"Oh, dear. I should be taking better care of you." She knelt down to place a gloved hand on the robot's head, who recoiled. "Even if you're a huge jerk." WX-78 had explained the ordeal with the silver bird from last night. "This world is for your eyes only, for now. What you see is unique and designed especially for you."
"I DO NOT UNDERSTAND…" WX-78 uttered, still shaken from the previous events. She crossed her arms, looking down. "It's your sanity. I should have said something, really. I'm guessing you didn't even think about it." Before the robot could respond, she exhaled sharply and stepped away. "Thought so." WX-78 raised a finger and opened its mouth to retort, but no words came out. She frowned, her mouth crooked. "I guess we'll have to do something about it, then." She let her arms fall to her sides as she strode away.
Charlie stopped, looking over her shoulder. "Are you coming, hon?" WX-78 blinked, rubbing its empty eyes. "YES," it barked, its voice filled with confidence again. The android jogged up to her, tugging the straps on its backpack. "BUT…" It gazed off into the distance, feeling more uneasy than usual. "WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME? TELL ME THIS TIME." Charlie twirled a strand of hair in her finger. When WX-78 had told her what the bird had advised, she'd found it quite odd… and convenient. Nonetheless, it was still a bad thing for a figment of the robot's imagination to be lecturing her behind her back about not pacing herself properly when introducing her creations. She probably shouldn't have told WX it was going insane, either. Hell, she shouldn't even be leading it to the caves that speckled the deeper parts of the forest, where she expected it to find itself silk for a top hat. WX-78 would look stupid in a top hat, anyways. Not in a good way.
"You know what?" She stopped, placing her hands on her hips. "You're going crazy, we've established that. But I'm not babying you, anymore. Find a solution yourself." WX-78 gave her a look of surprise, which gradated to betrayal. "WAIT, MY MENTAL HEALTH IS UNSTABLE-!"
She was already gone. What did she expect the robot to do? Where would she have led it? And why drop the matter so suddenly? "WAS IT SOMETHING I SAID?" the robot shouted into the dark of the forest, earning heavy silence in response. Eyeing the distant undergrowth, the robot shrunk into itself, squeezing the backpack's straps. It must have been the middle of the day now, but it seemed too dark out to be true. Maybe it just gets darker when Charlie's omnipresent, and WX-78 hadn't noticed. The automaton face-palmed. Of course it didn't tell her everything about the "hallucination", besides the fact that the bird had been spitting on her behind her back. WX-78 had already been questioning its sanity, of course, since its own imagination had tried to convince it to treat her well. What bugged the android, though, was the fact that the songbird had lit its camp fire. Surely, without the lighter at hand, WX-78 would have been left to the mercy of the night.
It just didn't add up. Sighing, WX-78 began to tread in a new direction. The greens and browns of the forest and all of its rot and moss seemed to fade into a plethora of purple and blue foliage. The robot must have been walking for half an hour now. The ground seemed to glow now with its own radiance.
The light no longer spilled from the tree tops, which were now only a roof in which to keep the heart of the forest contained. To its surprise, the clearings between each tree were littered with exotic fauna. "DISGUSTING," it spat, looking down at them. "THEY ARE PROBABLY POISONOUS." Standing still, the robot waited for any sort of remark from its "guide." When none came, it groaned, bending down to start picking them. I REALLY HOPE SHE IS NOT WATCHING ME RIGHT NOW. THIS IS SO DEGRADING.
"What a sight. What do you think you are doing?" WX-78 leapt up, the flowers dropping to the ground, wilted. It whirled around, ready to face the robotic songbird, only to see nothing. I REALLY AM LOSING MY MIND. Its optical sensors strained to recognize any sign of shining silver in the dark of the forest, but it was as empty as ever. Another voice hissed from behind, "Why did you scare her off? She is leading you into a trap, she always does this." WX-78 turned back around, snorting. "YOU ARE NOT REAL, LEAVE ME ALONE!" The absence of any life was mocking the robot, and it seethed in frustration. Placing a hand to its metal shell of a chest, it stopped itself from shaking. "You should just lay down and die, forever. Like everyone else." WX-78 cried out, "I KNOW WHAT YOUR ARE! YOU ARE NOT A ROBOT, YOU ARE AN ILLUSION!" The voice of the animatronic reverberated all around WX-78 now, and it held its head in its trembling hands. Bird calls filled the robot's "ears", clouding its thoughts. They grew loud and unbearable.
WX-78 looked up to the roof of the forest, where bright streaks soared past the sky, gradually becoming a silver wind of mechanical birds. They were laughing as they shot through the dark like a storm of glitter and ice. Nails and bolts fell to the ground at a steady pace, sinking into the dirt and tainting it grey. The robot lowered its hands, looking around itself in horror and confusion. I WAS PICKING FLOWERS, WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?! The metal bled into the ground, feeding on the foliage and rusting in patches. Birds sat hunched on the low hanging branches, chanting. "Not real, not real! It thinks we are not real!" They erupted into a chorus of laughter again, littered with the occasional shriek. "It cannot take care of itself! What a waste of space!"
