For a Glacial Tomorrow

Prologue [1st]

As her gaze lingers on his face, her index finger delicately dances over the lines of his palm, leaving a cold sensation in its wake. She can't ignore the whimpering, the pain of being consumed alive. She pressed her own palm to his, trying to reach through to his alive systems, though it was as if she could see them twitching and failing, overgrown cysts throbbing on his circularity, alive but not aware, as he consciously struggled to grip her from anguish. She was holding back screams, screams of confusion, screams of terror, needing to release her voice, vocalize her horror, but she made herself stay strong for him. As the bump of a cyst began to form near her hand, she reluctantly moved it away to brush her hand against the free spot on his cheek, whispering comforting words.

"I'm here, it's okay..." But she knew it wasn't okay, and he did too as he sat bound to the floor from the blue tentacles tethering him there. How coincidental, she thought bitterly while running her fingers over his faceplate's smooth, artificial skin. He's tethered to the ground, and his name is Cloud Tethers. The irony was mocking. A sharp inhale filled her lungs as she strained to feel a glimmer of his shallow breaths. Tears welled up in her eyes, and her limbs longed to reach out and offer what little solace she could in his state. She suddenly felt a subtle shift. 
"No... don't touch me." His voice was hoarse and ill as he forced her away. She felt as if a knife had sliced through her heart from the action, seeping crimson spouts of blood. 

"Cloud... please-"

"I said no...!" he cut her off, his tone firm, though curtained by the flickers of voice clips from a destructing system and the frailness. Rot. Sprouting all over his body in chains, like some kind of vine. She almost touched the pulsating bulbs. Almost. He'd saved her. "Two... c-can't let... you... catch.." The garbled voice drifted into a thunderingly low static: "ERROR:  SYSTEMS UNDER FATAL STRAIN. FORCE SHUTDOWN WILL COMMENCE." A whirring noise started, and Cloud Tethers jerked as Two held him still, trying to keep him from worsening his hopeless condition. 
"It's okay.. you'll-" 

"Go."

The words hit her like a train. Her grip slackened. The thought of leaving him to die alone was cruel. She clasped what little bit of his fingers wasn't infected. She wouldn't go. "Go," he repeated in a monotone voice, his words hanging heavily in the air. She could only stare at him, her eyes filled with a cascade of messy tears, as she tried to hold back the overwhelming tide of emotions crashing within her. She tried to tell herself he was lying and wanted her to stay, but she could hear the sincerity in his voice, see it in the fraction of his eye that hadn't been engulfed. 

So, she let go. 

Her hand dangled limply at her side as she stood. She turned and walked out. And she walked.

 And she walked.