Chapter Text
“Be careful up there, 5! Good, now pull it tight… tighter than that, dear boy. Yes, just like that. Alright, now hold it for just a few seconds… And, done!” 2 clapped his hands together and grinned triumphantly. 5 gingerly climbed down from his perch on the top of the now completed Watchtower and stood by his mentor. For a minute they stood in silence, simply basking in the glow of a job well done. It had taken them nearly a month of planning and gathering, plus two more months of non-stop construction, but it was finally finished. They had just completed the rather precarious, final task of tying down the canvas canopy and were now free to start moving things up via the bucket-elevator. Just in time, too. The sun was setting, turning the world a bright, burnished orange. In his cheerful, accomplished mood, 5 thought their world looked almost pretty at that precise moment.
“Well, my lad,” said 2 at last, patting his apprentice on the back. “I’m proud of you! Your designs turned out to be a great success, I think.” 5 ducked his head with an embarrassed, silly grin.
“Well, you’ve taught me everything I know. I should be thanking you.”
“Not at all, 5, not at all! A teacher can blather on all day, but it’s up to the student to put the lessons into practice.” The master and the apprentice grinned at each other, finally feeling that the weeks of frustration and hard work was worth it.
“Ho, up there! Is it finished yet?” 5, even in his joy, flinched a little at the sound of 1’s voice calling up from the other end of the elevator shaft. 2 ambled over to the shaft and bellowed back down.
“Yes it finally is, you nosy old codger! Come and have a look!”
Even from all the way down in the throne room, 5 could here 1 sputter at 2’s teasing. Not for the first time 5 wished he could be more like his mentor; more feisty, more confidant, funnier, less easily intimidated... 2 really was something else entirely. 2 came back towards 5 and slung an arm around his shoulder. As 1 and the ever-present 8 emerged from the shaft in the bucket-elevator, 2 gave 5’s shoulder a reassuring little squeeze.
1 swept from the elevator and planted his feet in the center of the watchtower’s deck as if he owned the place, thumping his staff lightly on the ground. He observed 2 and 5’s handiwork and gave a grunt of approval.
“It is tolerable, I suppose.”
“Tolerable!” huffed 2 good-naturedly, but with a very slight, almost unnoticeable narrowing of the eyes. “Don’t be such a stick in the mud, 1! It’s damn good work and you know it.”
“Yes, indeed.” 1 said impassively, plucking at one of the taut ropes tying down the canopy. “It will serve our purpose well enough. I suppose the planning was your doing, 2?”
“A bit of it”, answered 2 blithely “But most of what you’re standing on right now is here thanks to 5’s very creative engineering.” The old inventor locked eyes with the leader, as if daring him to comment on 5’s work. For a few seconds the tension in the space increased exponentially before 1 gave in.
“Hmph, yes, well… Good work, both of you. Now, if you’ll excuse me-“ he turned regally and reentered the elevator where 8 stood waiting for him. After the duo had descended, 2 harrumphed and rolled his eyes.
“Ah, that old biddy. Doesn’t know a good thing when he sees it. Now,” he said, his mood switching right back to cheerful “What say you we head back down and get some well-deserved rest, eh 5? We can start moving things up here tomorrow.”
“Sounds good to me.” Said 5 quietly. He knew he shouldn’t let 1’s brusqueness get to him, but it was just so hard sometimes. 2 noticed his student’s melancholy and chucked him under the chin before going over to haul the elevator back up.
They rode down in comfortable silence, each planning his evening in his head. 5 figured 2 was going to turn in early (he was getting tired more easily these days), but 5 himself had other plans. He had 2 hold the elevator for him in the throne room and bid goodnight to his elder. As soon as 2 descended out of sight, 5 slumped in on himself, as if trying to make his figure as unnoticeable as possible. He hated doing this, but it was necessary if he wanted to follow through with his plan for the evening.
