Mable: Here is chapter seven. I don't own 9, Enjoy!
Seventh Degree Burns
Chapter Seven: Extinguish
"Nine!"
Then came the cracking noise as Nine's body hit the ground in an impact that sent tremors of fear through Five's frame. He forced himself to run as fast as he could without tripping or being detoured. It seemed like forever before he was at his friend's side, and he gasped as he saw the Stitchpunk lying face down on the ground. He kneeled beside Nine and gently rolled him over to measure the damage. Nine's left leg looked limp and when he touched it he realized that it was out of place. Nine's wrist on the same side was facing a strange direction as well.
Five felt most disturbed when seeing Nine's right optic lens was cracked. The optic itself didn't seem too damaged, but it did demand new glass to replace the lens. The more important thing was to check if he was still alive and Five's bent down to listen against his zipper. There was the dull pulse of a soul; Nine was alive, but unconscious and badly injured. Five still smiled a little for a second in relief before springing into action again. He tugged Nine over his shoulders, carrying his limp body and beginning to run towards the house again.
The trip again seemed to go on forever, especially since Nine wasn't moving at all, but Five managed to make it to the lift and forced the crank to turn with a single hand. Once it moved to the top, Five stumbled out of the lift and headed straight for the workshop. This is when Seven saw them, standing in the throne room. She knew something was wrong and tried to follow, "Five, what happened?!" The healer called back quickly, "Have to find Two!" As though to keep his mind on the task at hand, and the worried Warrior understood and let him go, not wanting to crowd in and cause Nine to not get medical help.
The twins were almost run over in the hall and the two pressed to the wall to let the one eyed one by. Five even noticed Six peering out of his room, but wasn't stopping to speak or explain to any of them. As he burst inside he could see One and Two together to the side and cried out to his mentor, "Two!" He called in desperation and the Inventor seemed to immediately cross the room to him to look at Nine's limp frame, "What happened?" He asked like Seven had, but managed to keep calm, even though his voice betrayed by wavering in shock and concern and Five began to explain, "He fell off the roof!... I… I think…"
Suddenly he was beginning to take in that perhaps Nine had purposely jumped. It made sense, as Nine stood there for a bit before his fall, and Five tried to figure out why his best friend would do something like this as he helped Two move Nine to the medical cot. "Let's fix this wrist first, that should be easy. Then we'll push his hip back into socket and, hmm, I'll look at the optic after that. A few of these stitches on his arm were broke as well. I'll attend to the wrist if you can quickly stitch that back to perfection." Five nodded, moving mechanically, and got a needle out to lace it with black thread.
Two quickly snapped his wrist back into place before fixing himself; Five was too lost in his thoughts to notice that Two's front was open. One, who was standing nearby, announced his presence, "You saw him fall?" No answer. "Five." Five perked up, "Sorry, I was…" The leader repeated, "You saw him fall?" Five nodded and the leader looked back to Nine, "I was perfectly clear when I said that no one should be on the roof alone." Apparently he didn't suspect what Nine did and began to leave, "I will alert the others." Honestly though, Five was aware that One didn't like to watch anyone being worked on and always left at this time.
Five brought the needle through Nine's burlap stitch after stitch, sewing the seam back as it was before, and only then realized that Two was looking at him. He didn't look back until the Inventor spoke, "Did he fall?" The healer knew what the question really meant. It wasn't asking whether the fall really happened, but how the fall happened. "I…" Five began, "I'm… I'm not sure…" Two sent a sympathetic look to Nine, as though he knew the truth, and then spoke, "Let's work on this leg now." To Five's surprise, Two sounded choked up, "Are you okay?"
"Oh, yes, fine." Two covered up, somewhat hoping that Five didn't remember his emotional outburst at Eight earlier, and they began to push Nine's hip back into the joint. It wasn't an easy job, involving the use of much force, but in the end a loud popping noise signaled that the leg was back in place and in working condition. Next, Two began to feel Nine's head and check his inner metals for injuries as Five went to look and see if they had any glass left. As he did this, he thought back to the fall itself, and slowly he was coming to a new solution.
