To Be Human {Chapter 18}
Title: To Be Human
Author: fel93
Length: Chaptered (2407 words for this chapter)
Pairing: Ohmiya, Sakuraiba
Rating: PG-13
Genre: AU, Drama, Fantasy, Futuristic, Angst, Romance
Disclaimer: Nuh-uh, sadly, they’re not mine
Summary: What happens when Ohno gets lost, and meets someone who is not quite like him
Nino had wanted to apologize. Even though he didn’t get closer to Ohno with the intention of acquiring his Life Energy, he did thought about it when he first met him. His thoughts were unforgivable. How can he be such a jerk when Ohno has been nothing but nice to him? Even though Ohno had been adverse towards the concept of robots initially, because of Nino, Ohno grew to accept. And he even cared for Nino like no one has ever done before.
As he pushes the door to the music room open, all he hopes for is Ohno’s forgiveness. Now that he’s known true happiness, he can’t lose this. Or else, he’ll never know how to be happy again because nothing would compare.
As he steps into the room, he realises there’s music. Nice soothing piano tune. It flows. And then.
Blank.
*~*~*
Ohno couldn’t find it in him to speak to Nino yet. It is Jun who speaks up first.
“Nino, what’s wrong?”
Jun’s voice seems to bounce right off Nino, who didn’t seem to register the question Jun asked.
Nino’s breaths are deep and ragged. They sound almost guttural.
Like growls.
Something is wrong.
“Nino?” Jun repeats. But this time, as a distraction for him to get closer to Ohno. Safety in numbers. Right?
Why am I thinking about safety now? Is Nino a danger? Jun looks back at Nino and what he sees reaffirms him that they are probably in more danger around Nino than around the mutants prowling about just metres away, outside the music room.
Nino’s eyes are flashing yellow. Robots’ eyes don’t flash with such intensity unless they’re very agitated or angry. Jun recalls. His pupils, now almost hidden by the bright flashes, are shifting rapidly within his eyes. That is not a good sign.
By now, Jun is standing close enough to Ohno to whisper to him discreetly.
“Nino is not safe. We have to get away.”
Jun’s words seem to pull Ohno out of his trance.
“What do you mean not safe?” Ohno looks back at Nino.
Nino is still standing there unmoving, with his flashing eyes and ragged breaths. His hands are starting shake.
Ohno is sure this is just another one of Nino’s schemes to get Ohno to transfer him his Life Energy. Perhaps Nino realizes that the soft approach isn’t going to work. So now he’s going to do it the hard way. Through threatening.
Well you’re not going to scare me!
Ohno simply rolls his eyes at Jun’s advice. “This is just one of Nino’s tricks. He’s merely trying to threaten me into giving him my Life Energy. Well, he’s not going to have it that easy!” Ohno says, not even bothering to lower his volume.
“Ohno-san, I don’t think Nino…” Ohno shushes Jun with a dismissive wave of his hand.
“Jun, he’s merely trying to gain attention.” Ohno scoffs. He throws a glance at Nino to see if he reacted in any way. Nino remains and somehow Ohno feels a tad disappointed at the lack of reaction.
Jun furrows his thick eyebrows worriedly. “Keep it down!” He whispers urgently. “I say he’s dangerous and we should move away as soon as possible!”
Ohno rolls his eyes again, at Jun’s comment about Nino being dangerous.
Exasperated, Jun whisper agitatedly, almost at his normal speaking volume “Are you the expert on robots or I am?! Nino is a robot no matter how human-like he is. He has extraordinary strength and he is still running on full battery. We are not going to win if we were to go against him!”
But Ohno is sick of listening to people telling him what to do. Why is Jun trying to control him, manipulate him, just like what Nino did? Ohno will do what he feels like doing and no one can stop him! He places his right hand lightly on the ivory keys again.
“Ohno-san! What in the world are you doing!?”
“I will do what I want, when I like.” Ohno huffs. “Why should I let Nino interrupt me?”
Ohno starts playing again.
The beautiful melody of the lullaby flowed, but only for 2 bars, before Nino literally flew from his spot among the audience seats and crashes straight into the grand piano.
Ohno is thrown off the piano bench and against the wall behind from the impact.
“What the…” Stunned, Ohno gasps. But before he can recover, Nino crawls out of the wreckage that was the piano and towards him at lightning speed.
Ohno eyes widen and he tries to back himself up but he is already pressed against the wall. He is trapped.
