From here on out, things get quieter. Last chapter was absolute insanity, totaling up to twenty-one pages on Microsoft Word. It tied The Cyborg Children's ninth chapter for longest ever. Strangely enough, both are songfic formatted to Holding Out for a Hero.
Wanna continue the fun after this story has been completed? Check out Fine, the tie-in that shall rock your hair off your head! Fine details all ten generations, and includes an epilogue with what could have happened. It's a ton of related one-shots with two written by my sisters, and one by Sadie! Whee!
Poco Diminuendo means to get quieter little by little. Aren't we happy now that we know more music terms? I don't own those, or many of the characters in this story…This chapter contains many of my favorite scenes that took me the longest time to perfect. See if you can guess which one took the most effort.
-&-&-&-
D.S. al Coda
Chapter Eleven: Poco Diminuendo
-&-&-&-&-
009 could see the glass atrium now, after a long flight around Earth. He could see the blurry outlines of the damaged jets, and specks that were most likely people. The atrium door leading into space was open, awaiting his arrival.
As he drew closer, he saw ISV waiting for him. She brightened and cleared him to land.
Once he had landed, she popped the hatch open. "Hey, where have you been? Fate and 003 were scared shitless that you had been killed and Kronos didn't rescue you."
009 jumped out of the jet. "I've just been out to clear my head. I felt…"
ISV gave him a doubting look. "Of course, 009. Like I haven't heard that before with any of the people I live with. But, men always like to be right. Are you hurt?"
They walked across the atrium. 009 saw all the jets, lined up neatly. 002 was talking with Epsilon next to his. 0034 and 0050 had fallen asleep in theirs. 0021's jet was all cleaned up, but 0021 was nowhere in sight. The last jet in the line was 0017's jet. It was still in absolute disrepair. 009 looked across to see ISV's worried purple eyes.
"Sorry, 009. I have a bad reputation to loose my temper like that." ISV said. They reached the door of the atrium. ISV opened it and led him to a different area than the one they'd first entered.
"How…how do you grow plants up here?" 009 asked, puzzled. There were overflowing planters of hundreds upon thousands of plants. Fate entered and gasped upon seeing 009.
"Don't scare me like that!" She pouted. She was on the verge of tears. "I've been at the edge of my mind worrying for you!" The tears spilled down her cheeks. ISV bit her lip and hugged poor Fate.
009 saw something odd. From Fate's tapering fingers, ivory thread was tied and streamed off into oblivion, fluttering in a nonexistent breeze. ISV's fingers were tied with bright purple and blood red thread, also fluttering.
ISV caught his gaze. "So you can see the thread. That's highly unusual. Come on, let's get Fate to go to bed and then you can go do as you please."
-&-&-&-
"God damn it," 0021 mumbled. "I shouldn't have let her get to my head…"
She lifted more wreckage off of 0017's jet. In truth, she shouldn't have budged from her own jet, but 0021 had partially healed herself. Red strips of cloth were the best she could do to bind her cuts.
"Oy, fuck!" 0021 cursed, accidentally hitting herself with a metal bar. She saw a glint of red and dug further, obtaining several scratches and gashes in the process. She had uncovered 0017 at long last. 0021 lifted, with great effort, the near-dead cyborg and rushed off to where the Dolphin was.
"Was that 0021?" OV asked Epona lazily. Epona looked up from watering all her plants (for it was she who had demanded the plants) to see 0021 limping by. OV left Epona to mind the flowers.
"0021! Hang on a second!" OV called after 0021. 0021 turned around to face OV, and OV saw 0017 in 0021's arms. "Oh my goodness, is she alive?"
"Barely…but yes." 0021 replied. She continued toward the Dolphin with 0017 in her weak arms.
They finally reached the Dolphin. It was wide open, with Diana lying in a feverish sleep on the couch, and Umbra, Luna and Artemis in deep conversation. 0021 marched right past them to the infirmary. 0021 laid 0017 on the first bed she saw.
"First thing's first. Let's get her…" 0021 began, right before fainting. OV sighed and hoisted 0021 up as well.
