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kentuckywrites · 2 years

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T3CHN0 File 7: CONFRONTATION

CONFRONTATION (noun). A hostile or argumentative meeting or situation between opposing parties.

Featuring the Crosses of @shadowoa , @apolleh , @skell-pilot-sora , @elysia-cross , @phoenixfireartists , and @stargazer-ele .

Dsandro was going to die. He’d die by Ophelia’s hands, one way or another, and it wouldn’t be pretty.

That was what she decided, shortly after her husband - an eight legged monstrosity, fangs dripping poison from a mouth too small, several more blackened eyes forming along his cheeks - lunged at her, so keen on her death that it made Ophelia tear up. The stench of death was rampant between Spyridon and Ruadha, still folded in on himself as he coughed up spider after fucking spider. Ophelia’s multigun was drawn, but she didn’t have the heart to shoot, she didn’t have the heart to hurt her family. Every attempt at convincing herself they were just illusions was interrupted by Spyridon’s relentless attacks, his pleas for her to end this suffering of his, of theirs. But he’d even admitted it before. There was no way she could fix this. Godhood had failed her, godhood was a farce.

And by god, did that make her angry.

Spyridon opened his mouth, hissing before he tried to speak again, but just as he raised a leg, just as he was about to strike once more, his body erupted into red and blue particles, dissolving into the digital air. Ruadha’s body met the same fate, and Ophelia gaped as a small cube entered her vision, glitching out and slightly transparent, but still very much there. She growled, pointing her gun at it. Another fucking illusion, it had to be. What was it going to give her this time?!

But then, the cube spoke.

“Oh shit, Auntie Phel!!”

“Fudgemuffin?” Ophelia whispered, unable to process the fact that Fudge’s voice just came out of that cube. “That can’t be -”

“I know, I’m Minecraft now, I can explain everything once we get everyone back together,” He quickly interrupted, “I just disrupted everyone’s illusions, I just have to - fuck, this is really ridiculous, I have no fucking autonomy here and it’s getting on my god damn nerves - there we go.”

Five other figures started to appear around Fudge, digitizing into place. After a few painstakingly long seconds, Ophelia realized it was the entire group, reunited. Judging from how pale everyone looked, they’d gone through the same shit. Ophelia sighed. At least everyone was alive, and they had some semblance of Fudge with them.

“What the fuck…” Polaris breathed, “Alright, I rate that a solid zero out of ten. That was beyond fucked. Dsandro’s gonna get his ass removed and I’m gonna tear his limbs off to feed to the acapria.”

“Understatement of the year, North Star,” Nyx shuddered, “Dsandro’s gonna pay for that one.”

“I’m sorry, everyone,” The cube floated downwards, almost like Fudge’s shoulders had slumped, “I would’ve come to help sooner, but…well, I can’t do much like this.”

“Wait, Fudge? Is that you?” Abel asked, frowning. “But your body -”

“My body’s hanging out with Dsandro, yeah, but my conscience is stuck inside this fucking thing,” Fudge explained, “Long story short, I’m gonna need your help reuniting me with my body again. I’ve got a plan to dismantle Dsandro’s little world and give him a much needed dose of reality.”

“We’re going to need to distract Dsandro while one of us gets close enough to Fudge’s body to reconnect him,” Touya added on.

“Exactly. If I tried to fly in alone, I’d get bitch slapped, and I don’t know how much more damage this cube form can reasonably take before I’m lost in the sauce. I’d love to remain out of the sauce, if at all possible.”

Ophelia shook her head, bemused at Fudge’s attempt at humor. It was a coping mechanism, she knew from experience, and while Polaris managed to snicker at it, everyone else didn’t really react. Even Ciel, who had previously been confused to all hell and back, simply stared onwards, her mind somewhere distant, somewhere that wasn’t in the present day. Ophelia wanted to comment on it, tell her to focus, especially since this was an important development, but the cube floated into her direct line of sight, Fudge’s voice now softer, more earnest.

