Disclaimer Note: I don't own the movie nor story, 9. They, persons, places, and things, are all the sole property of Shane Acker, Tim Burton, and Timur Bekmambetov. Anyway, this story popped into my head and I thought about a better for the ending. It just didn't seem right to me.

9: Alternate Ending

We had such potential… such promise…

And yet in the end, we squandered our gifts; our intelligence.

Our blind pursuit of technology, had only sped us further to our destruction.

Our world is ending….

… but Life… must go on…

And so… 1-9... I created you… the Last remnants of Humanity… the very pieces of my soul…

You… shall protect the future…

The Professor,

August 29, 1937

The battlefield was intense, as the bomb shelter that the Fabricator, the spider-Cyclops housed body of the B.R.A.I.N that brought about the ruin of all life on the planet, had destroyed, erupted in a ball of flame. The explosion rocked the land all around, sending wood and rock scattering around the dead land. As the blast nearly shook everything. Being thrown away and crashing into the ground as they skidded into the dirt. They… were the last of one man's attempt to salvage life from the very beast that he unwittingly and helplessly unleashed onto the world. And they, in all best sense of the word, were his children or carriers of his soul. The last ones to carry his soul.

The four figure being thrown out of the explosion were four hand held rag dolls, or Stitchpunks as to what the humans had called them before they were all killed by the machine's deadly gas. They were no taller than a hand-held doll, and more advanced than anything at all. Creations made of a combination of modern science, and Dark Arts Alchemy of the Old Times. There were originally nine creations all, but now… there were only five left.

The first one was male due to his slim build and otherwise obvious model shape; his top was thin but strong, while his bottom half looked like they were puffy pants of sorts. His body was covered in a tight brown fabric, stitched on the arms and head, while tied at the wrists, ankles and neck. Both his hands and feet were well detailed; a combination of molded copper and carved wood. On the front of him was a zipper with the pull tip looking like a business tie of sorts. His eyebrows were stitched as well, and his eyes were lenses, and strapped to his right thigh by a thin piece of leather with a button made into a belt buckle, was one of the removable cutting tools that potters would use to engrave writing on their pottery. And on his back, written in thin ink, was the number 9.

The two that crashed into the ground were a bit smaller than the one numbered 9. They were only about a quarter inch smaller than 9, and were designed differently than him. They were of twin design as they were both made of what appeared to be gardening gloves for their whole bodies. Their frame was thin, from top to bottom, with only the legs a little puffy. Their feet made of wood, and their hands were made of thin steel, molded perfectly. There were two thin gold lines going down vertically. Behind him were two coat tails made of the thumbs of the gloves, that went down to the back of the legs, with a pocket on one side of the tail. Their head, which was light brown, also had the same lens eyes, stitched eyebrows with a lighter brown thread, and the same mouth as well, but their heads had blue tube sock hoods. One had the number 3 on the left side of their chest, while the other had the number 4 on the right side of the chest.

Another figure was another stitchpunk, only this time, it was a female. This was due to the fact that her body was designed into a slim and slender figure, more befitting of that of a female athlete. The fabric that was made for her skin was completely bleached out, probably due by the sun. she had on a bird's skull made into a mask, with a brown and light-colored feather that went down to her back, sewn into the back of her head, like a long ponytail. Sewn on top of her head were thin cotton strings, braided back into the feather and on the sides, hung loose like bangs, giving her a hairdo sewn to resemble braids of sorts. And sewn into where ears should have been, two small tooth earrings. Like the others, her hands and feet were copper steel and flexible jointed as well. Her thin eyebrows were sewn above her well-crafted thin lens eyes. Her front was held together by stitches, and by a green tab button on top of her right breast. And on her back, nearly ripped or faded away, was the number 7.

The blast had thrown her into a wooden beam, which was no bigger than a tall building to them. Striking against it, her helmet was thrown off, revealing her raven black sewn hair. Her helmet fell down, thrown aside, as the one called 7 slumped to the ground, nearly lifeless. The twins, 3 and 4, saw this as their twin faces both shared a look of shock and worry for their friend.

