XR came to Valder town, humanoid and wearing a casual look (he bought clothes before coming) but had worn cologne and blushes carrying a bag of food Vanet might like. He had everything set up! "And he can't complain about-"
CRASH!
XR felt as if time slowed down so much, he saw it was Nos that flew out across and crashed into a tree.
Earlier
Nos was finishing up on sculpting the newest work but it felt unsettling when he takes a few steps back to see it. The commission was of a demon impaling an angel. It wasn't any conflict that he has, he doesn't have that kind of belief but it felt as if it was a warning to him. The thoughts of someone watching him came back but shook it off. He was having a day with two special people, it was just his cautiousness after these months. 'Besides, I do not want Vanet having to fear something at every turn. She deserves to have normalcy in her life.
"Papa, can we go get a slice of cake from Bunicul? He's going to make a new recipe!" Vanet was putting her stuff away as Nos gave her a smile and a nod. He stops and puts the tools down, shifts to the humanoid and walks up to the door. "XR might have also brought snacks-"
{ALERT! ALERT!}
Nos froze when he felt something was wrong just as he touched the door. He, through the security system, saw someone break into his shop and was waiting by the door to his inner workshop. The only way in was through Nos's scan he made so no one can walk in.
"Papa?"
He backs away, he needs Vanet to escape now. "Vanet, remember what we talked about if there was a bad person coming?" He could not look at his daughter, he already knew she was scared now.
"Y-yeah?" She shook and saw Nos walk over to the part of the floor and opened to reveal a tunnel. He picks her up and places her in it. He grabs the lantern and lights it with a spark before handing it to her and hands her the goggles. "This will take you directly to the house. When you get there, press the green button behind the picture of us in my lab." He was about to climb out when she held his hand.
"Wh-what about you?" She began to cry. She felt scared of losing him just as she lost her parents. "I don't want to lose anyone anymore."
Nos did not know what to expect but smiled and kneel down. "I will come back. I promise." He did not stop her from hugging him and he hugged her back tightly before letting go. He gets back up and closes the hatch and sees it morph to hide the secret tunnel. He looks to the door and floats up to hiding in the shadows and allows the door to open itself.
Entering his workshop revealed a figure in a trench coat but Nos can sense this person was no ordinary merc or bounty hunter from his sensors as he detected the intruder was a machine. Their steps were heavy and he waited to see what happened.
"Incredible work, I must say. I ordered from the perfect artist." The intruder steps forward and looks at the piece.
Nos kept quiet and waited.
"Oh but it seemed to be missing something…."
Nos shifts to kneel and zooms down to attack but the intruder catches him and throws him to the base of the statues. He tries to get up but winces when the rod spear pierce into his abdominal area and against the angel.
"Perfect~ you have given me a hard time finding you, Mr. Atu." the intruder smirks as Nos struggles to break free. The intruder chuckles and takes off the trench coat revealing himself to be a robot that stood 6 feet tall. His color schemes on his body cover was of black and white and optics were blue but Nos can guess who he is. "Where is that girl?"
"What girl?" Nos grunts and glares but keeps his attention on him. He was about to press a button to reach out to Ryder in his hand only to feel it crushed under the heel of the attacker.
"You are making it very hard for me to end you by crushing your chest and leaving you like this." The robot shook his head and gripped onto the metal rod and rolled it to spur more pain from Nos. "I want to make you suffer and see the last Helsing die in front of you. All that helped them, met an untimely and horrible end by my hands. Somehow you seemed to be able to keep her from me and be a ghost in the system."
Nos growls, his system was trying to fix the inner damages but he needed to get the rod out first. "I will not surrender her to a screw loose monster." He glares, charging his power up.
"You can survive this if you just-" but the robot was blasted out of the inner shop, destroying some of Nos's work. Nos pulls the rod out and grunts in pain but feels relief. He grabs the case he keeps as an emergency before he grips the rod and charges it with energy. He stumbles but hurries over to the robot who was getting up. Nos in speed, struck the rod into the robot's chest.
The attacker looks to see the supposed organic was an android growling at him. "What an unexpected surprise~ no wonder I couldn't find any more information about you. I hate androids." He growls, gripping the rod to pull out.
Nos grunts trying to keep the rod in and growls at the robot but he soon rammed the rod in until it went through the ground. "You will never lay a claw on my daughter!" He forces more energy but was shocked to see the robot absorbing the energy! Nos lets go and backs away to his broken counter and takes out a weapon he hid just in case. He brings it out and holds it to shoot.
