Yang lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. The early rays of dawn were slanting through her window, but she barely had the energy to throw her arm across her eyes to block the light. Her only arm...
You're so useless...
She felt her stomach churn and rolled over sluggishly, her eyes resting on the closed door of the guest room. Neo would be there soon, and Yang didn't relish being dragged out of bed. Not today. The last week and a half of work had been...bearable. She'd had her bad moments, times when she'd shut down and felt like crawling into bed, but Neo was surprisingly accommodating, knowing to call a break when Yang seemed like she was losing interest. Yang still hated it. She hated that her depression would come out of nowhere and sap all her energy, prevent her from making progress.
I hate this...
She rubbed at her right shoulder, feeling a tingle run up what was left of her right arm. Yang just felt like being left alone in bed.
Except...she also didn't. Part of her wanted to keep going down the path to recovery she had started down. Part of her knew Neo would be along to pull her out of bed anyway. She'd done so the first day, the second day she'd only needed to wake Yang up before she could pull herself out of bed. After that, the most she needed was a little prompting.
Today was worse. Today Yang felt like all the weight of her failures was pushing down on her, preventing her from getting out of bed.
I don't want to stay like this...
Yang planted one hand on the mattress and leveraged herself up. She tried to think about her dad, Zwei, about the project that would go unfinished, about what would happen if she just gave up and stayed in bed.
Dad will worry about you...
She fought back thoughts of Blake and Ruby and her mom. She didn't need to think about that right now. She had work to do. She turned and planted her feet on the ground. Even that seemed like it took too much effort.
She even thought about Neo. Leaving aside that Neo had tried to encourage her, she needed Yang's help. Yang had slowly come to realize that. Neo was alone, too, she had no path forward except some vague quest for revenge. Right now, helping Yang was all she had. Yang may have had misgivings about working with her, about letting her get away with all the terrible things she'd done, but she'd resigned herself to being stuck with the little murderer.
And besides, at the end of this, they might finally have the chance at a rematch. That was a good motivator as well. Finally teaching Neo a lesson, then Adam, then Cinder. The thought of finally punching Adam with a mechanical fist was enough to stoke a small fire in Yang's chest.
Come on, Yang. There are things that need doing.
She got shakily to her feet and looked around her room, feeling a little proud that she'd gotten out of bed on her own for...probably the first time in months.
You're not completely useless after all, I guess.
Neo opened the door and stuck her head inside the guest bedroom. She smiled and typed on her Scroll.
[Good, you're up. Come on, your dad's making breakfast.]
/
Yang tried to sit still, but she couldn't help but shift uncomfortably as Neo slipped the harness onto the stump of her left arm.
For the past week or so, she'd gotten strangely used to Neo. She'd realized, all too slowly, that Neo really didn't hold any grudge against her. She really was trying to help Yang...to serve her own interests, of course, but the fact that she was doing it earnestly was strange to her.
Maybe she'd misjudged Neo.
She still flinched as Neo tightened the buckles that attached the upper part of the harness to her stump. The metal cap was anchored by a belt that wrapped around her bicep, connected by a series of straps. The metal cap's outer covering had a screw thread wrapping around it, as well as a series of metal clasps, all of which would serve to attach the metal arm firmly to her own.
Neo stepped away and inspected the harness, and Yang glanced down at it as well.
"It feels secure," she said hesitantly, then reached up and tugged on it.
"Straps are secure, too," she said. She looked at Neo.
"It's...huh."
It felt strange, snugly covering the lump of scar tissue that had been left by Adam's sword. She moved her stump up and down, feeling her muscles shift underneath the straps. It didn't seem ready to slip off suddenly.
Neo stepped forward and grabbed the cap. She tugged on it, raising Yang's arm as she did, while bracing herself against the workbench with one foot.
"Hey!" Yang shouted indignantly as she was suddenly pulled off-balance. Neo let go of the harness and shrugged.
"Just warn me next time, okay?" Yang asked. Aside from being a bit of a surprise, the strain had sent a dull pain up Yang's arm. She resolved to be wary of that next time. Neo rolled her eyes and checked the straps again. She tightened one and nodded at Yang.
Yang took a deep breath.
"Okay, so the harness is...pretty much done. We just have to put more screw threading and the anchors for the clasps on the arm. What then?"
Neo pulled out her Scroll and consulted the schematics. She typed out a message and showed it to Yang.
[The Dust canister. We have to make room for it and hook it up to the existing components.]
Yang spun around to look at the arm on the workbench.
"Right, because the Knights ran on Dust anyway. Hmmm...if we're putting the Dust canister in just above the elbow..."
She reached for a screwdriver and started to unscrew the paneling that covered the upper part of the robot arm. Neo leaned over her shoulder, casually brushing a lock of pink hair back behind her ear. Yang turned to look at her.
"Do you mind?"
Neo frowned and stepped back while Yang inspected the cybernetics. Among the books Neo had retrieved was one on Atlesian cybernetics, but with the CCT down there was so much missing information. The book sat nearby, open to a chapter on power routing.
Yang scoffed as she inspected the interior workings of the arm.
"It's just like I thought. The power coupling was in the shoulder."
