Author's Notes: It's official. Now that I've written this, I question my integrity as a writer. Usually I post all my updates at once, but I want to see people's reactions to this. NO MORE REQUESTS! Not on this chapter, anyway. I'm swamped. Just… go forth and review this madness.
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Why was he even DOING this, Sasha asked himself as the Megacensor chased him. "What on Earth convinced me I could train this thing?" he huffed as he dove around a corner. The ground sank beneath him and he was safe and sound as his creation ran around, roaring its fury at the world.
Sasha knew that training the Megacensor was a bad idea. But he wanted to be totally in control of everything in his own mind. That included a giant, smelly, misshapen creature who knew only a hundred words, if that. Even if it may have been easier to squish the thing into a box and throw it into the backwaters of his mind, Sasha knew that it wouldn't be the proper thing to do. That would only make the problem worse later on. Any worthwhile Psychonaut would fight this thing.
The problem was that this was not a thing. Megacensor was beginning to develop an understanding of certain things. He slowly was learning to make gestures signaling what he wanted, and he seemed to understand that Sasha would only shoot him if he was bad. He even learned Sasha's name, and speaking was hard for censors. Yet he slowly learned words and even managed a coherent sentence now and again. This made it harder for Sasha to fight him, because in a way it was like fighting a small child. A very slow child, yes, but a child nonetheless. And even though his creation was slow and dull witted, he had still been created from Sasha. He was a part of the Psychonaut.
"Sasha?" Megacensor was scared now. "Sasha?" He sat down, and, unable to locate his creator, simply cried. Shaking, he let out a howl like an animal, then listened for a response. There was none, and panic crossed his ugly features. "Sasha!"
Sasha, for his part, watched with the knowing eyes of someone who has experienced similar situations and simply let the creature cry. If it was unhealthy, so be it. There were prices to pay for interrupting lab experiments. He couldn't be expected to put a dead halt on his research every time Megacensor wanted to play. It pulled at his heartstrings to see such a large creature brought so low, but it couldn't be helped. The only way anyone learned anything was to experience something firsthand.
After a moment, Megacensor managed to form a coherent sentence for the first time since his birth. "Me miss Sasha." He cried softly, unable to understand what he'd done wrong. He'd only wanted a game of chase. "Sasha left because me no good at game."
At this point, Sasha teleported himself to a small platform off in the distance of his mind. Here he could watch his creation safely, and edge him in the right direction if necessary. He watched the Megacensor climb unto its awkwardly proportioned feet, and he watched it pace back and forth. His creation struggled to understand, within his limited self-awareness, why he had been abandoned. However, that awareness grew stronger each day, and he knew that with time, the Megacensor might be able to understand everything Sasha wanted to teach him. For now, the creature simply needed time to think.
The Megacensor knew little of who Sasha was. He knew Sasha was someone he'd hurt when he was young and didn't know better. He knew Sasha brought Dream Fluffs sometimes and that Sasha had a way with words. Sasha was soothing and kind and sometimes spoke in a language so rough in its beauty that Megacensor hung on every word. Sasha was like God to the Megacensor. Sasha could seal him away in a horrible little box where everything was dark when he angered Sasha. Sasha could release him on a mere whim, sometimes on accident. Sasha could make the sky dark or light and every color in existence. Sasha could be angry for reasons too complex for Megacensor to understand, and then Sasha would shoot at him. Sasha could change the shape of the world as the Megacensor knew it, twisting the landscape and making hundreds of wonderful and hidden things appear from seemingly nowhere. Sasha could summon playmates for his creation or leave him alone, all with no effort, no thought.
Yet this god was very mortal sometimes.
Sometimes Sasha was gloomy, and he would beg desperately for Megacensor to act 'civilized'. Some days, Sasha was scared of something that could not make sense to his creation, of some sort of 'outside world' that the Megacensor had never seen. In spite of having such awesome powers, Sasha was very frail and thin, so small he could have been held, although he preferred riding on Megacensor's shoulder. Sometimes the all powerful Sasha would let loose one or two memory vaults, and panic in a most censor-like way, tracking them down and burying them deep within the land itself.
