Like Starlight - The Spine

Chapter Three: Where Sophie Breaks (In)

 He opens the car door, standing and following after Sophie. Who's already chatting with the crew that's going to demolish the manor.

"I left my guitar in here the other night. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to grab it."

"Ma'am we're not allowed to let you on the property if you're not a contractor. Please-"

"It was my grandad's." She says, her eyes welling with water. "Please. It's really important to me."

The demolition crew look between each other, conversing in quiet tones, before turning back to Sophie. Nodding.

"Alright. Ten minutes. That's the max amount of time we can give you. If you get injured, we can't be held liable."

"Thank you so much." She says, untying the bandana in her hair, and wrapping it around her nose and mouth, making her way towards the manor as fast as she could. He takes her hand, trying to keep up. He could only move so fast.

She looks back, smiling bashfully.

"Sorry, Spine." She mumbles under her breath. They make it to the house and she rushes inside, towards the room he had awoken in. He follows after and she's already flipping pieces of rotten wood over.

"I'll look for Rabbit and Zero, you find your guitar." She says, moving through the room with ease. Before looking behind her at noises emitting from the house.

"Hey! Wait a second!" She yells, running out of the room. The chattering pauses as he examines the room, then picks up again with Sophie's voice joining in.

He feels himself starting to move slower the more of the room he scouts out. No sign of Rabbit, Zero, or his guitar. He's starting to lose hope.

Sophie stalks back in, a fake smile falling off her face as she sighs. He looks over to her. There she is, holding a black guitar, a top hat, and a large, oversized chain.

"Found them." She grumbles. He approaches her, taking the guitar from her weary hands. The tophat on her head looked familiar, so did the chain. He puts the strap over his head. It fits snuggly on his shoulder, a piece missing in a well oiled machine.

"Come on, we've got to go."

"Zero and Rabbit-."

He looks at her eyes, and finds them plastered to the chain in her hand. Taking the tophat off her head and looking at it. Before looking back up at him, genuine tears welling in her eyes as she takes a deep breath.

"They're not here."

He feels something sink in his chest, though he knows there's nothing but wires and gears.

"But I do know where they are." She says, gritting her teeth together. Before a hand grabs her.

"Of course you do."

There stood another figure, seeming to gloat in some sort of victory. Sophie rips her arm from the grasp.

"You're not supposed to be here, Sophie."

"Shut it, Becile. We were just leaving."

So this was the youngest Becile. Thick black hair, eyes green as emeralds... similar to the Becile he once knew.

"Who's your friend?"

"A prototype." She glares. "Now if you'll excuse us we were just leaving. I left my guitar here the other night."

"Ah, ah, ah. You know the rules, any item under this roof is my possession."

"At the time of the contract, me and my friend, and these items, were not under this roof when my father signed the contract."

Becile's eyes darken, edges sharpening into a glower.

"Very well. But never step foot on my property again, I can press charges for trespassing."

"Don't worry. We won't."

She takes his hand, and stomps out of the house. Dragging along the robot. She gets into the car. Still clutching the chain and top hat, she slams the door. Leaning against the steering wheel. Staring down at the items held in her lap.

He gets into the car, sitting down beside her.

"I'm so sorry, Spine." She whispers. Wiping under her eyes. Taking another deep breath. She moves the chain and top hat onto the center console. Pulling out of the gravel driveway.

"Don't apologize."

She can't look over at him, just staring at the road.

"You didn't know that we were there. You can't blame yourself."

"If I had just gone earlier-"

"Yes, but you didn't go earlier." He says, neglecting the items on the center console. "There's no use being frustrated about it now."

He places a hand on her shoulder, she looks over at him, barely able to make eye contact with the robotic being.

"We'll find them. The way the youngest Becile looked at me..."

"That's it!" Sophie yells, scaring the Spine. She looks him in the eyes, grinning. "Becile took them back to Becile Industries!"

She's elated, pulling off the bandana from around her face. Throwing it in the back seat. A great grin on her features.

"We'll break in and get them out!"

"You're not allowed on Becile's property."

She waves her hand in the air, a mischievous smile on her face.

"Disguises exist. But we've gotta be sure that they're inside the industry. That could take months..."

"We'll wait then."

"But what if-"

"You said we'd have to be sure. They're strong. We'll wait."

She looks up at him, smiling.

"Alright. We can wait then."