The thread holding the world

Clapping and cheering...

It could be heard all the way from the desert, as loud as the stomping from the now defeated machines and yet the man who brought such happiness to the ones around him couldn't help but frown out of discontent, it was almost unnoticeable the overwhelmed androids around him wouldn't be able to make it out but to the one in front of him should…

Her hand clasped his tighter as if afraid of letting go, greed fear, and something far more playing around in her eyes. His own narrowed towards her, he was used to reverence by now, it wasn't welcomed but that was part of the deal on this new ruined world, but what she was showing…

Well, it was a bit more.

His clothing ruffled around as wind passed through them gently, a slight whistle sound could be heard as they continued their staring match. He was losing clearly, his eyes kept wandering away not being able to keep his composure under her own unblinking ones.

Her smile widened and his frown deepened as they met once again.

She turned around, giving him some reprieve, and with a single flourish of her hand the entire battalion quieted down in but a second.

He looked on slightly flabbergasted but cautious, not of any danger of course but of something… more happening.

Everyone dropped to one knee around him a hand close to where their heart was supposed to be their eyes firmly on the ground he stood on.

He forced down a growl… he really hated when he was right.

The armada of androids kept their positions for a moment before rising back up slowly as one and dispersed soon after going back to their work, even still he could feel numerous eyes staring him down from across the ruined city.

"Follow me." White said quietly so that only he could hear "Where we can talk with a bit more privacy."

He grunted "Was all of this really necessary…" Shirou muttered as he walked side by side with her.

She stopped momentarily taken aback by what he said "My apologies for any sort of inconvenience but it was a necessary showcase of loyalty." she said sounding like a kicked puppy.

Shirou simply shook his head and sighed, the worst part was she genuinely sounded sorry, probably best to just move on from it otherwise she might try even more.

His body shivered slightly at the thought...

Their short journey soon came to a quiet end as they reached a large blue-colored tent, he was about to enter it before White stopped him and opened the flap for him bowing low while doing so.

With a roll of his eyes, he stepped inside, white quickly following behind.

"So here we are finally alone." she outright preened as the words came out of her mouth a wide confident smile played on her face. "You can sit no need to be standing…" she pointed towards the chair in front of her as she took her own seat crossing her legs "We're going to be here for some time there's a lot to discuss."

"Yeah… I guess so." Shirou muttered as he crossed the distance seating himself in the metallic chair across from her with a grunt all the while surveying the room around him.

It was stuffy for the lack of better wording, boxes of materials he couldn't quite fully understand littered the room making it look far smaller than it should.

"My apologies for how everything looks, we weren't able to put things in the correct order before you came in."

Shirou shook his head "It's fine."

White looked rather relieved as she placed her dainty hands on the table "I thought you might not care, still this isn't how I thought my first meeting with a human would be like."

Shirou's eyebrow rose as he looked at her questioningly "You thought you would be meeting one at some point?"

She shrugged noncommittally, her smile taking on a more longing expression "There's always hope right? Isn't that a human saying, that's it always the last thing to die?"

Shirou shook his head a hand coming up to rub his neck.

"Not always." he muttered robotically as if he were talking to no one but himself.

Her eyes narrowed as she stared noticing this change, her body moving closer nearly off the chair, trying to discern the human's thoughts though not getting much as he simply continued as if nothing had happened with but a shake of his head as if dusting off cobwebs.

"Anyway there are some things I want to ask from Yorha but why don't you go first, I'm sure you have some questions." He added moving quickly moving from the topic.

The blond android nodded her expression becoming serious for the first time since he had seen her "Indeed, we should probably go over your safety parameters first though."

His eyebrow rose "Safety?"

"Quite." she paused for a second to gauge his reaction before continuing "I understand your need to be here in this world and while I disagree... having a human on this planet actually does quite a bit for morale, so I won't contest that decision..."

His head tilted slightly as he heard her talk, his eyes narrowing just a bit as he regarded this facet of the commander. Her demeanor towards him had changed, before she looked more like a high school girl with a severe problem of infatuation, now… well he couldn't say there wasn't subservience there still but she at least looked like she might be able to actually question him.