“Auntie Phel, I trust you the most. Can you get me back to my body in one piece?”

There was no hesitation. “‘Course I can, Fudge. Ye can count on me.”

“Right, then,” The cube spun around to face everyone, though its faces were all too similar to really say there was a front or a back, “Everyone else, I trust you to kick Dsandro’s ass. There’s just one extra thing I should tell you guys before you go diving right into battle, it’s about your cor -”

T3CHN0’s white noise started to buzz, the song shifting to an incessant swarm of bees. Ophelia spun around as the walls slid down into the ground, revealing Dsandro and Fudge’s body in the same exact spot as before. And yes, Ophelia could tell it was the same spot, and even if it wasn’t, she didn’t care. They were in sight, they were in mind, and she knew what was going to happen next.

“Well now,” Dsandro tsked, “Cheating isn't very honorable now, is it?”

“We never agreed to your game,” Abel growled in response, “And you’ve got our friend. All bets are off.”

“Who, this empty shell?” He asked, and he did not smile, he did not smirk. In fact, his question was one of genuine curiosity, one that was founded on an answer he already held. He stepped closer to Fudge, placing his hand on his shoulder, and the body did not respond. “Although…no, not empty, far from empty.”

“The hell’s that supposed to mean?!” The cube flew out from behind Ophelia, Fudge’s characteristic rage igniting tenfold, “Why, you dickbag?! Why did you hunt me down to be your fucking puppet?!”

Dsandro seemed off put for a moment, clearly surprised at this little floating cube who was freely cursing him out. “Well, it’s simple, really. It’s all possible because Antonio Carson wanted you to live. He created a program that acted identical to his son, and in doing so, he made that program fluid, mobile. His coding practically made you indestructible. I wanted that part of your coding for T3CHN0 - imagine, an indestructible world where humanity could live in harmony, free from the terrors of the cosmos!”

“Real damn ironic o’ ya t’ say that,” Ophelia countered, raising her multigun, “If yer world’s really free from all th’ dangers out there, then how come it’s founded on imprisonin’ an innocent man?”

“Damn right about that,” Polaris came up on Ophelia’s left hand side, fists raised and ready to enter combat at a moment’s notice. “Freedom and godhood don’t mean shit when it means someone’s gotta suffer for it.”

“That’s where you’re both wrong,” Dsandro countered, “Fudge - the program that once inhabited this body standing next to me - is just a program. It’s not human, it’s not considered a life in the way that we all are. How can you defend something that’s -”

“Finish that fuckin’ sentence. I dare ya.” Ophelia spat, and everyone was beside her now, weapons all poised and ready, the fire in their eyes raring for a fight, for justice. Enough had been said.

And yet, Dsandro opened his weasely little mouth one last time with a smile, raising his hand off of Fudge’s shoulder.

“Conflict is inevitable, but another test of worth,” He said, “So then, let’s make haste. May the best world win.”

And with a snap of his fingers, everything began.

Dynamo drone fire and ether swelled and shot straight towards Dsandro, who glitched out of existence and reappeared in the same spot, completely unfazed. Polaris charged forward, screaming bloody murder with full intent to make due on it, and Ciel followed on the pole of her bolide, her psycho launchers formed and trailing behind as they continued to fire. Ophelia went after Ciel, Fudge’s cube staying close behind her, and she left Abel and Touya behind as they engaged in more ranged attacks. She focused on everyone’s positions for too long a second, and when she looked back at Dsandro, she realized with a sinking heart that Fudge’s body was nowhere to be seen.

It didn’t take long for him to reappear, however. Mere yards away, Fudge’s body engaged the beam rifle in his mechanical arm and charged up a quick blast. Ophelia skidded and dodged with little grace, running a full circle around Fudge’s body. She fired off a couple blasts from her multigun, trying to shoot around but not at him. The blast particles gave a decent amount of cover, but it hardly seemed to impact Fudge’s body, the relentless volley following close behind her.

