Mable: Wow… This is the second to last chapter. The next chapter is officially the last one and… We're so close to the end and I'm shivering from excitement and sadness. I plan to write more 9 fics though, hopefully ones that get as many reviews as this one did. I would like to thank everyone who read and reviewed or simply read. I will have a special thanking to everyone individually on the last chapter. Because I, truthfully, would like to thank everyone who's been so supportive to me. I never thought anyone would read, it is the greatest confidence booster that you have. Yeah, well, now time to suck it up and move on with the chapter… I kind of rushed, but I still am posting now. I don't own 9, Enjoy!

Forgotten

Chapter Eleven: Never Forgetting

None was amazed at the sheer size of the beast before him and stared up at it. No longer working, the Fabrication Machine laid there, the place to put the Talisman in was right before None. He held the Talisman tightly before him, not sure how long he had been standing there, and only then did something finally happened. The Beast didn't move, None didn't move, but something crashed into None and began trying to yank the Talisman from his grasp, "Don't do it!" He could clearly recognize his brother's voice, "Nine?!" The twin looked terrified, "Don't put it in! It will wake it up!" None then cried back, "I wasn't going to!" They had a brief tug of war between the two of them before Nine finally released the Talisman and None almost tumbled backwards.

"That's what will bring it back to life." Nine explained calmly and None looked horrified, "No, that's not true. You don't understand." His brother was certainly sure, "Yes it will. It woke it up before, it might make it awaken again, and we can't let it." His twin was desperate, "Nine, it's already is awake! The outside is dead, but the inside still lives, and it will come after us someday!" Perhaps Nine simply wouldn't believe it out of denial, but he couldn't fathom it. "In the book it said it. This… This book I read in the First Room, a long time ago, said it. This does things to the outside, but the outside is controlled by the inside, and all you stopped was the outside. I came to stop the inside. I didn't want it to hurt everyone… I know it did before…" Nine closed his optics, "Who… Who told you everything?" He asked almost sadly.

"Nobody. I just know." None gripped the Talisman tighter, "Sometimes I think strange things, I thought maybe I was like Six, and then I realized I was seeing some things that you saw. I think it's because we're twins. I don't see a lot, but I can feel it, I feel afraid and I know it was you who was so scared." The twin bond seemed reasonable as Three and Four had one as well and his brother didn't know what to say. Then the zippered Stitchpunk suddenly began to get this uneasy feeling and could swear he heard some sort of voice from around him. "We don't know how to stop it, or even if the book is right, we need to find the others and then we can think about a plan." None shook his head, "I can't go back knowing it knows that we know that it's alive."

That voice was circling him, whispering, rambling, and Nine felt desperate to leave at this very second. "None, we can't stay here, we can't stop it if it's still alive. What do you plan to even do?" His twin looked at the dark eye, "… Go inside and… Stop the inside?" It was obvious that he barely thought through this plan and even now he looked discouraged beyond belief. "There has to be a way… But the book said nothing… Maybe our creator didn't make is stoppable." The thought was even more horrific than any other, "The Scientist wouldn't have-… Father wouldn't-… It's not- What is that noise?" Nine asked as that whispering, low, understandable voice continued to come from somewhere around him. He wasn't sure exactly where though.

None heard the voice to and looked to the Fabrication Machine, "Could it be from that?" He moved closer and pressed his audio receptor against the cold metal while Nine looked back, "No, it's probably the others, they were coming too but they must have gotten lost or-." There was a gasping noise from None and Nine knew that his suggestions were wrong, "It is from the Beast." At that very second there was a grinding noise, a cracking noise of metal being bent, moved, anything, and Nine grabbed his twin to pull him away. Only then did he realize that when None was listening, the Talisman had actually touched the Machine, and now it was moving, because it really had been alive. It looked like just as much of a shell as it always had though.