At Neo's raised eyebrow, Yang pulled the cybernetics book towards her and flipped through it.
"Remember, we talked about it a few days ago. I said we might need a new one."
Recognition dawned on Neo's face, and she turned to rifle through the box she'd brought along when she'd arrived that morning. She produced a power coupling, still sealed in its plastic, exactly the type Yang had mentioned.
Yang took the coupling and inspected it.
"I...how did you get this?" she asked hesitantly. Neo smiled and reached into her coat pocket, then produced a receipt. Yang looked at it in disbelief.
"Huh...good job, I guess," Yang said. While she wasn't exactly leaping to congratulate Neo for not breaking the law, it was rather surprising how quick she was to follow Yang's requests.
And while Neo shrugged dismissively, the smirk on her face showed that she still derived a hint of pride from Yang's faint praise.
I guess she's not completely gone after all...
Quickly changing the subject, Yang glanced at the far end of the table where the tiny soldering iron and a pair of needlenose pliers sat amidst the wires and adapters Neo would be using to fix the interior working of arm.
"You sure you can handle this?"
Neo nodded once, affirmatively.
"Because we can't afford any huge mistakes. This is the only arm we have."
Neo smirked and pulled out her Scroll.
[As long as you're not hovering over my shoulder the whole time, I think I can handle it]
Yang rolled her eyes, but stood up, gesturing for Neo to take a seat at the workbench.
"Alright, then. I'll let you handle it."
Neo's smirk turned into an almost-friendly smile as she sat down and began working.
/
Smoke curled up around Neo's face as she put the finishing touches on the holder for the Dust canister. She set aside the soldering iron and removed her safety goggles. After a quick once-over, she decided she was done.
Neo sat back and admired the progress she and Yang had made so far. The upper arm had been bisected at just the right point so as to fit onto Yang's stump, and the socket had been attached, while the harness sat nearby, almost finished. Yang had been working on that until recently, when she decided to go into the kitchen for a break.
The rest of the upper arm had been altered to hold the Dust canister and shortened power lines. A small Dust burner would turn the Dust into energy, which was then funneled through wires into the rest of the arm.
Second Principle of Dust-Based Prosthetics: With sufficient application of Dust, anything can be manipulated through Aura.
The rest of the arm was unchanged, and aside from the panel that had been removed to allow Neo access to the interior, it was in one piece and ready to go.
We should probably put that panel on a hinge for easy access, she thought. Neo yawned suddenly, and became aware of how tired she was. She'd been working on the arm for...how long? She checked her Scroll.
That late?
She was a bit proud of the work she'd done for today, so it seemed like she needed a well-deserved rest. She pushed herself away from the workbench and stood up, then packed away the tools and spare parts and made her way to the kitchen.
/
Yang kicked the freezer door shut and moved over to the counter, a carton of ice cream in her hand. She'd stepped out into the kitchen to take a break, rubbing her eyes to reduce the strain of staring at small electronic components all day, when she'd happened to glance at the calendar.
A whole week of work. Not bad, I guess.
So, she'd decided a small bit of celebration was in order. Just a bowl of chocolate ice cream before bed. It was a little awkward with one hand, but she managed to scoop ice cream of the carton and into a bowl.
Satisfied with her treat, Yang turned towards the sink, only to find Neo standing silently behind her. Letting out a quick shout of surprise, she dropped the ice cream scoop on the counter with a loud clatter. Neo stepped back as Yang glared at her and picked up the scoop.
"Don't sneak up on me like that!"
She dropped another scoop of ice cream in the bowl and nodded, satisfied.
"What do you need?" she asked Neo impatiently. Neo showed Yang her Scroll.
[I'm done for the day. I packed up everything and now I'm heading out.]
Yang looked down at her bowl of ice cream.
"Oh. Um...you want some ice cream before you go?"
At Neo's look of confusion, Yang nodded towards the calendar.
"First week back on my feet. I thought I'd, you know...treat myself."
Neo smiled and put away her Scroll, then moved over to the counter. She frowned as she noted how high the cabinet was, and as she strained for the knob Yang couldn't help but stifle a giggle.
"Here, you can have mine, I'll make another one," she said, handing her bowl to Neo. Neo glared at her, but she took the bowl over to the table.
A few moments later, the two girls were sitting at the kitchen table, eating their ice cream in silence. Neo seemed very happy.
"Do you like ice cream a lot?" Yang asked.
Neo gestured at her hair and clothes. She'd abandoned her disguise once Yang had mentioned that her father had gone to bed early, and now Neo's pink, white, and brown theme was apparent.
Yang nodded and scooped up another spoonful of ice cream.
"Point taken," she said, before shoveling the ice cream into her mouth. The two of them sat their silently, enjoying their dessert.
"When was the last time you had ice cream?" Yang asked as she used her spoon to scrape the bottom of her bowl.
Neo typed out a response on her Scroll and held it up for Yang.
[Can't remember. Probably the tournament.]
Yang sighed.
"Yeah, it's been a while for me too. I can't remember the last time I just...enjoyed myself."
Neo shoveled one last spoonful of ice cream into her mouth.
[This is nice]
Yang smiled.
"Yeah...I guess it is."