Release Me From Heaven (Release Me From Hell Series)

Chapter 17: (System 107: Number 89/Vaeshi) New Girl

        "You need to hold her down while I do this, got it? When I tell you to move your hands, you move them. Oh, and take this."
     I was holding Viania's memory chip in my hands, and I was trying really hard not to cringe at the dead machine behind me. How did I get here?
     Oh, we were in the basement where we found Vyperaete's corpse, and Iskil nearly killed me in the process. He explained that he could use Vyperaete to make Viania better regardless or the fact that her body was so much more square than a Firadaes, and he led m back into my bedroom where he left Vyperaete on the floor. Ugh. While I didn't particularly like her for the things she used to say about the normal machines, seeing her like this was a little much. Iskil instructed me to press on Viania's chest, so I pocketed her brain chip and forgot Vyperaete for my own sanity.
     For some reason, my face started to warm. Press on her chest? Why was I even embarrassed to touch her? Did humans really program us Elites to feel this way for no reason?
     "Hurry up," Iskil spat.
      Viania told me she idolized this man, but I couldn't see how. He was bossy, couldn't take a joke, and there was so much pain on his face. He held the world's information in that old, patched body of his, and yet he wasn't so open as I expected. I pressed on her chest, though I kept my face turned away from her resting eyes. I wanted her to wake up as soon as possible. She could show me her fire here, and we could run away together. Assuming that those other machines weren't trying to get into Matum right now, of course.
     Iskil slammed his hands together to have the electricity spark up around his fingers, and he began to tear Vyperaete apart by her limbs and then her gears. He then began to compress the legs and panels to fit the shapes of Viania, to which I could only marvel at its beauty. While we may never also rare, to see an Elite with such a strong offensive power. Electricity, even. He had over six thousand years to figure it out too, so he moved with it. The electricity soon wrapped around Viania's broken pieces, and they fell onto the ground in a hapless manner.
     "Now get up," Iskil demanded.
     I pulled away from Viania, and Iskil used the new parts where the old ones were. And it was loud enough for Alieka to come running from her room to see what was going on, but I shielded her eyes from the bright lights. And, when he was done, I saw the smoke come from the strange joints of her's. They looked like they were made of copper as the rest of her had been made of steel.
     "Vaeshi!"
     The front door slammed open, and I immediately left the bedroom to check out the intruder. I left Alieka with Iskil and stopped at the top of the staircase. Yentira was there with Askin on her back. His eyes weren't glowing and his body was completely limp.
     "It didn't work," she grunted. "I'm not sure it worked on anyone at all, but he... We have to keep him shut off, okay?"
     No. Shit. I helped her drag him to his bedroom quickly while my eyes glazed each crease of the panels on the floor. My... Askin couldn't... I watched his resting body for a moment before Iskil and Alieka came into the room, and then I turned away. There were tears, and they landed onto the ground in the creases of the floor where I felt the bottomless pit of my stomach grow even farther and farther into a black hole.
     "You must be Yentira," Iskil started. "I suppose this is the work of my newfound brother that wants me dead?"
     "Yentira looked down. "The plane will be here in a few hours. It's best if we keep him turned off for now. I can have him quarantined until then."
     Iskil's yellow eyes glowed brighter for a moment. "A few hours will be cutting it close. We don't have time."
     "What?"
     "You thought the problem was just an inside thing?"
     I knew. I knew, and I didn't tell her because she was already stressed enough. I kept my mouth shut.
      "Dammit, Nomedd!" Yen screamed. "Well, I can't call the plane any sooner."
      "They'll break the wall, but... I suppose if worse gets worse, then I can help out."
      "Um..." The two of them looked at me, intensity in their eyes. "Can you guys watch Alieka for a moment? I want to be with Askin."
     "He could wake up at any moment, Vaeshi. Are you asking for a death wish?"
     "I'm asking to be alone with my master," I sighed under my breath. "You normal Elites might not understand what it's like... to admire someone like him, but you have to understand."
      "Yentira, was it?" Iskil asked. "Let her do her thing, okay? We all have to do what's morally correct for us."
      "If you die," Yen started. "It will be a foolish death."
      Alieka went with Yentira and Iskil, and I faced the sleeping machine in front of me. He looked so peaceful, and I saw the scars that ran up his body from all the needless fighting he had been doing. I missed him. There was so much that I wanted to tell him, so much in this short span of time that I had wanted to explain. He would've been so excited to know my Elite power, and I knew he would've talked to me like we were best friends and we were going to change the world. I reached my hand out to him, tears still there, and I decided on a whim to use my power. Could I speak to him there? My body fell against his, and I shut my eyes.
     I just wanted to see him happy again.
     SHUT DOWN MODE: ACTIVATED.