Of course, that was until something burst from its side. It looked like one of its own arms ripping through the metal before opening itself as to damage its own body. Nine got before None, holding his letter opener before him in defense, and watched as something happened that he had only seen in nightmares. Another arm came out beside the first one and they began to force the gaping hole open farther before both, and whatever they were attached to, fell out and onto the ground. All Nine could see was a mess of the arms, perhaps three of them, now unmoving. He gently pushed None back and stepped closer in an attempt to see this. Then the arms moved, lifting the core off of the ground, and Nine found himself taken aback.

The core was made of metal, its body hanging limp as it used only the three powerful arms to move, and as it looked up its optics opened and revealed the blood red color only known by the Fabrication Machine; even so, it was obviously once Stitchpunk. Nine soon found himself again seeing more confusing and unbelievable things as this Fabrication Stitchpunk as it, which was ways away, suddenly moved so quickly that Nine was pinned on the ground by one of its arms. It looked down at him with this emotionless look, no feeling, just staring, and he could see that on its chest was the same slot for the Talisman as on the Outer Shell. "None." Nine whispered, hoarsely as the claws were now pressing into his chest, "Run." But he had a feeling his twin wouldn't leave him.

Instead, None grabbed the letter opener Nine dropped and tried to hit the Fabrication Stitchpunk. It easily caught the attack with its other hand, using the third to hold itself off the ground. Not once did it look away from Nine, because those red optics were only trained on him, as though it looked through him and could see his soul. Finally it moved elsewise and attempted to grab None, managing to get him by the leg and ripped him forward. It looked over him, and then there was the sound of whispers again. Now Nine knew why he couldn't understand them; they weren't real words, they were completely incomprehensible. By the way they were now appearing, quickly, though still quiet yet subtly raising and lowering in volume, he guessed that it was angry.

Then Nine saw that None no longer had the Talisman and gasped as he watched the Fabrication Machine force his zipper down. Now its real arms moved to violently search through None insides only to find the Talisman gone. It was furious and as its body again went limp, it lifted None and through him aside. The twin was unharmed, but obviously shaken, and the Fabrication Stitchpunk soon began to search the surrounding area. Nine began to be dragged as that grasp was still on him. With that gaze no longer on him, he began to try and break free, but it was seemingly impossible. Then, out of nowhere, there came a white blur; Seven. She seemed shocked but had recovered quick enough to stab into its arm holding Nine. The spear went through, but it was unfazed, and instead grabbed her as well.

It held her down and seemed to not acknowledge the needle that flew by it and instead opened her toggle to search her insides. Once again, no Talisman, and those furious whispers occurred before he tossed her away, purposely throwing her at Five who almost hit him with a needle. It then turned to Nine, scrutinizing almost, and yanked down his own zipper to see if it could have possibly gotten inside. Upon seeing nothing, it straightened itself, lifted Nine up, and then threw him far enough that he hit the outer shell. It was painful, but he quickly got up, knowing he had to find the Talisman, "Are you alright?!" Five managed to make it over to him, "What- What is that?!" Nine took a few shaky breaths before answering, "It's the Fabrication Machine's inside! We only destroyed the outside!"

Then Five pointed something else out, after a few seconds of panicked looks, "But if it is the inside, it needed to be protected, how is it this strong?" Nine briefly saw Seven go at it and the Beast again knocked her away. "It won't let us attack… Maybe it's really weak to us! Our attacks will harm it if they get through!" Five seemed to agree with this and began trying to shoot at the Fabrication Stitchpunk. It looked towards the two, saw them congregating, and took this as a sign that they had the Talisman now. The one arm almost stabbed at them and both leapt away at once before Five began to shoot at the Fabrication Stitchpunk. It dodged every attack, barely moving while it sped on, until it was right before Nine. At this time Seven dug her spear into one of its arms, to which it didn't even flinch and knocked her away.

