Mable: Chapter four! I don't own 9, Enjoy!

Seventh Degree Burns

Chapter Four: Heat

He couldn't believe it. He didn't want to believe what he saw, blame it on a delusion or vision instead, but there was no denying that his mismatched optics had just witnessed that scene. Him, her, him above her, her below him, the lights of souls, and what they were doing was quite clear to someone even as innocent as Six was. He knew what they were doing, but worse; he knew what the action meant. So he had run as fast as he could to his room where he hid inside like he was hiding from the two, like they would follow him back here.

Having grown weary of Eight's odd behavior, Six had decided to swallow his fear and go check on him. Worst case scenario; Eight didn't like him even near his room and began to bully again. Then again, Six wanted Eight to be near him again, so this was also considerably better than spending more time alone. He hadn't ever taken in the thought that he'd be with her, in bed, sharing their souls with each other. It made Six feel even more unstable and as he sat against the drawing covered wall of his bedroom. He felt pounding in his insides and tried to calm himself down yet again.

It didn't work though because all he could think of was Eight and Seven together. He whined pathetically as he tried to get the scene out of his mind. It wouldn't go away though and he was only brought back to reality when he heard footsteps approaching his room. He didn't want to face Eight and was relieved when Five appeared. The healer looked at Six in concern, "I heard you run by. Are you okay?" Six looked down at his legs which he had pulled up to his chest and decided to voice exactly what he saw. His voice was shaky, though, and he spoke quietly.

"I saw… I saw Seven… With him… In bed… They were…" Five seemed to catch on and looked sympathetic as he crossed the room and sat next to the Artist, "I think I know what you're trying to say. I know about it too." Six's head shot up, "You do?" His voice was still nearly a whisper and Five nodded slowly, "Yeah, they were keeping it a secret for a while." It didn't make Six feel any better, but at least someone understood, and at least Five acted like it wasn't too traumatizing. An arm was wrapped around his shoulders and Five held him with a smile.

"I know it's different, and I know Seven is like a sister to us, but it's going to be okay." Six nodded solemnly, and Five continued, "I trust Nine will take care of her." It took a few seconds for Six to catch a difference in Five's words to his own witnessing events, "Nine?" He asked as his optics slowly rolled to angle in Five's direction. Five nodded, "The incident was just a mistake, we all know that, and I think that he will be good with her." Six didn't know how to respond except stare as he tried to figure out why Five thought Nine was the one with Seven.

"Did you…" Six asked softly, "Did you see them? Is that how you knew?" He suddenly assumed it had been dark when the Healer caught them and mistook Eight for Nine. He only had one optic, so perhaps the depth of the room seemed askew, and somehow a mistake took place. When Five explained, though, Six's answer wasn't reached, "Nine and Seven told me a while ago about their relationship. I promised not to tell anyone until they settled into the New Sanctuary a bit more." The striped one slowly nodded and Five patted his back, "Why don't you get some rest?"

"Okay." Six whispered and stood, pretending to cross to his bed, but really waiting until Five left with a 'goodnight' before he tried to figure out what was going on. He couldn't understand why Nine and Seven would say they were in a relationship when Seven was with Eight, in his room, sharing souls. Unless, of course, she was in a relationship with both. He wasn't sure why Eight would be willing to share his mate with another, though, and the entire event disturbed him. As he sat down on his bed he started to finally realize that everything wasn't as clear cut as he thought.

The fact of Seven being with two males wasn't exactly what bothered Six, and he now realized this. What bothered him was the fact that Eight had shared his soul with another, and the Artist couldn't deny that he was upset that it hadn't been himself. With that realization, he dropped his head into his hands, and began to cry.

Being together in the morning and joining bodies together was a sacred union of pleasure. Of course, One would have been more pleased afterwards if it had not been the third time they had done it in the last hour. Two was beside him with his front now closed, rubbing on his stomach as to stimulate something to happen, and One exhaled softly, "Perhaps we should wait for a bit longer before trying again." The Inventor nodded with a very content smile gracing his features, "Yes. We will try a few times again this afternoon." The leader looked at the ceiling, "You're trying to kill me."

With this, Two began to laugh, "Yes, I am." He teased, "I plan to use your entire soul for the baby instead of making one myself. Now where did I put the Talisman?" He mocked leaning over to check under the bed and One retorted, "I would not put it past you, and shouldn't you be rubbing your abdomen still?" It took Two a second to pull himself back up, "Trouble straightening myself; I take that as a sign." One scoffed, "That you are top heavy?" Two playfully retorted back, "Now One, we all know that nobody is more top heavy than you. What with your crown and such."

