Quick warning: major out-of-character-ness. Also, slightly important note at the end.


Kiku looked up as Elizabeta burst into his office breathlessly, her vivid green eyes wide and slightly panicked.

"Kiku, did you see Gilbert's shoulder at any point after we had taken him?" She asked; the question was out of her mouth so quickly Kiku actually had to think about it carefully and slowly before he could respond.

"I had not, as I did not run a full examination on him." He said slowly, placing his current project down gently on the table next to him. "But I will assume there was something of significance on Gilbert-san's shoulder that should have been brought to our attention immediately." When Elizabeta nodded frantically, Kiku felt his heart sink. "What was it, Elizabeta-san?" He asked slowly, though he had a feeling he knew what it was.

"A love bite." Kiku closed his dark eyes as his suspicions were confirmed and let out a long sigh.

"Which means that Gilbert-san and Roderich-san had done something in that manner." He murmured, his hands placed together at the fingertips. "Do we know if there is any correlation to the love bite and the way Gilbert-san had been acting when I had switched him on?" Elizabeta shrugged helplessly and Kiku was silent for a few moments, thinking. "Get Feliciano-san and Heracles-san."

"Kiku...?" Elizabeta questioned softly, blinking curiously. Kiku met her gaze evenly.

"They are the only two in use so far, aside from Gilbert-san. We can assume that Ludwig-san has used Feliciano-san to his full potential." Kiku's face flushed lightly as he continued. "And I can assure you that Heracles-san has been used on several occasions as well." Elizabeta smiled slightly and Kiku cleared his throat pointedly. "We shall lock them in separate rooms and gauge their reactions to not seeing their masters again. If there is any similarities to how Gilbert-san had been acting..."

"Then he would have definitely been used properly." Elizabeta nodded, seeing Kiku's logic before doing as she was told.


Elizabeta sat just outside of Heracles' room, eyes closed as she listened to the mecha pace around.

He had been like that almost as soon as she locked him in there, almost as if he knew his reason for being in the room even though Elizabeta made sure not to mention it to him just yet.

The pacing stopped suddenly and Elizabeta looked up.

"Boss...?" Came quietly from the other side. "Boss, what's...going on?" Elizabeta blinked, but answered anyway.

"I put you in here while Kiku packs." She said, looking down at the paper where Kiku had written what she was going to tell Heracles should he ask why he was locked in a room. "He has decided that he no longer wants to work here, and has made a decision to go back to his family in Japan." There was silence on the other side of the door.

"Am I to be going as well?" Elizabeta blinked again at the tone in Heracles' voice, noting that he sounded much more awake as he spoke.

"..." She hesitated slightly, before closing her eyes and forcing it out. "...No." Biting her lip, Elizabeta winced at the loud noise that came as a result of Heracles hitting the door.

"Why?" He asked, an almost frantic tone in his voice. Elizabeta gaped silently, though Heracles couldn't see her, and tried to come up with an answer for him.

On the other side of the door, Heracles' mind was working frantically, going through his memory banks and pulling up everything with him and the Asian mechanic, trying to find what he might have done wrong to lead to the situation he found himself in. Everything, it seemed, from the moment his eyes opened to see the smaller male, to when Kiku had shyly kissed him one night, to the day before when Kiku had his head resting on the mecha's stomach as he thought of a way to fix Gilbert, had been going perfectly well. Kiku hadn't made anything seem out of place at all, and that only served to make him more frantic.

"I need- - -" He jumped slightly, not used to the feelings coursing through him. "I- - -let me see him, Boss, please..." Heracles could feel his breath coming in gasps, and he hit the door once more, both his hands smacking loudly against one of the few things blocking him from his master, flattening as he pushed all his weight against them. "Let me out!"

"I can't..." Elizabeta's voice came from the opposite side of the door, weak and tear-filled- - -a complete opposite of the normally cheerful, outgoing woman she was.

That cemented everything for Heracles- - -his master, one Honda Kiku, was leaving. And he, for whatever unknown reason, was bring left behind.

Letting out a desperate, animalistic cry that was completely unlike the normally sleepy mecha, Heracles fisted his hands and began pounding nonstop against the door. Random words and images flashed through his mind; images of himself and Kiku, words and sentences that held an important meaning to the creation but (evidently) not to the creator. He felt his eyes inexplicably fill with something, and his head twitched slightly. Heracles ignored everything, though, focused in his attempts to get out of the room he was confined in and back to Kiku.

And for the first time, he understood how Gilbert felt when he woke and realized he was in the same prison Heracles was trapped in. Heracles felt the same 'malfunctioning' qualities Gilbert had the first two days making his system short-circuit. While he knew that continuing in his overly emotional state would only cause him to have to restart his system (if only because he wasn't used to feeling so strongly- - -being asleep a good portion of every day had somehow stunted his emotional growth in a way that was startling to Heracles, had he the ability to recognize it), he couldn't bring himself to calm from his panicked state, relentlessly pounding at the door that seemed to taunt him by holding him in the room and yelling something in a language he couldn't remember Kiku downloading into him.

