NieR:Remnant

XIV - Edge of Sanity

Thirty-two.

Pascal planted both arms on the rests of his makeshift chair, turning the number over in his head.

"Cap'n?" He heard his first mate, but didn't respond. Though his visual receptors were on, they weren't getting through. "Cap'n, you alright?"

"Yes." He returned to reality. "Yes, Linus, I heard you. Um, what was the ratio?"

"Of course cap'n, uh..." He paused. "Four resistance. The rest were ours."

It didn't matter, they all burned the same. Pascal just wanted to fill the air. "I see. It makes sense; there are more of us after all."

"Cap'n?" Linus leaned around to be in front of him.

"Hm?" replied Pascal, still drifting in and out of the present. "What is it, Linus?"

"Uh," he began, pausing with a hand on his chin. "Forgive me, cap'n, but you seem, uh..."

"I'm fine," interrupted Pascal. "That will be all, Linus. You can go."

"Right!" Linus gave him a salute, then began that marching thing he always performed when making his exit. He made it a little over halfway towards the door before he stopped, dropped his robotic demeanor and turned towards his captain. "I'm sorry, Captain Pascal, but I think you're lying."

"What?" Pascal drifted out of his head yet again. "Go, Linus. Please."

"I can't do that, cap'n."

"Yes you can," he replied. "Leave." Pascal tried to think; what would compel him? "Leave. Or I'll demote you. To second mate! I mean it."

"A paltry price to pay for what must be done."

This whole time he'd been inching closer. What the hell was he doing? "Linus. Get back." He pushed out of the chair and stood. "Don't make me shock you." Linus was the one who developed those stun bomb things; stick it to a machine and its navigational systems would fry, for a time. They'd hoped to use them to prepare others for liberation from Remnant's call, but the roots became too deep as It came closer to the planet. They held on to them, regardless, as they could prove useful in a pinch, but most importantly in this moment, there was no failsafe Pascal was aware of, so hopefully the first mate didn't put one in. "Linus. Last warning!" He drew the object and prepared to thrust it his way. "Alright, I'm sorry, I-"

Pascal hesitated. He was close enough that he could see his eyes weren't violet. He couldn't shock him for nothing! His back hit the wall, and Linus lunged forward. Pascal almost started to pray, the device less than a centimeter from Linus's hull; the first mate wrapped his comparatively huge arms around the captain, lifted him off the floor, and held tight. The object fell from Pascal's hand with a slight bzt on impact with the floor.

"It's okay, captain." Linus spoke in a quiet tone. "I know it hurts to lose those you care about, those you love, but I'm here for you." He squeezed tighter. "We all are."

Pascal felt weird, very weird. As far as he understood, this was a form of affection that the humans called a "hug," but he'd never partaken in such himself. He wasn't even sure such expressions existed for his kind, as silly as it sounded. He sat there unmoving for near a minute as Linus shouldered the weight of his grief, and soon eased into the gesture, returning it in kind. Pascal deactivated his visual receptors and allowed himself to be lost in the moment as that heaviness spilled out in silent tears.

"Damn, your combat module was about to fail, it's literally drowning in water."

Her voice was oddly soothing for what sounded like criticism. "That's because I was in the ocean."