The Gear Era

Panic

They keep turning...and turning and turning and wryly continuing to do so.

It's like it'll never end!

Barely awake, barely...alive!? He didn't even know at this point. What's with these weird sounds??

Click.. click...click...

Why has he never heard them before?!

Click...click...click...

Why does his eye hurt and throb so much...? Is he okay? Well...the answer is no. Not at all. He can't move. He's struggling. He's shaking. He feels... different.

Mack laid there hopelessly on the floor with his mind screaming at him. He couldn't remember anything. Nothing! But woke up and...

Click...click...click...

He was confused. And scared...very scared. The gears that have been implanted in his head..in his MIND..they wouldn't stop turning. Like a clock, but more annoying, as he cannot just ignore the sound of the clocks hands moving like most can.

He can't ignore the sound of gears jeering in his head.

"I can't..see.." he whispered, holding a hand over his right eye. The only eye he couldn't see out of. "I..I can't hear myself think..." He didn't know at all who he was talking to. Or..if anyone was even there to listen. It was so quiet. Again...other than the never ending...

Click...click...click...

He groaned in pain before he sat up, shaking and unable to feel comfortable. His normal deep red cape was gone, but...replaced..with something more 'suitable' in the minds of..who knows who.

A vest, pants, shoes..he had shoes before, but these were metal, oddly...and a cape. Not his normal deep red one...but a different, deeper red one.

To the left of him, he could barely see a dirty mirror. That's...quite a coincidental item to have around at a time like this. Though, the imp whined and after all he is feeling, felt the top of his head to even just make sure his horns were still there! Luckily, they where. But they fell sharper.."w-weird..." He muttered before shakily standing to his feet, wobbling a bit. Hating the metal shoes.

The confusion kept growing, as well as the clicking in his head. It was enough to make him whimper, but he weakly held back his tears. As those would feel like fire against flesh. Slowly, he stalked towards the mirror, using his gloved hand to wipe the dust of old machines off of it. He took a step back and looked at himself.

Staring...

He saw a spinning gear that slowly rotated within his right eye. That is...the only thing keeping him alive right now. If it where to stop-

Well...

Bye bye, Mackie...

Shaking his head to see if that would rid the clicking, it only made it temporarily worse, whining loudly he tried to again, keep the tears from flowing. He's already in enough pain from...whoever..or whatever did this to him.

Noticing more within the mirror, his cape was held on by..a gear. The Spurs on his shoes where...gears...

Gears...

Why so many gears?! It's like clock work!

"H-help.." mack began to look around, his tiny stature was a weak point. He was ever so... vulnerable. Even more so now than ever with the pain he was in. "where....where is my knife...?" Not even he knew why he was talking to himself anymore...it made him feel less lonely, perhaps..?

His knife...his knife had shrunk down to some small blade, it was with him. It was even ON him. Within a pocket in his vest. He didn't notice it yet...but what laid on the hilt of this beloved knife? A gear.

Growing impatient, the poor imp wandered around the..what seemed to be, quarantined metal room. It was overheating at this point, but that didn't bother him. He was born of flames and resilience to fire. He loves fire...a nice nap in a fireplace sounded lovely right now..

But alas, that has to wait. And for who knows how long.

He was pressured to back up against a wall, he thought he had heard something...something other than clicks for once, but it still didn't seem like a sound one would want to hear.

Beeping...

That wasn't a good sign. He pressed his head against the wall slightly, hitting a hidden button, his gear stopped turning for a second-

Similar to how a heart skips a beat if one is startled...

Luckily, it rotated again. But to his dismay...he heard another sound...

Which to him, had to be worse than the gears clicking.

"Wa..water..." He choked on his words and nervously turned around. A panel within the room had opened.

"No..."

There was a pause, he could see water begin to leak from the panel.

"No..no..no! No!! No!!"

His gear spun in his eye faster. Faster and faster as he panicked more and more. He couldn't do it, he could not hold back his tears. They ran down his cheek, making him wince. Hard.

"G-get me out of here!! Get me out!! H-help me, please! Anyone!! C-can you even hear me?!!" He pounded on the wall as he turned again to see the panel leaking more water.

He felt defeated...he leaned his back against the wall again, sliding down slowly as he wept in pain and fear, both feelings mixing together to the point of actually feeling helpless. Which he thought he was, at this point...

Pulling his knees to his chest, the gear in his eye clicked louder. But his sobbing cancelled the annoying sound out for once...but he'd rather listen to the clicking than feel burning tears down his sensitive face.

He's just...a kid..

Why would something like this happen to him?

He tried so..so hard to ignore the sounds. The sounds that all mushed together. The sound of water dripping from the panel was almost forgotten until he looked at it again. A puddle...a stream was flowing close to him..there was no where to escape, no leveled ground to hide on.

"Please...no..please no..." He begged, he whined, he cried, he...he screamed. He started screaming.

Why..why is he screaming?!

Water...it's as simple as an answer could get...it reached him and got on his legs, on his hands, he stood up quickly, wishing he had wings to pick him up and save him! He...didn't, though...and he just kept screaming...and screaming...

The fifth sound that joined with the clicking...was his own screaming...

Clicking...beeping...sobbing....water...screaming...

He started to throw himself against the metal walls, hoping to break them down when he KNOWS he can't!

Or can..he?

His horn grazed against a higher button that his arms wouldn't have been able to reach. The button glowed a bright red, he was too busy screaming and begging for help as his body was BURNING. burning all over, burning so, so painstakingly awful, to even notice the button.

To even notice a different panel open above him..he tried sticking to the wall, becoming tired and stumbling backwards, whole body splashed against a puddle, causing his whole body to burn.

He cried out again until a pair of hands effortlessly picked up the pain-filled imp and pulled him through the panel, and closed it behind him, laying the imp on the floor.

Mack was still crying, shaking and his vision was blury. But enough had calmed down to where...

Click...click..click...

It was back. The sound. It was more relaxing now..since it wasn't sobbing, beeping, water, or screaming..

But...

Who saved him? He didn't know...he tried to glance up from his curled position on the floor...he saw nothing, it was dark...

He saw nothing but... familiar... yellow glowing eyes...

Before he could do or say anything, mack passed out. In a puddle of the water that soaked him. It was to much...but he's okay.

For...the gear kept clicking.