It was not a peaceful morning.
Not that Ollie would’ve had a great morning if this didn’t happen. But this ti, it wasn’t just an isolated case of him feeling like his world was trembling.
This ti, it was because the actual ground was shaking like rent was due and the landlord had backup.
Because sowhere between 5:50 and 6:00 a.m., a disaster decades in the making finally decided that today was the day to launch its career.
A resonant crystalquake.
What started out as a low, almost imperceptible hum, rising from the depths of the planet itself, started vibrating through the ground, the roads, and then the very floor panels of the dormitory complex.
Residents stirred. So blinked. Others shot up, hands over their ears. A few scread. A few cursed. At least one person probably cried.
Then a sharp, tallic twang rang out across the district like the planet had plucked its own nerve string.
The first tremor knocked decorations off counters and screens off walls. The second split the alloyed pavent like it was parchnt, sending jagged crystal spikes surging up through the ground, punching holes into the lower tiers of buildings.
Sirens shrieked. Floors buckled.
And the third? The third, which ca with a crystal faultline split, still did not wake Ollie Mylor, who only grimaced as he slept as if only mildly annoyed by the apocalypse.
Which was about when Kyle arrived.
Upon waking up to the blaring alarms, the ever-reliable and advanced thinking adjutant asked his Captain, who asked Luca if he could use CP to get to Ollie.
And that was how he made a beeline for one sleepyhead.
Then, with practiced efficiency, scooped up Ollie—blanket, star hairband, and questionable pillow in tow—while navigating a dorm room that he hoped wouldn’t shift sideways before they could properly exit.
The alarms outside were screaming.
And so was Ollie.
...Though only internally, as he was still too sleepy to find the vocal strength to match the urgency of being bridal-carried out of a crumbling building after he woke up because the dust was clogging his nose and throat
The air outside was colder than expected, sharp and biting against his cheeks as Kyle shot out of the dormitory, bypassing ergency checkpoints and heading straight for open ground.
Or rather, above it.
Because the mont they were clear of the debris range, Kyle summoned his cha with smooth precision, the cockpit lowering as if it had been waiting for him all morning.
And before Ollie could properly panic, he found himself in the familiar cockpit, seated between Kyle’s legs.
"Wh-What’s going on?!" he finally managed, clinging to his blanket like a lifeline.
Kyle, who was already adjusting the controls with calm focus, replied, "Unexpected crystalquake. Sorry, you had to wake up like that."
Ollie blinked at him, squinting as he rembered the question he was ant to ask earlier. "How did you get into the room?!"
The cha launched, thrusters lifting them above ground with a controlled hiss. Below, tremors rippled through the streets, fractured crystal veins glowing dangerously.
Kyle didn’t look away from the navigation feed. "I asked Luca to let teleport to you. Because I was aware that seismic disasters wouldn’t wake you up."
"...That’s fair," Ollie mumbled, then glanced down. Embarassed because he knew it was true. And with how he was dressed like this while Kyle was already in his uniform, he should really be thankful.
"T-Thank you," he squawked, unable to really look him in the eyes as he curled his toes.
"You’re welco, I’m surprised you’re already awake? And sorry, I didn’t have the ti to get all of your things."
"So for now, just use my coat for when we have to go down," Kyle said smoothly, already reaching behind the seat to drape the oversized garnt over him like a protective curtain. "Or you could also change in here if you want to do that. Just like before."
Ollie’s face burned.
As his other "brother", the blonde never thought it was a problem to randomly dress in front of this man.
But after yesterday...t-that was just impossible!
"Relax, I don’t bite." Kyle looked down, slightly amused because clearly there was a change in Ollie’s deanor.
Lies. He looked like a giant predator right now!
It should’ve sounded harmless, and should’ve made him feel better, but his tailbone practically shivered at this, causing him to wrap himself up with the coat that slled so distinctly of Kyle.
It was warm.
Which made everything worse.
"Wait—what about the others? Where are they?" Ollie asked as he tried to fix his fuzzy pajama pants beneath the coat, like it would help his dignity.
Kyle responded without pause, "Already deployed. Their chas launched during the first tremor."
"So, they’re safe, right?!"
"Yeah. They should be fine, we’ll just catch up after we check on this place."
The blonde nodded as he watched the different assessnt charts that Kyle was looking at.
"This is a crystalquake?"
The cha pilot glanced at the fluctuating seismic data. "Yes, it’s apparently a known phenonon. Happens every thirty or so years."
"And no one thought to warn about this?!" Ollie screeched, clutching the borrowed coat tighter.
"There are usually signs. Resonance builds. Faultline activity increases. Microquakes appear."
Kyle’s brows furrowed as he zood in on the latest readings.
"But this one showed none of that."
"That’s cheating," Ollie muttered.
"Yeah, we’ll have to see why we’ve got sothing that hasn’t happened in decades happen now."
But they didn’t have ti to dwell on the mystery as general assignnts flooded the holographic screen.
"Where are we going now?!" Ollie asked, clutching Kyle’s coat as if it could shield him from everything, including responsibility.
"The closest seems to be the Pharmacy dormitories, we could go check there after we do a final check here."
He banked the cha with practiced ease, angling down just enough for the sensors to sweep through the last of the male and female chanics’ dorms.
The scans rolled in. They were as expected, most of them in the male dormitories were on their way to the rooftops for the pods.
Unlike normal quakes, where it was better to look for open ground, people have to avoid contact where it’s possible for spikes to suddenly co out.
And as if the universe wanted to emphasize that exact point—
CRACK—BOOM!
Ollie whipped around in the cockpit just in ti to see a massive jagged spike rip up from the ground and tear through the side of the female chanics’ dormitory like a spear through paper.
Screams echoed from the building before them.
He gasped, mouth open in horror.
"Kyle—!"
"I see it."
Kyle’s expression turned sharp. His hands flew across the controls.
Inside the cockpit, Ollie’s eyes darted across the auxiliary scan, one hand flicking through the structural overlay of the dormitory as the cha stabilized outside the damaged wall.
"There—there!" he pointed. "That crystal spike blocked the ergency stairwell, but it’s beco a load-bearing cluster after taking out that original support! You can’t just destroy it!"
Kyle glanced over at him. "Then what?"
Ollie inhaled. "We have to make a new exit."
He tapped on the schematics again, dragging a circle around a section of the wall. "This segnt here—it’s part of the outer wall, but not structurally essential. If you breach it, you won’t trigger a collapse. I learned this during my construction stint at the do."
Well, he hoped he was right, but however he looked at it, that should work.
anwhile, Kyle simply nodded before adjusting their position, loudspeakers projecting a warning to the people inside.
"All students inside, back away from the north wall! Repeat—back away! We are opening an ergency exit!"
Screams quieted into scrambling.
Ollie kept the scan running, monitoring the shifting heat signatures as the cha’s arm locked into position before driving forward, tal fingers slicing through the marked section like a can opener through foil. Dust and shards of crystal and alloy spilled outward in bursts of pale blue sparks.
A stunned silence followed.
Then ca the shouts.
"Over here!"
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