To Save Us All
Chapter: 7
"Get out the talisman, 9." said F, optics twitching and fingers dangling down like a nervous spider.
9 blinked, how did she know he had the talisman with him? He wanted to ask, as it was his nature, what he was made to do, but he supposed the only answer he would get was the enunciatedn word "SAW!". He kept silent and did what F asked, unzipping himself and pulling out the talisman, the source of all his mistakes, the reason he was one in four, instead of one in nine. As he held it gingerly, looking over it's features sadly, remembering, F was gathering some of her paint and paintbrushes and tore some paper from the paper scroll she had in her little section.
She walked over to E's little space and searched until she found a nail, making as much noise as possible rummaging through E's things. She brought it over, a serious look on her face, and flattened the uneven sheet of paper on the wall, stabbing the nail into it so it would stay. The look on her face told 9 this was no time to think of the past, she was about to tell him something that would blow his mind.
F turned to face 9 and nodded once in approval when she saw the talisman was out. Good, she thought, he has to pay attention, he has to know. I saw it...
She reached out for the talisman and 9 gave it to her, a puzled expression painted on his face, and placed it gently on a small book that 9 supossed served as a shelf, due to the mass of shiny objects piled on it already. F dipped a selected paintbrush in a small tub of red paint and, with one last glance at everyone to make sure they were listening, she out her occupied hand to the paper and began to paint, words tumbling from her mouth eagerly.
"When it was the end, we knew each other." she said criptically, making 9 and E exchange a glance that seemed to say is this how shes going to talk the whole story?
They did'nt have to understand her words, however, because she was painting them on the paper. Her hands moved lik water in long, curvy strokes. Like 6 when he had been drawing the talisman for 9 after the winged beast attack. She was painting a room- the first room, 9 realized with a jolt- with the Scientist and another human shaking hands, despite the world around them. F painted a scene of gore and violence taking place right outside the window, and the two humans seemed oblivious. It seemed F was indicating they already knew of the dangers going on, that they were used to them.
When F's very detailed picture was done, she looked back to the others, clearly restraining herself from ranting all she knew at once because she wanted them to understand like she did.
"They knew each other." she started again, hands itching to paint something else. "And ours had the idea to make us out of him." she could restrain herself no longer, and she turned to her paper again and gently placed her crafted paintbrush on the paper. It took off like a rocket, unable to slow now since her visions were coming at her too fast. She drew the human that was with the Scientist to the paper, having a disscussion with the Scientist, who had such a look on his face 9 knew what he was thinking for a split second before losing it.
"He made us to test... to test, see?" she tried to reach them, to make sure they were paying attention. When she saw E, C, and D's faces of confusion, her spirits dropped and she thought she might have to start over. When she saw 9's face, the look of understanding and agreement on his face, and wanting her to continue, she smiled and hugged him before hastily turning back to her work.
"She's saying our creators knew each other," 9 said, to clear up any confusion C, D, and E had on their faces. "And yours had the idea to make us. But the Scientist thought it was just an experiment. But it worked."
F nodded happily and continued painting. She had little space left on the paper, so E got up and tore some more out of her paper scroll for her when she was done. F was too engulfed in painting to realize, so she did'nt thank him. Now she was painting the talisman, just like 6 used to.
Use to...
9 swallowed any guilt, he had to pay attention to this, not think about things he could'nt change.
"The source..." she whispered. 9's eyebrows rose, and he frowned. The source... 6...
"He drew that." 9's voice was hardly a whisper.
F looked at him "I know... Scientist saw you. He made you out of us. Ideas. See? And 9 is best, 1 is worst. See? For you, he made 9. For us, he made 8. Only 9 can save us... See?"
"Yes. The Scientist based my group out of you. He did'nt get to make the 9th of you. I'm the onyl 9th..." said 9, thinking and trying to put things together in his head. "But why?"
F nodded as he spoke, and when he was done said, "Show you..."
She turned to place the paintbrush on her paper, but there was no more blank space on that sheet. E, who had been waiting for her to realize this, took down the used paper and nailed the clean piece to the wall. F smiled in thanks. She put her paintbrush to the paper, and her arm began to create something 9 actually did'nt understand.
It was the talisman, he knew that, but what was it doing? F had painted the talisman with a greenish color now, something that seemed to fit it more than red, and she had painted arrows curving around the talisman counterclockwise. She then painted 9, with surprising detail yet again, in the rain with 3, 4, and 7. 9 stood up and came to where F was still painting.
"That was... the day of the..." 9 could'nt bring himself to say it, but he knew F understood. She understood everything.
