Cold. Why is your arm cold?
Your vision takes some time adjusting to the bright overhead ceiling lights, the first sense which returned to you was the cool sensation in your skin anterior of your elbow - the underside of it. Secondly was the smell of heavy disinfectant. It was like even the air was pure and sterile, which it likely literally was. Your vision began to return after a few seconds of adjusting to the light while your eyes protested, begging for a couple more minutes of rest.
You look over, finding an IV drip and its corresponding needle stuck into your arm. You weren't that dehydrated, were you? You did feel a bit thirsty.
You also felt a bit uncomfortable from the excruciating shock that reminded you of what had just occurred and why you were laying in a hospital bed. You dropped your head promptly back to the pillow behind you, drowsy. You don't think your ribs feeling like that was a good sign. Discarding the blanket that covered you snugly off to the side of the bed. Of course you were wearing a hospital gown. You were going to inspect the damage visually, but you guess you're satisfied for now with the searing hot pain you were met with when trying to move.
You observed yourself and your surroundings for a bit longer, still hazily grounding yourself to being awake.
You're most relieved to see your bag on the table off to your right. Attempting to reach for it was futile, it being a bit farther away from you than you liked. You did discover however the brutal bruising that wracked your arm in several places. You're sure you'll be finding a good bit of those as you make your way to work.. somehow.
Your heart dropped. Work.
Oh fuck. Oh fuck. You promised.
Attempting to move your torso once more was met with you yelping in pain involuntarily, to which caught a nurse's attention outside the room, followed by concern that you had pulled out your IV and were clenching your teeth through the agony of trying to get up with a broken rib and two fucking fractured ones.
He rushed in, laying his clipboard onto the desk next to the door.
"H-hey hey hey now! Mx L/N! You really shouldn't be moving! Calm down a bit, what's wrong?" His voice expressed genuine shock that you even could move right now.
Every breath you took at this point was met with your body attempting to slow you the fuck down via the now throbbing pain at your sides.
You finally pulled yourself up, and got your legs over the side of the bed. You were in a cold sweat from the effort you had to put in just to sit up.
"..Can I have my.. my bag please." You pleaded, out of breath by now, face contorted and teeth gritting, tasting blood and trying to cope as you manually labored your breaths to not cause any further objections your stupid body had as input.
You needed to get to work.
You wanted to know what time it was, but words cost air, which you were at a limited supply of right now lest you're fine with inviting unnecessary pain along at the expense.
The man still in shock hesitantly grabbed your bag for you, handing it to you carefully. You pulled out your phone and checked the time. "How fucking long was I out."
It was more of a surprised statement than a question, but the nurse looming above you answered anyways. "About uh.. thirteen hours..? Give or take."
"Can I get a work excuse please?" You asked in shallow breaths, going through your emails to a specific one.
"Uh.. yea. Give me a minute though, and please don't move any more than you have to. Seriously, you could end up with more damage than you already have." You disregard him obviously as he walks out the door. You needed to get to the Plex.
Getting dressed was fucking horrible. Your tongue and cheek were bleeding from where you bit down on them as you strained to get your skirt and shirt on.
You caught your breath yet again and ordered a ride from Uber, they'd be here in about thirty minutes. Next, you took the number from the email you got, and called Wendy.
After about four rings, she picked up.
"Uh, hello?" she asks, not recognizing your number.
"..Hey.. hey Wendy, it's Y/N."
"Oh! Gosh, we tried to call you! The check-in didn't register your FazWatch on the premises today, is everything okay?" Her tone obviously worrisome at your labored speaking.
"Yeah. Car accident. I.. need you to do something for me if possible, okay?" You hesitated a bit knowing the absurdity of the request you were about to give.
"Oh.. gosh, are you okay? And.. of course! What do you need?"
"I'm fine." Your tone argued otherwise. "Is there.. uh.. absolutely any way to relay a message to the Daycare Attendants?"
There was a pause for a second.
"Oh, sorry.. Y/N, but there's no one in the building besides a few security guards right now, and they've got their own posts to occupy. It is almost ten after all, lights out, and at twelve the Plex locks down until morning."
You winced hopping up, despite how much you tried to bite your tongue while on the phone. "..Ah.. O-okay. Where would I drop off the work excuse? I'm.. up here at the hospital. I'll be checked out soon."
She hums a bit inquisitively. "I would recommend that you drop it off tomorrow, but something tells me you're gonna be there a bit sooner than that. Just go ahead and drop it in one of the front desk's mail boxes. It'll get processed."
Taken a bit aback by her catching onto you just like that, you offer her an okay and thank-you before throwing on a last second goodnight, ready to hang up.
"Ah, wait a second now, what'd you need to tell the Daycare Attendants that couldn't wait until tomorrow?" She pondered genuinely.
