In the underground laboratory, the room buzzed with the quick and subtle tapping of buttons as Cole's eyes fluttered open to painfully bright lights. Rachael, the Android, sat at the desk, typing on a laptop until she heard him groan.
"Good morning, Master. I wasn't aware you had awoken early," she said, walking over to him and putting on a black robe before attempting to climb into bed with him. Uncomfortable with her insistence on proximity, he forced himself out of bed.
"It was just a dream; I'll be in the shower," he muttered to himself, ignoring Rachael. At his dresser, he grabbed a pair of boxers, socks, and a grey shirt. Turning to her, he asked while grabbing a loofah, "You gonna be fine out here or...?"
She looked up at him quizzically before standing up, walking over, smiling seductively, letting her cleavage show, and swaying her hips. Stopping a foot from him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close to kiss him. Cole glared, touched her stomach to shove her back, and a flash filled the room with an orange-gold glow.
Rachael flinched and tried to speak but collapsed before she could. Shaking his head, Cole sighed exasperatedly, hoisted her up by her leg, and put her in the bed's center, tossing the comforter on her. From the time she was out to when he heard beeping, Cole knew the next thing she'd know was rebooting on the bed, unable to move.
"Master Cole...uh, I can't move my arms or legs," she called out but was met with silence. Looking down, she saw why she couldn't move-wrapped in bedsheets, tied around her, were power cords and spare wires.
'I guess my experiment was a total failure. Master Sigma does not wish to use my body for stress relief, and I paid for it,' she thought, attempting to free herself. Ten minutes later, Cole emerged from the bathroom, wearing the same black and grey clothes, but cleaner and newer.
"Master Sig-uh, I mean, Cole, I apologize for my actions. I wanted to surmise for myself whether or not you were up for a stress relief session with me," she said, sitting up with a smile that felt fake to Cole.
"Do any of that again, and I promise you won't reboot a second time," he said, using Agheu Glas to cut her out of the fabric. Afterward, he grabbed the key card and left the robot alone.
"Just one more day, and I'll be out of here; to finally be back with my snowflake," he muttered, absentmindedly walking into the hallway towards the elevator. On his way, memories of Ezra flooded his mind. "What could be worse, huh? A 24-year-old orphan in love with a girl that reminds me of you," he said, pulling out a picture of Ezra and him sleeping in her living room, appreciating the fact that she found it cute he fell asleep and took a tired selfie.
"Cole, I know you don't like TV, but this is my favorite show. I promise you'll love this too; just give it a chance," Ezra said, pulling Cole under her blanket and letting him hold the bowl of popcorn.
"I'll give this movie ten minutes," Cole replied, stuffing his mouth full of popcorn. Ezra giggled, hugging him, resting her head on his, both smiling, but hers wider.
Cole hadn't realized he'd fallen asleep in her arms until he woke up with a kink in his neck, both under the blanket cuddling. Looking behind him, he saw her smiling in her sleep, burying her face in his shoulder. Smiling, he rolled over and pulled her into his arms, whispering, "So... this is what a mother must have felt like," just before falling asleep with tears rolling down his face into her hair.
As the memory faded away, he stepped into the elevator and pushed the 18th-floor button, taking him straight to the training arena. Thinking he'd been bleeding, he wiped his eyes, discovering he'd actually been crying. Smiling through his tears, thoughts of Ezra and Weiss crossed his mind-wondering how they'd probably fight or just live together in her small house. He laughed at the thought and stepped out of the elevator.
Inside the training room stood the most aggravating training droid he'd ever fought. This particular droid knew his every move before he could make it, beating him into the ground every day until he scored a good-sized scratch on its back. And what was his reward? A giant gauntlet to the face, of course.
Today, though, he felt like moving through the motions Ezra had taught him. Today was his easy day to let his mind wander while he moved like on autopilot. What better way than to turn a smaller bot on, only with the mimic program active, and move with the music he'd put on to help him better go through the motions?
