Fanfiction: 9

Temptations

Chapter 3~

9 eventually caught up to 7 and the twins. They were tickling each other like mad and all 9 could do was stare in adoration at how motherly 7 was. The twins were older than them, but they sure did'nt act like it.

Finally, 3 and 4 gave up, their energy not anywhere near comparison to 7's, and 7 gave them a break. The ended up lying in a tired panting heap near an old tire. 9 smiled slightly and looked up to the sky. There was plenty of time, they could have their rest. He walked over to where the now tired 7 was letting the tired twins rest on her.

"So what are we looking for exactly?" said 7 to 9 as he sat down next to them.

9 took a breath and stared off into the distance before saying, "For portable light, we would need another metal rod, and a small light bulb. I have the copper wire and electrical wire needed to make it light up, but we still need those major components."

"Ah," said 7, eyeing 9's zipper again. "And what about the other project you had in mind?"

"Th- the o- one for the first floor?" he stammered, managing to compose himself somewhat as he finished his sentence. 7 continued to stare at his zipper.

"Sure," she said in that dull voice that made her sound like she was'nt paying attention at all.

"Um... 7? W- what are y- you looking at?" said 9, his curiosity boiling over.

7's head snapped up to his face, before seeing his expression and looking at the twins embarassed for a reason 9 did'nt understand. "Huh? Nothing..."

9 put a hand on her shoulder. "You can tell me."

7 smiled as she looked back at him. "I know..."

The twins stired, and soon they were up and ready to explore again. They got up and ran around, cataloging almost everything in sight, while 9 and 7 just smiled and stared at their fun.

"Start talking, and I'll tell you what I've been thinking about." said 7 quite suddenly, her eyes following the twins.

"Promise?" asked 9 playfully.

"Yes." she said with a smile, looking at him now.

"I can't stop thinking about them. They are in my dreams. I see them everywhere." he said, the memories bleeding in front of him. He suddenly went rigid again, his emotions filled with sadness. They were gone. Why could'nt he move on?

7 gave him a sypathetic frown and put an arm around his shoulder. It did him little comfort for once, and he slumped into himself, hiding his eyes from the world, sheilding the pain the his arms from reaching him. 7 could see his pain, as if it was an object, spiky and horrid like a machine, cutting his soul, making him shake in agony.

She pulled him into a hug, one that reached deep into 9's soul. He sat up and returned the hug with a sad smile, burying his face into her arms.

"It was'nt your fault," she said soothingly, even though they both knew it was. And then she said more playfully, "It was 1."

At 7's crack at 1, 9 had to laugh. Man, she did'nt like him at all!

Clicks could be heard as the twins came around the corner, carrying something that looked something like 7's blade, though entirely different. It was completely red and had a white cross sign on it. 7 and 9 got up to examine the interesting object the twins wanted to share.

7 took it gently from the twins hands as they continued to catalog it. She looked on all sides of it and realized what it was.

"A pocketknife?!" she exclaimed with a sort of affection no one but herself could understand, not even 9. She hugged the object close, while the twins and 9 exchanged looks before shrugging to each other.

"Um... whats a pocketknife?" asked 9, giving her a look of geniun confusion.

"Watch this..." she said, her voice sounding a little mischievious as she turned the 'pocketkinfe' over in her arms again and was about to press something before she realized something scribbled on it. "Hold on."

"What?" said 9 as 7 narrowed her optics and looked closer at the poketknife with a new suspision. The twins seemed to have spotted it also, and they grabbed it out of 7's hands.

"What?" 9 repeated, a little more serious.

"There was a letter scribbled on the back..." 7 said with an oddly calm expression. "It was a 'G'."

"So? It could have belonged to a human with a name that started with 'G'." said 9.

"There are legends of others, 9. Others like us..." she said, trailing off, allowing 9 to figure out what she meant.

"Others..." he repeated to himself, scratching his head sarcastically like he could'nt understand what she was saying. "Like us... Like us. Like- oh !"

7 rolled her eyes. "Or you could be right, we could be alone and only the humans carved their names into their posessions..." she said sarcastically.

9 ignored this with a smile and went to the twins, who were pointing to the 'G' scribbled in very small writing on the back of the knife. Then, looking up at the smiling twins, he said, "Where did you find this?"

They looked at each other, having a conversation in a few slimple flicks of their optics before each took hold of 9 or 7 and pushed them to where they had found it. They walked to a computer monitor that had been smashed and walked inside of it. It was cramped, but there was just enough room for them to fit, and many other small, maybe useful things. It was'nt hard to guess why the twins had come in here in the first place.

Suddenly, 9 felt something soft smush a little underneath his foot. He yelp a little in surprise. The twins looked down and immediatly saw what it was: an unknown stitchpunk. They definatly had missed him before.

They began to catalog him everywhere, just like what they did with 9 when they had first seen him. All 9 and 7 could do was gasp in surprise and wait until the twins were done to look him over. One the twins started, you could'nt stop them.

Each flash showed a little more detail of the unknown stitchpunk. 9 noticed he had a rough skin, similar to 2's, except his was black instead of brown. His hands were slightly more pointed than the others, a bit like 6's, though not made for the same purpose as his. That was all 9 could see in the dim light they had in the computer monitor.

When the were done, 9 and 7 were kneeling on the floor next to him, returning him to his original position on his back. The twins had turned him over. The stitchpunk stired a little, and 9 and 7 froze.

His optics slowly fluttered open, and he groaned in pain as he clutched his stomach. "Where am I?" he managed to say, though his voice was cracked a little.

"Safe. We'll help you." said 7, looking him in the optics.

"And who are you?" he said, sounding like he knew he was going to die.

