Mable: My new fic. I'm trying something a bit different. I usually finish a fic before I post it, but decided to post the first chapter beforehand for my own reasons. I don't own 9, enjoy!

Seventh Degree Burns

Chapter One: Ignite

It was morning from the way that light was coming in through the curtain. Lights in the hall had already been lit by an early rising Stitchpunk and signaled that it was time to embrace a new day. Seven knew it was time for her to get up and began to stretch herself out. In this moment an arm linked around her waist and someone nuzzled into her neck, "Good morning." Nine, of course, and Seven smiled, "Good morning, Nine. Did you sleep well?" Nine nodded against her.

This wasn't a new event; the two had been secretly sharing a bed for a while now. In fact, they were sharing more than a bed, they also shared kisses and pets when nobody looked. Hand holding and cuddling were also mixed in with this arrangement. So far, they had been becoming more and more comfortable with each other to the point that they had told Five about their arrangement. She had a feeling that Five was expecting their relationship to blossom as he hadn't been too surprised.

Seven rolled over and pressed into his zippered chest lovingly while his arms enveloped the female's smaller frame. Stroking over her partially missing number that had been covered by patches from past fights with beasts. It wasn't the only scar she held, but perhaps the most important one. A copper hand traced over it and brought her back to reality. "Someone might catch us." She teased; knowing that if she wasn't up early enough that the twins would come to look for her. At this Nine finally released her with a small chuckle. "Alright, alright." He started to climb out of bed, "I release you, Milady."

Apparently the twins had been reading too many of those fairy tales with Nine nearby, as he was picking up words. She shook her head and smiled playfully as she watched him somewhat stumble to the door, already knowing that her male companion wasn't very agile in the mornings. Though he'd still awaken early to move into his own room to keep what they were hiding secret for yet another day, and looked back now as he did every morning. His optics landing on her form as she lay in bed, "I love you." He'd say softly before he'd disappear through the curtain.

At this point she'd begin her day. The Warrior had a morning ritual of getting out of bed, making the bed, inspecting her armor, and then getting armed in it to embrace the day that was to come. She knew what day it was and knew that there was a change in her normal schedule. Once a week, every week, Seven would get together with the only other Stitchpunk who was willing and able to spar with her, Eight. They'd usually be out in the Emptiness for an hour going as hard as they could; she knew that if anyone could, Eight could take what she was able to assault upon him. It was tiring, but necessary if she wanted her skills to be sharpened against the Beasts.

After Seven was completely armed she ventured out into the rest of the Sanctuary. She was almost overtaken by the twins who took this time to dash by her being quickly followed by Two. The scene somewhat surprised the Warrior who decided to call to the older male, "Two?" At this time, Two had managed to catch Four and held the twin playfully, but turned back to the female, "Oh, Seven, good morning!" He released the male twin who was soon given a new direction, "You two go hide again, I'll be right there." The two soon ran off and Two turned to Seven, "We were just playing a bit."

"How are your legs?" Seven asked, hoping that Two hadn't managed to hurt his legs in the process of running. "Fine. They work even better than my old ones." He said with a smile as he glanced in the twins' direction, "And it helps the twins too. It is good that they read as much as they do, but sometimes they need to stretch their legs and have fun." The Warrior smirked, "You know what One says about fun." Two chuckled too, "The same thing he says about me running, but I still attempt it when he isn't in the room." With that, he gave a wave of farewell, and took off after the twins again.

Seven was relieved to see Two in such good health. They worried that after the Incident Two would become frailer, but it seemed to give him new life, and seemed to inspire others to have the new view on life as well. Two was always one to inspire though. In fact, it was a sign that today would be a good day, and as such she headed to find Eight. When he wasn't in the throne room, though, she realized that he was in his own room, as One was obviously not awake yet. That was a shock, but a relieved one as well. She headed through the doorway back behind the throne and down the hall.

One had his chambers at the end of the hall by Two's; it was obvious why, but nobody decided to point out to him how their 'secret' relationship was absolutely not a secret. Her own with Nine, though, was, but was only temporary. Soon they were to reveal to the others of their love and were only waiting for a little longer after the incident to do so. Eight's room wasn't too close to One's, so Seven was able to arrive into Eight's room without stirring the leader.