(Pandora, come on. There's stuff to do.)
-&-&-&-
Holy fucking shit. Where am I? 0043 asked herself upon waking up. She wasn't in her uniform any longer. She sat up and found herself in a room made of tinted green glass.
"So you're awake," 0043 heard ISV say. 0043 turned and saw ISV sitting in a chair, rocking backwards. "Don't try moving your leg. The bone in your right leg is shattered from that crusade Panthos sent you on."
0043 just blinked. "Okay, fine. I won't."
Panthos entered from the glass door. "Eh, sorry about that 0043. Fate wouldn't let us out so we could help, so I had no choice but to send you two out there."
"And everyone else?"
"0017 is barely alive, 007 is his normal self, 0034 is still in her jet, and according to Pandora, 0021 also got it. Everyone got it to some degree, but only those special few got it like you did. Don't you feel special?"
"Matter of fact, I don't."
Panthos just laughed. "I'll be off, then. I promised Umbra that I'd help her."
-&-&-&-
0050 woke up in her jet. She could remember flying, then being so tired that she couldn't even get out of her jet. Yawning, she lifted the hatch open and found herself in the glass atrium. Next to her jet was 0034's. It was burnt, and 0034 was lying toasted inside. 0050 kicked the hatch inward and pulled 0034 out.
"0050!" Epsilon shouted from across the atrium. He ran over to where she was on 0050's jet. "Holy shit! Come with me. I can help both of you."
Omega was standing next to the door of the atrium as they left. Epsilon managed to ruffle her hair as they went by.
"I feel lucky that it was only my one damn rib," She murmured, walking back to the garden. Epona was still watering the flowers when she got there.
"Omega, you know that you shouldn't be out of bed yet," Epona said. Her bright green eyes were dulled a little. She sighed and tried to smile. "Wanna help with the flowers?…"
Epona turned the hose off and sat down on a glass bench. Omega sat down next to her and laid an arm around her friend.
"You're not fooling me, Epona. You and Fate have been waiting up with the rest of the cyborgs. But you understand death. I do too, but in a very different sense. Look, Pona, I'll take care of the flowers for you. Go and get yourself some sleep, for all our sakes." Omega said.
"It feels just like when we ran…" Epona said. Omega smiled.
"It does. Now quit stalling and go to bed." Omega said.
-&-&-&-
002 sighed and lay back on his bed. This didn't feel right. He did hate 0021 with a passion, but it didn't feel the same without her pulling pranks every five minutes.
The door creaked open and 0014 stepped through. He bolted up.
"Don't worry about that, Jet," She said. She was barefoot and climbed onto the bed behind him. "I couldn't sleep, so I came to bug you."
"Gee, I feel honored," He muttered. She pressed herself onto his back.
"Jet, you haven't been yourself lately," 0014 pouted. "I want to know what's wrong."
She tickled his neck. He turned around and found her sitting childishly with her legs spread apart.
"Tirzah…it was 0099. She told me that she was my girlfriend if Operation Boom and Dust was successful." 002 answered 0014's question. 0014 grabbed him and rolled him over onto the bed.
"Well, Jet, let's fix that," She said, tickling his stomach. ((warning! Interesting scene ahead! Viewer discretion is advised!)) 002 tickled her right back. Finally, 0014 kissed him. He returned the kiss. 0014 began to do more than just tickle him. She eased his shirt up little by little and finally yanked it off him. She kissed his broad chest and laid her head across his breast.
"Come on, Jet," She teased.
"We'll see how long you last," 002 answered, pulling her shirt off. 0014 giggled and continued her kisses. 002 kissed her right back and fumbled with her bra. He managed to get it off and stripped her of it, leaving her breasts exposed to him. She laid her head on his stomach and licked it, tracing his belt.
In one swift move, the belt was off. 0014 began to kiss his legs, pulling his shorts and jeans along with her. She was going all the way. 002 unzipped 0014's own jeans and undid the button. The two stood up, now completely nude. 0014 giggled and threw herself back onto the bed. She grabbed 002 by the waist and kissed all of him. 002 pulled her right back up and kissed each of her breasts.
