A/N: I kept switching between a second-person fic and this one while I was working on it so I KEPT MESSING UP THE TENSES. AHHHHHHH. Anyway this was going to be longer but I wanted to give you guys a squee-y Krytburi chapter, so it's short and sweet. And definitely t-rated.
Bowwchickawowwow…
(First bit taken from the ending of chapter four)
"She'll come around." Krytus comforted quietly, and Kyburi looked over at Kiry's despondent form.
"I hope you're right."
Kiry did come around, with time. Kyburi was finally able to enroll Kiry in school, now that they were on the Red planet. Now ten million, she was still slower than the other Reds her age, but the teachers were kind and did a better job than Kyburi had been able to with her hectic work hours. She now had a job in the apartment complex, cleaning in the lobby and rooms and helping out with the occasional odd task. It was several steps up from her old job; increased salary and she was never more than a few floors away from Kiry. Kora, the Red Sentient Kyrosys had suggested her to, ran a small maintenance team for the apartment complex, and among her coworkers Kyburi found herself meeting friends. The same thing happened for Kiry in school, she was no longer the quiet, lonely child confined to a small room, but bubbly and excited. She was still naïve, and always would be, but she was endearing, and her growing circle of Red friends greatly helped her transition to the new planet. She even grudgingly began to approve of Krytus, a step that would have to happen in order for the three to share an apartment.
Kyburi certainly hadn't expected that stage in the process, but she had to say she enjoyed his company. Krytus was usually off on business with Kyrosys or another group in the Resistance (what the Red Sentient union had come to call themselves), but he was always home by nightfall and usually earlier. They had developed into a sort of relationship, she would call it. He was more affectionate with her, and she was less guarded. This planet had changed both of them in so many ways. She enjoyed her life more, and he was so much more energetic now that he felt he was making a difference. They discussed the war a lot, the growing tensions, how neither side had made a move but that it was only a matter of time. Their synapses each day grew longer, and questions of mating began to cross her mind. Kyburi had turned eighteen million in their first several months of living on the Red planet. Krytus was now nineteen million. They were technically adults, old enough to make their own decisions, although both had been doing that for some time. It was a milestone, and it would be interesting to see what it would bring.
"So, tell me about this new Sark project everyone's talking about." Kyburi had asked him one afternoon, when they were both home. Kiry was having a sleepover at a friend's house and Kyburi was elated that she was making friends. It didn't hurt that she got time alone with Krytus, and so they were seated on the couch in conversation.
Krytus practically brightened. "The Sark Initiative! It's incredible, actually. A scouting mission I led to one of the BattleZones, you remember it?"
"Yes." Kyburi nodded. It was a routine operation for the Resistance; sending out teams to check the Zones for any Blue activity.
"Well, it's completely desolate with the exception of electric storms. We're already working on setting up conductors to harness the electricity and with the help of Sentient nanotech the factory should be up in just a few weeks." Krytus said, and Kyburi could practically see him glowing with pride. "It's going to be—"
"Krytus." Kyburi put her hand on his wrist and had to stifle a laugh. "I barely know what the Sark Initiative is."
"Oh. Right." Krytus remembered. "One of the more scientifically minded Reds in the Resistance has been working on it for some time now. They're robots, programmed only to obey Reds like us. They have no free will, no desire for power. They live to serve, and they'll save us thousands of casualties, multiply our forces tenfold. The Red, his name is Simark, has multiple outlines, drones, soldiers, scouts, even more complex designs for generals and commanders with artificial intelligence. They're indispensable! It's one of our most brilliant moves in this war yet."
"I can see you're excited about this." Kyburi smiled affectionately.
"How can I not be? I've had a huge hand in the project, especially on dealing with the design of the leaders, and Simark is a brilliant Sentient. I'll have a force under my own command!" Krytus exclaimed, and she smiled.
"That's really incredible." Kyburi said, his excitement making her feel a little left out of the movement. "So, how is the Resistance going?" She tried to change the subject.
"Well, we're always busy. You can never be too prepared for a war, and there are new members to recruit every day." Krytus explained, picking up on her tone and trying to tone down his enthusiasm. Kyburi had often wondered what he meant by 'recruit'. Kyrosys had been extremely eloquent in assuring her when they had first met that she would not be forced to join the Resistance, but the way Krytus spoke sometimes made her apprehensive.
"What do you mean, recruit?" Kyburi asked, trying to sound nonchalant. He had not erupted at her since the day they had left the Blue planet and she did not want to bring on another episode.
"Well, there are still so many struggling Reds out in the streets, they're grateful to join if it means a place to sleep and wages." Krytus explained. "We have teams that comb the alleys every day, and every day our forces strengthen. No matter when this war happens, we will be ready."
"So there will be a war then." Kyburi stated somberly. Yes, she disliked the Blues and all they had done to her, and wanted them to feel some sort of pain for what she and her Red kin had suffered, but the word war brought on so many new worries and fears. Everything would be changed.
