AU-Canon Divergence starting midway at episode 9.
Simon never traps Grace within the memory tape but instead accidentally finds a way to change Grace's mind—quite literally. He uses this discovery to keep Grace and the Apex in his life, just how he has always wanted it.
Unfortunately, messing around in another person's mind can lead to disastrous effects, and Simon soon discovers that Grace is not okay. Feeling responsible for Grace's condition, Simon must find a way to save her before it's too late. And maybe he will find several impetuses to change himself along the way.
This story is also being crossposted onto other sites.
Note:
I'm a sucker for hard earned redemption fics, and I felt that Simon is the perfect character for one. It won't come easy.
He's going to have a difficult time realizing all the things he's done, but hey we are all here for the ride and he's going to meet plenty of people who are unafraid to tell him the truth.
Also, Grace might be the one needing saving in this story, but in no way is she a damsel in distress.
The Cat is the Cat.
I hope you all enjoy.
At first Simon does not mean for it to happen. He only wants Grace to listen to him. It is not natural for a human being to change so rapidly in just a few weeks, and it's even more disturbing being the one watching your best friend of eight years transform into a person you have never seen before. If she would only listen to him, she will understand just how far the little robot's helpers have gone in order to break her to its whim.
Instead, however, Grace only becomes more and more upset. Anything that does not conform to the false ideology the robot has injected into her head is rebuffed. Grace even goes as far as to reject her own memories, and Simon is left with the soul crushing fact that the girl he knows and loves may never be saved.
It hurts. And Simon instinctually does what he always does when something hurts him. He strikes back.
Simon grabs the flimsy edge of the memory right above the null's face and rips the image of Hazel Lastnameunknown as she had stood on that platform in half. He cuts off the old memory's words in mid speech. Ripping the image in half feels akin to shredding a spiderweb, but the sound of its tearing is terrifyingly organic and is much too similar to the slicing of meat. Before Simon could register what he has done, suddenly the unseen surface underneath him rolls like an angry sea, and Simon is thrown headfirst onto the ground. All light disappears as if shut off by a switch. A high, thin scream whistles past his ears, and now Simon is legitimately frightened.
"Grace!" He stumbles around in the dark on all fours, searching for her.
"Simon!" All of a sudden, Grace is right there beside him. Her familiar arms grab hold of him and pull him close. Unseen lights from high above blink back into existence, and Simon does not know what to think anymore. What just happened?
"Simon, do you know where we are?" Slowly, they pull apart now that the lights are back on.
Simon blinks in surprise. Of all the things that he expects to hear her say, this is not one of them. "We're inside your head. Grace…" he pauses, "Do you really…not know where we are?" He mentally prepares himself for another fight. It would not be unlike Grace to trick him into thinking she's confused just so he would unwittingly free her from the tape.
Instead of fighting, however, Grace merely rolls her eyes. "We're inside of my head? Ha, ha, a likely story. I would like to think that the inside of my head looks way more interesting than this," she finishes her sentence and kicks up some dust along the barren grey surface. Simon stares at her. Grace continues. "I can imagine this could be the inside of your head though. Perhaps with more wood shavings…and paper. Yep, the inside of your head would definitely smell like paper."
Eyes narrowed in suspicion, Simon watches as Grace starts her normal routine whenever she finds herself inside of an unknown car. Exactly what is she playing at? Simon thinks. Surely, Grace does not believe this half cobbled together semi-amnesia trick will work on him, but Simon lets her play her game. He has the key to her mind, and he is somewhat interested in how far Grace wants to take this charade. It only takes a minute or two before she approaches him again, frustration written all over her face.
"Look, Si. Just sitting there like you're doing is really unhelpful. I know you're still upset about traveling with a null, but can you at least get up and help me look for Hazel? She's still a person who needs to be saved even if it's taking longer than we planned to get back to the Apex."
