Summary: M-21's sure this is all one big mistake.

Contains M-21/Kentas/Takeo/Tao.

Inspired by kara alyssa1. :3

Threads

By Dark Ice Dragon

M-21 squinted at the mass of red around him. Normally he could see each one so clearly, but this time, the threads were heaped up around him like they were trying to knot themselves into a blanket over him.

It didn't help that the threads' origins came from Tao, Takeo and Kentas, who had settled themselves around him on the sofa. It seemed like it anyway. He couldn't see any threads trailing off into the distance.

He glanced at the thread around his wrist. His right one — if it had been tied around his left… He exhaled, clenching his hand.

Kentas shifted, turning his head to nuzzle M-21′s shoulder before focusing on the movie again.

It didn't make sense. Tao and Takeo were already tied together, their strings burning bright whenever they moved, and that should have been it. Strings had two ends, it was that simple.

And he had already lost the other end of his string.

He blinked when Takeo placed the bowl of popcorn on his lap and he took a handful out of habit.

That had to be it. When M-24 had died, the thread had been cut, so the edges must have frayed and twisted around other people's strings, pathetically trying to make itself whole again, to connect with something.

He'd trapped them with him, made them think… He had to fix this.

M-21 curled his fingers around the string, tugging it from the mess. When he found the weak points, it would take one pull and that would break the thread.

He wound the string more and more around his fingers, there always being enough space, but he could see the mass getting smaller. Soon. He'd find the weak point-

M-21 stared at the thread between his fingers.

It split off into four, each part as thick as the thread it originated from.

"Eeem-!" Tao said, reaching over to nudge him. One of the threads looped up to Tao's wrist, Tao's own thread splitting off into two. "You're not paying attention!"

"I - what?"

"Exactly!"

That hadn't been what M-21 had been responding to, but M-21 leaned back anyway, letting the movie wash over him.

He was…actually connected to four people?