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It was weird- even when he'd only just locked eyes with this 'Yumi' he just... knew, and a part of him panicked, he forced his epithet not to read her- he couldn't do that- not to his soulmate, that was a cruel move and- Naven wasn't a bad person, he wasn't. Holding his hand out to shake, a bright smile
He could tell she knew too- mostly because she almost immediately tackled him and lifted him up to spin him in the air "You're so much cuter than i thought you'd be!" she chirped, and Naven gave a gentle laugh, trying to ignore Dr Lufts dark stare in the background.
--
It'd been a month or two, the 'foreign exchange student' that was only meant to be there a week had to stay because Dr Lufts plans changed again. That was alright, Naven and Yumi liked staying together- and Yumi was already calling and talking to her family about it- they'd given permission for her to stay as long as she needed.
Dr Luft kept doing things, taking her into the lab and leaving Naven out- he understood, compared to Luft, he was just a kid. Even if he was twenty-four and had seen much, much more then he'd ever wanted to. Naven just waited, he never read Luft or Yumi- he was starting to regret it. Yumi came out more tired every day, and Naven could've sworn he saw marks on his arms, legs, and stomach that *shouldn't* be there. He didn't say anything.
---
He was pacing, he was panicking a little- he kept knocking and trying to get Luft to let him in. He had to- he should've read his mind- but now he was behind a closed door and he couldn't. "Doctor? Doctor please may I come in?" He knocked on the door again, he could feel his hand shaking.
Naven could see the growing yellow marks on his arms. "I'd like to see that Miss Yumi is alright-" "This is very delicate work mister Nuknuk." he bristled, knocking again "You- You've been saying that for hours! Is she alright it's a simple enhancement procedure it- it- it shouldn't be taking this long" Or hurting this badly.
His arms were burning, he'd never felt Yumi's pain before, it was strange, a little scary. "Don't worry. Why don't you go out and busy yourself for awhile, and when you come back the surgery will be over and everything will be alright."
The green-haired boy froze in his tracks. Surgery? Surgery? He felt his breath catch in his throat and he shook his head in confusion, eyes sparking as he put his hand on the doorknob for a moment "Surgery? It- it's supposed to be a simple skin enhancement for defensive purposes and- and its just on the arm- nothing invasive-, he's never used the word surgery before..."
He let go and took a few steps back, starting to pace the hallway again "something feels wrong- should i have read his mind..?"
Right, okay. There was no time like the present- no one to come save him if he started panicking, the pain was getting worse, ricocheting through him like something was cutting him to pieces, and it had spread. He turned the knob and shoved the door open weakly, stumbling in the process.
Navens breath caught again, and a choked squeak came from him before anything else, his hands still on the knob, his feet not quite keeping him steady. Yumi was laying on the operating table, sliced up, blood everywhere, on Luft's hands, on the ground, staining her hair and clothes and her eyes were open and dull and her head was turned to the side-
Luft slowly lifted one of Yumis arms- detached. Detached- detached detached- Naven looked around frantically, as the realization hit him he could feel the pain in his own arms and legs getting worse, he'd cut her up, he'd cut off her limbs and thrown them around and she wasn't dead yet somehow but she was dying and he'd been standing out there the whole fucking time-
"What is this?" Naven forced his voice calm and steady as his eyes moved to focus on Luft, his eyes were flashing rapidly, rainbow- monochrome- amber- "It was a success." Luft smiled kindly as he dropped Yumis arm, leaning forward a little. "My very first human puppet. I've done it on animals, but never on a human. Hard to find someone no one will miss-" Luft started walking around the room as he talked.
He had a crazed look in his eyes, and Naven felt a wave of sickness passing over him, a headache sparking up behind his eyes, Yumi was dying, stop talking- "You should be happy, she's stronger without all those.. human limitations, lungs, heart, her brain too!- well, most of it. shame you stopped me halfway."
"Stop it" Navens voice was breathy, scared- scared- he was terrified, and his hands were gripping the handle so tight his knuckles were turning white. "Oh, no no no. This is just the beginning! She's the first of my new toys. Watch. Yumi? Rise."