There it is—that null is being brought up yet again. "Your null is being put back in its proper place by the old lady, so no. I'm not going back through the train looking for it, and you shouldn't either. I am going forward until we reach the Apex like we planned weeks ago. It was never supposed to live with us humans, Grace. At one time you knew that," Simon spits back. Now Grace gawks at him as if he has grown two heads.
Wide eyed with nervousness, she approaches the blond teen. "O-old lady? Simon…" Her concern sounds completely genuine. "I'm starting to believe we may have been in an accident. I woke up here with no clue on how I got here, and I think you did too. There is something wrong about this car. I don't like it. Come on, let's get up together and go find the door."
That's it. There is so much that Simon could tolerate in one sitting, even from Grace. Ignoring Grace's pleading eyes, he pulls out the memory device and pushes a side button. Show me Amelia, Simon commands, and from all sides projector screens appear and fill with static. If Grace is going to keep lying, he is going to respond with the truth every time to shut her down.
"Wha-?" Grace walks towards the screen in front of her and touches its smooth surface with a few fingers in pure amazement. "It's like a movie screen." Meanwhile, oblivious to her wonder, Simon fights with the button. Something strange is happening. He is giving the command—Show me Amelia, the old lady, the false conductor—but every screen still displays static. What is going on?
"Hey, where did you get that weird looking TV remote?"
Simon looks up to see Grace staring at the small black and white device he held within his hand. There was a long pause between them as they eye one another. He watches her face as she gradually puts together every piece to the puzzle—Simon's silence, the projector screens, the mysterious white device… He watches as her face contorts from confusion to abject disbelief.
"Simon… Are you controlling all of this?"
For Simon, all time stops completely at that question. Why would she repeat...? He thinks. Does she really...? And a crazy idea pops into his head. Immediately he runs forward and takes hold of Grace's arms.
"Grace, you need to tell me right now what's the last thing you remember. I need everything, the whole truth right now. I think I may know what to do."
Something in Grace's anxious expression falters. She has known Simon long enough to smell trouble on the horizon, and it is evident that she is liking the current situation less and less as the minutes tick by. "Fine," she huffs, "but you are going to explain exactly what's going on immediately after I'm done." She visibly attempts to ease her tensions. "I remember…the Color Clock Car. And some null named Roy. I remember we were with Hazel and the n-Tuba, and then-"
Static. After that there is nothing but static. As Grace describes her memories, Simon watches the ill-fated quartet open the door to The Color Clock Car and walk outside. Past Grace and he are strolling ahead of the nulls, but then there is a rumble that shakes the bridge-Amelia's pulse, Simon recalls-and then… Darkness. Pressing a smaller button on the front of the memory device, Simon confirms it. The end of all of Grace's memories are at this very moment on that bridge outside of The Color Clock Car. Those tumultuous minutes right before he wheeled the null called Tuba are the final things Grace can recall.
"There, I've done my part. Now spill, Socks with Sandals!" Angrily, she jabs one finger an inch away from his chest. This is classic Grace, Simon ponders to himself. She hates not knowing things that she should know. This is more like the Grace she should be and not like the treacherous imposter who had turned away from him these last few weeks. The comfortable familiarity of Grace being Grace calms him.
Simon takes a deep breath. "We're by ourselves right now. Hazel is on some car that's gotten sent back behind us on the train. Tuba is dead, and I wheeled her." He watches as Grace struggles to process this new revelation.
"Simon?" A dozen questions are asked in just one word. She wants to know everything about what happened, and her face crumples as she realizes that she has failed in yet anther recruitment. She turns her head away from him which is about the most vulnerability she typically shows. Grace always takes the loss of another human to the inhospitable train as something personal, especially one so innocent and young as Hazel. Silently Simon presses the side button again and thinks of their first meeting with the nulls inside The Jungle Car.
With his unoccupied arm, he pulls her into a hug. "Everything is going to be okay, Grace. I promise." Everything is going to be okay, and they both will resume their previous lives before all of the null shenanigans. He stares up at Grace's first memory of waking up to the gorilla ticking her, and his hands are itching to tear. There was one final thing he must do before everyone would truly be alright.
The world goes dark.