Starting off, he went for a left cross, faked a right hook, and performed a side kick, sending the droid flying with a shockwave of dark red lightning. In that moment, Cole went from calm and stoic to terrified, looking down at his hands sparking vibrant gold and dark orange with small red arcs between his fingers.
Happiness from earlier turned to dread, and anger burned for the man who stole his potential future and burned his life away three years ago.
"This looks just like-no, it's-I'm-" he whispered, backing up too fast, tripping on his own feet, falling on his back. Sitting up, on instinct, his body flared his lightning around him like a cloak, and all around him, red, gold, and orange swirled and grew brighter and brighter.
"Make it stop, please make it stop!"
Just as he saw it, memories of Weiss bleeding out in his arms flooded back. Her life stained his hands, and he desperately tried to help her. At first, he thought she was dead. After a few minutes, he felt her breathing against his neck while he hugged her, crying-just not as much as he'd hoped.
"You are such a failure!" Jaune yelled.
"What's wrong with you, Cole?" Yang joined in.
"I'm just relieved to see you two came back alive, Cole. Just... please be more careful," Glynda and Ezra said together.
"You almost killed my sister, you monster!" Winter tried slicing through his armored chest.
Images of Ezra dying, his fight with all of his old friends, his running away from his new life, the news recording of Blake's death that Rachael showed him-actually making him feel the worst for how he'd treated her. The worst was finding out he was now a White Fang sympathizer who died in Mistral, and it hit him like a freight train. He'd lost any strength to stand and crumbled like a sand sculpture.
The droid struck him with a powerful uppercut, and the last thing Cole heard was a crunch and popping sound as he hit the floor, coughing harshly, face on the floor.
Lying there, unable to move or breathe properly, his instincts urged him to move, but his mind raced with memories of how bad he'd become.
"No, this can't be happening to me. I'm not a monster!" he thought, attempting to force himself to stand up. However, his legs gave out, and he fell to his knees.
"Make them stop, please stop; the voices are too loud," he took a deep breath and screamed, "PLEASE STOP THE VOICES," gripping his head in his hands, bawling his heart out and struggling to breathe without choking on blood.
To his dismay, the voices only grew louder as he felt weak and scared, shaking and shivering like he was freezing from the inside out, turning into a full-blown anxiety attack. As hyperventilation set in, tears streamed down his face, hitting the floor like raindrops.
Not long after, the training bot convulsed as it neared his field of lightning, the metal creaking and loudly groaning like it would break at any moment.
Taking a few steps toward the arena, the robot grabbed him by the neck, squeezing tight, lifting him off the ground, and preparing to punch him.
Cole looked right at the fist and, in a desperate attempt to escape, tried to let out a roar that came out as a strangled choking sound. An ionic wave threw the droid to the ground head and shoulders first, shorting it out, but he was far from done.
Dropping to the ground, Cole clenched his fists tight, trying to hold in the pain, slowly getting to his feet, shaking and gasping for breath, coughing a bit as he did.
Looking down at the robot, he aimed his hand at its face. The moment he saw his lightning come out as it did last time, he sighed, lowering it, keeping his head down, slowly walk-limping out of the room, deciding to call it a day.
He had been staying in this laboratory for too long, healing but not bothering to clean anything up. Opting to let his mind wander, he tried to find happier times in his life, but it was hard when he was scared of his own body. The color didn't make it feel any better either, but he hoped it would change back to his old colors of gold and orange.
"I did all this to myself," Cole said aloud, feeling drained in more ways than one.
Walking through the halls, he glanced at the Grimm still roaming the underground laboratories, noting how they didn't even acknowledge him. A Beringal walked past him, pushing him aside with a gentle nudge, almost instinctively showing him respect. He reached out and gently pet it as it walked away, purposely avoiding him.
"What is going on?" he asked as quietly and gently as possible.
The leathery, tar-like skin of the Grimm shone like polished obsidian, despite feeling like it could take an explosion head-on. Cole noticed how his Grimm arm transformed from thin, bone-like twigs to something resembling his other arm-more musculature and tougher bone armor with claw-like nails.
