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9 wasn't sure how long they had been standing in the rain. But it had been long enough so their bodies were heavy and damp, and the ground around them had started forming puddles and little streams that flowed into the gutters of the Emptiness.
No one seemed to mind, though.
After everything that had happened, it was a much needed time to feel a little bit of peace in the present, and to have a flickering hope for the future.
After all those terrifying, insecure and exposed moments of life and death...
After saying goodbye to everyone else. Watching ghosts barely old enough to haunt the living but still dear enough to watch them travel into the sky with a dull ache where a heart would've been. A crack of thunder was their only (and final) sign that peace had been found for the dead as well as the living.
Feeling like life was coming back to the earth. Every drop like a promise of better days that they could experience. Safe in the thought that nothing else wanted them dead and nothing else could hurt them now.
Safety. Emptiness that was now truly... empty. Save for the 4 little stitchpunks that stood beneath a crying sky in curiosity, calmness and relief.
All the same, 7 poked 9 after some time and said "It's getting too dark. We need to find shelter," as she gently herded the twins ahead of her.
9 slowly followed. Footsteps light against water and stone, barely scraping the ground.
But he kept looking up at the clouds and blinked every time a raindrop fell on his optic eyes.
Wondering.
*****
They didn't make it back to the library where 3 and 4 used as as a refuge, as it got too dark to see anything clearly and 7 didn't want to stumble blindly in their exhausted states... so they found a bombed out building close by to the burial mounds they had made for their friends and they squeezed in through a crack in the ajar door. Soaked, but otherwise fine.
You could still hear the rain, though it sounded muffled and further away under shelter...
3 and 4 peeked out from behind 9 until 7 had made sure everything was safe enough for them to explore a little. "Checking for unexploded bombs," she explained when 9 had asked. He had been ready to help, but decided it was safer with 3 and 4 after realizing what she was looking for.
It didn't take long for 7 to hop over the rubble and poke her face into every big looming shape. She deemed it safe within minutes. The twins barely gave 9 a second thought after 7's assurance that everything was safe, darting out from behind his back in an instant. 9 and 7 laughed at the twin's sudden change of attitude.
The two little gloved stitchpunks scurried around the room and weaved in-between each other, eyes flickering and lighting up every time they found something interesting. Always making sure the other was kept up to date on the latest discoveries, or forcefully made the other twin share what they were holding or looking at. An overturned piece of mat, tassles and threads loose enough to pull off and collect. A curved wooden handle of some kind, clearly broken off from something bigger. A few pieces of dull and oddly shaped metal between all the blown up rubble and scrap...
"Let's leave those alone for now," 9 had suggested, carefully redirecting 3's attention to further in the house. 4's eyes paused over the metal shapes their twin had been observing, and after a second's hesitation clearly decided it wasn't worth the effort to study either.
9 brushed aside the memory of 2 doing the same thing to him not so long ago...
Had to move on. Had to be in the moment.
But despite the twins obvious excitement in finding so much new stuff to catalogue, the glow in their eyes were getting duller the longer they were standing upright. 9 didn't feel much better to be honest. It was getting harder to focus every passing minute. A cold draft fueled by rain swept over the house and made him instinctively wrap an arm around his body.
It didn't help him feel less cold. But the action seemed correct anyway...
"Here," 7 said, voice coming from somewhere close and far away at the same time. "We can use these to hide in for a while."
9 blinked hard and saw what 7 had found. A giant wooden frame had been knocked over behind the front door, and lots of hollowed out pieces of leather were scattered on the floor. Big enough for someone to crawl inside...
"Help me drag this somewhere drier," 7 said, already pushing one of the leather objects deeper in the house. The twins were dragging a leather object of their own, although theirs looked bigger and worse for wear than 7's.
9 nodded dumbly, reaching out a hand and ready to help. He stumbled over something he hadn't noticed. His head felt like it was full of sparkling lights that weighed heavy on his optics...
Why was walking suddenly so much harder to do...?
9 shivered. His eyes were shutting and switching off all on their own. His fabric skin weighed him down and something in his body vibrated softly... calling to him...
He didn't remember what happened next. He must've helped 7 drag the object deeper into the house. But he couldn't seem to know where or why after a while.
