When 9 and 5 returned to the globe to reunite with the others, everyone was already gathered out of the globe waiting for them. 8's large body was resting on the roller skate, ready to be taken outside. 2 even double-checked him earlier for any broken parts inside him, and luckily, there was nothing broken.
7 came over to join her love and best friend, and she asked 9 with her hand on his shoulder, "Are you ready?"
9 placed his hand inside his chest after bringing down his zipper, and said as he felt his fingers touch the Talisman, "Ready as I'll ever be."
He barely knew 8 aside from when he showed his mean side to him and the others, but he knew it would make 1 happy to have his bodyguard and best friend brought back to life. 9 and 5 went over to the others, and they all worked together to navigate the roller skate across the floor and around the scattered books and down the staircase.
After several minutes, they finally reached the bottom by the time the sun had finally set, and the moon had just started showing itself in the sky. 9 caught a brief glimpse of the moon as they all made their way outside, noticing only two stars were closest to each other; 9 believed that they were 8 and 6 waiting to finally come home.
Once they were in the center of the courtyard outside, 2 unbuckled 8's chest and placed one end of the wires inside his body to connect them to him, then he let 9 connect the Talisman with the other end of the wire. 2 went to stand with the others while 9 stayed by 8's side and pressed his copper fingers against the symbols on the Talisman, ready to bring 8's soul back into his body.
Little did the Stitchpunks know, they were being watched by the Cat Beast and Seamstress.
They were hiding behind the rubble of one of the nearby statues, watching the small group of robotic ragdolls. The two Machines watched as the small device in the zippered creation's hand shook violently, and the creation aimed it to the sky and three glowing green beams shot into the night sky.
The Machines stared in awe at the three glowing lights coming out of the Talisman. While the Cat Beast didn't know about this eerie green light, it was told about this by the Seamstress after it witnessed its 'sister' offered the large creation to their master and creator and it took the creation's soul using those beams of light from the Talisman.
This green light mesmerized the Cat Beast; this very light that gave its master life and gave death to the ones it took life from. But now, it was giving life back to the creations its master killed.
The Machine snapped out of its trance when the lights went back into the Talisman; that was the sign that the revival process the creation was undergoing was complete. Remembering what their plan was, the Cat Beast looked at the Seamstress and growled to it quietly, avoiding being heard by the small creations.
'Now is our chance! We must act now before the large creation awakens.'
The Seamstress hissed quietly, stopping the Cat Beast with one of its needle arms.
'No! Not yet.'
The Cat Beast growled back silently.
'What do you mean, not yet? This was the plan! We must stick with it.'
'I have another idea. There is one more of those creations they have not found yet.'
'Where?'
The Seamstress explained to it about the creation it came across a while back, a doll with grey stripes, messy black hair, and pen nibs for fingertips. When its companion was done explaining everything, the Cat Beast growled in annoyance.
'I remember that little creature from before the Master was awakened again. I first saw it among the creations when I was trying to find the device from them. You could have just told me about that thing in the first place!'
'It didn't cross my mind until now after we saw those lights. Now I have an idea, and a better one. But let's discuss this back at the lair.'
'What about the creations?' The Cat Beast gestured the creations, who were waiting for the large one to awaken, oblivious to the Machines' presense.
'We'll deal with them later. Right now, let us discuss our new plan.'
The Seamstress slithered away from its hiding spot while the Cat Beast followed, hopefully staying quiet to avoid the creations seeing them or even hearing them.
After the beams of light went back into the Talisman, 9 removed the wires from 8's body and the Talisman before placing it back into his own chest and zipping it back up. The Stitchpunks all waited for 8 to awaken after his soul had returned to its owner.
Nothing was happening at first for the a few minutes.
This seemed to take longer than when 2, 1, and 5's souls returned to their bodies, but 8 seemed to take longer. 2 was worried that he may have overlooked something damaged on the inside, and 1 was getting anxiously impatient, worrying he might not get his bodyguard back after all.
Not a breath was heard for a while from 8's mouth or any movement from his chest. All that was heard was the gentle blow of the wind through the barren branches of the dead trees in the courtyard. 9's head suddenly shot up when he thought he heard another sound. It sounded like an animal growl, followed by the sound of rattling. He shook his head after he was snapped back into reality by a big, loud gasp.
He looked and saw 8 panting heavily, his large chest rising and falling with every breath he took as he was getting his breathing to the right rhythm. The zippered Stitchpunk gave a sigh of relief seeing that the bodyguard was back to life again. But the biggest relief and joy came from 1. The eldest Stitchpunk came over to 8, whose breathing was slowing down to the right rhythm after he returned to his body.
9 also came over to greet the large Stitchpunk, and he said with a smile as he put his hand on his shoulder, "Welcome back, 8."
8 looked at 9 with a gruff expression at first, then he nodded with a smile as he grunted in response. 1 smiled as he rubbed his back, "Now that you're back, 8," His smile turned to a frown. "I think it's time we get rid of that blasted magnet of yours! Your capture and death could have been avoided if you had not been messing with that thing while on lookout in the first place." He tapped him on the head with the tip of his staff, the bell jingling as it made contact with 8's thick-skulled head.
8 rubbed his head where he hit him, but he just shrugged it off like it was nothing. After everyone welcomed their bodyguard back to the world, he Stitchpunks gathered everything up and headed back inside the Library, hoping to get a good night's sleep.
As they went back inside, 9 couldn't help but wonder if he was just hearing things or if what he heard sounded familiar. He nearly jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked to see 7 by his side.
"Are you alright?" she asked him with concern.
9 nodded, replying, "I'm okay, I was just hearing things." He secretly thought to himself that he could have sworn it was something... Something familiar to him.
Finally, after many years, I finally have the motivation and inspiration to finish this chapter! Not only that, but that's four fallen Stitchpunks brought back to life, and now one to go... 6! Will 9 be able to bring the oracular artist back?
Besides being in honor of the movie's 12th anniversary, I'm also dedicating this chapter in loving memory of Christopher Plummer and Martin Landau, the voice actors of 1 and 2; the former passed away at age 91 in February this year, and the latter passed away at age 89 in July 2017.