Nine saw clearly that the arm was damaged though and spoke up, "The arms can be hurt!" Seven saw the damage as well, "It always defends itself with its arms. If we could get rid of them, it would be defenseless." They all nodded in agreement, basically to themselves, and the Warrior leapt again, this time targeted at the arms. The four didn't realize that the Fabrication Stitchpunk clearly listened to them and knew exactly what they were to do. It almost ripped Seven out of the air and held her in a steadily tightening vice-like grip. At first she was able to bare it, then she began to feel the pain steadily rising and let out a cry as it tried to crush her metals. With Five trying to shoot at it, Nine ran to grab his letter opener, "None, stay back!" He commanded to his twin before heading to the Beast.

It was most likely luck that allowed Eight, One, and Six to suddenly run up. Of course, all three were quite shocked at seeing this creature, One's optics dramatically widening from their normal slants, but immediately he commanded Eight to attack. The guard did as told and attempted to bring his knife down at the same time Nine tried to attack. The Fabrication Stitchpunk held Seven before it like a shield, and so Nine stopped, but Eight was able to circle back and hit the injured arm upon seeing the slight damage. Now the damage was visible, the arm was no longer working and every time it was moved the wound seemed to grow in length. It slammed Seven to the ground and then ignored her as it began to head towards Eight is a threatening manner.

As before, Six came to Eight's aid, wielding nothing but a sharp hairpin, but this time he was knocked aside right away. The event did send a sort of irritated energy through Eight and he sprung forward, trying to slash at the Beast. Said Beast began to move back in a retreating motion. Nine continued trying to attack as well and the Fabrication Stitchpunk tried to grab for him, unfortunately for it this left its one arm open for attack, and the third arm was hit by Eight. The damaged arm didn't withstand any move attacks, it broke off where the wound was and the Fabrication Stitchpunk was forced to use only its two remaining arms. One crossed to None, "Where is the Talisman?" None looked terrified, "I don't know! I put it down to get the letter opener!" Both began to frantically search out the object that the Fabrication Stitchpunk wanted in its grasp.

Nine noticed immediately when it was again looking at him because he was bathed in red light. The two arms drug it along while the stub of one laid limp. Why it was aiming for him was unknown, but it certainly wanted him, until it saw something else. None and One, searching, and it witnessed the second None lifted the Talisman from the ground. It was slightly slower, but immediately dashed in the direction of the Stitchpunk. One immediately shoved None in the other direction, "Run! Now!" He had nothing to defend himself and had to simply stand there between the Beast and the younger. Instead the Beast merely lifted its body over him and continued past after the Stitchpunk, being gained on by the others, and One just standing there unable to do much.

Five managed to get a shot in and the needle pierced the distracted beast's arm. It looked down at it, staring, unfazed, before continuing after None. Its arm now began to move strangely as the needle was actually penetrating into the inner workings. Then the Fabrication Stitchpunk reached out and grabbed None with its damaged arm. It lifted him a bit and brought him down hard onto the ground, causing the desired result as the Talisman fell from None's grasp. Nine managed to get there at that second and stabbed his letter opener into the working arm that it was resting on while it used the other. It began to falter and attempted to knock Nine away, but the others were closing in. A weak Seven, a furious Eight, and Five approached over and began to attack while Nine grabbed None, and the Talisman, and tried to move them away.

The arms were separated from the Fabrication Stitchpunk's body completely, after destroyed even the remaining parts of the limbs dropped off. The Stitchpunk body was now laying limp, optics closed, unmoving. The Stitchpunks above it all easily felt the same unnerving feeling that was sent by seeing something that looked like them such as this. "It's over…" One murmured to the others. At this time Nine and None came back, but stayed silent. Nine took a minute to stare at the Talisman before speaking to his twin, "None… I'm sorry." None looked over in confusion, "Sorry?" His brother nodded, "I should have believed you… I should have made sure that it was destroyed before this." None embraced his brother lovingly, "Don't be sorry. It's okay now."

