The Heritage of This World

Silent Voi[C]e

5,399

5,400

5,401

5,402

5,403

5,404

5,405

Lisette counted the seconds to prevent herself from sleeping. Math was the only thing that kept her mind busy. Unlike the other kids she knew, she liked math. It brought logic to an illogical world.

5,406

5,407

5,408

5,409

Heavy footsteps echoed from the walls. She suppressed a small cry and concentrated on breathing in and out. She could hear how the male android walked towards her to check if she was alright. Her sleeping figure seemed so peaceful, so calm that she must have resembled a doll. A doll with flowing blood and a pulse. It was the third time that he checked on her. Or was it the fourth time? She didn't know, but it wasn't important. He was beginning to let his guard down, checking in on her less often. It was soon time that she escaped.

"Lisette…" He spoke quietly to himself.

Sometimes he said some weird things that were hard to interpret before he left her alone again. He couldn't resist seeing if she was still alive. He stared at her small and youthful body while she prayed that he would leave soon. 9S was bored, and he wanted to wake her up to ask her more about her life, but he thought that she deserved to rest after what she had gone through.

But this didn't stop him from imagining what he would talk to her about. He was proud to have found and saved her and he was already thinking about how to introduce her to the Resistance. He smiled at that thought and left her alone once more.

Lisette waited until she felt safe enough to stand up. She ignored the pain and managed to limp to the door. She was on the third floor and had to walk down only two flights of stairs. The stairs seemed surprisingly stable, despite their apparent age. At the bottom, she saw 9S getting farther and farther away from the building.

Luckily he didn't look in her direction. That was her chance to escape. She didn't hesitate and ran in a different direction from him. She just wanted to get away from this place. Some of the wounds on her shoulder, arms and legs from before burned with the strain of movement, but the thought of being free dulled the pain until…

"You there! What are you doing here? You were told to stay in the apartment!" A young woman with short white hair and a short black dress appeared beside her. Lisette was stopped with a jolt and trapped in the strong grip of the woman, the force of stopping so quickly nearly giving her whiplash.

Like 9S, the woman wore a blindfold, which maked it hard for the human child to read her emotions. Her black outfit and white hair reminded Lisette of 9S. Was she his partner? Wouldn't that mean that she was another one of these androids? Lisette couldn't even remember her name. Wasn't it like something like Too-Bee? Maybe 2B?

"Let go of me!" Lisette was furious that the female android shattered her hopes and began to thrash around madly in the android's grasp.

In response the android looked at her with an annoyed look on her face and gripped her harder.

"Why did you run away? It's extremely dangerous out here." Her voice was so calm, as if she were trying to keep from getting angry herself, which only enraged Lisette even more.

Lisette felt like a kid getting scolded. She hated being scolded.

"I said LET GO!" Only a scratchy scream left her mouth. Her voice was so weak and her throat longed for a glass of water. The unknown android sighed and clasped her hand over Lisette's mouth to prevent her from screaming. She wanted to carry Lisette back to 9S and the building so her wounds could be treated more before they transported her to the Resistance camp.

Lisette struggled and cried. She tried to hit the android with her small fist. Before the android could bind her hands a loud gunshot rang out. The girl was so shocked she almost didn't realize what happened. A red liquid resembling blood flowed down the arm of the android as she recoiled in pain.

"Get your filthy hands off of her!" A female voice screamed angry towards Lisette and the android. Lisette took her chance and ran to the source of the voice. Lisette hid behind the girl with a pistol. There was no hint whether the unknown girl had the same intention as the android or if she really was trying to help her. Lisette took the risk and trusted this person... There wasn't much to lose anyway.

The female android was shocked and dazed by the turn of events. The only enemies she had to kill were Machines. Machines fought back with as much as they could, but with few exceptions were rarely hard to kill. But now a person was in her way and stopped her from getting the human back.

The female android wouldn't let that stop her, and began slowly walk to them, trying to ignore the pain in her arm. The girl suddenly pulled Lisette in front of her and pressed the pistol against her head. Lisette immediately regretted trusting her.

"Come any closer and I'll blow her brains out." The threat worked. The android stopped. She couldn't risk losing the girl's life. The kidnapper slowly moved backwards, never taking an eye off 2B in case she tried something, and vanished with Lisette behind a building. The Battle-type android couldn't believe what just happened. She had to report this. She had to track them to save the girl and kill her would-be kidnapper.

None of them knew that 9S stood on a building and observed their encounter from afar. He didn't bother to help his partner. His curiosity of the strange girl and the human was greater than the urge to help 2B, as much as he hated to admit it.

He held a bracelet with a small chip in his hand. Cautiously he looked at the bracelet to assure himself that it was still there. The bracelet was dark blue and could only fit on a small wrist. Lisette's wrist.

(-)

Lisette's body was pressed against the girl as some Machines passed by. None of them dared to breathe. They both knew that a pistol couldn't defeat a Machine. Lisette concentrated on the groaning of the Machines and could make out some words :

"COMe! WE mUSt Go viSIt thE GraVEYArD in ThE ForEst.

HoNOr The DeaTH iN the ForeSt."

A graveyard? Lisette was confused by their behaviour. Was there any explanation behind it? Lisette remembered her first encounter with the Machines. Her body trembled at that thought. She was scared of the Machines.

Lisette was released and was happy to breath. Her lungs were sore, and while the air didn't make it better, she was still happy about it. After all it could have been her last breath. Her gaze drifted to the sky. No clouds could be seen and the sun nearly burned her skin. She looked towards the girl who had only a little while before threatened to kill her.