"Yes, and then you-" her hand made the shape of 6 dying, and the closeness of her hand to the paper made that shape come to life, and the memories with it. Suddenly, 9 felt like he was there again, watching his mistake kill yet another one of them. he could hear 6's last words. The source... Go back to the first room... Go back to the source...
F's hand was possessed now, guiding the brush across the paper like it was on fire. It drew 5, underneath the BRAIN, dead and lifeless.
"No..." whimpered 9, unable to do anything but stare in horror.
F drew 1, sacrificing himself for 9, his soul being drained from him, all of his thoughts vansihed into a killing machine...
"Please..." said 9,shaking his head and starting to dry sob again. E, C, and D were trying to get F to stop, but she was too into it, they had let her visions tkae her over. They were calling for 9 to help them but he was numb to them, staring at her work, the work she had no choice but to paint.
She was now drawing 8, the guardian, defiant til the end, trying to wrestle his way out of the seamstresses threads that bound him to himself, struggling with everything he had, and then, as he knew it was no use, put all the remainder of his energy into growling at the BRAIN in hatred. His soul was mercilessly taken as well, just one more out of 9 the BRAIN needed to kill, to destroy. And 9 had awoken that beast...
"No, stop... PLEASE! STOP!" 9 was yeeling now, too, but he could'nt hear himself, he only heard the anguished cries of the fallens last words and screams. "Make it stop!"
But F could'nt stop now, her hand made her draw out 2, the kind and gentle 2, who had given 9 his voice, who had taught them all what curiosity can do. And then F ran out of paper, but that did'nt stop her. She painted all over the walls, all over the floor, until her point was clear. She drew 2's soul being taken, stolen from him, wisps of a pure, green soul, being fed to that monster 9 had awoken. His life, his thoughts, his ideas, his self, being taken from him without right, being stolen, being raped of his life, and all 9 could do was watch and make stupid apologies.
"NO!" cried 9, flinging himself at F to stop now, laying her on her back and holding her down as he saw her possessed optics, wide with what she was seeing, almost calling to him for help, and her hands moving over 9, painting on him, painting his murders over him. The irony hurt him, but he tried to calm down and take charge. C and D were cuddling in the corner, having given up trying to control F. But 9 was determined.
"F!" he shouted, determined for her to hear him. Her optics twitched to him, but they were unseeing. "You need to calm down! I understand, I understand!"
F's hands slowed, and son she was no longer painting on him. She closed her optics, and when she opened them next, her pupils were'nt constricted anymore. She was still shaking, and she was whimpering, her hands clutching 9's arms. He sat her up and let her release her fear into him. He let her shake and quiver, and he let her calm down.
After several minutes of F sobbing into 9's chest, 9 rocking back and forth as if to cradle F and comfort her, F finally calmed down enough to say words.
"S-sorry... I d-did'nt mean..." she began, but 9 silenced her with a soft 'shh' and a pat on the head.
"No, I understand. 7 told me 6 used to do that, before I came. No one belived him and it drove him crazy. But I did, as I belive you now. OK?"
"Thank you, but-" she tried again.
"I just wish 7 was here." said 9, getting up and walking to the 'book bench'.
"Yes, but-" began F.
"She's really understanding. She knows how to take care of situations like this." said 9, sighing.
"TIME!" cried F frantically.
9 jumped up and held her arms, thinking she was having a panic attack again.
"No, I'm OK. I'm calm..." F said as calmly as she could. 9 let her go slowly and cautiously. "Time. The talisman. TIME."
"Time?" repeated 9, looking over to the talisman that now laid on the floor near F's drawings "What about the talisman?"
"Save us." It sounded like she was pleading him. "Time. Reverse... The talisman..."
9 stared at it for a long time, then looked back up at F, confusion filling his optics. "How?"
"You know..." said F as she went over to hug C and D, who were cautiously stepping out from behind E, who had somehow managed to fall asleep, and where started to catalog her.
Did he know? What had F meant by 'reverse'? And time? Reverse... time... Reverse time!
But how?...
He... knew? He knew what? All he knew about the talisman was the sequence, and he already knew what that did... Maybe... maybe if he tried it... backwards...
He looked to F, who was nodding slowly, telling him to do what he knew. And he knew it now, it was the right thing. What would happen? Could he... go back in time? And save his family? And the rest of F's family also?
But what if something bad happened? It would'nt be the first time... What if doing the sequence backwards only did the same thing? What if he accidentally sucked his own soul into the talisman? That would be bad. Really bad.
9 weighed his options as one minute... five minutes... ten miutes passed. He concidered each thought carefully, and finally came to a conclusion.
He was made for this. He was the savior. And he would save them all.
He pressed the sequence... backwards.