Disclaimer: Still own nothing

AN: I'm really delighted to see all the reviews. Thank you all for reading. Also, this was one of the few chapters that has a title. Mostly because I suck at titling things, and this one just seemed appropriate. So I give you

A Summons in Stone

7 stood on the crooked shoulders of a statue, staring at the fresh scar in the ground. Her eyes were wide; she looked ill.

"What do you see?" 9 called to her, but she didn't answer. She just swallowed. "7?"

He didn't ask again. Instead he seized a piece of the statue and dragged himself up the uneven surface. It was harder than it looked—7 always made it look so easy, so effortless. Too often his fingers slipped and his footholds melted back into the carved stone, but finally, he neared the top.

7's hand was already extended down to help him up. She was looking at him strangely, an unfamiliar emotion welling in her optics.

"Are you all right?" he asked carefully. She squeezed his hand tighter and pulled him up to stand beside her. 7's free hand touched his shoulder delicately, an odd contrast with the vice grip she still had on his hand.

"I'm going to protect you," she said, choking slightly on the words. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I promise. I'm not going to let anything hurt you."

"I don't understand." It was all he could manage to say. He wanted to reassure her, to make her promises, to hold her tight until this strange new fear faded away, but nothing came to his mind. Just confusion. She leaned her head slightly to the ground below them, but her optics were fixed on him. Slowly he turned his head to look at the mutilated stone of the courtyard, the ugly scar that had appeared in the night.

I KNOW YOU'RE HERE 9

For a long moment he felt nothing at all.

Just cold.

He stumbled forward and 7 caught him without a thought, her arms guarding him from anything in the world that might hurt him. She'd die before she let something happen to him—he could feel it in her embrace.

He hugged her tight and buried his head in her shoulders. So warm, but so thin. So tiny. Nothing but bone and buttons to protect her from all the dangers of the world, but she went out and faced them without regret.

She didn't deserve to die. Not for him. Not for his mistakes.

He swallowed. Braced himself.

"I need you to go," he whispered.

"We're going to stick together." Her voice was firm. He shook his head.

"I need you to take the twins and go. As far away from here as you can. Hide so it won't find you."

"You're coming with us."

"I led it here."

"This isn't your fault," she said, pulling away and taking his face in her hands, forcing him to see the sincerity in her optics. "It was an accident. Just an accident."

"It wasn't." He turned away. He couldn't look at her anymore.

"Yes it was. You're just—"

"I woke it up," he said, breaking away from her. He couldn't touch her anymore. Couldn't stay here anymore. "I found it. I woke it up, and it followed me here. I—" He squeezed his optics shut. "I don't know why—I'm sorry."

He tried not to look at her, but he couldn't help catching a glimpse of her face as he tugged at his zipper. He eyes were wide again, her head shaking in disbelief, her mouth half-open in an unspoken question. She'd backed up a few steps, nearing the edge of the statue's shoulder.

"I don't... why?" the words were barely audible, but they cut him to the core.

Quickly.

He pulled the Talisman out of his torso and pushed it into her limp hands.

"It's afraid of this. As long as you have it the Machine won't hurt you. Now take it, and take the twins, and go."

She'd backed up another step and lost her balance—it was the first ungraceful motion he'd ever seen her make. An instant later she caught herself and took off, sliding down the statue's curved arm. A leap, and for a moment she seemed to fly from the stone human's fingertips.

He waited to see her land and then turned away. He couldn't stand to watch anymore.

7 backed up a step too far. She felt the world lurch, her footing slipped, and she began to skid down the smooth arm of the statue. There was no place to hold on to, no place to find her footing until she reached the smooth, hingeless hands. Too fast to stop. No place to go but out. She caught herself just in time to gather her legs underneath her and spring from the tiny perch-- a twirl through the air to steady herself, and she landed safely on the ground. It took just a moment to get her bearings before she looked up at 9, watching her from the top of the statue.

Oh no. She wasn't letting him get away with this.

She flung herself at the statue, fury and frustration speeding her ascent as she climbed the rock face. She was going to knock some sense into him. She was going to wring his neck. She was going to yell and scream until he went deaf. Hell-- she'd once lived under 1's thumb; she had plenty of ideas.

And she wasn't ever going to forgive him for suggesting they leave him behind.

She was already getting started on a tirade that would have made 1 proud by the time she reached the statue's peak:

"How dare you talk like that? How dare you even think it? Where did you get the idea that being dead is going to make anything better? Do you have any idea what you're saying, 9?"

She pulled herself over the precipice and glared up at him... Or would have.

Except that he wasn't on the statue's shoulder anymore. She was alone.

"9?"

She pulled herself up, looking desperately around. She couldn't see him on the statue, or in the courtyard. But he had to be here. He had to. He couldn't have left, just like that.

"9?"

He wouldn't be so horrible. So cruel. He wouldn't just leave.

Except he would.

She opened her mouth to call for him again, but her voice box couldn't form the words anymore.

He was gone.