"Two," He started pitifully, "I think he might have done it on purpose." Two didn't answer, but he knew his mentor heard him, so he had a feeling that there was a silent agreement.
With One, he had entered the throne room where the others, save Eight, were looking very concerned. Especially Seven who was before One in less than a second, "Is he okay?" The leader nodded, "He is stable. Five said that he fell off the roof." Three seemed to wince and buried her face into her brother's shoulder while Four pat her back caringly. Six, on the other hand, had this look of complete dread, and if it could have the color would have most likely drained from his face. Seven shook her head sadly, "How? How could he have fallen?"
Whether or not One suspected anything else, he was determined to convince the group that Nine, indeed, had just fallen. "Perhaps he was just too close to the edge. The end of the roof is sloped and perhaps water was still on it from the rain." Then he straightened, "I think that it is necessary that I make it a rule that groups of no less than two shall go onto the roof at once." The Warrior couldn't believe how he was immediately beginning to use the incident to make more of his laws, "One, is this really the time?!" She hissed out and he retorted.
"Of course it is! This is exactly the reason why nobody should be alone on the roof and is the necessary time to make this permanent." His voice grew a bit quieter, "I am going to go alert Eight of this." Then he made his way out of the room, leaving the Stitchpunks in silence. Seven stared at the spot One was presently with an unreadable expression until one of the twins approached and hugged onto her arm. She wrapped a free arm around the younger and began to try comforting them.
One entered Eight's room to see him lying on his bed face down, and opened his mouth to speak. "I thought you had to run off to Nine." Eight suddenly interrupted, sounding clearly annoyed, and One was nearly insulted, "I beg your pardon?" At that the Guard suddenly looked back, "Oh, Boss, I thought you were S-." he caught himself, "Someone else." The leader huffed, "Clearly. You heard about what happened to Nine?" Obvious by Eight's apathy, he didn't know, "What happened to him now?" One explained quickly, "Nine fell from the roof. While he's stable now, I am making it law that nobody goes onto the roof alone."
"Nine fell off the roof?" Eight had the same expression as One did when his guard had reprimanded him, "How'd he manage that?" The leader looked at the wall for a split second, "The roof was slickened by the rain so it was bound to happen." It was obvious that not even he believed this theory anymore. He then turned away, "I must go see Two. Have you simply decided to spend the rest of the day hiding in this room?" Eight was staring at the floor, lost, "Yeah." After a second, he made it clearer, "I meant; Yeah, I'm coming."
One exhaled, "Fine. If you change your mind and decide to keep hiding in your room then at least take some time to straighten up." He looked at the disarray around the room, "Though I doubt it would be possible." Then he left and began to head back to the throne room. He huffed to himself. Two was acting bizarre because he was carrying a child; what exactly was everyone else's excuse?
Pain was all over. In his leg, his arm, his back, but especially in his head. Right above his optic and spreading through the entire side of his face. When Nine opened his optics he was immediately taken aback by how bright the light above him was. It sent a surge of pain through his head and he groaned, only to hear a noise from the other side of the room, "Nine?" Nine looked over to see a blur approaching that looked suspiciously like his best friend. "Five?" The healer came completely into view and leaned over the zippered male with relieved smile.
"How are you feeling?" Nine moved around a bit and winced, "Everything hurts. What happened?" The one eyed male seemed hesitant, but then explained, "You must have lost part of your memory in the fall. You fell off the roof." Of course, Nine then remembered, and immediately remembered that he hadn't fallen at all. He had jumped, but wasn't about to tell Five, and instead muttered out a question, "How did I survive that fall?" Five didn't answer at first, then spoke softly. "Well, actually, Stitchpunks are pretty resilient in this way."
He began to ramble, "Parts don't break, they just come out of place. Though I had to replace your lens." He continued to talk as Nine's optics caught movement at the door. Looking up he could see One and Two through the crack of the curtain. They looked upset especially Two who had his head resting in his hand pitifully. By now, Five noticed his gaze, and stood, "Should I go tell them you're okay and awake?" Nine slowly nodded, his head spinning as he made the slightest movement.
