling the pressure. You’re going to do just great.” V walks forward and gives Celestina a warm hug, Celestina reciprocating.
V begins to turn back towards the pod, but she’s stopped by a hand on her shoulder. Dawn has ran forward and approached V, breathing heavily. “V. There’s something I have to tell you. Before you go under.” V raises an eyebrow. “Oh, not you too! Nevermind. I… V…” Dawn trails off, stumbling over her words.
V puts her hand on Dawn’s chin, lifting her head up so her face is directly facing her’s. “Take your time, Dawn. We have all day.” Dawn giggles.
Dawn composes herself and reaches into her pocket, pulling out a small paper note with barely legible writing on it. “You left this behind at the campsite, silly. Thought you might like to have it.”
V smiles. “Why thank you, Dawn, I appreciate it.”
A moment of silence falls upon the room, however this silence doesn’t last for long, interrupted by Cel nudging Dawn. “Isn’t there something else you wanted to say, Dawn?”
V raises an eyebrow, “Is there something else you’d like to tell me, Dawn?”
Dawn guffaws, frantically gesturing with her hands at Celestina in a way that seems to read as ‘Why!?’.
“Um, well… I…” Dawn falls silent, before sputtering out the sentence she’s wanted to tell V for months.
“I THINK I’M IN LOVE WITH YOU!”
In what seems like the first ever time, V’s face displays nothing but pure shock and surprise. “You what…?”
“I love you, V.”
V takes in Dawn’s words, taking a few seconds to compose herself and respond. “I think I love you too, Dawn.”
Dawn beams at this, gaining a pep in her step and leaning forward, “Can I?-“ “Yes, of course you can.” V laughs haughtily, seemingly having read Dawn’s mind.
V leans forward and places her lips onto Dawn’s, uncaring of the presence of the three other people still in the room, sharing a tender moment for one last time. After what feels like forever, the two pull away, sporting wide jubilant grins on their faces.
January sighs, briefly tapping V on the shoulder before speaking quietly, his face dropping. “I hate to interrupt the moment, but… We really can’t delay this any further, V.”
V takes a breath. “I know. Fine. Let’s do it.”
V walks over to the pod, turning around to say her final words.
“Thank you all for being my friends. I wouldn’t be here without you all having helped me so much along the way. Thank you so much.”
V retrieves the items left for her by her friends, clutching them tightly in her arms and steps into the pod, leaning back onto the soft white bed. She also keeps the note given to her by Dawn close to her chest, deciding to read it one last time.
“Feel me like an Autumn breeze
Dancing easily through your thoughts
Let me stir that part of your hidden soul
That part that you’ve forgotten long ago…”
With that, V closes her eyes.