The sound of footsteps interrupted them and suddenly there came the other set of twins and Two. One started in alarm, "What are you doing?" Two was somewhat limping, "I couldn't let you come out here alone. I couldn't stop Three and Four from coming." The leader glanced at the twins, "You were supposed to stop him from coming." They both shook their head, showing they couldn't and went to check on Seven who they could see was in pain. "Really, I'm fine." Two explained, "The pain is only a dull throb and the dizziness- Good Lord." He cut off as he saw the body of the Fabrication Stitchpunk. The Leader responded quickly, "If it is that bad you should have stayed at the library and rested." Then he slowly looked back at him, "It certainly makes you think."

"It could've been worse." Seven pointed out as she held the twins close, they pressed their heads to her fabric and closed their optics as they relaxed. They weren't the only ones who were beginning to feel mortality at the time. Six glanced back and Eight who was behind him and smiled to him a little before turning back to stare at the form, nervously. After a few seconds he was pulled back by the other's hand, placed firmly to his front, and was moved back until he was pressed against Eight. He felt the smile return, resting back against the guard, "I love you." He then realized what he had said as Eight spoke, "What?" He was released and the Artist managed to gather enough courage to turn around and face Eight. There wasn't an angry look, just a confused one, and he looked down.

It was an accident that Six meant every word of so he knew there was no denying it. He actually had felt it for a while, perhaps even a little of it before Eight even began being nice to him, but with that thing, the Fabrication Machine, actually being alive and him having to face it again, he finally had to admit that he would have died to protect the other. Even if it meant being knocked aside and having Eight being the one saving him. "I love you…" He repeated before looking away, waiting for anything, staring at his hands and loathing how ink stained and different they were. Then Eight was touching him again and he forced his mismatched optics to look upward. As before, when he was upset in his room, Eight pressed their mouths together affectionately and Six took this positively.

After a bit, Eight pulled back, briefly, "Love you too." Then they were back together, not wanting to let go of each other again and thrilled that this incident didn't end like the last one. Of course, Five was the only one noticing this, and stared in horror, before looking away slowly. He saw Nine beside him, staring at the Talisman in his hands, and smiled before resting his hand on his friend's shoulder, "Are you okay?" Nine looked over and smiled, "Never been better." He rested his hand on Five's a laughed a relieved laugh, a light one, and Five was able to manage a short chuckle. He then looked towards Two who was staring at the Beast, obviously wanting to touch and examine it but showing restraint. "Two… Are you feeling better?... Did you find out what was wrong?"

The Inventor nodded, "Yes, for both." Then he changed subjects, "This makes you realize how surprising life is. How easily it can be given, or taken away." One looked over along with the staring Five who suddenly got a feeling of dread. "Two…Is it serious?" The younger asked and the mentor nodded, "Very. One…" He fell silent and the Leader spoke, "Everyone," He started, "I think you are aware of what's going on." Two looked confused, "One?" The leader looked at him somewhat before looking at the others, "Two and I have not been completely honest about our relationship. Mostly because I didn't think it was the appropriate time to tell that we were romantically involved and have been for a very long time, before most of you were created."

The only ones who looked shocked were Nine, None, Three, and Four while Five and Seven seemed unsurprised, because Five knew and Seven had suspicions. "We exchanged vows, which means that we are married; a human ritual to bond two humans together. This had been equally as long as…" He trailed off upon seeing something that disturbed him, "Eight! Show some restraint!" Eight finally released Six, both looking flustered, as though they didn't think anyone was there. One huffed, "I assume that none of you, save Five, knew?" Seven smirked, "Remember that night when Two fell into your lap and you two began kissing? I was there." Both males looked shocked and Eight spoke up, "Yeah, I was there too." Six nodded as to agree he was there as well.

Silence, a few seconds, and then Nine spoke, "I didn't know." He got a few strange looks as Two turned to One, "Now was that too bad?" The leader looked at him like he was insane and Two came closer, embracing hi and resting against him, "I needed that. It has been so hard for me recently." One began to remember the injury and spoke, "This is not something that can be fixed, is it?" Two smiled a little, "No, it's not." His voice held a choke in it and he pulled back, "There's something different inside me. Something that seems out of place. I now know how… How much time I have left…" One was now assuming the same thing as Five, "You cannot be saying… Are you trying to tell me that the Beast damaged you internally and you believe you don't have much time left?"