He crept out into the throne room. 1 was seated up on his dais, one of the maps 2 had drawn for him spread out on his lap. 8 was in his usual spot on the stack of bibles next to 1, grinding away at his scissor blade with a whetstone. 5 slowly and silently made his way along the wall to the shadowy alcove that was his destination. He didn’t make it very far, though, as his foot came down on a squeaky floorboard and the resulting ‘eek!’ sound grabbed the attention of 1 and 8. 1 glared at 5 and 8 deliberately set down the scissor blade in favor of sharpening his enormous kitchen knife, his fierce eyes on 5 the whole time.
“And just what do you think you’re doing up here?” drawled 1, his words dripping with condescension.
“I-I-I, uh, I just wanted to, uhm, v-visit 6. Just for a little while, I mean. I-“ 5 wrung his hands and listened to himself in growing chagrin as his mouth kept babbling even as his brain said “Shut up, shut up, shut up! If you annoy 1 he won’t let you see 6!” “I-if it’s okay with you, I want to, I mean I’d really like to show him the watchtower, I-“
“That’s enough.” Snapped 1. “Feel free to visit with the little lunatic, but stay quiet and don’t get him excited.”
“May I take him up to the watchtower?”
1 pondered for a moment, scratching his chin. “Tomorrow, you may. Perhaps. If you keep him quiet while you see him I will consider it.”
5 nodded and gave a furtive ‘yessir’ before he scampered off in the direction of the alcove, twitching slightly under the feel of 1’s and 8’s optics on him.
As he ducked behind the thin gray curtain that half-shrouded the little corner in shadows, his optics dilated and he had to peer into the darkness to locate 6. There, tucked away near the back of the alcove, sitting on a threadbare pincushion, staring blankly at the wall, was 6.
“Hey, 6.” Said 5 softly, approaching 6 warily and placing a hand gently on his shoulder. 6 flinched at the contact and 5 drew his hand away quickly as if 6’s striped cloth had burned him.“H-how are you doing 6?” he asked lamely. He knew he had to try to talk to 6. The others (except for the twins who didn’t actually speak) only very rarely had anything to do with the striped ragdoll. 5 considered it partly his fault that 6 was being kept hidden away, so he made a point to visit 6 whenever he could. After all, if he hadn’t let 6 get away from him and cause all that trouble two and a half months ago, 6 would still be free to have his run of the cathedral.
“6?” he tried again when there was no answer to his question. “Are you doing okay?”
“Am stuck in a tower. Can’t go out, can’t draw. Big Brute pushes me, Tall Hat yells at me. How would you be?” 6 droned. His words were sharp, but there was no bite to them. 5 held back a sigh. There was really no talking to 6 when he was in a mood like this, but he had to try.
“I’m sorry you’re not doing too good-“ he started but was interrupted when 6 spun around on the pin cushion, the key he had taken to wearing around his neck clinking dully.
“Not doing to good? Doing bad. Very, very bad!” 6 said flatly. His optics suddenly squinted put and he dropped his head between his knees and grasped at his hair with his sharp fingers. His shoulders heaved and he started to sob, rocking back and forth “Hate it up here! Dreams are worse up here! Before they would float away, but it is too close in here! They get stuck in the roof and growl at me at night! Am lonely! Haven’t slept!”
Throughout 6’s tirade, 5 had been frozen by the younger doll’s grief. Now he forced himself to walk forward, to drop to his knees and take 6’s hands into his own. He felt about ready to break down himself, for to see 6 so tortured made him feel achy and horrid all through his joints and his stitches. The utter… wrongness of it all, of poor 6 being locked away all by himself, of 6 feeling so wretched made him both sad and… furious. Absolutely burning with rage. How could 1 be so cruel? It was one thing to pick on 5, who was used to it and could move on, but 6 didn’t have the same defense mechanisms 5 had. He didn’t work the same way everyone else did.
“Miss you, miss you, miss you, and miss you.” 6 clenched 5’s hands and chanted sadly under his breath. True to his impulsive style, the younger creature leaned forward and allowed himself to tumble into 5’s lap. 5 was startled but chose to just go with it, and wrapped his arms around 6. He held the shaking creature until 6 quieted and took to fiddling with 5’s buttons. 5 laughed a little (his buttonholes were ticklish) and tousled 6’s hair. 6 gave a weak smile and slithered out of
5’s arms. He stood up a little ways away, wringing his hands around his key, making small indecisive noises.
