To Save Us All
Chapter 23~
B smiled and looked back to A, thinking.
"To Distract It..." said B, tapping his finger on his chin thoughtfully. "And To Outsmart It..."
"We don't have all day." said A, annoyed. "I know what my purpose is. You don't have to repeat it."
"Maybe you can lure it to the wire?" said B, looking back to said wire, sparks shooting out of it now and then, like blood from an amputated arm.
"How? By flailing my arms and screaming? It would take it two seconds for the monster to figure out what I'm doing, B."
"Then don't flail your arms and scream," said B with a patient smile A didn't return.
F, curled up in a tight ball and covered her mouth and optics, trying to hard to erase what she had seen happen to E. She was now sobbing, knowing the beast wouldn't hear her in all this noise, and letting out her terror into her hand. Screaming, crying, sobbing, hating.
Then she heard B. She stopped crying immediately at his words, his voice, playing over inside her head, allowing her to compute them and make more sense of them.
"He's going to." she said, "To Outsmart It."
6 looked up from his hands, from his protection, and sat up, uncurling himself. The twins tilted their heads, surprised by his sudden change in mood.
"It will die soon." said 6, mumbling low to himself, but the twins still picking up on it. 6 looked up at the twins, who were now cataloging his words, "But there will be more if he can't. Must do it soon. Or life will die."
"I can't see them, 9. They're gone." said 5, attracting 6's attention. The artist looked to 9, holding 5's feet on his shoulder's. 6 sensed his anger, his panic, his hate, his need of self control.
"What do you mean, their gone?!" snapped 9, craning his neck to see over the basket walls, trying not to make 5 fall over or off of him.
"Well, I can't see them." said 5 helplessly, his eyebrow as far upwards as it could go, looking down worriedly at the scene below him.
9 turned to 6 desperately, making 5 jolt dangerously.
"Can you see, 6? Are they OK?"
"Heard the shattering noise. Shatters glass, shatters hearts." said 6, looking over the basket. "Helping. Went back to help. Won't die. At least you are safe..."
"No! 6, I love her! And them! I can't just allow them to die! I won't allow them to die! Not again!"
1, who had looked up and had been listening ever since 5 told 9 he couldn't see them, banged his staff on the basket, making the Balloon jerk, and capturing everyone's attention.
"9! Don't you see what he's saying? You have to let go. You have to be strong. You are different, made for cleaning up their messes and righting our wrongs. You were designed for this. I will not just stand here and watch you deny truth!"
"How can you tell me not to do something you have done for years!" yelled 9, retorting at 1 with such anger in his voice that the twins hid behind 6.
1 glared at 9, but it fell in a second, weaking, showing 9 that 1 really had gone through so much.
"I... I've learned my ways didn't work. I understand my mistakes." - 1 looked back up at 9, his face strong again- "That's how I know that if you try to deny destiny those mistakes will haunt you forever."
9 turned back to the factory now, which now loomed in the distance- they would be ariving in about an hour- and thought about what 1 was saying.
He knew what 1 meant, about the mistakes. He remembered the terror and guilt he had back when he thought he couldn't change all this, and the relief and determination he felt when he realized he could. He realized how lucky he was that he could redo his past and correct things, and how sad 1 must be to not be able to do so. But 9 needed the talisman to go back, to when none of this happened, to when his first mistake changed everything.
He needed the talisman. And he would get it.
"To Save Us." whispered F thankfully, lost in her thought's, lost in her knowledge of the future. She hugged herself and smiled.
6 nodded as 1 stepped down, knowing 9 understood, and the artist walked up to where 9 was still supporting 5.
"Fix the Past. It's broken." 6 soothed, patting 9's shoulder.
9 nodded and closed his optics, turning from 6's, trying to block out everything and think. This proved hard to do with 5 nagging him to be still.
"Stop swaying, 9." 5 said absently as he manuevered the steering nail, his voice sounding loud in contrast to the silence that had swept over them once again.
"He told us. Long ago." said 6's voice, right behind 9. "Most thing's change, but other's stay."
9 raised his eyebrows and turned his face to look at the tormented artist, who was now looking out toward the factory they would soon reach. The factory was alive and breathing, the BRAIN inside it probably making more devious creations as they flew toward it to destroy it.
"What?" 9 asked. That word seemed to give him many answers. Just one word that begged for enlightenment.
"Show him." said 6, his optics out of focus, like he was in a bizzare trance.
Suddenly, possibly in response to his words, the twins scampered in front of 9, 3 pointing 4's head toward the basket wall, so she could project another slide.
The audio cracked and faded at parts, but 9 could see the visuals very well.
It was the first room. The twins were cataloging the Scientist making 6.
The old man was smiling and humming to himself as the twins watched from right up next to him, on the very desk he was making him.
It was a fake smile, a mask.
"What was your question, you two?" said the Scientist, pausing his work on 6 to smile down lovingly at the twins, seemingly at 9 since he was watching through the twins eyes. 9 felt like he was being examined, like when 7 would steal glances at him so long ago, in the future. "Forgive me for my distraction, but this one is particularly important. 6 has a very unique purpose, you know."- the Scientist caught himself and gave a soft chuckle- "Well, that is if I'm doing this correctly..."
The Scientist looked down to a small red book on the desk and patted it affectionately, as if it were alive. Suddenly, solemness washed over the old man's face, and 9 saw what he meant by "So drained" in his journal. 9 raised his eyebrows in confusion as he watched.