Between the wall and a raging Nino.
What is happening?! Ohno’s mind screams at him but he could not fathom any logical explanation for it.
Suddenly, Nino leaps into air, pouncing at him.
Everything seems to be moving in slow motion. Ohno could see him flying in mid air, towards him. And all Ohno could do is to stare at his eminent doom.
Just before Nino crashes into Ohno, Ohno is pulled forcefully to the side, along the wall. Nino collides into the wall where Ohno was, missing Ohno only by a hair’s width.
“RUN!” Jun screams at Ohno.
Without thinking, Ohno gets onto his feet and sprints after Jun who is already out of the door, before Nino pulls himself out of the hole in the wall he created upon impact.
When he got out of the music and into the corridors, he is momentarily blinded by the brighter lights that line the corridors. His eyes took some time to adjust but his legs never stopped moving in the direction that Ohno thought Jun is.
Already strained from running away from mutants mere minutes ago, Ohno’s legs are burning with fatigue and exhaustion. He wants to stop running. He wants to look back. But he is afraid of what he might see. The image that has already burned itself into his mind. Flashing eyes. Anger-distorted face.
He has no idea where he is going. He follows Jun blindly in a mad dash through the labyrinth of the lab
.
What is happening to Nino? WHAT is he becoming?
“Over here!” Jun shouts between efforts to pull more air into his burning lungs, gesturing towards yet another dark room through an open door.
Without thinking or slowing down, Ohno simply dashes straight into the room, with Jun close behind.
Apparently, this room isn’t as spacious as the other room with The Wisp. Ohno crashes into something a split second after he enters the room. He is thrown back onto the ground from the impact and he thought he could see stars dotting his vision. Things are falling around him and onto him. Papers? Files? One falls right onto this face and Ohno groans.
He can hear the click of the lock. Jun has locked the door and they’re be safe. For now.
The lights are switched on and Ohno lets out another groan as light floods the room, blinding him again.
“Ohno-san! Are you alright?” Jun rushes to his side anxiously and helps him up.
“Yeah…I think I’m okay?”
“Oh my…” Jun lets out a soft gasp and looks at him worriedly.
“What?” Ohno asks, puzzled.
He uses his hands to feel his face. And it is covered in a thick, gooey and sickening sweet smelling liquid. He examines his hands and they are red.
Blood red.
“How bad is it?” Ohno asks, oddly calm. He doesn’t feel any pain though. Maybe the adrenaline pumping through his body has anesthetic effects.
“Quite bad.” Jun replies reluctantly. “Hold on! I’ll get the first aid kit.”
A loud bang came from the door and Nino’s rage-distorted face could be seen, pressed against the small window on the door.
Ohno flinched involuntarily, as did Jun. Ohno starts to get up from his position on the ground.
“It’s okay, this room is security locked and this door is exceptionally sturdy. Nino won’t be able to get through. I’ll go get the first aid kit, you just stay here.”
Jun moves away and Ohno is left alone, to watch Nino’s futile attempts to claw his way through the door.
Ohno’s mind is raging from its thirst for answers but his heart seems to be stopping Ohno from thinking any further, afraid of what he might conclude.
Jun returns with a first aid kit and begins to tend to Ohno’s wound.
“The scratch is deep.” Jun shakes his head. “Robots are really strong.”
“What is happening to Nino?” Ohno asks despite himself. He can still see Nino’s face pressed against the small window on the door. But his eyes are not flashing as brightly as before and his face is not as distorted with rage.
“To be very honest, I have no idea.” Jun sighs. “But I have my suspicions.”
“Suspicions?” Ohno repeats.
“Yeah, some suspicions.” Jun confirms. “There is something that I want to check up on and fortunately, we’re in the right room for this!”
“Is this why you chose this room to hide in?” Ohno narrows his eyes at Jun.
“Well, yes.” Jun admits sheepishly. “This room is where we store all confidential information about the research that we’ve done on robots all these years. This room is the most secure after all. And staff rarely come into this room. It’s for authorized personnel only.” Jun flashes his card triumphantly
.
I guess, in this situation, anything goes. Ohno muses.
“There you go! All patched up.” Jun starts to pack the first aid kit.
“Thanks.” Ohno mumbles.
“Now. About that suspicion.” Jun gets up moves further into the room.
