People change over time, that's an undeniable fact. Well, not just people. Perhaps it's the soul that changes and it changes when met with different situations and people over a long period of time. Everyone had changed after the Machine had been destroyed, and who wouldn't change after what had happened. Any human would be traumatised going through what they had experienced.

The most obvious and significant improvement was One. He was still rather short-tempered and grumpy but he was a bit more accepting than before. He'd become quite reclusive after he'd awoke but the others were having none of that. They dragged him outside and made him try new things in a hope to get him to open up a bit more. He'd joined them, rather reluctantly, but after a while he did become his normal self.

He was still skeptical about letting them roam out in the open but one look from Seven was enough to convince him. Every time she gave him that look it felt like she was going to bring up the past again and again. He was...ashamed to say the least. He hated bringing up the past.

He'd always felt that he knew what he was doing. As a leader, he knew what he was doing and how he should go about doing it. It was only after Nine came along that he began to doubt his own leadership skills. Nine was merely a day old and already he had made a huge step with facing the problem of the machines. He was naturally intelligent, similar to Two. He also had good instincts as well, which led to him making good, albeit risky, decisions.

One had abandoned his instincts. They always led to trouble.

He was suspicious by nature and very cautious, unlike Two who was far too trusting and carefree. He had always secretly envied his attitude to life. He had a permanently positive attitude and upsetting him was hard. Unlike him, who was negative, cynical and easily angered. He had to admit though. He'd become a bit more relaxed.

Some days, however, he was in a permanently bad mood. Sometimes he wouldn't know he was in a bad mood but if the twins ran away the moment he walked into the room, he knew. He wondered sometimes if he was really that...scary? The twins wouldn't hang around him too long and Six, despite becoming a bit more confident, was still wary about being around him.

Seven also didn't trust him and frankly, he wasn't surprised. Even now he still believed she had overreacted at times in the past (and he had to admit he wasn't...entirely blameless) but she probably wouldn't admit it. At the moment, they were on civil terms but there was no guarantee that it was stable. Nonetheless, he was perfectly happy staying away from her.

Sometimes, it wasn't that easy.

The twins jumped up from their books and scurried to the door, signalling Seven's arrival home. Her and Nine were chatting and she was rolling her optics with a smirk. The others gathered to welcome them back.

"Welcome back, you two. How was your trip?"

"It was fine. We got back without a hitch, but..." Nine began sniggering and Seven looked rather embarrassed. "...Seven mistook a pile of trash for a beast." He said, with a chuckle. Seven rolled her optics in mock annoyance but she smiled widely. There was a chorus of laughs from the others. One raised a brow.

"Can't have been the first time you've done that." He commented, dryly. He meant no offense but he couldn't help himself. Seven crossed her arms, watching him with her sharp eyes. "You can't talk. You jump the moment something looks remotely threatening." She jabbed. One felt he should have seen that coming. "Anything can hurt you out here. I'm just more cautious than you. Running off headlong into danger." He shook his head. "You really should know better."

By then, most of the stitchpunks had left to go back to whatever they were doing, save for the twins. Seven shifted to lean on her right leg. "Well at least I had the initiative to do something about the problem instead of hiding." She spat. One frowned. "Sometimes hiding is necessary for survival. If we all went gallivanting around in the open like you, we'd all have died long ago."

"Hiding does not necessarily mean you're safe. Look what happened with the Winged Beast." One flinched. He'd rather not. "And anyway. I'm not saying hiding is bad but you can't spend your whole life doing it. I had to hide those two and keep them safe didn't I?" She said, gesturing to the twins.

"Oh yes, and taking them away from the group and into a building all by themselves is 'safe' is it?"

Seven's expression turned dark and the twins could feel a fight coming on. They tugged at her arms helplessly, silently begging her to back down.

"How is it any safer than the Cathedral? You had more of a chance to attract beasts with your pitiful whining." She growled. He was momentarily shocked. "Whining? Me? You were the one whining about the way I did things. Constantly." He retorted. He was seething by this point and she didn't look too different either. She scoffed. "Because you'd set Eight on anybody who refused to do as you said. The way you did things was unfair and cruel."

The last comment did not sit well with One, mostly because deep down he knew she was right, but he wasn't about to admit that.

"At the time, it..." He trailed. He couldn't say it was necessary, because really it wasn't. Setting that gorilla of a guard on someone like Six was overkill. He just groaned loudly, sighing. "...it seemed necessary." He finished.

"Seemed? So you're admitting it was wrong?" She said in sarcastic disbelief. "I admit it wasn't particularly necessary but at least I can admit when I'm wrong." He sneered. "Yeah about half a year too late. And what about all the other things you've done that you thought was 'necessary'." She snapped.