It was quite a unique interaction considering his last year in this future.

He quite liked it...

"… but still I think it would be best if you remained in the city for the foreseeable future."

He sighed, this part he didn't like very much "You've seen what I can do commander, are you really willing to let go of such a weapon? As things stand I don't think you can regardless." Shirou said respectfully though with force not willing to budge on this subject.

"I'm not saying this emotionally, though that is part of the reason." she sighed as she crossed her arms under her chest and leaned back on the chair "You're not a weapon and I'm not talking about opinions here, you're far more than that… you can be a symbol, a flag to rally around."

"Just because of what I am."

White shook her head "You don't seem to fully understand but fighting for humanity is what we were made for, having you here changes everything until now we were scattered throughout this planet, more pockets of resistance than anything else, but with you here… everything changes."

He smirked derisively at her, his stare coming across as bitter "You're planning to use me as a way to secure an army for war."

She gripped her sleeve tightly, her eyes slightly downcast but otherwise remained composed and resolute "Yes…" she muttered under her breath though loud enough for him to hear "This is the best opportunity I ever had of a fully joined android army, I'm surely worse than a demon for using a human for such ends but if it finally ends this war I will die happily doing so."

He moved, only slightly but it was enough to make her flinch, she had known that this moment can break whatever goodwill he had towards Yorha, it wasn't an easy decision and she wondered for hours if she was better off not saying anything, but she didn't want lies to keep them apart even if his reaction worried her.

Would he be angry, perhaps even hate her? Her mind kept playing around with the numerous scenarios that this could lead into all of them being bad.

Instead, he simply chuckled before giving her a gentle smile, his expression serene, as if telling her it was alright.

"I understand your choice commander and I respect it…" he truly did far more now than before, he gathered that this was probably considered the biggest sin an android could do, but she would see her mission end even if others wouldn't understand it "… though have you considered what happens if I were to die."

She flinched her eyes wide in surprise almost as if he said something completely unknown and outside of reality.

The red-haired man simply continued to stare his smile vanishing as he noticed the myriad of emotions playing around her.

White took a deep breath to calm herself, her eyes once again met his now with a burning fire, she looked indignant downright mad at him "It's not going to happen, I won't let it." she sneered out as if talking to the world itself.

Desperation, fear, and greed…

This was a dangerous concoction to be playing with especially with someone with her amount of power. He didn't fully know her story but he understood now how far she was willing to go to keep her vision of the future…

Even if it was against his wishes, she was subservient to humans and she truly did worship them but that was as far as it was going to go, if she thought her way was better, for his sake especially, she would go down that route he wouldn't be able to stop her, after all, he was the human meant to be in the ivory tower and she the android meant to win an impossible war.

All in the name of humanity of course.

All in his name now.

Perhaps his decision to reveal himself to the world wasn't the best.

She huffed slightly while braiding her hair trying to keep herself composed "Shall we proceed?" White asked her voice slightly raised but nonetheless professional.

Shirou simply nodded while crossing his arms his attention fully on her.

The blond woman closed her eyes for a second her fingers interlinking with each other as she leaned into the table "I said all this to give you a proposition as it were… I understand you wish to remain with the twin androids correct?"

White immediately noticed she said something wrong just then as she shivered as if a deep cold struck her.

She tried her best to remain strong as his gaze turned into a glare as if daring her to say anything against it. It spoke to how close they were by now if even a mention of being separated brought out this much emotion from the once calm man.

"Why?"

White shuddered as he said but a single word with so much coldness that it froze the whole room for her "A-as I understand from the battle in the factory they were able to unlock their powers even if only for that moment, I believe I can help with that…"

She stood up briskly seemingly shaken up as she stumbled towards one of the boxes filled with papers "This has all the information we have from the gestalt project including their models, It's not much I went through them myself, but it could help them control whatever they have left as well as illuminate on their sin."

She picked it up and dropped it on the table with a heavy thud.

Shirou looked towards it in wonder before looking back at the woman apologetically "Thank you… this will help."

White smiled at him and went back to her chair now with a bit of hop in her step and a wide smile on her face looking more like a praised child than the experienced commander "It's no worries we all want the same thing right?"