"Take me away, Jet," 0014 whispered in his ear. She caressed his back and kissed his neck. He, in turn, kissed her neck and pinched her ass. He finally eased her onto the bed and pulled the blanket over as he lay down.
"I'm gonna, Tiz," He muttered.
"I love you, Jet…"
"I love you too."
((okay, it's safe to open your eyes now.))
-&-&-&-
0021 woke up the next morning with her head swimming. She gradually opened her eyes with a large effort and managed to cover them with her hands.
"Tired?" A boy asked next to her. She turned over and saw Panthos. "Don't worry about getting up. Somnis and Pandora have it covered for the time being."
"What about…0017?" 0021 asked. She found herself able to sit up. Panthos ran his fingers through his ponytail.
"Better. Maybe you two can go crash into one another in a few days so we have more to do around here." Panthos answered.
"Panthos, that's not funny," A stressed Pandora said. Panthos cast her a grin and she showed him pure malice. "Go help Luna with Diana. I'm sure 0021 can manage without you for five minutes."
He mumbled something about women then left. Pandora grinned at 0021 as soon as he was out of the room. "He was right. You needn't worry about leaving that bed. You're hardly recovered and you tried to go back over and heal yourself. We got some of the bruises, but we also have a few others to worry about."
0021 shrugged. "Please, don't worry about me. I can take care of myself. I'll help you heal 0017. It was my fault."
ISV shoved her back into the bed. "I did not spend all night healing you for jack diddly squat. I know you're worried. We all have been."
0021 rolled over to drown out the light. ISV laid a hand across her back.
"Everything will be fine, 0021. Provided that you don't try and heal yourself again, that is." ISV kidded. 0021 began to fall asleep once more.
-&-&-&-
I feel like shit run over twice, was the first thought that entered 0034's head upon her waking. She could feel that she was out of her uniform and in much softer clothing, and in a real bed. She opened her eyes to find 0050 and Omega sitting at her side.
"0034!" 0050 exclaimed. 0034 nearly fell back over as 0050 hugged her. "Now we can take you off the 'Endangered 00-Cyborgs' list. How do you feel on a scale of one to ten?"
"Negative thirty," 0034 answered shortly.
"That's better than what I thought," 0050 replied. "Well, at least you can move all your limbs. It seems as if Josephine didn't cause any lasting damage after all."
"What happened after she killed me?" 0034 demanded.
"Oh, you know. 003 opened Pandora's Box, we killed Josie, destroyed the Black Ghost Organization, the usual." Omega replied without a care in the world.
"Lovely," 0034 said.
-&-&-&-
A pair of gray eyes opened slowly, only to be washed in burning white light. They closed and their owner moaned. Her mouth was so dry and now her eyes hurt.
"It's nice to see you're finally up," She heard. Her eyes opened once again to register 0021 and 004. It had been 0021 who had spoken. "You scared the hell out of all of us."
"By doing what?" She demanded.
"Well, 0017…you nearly died." 004 said. "You've been out for over two days. Pandora and ISV have been working around the clock trying to heal you."
0017 rolled onto her side and saw a bandage wrapped around her stomach. Her arms were also in bandages, and her fingers were bound tightly with splints. Tears of horror began to form in her eyes. 0021 stood and left the room.
0017 began to cry into her pillow. She felt a hand on her back. She turned her head to look up into 004's silver-blue eyes.
"Anya…" 004 said. She pushed herself and kissed him.
-&-&-&-
"Are you sure you're okay, 009?"
"Positive."
"Absolutely?"
"Yes, Verita."
The redhead looked at him with absolute concern. He was sitting out in Epona's garden…just sitting there. Her normally worried eyes grew even more concerned for him as he just looked at the sky through the glass.
"Okay then. I'll see you later." She said, then left him alone once more.
009 sighed. He had seen the state in which most of his teammates were in. They had gashes and broken bones, and even burns from fighting. Not even 003 and 0021 had escaped damage. He lay back in the flowerbeds.