"Don't you dare bring that up now. I've made my apologies. It's over." He said, dangerously. "Bullshit! Sometimes apologies just don't cut it. I mean, how could you send Two out to die? He's one of the most valuable out of all of us. If it wasn't for him, we'd have nothing!" She yelled. One flinched. He knew she'd bring that up. Why'd she have to bring that up?

"Because at the time, he'd have slowed us down. He nearly went and got himself killed countless times before that!" He retorted. "Like the time you were willing to abandon Five? You'd have let them both die without giving a damn!" She spat. "Because you were too scared to risk your own life to help them!"

"Fear is a perfectly natural reaction! I'm not like you; I don't just go waltzing off into danger!" He shouted back. The twins were quaking at this point, clinging onto Seven like their life depended on it. "No, you just hide behind everyone else because you're a fucking coward!"

"Shut up!"

"You just can't admit that you're a coward. You'd honestly let someone die so you could protect yourself?" She wasn't shouting now, but her voice was still quite hard. One took a step back, distancing himself in case she was to lash out suddenly. She'd done it before and she could easily do it again.

"I said shut the f-...Just be quiet! I don't want to hear it!" He growled, stopping himself before he could curse. He could see the twins flinch out of the corner of his optic.

"Well tough shit! Truth hurts." She responded. "But did you genuinely think that some of us had to be sacrificed? Just to keep the rest safe? Where's the logic in that?" One sighed, exasperatedly. How long was she going to drag on? "Like I've always said. Sometimes, one needs to be sacrificed to save the others."

"Yeah. Maybe One did need to be sacrificed. Shame his cowardice put the others in danger instead."

He didn't even flinch at the comment. He just felt...cold. It felt like his anger had frozen solid and was sitting, heavy, in his gut. He didn't respond. He just stared, before turning on his heel and walking off.

"Dick." Seven muttered, before stalking off with the twins in tow.

It was only until he had gotten to his room, had his anger spiked up; and more than it ever had. It wasn't even anger. It was rage, amplified, and he suddenly lashed out at anything that stood in his way, cursing as he did so. He couldn't help it. The cold, heavy feeling had been replaced by white hot rage and he was seeing red. He was lucky he room was so out of the way of the others, that they couldn't hear him yelling.

He stood back, taking deep breaths. He hadn't been this out of breath in a while and he looked down at the broken remains of a makeshift table and chair, along with a shelf that had been affixed to the wall. They lay, splintered, at his feet. He clenched his fists tightly, before dropping to the floor.

She was right. He had been a selfish coward in the past and he wanted nothing more than to forget all about it. He dwelled on it after Two and Eight had died, but only now did the gravity of his actions hit him. He'd have actually left the others to die if he was given the chance. Two wouldn't have died in the first place if he hadn't sent him out to begin with; Nine might've even saved Five if he had let him go. He thought what he was doing was right. Was he really doing that for the others? He always thought he was doing things for the benefit of the majority but was he really just doing it for himself?

He heard the creak of the door opening slightly, along with a gasp. Two had probably chosen the wrong moment to find out what that crashing was. "O-One?" He practically squeaked. When One didn't respond, he tried again. "One, what happened?" He asked, stepping into the room. He reached out to put a hand to the older stitchpunks back, only for him to flinch and smack his hand away.

"Leave."

His voice was hoarse from the yelling and he was still seething. Two looked between the pile of splinters, and One, unable to determine what happened. "But...One are you okay?"

"I said, leave me alone." He reiterated. Two knew he should probably go but...he couldn't just leave him like that. If he broke all of this, he might've sustained an injury. "One, I'm serious!"

"Just piss off!" He yelled, suddenly. Two actually jumped and recoiled quickly. He'd never seen the leader get so mad he'd say something like that. What was he supposed to do? Why was he so angry? "What happened? Why on earth are you so angry?" He asked. He tried to sound demanding but One was too intimidating. One just let out a frustrated growl instead of responding, getting up and stalking off to the other side of the bed, before sitting down.

Two decided to clear up a bit of the mess, pushing it to one side to be disposed of later. He eyed One while doing so, concerned. "Did you get into a fight? We thought we heard shouting." He asked, trying to sound casual. "Was it with Seven?"

His silence was enough to confirm so, along with the darkening of his expression the moment 'Seven' was mentioned. Two sighed, padding across to the bed and sitting down. "What were you fighting about?" He asked, gently.

"Nothing. It doesn't matter." He said, sharply. Two realised this wasn't going to be easy. "You don't have to tell me, but keeping it in won't help." He advised. One had his head bent down so he could see no signs of acknowledgement from him. "Nonetheless, I'm here if you need me." He continued, "I'll listen for as long as you like, so don't hesitate to lean on me, alright?" He shifted, to leave but he could hear One raise his head.

He didn't look mad anymore. In fact, he didn't look like anything. His face held emptiness. That was definitely worrying.