“Auntie Phel, this is a really awful fucking time to mention it, but you’ve gotta know something important,” Fudge’s cube fluttered, dodging a blast and finding itself mere inches from Ophelia’s head, “When Dsandro put you inside those fear simulations, he must’ve used them to corrupt your programs within T3CHN0, so you need to be caref -”

Ophelia had been listening a little too closely, letting up on her sprint for the briefest of moments, and that was all Fudge’s body needed to land a perfect shot to her torso. She cried out, getting launched back a fair distance and losing her footing. As her back hit the ground, Fudge’s cube flew after her, and she sat up to assess the damage. The shot had left a collection of blackened particles on her chest, glitching and slowly crawling outwards. Her entire image flickered and she gasped.

“Th’ Sam Hell is this?!” She asked Fudge, trying to hide her rising panic.

“That’s the good ol’ corruption I tried to warn you guys about!” Fudge explained, “If you reach one hundred percent corruption…fuck, I don’t even know what’ll happen, but I don’t want you or anyone else to find out.”

“It means you’ll fall to the whims of the world, under my direct control.”

Somehow, Dsandro had made his way towards her, and Fudge’s body had turned tail and went to attack the others. The sound of gunfire radiated against the world’s soft symphony, and the combination made Ophelia want to puke. Dsandro, unfazed, unbothered, merely smirked down at her.

“I didn’t expect to meet under these circumstances,” He confessed with a lazy shrug, “But here we both are.”

“Right, right,” Ophelia hissed, clutching her stomach as she forced herself back on her feet, stumbling slightly, “Real nice t’ meet ya. It’ll be real nice t’ kill ya in a few seconds, too.”

“Well, hold on now,” He raised his hands in a mock sign of peace, “Before you do, I’d like to thank you for making all of this possible. T3CHN0 wouldn’t have come into existence had it not been for you.”

“‘Scuse me?” She was rightfully confused, and judging by the little whirring noise Fudge’s cube made, he wasn’t in the loop either.

Dsandro chuckled, a low and proud thing that made Ophelia take a threatening step forward. He didn’t move, still unfazed, still unbothered. “Let me take you back to the 2050 TechFes that Carson Tech hosted in the main headquarters. July 17th. The same day the flesh and blood prodigy of Antonio Carson was unfortunately killed in a terrorist attack that destroyed the building and stole the lives of many other inventors and scientists. Did you ever stop to think who those terrorists were? Who sent them? Who decided to target that specific building on that specific day?”

“You didn’t.” Fudge growled, catching on quickly.

“Oh, I’m not the one behind the destruction of Carson Tech. I simply hired the ones who were. Although I must admit, it was never in the cards to kill you. The attack was a distraction, a way to send a message to Antonio Carson that I wouldn’t be so easily deterred.”

“So ye wanted t’ kill Toni?!” Ophelia cried, “Ye nasty son of a -”

“No, I never wanted to kill Antonio,” Dsandro shook his head, “I created a distraction. Take away his life’s work and his only son, and use his son to prove that my invention would work. He’d have no choice but to turn to me.”

“An’ how’d I make that work for ye?” She hissed, “What’s ma golden role in all this?”

“I was going to have my…recruits…uncover Fudge’s body. Alive or dead, I would have used him to transfer his conscience over to the prototype T3CHN0 and show Antonio that my invention could work. You got to his body before they did, and it completely spoiled my plans at the time. However…Antonio decided to recreate Fudge. A program in his likeliness, one that would replace him on the White Whale. Tell me, Ophelia, do you know what makes Fudge’s program so special?” Before she could answer, he continued, “His program is one of the most fluid I’ve ever seen. Nothing short of Antonio’s handiwork; he truly wanted this second Fudge to live. Nothing can corrupt it, nothing can break it beyond repair. I wanted that fluidity for T3CHN0, and so I had to retrieve Fudge’s program and integrate it completely into T3CHN0. Now, this world is indestructible. It is an immortal haven that I doubt would have been made possible, had you not ruined my plans back on Earth. For that, I thank you.”

