Elli without the blood so you can see her better :D

Sm-8 is where everything went to shit. That was the worst day for the COI and for Ava. We don’t know how old she is, I say she’s in her mid to late 30s during the movie. SM-8 happened maybe three years ago at most. That memory is fresh. Comparably to everything else. The silent rapture itself happened thirty years ago. The COI became what it now is twenty five years ago when denial died out in the last of the hopeful.

Ava became Captain three years ago. She and Elli were close, close to the point that they were dating in secret. They were different ranks, Elli being the captain and Ava being probably the same rank as David. She would be the next in the line of command should anything happen.

Elli was one of the new hopefuls. They would survive. They would sustain themselves. They would go out to the stars again. She was passionate but also deeply fearful that rarely showed. Some people didn’t take her seriously because she took the smallest sign of life, of possibility, as a chance they had to take. Others were at the mercy of the universe only able to do what will get them by. People are DYING- but Elli she would go down there herself next time because she saw something. She saw hope. She saw a light.

The whole crew was there when things began to go wrong. The radio was better than it is in the movie but it still could only penetrate so much blood. They heard things, pain and desperation but the chains snapped. Ava was where they looked for guidance and she had to bite back all the ways she wanted to go down herself. There wasn’t another sub. They weren’t prepared for this. The sm-8 was all they had. They had built it and improved it, little by little in each dive as they learned more.

This was the only avenue for hope, for Elli’s hope. Ava wanted to believe in that hope, even if she would kill herself for it too. For now, she could only hope that the ship might come back. Of course it didn’t. Ava made the rule not to send anyone else down that they knew. There were prisoners. Those were expendable because they were a risk. Wasted resources.

PEOPLE ARE DYING. WE DONT HAVE ENOUGH LEFT.

Don’t learn their names. Prioritize the ship not the person. If they die that’s fine as long as the ship is fine. We have to find the light. It’s bigger than us. It’s not about us. The light was real and Elli-

The convict found the sm-8? The black box works?

To hear her voice one more time. It would be selfish. It would be reckless. Everything would be thrown away if it didn’t work. They had a backup sub. She had to go. The convict- Simon- he reminded her of Elli. He had hope, it was with claws and teeth and desperate pleas- but it was hope and one she could understand in her own language.

It is bigger than us and yet we are oh so human. The information is so vital to them all but she has to go and get it herself.

And Elli knows shes there but Elli isn’t her anymore. The gorgeous woman that Ava fell head over heels with had her voice stolen, assimilated. To mourn humanity, to mourn love that is displaced in a mind beyond human thought. Augh.

She smiles fondly when she hears Ellana laugh from the shore, flinging water back at Farah in a futile attempt at retaliation of being splashed. Well, drenched by the looks of things.

She takes a sip of her ice-filled drink - Ellana’s fretting insistence because she knew how sensitive she was to the heat of the midday sun - savouring the feeling of coolness as it spreads through her chest.

“It's hot! I need a break,” Ellana laughs, Farah splashing her again as she leaves the water. “Sure you do lover girl.” “You forget that some of us don’t heal from sunburn so easily.”

“You humans,” Farah sighs dramatically following Ellana as she walks towards them. “But if you wanna use that as an excuse for that adorable little blush every time you -” “Shut-up,” Ellana huffs, pushing Farah playfully.

Ava watches appreciatively as Ellana walks towards her across the sand. Long hair curled by saltwater, skin flushed by her time in the sun. No doubt there will be new freckles on her cheeks and shoulders for her to find and appreciate, to memorise.

The curves of her lithe and muscular body were accentuated by a simple black bikini. Ellana wasn’t a vain woman but she knew she took pride in the body that she worked hard for. She most certainly wasn’t about to complain about being given a rare chance to appreciate it so openly. Outside of the confined privacy of dimly lit bedrooms and steam-filled bathrooms.

Ellana was a beautiful woman, despite how often she protested at being called such.

“You know if little miss sunshine smiled at me like that I’d never want to leave her side,” Morgan snorts, exhaling a cloud of smoke that sours the sea air.

“I don’t plan to,” Ava replies quietly, fussing with a wrinkle in her shirt absently. “Hey you,” Ellana smiles warmly sliding into her lap. The heat of her body, the feel of her bare skin beneath her fingers - her hands seem to move on instinct, gravitate towards Ellana whenever they’re close enough to be drawn into her orbit - a comfort that she pulls closer despite the heated air around them.

“You’re wet,” Ava huffs affectionately, salty water seeping through the linen of her pants, cooling the place where their bodies touch.

“Not something you normally complain about,” Ellana murmurs quietly, kissing her cheek with a knowing grin. Though not quietly enough if Morgan and Farah’s snorts of laughter are anything to go by.

“Lana,” Ava flushes, half-heartedly admonishing her for her teasing words. Her blush grows at the memory of the words she herself had uttered in the small hours of the morning when it was just the two of them, together in the most intimate sense of the word.

“Sorry.” Ellana’s weight shifts as she moves to stand up but Ava’s hands on her waist stills her in her motion.

“It's fine,” Ava smiles reassuringly. “I don’t mind.”

Ellana’s only reply is a grin, but Ava knows her well enough to know exactly what she’s thinking and rolls her eyes in return. “Are you sure I can’t tempt you into swimming with me? It's a shame to drive all the way to the beach and only just look at the water.” “I’m happy watching from here,” Ava reassures her.

And she was. The light-hearted happiness of Farah and Ellana as they swam amongst the rolling waves, Ellana teaching Farah how to bodysurf, how to pick the best waves that bought them back to shore.

Nat, reading something for once that wasn’t research, a book that she had bought almost a century ago that had been looked after with utmost care. Humming an old tune that reminded her of a lifetime ago. That she was willing to spend her time so close to the source of so many painful memories spoke volumes for the affection she had for the youngest of their team.

Morgan’s usual chain of cigarettes has all but stopped, the occasional flick of her lighter sharp in the breeze and birdsong. An unspoken sign that she was at ease, didn’t need to drown out her senses with the burn of a cigarette.

Ellana sighs, resting her head on her shoulder. Ava’s arms wrap around her almost on instinct, pulling her closer. Keeping her steady, safe in her lap.

Ava was contented by the knowledge that her small family was enjoying the rare downtime that they had been allowed by the Agency. Was happy that they were happy. A day at the beach wasn’t something that she would have considered as her ideal day of rest, but Ellana had insisted when she had found out that Farah had never seen the ocean. And try as she might Ava couldn’t find it in herself to refuse.

But she was glad for it, if only for the opportunity to see Ellana so light-hearted and carefree. So at ease.

“As long as you’re happy,” Ellana yawns, exertion and the heat of the sun clearly taking a toll on her.

Ava smiles softly, affection pulsing in her chest as she pulls Ellana closer to settle against her. Damp hair seeps through her shirt but she doesn’t mind in the slightest.