They immediately rushed over to her aid, as not far from them, the fifth Stitchpunk was crawling his way over to the sidelines and out of sight. This one was much out-dated than the other four. It was a male, but designed to look like he was an old man, probably mid 50s or 60s. His whole body from head to knees, was covered in a flexible stretchable khaki leather, held together from the chest, waist, and under the knees with belts. His knees were sewn in with knee pads made of the leather, and his face was sewn in the middle vertically, with a tied up tail on the top. The thighs were sewn together to resemble some sort of big puffy pants like you'd seen in that animated movie, Aladdin. His hands and feet were skeletal, meaning he was the first design ever. His lens eyes had squinted shutters, giving him a wise man look in them, or possibly a grouch of sorts. And on his back, was the number 1, indeed making him the first model of the Stitchpunks.

He crawled his way over to the side, making sure he stayed out of the way. As soon as he stopped and had himself seated up, he groaned as he cringed from a pain in his left hand. He brought it up to look at it, only to see that it had been caught in the explosion. Most of the fingers had been blown off, and his thumb and pinky were barely holding on.

He gasped in both pain and fear to seeing this, and groaned, 'Confound pieces of…!'

But his banter stopped as soon as he and the others heard a familiar angered roar. As 9 was getting up, he looked from the rubble of the collapsed tunnel shelter. The fiery ashes and burning wood began to be thrown or pushed off, giving freedom to the once mobile terror that plagued them all. The Fabricator had once again survived the explosion, as it did the first time. Its red eye glowed menacingly, as it looked at 9 in particular. It knew no emotions, only the knowledge that the Scientist that invented it had given it. It learned anger and hatred from the one that had abused it and treated it like a slave. And now… that anger was directed at 9, as it slowly made its way to him, with what little limbs were left on its spider-like mechanical body.

9 got back up on his feet, and groggily looked at the machine, in a mixture of fright… but courage. He knew what needed to be done; the Scientist's last words and instructions had shown him what needed to be done. And there, right where 9 was looking, under the red eye of the B.R.A.I.N, was the Alchemic Talisman, the artifact that not only brought 9 and the others, as well as the B.R.A.I.N life, but was the key to destroying the Fabricator, as well as free the trapped souls of the others that the Fabricator had cruelly trapped in its soulless shell.

The stitchpunk 9 stood his ground as he readied himself to do his part to save the others. As the twins helped her up, 7 saw 9 just standing there as the Fabricator was about to slowly go to him. She wondered what he was about to do, when suddenly she remembered…

….I'll lure it to me, and then when it's done, you'll have a chance to grab the Talisman…

"No!" Seven shouted as she pushed the twins aside, and rushed over to Nine. Surprising Nine, she grabbed his left arm, surprising him a bit as she pleaded, "Nine, please!" her grip on his arm softened as she looked into his eyes. "We can't do this without you."

Nine looked at her and saw the look in her eyes that stared into his. They were a look of pleading to him, to not throw his life away like this. He placed his hand on top of hers as he looked into her eyes; a look saying that it would be alright, and that he had made up his mind. With a tone of depression and sadness in his voice, 9 replied, "It's because of me all this happened. Two, Eight, Five, and Six… they all died because of me." with Seven's grip loosened a bit, Nine then took both his hands into just one of hers, as his resolved hardened. "I started this, and now I need to finish it," he finished as he pulled away.

Seven stood there, as Nine still held on to her hand, bringing them up to their faces. She looked at him with pained sadness and mixed emotions to the Stitchpunk that saved her life twice now. Pulling away from her, she felt their fingers slide between each other as he finally pulled away, and rushed to bait the Fabricator into the open, as it crawled towards Nine at this moment. At that moment, as she looked at the scene, all Seven could do, was put her hands over her heart, trying to shield it from the pain within.

1 got up from his spot, back onto his feet groggily as he had witnessed the whole scene. Now, he stood there, watching Seven standby and do nothing as regret and a deep sharp pain of loss filled her heart at this selfless sacrifice to the one she had secretly grown to care about. He then drew his attention to the one that destroyed what he tried to create… and was now trying to save, with much bravery and steely determination, all to save the world for the humans that had left them in this nightmare. But as he watched this, a mixture of his own regret of just standing by and cowering in a corner, began to fill the prototype's seem ably empty heart.

