Mable: Here's chapter two! It's going to be harder to write since I have family at my house, but I'm going to try my best. I'd like to thank SkullWitch57, BXE, and Athena Eudialyte Vewlpoer for reading and reviewing. I also would like to thank xXBroken-Wings-ForeverXx, or xXBWFXx, and 27's Fury for being so supportive through all my fics. Just to make this clear, this is not the last chapter, I just wanted to thank everyone who has liked the story so far. I don't own 9, Enjoy!
Forgotten
Chapter Two: Adjusting to the Library
It was morning by the way that the light was shining through a hole in the ceiling and peering right into Nine's optics. He groaned and blocked it lazily with his hand. That's when he felt the warmth on his back and could feel two hands pressed to his back as though to make him stay close. It was obviously None and Nine rolled over to hold his twin. His twin; it was still somewhat bizarre to say the words, somehow he had a twin brother. There was a sort of childish joy that filled him too. Five would always be his best friend, but now he would have someone just like him to do things with. He didn't know what they could do yet, but whatever it was, it would have to be worthwhile. They would be like Three and Four, so close that they were never alone.
Nine was willing to share everything and guide None to learn while being as patient as possible. So he decided to start by slowly shaking None softly, "None? It's morning." It took a few seconds for the other to awaken and immediately he looked somewhat surprise. Then he smiled wide, happily, "Hello." He said softly and Nine smiled just as wide now, "Good morning." He slowly sat up and started to stand, helping None to his feet. He began to lead him through the library, "I don't know where the others are, they're probably sleeping somewhere else." He began rambling about random things to his twin who just smiled and listened with all of his attention. Finally Nine decided to help the others by looking for useful things, while teaching None as much as he could, and doing both at once.
"Like that desk." He pointed to a large overturned desk nearby, "It probably has useful things in it that we can use." He beckoned None as he headed over to the desk, determined to find something to help the other Stitchpunks. He tugged open a sideways drawer and began to sift, "See? This is a…" He removed what looked almost like a sharp pointed object or a relatively dull knife. "I don't know, but I'm sure Two knows what it's used for." He handed it to None and watched as the other looked over in closely before going back into the drawer, "Here's some paper, but it's wrote all over, and let's see if this is what I think it is." He took a small bottle from out of the drawer and shook it, it was half full, and then peered inside, "Ink. Six will want this; all of his inkwells are gone now."
Just saying that made Nine feel guilty and he looked down as memories of seeing the Cathedral in flames burned in his mind. He handed the bottle back to None, "Could you hold this while I keep looking?" None took it, setting the other object down, and Nine turned back around. Only a few seconds later there was a soft gasp as None lost his grip on the bottle and it fell to the floor. Nine spun around as soon as he heard it and was relieved to see that everything was okay and that he had remembered to put the cap back on before handing it to his twin who started to bend down. Nine stopped him, "I'll get it." And then picked it up off the floor. None was now the one who was guilty, "I'm sorry, I let it drop." He explained pitifully and his twin smiled, "No, it's okay None, here."
He handed him the inkwell again to show he trusted him. Though he didn't know how None dropped it in the first place, he didn't really bother thinking of it. There was nothing else of importance in the drawer so Nine decided to lead None back with their finds. "You see, Six likes to draw so he needs the ink. I think Three and Four will be able to find paper better than us though." None nodded, "Okay." He simply spoke and looked down at the inkwell. Suddenly, he got a strange idea that he wanted to see inside, and took the cap off before tilting it just a little to see inside. He didn't realize his 'just a little' was enough to cause the blackness to spill out and stain his burlap. He looked down at the new stain and rubbed it to make it go away, which it didn't.
"Nine, this won't go away." He had used ink before at the First Room, but never managed to spill it on himself so he didn't know how to get it to go away. Now that he thought about it, it was foolish to look in the bottle, because it looked the same as the other ink anyway. Nine looked back and actually laughed a little at the scene, at the obviously stumped None and the ink of his front. "It's not going to rub off, None." He smiled, being friendly, and continued, "We'll have to use some water and it will come off quickly." He led his twin to the water in the library, quickly scrubbed the stain away, and then continued to where the others were. It wasn't hard to find them as he could clearly hear One scolding Eight about almost walking on Two.
Nine found Six by himself, not doing anything in particular, possibly because he didn't have anything that he could do. "Six," Nine started, "We found something for you." He didn't say what it was until he handed the ink bottle over to Six. Six immediately looked thrilled, smiling, and saying sort of thanks before grabbing the bottle and seeming to immediately disappear into a crevice some ways away. It was so sudden that at first Nine didn't know what to say. Then he just sort of shrugged and smiled, "Probably drawing already." He suggested to None who in turn smiled as well. Then Nine turned to go see how Two was, noticing his twin following right behind him, and almost was in a daze when None suddenly hit him in the back.
