Chapter 13

Curly had followed the man for a while now, through twists and turns, past rusting piles of machinery, and through a couple of doorways. Finally, their journey met a dead end.

"Oh no," said Curly, panic evident in her voice. "Please don't tell me we're lost!"

The man smiled, and shook his head. "No, of course not. I know exactly where we are." The man stepped closer to the wall.

"Yea," Curly replied, "A dead end..." She looked up as she said it, and found, to her surprise, that the man was passing through the wall. He turned back to face her, half his body already absorbed.

"Come on!" He extended a hand, which curly apprehensively took. Th man turned back, and led her straight through the wall. Curly emerged on the other side, eyes shut tight and teeth clenched. "You can open your eyes now," said the man, letting go of her hand. Curly slowly opened one eye, then both, and her mouth followed suit. She was inside a small laboratory, robotics equipment could be seen scattered around, as well as vials of what appeared to be chemicals and other compounds. She also saw a few items giving off a kind of... glow, or aura. Were they magical items? "Welcome to my hideout!"

"What is this place?" Curly looked back, and saw a doorway leading to the hall they had just come from.

"It's my laboratory. Er, well, It's what's left of my lab." The man looked around, a fondness in his face. "I used to run this whole facility, but... As you can see now, that's not the case anymore."

Curly looked to the man. "You... used to run this place?"

The man nodded. "Yeah. But... that was about ten years ago. After you and Quote were built, the place started to fall apart."

Curly said nothing for a minute, thinking. "... You seem really familiar, I'll give you that... And, you did say you were my... father?"

The man smiled. "I like to think of it that way."

"So, you're saying you... made me?"

"Well, not by myself, no. But, your concept, and to be honest a lot of your machinery was created by me. I wasn't content with just having you be built by machines. I mean, I obviously can't do everything, but everything I could do, I made with my own hands. And, of course, tools and things, but-"

"Hold up," Curly was a bit skeptical, but still awestruck at the same time. "You're telling me that... You, personally, created me by hand?"

"Yes," said the man, nodding. "And when I couldn't, I always looked over the parts. Sometimes, I even refined them a bit. It took an eternity, but it was definitely worth it. I mean," he looked Curly over. "The results are simply stunning!"

Curly started to blush. "S-stop it," she said, trying not to smile. She shook her head, looking up. "So... How do I know you aren't just making this up?"

The man laughed a bit. "Well, I suppose you don't." The man walked to a chair and sat down, sighing. "I can tell you all about you, your mechanics, your thought process, your emotions. Anything."

"R-really?!"

"Yep," the man closed his eyes. "The only person who knows you better than me, is probably you. Of course, I'm sure you've grown in the past ten years, and there are bound to be things I won't know about you, but I'll be able to explain them, or why you reacted in a certain way to them."

"... Well then, what's my favorite color?!"

The man laughed. "You're going to ask me that? I should have known..." The man looked up. "Your favorite color is red, followed by blue, then in turn followed by black."

Curly stood there, amazed, but she tried not to let it show. "... L-lucky guess-"

"After black, it's yellow, but green comes close. You like the color white the least."

"Alright, cut it out!" Curly started to blush again, not knowing what else to do. "You're tricking me or something, that's not fair!"

The man shook his head. "No, it's not a trick."

"Then how do you know?!"

"It's not really about the colors," said the man. "It's more about what the colors mean to you. You like the color red, because it represents life and passion to you. Red is a color that makes you feel warm and at one with other living things. It's also the color you've been wearing for the past ten years." The man smiled, peacefully. "Should I continue?"

Curly said nothing, and just slowly nodded.

"Blue represents an open sky, endless opportunity. It's the color of yours and Quote's eyes. You like to compare the two a lot, the sky and your eyes. Black is a color, or, lack of color, that to you represents peace. It represents quietness and tranquility, like the night sky. You really like the sky. Its also the color of Quote's hair."

Curly blushed even further at that. "W-what's that got to do with anything?"

