Work Text:
The cables in Yasuo’s jaw strain as their casing is yanked free in the grip of the man— no, the monster— who stares into his soul with gleaming eyes.
“I’ve seen your mind. Your thoughts. The Ionian you leave behind as you sail away? I’ll kill him, too. And I’ll make sure you’re alive to see it.” Kayn’s laugh grates on his ears worse than the echoes of his humanity, and the ringing from being thrown head first onto the metal floor only makes it worse.
“You will never make it to the space dock.” His voice sounds mechanical, distorted, in his own head. He pulls himself up, the wind blade heavy in his hands. “You won’t make it off this planet alive.”
“Oh, Yasuo. I don’t have to.” Kayn dashes past him, through him, even, and the sheer power of it freezes Yasuo’s very core. “Your beloved has come to me to meet his end.”
A familiar tone drowns out the ringing in his ears, like the hum of overcharged wires, and Yasuo looks back in time to see Yi’s sword spark off the arc of the galactic scythe. His husband, closed away into his PROJECT armor, never failed to cause a deep ache in Yasuo’s chest. But when Kayn knocks him back, then shifts reality, warping the world between himself and Yi as he binds their souls for a brief, agonizing moment, the pain turns into a sharp explosion of fear that tears him apart like shrapnel. The helm display serving as Yi’s face shudders black, and the world cracks around Yasuo's consciousness.
PROGRAM OVERRIDE: PROJECT INITIATIVE
OPERATIVE DESIGNATION: YASUO
STATUS: CRITICAL DAMAGE
SITUATION: CRITICAL
PROTOCOL: ASSASSIN
V. 9.7.6.1
...initializing
. . .
CRITICAL ERROR
PATCH FAILURE
NETWORK DISCONNECTED
. . .
SYSTEM REPORT:
PROJECT OPERATIVE YASUO V. 9.7.6.1
CRITICAL SYSTEM ERROR 76: AWOL
The world bled into shades of red, and Yasuo’s body moves for him through the haze of sparking pain from his corrupted coding. His sword found his mark through the center of the shadow that pulled away from his lover, the flesh and bone within offering little resistance to his swing. The cry that pierces the air is inhuman, the deep tones to it unnervingly loud and otherworldly, and when Kayn reforms, he flees. Yasuo watches him retreat, standing guard over his fellow program even as the wires of his jaw spark and his finger tips arc with electricity. The fan vents in his shoulders whine beneath his uniform, but Yi's are eerily quiet.
intializing. . .
PROGRAM OVERRIDE: G/NETIC INITIATIVE
OPERATIVE DESIGNATION: MASTER YI
STATUS: CRITICAL DAMAGE
SITUATION: UNKNOWN
PROTOCOL: PEACEKEEPER
V. 1.07
SYSTEM REPORT:
G/NETIC OPERATIVE MASTER YI V. 1.07
CRITICAL DAMAGE DETECTED
/run MEDITATE.EXE, Y/N?
Y
. . .
ERROR: CASCADE FAILURE IMMINENT
The sharp, fiery pain is the only thing that keeps Yasuo from disconnecting. It saves the human he’s rebuilt from the ashes from falling into a pit of digital agony. Every cable in his body struggling under dangerous voltage, he falls to his knees over Yi, his blade left to clatter against the metal floor. His hands shake with the force of his will as he holds back the imminent overload of his systems, fingers deftly finding their way to the back of the Wuju master’s neck to tear open his input panel.
Interfacing this way, as he struggles to contain the PROJECT code's drive to tear his G/NETIC rebel lover apart, Yi’s systems down, brings back memories that sear his mind’s eye like a hot knife. “Hold on for me, Yi...” His patch cable feels like a cattle prod between his fingers, and Yi’s frame jolts significantly when he forces the connection.
CONNECTION ESTABLISHED
G/NETIC OPERATIVE MASTER YI V. 1.07
G/NETIC OPERATIVE YASUO V. 1.01 DETECTED
VERIFY PASSCODE:
all who wander
VERIFIED. . .
/run G/NETIC OPERATIVE MASTER YI SURVIVAL FAILSAFE: MEDITATE.EXE, Y/N?
Y
A comforting green light washes over the two of them, Yi’s systems releasing emergency nanites with a low frequency hum. Their gentle working feels like his hands, like Yi’s very soul graciously patching every minuscule tear, break, and disconnect. As they knit his jaw back onto its base, a familiar uplink taps into his own mainframe.
G/NETIC OPERATIVE MASTER YI V. 1.07 DETECTED
ALLOW CHANGES? Y/N
Yasuo let his eyes close so he didn’t have to watch the world distort around him.
Y
VERIFY PASSCODE:
are not lost
VERIFIED
UPLOAD FILE “G/NETIC OPERATIVE YASUO V. 1.01 DEFAULT RESTORE”? Y/N
Yi’s systems bypass the administrative order, and the world around Yasuo quiets in small increments until his body goes limp. Yi pulls him to his chest where they lay prone on the cold, hard floor. “I will be here when you wake up. Rest for me."