And with his explanation complete, Dsandro gave Ophelia a small bow, a hand over his heart in sincerity. A memory played in her head, repeating, repeating.

A ray of sunlight illuminating something under the wreckage. A familiar dark brown haircut. A familiar eye, cold and devoid of life. Part of his head, completely absent. Her screams, her cries. There was nothing she could do.

In the next second, Ophelia raised her multigun, pointed it straight where his heart was, hoping that a single blast would be enough to rip it in two.

“I’ll fucking kill ya.” She swore.

He chuckled at that. “I look forward to seeing you try.”

She fired a shot at him, intending to hit him square in the chest, but he disappeared in the same instant. All he left behind were the remnants of his laughter, teasing her. No, no, she made a promise back then that she’d slice the fucker that killed Fudge, that destroyed Carson Tech. He wasn’t about to get away so easily. She spun, wild fury in her glare, searching the endless battlefield for the son of a bitch that did this, that caused so much pain and was able to talk about it with a smirk on his face, she was going to deck him so hard that the glass in his spectacles would embed in his eyes and cheeks and bury themselves so deep in the skin that -

“Auntie Phel.”

Fudge’s voice, softer than it had ever been. Desperate, pleading. “I know. We’re going to kill him. But to do that…”

“You come first,” Ophelia grit her teeth, resolve flooding her mind and absolving some, but not all, of the rage she harbored, “C’mon, Fudgemuffin, let’s get ye back t’ yer body. Then we’ll both give ‘im a royal Texan sendoff straight down t’ hell.”

With a whizz, Fudge’s cube drew closer to Ophelia, cowering slightly behind her right shoulder. Ophelia spotted Fudge’s body in combat. Nyx had their drones converge into a singular spot above their head, and together, they shot off a large concentration of ether. Ophelia could only assume that the ether blast wasn’t being purposefully aimed at Fudge’s body, because it was fairly off course. It did cause him to swing to the side to dodge the edge of the blast, and he hardly had time to process another blast coming from below his feet. Blocks of ice surrounded his legs up to his upper thighs, and he looked over his shoulder with those blank blue eyes towards the culprit. It was Touya, who had exchanged his sniper rifle for a hand, extended, the glove he was wearing glowing a cold blue. Fudge’s body, expressionless and dead, completely tilted towards Touya like he was a puppet whose strings had been cut, arms dangling at his sides as the ice shattered instantaneously. With lightning speed, his body rocketed towards Touya, who threw up his hands to defend himself and protect his face from whatever was to come. His stance was weak, eyes wide, knees shaking.

But then, something was thrown at Fudge’s body, and the area around him went white with a blinding light. Abel, running towards Touya, had clearly thrown some sort of stun grenade that was making Fudge’s body glitch and whir as he tried to comprehend his loss of sight. Abel had a hand on Touya’s shoulder, asking him something Ophelia couldn’t quite make out, and suddenly Fudge’s body was back on the offensive. The stun hadn’t lasted long at all, though his torso still exhibited the glitching particle effect as he fired off more shots at the two. Ophelia couldn’t tell if they got out of the way in time due to the residual cover the blast provided, but from that digital smoke, three bursts of light blue ether emerged and hit Fudge square in the face, followed closely by three hooked wires that wrapped around him as he recovered from the second stun. Ciel and Polaris stepped out of the smoke, sharing a small high five just as the wires snapped and Fudge was free once more.