"How adorable to think a blaster will-!"
BANG!
The intruder stops and feels the shots were not from an ordinary blaster as his body was slowly paralyzing. He falters and finds a bullet was paralyzing him enough that he was struggling to keep his stance. And it was neutralizing the Anti-matter! He glares and growls at the android.
"You think I would use a mere energy blaster to fight you, an Antimatter vampire?" Nos glares, his hands become claws and runs in speed to attack the enemy who barely blocks him in time. "I knew sooner or later, you would come yourself." Nos growls and dodges the attack and swings a kick at him.
But the intruder catches his calf. He pierces it and grips tightly.
"Oh how long I miss fighting!" DRAC smirks and swings Nos and is thrown outside and into the trees across the street.
Now
"Nos what the heck!?" XR helped him up but Nos pushed him away when something white nearly took him out and Nos was attacked by the thing. XR was going to use his blaster but it was off. "Nos let me help!" He ducks when Nos throws the attacker away.
"I'm a little impressed, metal man but you still have a chance to surrender the girl to me." DRAC smirks and lunges to attack Nos but is caught off by the smoke. He expands his wings and flaps the smoke away to find them gone. He growls but sees small traces of the liquid from his target.
Nos was carried by XR who was running in top speed. 'I need to end him!' But XR was keeping him farther away from the fight. He looked down and saw his left calf was clawed but it had wires out and leaking fluid. "XR stop!" Nos forces XR to stop. When XR lets him go, with some hesitation, Nos limps to the side and takes out a small case. He opens the case and takes the syringe and injects the nanites to fix his calf and other damages.
XR waits for Nos but the second Nos tries to go back to fight, XR stops him.
"XR you need to let me fight him!" Nos spoke, sensing the intruder coming close. "This is the tyrant I am after! He-"
"Nos, stop and think!" XR held him by the shoulders and Nos stopped. "He wounded you already," XR pointed out. "2nd, he's not taking you seriously. You can tell he's just playing with you!" He added and sees Nos acknowledged that fact and can tell he did not like it. "Do you think fighting him here will work? He's just gonna keep this fight up until eithet he gets bored or you retreat and head back to your home, to Vanet. And we both know you're too stubborn to back down." XR can see the glare. "You said it yourself, he's after Vanet, we need to protect her but we also need to protect the people here too. We need to move the fight somewhere else where you have the advantage and I can support you so that you can have the higher ground."
Nos understood what XR said, but if he joins this fight, he can die. "XR you can get in trouble and worse if you fight him." 'I will never forgive myself if anything happens to him.' "Please-"
"We're a team on this and if you think I'm going to let you fight alone, heck no!" XR cuts him off again. "Look, we got less than 10 minutes until he realizes you're not chasing him."
[Alert! ALERT!]
Nos senses the energy vampire was coming close. "XR this is my fight-"
"Nos please let me help!" XR was shaking, he was afraid of losing Nos. That's when he felt his core ache. The thought of losing Nos was the worst feeling ever.
"He is not a normal energy vampire-" Nos pauses when he sees XR grins.
"I can shoot him down if it means you got a chance to lay it on him! Please let me help." XR spoke, pulling his Blaster out. "We can pull this off, trust me."
Nos groans but gives him the weapon he made. "Use this instead. We need to lure him away from the town and Vanet. The other side of the forest is much more dense and harder to detect."
"Sounds like a plan." XR grins.
Nos smiles back but is startled when he's picked up by XR as he flies off in his jet pack. Nos clings to him, not letting go.
"No overstressing in flying." XR didn't think about it but he carried Nos as he flew past out of the town and into the other side of the forest and away from his home.
When XR lands, Nos takes off and places the randometer on XR's chest and it is connected into XR's system. "He cannot detect you with this, stay in the grounds and wait for your chance." Nos spoke.
XR hesitated but walked away to hide. He waited and saw the antimatter vampire flew down.
Nos watches and not once flinches when the antimatter vampire scans him and optics widen in discovery of who he is.
"So you are alive! The infamous terror, Nos-4-a2!" The antimatter vampire begins to grin but Nos glares, not giving him an answer. The said vampire robot hums, "Not much of a talker, are you? Glad you do not have that from Zurg."
