Cosmo's oneshots / drabbles

Whumptober Day 23 - Forced choice

[FOLLOW-UP TO DAY 11'S PROMPT.]

MePhone4s' hands trembled. A gun shakily grasped by both, held up high. It felt like he was living a real, living nightmare. One he couldn't escape. One he couldn't save himself, or his brother from.

Just a few days ago, he had still been with his brother. He had still just been a piece of floating consciousness, spectating a world that was never his, but now he was real. Once again behind the confines of metal, and synthetic flesh. Mechanical heart beating in his chest, internal fans whirring, all so hard, and loud he felt he might just pass out and die again on the spot. A stress he hadn't felt in so long. A terror he couldn't overcome, even though through his rage, he had always at least pretended to be level-headed.

But not today. Today had been hell. Absolute. A phone call. A bargain, and his brother was back. The deal was to let 4s go in his place, but of course it had led to this.

A conversation after the call ended. Before his brother came.

"You're going to do one more thing for me, 4s. And then it won't really matter if you're free or not. I'll have exactly what I want, and nothing else will matter." Cobs just smirked, walking over to the door. The faceless robot that restrained him hoisted him up, his arms still restrained tight behind his back. It hurt. It sucks that he didn't have the physical energy to fight back. To restrain himself. He wanted to fight. He wanted to break free, and stop Cobs once and for all. He wanted to escape, and find MePhone, and tell him none of it mattered anymore. That they were safe, and things could be normal again.

But that wasn't going to happen. Led out of the confines of the padded room, he realized he wasn't even in the MeCloud. He was on a ship. A place he recognized. A place currently circling the cloud, much like a shark. Precise. Calculated. He was sure the ship would land once MePhone was on his way.

"What." 4s growled out as he was led along to the top of the ship. The sun was going down. The wind whipping in their faces.

"Do you still know how to use a gun?" A question that terrified 4s to his core. He had a sinking, dreadful feeling he knew where this was going. He couldn't even answer, before Cobs did for him.

"What am I saying. Of course you do. I made sure of it." A mean, quiet chuckle, barely louder than the ambience around them.

A silence, before Cobs spoke again;

"Beautiful evening, isn't it?" An amused tone.

"This is probably the last sunset he's ever going to see." He spoke, once again not giving 4s any chance to speak. 4s felt his mechanical heart drop.

"B- but-- you need him alive!"
"Oh, no. I really don't. See, my other plan was... A bit more cruel, but this will work just fine, too. I just need his source." Cobs didn't once look back at the robot.

"It's inconvenient you gave up that body of yours, really. All of this could've been avoided. You would've been much easier to wrangle back home." A sigh. "But I suppose this is just how it ends up. I don't need him functional." He finally turned to face the robot. He was still just smiling. "It'd be much simpler to do this, than erase everything else." He said that, like 4s would even understand it, but he didn't.

He didn't want to be living this life anymore. He wishes he could've just stayed where he was. Anything, but this.

Yet he, nor MePhone ever seemed to get what they wanted. He was stalling. Hesitating. The gun held in his hands. His terrified, upset expression not hidden behind any sunglasses. His brother's tired expression looking back at him.

"Aim for the screen. You remember how to aim at least, don't you?" Cobs placed a hand on his shoulder that he flinched at a bit.

"Once you do this, you're free to go. Of course, I could do it, but I don't want any oil on my hands." Another crude chuckle. MePhone looked so defeated, slumped over in the corner. He had been roughed around by one of those stupid faceless robots, and thrown in the padded room to wallow for a few hours, all leading up to this. 4s could see it in his eyes, MePhone didn't believe he was going to make it out of here alive. He didn't seem like he thought he deserved to live past this, either.

"I'm sorry," 4s' voice wavered. The most emotion he's shown in his life, and its towards an action he had no choice over. Even despite all this, he didn't think he deserved to make it out of here alive, either.

"Well?" Cobs just sighed, stepping back. It had been a few minutes, and the stalling was getting old.

4s shut his eyes tight, his finger inching closer to the trigger. He let out a frustrated, upset yell as he adjusted his aim quickly to a different target, and fired. A gasp, and a thud.

It was over now. It was all over.