Did they now? He wasn't so sure about that…

He shook his head as he grabbed one of the files atop the box skimming through it… project Gestalt… he hadn't heard about it but that wasn't exactly weird, despite his place as the captain of the crusaders' no one had really told him anything from behind the scenes seeing him more as a weapon than anything else or something to experiment with.

He dropped it back down… he would have to go through it later with the twins then.

"There is another thing I wish to discuss…"

Her voice broke him out of his mind as he heard the out-of-character nervousness that seeped through her.

"I understand you had a meeting with A2, if she had told you some…"

Shirou interrupted her immediately "She told me enough."

"I see…" she said breathlessly "I know what I'm asking you is a lot but could you kee…"

"What do you know about me commander." he interrupted her once more catching her off guard.

"A-A bit…" She stumbled slightly at how forceful he was being "We at least know that you were alive during the legion war…" she talked in a subservient tone but it was tinged with an insurmountable curiosity, she hadn't really been expecting for him to be the one to talk about this but now that they were here she might as well try to fish for more information.

It also made her quite happy that he felt he could talk to her about this...

Shirou nodded slightly, his arms crossing under his chest "It was a mess, we were unprepared for something like that an enemy that took over our population and made it into monsters, barely anything we did worked, I still don't fully know how we were able to fight long enough to see victory… but we did win after nearly forty years." he explained further, his words coming out as if he was talking about a story as if it didn't truly happen, she would almost call him callous if it weren't for his defeated expression "Do you know what happened afterward? After victory?"

White remained quiet, didn't even try to answer how could she? They both knew what had happened, after all, there was a reason why she was talking to the last human.

"People simply started dying faster." he said emotionlessly as if it didn't matter "To this day I still don't fully know if things got worse after the death of the legion or if humanity simply gave up, at least with the war we had an enemy to fight without it, well…" he sighed his eyes slightly unfocused "You can keep your lie, if that was your request, just make sure the world doesn't get swallowed up in it."

"I see…" she said quietly unable to truly voice her emotions "I thank you for allowing me this reprieve."

He started chuckling "A reprieve she says…" he said without any mirth his eyes swimming in pity "What you have is a curse, are you truly able to bear that much weight?"

Her eyes flashed just then in genuine steel and for the first time since this had started, he truly felt that he was talking to someone worth of notice.

The person who was leading the charge in this new world…

"Don't mock me."

His eyebrow rose at her words and how much emotion was bubbling up behind that perfect facade.

Perhaps he was wrong in his earlier assumption.

Perhaps this hadn't been a mistake.

"I see." he said respectfully his stare softening and his body slacking slightly, looking less intimidating now "Shall we continue then White?"

White's eyes widened in surprise, her cheeks going slightly pink and her earlier anger disappearing as if it were never there.

It was the first time he had said her name and with such respect…

She tried uselessly to swallow down these emotions but she couldn't keep such happiness from showing.

"There are only a few minor things to go over if you don't mind…" she said with a giddy tone.

"We have all day."

Her smile widened further at his answer.

A whole day like this, huh?

How… pleasant.

(Desert)

"It sure is hot huh…" the little hovering thing said to no response.

He sighed continuing on his way to follow the stomping woman, she hadn't spoken anything else after her profanity-filled yell earlier in the forest hadn't even so much as looked back seemingly content on ignoring him through the whole journey.

"Where are we even going?" Emil asked as the woman finally stopped near a rocky formation gazing towards the horizon.

He couldn't quite tell what she was trying to find, if it was machines to kill well they had already passed quite a few, not that she hadn't killed any that went too close, she was quite good at that.

Even now he could hear their pained metallic screams, she hadn't killed them slow but they remained alive for a bit as if she wanted them to know that their lives were meaningless.

If he still had his body he would've shivered just remembering it…

Wait…

A body...

When did he have a body… did he ever?

Why did he ask that?

Oh no… it was happening again…

Images passed through his mind as if burnt-out pictures, he could almost make up the detail but they were so broken that he would never fully be able to understand them.