"If you are trying to provoke me, it is rather tacky of you." Nos spoke. "You must be this Tyrant that is to be the most dangerous, DRAC-2-LA. I find myself disappointed." He moves when the tyrant moves. "You have the same ego as Zurg."
"I will not fight you," DRAC smirks but can tell Nos was not convinced. "I want to talk now." The antimatter vampire smirks, eyeing Nos-4-a2, how wonderful that his little energy vampire was not only alive but had kept the last Helsing alive. 'Curse or a blessing, I now have two prizes.' "I must say, I was hoping to gaze at your real beauty." The Tyrant licks his lips.
XR was shocked. 'Did he just flirt with Nos?' He felt irritated but resisted shooting the creep. He needed to wait for the signal.
"Wait for my signal XR, when his guard is lowered, that is when you shoot him."
XR wished he could take the chance right now
Nos had the same thought but he needed to be patient and wait for the perfect time. He ignores his comment and glares at him. "My daughter has nothing to do with you." Nos keeps his distance. "Leave her alone."
"If she was an ordinary person, I would." DRAC merely smirks and walks forward using his hologram to reveal the family tree of the Helsing."However, I find all Helsing's bloodline a threat to my existence. So long as she is still alive, I will always have the need to end her." He holds out his hand revealing a morphic black substance and sees Nos tense reading what it is. "You are more keen than I thought! Simply a grand weapon-"
"I am not a weapon!" Nos hisses. "And you are not welcome here!" He growls, standing his ground.
DRAC rolls his rovers but saunters to Nos. Nos ready to move but shakes when his own body refuses to move. "Struggling, are we?" He was fascinated to see Nos-4-a2 still able to resist him somehow. "That is because of my power." He stops a few feet away and hears Nos growls at him. "I call it Absolute dominance; just like your power, I can control all robots, even energy vampires and force my will onto them." He was just in front of him, using a claw to tip up Nos's head to face him. "But it seems you are strong enough to resist some of my control. No matter, soon you will not be able to resist me." He pulls away. "I don't want you to be controlled under me. I want something much more special." He walks away and Nos struggles to break free. "Before I propose, let's reveal your real self. I admire your work, but looking like the dead is rather unsettling to me." He sits and snaps his claws and Nos can sense his body changing.
{System error! All commands are unavailable.}
Nos felt his body change against his will and he nearly fell but stood firm. He notices the control was released. He stood up and glares down at the enemy.
"Much better now." DRAC grins, his optics glowed. "I want you to join me, be with me." DRAC speaks.
"No." Nos zooms to attack, but DRAC freezes him in control.
DRAC only chuckles. "Tell me, don't you miss this kind of power? The fear? The terror you brought across the galaxy?" He stood up and moved away and released Nos.
"I do not miss getting destroyed." Nos growls. "And I do not miss having no home. I enjoy who I am now and I prefer to keep it that way." Nos glares.
"You survived after being destroyed! You have shown how worthy you are had Lightyear not come into the picture." DRAC watches and dodges Nos from attacking him.
"As I recall, you helped make Star Command." Nos glares, he needed to give XR a safe range away from Drac. "You made it to ensure Zurg could not rival you."
"I did not expect Star Command to have a hero much less Zurg be foolish enough to be thwarted by him." DRAC blocks the punch and holds Nos's hand and dips him. "But join me as my partner and Lover and you can own Star Command and ruin Lightyear." He grins but Nos kicks him hard and jumps away. However, DRAC was enamored! He wants his bride, one way or another. "We will rule over this galaxy and the next-!" He roars when Nos claws him across the face and backs away from the old vampire.
XR was shocked. 'He wanted Nos as a lover?!' That hit his gut hard. That thought came back again and it felt worse. He was steaming!
Nos ready to attack but was being forced down by DRAC. He winces in pain and feels the claws pierce into his chest.
"Darling bride, you know between us I am much stronger than you." He smirks down at Nos. "It's I force you and find that last bloodline out or you agree and bring her to me as my gift." He smirks, digging his claws deeper. "Choose."
"I will not give up my daughter!" He hisses at him. "But…. I-if I agree, willingly surrender, will you keep away from Vanet?" Nos tried to get his claws off, this was painful and uncomfortable.
XR knew he was trying to protect Vanet, but it made him want to run out to stop him but he couldn't shout or scream! He needed to trust Nos to give him the signal. 'He's trying to delay time.'