The man laughed. "Continuing. Yellow, which comes from your blonde hair, is like a star. It sparks and twinkles, and when you see it in someone's eyes, you know they're alive. Green represents hope, which is something you have a lot of. It's the color of your earphones, er, well, that's what I like to call them. Green also goes well with yellow, and they look pretty together."

Curly nodded, smiling. "Sometimes, I wish my eyes were a greenish yellow."

"That would look nice," said the man, rubbing the back of his head. "Now, to white. White's a cold color for you, kind of lifeless. Silver isn't much better, although it does shine a bit more. Your skin, which is made of a synthetic material, about ten times stronger than human's skin, is, unfortunately a pale white. Paints and pigment didn't mix well with the solution, and spray paint not only covered up your blushing capabilities, but also rubbed off in about an hour. We tried infusing melanin into the material, but it... didn't work very well."

"What happened?"

"Well, it worked originally, but... The skin turned out to be a really great place for melanin to grow. It didn't regulate out like in regular organic skin. It just kept accumulating, especially when you were introduced to radioactivity. It grew like crazy then. Basically, in a matter of hours, the skin turned totally black, and began to get lumpy and oily. It was a real pain to dispose of." The man shook his head. "So, in the end, we just stuck with white."

"Oh," Curly sat down. She supposed that oily lumps could possibly get in the way, but she still would have preferred something besides white.

The man crossed the room to inspect a computer screen. "I would really love to sit here and talk for hours, but I have to find a way for you to escape." He tapped on a few keys, and a map popped up on the monitor. He beckoned for Curly to join him. When she was at his side, he pointed to a small hallway deep below most of the facility. "Right now, we're here," he says. He moved his hand up to the exhaust pipes. "And we need to get here." He turned to Curly. "I can tell you right now, that's going to be near impossible."

Curly's expression fell. "So, it's hopeless then..."

The man shook his head. "Not entirely. Look here," Pointed to the screen again. "Here's what I'm planning..."

Late in the night, a few loud knocks came from the Town Hall door. Jack opened his eyes, and sat up in the chair he had been sleeping in. He looked around for the source of the noise, until the knocking came again, and louder this time. Standing up, he yawned and began crossing the floor towards the door. "Who's there?" He asked.

"It's the 23:00 watch, sir! A strange traveler showed up!"

"What do ya mean by strange?"

"He's not a mimiga, sir! I'm not sure what he is exactly, possibly human!"

"Who is he, what does he want? And ya can drop the whole, 'sir' thing. It's too darn early for this."

"He wants to speak with you, he says he knows you."

"Alright, but who is he? What's his name?"

"He says his name is Coat."

"Coat?

Some murmuring was heard behind the door. After a few seconds, the guard spoke up again. "Sorry, he says his name is Quote."

Jack says nothing for a minute, letting the name process. "Quote..." Between his lack of sleep and having just woken up, he was having a hard time functioning. However, after the name had sunk in, he snapped his fingers and looked up. "Oh! Quote! Why didn't ya say so? Let him in!" Jack unlocks the door, and it swings open.

Quote smiles as he steps inside. "Hey there, Jack."

"Quote! Long time no see, pal!" Jack gives the android a friendly pat on the back. "What have ya been up to? Where's Curly?"

Quote gives a halfhearted laugh. "About that..."

"How've you two been doing? Gettin' along real well, I'll bet!" He nudges Quote with his elbow, jokingly.

"W-well, we have, but..."

"Ohhh," says Jack, smiling. "So you two have been gettin' along! I always knew you'd make a great pair."

"Jack, that's not the point. I have a problem."

"Oohh, see, I'm sorry, but I can't help you there. I don't really know much about intimacy. I've been doing my best to find a lady of my own, but... Unfortunately, most of the girls who survived were already spoken for, and those who weren't got scooped up real quick-"

"Jack!"

"What?"

"That's not what my problem's about!"

"... What, do you not know how to 'do it' or something?"