The healer headed to the door. He said something to Two and One and then entered again. Two smiled, smothering a concerned look, "Well, look whose finally awake!" Nine found it odd that all three of them began to crowd around him looking all pleasant. Five and Two smiled while One looked passive and he answered, "Umm. Yeah." Two chuckled, "How are you feeling?" Nine rubbed his head, "I have a headache, but I think I'm okay." They seemed relatively eased and Two reached out to pet his head gently, "That's common. You hit your head quite hard."
The next few minutes were just random chat about every detail of their work on him. Nine was a little lost though as his thoughts went to what had happened. "What was I thinking?!" He mentally scolded, "Jumping? I thought that would help anything?! All I did was just make myself hurt more. Why did I even do-?" Nine's thoughts silenced as he remembered exactly what happened beforehand. He had been leaving his room when he heard Seven and Six's conversation. He had never felt so hurt before, even with the pain in his injured parts the pain in his center echoed, and he let out a soft inhale at the sensation.
The others seemed to notice and Five came closer, "Nine?" Nine forced a smile and waved it off, "Just feeling like I'm about to die, but other than that I'm okay." The joke seemed to calm the healer down. However, Nine wasn't that naïve; he recognized how One and Two suddenly shot a look to each other. One murmured something and then Two nodded before smiling again, "We should let you rest." The Inventor insisted and put an arm around Five's shoulders, "Five, perhaps we should leave for the time being?" Five nodded innocently and followed with Two as Nine knew this was somewhat set up.
One didn't leave and Nine glanced up at him. He was rewarded with a solemn look and he looked away slowly. "Is… Something wrong, One?" Nine asked slowly and the leader answered with a stern question, "Was it intentional?" The burlap one meant to sound like he didn't know what the leader implied, but instead burst out with, "Of course it wasn't. It was an accident- I accidentally fell off the roof- I wouldn't jump." But it sounded so much guiltier than he had intended it to.
One had been this patient up to this point though and reached out, laying a hand on Nine's arm, "I already know what happened. It would have been better to have you be mature enough to admit it, though." Nine burst out again, "It was an accident!" Then he let another thing slip, "I wasn't thinking of what I was doing!" One closed his optics and exhaled, "Be honest with me, Nine, I need to know this much. Will you be back up there?" Nine tried to shake his head, but was growing more tired, "One, no, I'm not going to go back up there alone ever again."
"I believe you." One answered surprisingly and made another shocking gesture when his hand moved to touch the younger's shoulder, almost petting him. Nine knew that One knew everything now and started to recoil by curling up on the cot. As he turned away, One's hand slid to his back, and rested their briefly. "If you need someone to talk to…. Two is always willing to do so." Whether it was One's idea of humor or not, Nine could tell that One actually was concerned, and when he didn't respond One soon left to let him rest. Nine needed the rest too.
Nearly minutes after One left, he heard the curtain open again and had a feeling who it was even before words were spoken. He knew it, and made sure not to look back, and soon was spoke to. "Nine?" Seven's caring voice only disturbed him more as she was what caused him so much pain. "Seven…" He responded quietly and she soon was by his side. "One said that you…. That you fell off of the roof. Are you okay?"
He huffed at her innocent tone and responded, "Everyone can stop acting like they don't think it. I know what they're thinking and I'd rather me come out and say it than they just assume it." The Warrior wanted to know the truth and thus pressed, "You didn't fall." Nine felt a mix of pure anger and stinging hurt, "No, I didn't fall, I jumped." A soft gasp and he sat up, "Yes, I-…" He immediately collapsed back onto the cot from a throb of protesting pain that circulated all over his body.
"Nine, what were you thinking?!" She demanded in horror and sadness, "You could've died! Is that it?! Were you trying to kill yourself?!" Nine retorted back just as loudly, but his emotions the exact opposite, "I don't know what I was doing! All I know is that I did it!"