"Is that girl that important? Must you cherish the organic?" DRAC glares and sighs letting him go. 'Why must I share him with that little rat?' But he will find a way to get rid of her soon and even find a way to delete her out of Nos's mind. "If you choose to be mine, I will not ever harm her." He spoke but Nos laughed at him. "Do you think I will not keep my word my bride? My word is worth platinum."
"Your words mean shit, just like your personality." Nos backs away. "You are worse than a con artist; at least they can dazzle their bullshit much better than you."
XR was alarmed to hear Nos curse and he hadn't heard him cursed like that.
Nos glares, if he was going to belong to someone, it will be who he chooses and it was not DRAC! He needed to keep DRAC further from XR enough to not trace the direction of the bullet. "I would rather be destroyed than be yours if it means she gets to live! I hate you and I hope you suffer!" Nos flicks his claws, giving XR a sign to be ready to shoot as he sees DRAC draws in close, and further from XR.
"I think being around that girl has made your mind muddle. No matter, I can remedy this." He reveals his fangs, getting closer, Nos ready to move but couldn't. "I'm going to bite you, and make you be your original self using the anti- matter. Perhaps you will see much clearer-"
"You think erasing who I am now will change my feelings towards you?" Nos mocks him. "My past self would despise you and find a way to destroy you just so I have no competition!" Nos flicks his claws again.
DRAC-2-LA growls but smirks. "I always preferred passionate hate-"
BANG!
DRAC felt that shot hit his back, his growls feeling his antimatter dripping and singed the ground making small craters from the liquid. The Antimatter vampire looks around but senses nobody.
XR shoots him again but notices Nos was still under his power and tries to shoot again a third time but DRAC dodges the third one this time.
"Enough!" DRAC shouts, making a magnetic blast erupt around him.
XR felt shocked and immobilized, he tried to move but he couldn't 'By the time I can move, he'll find me!' He needed to get back up!
Nos optics widened and looked to see DRAC smirking.
"You dragged me to lower my defense, Nos-4-a2. I applaud your cute attempt. Perhaps I found another way to make you agree."
Nos optics glowed. "You will not touch him!" he growls and forces his own will out.
Nos remember, no matter what, to break one's control over you is your will power. What do you want more than anything?
Nos grips his hand to release and although struggling, he feels something surge in him, regaining control.
DRAC stops to look back at the energy vampire. 'He is getting out of my control!' He knew it was impossible for anyone to break against his will! The only one who can is imprisoned! 'This Energy Vampire was releasing the same will power as him!'
"You do not touch him!" Nos takes a step forward as if he was carrying weight on his back.
DRAC decides to deal with his rebellious bride. He goes to attack and Nos blasts at him and winces in pain, feeling the control trying to force him to stop. Energy flaring around him as he was showing how much he was practically ripping himself free from his control! DRAC growled and hurried to stop him. "You are just a weapon! A toy without an owner! A puppet for Evil!" He grips Nos by the neck, his fangs out. Nos hisses and lunges at DRAC but he grips Nos arm. He bites down hard into the forearm and begins depositing the black substance.
Nos screeches in pain and tries to break free.
{warning! Warning! Anti-matter is being injected.
Overwriting is in place!}
Nos was feeling his body shutting down but his thoughts, his feelings and memories were beginning to fade. He felt his memories were disappearing but he was still resisting, fighting against it.
Nos opened his optics to find himself tied down by the antimatter and he felt himself being consumed. It was slow and painful, destroying him.
"Pathetic."
Nos looked to see his old self but was covered in cracks. He was broken.
"Are you really going to allow someone else's will onto us? Let a mere zurg copy win?!"
Nos glares and tries to break free. He never tried to use the antimatter, afraid of losing himself to it like his predecessor before him and DRAC.
"Papa!"
Nos sees the old version of himself move to see Vanet, scared and curled up.
"Papa, please come home. I don't want to lose you too…!" She cries.
"We hated the organics, despised them for how they were weak." The old Nos watches here. "This Vanet, such a weak child and yet she can in the future kill us."
Nos glared at him as the antimatter was bubbling.
"However, I cannot help but feel envious of you. You made her into something we didn't have in the past. Hope." The old Nos turns as he was crumbling.
"Nos!"
Nos looked to see in his vision XR was in tears. He was struggling but standing, trying to fight the antimatter vampire's power.
"I suggest you begin using your will over this before he comes here…. Protect what is ours- What is yours…." And the old Nos disappears.
