...
...
...
... main_systems rebooting {DESIG. KILO_TANGO - 0298} last_activation (35:11.21 min ago)
WARNING [IMPROPER SHUTDOWN]
ATTEMPT 1 REBOOT/
[STATUS: IN PROGRESS]
[STATUS: IN PROGRESS]
[STATUS: SUCCESSFUL]
/PERFORM ALL_SYS SCAN/
[ANALYSIS: all primary systems and critical functions are functioning ~ emotive processors have been reset and added to main_systems]
/RUN DIAGNOSTIC/
[ANALYSIS: cause of shutdown originated from data core ~ momentarily overloaded from addition of emotive processors to active systems}
/PERFORM DATA_CORE SCAN/
[ANALYSIS: data core is functioning (corrupt?.no) data core is not corrupted and/or damaged]
PROT. 1 {SUCCESS}
PROT. 2 {SUCCESS}
PROT. 3 {IN PROGRESS}
/ ... /
/ ... Oh God. /
...
Tobias sighed, and leaned against KT's chassis which was now lying immobile in the Titan barracks.
He had gotten some help from the few people out in the hangar at this hour. Someone had grabbed a transport cart, and wheeled her in here. They said that they'd get an engineer to look her over when morning came, but there wasn't anything to be done at the moment. He'd thanked them, and opted to hang back with her while they left.
"Why?"
He couldn't really think of a better way to say that. He'd held onto the hope that he would one day reunite with his best friend, only to find that she didn't exist anymore. And now, the only remnant of her may have just gone and gotten herself corrupted or worse. It's like he was taking a beating every day, having his hope ripped away from him with every time he thought he had some.
He reached out, and patted the arm of the inactive Titan. This chassis was totally unfamiliar to him. Considering who it belonged to, he couldn't help but wish that the KT wasn't as big a stranger to him as it was.
Deciding to wait it out until morning, he reluctantly stood up and began to move towards the exit. He had only made it a few steps before he heard movement behind him, and spun around wildly to see that the chassis had jerked violently for a moment, as though someone were waking up from a nightmare.
As he watched, her optic blinked several times, the blue light flickering from within. Eventually it stabilized, and remained on as it rotated around, trying to analyze her surroundings.
He let out a breath of relief and walked back to her. "Glad to see you're still functioning. God, you had me worried for a second there."
Her optic moved towards his voice, and froze when he landed in her line of sight. He waved weakly. "Your whole system shut down because of what you tried. Looks like it didn't work, but I appreciate the effort anyway. But don't do it again, alright? I don't think it'd be wise to put so much strain on your systems."
He spoke dejectedly, and he knew it; but he didn't care. Of course he was glad that this shell of KT was still working, but that didn't mean that the old KT was back, nor would she likely ever be back. He turned to leave, and he couldn't help but think of how much it killed him to see her like-
"... Tobias?"
He half turned when he heard her say his name. "Yeah? What's-"
Suddenly, he realized that she'd just used his first name. Slowly, he rotated his body all the way around until he was facing her too. They stood there, gazes locked with each other as each realized what she'd just said.
He had no response other than his mouth opening slightly in shock. KT sat up from her lying position, and moved her arms in front of her optics where she could see them. She flexed her metallic fingers in front of her, and then looked back at him.
Slowly, he closed his mouth and swallowed hard. "... Kay?"
Upon hearing him say her name, she made a noise much like a whimper, and let her eye dart around the room as she shifted her body to move her legs over the side and sit properly. "Analyzing memory banks-"
She stopped as everything came flooding back to her once her systems finally finished their processing. Shakily, she looked down at the ground and did not move.
He didn't really know what to do until she looked at him again. The lens cap of her optic closed ever so slightly, making it look much like a person whose eyes were squinting as they cried. "I ... I can't believe-"
She didn't finish her sentence as he moved forward and threw his arms around her as best as he could, what with her being so much bigger than him. She gently reciprocated the action, pulling him closer as she embraced him warmly.
He was in utter shock, and didn't register the wet sensation of tears falling from his eyes as he held her. Without warning, she let go and began to shudder. She said nothing, but turned away in shame. He moved himself back in front of her. "What's wrong?"
She spoke with a voice that matched her behavior; saddened, tearful, and broken. "I ... I'm so sorry ..." It was hard to make out what she was saying through the crying-like shudders that interrupted her as she spoke.
He shook his head. "Don't be, please don't-"
She raised her head to meet his gaze. "I lost hope for you. I was too weak to keep my promise to you, that I wouldn't give up-" She stopped as she saw him fully in the new light of her reawakened perspective. "Oh my God, your fingers?! And I knew your injuries were severe, but-"
She seemed absolutely floored at how damaged he was since she'd last seen him. She looked away again, shameful once more. "How did you ... manage to go through that alone? I can't ... I can't believe that such awful things happened to you ... and I sacrificed our link for my own selfish-"
"Stop!"
She fell silent as she focused back on him. He took a deep breath, trying to stop his own onslaught of feelings from overwhelming him.
"You w-wouldn't have had to give up your emotional p-processors if I hadn't abandoned y-you. So, it's m-my fault-"
"No," she interrupted. "You were just trying to complete the mission. I was the one who said that we'd find you no matter how long it would take, yet I shut down my emotive processors before we ever-"
He raised his voice, "Yeah, but ... we function differently! For all I know, humans are better equipped for separation than Titans are! You once compared having a Pilot to having a second half-"
"That's no excuse!" she snapped back. "I was the one who broke my promise!"
"Well what about me?! I told you I'd never abandon you, yet here we are two years later!"
"You did it for a good cause, my intentions were only selfish! If you were suffering as badly as I was, then it was only fair for me to endure as well-"
"You think I would want that?!" he shouted. "You think that I-I'd want you to go through the hell I did? Do you think so little of me?! God, I love you too much to ever want you to experience that!"
His chest heaved with adrenaline, and he waited for a response that didn't come. Instead, she just stared blankly at him and he tilted his head in confusion. "What?"
Her blue eye did not move from him. "What did you say?"
He played back the moment in his head, and suddenly realized what he'd said. They stared at each other in shock, at a loss for how to proceed.
Finally, he gave a small cough. "Well ... I mean, you never had a chance to finish it back on Erebus, so ... at least one of us had to say it, right?"
They were only still for a moment longer before they each moved towards each other simultaneously. They embraced once more, her having to lean down a bit to match his height.
"I love you too, Tobias," she muttered. "I missed you so much ..."
He shut his eyes tight, enjoying this blend of regret and joy that he was feeling. "I missed you too, Kay. More than anything."
He took a step back, and reached his hand forward to the cylindrical head of her Vanguard chassis. He ran his hand along it affectionately as he greeted his old friend again. She looked back at him with her blue eye, and he saw once more the crack in its protective lens, a lens that apparently never been replaced. He looked at his left hand, now missing two fingers, and sighed.
"Look ..." He focused back on her, and saw that she was listening attentively. "Both of us want to blame ourselves for what happened. The fact of the matter is that we both did the best with the hand we were dealt. We both failed to protect one another at different times." He held his hand up so she could see it, and then gestured at her broken lens cover; the main two reminders of their shortcomings.
"But that doesn't matter anymore. What matters is that I'm here. You're here. We're here. Sure, we might slip up again from time to time, no friendship is without its bumps ... but now, we'll always be there to support the other when we do." He smiled at her, and she blinked in response.
"You always know what to say to make a girl feel better, don't you?"
He chuckled. "Well, at least one girl in particular."
He hopped up onto the cart she was sitting on, and they sat together for the next few hours, deservedly enjoying each other's company for the first time in a long while.