To Save Us All

chapter 16~

"It wasn't his fault!" 7 screamed as loud as she could, sounding like she was ready to cut someone's head off.

"You haven't lost anyone yet! You wouldn't know!" yelled a familiar voice back to her.

Who was that second person? Why was he yelling at 7? Why was 9 alive to hear this?

9 opened his optics, groaning as he tried to sit up. He looked around as everything fell quiet. He was suddenly aware of several things. They were in the air, 5 was landing the Balloon, 7 was right next to him, clutching his hand as if it was the only thing that kept her from leaping at- G?

G was here? How in the hell-?

"Great, he's awake- now I can strangle him!" yelled G, moving for 9. 7 blocked him with her spear and stepped in front of 9 protectively.

"Don't you dare touch him!" she growled, staring G right in the optics. She was slightly smaller and shorter than he, but you were a fool if you thought that mattered.

G just glared at 7, amazing 9 by how much defiance he had to stand up to her like that.

"And who's gonna stop me?" he said, looking her up and down in a way that made 9 want to take 7's spear and stab him in the neck himself.

"7." 9 said. Despite his sudden rage at G, he knew they needed him. "Stop. He's a friend."

7 turned to face 9, kneeling down on the floor where he lay, and stared him in the face.

"Prove this idiotic fool is a friend and I owe you a-" she began, sounding like she wanted to smack G and it took everything to hold herself back.

"Do I have to? Time travel isn't enough?" asked 9, trying to make 7 smile. It worked.

"Who is he?" she said calmly, getting up and turning to face G, no longer angry.

"His name is G. He's part of another band of stitchpunks. And if we are going to defeat the BRAIN, we need him." said 9, watching 7 carefully. Her face changed into one of unwilling acceptance.

"He did save you from the seamstress..." she reasoned, holding out a hand for G to shake. G shook it.

"I want answers." he said, looking at 9.

7 tossed her hands in the air and stormed off as far as she could go, over to 6 by the corner of the basket. They conversed about something unheard as 9 sat up from the floor and continued to talk to G.

"To what questions?" asked 9.

"How did you know? How did you know they would be-" he started, collapsing on the basket floor as he finished the last word of the sentence, "Dead."

9 gaped at him, "They- but I warned you about- didn't you save them?" 9 said, mad at himself again. Everything he had corrected now pushed on him again. The "sure it was my fault but that's OK because I'm going to fix it" bit that held him up for the past few days had finally collapsed. He had killed G's family, and he should pay the price.

These hateful thoughts of killing himself to stop the werewolf from killing more swirled in his misunderstanding head as 9 looked out the Balloon, estimating how many feet they were still off the ground as 5 brought it back up again.

"9." said a gentle voice behind him. 9 turned to see 7, sympathetically shaking her head. "Stop. It... wasn't your fault."

9 looked down at G, who was hiding his face from everyone, though his heaving shoulder's revealed his dry sobbing.

"Yes it was." said 9, collapsing to the floor as well. 1 would have rolled his optics, but... something held him back. This wasn't one of those times where he had the right to do that. The elder stayed silent and kept his thought's to himself.

6 came over to 9 and said, "Save Us. You will... You have to."

9 looked up from his arms and met 6's optics. For the first time, 6 didn't seem so innocent- he seemed almost defiant. Everything was changing... And then 9 saw 6 smile and shake his head.

"Still me." he said, seeming to read 9's mind again. "Still 7. Still the same..."

9 smiled and nodded. 6 was here to lead him, and that's what he would do.

"G," said 9, "I'm going to get your family back."

G looked up, his optics having a deep sadness about them, a sadness that would haunt 9 forever.

"I promise."

"What happened?" asked 9 to 7. G lay curled in a tight ball in the corner, 6 next to him comforting him, and everyone else asleep. No one needed to steer, because they were far from the factory and there were no threats in the air. 9 found out they were headed to G's home, where C, D, E, and F were hiding and mourning.

"We didn't know you were passed out, and 1 tried to start the engine, but 5 and I wouldn't let him. While we were busy bickering, G came out of nowhere, carrying you in his arms, saying he wanted answers."

"So he defeated the Seamstress?" asked 9, interested in the death of that monster.

"Yeah, and he saved your life." said 7, "He isn't really all that bad, is he 9?"

"No." agreed 9, knowing she had asked a rehtorical question.

"Have you met the rest of his family?" she asked, a curiosity in her voice as she hugged her knees, sheilding herself from the cold.

"Yes."