     And when I saw him in my wasteland, I couldn't help but throw away all the hope I had known in me before. Because he was normal. He was the same idiot System 86: Number 5 that took me in, and I remembered how we even got here. It was his fault he was sick. He didn't ask for help, he didn't want to get me hurt when it was my job to guard him. To serve. He opened his mouth, and I opened mine much wider. I couldn't help it. Now that I could scream, I screamed as hard as I could, and he didn't scream back. Rather, he seemed to be sitting in guilt, in a reality that he had yet to face. I just wanted him to be okay. I just wanted my life to go back to normal.
     But then at the same time, I let my guard down, and Askin had his arms around me in a hug.
     "I'm so proud of you," he whispered. "I always have been."
     I shut my eyes tightly.
     "Vaeshi, please." He seemed to lose his voice. "Please forgive me for everything I've done. It was never my intention to hurt you. I can't even..."
     "I forgive you." I pulled away. "Of course I forgive you."
     The clouds in the sky parted, and we were left in the emptiness of the wasteland. Alone.
     "You know, Yentira told me that you were doing all of this for me. The shut down."
     "Yeah." Why was I embarrassed?
     "A little selfish, right?"
     "Well, no offense, but it's not like anyone else has shown me a kindness like you. Even if it was Yentira instead of you, I'm not even certain I would show the same kindness."
     "How did I know you were always like this?" He gazed up at the endless sky, reaching his hand out towards it. "If I wasn't sick, maybe I would have been the first person you told about this."
     "Well..." Only Viania knew about it. "You are. I haven't told anyone."
     "What? Vaeshi, do you know how much easier it would be if you told them? Being an Elite is easy, and-"
     "If I tell Yentira, she's just going to use me to find a source to all of this mess." I crossed my arms and felt the ground rumble. "Whatever mess she's in is her gamble. I only agreed to help because you are directly involved."
     "Still kind of selfish." I glared at him, and he put his hands up. "But I do agree something is up between Yentira and Nomedd."
     Oh. "You think?"
    "My memory is kind of hazy, but I do remember being in the scrap yard."
    "Evitol?" Of course. He was always the curious sort, and I knew him to frequent that place as if it held the clues to an Elite's origin.
     "Nomedd... reanimated the scraps. And he talked to Yentira like they had known each other for along time. And!" His eyes lit up. "He was trying to get me to kill his own brother! Iskil..."
     "I know you don't... know, but Iskil is kind of... immortal? Viania was telling me that they had been trying to dismantle him for years, but nothing actually works. Maybe Nomedd doesn't know that."
     "Still, why... Why do you think Iskilla would even..."
     Yeah, I was beginning to wonder the motives of that woman as well. She made Matum and Japan survive the War of End, so why were we stuck with her machines in this stupid war? She  had to have planned this somehow.
     "Look, I know you're not going to be able to control yourself out there," I sighed. "but I will do everything I can to make sure you are the same as you were. I'm not going to listen to anyone but myself. And as of right now, my gut is telling me that I'm going to stay right here with you."
      He nodded. "Then, in a time of chaos, we shall relax."