A/N: Okay, I have a confession to make. I did write this chapter out before posting the prologue. Also, I was exhausted when posting the prologue, so I accidentally chose Alpha rather than Epsilon. Sorry. It was 5 in the morning, and I hadn't had any sleep yet. I corrected that, though. Hope you guys will forgive me.
Anyway, to clarify on Epsilon possessing other people in this story.
Okay, so the nervous system is an electronic system, and Epsilon is essentially electronically hijacking someone's nervous system, which is an extension of his holographic projection.
Also, as some of you may have noticed, reviews on this story aren't showing up within the site, for some reason. I can only read them through email notifications. Sorry. But, I'll do my best to reply.
Ben Jones: V? I'm not sure I follow.
Vindexian: Thank you. And, I've seen all 13 seasons. To be honest, I was watching season 12 when I came with the idea for this story. I hope you enjoy it.
Amidamaru88: Thank you. And please refer to the beginning of this author's note. Also, the how and the why will be explained. And no, they didn't implant a chip into her head. They surgically attached neural implants and then put the AI device into the slots they created. It was a complicated process. And Ruby did need a long time to heal. And yes, Church was emotional. He expected to dematerialize, essentially die, then he didn't. And then he was separated from his group. He was confused, stressed, worn down and worried. And no. Ruby doesn't have the other AI in her head. They're Epsilon's memories of the other AIs. So, they won't affect Ruby. Church will be the only one interacting with them. Ruby doesn't have multiple AIs. She has one AI that has several personalities. Heh.(Also, your review had been truncated, so I'll finish replying when it finally posts in full within the site.)
Thorfaxdragonkin: My thoughts exactly when I was watching season 12. I hope you enjoy the story.
dragoncaller45: Thank you. I'll try my best. :)
Iron-ninja: Thanks. I'll try.
DimmaDan: Thanks. I try. Heh. And he's not pissed at them, per se. He expected to be gone. And then he wasn't. Then he ended up in a strange place, trapped in the head of a stranger. He's had a rough day. Let's just leave it at that. Ha. And yeah, he's nicer than the Alpha. I just wanted him to retain a bit of his personality. Which he will soften up a bit. A bit. But still be Church as we know him.
Guest: I'm kind of wondering why you chose to remain anonymous. Ah, well. Anyway, I hope it does. And I hope you enjoy it.
Austanator115: Oh, stop it. You'll make me blush. Heh. Anyway, thanks. I hope you enjoy the story.
With that said, if you haven't skipped over all this, I hope you like this next chapter.
Chapter 1: Day 10,001, I Guess
You hid your skeletons when I had shown you mine.
You woke the devil that I thought you'd left behind.
I saw the evidence, the crimson soaking through.
Ten thousand promises. Ten thousand ways to lose.
And you held it all. But you were careless to let it fall.
You held it all. And I was by your side. Powerless.
Powerless - Linkin Park
Ruby hummed to herself as she strolled to the bathroom, Epsilon perched on her shoulder, leaning forward, his arms on his legs as he pondered silently. After stepping into the bathroom, Ruby turned to the holographic figure on her shoulder.
"Uhhh, Church?" She began nervously. He usually went offline before this point. But he seemed distracted today. "What?" He muttered. "Do you mind?" She asked, raising a brow. Church raised his head, looking at the bundle of clothes she held and realization clicked in. "Oh. Right." With that, he winked out of existence.
Ruby removed the AI device and set it on the small side table with her clothes before peeling off her pajamas and climbing into the shower. As soon as she'd been cleaned up and dressed in her school uniform, she slipped the unit back into place and waited for Church to return. After a few moments of waiting, she began to grow worried.
"Church?" She called. When that didn't work, she tried again, "Epsilon. Command. Online!" Her voice grew shrill. "Okay, okay. Damn." Church's voice came from next to her ear, "You're loud for such a small girl." Ruby exhaled a sigh of relief and gathered her things, walking out of the bathroom.
"You know, instead of waiting for me to disappear every morning, you could command me to go offline. Or just remove the device," Church said conversationally. "But, that's rude!" Ruby protested. "Yeah? And commandin' me to come back online isn't?" Church retorted. "I was worried," Ruby said, returning to her team's room.
She waved to Church to cloak himself. Which he did. Her friends and sister still didn't know about Epsilon. And that's the way she wanted to keep it. If they knew, they might try to destroy him. Or delete him. Either way, she didn't want him to leave. She liked Church. He was her friend. At least, she thought of him as a friend.