Quote's face began to get a bit red. He wasn't sure if it was from embarrassment or anger. "Jack, that's not-"

"I mean, It's not that difficult to understand, really. And shouldn't you have a program for that anyway?"

"Curly's been taken, Jack," Quote shouts. "Somebody kidnapped her!"

Jack stood, blinking for a few seconds. "Well, that'd sure make having sex difficult.

Quote covered his face with his palm. "Jack, seriously?"

"I'm joking, I'm joking. Calm down." He sits back into a chair. "Really, that, I... That's awful..." He looks up. "So, why are you here then?"

"I need it."

"You need what?"

"The blade, Jack. I need King's blade."

A few days after they had escaped the Island, Quote, Curly, and Balrog were forced to return. The site for their house had been selected by Balrog, however, they had yet to build it. In essence, they were still homeless. So, they decided to return to the Island; one, to check up on the mimigas and the rest of their friends, as well as to help rebuild the society, and two, they needed somewhere to stay. The mimigas welcomed Quote and Curly warmly, and even Balrog was welcome for the most part. The two androids took up residence inside Arthur's house, while Balrog roosted on the roof. Each day, they would set out to find any lost mimigas, helping them back to the Mimiga Village, or wherever they had previously lived. They also helped in destroying the Red Flower plantation, returning the Storehouse Key to Jenka, and sealing away the seeds once more. Some Mimigas, however, had eaten some of the flowers, resulting in an enraged transformation. The few that were left, Quote and Curly put down.

The bodies of King and Toroko were removed from the storehouse, and taken back to the Mimiga Village, where the community held a service for them. Quote felt quite uneasy about the ordeal, since he really was the one who put a bullet through Toroko's head. The other villagers didn't seem to mind though, telling him that she would have wanted it this way. Quote wasn't so sure about that, and was still greatly bothered. Toroko and King were buried next to arthur, and as the ceremony was drawing to a close, Quote approached the grave, and carefully pushed King's sword into the spongey, yeilding earth. Stepping back, he looked down.

"... I hope I was able to avenge you. Your last words have not been forgotten."

Seeing as he had put an end to the Doctor's life using the blade, twice technically, he felt as if he had at least done something to appease King's troubled spirit. He hoped to never require the sword's power again, wishing only for his fallen comerade to find peace and rest.

One to two months later, however, was another story. Now, Quote was desperate, willing to sacrifice almost anything to save his friend. He didn't feel exactly right about the whole idea, and wasn't even sure if Jack would let him use it, but he had to try anyway.

Back in the Town Hall, Jack was staring blankly back at Quote.

"... You wanna use King's Blade?"

"Yes, please. It's all I've got left."

"... Alright, sure. Take it."

Notes From the Author,

Hi! I've been dead for a really long time. All I can say is that I'm sorry for not being very active. I've been doing lots of things not related to Cave Story, and I kinda fell off it. Anyway, here's a smaaaalll little bit of chapter 13 just so it's finished. No, stop that. Don't go, "Ugggghhhhhhhh." There wasn't much left of chapter 13 to do, so I decided to upload that before I upload chapter 14, because I don't want you guys to just read chapter 14 and not realize chapter 13 wasn't finished, and you know how it goes. So, maybe tomorrow or in a few hours, I don't know which, I'll have chapter 14 out.

Also, lots of crazy stuff like me cutting open my ankle on a boat propeller happened, and I was on crutches for a bit. So that was cool. Not that I recommend it! So, on that note, I'll see you guys next update.

Sincerely,
Alaystus

Notes From the Author,

Hello there. I wrote a bit REALLY LATE because it was decreed today that I should go outside and do things like, breathe real air and do physical activity and whatnot. What a bunch of junk, am I right? Heh. Anyway, here's a bit more of Chapter 13 for you. I removed my short story, Pleasure, because it's not a part of this story. I'm not sure where to put it, so maybe I'll post it to tumblr or something. Or not. It wasn't that great. I'm not sure what I'll be doing tomorrow, so I'll see what I can do. As always, thank you for reading. Your continued support is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Alaystus