Mable: Here we go! A new day and a new chapter!... Or evening, it's actually about six here. XD Anyway, I don't own 9, Enjoy!


Fabric Runs Shallow

Chapter Fifty-Four: The Travel Fears

There was only one day left until they were leaving. Velvet kept replaying this thought in her head over and over. "Not really a day… More like an afternoon and evening, per say." She mentally reminded as she stood outside of the Workshop. She had half a mind to go in and see if she could smooth this over with Five. There was an easy solution to her newfound worries and all it involved was just casually mentioning to the Healer that she wanted to stay here. She had lived alone for years, it couldn't have been that much of a difference.

It wasn't until Two went out to check on baby Twelve that she slipped into the room and crossed to the workbench, standing beside the male. They hadn't talked much for the last few days and she had assumed that it was because of how much time she was spending trying to get back into writing and training. In the morning Seven would drag her out for a run, then she would get stuck sparring with the mallet with Eight, then usually would spend her time trying to write alongside Six who would draw, and most likely at some point she would nap.

However, today had been different not only because of the upcoming trip, but because today had been the first day that she was free after the morning run. Six had a headache and had decided to sleep in, and Eight decided to stay close to their room while he was recovering. By this point she had finally deduced that the two were an actual couple and found it more than a bit endearing. With all this free time she expected to write, but instead found time to worry, and only now was able to speak to Five.

"Umm… Hi." Velvet greeted awkwardly as she knew the uncomfortable conversation that was coming and dreaded it. The Healer seemed to react with overwhelming shock. The piece of chalk in his hand broke and he let out a sharp, "Oh hey!" That sounded more uncomfortable than anything. She raised a brow as he stumbled to regain compositor. After clearing his voice module he looked to her, "Good morning… Afternoon… Good day." There was something really odd in his behavior, but Velvet tried to pretend that it wasn't a problem.

"Yeah. Good day." She smiled, "So I was thinking… I mean, I haven't been here long and haven't settled in all the way, so…" keep the smile forced into a somewhat overly comfortable look, "So how about I just stay here while you all go to Paris?" The buttoned male was confused, "But why would you want to stay here? You'd be all alone for… I don't even think we're certain how long we're going to stay." The female shrugged a bit in an attempt to seem casual, nodding, "Yeah, but I should probably spend some time trying to settle in around here, you know?"

She attempted to turn and head out, but Five continued, "I… I guess if you are really sure…" Velvet hid the sudden relief on her face, but Five continued. "But I don't know what One will say. He's pretty adamant about some things." She suddenly felt a chill roll down her spine. "Oh… Well I'll just… I'll just discuss that with him." Her voice faltered and he looked to her in concern, "Are you okay?" She was quick to deny this and spun towards him. "Oh yeah! Just fine- Just having trouble finding the time. For my work, you know, between running and sparring, and travelling probably would take even more-."

Two entered the room the second Velvet finished with, "Time?" It coming out as a question and her now attempting to leave. "Well, I, umm, yeah. I'll talk to One about that." This caught Two's attention, "Talk to One about what?" The female sputtered further, feeling very uncomfortable very quickly, like she was being caught doing something. "About me staying while you all go to Paris." The shorter male was slightly surprised, "You're staying? That's a shame! Paris is beautiful and we were all very excited to spend some quality time together."

If Five didn't know better, he would say that underneath Two's kindly tone he was actually trying to convince the other through guilt. That was something Five had noticed once before, but it had been between Two and One so Five hadn't thought anything about it, but here Two went again attempting to change someone's established mind with only a few words. "Oh… Yes, I know, but you can still spend time together without me." Velvet insisted with a smile and whether or not she wanted to admit it she was actually starting to waver.

"Perhaps." Two insisted, "But then we can't learn more about you, and I'm sure Six was excited about exploring with you." She winced a bit; Six hadn't mentioned anything like that, but he was excited by the trip certainly. "He has Eight." She excused, to which Two nodded, "Yes, of course. Eight does show interest in Six's work, though, if I may suggest, it could make him biased." This comment was obviously a ploy because Five knew immediately that Two wouldn't think that usually. A weird silence passed as Velvet stared downwards, playing with the ribbon on her capelet.

"Is there a particular reason why you want to stay?" Two asked quizzically with natural concern coming through. Again, Velvet began to get defensive, backing up a bit towards the door, "Not at all. I'm just fine, I… I'm going to go find One for the moment." With that she took out of the room, the two staring after her and Two humming a bit before asking, "Did she tell you why she didn't want to go?" Suddenly Five was the one to get defensive, "She doesn't tell me a lot of things. We're just friends, that's all." The shorter male raised a brow of his own before turning to the workbench, "Maybe I'll ask her later, once she's finished."

