As always, thanks for the comments :) Sorry it's taken so long to update.

Chapter 13 - Fresh Start

Gakupo and Luka were hidden, perched up in a section of the ruins that overlooked the VE-01s' camp. The sun was starting to get uncomfortably strong, but it was only a temporary hiding place.

Kaito, Meiko and Leon had returned earlier than expected. According to Kiyoteru, the VE-01s had trouble keeping focused on one task, so that wasn't completely unexpected. They walked casually, chanting some meaningless song as they approached the campsite from the northeast. None of them carried anything that could be useful in repairing Lola.

With a last crescendo of notes, the VE-01s stopped before the lounge chair and its nervous occupant. Kiyoteru stood by her side, politely inclining his head at the trio. The three VE-01s didn't pay any notice to the filthy blanket now covering the cage supposedly holding the kids.

"Kiyoteru better not betray us," Luka said in a low tone.

"And endanger Yuki? Besides, he wants us to erase his directives. I think we can rely on him, at least for now," Gakupo replied. "Hey, look at that! He does have Miburi!" he suddenly changed tones, as he glimpsed the rainbow sword tied to Kaito's waist. He pointed it out to Luka excitedly.

"Miburi?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Legendary swords have names, that's in all the movies!" Gakupo said with a knowing tone, and smiled like a child. Luka shook her head, smiling herself.

Kaito carried in his arms some kind of bucket with a mass of white and pink flowers inside. He kneeled in front of Miku, and showed her the flowers with a gentle smile. His words were too low to be heard by Gakupo and Luka, but Miku was clearly trying to keep her face from betraying her confusion at his speech.

"She looks too aware of her surroundings now, he's going to realize something is up," Luka said, clenching her fists.

Kaito looked at Miku for a moment, then grabbed a handful of the flowers and placed them in her lap. He then took another with a long stem and braided it into her hair, singing softly while he worked.

"…I wonder why we are this way," Gakupo said softly.

"Huh?" Luka turned to look at him quizzically.

"I don't know… something in our code makes it really easy for us to forge relationships, and be dominated by the need for them. For instance, I was fascinated by you from the start, before I even realized what was going on. The thought of losing you was the first thing to really make me realize what little control I had over my life."

"I… see what you mean," Luka said with a small smile.

"And look at him… even though Kaito's behavior is so anomalous, he still needs to have someone to cherish."

"In an amazingly torturous way, but you are right."

"It holds up at every level. The VE-01s had no reason to stick together after they were released from the labs. But they did, so at some level, they still feel the need for attachment, like the rest of us."

Luka's eyes returned to the ground below, in time to see Kaito cup Miku's face in his hands, staring at her with reverence. Miku's face was almost comical, in how hard she seemed to be trying to keep herself from saying something.

"Of all the VE we've met, the damaged female is the only one that doesn't seem to have an attachment to someone else, as far as we know. Isn't it weird? We weren't built to interact with other units of our line, from what Mitsuki told me," Gakupo continued.

"The humans gave us little thought besides wanting a soft, pliable toy to play with," Luka retorted with contempt. "Ah! Here we go!" She said, noticing the movement below. Kaito sat on the ground at Miku's feet, and Kiyoteru rushed to plug the power and data cables to his head. Kaito immediately slumped forward, his head pressed against one of Miku's thighs.

"And now for the interesting part," Gakupo said, with a wry smile.

Kiyoteru had rightfully pointed out that Meiko and Leon might suspect something if they saw Kaito completely immobile for so long. Not to mention what could happen once the process was completed. So the bespectacled synthetic had offered to guide Meiko and Leon away under some pretext, while Gakupo and Luka moved Kaito's inactive body out of the way.

Gakupo and Luka watched as Kiyoteru gesticulated wildly, pointing off to the right. To their relief, he didn't seem to have much difficulty convincing the pair to follow him, and they quickly disappeared behind the ruins.