The second she walked through the door she saw that Eight was already awake, already wearing his shoulder guards, and was sharpening his knife while sitting on his bed. He was facing the other way and Seven glanced over his back. There was no number as his was located on his arm. She didn't know why she was staring at his back, but it certainly wasn't the first time she found herself watching him almost curiously, but she shook it off. "Eight," She spoke, leaning against the doorframe, "Ready to go?" He glanced back, "I thought you were still asleep." The Warrior smirked, "Oh? Do you need more private time with your knife?" The other retorted as he stood, "I get enough of that at night. Come on, I'm ready."

"Ready to be taught a few things about sparring?" She taunted and Eight seemed determined, "Last time was just a coincidence. I hadn't got much sleep." They exited the room together and Seven led the guard out into the throne room where she glanced over to see Nine and Five speaking. Nine knew that she and Eight had sparring events every once in a while and waved, she waved back, and then the healer waved a bit too. Eight raised a stitched eyebrow, but gave a nod of a greeting as he followed the female into the bucket lift. He took the liberty to operate the crank and lower then into the house below.

The New Sanctuary had been located in the area above a small, still standing house. This left it safe from beasts and almost completely obscured if a Winged Beast occurred. Still, though, Eight and Seven tested fate by entering the Emptiness to train. It was easier to be in the environment they knew they'd have to fight in later. Dangerous, untamed, and just how the two liked to do such. The sun was masked behind a thick sea of clouds and signaled rain later on. The two found the usual are that was somewhat cleared and faced each other in preparation. A second of bracing, waiting…

Seven was always the first to strike. She was fast and seemed to glide across the ground towards Eight who always fended off the spear's blow with his knife. The sound of metal against metal was deafening and retorted with Eight bringing down his weapon hard. She dodged with a roll to the side; knowing that his brute strength was dangerous when making contact. He was also in the same danger though and had to always make sure to move to face her, less she leap upon him from behind. She, instead, decided to quickly attack again. Impaling inward, the spear almost hit its mark, but Eight managed to move just in time. Spinning around, managing to get behind Seven, and going to hit her with his knife.

She managed to leap out of the way before the handle was brought down and she glared a bit. Eight only began using his handle when he was positive he'd get a hit in, so he wouldn't really harm her, and it infuriated her to think that he already believed he was prevailing. The emotions managed to trigger more strength and she jumped forward again, this time she tricked him by faking an attack and jumping to the side so that she could get past his shield. Instead of getting him with the spear, she swept her leg under his, and caused him to stumble. Instead of falling, like last time, he recovered and managed to get ahold of her spear in an attempt to hold her in place.

There was this weird feeling that Seven had never felt before. She felt slightly defenseless, overpowered, and there was something else that liked this bizarre feeling of submission. Never had another ever challenged her like Eight had, and never had she felt completely at another Stitchpunk's mercy. She soon realized she was staring at him again, through her helmet, and she was watching her as well. His expression was completely unreadable and soon he released her spear. Seven recovered by taking a step back and leaping again towards him. He was prepared and stepped back so that she would go by him instead of hitting him.

Then he was again coming at her, knife being carried, and Seven backed away. Even though her spear was up in defense, something kept her from fighting him off though, that same feeling from before. That's when she fought the feeling and struck back, as hard as she could, spear hit knife, knife was drawn up, spear wrestled it back down, knife was abruptly dropped, hands were suddenly on her arms, and her hands limply dropped her spear. They were both panting softly, pumped up and ready to attack, and yet she couldn't move as he slowly lifted her helmet before letting it drop onto the ground.

She should've known that something was coming. Every sparring practice had left both of them feeling awkward, not to mention the horrific incident last time when she fell upon him, but this was the first time that Eight showed any expression that he was perhaps feeling the strange warmth as she did. She was shaky and as one of his hands touched her cheek she wanted to react, but couldn't.

Then Eight's mouth crashed against hers.

All of the pent up energy was being released in a single gesture and Seven couldn't express how absolutely amazing it felt. She knew immediately that it was wrong, she was betraying Nine, but as she felt her body being steered she couldn't stop it, or him. They didn't stop until they were in a darker area, a covered area, and Seven could see out the corner of her optic that they were under the abandoned motor vehicle in front of the house of the New Sanctuary. His hands now moved, one on her back, over the half destroyed number that was her, and the other tracing over the soft fabric of her cheek.

She put her hands up to push away, but they betrayed her, and soon she had one arm around his neck pulling him closer while the other hand was rested on his strong arm. It was so different, so energetic, and the boiling warmth in her chest was bubbling out onto her own actions. The kiss was broken briefly, and she was the one to reunite them after a few pants for air. Uncontrollable, undeniable, and then everything changed when his one hand went down to her toggle and played with it a bit before beginning to open her. He soon had trouble doing so with one hand and moved his other hand to help it. Before he could do so, she finally separated herself from him, but only long enough to open herself.