Five knew he couldn't get involved with it after what Seven said. He didn't want Three or anyone else getting that impression, but the helpful part of him was nagging a bit. He would have to do something eventually.


One wasn't exactly wanting something to go amiss. Already things were strange and he was trying to be passive for Two's sake. Naturally Eight hadn't been precise when he said that Two was acting strange and now he wasn't even here to ask further. The Guard was too busy waiting for Six to wake. One wasn't sure whether to scorn their relationship as it kept Eight away from his job or be thankful that someone was there to watch the Artist. Either way the Leader was tired and wasn't eager to go out.

"It's going to storm." Came a voice from nearby and One cocked his head to see None standing there. Or perhaps Nine; he wasn't sure but since it was wearing a green hood he guessed it was None. "Excuse me?" The younger male insisted, "The twins said that it's going to storm and the weathervane is spinning like crazy." The Leader paused before reassuring, "We have a weathervane?" He then promptly waved it off, "Rain never stopped us before now. I'll be damned if I let it stop us this time." He insisted before leaning back on the throne.

The zippered male looked firm and for a second One wondered if it was actually Nine and not None, "It's not just rain. Four thinks it's tornado weather." He mentioned Four, so One assumed that he actually was None again. "It's not tornado weather… You." One responded simply, "Tornados are more in the summer and in warmer weather. If anything we may get a bad thunderstorm. Again, I have not pulling back just because of a little rain." The Stitchpunk was clearly upset and now another entered the room.

"Umm. One?" Velvet asked softly, creeping inside the room slowly. Now with this new Stitchpunk One decided to pointedly ignore None, or Nine, and instead faced the female. "Yes?" She paused before continuing so he broke in with, "I believe your name has slipped my mind again." She smiled a little, "It's Velvet." He quipped, "Ah, yes. Most of us are named with numbers. Was there any influence behind your creator's choice?" She gave a more amused smile and reached up to fix her hair absentmindedly, "Actually I wasn't named. It was my choice."

One nodded, "An interesting choice. I must admit that it is a better choice than the name of other fabrics." She seemed amused, "I don't think I would've made a good 'Burlap'." The mood seemed to ease and she was properly amused. It was now that None spoke, "About this storm. We can't ignore it." One turned to him with a slight look of annoyance, "Three and Four never gave indication of any sort of weather predicting powers before now so forgive me if I am not cowering at the promise of a possible storm. I am not cancelling our plans."

None huffed a bit, acting like Nine again, and with the next sentence One was sure it was Nine again, "Don't you think that's a little stubborn? You wouldn't listen to Six either and look where that had got us." The older male was more than a bit offended, "There is a distinct difference between Six predicting Beasts appearing and the twins having a suggestion about the weather." Now he looked to Velvet, "What did you need?" It was weird how much lighter his tone turned, as though trying to force himself out of the situation with the other male.

"I… Well…" Velvet was a little hesitant to respond, "I was thinking of staying behind why you all went to Paris. You see, I'm trying to get back into writing again, and I think if I got some quiet time I could do better." By now she had a proper excuse, but One was less agreeable than Two and Five were. "Stay here? Alone? I don't think so." He wasn't actually aggressive, but his abrupt rejection took Velvet aback. "What?" Now the zippered male spoke, "Four and Three know what they're talking about… The only one other than them who has any clue is Two and he's been limping, which means he's feeling the… The weather."

The struggling for words suggested that it was None again and One was becoming finished with this slew of confusion and argument. "Yes, so Two should have known. Two made the decision to go and I am allowing him to be the only one to second guess it." Now Velvet interjected, "Wait. Please reconsider. I really, really need to stay here and I'm not- I know you just met me, but I'm not going to mess with your belongings, and I'm not going to go out alone." Yet One was insistent, "That is out of the question." He quickly noted, cooler than with None, "It simply is not safe. I would not even consider two or three alone."

Again Velvet was in disbelief and None spoke further, "That's not safe but going out into a possible storm is." At this moment One noticed another male entering, another zippered male not wearing a cape. One turned to him, "Nine, control your twin." The green hooded male was suddenly struck with slight offence, "What? I'm Nine!" One now looked to him directly, "But- What- Why are you wearing his cape?!" Nine looked a little exasperated, "I borrowed it so I could go out and check the weather!" Now the Leader massaged his forehead, "That explains why you are so difficult by far."

Velvet started to inch out of the room, "Ah, I think I'm just going to… Yeah." She soon headed back into the hall after the dismissal. One noted her leaving before looking towards Nine again. "Now you listen to me." He announced in annoyance, "I am not going for you, I am going for Two. Less I wouldn't be going at all. I am not turning back now with us leaving tomorrow. Storm or not." With that he was stubborn and certain, and both Nine and None simply looked to each other, hoping that maybe the twins were mistaken.