You hesitated. "I..uh.. I made them a promise I'd be there this morning." And you regret it as soon as the words left your mouth.
She giggled a bit playfully before responding, "Okie dokie, hope they didn't miss you too much! Try not to get locked in tonight though, I'm serious. There's not really any way out until 6am except for emergencies."
You're glad she can't see your blush over the phone, but you ruin it by speaking. "O-okay th..th-thank you Wendy goodnight, bye."
You hear yet another giggle as you pull the phone away from your ear and smash the end call button, arm stinging a bit from the sudden motion.
"Ugh." Freddy and now Wendy huh. You really needed to keep your mouth shut.
As soon as the nurse came back into the room, you carefully put the excuse into your bag, and made your way out before a light, gentle hand on your shoulder stopped you in your wobbly tracks.
You don't turn but thankfully he walks over in front of you. "Ooookay slow it down there. You seriously can not be up, but we don't have the authority to hold you here unfortunately. Please just..- wait a minute at the front desk while I bring some painkillers at least! That can not feel good. Jesus."
Your injuries as labeled by the extra sheet or two supplied you along with your work excuse were.. not bad.. but also not good either. He was right, you should not be fucking walking.
Two fractured ribs, one broken one. Your nose had thankfully not shared the same fate, and you fought yourself not to take the small bandage off that was probably holding together some bit of skin there. You had a black left eye, and bruising fucking everywhere. The airbags did not go easy on you. Your chest and sides above your ribs were sure to be a painting of different colors in the following weeks, mostly red as of now however. A couple cuts and abrasions here and there, overall you were fine. You kinda laughed before being shut up by sharp you read the bruising on your wrists as a result of the car accident.
You didn't bother to sit down. Thankfully the nurse appeared once more with a paper you for once hesitantly signed, discharging you and regarding the painkillers you were about to be given.
"Alright, two of these a day, take it easy please. Make sure to stay hydrated also, we literally had to put you on an IV drip, not because of the car accident, but because of how little water you've drank recently we suppose."
He added on some side effects with the medicine as you unscrewed the top and popped one right then, definitely popping another when you were out of his view. You said your goodbyes, and slowly made your way out to wait for your ride.
Sun deteriorated.
He blamed himself as well as Moon now. It was irrational, but he convinced himself otherwise.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
He was sick of feeling this way. He needed something to blanket the current suffering he was experiencing. Something new. Something physical - rather than emotional.
Moon was yelling, he was just as upset, and it didn't make the situation any better seeing what Sun was doing to himself. To them. He can't argue he wouldn't be doing the same if he was out, it just pained him to see Sun taking the punishment and not him, and he made sure to express that to Sun. He deserved it. He deserved it far more than Sun did. This was his fault entirely if anything. Sun ignored Moon, his throat bubbling, his chest aching. It was cruel that they could experience this, that this is how they were feeling. It was horrible. Sun wished he could just cry. He needed relief.
His rays were one of his most sensitive parts and pieces, so he started there. He removed them any which way he could. Brutally tearing them from their sockets. It almost hurt as much as when they put them in, but it was nothing compared to what he was feeling now, it wasn't enough. By now, some were bent and wouldn't enter to reside back inside his faceplate, others were laid on the ground - torn from their sockets as frayed wires and broken metal laid sticking out in its place. The white-hot searing sting was not enough. He tore into his faceplate until his heart stopped dropping in his chest. Sun's left eye was unusable, at least Moon would share that injury as well. He had closed his eyes to inflict the damage, he wasn't really surprised when he opened the only functional one, the other being consumed with darkness. Scratches plagued his face. Denting made it harder to express his anguish. The textile sensors burned in response to the gashes covering his face, signaling agony - relief. It wasn't worse than what his core was doing to him. How heavily his heart ached. It was a relief that only lasted for a few minutes as artificial endorphins flooded his code, only to soon simply stack the suffering.
"I'm so sorry, Sun."
Moon felt broken for the first time in a while since he'd put walls up to protect himself. Moon silently constructed windows into them as he watched you and Sun throughout the day. He was coming to terms with what he'd done, and he was hurting just as much.
He only saw fire. For himself, and for you. Sun didn't deserve this.
He wanted you back just as much as Sun did right now. You hurt Sun, and you somehow hurt him. But you were gone. You abandoned them like everyone else. You hurt them like everyone else. You threw them away without a second thought and f̷̡͕͛u̸͉̓c̵̢̫̔͆k̷͈͇̾͝i̷̻͆n̸̗͊ǵ̵̲͛ left.
Wasn't this what he wanted?
Moon's grief was replaced with anger, fluctuating between the two, not sure what to land on: hating himself, or hating you.
He chose both.
As the sun burned cold, the stars came out to play.
