Mable: Yet another chapter. I have nothing to say yet until the end Author Note. Again, I would like to thank everyone who is reading and enjoying my fic! Thanks! I don't own 9, Enjoy!
Forgotten
Chapter Five: Guilt and Confusion
Guilt was something that hurt a lot more than None could have ever thought. It hurt almost as much as being alone for so long and feeling like he was forgotten. Now, though, None wished he was forgotten, because he never wanted to hurt his twin. He was now walking back and forth nervously as Two's comfort had just stopped so he could go look for something with One. Seven had already left, and the only ones left were the other twins who were flipping through another book and Six who was to himself. The striped one wasn't drawing so None thought through the idea of going to sit by him. Then he finally approached and sat down beside him, neither of them knowing what to say, and then None finally spoke, "Hello."
The Artist seemed a bit confused, but answered, "Hello." They continued in silence; both of their minds were clouded in over things so they wanted a distraction. Then None spoke, "That was a really nice picture of the Cathedral. I liked it." Six smiled, "You did?" He didn't expect anyone to still be talking about one of his drawings and it seemed to boost his confidence. None nodded, "I wish I could have seen it." The Artist nodded in agreement, "I miss my home. But it's gone now… Two said there are other Cathedrals out there, but nowhere nearby." He explained, becoming more talkative. None seemed to perk, "Maybe we could go find one. How big is the Emptiness?" Six shrugged, "The whole world?" That's when they were interrupted by the twins.
Three kept the book opened and caught their attention while Four showed them a picture through projection. It was of an area, like on a map, clearly marked Luxembourg. "Lux-em-bourg." None pronounced, "So the Emptiness is called Lux-em-bourg?..." It was nice to learn something new, but it didn't help show where another Cathedral was. None liked seeing the mapping though and was curious to what the rest of the world looked like. Then he stopped when he heard footsteps and looked over in their direction to see Nine wandering into the area, looking like he just awoke. None started towards him cautiously, "Nine?" There was a pause before Nine spoke, "Hey None. Are you alright?" His voice was quiet and still tired.
None mistook this for him being upset and looked down, "I… Is Five okay?" Nine nodded, "He's just resting." They stood in silence before None turned around and wandered away. Nine noticed it, "Where are you going?" None sort of winced, "I… I don't know…" By then Nine could tell that the other was upset and came forward towards him. "None," He spoke quietly, "Are you upset about something?" At that second his twin turned around and leapt on him, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt Five! I didn't to break the promise!" He sputtered out as he held his twin tight. Nine paused, realizing that he had been ignoring None without thinking about it, and finally embraced back, "I'm sorry None, I knew you shouldn't have been alone and I shouldn't have left."
"But I broke a promise." None whispered as he pressed against the warm burlap. "It was a small promise, it didn't matter. The ones that matter are promises like; 'I'm not going to leave you', and 'I wouldn't get mad at you over an accident'." None smiled up at Nine, "Thank you, brother." Nine blinked, "What?" He had never actually been referred to as 'brother' by None before this. His twin said again, "I said, thank you, brother." Nine held him tighter, "You're welcome… Brother."
Two groaned as he sat down on a nearby book. He wouldn't admit it to the others but his legs were beginning to ache. He had been overworking his newly repaired legs, which would do nothing except cause pain. He massaged his right leg and tried to keep from making any louder noises. Of course, soon he was interrupted, "Where did you run off to? I swear, your attention span is much too short." The leader insisted as he decided to sit beside the Inventor, "Something is troubling you." Two shook his head, "No, no, no. I feel quite fine." He insisted and tried to hide the soreness. The other male scoffed, "You are still a terrible liar. Remember when you were young, like None, and you lost your blanket and forced your presence on me?"
"If I remember correctly, you weren't too disappointed." Two corrected as he watched One's hand move to his leg. It began to rub the fabric and Two sighed, "That feels very good, One. You've always been good with your hands." The leader let out a sound in his chest of pleasure, like he was enjoying petting Two. The male smiled pleasantly, "Perhaps we should spend some time together. We could start where we left off in the water." He suggested as he reached over to the other's hand and squeezed it affectionately. "Or maybe this would be better?" He instead leaned against One, resting his head against his shoulder, and entwining their hands, "I know that you still are against it, but I really think we need to consider telling."
