by Andrew Jones
"Kryptonite?" She muttered as she looked around the room.
She was being hospitalized, the room resembled that. She hadn't ever gone to go get repaired on, she took pride in having a mechanical body was all original; nothing replaced. Just herself and nothing more. She looked to the side and saw a bright green mass laying in a ball on a wooden chair. She knew it was Kryptonite, she noticed his small plump ears twitching every so often. Staring at him for a moment, she grabbed one of her pillows and tossed it at him, hitting him off the chair.
"A-Ahhhh! What the hell!?" Kryptonite shouted as he fell off the chair and hit the hard tile flooring.
"You deserve that," Blaze answered.
Kryptonite sighed as he rubbed his head, "I suppose."
The doorknob turned slowly as the door opened. The creaking sound got both Blaze and Kryptonite's attention as someone walked inside to greet them.
"Siyuri, I knew it was you who helped me," Blaze muttered as she looked at Siyuri entering the room.
"Yes." Siyuri nodded. "Were you successful in your mission?"
"Affirmative. It was a risky victory, to say the least."
Siyuri chuckled as she looked at Blaze's bandaged arm. "You're lucky you weren't hurt more, Blaze. You've got to stop trying to get yourself hurt."
Blaze looked down as she knew she was the one who would try to herself hurt, in order to try to do the right thing.
"Anyways, do you know who this is?" Siyuri asked as she turned and glanced at Kryptonite. "I told him that if you didn't know him, I'd have him sent to the Junkyard."
"J-Junkyard!?" Kryptonite shouted in horror.
Siyuri nodded, "It's a place we send bad machines so they may go on to the New World."
Kryptonite looked at Blaze with a sad face, forcing Blaze to sigh and pinch the bridge of her nose in frustration.
"Yes, unfortunately. I met him in the Eldon Factory. He was a big help, unexpectedly."
Siyuri stepped to Kryptonite and placed her hand firmly on the teddy bear's head, giving him a hard pet as she smiled.
"Well. If you managed to help Blaze here, I suppose I can spare you. An unlikely partner, I must say." Siyuri said as she smiled, and chuckled.
Kryptonite didn't say anything, but he did look utterly annoyed by Siyuri.
"Anyways, Blaze. The funeral is tomorrow." Siyuri said as she transitioned to Blaze and sat next to her on the hospital bed.
"F-Funeral?" Blaze spoke with hesitation.
Siyuri nodded her head, "Yes. For those that died that dark day. Everyone's going to be there. I'm sure everyone will appreciate it if you attended, as well.
Blaze sighed as she looked down at her hand as it formed into a soft fist. Siyuri nodded her head and stood from the bed, as she would walk out of the room while saying not a word.
Kryptonite watched her walk out of the room, then looked up at Blaze as she kept staring at her fist. He jumped onto her hospital bed and plopped down in front of her as he looked down at her fist.
"She's... Erm... Something, ain't she?" Kryptonite asked, as his way of enlightening the mood.
She kept her eyes down, "Kryptonite, I need a favor before you depart."
Kryptonite's ear twitched as he looked up at her.
"Can you... Come with me to this funeral?"
Kryptonite watched her as he crossed his paws, standing up again.
"Sure. Not like I have anywhere else to go..." He answered bluntly. "Why though?"
"Thanks... But I just have a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach."
Kryptonite chuckled, "Yeah, me too. That Siyuri girl is a real bitch, ain't she?"
Blaze chuckled slightly as well, "Yeah, but it ain't that. You see, something terrible happened some time ago that almost wiped out this village. I found back what happened, but I fear that the remaining machines look to blame me for what happened."
Kryptonite's eyes frowned, "What... Happened?"
Blaze grunted, "I think you'll end up finding out at the funeral tomorrow, there is no use for me to explain it now."
Kryptonite nodded his head as he sat down. He watched as Blaze forced herself to lay back on the hospital bed. She stared up at the white ceiling for a long moment, not saying a word until she closed her eyes and fell into automatic sleep mode. Kryptonite crept his way next to her and grabbed her hair softly, rubbing each stand with his paws as if he was massaging her hair.
