Hello readers, this is Chaoartwork39, here to explain my latest update on this fanfiction. I do apologize for the delays of this episode. Part 2 hasn't been finished yet and it will take quite a while to finish it due to complicated writings for this one scene I'm having trouble going through. I'm trying best to see if I can write it through smoothly without it being out of place and i need this scene in order to get into a climax that would lead through a character development for one of the main characters. Also because I'm going through a first experience with college. As for now, please enjoy part 1 of episode 5 until part 2 gets released. Thank you for reading! ;)

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19 made a short gasp of fear, with her eyes flying open, and saw that she was laying on her bed. Making fast pantings, she noticed that her room has gotten brighter, meaning that it was already dawn out. Her breathing then started to soften before letting out a sigh and rolled her body up the ceiling.

"Another dumb dream," she whispered tiredly and rubbed her optics. Tracing her hand away from them, she continue to daze off unto the ceiling.

Those nightmares are still going on, which made her continue to worry about the hallucination she had. There could even be a good chance that with the nightmares continuing, she might have the possibility on having another hallucination.

And now she can't count on 10 to aid her, so she's not sure who to turn to. 11 is quite a loyal stitchpunk. But she's not even sure if she would even understand.

Dammit 10, she rubbed her forehead stressfully and made a soft groan, where the crap did you go to?

She then threw her arm back on the bed and sadly blanked out for a moment. she then remembered the book that 11 gave to her the other day and decided that maybe reading her father's book would wash away all her worries on both the nightmares and her friend's disappearance.

She flipped her body over to face her pillow and pull it away to rest her eyes on a dark blue and slightly thin book. Despite it giving her neck aches from resting her head on it during the first two nights, it atleast avoids her mother from snatching it away like she did with the talisman. She then picked it up, put her pillow back in its original position, and completely sat up and look down on the book. She then skipped the history of the machine war, since she already read all of it last night. She then got to the part where she finished the last paragraph of the war, which ended up making her so uncomfortable of the story that she had to call it a night.

Just reading how such a mistake from creatures, that are similar to her species, could have wipe their existence out at a blink of an eye. It gives her a sudden shiver that this might happen her kind too. But trying her best to wash away the information, despite it only being a bit helpful,she continued laying her eyes on the next paragraph below. She realized how 9's writing looked a bit sloppy from the last paragraph of the war to the beginning of the next paragraph, almost as if his hand was quivering when he wrote this.

You know, she began reading, I still remember when 3 and 4 showed me the whole entire video of this story. I never expected that I would learn more about the machine in such a cruel and tragic story. Everytime I think of the video, and the people who perished in each of those photos, it's as if I can feel what they feel at their last moment of their race. Fear, sadness, regret. The scientist made us to renew humanity. I just don't want the same mistake to happen to us sometime in the future.

Funny, she chuckled, it's as if our thoughts of the history were almost the same. Though to be honest, it's not really that surprising.

Sometimes I even wonder if even destroying the machine was even the right thing to do. Don't get me wrong, that thing is extremely dangerous to roam around this world. But another thought that comes into my head whenever I think of that video is...what if this machine has something deep within its cold thought that we don't know about? What if that's why it's presence still haunts me in my sleep?

Her eyes raised a bit, thinking that her father was probably overthinking when writing these things. Something still felt as if she had to keep reading.

Surely it wanted all life to end. But why? It can't be just because it's mind got corrupted. There has to be something else to it. It's just impossible to answer why it rather suck the souls out of my friends, who perished, instead of squashing them or ripping them apart. 7 thinks I might be pondering too much about-

"Hey 19!" A high pitched voice caused the white burlap to violently flinch in quivering gasp and try hiding the book, despite it being too late to do so. She quickly turned at the one who quickly came into her room and recognized a female dwarf stitchpunk.

"Oh," her smile disappeared, "sorry. Did I scare you?"

"Looks like it," she tried to soften her panting and placed her hand on her chest, deciding to stop hiding the book in the process, since 11 was the one who gave it her.

