Who's Ben?
Chapter 1: The Creator's Lab
I do not own 9, 7, 3, or 4!
This takes place immediately after the battle was won. The four survivors have just now returned home.
The steady rain tapped on the library's roof and trickled in through the holes to form puddles. The four stitchpunks sought refuge deep inside; in the globe once held atop the hands of statues. The twins scurried around nervously, flashing their lights at each other while 7 and 9 sat side by side, observing the painting of the world's past. "Do you think it will ever be this beautiful again?" 7 asked sadly.
"Over time," 9 started, " the rain will bring life back. I'm sure it will look this way again." He stood and extended his hand to help her up.
"Maybe we should do something to help it along." 7 suggested as she stood. "I'm sure the Creator has something in his lab that could help."
"We need to give the rain some time. It will do its job." He reassured as he grabbed her hand. "Come on. We should rest." The couple withdrew from the painting and headed further back to get some "sleep".
7 found it difficult to rest not knowing whether all their hard work would bear fruit. She had to know if the world would change. She had to know for sure. These thoughts drove her as she left the library and disappeared into the rain to search for answers.
9 awoke the next morning and immediately realized 7's absents. "7?" He searched the whole library for her but saw no sign. The twins woke up to 9 shaking them wildly. "7 is missing." 3 and 4 looked at each other worriedly. "We need to go look for her. I think I know where she might be..."
7 stared up at the Creator's laboratory. "There needs to be some answers in there." She slipped thought the door that was left ajar and continued towards the room where 9 awakened. Without one glance at the Creator's dead body, she instantly began searching.
On the floor, she found nothing but diagrams of the Great Machine and the stitchpunks. She pulled herself up onto the desk and started rummaging through the books and papers strewn about. One diagram confused her; a picture of another stitchpunk. One she'd never seen before. "Hm..." Nothing else on the desk interested her. She looked around and spotted another room further back. She leaped off the desk and started towards the door. It was easy to open and she took one step only to see it was just a closet. "Nothing!" Angrily, she kicked a broom that was propped up against the wall. The broom fell over onto a shelf and knocked its contents onto the floor. 7 stepped back to avoid a shoe box which landed beside her. The box rolled off towards the Creator and its lid fell off, revealing a small five-fingered hand. "Huh?" She curiously approached the box and stood in front of the small body inside. "Another one of us?" She turned the blue stitchpunk over and saw its number on its back. "Number 10, huh?" The body didn't move. "Is he... alive?"
"7!" She spun around to see 9, 3, and 4 approaching her. "7 are you alright?" 9 stopped as he saw the shoe box. "Who's that?"
"I... don't know." 7 turned to the body again. "Its number is 10. That much I know. I found a diagram of it on the desk. It might help to have it." The twins were way ahead of her and were already cataloguing it. They hopped off the desk with the picture in their hands. They hustled over to 7 flashing their lights into her eyes. "What is it?" They glanced at the body then back at her. "You want us to take it with us?" The twins nodded and held up the diagram, flashing at it. "Oh." 7 looked over at 9 who didn't seem to want anything to do with this. "What do you say, 9?"
"I say we leave it here." He crossed his arms in mid-sentence. "It's been here this whole time and it can stay here."
"What? We should help it."
"It's obviously dead. Don't you see?" He gestured toward the motionless body. "What's the point?" 3 and 4 shook their heads in disagreement. They held the picture to 9's face.
"They know something. We should trust them." 7 worriedly looked into 9's eyes.
"... If you say so. But, I don't see how we can help it." They put the stitchpunk back into the box and worked together to carry back to their "home".
The next day, the twins presumed their cataloguing of the picture and number 10. 7 sat beside them, wondering what they knew about it. "3, 4." They turned at the sound of their names. "What about it made you want to take it with us?" The twins looked into each other's eyes, flashing randomly. 4 pulled 3 over to a wall and 3's eyes projected the diagram. 7 stared at it, confused. "I already saw the picture. What about it?" The projection zoomed into a bunch of words near the bottom of the paper. "Huh?" 7 tried to read it as it zoomed but it wasn't clear enough. Once it came into sight, she gasped. "To Complete Us?" She looked at the twins in disbelief. "What does that mean? To Complete Us?" The twins scurried over to the body. They opened its snaps and pulled out a talisman surprisingly similar to the one that had awakened The Machine. 7 reflexively jumped away in fear.
"What is that?" 9 asked as he entered the room. "What are you guys doing?" He snatched the amulet from the twin's hands. "Do you want to start this all over again?" 3 and 4 pried at his hand trying to get the talisman back.
"Give it back to them, 9. They know what they're doing." They stared at 9 sadly.
"But..." His grip weakened and the twins took the talisman. "Wait." They placed it on the floor and started pressing the symbols written on it. Suddenly, it popped open with a green glow. 3 and 4 pushed the others behind a book and peeked out from the side. "What's going on?" 9 and 7 also peeked at the amulet as the glow intensified. A green stream shot out from the talisman and slipped into the stitchpunk's open chest.
"Whoa..." The light diminished until it completely disappeared. "Is it safe now?" The four of them emerged from behind the book and approached the body.
"Is it alive?" 3 and 4 ran over and catalogued it. They nodded. "Really? It isn't moving..."
"Ugh..." 9 and 7 gasped as the blue stitchpunk sat up. "Who are you calling it?"