"But why?" Seven asked softer and Nine looked away again, "I know what you've been doing with Eight." Seven closed her optics and took it in; she had a feeling that he knew in only the moment after he admitted jumping. "Did Six tell you?" She asked and he shook his head, "No, I heard you and him talking." She paused to get herself together, now feeling terrible, and spoke, "Nine I-."
"I don't know how you could do this to me." Nine said quieter as the anger melted into sadness, "You said that you loved me." There was another moment of silence before Seven started again, "I don't know what happened, I needed something and I… I do love you, Nine." Nine retorted quickly, "It was a weird way to show it." He then shook his head weakly, "Just… Just leave me alone. I just want to be alone." She didn't argue and even though she didn't want to go, she did, and left the room so that he could be alone.
She then went to her own room to be alone as well; to revel in the horrible mistake she had made and face the consequences.
Six knew the truth, but if everyone was going to pretend that Nine only fell then he wouldn't say anything. Especially when One was now attempting to draw the other's attention to announce something. Hopefully not what Seven and Eight had been doing behind closed doors. "There is something that I must prepare you all for. Because Seven is with Nine I will tell them after they have calmed. This is very important however, and…" He trailed off and pointedly glared at the empty spot beside his throne; Eight was still gone.
Before the Artist could even register it, he stood up, "I'll get him." And then quickly made a line straight from Eight's room without even stopping to think of what he was doing along the way. He knew this was a mistake, but if Nine was willing to do that, then Eight could do much worse. Six knew that Nine knew too; it was just too coincidental to be anything else. His steps slowed as he approached the doorway and he was barely moving as he pushed the curtain open. Thankfully, Eight looked alright, sitting on his bed with his knife in his hands.
As much as it scared Six to see a distressed Eight with a knife, he still didn't leave, and tried to speak. The words wouldn't form as he tried to say something. Thankfully, Eight heard his footsteps, "I know, Boss, I'm coming." When 'Boss' didn't respond, he looked back, and Six was spotted, "What are you doing here?" Usually these words came out in an intimidating way that scared Six. Though now they came out sounding tired and nearly emotionless.
"One…" Six forced the words out, "One wants you to… He wants to say something… In the room- throne room." That came out a lot worse than Six intended, yes, but Eight got the meaning and began to stand. "Yeah, I'm coming." Guilt overtook Six as he could tell that Eight was certainly upset about what happened with Seven. The Warrior, who he was giving his everything too, had left Eight and hurt him all because of Six's own encouragement. "It was my fault." He suddenly blurted out, not realizing what he was doing until after the sentence came from his mouth.
The guard looked back in confusion; Six didn't talk enough to suddenly cry things out, at least not things like this. "What's your fault? Being born?" There was the half-thought comment that Eight would throw at Six whenever he had time. It didn't faze Six anymore and he found himself admitting his role, "I… I heard you and Seven… I knew what was going on and told Seven to tell you and Nine about…" He trailed off and looked to the floor.
It was a mistake, he knew it, to admit to Eight exactly what part he played in the entire ordeal, and he waited for it to sink into the other. He felt the heavy footsteps towards him through the vibrations that seemed to shake the floor; or maybe he just paid closer attention. He knew Eight was towering above him and nervously waited for the reaction he'd receive. Then it came down, Eight's hand, and stopped on Six's shoulder.
The reaction was surprising and Six optics widened as the hand pulled back, "Thanks." Then he started around Six and out of the room. The Artist tried to get answers, "But you're… You're not- I ruined everything. You should hate me." Instead of another half-thought comment about Eight hating Six, Eight responded with a shrug, "It was going to happen. I can't get any lower in everyone's eyes, but I'm not low enough to do something like that. I wouldn't have been with her if I would've known."
It relieved Six, something about the comment, and he responded, "I don't see you as low." Another comment he didn't mean to say, but at least he managed to actually look up at the other now, pen tipped hands wringing each other and dripping ink down upon the floor. He had never seen Eight smile at him before. There were brief hazy memories, maybe something during the Machine Incident, but Six hadn't ever received a smile.
