✔️There Will Be Nothing

20^ Don't Go

It happens quickly. I don't even realize it's happening, but it is.
All of a sudden, there's screaming and shouting, utter chaos as people stream through the DPD's entrance.
"What do we do?! He's messed!"
"He was our best! He killed everyone!"
"They were fucked! We only won cause of him."
"Colin!"
At Colin's name, I freeze. What happened to Colin? "Where's Colin?" I demand.
Everyone stops and stares at me. They know me. They know the relationship I have with him. Out of nowhere, it's silent.
"Fuck! Move!" Conan shouts, pushing through the crowd. My eyes widen in horror at the sight of him. His whole arm is torn off, and he's bleeding so much. He's dripping Thirium.
"What the FUCK?!" I scream, running towards him. "Wha-? What happened?!"
"Look, I'm not even that bad. This was an emergency detach, so it's fine. It doesn't even hurt. Colin's way worse off. The ambulance is on their way."
"Show me."
"I don't think-"
"Show me!" I demand, pushing him. "I don't give a damn what you think! Where is he?"
"Conrad..?"
I freeze at Colin's voice. It's raspy and mechanical, like he's heavily damaged. I walk through the crowd, and they part ways for me, creating a path to Colin.
My breath hitches when I see him. He looks all kinds of messed up. His eyes have been torn out, leaving nothing but gaping holes leaking Thirium. His arms and legs are torn up, spilling precious Thirium. One of his arms hangs by wires and artificial veins, torn at the elbow. One of his feet are gone. He looks half-dead.
Somehow, he stands.
"Colin-!" I choke, tearing up.
His head jerks over to the direction of my voice, but it's tilted upwards. He cocks his head to the side. "Con... rad?"
"Colin," I whisper. His head swivels over to the right, away from me. "I'm here. To the left." His head swivels back to the left.
He huffs in annoyance. "Where are you, Conrad? I-I want to hold your hand, and I want to touch you." He holds his hands out. "Please..."
I run forward and hug him, holding him tight. He leans against me, and I shoulder some of his weight. His hands run up and down my body, feeling me up. He leans back and grabs my face, then starts rubbing my cheeks with his thumbs.
"I am in so much pain," he begins, coughing a bit. Thirium drips from his mouth. I reach up and wipe it away with my thumb. "Mmm," he hums. "But, being here, with you, makes me feel better."
"Goddammit!" I curse, sobbing into his chest. "How can you be romantic at a time, like this?!"
Colin laughs weakly. His whole body shakes, but he looks so happy. "Oh, Conrad. My sweet, little baby. I love you! How could I not be overjoyed by your touch?"
"The ambulance is coming! You'll be fine, Colin!" I insist. My Thirium pump works away in my chest.
"I know! I don't die, Conrad. Of course, I'll be fine. Please, you need to relax, baby. Your systems are going to overheat, and-"
"Shut the fuck up!" I snap, glaring at him. "You're dying before my eyes, and you're really telling me to relax?!"
"Why are you yelling at me?" he asks in a quiet voice. "I'm trying my best to reassure you, Conrad. I forced myself through the pain for you. I'm staying strong for you. Why are you yelling at me? What did I do wrong?"
I look up at him in horror. He really is trying his best for me. And, I'm yelling at him. I'm horrible. "No, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to yell at you! I'm just... I'm just scared, ok?"
He holds my face in his hands and caresses my cheeks. "Are you sure I didn't do anything? I don't want to lose you. I don't want you to be mad at me. I want to fix this."
"Dammit, Colin, I'm fine! It's fine!" I sob, holding him tight. "Nothing's wrong. I'm just worried and scared for you."
"Look at me. Like, take a step back, and look at me. Do you see the state I'm in?"
"Yes, of course, I do!"
"And, I'm still alive. I'm not leaving, any time soon," he reassures me. "Conrad, I need you to listen to me."
"I'm listening."
"In order to save some Thirium, keep myself alive longer, and stop the waves of pain that are ravaging my body, I need to put myself in standby mode. Now, that essentially means that I'll be cutting off the blood flow to my body and redirecting it primarily to my head. I'll be alive, in the sense that I'll still be conscious, but my body will essentially die." Colin pulls me closer. "I promise, I'll be ok. I won't die. It's like I'll be sleeping! Just sleeping. As soon as my body is repaired, I'll wake up."
I stare up at him, squeezing his hands.
"I'll be ok. Help me lay down, please. I can't bear to stand, anymore." I keep holding onto him as I slowly help him down, sitting with him. Carefully, I lower him to the floor. He sighs, squeezing my hand. "Thank you, Conrad." He brings my hand to his face and rubs it against his cheek, humming softly. "The ambulance will come and take me away. I'll be fine. I love you, Conrad."
"I love you, too." I wipe my wet eyes, sniffling.
"Tell Conan and Gavin that I love them, too. And, tell Conan he's a little bitch on the battle field," he laughs, sending shivers through his body. "Tell Gavin he's a good sniper. Really good shot." He kisses my hand. "But, when I come back, we're getting married. Goodbye, for a little while, Conrad."
"I'm not ready for you to go, Colin..." I mourn, knowing that there's nothing I can do, and he's already begun the process of putting himself in standby mode. His warm breath washes against my hand, until he exhales one last time. He doesn't take another breath.
I sit next to him, gently caressing his lifeless hand. Conan steps up to me and sits next to me. "Goddamn," he begins. "What a guy."
Gavin sits on my other side. "Yeah. Colin's something else."
I look at both of them, in turn. "What happened, out there?"
"Oh, god. Can I even comprehend what happened?" Conan asks himself. "I barely know. Colin was mowing people down. Like, he had the fuckin AK, and he was just blasting the fuckers. There were hundreds of them. It was like civil war. They were throwing tear gas and grenades at us, and Colin didn't even care!" Conan gets excited, leaning forward. "He was literally smacking grenades out of the air, and he grabbed them and threw them back at those assholes. Half the time, I didn't know what was happening. One second, I'm shooting some guy, the next, Colin's smacking grenades out the air like they're fuckin basketballs. I swear to god, your fiancé is badass!" Him and Gavin break out in laughter. In fact, everyone does. Everyone starts talking about the things Colin did. "But, goddamn, I can't stop thinking about the second they realized that Colin was the one killing them off. It was like they were psychically connected. All at once, they turned on him and swarmed him. That's when he really got fucked up. He was stuck under a pile of bodies for, maybe, 10 minutes, probably less. And, we tried so hard to get him out. It was hard. Eventually, they dispersed, and some of them got away, but we managed to arrest a few of them. They got taken away separately. But, Colin's first words will always stick with me."
"Wh... What did he say?"
"He looked up at us, with his eyes gone, and he said: 'I'm still alive, bitches.'" Conan shakes his head. "I will never forget that. So noble, so true, so... brave!" Conan giggles uncontrollably, falling down onto his back. "Colin is really something else, entirely!"
"Yeah..." I mutter, looking away. Colin will be fine. I can hear the sound of sirens coming from outside, and I squeeze my eyes shut. I'll be fine. Colin will live. He'll be fine. We'll be fine.

