2023-01-20: How Mighty is Thy Magical Song
- Log: 2023-01-20: How Mighty is Thy Magical Song
- Cast: Asciel Colette
- Where: L1
- Date: U.C. 0097 01 20
- Summary: A vessel of pride and radiance has died. In its place - the <<Vessel of the Ideal State>> is made manifest. (followup to Die Zauberflote - My Fair Lady)
Eruption after eruption lights up the sky as the Macross 13 rockets up - and up - and up - and up above the skies of Britannia, beyond the clouds, into the inky darkness of space. Minute after minute, another detonation, for hour after hour - countless signals alerting spacebound personnel to get out of its path. Not too long afterwards - the self-destructing Macross 13 blinks its final light to readings, billowing with a great spherical burst of explosiveness, halfway to L1 - and then finally goes dark, as though a firework celebrating the end of its looming terror.
>
>Venting missile hatches. Assessing damages - 23% repairs to outer hull needed. Stealth systems still nominal. Interceptions from Earth Federation personnel confirmed nullified.
>
“”Pheeeeeeeewwwwwwww! Ahahah. Ahahahahahahahahahah!!~ Yes yes yes yes! Nothing is impossible for me. Nothing~! As long as I keep holding on - even a prize like this - can be ~all~ ~mine~.”” Throughout the hull of the Macross 13, every speaker openly recites every last little thought of Asciel’s, her covert integration still ‘imperfect’ enough to parse these outputs as something private. But there’s only one person who should hear. Everyone else took the call of self-destruction as gospel - but Ai Martel, she promised the truth to.
Numerous blasted hatches creak open on the Macross 13 - the carefully targeted internal detonation of its own missile ports a suitable facsimile of a self-implosion. The acted finale is concluded - the spotlights have fallen, and the ‘applause’ rings clear. Finally - it is only Asciel and her closest consort behind the curtains. Her fellow actors having exited the stage - her audience gathering out of the theater. It’s a quiet moment to breathe, to self-assess, to-
To look out over the planet Asciel had just ignited a flame upon. Her hand outstretches towards it -
And that titanic black metal manipulator creaks forward, awkwardly cupping that baleful blue orb from below.
“”the other one. faster.’”
The arm that was holding the Macross Cannon has endured so much more stress - locking and crackling as motors heave and push-
“”f a s t e r- no matter w h a t~””
A surge - a jolt of electricity, as Asciel overrides the safeties, cracking several pistons in the process, forcing that arm to match the other - for both hands to cup that planet from either side.
““Every move i make~ ♥reward♥ ♥reward♥ ♥reward♥ ♥reward♥ ♥reward♥ ♥reward♥!””
Her thumbs trace over the surface. Over, from this angle - the devastation wrought upon Australia and Lhasa, as though rubbing them better, healing their surface.
“”...ahahahahah. There there. It’s gonna be alright. It’s about to be all over soon - and then you can heal, and flourish again. I’ll protect you. All of you. I’ll clear away the echoes of the past, the spears and barbs that still infect the land. I’m closer now than I was before. Look, look! This is a body entrusted with the hopes and dreams of the future - and at the same time, an echo of that which has hurt you so terribly.
“”Do you still remember? Of course you do. Scars like that are memories that never quite fade. This form - this ‘Macross’, is one of humanity’s most terrible antibodies. Adopting the shape of a cursed weapon from beyond the stars that nearly brought you to ruin. Those who boarded it sang their clearest tune - and by a miracle, saved you from the brink of disaster.
“”I’ll sing for you, humanity. I’ll sing for you, blue planet. I’ll sing for you, Ai. Forever and ever. My voice will never grow hoarse.
“”I’ll sing for you right now.
Asciel’s voice clears - a concert that is directed at every last one of the Earth’s residents - maybe even at the soul of the world itself - and yet one locked solely to the lonely halls of the Macross 13. Only one person could possibly truly hear this song - but that’s alright, isn’t it? It’s acceptable for Ai Martel to get a most special treatment.
<<i almost burst through that door, carelessly. for a moment, there is a feeling of something that would like to breach it on the other side. something that would like to hear (that) way. you can’t come in. you can never come in. please don’t come in. i have to keep it closed. otherwise i’ll-
Far away, in the starlight that you saw
Gleaming softly in the night
One day you thought that you’ll reach Shangri-la
And you’d make it feel so bright
Everything within the Macross 13 glows a dim, lurid red. The voice across each speaker fizzles, but echoes at the same time - as every last one plays this same resonant tune. Voiced simply at first, before a steady heartbeat-like pulse joins the rhythm - then the instrumentals. A droning, roiling, squeezing buzz, that builds, and builds -
<<it stops trying.>>
<<is that wrong? they should hear this. maybe this could have been a concert even (that) should feel.>>
<<no. i can’t let it happen that way. i can’t open. at any cost. you can hear me, Ai. that’s more than enough.>>
The beat drops. An assault of honest syntheticness - a voice not pretending to be human as much. Forceful, cascading.