Ophelia watched closely, almost joining in the fray at several points when Fudge was stunned or restrained, but his recoveries were far too fast and she couldn’t risk anything with Fudge’s cube beside her. She thought she found an opening when Ciel blasted off three more ether shots that stunned Fudge, and Touya got more ice to form around his knees and lower legs, so she sprinted forward hoping to end this masquerade sooner than later. But as Fudge’s body recuperated, still blinded, he pointed his beam rifle in the direction of the ether blasts and fired haphazardly. Ophelia looked away for too long a moment, and by the time she heard Polaris scream, she knew that one of those blasts had met a target. She almost thought it was Polaris, but when she finally stopped to brace herself, she saw that Ciel had taken the hits, every single one of them, all in various locations on her torso. She fell backwards into Polaris’s arms, her form flickering more intensely than anyone else’s, and her expression kept switching from pain to rage to sadness to fear to - to empty nothingness.

In the cyclic song of the digital world, Ophelia heard Dsandro’s laughter. Ciel’s mouth moved with his words. “Looks like someone wasn’t worthy after all.”

Ciel bolted out of Polaris’s grasp, bolide in hand, and with the same dead stare as Fudge’s body, she began swinging at Polaris. Ophelia was already sprinting at them both, switching out her six-shooter for one of her photon sabers, and she felt the sting of beam energy hit the backs of her ankles as she barely escaped a barrage from Fudge’s rifle. She heard three cries, Touya and Abel and Nyx, who must’ve gotten caught up in Fudge’s attacks. But she never turned, not once, intent on reaching Ciel. If Dsandro had assumed control of her…

Ruadha’s unnerving silence. The prayers Spyridon uttered as they passed by each grave. Antonio’s disbelief staring at a freshly dug grave. A Beloved Son. An Incredible Mind.

“GIT OUT O’ HER BODY AN’ FACE US LIKE A MAN, YA SPINELESS SHIT-TARD!!”

Ophelia’s photon saber arced downwards, and Ciel flew backwards, head ticking to the left as her lips flashed between cold stoicism and a cruel smile. She didn’t respond audibly, nor did Dsandro, but she instead sent a flurry of ether towards Ophelia, the same ones that Ciel had used to stun Fudge’s body. Ophelia sliced through two of them, but the third took an unexpected path that smacked her right between the eyes, and her world went white. Stumbling back, she heard footsteps, Polaris shouting a warning, and something sharp slicing into her abdomen. When she regained vision, she realized that Ciel had sliced her with her bolide, and where blood would’ve normally flowed from the wound, a deeper set of black particles trickled out, identical to the ones still forming over her chest.

“Ciel, c’mon angel, please snap out of it!!” Polaris screamed, “We don’t wanna hurt ya too!”

“Ophelia, listen to me, right fucking now,” Fudge’s cube floated in front of Ophelia as she took a knee, her free hand still clasped over her recent wound. His words leaked acid, a result of his own frustrations, but deep below she could place a hint of deep-laced concern, “I can fix this. Get me back to my body. The stuns seem to be working, so if I can just -”

“But that son o’ a bitch needs ta fuckin’ pay in blood fer what he did t’ ya - fer all th’ shit he did t’ Toni,” Ophelia hissed, refusing to back down, “I’m gonna -”

“Go,” Polaris had ran over during his plea, bracing herself between Ciel and Ophelia as a human barricade. She swallowed hard, faltering for a moment before she held her fists up to guard her face, ready for the fight. “I’ll keep Ciel busy. God knows I can distract her with my good looks.”

Ophelia looked between Polaris and Fudge’s cube, wavering in her resolve. She wanted that killing blow, and if it meant going through Ciel…shit. Shit. She sighed, nodding towards Fudge’s cube. In return, Fudge’s cube spun around in acknowledgement before addressing Polaris.

“I’m absolutely treating you two bocadillos after this,” He promised, “Stay safe, Polaris. Don’t do anything too crazy.”

Polaris smiled, something soft and unlike her, at least based off the short time that Ophelia knew her. “No promises, Hammertime. No promises.”

