Chapter Text
This was the cycle, he could feel it in his every circuit. At least in the ones he still could feel, which wasn't many. One by one, his primary processes were grinding to a halt, succumbing after they had started struggling about three cycles ago. He was barely awake now, using what little energy he had left to play the music from his pearl and keeping in contact with his sister.
Despite staying silent about his deteriorated state, they both knew… and it was breaking her mechanical heart. They both knew it was time… this would be the last time they talked to each other.
The final goodbye.
The silence of their final call made Pebbles fidget restlessly, the oppressive atmosphere making him tense. Something wrenched inside of his chest, as he knew what awaited, and it almost made him cry. If only he had been able to. Having reconciled with his sister, only to be separated from her after only about a hundred cycles. Far to little time, now snuffed out forever.
Suddenly a pull, making him gasp. "Moon… it's time…"
"Pebbles… sssh… it will be okay…", she tried to comfort him, her voice sounding staticy now. He curled in on himself as he felt his legs creak, the whole chamber shivering.
"I'm scared… I don't want to be alone again… I don't want to lose you again…", he sobbed shakily, emotions getting the better of him, welling up and overflowing. If only his sister could hug him; hold him until it was over.
"I know Pebbles…" Despite the deteriorating connection, he could make out a sob. "I love you, my little brother… I always will…"
He let out an ugly sob, his chest making a warbling noise. This was not what he wanted. He didn't care if he cried like one of his creator's children, he didn't want to fall. "I love you too Moon… I'm sorry… I hope we'll somehow see eachother again…" a futile, naive hope, he knew.
"I hope so too…", she spoke softly, tethering on the edge of breaking down herself. "I love you…"
He could feel his can shaking now, the pain jolting up through his very being. He felt like he was walking on water.
"I love you too."
He cut the contacts as the metal began to screech, his eyes blurring from the pain. His speakers cracked, yet if he screamed, it was drowned out by a metallic screech. His can leaned the side, before splitting into two as it crashed towards the ground. It was like his antigravity was turned back on for a moment, until everything slammed downward and the world went completely black…
-:-
A new cycle. The metal screech had stopped, for how long he wasn't sure, but it had stopped. The loud noise was gone and… why, what loud noise? Only a soft tune was in the air. The tune from… his… blurry…
Blur.
That.
The iterator's head shook a little in distress as he was trying to force himself to process, no results coming up. He stopped once he felt a mild shock through his system, giving up on trying to find out more about what the tune was from. He just knew how to make it and that it made him feel safe, faintly grasping on something somewhat connected to a memory.
Had he always been like this? Perhaps he had been… the only thing that mattered was his music blur. And so he continued doing the only thing he knew to do, until the silence around him began to grow thick. Had the white splotches around him been always there? They must've been.
Was there more white than before now?
No, that couldn't be.
Even as they white began to grow more; he only briefly wondered, before just convincing himself that it must've been there before.
Over and over, until he was quite certain, this was how it has always been. It must've been or he wouldn't be able to see the white on black. And once he had accepted that, his brief bout of curiousity was gone, and he turned back to the blur, moving up and down next to him.
And when its tune changed, it unnerved him. The ever-clear tune distorting and warping… at first he thought this is how it has always been but no… not his tune… it used to be clear, why was it… Pebbles didn't know why or how, he only knew that this was a bad thing, something in what was left of his processing screaming in terror. Not this! It couldn't break- He didn't want to hear the metal screech again!
He shook in terror, warbling quietly in sudden distress. He drew the blur close, holding it against his chest tightly. It was round… and smooth… though there was an occasional scratch in its surface.
This only distressed him more.
His fretting continued, until he noticed some other movement at the edge of his vision. He shook more, his legs pulling close. A green blur was slowly approaching and something in his mind clicked. His speech module crackled as he spoke. "Little… Green thing… hello… nothing here… nothing… left…", he struggled out, before falling silent, his eyes dimming from exhaustion.
He tensed as the thing hopped over to him, too fast for his vision to keep up. It then seemed to pause. Focusing back on his music, his eyes close. As he played his music, he could feel something fluffy wrap around his side. When he opened his eyes again, the green thing was very close… "... Thank you for…. Company…", he spoke quietly. He felt a weight in his lap. The creature stayed for a while… until the wind became stronger and it turned white-
"S-shelter.. cold… cold danger…", he squeaked. The blur slowly sat up… then suddenly his music went out. It took him a good few seconds to process as the creature hurriedly was leaving. "N-no… give back… all I… have…," he whimpered as he shook. But the creature did not listen, soon disappearing into the white and grey. He was left in full silence now, only a strong whistling sound filling his auditory sensors. He shook again in distress, his hands weakly fidgeting as they searched for something, anything which brought the same comfort as his music sphere.
Nothing did.
Just mind numbing silence as he sat there.
-:-
Nothing. Her overseers brought back nothing. Nothing but pictures of snapped and broken metal. The metal of the corpse that her brother's can was now, no sign of his puppet. Perhaps this shouldn't pain her so… perhaps he would be better off having died completely during the horrid crash, as it had been hundreds of cycles since then. Only recently were her overseers able to enter the region, now that the rot had mostly died off. She knew how horrible it could be to be still alive after this, barely conscious. Phantom pains wrecking one each time they recall their structure, leaving one barely conscious-
No. Perhaps this was more merciful. Yet a selfish part of her hoped to still find her brother alive. Or, perhaps he had been right. Perhaps fully dying was the only true way to ascend. Thinking about Sliver now, her mechanical guts clenched, if just for a moment. No, this was not the time. She needed to find Pebbles' chamber… regardless of his condition.
Floating around as the cell decided to power on again, she quickly ran a few processes. Not nearly as many as in her prime, but enough to try and calculate the new quadrant to be searched by her overseers. She did her best to tune out the quiet hymn playing in the background. While she did not know what it was, it also strangely enough did not scare her. Yet anytime she focused too much on it, her perception seemed to warp and she began to feel dizzy. So she chose to ignore it as best she could.
This time however, the distant hymn was not the only thing distracting her, as a green slugcat made its way into her half submerged shelter. She had seen this one a few times before. Floating down, she settled on her island to greet him. "Hello, strange, little friend. I am glad to see you visit once more."
The fluffy slugcat sat down in front of her. The way it sat was fascinating to her, legs crossed and tail curled around it as if it was meditating. Perhaps this was why its attunement was so strong. "Is there anything you have brought? We both know most of the pearls have been damaged unfortunately- but perhaps you found a lucky one or two?"
The creature raised its head, before hacking a few times. It spat out what seemed to be a pearl, briefly washing it in the water before holding it to Moon. She gently took it and the second her hand made contact with it, she tensed. She need not read it fully to know what and whose this was.
"This pearl is still warm and there is only one reason why that could be. Please return this. I am sure what little is left of him misses this dearly…"