Sun was quiet. He had resigned himself to nothingness. He didn't want to exist anymore, so he let go and fell into the dark peacefully as the clock struck ten.
Moon's pretty red eyes had now been reduced to just one. It attempted to flip over in it's socket, only for the tiny motor to whir in vain. Moon reached in, and yanked out the useless part with his razor-sharp claws. Wires followed which he hissed in response to their snapping. Dropping it, he made sure it was reduced to dust under his foot. His face was just as disfigured and damaged as Sun's, although he would've preferred to do it himself, he had other plans. Damage that couldn't be repaired.
He sat against the wall, back scraping into it as he dragged his way down. He looked towards the floor as his heart dropped and he felt emptier than ever before. He was tired. He was so tired. If only he could rest like him and Sun did that one night. He would give anything to sleep like that again.
"Sun."
"..."
"I love you." And he walled him off, just in case he was still watching.
Moon harshly tugged at the metal covering up the fragile motherboard at the back of his faceplate, it ripped with ease as metal creaked. He felt around, knowing the exact layout by touch. It tingled, and any wire he brushed against felt like a nerve being pulled. His fingers flew past Sun's chip, and stopped over his own. Reaching down gently, his gut sank. He reminded himself of how tired he was, and continued.
He grabbed a firm hold of the chip's casing, making sure he positioned his fingers not to damage anything else unnecessarily. He squeezed.
And stopped.
Someone had opened the entrance shutters to the PizzaPlex.
It was just as agonizing getting out of the car as it was in, doing your best to slide out sideways, making sure not to twist your core. You wished there was some sort of cast for ribs, even bandages were useless.
As the car made off into the cool, cloudy autumn night, you took in the giant neon building in front of you, your left eye was partially swollen, and being able to see so at the bottom of your vision. You hadn't seen the building at night before, only a few cars filled the massive parking lot. A few of the street lamps didn't work, and it felt like you were in a dream.
Your bag carefully strung over your shoulder to avoid the many bruises littered around your body, you swiped your card, and to your relief, the shutters cried metallically and sprung to life, opening inch by inch, not quick enough. You would've ducked under them if that wouldn't result in you passing out from the pain.
It was a little after ten, and the PizzaPlex entrance was so much quieter, and so much less crowded. Not a person in sight, just the occasional staff and security bot. The dim neon polluting the space was the only light source. It looked wrong. Such an empty space, devoid of life. Far too quiet, it was eerie. You didn't skip a beat however excruciatingly making your way to the mail-box at the turnstiles, and depositing your work excuse. You jumped and were met with sharp stinging as the shutters behind you started to close automatically. An hour or two later, and they wouldn't be opening again. You honestly couldn't care less. You needed to make sure they were okay, even if it killed you.
The escalators and elevator were shut off for the night to your dismay, dreading the walk up the stairs, you slowly and painfully raised yourself up, one step at a time, one wince at a time. At the top you felt nauseous, all this movement with such injuries were catching up to you. That nurse was right, you
really shouldn't be moving, let alone catching your breath and your ribs protesting with every shallow and stuttery inhale and exhale. What options did you have though? You weren't going to fucking leave him here after being absent the entire day. You can only imagine how horrible it must be thinking you weren't coming back. As soon as you were conscious, you fought you way out of the hospital, into the Uber, and up these damned stairs. There was no other option that you gave a shit to consider.
You turned to the right, and walked carefully. Pushing open the doors to the Daycare's hallway wasn't fun, but what was today? The neon bands tracing the corners where the wall and ceiling met were the only source of light, dimly lighting the way. At the very end of the hallway, you could see the Daycare's gate, barely making out the merged sun and moon symbol. Your heart jumped, fucking finally. If it wasn't for your broken ribs, you'd be running.
You should've been running away.
You fell to the floor with a wince and scream, like the collective suffering you felt tonight all piled into one big blow to your chest and sides. On the floor. And then against a wall. Each shudder and gasp for air crashed a new wave of agony through your ribcage, your lungs feeling like they'd pop any second now. Your neck was tight, in a familiar grasp, and your heart sank as you look up into the disfigured face's singular glowing red eye, its expression unreadable to you. Your feet begged for solid ground as you wrapped your hands around the cold one digging into your carotid arteries. .
You cried. "M-moon! ..p-please-"
His voice box was a lot raspier than the last time he held you like this, and his words were soaked in more than enough venom to kill you then and there.
"You. Fu̸͉̓c̵̢̫̔͆k̷͈͇̾͝i̷̻͆n̸̗͊ǵ̵̲͛. Left. Starlight.."
You struggled harder, and Moon only pressed more in retaliation. His whirring and rage was enough to send you into shock, but not before the blood supply to your head exhausted its quickly depleting resources - stripped from its lifeline, as your head felt lighter and lighter until your vision went dark, and you soon followed with it.