“If I showed you something that was true but didn’t appear true but really was would you believe me?” he said suddenly.
“Well” 5 said, taking a second to work out what exactly 6 had said “I think you generally tell the truth, so yeah, I guess I would.”
“But what if what I showed you was wrong. Not wrong as in not correct but wrong as in not right?”
“You mean something bad?”
“Yes. Very bad.”
“Oh. I, uh… 6, did something bad happen to you?” 5 asked cautiously. 6 only gave him an eerie smile.
“Not yet.” He murmured. “Come and see.” And with that he scuttled farther back into the darkness. 5 followed warily. He picked his way over various and sundry objects, some of which he could indentify (a pile of small keys here, an empty inkwell there) and others that were totally unknowable in the dark of 6’s hidey-hole.
Then he locked eyes with The Beast and his mechanical heart leapt into his voice box.
The vision was so horrifying, so totally unexpected, that for a few heart-stopping moments, 5 didn’t realize that he was only looking a picture. All he could see was fangs and claws several inches long, eyes wide and unseeing and yet hellish; eyes of the malicious dead. It was 6 who shattered the silence and thankfully brought 5 back to reality.
6 tapped the picture, scrawled on a piece of pale slate, and muttered. “Wrong, wrong, wrong. It is all wrong. Perverted. Perversion. Predatory. Yes, it comes from our deranged brother who is dead now. Or maybe sleeping. Not sure. But it comes in light and in the dark. It’s looking, hunting, sleuthing for us…”
5 gulped audibly. “6, are you saying this thing is real?”
“Yes!” hissed 6. “Yes, real as rocks, real as bones. It’s coming!” 6 clambered over an overturned candle stump and clasped 5’s hands in his own. “We must hide deeper! It can’t be killed, not yet! Please, please, please say you believe me!”
5 looked from 6’s wide optics, to the ferocious painted Beast, and back to 6. The younger doll was shaking and clenching his jaw.
“6…” 5 started, forcing the words to come through “What you dream isn’t real. It’s just… leftover stuff from the War. It’s scary, I know, but it’s all in your head.”
“But, but…” 6’s mouth twisted downward and his eyes fell. “You said you believe me…”
“It’s not that I think you’re lying or anything! I just think you have a bad dream and you’re… confused. That’s all it is.” 5 had to hug the other creature but 6 suddenly ripped his hands from 5’s and shoved him away.
“Go away.” The striped ragdoll said in a tiny voice.
“6, please, I want to help-“
“I said GO AWAY!” 6 reached forward and took a swipe at 5’s chest with his pointed fingers. He missed by about an inch, but for the first time, 5 found himself appreciating just how sharp 6’s pen-nibs were. “Leave, leave, LEAVE!” 6 wailed and tugged at his hair. “Go! Get out! Don’t care, don’t care, don’t care!”
5 had never seen 6 so upset before. His first instinct was to run away from 6’s anger, but he steeled his resolve and took a step towards 6, holding his palms out.
“6, please calm down. Please listen to me for a minute. You’re fine, I-“
But 6 wasn’t having any of it. He stomped and screeched and finally collapsed to the ground in a head, silent and twitching slightly. A moment passed.
“6?”
Silence.
“6, a-are you alright?”
“What’s all this racket? I thought I told you to stay quiet!” 1 stomped into the alcove, squinting in the darkness. 5’s heart sank and he stared at the floor rather than look 1 in the face.
“N-nothing. I was just leaving.” He mumbled and scurried away, away from 6, past 1 and 8, who was standing off to the side, sneering at 5. Rather than hoist the elevator, 5 simply jump from the landing and slid down the rope. He landed clumsily in the bucket with a ‘clang!’ when he reached the ground floor. 7, who was sitting nearby, playing Roll the Marble with the Twins, looked up sharply, reaching instinctively for her spear. When she saw it was only 5, she frowned and left the Twins to follow 5 to the workshop.