"Heavy is the head that wears the crown." One pointed out and Two shrugged in the same teasing manner, "Perhaps for balance purposes. To rival the already heavy crown, especially that glass one you insist to wear." He then leaned over and rested upon One's chest, lovingly cuddling against him as One stroked his back. After a bit of quiet, he decided to speak, "Let's say that this works, and we have a baby, have you thought of names?" The leader didn't answer right away and right when he was about to say that he hadn't, Two began speaking again.

"I was thinking of combining our numbers. Not in the sense of making three, as Three already has taken that number, but perhaps Twelve or Twenty-One." While seemingly disturbed by the fact that Two was already choosing names, One decided to please him be playing along. "Twelve sounds more feminine than Twenty-One. Perhaps we should use that if we had a daughter and the other if we had a son." Two seemed to like this as he nodded against his mate, "And if we have twins? What shall we do then, just call them the twins?"

One waved it off, "Of course not, we would refer to them as 'our twins'. The others would have to call them 'highnesses." With this, Two laughed again, "And what shall they call you? 'Your highness, the one with slanted optics and a very heavy head'?" A small glare was received, but One didn't push Two away and continued to pet him. Once calmed again, Two continued to speak. "I can't very well be a mother… Perhaps I can go as 'Papa'. I'll give you the title of 'Father' and we'll leave out the part about your head." Two didn't notice how One slowed a bit after those words.

Even with the title of 'the leader', One couldn't deny that he wanted the title of 'Father'.

Seven awoke and immediately noticed something was wrong. This wasn't her bed at all, and soon she realized she was still in Eight's room. She sat up with a gasp of horror, "Eight!" His arm was draped over her and she shoved it off. This was felt by Eight who began to awaken, "What's going on?" Seven huffed in annoyance and glared in Eight's directions, "An hour?" The guard paused, and then winced, "Must have fallen asleep." Seven wasn't mad, but certainly annoyed, and closed herself up before climbing out of the bed. Her movements were interrupted by the sound of rumbling thunder through the walls.

"Guess that means we aren't meeting up today." Eight pointed out as he watched her head to the door and she nodded, "For the best. One might get suspicious." With that she gave him a last smile, "Don't sleep in too late." Then disappeared through the curtain into the Sanctuary. She heard him respond with another 'I love you', but was too far away to respond without risks of being caught saying it. Now, though, she realized that she would have to come up with some sort of excuse to Nine.

As she entered the throne room she saw Nine standing by the lift, talking to Five and the twins. "Good morning." She greeted and Nine looked over curiously, "Morning Seven. Where have you been?" She shrugged it off as though it was nothing, "I've just been up, walking around for a bit. Are you leaving?" Nine nodded, "Five said he needed to find some extra parts for the watchtower, some sort of… Wetch?" Five corrected this, "Winch, something we can use as a winch." Naturally Five would know exactly what tools, such as this winch, would be used for, and yet Seven seemed confused. "It's raining. I could hear the thunder through the walls."

Five didn't seem surprised, "I heard it, but I really need to get the part." He then added, "Besides, I think a little water could do me good." This caused his best friend to laugh carefree; Seven smiled as she took in the sweet sound that she very much enjoyed. After last night, perhaps some time with Nine would be nice. "I'll come with you. Let me just grab my things." She headed back to her room while they waited at the lift. The twins followed her a bit and even watched as she put her armor on, childishly curious and idolizing what anyone older did with interest.

However, as Seven entered the hall again, she noticed another. Looking over she caught a glimpse of Six who quickly ducked back into his room. She was a bit confused, but dismissed the event as Six just acting a little strange from lack of sleep. Later she planned to speak to Six and try to reassure him to get more sleep, but decided not to do so right at this second. Instead she led the two younger Stitchpunks back to the throne room. They boarded the bucket lift with Nine and Five who were speaking about something, Seven wasn't paying attention to what they were talking about, and they lowered into the house below.

The weather certainly was rough and Five looked like he was second guessing the plan to come out. The rain was pelting down upon the rubble and dirt to make a slickened wasteland of mud and muck. There was also the distance howl of wind that seemed to be bringing darker clouds to coat the sky. Not to mention that the rumbling of thunder seemed constant. "I think we should come back later." The healer suggested to his allies, but was dismissed. "It'll be fine." Nine assured as he turned to his friend, "If a little water can do you good, then this should be a great opportunity."

Seven began to step out under the raindrops and let the cold liquid fall upon her. She could hear Five whispering, as to spare the twins of worry, "Beasts hunt in this kind of weather," he pointed out, "It could be dangerous." Again, Nine seemed to dismiss it, and Seven backed him up, "Five, it'll be fine. You just worry about finding your winch." With both others sure that they would be fine, Five finally caved, and lagged behind as they all stepped out of safety. It soon became apparent that both Nine and Five were struggling, unlike Seven who moved quick enough that she didn't sink into the mud like they did.