"Well, Kyburi, of course." Krytus seemed surprised she had even asked such a thing. "That's what the past three years of our lives has been." He took her hands in his, and she felt the determination radiating from them. "I mean, you know as well as I do that the Blue Sentient reign has to end. If we want to separate from them, to stop them from oppressing us and our people, something has to be done. This is past the point of peaceful negotiation."
"I understand that, it's just…a war would change everything." Kyburi managed to say. "I mean, everything has been going so well lately and I don't know if I could take having a civil war tear it all to pieces. I…" Kyburi paused. "Something has finally gone right for me, Krytus, and I just can't bear to see something happen to you."
"That means a lot to me, Kyburi." He said finally, softly. "But you have to know that this is the cause I want to dedicate myself to. I want to fight for it, to mean something. I want my name in every record book you had to shelf in that dusty Blue library. I want you and Kiry and everything those Blues did to you in the orphanage to be avenged." His voice shook with furious determination, and she remembered that she had poured out every detail of Samira and her reign of terror to him.
"I want to have power. I want to be able to see when something's not right and put a stop to it. I want things to be different from when the Council of Five was in charge." Krytus recovered enough to say. "I want to change things, and this is the best way to start." He said firmly.
"But I don't things to change to the point where I lose you, Krytus!" Kyburi exclaimed in a sudden burst of passion. "I…I really, care about you, and if you were injured…even the tiniest crack in your shell…I simply don't know what I would do." She trailed off quietly, and he clutched her hands tightly.
"I will never let that happen. Because every day, when I'm out there, whether I'm recruiting or fighting, I'm thinking of you." He said honestly, and she let a smile touch her lips.
"Kyburi…I love you."
The words made her core freeze. Had he really just said that? But there was more.
"And every day I fear that while you're here, while I'm away, another Red will come along and try to steal you from me." He admitted, stroking the lines of her palm. "And every day when I come home, you're still here, and it takes such a weight off of my shoulders. I know you don't know how beautiful you are, Kyburi, but I do, and everyone else notices. Even those idiot guards the first day we arrived. I just...it worries me."
"Krytus…" She couldn't form more than a whisper. "What are you saying?"
He leaned forward and kissed her, so suddenly and unexpectedly, but she melted into him instantly. Heat radiated at the point of contact, and she wrapped her arms around him as he cradled her neck in his hands. He pulled her closer to her, so that she could feel his core beating though his shell, producing more of that wonderful, heartfelt heat, but it was not so much a temperature but a kindling, kindling for a fire she wanted him to ignite in her. They kissed longer, and deeper, until she finally stopped him.
"I wanted you to know…I've loved you since the day you brought that blanket to my house." She admitted with a girlish giggle. She had always felt affection for him, but today, for some reason, it was burning hot, yet somehow freeing to finally say the words.
"I loved you the second I saw you." He replied lustily, and she laughed again. Carefree. It was a beautiful thing.
"Did you really?" Kyburi teased, and he nodded.
"When you stood up, I knew I was stronger and older than you, but you still looked ready to fight to the death to protect that little room of yours." He described, kissing her jawline. "I saw fire in you." He pulled her to his chest. "I see it every day." His tone had grown much more serious, and her breath caught in her throat. She had been thinking about it ever since Kiry had left for her friend's house.
They were alone. They were both older now, and they had both professed their love. What else was there to do?
"And I would hate to let another Red steal it." Krytus finished with a kiss to her neck, and Kyburi warmed. He lifted his head and they stared into each other's eyes for a brief moment of utter connection.
"I feel like we're both thinking the same thing." She said finally, and he smiled in relief.
"I just want to know that you're mine. I don't want you to feel like I'm pressuring you, and I don't want-"
"Krytus." Kyburi laid a finger to his lips, calmed the worry in his eyes. "I want this. For us."
"Us." He smiled and leaned over her so that her back was on the couch. "I like the sound of that."
Sentient mating was worlds away from conceiving. Because Sentient shells were not made to support a child, creating a pair of Sentient twins was completely mental.
Mating was different. Once you mated with a Sentient, it completely solidified your relationship. It was a bond that could not be broken, especially for Reds. Blues were unlikely ever to mate. They were built for logic, and order, and reason. They signified their bonds with synapses, and though they were just as loyal to their mate as any Red, the Reds had far different relationships. They were made for passion; to act first and think later. They were energetic, driven, zealous. They were more capable of feeling love. Blues chose their mate based on status and logical reasoning. If a Blue and Red chose to mate, if they truly believed they were in love, a case that was rare in times like this but quite common in the time of their axons, the relationship was still possible, just less passionate than that of a Red, and less logical than that of a Blue. Apparently, Blues could mentally 'mate,' so to speak; a more powerful and deep nature of synapse, but Kyburi wasn't familiar with the concept.
In terms of Reds, she was now very familiar with the concept. There was one thing that stood out above the rest.
They were created for mating. To experience it with someone else, to enjoy it. To delight in every pleasurable second and let two shells, two Sentients, join as one. It was incredible, thrilling, intense. Beautiful. A combination of core heat and pure passion. It was a mark, a symbol, a promise. It was everything and yet left her wanting so much more. She was his. He was hers.
Them against the world.