Now that Ohno isn’t in such a daze, he can finally take in his surroundings. The room they are in is filled with shelves. Rows and rows and rows of standing shelves, all filled to the brim with files. It’s like the library. Only that the shelves are positioned much closer to each other and they go all the way up to the ceiling. The only way to reach the files at the top is by climbing a ladder.
Ohno follows Jun, moving further into the room. But before that, he threw a glance at the door and realises that Nino isn't there anymore.
The shelves are labelled accordingly to the files they contain. Robot’s creation information. Arranged accordingly to the year they were created. Ohno thought he spotted Aiba and Sho’s file amongst the rest.
Prototype I.
Prototype II.
Prototype X.
Abilities Analysis.
Body Parts Stock.
Character Chips.
Memory Contribution.
There are too many labels everywhere and after a while, Ohno got tired of reading them all.
Soon, they are at a shelf labelled “Restricted Information. Highly Confidential”.
Ohno stares at the label with uneasiness coiling in the pits of his stomach.
“Since Nino mentioned that he escaped from the lab, I figured that his information file will be somewhere around here. Organisations never like to admit that they let the things that they’re in charge of escape, yet they have to keep records. Therefore, they are hidden in this section. Aiba and Sho’s file will be shifted here, if they are not “found” soon.” Jun explains and quotes with his fingers.
Ohno nods numbly.
“What is Nino’s full name again?”
“Ninomiya Kazunari.” Ohno states without missing a heartbeat. Jun looks at Ohno, amused at how he can answer so swiftly. Ohno feels his insides being wringed from both longing and betrayal. How can he possibly long for someone who betrayed him and even tried to harm him?
“N…K…N…K…” Jun mumbles under his breath as he thumbs the labels, looking for one bearing Nino’s initials.
Ohno feels both excitement and dread in getting to know more about Nino. He doesn’t know if he wants to know what he’s going to find out.
“Aha!” Jun lets out a whoop of victory, mildly surprising Ohno in the sudden act.
“Now let’s see…” Jun pulls out a yellow file with Nino’s full name on it. He flips open the cover and Ohno had to tip toe and lean closer to sneak a peek.
On the first page, is Nino’s creation date. Which reads 17th June 1983. It’s 2053 now.
Means he’s been “alive” for 70 years?! No wonder Nino’s still playing with old and outdated games.
Jun nods at Ohno’s surprise. “Yeap Nino’s been alive for a relatively long period of time. Aiba and Sho hadn’t though. They were only created in the year 2033. So they’re about 20 now? But they’ve still got mentalities of children because they haven’t been out in the world. They haven’t been in contact with many humans and they don’t know how to act.”
There is a picture of Nino’s child self and his current adult look. He acquired his adult body in 1998 and it looks exactly the same as it is now. He hasn’t aged.
Well, He can’t age! Ohno recalls.
“Nino is the first few prototypes that the lab has ever created. It says here that he had been a rather quiet robot but was immensely well-liked by the people around him because of his surprising sensitivity to human emotions. He likes baseball and video games.” Jun looks up from the file and chuckles at Ohno. “I guess some things never change huh?”
Ohno smiles back fondly and then felt sick for still being so attracted to Nino.
“Well, everything seems good…” Jun thumbs through the pages. “A few glitches here and there but it’s no problem now because they’ve been fixed except…” Jun stops short.
“Except what?” Ohno furrows his eyebrows.
“Oh no…” Jun did not reply him and merely stares hard at the page in stunned silence.
Ohno, impatient, grabs the file away from Jun’s hands.
In the file, it reads:
Error: Electricity short circuit in prototype’s body
Consequences: Shut down for 3 days
Status: Repaired. Electricity circuit strengthened.
Error: Character chip damage caused by accidental electrical spark within body
Consequences: 1 month’s memory loss and unable to retain memory for 2 weeks when problem has not yet been identified.
Status: Repaired. Replacement of memory chip with new memory chip prototype. Memories from old chip transferred over.
Error: Unknown. Suspected tempering from The Wisp.
Consequences: Ballistic behaviour.
Status: Unrepaired. Robot missing. Suspected to be last seen in Nada, on the night of the massacre of the Town’s Head.
“Massacre of the Town’s Head?” Didn’t grandma pass away peacefully?!
To Be Continued...
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{Chapter 17} A/N: HELLO! I'm back! ^^ Told you I won't abandon this story! :D But real life got in the way so sorry for the really late update! D:
Enjoy! :D