Chapter 3

1 looked like he might walk away from her but suddenly he turned back. She saw he was grinning again, but this time, there was something odd about it, something dark and unsettling. "Seven..."

She frowned. What did he want now? "What?"

"We both know you don't want to die," he spoke slowly, as if she was a child.

"So what?" she frowned at him. Why was he saying it as if he'd just now figured it out?

Now he smiled, looking up at her. "Do you really want to die?"

"What do you care?" she snapped. "What was this? 20 questions?"

"I do not want you to die," he told her, sounding like he indeed meant what he said. "Not unless I have to kill you."

"Kill me then," she replied, shortly. "Because I intend to kill you!"

He chuckled at her words, highly amused by them. The arms began to lower her back down so she was at his eye level once more. She frowned as it did so, wondering what he was going to do with her now. Rip out her fingers? No, maybe he'd have fun tearing out her gears and using them as Frisbees.

Once she was low enough he walked over and placed a claw on her chin, tilting her head up so he could look at him. "Now..."

She frowned and turned her head away, not wanting to look at him anymore. His very face made her want to throw up.

The older stitchpunk didn't like this. He frowned. "Seven... Don't make me do that..."

"Why not?" she asked, knowing full well what he meant. "You've hurt me enough already."

1's expression suddenly turned sad. "…and I always thought..."

Huh? "What did you think?" she demanded, eying him suspiciously.

"I always thought you and me were something special," he said quietly.

She blinked. "Special?" What was he talking about?

"You know," he said softly. '…you and me..."

She made a face, disgusted by this. "You're kidding, right?"

"Why should I be?" he questioned her, looking at her face.

"I think it's obvious," she stated.

"Well, 7, Ii would/i really hate it if I had to kill you…" he turned his back to her now.

"And why is that?" she pressed, "You seemed to be enjoying tearing me apart bit by bit however."

He turned back, raising a brow. He looked like he honestly had no idea what she was talking about.

"You tortured me," she said, and began to name off all the horrible things he'd done to her since they'd met each other again. "Tore my fabric up, ripped out my right optic..." she named a few more things she'd noticed as well. "...and you plugged me into this horrible machine!"

"You wouldn't listen," he replied as if that justified everything he'd done to her. "But…haven't you wondered why I singled you out to be taken? Out of all the others?"

The answer came easily to her. "Because you hate me," she replied. She'd figured that out a long time ago.

He smirked at her. "Actually, the opposite would be true in this case."

She frowned at him. What was he talking about? Why was he suddenly claiming to not hate her?

Now he was smiling at her. "Why else would I bring you here?"

She knew the answer to that. "Does this have to do with all that queen nonsense?"

"It's not nonsense!" he insisted, looking offended that she would think such a thing. "I mean it."

"I said no," she reminded him for the hundredth time and shook her head. Wasn't it sinking into his thick skull yet?

"Please..."

She blinked. Please? Was he begging her to be his queen now?

"Seven, please become my queen," he said in a voice that sounded pathetic. It was like he was desperate for her to just say yes for some reason.

She frowned. Did he actually think changing tactics would make her suddenly change her mind about it? If he did he was crazier than she first thought.

"Don't lower yourself further, 1, it's not helping at all."

"You don't know why I'm doing this, do you?" he asked, suddenly.

"No," she replied, looking away, "Nor do I care."

"Maybe you should..."

Hewas making her even more confused now.

The older stitchpunk glanced up at her. "...If you want me to explain myself..."

She frowned at him. "You might as well, since you don't care what I want anyway," she said to him, her voice holding more than a small tone of annoyance.

He kept his optics on her as he drew closer to her. "Seven..." he began when he was standing in front of her. "I..."

Suddenly he pulled her close and kissed her right on the mouth.

Her optics widened in shock, never having been expecting this from him. Why was he doing this?

He held onto her for a moment before finally pulling away, licking over his teeth briefly. She stared at him, feeling sick. What had that been all about?

When he didn't explain, opting to just stare at her with hungry eyes she ventured to ask. "What was that for?"

"Can't you guess?" he questioned her. "I always believed we shared feelings."

They'd what?

"Who told you that?" she wanted to know. It was a lie, she reminded herself. She'd never do such a thing...

"I figured it out for myself," he replied, "I guess I was wrong."

That was for sure! "Even if I did feel that way for you," she responded, "It doesn't change what you've done to me!"

