Յյ 𝔇𝔞𝔶𝔰 𝔬𝔣 ℌ𝔞𝔩𝔩𝔬𝔴𝔢𝔢𝔫 [𝔄 𝔗𝔚𝔖𝔗 𝔉𝔞𝔫𝔣𝔦𝔠]

𝟐𝟑 | 𝐎𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐨 𝐒𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐝

She was reminded of a time when she dreamt of floating in a black abyss, unable to see anything beyond the darkness, though her eyes were wide open, and unable to say anything as her body slowly drifted through the world. But this time, she couldn't open her eyes, though she knew she was fully awake.

The music was still playing in the background. It sounded closer than it had the first time, though it was hard to hear over the grinding of metal on metal.

"Letting go, letting go. Telling you things you already know. I explode, I explode, asking you where you want us to go."

The pulsing energy approached again, and this time, Y/N didn't black out. She lay there quietly as the pulsing energy approached her - it seemed as though they were approaching her -, and suddenly, with a click of metal, Y/N could feel pain in her right shoulder. As if someone had just returned her arm to her shoulder, clicking it in place. She could hear the sound of gears and could feel them twisting in her arm.

Wait... gears?

'I'm not a robot,' Y/N wanted to scream. 'What's happening to me?'

She grunted internally as the gears started to turn in her arm. The person manipulating her body set the arm down beside her torso, and a second later, there was a burning pain on the top of her skin. Y/N flinched, wondering if her body had flinched as well. She could feel the heat of the energy leaving her, and once more, everything went dark.

♥♠♣♦ --　☠　-- ♥♠♣♦

The third time she woke up, she could feel her other arm. And her legs! Oh, how she wanted to see her limbs again, watching as the light shone down on her beautiful s/c flesh. But still, she had no eyes. And for once, everything was silent. As if she no longer had ears. As if the microphone had gone from her mind, taking its speakers with her. She felt completely and utterly cut off. No words, no sight, no smell, no sound, nothing.

And suddenly, she couldn't feel anymore. It was as if someone had flicked a switch and her entire body had just turned off. She tried to move but felt nothing. Her body wasn't obeying her commands, and she started to panic, more than the other times. At least the other times, she had been able to hear what had been happening, and feel her limbs as the person working on her. The thought of someone working on her sent a shiver through her body, though not a shiver she could feel. Her mind felt it, but her spine didn't.

And this time, when her mind fell into the darkness once again, she didn't fight it. Anything to get her away from the torturous feeling of not being able to move her limbs and not being able to sense anything.

♥♠♣♦ --　☠　-- ♥♠♣♦

When Y/N woke for the last time, she realised just how different she felt. And how her body felt. For one, she could see. Clearer than she ever could before. It seemed as though her eyes were seeing the world for the first time in a new light, the blue river of Ignihyde flowing beside her, the flickering flames that danced around the space before her as if she were watching an intricately choreographed dance.

But then, she noticed her body and felt all her joy drain away. Every once that had come from seeing for the first time in what felt like forever, drained out of her body and into the ground below. Once, her body had been made biologically. Formed from flesh and bone, squishy and soft, almost like a pillow. Now... Now her body was a mix of metal and glass, formed into the original shape of her body, though it was hidden through strange metal clothes that seemed bound to her form.

"Nee-san!"

Y/N flinched and looked up her face turning white as a sheet when she realised that amongst the bits and bobs that had helped create her new form, sat a small boy that she knew quite well.

"O-Ortho," she whispered. "W-what happened to me?"

"I fixed you," Ortho chirped, floating towards her. He pulled on the straps that had been binding Y/N to the raised bed, and she hopped down off of the small platform that she had been standing on.

"What do you mean, you fixed me," Y/N asked hesitantly. She wasn't sure that she wanted the answer.

Ortho pointed to a computer screen that was blinking blue and motioned for Y/N to follow him. He floated over and sat down in the chair before it.

"Nii-san helped me," Ortho said, typing a few commands into the keyboard.

Y/N gasped when she realised that a diagram of the form she now held was uploaded into the computer. A diagram of her old body was standing next to it in the exact same position, with a few text bubbles floating around it. Y/N couldn't read any of it.

Ortho clicked on a file near the bottom of the screen and a video popped up. It was her, lying in bed, sick with... something. She couldn't remember what. She assumed that the video was being recorded through Ortho's perspective, as Y/N seemed to be reaching towards the camera.

"I'll be with you forever, Ortho," Y/N said.

Y/N guessed that she was stroking Ortho's cheek.

"But you can't, Y/N," Ortho muttered. "You're only human. You won't live forever like me."

Y/N smiled. "Don't worry, Ortho. I will be with you until the end of time." Her eyes fluttered shut and her hand slipped from Ortho's cheek.

"Y/N? Y/N!" Ortho reached out and shook Y/N. "Don't worry, Y/N. I'll fix you."

"I fixed you," Ortho said, shutting down the video. "I promised you that I would." He hopped off of the seat and flew over to Y/N, throwing his arms around her. "And now you can be my nee-san forever!"

Y/N felt torn. She felt like sobbing. What had Ortho done to her? He had taken her humanity from her and had given her the body of an android. Like him. She didn't want to live forever. She wanted to live a normal human life, like the one that the real Ortho had lived. Yes, he had died, but he had lived a normal human life. Idia had been able to extend that, but what would happen once Idia moved on from this world?

"Nee-san?"

Y/N hadn't noticed that she was crying. She didn't even know robots could cry. And yet, the crystalline drops falling down her cheeks said otherwise.

"Are you okay, Nee-san?"

Y/N couldn't find it in her heart to tell the boy that she wasn't okay. So she simply nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat as she stared at herself in the large mirror before her. "Yeah," she whispered, fighting the urge to cry and scream. "I'm okay."

Ortho smiled and threw his arms around Y/N. "Yay! Now you and I can be together forever!"

Y/N nodded, unable to say anything.