"My name is Naomi." The smile on her face was so honest and warm. She appeared so warm with her blond her and chocolate brown eyes, the opposite of Lisette's blue eyes and pitch black hair. Naomi wore a worn brown jacket that was far too big for her slender figure. Her pants were stained with dirt and dust but anyone could recognize that they were originally white.

Lisette only showed her a shy smile.

"I-I'm Lisette," She groaned internally at the feeble introduction.

Naomi didn't mind and took her hand. "It's nice to meet you, Lisette. Come on, we have to go now."

Together they walked through the city ruins. Again the horizon seemed colorless and the grayscale of this city almost choked her. There was only one thing that was different; the silence was replaced by Naomi humming a tune, only to fade in the wind.

How odd that someone so nice had even bluffed about blowing her brains out.

"Where are we going?" She asked silently.

Naomi stopped her humming. "We're going to the WR headquarters. When get there you can recover and we can explain everything to you. We'll be there soon." She continued with her humming and left Lisette's head bursting with questions. Lisette didn't see the need to ask. Knowing that everything would be alright was more than enough. Her gaze drifted to the sky again.

The day lasted suspiciously long.

(-)

Hand in hand, they entered a small building which was still in surprisingly good shape. There were some posters on the wall and some chairs stood around but this didn't change the fact that it was another ruin. Naomi lead her to to a metal door. It took a while until the girl recognized it as an elevator. Naomi pressed the button and it took only a few seconds until the elevator arrived.

Lisette was freezing in the elevator but she was also glad to escape the sun. That didn't go unnoticed. Naomi pulled her jacket out and put it over Lisette's shoulder. Lisette noticed that they both wore the same clothes. Both wore a white top with white sleeves. There were some numbers sewn on the top. Lisette was too exhausted to worry about whatever the numbers meant.

The elevator stopped with a ding, and the girls walked out onto a metallic floor. There was a moldy smell of dust in the air that tickled Lisette's nose. She sneezed. Naomi took her hand again and lead her through the halls. Light brightened the room only slightly and some metallic doors stood open. A buzzing could be heard from some of the closed doors. Lisette noticed that the doors were numbered.

134

135

136

137

138

139

The counting calmed her down. She was scared, and had to remind herself that everything would be alright. So she continued counting until they stopped and entered a room with much better light.

Inside the room there were chairs, tables and even a small sofa. But this room was also marked by the time. Some parts of the ceiling were missing and cables hung out. Some garbage and broken parts of chairs were swept in the corners of the room. It looked like it had once been a lounge room

There was only one thing notable about this room, and this was the dark-brown-haired young man who sat on the sofa. He held some documents in his hands and was concentrating on his work. Some of the documents were scattered on the sofa.

"Hey, Subaru!" Naomi greeted him loudly, "I've got someone you should see." He stood up and gave her a small hug, then turned to Lisette. The girl noticed their height difference.

He kneeled down in front of Lisette to see her face better. "And who would you be, young lady?"

"My name is Lisette." Her sore lungs prevented her from speaking more. An awkward silence filled the room. The dark haired man was not good with kids. Lisette couldn't help but be fascinated by his oddly colored eyes. One was green and the other was brown.

"Lisette, this is Subaru," Naomi began, breaking the silence, "He's our little shut-in programmer. Since he's isolating himself from society, he is doesn't talk much."

'That's horseshit' he thought.

Lisette giggled at her comment and Subaru stood up before she could make more jokes at his expense. "Hey, Subaru, would you mind getting our guest a room and some food? Lisette here's going to be staying here for a while."

This was her very polite way of saying "Get out or I will kick you out". He took the documents from the couch and left the room.

"How about we sit and talk a little bit?" Naomi knew of her injuries and wanted to let her rest. Lisette took her place on the couch and Naomi kneeled in front of her. "I'm really tired," She grumbled.

"I know that. But your what you know is extremely important to us." Lisette glared defiantly.

"Lisette, do you remember other humans? Do you remember about a facility? Anything?" Naomi was desperate for answers. Something was wrong and the Machines were to blame. Lisette was nearly crying. She hoped that Naomi was different from the androids from before. Why couldn't she rest? Nothing made sense anymore.

A sigh escaped from Naomi's lips and she gave up for now. "I'm sorry. We'll talk tomorrow." And again Naomi took Lisette's hand and lead her outside. Subaru walked towards them and whispered something in the older girl's ear. Naomi only nodded and lifted Lisette into her arms.

'Finally' She thought.

Her eyelids closed and a forgotten memory bubbled to the forefront of her mind as everything else drifted away.

(-)

The boy continued crying even as he wrapped his hands around her delicate neck. He threw her to the ground and started strangling her. "Ai-den wh-what are yo-you?"

"SHUT UP!

SHUT UP!

SHUT UP!"

Rage filled his heart as he killed Lisette. Lisette was the only person who gave him hope. She was the only person who gave him a reason to live. But the girl in front of him wasn't Lisette. It didn't matter if she screamed and cried. She wasn't his sister. This thing he was killing was only an illusion, one with the sole purpose of torturing him.

He truly loved and hated her.

He wanted to believe that she was his precious sister. He wanted to stick to the lie. But no matter how hard he pretended that it was true it was still a lie.

Aiden screamed his rage out. It wasn't the first time that he killed this illusion.

Finally she stopped moving. He sobbed and his tears fell onto her face. He knew that no one could hear him. He knew that no one was going to help him. But he knew that something was different.

Maybe his voice could reach their ears?

However, Aiden refused to cry with his Silent Voi[C]e.

Edit by Recyler