Internecion Cube, Rewritten

Episode 2: Interconnected, Part 2

Kirie looked around frantically. She could still see the visage of the frozen giant. Its arm outstretched. It was burned into her memory. Out of everything she had witnessed that day, 13 years ago, for some strange reason...that was the image that stuck in her mind the most. She looked over to her desk. All sorts of notes and paper and ink were sprawled out across it messily. The rain's pitter patter was ever-present outside. 

'Remember to breathe.' 

'Remember to blink.' 

'Remember to SMILE.' 

All things she struggled with. She had no use for any of those functions anymore, after the incident. But she had to. To appear normal. To fit in. She'd always been an outcast, she didn't need to be any more of an outcast. The visage of the frozen giant from that fateful day was still burned into her head.

'Who are you?' 

'Who are you?' 

"WHO ARE YOU!?"

Kirie finally shouted into nothing. She grimaced and gripped her forehead. She hated that memory. She wanted to forget. She wanted to go back and warn her young self to never go near anything cube shaped ever again. And for the first time in a very, very long time, a single tear streaked down her right eye. She wiped off the tear, glared at it and sighed, returning to her usual deadpan expression. She got out of bed, and walked to the shower.She stripped down and simply blasted warm water into her face for about 30 seconds. Eventually she realized she had to do more than assault her face with water and resigned to actually washing herself. She gave a weak thumbs up and got out of the shower, drying herself off and wrapping a towl around herself.She walked to the fridge and got out some sardines. Rex, her cat came around, knowing what time it was. His eyes were dark voids, a viscous black fluid dripping from them. His mouth also seemed just as abyssal, no teeth to be seen. A good third of his tail missing, leaving only skeleton visible, although somehow it still moved just like any cat's tail would. She patted him on the head. 

"Cat." 

Was about all she could muster. Apathy was weighing her down. She gave him some sardines, which he happily ate up.

She grabbed some bread, plopped it into the toaster, and simply watched it toast for about 5 minutes until it popped back out. She grabbed the bread, but some peanut butter and jelly between it, sat down with a glass of water and dug in. She didn't have to eat, either, but she rather enjoyed it. It made her feel more human. She wiped off the crumbs.She walked to the sink. The flower she'd put at the sink to make the place feel nicer having long died, and she didn't care enough to get rid of it. She grabbed the electric toothbrush, put some toothpaste on it and began brushing her teeth. The whole time she stared into her face. She was sick of that face, always looking back at her every morning and every day. She was sick of her wretched form. She washed the toothbrush off and dropped it into the basket, before grabbing the mouth wash, putting it into her mouth, mixing it around and spitting it out. She applied her makeup, which served to make her somehow even gloomier looking, but she liked how it looked. Not like anything else would look right. She then groaned. Time for her 'emotion practice'. She practiced various emotions. Her angry face, which looked far too over the top to be normal. Her sad face, which barely looked any different from how she always looked. And finally, the one she hated the most, her happy face. Her smile was all wrong. It was too big. It was too forced. She hated it. She hated how she looked. But she had to, to be normal. As soon as she felt it was satisfactory she stopped, and grimaced. She spent about a minute staring into her reflection, glaring at it. And it glared back at her. She gave a weak thumbs up, grabbed her umbrella and walked towards the door, closing it with a slam. 

... 

... 

... 

Max was sitting in the desert. He sighed, sitting at the edge of the road. Staring into the distance. He dug through his bag, seized a nice energy bar, tore open its wrapping and clamped down on it with his teeth. As he chewed, he ruminated on what he'd gotten himself into. But this was for the good of all humanity, right? Right. He looked to his side, a tiny cube sitting there. Apparently inactive. And he had an idea. He needed to learn more about these things, right? Why not do it right now? She'd never even have to know. He shakily pressed down on the cube's top, causing it to unfurl into a humanoid shape. And he began studying it. He measured her dimensions, the odd ways her metal seemed to contort like flesh, everything that made this thing wrong. 

Data recovery failed- 

Booting...

10% Capacity... 

15% Capacity... 

Error. Data corrupted, mainframe not present. Booting at 20% Capacity. 

Operation String 'Primus Figura' Not Found. 

Writing Recovery Drive (49%) 

Writing Recovery Drive (100%) (Complete) 

Program Start //: "IC-0n" 

Initializing... Data Corrupt, Capacity Compromised. Booting at minimal capacity. 

She woke up. 

"Administrator, might I ask what you're doing with me?" 

"U-Um! It's not what it looks like!" 

She stared at him blankly, her X eyes flickering. 

"I sure do hope you're not trying to reverse engineer me, Administrator. Because that would be against my terms of service." 

"Oh no! Um, this, is, erm, a purely...SEXUAL thing! Yeah! I'm a big ol' perv, shame on me!"

"Please, I can see right through you." 

One of her pigtails grabbed his head, lifting him up. 

"Since you're my Administrator, I cannot kill you, but if you breach terms and conditions I am allowed to hurt you. So strap in." 

She squeezed. And it HURT. Her grip was like a vice, he could barely breathe. She smirked as she hurled him into the ground so hard a tiny crack formed. He could feel himself bleeding. It hurt like HELL. 

"Ahahahah! It's not as fun as killing you and shoving your spine down your throat but it was rather entertaining. So thank you, O Administrator." 

"Ughhhhh...U-Ummm, if you don't mind me...nnngh...asking, why do you sleep?" 

"Because I enjoy it." 

"Uh-huh...But doesn't it leave you vulnerable? You only do that when you feel safe...right?" 

She glared at him. 

"Well, you're the Administrator, obviously you wouldn't hurt me." 

"But what if I did?" 

"...That'd never happen." 

"..." 

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I need my beauty sleep. Suck it." 

She returned to a cuboid shape.