Chapter Five~ To Err...

A/N: Yeah, so I left yall on a cliffhanger. So sorry for that, but it was 1:30 am and I was redonkulously tired. Here's part two.

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By the time Lorra walked through the doors of Walter Manor, it was already getting dark. The San Diego zoo had kept her occupied for the better part of the day, and when she had gone through every exhibit, she had gone downtown for the thrift shops. Say what you will about second-hand clothes, but the majority of her wardrobe was things she found at thrift stores or yard sales for reasonable prices. Why it was so expensive to dress oneself, she would never understand. Hell, there were people that got paid to take off their clothes. Anyway, great prices, pretty good selections, and a happy Lorra. She managed to wrestle the several bags of clothing she had found through the doors on her own, nearly getting bowled over by Rabbit the second she did.

"L-l-lorraaaa!" The she-bot ran down the hall and skidded to a stop right past her. "Lorra-loo!"

"I'm right here, Bitty. What it is?"

"I can't find Th-th-the Spine!"

Lorra put her bags down and put her hands out to quiet the shouting robot. "Rabbit, inside voice, please." Once Rabbit realized how loud she was being, she put her hands over her mouth and went mute. "Thank you. Now, have you checked the Hall of Wires?" Rabbit nodded, hands still over her mouth. "What about the library?"

"Yes," she said around her fingers. "And the T.V. room, and the Tower of Tacos, Room of last Resorts, Pete's lab, the attic, the basement, everywhere! And Qwerty can't find him on the Walter Wi-Fi, either. He's just gone!" By now, she was gesturing to the rest of the house wildly.

"Alright, alright, chillax, Bitty. I'll find him." Lorra handed her the bags and shooed her away. "Here, take these to my room and just put them on the bed. Where was the last time Qwerty saw him?"

"Headed towards the lower levels. But after that, nothing."

"Ok, that's good. I can work with that. Go on. I got this."

Once Rabbit was out of the way, Lorra started down towards the basement. One of the few things that she knew about the Walter Manor was that it went a lot further than anyone really knew. Sure, Pete's lab was pretty far down, but the OG Peter A. Walter had made deep underbellies to house the secret projects he didn't want anyone trying to steal from him. She also knew that Spine liked to disappear down there when he thought no one was looking. It was his little sanctuary. So, she began the long trek down many flights of stairs. The elevator only went so far, but Lorra liked walking. It was peaceful. She watched as the scenery changed around her, from the plush living of the current residents, to metal walls that showed more and more rust the farther down you went, to darker iron fixings that bubbled and boiled and spat steam at random times. Calling out to her silver friend, the human carefully made her way around pipes and columns. After some time, she thought she heard something. It sounded like screaming...tortured screaming. Lorra set off at a run, calling his name and thinking the worst was happening to Spine as she rounded a corner. From down the hall, a bright blue light shown into the hall from a doorway.

"SPINE!" She yelled, running towards the light. Suddenly, before she was able to get near it, the light puffed out, and the screaming stopped, followed closely by a loud clank. Lorra had to use the doorframe to turn into the room and keep her from sliding past it. "Spine! Where are you?" She kept running. The hall was longer than she had thought it was. A flash of silver caught her eye. Lorra skidded to a stop beside the crumpled figure of Spine. Despite the previous horrendous sounds that had come from her friend, at this moment, he was completely still. Not a peep was uttered from his titanium form as she crept closer. "Spine?"

When he didn't respond to her voice, she hesitated. Should she go get someone? Lorra had never had to deal with anything like this. Spine never just collapsed. Then again, she had also never been down here. For all she knew, he had been exposed to some kind of catastrophic accident involving Blue Matter. If that was the case, then the Walter Workers should be down here, not her. While she fought with herself, Lorra's body unconsciously continued moving forward, lowering into a crouch. If it weren't for the fact that this was one of her dearest friends, she very well may have run back up to the nearest level that Qwerty was able to reach and call someone. But, knowing that something was wrong, she couldn't just leave him.

A quiet moan drew her from her thoughts. The sliver figure stirred against the wall. "Spine? Are you ok?" Slowly, hesitantly, she reached out to touch his shoulder. Just as her hand came into contact with the material of his shirt, another pained scream pierced the air and he threw her hand off. His own hands came up and began clawing at his metallic skin. Metal screeched as pieces began to come off from his yanking. "Spine! Spine! Stop, it's ok, you're ok. I'm right here!" Lorra tried to calm him, to little avail. "Spine, sweetheart, I need you to chill." Grabbing for his hands, she attempted to pull them away and hold them against her chest to stop him from pulling away anymore of his faceplate. In response, he tried to follow his hands and ended up smashing his titanium forehead against the tender human bridge of her nose. The impact caused her to reel back, cross-eyed and bleeding from a possible broken nose. "Ffffuuuug!" The curse came out odd because of the blood welling in her nostrils. "Comb on, bud-dy. Les get you ub sta-irs." She managed to get out.

