-Inheritance-
A Series of 9 One-Shots by Digitaldreamer
I: Rules
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Annnd this took far longer than I wanted it to. Surprise, writing is a lot harder when you're in college, desperately job-hunting and have only about an hour of free time to write per day. But I set out to do this, and so it will be done, mwahahaha!
So right, this is the first of my set of one-shots on each of the stitchpunks. Technically the one before this, The Scientist, is the first, buuut he's a prologue and my true intent was always this so I decided to wait until I could post them together. I'm sure you're thrilled.
This one is, of course, centered on 1. I can only hope I did a good job! 1 is my favorite character, surprisingly enough. I know he's old and he's a jerk but he's so well developed that I can't help but love him. Hopefully that helped me when it came to comprehending his character, haha.
So right, do read and please tell me what you think!
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He was only trying to protect them.
Or at least, that was how it had started, anyway. He had been trying to protect them, because somehow it just felt like that was what he was supposed to do. It may have partially came out of a sense of pride, something which he struggled with more than he'd like to admit. There was a sense of merely taking what naturally should have been his right from birth. He had come first, after all, and it was the duty of the eldest to protect the younger. He knew this world better than any of them. And how could he not? He had been there the longest.
He had been there the longest and he saw things differently from the rest of them, something that could be downright frustrating most of the time. When 2 looked at the world, he saw possibilities. 3 and 4 couldn't seem to focus on the real world, their tiny lenses always seeming to zero in on whatever information could be found in pages around them. 5 was too much of a nervous wreck to really peek out from behind 2 and see the world in front of him. 6 was in another realm entirely most of the time, he was useless when it came to survival. 7 was needlessly reckless, 8 was too thick-headed to truly understand in spite of his loyalty.
So that meant 1 was alone.
Only 1 seemed to understand just how dangerous the entire situation was. He looked out at their world and he saw it for what it was, cold, bleak, and unfair. It was a bitter, pessimistic image, but someone had to be realistic here. People did not survive by the words of a wide-eyed idealist alone, and 1 understood that. The humans certainly hadn't survived, after all! One of them had to see those mistakes and make sure their strange group didn't follow the same path. Perhaps this came from having seen their world the longest, from seeing the humans at their worst before they vanished in the blink of an eye. Or perhaps he'd just been born with it... but regardless, it was there and it was vital. Yes, it was important to not lose hope, to look out and find ways to make things better... but someone had to look out and see the picture as it was.
He was only trying to protect them.
The others didn't seem to recognize that. He supposed in a way this was fitting. If he was meant to be the leader, then the others really didn't need to see the world as he did. It was his duty to keep it all together, to make the decisions, while they followed and did as they pleased. It was fitting, but it didn't make it any less frustrating when things happened as he should have expected they would.
Children never listened, after all.
This was a fact he'd known from the beginning, and in a way, that was what the others were. The others were children, and someone had to be the adult here. Someone had to make the rules, someone had to put limitations on things. Someone had to make sure they stayed alive. That meant leading them, that keeping them all together, that meant staying where it was safe. That meant going against desires to go outside, that meant standing against moments of stupid bravery, that meant keeping them where he could protect them.
7 called him a coward more than once. It was a harsh title, but 1 was willing to admit it was rather fitting. Whether he wanted to protect them all or not, he was, admittedly, terrified. The world they lived in was an awful place, and in knowing that, who wouldn't be scared? 1 understood this world for what it was, and both what he knew and the many things he didn't know terrified him. He was scared and so he kept 8 there. 8 had been built to guard them and 1 intended to use that. He supposed it was selfish, but it was only natural to have flaws.
He had more flaws than he'd like to admit, really. His main intentions were to protect, they always had been, but he couldn't deny that like any living creature he had a selfish desire to stay alive. When he really considered it, that didn't mix well with pride, which he had an overabundance of. Those two things combined rather easily into a lust for power, something 1 was well aware he stubbornly pursued. It simply wasn't something he could help. A part of him appreciated being followed, appreciated power, and that was where the staff and the cape came in. He was selfish and he was prideful. He supposed in that way, for all of his bitterness against them, he was more human than he'd like to admit. But really, who could blame him? He was prideful, he was sometimes selfish, he did occasionally overdo it, but he was right! Was it so wrong for him to have some pride? After all, he was clever, he was the one who held them all together and surely he deserved something for all of his efforts! So what if he got pleasure from being right and for doing his job? That was how it was meant to be! The others called him stubborn and he was aware that he was, but was it so wrong to be stubborn if he was right in the end? He was right, he always had been! He was the smart one, he was the one who understood, and if they all simply listened to him they would remain safe.