"What about them? What are they like?"

"C and D are like the twins, you should like them. You've actually met them before-"

"I have?"

"Not in this time. But I remember you liking them." said 9, smiling at her.

"What about the others?" she said, laying down on the floor of the basket, facing the moon that was popping in and out of the hazy clouds.

"There's E, who looks exactly like 5 except with two optics." 9 slid down the wall carefully and plopped down next to her, but sitting up rather than lying down.

"How original." chuckled 7. 9 resisted the urge to kiss her forehead.

"Well, The Scientist modeled us after them so it's really 5 who isn't original." he said, apologizing to 5 with his look, though his best friend was asleep.

7 laughed. 9 smiled.

"What about the others?" 7 pushed on, still laughing as she said it.

"Well, F is mostly like 6. I already told you she was a girl..." said 9, looking down at 7 with a raised eyebrow.

"You already told me all of this, but do you think it's gonna keep me from asking?" she said, smiling as she sat up to be at his level.

"N-no." 9 said dumbly. Smooth, he thought.

7 looked toward the moon again, allowing 9 to breathe.

"Did I tell you why she was a girl? And what she said it means to be a girl?" said 9, having composed himself enough to say it without stuttering.

7's head snapped to his, "No, but I'd love to hear it."

"She said each human is different, and if they seperate themselves into us, the one's that turn up female are the strength of that particular human."

7 was fascinated, "Really? So the Scientist had a warrior side? Hmm..."

"He also had a stubborn side," 9 said, earning a glare from 7, "And a tough side, and a feminine side." he covered.

7 chuckled as she rolled her optics, lying back down.

"Are you tired?" 9 asked. Why did he always ask so many questions? So many pointless questions...

"A little." she sighed peacefully.

"Are you... cold?" he asked, not sure himself how he managed to say it without stuttering.

"What?" she asked turning back to him, surprised.

"You know... are you cold?" he said awkwardly. 7 rasied one eyebrow and cocked her head to the side.

"It's not that cold, 9." she said turning back around.

"Oh..." said 9 dumbly, getting up to go over to 6, to spare himself any more embarassment.

"9." he heard as he walked. He spun around. "I... I guess I am pretty cold..."

9 swallowed his smile and settled for a nod as he came back to her side. She patted the ground and he sat, getting nervous for no reason. She rested her head on his thigh and relaxed, closing her optics. He rested his hand on her back casually, and she didn't seem to mind. 9 smiled, and thanked his Creator for life.

The next day 9 wasn't the first to wake up.

One of the first things 9 was aware of when he opened his optics was how close he was to 7... and that G was standing on the corner, looking out away from the rising sun with 6, who was talking to him quietly.

9 sat up, having slumped over in his sleep and had rested his head on 7's back. The sleeping warrior stirred and mumbled something about drawings, but did not wake. 9 got up slowly and walked over to 6 and G, not wanting to scare them but not wanting to make any sound so the other's could sleep longer. 9 looked around him and saw that 5 was huddled next to the twins, who were on either side of him, and 1 was huddled in his own cape, grumbling even in his sleep. 9 surpressed a laugh and looked to 1's faithful bodyguard- 8. The massive stitchpunk was curled up like a cat near 1, his voice box producing a soft humming sound - the equivalent of a human snore.

9 looked to 6 and G again, wondering what they were talking about. He walked over to them and got halfway close when G spun around - had 9 been making that much noise?

"Oh, he's awake." was all G said before turning back to where he and 6 had been looking at. 6 smiled and said a soft little "Hi." that made 9 smile.

"6? I have to talk to you-" he began. He was going to ask about what they had to do now. He knew 6 knew something.

"Wait for F." said 6, pointing toward a building in the distance... Mostly standing...

"We're here!" 9 said, smiling as he took in the old building he knew was a library.

"6 has been telling me about you." said G, capturing 9's attention, "And... I wanted to say sorry for the way I accused you earlier."

"G, I understand." said 9, admitting it all for G, a good friend if you gave him the chance. "I take full responsibilty for it, and I understand if you would like to take my head off with your knife, but I just wanted to say that I didn't mean to do it. I would honestly take it back if I could, which is actually why I'm about fifty feet in the air right now and not in the emptiness a year later with no one left but me, 7, and the twins."

G looked back to his building, his home.

"So you're really gonna save us all, huh?" he asked.

"Yes." 9 said as he went to wake up 8 so he could lower the nail, and the Balloon. 6 mumbled something and shook his head.

"Or die trying." said 9.