The only thing he knew was he felt lighter than air and heavier than lead.
And then everything went darker then he had ever experienced before.
*****
9 did not awake easily. But something like a memory shot into the front of his mind and he bolted upright with a gasp.
He tried to breathe. Tried to remember the last thing he did...
How long had he been out? How much time had passed? Had he almost died again?
Then his eyesight started working, and in the low light he realize where he was. The house. The house they took shelter in from the rain and darkness. Relief dripped back into his body and he slouched back, arms propped up against... something hard but flexible...?
9 squinted. He reached out a hand to feel and poke at what he was in. It took him a few seconds to recognize what it was. He was encased in the same leather object that he and 7 had been moving earlier.
He couldn't remember why though. Nor knew why he was inside it. But he could wiggle easily enough, so he didn't feel trapped.
It was quite comfortable, actually.
9 leaned back again, bringing a hand up and rubbing his stitched head. He felt drained. Stiff, and still a little cold. He also had no idea what had happened or where the others were. But he also felt better for some reason, so... it couldn't be all bad, right?
A part of him expected to be haunted by something, but his mind was blissfully empty of anything except thankfulness that he didn't seem to be in danger or hurt or in need to do something important.
It's okay, he reassured himself. A low breeze swept past him, whistling through the house like a wandering spirit looking for someone to play with, but only finding hollowness and musty air.
... was it still raining?
Maybe. He could hear drips somewhere. Dozens of them. Peals of thunder, faint and far away sounded in his head too...
But he had to know for sure.
Tucking his legs up 9 shuffled out of the leather object and gingerly stepped onto the floor. He took his time. Waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness and for his body to unfold. Even if he hadn't opened his mouth, he could feel his voice box humming and crackling like a shaky breath in his chest.
Steadying himself, he took a step forward and headed for the brightest part of the house he could see. Which wasn't very bright, but it certainly wasn't as dark as everything else so he decided that's where the outside world must be.
As he was slowly stepping around the large black piles of plaster and rubble and the treacherous debris of bullet shells, 9 noticed an odd and compact shape in a hidden corner of the floor. Fear made him freeze and halt his footsteps. Yet curiosity couldn't help but drive 9 a little nearer to see what that odd shape was.
Upon closer inspection he found it was 3 and 4 curled up next to each other. 9 let out the breath he had been holding, and easily leaned in to try and see the individual shapes better.
The twins were draped in a tangle of limbs and threads - likely from the mat they had found upon entering this house - and they were holding each other very tightly. Hand in hand, and hand gripping each other's arm. Their glove hoods hid their faces in a swallowing blackness.
They weren't moving. But... 9 was almost certain they were fine. He didn't know how, but he trusted his gut and backed away slowly. He left the little stitchpunks alone in the dark and headed further towards the front door.
At least he was right about one thing.
It was still raining outside.
Giant drops of water streamed down a damaged pipe, spraying in every direction when it hit the ground and disappeared into the mystifying blur of sky and fog. Puddles that had been barely the size of a hand the night before had grown into pools and rivers quietly swirling into sewers and cracks in the ground.
The air smelt damp. The rain looked black in the grey night.
And even if it was still dark, 9 could see thousands of reflected ripples on the street. A gesture of every raindrop that fell from the heavens above. He reached out and felt lucky when a raindrop hit his hand and slipped through his fingers.
The Emptiness was still void of life... but it wasn't silent anymore.
Not with the rain humming on the sidewalk and filling his soul like a bucket that had been empty for far too long.
"Up so soon?"
9 tensed and eased in a single stroke, twisting his head around to where the voice had come from. He saw 7 melt out of the shadows, the staircase and rubble looming dark and infinite behind her.
Her silhouette looked odd without her skull helmet and feathers, but 7 still smiled at him when she stepped into the filtered light of the storm.
Then her words caught up to his head.
"What do you mean? Did I worry you?" 9 asked, suddenly becoming concerned about had happened to him earlier tonight.
7 waved a hand dismissively though, still calm and smiling.
"No. I just thought you wouldn't wake up for a little longer. You got up before the twins did," she said. As if that explained everything.
"Wake up...? What happened to me?"