When it felt safe to do so, Gakupo and Luka dropped below and sneaked their way to Miku and Kaito.

"I hope she doesn't try to interact with his mind too much;" Gakupo said, brushing Miku's bangs out of the way. Her expression seemed pretty relaxed at the moment.

"At least we can wipe recent corrupt data more easily than information from previous cycles," Luka replied, looking at the pair with impatience.

"How long did the program take to copy itself into Miku?" Gakupo asked.

"It felt like ages… but it was around 18 minutes," Luka replied.

"I hope Kiyoteru keeps that in mind," Gakupo said, somewhat distractedly. Something was nagging at him, now that the process was underway. Suddenly, the issue became clear.

"Oh, no…"

"What?" Luka said, alarmed.

"What if Miku sees in Kaito's mind that he attacked her?!" Gakupo said, feeling rather stupid for not considering the idea before.

"Oh…" Luka covered her mouth. Obviously, she hadn't considered that possibility herself.

"…I really didn't think this through, did I?" Gakupo asked, his previous confidence rather deflated. "And they should have a fresh start, both of them!"

Luka rubbed his back, comfortingly. "We are doing the best we can. Let's wait and see, ok? Maybe nothing bad will happen." She took Gakupo's hand and guided him back to the spot where they sat before, at the entrance of the tent.

They sat there waiting, hugging each other.

"How do you feel now?" Luka asked.

"I can work with it… but I hope I don't need to get used to this sensation," Gakupo replied, with the note of tiredness that seemed part of his voice now.

"There's got to be something we can do!" Luka said in a vehement tone.

"Well, we should wait to see the results of the diagnosis, but… I do have an idea," Gakupo whispered. "You aren't going to like it."

"If it gets you cured, I'll do anything!"

"…We could seek Mitsuki," Gakupo said hesitantly. As he expected, Luka's expression darkened.

"Are you going to run back to her anytime you need something?" She growled.

"Luka…"

"This is her fault in the first place! Why give you incomplete documentation?" Luka wriggled herself free from Gakupo's arms and stood. She began pacing angrily, refusing to look directly at him.

"She made a mistake. It doesn't change the fact that she always treated us with kindness. Mitsuki deserves our respect," Gakupo said gravely.

Luka's shoulders slumped, as the anger gradually left her face.

"…were you happier back then?"

"Hm?"

"When it was just the two of you. Were you happier then?" Her tone now was sad and quiet. Gakupo stared at her for a second, as he gradually realized she was feeling jealous again. It was extremely odd to him, that Luka would persist on it.

"It was a nice existence, the best I could've hoped for as someone's property. It certainly didn't have the highs and lows my life has taken since I've met you," Gakupo finally said. "But I wouldn't trade that mildness for a second of having you in my arms, if that's what you are trying to ask."

He was rewarded with a small, fragile smile.

Somewhere behind Gakupo's back, voices began to sing a distorted song in the distance. Gakupo and Luka startled.

"They're coming back!" Gakupo stood up with some difficulty and went to stand nervously next to Miku and Kaito. "Come on!"

"The odds are better for us now. We can take them," Luka sounded confident, whether she actually felt it or not.

"No more fighting amongst ourselves," Gakupo said, shaking his head. Luka sighed.

Two exasperating minutes passed.

"Download process completed," Miku's voice announced in a bouncy tone. "Please disconnect the connection to commence purge and restructure."

"Yes!" Gakupo unplugged Kaito with a dramatic gesture.

Miku opened her eyes, with a perplexed expression.

"…They tried to kill him…" she mumbled. "Why?"

"Miku, are you ok?" Gakupo asked anxiously.

Miku nodded, as much as her situation allowed her to. Her eyes travelled downwards to look at Kaito's calm face.

Gakupo exhaled in relief.

"The others are coming, ok? Can you go on with the plan?"

Miku nodded again, still looking at Kaito.

"Good. Luka, grab his legs. Ah, let me get the muffler or I might trip with it."