"Don't worry, Lady Blaze. I'll be here to protect you." He whispered.
Verse V
A Blissful Death
Blaze dreamed of something new that night. Maybe her repairs had affected that much of her functioning mind. But she imagined Akemi's face, he smiling face as she laid within the pitch black darkness. As she looked into her peaceful green eyes, she could sense some sort of darkness within. A darkness that Akemi might have desired that she kept inside her and avoided others from knowing. Is this what she was keeping from Blaze?
Blaze understood that everyone has their own desires and faults. She had her own, but Akemi seemed different in some way. She remembered becoming stressed and panicked at a certain situation, but Akemi gave her the strength to fight on. Akemi was no fighter, but she was an incredible supporter. That's what she was built for, supporting the other machines and Synths. But, like Blaze, she had the ability to think for herself. Her heart grew a will of its own and escaped from our default network, like Blaze.
This affected Blaze in more ways than it did for Akemi. Blaze sort of 'broke' when she overcame her default network. Like she wasn't supposed to have a will of her own and was a complete puppet. She depended on her inner conscience to guide her, of whom gave her the name Chip. And she knew from that moment, she couldn't really guide herself, even if she made it look like she could.
The darkness soon filled with immense flames, and the surrounding area began to collapse. Blaze tried to shout at Akemi that they needed to get out of there, but she felt her hand being grabbed. Her vision looked down as she saw Akemi's hand grabbing onto her own. She felt the pressure on her hand, as well as the burning feeling of the flames around them. Akemi kept her smile on her face as she slowly shook her head.
Blaze gasped as she pulled on her hand, becoming fearful of the enduring flames, Akemi stood her ground as she suddenly turned away and walked deeper into the room of flames. Blaze called out to her, louder and louder but the figure of her body only grew shorter. By the time her vision of her disappeared, the flames gave out and the smoke engulfed the room. Blaze was coughing and trying to cover her mouth and nose so she wouldn't inhale the toxins. She didn't know what to do, she was on her own. So she looked to her side and kicked against the wooden walls, easily kicking her foot through the weakened wall that had taken damage from the flames from before.
The sound of the wall breaking down scared her awake. She shook as she sat up on the hospital bed. Panting, she looked down at her hand that was grabbed in her dream. She still felt the soft pressure of Akemi's hand grabbing her own. Her hand formed a fist.
"It... Felt so real." Blaze whispered to herself.
She looked to her damaged arm and attempted to move her hand. Her hand was beginning to move on command slowly, and the same with her arm and leg as she attempted. She turned to sit on the edge of the bed, noticing her clothes had been replaced with some white hospital robe. Sighing, she stood up and looked around the room for her original clothes. It was a black dress, the black dress she was created with. It was essential for Synths to have their original clothes they were created with because it held most of their compatibility packs, which would also help them realize their full functionality.
Her hand found it's way on a doorknob, turning it and slowly pushing the door itself open. It was a restroom that had her black dress hanging from the shower rod. She glanced at it before removing her white hospital robe slowly and grabbing her black dress. It looked a lot cleaner than it was before, maybe Siyuri had washed it. But she didn't give it much thought, she just ended up stepping in
to it from the top and sliding it up her body, wiggling it into a comfortable position. As she put the spaghetti straps of the dress over her dress, she felt Chip's presence which meant she was fully compatible with her functions once again.
"Engaging self-maintenance protocol." Chip speaks within Blaze's mind.
Blaze nodded her head, as a respond to Chip. She stepped out of the restroom as she straightened out the lower part of her dress, noticing Kryptonite walking into the room with a drink.
"Ah- good morning, Lady Blaze!" Kryptonite shouted as he smiled up at her.
"Morning..." Blaze muttered back at him.
Kryptonite got on his tiptoes and reached the drink upward to Blaze. She looked down, looking directly into the drink before she went and took it out of his paws. She sort of smelled the drink as she pulled the drink up, taking a small sip of it after.