"They left us all nothing. Nothing," he muttered to himself as he watched Nine making a selfless sacrifice. His face then frowned as eh thought aloud, "Why should we have to right their wrongs? Why should we suffer for their mistakes?" and then he looked to Nine, as he was willingly about to sacrifice himself to the Machine, as it stopped right in front of him, dwarfing the small doll-sized stitchpunk. As he saw this, One finally asked himself, "Why should the young ones suffer for their mistakes?" the Fabricator stopped as it's red eye powered down, and all the power went to the small round and bronze-colored talisman that started to glow green at the cracks. "Sometimes…" 1 told himself as he started to slowly walk towards where 9 was. "Sometimes, one must be sacrificed…"

The Talisman then opened up, as a green misty energy began to glow and grow larger and brighter. As he saw this, 9 nearly flinched to turn away as he shut his eyes tightly, awaiting the beam to hit him, with quiet dignity and grace. But before the beam of light struck him… 1 ran up, and shoved him out of the way. 1 stood his ground, as the beam struck him in the eyes and mouth, nearly pulling him off the ground, as his arms flailed around like paper in the wind.

9 got on to his feet again, and stared in horror as he saw 1 take the sacrifice. "NO!" he shouted as he futilely reached out to 1.

The most advanced watched as the first of their kind was being drained of his soul. As this happened, 9 wasn't about to let his sacrifice be in vain. He ran as fast as he could towards the distracted Fabricator; running up a makeshift platform that the debris had created, 9 ran up to the distracted Machine. He stopped right under it to where the Talisman, the item that the Scientist had created to give the Stitchpunks life, as well as the instrument in which the Machine had used to trap the others inside of it. He then latched on to the talisman, pulling at it with all his little might.

Then, as 1's soul had been pulled fully out, his lifeless body fell to the ground, his mouth and eyes smoking from the excess energy that had been expelled. And it was at that moment, 9 had finally yanked out the talisman; he fell and skidded to 1's lifeless shell with the closed talisman in hand.

The Fabricator's red eye opened as it roared out, arches of lightning sparking all over its head as it felt something wrong. He looked down and noticed the stitchpunk's lifeless shell lying on its side. It zoomed to examine the shell… and noticed it was the wrong one that it had tried to kill. The Fabricator looked to its right and saw 9... Holding the Talisman in his hands. The Machine roared in pure rage-powered hatred as even more powerful lightning arcs danced all around its head, and then all around its body, almost as if it was about to shut down. Its body shook, as it slowly reached to grab 9 with one of its main three-clawed hands.

9 saw this and quickly stood up, while dialing in the sequence of the three symbols of the Talisman. Immediately, 9 pointed it forward towards the giant monster as the Talisman opened. Three might beams of green light, shot straight into the Machine's main eye, shattering the lens of the eye. The massive energy shot nearly blew 9 off his feet, but the little stitchpunk stood his ground, unflinching at the Machine began to spasm and shake like the other stitchpunks did as it took their souls from them. And then, through the beams of light, five bulbs of light green energy were sucked out of the Machine's brain, transferring back into the talisman as it closed up, sending 9 to fall flat on his butt. The machine's opened eye socket sparked with red flaming sparks as it howled in pain; it's mechanized roar filling the air as it swooned in dizzied pain and agony. It then rose up into the air, letting out a monstrous loud roar, until finally, the B.R.A.I.N exploded in the Fabricator's main storage container, destroying the B.R.A.I.N, or Binary Reactive Artificially Intelligent Neurocircuit, once and for all.

9 shielded his eyes for a moment from the explosion, and unshielded them as he saw the rain of sparks fall down to the ground. He looked up, and saw the lifeless form of the Machine start to tip and slowly fall down towards him. Immediately, he started to run away from the falling contraption as it began to fall apart and collapse forward. Unfortunately, it fell right on top of him, burying him in one of the arms.

"9!" 7 called out in terror as she ran towards the fallen Machine, with the twins right behind her.

They ran into the lifeless hulk of metal, as they searched to where 9 might have been crushed at. It was then that 7 spotted him as she nearly paled, more than her bleached outer layer was. "Oh no," she gasped as she saw 9's form, lying there on the ground as in his left hand still clutched the Talisman.

She and the twins raced over to him as she slid on her knees and stopped at his side. The twins stopped side by side as 7 gently pulled him over to her side, turning him over to his back. His eyes were shut as his mouth hung open; it was obvious that he didn't survive the impact or was struck a blow by the Machine, giving it the last victory.