"No. I'm trying to tell you that you are going to be a father." Two was smiling especially when he watch One gain this look of utter shock. He usually tried to keep calm and keep his dignity no matter what, so Two loved seeing him look so taken aback. "The soul is in me, that's why I've been in pain, it was the actual pain of creating and sustaining it. I also have been crying on and off. I… I wanted to tell you… This was the only opportunity though." As soon as this was finished One kissed him, holding him close, and Eight murmured a short, "And I don't restrain." Then Two felt the lips slowly moving away before One disappeared altogether, only alerting what happened with a dull 'thump'. He was now lying unconscious on the ground, just lying there, and Two was now the shocked one.

"He fainted… He's never done that before." But Two's attention was now drawn to Five who came to him, looking thrilled, "You're alright! I thought you were trying to say that you were going to leave us." Then total realization took over. "A baby… Wow…" Not many of the others knew the term 'baby', but Five did, and the thought was surprising. "This has to be the greatest thing that has ever happened to me." Two spoke happily, "A baby! You couldn't imagine how surprised I was to see its little soul!" They continued talking as Two started to lift One off the ground, "The joy of being able to teach it to walk and talk will be worth the dizziness. Mind helping me carry One?" Five nodded and helped him with the leader. Seven approached with the twins to learn more about the baby.

Nine now looked back at the Talisman as he slowly followed the others. It was then that he heard his twin's soft voice. "Nine." Nine smiled to himself, "Yes None? Something wrong?" Something sounded odd about None's voice, strange, perhaps shaky. "Nine." The zippered one blinked and asked again, "Yeah None? You sound strange. Don't worry, nothing's going to-." He was cut off, "Nine." This time the word was stretched out to some length, but the Stitchpunk behind him said nothing more. "None, you have to tell me what's wrong or…" Nine looked up and saw something that made a chill run through him. Behind him came None's voice, and yet there was None, some ways ahead, with the other Stitchpunks. Nine having been fallen behind.

"Nine." The voice now sounded warped and Nine felt a chill as he turned around. It stood there now, staring at him with glowing red optics, and it spoke, "Nine." Its voice was a mix of all of the Stitchpunks' being crushed together as it was mimicking them all, and it made the word spoken sound evil and twisted. Nine began to stumble back and the Fabrication Stitchpunk began to run. As soon as Nine began to run it decided to drop to the ground and began to crawl. It wasn't slow, steady crawling either. It moved so quickly that it was like a black blur that soon overtook Nine. Like with None before, Nine was in a tugging match briefly until the Talisman was ripped from his grasp. It was then placed in its port and its optics briefly widened before turning from red to green.

Nine knew what was coming and struggled, thrashing, to free himself from the grasp.

A sudden noise.

Nine felt something hit his zipper and realized it was the Talisman. Looking up, he saw a small indention coming through the Talisman slot and the Fabrication Stitchpunk's optics suddenly went dark. Looking closer he could tell that the 'indention' was the tip of the letter opener poking through. As the body fell over, he saw his twin above him, looking concerned before smiling. He smiled back as he reached to take his hand and only felt reassured when he felt the other's grip. They stood together and ignored the body of the Fabrication Stitchpunk as they followed the others, still ahead though no somewhat aware that something had occurred. The two decided to not speak and stayed silent on the walk back to the Library.


Mable: End of Chapter. This is technically the last chapter, save the Epilogue, and I hope everyone enjoyed the run, I know I did. I'd like to congratulate PoppyECM.6-13 for guessing Two's condition; I didn't say anything previously because I didn't want to spoil. : ) I hope everyone enjoyed! The next, and last, chapter will be up soon!