"I wouldn't do that." Omega said. 009 jumped at the sound of her voice. "Calm down, and don't get comfortable in the flowers. Epona will cook alive you if she finds you like that."
009 sat up once again and Omega laughed at his surprised face.
"OV said you were upset over something."
"So? Shouldn't you be off…"
"No. I shouldn't be. I'd kill them."
009 blinked at her. She smiled, then sat down next to him and looked up at the stars.
"You see, 009, my parents knew that I was going to be the goddess of the end when they named me. My existence is wholly to destroy living things and bring them to their final rest. There are three other people here who understand death as I do: Kronos, Epona, and Fate. Kronos sees it as another thing in time going by. Epona sees it as the end of one life and the beginning of another. Fate sees it as one's destiny and one must die, it is their duty in life. I see it as the end – the very end – of one's life. I was meant to bring the end.
"009…not all life is meant to be alive. My name itself – Omega – is the last letter of the Greek alphabet. The end is a very powerful thing, and I was meant to hold it in my body for all time. But the problem, you see…is then I would be dead." Omega explained. 009 felt bad for her. She smiled. "But hey, c'est la vie. That's life for you."
"So, when we were fighting…and you crashed…" 009 began. Omega nodded in response.
"There were things that denied their fate. 003 defied hers…and the only other one was you. You were supposed to die when you were sent into that nosedive. Fate was so scared because she wanted to be able to know that she didn't determine everything. She thought you had died…" She trailed off, seeing 009 spaced out in the flowers again. "009? Can you hear me?"
She stood up and looked at him. He was fast asleep. She laughed and lifted him into her arms. Just to be safe, I'll make ISV see if he's fine like he says he is. Omega thought, carrying him off to the Dolphin.
"WTAH?" ISV said too fast, jumbling her speech. Omega cast her off with a look.
"Calm down. I don't fall in love that easily." Omega said, laying him on a couch. Luna had taken Diana elsewhere. "I just came for you to check over him and see if he was fine, like your sister said he was."
ISV giggled. "Of course…but are you sure that you don't even…"
"I'm warning you, Somnis." Omega said. ISV twisted her face. Only Panthos called her Somnis, and he did because he knew it annoyed her. ISV looked to 009.
"He seems fine. Just tired. And you were so worried…because?" ISV laughed this time.
"PANTHOS! SOMNIS SAYS SHE LIKES YOU!" Omega shouted, then made a run for it.
-&-&-&-
Fate found herself watering Epona's flowers. Why she was, she had no idea. Epona had been asleep, and waking Epona was worse then invoking Josephine. Fate sighed and turned the hose off, returning it to its coil.
"Oh, hey. I didn't know anyone else was awake yet." 009 said, walking into the garden and finding it draped in a blanket of water. Fate turned around, her light brown eyes meeting 009's cinnamon ones. She smiled.
"Omega was worried for someone." Fate said. "She is usually pretty unforgiving and doesn't get very attached to people, because she knows they have to die. But you changed her. You made her less harsh."
009 smiled. Fate sat down on a bench and invited him to sit next to her. He accepted the offer.
"Fate…why to you have thread tied to your fingers?" 009 popped the question that had been weighing on his mind.
"Oh…those." Fate said, looking at her hands. "They're the threads of fate. I may not live on Earth any longer, but I still control fate."
009 nodded and Fate stretched her arms out. "You know when you fell asleep last night?"
Omega happened to be passing, then began to run when she saw ISV at the other end of the garden.
"I'M GOING TO GET YOU, BITCH!" ISV shouted, bounding after Omega. Fate sighed and realigned her threads.
"You started something." Fate said. She smiled. "It's one of the best things to happen in a very long time. ISV and Omega are…meh. You'd best find out from someone else."
It was different to see Fate smiling. She looked so much better when she had the dainty smile painted on her face. Panthos came running out, followed by ISV with a 0017's hammer. Panthos gave a yelp and began to sprint away, ISV roaring after him looking extremely ticked off.
"AND STAY OFFA ME!" ISV screamed. She brushed her hair behind her ear and smiled to Fate and 009. "Good morning!"
-&-&-&-&-
Sorry it took a whole month!