But hauling all 350 pounds of metal up and through the halls proved more difficult than she thought it would, especially because they had to keep stopping because he would suddenly go limp and drop to the floor. The steps were the worst, because if he fell just the wrong way, Spine would pull them back down the stairs, once by more than an entire floor. After nearly an hour, she had managed to drag the nearly catatonic bot far enough up that she could get Qwerty to send the elevator and deliver them to her floor. It was a split second decision to just take him right to her room and drop him on her bed, considering that she could not hold onto him much longer to be able to get him all the way to the Hall of Wires and get him all hooked up while in this state. There was just too much space between here and there, and Lorra didn't want the other bots to see their leader like this. Let alone see her with blood drying on her face and shirt. Once within about a dozen yards of her door, she called out, "Qwerty, find Mr. Walter and tell him to meet me in my room."

"Yoooou got it!" Said the green smiley face before disappearing into the ceiling.

The last few steps to her door were the longest Lorra had ever taken. At this point, Spine was basically riding piggy-back, if not for the fact that he was way too tall and his feet were dragging on the floor. Every once in a while, he'd take a step or two, then collapse all over again. Lorra was literally pouring blood, sweat, and tears at this point. It was agony. Every breath came out more and more labored, her legs shook under the immense strain like her body had never experienced. With the amount of oxygen her body was being deprived of because of the odd hunched poster she had taken, her vision was starting to blur. The door was right there. A few more steps. There!

She almost cried with relief when the door was easily pushed open. Thank god for scatterbrained robots. But then, she did start crying when she saw the multitude of bags she had less than two hours ago struggled to get in the house. After what had just transpired, Lorra had completely forgotten about her lovely outing this afternoon. Three and a half steps into the room, then down she went, Spine tumbling along on top of her. All the breath whooshed out of her body as the bot crushed her to the floor. Several spots on her back were being dug into by parts that stuck out from Spine's body. With difficulty, Lorra drew in a large breath, situated her arms so that she had her hands against the floor, then pushed. It hurt, and a strained growl made its way past her lips. Turning slightly, she managed to let Spine fall onto the floor and get out from under him. Just as she was standing up, she heard a voice from the doorway.

"What in the good golly is goin' on here?" Peter said, hands on his hips. When Lorra turned to face him, he reeled back at the sight of her face and shirt covered in partially dried blood. "What the-"

"Mr. Walter! Thank god! I found Spine down in the old labs. He was screaming and there was this blue light. I followed them, but by the time I got there, the light was gone and he was passed out. He hasn't been awake more than a moment at a time since I found him."

She could see the tension in his shoulders as he pulled a tool kit out of his pocket and moved forward. "How long?"

"Almost two hours." Lorra pushed the bags off the bed and motioned for him to help her move the bot to the mattress. With matching grunts, they managed to lift him far enough off the ground and set him down. "You don't think that maybe he found one of your great-grandfather's experiments down there, do you?" She asked, standing back out of the way.

Peter was silent for a moment as he looked over the still unconscious bot. Whatever the device in his hand was, it started beeping rapidly. A small hammer appeared in his hand and he went about tapping in various places. "I don't think so. The Spine has certainly been exposed to a massive amount of Blue Matter, but it's completely pure. Not like the jury-rigged kind Pappy used. This is...very queer. I can't find anything really wrong with him, but-" He was cut off by Spine's hand shooting up and grabbing him by the lapel of his shirt. Another scream ripped through the room, making Lorra have to cover her ears lest they end up bleeding. Spine's bright green eyes stared up at the ceiling as he screamed. "Some assistance, if you please, Miss Marborne," Peter said patting the silver hand, not seeming bothered at all. Lorra surged forward, taking hold of the other silver appendage that was blindly grasping at the air with one hand, and putting the other on his forehead in a mixed attempt to calm him and keep him from hitting her again. Almost immediately, he calmed. His voice quieted to a whimper, and his eyes closed at the contact. "So," Peter quirked his head at her. "You wanna tell me what happened to your face?"

She spared him a small glance, then looked back to the robot. "Spine head-butted me. I'm ok."

"Right...that's why you've got two black eyes and blood all over yourself."