She found him alone, restlessly shuffling screws around the worktable. She sighed, for she knew this as classic ‘5 is upset and is refusing to deal with it head on’ behavior.
“So, what did Our Fearless Leader do this time?” she quipped. 5 jumped and knocked over a thimble full of fishhooks. 7 held back a snort and went to go help him clean up the spill.
“Oh, nothing important.” 5 said derisively.
“Tch, c’mon 5, you don’t have to defend the jerk to me. I already don’t like him.” 7 said with a playful punch to 5’s shoulder. 5 fiddled with a fishhook for a few seconds, avoiding 7 gaze. 7 took 5’s face between her hands and pulled him around to look at her. “Come on now, 5. Talk to me.”
“Well, I-“ 5 sat back on his haunches and sighed “It’s not really 1 I’m mad at.”
“So, you finally admit that you do get mad at 1!” crowed 7. 5 shot her a reproachful look and she stifled her giggles.
“Yeah, well, that’s not it this time. I mean, I hate that he’s keeping 6 all alone up there, but… it’s actually 6 I’m having problems with.”
7 nodded and tapped her bottom lip thoughtfully. “The little guy really likes you, 5. I remember how he used to trail after you even before we moved in here.”
“I know!” blurted 5 “And, honestly, I like him too. He’s weird and doesn’t make a whole lot of sense sometimes, but usually that doesn’t bother me.”
“’Usually.’” 7 remarked. “I take it something not ‘usual’ happened with 6?”
“Yes. Well, yes and no. He started going off like he does, and I just followed along as best I could, and then he showed me this drawing of this… thing. A monster of some kind. Then he started babbling about how ‘The Beast’ was coming for us and how I had to believe him.”
“Did you believe him?”
“Well, no!” 5 declared, spreading his hands as if to say ‘duh’.
“Why not?” 7 asked, a note of exasperation tingeing her voice.
“7! It can’t be real! 6 just hasn’t gotten over the War yet. It was scary for everyone and you know that 6 kind of handles things… differently than everyone else.”
“That doesn’t discount what he has to say.” Reasoned 7 plaintively.
“No, I- ” 5 scratched the back of his neck and tried to think. “No, that’s not what I mean. What I mean is… we are the only living things left. No beast could’ve survived the gas. There is nothing out there!” he finished with a huff, gesticulating outward.
“Nothing that we know of.” Asserted 7. 5 glared at her. “Okay, okay. So 6 could be talking crazy nonsense. It’s totally possible that we are the only creatures left here. We haven’t seen anything else, so who’s to say the City isn’t completely empty save for us? But at the same time, just because we can’t see it doesn’t
mean it’s not there.”
“7-“ started 5, but 7 interrupted, leaning forward with a slightly wild look in her optics.
“You’re a scientist 5! You know better than to completely disregard something without testing it!”
“When did we start talking about science?” sputtered 5. 7 rolled her eyes and waved her hands.
“Fine, whatever. Back to 6. Knowing what I know of the little bug, he got upset when you said you didn’t believe him, right?”
“Right.” Answered 5, suddenly feeling a bit miserable thinking about 6’s fit of rage.
“Uh-huh.” 7 tapped her bottom lip again. “Well, if I were you, I’d get my butt back up the clocktower and tell 6 that while we don’t see eye to weird, mismatched eye, I still value his opinion.” She leaned forward and spoke very slowly, as if she were talking to a half-wit. “Don’t you think that’s a good idea, 5?”
A pause.
“No.” 5 jumped up and stomped out of the workshop.
“Fine!” shouted 7 after him “Go be a stubborn twit! See if I care!” She heard 5’s footsteps fade away, only to be replaced by a set of fluttering, staccato taps. She looked up to see the Twins peering around the curtain that formed the forth wall of the workshop. 7 sighed and shook her head. She hauled herself up and beckoned to the Twins, who pattered to her sides and took her hands, their eyes flashing inquisitively.
“Girls, what have I always told you about the males of our kind? They are incurably block-headed and generally not worth our time.”
The Twins nodded eagerly and flickered their eyes in agreement.