It didn't matter how the other still looked visibly downtrodden and somewhat upset, the smile was still there, and it felt great for Six to see it. "I needed that." The taller answered and gestured for the Artist to come out with him into the throne room. Six followed behind him loyally and for once felt remarkably normal.
As soon as they entered, Eight immediately noticed Seven who, by how the twins had their hands on her, just dragged her into the throne room. He looked away from her and refused to give her the satisfaction of anything less than normal behavior, taking his place by One's side. One acknowledged him before looking to Two who was also nearby and then began. "We have brought you all here to announce that there will soon be a new addition to the sanctuary."
Perhaps it was the stress of everything that made Eight blurt out, "You didn't find another one out there, did you?!" One sent him a glare while Two chuckled a bit, "No, not at all, it's a bit different than that… To explain such, there is something One and I also have to bring into the open." As much as he wanted to tell the others about their relationship he found himself taking a second to brace himself, "One and I have…. When two Stitchpunks grow very fond of each other they decided to…"
One took over at this point and took a blunt approach, "Two and I are a couple. We have been together for quite some time and have exchanged vows; we are mates." Once he finished there was a period of silence, no one said a thing, until Seven willed herself to speak. One and Two were shocked by what she said. "We know." That blunt and outright, causing One's optics to widen in alarm, "What do you mean 'we know'?"
Seven looked to the others and Five took this as a cue to speak, "I… Umm… Walked in on you a while back in the workshop and figured it out…" Then Seven continued, "Back in the Cathedral I walked in that time that Two was on your lap. It was obvious." Then Eight spoke up, "Hell, I've walked in on you two so many times that I can't even count anymore. The worst time was trying to get out without letting you know I was there a few nights back."
One and Two just stood there, the same reaction of absolute horror on their faces, and One cleared his throat, "I see… Now that I have lost all sense of privacy, the Stitchpunk who is joining us our own creation." Two found his own words and smiled at the thought, "In a short time I am going to have a child. We're going to have a baby." While Seven looked surprised, the twins looked excited, and Five looked thrilled, both Six and Eight looked confused from the comment. The term 'baby' being foreign.
"That's great!" Five spoke up, "Are you sure?" Two nodded vigorously, "Yes, absolutely! I would be happy to show you if you would- Perhaps later." He corrected with a chuckle as he noticed One giving him a look that showed he was absolutely against the thought. Now Six actually spoke up, "What's a baby?" Seven answered him, "It's a little Stitchpunk that's young." She then looked back to Two and forced a smile even though other things still bothered her mind, "Congratulations."
The Inventor smiled as well, "I'm glad you are all so supportive. The baby will take much work and a lot of attention, but we both knew this when we began trying." Two smiled back at One and the leader gave an uncharacteristic, soft smile in return. Five now spoke up, "I'll go tell Nine." Five hurried into the workshop to tell Nine the good news. He was ecstatic; they would soon have a new Stitchpunk to play with and to care for.
As he burst into the workshop he was immediately detoured when he noticed that Nine was curled up in a pained position. "Nine?" He approached softly and the other let out a noise that sounded remarkably like a sob. "Nine, are you okay?" His friend looked back a bit and let out a choke, "Five… Help me." The healer came up behind him and tried to assist him, "Are you hurting again? I-I can get you a magnet to numb it if you-…" He was cut off as Nine took his hand and squeezed it pitifully.
"Just stay with me… I just… I just don't want to be alone." Five didn't understand what was leaving Nine like this, but sat on the stool by him, and held his best friend's hand loyally.
Unfortunately, Nine wasn't the only upset Stitchpunk in the sanctuary. Even after the wonderful news Seven was feeling empty and retreated to her room. She had a feeling that she'd be alone in this room from now on. She might have just lost Nine and it left her blaming only herself. She had caused this. The only question now was what would come soon, if anything.
For now, though, Seven was alone.
Mable: The next chapter is the FINAL chapter and will be posted in a few days. I can't believe it, the final chapter, another fic coming to a close… A few people guessed the identity of the one falling off the roof; I'd give them prizes, but I have none to give, I can't even reward myself for anything anymore. ^-^ I hope you enjoyed!