A•N•D•R•O•P•H•O•B•I•A

Beauty's Beast • Part Two

After recovering from the painful sweep of foreign memories, and after Pyxl had done stop worrying his heart out for me, we were now both seated against the metal wall of the lab. He had insisted upon it, hand-gesturing that it would allow him to give me his full attention, and I accepted it gratefully. That was one of the things that I liked about Pyxl. Besides being unexpectedly kind and gentle, he had the patience of an aged man, unlike the very few humans I know, who are full of ignorance. And he was half-robot. Now, making ourselves way too at ease in unfamiliar territory for comfort, I began to slowly tell Pyxl the memory that managed to make its' way to the wrong owner.

"It happened here.." I started, looking around the room dreadfully. "Christopher, or you..." I corrected myself, since I now realize that Pyxl and Christopher were one and the same. "Were locked in here.. For days I think.. I don't know, but it seemed like it.." I struggled with the small bits of information I could remember from the two dreams I had and along with the memory I just had. "You were tortured... Battered, clubbed, horribly... Over and over.." I tried to sound firm, but my words kept trailing off. I looked over to Pyxl, but he didn't seem to be deterred at all, so I continued. "In my second dream, you were held in that table." I said, pointing to the table in the middle of the room, blackened, with, what I know believe to be blood. Pyxl's blood. "Parts of your flesh had been ripped off..." I said as carefully as I could.

I tried my best to not let my emotions surface, but a tear still managed to make its' way down my cheek. I didn't bother wiping it away. "Then, when I had that weird memory flash earlier, I saw the rest of the procedure.. The scientists were continuing to skin you alive... Then they were drilling needles deep into your skin.. I could see it all as if I were there.." More tears came, but I just let them fall. "In those two dreams I had, I somehow managed to place my existence in the past." I mentally scolded myself at how stupid and impossible that sounded, but I went on. "When you saw me, you thought I was real. It was truly a bewildering experience, but I think that's what happened..." My sight blurred as my tears cascaded all over my face. "That was probably the worse part.. Because, when I had that memory flash, and saw you being tortured... You were screaming my name.."

At that, Pyxl's stoic expression finally faltered. I lowered my head, too ashamed to look at him. Christopher, or Pyxl, the man-robot, who was once a human, was taken, tortured and turned into the creature that he is now. And during all that time he was abused and tormented on, the hope he clung to was me. A stranger who met him in a dream, and had no care at all. I'm pretty sure at that time when he was being experimented on, I was probably cowering inside my room, busying myself away with books that I'd already read. I couldn't help myself from sobbing, and soon, I was wailing, my body shaking horribly. Pyxl's whirring circuits grew louder as I felt his cold, metal fingers gently touch the side of my face. He ran them down softly and tipped my face back up to look at him.

Being a half-robot made it hard reading his face. It had went back to its' previous stoic look, but now it looked softer and melancholic. With a humane gentleness that I never would've thought he was capable of, Pyxl glided his fingers across my cheeks, wiping my tears away. He didn't withdrew his hand, but just kept it there, pressed against my cheek. He then brought his other hand behind my back, and around me, pulling me closer against him. His action was so sudden, that I didn't even knew what he was doing. It was only until my face was against his half-metal, half-flesh neck, and his arms encircling me protectively, did I understood what he was doing. He was comforting me. Tears came once again, but only this time, because of my gratefulness of the comfort he was giving. The robots that Olympus made, will never suffice Pyxl and his companions. No robot on the surface of this decayed earth could care and show compassion like Pyxl does. No one.

"I'm sorry I'm so fragile." I said. Pyxl held me tighter in reassurance. "I'm sorry, that you had to go through something so horrible like that.." I added. Pyxl tightened his arms around me, probably because it was the only thing he could do to reassure me, other than doing his hand gestures. "We...we shouldn't waste more time here.." I said, the words breaking, because of the sobs I had cried it was hard to say a sentence straightly. "We..we sh-shoud ge-get going." I mumbled. Pyxl, however didn't move. Instead he pulled me even closer against him, and even extended the extra arms he had behind his back, to wrap around me. To my surprise I didn't flinch in fear, but just relished the feel of being secured and safe. "Pyxl.." I said all the sudden. He didn't look, but I knew he was listening. "I'm not afraid of you anymore.." I whispered softly. I didn't see what Pyxl's reaction was to that, but by the long, seemingly contented sigh he gave out, I could tell he was happy. I guess we can stay here for a little bit longer.

