"W...What? Dell kicked you out? Kicked you out of the house?" Miku's voice was filled with shock. Dell Honne would never do that, no matter how mad he was! Not to any Voyakiloid, much less his own sister!
"He did...He really...Did it..." Haku's voice sounded more broken then it ever had before.
Meiko patted her shoulder, trying to give the girl some comfort. She wasn't quite sure what to do with the situation though, because she wasn't exactly familiar with Voyakiloids. She'd had a drink with Haku before, yes, but never really had the time to have a nice, long conversation with each other.
"Why would he do that?" Miku asked, her expression worrisome.
"He...He was mad at me..."
--
The Voyakiloids were, as simple as can be put, failed counterpart versions of the Vocaloids. Many of them were prototypes that were thrown out onto the streets because they sang terribly or had questionable behavior. They weren't fit to be Vocaloids.
But it didn't matter anymore. They'd tried, they really had, to become what their other selves had achieved. It just wasn't meant to be, as many suppose.
Instead of a large mansion, they live in an old, crumbling down building. It used to be a storage building for the prototypes, but a smattering of paint and a few posters can do wonders.
As usual, Dell Honne sat busy at his desk. Typing at the computer one second, organizing papers the next, filing things another, back to typing, double round to fill out this and put away those...
Until the door opens.
"Haku."
"Um...Dell...I'm, uh...home..." She stuttered. Dell turned in his swivel chair to face her.
"Where have you been? You didn't come back last night! Tell me you weren't at that bar again."
He pressed two fingers to his forehead, rubbing it. Great, another migraine coming on.
"N-No...I wasn't, uh, there...Um..." Haku fidgeted slightly. Don't let him ask, please don't let him ask...
"Then where were you?"
Dang it.
"Uh...I was...Well...I was...Talking t-to Meiko-san..." She watched her brother's expression change. He looked surprised.
"Why would you be talking to her? I've always told you to never talk with those Vocaloids. They are our enemy, understand?"
"I-I wouldn't say that, Dell..." Haku grasped the doorway's edge for a moment. She knew her brother got mad when she talked about the Vocaloids, but sometimes he'd take it too far...
Taking a lighter out of his pocket, Dell pitched the cigarette he was smoking and instantly lit another, placing it between his lips in the same place as the old.
"You haven't answered me. Why were you there?" That cold voice meant trouble...
"I wanted to...To sing better...S-So I asked if...If I could...Could have lessons...Or something..." Dell slammed his fist on the desk, making her jump back.
"What!? You're taking lessons from her?! She's one of THEM, one of those 'better models'!"
The cigarette pinched up slightly in his teeth, Haku could see it from where she stood. She was afraid to move anymore. Why had Dell become so violent recently? He was never this way before...
Turning away from her, he stood up. His voice tried to speak softer.
"Haku. I don't want you talking to them. You're not one of them, you're one of us. You're a Voyakiloid, understand? Voyakiloids only talk to each other, only need each other. We don't need anyone else to teach us how to sing any better."
Sitting back down, Dell began working again. Attempting to end the conversation with silence.
"..."
"..."
"...It's not like any of you could teach me to be any better..."
BAM.
Haku fell backwards, hitting the wall of the hallway behind her as Dell suddenly loomed over her furiously.
"Damn it, Haku! Don't you understand it yet? We're not getting any better because we CAN'T! It's in our programming! We were made to be the way we are! We're not like humans who can just practice and get better and all that! No amount of lessons will make your circuits go any further in place than they already are!"
Trembling with fear, Haku attempted to crawl away, but felt a heavy boot on her leg and stopped. She knew for a fact that those boots could crush her armoring and more.
"You spend more time with them than you do here anymore! Do you not love us anymore? Do you not embrace your Voyakiloid parts?"
"I don't want to anymore!" She suddenly cried out. Something inside her felt like it was breaking free.