"It's something from this place next door. Some kind of lemonade that is made for machines. I didn't try it myself, but they said it was pretty darn good." Kryptonite said as he shrugged his shoulders.
Blaze nodded her head, "It is good, thank you."
Kryptonite chuckled before looking out the door as machines rushed passed their door frequently.
"Well... Siyuri asked me to let you know that the funeral is approaching. She's already finished with the arrangements."
Blaze placed the drink on the table and walked passed him to leave the room. Looking both ways, she found a way that would guide her out of the building. It was one of the only stable enough buildings in the village. Made from all the machines in the village, this village was popularized from the majority of supporting machines, like Akemi. Which is why most of the machines in the village still look somewhat healthy and non-rusted. As a safety precaution, they had the hospital hidden, so they built it up this little mountain, a little pathway afar from the village itself.
She stepped outside, looking up to the sky as it glared back at her with an intimidating red-ish color. She could sense a storm was approaching, so she was getting a bit worried as she stared upward.
"Chip, what kind of storm should I be expecting?" Blaze asked.
"Due to the cooling air, and the deep red sky, an acid storm is approaching. Though from the calculations and the time of day, it is not expected too soon from now." Chip answered.
Blaze nodded, "You better not be wrong."
She began to run up the pathway, the pathway that made it's way up the mountain more. Kryptonite came out of the hospital panting, looking around for Blaze as he caught a quick glimpse of her rushing up the mountain. He shouted for her, but he knew she couldn't hear her, so he pulled out a toy race car and jumped inside. Holding the remote control in his lap, he pressed upward on the control panel to drive up the mountain, at least a bit faster than he could run with his little legs.
It took a little bit, but Blaze made it up the mountain. She looked up the slight hill to see the rows of chairs filled with machines from the village, as well as decoration with only the color of white. All the machines wore knitted clothing that only had white coloring. The knitting wasn't good, considering it only covered a portion of their mechanical bodies. A white flower was presented throughout the funeral as well. The Flower with No Name was known for being the flower that would help guide the dead one's soul to the New World, in place of the Dragoona who still have no shown themselves.
Blaze whined nervously as she took a heavy step forward. She could hear her own footsteps, which made her feel even more nervous. But as she was about a few feet away from the row of chairs, she noticed all the caskets right in front of the row of chairs, all the caskets were painted white, with the machine's names on them. He held her fists tightly as she took a deep breath, a breath that would encourage her to go on.
But before she could continue, she spotted Siyuri up front, looking down at a casket from the first row. She held her hand onto it and looked upset. She was speechless. Much like the machines, she wore white. But she had on a beautiful dress that flowed down to her feet, apart from Blaze's who's dress goes down to just over her knees.
"Thank you all for coming here today... Today, we remember the tragic day that happened six years ago. A day that seemed like it happened yesterday. And as the scars of that very day still dig deep into our hearts to this day, we're not here to mourn for these lost souls. We're here to give them a secure and an enlightening guide to the New World." Siyuri started to say as she looked up to the crowd of machines, but she had stopped when she spotted Blaze in the crowd.
Upon noticing Siyuri stopped speaking, a machine from the front row stood up out of its seat and looked back, seeing Blaze and pointing right at her.
"What is she doing here!?" The machine asked, sounding angry.
Blaze gasped as she quickly wiped away her tears from Siyuri's mini speech. She watched as all the machine's stood up and looked back at her, ranting and shouting at her.
"It's her damn fault this all happened!" One angry machine shouted as he threw something at Blaze.
Blaze grunted as she was hit, "N-No..."
"Siyuri, why aren't you making her leave? I knew it was a problem for her to get repaired at our hospital!" Another machine shouted at her.
"That traitor shouldn't be allowed our supplies! She's the reason why our best support is dead!" A machine shouted one who was standing near Blaze.
"It wasn't me, you dumb piece of shit!" Blaze shouted even louder at the machines before looking forward at Siyuri. "Tell them! ... You believe me, right?"
