Morality & Mortality (Artificer x Reader)

Like Antennas to Heaven

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"All of us have become like one who is unclean!

And all our righteous acts are like filthy rags!

We all shrivel up like a leaf and like the wind, our sins sweep us away!"

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ACT 2

A Saint is a Saint...

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[[CREDIT TO ARTUR KORDAS]]

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SCENE 1

Your P.O.V

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When you decided to wake up, the shelter doors were already wide open, and the damp air was already making its way into your nose. 

The sounds of metal screeching and creaking echoed all around you, droplets of water reverberated across the large room, making them sound tremendously louder than they should be.

It was unnerving. The sheer size of this place was unnatural. 

Though, you decided to put those minor discomforts aside for now, there was a bigger problem at hand, Artificer was nowhere to be seen.

At first, you thought she had abandoned you, it would make sense, you did bring up old wounds back at the shelter. However, the sounds of bloodshed and various vulgarities above you disproved of your prediction.

Time to get moving, it seems like she had a rather filling start to the cycle. 

The same could not be said for you, however.

First of all, you felt slower somehow. It may just be your lack of energy that gave you the illusion of hindered speed, but it was there.

Second of all, the dizziness that happened if you overexerted yourself too much. For example, climbing and jumping from pole to pole. It was disorienting, and almost made you slip into the dark pit below you.

Third of all, the hunger pains that flared up every so often, it felt like something was stabbing your torso with a serrated spear and twisting it around. The pain was horrible, almost comparable to your unfortunate run in with those scavengers back in the factories, but it was manageable.

You looked around the area to pinpoint Arti's exact location based off those loud noises from earlier, however your thoughts drifted off into remembering where you were.

If your studies were to be trusted, you and your dear 'friend' would be in The Leg. 

This region was the lowest part of an 'Iterator', serving as the supports, or 'legs', for the main superstructure. Water is sucked up by pipes and sent to the main energy unit within the structure for processing, allowing this beast of metal to stay functioning.

It was hard to imagine this place was still working on hydropower alone. There had to be something else, a main power reactor, maybe multiple, unfortunately your studies never reached too far on that singular topic.