MURDER DRONES: RELAPSE [read desc!]

silent

A/N: i really had fun writing this chapter, even if it's pretty all over the place

L's POV

"Mmh..." I woke up inside the van. Did someone...put me here?

I got out of the van and stretched. "I...what happened?" I murmured, looking around the intersection. Nothing seemed to be different...

Until the bright yellow warning came up in the corner of my vision.

"HIGH TEMP WARNING
[THIS IS A SIGN TO GET SOME OIL]"

Oh no. Ohhhhhhh no. I was not going to pass out in the middle of the intersection. But if I moved, I'd pass out. I really wish my corpse pile was closer to the van and not so far away.

...Although, I think I should just shut down and wait for my systems to cool down. Snow is cold, right?

It might take a couple hours for me to return to normal temperature, but I'll risk my body lying in the middle of nowhere if I can just...cool...down...

I turned off my systems and shut down.

Once I cool down, I should be booted up again.

R-right?

??? POV

A/N: i like to think that the drones disclosed names for themselves just in case another drone with the same letter to start their S/N appears. im utilizing this headcanon a lot, so sorry if it gets confusing, lol.

— past —

I watched him flick and twist his special ribbon a couple of times. He was sitting criss-cross applesauce in front of a picture book, open to a page with faded colors and two bunnies drawn next to each other. It reminded me of us, how we were so different yet so close to each other.

I walked over and knelt down next to him. "Hey, buddy."

He seemed happy to see me. He looked at me for a bit, blinked a couple of times, then returned to playing with his ribbon, putting it in his mouth before taking it back out and twisting it. 

He can't speak well, so the other drones and I have learned to communicate with him through eye contact. I smiled at him, then gestured to the book. "Do you like this book?"

He simply tapped on one of the bunnies.

I guess he just likes the bunnies, or the drawings in the book.

I heard some voices coming from another side of the library. Noah... "We can ask Noah nii-san if he can read this to us, 'kay? I know you like it when he reads to you..."

He tugged at my arm and made me lock eyes with him. That's a yes, I'm assuming.

"Here, I'll help you up." I stood up and let him take ahold of my arm so he could pull himself up. I noticed a little black spot on his visor. "Ah, Luka, you've got something on your face. Stay still." I grabbed the hem of my dress and used it to wipe the black stuff off his visor. I saw his eye glitch out a little bit before returning to normal. Probably just a little OS glitch. Things like that happen. Especially to him.

Luka's not the most operational drone. We were disposed of by the same family because of his defects and because I couldn't see him leave on his own. Luckily, Tessa had found us and brought us home with her and she repaired Luka. To her, our names are I and L, possibly so she doesn't have to remember so many names of drones. Luka has a couple voice bank errors, plus an optic sensor glitch that makes his right eye freak out. It scares Vivienne sometimes, but she always calms down quickly.

Luka tugged on my arm again, snapping me out of my thoughts. "A-Ai..." He managed to say.

I smiled at him and his attempt at saying my name. "I'm sorry, Luka, I spaced out for a little bit. C'mon, let go."

We walked through the library, Luka holding my hand and his ribbon while I held the book. He's a very clingy little drone and can easily get scared, so if I hold his hand, he'll feel safer. At least, that's what I think.

"Noah? You available right now?"

The male worker drone turned to look at me. "Oh, hey there, Ai!" Noah shifted his gaze to Luka. "Hi, Luka!"

Luka gave Noah the smallest and cutest wave I've seen. He took the book from my hand and held it out to Noah.

"He, ah, wants you to read this." I told him.

Noah nodded. "Sure thing. Come here, both of you!" He gestured for us to sit down, which we did: me kneeling on the ground while Luka was sitting criss-cross applesauce like he normally does, fumbling with his ribbon. He pulled Noah a little closer to him so he could stare for a little bit.

"...Ah, don't worry." Noah turned to me. "He told me to stop at each picture."

I laughed a little bit. "Well, you will, right?"

"Of course I will." He reassured both of us. Noah opened the book to the first page, stared at it for a bit, and then looked at Luka. "Sorry buddy. I...I can't read this."

Luka looked a little bit sad, so I peeked over Noah's shoulder to look at the book.

"It's in Japanese." I noticed.

"Yeah...I can read the easy stuff 'cuz you taught me, but the Kanji..." He pointed to the character for "sei".

"I can read it. Luka enjoys it when I read to him in Japanese," I offered.

"I think that would be the best option. I'll read to you another day, alright?" Noah told Luka.

The little drone looked at Noah, then at me, signifying yes.

"Alright, then. Use this as a learning opportunity, Noah~" I elbowed his arm.

– current time –

I jolted awake. That was...a weird dream. I sat up and looked around. "Luka..."