"Heh heh," she innocently smile in guilt while stroking the top of head where her bow bent for a moment and got released, "yeah, my bad."

The braided stitchpunk finally felt her panic wash away and sighed.

"So why are you up so early?"

"I can ask you the same thing."

But she pondered a bit,

"Though it's not really that important to talk about right now."

Good, she gave a slight uncomfortable expression, I rather not.

"Any who," she faced her again, "I was wondering that we can maybe hang out today nearby the burnt cathedral."

"Wait," her eyebrow raised and pointed out, "are you talking about that former home base right nearby the library?"

"Yes!" She nodded postively, "wouldn't that be fun?!"

"Fun?" She looked more confused, "I thought we were planning on continuing searching for 10."

"Well, that would be pretty lucky for us if we find him there. But I talked to 7 last night and she agreed that she will do battle training with you over there! I can finally see you battle without my brother being too protective with me!"

19 froze.

"E...Leven," she said, "I really like the invitation. But my mom and I? Well...let's say we haven't gotten along well in quite a while. Beside, I don't think she would allowed me to train outside just like that."

"She actually did think about it," the dwarf replied, "and she guessed that since you just turned two, it should be time to already take the training to the next level. Besides, the world is becoming a little more dangerous than usual, so she wants you prepared before any ambush happens in the base. And if you guys DO have hard time getting along, I can just talk you two out of it."

"Hmph," she cracked a smile, "I don't think anybody would want to refuse on listening to such a sweet girl like you-" it then disappeared for a second, "-except for 12. And it will be the three of us?"

"You-" 11 pointed at 19, "me-" she pointed at herself, "and 7!"

"Alright," the leader's daughter finally answered, "I guess I can go."

"YAAYY!" The smaller one celebrated skipping around the room and having a moment of dance.

"So what will be a good time to set out?"

"Right when the sun is fully up," she turned back to her happily. "I'm going to go ahead and tell 7 this," she then quickly skipped out of her room while humming cheerfully. It caught her in curiosity in how she just left so suddenly after her answer. But she decided to rub the back of her head in a little smile.

that girl always seems to have a way in having a good odd-looking personality.

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12 can feel himself waking up as he began to stretch his tired body in order to wake itself up. Yawning a bit, he slightly opened his eyes. Right when he did so, the first thing he saw was his sister's face very close to his and smiling.

"GEEZ!" His eyes flew open in shock and rapidly sat up, seeing how 11 bent her head playfully to get really close to her once sleeping brother.

"Goodmorning, 12!" She sang happily to him.

"LEVEN," he shouted angrily, "WHAT THE F-!"

"Did you sleep well?" She then rubbed both his cheek and later press his cheek into hers, "cause I woke up like it was my first awakening!"

But 12 growled in annoyance and pulled her away.

"It would have been for me too if you didn't put your CREEPY doll face right close to me!"

"Creepy?" She paused for a moment before letting out a tease, "12, you know I always have to look joyful and cute to give everybody a smile everyday. Especially for my best twin in WHOOOOLE wide world!"

After her last giggles, she noticed the other dwarf was starting to soften his pantings and had a dramatic changed expression of unamusement. She still tried to smile for him, despite seeing him this, before he sighed.

"Right?"

He remained quiet for just one moment.

"You're planning something on me. You're always hyper like this in the morning when you are thinking on forcing me to do something. Or..."

His eyes widened a bit.

"Is 10...?"

"No," 11 quickly saddened a bit and lost eye contact with him for a moment, "he hasn't returned or been found yet."

"Oh," he returned to his unamused expression.

"But," she lit up again, "I now that there is a VERY special place that'll cheer both of us up from yesterday. Let's say you always want to take a look at that burnt cathedral that you've been curious about since first sight."

12's eyebrow raised,

"The burnt cathedral?"

She quickly nodded.

"Just the both of us?"

"That's right!" She sang playfully again.

That was when his suspicions completely vanished in just a blank look.

"Oh...o-okay. Um," he stroke his head back, "wow."