"It's quite funny, isn't it?" said the Scientist, looking down at the book with a sad smile, "The human must dig in his past to find answers to questions in the future."
Since 4 was the one recording this, 3 moved them both up nearer to the Scientist to pat his arm, albeit 4 still in a recording trance.
The Scientist looked up at their touch and a brighter smile that reflected 2 shown on his face as he looked at the twins.
"Oh, forgive me," he said cheerily as he turned his body to face them, a stance to show he was fully paying attention and respect to them, "Now what was that question you two had?"
3 flicked something rapidly from behind 4, since she was still supporting her sister, but all that could be heard were clicks. Still, the Scientist seemed to know what they were saying, and his once happy expression turned to a rather confused one.
"You want to know how you remember something that never happened?" repeated the Scientist with mock confusion. He knew the answer to the question. 9 knew that he knew. It was in his brown eyes. The Scientist's hand flew to his chin, and he rubbed it in thought as he turned to the book again.
9 leaned in, and 5 didn't nag. They were both paying too close attention to the projection.
"Well, you two, it seems the time has come for me to confess something to you." said the Scientist, going back to making 6. "This will not be the first time you ask me this. Nor will it be the last. It has to do with time, you see. Time will play a big part in this. I expect you already know everything I'm going to say, so all I need to tell you is that... when he goes back" - 9 winced. Could the Scientist be referring to him?- "All he needs to know is that Soul's never die. They can only be transferred."- the Scientist indicated the talisman lying on his desk next to 6- "But souls... are quite mysterious. Even to me. But I have learned from the very ragdoll I'm making right now that soul's are invincible. They cannot die."
A slow smile began to grow on 9's face. A strange look appeared in the Scientist's brown eyes, and he leaned closer to 4. He was directing the next line of speach to someone. Someone who was different. Someone who would understand. Someone who really needed the answer to the question, much more than the twins ever did.
The Scientist seemed to be looking right at 9, like he was talking strictly to him, as if he knew. As if 6 had told him. Another thing 6 had done with time. The Scientist's look seemed to reach in his soul, and was pulling out the answer for 9 to see, like he was dealing him a card. Like 7. He still had 7 somewhere in there. And himself. 9 was still in there, already knowing, not having his memories ripped away by the force of being thrust into a ragdoll. He was looking into himself.
"And they cannot forget." said the Scientist, directly at 9.
The Scientist smiled down at his third and forth creations, whom each contained a piece of his very soul, much like his children. That was it. They were like his children, and he was like their father, but more so. He was like their God, but not quite, as he did not make them for the purpose of owning them. Yes, they were more like his children, and as all humans eventually fade, the Scientist was passing on the torch. Passing the torch of life on to the future.
The corner of 9's mouth twitched as the projection faded and 4 fell into 3, exhausted. 9 realized he had extended his hand to touch the basket wall, where the Scientist's face had been a moment earlier. He retracted it at once and it fell at his side.
"They cannot forget." 9 repeated to himself. The other's were quiet, including 6, who had moved to the very front of the Balloon and had hung himself over the edge, letting the breeze that came with flying toss his hair around gently. 9 could hear the soft whistles of the wind blowing past them as he flew toward his purpose, his destiny.
A and B had managed to sneak closer to the spark erupting wire, and were now close enough to get behind the wire just in time for the beast to be electricuted.
"Approximately." whispered B, now too close to the beast and G to talk any louder. He peeked out from behind the small discarded lamp they had taken as their new temporary shelter.
"Approximately?!" hissed A, enraged that his life was counting on an estimate.
"Well we don't know how fast it runs." whispered B, much to A irritation. "We know how fast it pounces and it's reaction time, but that's it."- B turned back to A with a nervous smile- "So, yes, approximately."
"So what if I can't make it in time?" whispered A angrily. he knew they couldn't get closer. Already the sparks were being thrown right at their feet, making them jump each time it came close to touching them. A could feel the pull from the charged air particles, and somehow suddenly knew.
He wasn't going to come back.
"Well I'll go next then." said B, putting a hand on A's shoulder. "And you will make it."
A put on a fake agreeing smile and looked back to the beast.
G was putting up a good fight, but he was just one stitchpunk, he couldn't do it alone.
"W-when should I go?" asked A, sounding very helpless and lost.
"I think it would be best to help G out now, A." said B, with a horrified gasp as G was thrown into the air, landing on the opposite side of the courtyard, where F's face was peeking out between the cracks, an eerily calm look on her face.
G got up, brushed himself off with a look of hatered toward the beast, and began to run for it again. But he was getting slower, more tired. Something had to be done right now before G lost all of his energy.
A nodded and without any goodbyes or any last minute words, shot out from their protection, screaming at the top of his lungs to attract the beast.
F looked away, knowing what would come next, having already seen it in her mind's eye. She looked over to where 8, 7, C and D would emerge within a few seconds, the second wave of force to stop the monster from getting at 9. They would defend and guard him from this beast. They would help finish it off. But not before a few mistakes. F continued to watch helplessly and reported the truth to 6.
7 sped the Car through the Emptiness, not looking back, afraid to look back, afraid that 9 would be there, giving her that sympathetic look of his that seemed to control her.
Her hands gripped the plastic steering wheel tight, her arms jutting straight out from her to strangle it, and her face was hard. She wouldn't ever forgive herself for leaving him. He must be freaking out right now. She pressed her lips together, tight, everything was tight, she wasn't one to let go easily.
She turned the steering wheel sharply to the left as a familiar building whizzed past her, the art museum.
Time to kick some ass.