Worst still was the scratched-up voices that ruminated inside his head as if bugs.

These episodes had happened before in his young life though they soon passed without much fanfare, but this time it seemed to come without end in sight. Perhaps it was due to to the woman in front of him her image overlapping with another making the pictures feel ever more real.

His hands reached for his head as he scratched the metal in panic creating a grating sound.

A2 winced slightly as she heard the noise finally looking back towards the little being, her eyes widening in surprise as she saw the state he was in. His fingers had dug out pieces of metal as orange-like slash marks appeared as his fingers dragged around his metal cranium.

"What the hell…" A2 murmured as she winced at the thing her eyes remaining in the scene unable to look away.

She had a decision to make now, she could leave him behind and finally run as far away as possible so the thing wouldn't be able to find her or help him break out of whatever mental breakdown he was having.

Without a second thought, she turned around and started to move away, until something stopped her…

"Kaine please help…" Emil's pained voice span out throughout the whole desert as he started screaming in pain "Where are you? Why am I always left alone…"

She clenched her teeth and growled angrily, turning around her eyes shadowed "Shut up you piece of metal WASTE!" she yelled out as she brought her foot up punting the being down into the sands below.

She snapped her tongue as she heard a grown, she didn't do it with enough power it seemed.

"Huh? Where am I?" Emil asked as his damaged head darted around rapidly before focusing on the woman atop the dune "Oh A2, why am I down here?"

She tsked at him and turned around walking away with her ever-present glare.

Emil sighed "Well she seems angrier." he murmured lowly not wanting her to hear as he brought a hand to his face as he felt a deep sting in the area "Ouchy, what the hell happened..."

He stood up hovering in the air with a bit of a stumble as he went back up to where he once was.

He let out a sound of discontent as he sat down on the sand surveying the area before him.

It was pretty in its own unique way, probably not an opinion many had but he was the kind to always see the best in everything, or at least he hoped he was. He decided he was going to remain here for a bit before reaching back to A2, he already pinpointed where she was so he wasn't in any danger of not finding her.

Perhaps it was best to give her a bit of space anyway.

He still couldn't really tell what made him want to follow her around so much.

It didn't really matter it had been his first true feeling since he awoke in this world.

Even his gratitude towards the machine village felt fake somehow as if he had been going through the motions. He didn't like to think of himself that way so he tried his best to make that feeling a reality, as long as he thought it was real it would be real…

Right?

Is that how his existence was made?

Would he ever know?

Emil sighed once again to look down at his body, it was nothing more than a formless mess really, it was to his specifications but honestly, he could survive with only his head as he had inside of a machine for a while.

It felt more like a glove than a body, he was probably the only being who made it seem that way.

That just made him uniquely beautiful like the desert right? Heh, even he couldn't think like that with a straight face.

Was he even unique to begin with?

His mind kept spinning around in this web of fractured feelings, none of them feeling quite real, in his desperation, he reached out touching the ground in search of something he didn't quite know his being flaring with an unknown source of power.

Before his head snapped up and he went careening away in A2's direction.

He had found something and not quite what he was hoping for…

(Yorha base)

Tap, tap, tap…

It had been hours by now, right?

Tap, tap, tap…

How much longer did they have to stay put?

Tap, tap, tap…

Maybe they should've just gon… tap, tap, tap…

"Devola can you stop, I can barely hear myself think." Popola fumed as she looked back at her sister who had been pacing furiously back and forth behind her.

Her twin, who had at this point only stared angrily at the ground as if that would change anything, looked down at her with an indignant look "Huh? As if you sighing there like a lovesick maiden is noiseless." she snapped back crossing her arms under her chest glowering at her with a sneer.

Popola stood up and stared back just as fiercely "Oh… is miss snuggling under the blanket when they are alone calling me lovesick?" she said with a smirk as Devola spluttered her face quickly becoming red.

"Eeee…" Devola responded with a high-pitched noise at the back of her throat unable to make proper sentences due to embarrassment before clenching both of her fists and glaring frantically at her sister "H-how th-e He… how the hell do you know THAT?" she asked with a trembling voice.