His dread in the air, the Grimm rushed toward him. As panic set in, the gorilla-like Grimm rushed over, stood over him, roaring and pounding the ground around him. Cole curled up in the fetal position, screaming in terror.
The gorilla-like Grimm got the others to back off, and with a ground-shaking final bash, they all fled. The Beringal stopped growling and roaring to check on Cole, who trembled under the ten-foot Grimm gorilla.
As it moved away, Cole peeked up, mentally questioning why it protected him from its own kind. Sitting up to look at the Grimm, he watched it gesture to his arm, then to itself, pointing to its heart. After backing away, it turned around, leaving him alone in the halls.
"I think it's time I left... like, right now," he said, sprinting toward the bedroom door and slamming it shut with his foot after crashing through it.
"Rachel, we're leaving... also, I might need help."
She looked down at him from the bed and asked, "Where are we going, and why do you want to change my name?" Cole grabbed his belongings and turned around to find his robot servant standing in front of him, visibly upset.
"Dr. Merlot gave me the name, and I'd like to know why you're changing it, Master," she said, crossing her arms. Cole took a deep breath to calm himself, but his annoyance only grew the longer she stood there.
"I said 'I need help,' not 'I'm changing your name,' you bucket of bolts and plastic," he said, walking over to the closet, putting five changes of the same outfit in a duffel bag: black socks, grey shirts, black boxer briefs, black and silver camo pants, and a mask to hide his face when he wasn't wearing his helmet.
"Plus, you look like a Rachael anyway," he added, handing her a bag. "Go find food that is light but filling, and please be quick, or I'll leave you here." She nodded and left to gather all the food the bag could carry, leaving Cole to take extra precautions around the facility using lightning dust crystals and C4 explosives as bombs set to detonate five minutes after the timer started.
A few hours later, the entire facility had been littered with nearly seventy C4 dust bombs for all thirty-five floors. Cole went toward the main entrance where Rachael stood wearing a duffel full of food she'd grabbed.
"Are you really sure about destroying the facility, Cole? There's no way back once you set down this path," she asked, giving him a choice to stay a bit longer.
"I'm positive, Rachael. This place needs to disappear under Remnant."
Stopping, he motioned for her to help him out of his armor, which almost took a full hour and another hour to pack it away inside a large case. Realizing the trouble he could bring, he put on the mask and continued inside the elevator. "I'm ready now."
She nodded and pressed the top floor marked with an obvious 'one' and pulled out a box with a switch on it. "This will start a five-minute window for us to get far enough from here, but we'll have to be fast."
Ignoring the warning, he switched it to trigger the timer the moment he saw the doors open to a huge room with a single door on the other end.
"Let's go, Rachael," he said impatiently, rushing out of the bunker he'd been living in. "I'm not wasting this chance to erase that place for good."
She nodded, following his lead out the door, where both found a conveniently parked truck. Cole smirked mischievously, walking towards the front seat door. With his Grimm arm, he smashed the window, unlocked the doors, and went straight to cleaning the seat of glass before turning the car on with his lightning. "Rachel, put our bags in the trunk and get in!" he exclaimed.
No sooner had he said as much, she closed the plate above the bed of the truck and hopped in, stripping out of her uniform and putting on a more casual outfit. Cole felt the explosions shake the ground beneath the truck just before caving in on itself.
He shifted gears, stomped on the gas, swerving between trees, wildlife, and rocks, not noticing Rachael watching the ground fall in on itself. "Um, mas- Cole? You might wanna speed up... right now!" she said frantically, trying to buckle her seat belt and locking it as tight as it went.
"I'm driving as fast as this thing can go!" he yelled, launching the truck in the air on a rock. "Shit, hang on-"
Weight gave way for a few seconds before hitting a tree from his side, breaking some of his bone armor off his left arm, spraying blood all over himself and the area he sat in.