"I don't want to live in an old shack and know that I'm never going to sing right! I want to sing better! I want to be fixed!"
Dell took in her words, slowly taking his boot off her leg. He was silent, his face hard to read. Breathing out a billow of smoke, he turned from her.
"...Then leave here."
"...Dell, I-"
"If you hate it so much here then go somewhere else. You don't belong to the Voyakiloids if you can't get used to the rough life."
Pushing herself into standing position, Haku's voice was lost in her rusty voice box.
"No..."
"They're the ones with any money. If you want to get fixed and become one of them, fine. I don't care anymore, Haku. I just don't care anymore."
Dell seated himself back in his chair and put his head in his hands. Never once had Haku ever seen her brother cry. This was as close as she could remember it having gotten to.
"Dell, I..."
"GO! Leave if you want to! Either stay or leave!" The robotic side of his voice was returning. Sadness choking itself back into his brain chip. Seeping inside of him...
SLAM.
Was that the door? The front door? Or her bedroom door? He didn't know. He didn't care. Merely curled up with his face down almost to the desk's top and letting the tears fall. Imagining her running.
Running past KIATO, past Annie. To the front door. Running outside into the pouring rain...
--
"I c-couldn't stay there..." Haku sniffled again, tightening the blanket around her. Her eyes were cast downward, but she could still see Miku kneeled in front of her, looking lost.
Sliding her hand up to her chest, Miku felt a small kink in her works. She and Haku were bonded by that one small program. That one little byte that made them Prototype and Finished Model. Miku could feel the shifting of gears within her almost coming to a halt.
"I'm sure he didn't mean it..." Luka said, appearing with a plate of fresh breakfast and putting it down in front of the gray-haired girl.
"He never gets that angry..."
"T-That's just it, Miku snapped up, he wouldn't do something like that! After all, he still has that kind part of Len's program somewhere, and-"
A shrill scream cut the air. Sounds of shoes clomping up and down stairs, going across floors. From upstairs came Rin's yell.
"Everyone, everyone! Help him! Please help him!!"
Meiko and Miku lept up immediately and darted out, leaving the other two in their dust.
They nearly tripped on the stairs when the others came rushing past them from either side, Gakupo running fastest with Kaito running two stairs at a time.
A yellow painted door swung back and forth ever so gently at the end of the hall.
The lights were down low in the room, but two figures were easily identifiable.
Rin Kagamine, fists curled up to her chest with tears falling from her eyes as Len Kagamine lay on the bed in front of her, his body jerking violently with seizures.
--
"We've been checking all of his systems for errors, bugs, viruses..."
"Yet you still haven't found anything?"
Looking down nervously, the scientist shook his head sadly.
Behind him, suspended in the glowing capsule was Len's body, his limbs now still and his eyes shut. He looked nothing at all like he'd been through anything out of the ordinary. On the contrary, he looked as though a peaceful sleep had come over him.
Placing his hand to the glass, Gakupo could see his reflection within. Running a hand through thick purple locks, he closed his eyes and bowed slightly.
"Please awaken soon..."
Time seemed frozen in that moment.
In his mind, he prayed for the younger boy.
And with that, took his leave of the laboratory.
--
The sign says "Testing Area" but she thinks what it really should say is "No Hope Room."
Laying on the bench, Rin kept her eyes tightly shut so as not to allow the tears to leak out again. She can feel Kaito's hand running through her blond hair. His lap is more comfortable than the cold, hard bench, for sure.
"They'll find out what's wrong with him..."He spoke in a whisper like a father would to his daughter if she had been awoken late at night by a raging thunderstorm.
"He just...I tried to wake him up...And he looked at me and just...Started...Doing that..." Rin shuddered at the memory.
The image of her twin flailing on the bed widely with his eyes wide and dialated would probably be forever implanted into her brain chip. Replaying over and over like a video.