"My name is 7. And these are the twins 3 and 4. This is 9." she introduced them all, each with a different tone, 9 being the one that sounded like an afterthought. He wondered if she was just kidding with him or if she really thought of him that way, but he chose to keep his mouth shut.

"Im 'G'." he said, still clutching his side. No one was surprised, you did'nt need to catalog him to know that. "Do you know how to repair me? Are you together?"

"We can repair you, we just need to move you from here. Apparently it is'nt as safe as we thought... What do you mean together?" she said, her stitched eyebrows meeting on her forehead.

"Move me. You're right, we cant stay here. Too many... I'll... tell you later..." and with that, G was out like a light. 7 and 9 exchanged glances before sliently agreeing to help him. They told the twins to get the wagon so they could haul him back to their hideout.

After bringing him out into the slowly diminishing sunlight, the four others had a better look at him as they were transporting him to safer grounds.

His skin was indeed, tough. The twins told tell them it was called 'leather', a material made from cow skin, an animal once living with the humans. There was a seam that ran along the middle of his chest like 5 and 9, but his skin was held together by what 3 and 4 had called 'piercings'. G had stripes on his arms, sort of like 6, but they were horizontal, and they were a bright red color. They also seemed to be drawn on to him, they were'nt perfectly straight, and looked rather much like war paint according to 7. She would know.

He had a hooded cape, the tail trailing down his back and the hood laying limp behind his neck. It was black like his leather and had a hood. It also seemed to be removable. His feet had some sort of rubber on it, making his strides stealthy and silent. He was a fighter. Like 7.

G groaned in pain in his sleep, which made 9 want to hurry faster to get him to safety, but the pace they were going already made their gears shiver and breathing heavy.

They had almost made it into the shelter - the entrance was just around the corner- when they heard a metal scratching metal sound. 7 looked at 9 with a meaningful look in her optics. "Go." was all she had to say.

9 nodded and quickly ducked the wagon into the hole in the wall, into safety. He turned back only once, to see 7 looking madly around for the source of the noise, hidden in the shadows and scanning the area for the machine they knew it was.

He ducked into the building once more. He saw that 3 and 4 needed some help with carrying G out of the wagon. He ran over silently to help them. He pushed the wagon over to the medical room first, so they would have to carry G all the way over from the middle of the room, then he lifted him out along with help from the twins, and carried him into the room to lay him on the bed. He knew he would someday need it.

G groaned again and continued to clutch his middle area, which made 9 nervous. He gently moved G's arms away from his middle and told 3 to get some strong rope they could used that should be near the fabric pile somewhere, and told 4 to tie the knot, holding G down securely. After he was sure G could'nt move and break away in any sudden movement, 9 gently opened him up.

He undid the piercings and took them out, one by one, gently and in front of the twins in case they would need to know how to do this in the near future. He looked inside the stitchpunk and easily found the problem. One of the many gears inside of him was badly bent up, smashed in in such a way that made 9 frown with frustration. He would need to replace it entirely. This was going to be painful- if he could even do it.

9 told 3 to go look in the metal pile to see if there was any gears that looked like it would fit. After cataloging the size of G's gear, 3 set out. 4 looked at 9 and 9 nodded before 4 went to help his sister.

9 looked at the rest of the damage, which seemed like nothing compared to the gear, but were still painful by the looks of it. G had a gash right behind his right leg, letting his metal skeleton to show, and causing worry to seep farther into 9's receptors. He could fix this, and it would be painful, but still nothing compared to the gear that still needed replacing.

G also had a very small cut in his arm, near one of his markings that puzzled 9. 9 actually laughed out loud when he realized how small the cut was compared to his other two injuries. The cut was hardly even there! He might not even have to fix it...

3 and 4 came to his side, holding a gear that looked to match G's with triumphant smiles on their faces. 9 sighed a breath of relief, someone up there wanted to save G. (A/N: hehe...)

He worked his magic, letting his knowledge of the stitchpunks anatomy guide him through this. He had never done repairs with damage this bad, but seeing 5 do it really helped. When he was done with the gear- having replaced it well enough to run though some discomfort and minor pain may subside with G for a few days- 9 reached for some needle and thread and began to sew G's tear up casually, as if a huge load had been mercifully lifted from his back.

And then he remembered 7. He tensed and held out the tools to 3 and 4- who knew how to sew pretty well from watching the few threads he had done already and cataloging it- and dashing out of the room. He had'nt been paying attention to the noise that had been going on outside, but now that he was'nt distracted with someones life on the line, he found there was no noise at all. Many thoughts buzzed in his mechanical head as he dashed out into the emptiness.

Will 7 be OK? Why dont I hear anything? Had she defeated the beast? Should I be out here in the open looking for her? Was it some sort of sick joke? 9 shook his head at the last one, he knew 7 would'nt do that, not if it involved a machine. Why had that thought even come to him? Maybe he was just too panicked So where was she?

He ran around the corner and let out a scream. The beast's head was right around the corner, and 9 had run into it. He trned on his heel and dashed for cover from what he thought was an alive and dangerous beast. He emerged a little later, realizing he was'nt being followed and the beast was dead.

He continued to search for her for until the sun finally died, letting darkness and the discomfort of the night wash over everything the sun had shone on in the day. 9 sighed sadly, he could'nt search for her in the dark. He learned that from past expierience.

He kicked angrily at something small and hard, sending it flying and sending a slight pain into his foot. He screamed into the night, he should'nt have relaxed to sew G, he should have stayed out to help 7. Then he realized, it was'nt his fault. It was whoever...or whatever... had taken 7.

He would hunt them down. But first, he had a stitchpunk to talk to. He needed answers.