"You've never had feelings for me," he inquired of her, "Have never felt that way about me at all? Even before now?" There was a slight halting of uncertainness in his voice.

She didn't respond. She knew her answer would just make him angry. She wasn't sure she wanted to go through another torture session.

He put a claw on her jawline, moving closer. "I thought lovers shared everything..."

Since when were they lovers, she asked herself.

"So I'm your lover now?"

"You always were," he said simply, as if he were stating a fact.

"Since when?" she demanded. She didn't remember that part being put into her blueprints or the scientist telling her such a thing ever before.

"Ever since you were created." was his reply. He sounded so confident about that too.

"Who told you that?" she wanted to know.

He smirked again. "I decided it."

Her mouth turned down in a scowl. "So you decided my life for me, is that it?" she snorted. The nerve of him, deciding for himself who she would be with. "I always knew you were a control freak!"

He sighed, shaking his head in disappointment. "You still don't get it, I see."

She glared.

"I love you," he looked away from her when he said this as if he was confessing it to her like a schoolboy would to his first crush.

"What?" she snapped, unable to believe such a thing.

He nodded.

Well he had a fine way of showing it, she thought.

I'm sorry, 1, but if someone loves someone else they don't torture them and hold them against their will. That's not how love works."

"I told you why I did it," he replied impatiently. "and furthermore," he folded his hands, "I can't help it. This thing… the fabricator... does strange things to me. But such is the price for being safe." He added with an air of certainty.

"You call this safe?"she yelled. This wasn't safe! Not by a long shot!

"Nothing can harm you if you are the superior one," he stated confidently.

"You're not superior!" she shot back. He actually thought he was above everyone because of this? "You're as low as a monster!"

1 slowly looked back at her, his expression stony. "I prefer this to hiding," he told her calmly. "And sometimes you need to make alliances you would normally avoid."

"This isn't an alliance!" she protested. "It's made you its slave!" she tugged on the wires binding her, trying to free herself. She wanted desperately to slap some sense into him. "It's manipulating you and you don't even know it!"

She heard a buzzing in her head, louder than it had been previously. It wormed its way into her consciousness. "And you're trying to get him to do the same thing to me!"

"He is dead," he responded, frowning. "He died when 9 used the talisman against him. All that is left are some rudimentary instincts. Enough for me to make use of."

That contradicted what he'd said previously but she wasn't in the mood to get into the matter with him. "You really believe that, don't you?"

He smiled. "Of course."

"I don't," she replied. She was going to prove it to and hoped he'd ask her.

But he didn't, all he did was stare at her.

"It isn't dead." she finally stated.

"How do you know?" he asked her.

"I just do." she replied and was about to tell him why when he cut her off.

{new paragraph}"You can't."

"And why can't I?" she challenged, angered that he would not let her explain.

"You haven't been with him as much as I have!" he replied, as if that explained everything.

"No, but I will be now that you've plugged me into this thing!"

"If you weren't you would be dead by now," he pointed out.

She didn't respond. He seemed to enjoy reminding her of that.

She decided to look around herself at the building instead of at him. Maybe she could still get out of this situation somehow…

1 watched her do so, an amused expression on his face.

"If you disconnect yourself you will die. If you disconnect yourself you will die" he started saying it again and again, like a mantra.

Why was he saying that anyway? "What did you do?" she asked him, "Kill me then hook me to this dumb thing?"

He smirked. "You could say that."

He didn't... He couldn't! "Why?" she shouted.

"I want you to be with me," the stitchpunk replied, sounding so proud of himself. "Forever!"

His voice echoed through the remains of the factory, closing in on her. She pushed it away.

7 was disgusted by his logic. He'd killed her just so she was stuck living with him forever…

"You are to become my queen," he said again.

"You're starting to sound like a broken record," she said hotly.

1 shrugged. "I don't know what else to say, seeing as you won't stop being foolish either."

"So you just repeat the same things over and over again."

He didn't respond. She hadn't really expected him to. She tugged on the wires holding her prisoner again which made him react by grabbing her wrists to stop her. She turned her head to glare at him as he pulled her hand away.

"Stop it!" she snapped angrily.

"No," he shot back stubbornly. "I will not allow you to die!"

"No, you'll just hold me and let me be your prisoner!"

"I am not holding you," he said. "You may move within the boundaries."

What other choice did she have, being hooked up to this monster?

"Fine." She gave in.

He smirked. "Now we are getting somewhere."