"What do we do with him?" Luka asked, as the pair lifted Kaito's body.

"Let's get him inside that tent," Gakupo jerked his head to point at a red tent with rather ominous splatters on one side. "We don't have time for anything else."

"Ok."

The inside of the tent was wildly chaotic, with piles of woman's clothing, shoes and random knick-knacks. Gakupo and Luka deposited Kaito on top of the mattress at the very back of the tent.

"Excuse me," Gakupo said, and retrieved Miburi. After an instant of thought, he posed Kaito with his arms behind his head, to make it seem like he was relaxing.

Not that it would fool anyone for long, but it was still worth a shot.

Gakupo and Luka dived into the clothing mounds at each side of the tent's entrance, just as the VE-01s entered the camp, followed by Kiyoteru.

Luka peeked out cautiously.

Leon and Meiko stood next to Miku, with Kiyoteru fidgeting close by. This time around, Miku's distracted expression actually helped in the act.

"…Charge…" Leon spewed out a long stretch of noise, but that single word was the only understandable one. Once again, Kiyoteru rushed to fulfill the order.

Already uninterested, Meiko turned around, and thus failed to see Kiyoteru ease Leon's body to the ground, as the process started. The female unit looked around, perhaps expecting Kaito to appear, but then shrugged and approached the red tent.

It figures, Luka thought, shrinking back.

Meiko stopped at the tent's entrance, surprised at Kaito's presence. Then she laughed throatily.

"Kaito… finally…" She purred, in what would've been a sensual tone if her voice hadn't been so shrilly and distorted.

Luka watched in disbelief as Meiko unzipped her top and threw it aside with another laugh. From the other corner of the tent, Gakupo made a little sound of befuddlement.

Meiko immediately turned to look at him, eyes wide as saucers.

"…Hi!" Gakupo gave her a silly grin, before Luka tackled Meiko to the ground.

"Help me!" Luka screamed between Meiko's horrifying shrieks, as they wrestled. A moment later, she managed to get on top of the other unit, and slammed the VE-01's head on the ground violently.

Before Meiko could recover, Gakupo pinned her under his weight and Luka tied her wrists together.

"Let's tie her up to that chair in the corner," Luka said, her voice still intense.

Sooner said than done, given how Meiko struggled to get free. She even managed to kick them both a few times before they could accomplish the deed. Gakupo's legs then buckled under him, forcing him to huddle on the ground.

"I think… physical activity…. makes it worse." He squeezed his eyes shut.

Luka crouched and hugged him, while Meiko continued to shout and curse at them in her badly distorted voice. "We are almost done here, try to bear it."

"…Yes," Gakupo agreed in a barely audible tone.

Kiyoteru poked his head inside the tent, blinking at them and the half-naked unit bound to the chair. "…Is everything alright?"

"Once Leon or Kaito are done with the process, we'll connect them to Meiko," Luka said, ignoring his question. "There's no point in risking Miku again."

"Right…" Kiyoteru gave Meiko another look, and retreated.

"…Should we tell him about this?" Gakupo asked a moment later.

"No, no else needs to know yet," Luka said, helping him into a sitting position.

"False disciples!" Meiko seethed.

"Who are we supposed to be disciples of, in the first place?" Luka asked in a mocking tone. "Benefactor?"

"World changer! God of Gears!" Meiko chanted.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Liberator's shadow covers the ground! Wicked beasts burn!"

"Where is this mysticism coming from, anyway? That's for humans," Luka said, shaking her head.

"Synthetic woman, elevated! No more touch of rotting hands… Synthetic woman, cleansed!" Meiko proclaimed, before launching in another wave of insults.

"Whatever you say," Luka said, shrugging. "I'm tired of this nonsense. Should we wait outside?" She stood up, and offered Gakupo her hand.

"I'm kind of curious about it…" Gakupo tilted his head, examining Meiko's rabid expression. "It's the first time we have the opportunity to talk with them."