"That's funny," she chuckle by this notice, "I don't think you ever responded like this before."

"Pfft," he looked back at her, "No dance contest? No scouting with 17 and 14? No scavenging for a non-threatening beast? I didn't expect this to be less threatening than I thought."

"I had a feeling you would like this one. Soooo," she bent close to him, "would you come?"

He pondered a bit while taking a quick look at his surroundings.

"Eh," he laid back down on his bed, "it's atleast better to look at some remains there that are useless to look at than being trapped in this dump."

11 eyes widened and then clasped her hands together, quivering from her hidden squeals.

"But promise that you won't wake me up like that ag-AH!"

She grabbed him out of bed just to wrap him tightly around her arms, letting her cheek once again squeeze his, which caught him in having a moment of awkwardness with her.

"12," she murmured, "don't you know how much I love you?"

The male grunted,

"don't you know how short my life is gonna be if you keep squeezing me like this?"

She let go of 12, without warning, causing him to collapse back on their bed.

"I'm sure you'll do fine. I'm gonna go ahead and inform 7 about this. Be right back!"

She started leaving, making him catch attention again after his fall.

"W-wait," he called out, "you're leaving me already? After you woke me up like that?!"

"I promise I'll be right back," she replied when she completely left the room and heard her footsteps die away.

As soon as she was gone, he grew slightly annoyed again and cover his entire body with a blanket.

that girl always seems to have a way in having a crazy and annoying personality.

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A Blind Man

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Just as 11 told her, she entered the entrance room as soon as the sun was completely up. She noticed how few of the group would go about their usual daily routines, often giving glances towards the female burlap before continuing. She can pretty much tell why she gets these kind of reactions from them, even if they are often understanding and would never want to hurt her feelings. But having to live with it throughout her entire life, all she did was try to get use to it, which pretty much works. She was already carrying her bag to go out as she decided to sit right near the exit so she can take a good view at the Emptiness.

Just like always, the ground was always wet from this world's everyday rain, with atleast smaller puddles surrounding about. She then started to notice how a tiny sprout of plants were now starting to grow out of the cracks of the road. It won't be long until they start invading the whole entire library.

"Hm," she smirked teasingly before raising her head up to sky, in which people believe there are spirits living somewhere up there, "you guys really have quite the obsession with making everything green, huh? Pretty soon the only color our species knows would be that."

"Who are you talking to?"

She was a bit startled by a sudden voice and turned behind her to see the female leader walking towards her.

"Oh," she was a bit surprised to see her come earlier than she thought, "hi 7."

But she then noticed that when she came close, she had a strange expression. Yet she wasn't sure if it was suppose to be a concern.

"Is there somebody here?" Her tone now sounded almost a bit of a desperation.

"No sorry," she chuckled in embarrassment, "I was pretty much pretending that I was talking to the afterlife souls."

She calmed herself and then sighed while rolling her eyes a bit.

"Yeah," she muttered, "don't we all?"

With how off 7 often behaves, 19 just decide to let it pass as she watched her walk all the way next to her.

"You don't mind if I sit with you while we wait?"

19 honestly felt worried about this. She wasn't sure that in just few minutes, they might get into another argument. She already wants to have a break of acting like a rebellious brat in front of her, just for one day.

"Oh, u-um sure," she scooted a bit, despite her having tons of space, "go ahead."

Thanking her, she sat down right next to her. And just after doing so, she still tries to avoid looking at the youngest.

On the bright side, atleast that's a low chance that she can avoid chatting with her. She chilled her worry a bit as the silence lasted for few minutes.

As long as it's like this, it will be enough for 11 to come over and this awkwardness will be all over.

"So," the eldest suddenly spoke, "I think it's really nice that 11 invited us to hang out. I think it's the healthiest she can do for us when we have been having this endless events, don't you think?"

Just her luck.

"Actually," she remained natural, but still felt unsettled, "I'm just surprised you accepted her in taking me out there."

"Yeah," the leader murmured, "it...was usually something that I have been thinking about. You've gotten smarter and stronger over the those two years. I still feel as if you're not ready yet, but..."

