Written by VelleRue on Ao3
Warnings
Mature
__________
He feels… dirty.
It’s so hard to walk. His vision blurs, circuits damaged by the filth now clinging stubbornly to them, unable to be washed away with his cleansing systems. All of him is covered in filth, except for one part of him.
The circuits and framework in his chest grip onto the foreign device given to him by the mechanic, free of grime and wretchedness and everything. It feels safe.
Why is that?
He stumbles.
Hands press against his abdomen and shoulder, holding him up as he feels like all he can do is fall down.
“Slow down, Kabukimono,” a familiar voice chuckles in his ear, accented and as confident as a kitsune. “You’ve saved the day. Perhaps you should take it easy now.”
“The mechanic,” he speaks, but it comes out pitifully weak and slurred, jaw hardly able to move through the sticky sludge holding it closed.
“Indeed, though you may call me by my name if you wish.”
“You are a mechanic,” he presses, trying to convey everything he’s feeling because he’s not sure if he’ll be able to stay awake. He’s not sure he’d wake up again if he falls. “The device within my chest. It protected me.”
“…it seems it did. As was its intended purpose.”
“How? How could it…”
A smile, showing the barest hint of teeth. “Would you like to see?”
Without waiting for an answer he—
he peels his robe away from his chest
he opens up the compartment for his Gno—s
gently, oh so gently, he untangles the wires and weaves his fingers around the frame
(he always touches like that. so gently, so softly—)
That device, pristine and shining, settles into the mechanic’s palm. “There is a secret piece to this device,” the mechanic says. “A piece I could hardly get easily, but Niwa graciously harvested it for me.”
Niwa.
Just the sound relaxes him, lets him forget the awful grime defiling his body for just a moment, breathing into him a sense that feels like flower petals. Soft, sweet.
“Where is… Niwa?” He struggles to turn his head, pulling himself out of the mechanic’s arms and trying to walk, but his legs can hardly move through the grime gripping his joints like vices. “He should have been here. He said… he said he would be here.”
“See, that’s the thing,” the mechanic tells him, smiling syllables coaxing him into looking back. “Niwa has decided to depart from Tatarasuna. He was unable to bear the thought of its inevitable fate, and the things that would come after.”
What?
“But!” The mechanic raises a finger. “He was not without one last virtue. He decided to give you a gift. This device holds within it his last gift to you, taken straight from the chest of one of his wonderful servants.”
The mechanic smiles , showing off pointed teeth—
he opens the device.
the puppet stares.
“don’t you see?”
fingers reach in, gripping the bloodied lump and lifting it up
the device drops to the ground, and a hand reaches for the puppet’s own