"One? Are you okay?" He asked slowly. One slowly nodded his head, but his face said otherwise. Two decided to sit on the other side, so he could be near One. He didn't look well at all. "What started the fight then?" He figured he had to start somewhere.

"I suppose it was just banter that got out of hand." He muttered. That sounded likely. "How out of hand?" He asked, curiously. One shrugged. "It doesn't matter right now. It was just an argument that..." He stopped, looking down at his feet before looking up at Two.

"I'm sorry."

That was unexpected. Two wasn't sure how to react. "Why are you apologising to me? You didn't do anything wrong." He chuckled, albeit nervously. "Why do you think? For sending you out to die." He said, quietly.

"Oh, One. That's all behind us now. You've already apologised for your actions in the past, there's no need to do it again." He smiled. One didn't look convinced. "No amount of apologies could make up for the fact that I abandoned you on more than several occasions." He told the younger stitchpunk.

"I suppose not, but I forgive you, so it's alright! And I'm sure everyone else forgives you as well. After all, you were only doing what you thought was best at the time, for everybody. It's hard making the right decision under such pressure. I don't think I could stand it." He said, chuckling. One's expression didn't change, so he stopped.

"You don't forgive yourself, do you?" He asked, slowly. One's silence was enough to confirm his fears and he sighed, softly. He reached out to rub his back reassuringly. "It's not...just that, I suppose." One muttered. Two slid off the bed to join him on the floor, despite his protesting joints. "What else is it?" He asked, gently.

"I should've died to begin with."

Two couldn't stop his mouth from falling open. There was no way that the grumpy, arrogant stitchpunk they called their leader would ever say something like that. He didn't even know what to say. Everything just came out as a stammer. It took several tries for him to string words together to form a coherent sentence.

"W-What? W-Why would you say something like that?" He said, tripping over his own words. It upset him greatly that One would think like that, or anybody for that matter.

"It's funny isn't it?" He said, looking up at the ceiling, his face was twisted into something like amusement. Two found nothing funny about it but decided to hear him out anyway. "I never realised how ironic my own saying was. 'One must be sacrificed for the good of many'. If I'd been taken to begin with, the rest of you probably would've survived."

Two couldn't deny it was...unfortunate irony but he didn't believe the saying. Nobody had to be sacrificed to save anybody else and that was that. He couldn't help but feel bad for One. He'd never seen him with such a blank expression on his face.

"You really feel that way?"

He responded with a silent nod. Two couldn't even sigh. He didn't know what to do about the situation, which was unusual since he was so good at comforting people. After a while of silence, he spoke up.

"Don't go getting yourself involved. There's nothing you can do." He grumbled, and Two could tell he was slowly reverting to his grumpy self, which was a slight relief, despite his negative words.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. Did you really think I'd just stay out of it?" One rolled his optics. "You're such a busybody, honestly. Can't stay out of other peoples business, can you?" He huffed. "I suppose not." He chuckled, sheepishly. They sat in silence, together, for a little longer.

"Is that all you came for?"

"Well, I'm not done if that's what you mean." The younger said, sitting back on his hands. After being sat down for so long, his legs had gone stiff. "And when will you be done?" The older asked, impatiently. Two smiled shyly. "I'll be done, when you realise you are as important to this group as the rest of us. You made some mistakes, I admit, but you need to learn to forgive yourself, otherwise you'll never really move on. There's no point to your revival if you can't move on from the past. You'll never truly be living."

One stared at him.

"Oh, don't look at me like that! Come on, say it. 'I forgive myself!"

"No, are you stup-?!" He was cut off by Two grabbing his cheeks. "Say it 'I forgive myself', 'I forgive myself'." One thrashed around, trying to push the younger stitchpunk off of him, only for him to climb on top of him and pin him down. "Come on, say it!"

"Eh...fehk-!" He spat, trying to talk around Two's hands grabbing at his cheeks. "Hm? Speak louder, I couldn't hear you!" He laughed. One glared. "...'et go oh 'y fahe ahhhowe..." He snarled. Two pretended to be offended. "Such bad language, I expected better of you as our leader." He joked, but let go anyway. One cleared his throat, a slight green glow crossing his face.

"Now, are you going to say it?"

"No.

"Do I need to grab your cheeks again?" He said, with a mischievous smile as he held his hands out. One covered his face with his hands defensively and frowned. "F-Fine! I...forgive myself." He choked out. Two gave a satisfactory smile.

"Keep repeating it to yourself and soon, you really will. Promise me you will?"

"...I promise."

He leant over, pressing a kiss to his forehead, before getting to his feet, leaving One, rather dazed. He didn't realise what had happened until seconds later. "What was that?!" He shot up, clearly flustered.

"Think of it as...an incentive." He winked.

I had one of my violently angry fits recently and I wanted to write a rage fic. I wish I had my own Two to calm me down ._.