-- -- -- -- -- --

The ground practically flattened as the group of man-robots continued to journey to the rendezvous point that their leader had said. "Clancy, has Amber contacted you yet?" Vee asked, passing under a thick stray branch. "No.. Not since last night." Clancy replied, keeping good track of his feet. "Yeah well, y'know when she'll be next contacting you?" Vee asked back. "Why do you keep asking, Vee?" Clancy inquired, finally stopping and turning around to face Vee and the others. They were all seemingly looking quite troubled. "What's wrong?" Clancy asked them. "Nothing.. I mean.. Just... I feel restless for some reason." Vee said. "I agree with Vee. I've been feeling the same way ever since we didn't malfunction last night." Einz said.

Clancy gave them a calculating look. "So what are you saying?" He asked again. "Nothing.. We're just feeling off. And we're worried about Miss Amber and Pyxl, as well." Dir stated. Clancy gave a deep sigh. "I'm sure both of them are all right. Knowing Pyxl, he's probably doing short stops to find food for Miss Amber." Clancy assured. "Maybe.. I sure hope it's like that." Vee said gravely, just making Clancy troubled himself. "Let's just keep going. The sooner we get to the rendezvous point, the sooner we'll establish that Pyxl and Miss Amber is safe." Clancy said. "You're right." Vee said. Clancy nodded and turned around to continue walking, only to be stopped upon coming face-to-face, with one of the robots that had been following them. He let out a small gasp, as the robot held him roughly by the neck. "Clancy!" His companions yelled.

Clancy gasped for breath, clawing at the robot's hands, but to no avail. Clancy managed to look down, and saw that his legs could be of use. With all the strength he had to muster, Clancy managed to kick the robot away. It thudded sickeningly across the ground, its' head rolling back and round several times. "Clancy! You okay?" Vee asked, coming beside him. "Kill it." Clancy ordered. Upon saying so, Dir and Einz jumped on the robot, with the latter on the upper half and the former on the lower. Einz held down the robot's legs as it struggled to break free. Dir, without a moment's hesitation, thrust both his hands into the core of the robot's life. The head. Small sparks flew around the air as the robot twitched and its' circuits whirred. With a grunt, Dir brought his hands back up, producing the core mainframe that kept the machine alive. It twitched some more, until it lay motionless under the two man-robots.

"It's dead." Dir stipulated with a gasp of breath. "We better keep~ Aaaaaghhh!!!" Clancy suddenly yelled as a high-pitched frequency sound filled the area. The sound grew louder, now sending all the man-robots to the ground, shrieking in pain. Clancy looked to his comrades with his single bloodshot eye. They were all wiggling and shook their head furiously against the ground. "What the hell is this?!!" Vee strained through clenched teeth. The pain was so unbearable that it was the only thing they could feel, and that they couldn't even feel it when the ground shook as more robots began to surround the area. Clancy, who was strong enough to keep his eyes open through the pain, estimated that the robots were around dozens. There's no point fighting, handicapped or not. "All right. There is no need for you to take them down..." A voice said.

The pain overtook his body that his eyes could no longer make out what was before him. It was still okay enough for him to make out that it was a man, but he couldn't see his face. Clancy tried to move, but the effect of the frequency sound, which was still on, kept him paralyzed. "Peculiar being, you truly are.." The man said, kneeling down so he was eye-level with Clancy. Said person looked like he was having a seizure, but in place of foam at the mouth, were black veins faintly surfacing on his face. "I'm sorry that I had to interrupt your trek to meet with your friend.." Clancy's body instinctively tried to move itself upon hearing that. "But I'm afraid I have to 'borrow' you and your companions for a bit." Every word being said only made Clancy's nerves struggle to move more.

In a vain attempt to do so, Clancy fell on his side, and every next attempt to move became futile. "Don't worry, you'll still get your friend. I'll promise you that." The man finished. Clancy couldn't see, but by the sounds of it, he knew that the man was satisfied with what was happening. His mess of an eyesight fell to his friends, whose faces were now covered with black veins like him. And much to his horror, their metal eyes, were glowing bright redder than they usually should. One by one, they began to stand up, looking quite unfazed compared to the pained looks they had minutes ago. Clancy knew what was happening, and he couldn't help himself from growing cold with fear. Fear for what was going to happen. In a matter of seconds, he too, began to feel himself slipping away. Before his entire system shut down, he was praying in his mind. Praying that Amber will be able to survive the ordeal that is to come.

TO BE CONTINUED