"Yup, exactly why. I'm fine, Mr. Walter. Right now, we need to find out what the hell happened down there so we can fix him. I'm not sure- ow!" Lorra yanked her hand away from the metal that had suddenly risen in temperature. Steam began pouring from every orifice on the bot and his body started convulsing. The two of them back away in horror as the bot thrashed on the bed, no sound escaping him. "Peter!" She pointed at the titanium spine that was somehow retreated into his back. The movement of the six large pieces of metal caused the bot to arch in what could only be described as pain.

"Oh, jeez," he breathed.

With the rising heat from the robot, Lorra could see her bedsheets were smoking, and the acrid scent of burning thread made her eyes water. However, it wasn't just her sheets. The beautifully tailored outfit that Spine was wearing flared in small bits at a time and fell away from his body. His luminescent eyes turned to them, reaching out in a pleading way. As they watched, eyes wide, his metal skin began to disappear, starting at his fingertips, which were stretched out towards them. At first, it was almost too small to notice, just the very edges of his fingers that turned a pale, flesh-tone. Then, it spread. White edges of nails, then all the way up to the first finger joints. As he convulsed, there was less and less sound of machinery whirring and grinding. Up his arms the skin spread, overtaking his elbows. Lorra happened to glance down and noticed that the progression was mirrored at his legs as well, which was an awkward shock when his body was more skin than metal. Once his torso was completely human-looking, the flesh spread up his neck. The last thing to change, as Spine's body went from robot to human, was his eyes. They continued to bore into the two humans backed up against the wall, until slowly, ever so slowly, the bright green light began to fade. As it did, Spine's eyes fluttered closed and he went limp with a gasp.

"Well, I'll be..." Peter said, inching forward. Beckoning Lorra to do the same, he picked up the hand that hung over the side of the bed. "Have you ever seen anything so magnificent?"

"Magnificent?!" Lorra balked. He was marveling at the completely nude human that lay where there had previously been a metal man. A moment of indecision stopped her in her tracks, until she realized that there was a very naked, still catatonic person laying in her bed, which was still a smoldering wreck, and she grabbed one of her extra blankets and threw it over him. "Mr. Walter, what the hell? What's going on?!"

Shrugging, he said, "Beats me. I ain't ever seen nothing like it. Doubt Pappy ever had either. I've heard of people puttin' themselves into robots, but never the other way around. Yo, Spine-o? Can ye hear me?" There was no response. "Welp, I don't really know what else to do. I'm not all that great with peoples. Just bots."

Lorra shook her head. "What are we gonna do?"

"You're the human," the man pointed out. When she glared at him, he put his hands up. "Just sayin'. I don't know nothin' bout all this. Listen, I'm gonna go have a little look-see down where you found him, you keep an eye on everything up here. Don't let the others see him, not until we get something figured out." With that, the key-masked man left.

A tremor startled the woman, and she looked down to see the human Spine sweating profusely and shivering as if ill. Odd mutterings passed his lips, making her lean down to put her ear to his mouth so she could try to decipher. Mostly it was incomprehensible, save for a few words here and there. Words like fairy, stop, and please. Even the words she couldn't understand, the way in which he said them pulled at her heart. Whatever had happened down in the bowels of Walter Manor had caused him a great deal of pain. "Spine?" She tried again. All that happened was that his head moved in the direction of her voice, but didn't open his eyes. He was still shivering, sweat making his hair stick to his now flesh forehead. Lorra pushed it away, then got up, only to stare around her room trying to figure out what else she could do. That was when she caught sight of herself in the mirror. The sheer amount of blood that was dried on her skin and clothing was astounding. "Damn, you sure did a number on me, didn't you, bud?" She muttered to herself. It didn't take her long to gather up some things to get cleaned up, since there was a bathroom connected to her room, but there was also the fact that there was an unconscious person in her bed who may or may not wake up at any time. With a moment of deliberation, and a final look at Spine, she finally decided.

Lorra hurried to her bedroom door and hung her hand-made 'do not disturb' sign on the handle, then locked it behind her. She considered closing her bathroom door completely, in case Spine did wake up, so he couldn't just barge in there while she was getting clean, but decided against it, and left if cracked open instead. Usually, she had music playing while she showered, but didn't this time so she could hear the man in the next room in case he had another fit or finally woke up. Luckily, the water heated up quickly, so she didn't have to worry about taking a cold shower. Once she had peeled herself out of the sweaty and bloodstained clothes, Lorra hopped into the shower, quickly scrubbing as much of the blood as she could with a washcloth and soap. The area around her nose was extremely tender, understandably, so she had to take it easy trying to clean it. She made fast work of her hair to get some of the ick out of it from hauling the robot up so many flights of stairs. Periodically, she would poke her head out of the shower to listen for any possible movement in her room. In no time at all, the water was shut off and she was stepping out with a towel around her. It didn't take very long for her to run the cloth over her body, collecting as much as possible, then pulling her nightclothes on. Nightclothes really just meaning a normal green tank top and a pair of black sweatpants. Lorra took a moment to peer at herself in the bathroom mirror, checking how bad the damage was on her face. There was a strong possibility Spine had broken her nose, as there was a large lump forming along the bridge. Peter had been right; both of her eyes were completely black. She'd look pretty rough for a couple of days at least.