7 gasped as she lightly shook her head, almost about to look away. But then, 9 quickly opened his eyes as he coughed out relief. 7 sighed in relief, and the twins' eyes were flashing and blinking with joy as they shook each other's hands. She gently helped him up in a sitting position as he groaned a bit.

And then, surprising the newest stitchpunk, she brought him in an embraced hug, resting her chin on his shoulder as she whispered, "You did it." The two then pulled apart, noticing 9's face didn't show happiness at all. She slightly frowned in worry as she asked him, "What is it?"

"No, I didn't," 9 answered as he shook his head. He then brought up the Talisman in his hands, giving the others a look at it. "At least not yet."

One Week Later

The Scientist's Home

In the nearly-destroyed house of where the Scientist had brought all the Nine Stitchpunk homunculi to life, the four remaining Stitchpunks were working together to prepare for what was about to come. A week had past since the destruction of the Machine had past, earning a sense of piece in the ruined world that the stitchpunks had awakened into. And in that week, the four had worked hard to complete what 9 had talked about.

On the work table to where they had been made and brought to life on, it had fully been remodeled. The device that had been used to transfer the life-force from the scientist into one of them had been refitted into a sort of platform device, with five wires sticking through it instead of one. Attached to the five wires were five bodies lying on a platform made from an old book, one of them being 1's body, with his hand fully repaired, fingers and all.

The first body was a male stitchpunk, with 9's basic design. However, instead of the zipper that 9 had, he had buttons on his front to fasten his skin. His fabric skin was a bit darker, but where his body was stitched together, it was shown to be much darker. And where his left eye should have been, a piece of brown leather was sewn into it. And on his back was written the number 5.

Next to him was another male stitchpunk, but it seemed a bit different, in this case, its body was white and had black vertical stripes on it. On the but and chest of the body, as well as the knees, were several black ink stains. And where his fingers were ink filled pen nibs as the fingers. On his head was an impression of black messy hair made of string tips dipped in black ink. Around his neck appeared to be a black key, acting as a necklace of sorts. His right eye was smaller than his left, and he appeared to be built a little clumsy. On his back was written the number 6.

The other one was another male model, but this one showed to be of an elderly model much like 1. And much like 1, his thighs were sewn together to resemble big puffy pants. However, his fingers were a bit more jointed like a humans, and his palms resembled that of 3-9's. his feet weren't clawed but the toes were made from carved wood, and a ball socket for his thumb to move around. His skin was stitched together from light fabric and dark brown fabric, and held together with many knotted strings, like a shoe would be, but around his waist, it seemed to be sewn back together for some odd reason. The back of his head had a metal plate of sorts, and on his back was etched the number 2.

And finally, the last body was that of a huge fellow, much taller than the other stitchpunks. A giant, cumbersome brute would be the best way to describe this gargantuan stitchpunk. His whole body was all muscle from view, much like a body builder working out way too much. His face was stitched from two separate fabrics, with three black lines going down vertically from his mouth; a permanent glaring look on his eyebrows was made, with a little fabric tail sticking out from behind his skull. Strapped around his shoulders was a shoulder guard made from the broken belts of a chainsaw, and on his elbows were metallic buttons sewn in to act as elbow guards. His hands were much like 9's, but his feet were crafted differently with the toes cut off. His skin was held together by three buckles, and on his right shoulder was written the number 8.

The twins and 7 were done with their part, as 9 had finished the last wire as he walked up the platform. "I think that's it," he hold himself as he peered over and smirked, "I think it's time… to bring them back, don't you?"

7 nodded, "I'd say it's time."

9 smirked at them as he walked over to the center of the platform. In the center, made in a stock halfway up to the waist, the Talisman was implanted in there. 9 figured that now that the souls of their fallen comrades had been safely freed from the Fabrication Machine, there was a chance to bring them back. 'I just hope this works,' he thought to himself as he pressed the first glyph. Then followed by the second and third, the talisman opened up, allowing the light green energy to temporarily glow as the talisman opened. Then, traveling down the wires, five spheres of green energy slowly snaked their way into the five stitchpunks. 9 hopped off the platform as he joined the three other amazed stitchpunks at this; they saw that the energy made the five bodies glow for a bit, as if life was being restored to their bodies. When the light had finally died out, 9 climbed up the book and knelt down to the one numbered 5.