The ground began to shift and bubble, the bending barely audible over the shouting. The robot felt the floor shake and tremble underneath its feet. The rusted metal rose from the ground slowly, as the yelling grew louder. WX-78 spun in its place, frantically searching for any route of escape. The blobs of orange and brown took on familiar shapes. Knights and bishops circled the android, glaring and snorting. "NO-!" WX-78 wailed, throwing its arms up. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
A single songbird flew from the tree tops, lowering itself to the ground by WX-78's feet. Their optical sensors met, straining and shivering. "Say pal," it croaked softly, tilting its head. Its voice somehow managed to be heard over all of the bedlam, and WX-78 stepped back as far as it could while still distancing itself from the hostile chess pieces. "You don't look so good." WX shut its eyes tightly. The noise stopped.
"Double- do- Wex!" Charlie shouted from nearby. Opening its eyes, it caught sight of a dark mist snaking its way into the earth in place of The One Who Sings, which was now back to its previous color and texture. It raised its head to see the flamboyant young woman run up to it. "I was busy, but on my way back I thought I heard shouting. What happened?" WX-78 rubbed its back. "EVERYTHING IS FINE, HOMINID- AND MY NAME IS WX-78." She narrowed her eyes. "Doesn't sound like everything's fine." She was right, too. There was an edge of fear to the mechanical voice of the android, and its breath was hitched and shaky. "You at least tried picking flowers, right? You don't have to lie to me about it…"
"WHO TOLD YOU?!" it shouted, nervously glancing over its shoulder. She flinched at the robot's drastic change in tone, and carefully placed a hand on its shoulder comfortingly. To her surprise, WX-78 didn't cringe under her touch. "Something must be wrong with the flowers, then. They're obviously not working. I'll… I'll talk to Maxwell about it." She seemed confused and slightly annoyed. These things don't just happen. You've never made a mistake like this, William. The whole thing was very suspicious, and she had a feeling she knew exactly what was going on. "I'm going to leave, again. I think you should just stay here and keep picking flowers anyways. You'll be fine." Her hand slid from the automaton's shoulder as she plummeted into the pool of darkness at her feet.
"Will!" She barked, storming up to the nightmare throne, the clacking of her heels reverberating down the dark pathway. "Yes?" he purred, his voice laced with amusement. Maxwell's face was filled with color once more as he sat back in his chair, puffing on his cigar and grinning at her. "What do you think you're doing?" She hissed, pointing to the ground as if WX-78 were beneath them. "What-ever do you mean, my dearest assistant?" He chuckled heartily, a stream of smoke escaping his nostrils. "I know you're up to something, I hope you're not playing with any of the puppets." He rolled his eyes, his grin fading to a gentle smile. "I'm only pushing the dumb contraption in the right direction. You can help, it'll be fun." She huffed, drifting closer to him. "So you're doing what, exactly? Trying to scare it out of its laziness?" Maxwell nodded. "I personally thought the bird was a lovely idea."
She smirked. "As long as it works, I'm in."
WX-78 lay in the flower bed, staring up at the heavens, which were clouded with leaves. Its state of mind had improved greatly, but it was still shaken. It snorted, glaring at the sky. "I AM NOT A WASTE OF SPACE," it growled, shoving a handful of petals into its mouth. "STUPID ANIMATRONIC."
It shifted on the ground, pulling its backpack out from underneath itself. I THINK I PUT FOOD IN HERE, it thought. Emptying the contents onto its bronze belly, the robot yelped. "NOT THIS SHIT AGAIN!" It scrambled upwards, hastily brushing the scraps onto the forest floor. "I SWEAR I THREW THAT THING OUT!" The bone lay in the flower patch, still clumped on one end with disgusting purple fur. The robot would have assumed it had put it back in to throw it out somewhere else, if it hadn't just moved. "NO- I AM NOT CRAZY!" It kicked foliage over the bone, which rattled and flinched in response. The matted fur opened to reveal… an eye?
"BIOLOGY IS DISGUSTING!" it cried out, backing away. Suddenly, the branches hanging high above the automaton's head began to creak under the weight of something. Just as WX looked up, something fell, clinging to the robot's back and shoulders. WX-78 screamed, thrashing and pulling on its attacker. It unlatched itself from the android, slinking to the ground. WX-78 leapt away, snatching a stick off of the ground and flailing it in the air. "YOU ARE MESSING WITH THE WRONG WRESTLING CHAMPION- IT IS NOT JOHN CENA." Upon further inspection, the creature didn't seem to be threatening at all. It was shaped like a sack of potatoes with purple fur. It had stubby little orange legs, not unlike Chester. Its arms, however, were ridiculously long and gave the impression that the bugger was meant to resemble a sloth. Down its sides and up to its "mouth" was a zipper. Covering its face was a large tuft of fluff; two horns poked from the sides. Oddly enough, it had a long reptilian tail that matched its coat. To top it all off, it was spiked. "THEY RE-DESIGNED YOU, TOO? SERIOUSLY?" The robot looked around. "THE SLOBBERING MUTT WAS BAD ENOUGH, DO NOT TELL ME I HAVE TO WEAR YOU LIKE A BACKPACK."
The creature held its arms up, its small hands grabbing at the air high above its head like a needy child. "YOU HAD BETTER HOLD MORE THAN MY FIRST BAG- OR ELSE YOU ARE DINNER." WX-78 approached it, holding it up with ease and allowing it to drape its arms over the automaton's shoulders. WX grasped the odd monster's wrists to help keep it from sliding off. "AT LEAST YOU DO NOT DROOL," it sighed, picking up the eye bone. "WE ARE GOING TO FIND ORGANIC SUSTENANCE, IF YOU DIGEST IT I WILL KILL YOU."