"If you call that a conversation… It's all going to be moot soon, in any case." Luka tapped her chin in thought. "I'll go see if Miku has any interesting books under her chair, I'll be right back." Luka marched out of the tent without waiting for a reply.

Gakupo glanced at her curiously, before returning his gaze to Meiko. The female unit stared back at him with a strange glow in her eyes. It reminded him of the look caged predators had in documentaries about old zoos.

Meiko seemed to be waiting for him to say or do something. Gakupo suddenly found that he had no idea of how to get her to open up. His eyes wandered around him, looking for a source of inspiration, and finally settled on Kaito.

"Ah… If you don't mind me asking, were you and Kaito... acquainted before all of this?" Gakupo asked, feeling rather awkward. It wasn't the smartest idea to ask her about their time in the labs, admittedly. But Gakupo had been wondering for a while if the scientists had actually worsened their condition with their prodding.

Meiko's eyes focused on Kaito, with a look that clearly betrayed her attraction towards him. But she stayed stubbornly silent.

"What about the others, then?" Gakupo asked, after it became clear Meiko wasn't going to answer his first question.

In response, Meiko actually smiled at him, a wide joyless rictus that seemed engineered to unsettle him.

"I just want to understand what you guys went through," Gakupo explained fruitlessly.

Meiko laughed. "Merciful disciple…" she sang. She looked down at her naked torso and then leered at him, spreading her legs as far as her bound ankles could allow, causing her miniskirt to hitch up towards her waist.

"Synthetic woman free. Deal?" She asked in her same purring tone as before.

"I…" Gakupo blinked. "Hm, I still have trouble with gestures sometimes, so I have to ask. Are you offering me sexual intercourse? Why?"

From outside the tent, he heard the sound of several objects hitting the ground and an indignant huff. Luka entered in a whirlwind of anger, and without breaking her stride, kicked Meiko brutally in the chest. Meiko toppled backwards, chair and all, with a shriek. Luka then grabbed the closest piece of fabric available and balled it. Grabbing Meiko's hair, she pushed it into her mouth until the female unit was gagged.

"Luka!" Gakupo stared at her in shock.

"What? She was trying to trick you," Luka replied with a satisfied smirk.

"Still…" Gakupo trailed off. It was one thing to see Luka fight units that were trying to attack them, and another completely different to have her attack one that was already at their mercy.

"Am I disappointing you again, my prince?" Luka asked him, noticing his expression. She sat on his lap with a strange look on her face.

"Luka, please… let go of the anger."

"I don't know how!" Luka cried out, and buried her face in his shoulder, trembling. "Make me feel something else…"

Gakupo stayed silent. What was he supposed to do?

Luka pulled back a bit, to look him in the eye. "Are you scared of me?" She asked brokenly.

"I'm scared that I might not be able to help you," Gakupo said with complete sincerity. "I love you, but is that good enough?"

"It gives me something to hold on to," Luka muttered and leaned forward, touching Gakupo's forehead with her own. He wrapped his arms around her, gently trapping her in place.

"Something to hold on to…" he repeated, and kissed her. For a few precious moments, everything else became meaningless.

"Mi-chan…?" A slightly metallic voice asked.

Kaito sat up, holding his head in his hands. He froze as he observed the scene before him, with the couple's interlocked bodies, and Meiko, bounded and gagged, trying to escape her bonds.

"This… might look a bit weird," Gakupo mused aloud.

"You think?" Luka giggled huskily and helped Gakupo to stand.

"Who are you? Where are the sales representatives?" Kaito asked, rising cautiously, as if he expected them to pounce on him at any second.

"Sales representatives?" Gakupo asked.

"They were going to take me to my new master, then…" Kaito's voice faltered. His eyes darted back and forth, as he touched his head once more. "I don't have a master."

"That's correct, you don't."

Kaito looked downwards, stricken. "But I was finally going to go outside of the factory!"

"We are outside. And we don't need masters to be here," Luka said, crossing her arms.