He checked on him, if there was any change at all, "5?" He then lightly shook the shoulder of one of his best friends as he asked again, "5?" but he stopped, as soon as he realized nothing changed whatsoever. He pulled his hands away from his friend's lifeless shoulders as he just sat on his knees.

7, 3, and 4 climbed up to join them, with the twins kneeling down their closest friend, 6. She stopped to 9, and saw that nothing changed at all. Feeling saddened, she knelt down next to him, and wrapped her arms around him, in order to comfort him. "9, I'm sorry," she apologized to him, trying to bring comfort to him. "I wished this worked too."

"It's just… " 9 struggled with the words. "I was so sure that this would…" but they both stopped as they heard a groan… but not coming from either one of them. They broke apart as they saw a miracle before them: 5's hand had shot up, and he was getting up, groaning. 9 smiled brightly as he cried out, "5! You're back!" and lunged at him, encompassing his close friend in a tight hug.

Feeling the wind being crushed out of him, 5 cried out, "ARGH! NO! let go, let go!"

Realizing his margarine mistake, 9 pulled away as 5 breathed in relief. "Uh, sorry," 9 sheepishly apologized.

"It's alright," 5 breathed out, but then looked around in shock, as if something spooked him out. "Wait! Where's the Machine?! Is it…?"

"Don't worry," 7 reached down to pull him back up on his feet, as 9 stood up with them. She then pointed to 9 as she explained, "9 did it. He destroyed the machine, and…"

But then they were stopped by another groan, as they turned to where the twins were. 6 had gotten back on his feet, with the help of the now cheered up twins as they began to playfully catalog the crazy soothsayer. But as he got back on to his feet, he was scooped up off the ground, on to the shoulders of the now revived 8. The mighty giant, who was normally picking on 6, seemed to be more overjoyed as he chuckled, looking up at the equally happy 6.

Then the others turned to look and see both 1 and 2 were waking up as well, as the eldest of the stitchpunks were steadying their posture. 5 broke out a smile to his aged mentor and friend, "2!" and rushed over to help him steady himself.

2 looked to his friend as he smiled, "I knew we'd see each other again," He then looked over to 9 as he smiled and chuckled in glee, "Smashing, 9. Just smashing! Haha!"

Then they all looked to 1, who walked up to them all, and close to 9 in particular. His same scowl was on his face as the two were staring down to one another; 1 with his scowl, and 9 with his confused face. But then, something happened none of them expected… 1 placed a patting hadn on 9's shoulder, and smiled, "Well done, lad. Well done."

9 just smirked as he patted 1's shoulder, "Thank you."

Just then, the talisman erupted a beam of green light, with a boom that caused the nine reunited stitchpunks to turn and look. The pillar of energy shot up to the sky, into the darkened clouds that blocked out the sun. this happened for only a few seconds, but in those seconds, the nine heard a voice, a familiar voice to them as it spoke out,

The Nine… you… shall protect the future…

The light then finally was sucked up into the sky, as the talisman closed up again. Suddenly, the sky lit up with green lightning, nearly scaring the stitchpunks. But that came to pass, as when the lightning died down, another miraculous discovery happened; as the lightning died down, rain began to fall upon the dead land. When they looked up at this, they were all surprised at this new wonder, and all happy. Even the twins were as they tried to catalog this strange event, or with 6 trying to catch one of the drops while on 8's shoulders, or 8 even as he ate one of the drops, and found it was pretty tasty.

While they all were staring at this beautiful view, 9 and 7 looked to each other with a smile a this sight. And in a surprise notion, 7 slipped her hand into his, much to his surprise and non-resistance to the move. They turned their attention back to the rain, as 7 asked, "What happens next?"

"I'm not sure, exactly," 9 replied as he turned to everyone, whose attention was now turned to him. But then he smiled again as he turned towards the sky, seeing the rain fall, "But this world is ours now. It's what we make of it." the others smiled as they all looked up at the sky as well.

And as the rain fell, small tiny green microbes, swirled in the rain drops as they seeped into the earth. Once again… life was renewed to the once dead world. And with it, nine individuals to help make sure of it.

The End

Now that's how it should have ended. Also I do apologize for this story being like this; I just figured it wasn't going anywhere, and thus why I redid it like this