And with that, Ophelia gripped her photon saber and turned back towards Fudge, towards the other half of their ragtag group. Fudge’s body was stumbling, hands trying to cover his face as Touya and Abel played a game of hot potato with their stuns. Where Touya would sound off Intercepts from his sniper rifle, Abel would toss a stun grenade, effectively making Fudge’s body a headless chicken. Nyx kept their drones in a perfect circle around him, each firing off individual shots at his ankles in an attempt to knock him prone. Ophelia figured now was a better time than any to charge, and making brief eye contact with Touya, he raised one hand off of his rifle, and a collection of icy blue ether formed in his palm. The closer Ophelia got to Fudge’s body, the more the ether grew, and just as he was about to fire it, Fudge straightened his spine so quickly it was unnatural. He lifted his mechanical hand and a singular blast propelled upwards from his beam rifle, and once it was high enough, it shattered and rained down individual bullets onto everyone. It was nearly impossible to dodge, and by the end of the storm, everyone had gotten hit at least once, even Ophelia. She saw the same black fragments forming at the impact points - she’d gotten nailed in the left forearm and the right thigh - but they were also forming on the others. At least they didn’t look as rough as Ophelia did.

“Shit!” Fudge’s cube cried, surveying the damage, “We need to hurry, or the same thing’s gonna happen to you that happened to Ciel!!”

“Ain’t gonna let that happen,” She swore, “No way, no how.”

“Longhorn!!” Nyx called out to her, their drones returning to their formation around them, “I’ll lay down some cover fire for you! Abel, Hot Choc, keep stunning him!”

“On it!” Both boys responded in unison, and with the plan laid out, Abel sent another stun grenade flying towards Fudge’s body, landing at his feet and making him glitch out once more. Ophelia nearly questioned how he was getting so many stun grenades, but a realization dawned on her. They were in T3CHN0, a place where they could be and create anything. What the fuck were they doing, sticking to their normal weapons? She smirked, a lightbulb going off in her mind. Her photon saber evaporated, but the hilt remained, forming the base for a much longer, more blunt weapon. A gear in the middle of its base ticked as it fired up, a digital flame forming in its belly. Fudge’s cube sparked, clearly excited.

“Let’s fucking go!!” He cheered as Ophelia brandished his beloved rocket hammer, a far lighter weapon than she originally gave him credit for, and let the base charge up before spinning around and flinging a ball of her six-shooter’s ammo straight at Fudge’s body. It landed right at Fudge’s feet, sending him up into the air, but he quickly righted himself and landed on his feet, now locked on and targeting her. It gave Nyx ample time to charge up their drones once more, and they began to float above the ground. Their drones didn’t fire off a blast or a barrage like they had previously, but instead, they released a sea of ether into the surrounding area. Fudge’s body looked around, having lost sight of the group even though they weren’t far, and his eyes shot static electricity as he struggled to comprehend the situation he was in. More likely than not, that ether was doing something to him, and the distraction was more than enough for Abel to throw one last stun grenade to get him even more disoriented. The impact made him fall backwards, and ice extended out from the floor to catch him, forming prisons for his arms and legs before he was able to hit the ground. Ophelia raced forward as she saw the opening, his torso on full display. This was it, her chance to reunite Fudge with his body - she had to be quick about this, but she wasn’t even sure where to begin.

But the moment she was close enough, the moment that she saw Fudge’s body was cracking the ice and seconds away from escaping his binds, she knew she had to make a split second decision. Fudge’s cube had followed close behind her, so with a spare hand, she plucked the cube out of the air and shoved it into Fudge’s chest. The result was instantaneous. Ophelia was blown backwards, though she managed to use the rocket hammer’s fuel to give her a softer landing. The world went bright once more, but it didn’t remain blinding for long. Squinting, Ophelia watched as the cube spun wildly over Fudge’s chest, growing closer, closer, as he screamed in an automated voice.