The truck rolled to the right in the air, went end over end, and smashed through trees, rocks, crashing upside down in a ravine, spaying water everywhere, shattering the glass at all sides, crushing the engine, spilling all its contents in the water, and with such force knocked out Cole.
Several minutes ticked by before Cole regained his senses, noticing the ground continued to shake until before ceasing entirely, but trees continued to fall like dominos.
Looking around as he crawled out of the truck, he groaned at the fact that the truck was smashed and crumpled. Rachael was unharmed but unconscious, and all around seemed fine.
"Damn, probably shouldn't have blown it so soon," he coughed out a chuckle, spilling blood from his mouth and nose.
Dragging himself out of the truck, he took in his surroundings to guess where he was, but all he could see were plants, fleeing animals, fallen trees swallowed by a sinkhole he'd created.
Cole sighed at the cold air against his skin, letting a smile spread over his face, relishing in the freedom he now had. However, it was short-lived when he realized Rachael and their stuff were in the truck, which was upside down and leaking gas in the ravine.
"FUCK," he exclaimed, running over to the truck and went to work getting Mia out first. He grabbed his dagger, cut her seatbelt off, and dragged her out, gently laying her down on the ground before going back to get their stuff.
All he could salvage from the wreckage was his weapons, clothes, and armor, but the food, tent, and other survival supplies were gone. Night was quickly approaching, so, ignoring his wounds, he put everything on his back, picked Rachael up, and started walking into the forest, hoping they wouldn't get attacked.
"Can't get any worse from here," he said, climbing over a fallen tree. The pain that racked through his body was dismal compared to the feelings swirling around in his head. Hope was never something he could grasp when his whole life was a myriad of bad situations and bad luck wrapped up in a tight ball.
Several hours into his walk through the woods, Cole collapsed under the roots of an old tree, panting and sweating. Forcing himself to his feet, he tossed his bags in the farthest spot and set Mia against the bags before realizing she might be... well, dead wouldn't be a good term, but it was more... shut off for the moment. Not even thinking it over, he shot her in the chest, hoping it would turn her back on. In doing so, he blacked out, falling to the soft soil.
While Cole slept the day away, Rachael came back online. After a few minutes rebooting, she sat up, assessed what happened, and looked around. As she saw Cole unconscious and wounded, with his Grimm arm spreading further up to his shoulder and neck, she muttered, "This is bad."
She looked him over for any other abnormalities or wounds, finding none. Letting out a sigh, she slumped back against the bags in relief, knowing Cole was relatively okay for now.
"He must have been in so much pain carrying me and all of this stuff," she said, pulling out a first aid kit from the backpack he had salvaged and got to work setting up her pseudo workstation. Carefully slumping Cole over the bags, she cleaned, sutured, and covered up his wounds.
She slowly poured some cold disinfectant on the wound, making Cole wake up screaming. She gave him a rubber tube to bite down on, saying, "Chew on this, Master," almost regretting her choice.
She thought Cole tolerated pain, but the moment the needle entered through his skin again and again, was one moment after another. He grabbed her other hand, almost breaking one or two fingers from the girl's hand in his grip.
With every movement she made, Cole started yelling and shaking. Worst of all, Mia could barely manage to hold him down.
Rachael couldn't bear to keep looking, but she had to. She kept watching him suffer while she worked the thread and needle through his flesh. The expression on his face told her everything he was feeling. He tried to be quiet with his own screams by clenching his teeth, which looked like they would shatter from the pressure at any moment if not for the tube he was biting, seemingly straight through.
He kept his eyes open, full of tears of pain, looking directly at her eyes as if trying to burn something in his memory. He swore he saw Weiss herself holding his gaze. Then, just like that, nearly all the muscles in his body went limp. His head hit the bag, and the rubber tube fell from his mouth, rolling in the dirt.
She tried to calm down, but seeing him like this was too much for her to bear. She dressed the sutures, wrapped them up with bandages to cover what she could, and decided to leave him there on his chest and try to process that moment.