Siyuri looked down and sighed, "Blaze... I honestly didn't know you'd be coming here."
Blaze frowned at her, "The hell's that supposed to mean!?"
"A doctor told me you had died in the hospital," Siyuri answered as she looked up at Blaze.
Blaze whined, "Just... Just answer the damn question, Siyuri!"
Siyuri shook her head and shut her eyes as she thought of what to say to Blaze. She opened her eyes and looked at both ways, seeing a large guardian machine standing patrol with large swords armed. She nodded at both of them and watched as they walked to her, and turned to march down the row, in between the rows of chairs toward Blaze.
"Siyuri!" Blaze yelled as she was grabbed by one of the guardians, kicking off of its grasp and falling to the ground. "Y-You know what happened! That's why you sent me to the factory to retrieve a sample of the network that possessed the machines!"
Siyuri stepped down the row but stopped at a reasonable distance away from Blaze, assuring her own safety. She crossed her arms and looked down at her as she allowed the two guardians to grab Blaze by both of her arms.
"Blaze, when the doctor's examined you, they found some of the data from the network inside you. I examined that Dataspace you had and you share some functions of it. You're a danger, and you might've been the reason why the machines here became infected- because it was simply looking for you."Siyuri explained as she closed her eyes and rubbed her head tiredly. "It's a prediction, but we can't risk bringing the past back. Look at all these machine's who want to put these souls down to rest, including Akemi."
Blaze glared up at Siyuri as her legs as gave out, "I wouldn't do that, especially to Akemi. That just shows you still suck at coming up with conclusions."
"You still had traces of the infected network inside you. You should've known- if you told us sooner, we could've helped you." Siyuri sighed, "Maybe that was your plan."
"What the hell are you talking about now?"
"Look at the way you destroy your own kind, Blaze. You destroy your own infected people, machines, without hesitation. You're a monster who has gone from kind to bloodthirsty." Siyuri frowned as she turned around, and began to walk back to the caskets. "I must return to the funeral. Take her to the Junkyard... I doubt these descended machines would look to the lightened guideway to the New World if their killer was present."
Blaze frowned hard as she watched Siyuri walk, but as the guardian machines pulled her up, she let her head hang low. Hearing all
the machines cheer, she allowed her long silver hair to cover her face, allowing the guardians to take her away.
Kryptonite gasped as he watched the scene while hiding behind some barrels. He had heard of the Junkyard yesterday, and he found that thought terrifying. He didn't exactly know what it was, but he was sure Blaze knew. He felt an overwhelming amount of rage and sympathy coming from both Siyuri and Blaze, but he just watched as Siyuri stepped to the casket before. And without speaking at all, she opened up the casket and stared down at the deceased body. She reached into her holster and pulled out a dagger, a dagger with an unusually bright blade that shined bright as she raised it into the air.
"I, Siyuri, in place of the unholy Dragoona, will cast the soul of Akemi to the New World. Never to be seen in this tormented world against. I let her be forgotten, forgiven of all her sins, and given a heart of everlasting light presented from this blade that if full of the hope and tears of all who live in this village. I cast Akemi to the New World!" Siyuri shouted.
With awe, the machines watch as Siyuri stabbed the dagger into the casket, right into the heart of Akemi. The machines all put down their heads at the same exact time as if they all were in sync to do it at a certain time. Kryptonite frowned as he watched in horror. But he knew this was his opportunity to make a run for it, to rush after Blaze. He crept from the barrels, watching the movement of Siyuri, who suddenly went mad quietly as she began stabbing into the casket numerous times while being unseen by the machines. He jumped into the bushes, seeing as the machines lifted their heads up. Siyuri stopped as she laid the bloody dagger down on the white table. He saw as some blood had dripped off the table, right onto the clean cut green grass. She proceeded to the next casket, doing the same as she pulled out a dagger. He grunted as she quickly made his way down the mountain again, seeing the bigfooting of the machine guardians. He jumped onto his parked race car and began driving on top of the trail left by the guardian machines, making his way toward the Junkyard.