Popola stepped back as her superior look vanished from her face replaced by one filled with trepidation "Well it's what I would have done…" she murmured under her breath hoping that her twin wouldn't hear, her face going the same shade as hers.

"AHA!" Devola exclaimed triumphantly as she pointed towards her in an accusatory manner "Then what the hell are you judging me for?"

Popola pouted her cheeks ballooning outwards "YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DID IT FIRST!" she outright screamed as her face heated up further going as crimson as her hair.

They continued to yell and accuse each other about things either of them would've done in a heartbeat if given the opportunity, as two other androids simply watched from the sidelines their heads tilted slightly one emotionless the other curious.

"Huh." the boy said in a matter-of-fact tone placing a hand under his chin "Seems like the older models are quite competitive, nothing like the data logs say perhaps I should update them once I get back."

"I don't think that is exactly what's happening." 2B deduced quietly putting her own dainty fingers in the same way he did "Seems more like a battle for territory…"

"Oh?" 9S asked seriously his hidden eyes widening in curiosity "Do you think that's a unique reaction when one is next to a human for a long period of time."

2B's head snapped towards him with such speeds he really felt it should've broken or something, not that he had much time to think about that as her emotionless face peered unto his with a focus he hadn't seen before.

"Are you saying they're fighting for a place next to the human?" 2B said with a dangerous tone her body looming over his smaller one, as he slowly backed away with a nervous chuckle "Should we fight too then?"

She looked back towards the bickering duo her hand moving slowly towards her sword before being stopped by a yelping 9S.

"No no I don't think that's quite it… hehehe." 9S spilled out quickly while grabbing her arms, his strength was paltry in comparison to hers but his voice seemed to stop her well enough "Look they aren't even hurting each other, they're just playing around I think."

"Oh…" 2B said robotically "I see…" her hand moved away from her blade stiffly.

He let out a breath of relief as he let her go his body slumped due to exertion and stress.

"Besides I doubt the human would be happy if they got hurt." 9S added his voice suddenly getting more serious "Did you notice they seemed to have a lot of power over his decisions, he even defended them against the crowd of the resistance."

"Is that a problem?" 2B asked sounding more like a subordinate than the leader of the duo, then again he was the one who should know about these things, if there's one thing she had confidence in it was in his ability to understand.

He shrugged as he continued to gaze at the red-haired twins "No idea, on one side it's good humans are social creatures him having someone he can trust will make his mental health better despite them not being human themselves." 9S answered as if he was a teacher "…on the other hand it raised quite a lot of problems unlike us they can't be revived and their death might hurt him, might be best to link them to the yorha server."

She snorted surprising him slightly that she could make such a noise "You think the commander would allow that?" 2B asked rhetorically already knowing the answer…

He simply shrugged again as his eyes narrowed further behind his cowl, he didn't really know the full answer just yet so he would watch over them a little while longer...

His momentarily lapse into full scanner mode was interrupted as both their bots beeped into existence with an unread message.

"You're the one who keeps annoying him to give you piggyback rides." Popola accused angrily as she butted heads with the other redhead.

Devola, on the other hand, sneered her voice venomous "You keep babying him around he's probably sick of it."

They growled at each other…

"Ahem!"

… and stopped as they turned their glare instead to the little innocent interrupting android.

9S flinched as they stared him down with such intensity that he honestly thought he would melt down "We uuuuh…." he coughed twice trying to clear his throat and some of the nervousness "We have a message from commander White her discussion with Shirou has ended and as such you are welcome to enter the newly established base and meet with him once more."

Both of their eyes widened as they smiled radiantly their feud quickly forgotten.

"Where is he?" The twins asked at the same time softly.

9S looked questioningly at both before shaking it off seemingly guessing it wasn't worth figuring out "You can follow us we'll lead you right to him."

They nodded rapidly their bodies shaking slightly in excitement.

They hardly paid attention to their surroundings way too focused on meeting him again and making sure nothing had happened, they passed through the busy dirtied roads with a quick pace ignoring the androids surrounding them with only one thing on their mind.

Until they finally reached it...

"You can enter he's waiting for you." 2B said emotionlessly as she stood guard in front far enough away that they would have some privacy to talk.