At least he was agreeable. "Are you going to untie me now?"

He misinterpreted her question. "I told you I can't."

"You could at least release me from the ones holding me," she said shortly. "I can't move in this state!" she tugged on the cables a little to prove her point.

"Of course. Let me take care of that for you." The wires snaked away, releasing her. She rubbed and moved her arms, trying to get the feeling back into them. 1 looked at her and stepped back a bit. "There you go."

She cast him a look and a mumbled thanks before starting to walk away. She wanted to get as far away from him as she could as fast as possible.

As she moved she felt his optics drilling into her back but she tried to ignore him. Once she was far enough from him to feel comfortable, she ducked behind some thrash to avoid being stared at and sat down.

He grinned with amusement. "I still see you." He taunted.

She frowned. How was that even possible? She was behind a rock where she couldn't even see ihim/i.

As if reading her mind, 1 chuckled and answered the unasked question. "The wires…"

She growled and stood back up, stepping into view. She then plopped back down and glared at him, folding her arms.

He stared at her. "Why so glum?"

"I think it's obvious," she replied.

"Tell me anyway," he prompted, smirking.

"This!" she suddenly exploded, jumping to her feet and pointing at herself. "What you did to me!"

He frowned, looking like he wondered why she was so angry about it. "Believe me; I did it out of love."

"You wouldn't have had to do it if you hadn't tortured me in the first place!" if this was how he treated people he loved, she would hate to see how he treated people he despised.

"Would you have stayed otherwise?" he asked, a question with an obvious answer.

"You know I wouldn't have," she stated, knowing he knew that already.

"Then what would have been the point?"

"There was no point! None of this has a point!""

He gave her no reply.

"See," she sneered. "You have nothing to say."

He frowned at her. "You wouldn't listen," he said again, as if it justified his actions.

"Why should I listen to anything you say?"

"See?" he asked her. "You won't."

"You kidnapped me!" she reminded him, heatedly. Why did she have to keep repeating herself?

"Out of love." he insisted.

7 shook her head. "That makes no sense!"

"Fine then." he seemed to have finally given up arguing with her.

She was relived. His constant badgering was getting on her nerves.

"Good, then you just stay over there and I'll stay over here."

He shrugged as if he didn't care what she did. "If you insist."

"I do," the female stitchpunk turned her back on him now.

"Fine!" he obviously wanted the last word.

"FINE!" she shot back louder, sitting down.

When he gave no response she wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her chin on her knees, curling up into a tiny white ball. She tried to figure out a way to get out of this mess but so far her mind was a blank. It was almost as if the machine was preventing her from thinking clearly.

1 hadn't moved from his spot. He just stood where he was, staring at her for a very long time before finally turning his attention away. When he did a mechanical arm came down from the ceiling and touched her shoulder, making her turn her head to look at it with annoyance.

"Don't cry..." 1 said to her.

She bristled. "I'm not crying!"

"You know what I mean," he stated.

Couldn't he stop bothering her for two minutes? "Just leave me alone already!" She didn't want to talk to him. She didn't even want to look at him.

"No."

She turned her head away again angrily.

"You do," he said suddenly. "Don't you."

She looked back again. "I do what?" she snapped, her voice full of annoyance. What in the world was he going on about now?

"You know what I mean."

"No I don't!" and she really didn't. He was being random again and it was getting on her nerves.

"Don't pity yourself then!" he shouted.

'I'm not pitying myself!" she roared. What in the world was his problem anyway?

"SILENCE!"

"No, I will not be silent!" she shot back. He was the one talking to her. If he wanted her to stop talking maybe he should stop talking to her.

"You will!" he ordered.

That did it. She stood up, facing him. "I will not, and I won't fall in love with a control freak like you!" she stated, heatedly. "so get over it and leave me alone!"

He was glaring at her now. "Fine then."

"FINE!" he would not have the last word, not if she could help it.

Suddenly a mechanical arm sneaked around her and grabbed her front. She gasped in shock, having not been expecting that.

"Let go!"

It would not be deterred and slipped inside her. She grabbed at it and tried to pull it out of her. She would not let him violate her further.

But it was too late. The arm grasped her voice box and yanked it out of her. She gasped in surprise, grabbing at her throat.

The arm, having accomplished its mission, let her go and snaked back up into the ceiling, taking her voice box with it. She fell forward, landing on her hands and knees, her hand still clutching her throat in shock.