A New Hope

by BlackWolfStar15

Feeling guilty for the loss of his friends to the Fabrication Machine, 9 runs away from his group in shame. In his self exile, he comes across a familiar face he never got a chance to know who sends him to bring his friends back to life. Little by little, 9 feels hope for true happiness once more and deals with some challenges ahead of him, including an old enemy of his friends.

2. Chapter 2

Back at the Library, everyone was sleeping peacefully. 3 and 4 were sleeping like newborn babies in their socks, and 7 slept in peace in her bed. But 9 was having trouble with his sleeping as he tossed and turned and started dreaming.

In the dream, 9 stood in the Emptiness all by himself. He called out, "Is anyone here?" He heard rattling in the debris on one side of where he stood and he began to feel nervous and scared.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the Cat Beast jumped out in front of him and roared. 9 shrieked in alarm and tried to run away from it, but he was stopped when another Machine jumped in front of him; it was the Winged Beast. The flying Machine closed in on its prey and swiped 9 from under his feet with its wings. 9 got up and ran, but he stopped when he heard the sound of a snake rattling. He recognized the sound as being a familiar Machine, and soon enough, the snake-like Seamstress circled around him with its long body and let out a loud, blood-curdling wail.

The Machine began striking him with its scissor hands, trying to slice him apart, but 9 avoided it by climbing over its body and he ran away from it. He ran as fast as he could through the Emptiness until he heard 7's voice call out to him. He turned around and saw her standing near a small destroyed church. 9 muttered her name and ran after her, and he didn't look back at his enemies. He was halfway to 7 until he looked over his shoulder and saw the moth fluttering towards him. 9 ran as fast as he could away from the moth, and 7 was further away from him now.

"7! Wait!" 9 yelled as he ran as fast as he could to 7, but the more he ran towards her, the further she went away from him. Before he could finally reach her, a giant metal claw grabbed him. 9 turned around and gasped in horror when a giant glowing red eye stared into him, piercing his soul with fear; the Fabrication Machine!

He screamed in fear as he tried escaping its grasp, "7! 3! 4! Guys! Help me!" He looked over and saw five familiar faces he once knew looking over at him. 9 recognized them and called to them, "1! 2! 5! 6! 8! Help!"

But they all just stood there and glared at him. 1 scoffed, "Help yourself, you fool!"

"You didn't listen to me after I told you to leave some things the way they were in this world, and look what you did to us!" 2 frowned and shook his head in disappointment. 8 grunted and turned away with 1 and 2.

6 walked away without looking back at 9 along with the two elders and bodyguard, leaving 5 standing alone and looking at 9. 9 never felt so hurt in his entire life; everyone he once knew was turning against him. He looked at 5 with pleading eyes and cried to him, "5, please! Help me!" 5 scoffed, "And give me one good reason why I should."

9 couldn't believe what he was saying and said with hurtful eyes, "Because you're my best friend." 5 glared at him, "If I'm your best friend, then why did you let me die? And why did you kill everyone I cared about?" He turned away and said, "So long, killer of our kind!" He walked away with the others and disappeared. 9 felt like his heart ripped in half and cried out to them, "NO! Please! I'm sorry! Please don't leave me!"

He turned around and screamed when he saw the Fabrication Machine activating the Talisman and the three Machines gathered over and watched in anticipation for their creator to destroy him. 9 tried to escape the Machine's grasp, but it was no use. He let out one last scream of horror when three green beams blasted out of the Talisman and headed for him, ready to steal his soul.

9 woke up from his nightmare with a gasp and shot up in his bed. He panted heavily as he looked around the quarters. He sighed in relief when he only saw 3 and 4 asleep in their socks and 7 still sleeping peacefully in their bed. 9 looked up at the sky and saw it was close to sunrise. He looked at his sleeping love and sighed sadly. She gave him a motivation that night and it still didn't help him through this depression he was going through.

He made his final decision and left the comfort of his bed, grabbed his staff, and was about to climb onto the lift when he stopped and looked back at 7. He sighed sadly that after he will leave, he will never see her again, the only woman he has ever loved with his heart the second they first met when she saved him, 5, and 2 from the Cat Beast.

2. 5. Those two names reminded him why he wanted to leave in the first place, especially those three other names that also reminded him. He went over to 7 and said after gently kissing her forehead, "Good bye, my beloved." He grabbed a spool of thread that everyone had found on one of their walks outside and held it in place at the edge of their quarters, not wanting them to be stranded in their quarters without their lift, and started climbing down until he reached the bottom. Before leaving, he looked behind at his friends and said under his breath, "Stay safe, guys."

But his escape wasn't so quiet because the second 9 reached the floor, the sound of his feet on the floor woke 3 and 4 up from their sleep. They looked over the edge to see what the source of the noise was and saw 9 leaving the globe. 3 said through his flickering lights in his eyes to his sister, 'Where's he going?'

4 flickered her lights to her brother, 'I don't know. But we should follow him and find out.'

They quietly made their way to the lift without waking 7 up and made their way to the bottom on it. They found 9 walking over the piles of books with his light bulb staff off. When 9 heard their footsteps, he turned around and said to them, "Guys? What are you two doing?"

The twins went over to him and grabbed his hands, and they pulled him back towards the globe. 9 brought his hands away from them and said to them, "I can't stay here guys. I don't belong with you and 7." The twins couldn't understand what he was saying.

9 sighed, "I can't go through with moving on without everyone, and deep down, I know 7 doesn't forgive me for what I did, and neither do everyone I knew." 3 and 4 realized that 9 was leaving them and had sad looks on their faces as if they were going to cry. The grabbed 9's arms and begged him not to leave, but 9 said to them, "Guys, no! You belong here in the Library with 7 where you'll be safe, and I belong in the Emptiness, alone."

He began to walk away from them, and the twins once again grabbed his arms. 9 exclaimed as he jerked his arms away from the twins, "No! Nothing you can do can change my mind! I'm never coming back. Ever!" The twins were shocked with his new behavior and they silently cried. 9 sighed, "I'm sorry, but I need to leave so you can be safe from the world, from me. I know you won't see me again, but I'll never forget you guys. So don't you forget about me, okay?"

The twins nodded sadly, and 9 brought them closer to him and he embraced them gently. He said to them, "Keep each other safe. And tell 7 I love her, and I always have." The twins let go of his arms and he made his way to the exit. Before leaving, he looked back at the twins and said to them, "Good bye, guys." The twins waved sadly to him as he climbed over the mountain of books and left the Library.

After finally reaching the pavement of the once beautiful gardens, he looked back at the Library one last time and started running, never looking back at the building ever again.