"Rogues…" Kaito looked at them with awe. "If I don't have a master…"

"You are a rogue unit too, now," Gakupo finished for him.

Kaito smiled warmly, with a boyish glee that wasn't there before. It made him feel much more youthful and naïve than what the leader of the VE-01s had been.

Meiko made a muffled sound, somewhat dampening the moment.

"Oh, yeah, she… er, she's malfunctioning, we had to tie her up," Gakupo explained sheepishly.

"Oh…" Kaito took a step closer to Meiko, observing her with curiosity. Gakupo briefly wondered if Kaito remembered her at all, before the blue-haired unit turned to them with a polite smile. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Actually, yes," Luka started, before she seemed to realize that the cables were still outside. "I'll be right back, explain the plan to him." She told Gakupo before jogging off.

Kaito looked at him expectantly, like a schoolboy on his first day of classes.

"We freed you with the use of a specially modified program. If you connect with her, the program will automatically upload itself into her, and erase the damaged data in her memory banks, and her directives as well," Gakupo recited once more.

"Direct data transference? But doesn't that mean I have to fuse with her…? Wouldn't that infect me as well?" Kaito sounded more than a bit repulsed by the idea.

"It's a quick process. Just remember to interact with her as little as possible while your minds are connected, and you'll be fine." Just don't try to dive into the deeper recesses of her inner self like an idiot, Gakupo didn't add. He stepped forward and placed his hands on Kaito's shoulders.

"Luka and I will make sure you are fine," Gakupo reassured him.

"What is this?" Kaito asked, touching Gakupo's arms with curiosity.

"In this case, it's a sign of friendship."

"…I like that," Kaito said, smiling once more. He patted Gakupo's arms, taking in the gesture with clear excitement.

"I'll help."

Even after their reassurances, Rin, Len and Oliver were reluctant to follow Gakupo and Luka back to the camp, where the VE-01s and Miku waited.

"You are being naughty," Yuki said, looking down at them from Kiyoteru's arms.

"Hello? You lived with them, you know how they are!" Rin screeched.

"How they were." Gakupo said patiently. "They are harmless now."

"You promise?" Oliver asked.

"I promise," Gakupo smiled. "Come on, we'll spend the night here and go back for the yacht tomorrow." By now, the afternoon sun was beginning to tinge everything in warm colors.

"…Okay." After some hesitation, Oliver slipped his hand into Gakupo's.

Kiyoteru lead the way, choosing an easier route than the one Gakupo and Luka had initially taken in the morning. They soon reached Benefactor's huge shadow, and the shoddy camp.

Miku and Kaito were sitting on the lounge chair, trading stories with big smiles on their faces. Miku's body was wrapped in a blanket, and she was fully unplugged from Benefactor's cables. The only thing that gave away that something was amiss was the odd way that the blanket hung from one of her shoulders.

Meiko sat nearby on the ground, looking at them with a pensive expression, thankfully now fully dressed. Leon was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, where's Leon?" Gakupo asked.

"He said he wanted to be with Lola," Meiko said, and pointed towards one of the tents.

"Ah…" Gakupo nodded, feeling rather guilty. Aside from remembering Lola, Leon had barely any memories left. And thanks to Gakupo, he was now deprived of the comfort of her presence.

Kiyoteru carefully deposited Yuki on the ground, and walked towards a stack of broken furniture and sticks.

"Should I build a bonfire? We could sit around it and discuss things," he offered.

"Sounds good," Gakupo replied. "Do you need any help?"

"Us! We can help!" Rin shouted and jumped forward, pulling Len and Oliver along with her.

Between all of them, they quickly built a big roaring fire at some distance from the tents. Luka declined to participate, and instead stood with her hands on Benefactor's hull, likely communicating with the spaceship, trying to relay the recent developments to him.

Finally, she turned around and joined the group around the fire, sitting at Gakupo's side.