A loud thump startled her out of her examination, followed by a groan. "Spine?!" She called, yanking her bathroom door open. She was greeted with the sight of lots of exposed skin in a tangled heap on the floor next to her bed. "Spine? Are you alright?" Another groan answered her. Unable to stop herself, she started laughing. Although seeing her friend in so much pain and suffering was in no way, shape, or form humorous, the whole situation they were currently in was so completely crazy that she couldn't do much else. "It's ok, hun," Lorra grabbed him under his arms and hauled him up onto the bed in a sitting position. He was so much lighter than before that she nearly threw him onto the bed. After having to mostly carry his metal form, as a human, it was much easier. Luckily, the blanket had mostly stayed in place around his lower torso. "Spine? Spine, look at me." She commanded.

It took some doing, but he was finally able to force his head up to look at his friend. "L...Lo-rra?" He mumbled.

"Hey, buddy. Yeah, it's me. How ya feeling?"

He closed his eyes again, scrunching up his face. "I don't feel right. Something's broken in my mechanics." The words came out somewhat slurred, and he swayed in his spot, making her have to hold him up by his shoulders.

"I know. I know it feels weird right now, and I don't really know how to explain why. But, I promise, you're gonna be ok."

Everything was off, like he was sitting on a ship that wouldn't stop moving. It made his circuits feel like they were about to fry. He didn't really know how to explain it, but he knew it was wrong. "Lorra, what's going on? Why is my head feel fuzzy?" Spine managed to force his eyes open again, and finally got a good look at his friend's face. "What happened to you?" He asked.

"You headbutted me earlier. I found you down in the lower labs. Something happened, I don't know what, but it had to have been pretty bad. I was trying to find you because Rabbit couldn't, and I heard you screaming. There was this...really bright blue light, and I followed it. You were unconscious when I found you. When I tried to wake you up, you freaked out and hit me. I'm ok. Pete's down in the labs right now, trying to figure out what you found."

"Oh, no," he muttered. "I did that?" His head was starting to clear, and he reached out to touch her face. Maybe to make sure it was real, or to bring her closer so he could check it, he didn't know. Lorra smiled at him through the dark bruises under her eyes that definitely meant that something was broken. When he touched her, something was different. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something was just...off. Then he saw it. His eyes drifted from her nose to his hand, and stopped. Instead of the usual silver he was accustomed to, he saw pale pink skin. Releasing her face, he brought the appendage closer to his, examining it closely, thinking that maybe it was just a reflection from her skin. But it wasn't. No matter how far away he got from her, no matter which way he turned it, it stayed the same. There were no reflections from the room around him, not light shining off it. There was only skin.

With a start, he jumped up from the bed, suddenly realizing that he could feel the mattress under his body, the floor under his feet and the air on his body. Spine looked down at himself, completely shocked to see that the change was the same all the way down his form. Then, whether it was the complete overload of new sensations, or the sudden change of his position, he started tilting.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Lorra caught him as he tipped forward, the fact that he was so much taller than him forcing her to bend backwards in an awkward position before she managed to force herself forward again and help him back onto the bed. He didn't lay back down, though she did try to make him.

"Lorra, what happened?" He demanded, managing to calm himself some.

"I just told you. I don't know. I found you down in the tunnels, you were the same as usual. Besides the fact that you were unresponsive, obviously. I managed to get you back up here and got Peter to come look at you. Then, you just...changed. Right in front of us. Spine," she made him look up from the fascination of his arms. "I literally watched you go from robot to human." Lorra stopped for a moment, letting the comment sink in. "I watched it, and it was the most terrifying thing I have ever seen. You were screaming and tossing and reaching out for us, and I couldn't do anything. I couldn't even touch you, because your metal skin was literally burning. Look at the state of my bed, your clothes. They are completely ruined." She pointed to what was left of his clothing and her sheets. "I don't know how or why it happened, but you are...human, I guess."

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A/N: I know, I know, it's been really fucking long. I am so sorry. There's been so much going on in the last year that I kinda just flopped on my writing. I've been working on this chapter a little at a time since the last one I put up. I promise, I will get more up soon, including on my other stories. Miss you guys so much.

AcaciaDawn