"Someone knows." One accused and Two wasn't willing to deny, "Five knows, and he doesn't see anything wrong except that you and I are pretending that it doesn't exist. We can't go on like this One." The leader pulled away, "We are done talking about this. I told you that I didn't want any of them knowing and you told Five. I cannot believe this! How am I supposed to ever look at Five again when I know that he knows about us!" Two looked at his legs, his fingers playing together, and exhaled softly. "Alright One, we can keep it a secret, but I don't understand why we have to do this." As One started away, Two knew to stay quiet, but wanted to persist until the Leader broke down and allowed them to admit their relationship to the others.
"I just don't understand why you're so stubborn." He tested and on the spot One halted his movements, Two found himself staring at One's number as he awaited an answer. "I am not stubborn. I am being sensible. At least I am not naïve." Two gasped in offense, "I am not naïve, One. I just love you. I hate having to live like this, hiding, it's just not right!" Now he was speaking louder, but not in an angry fashion, just excited. "Not right?" One faced him with a heated glare, "I will tell you what's not right, being exiled! They will say it is wrong! We are both not similar, we should not be together, and then that I am no longer leader and are soon sent out into the Emptiness to die!" The Inventor sighed, "One, you sound absolutely insane."
"I will not be insulted!" One's voice rose, "We live in a very unfair world, one that you ignore and replace with your foolish building ideas and thoughts of things we can never achieve! Which means we must make sacrifices! This is one of those sacrifices!" Two now felt a flash of hurt and couldn't help but speak up, "Father would have never wanted us to make a sacrifice like this!" Silence. There was no talking and both of them just stood there until One straightened himself, "I refuse to discuss him. He, like you, could not grasp reality. This is done, I refused to argue about this meaningless subject anymore." Then he turned to leave. The words affected Two though and he felt himself tremble, "So that is why you… You are ashamed of me. You lied about being afraid of anything other than being ashamed."
He turned away and pressed a hand to his head. The mere thought of One being ashamed of him was painful, but it made quite a lot of sense. "Two…" One said quietly, confused, "You cannot actually believe that I am ashamed of you." Two didn't look back, "It is the only thing that makes sense. You fear the others won't respect you if they know that you and I are lovers. All because I am just… I really am naïve…" He could now feel One's hand on his back, "You couldn't be any more wrong. This is not because I am ashamed of you, if anything it is because I am ashamed of myself." He slid his arms around Two's waist and tugged him closer, no longer angered; he was now actually feeling upset at himself that he had hurt Two.
"The worst part One is…" Two paused briefly to regain his thoughts, "All I keep thinking of is; what if I had been killed? All we would have been able to show for our lives was a horrible mix up where it looks like you murdered me. Nobody would even know to put our graves together, and if one of us survived we would have to live with never having loved outside of it being a secret." One pressed against the back of Two's head, "Don't say something like that. That will not happen." Finally One did something he had never done before previously, he gave in, "Fine, we will tell everyone about us. I just need a day to clear my head." Two immediately perked, "Do you mean that?" One rubbed his head with one hand, "You cannot expect me to go out there, this second, and announce it."
"No, not about waiting until tomorrow. Just actually being able to tell." Two insisted, "We will really be able to be together without worrying if the others see us?" The male nodded in assuring. Then suddenly Two felt a drive and grabbed onto One, tugging him forward and locking their mouths together, not caring if anyone saw. Happiness, completeness, and the utter relief of not causing One to be ashamed were overfilling. The warmth was great on both sides and soon Two noticed a hand twisting in his ties, tugging them undone. Two didn't resist as he felt himself being led into a more private area. He certainly wanted the others to know about them, but this event was most likely one that could stay secret.
Six knew what was happening as he heard those footsteps circling him. So he had been spending the last while trying to all out avoid him. However, his struggles suddenly failed, the second that arm came out before him and blocked his way, "You're not going anywhere." Eight's voiced sounded quite angered. Now Six wished he had the normal, smirking, and amused Eight instead of this obviously annoyed one. "Listen freak, I know you think you can just avoid me, but that's not happening." The artist looked quite fearful as he worried about what the other would do. Eight decided that he was through with the Artist and merely shoved him away, causing Six to immediately hit the ground. Even though it wasn't intentional, Six felt quite hurt that Eight was now attacking physically.
He struggled to his feet and began running towards his crevice only to hear Eight speak, "You're not going to want to see your room." That warning made everything so much worse and Six was begging, pleading inside, that he didn't do anything too bad. It was just growing worse over the days. Slowly Eight went from the bullying once in a while to this assault. Six was now starting to feel hopeless as he had a feeling this could only get worse. Especially when he entered his room. The few pictures he made were now shreds on the floor, including the Cathedral one, and the ink well was on its side where it was spilling ink across the floor. Six felt his body seize and he couldn't control the growing pressure inside. Then he finally let it come out.