That 'hit' was None's entire body slamming into Nine's before he slid down and hit the floor. Almost immediately Nine could tell that he had stumbled and fell, but now wasn't sure what he had stumbled and fell over. He helped him up, brushed him off, and led him to Two where they were going to ask about the sharp knife like object. "Good morning you two." A Two greeted as soon as he saw them and beckoned them closer, "One is trying to enforce his new 'I need to stay in bed until a recover' rule. If you wouldn't mind, I could use some company." Of course, Nine was more than willing to spend time speaking with Two, "We found this." He showed the sharp object and Two perked, "Oh, a letter opener! I'm sure we could find something to use it for."
"Letter opener?" None stretched out slowly and Two nodded, "Humans write letters to each other and put them into envelopes, which hold the letter and keep it safe, they use these to easily open them." He explained, "I remember Fa-." He cut off, "I… Well… I saw a human using one once." He looked over the letter as Nine and None sat beside him and listened to him as he continued talking.
Six was more than happy to get more ink. He was thrilled, overjoyed, ecstatic, everything into one. All he wanted to do was draw once again. No longer the source, since that was over, and probably not about beasts, so he didn't know what to draw. Finally he decided to draw a picture of the Cathedral as it was now gone and he didn't want to forget what it looked like. It had been his home after all. As he dipped his hand into the ink he felt a second of peace that was always brought by the calm motion of drawing. He splayed his fingers and tapped the fingers of the now ink covered hand together. It felt nice to have the cool substance coating his hands. It was only then that he heard the thudding of familiar footsteps.
"No." Six looked shocked as he heard them. This couldn't be happening yet; not already. But then it came, Eight entering the crevice, and Six doing just as he usually did, stayed quiet and didn't move much. The bully was menacing as usual and immediately his optics went onto the bottle of ink resting beside Six. A soft chuckle before he came closer, the evil chuckle causing the Artist to cringe a little. Then he suddenly nudged the ink bottle with his foot enough so it fell over. Six leapt forward and quickly struggled to straighten the bottle and tried to catch the few drops of ink with a desperate hand. He was able to set the bottle up straight and let out a soft relieved sigh before he realized that the bully had moved. Looking back he could see Eight now beside his drawing.
Eight dropped his foot right onto the drawing and started to grind it into the paper. Six whimpered a bit as he saw this and clutched his key in distress. It hadn't been too long ago that Eight had stepped on his drawing like this but had done no damage. Now Eight wanted to do damage. He turned his foot farther in until the design made to help him grip into the ground gripped into, and shredded the paper. It wasn't like Six hadn't seen this before but he felt shock that Eight would do this when he only had a single drawing left. There wasn't anything he could say. With an evil laugh, Eight turned away and strode out of the crevice, pleased with his attack. At this point Six found himself curling up, resting his head on his knees as his arm wrapped around his legs.
Suddenly Six didn't feel happy anymore.
Nine was noticing something a little strange with None. When the twins came in, None approached to speak to them. He stumbled again and almost knocked the twins over in the process. By now the male decided to ask Two about this, "Two, None has been acting a little weird. He's been dropping things and stumbling all day." He wasn't complaining, simply curious and a bit concerned. Two seemed to get this brightened look, "I'm actually glad you asked." He watched None as he spoke, "When Stitchpunks were just created they are Newborns. Therefore, they act a little younger, clumsy, and haven't yet learned much about the world. Not all Stitchpunks go through long Newborn stages though. One's was relatively short and, from what he tells me, mine progressed farther. Apparently I drove him insane."
"So…" Nine reasoned, "That's why he keeps tripping over things and dropping things? Because he's still a Newborn?" Two nodded, "The fact that he was alone for such a lengthy amount of time might also be what is causing him to stay in the Newborn stage longer. It's completely normal though. He just is still very young, even though your twin you two are a little different." Nine understood now and was quite pleased with the answer. If None was still young then perhaps the experience would be easier to handle. He himself only wished he could've had this Newborn stage during the recent Incident causing the Fabrication Machine; perhaps he could've made different choices. At that time he noticed One approaching Two so he decided to go find out where Five was.
Three and Four seemed to be quite interested in this new 'twin' and were trying to figure out, and catalogue, every detail about None. None was just as interested in them and looked over to ask Nine why they still hadn't talked to him. He was surprised to see that his brother was absent. Suddenly there was a wave of fear, he was beginning to tremble, and his optics darted around, "Nine? Nine?" His voice began to grow panicked and desperate as he tried to find his brother. All he could think of was Nine leaving him again, and began to steadily grow worst, "He's gone!" He cried out in terror, "Nine! Nine!" At this point Three pointed out to her sister that None seemed to panicking for no reason, as Nine was somewhere around here, and Four agreed before they both noticed None starting to run around.