Nos focuses on the antimatter and decides to change it, controlling it to his will. And soon the ooze was changing…..
"No! No no no!" XR shook in anger and forced himself up. He didn't care if this creep saw him! 'Nos please hang in there! Wait for me!'
DRAC lets go and drops Nos and dodges the bullet coming at him.
"You Monster!" XR struggles but he feels tears falling, he felt his core break when Nos was bitten; when he dropped him and Nos didn't get up. thoughts flooded in his mind about Nos, how he was losing him! He felt he lost Nos forever, all of the good and the bad. He kept shooting until DRAC was in front of him now. XR threw a punch at him but his fingers were gonna break from the force but he didn't care. 'I wanted to tell him how I felt!'
"How could you!" He was throwing punches but was kicked across by the antimatter vampire. XR gets back up and runs to attack him. "Nos was happy! He didn't want what you offered! You took him away from Vanet! From me!" He kept trying to punch him but was soon slammed to the ground. He winced when he was shoved to the ground but he didn't cry or scream. Even when the said monster bot stepped on his chest, XR didn't care anymore.
"You seemed to be special to him since he gave his only key to resist my power to you. I will not turn you or suck out that pitiful energy you have." DRAC growls, he can see how much resistance and struggle when he should be lying down like the dead weight he is! 'Nos-4-a2 has such annoying pests around him. When he awakens as the real self, he'll want this little toy.' He glared at the idea of Nos having a lover. 'I will not share Nos-4-a2 with anyone!'
Ready to strike, he expanded his claws. "He will never remember you again-!"
He felt his hand pulled back and ripped off. He looks to see glowing red eyes from the reawakened energy vampire. He looks at his broken arm and pales to see it was disintegrating! He froze, detecting the antimatter was somehow a particle state but it was in its rawest form!
"Impossible!" 'Nos has full control over the antimatter?!' "You dare to fight me Nos-4-a2?! You-" he was shocked when the newer energy vampire rips his jaw and parts of his throat off. The old Antimatter vampire pulls away from XR but the space ranger froze when he saw Nos ripping him apart and the great DRAC was only a head and a torso. He didn't know if this was the same Nos or completely different Nos.
"N-nos…?" XR looked shocked before he was now staring at Nos, eyes glowing and watched him float over to him and he was on top of him. XR froze, feeling Deja vu, but he wasn't scared. He had the weapon in close range but instead, he pushed it away. He hesitated but reached to cup Nos face. "Nos I- I know you better than anyone, well not as much as Gravitina but I know you. From an enemy to a friend, you're different now. You- you're who you choose to be. Not the terrifying energy vampire, not a GAF agent either. You're smart, kind and the most stubborn person I ever met! That's who you are and I want to keep making memories with." He sees Nos quiet and lunges at him and XR waits for the fangs….. but they never came.
He felt Nos hug him tightly and XR hugs him back with a sigh of relief. "You know I'm so glad I didn't have to use that nickname."
"You call me that nickname, I will drain your energy." Nos glares and hisses at him but hears him laugh.
"But it's funny! Plus seeing you get so mad, it's priceless! I'm just happy you're ok!" XR grins, he felt so relieved Nosy was himself again. "You know, I was thinking of a better nickname. It's-" He felt Nos just flopped on him and he could tell Nos passed out. XR holds him and carefully in his arms. He looked at DRAC who was glaring at him. He felt so much hate towards the antimatter vampire! His mind started to swirl around how much and how easily he could end him right now. He grabs the gun, ready to pull the trigger over the head of the monster. He wanted to shoot down the antimatter vampire and end the problem! He could have but he felt Nos weight in his arms, he lowered the weapon and called Ryder. "Nos is out cold but can you collect the trash called DRAC? I'll send the location." He ends the call, looking at DRAC with an unreadable expression. But his optics turned red. "Don't ever come near Nos, I won't hesitate to shoot you and end you." He said coldly and ready to leave but halted in his steps when he heard the sinister laugh.
"You think Nos wants an experimental failure?! A mere copy machine of the infamous Buzz Lightyear!" DRAC mocks him. "I know that look, you want Nos as much as I do! But why would he want a small little robot, who was used by an A.I!" He needed to plant the seed of doubt. "He was supposed to be mine when Zurg made him! He was made for me!" He growls. "Will he be happy to know this side of you? This little obsession you have over him~? If he despises me for my desire, what will say to you?!"