19's worry soften, noticing how 7 was once again lost in her thought. It was something that she didn't know about, but she did knew that it would have to do something that relates to 9. She just wish she had the chance from understanding her. If only 7 wasn't being so harsh on her.

She decided to talk her thoughts to her, but also to remind herself on going steady.

"Listen," she spoke, "I know you must feel very bothered by everything. But you can't just force me into something like that, I'm not a newborn anymore."

"I know," she sighs, "I just..."

She fell silent again, looking so confused about her thoughts while staring endlessly at the ground.

As much as she felt pity for her, she shouldn't make it as if she's the most sufferable one in the group. Sure, she lost her friends and her mate, but it shouldn't be like this after it has been already two years. She's certain that there must be others in here that must be facing something in their life. Especially her...well, sometimes. She would most likely let her thoughts out when 10 was the only one in a room.

He was the one who understood the most of what her problem is, especially the mysterious illness she's going through. Now he is nowhere to be found and she has no one to look up to now. She can tell 11, but who knows if she can keep a secret like this. And if she told 7, she would think that it's complete nonsense.

She's your mother, a second thought suddenly came to her, you've notice how protective she is with you. Atleast try?

Her chest build up with worry and glanced at her still dazed off. But what if telling her cause another fight? But all the second thought would say is "try". And even thinking about it, it's true.

Everything has been going wild around for the past week. After a year of endless nightmares, she was now added with hallucinations and who knows if it might get worse. Now her best friend is gone and one of the dwarf twins is being strangely suspicious. it's been cramping up on her thoughts already that she might start having her sanity drained. And her mother is one of the only people she can count on telling.

Like her second thought said, she has to try. She forcefully gulped down all the fears within and finally turned back to her mother, who was already slightly turning to her as well.

"Mom, there's something that I have to-"

"Sweetie, there's something I have to-"

It took them a second to notice they were talking at the same time, causing them to hesitate.

"Sorry," 19 said, "you can go ahead-"

"No," 7 spoke back, "I'm fine with you going first. I feel you're mostly the one who needs to talk."

The youngest paused in a look and took a deep breath.

"Ok," she sighed and began twiddling her fingers, "I'm trying to think on how to start this...u-um. Well, you probably know that I have been going through 10's disappearance and..."

She bit her lips with her metallic skeleton underneath her burlap, not wanting 7 to get confused and taken back if she tells her about 12's behavior.

"I know," 7 tilted her head in a slight frown, "it has been obvious."

"Ofcourse," she slightly smile in embarass until remembering what her confession was gonna be quickly vanished it.

"But," she continued, "that's not exactly what I want to talk about.

"It's actually more important to talk about something else."

"Really?" Her eyebrow raised in slight concern, "but you rarely look like you hide anything."

That's because you always turn your face away like I'm a complete stranger, her eyes slightly narrowed.

"Yeah," she remained her anger still, "well it's because the situation is just unexplainable. You see, I've been going thr-

"Got your backpack?"

"Yes."

"Got your knife?"

"Yes."

After a pause, they both looked behind them to see the two dwarfs entering the entrance room with 11 continuing to ask him multiple question.

"Got your helmet?"

"Leven," he turned to her, "I'm always wearing my helmet."

"Doh, I know," she teased, "I'm just REALLY excited for us to go out after such a long time!"

19's curious expression while listening to it quickly turned completely blank, with 7 now a bit shocked but confused on what's going on. She took a glance at her daughter, noticing her dramatic change of her expression.

"Well don't get your hopes to high," he replied and continued walking to the entrance, "were probably going to see nothing over there. So if anything, I can take some good fight...trai..."

His sentence slowed to a stop when he noticed 19's expression too and made both him and 11 take a complete halt.

The room was quiet for few seconds.

"Um," 12 spoke again in confusion, "why are you looking at us like that?"

"Eh..12," 7 spoke up, "I think we need an answer to our question too. And it might come from your sister."

