Short, but intense. Sidenote, I love all you reviewers. You keep my batteries charged.

The next morning, all of the exploring dolls were woken by 2's voice.

"Everyone please report back to the center of the library immediately!" His weathered voice was tremulous. "Immediately!"

"Do you think everything's okay?" asked 7 sleepily.

8 shifted beneath her. "Dunno."

7 was silent for a moment. "We should go."

Everyone reached the middle of the library more or less quickly, with only 4 and 6 lagging behind. When they all reached the open area at the base of their bookshelf home, they were greeted with the sight of a pacing 2, glowering 1, and extremely upset and guilty-looking 5. "Good, we're all here," sighed 2 when everyone arrived. "I have some upsetting news. We—"

"Where's Zero?" asked 6 immediately, seeing that she wasn't with 5.

"That's what we need to talk about," said 2, putting a hand on 6's shoulder. "She's missing."

6's mouth opened slightly and his optics widened, his brain no quite comprehending what 2 was saying. 9 gasped and the twins clutched at each other. "What?"

"She's missing," 1 said briskly. "Probably ran off in the night. Knew she was no—"

"Without me?" demanded 6, gripping his key tightly. "She wouldn't—she—where is she?"

"We're going to mount a search and rescue," said 2 as soothingly as he could. "Nine, Five, Seven, and Eight."

"And me."

"You're still hurt from before."

"And me."

2 held up his hands in a surrender. "And you. All right."

"Who's gonna look after you guys?" asked 8.

"We'll barricade," said 2. "We can watch after ourselves. We're more capable than you think."

6 suddenly pointed at 5. "You were with her!" he cried. "What happened?"

"I don't know," 5 murmured, unable to meet 6's eyes. "When I woke up, she was gone."

6 began pacing furiously. "Something—happened. Came and got her. Took—took her?" He looked mistrustfully at 5. "She can't hear."

"I'm sorry," 5 whispered.

"It's not Five's fault, Six," said 9. "You heard him, he woke up and she was gone."

"Why only her?"

This gave 9 pause. Why only her? "I don't know. Maybe because she was the only one it could get to."

"What it?"

"I don't know, I'm just…speculating. Me and Four were awake through the night. What about you and Three?"

"Slept next to each other."

9 turned to 7 and 8. "What about you two?"

"Uh, we, um," sputtered 7, a blush creeping up her face.

"Guard rotations," grunted 8. When 9 turned away, 7 smiled at him appreciatively.

"And you and Zero?" 9 asked 5.

"We slept apart," he said, still sounding shaky. "And at the same time."

"That was a stupid thing to do," spat 1. "We already knew there were more machines out there, why did you tempt fate?"

"I didn't think they'd get into the library!"

"Well, obviously, you thought wrong."

Everyone started talking at once. "So do we definitely think a machine took her?"

"Possible. Even plausible."

"Did you hear anything?"

"No, did you?"

"I think she—"

"We can't possibly—"

"I just don't—"

"Stop talking!" 6 screamed. The conversation screeched to an abrupt halt as everyone stared at 6. He was breathing heavily, his fingers stiff and slightly curled in. "Why the—talking? She's hurt! She's out there! Need to get her!"

"We will," said 7, touching 6's shoulder. "We need to come up with a plan first."

6's head whipped around to look at each of them, then he shrugged off 7's hand and dashed out the front door.

"Six, wait!" yelled 9.

"I'll make sure he doesn't leave," said 7, beginning to walk after him. "Give us a minute, then come after."

9 nodded and 7 pushed her helmet over her eyes and took off, much faster than 6's clumsy feet. He had a head start on her, so when he reached the top of the book pile, he shoved a few down onto her and kept running. One caught her hand and she lost her grip; she just grimaced and kept climbing. When she reached the top of the pile, she paused just long enough to see the striped doll still sprinting across the porch towards the muddy dirt in the courtyard. 7 smiled slightly and pushed off, bending her torso into the aerodynamic position she always adopted when chasing a beast, and catching up to 6 just as he stepped off the porch. She tackled him, spinning them both into the mud.

"Gerroff!" yelled 6.

"No," said 7 firmly, straddling his legs and locking his arms behind him. "We need to come up with a plan!"

"Need to get her," said 6, struggling desperately. "She's—she's hurt!"

"How can you tell?"

"Feel it." 6 strained against her arms. "Let go!"

"Six, no."

"I need to get her!" 6 sounded like he was about to bust into tears. "Need to take care of her! I—I didn't, and now, now! I need, need, Seven. I love her! I lost her!"

"You haven't lost her," said 7, relaxing her grip so as not to hurt him. "She's lost, but you haven't lost her."

"My door," 6 whispered. "She's lost. My door." He suddenly went limp. 7 lifted her head slightly and raised an eyebrow. After a moment of holding him up, she let go, and he went face-first into the mud, not bothering to try to lift himself up.

"Geez, you said you'd stop him, not kill him," called 8 from the porch.

7 suppressed a laugh and yelled, "Just get down here." Three sets of feet followed her instruction, joining her about a foot away to avoid getting bogged in the mud.

"I'm bad," 6 said without inflection.

"You're not bad," said 7, standing and offering her hand to the now-muddy doll. "Things happen. You can't protect her all the time."

6 laid immobile for another moment, then weakly reached up and accepted her hand. He walked over to the others with her, his head down.

"We're going to try the factory ruins first," said 9 when they reached them. "If she's not there, we'll go underground. Then to the fields. We'll work from there."

"Good plan," said 7 approvingly. She turned to 6. "Sound good?"

6 nodded, but still didn't look up. 9 hesitated, then put a hand on 6's shoulder. When the smaller doll looked up at him, he said, as firmly as he could, "We'll find her."

6 stared at him, then nodded. "Okay," he whispered. 9 gave him an encouraging smile, patted his shoulder, and set off, 5 by his side. They fell into another line: 9 leading them, 5 close behind, wringing his hands, 8 in the middle, keeping his eyes straight ahead, 7 behind him, her optics always darting back and forth, looking for danger, and 6 in the rear, his hand upsettingly, painfully empty.

Far away, 0 curled up around herself, feeling she'd cry in pain if only she could. She gently lay on her side and tucked her knees up to her chin, making herself as small as possible and shaking in fear and pain. She pushed her arms close to her chest, across each other. Her thimble was lying close by, but she didn't (or couldn't) reach to get it. Her scar had been ripped out; the denim on her chest now hung loose and frayed. Something was missing in her insides, but she didn't know what. Obviously nothing really important.

However, while 0's chest and insides definitely hurt, her hands absolutely radiated pain. She felt she could light a fire with only the white-hot pain she felt at the end of each of her palms. This made her shake harder, her breaths coming in fits and starts, the long oval '0' on her back straining to accommodate how taut she stretched her denim to make herself tiny, insignificant.

All around her, scattered about, were small, broken pieces of copper and wood.