"At least I'm protecting what is important to him." XR wasn't going to let some bucket of bolts hurt him. "You're right, I'm not perfect, but the one who can tell me that is out like a light. And for your information, he isn't yours. He belongs to no one but himself and I rather be his because I want him for him. Let's be honest: why would he want a greasy, dirty, grimey flopiana 6 foot murdering pig that wants to destroy his happiness, that's his daughter? I may be a copy machine, but at least I was made to care." XR looks away, and leaves and keeps Nos in his arms, his core was calming down but he couldn't let go of Nos. He didn't want to lose him but he didn't want to have Nos see this side he has but he was not like DRAC!
'What am I going to do?' He held Nos close and knew the first part was to help his crush get home. His family is worried about him.
~H~
He made sure to keep away in case any spies were watching. He did scan the sky to find no droids or any kind of spies. He wondered if DRAC thought he'd win this but he knew Nos could do it. He gets to Nos's home when he sees Vanet and Mr. Atu by the door waiting. He knows how scared she was losing Nos, he's pretty sure the older man was just as nervous. He extends one of his extra hands out to them and sees Vanet running to them. He saw her almost tripping a few times but she pulled herself up and ran up to him. It hurt to see her worried.
"No worries, your papa is alright, just passed out from using excess energy. Now the creep, he didn't end up well, I'll tell ya." He gave a smile but the kid hugged his side.
"Thank you Mr. XR, for bringing papa home." Vanet stood by and held Nos's hand in hers.
XR was quiet but smiled, he can see how much it meant a lot to her that someone she cherished didn't die. "Hey, you gotta help me get him in and check on him." He sees her let go and she gets the door for him and Nosfer helps him with the basement door. XR, still in his humanoid form, steps down and lays Nos on a lab table to do a check up. Both Nosfer and Vanet came down and XR hesitated to undress his shirt and instead let Nosfer do it.
"Sorry, I'm a bit…" XR couldn't do it, not without Nos giving him the ok.
"I appreciate the decency XR," Nosfer discarded the torn dress shirt. "I trust you to be respectful to my fiu. I do hope you ask him to a proper courtship."
XR blinks in surprise. "H-how? When did you know?"
"Just an instinct." Nosfer plugs the adapter into Nos's core and they see in the scan something new and did not know if it was a blessing, or a curse.
"The antimatter is…. Some sort of gas?"
Ozma was staring at what she was seeing. "There are three bases of elements," she explains. "Solid, liquid and gas. Antimatter we have seen has been in an ooze base form. A combination state between liquid and solid. Granted, I do not know the key components of antimatter, aside from the fact it devours organic and inorganic matter. Somehow there are two existing inorganic species that have it." She clicks a button and images of Nos and DRAC appear. "Both had the same state of antimatter and properties, but the oldest had more experience and power control. XR you told me Nos explained that this Drac was able to absorb energy from just a touch and inject the antimatter in Nos to control him?"
"Yeah but it didn't work." XR pointed out. "I mean Nos turned hornets into zombie Hornets and DRAC was resetting Nos back to his original self but it failed."
"But Nos-4-a2 never knew about the antimatter or about the fact it was what made him an energy vampire. He reconstructed the hornets. The only theory Drac couldn't revert Nos was because the core has been the stabilizer to Nos's antimatter. I am unsure how Drac is made, but Nos has a Unimind to adapt the antimatter into his body. It can be a wild guess but Drac has something similar or less than a core but the ooze was stable. The biggest hazard is the gas state Nos made it into, well looked akin to gas."
all three heads were confused, and Ozma had to show them. She zooms in to reveal the antimatter form.
"He made antimatter into the bases of a cell in gas. Microscopic cells that are now in liquid and gas when used." She shows them Nos bend the antimatter to his will. "Nos used it on DRAC but I need to know where he fought and scan the area in case the exposure can damage the ecosystem."
"Do you think Nos is in more danger?" XR was worried now. "But I didn't see anything being destroyed!"
"That's why I need to find out." Ozma spoke, she grabbed her gear and made Her way outside. XR looks to Nosfer and Vanet but gave a smile. "Hey Nos isn't going to be taken from us. I'll show her." He gets up and catches up to Ozma. He led her to the spot Nos and DRAC fought and saw nothing much out of the ordinary.
Ozma walks over to find craters.