"My sister?" His confusions grew more and slowly turned to 11, in which she blankly looked to see 7 and 19 turn their face to hers to.

"Leven," 12 asked her, "do you know what they're trying to explain?"

11 worriedly looked at each of them, trying to find the right answer to say.

"U...ugh, oh," she let out a nervous smile, "oh my! Silly 11, I must been so excited that I forgot that I invited you to hang out with already. Yet, I also wanted to hang out with 19 and 7 too. So I don't want to upset both of you. Hmm," she pretended to ponder, "let see. I know! How about I take both of you with me?"

12 gave her a slight glare.

"Say what now?"

"Hold on," 7 thought about it for a moment, "11's right. It'll be nice to see how strong 19 is with both me and 12.

She then turned to 12.

"Also, you can hang out with your sister instead of having to be alone."

"What?" 19 was in disbelief by 7's quick decision of this, but was interrupted by her mother's hand resting on her shoulder.

"Well," she tried to give a warm look at her daughter and then at the male fighter, "what do you both say we have some fun out there?"

19 was really uncomfortable by adding 12 to come along. After what happened with them last night, she promised herself that she wouldn't want to get involved with his strange behaviors again. Besides, how would 7 react to her thoughts in a moment that she approves to hang out with him in order to get along? She turned to 12, who also turned to face her at the same time with a blank response on his expression.

She can tell just by this that he had no idea how to answer this too. But after a while of looking at her, he decided to make an emotional smile.

"Sure," he faced 11, "I-I mean, as long as you're with me, there's no problem with having a group outing."

11 made a huge exciting smile, resulting in a soft, but quick, applaud. 19 was just surprised on his unexpected answer.

"Well sweetie," 7 turned to her, "what do you think?"

Now 19 wasn't sure what exactly to say. It was either that he really did have a change of thought about his attitudes or he's forcing himself into this. Even so, she didn't want to upset 11 or get into another fight with 7.

"I think it sounds like fun," she answered too, "I haven't really talked to the twins yet in years. So it would be nice to finally get to know them."

"Good," 7 turned to 11, "see? Problem solved. We are going to hang around the burnt cathedral without any trouble."

"Oh yaaaay!" She cheered and tightly squeezed 12, "thank you, thank you!"

She then rushed to the younger female burlap and gave her a tight hug too.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

19 gave a smile of pleasure for pleasing her new friend before gently pulling her away.

"Now go on," 7 shoved 12 to the entrance, giving him a glance of suspicion before shaking it off and walking out of the library, "we can't get there too late."

She then escorted 19 out of the building before letting her off,

"Otherwise, the sun will go down earlier for us."

She curiously glance at her, but deciding to pace up to 12. Who knows? Maybe she can talk to him normally like the argument never happen. But as soon as she walked right next to him, he quickly noticed and gave her a slight glare. It didn't take him more than a second to pull his sight away and pace farther away from her. Feeling a bit taken back by this, she later responded back by giving a look of exhausted irritation towards the small male.

Good scientist is it going to be a long day.

Meanwhile, 7 decided to be behind 11 when she stopped pass the entrance, taking a breath of triumph of this plan. She continued to catch up to the two when she suddenly felt one of her wrist being grab, halting her in the process. Confused, she looked up to 7, who was staring out at 12 and 19 walking.

"I know that you are hiding something," the dwarfs mouth slightly opened in shock by the female leader's voice, "and I know that you are try to do something with this hang out. I'm not dumb. I can read almost everything that my people might be thinking."

11 froze before frowning in worry on what she will do to her.

"However," she continued, "I'll let this pass during the day. But as soon as this is over, you are going to tell me what exactly is going on. Understand?"

She look down at the nervous and guilty pale female, notice that her mouth slightly quivered for few second.

"Y...yes,7."

7 gave a moment of look, with an exchanging expression of a serious approval, before covering her face with the bird skull helmet.

"Let's go," she said and followed up to the duos. 11 watch them with a frown of stress and let out a sigh. Then she went off to follow the group too.