“ERROR: REBOOTING. ERROR: REBO - ERROR - ERROR - ERROR -”

Flailing about in a mad fumble of arms and legs, Fudge’s entire form contorted as the cube slowly pushed itself through his chest, sending electric waves of red and blue up his arms and face. His expression shifted between the dead, unyielding stare to one of pure, unadulterated anger. The cube completely disappeared into his chest, below the armor, leaving the electric currents behind. They trailed up over his eyes, and when his face finally settled on his characteristic rage, his left eye remained blue, but the other had turned a furious shade of red. Below his feet, the world swelled, cubes from the ground erupting out and floating around him as his hands clenched outwards. He glared past Ciel towards a new figure - there he was, that bastard Dsandro, trying to hold back his fear. Where the fuck had he been this entire time? Was he that big of a coward that he wouldn’t stay and fight in his own body? But the anger didn’t last for long as she returned her focus to Fudge. Ophelia couldn’t help but feel proud of him, how quickly he regained control.

“My world now, bitch,” Fudge growled, lips curling upwards in a snarl.

Dsandro stammered, keeping up his precious little act even though he knew he was done for, “Y-You can’t just rewrite this world!! I still have penultimate control over you and your friends!!”

“Test me. I fucking dare you.” Fudge stared at Dsandro, “Go on. Summon a gun. Shoot me right now and get your world back. Let’s see if you can do it.”

Dsandro looked between Touya, Abel, Nyx, all glaring daggers through him. Dsandro clenched his fists, closed his eyes, shaky breaths escaping his lips. He gasped when nothing appeared in his arms, and he opened his eyes to find Fudge grinning.

“Right, that’s what I thought. Shouldn’t have cherry picked someone smarter than you to use as a base for your little invention. Now then…erase data: Octavian Dsandro.”

“Wait, you can’t!!” Dsandro begged, “I don’t -”

“Have a backup? Yup, I know. I also know you put everything on the line. You’ll die here,” Fudge said cheerily, “And by God, I’m gonna have fun watching you go up in cute little cube particles. Bye bye!”

Dsandro opened his pathetic mouth to protest, but just as Fudge wished, his body exploded into fragments, lifting up into the air like ashes from a dying fire. It was far too quick a process for Ophelia’s liking, far too merciful, but what mattered most was that he was gone for good. The promise she made was fulfilled, and by fitting hands. Her photon saber lowered, her guard coming down for a moment before she realized that Ciel was still glitched, still phasing in and out of the world. She was bent forwards, wings stretched out enough to hide all but her legs, and the feathers turned a magnificent blue under the digital sky. Then, a scratching noise, a pop, and she straightened back up, looking much like her normal self. She glanced between everyone as if she wanted to say something, but her eyes spoke of horrors and apologies and all the unspoken things Ophelia knew she was too broken to say for now. Polaris jogged up to her, gave her a hug, and Ciel’s arms wrapped around Polaris, muffled sobs escaping through T3CHN0’s background noise.

“I’m sorry about that, Ciel,” Fudge apologized, sincere and hurt, “I’m sorry to all of you. You went through hell and back for me, and I…fuck, none of this should’ve happened. I made a huge mistake, and you all paid for it.”

“What matters now is that you’re okay,” Nyx said, “Hell, I’m sorry if I hurt you before, the stuns didn’t seem like they were working and I was trying not to -”

“I’m okay. More than okay, actually,” Fudge interrupted, chuckling softly, “Structural integrity is above eighty percent, and T3CHN0’s program is in one piece…or, well, that’s not entirely true now, is it…”

“What do you mean?” Abel asked.

“Well…alright, not all of you are as smart as Auntie Phel -” Ophelia rolled her eyes at that, “- so I’ll put it in layman’s terms. In order to stop Dsandro, my program successfully fused with T3CHN0’s. We’re one disjointed program right now, which is how I’m retaining my conscience while also controlling the world.”