One looked away from Two to see the scene, "What are you doing?" Basically he hadn't been listening to None's earlier cried and now both him and Two realized he was starting to run about frantically. "He's gone! He's gone! He left me!" Eventually None seemed to disappear into the surrounding books and was quickly followed by the Twins. Nine himself had only gone off to find Five and was now speaking to him and Seven calmly. "I don't really know how to take care of a Newborn." Seven seemed unfazed, "It's not too hard. Eight was still in a Newborn stage when I met him. Save the fact that he kept asking me what I was, and I had to explain what a female was, he was a lot easier to deal with then than now." Five was about to speak when they were all stopped by a scream.
"Was that None?" Five asked in confusion, and the cries continued, "Nine! Nine! Come back!" Nine began to grow worried when he heard None running around, "None?" He followed the voice and found the male running about frantically, "None? What's wrong?" Upon seeing Nine, None sprung forward and latched onto him, arms tight around him and his face tucked tight into his shoulder. "I thought you left me!" He let out a pitiful whining that sounded as though he was in pain, "I thought you were gone…" Nine held him tightly and stroked his back, feeling sharp empathy pain as his twin was close to weeping, and tried to calm him. "I just came out here to talk to Five and Seven, I didn't plan to leave. I promise I won't ever leave you, None, I promise."
This seemed to pacify None who calmed to a soft sigh before letting himself stand again, "Okay…" Now he looked perhaps a little embarrassed at his outburst around the others, but Five and Seven both reassured him, Seven with a smile and Five with this added with a pat on the back. The twins now appeared and were relieved to see that everything was calmed down now. Nine decided to lead None back into the safe little area where Two was as to not upset him anymore, "How about wedo something together?" None smiled a little, "Okay… What are we going to do?" Nine tried to think, and Seven spoke up, "I'm sure Three and Four could find a book you two could read." None looked hesitant, "I saw a book before, but I couldn't read it. When I wrote it didn't look the same."
"They can find you one that you can read." The Warrior insisted and the two took this as a cue to go to work. They dashed off to search as Nine led None in. Two was now standing, "Oh, None, there you are. Are you alright?" The male nodded and assured Two with said nod. One watched from a little ways away, but said nothing, and then watched the twins as they started to search for a book in particular. After a little while, the twins brought back some sort of book that Nine eagerly opened and attempted to read. None was pleased to see this book was readable and smiled, looked over at Nine who was reading happily, and then grasped his brother's hand with the same bit of happiness.
"How long until you suppose None begins driving Nine to insanity?" One asked somewhat haughtily and Two chuckled, "One, every Newborn wasn't as terrible as I was." He insisted. The leader was skeptic, "You spent hours chasing me around, asking what a spoon was, I don't think anything could possibly be worse than that. Except I must say I am glad you didn't scream every time I left the room." This caused the Inventor to suddenly seem saddened, "I don't think that was because he's a Newborn." One caught what Tow meant; it wasn't uncommon to have a somewhat unstable Stitchpunk, especially being with what None went through, "It'll get better. But it won't stop immediately." He then chuckled again, "On the bright side, at least it's not another me."
"Well you certainly were precious." The words were whispered into his audio receptor and Two somewhat shivered, "Am I not now?" There was what could only be considered a growl coming from One as he brushed his cheek against Two's, not answering, and only enjoying the feeling of the other's fabric. He realized that he had been so close to losing the Stitchpunk who was now in his grasp. He was so close to opening him on the spot when suddenly he realized he was being watched. A very surprised Five was watching only to look away immediately as soon as the leader knew he was watching. The apprentice was merely curious as it was his mentor, but knew better, and now pretended he had never looked. One decided to release his lover and do the same.
"It's going to get better from here." Two whispered and stroked One's shoulder with a small smile, "We're all together now and everything is complete. Maybe we can even… Maybe we can tell the others about us." He tried to persuade and One didn't respond. His slanted optics locked onto Two's large innocent one's as he pondered this. "Perhaps." Was his only reply, and at least it got him the same sweet smile.
Nine didn't realize in the beginning that None had fallen asleep. Once he did, he looked down at the other's head, resting on his shoulder, and could feel warm. He himself toyed with the idea of taking a rest and started to lean back across the ground. A few seconds later he suddenly had a cloth tugged over him and looked up to see Five. He smiled, "Thanks." Five also smiled, "Your welcome." His voice was soft as he fixed the blanket. Nine laid beside his twin and held him close, sure it would be a short nap, and barely noticing when he fell into a deep sleep.
Mable: End of Chapter Two! I'll try to write three, and finish it, as soon as possible. I hope you enjoyed!