It took a few seconds to actually set in that he was crying. Six had never cried before and the whimpers scared him, causing him to cry even more. He wished that he could just be normal again as this was making him feel even worse. Not as bad as Eight made him feel though, not nearly as bad, and he swore he heard those footsteps again. Looking back he could see Eight standing behind him. He couldn't exactly think straight or perhaps he would have noticed Eight's odd reaction. Eight wanted a reaction from Six, but the one he was witnessing was confusing, because he himself was now feeling like what he did was wrong. Suddenly he got a feeling of guiltiness, especially with the Artist actually looking at him.
Six wanted Eight to know exactly how he felt too. He approached Eight to say something, do anything, but ended up falling again the Bully and letting out more shaky sobs. He couldn't speak, he couldn't think, or he would have moved away quickly as he realized he was lying against the one who caused so much hurt. If Eight was in his normal frame of mind he would realize that this was the person that he had bullied so long, which meant he was supposed to shove him away, but he didn't like the noises that Six was making. Finally he actually reached out and laid his hand on the soft yarn that topped Six's head, and when the Artist began to slid down that grasped moved and instead landed on his back to keep him from sliding anymore.
Something about this whole event made them both feel strange. Hurt, guilt, and this oddly nice feeling, warm where they touched, it was just so confusing.
Five awoke and immediately realized his arm was still aching. He rubbed it half-heartedly as he opened his optic slowly, "Nine?" Suddenly someone was right in front of him, "Five, you're awake!" The sudden cry caused Five to jump a little, but he immediately was able to see that even though it looked like Nine, it had to be None. Now Nine entered his line of vision, "Is your arm feeling any better?" The healer nodded, "Much better." He suddenly felt his best friend's hand caressing his shoulder softly and it felt a little better now. "It could've been a lot worse. We were really worried about you." None now looked saddened, "I… I'm sorry Five." Five didn't like seeing him upset and put his hand on his shoulder like Nine put on himself, "It wasn't your fault, or Nine's, it just happened."
Now None unzipped himself, "I got this for you Nine… But I think that Five needs it more… I'm sorry." He plucked out the marble he retrieved earlier and handed it over to Five who took it gratefully, "Thank you." He smiled to express more words that he couldn't manage to force out of his lips and Nine smiled as well, reassuring None that it was a good idea to give Five the marble, then remembered, "Wait." He headed over to Five's bag where he reached in a retrieved the marble meant for None, "We got you one too." He handed it over to None, "Here. I'm sorry I left you." None's reaction was odd, he looked almost hurt, and looked from the marble to Nine slowly, "You didn't… I don't…" Nine pushed it into his hands, "We'll ask Two how to play with them, okay?"
"I…" None let out a whimper, "I don't deserve-." Immediately he was cut off, "Don't say that. It's all over now and I want you to see that, even though it happened, you're still my brother." He put an arm around his twin who leaned against him with a small smile. Five was also smiling at the tender brotherly affection before remembering the blue marble. "I'm going to take Two his marble, to thank him for fixing me, well, again." He took the marble and started in a random direction. Eventually he finally thought he heard Two, making an odd gasping noise, and followed it, "Two?" Five looked behind a stack of books before immediately turning around and leaving. He tried to block out the sight of Two, One, and that bright light, but couldn't.
As he headed back to Nine and None, he passed Seven and the twins. The female Warrior smiled at him, "Feeling better, Five?" Five looked over, dazed, and then answered, "I-well…. I didn't find Two and… I… I'm feeling okay…" A small pause before Seven asked, "Let me guess, you saw One and Two?" Immediately Five began to stutter before coming up with an excuse to go find Nine and None, leaving Seven smirking, and he could hear the patter of Three and Four following behind him. He made it back to Nine and None where he immediately tried to smother his look of shock. Nine noticed it though, "Is something wrong?" Five shook his head stiffly as Three and Four came in, immediately their optics locked onto the marble in None's hand since they hadn't saw the one Five had been carrying.
They looked over and catalogued it while None watched, "Do you know how to play with this?" They looked at each other, flashed in communication, and then shook their heads in sync. However, they looked curious, and suddenly took off yet again to now research marbles and see how to play with them. Nine shrugged to None, "Should we follow them?" None nodded, "Okay." Nine helped None to his feet and then turned to Five, "Are you coming?" The healer snapped out of his trance, "Oh, y-yes." He followed behind the sets of twins and they headed into the depths of the library.
Mable: Short, I know, not very exciting, but it will pick up. Right after One and Two get finished. :D Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, the next chapter will be up soon!