He probably found her annoying. "Are you ready to go?" Weiss asked, her brow rising as she gathered her books into her bag. "Yeah! Just about." Ruby grabbed her book bag and began shoving her books and homework into it. "Your answer on page 16 was wrong, by the way," Church said from inside her mind.
Ah! Really?! Oh, no! She heard Church laughing and sulked. Were you just messing with me just now? He didn't answer. She followed the others to class. One thing she was thankful for during Professor Port's lectures were Church's distractions. During the class, he'd usually create a light show or something like that to entertain himself.
Today, fireworks danced, sparked and exploded at the edge of her vision. They crackled in many different colors. "And that's when I -" Professor Port droned on. "Dear God," Church groaned, "And I thought Caboose was annoying." Ruby blinked before a series of memories flickered through her mind.
"You know what? I have an idea." He began to drift toward the Professor. Wait! You can jump from person to person?! Is that how you - "Relax," Church looked back at her, "I'm implanted in your mind. I might be able to jump into other people, but I'm tethered to you." Ruby sunk into her seat, relaxing slightly, but still shaken.
It'd been a while, and she still hadn't figured out how Church had been implanted into her mind. But, she wasn't focused on that at the moment. She watched as Church leapt into the Professor, overcoming him quickly before settling in. "Professor?" A girl in the front row said, worried.
"Professor?" Church-Port asked before realizing, "Oh, right. Me." He cleared the Professor's throat before saying, "I just thought of another story to tell all of you. It's about a group of soldiers in a box canyon." He nodded Port's head. The class begun to whisper amongst themselves, before a wave of Port's hand silenced them and Church began to speak.
"So, anyway, there was this box canyon, called Blood Gulch. And these soldiers were stationed there. They wore armors of different color. One team was Red. The other was Blue. We'll just call the Blue team the awesome team, yeah? Anyway, the teams spied on each other for years, until one day things got really interesting. You see the Red team got a jeep. And Team Awesome got a tank. And both teams got new rookies, but that isn't really that important. Anyway, one day, the Red Team's rookie stole the Blue Team's flag. And Blue Team's admirable leader left to get it back. But, unfortunately for him, the rookie on his team had the tank. You see, the rookie -" The clock on Ruby's desk chimed the hour, and Church paused. "Oh, class is over, I guess."
He left Professor Port and returned to Ruby. "What? What is -" Professor Port blinked, looking around as everyone gathered their books. "Hey," Yang said, catching up to Ruby, "Did Professor Port seem weird to you?" "Weirder than usual?" Weiss shot back, her lip quirking. Church snickered in Ruby's mind, "I like her."
Ruby made her way to the cafeteria with her friends, "So, I was thinking about our class assignment, we could -" Ruby zoned out at this point, what do you think, Church? "What? For your school assignment?" He sounded bored, "Do whatever you want." Ruby sighed and pulled out the papers she'd had yet to turn in, flipping through them.
So, which one were you talking about? "The third one from the top on page 16. You said it was A. The correct answer is C." Church flickered into view at her shoulder. Oh! Right! I shouldn't have stayed up so late, working on this. "I told you so," Church stated.
Ruby quickly scrubbed out the incorrect answer with her pencil eraser before scrawling in the correct answer. So, how did you know that? "Are you kidding me?" He asked, sounding offended before a glimpse of his memories invaded her mind. He'd been jumping into her Scroll while she was asleep. I should have known.
"Instead of going into the Forever Fall Forest for our assignment, what if we signed up for one of the investigations?" Ruby chimed in, startling the others. "You want to investigate?" Weiss deadpanned. "Yeah, why not?" Ruby beamed. "Where are you going with this?" Church asked, suspicious. You want to find your friends, right?
"They're not my friends," Church responded, "But, yeah. I'd like to know what happened." "Fine!" Weiss shook her head and stood, walking away to sign them up. "Great!" Ruby cheered. "You're far too enthusiastic about this." Church sighed heavily. After lunch, they soldiered through more classes before dinnertime.
Ruby finished her meal and walked out to the hallway before whispering to Church, speaking lowly and carefully so as not to be seen talking to herself. "So, what do you think?" "About our chances of finding anyone I knew? I don't think we will." Church hovered before her, shaking his head.
"I don't think you should give up hope. They might be out there, looking for you, worried about you." "How can you do this?" Church asked, growing frustrated. "How can you be so -" He broke off, growling in frustration.