“Is that…dangerous?” He pressed, “Can you unfuse if you wanted to?”

Fudge hesitated. “That’s where I’ve got bad news. I don’t think I can without compromising the integrity of my programming. And…and my mim can’t really handle much more than my own program at the moment.”

“You can’t leave T3CHN0,” Touya breathed, “You can’t return to your body.”

“Not yet I can’t. If I got a new body that could accommodate this fusion, I’d have no problems at all. But…” He groaned, biting his lip in frustration. “I’m sorry. I…I can send you all back to the real world, back to your bodies. I’ll need to do that soon since you guys still have high corruption levels, but…but I have to stay here.”

“No, no no no,” Ciel broke out of Polaris’s hug, wiping the tears from her eyes, “We’re not leaving you. We’ll figure something out, we have to -”

“I already did,” Fudge reassured her, “Listen, I won’t be dead or anything, fucking hell, just kinda…in limbo? I mean, all I need is a new body. I don’t mind chilling out here for a little bit while someone makes that happen.”

Ophelia sniffled - wait, was she crying? Lord, maybe she was. Maybe it was hurting her more than she thought, having to say goodbye. But at least this wasn’t a permanent goodbye, at least she knew there was something she could do to fix this. “Yer damn right I’ll make that happen, Fudgemuffin. Auntie Phel’s fuckin’ god’s honest guarantee. Yer gonna have th’ best mim in all o’ NLA faster than a rattlesnake can shake.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know what a rattlesnake is, but I promise I’ll help in whatever capacity I can,” Ciel said, “After all, if we were able to save Rui and provide each of the Vaeliuses with their own mimeosomes, I don’t see why we can’t do the same for you.”

“And don’t worry about owing us any bocadillos,” Polaris grinned, attempting a lighthearted joke, “It’ll be my treat once you come back from the dead - again. You’re gonna set a record or somethin’ at this rate.”

Fudge managed to laugh at that. “Nah, that record goes to Pongo.”

“The dick pic guy?”

“I’m gonna make sure your bocadillo has arsenic in it when I come back.”

Fudge was joking, but Polaris didn’t comment further, and Ophelia noticed that somewhere along the way, she’d grabbed Ciel’s hand, and they were still intertwined. The sight was inspiring, combined with Fudge’s optimism. It wasn’t characteristic of him, not quite, so Ophelia felt the need to probe.

“Listen, Fudgemuffin…yer gon’ be okay. I’ll git yer body done as fast I can.”

Fudge grinned. “I believe you, Auntie Phel. Tell Ru not to raid my Minecraft base while I’m gone.”

Shaking her head, she went up and locked him in a big hug. He didn’t return it at first, but soon, his arms wrapped around her, and they stayed like that until he eventually broke it off. Looking over Ophelia’s shoulder, Fudge called out one more time to Abel.

“Take care of the dick pic guy while I’m gone.”

Abel raised an eyebrow. “Did he really send you one?”

“Nope. But Polaris isn’t gonna let me hear the end of it, and somebody’s gotta enjoy how flustered he’ll get if you call him that.”

“Right,” He nodded, “Take care, Fudge.”

Fudge observed the others, smiling wider than he ever had before. “Thank you for everything. Now let’s get you back to the real world. If I come back and my body’s shorter than it was before, I’ll bust your kneecaps.”

There was a small chorus of chuckles. Fudge wouldn’t fulfill that promise. As Ophelia’s vision went dark, she looked at him one last time, and she wondered if Toni would be proud of how far he’d come. Ophelia knew she certainly was.

#xenoblade x #T3CHN0 File 7: CONFRONTATION #ophelia #touya #abel #nyx #ciel #polaris #AYO THIS TOOK A HOT SECOND IM SORRY #FIGHT SCENES ARENT REALLY MY FORTE #the brainrot was strong though and i can now say im over 30k words #how. how is it this long lmao #anyways one file left :)

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