Senseless Abyss (Zero-One Fanfic)

-Chapter 154

"Not exactly." They listened to the Ark and the Ark spared me. "It doesn't matter what they did to me. They were hacked and didn't decide to become terrorists. The Ark decided what they would do with their lives."

I am not saying that Horobi isn't responsible for his actions, but he's not fully responsible. He hardly understands the world due to the Ark just up and taking over his mind. The Ark believe that they are a God. The Ark isn't a God and the Ark will see that soon. I'll make sure the Ark sees that.

"You don't want to punish them for what they did then?" Rei asks me and I shrug. "That's what it sounds like to me. You do not want them to be punished for their wrongdoings." 

"I don't think it'll be punishing the right person. Metsuboujinrai didn't decide to hack Humagears on their own and they also didn't decide to cause chaos on their own. The Ark did so for them," I answer. I do not wish to punish any of them for something they didn't actually decide on.

Gai Amatsu is the one who feed the data that caused this mess in the first place to the Ark. The Ark wouldn't have done this had it been left alone. Gai's petty nature is the cause of all our problems right now and I hope he eventually figures out what he has caused. That man is troubling.

"She has a point. If this Ark thing didn't hack them, they would have just done their jobs and Daybreak would still exist. So, Horobi, what was his job?"

"He was made to be a substitute parent for children without a father. He created his son, Jin, because he is a parent at heart. He never truly got over his assigned job despite acting like he doesn't remember it properly." He definitely knows some of his past, but it is so a distant memory for him.

"A parent? That thing was made to be a father?" Rei can't believe it. Horobi also isn't a thing, but a being.

"Horobi isn't a thing, Rei," I say, looking down. "Horobi is a person to me and that is how I see all Humagear. The only thing that exists is the Ark. The Ark deserves to be called a thing." Humans need to understand that Humagears are their own person as soon as possible. That would be nice. 

"Sorry, I did not mean to make it seem like I don't care about Humagears," Rei tells me, apologizing for referring to Horobi as a thing.

Nina laughs. "You so didn't mean to, huh? Guess what? You probably did."

"Did not! I don't hate Humagears at all! That isn't something we think here at Halo Horizons. Anyways, we had to change our mission from securing a Humagear to cleaning up the mess of this Ark thing. Mari, you're officially not going to get a Humagear for us to study."

I look up. "Okay." I already knew that, but it is nice to hear it out in the open at this moment.

"If you do get your hands on Horobi, bring him to us. We would love to figure out what happens inside a Humagear once they're hacked by something," Rei tells me. "Nina, you're going to be responsible for trying to make new technology to counter the Ark with Allen."

"Why isn't Allen at our meeting?" Nina asks curiously, changing the subject. "Isn't it important for him to be here?"

"He's to be kept away from Mari. I know they worked out their differences due to the events going on, but it is important for him to be away from her. It makes Mari probably feel a lot better knowing she's not going to get smacked around by him."

"He won't do that right now. He's really going to do his best to make up for what he did. However, we shouldn't treat him better just because he says he's changed. We should show him the right way to be." I am not going to let him off the hook. Same with Gai Amatsu if he decides to be a friend suddenly.

Nina laughs. "I'm so going to treat him well."

"Nice sarcasm, Nina. The only reason why we're working with him is because he knows more about the Abyss Project than the rest of us do. He's been in charge of it for years. So, we're going to use him to our advantage to prevent the Ark from doing more damage."

I am glad we're not talking about Horobi right now. I really don't want them knowing too much about my relationship with Horobi. I don't need them heavily judging me for what my relationship with him was like. Well, what it is like.

"I can't help that I'm sarcastic at times."

"You're mostly a party girl," Rei responds. "Did you find true love yet?"

"Oh, we're going to talk about that right now? Are you still upset over the fact I screwed you over last year?" Nina did what now?

I look at her, my eyes going wide. "What did you even do to Rei? Did you corrupt him?"

"No, I slept with him because I could. He is just upset it was a one time thing," Nina answers, being honest with me about what she did with Rei. Seriously, these two are going to kill me!

I stand up. "Okay, I'm going to leave you two argue about your problems and get us something to eat and drink. Don't even ask me to take your order because that isn't my job. I am going to pick what I know we all like." Some delicious burgers or pizza will do.

"Sounds good to me," Nina says, her eyes going to Rei. "Doesn't it?"

He sighs. "Yeah, sounds good. Also, stop airing out our dirty laundry. We slept together as friends-with-benefits."

"True that. It was a good time." Nina, I don't need to hear about this. 

"I am going to get some food now. Don't talk about your sexual history in front of me." I could have lived the rest of my life without knowing that information. "You also shouldn't be sleeping with your co-workers!"

"You were married to your boss."

"Yeah, you were married to Gai Amatsu."

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, I so wanted to be in that marriage. Anyways, going to get food now. See ya."

I do not need to hear anymore about their fun past together. My focus is on doing my job and stopping the Ark from controlling Horobi any longer. He needs saving and I'm the only person who can help him right now.

A/n: Mari defending Metsuboujinrai :') She's so sweet.

If you haven't, please check out my Kamen Rider Wizard fanfiction called Destiny's Promise. It was given elements from ideas I had for what would have been a story about Kamen Rider Saber. The main character is different from the character that I would have had in my Saber story, but they do have similarities. Noa is similar to Mari in terms of personality (well, Juli). She can be rude, but she isn't always rude. I want her to be an understanding and warm character that people like. 

Anyways, thank you for reading this note! I hope that you're enjoying the story still and look forward to updates.