"Because, if we lose hope, then what's left? You're my friend, Church, whether you think you are or not. And I want to help you. I'm going to help you." Ruby raised her chin, gazing back at him stubbornly before Yang and the others entered the hallway. Ruby waved Church away. "Who are you talking to?" Yang asked, looking around.
"No one!" Ruby said quickly before walking away. "You know, sooner or later, they'll find out about me." Church put his two cents in. I'd rather it be later. Much later. But, we'll deal with that when it happens. She nodded, walking into the dorm room, grabbing her pajamas.
"So, when we leave out for our class assignment, I'll try to find your friends." "You don't give up, do you?" "No, I don't." She gazed at him then asked, "Could you... go offline for a little bit?" "Fine!" Church seethed, disappearing. She changed into her pajamas as her sister and friends entered the room.
"Okay, you're going to tell me what's going on," Weiss announced. "What do you mean?" Ruby asked innocently as she began to climb the bunk bed. "You've been acting very strange lately. At first, I thought it was just you being you, and then I realized you weren't you at all."
Ruby sighed slowly, "Okay. I'm doing this for a friend." She announced, turning to her teammates. "He was separated from his friends, and he wants to find them again." "Who?" Yang asked. "I already told you more than I should have." Ruby looked down, "I can't tell you any more."
"Okay," Weiss announced, the others nodding along with her. "We'll help you and this mysterious friend of yours. Even though, we all think this is a bad idea." Ruby bit her lip on a smile. Later that evening, she lay on her side, the AI unit still implanted. "So, what all did you tell them?" Church appeared before her.
Ruby opened her mouth to protest but halted when he held his hand up, "Don't bother lying. Just tell me." She sighed, whispering, "I told them that I'm helping a friend find his friends. That's it." "You didn't tell them that the friend you're helping is also an artificial intelligence that's implanted in your brain?" Church sounded incredulous and a lot like he's scowling now.
"Nope. That's all they need to know." She rolled onto her back. "Why didn't you remove me yet? You usually remove the device and hide it under your pillow before you sleep." Ruby looked over at him, alarmed. "What? I'm an AI; I'm not stupid or oblivious." Church snorted.
Ruby rolled her shoulder into a shrug, replying in a small voice, "I'm scared. I didn't want to be alone." "What are you afraid of?" Church asked, impatient. "What if we don't find your friends? Or rather, what if we do find your friends? I don't want you to go, Church. I like having you here. You're my friend. And I'll miss you if you go." Ruby whispered, her eyes welling with tears.
Church uttered a choked sound of surprise before sitting down at the edge of her pillow, "I'm not going anywhere. Not yet, anyway. And why would you miss me? I'm kind of an asshole, if you haven't noticed." Ruby shook her head, silently and deftly avoided the question, "Could you tell me a story?"
"Which one?"
"Well, you promised you'd tell me about the time that Caboose got his head stuck in the freezer."
"Oh. Right. Well, Tucker and I decided that..." Church spun the story, and Ruby slowly relaxed and whispered to him as she drifted off, "G'night, Church..." He sighed as he watched her slip into a deep slumber before detaching from the apparatus and drifted towards her Scroll. He waited for it to switch on and glanced around the room before accessing the internet, searching for any sign of the Reds and the Blues. But nothing.
"Wait," He muttered, scrolling back several screens before seeing a picture of Agent Washington in black armor with gold accents, his helmet off and his back to the camera, head ducked in a solemn manner. The article read, "Tragic Airship Crash Rocks Remnant With Mayhem. A ship of unknown origins came tumbling down from the sky in a blaze before crashing into - " "What?!" Church cried, "No!"
He paused, hearing Ruby stirring sleepily, almost waking. Church disconnected from the Scroll, returning to the implement, sitting at the edge of Ruby's bed, wrapped up in his troubling thoughts. He was so wrapped up that he didn't notice the change in her breathing.
"The article didn't say that they all died, you know." He jumped, whipping around to face Ruby, who gazed at him with heavy-lidded eyes. "It didn't say they were alive either." He returned. "True," Ruby acknowledged. "But they could very well be alive. And if they are, they'll need us, Church. They'll need you."
Church sighed heavily, turning away from her before saying dismissively, "Go back to sleep. Even I can tell you're not functioning at full capacity. You're not even at optimal capacity." "Fine," Ruby retorted, "You're just upset because you know I'm right." She rolled over, her back facing him and drifted off to sleep.
"Maybe you are," Church murmured to himself, "But we'll just have to see about that, won't we?" With that, he went offline.