It's been a day. Colin's in the hospital. Gavin and Conan's wounds have been treated, and Conan got a new arm. I make my way to the hospital entrance with the two by my side. No one says a word as the receptionist takes us to Colin's room.
I open the door to see an unknown man at Colin's side. "Elijah?" Gavin steps forward. Does he know this person? I remember, Colin was talking about him a long time ago. I think, this is my creator.
Elijah turns around. "Hi, Gavin. Long time, no see. I see you have the RK800 and RK900 accompanying you. Impressive, you've managed to bag them both," he teases, smirking.
Gavin frowns. "This is Conan, and this is Conrad. They're... Well, I'm with them. Both of them. This is my brother, Elijah."
Elijah nods. "Oh, I know who they are. Colin's been telling me all about you three. Haven't you, Colin?" Elijah points to a TV screen. On it is a string of text.
Yes! I have! Omg, I can hear you guys!!
My lovessssss I love you guysss
I knew you'd visit me!
Talk! Please, I wanna hear your voices!
Why is everyone silent? I'm... creeped out???
"Wait, is that Colin talking?!" I ask, bewildered.
"Precisely, Conrad. I've connected to his conscience. Unfortunately, he's stuck in his head, until I repair his body. I'm getting there! I'm about halfway done." He smiles proudly. "Here, you can see what he's saying. He's sort of typing it out and projecting it here. That's why it looks like a text message. Look," he demands, pointing to a small picture. It's a still image. "You can see what he's doing, here. He's been listening to this song for the past three hours."
Four. Four hours.
And I can't help iiiiiitttt!! It's so chilllll. It reminds me of Conrad! Speaking of Conrad ;) ;) ;)
"You're disgusting, Colin," Elijah mutters, frowning.
Whatever. Baby. I do what I want
Conrad, come here and give me some lovvveee
I walk up to him and stand by his bedside. "Umm... Can- Can you hear me?"
No ;)
Jk, of course I can dummy! You're so silly. That's why I love you... :)
Can you hold my hand...? I can't feel it, but it's the thought that counts, right? :D
"You emote, a lot, in your head, Colin. So much energy," I mutter, staring at the screen dubiously. But, I take his hand and give it a squeeze. "I'm holding your hand, baby," I whisper, leaning into him.
Ooooohhh fuck... ok..
Damn, I didn't think it would feel so good to hear you again...! Ugh.. I wanna cry, but ya know I can't
Don't stop, please! I wanna hear more. Let me hear you, Conrad!
I can almost hear him talking. It's weird. This whole thing is weird. I lean down and kiss his cheek. "I just kissed your cheek, Colin. I love you, so much. I'm so happy that you're ok."
:O CONRAAAAD!! >\\\< AAAAHHHHHH
hahah sorry that was bad. I'll stop using emotes like that, I promise. I'm crying laughing in my head I swear
I LOVE YOU TOO CONRAD OH MY GOD I CAN'T YOU'RE THE LOVE OF MY LIFE!!!!
"You're so adorable, Colin." I tear up a bit. "You know, ever since you came into my life, it's been better, Colin. And, it hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows, but it's been good. And, I wouldn't trade you for the world."
I stare down at his emotionless, dead face, and I shiver. "I will never understand how you can be so resilient. You just never break! I mean, I don't want you to, but you're just so noble. You're so strong. You're everything I want to be, but I can't. I'm not strong, like you. I'm not resilient. I'm nothing like you." I sigh softly. "I've been thinking about something, Colin. I want to quit my job." I stare at the screen. Nothing comes through. Colin says nothing.
...
I sigh in relief. At least, he said something.
Conrad. If you choose to quit your job, then I can't, and won't, stop you. You can be whatever you want. I'll support you. I'll be there for you.
And, stop. Stop, right now. True, you're not like me, but I'm not like you. That's kind of the point. You know, sometimes, I wish I was as kind as you :)
"Kind? I'm far from kind. I yelled at you, when all you were trying to do was make me feel better." I shake my head. "I have to go. I'm sorry. I can't. Talk to Gavin and Conan. I'm sorry."
What? No wait!
Conrad, wait!
Conrad, please! We can talk about this!
No don't go! Don't leave!
     I'm sorry! Please!
     Don't go!
We can fix this!
Conrad!
Conrad, no!
Please!
Please...
"I'm sorry, Colin. He's gone," Conan says as I leave the room.