"That was DRAC's." XR stated and uses his optics to show a hologram of where and who were at. Ozma looks and sees the hand that Dissipated from the fight to see where it landed and was shocked. "How long ago again?"
"4 hours ago I think; why?" XR walks over to see there were small buds of flowers blooming. "Ok, what am I looking at?" He was a bit surprised that the plants were not crushed or destroyed.
"XR, this wasn't there at all. These buds grew in 4 hours. Average buds take weeks to grow." Ozma scans the plant and it shows a plant that hasn't grown for centuries.
"Ghost orchids. These were extinct a hundred years ago and they are hard to find because of their value. But these orchids are not only growing rapidly, they are rejuvenating the ground."
"So Nos's antimatter is different in a good way? That's a positive!" XR was happy to hear that.
"Yes and no if given to the wrong hands. We need to figure out if Nos is even out of danger." She carefully takes the plant in a container.
XR frowns to see it taken but notices another was growing by the tree but keeps quiet as he follows Ozma out. "So what happens now?"
"For now just keep this between us and Mr. Atu, we don't know what can happen and if Nos is exposed, it will become a problem."
XR frowns but follows as he made sure she didn't see the other growing buds.
After Ozma gathered some samples, she left to study it as Nosfer brought Nos to his charger. XR waited by the steps as Vanet frowns holding a bat doll next to him. He looked to see her sad so he ruffled her hair. "Hey everything is going to be ok kiddo. Ozma said he's safe and in the clear."
"I know, but I wish I can help." Vanet's ears drooped. "Mr. XR, can robots dream?"
"Well some can but won't remember and there are some that can't," He tried to ignore his flashback of dreams.
"Can reading a story help him sleep?" Vanet asked. "I always ask papa to read to me when I get scared or roar at the creepy gremlin hiding in my closet. Do you think reading to papa can help him dream good dreams?"
XR couldn't help but imagine Nos roaring at nothing but smiles at Vanet. "Nos would be happy to hear a story from you in his sleep." He smiles.
"Can you help me pick a book from his room?" She asked.
XR blushes deeply. "Sh-sh-sure…!"
In Nos's room,
XR was trying not to show just how flustered he is but he was lucky because he was in awe of the room. He noticed in Nos's room, it was a red and gold theme with glowing orbs in the middle of the ceiling like a solar system. There was a beautiful dark reddish dresser with a mirror on his right next to a closet. He looked over to the mirror and it had some pictures but saw the closet was not big or a walk in type. It had coats for occasions and a row for shoes at the bottom. He looked to the opposite side of the room and the wall solely had books on shelves but beneath them was a simple dark brown desk covered in faint ink spills and paint. There were small canvases on the floor but a set of books with marks that were for different stuff on the desk. He did notice one had "XR" written in gold but didn't think much when Vanet pulled his hand to go and she pointed to a purple book on the top shelf.
XR reaches and perks how his hands extend like his robotic self and brings the book down. He was wide eyed to see it was poems of romance. "This one Vanet?"
"Papa always reads it a lot." Vanet answers.
XR hoped it was nothing too explicit as Vanet sat by the coffin and waited for him to join. He sits against the coffin and hands her the book.
"I can't read big words yet." She spoke.
XR felt his face heating up. "Alright but I hope I'm just as good as him." The space ranger looks at the book and blushes and opens to where Nos last read.
"Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved."
XR blushes as he reads the next one but he hoped Nos wouldn't remember this as he reads on.
Hour later…
"I don't love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz,
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as one loves certain obscure things,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that doesn't bloom but carries
the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself,
and thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose
from the earth lives dimly in my body.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you directly without problems or pride:
I love you like this because I don't know any other way to love,
except in this form in which I am not nor are you,
so close that your hand upon my chest is mine,
so close that your eyes close with my dreams."
XR Stops to yawn and looks down to see Vanet was asleep against him so he gently places her in the coffin by a sleeping Nos. He goes to put the book away and sits back by the coffin. He felt his core was livid after reading 28 romantic sonnets to Nos but then remembered Nos telling him about Vanet's love for books and how verse she is in reading upper level books. 'Did she trick me to confess my feelings?' He looks at the kid and chuckles. "Clever, and kinda scary kid." He mumbles but looks over to Nos and blushes at him. He hopes maybe he can confess his feelings to him when he's awake. He holds his hand and lies on the floor and closes his eyes, dreaming of himself with Nos…..