"Ne, don't be so worried. They'll figure it out, they always have when ever something happened before." Kaito gave her one of his goofy smiles and ruffled her hair.
"Len won't give up easily either! You know that!" He smiled wider this time for emphisis. Giving him the faintest smile, she plopped her head back down in his lap and closed her eyes.
Len won't give up easily...
--
Processing...Decompressing Files, 62%...Files Decompressed.
Proceeding with Virus Scan...Scanning...Scanning...Scanning...
No Virus Detected...
A few groans and grumbles came from the scientists in the room as many others worked on other procedures. No test or scan had yielded a sign of what could be wrong with the young Vocaloid.
Everything seemed fine, all the wires connected, no foreign objects detectable.
"Sir?" One spoke to the leader.
"Yes? What now? Have you found the cause?"
"Ah...No sir...But, I must ask, could whatever it is, perhaps, be something much deeper in the system?"
"What do you mean, 'deeper'?"
"I'm merely suggesting, sir, that it could be something wrong with one of his internal chips..."
The taller man gave him a look of slight anger and frustration.
"We do not need to look any deeper. Those pieces are unable to have anything wrong with them, you know that well. Enough of this, go to your computer and begin a scan for any type of security leaks. Am I clear?"
"...Yes sir..." The scientist backed away and headed for his station.
Touching the glass surface, the other scientist thought to himself.
'We will not access those chips. We can not let anyone know of their existence. Already it's been jeapordized once with the creation of 'her'. I will not allow this facility to make such a mistake again...'
An alarm suddenly ran across the room, red lights flashing.
"What's going on?" The man demanded. Ahead of him, doors opened and light poured in as a rolling cot swiveled in.
"Emergency, sir! The Ren Haine Unit suddenly shut down!"
--
Rin's eyes were set upon the girl standing near the door. She looked much like Rin, but very different as well. She had black hair and gray eyes and all her clothes were black as well. Her long hair ran down over her right eye, and she wore a silver-gray headband in her hair, the bow drooping downward.
The girl stood still at the door, silent. Slowly, she turned to look at Rin, who sat up and looked into those black eyes.
"...Lin Haine..."
"...Rin Kagamine..."
The two knew whom the other was easily. Lin Haine had been one of the many Prototype Rin's made. The only differences between the two was their color, singing voice and slight personality, but other than that, they were like two images from two different mirrors.
"You're here because something is wrong with Len."
"And you're here because something is wrong with Ren." Rin replied back.
Kaito pointed between one and the other, more than a little freaked out at what he was seeing. When a ring from his pocket broke the silence, he stood up and grabbed the phone, fleeing fast so as to get away from the awkward girls.
They appeared to ignore him however, and stood face to face.
"Do you know what's wrong with Len?"
"...No...They can't figure it out..."
Lin looked down slowly, shadow casting over her eyes. "Then they won't find out what's wrong with Ren..."
"They will...They have to..."
--
"I can't understand why this is happening, sir! First the Len Unit, then Ren..."
"The Len Unit is the Base, don't you see? If the Base fails, then they all will as well. That is why I can not let them burn out!"
"Sir, another one is coming in!"
"Who this time?"
"The Rei Kagene Unit..."
"It's spreading like wildfire! Finish that test over there! And you two, begin work on checking the firewalls."
"Make another capsule ready, sir, a fourth one is coming as well."
--
"Ah."
Rin jerked up slightly, touching her chest plate before looking at Lin.
"Rui."
"I know, I felt it too."
"This is...Bad...This is very bad..." Rin sat on the bench again, putting her head in her hands. If it was bad enough that Len's own kind was feeling it, it had to be something terrible.
Walking back from around the corner, Kaito shut his phone and sat down slowly. His eyes looked filled with a sense of dread. He waited a moment before turning to the girls.
"...The others are coming. With Haku."
"..."
"...Why?" Lin questioned when Rin didn't speak.
"All they said was that...Something was wrong with Haku's brother, too."