Naven watched in horror as wires started to wrap around and sink into her body, digging their way under her skin and into her fully through the holes and cuts that littered her. Naven felt the pain from this cascading through him, and the headache grew worse, causing him to stumble again as he choked out her name, wanting to reach for her and protect her from- from this-
Yumi rose to her feet with a spark of electricity, and her now new robotic attached limbs adjusted themselves onto her with a sickening sound, Naven couldn't breathe, he couldn't tear his eyes off her, and he felt one last burst of pain that came directly from his soul as Yumi seemed to exhale.
He nearly fell forward, pulling himself up with the doorknob as the pain slowly began to subside. No... no- no no no no no no no- "A shame really. She would've been a glamorous last sight for you- had you let me finish her." Luft was talking, but Naven couldn't look away from Yumi, her normally bright happy yellow eyes were dead and blank.
"No matter. I'll just... work out the kinks as we go."
There was more and more blood puddling on the ground beneath her, Naven didn't know where it was coming from- everywhere? He couldn't tell, he didn't know he didn't want to know. Luft seemed... disappointed "She's breaking... whatever. I'll have one new puppet very soon." A pause.
Naven knew what was coming, he wouldn't be able to handle it if he heard it, he was scared, and he spoke without thinking "Yumi please..- god, no," "Yumi? Attack."
She was attacking him. She was attacking him- He couldn't fight back, not against her- Naven let the whips of electricity hit him, -44. Right, okay, he just... he couldn't panic. He couldn't let this kill him. He had a company to run he had people to protect, he had to think of Xerxes and Charles and Zora and-
He took a step back, his back hitting the wall, his sleeves were ripped and burnt. "Luft, what caused y-you to do this?" A sharp shrug from Luft, more like a jerk really, and his kind smile grew slightly "She volunteered to be a test subject" "Not to this! She didn't volunteer to this!" Naven could feel the wounds burning into his body now, oddly enough he wasn't crying.
Realizing that made him feel guilty- realizing he'd seen so much worse yet this was what was stopping him. Naven took a shaky breath, shaking his head and trying to gather his senses, he needed help. But- he didn't have any, raise a gun he makes corp officers keep on them, of course he had one, emergencies only.
This was an emergency.
He shot at Luft, specifically aiming for him. The doctor chuckles and simply adjusted Yumi so she stepped in the way, and Naven froze up again when the bullet shot her and sunk into her chest, was this how it was going to be? Perfect, amazing.
He needed help. Naven needed help, and he looked back towards the door to the waiting room as if something would be there- anything.
There was nothing and nobody. Of course, he was stupid for even thinking- god.
Naven tried to shoot again, but before his finger could pull the trigger it was knocked out of his hands, and suddenly Yumi had grabbed his shoulders- shocked him and thrown him to the ground, he tensed, shaking, shaking- trying to process anything. Was he twitching? Wonderful. Great. -10! Awesome!
He stared up at her and feebly held himself up with one elbow, he didn't know if he was shaking out of fear or the electric shocks running through him. She was staring down at him blankly, so blankly- he couldn't handle that. His Yumi was gone, replaced with a puppet, replaced with this.
There was a buzzsaw popping out of her arm, alright, wonderful. He pushed himself up to side-roll out of the way quickly before it hit the ground, effectively trapping her for a moment. Naven wasn't going to hurt her. He couldn't bring himself to. He ran towards Luft, grabbing a surgery tool off the table and trying to cut into him.
He sidestepped and grinned at Naven as he turned to slice again- but Yumi seemed to teleport right in front of the doctor, and he cut into her instead, the mark going from the side of her neck partially down her chest, blood slightly spurting out from the quick movement and seeping its way into his skin, almost staining itself on his hands.
He'd never be able to unsee that. Naven gave a choked gasp in fear as his eyes widened and shot up to meet hers. She was staring at him, still blank, still dead. No emotion. That's what finally broke him, eyes locked on his scared amber ones, trembling, tears started to build- and as they did, there was the sound of a BANG shooting from behind Yumi.
Naven was knocked back by the impact of a bullet slamming directly into his stomach, sending him tumbling into the operating table and falling backwards over it. He used it for cover from any other attacks while clutching the wound, a sob spilling from him. -15. He was already getting low. Yumi was gone, and he wouldn't win this fight, he knew he had no chance he- he--
He shook those thoughts away, grabbing his phone from his pocket and swiping to the corp officers groupchat.