His words started coming at a pace too fast for anyone to understand, even himself, and he was dimly aware of his system overloading. Feeling his body twitch erratically, Heracles pounded on the door a few more times, each one with slightly less force than the last, until his eyes dimmed and he dropped gracelessly onto the floor.

On the other side of the door, Elizabeta clutched onto her clipboard, tears pouring down her face at an alarming rate. Her shoulders shook with her efforts to keep her cries silent, and she would gasp shudderingly for breath every few moments. She had known it would hurt her when Heracles reacted, but she hadn't been aware of how painful it would be for her to hear how...how heartbroken he would sound. Gasping soundlessly, Elizabeta used the wall behind her to stand properly, relying on it to provide the support her legs wouldn't.

"I'm sorry..." She choked out in a whisper, unsure if she was apologizing to Gilbert or Heracles- - -in the back of her mind, she decided it was to both; for ripping Gilbert away from someone who had (clearly) loved him and for lying to Heracles for an experiment. "I'm so sorry...oh, god..."


In a completely different part of the company, Kiku was having a similar issue with Feliciano.

"Let me go!" The Italian mecha cried, struggling violently in Kiku's arms. "I beg of you- - -Ludwig! Ludwig! si prega di Ludwig venire salvami!" Kiku grunted lightly as a flailing arm hit his face, and a knee managed to somehow catch his stomach; while Feliciano wasn't a fighter-mecha by design, the fact remained that the boy had a metal skeleton and with the reckless way he had been throwing his body, Kiku was sure that he would have more bruises on his body than necessary.

"Feliciano-san..." He tried, but the boy ignored him in favor of letting a long, drawn out mixture of a tearful wail and furious war-cry out of his mouth (it sounded odd on the cheerful boy- - -not the wail, but the war-cry). Feliciano renewed his efforts to get away- - -unlike Heracles, the boy was used to feeling high amounts of energy and feeling, making it less likely he would short-circuit any time soon.

As Italian and German began to mix together with his speech, Kiku decided he had more than enough evidence for Gilbert's behavior; touching Feliciano's ear, he flipped the switch and the mecha fell uselessly into his lap, pain-filled amber eyes dulling. Wincing slightly as he lay Feliciano gently on the floor, Kiku stood and called Ludwig into the room.

The German man came instantly; he looked curiously from the shut off mecha on the floor to the seemingly battle-worn creator, but didn't ask any questions.

"I am giving you the next few days off." Kiku murmured tiredly, rubbing his eyes with one hand. They had only been an hour, at the most, and he hoped desperately that Elizabeta was done- - -if Heracles was acting the way Feliciano and Gilbert was, then he was needed to calm him down. "Take Feliciano-san with you." As Ludwig picked up Feliciano easily, Kiku hesitantly placed a hand on his arm. "Don't wake him until you are at your home, understand?" Ludwig nodded once, and Kiku sighed. "We needed him for an experiment. He is going to be frantic and panicky when he wakes up. Be careful, Ludwig-san."


"I feel as though I am at fault." He admitted quietly later. Elizabeta sat beside him, sniffling every now and then. When Kiku found her, she had been a wreck; she had been shaking violently, almost as if she was going to shut down. It had taken a while to calm her down, and Kiku had shut Heracles off as she did. They sat together in his office, in silence until Kiku broke it. "I should have been more thorough in my checking, and I should have noticed something so obviously out of place before I turned him back on." Elizabeta sighed shakily.

"Roderich came back today." She said finally, her voice catching slightly in her throat. Kiku's eyes snapped open and he gazed at her questioningly. "I let him see Gilbert, and..." Elizabeta smiled helplessly and shrugged. "It could have ended better, I suppose. But he kissed Gilbert, and he just froze. It was so strange." Kiku looked up at the ceiling and sighed.

"Gilbert-san is still in your office, correct?" At Elizabeta's nod, Kiku stood up and cracked his knuckles. "I had erased Gilbert-san's memories, but I made a copy and placed it in my computer; I shall see if I can transfer the data to him while I do another check-up. At the same time," He continued, looking directly at Elizabeta. "You should call Roderich-san and inform him of our error; mention that he will have Gilbert-san returned to him shortly." When Elizabeta looked up at him, Kiku smiled slightly, albeit painfully and regretfully. "If Roderich-san still wants him, that is."

"He wants him." Elizabeta laughed humorlessly. "Trust me, he wants him." Kiku nodded once and, checking the time- - -barely seven-fifteen, despite the day seeming endlessly long and tiring- - -he went to his computer to retrieve Gilbert's memories.


Well. Um...this seemed like a depressing and out of place chapter. Honestly, this was much...sadder chapter than I was going for. Yea. I'm not too sure I like this chapter much. not only was it slightly depressing, I just don't think it was a good chapter at all. It's just...a horrible chapter. XD ah well.

Any way, I dunno if any of you check my profile (I doubt it- - -it's a dreadfully boring place, my profile), but on the off chance any of you care, there's a poll for my next mecha-human coupling story. It's probably only going to be a one-shot (most likely a one-shot), but if you want to cast a vote, I'd greatly appreciate it. XD yea. Thanks!