It's back!
The sun shining through the window woke 7 up from her slumber. As her optics slowly opened, 5's body was the first thing she saw. She immediately got up remembering the events of the night before; finding 91, the talisman, bringing 5's soul back into his body, so much has happened in just a few hours that 7 still had a little trouble making sense of all of it. 91 looked down at her from the edge of the bed "Sleep well?" 91 grabbed a piece of the bed sheet and made her way to the bottom. 7 sat up and stretched feeling some of her joints loosen up from her night on the wooden floor "In hindsight maybe sleeping on a wood floor wasn't such a good idea," 91 laughed "Yeah, but it looked like you wanted some alone time with your friend there," "Well what made me so special?" 7 and 91 turned toward the weary voice of 5. The one-eyed stitchpunk rolled to his side putting one hand on the floor trying to help himself up "Don't 5, rest a little more," 7 placed a worrying hand on his shoulder. They still had no clue about what the talisman actually did to 5 or how it brought him back so for now it would be best if they took it slow "7 don't worry about me, besides just being back in my own body is amazing," 91 crouched next to him "Does it hurt to move?" 5 managed to at least sit up "No, I just feel weaker," 7 looked curious "The same as yesterday?" 5 shook his head "Yesterday I could barely lift a finger," 5 moved his fingers to prove his point "Now I feel like I'm getting better," 7 smiled "That's good to hear," 5 looked over and behind 7 was the talisman still on the black wooden floor "I thought something so important wouldn't be left out like that," 7 reached over and picked it up "We're the only things here and we haven't done anything to catch the attention of anything, if there was anyone is still moving," 5 tilted his head in the way when something confuses him.
9 watched with some happiness as 5 spoke with 91 and 7 as if he just woken up from a long night of rest. The twins waking up from the own nap made 9 turn to show them the surprise he had in store for them. 3 gave his usual light flickering greeting "Good morning to you too," 3 looked around then back at 9 "If you're looking for 7 she's down there with a friend," 3 got up and looked down where the others were talking. The one-eyed stitchpunk staring up at him then smiling made 3 make his way down the bed faster than 91 or 7 thought he could manage and hugged 5 harder than he had ever done. 5 fell backwards when the energetic stitchpunk ran into him "Hey buddy, did you miss me?" 3 looked up at 5's face gave a weak smile and buried his face in to his burlap skin. 9 looked at their exchange with a smile on his face; maybe they could all make this work out in the end. 4 opened his optics because of 7's laughter down below. 9 walked over and helped him up "4 I got a surprise for you," 4 looked around and flashed his optics at 9 completely forgetting that only 3 could understand him "4 if you're looking for 3, he's down there and try to remember doing that light flickering actually is a little unpleasant," he said blinking several times to get his vision to normal. 4 stumbled to the edge of the bed wondering why his brother wouldn't at least wake him up before doing something, they usually did everything together. Peering over the edge on the group below 4 saw 91, 7 and 3 laughing and talking to 5… wait 5? 4 blinked several times to make sure he wasn't seeing things, but 5 was there, sitting and talking with the others like if it was just another day. 9 put a hand on 4's shoulder "Want to go join them?" 4 was half way down the bed before 9 could make sure he hadn't actually fallen. 9 was on his way down as he heard 5 being slammed into the ground again.
The small group stood around the talisman with using a nail to help him keep his balance. 7 looked at 9 "Well, who should we go after next?" 9 had thought hard about it and the most logical choice was "1" 7 tried to interject "You can't be serious 9, I mean why not…" "7 be reasonable 6 is hanging on the side of a cliff, 8 most likely burned up with the factory, and 2 was sent down the river," 5 gripped the head of the nail harder at the mention of 2. 7 looked away with a disgusted look "7 I know 1 has changed, I wouldn't be here if he was the same selfish coward you always say he is," no matter how reluctant 7 was, 9 was right; after all he was able to convince 5 to go out of the sanctuary despite his fears. With a defeated huff 7 looked at 9 "So should we go get him?" 9 finally managed to bring something resembling a grin on his face "Yes, but first things first, 5 can you do something for me?" "Sure 9 anything," 9 looked around the bedroom "While we're gone, can think of a way to get 6 out of the valley?" 5 placed a hand under his chin in deep thought "Well maybe we can do something with the old bed sheets, but there aren't many things I can work with," 9 looked over at 91 "Can you stay and help him?" 7 tried to interject "9 stay here with 5 and 91, I can go get 1 myself," 9 disagreed "7 it's best if there is someone watching your back," "If I was in any shape I would go with one of you," 5 chimed in. 9 placed a hand on his shoulder "Well at least you will have someone to talk to now,"
After just a few minutes outside 9 could tell 7 did not like the idea of helping 1. He could see why 7 hated 1 so much when they had a brief discussion with 7 holding a blade to 1's neck. The eerie silence broken only by their soft steps in the dirt finally was too much for 9 "So… nice weather we are having today," "9 if you want to talk just start talking, you don't have to 'break the ice'," 9 rubbed the back of his head "Well I'm not exactly sure what to talk about," 7 noticed the barbed wire they saw when they were running from the machine "Well 9, why don't you tell me how you found the others at 1's sanctuary?" 9 seemed hesitant at first "Well not much happened after 2 found me," 7 gave 9 a curious look "Well I might have hit him when I thought it was something scarier," 7 laughed "I didn't know 2 could ever could come off as scary," 9 gestured to the dark sky, broken metal, and dust around them "Well waking up to this did put me on edge," 7 seemed to stare off into the distance "You're lucky you didn't get to see any of this when it was happening," 9 touched a piece of twisted metal next to him "1 told me what it was like, but really I can't imagine what it would be like to actually live through it," 7 continued their conversation "All the noise… the explosions, the air raids and the people screaming running for their lives… it's a good thing you never got to see the war," 9's attempt for casual conversation quickly went down the drain and felt that he should change the topic. A little hesitant at first he finally decided on something that he hoped wouldn't have any negative memories "How was it like in the sanctuary, you know before you, 3 and 4 left?" 7 thought about it "It was alright in a sense, other than getting scolded by 1 for almost everything I did, living there was tolerable," 9 felt he really had to choose his words carefully "How about 2 or the twins?" 7 smiled "Whatever times you had with 2, he is actually ten times better than that," 9 placed a hand over his chest "Well I wouldn't doubt you there. Are 3 and 4 still the same?" "You mean a rambunctious duo that are actually smarter than you or I? Yeah they are," 9 felt he finally lifted 7 spirits up "5; however, is still the same worry-wart that we've all come to love," "Well 7 that's good to hear, maybe when all this is done we can make a somewhat normal life," 7 looked up at the green and grey sky "I hope so,"