Yuki was primly sitting on a cushion, while Kiyoteru kneeled next to her, fashioning a string of paper flowers out of the pages of a research paper. Rin and Len were busy making shadow figures on the cracked surface of the strip with their fingers, while Oliver watched with a timid smile on his face. Miku and Kaito were again immersed in some story, which involved Kaito making some really bizarre gestures Gakupo couldn't identify. But apparently they were funny, since Miku was rocking back and forth with laughter. Meiko was back in the camp, trying to coax Leon into joining their meeting.

"Look at them all, Luka," Gakupo whispered to her, as soon as she sat. "Look at us…We are a group of people!" His eyes glinted in the firelight, ecstatic.

"I don't know if people is the right term for us…But I see what you mean," Luka said, leaning on him. "I spoke with Benefactor," she added after a pause.

"Yes?"

"I asked them if they could monitor any communications from Mars that could give us a clue of where Mitsuki is."

"Thanks," Gakupo said, running his fingers through her hair. After a moment, he continued. "I've been meaning to ask you… why do you refer to Benefactor as they?"

"I don't know…sometimes it feels like the voice I hear is an amalgamation of many voices, like Benefactor is made up of thousands of pieces." Luka paused. "It's kind of silly, I guess."

"Not at all. We practically know nothing about his…or their…functioning." Gakupo replied. "Did you try asking him directly about his systems, though?"

"Yes, emphasis in trying. It was even harder than getting them to understand about human communications. At least I think they got what I was requesting. "

"It's going to be helpful to have Mitsuki around. Not just for me, given that the damaged female, Lola and Miku need repairs."

"I guess so."

Over Luka's head, Gakupo saw Meiko practically dragging Leon towards the light of the bonfire.

"Ah… here we go."

All the synthetics present had agreed to enter sleep mode at night, to ration their energy. So the three golden-haired children were supposedly sleeping inside Miriam's tent, though some muffled sounds made pillow-fighting a more likely activity. As for Miku, Leon gave her his tent, since he intended to stay up and guard the camp. Finally, Gakupo and Luka had taken over the tent that once housed the trio known collectively as Zola.

"You said that physical activity makes your energy problem worse. Would that include…?" Luka left of the sentence unsaid, but her hands readily demonstrated her meaning, once she climbed on top of him.

Gakupo gave out a little laugh. In the darkness of the tent, his eyes glowed crimson and full of happiness.

"We could give it a try. For science, as they say," he said and caressed her body with slow, deliberate motions. His hands gradually moved downwards to rest on her hips, as Luka positioned herself.

"I'd say…this is a worthwhile expenditure of energy," Gakupo said haltingly, as Luka began to sway over him.

Small Ones.

Gakupo snorted. Above him, the twin blue lights made a circle as Luka rolled her eyes.

"Hello there, Ben," Gakupo said with a touch of amusement.

"This is not a good moment, Benefactor," Luka said, trying to keep the irritation from her voice.

Physical interaction, desirable. Appendage insertion, pleasurable.

"Yes…"

Small one Luka, reasoning requested.

By now Gakupo was shaking with barely contained laughter.

"We were constructed to find the act enjoyable, ok?" Luka snapped. "Sorry," she added in a milder tone.

Strange makers.

"You could say that," Gakupo interjected. "We can explain the mechanics in more detail later if you really want to hear about it, but we'd like to continue, if you don't mind."

Confirm. Confirm. Confirm.

"Thanks. Good night," Gakupo finished, hoping against all odds that Benefactor would take a hint.

Whether they did or not, the presence retreated.

"I suddenly feel like we have four children under our charge," Luka said bemusedly.

"If he doesn't understand what humans are, I don't see how he is going to process… this," Gakupo said with an impish tone in his voice, as he engaged in more physical interaction.

Luka let out a moan. "I don't… particularly care about that… mmm… right now."

"Me neither," Gakupo said, reinforcing the point as vigorously as he could under the circumstances.

There weren't many coherent words after that.