A/N: This chapter was... PAIN, it took me a while to get it to a point where I could look at it and not cringe, and even then I'm not 100% sure on it (I'm like at a 70%) probably because it's the first Time I didn't make the Manager look like an ass, yeah it's probably that, even after all that I THINK I did a good enough job, so enjoy.
Ryn: POV.
I never once thought I'd find myself willingly helping someone else, and here I am, blindly jumping into danger to get my boss out of his mad rampage that almost got everyone killed.
What I found inside the Main Room of Information was Yesod... now looking like a mechanical tree slowly expanding through the room, the single eye in the 'bark' glanced at me once, "Ryn, seems like for all my planning, I couldn't keep you all occupied." And he just goes and admits is...
I ran a hand through my hair and sheathed my blade. Crazy or not, he never struck me as someone that would choose violence, "You can't account for everything Yesod, something you apparently never learned despite everyone screaming that to your face." His single eye never moved or twitched.
"Truly? It feels as if I always knew that. Accepting it felt irrelevant at the time, those emotions weren't needed in such a bleak place, and in the end, the emotions I never wanted... burst anyway." I blinked at his words... he didn't even try to deny or counter my words.
"Ryn, watch your step... Yesod's confused to what our goal is and wonders if what we are doing is right. He was always a better person than he shows, he really shouldn't be here."
"Then why is he here? Why are we here?" I couldn't help but whisper back at him.
"... I hope to find out, but first we need to calm him down."
I nodded and waited for the Manager to tell me anything that could help me here, "Yeah... I never knew why someone would give you and Malkuth emotions. For the kind of job you have, that seems... counterproductive." I threw some words out there while I waited for help.
"We talked before work, he always seemed to be on the edge and always stuck by the rules. He is angry at the situation that's... out of everyone's control, and no one can blame him for it. You two talked before too, it's obvious what he wants."
Yeah, he just didn't want to see people die, so he tried to double down with many rules on them. He may have been harsh, but he didn't kill people on the spot like Malkuth did before, "Indeed, whoever brought us here couldn't have cared less, isn't that right, Manager?" I blinked at the... accusation?
No, it didn't feel like one... not completely at least.
"... Yeah, I guess you would know. I think all the Sephirah do... but apparently it's important, so why do I have no idea what the hell you are talking about?"
I grimaced, was Yesod hearing him all this time? "Wait, what are you talking about?" I feel a bit out of touch with the conversation right now.
"All the Manager's that worked before the current one were erased from all records, I don't know why and Angela simply tells me it's beyond my jurisdiction. I had tried to look more into it and found nothing, simply nothing... and then I started to remember things." Suddenly, things just felt out of my depth, hell the Manager himself sounded out of his depth too. What is Yesod trying to say?
What did I even get involved into? "You are speaking like... you weren't always here." I know he was a machine with emotions, but something is starting to look really fucked up.
"I wasn't. Before Yesod... I was Gabriel with a body of flesh, not metal, and it seems like things never changed even after all this time. What have we been doing all this time?" I was too busy being shocked at what I heard, Yesod was implying that at some point he had a human body. What kind of bastard does that to people? Hell, they even took his original memories.
"So? I'm not exactly fond of what you are implying. I don't know what you think, but I have NOTHING to do with this."
"That's what you think, that's what 'A' wants you to think, but at the end of the day, you turned a blind eye, even if everything pointed to you being involved with our current situation." Yesod didn't shout, but with every word, he got louder. It wasn't far from a shout, but not close enough.
It was also the first time I saw him letting his emotions out... that could work, yes. Maybe that's the key, make him lash out.
"And what do you care? Here you are complaining about how bad things are and how they went wrong. I don't see you doing any better." I didn't believe those frankly retarded words, but if Yesod reacted, then it will be worth feeling a bit disgusted at myself.
His single eye tried to go into me like it was some kind of venom, "I can't say I did, the rules existed for a reason and I tried my best to enforce them. Every time something went wrong, I looked it over and simply tried a different approach with what was handed to me."
I touched a nerve, I can do this, "Lot of good that did! Trying to act like you are the only one eating shit when everyone else just nods and moves along, why are you allowed to crack, then?" God, I feel like such a piece of shit, but I just have to make him let it all out.
He didn't instantly respond, and that made me gulp from pure anticipation... or nervousness, "I haven't, not yet. With this final act, I may just be able to do what I had always set out to do, so we can see a bit clearer." He didn't, shit. What do I say now? I can't think of anything that-
"Is this about James? He made his choice."