However, she knew they wouldn't be as covered in mud as the twins would be when they made it back. The twins categorized everything, learning and teaching the others of amazing findings, but they were still young and she didn't have to watch them to know that they would soon be playing in the mess. With the sound of a light splash she could just imagine one of them now coated in dirty water. At least they weren't throwing mud at each other. However, that was countered when Nine fell over, Five couldn't control his laughter, and Nine retorted by grabbing a handful of mud and slinging it at his friend, only to miss.

Seven shook her head with a pleased smile; Nine certainly was something different. As Five started to dig through some nearby rubble, Nine aiding him, and the twins were now playing in a deep puddle, Seven decided to head ahead and scout. Seven enjoyed the rain; after the incident it always reminded her of her family coming back to life. Not to mention that it was refreshing, even when a flash from far off signaled lightning. Both Three and Four jumped and Five could be heard speaking, "We should hurry. Lightning isn't as 'good for us' as rain is." Seven still wasn't as concerned as they were though.

She continued off a little ways and took this time to go through her thoughts. She confronted herself with a new and obvious problem that she had to face eventually, the choice between who she would choose. She wasn't that naïve, she knew that she couldn't have both forever, but she didn't know how to choose. Nine was kind and playful, but so was Eight, Nine was more adventurous, but Eight was stronger, Nine made her feel happy, but Eight made her feel like an actual female; between the two it seemed that they both gave her what she wanted, but neither gave enough.

In the end, though, Seven did love Nine more, but solely because they had been together longer and their relationship seemed a bit more stable. She couldn't deny that she did love Eight though, and expected that if they were together long enough they'd reach the same stability. Then there was the other dread; the nagging controlled feeling of having to choose one and stay with them only. Seven knew that she had to get past this though, she certainly didn't like it, and was determined to fight for what she really wanted. However, presently, she couldn't tell what she wanted out of life.

The sound of someone approaching took her out of her thoughts. She found it weird that it was so quiet, save the heavy footsteps. That's when Seven realized who was here and was immediately confused. "He wouldn't, would he? Knowing that Nine and the others are nearby… I wouldn't put it past him." It was obviously Eight and Seven decided that if they were going to have a repeat of yesterday that she would at least give him something to work for. She pulled her helmet down, smirked, and turned to run through the rubble.

Her ankles were now submerged in puddles at all-time unless she climbed up a bit, but she didn't want to give him the luxury of a visual. Instead Seven forced herself through the less than decent weather conditions to spite him. The rain was coming down heavier while the lightning and thunder seemed to have receded a bit. Climbing over an old tire, Seven decided to stop and instead hide to see whether or not Eight could find her. Dropping down behind the tire, she waited patiently, expecting him to eventually find her.

The footsteps were less detectible in the pouring rain and Seven had to strain to hear them. Basically, though, she was becoming nearly blind to his location, and right when she decided to find another hiding place she finally heard him. A clear splashing noise in the water behind her signaled that he had finally found her and she stood before turning to face him. She was smiling though, because she couldn't say that she didn't want to see Eight.

But it wasn't Eight.

Her breath caught as she saw what was really following her for the last few minutes. Through the thick rain she could see that it was clearly a Cat Beast, not the one she had destroyed during the 'Machine' Incident, and that she had assumed was the only one. It looked more crudely made and its metals looked slight damaged; it was an older beast. The fact that it still was alive meant that she was in for a serious battle. Before Seven could do anything, it batted at her, knocking her off of her feet. Her assumption was correct; this beast was much stronger than the other Cat Beast.

She regained her footing and went to dodge to the side, only to realize that she was slowed by the puddles, and soon received another hit. Now the white Stitchpunk was thrown onto the tire itself, giving her some footing. She was able to escape the Beast's claws and stabbed her spear into its leg. It let out a howl of pain and yanked its limb back before turning to use its other. Then, it suddenly stopped, and Seven couldn't understand why. It was looking at something else; a growl appearing from inside, and Seven looked back and gasped. There was Three and Four, making flashes, seemingly trying to distract it.

Seven used this to leap on its back and try to bring its spear through its armored exterior. "Three! Four! Run!" She shrieked and the twins seemed hesitant until Seven could see Five appear as well. He raised his needle harpoon to aim while Nine appeared with his newer light staff. The green tinted light it threw made a horrific situation even more eerie and Seven tried to lunge for the Beast's head. Something went terribly wrong, she missed, she fell, and before she could run it brought its claws down upon her back. There was pain as the claws struck her hard enough that her vision went askew.

She looked back to see the claw rising, she could hear Nine running towards her, and then there was nothing but darkness.

Mable: Next chapter will be up soon, I hope you enjoyed!