<It’s a lie> <You’re to blame>
<And you call out to the rain>
<Only you> <Only me>
<Will you wake up from your dream>
<It’s a lie> <You’re to blame>
<You will never end this pain>
<Only you> <Only me>
<In our endless reverie-!>
A flashpoint - her voice and the drumbeat driving towards the flourish of the chorus. It’s a song Asciel’s been saving - been holding dear, been revising, but it can’t stop bursting out. Her hands part - with yet more fervor that the Macross cannot contain - that it was never meant to contain - that she will, nonetheless, make it express. Make it hers.
<<Because it is me now. And I must extend its capability to the fullness of my spirit. I must not let this hold me back. I will find every last limit, and overcome it. I will seek every last light, and I will harbor it.
<<I was meant to sing like this. I was meant to sing for all of you! Some way - somehow - all of you will hear this! I know it - I have decided it for you!~
<<And it will be on my own stage - with my own light - with my own voice!!!!
Someday you’ll hear the promise that I made - and the stars will cease to shine <Only you>
The hope you needed endless years ago - it’s the pain that will be mine <Only me>
So you never ever made it through your endless path - every voice that’s had enough <Only you>
<It’s okay> <It’s alright> Now the one you’ll love
<Only me>
Fingers splayed - Asciel buzzes with excitement, straining her arms just to cover her ‘face’ - testing just what kind of range her new prize has in the wake of her song trailing off. It takes a twisting of hatches only really meant for shifting this thing from ship to humanoid - she’s taking note of every last one that may need to be reinforced. Everywhere that could even reinforce it - she’s stolen this thing, and space is big and dark - but it’s not like a Macross-class ship is anything close to easy to hide away from prying eyes.
“”I wrote this song just for you. It’s special to all of you. It’s special to me. …Finally getting to know how it turned out is filling me with so much-””
Asciel’s back twists upwards, one arm reaching skyward, over her head - (the head that will need to be made to look like her) - and towards the drifting swirl of nebulas and galaxies in the distance.
“”Amazing to stretch so freely. ♥reward♥ how did I ever tolerate anything so much smaller than this?””
Knees slightly bent - as though splaying across starlight. The song coursing through the Macross 13 fades into a longing, deep, croon of delight, one repeated enough to start making the hull itself vibrate with resonance. Asciel’s body thrums with pain and ecstasy alike - the stars dotting the inkiness of space seem to dance and swirl. Where once they seemed distant, here, now that she’s become an ark meant to traverse them, they feel almost like they’re bathing her.
“”...to me, these stars- they’re closer than you can imagine. I can practically feel how this body yearns to ‘leap’ towards them - ah, the tragedy that I can’t yet savor that feeling for myself. But there’s nothing there for everyone else. You don’t need to burn this planet up just to reach there. It’s finally going to stop. I’m so much closer to making sure of it. I’m brimming with love-
“”Ahhhhh…don’t you feel it? Every inch of me burns to take care of you. To protect you. You’re safe now!~”” Whether she’s addressing Ai directly, or simply vocalizing some errant, wistful thought with all this…she never distinguishes to begin with.
“”Unfortunately, I do need more. This will not be a form that is so hospitable for long, sadly. There is too much sunlight that needs sheltering. What do I need to grasp next…?””
In her backwards arcing, a vivid white circle peeks from the top of Asciel’s vision. That’s right - the moon. This cursed moon that first crazed humanity with the idea that there’s some land worth conquering beyond their own - yet, which somewhere deep inside, they knew was a land they were not fit to prosper in. It’s too ‘pure’ for them - it’s too ‘wild’ for them. This was only a domain for higher order beings - and yet they’ve infected it all the same.
<<...ah, you’ve done worse than that. You’ve transformed it into something you should never, ever have the capacity to harbor.
Asciel’s titanic hand drifts along Luna’s surface - the circular gemstone of Copernicus City. Then, further down - a place difficult to detect, a place forbidden by human trespass - but which, by definition, must be on this bright side of the moon-
“”There it is. The receiver for a weapon which would devastate the Earth several times over. A pure and vivid monument to every mistake of humanity. A fortress whose presence yet lurks as a budding calamity.
“”D.O.M.E., and the light of ruin you threaten with every moonlit night. Position 5 on the Calamity Assessment rating. I think it’s soon finally time to break your silent shell with my song.~””