James... that sounded familiar, yes. He worked with me at Information at the very first day, a bit of a joker, laid back, and prone to bend the rules slightly. Somehow, him and Yesod got along rather well, even if their personalities were complete opposites. One day he worked Schadenfreude, if I remember correctly, that was a day before Malkuth went through her own episode.
Now that I think about it, he doubled down on the rules that same day.
"I told you before, didn't I? That was a simple mistake from my part. In Lobotomy Corporation, people die each da-" He was quick, probably TOO quick to try and formulate a response.
The Manager finally found the crack we were looking for.
"Yes, it is simple, but you aren't mad at me, you aren't mad at 'A', you are mad at the fact that you're feeding into this circumstance which frankly isn't even your fault! So what are you looking for!?"
I blinked at his shout, that was... emotional. He didn't seem as detached as most employees expected him to be, as I expected him to be.
"I simply want to see that we aren't looking away from the consequences of our actions!" No, there was something wrong with that line of thinking. Information may erase the date, but it was still seen by him and me.
Yes, that's it! "Stop with the bullshit! The both of us will always know what happened, and that's good enough. You just... didn't want to see people die." Where the hell was this guy? That kind of mentality didn't fit the City... no wonder he ended up in a metal box.
Somehow, that just makes me respect him more.
"I don't know many things, Yesod. I don't know why I'm here, I don't know why we need so much energy and I don't even know who the hell I am, but I know that just... letting those thoughts infest your mind isn't good."
Well... never thought I'd say this, but the Manager is actually not that much of a dick.
I thought about my day's as a W Corp agent doing cleanups... the day I just felt it all boil inside my chest with nowhere to go. The day I heard that L Corp was just hiring people of any skills, I just hopped in without thinking. The day before, I felt it all smash itself against my chest and I simply... shouted.
All that frustration couldn't stay there forever, so it all went through my lips as a primal shout filled with emotion. Maybe it could help him... even if shouting doesn't sound like it would fit Yesod at all.
"I'm pretty sure you read my files before, hated my job in the Cleanup Crews... it was just covering every little detail of the process of our wonderful Warp Trains. Got almost put in a body bag when I left to this Wing... not sure how you guys even got me here really, but the day before, I felt it all trying to burst through my chest and I let it all out. All of those emotions have to go somewhere, Yesod." I explained, awkwardly. This kind of emotional pep talk wasn't my forte.
He stared at m- no at us, and after a minute, his whole body twitched, "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" A shout rang out, and I was correct, those didn't fit him at all.
As the shout got quieter, his body slowly was turning back to normal, by the end of it, he was back to being a box. He's missing some parts and not everything was completely locked in place... but it worked, we did it.
I released a breath that I never knew I kept in, "You should... probably look for your own way to cope, shouting just isn't your thing." I commented with a small smile while trying to carry him, which is hard considering he is about as big as I am.
"He really should, that shout was kind of terrifying."
Yesod didn't laugh, but I had the feeling he was amused, "I always thought about Yoga, not that this body could properly do that." That was... unexpected.
"Glad to have you back, Yesod. I'm expecting you to be a hard-ass again by tomorrow."
I rolled my eyes at his words, "I liked it more when you kept your distance. You really aren't good at this whole being social thing." But it was better than I expected, for someone that apparently didn't even know who he was.
No wonder why everyone calls him the Manager.
While I was putting Yesod on my back, getting ready to take him towards Angela, he decided to speak again, "Ryn, nothing said here leaves this place." At his order, I gave a brief nod. This doesn't feel like something we should tell everyone else.
"Manager, I know you have questions, but I can't safely answer them. What I can tell you is this, Angela, Malkuth and Trigger... you can't trust them." I'm sorry what? I wanted an explanation, actually I NEED an explanation.
The Manager sighed.
"I'll... keep that in mind, thanks for the warning, and Ryn? Good work."
And with that, he didn't speak again. He probably disconnected from the communicator, "What are you on about? I know Trigger can be overbearing, but I doubt he would be batshit insane to just try and off the Manager, Angela is a bit cold but she didn't seem like the type to do that and Malkuth is... well she got better." I was waiting for an answer before I even thought about moving.
"I'll explain later, the situation is... complicated and while I'm not allowed to tell much to the Manager, you are a different story." He said with finality, making me nod.
At least things ended on a high note... although I may have just digged myself into deeper shit than I wanted to, "You are talking like we are going to war." I commented, trying to make a joke.
"We just may..."