The duo patted down their clothes off of the grime and dirt and brushed their hair slightly with one hand, before finally with a deep breath opening the flaps and entering.

"Took you long enough, huh…"

And thus everything was right in the world again as far as they were concerned for there he stood watching them with a small smile on his face.

They sighed contently…

"It's good to see you're okay." Devola teased with a smirk her anxiety leaving in but a second.

The man chuckled, it was a deep rumble sound that made their stomachs do funny flips.

"I was only meeting White."

Devola giggled as she hopped until she was near him "Like I said I'm glad you're okay." she preened with a large grin looking up at him due to their height difference.

He outright laughed then as he patted her head like an automatic response "Right right."

Popola on the other hand simply watched them with a large smile before noticing the stack of papers that surrounded the table "What's this Shirou?" she asked as she grabbed one and began to read through it.

Her eyes widened at the words…

Subjects Devola and Popola…

Gremoirs… sealed verses?

"What is all of this?" she implored once more as her body shook in panic even if she didn't fully understand why.

Shirou sighed as he let go of Devola who frowned not really understanding what was happening.

"Apparently your past…" Shirou said in a serious tone his eyes narrowing "Are you two ready to finally understand it?"

The twins looked at each other for a second before nodding.

If this is what it meant to help him.

Then they would take on their sins.

(?)

"Hmmm… doesn't quite work, does he honestly prefer this look?"

A little girl asked to no one as no one was there to answer, as she posed cutely in her mirror her vivid red hair moving around like wind surrounding her entire being.

She pouted "Maybe I should've looked older, but doesn't that make me unique?" she once again asked her voice reverberating throughout the blindingly white room.

There was nothing inside just a large white empty room with a girl and her mirror.

She grabbed her frilly black dress in anger as she pouted further looking more and more like a petulant child "Ugh… whatever that's enough I guess."

She turned around the mirror disappearing in kind as blocks affixed themselves into something resembling a throne far too large for the little girl. Still, though she sat in it hovering slightly above ground before stumbling back with a noiseless yelp.

Her hands reached out and an object soon appeared revealing itself to be a plushy with a resemblance to a sword wielding human.

She looked down at it with something akin to irritation "What should I do with you next? That stupid girl just had to ruin it huh." the little girl sighed out tiredly "It was also a good plan right, I just wanted to see what you would do…"

Her legs kicked up as she threw a tantrum shaking the doll up and down with a frown before smiling again.

"Oh well, there will be other opportunities I'm sure, now…" she laughed slightly as a screen appeared showcasing the ruined city that had once been a battle zone.

"Hmmm... seems like things are going exactly as they should be as far as the Yorha project is concerned should be a good dynamic for him, now to see how much I can poke them until they snap."

She laughed slightly the sound coming off slightly off as a bit synthetic.

"This world is hanging by a thread…"

She smiled again this time it continued to stretch to inhuman proportions, almost splitting her face apart.

"… all I need is a good blade to cut it now."

Hello my pretties it's been a bit huh... yeah sorry about that had to deal with a lot of stuff, namely going off country with friends so i haven't had much time to actually work on anything (and other stuff that happened that i won't go into), still though if you haven't already check out the first 3 chapters of the story they have been revised... honestly, the first two chapters were completely rewritten to fit the story better the third not so much just has new content probably not going to do that anymore... anyhowsers thank you so much for being patient with me during this long interval with no chapter and i really hope you enjoy this one, i have a few things lined up for this arc and shit is about to go crazy and this is just the start.

Okay so i also wanted to talk about something else I'm planning rewrite fake knight, yeah i stopped for a long time since i didn't like how it was going and i made the mistake of following the canon story too closely something that this story has given me is a bit of courage to follow my crazy ideas so I'll try that, no promises to when that will happen but be on the look out i guess, don't really know if there's a lot of crossover between readers but eh. This won't really do anything to the releases of salvation don't worry honestly it's mostly so that i don't get burnt out writing the same thing.

Anyway that is all really hope you like this chapter it was a bitch to actually write.

Thanks to Ivan Tridelan for all the help.