This time, Sasha let his creation pick up the memory vault he found.
Confusion. The creature's mind worked its hardest, trying to understand that there were others out there. Other people, in a world far outside this one and very different. One of them had cared for his creator as his creator cared for him. She held him and taught him words; she sang to him and fed him. Then that one became pale and unmoving. She became silent and could not walk. One day it happened. She did not breathe, and in a way it was far more terrible than when a fellow censor died, because she stayed like that, and there was nothing to be done. Sadness. Understanding. The creation put the memory reel down, eyes wide.
His creator had a creator, and that creator was gone forever. This happened long ago, and now his creator still felt the pain that losing his creator brought. The one who had made him smart and loved him deeply was dead. Sasha, the god, had lost his creator. The thought was painful and profound. Megacensor tried to make sense of this. Then he looked around, almost reverently. The one who controlled his world and existence appeared, looking grim.
"Sasha, I sad. You sad, too, but remember me love you."
Sasha's hand twitched, and the memory reel came flying back into his grasp. He snapped his fingers, and it disappeared. He looked closely at the big, oblivious creature he'd created. He was simple; Megacensor did not understand life, death, and the agony of Sasha's mind. The creature was smart enough to grasp that he existed, and little beyond that. Thus far, any attempts to get the creature to dress right or read had been met with horrific failure. There was no doubt that this was not a bright censor.
But perhaps he understood love.
He seemed to understand loss, at least. The idea was horrifying to his creation, but he grasped it. He understood that Sasha had had someone precious taken away, and he knew that it was like a shot through the heart. Sasha smiled faintly. Finally, he'd had some success explaining himself.
Megacensor beamed with pride when he realized that he'd said and done the right thing. His creator didn't look as sad as before. That was good – Sasha looked far more attractive if he wasn't sad. No one should ever be sad, Megacensor decided. Slowly, he reached out towards the Psychonaut that had given him life. Careful, as if Sasha would disappear if he was too rough, he wrapped his fingers around Sasha's body and thumbed a few tears away from his cheek.
The effect was warm as a blanket for Sasha Nein, who leaned against his creation with not just a little guilt. He shouldn't have been so hard with Megacensor. The creature was too innocent, too young and naïve to know any better. All the other censors were of little to no intelligence. He had no one of his own kind to learn from. Sasha was his only example, his only focus in life. He just wanted to prove that censors could be made to learn things beyond their normal capabilities. He wanted to control all the things that came out of his mind. But, more than that, he wanted to prove to himself that he was capable of creating something loving.
"You've got a lot to learn," Sasha said softly. In return, his creation scooped him up into his giant hands.
Sasha's eyes were closing beyond his sunglasses, and he was beginning to lay still. Megacensor watched, fascinated. What was his creator doing? It wasn't like death. Death was when people never moved and didn't breathe. Sasha was breathing, still. But he had quit speaking. The sky grew darker, fading to forest green. Cradling his creator to him, Megacensor noticed the other censors backing off, as if he had done something wrong. They stared, pointed fingers, muttering 'no'. But that didn't make sense. He was trying to keep the creator safe. Without this man, none of them would be alive. Didn't they see that? Didn't they understand?
Megacensor knew Sasha had something called 'enemies' who wanted him dead. They wanted Sasha to never breathe or speak again. Enemies were bad people, like manias or nightmares but worse because censors couldn't find them. Enemies made many people who they didn't like die. Looking around for such people, and finding none, the mutant decided that while Sasha was like this, he should be guarded. None of these 'enemies' would get anywhere near Sasha. They would not even see him; Megacensor would crush them first. There were no mini-censors or big censors here now to help. It was just Megacensor. But he would guard Sasha, his creator, the one who could change the world with a flick of his hand. He would guard this tiny creature who controlled so much.
He would guard the one he loved.