He was only trying to protect them.
But of course, they didn't listen. They didn't just refuse to listen, they fought him at every opportunity they could get. They ignored his wise words and they went out and got hurt. They ignored him and they ventured out and endangered the group, they ignored him and they risked their lives more than was necessary. This was why they had rules. They had rules, and 1 expected them to be followed. Was that really so much to ask? He supposed that yes, he was selfish on occasion and prideful, and he knew he enjoyed giving orders, but it couldn't be helped! His orders were intended to keep them alive, and if they simply listened... but of course, they didn't.
They didn't listen, and so he was harsh. He was harsh because he had to be. He enjoyed the feeling of power, yes, and oh what a horrid flaw that was, but if they had listened there would be so much less of a dilemma. If they had just followed the rules he wouldn't have had to resort to yelling, he wouldn't have had to resort to scaring them. If they listened he wouldn't have to resort to using 8 like a bouncer, using 8's terrifying power with grim effectiveness. If they had just listened, if they would just stop arguing... it made him angry a lot, really. 7 called him stubborn, 7 glared at him and it was so very clear that she hated him, but he was right. If they had just listened to him these things wouldn't happen!
He was only trying to protect them.
Of course they couldn't understand that, but he supposed that was why he was here. Someone had to make the hard decisions. Someone had to be smart and realize the truth. Someone had to view the world for the horrors it was and keep them all safe. Someone had to keep the rules in place, someone had to keep them all alive somehow. Someone had to understand where ideals were just that, ideals, and reality had to kick in. That meant being stubborn, that meant not bending even when they all glared and raged at him. That meant enduring the fact that every day, even long after the war, was going to be a battle for dominance that he would have to win. That meant keeping them all together in an iron fist, That meant constantly fighting for strict compliance, that meant making sure they followed his orders to the letter so they stayed alive.
And yes, sometimes that meant making sacrifices. Sometimes that meant understanding when to let go, to realize that losing one wasn't nearly as bad as losing all eight. Sometimes that meant enduring the fact that he was leaving someone to potentially die, because if he didn't he'd lose more.
He made the hard decisions, because if he didn't he'd lose all of them, and that was more than he could bear to think of.
So he endured it. He endured 7's glares and scowls, endured their constant arguments that always ended with him struggling to keep her rebellious spirit where it belonged. He endured the way 3 and 4 cowered from him, the way 5 cringed at the sound of his voice. He endured 6's sad eyes as he desperately tried to smash those wild ideas and keep the strange stitchpunk's head where it belonged. He endured the whispers that 2 would have been a better choice for the leader, tried to stamp down the bits of bitter jealousy as the inventor shot him a look of sympathy. He endured the fact that no amount of ranting was really going to make 8 understand, though he'd take the larger stitchpunk's presence for what it was. He endured it and admittedly he grew bitter, he grew frustrated, but he still tried.
It was hard, but someone had to do it.
And so as he holds up yet another one of 6's drawings and sees the way the other stitchpunk cowers, he does his best to ignore it. Again the harsh words spring from his lips and the anger at his rules being ignored bubbles up against his will. Again 7 comes to 6's aid and again he finds himself yelling, his voice echoing through the church as he gives what he's well aware is a futile sermon. There's a loud tear as ink-soaked parchment is ripped to shreds, pieces drifting to the floor as 6 gapes at them like a kicked puppy.
If his decisions meant they would be hurt, so be it. If it meant he had to fight them, so be it. He was right in the end, and even if they didn't understand that, at least they were still alive. If it were up to him and his rules, it would stay that way. He keep them in an iron fist and they would struggle but it was for the best in the end. If they hated him for it, so be it.
He tells himself this as he hears 6 whimpering, hears 7 trying to comfort him, feels her hate-filled glare against his back. He feels it and he does his best to accept it as necessary, to turn those feelings to what he'd sure must be righteous irritation. If they went against the rules meant to protect he'd do what he must, because someone had to. If they had to hate him in return, then so be it.
After all, he was only trying to protect them.
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End