"Six?" The striped Artist awoke groggily only to hear Eight speak, "He needs the sleep. You should know that, you're a Healer." The mismatched optics blinked as he noticed Five standing beside him. "I know, but I could use his help. Then he can go back to sleep." Finally the Artist started to wake and sat upwards in the bed before looking to the other two, "Morning." He tiredly greeted, rubbing his mismatched optics with his palms, "What… What time is it?" Now Eight spoke, "It's closer to night than morning." Now Six perked, "What?! I slept all day?!"

Now Five gave a small smile, "If you slept that late then you probably needed it. Eight said you had a headache earlier, how do you feel?" The striped one paused before stretching a bit. "Okay… My head still hurts a little, but I'm okay. I think." His entire body convulsed at once and he blinked. It was a strange movement and he didn't fully understand it because it seemed to overtake all of his metal. "You okay?" Eight asked, not too alarmed by it and instead just curious, assuming that the smaller male was simply cold. "I'm okay." He looked to the one eyed male, "You need something?"

"It's about Velvet." The buttoned one murmured, "She doesn't want to come to Paris with us and… Two's worried about it so I was wondering if you'd talk to her." Eight pushed himself back into the conversation once more, "Why doesn't he do it? If Two can handle One after a fight with Seven, after a sleepless night, after leg surgery then he should have a better time than any of us. Or what about you?" Five forced a chuckle before excusing it, "I don't think I could help in this situation. Six, please, you're both close and I know that you're excited about going, so maybe you can convince her."

Something was off about the story, but Six was willing to go along with it. He nodded and climbed out of bed, unsteady on his feet as he started towards the door. "I'll try." He gave a small hug to Eight by the door before heading to find Velvet. Oddly enough she was in Five, Nine, and None's shared bedroom, sitting on the floor between two of the beds and scribbling something down on a paper. "Hello." Six announced himself and she looked over to him. "Hey Six. Feeling better?" He nodded and stumbled over before sitting down on Five's bed.

"Five said you're not going to Paris." His concern started to sink in, though for a different reason. Since they had become friendly he had wanted to show her around Paris as a new face to the city. Yet now these plans were faltering. "Why aren't you?" He massaged his key and she looked upwards towards him before shrugging, "I might have to go. One's not willing to even think about it and I don't think I'll be able to hide and get left behind." Six was insistent, "But why would you want to? I was going to show you the tower…"

"I know." Velvet murmured back, "But I… I just don't think I'm ready to go out there yet." The striped male blinked in confusion before asking, "Out there? The Emptiness?" She nodded and explained, "Nine's talking about some sort of storm outside and who knows how many Beasts would be in Paris. We could get attacked out there and we wouldn't get to make it back here again. Besides, I just- I'm not ready. Things have been just changing so quickly…" Now he bluntly asked her, "Are you afraid of going out there?" The female stared at the striped one for a few seconds before looking down slowly.

"…Maybe a little…" Velvet put her quill down and moved her hands upwards to run them through her hair, clinging to the strands, "Just thinking about going out there is just- I can't. I can't go out there again. No, I don't want to. It's not even that I can't, I just don't want to." Maybe she was in some form of denial but she was adamant. Six persisted, "I used to be scared of out there too… Back when I started seeing things and didn't know what they meant. Now I know more about it; I know that they don't always come, I know how to tell when they'll come. So I'm not afraid anymore."

He paused for a few seconds, "…Sometimes I'm afraid." She looked to him in confusion, "But you just said-…" She cut off as she seemed to get what he meant. "I… I get it. You're scared, but you still go on like you're not scared?" The Artist smiled before nodding and moved to sit on the floor now, "That's right." He smiled before looking down at the words on the paper. "What are you writing?" She pulled the paper up just a bit as though to block it from view nervously. "Oh, it's nothing yet. It's sort of a little story I'm working on."

"Can I see it?" Six asked curiously and Velvet paused before exhaling, "Well… Alright. Here," She handed over four pages packed with words. "This is basically what I have finished. It's just a rough draft, but I'd like to see what you think about it." She smiled in a friendly way and Six took it before beginning to read through it. Though after a second he blinked oddly. "Is something wrong?" Velvet asked, almost paranoid, and Six shook his head, "No, no. I just… My head still hurts a little." He decided to be in denial as well and pretend nothing was wrong.

Even when he was seeing double.


Mable: Oh no, Six isn't doing too well. I wonder what will happen? Anyway, next chapter tomorrow, I hope everyone enjoyed!