He needed them for once, he always helped when they needed him, please come through, please- please please please- his phone simply sparked and short-circuited as Yumi peeks over the operating table at him, he leaned his head back to stare at her, he was crying, and bleeding, and in pain, and Yumi was dead, and he had no hope.
Naven kicked into instincts from when he was a kid, he couldn't let himself die from this, that was his rule, and he seemed to visibly dull, emotions draining from him. He'd shut everything off just for this. It hurt, but hey, that's what you had to do sometimes as an Ashling.
He grabbed her shoulders and swung her forward in front of him, shoving the operating table back behind him a little and hearing a gruff 'umph!' from Luft. There we go. He shakily got to his feet, lifting the surgery tool again as if aiming at Yumi. He whipped around without a seconds notice and threw it at Luft, grabbing Yumis arm as she tried to run past him to block the hit.
It dug into Lufts chest, and he stared at him with pure unbridled hatred. "Yumi." Yumi turned to look at Naven, and yanked him close, putting both hands on his chest and shoving him back with a severe shock. Naven was on the ground and almost convulsing immediately. -50. He was- already near his end. Fuck. He couldn't move, or control his limbs.
Everything hurt, and his eyes were starting to roll back, gasps of air ripping their way through him, he tried to hold himself down, and it took a minute, but he got most of a handle on it, everything still twitching lightly, and he couldn't get himself to stand up. He was done for, he was done for, his heart was about to beat out of his chest, he was panicking, he- needed to think-
His eyes flashed and flickered to Kaleidoscope.
He read Lufts mind. "M-Mechanize-" he choked, there we go- there's what we needed. 3.
Naven was almost swirled into a beam of light, and was left standing in a new outfit, his rainbow eyes sparkling and shining with... anger. He'd never felt this furious, and it was only just being noticed. The cape swirling behind him, he stared at Luft "I think, i liked you better, as a LIAR! NOW STOP IT!" he shouted, the anger pulsing through and erupting from him.
Rainbow magic exploded from his already weak body, knocking both Yumi and Luft to the ground, -20 right- one stamina left, god he hoped this worked, because as he stumbled and fell to the ground, adrenaline officially gone, he could feel himself starting to fade.
Naven stared up and around him, pushing himself up weakly, Luft was against a wall, bleeding from the wound earlier, he was awake, but... seemed confused. and upon reading him, Naven felt his heart nearly stop. He'd... completely erased the mans memories. He hadn't... he hadn't meant to do that...
Yumi.
He had hurt her, she'd been hurt, and killed, and- he turned to face her, laying on the ground in a puddle of her own blood, sparking and- unmoving. He liked her better moving, he liked it better when she was attacking him, because she was moving, alive in some way-
Navens current one stamina predicament wasn't going to let him move very much, but he was quick to grab an apple from his cape- he wasn't sure where this cape or the apples had come from- and throw it at the alarm button he hadn't been able to reach before. It barely hit it, and Naven fell, quiet and weak pants coming from him.
She was gone. His body hurt, everything ached and burnt, and he felt like he was going to be sick. He took a second, and pushed himself up a little again, grabbing the operating table and pulling himself up to be standing, despite his shaking legs, and body, and his inability to breathe. He stared at the scene.
His soulmates severed arms and legs on the floor, organs somewhere in the room, Luft- conscious and, and not himself, laying against a wall, Yumi in a puddle of blood, dead, and sparking, and gone- Naven pushed himself off the table so he gained enough momentum to move to her, using what he'd gained from learning the epithet was mechanize.
Naven had to do something about this, starting to weakly work on her while waiting for guards. It didn't take long, she was already built, and from what he could tell her stamina was actually still high, she just wasn't... activated anymore because Luft couldn't control her, he just fixed and tucked in some of the wires on her arms and legs, and grabbed a hospital gown to put it over her in a vain attempt to cover the wounds for now.
He activated her and spent his last stamina giving her any memories of him and his company that he could- her friends, him, relationships mostly, nothing about her family He didn't know, nothing about her life he didn't know, nothing about all of... of this He should've read her, kept her safe. Whatever he had, he gave, and she sparked and bounced to life, eyes shooting open and seemingly more full of life with actual memories and a set personality.
As this happened, Naven gave a weak laugh and smile, before falling to the side, completely unconscious. Expending all his stamina with an unexpected Overclass wasn't quite what he'd been trying to do, but it saved her. That was what was important.