HOLY CRAP what an ending! Why are you reading this? Go read the next chapter and review it!

CHAPTER 26: NOT SO EASY

"Noo!" 9 shouted, he attempted to run and reach out to where Dylan had been just seconds before, but 7 held him back. Everything was in slow motion again, and 9's hearing was muffled as if an explosion had gone off in his head. He looked at 7's concerned face as she pulled him away.

"He's gone 9!" she yelled in his face, "He's gone..." she repeated herself in a more depressed sounding voice.

9 had given up on trying to run, he just collapsed in 7's arms, sobbing silently. The F-series and 9's friends gathered around the two in a circle. It was then that 7 realized it. This was what she had seen in the flash, holding 9 close to her in this way. As 7 looked around she saw it. The body of F10 had landed next to the talisman, which had opened when it hit the ground. She tried to get 9's attention but he was still sobbing. All the other stitches watched as whispy white smoke rose from the blood on F10. The talisman sent sparks at the stain, filling the room with white light again. That was when 9 looked. Before their optics F10 sat up, looking at the talisman. Just as Dylan said it dissasembled, breaking into the two talismans again. F10 picked up the one glowing yellow and fixed it to his robe, just as Dylan had designed. He then picked up the green talisman and tossed it to 9, who almost dropped it.

"Keep it safe." F10 said, then he to joined the circle. F3 and F4 looked around the crowd, at the faces. Only a few knew the things that needed to be known, 6, themselves, and F6, who stared at them now. He gave a nod, confirming their thoughts. The sisters held each others hands and walked over to F1. F3 grabbed F1's hand, who grabbed F2, and then each of the F-series formed a circle with the twins starting and ending it. 9 and 7 sat in the center, still holding each other, while the rest of the originals were on the outside of the circle. The F twins' eyes lit, creating a projection on the ceiling similar to 3 and 4's recording of the scientist. 9 gasped as he realized what he was witnessing. Dylan's entire life flashed in rapid motion, stopping at key points. 9 didn't focus on any of them in particular, except for the last part. From Dylan's eyes 9 witnessed the claw grab the boy and pull him through the ceiling. 9 thought that the recording would end there, but 9 was surprised when it continued. The machine carried Dylan for only a few seconds. When it realized Dylan wasn't moving, he dropped the boy, leaving him to die. 9 looked in the bottom left corner where a single word was placed. That one word brought 9 the greatest amount of hope that he had ever held. In simple text it read,

Present

"He's still alive!" 9 said, "We can still save him!"

9 stood, and the projection stopped, the stiches breaking the circle to gather around 9.

"But how can we get to him in time?" 7 asked.

She clearly didn't care about how Dylan was still alive without a soul or the spark of life, those were questions for another time.

9 looked over at 5, who nodded. He took out his crossbow, and with F5's help, the two of them attached the end of F5's thread to 5's needle arrow. He aimed up, and took the shot. The needle stuck in the ceiling strong, and 5 tested the string by pulling on it a little.

"We need to go one at a time." 5 said.

9 went first, followed by 7. The rest of the originals went in chronological order, then the F-series. The two 5's went last, and the entire process had taken near 10 minutes. Thankfully, 9 and 7 hadn't waited. 9 quickly found the bleeding body of the boy, and examined the wound. It was very similar to 7's wound that she had gotten during the scorpion fight. 9 knew the human body was much different then a stitchpunk's, but Dylan assured 9 that the claw had missed any vital organs. Dylan had somehow found the strength to remove his shirt with the 10 on it and place it on the wound to slow the bleeding. Once all the others arrived the two 2s and 5s went to work. 6 and his brother comforted the boy, while the rest watched in hope. After the wound was closed, it took what seemed to 9 to be a full hour before Dylan's breathing returned to normal. He still couldn't move, but he could talk, which means he could answer 9's questions.

"How are you still alive?"

Dylan smiled,

"It takes a little more than draining my soul, my life spark, and being stabbed by a machine to take me down. Its not so easy."

9 wasn't in the mood for comedy,

"No really, it doesn't make sense!"

The boy smiled wider,

"Some things don't need to make sense, we humans call them miracles."

9 was confused by this new word. Dylan attempted to explain by showing 9 a necklace that he wore on his neck. It was a golden lowercase 'T' with a human attached to it.

"Usually someone doesn't die because their pupose hasn't been fufilled."

9 grew even more curious,

"Then what is your pupose Dylan?"

Dylan laughed, but then groaned and held the wound. He was still in great pain.

"Humans are a little more complicated than you guys. We don't know what our purposes are, we just have to figure them out."

9 was going to ask more when he heard a loud humming sound. All the stitches as well as Dylan looked up to the sky to see an object in the sky flying high above.

"Is that a giant bird?" one of the F-series asked. 9 wasn't accustomed to their voices so he didn't know who it was.

"No, thats a plane!" Dylan said, 9 couldn't understand if Dylan sounded excited or afraid.

"Hadn't they all been destroyed though? How could there still be human pilots around?"

Now 9 heard the fear in Dylan's voice,

"That's the problem, they were all destroyed."