There was no turning back once Seven was tugging at Eight's own buckles with a need she had no idea she needed. Her mind and reasoning seemed to be both absent. He was open too and then the rest seemed to be so sudden yet never ending. The glowing lights that signaled their souls bonding together lit the underside of the vehicle and was nearly blinding. Not nearly as blinding as the pleasure was. A gasp, a cry, and begging plea; Seven repeated the cycle over and over as Eight brought her to incredible heights of pleasure.

It wasn't until it was over and they were lying there, together, on the ground, that she realized exactly what she had done. She couldn't say a thing to explain the event. Not unlike him, as he seemed to be in shock as well, and couldn't say anything either. They did communicate though, in their actions. She moved against him, nearly cuddling against his side and resting upon his chest. His arm encircled her and held her, petting over her back; perhaps he was afraid that he had hurt her. It wouldn't be an unreasonable thought as he was much larger than she was. He wasn't what bothered her though.

Seven knew this was the worst possible thing she could've done. She was with Nine, they had kissed, they had shared a bed for many nights, and then she soul bonded with another. At the same time, though, she felt good though. There had always been that tension between Seven and Eight that had finally reached a startling and thrilling peak. It was like all of the complex pieces of Seven's puzzling existence were, for a small time, put together into one. It left her completely mixed and confused. Whether or not she regretted this couldn't be determined. While she said, and believed, that she regretted it, there was still that small bit that said she didn't.

Eventually she fell asleep and awoke later on. By time Seven's optics opened again, it was raining, and she became concerned at how long they had been out there. She shook Eight, "Eight, we have to go." The Guard awoke slowly, "What?" The Warrior continued, "The others- They'll notice we never got back." Eight immediately sat up as well. They both managed to pull themselves together; closing themselves and retrieving their armor and weapons from wherever they dropped them. Then they headed back into the house. It had surely been a few hours by now with how exhausted Seven had been and how long she must have slept.

They didn't speak in the lift and when arriving into Sanctuary they could see that One was now awake and sitting upon his throne. He looked over at them and seemed a bit questioning, "You were gone long." Seven had already been thinking of an excuse on the way and voiced it. "I went out to scout around. Eight said he waited by the lift for me to return." It had its desired effect as One seemed to assume that Eight was probably using his magnet downstairs while Seven was out. "Yes, fine." Instead he seemed to be thinking of something else so he wasn't paying much attention to them.

Seven shot Eight a look, a hesitant look, before starting to head back to her room. She knew he watched her the entire time the crossed the room until she disappeared from his sight. At this time the previous feeling that told her the event was worth it disappeared. Instead she now felt nothing but guilt, and felt unclean. Not to mention a horrific paranoia that crept upon her. She tried to adjust everything so that nothing would be noticed as being off, less someone immediately assume the worst and find the truth. Two and Five were talking in the workshop as she passed and she was relieved to not see Nine. After this incident, she just wanted to hide in her room.

Busying herself with working on armor, moving the items around in her room, doing anything at all other than leaving, Seven managed to bypass the rest of the day. Eventually it became nighttime and she knew this by the twins going into their room and going quiet; a sign that they had gone to sleep. As soon as she felt the slightest bit tired, she stopped everything and blew out her candle before crawling into bed. She pulled the covers up tight and tried to keep out the cold along with the thoughts that told her that she could never take back what she had done.

She knew she couldn't. She had soul bonded with Eight, even when she was with Nine, and it was unfixable. Just when she thought she could force herself to fall asleep she heard footsteps. Then there was the sound of a Stitchpunk sneaking into her room. She knew it was Nine and wished that he wasn't here to remind her of what she did. "Hey." He whispered as he lay beside her in bed, "Are you still awake?" She nodded, "Yeah, Nine, I am." At that Nine came closer and wrapped an arm around her waist like this morning, "I didn't see you today after you got back."

Seven quickly remembered her excuse to One earlier, "After Eight and I sparred I went out into the Emptiness for a while… I was a bit tired so I just found things to do around here, close to bed." Nine gave her a small kiss on the cheek, "Then I should let you rest." He released a small yawn himself, "Goodnight, Seven, I love you." She replied quietly, to hide the sad tone, "I love you too." Because she knew that tomorrow she would have to speak to Eight about what happened, and she didn't know if she would have any more restraint than she had today.

She had a horrific feeling that what happened would repeat again; horrified and yet intrigued.

Mable: I hope you enjoyed!