7's forehead creased a little bit this time. "Nothing happened to you. You fell asleep. What do you think happen to you?" she asked. Not judgmentally, but it still confused 9 more than ever.
"I don't know. I don't remember," he said, trying to think about the last thing he remembered the night before. He came up blank. "I just think... thought something bad must've happened me to make me black out the same way it had earlier...-" he shuddered and brought a hand up to his left shoulder, red stitches still woven tightly into his skin.
"I don't know" he repeated.
The rain droned on. Questions wanted to break loose from his mouth, but none of them had the confidence to be heard outside of his own head...
Then a hand overlapped his own, resting on his fingers and shoulder. Squeezing tightly, but... comforting all the same. 9 lifted his head and met 7's white face.
"Have you never slept before?" she asked kindly. 9 shrugged.
"I don't know," he said truthfully. That word, while familiar in concept, meant nothing to him in this situation. "What is it? What is sleep?"
7 opened her mouth. 9 cocked his head when the expected reply didn't come. Then finally a small laugh broke free from her, as clear as the rain just within their reach.
9 blinked, half frustrated that he might've said the wrong thing but very encouraged that 7 hadn't dismissed him yet. Not like 1 had. Nothing like that.
"Well basically," the white stitchpunk tried talking again, seemingly a little lost for words. "sleep is... normal! It's what we need to do when we get too tired."
"Too tired? About what?"
"Just tired. It happens all the time. Every day I think. We need sleep."
"But what is sleep?" 9 persisted, curiosity now arousing more than his caution of saying something foolish. "Is that what I was doing? Why do we do it? Why does it help? Did the humans sleep? Is that why we do it? Is that what 3 and 4 are doing right now?" he asked, remembering the still bodies of the twins he'd seen earlier.
7's quiet laughter brought him back from his thoughts and he sheepishly lowered his head.
"Sorry. Am I asking too many questions?"
"Never," 7 said, which warmed 9 more and he smiled as bright as she did. "I just don't know what question to answer first. Or how to answer. I've never really thought about it before," she admitted. 7 waved a hand in the air. "It's just... sleep."
9 let out a sigh and sat down on the hard tile ground. It was damp and chilled his body at the touch, but it also made him feel a little better and like he had more control over his thoughts. He was also relieved thanks to 7, but this didn't tell him anything at all.
The clouds rumbled lazily overhead, getting lighter with rain even if they were still heavy with thunder.
"I'm glad whatever happened to me wasn't bad, but... what is sleep? What's it like then? For you?" he asked, hoping some outside perspective would help him find the answers he wanted. Or at least some comfort for the niggling questions in his chest...
7 hummed, neatly folding her legs under her as she sat down next to him. "It's nothing interesting. I just shut my eyes when I'm tired and everything goes black. Then I wake up."
"And that happens every time? For how long?"
"Not long. An hour or two, maybe more if something didn't wake me up. It was too dangerous for me to sleep longer than that though. Had to be ready to fight if I needed to. I think the twins can sleep for half a day, but they only did that a few times."
"Okay... what about the others? Did they just... shut their eyes and everything goes black too?"
"I don't know. I assume they did, but I could be wrong..." 7 paused. "I think 6 saw things when he was asleep... but 6 was always seeing things that wasn't there though, so maybe it wasn't special to sleep."
9 absorbed that information. Tried to fit it in a place that belonged, and was content when it did seem to click something inside of him.
"Okay," he said. "And... you are sure it's not bad? It doesn't hurt you when you... sleep?"
7 shook her head smoothly, giving 9 that reassuring smile he was beginning to expect and love.
"Sleep doesn't hurt you at all. And it even helps you sometimes. It didn't hurt you this time, did it?"
No. No, it hadn't, 9 thought.
It had been... kind of nice.
Especially when he had woken up and realized everything was okay.
Knowing he was safe.
"... how will I know if I'm tired or need to sleep?" 9 asked next, because he had begun thinking about what he'd like to do the next time he 'woke up'. 7 shrugged loosely with one arm.
"Instinct. Maybe you need some practice, but you'll know when you need to sleep. And when that happens, you find somewhere to lie down and you don't get up until you are ready. Ask the twins about it if you like- they'll love showing you everything they know about sleep. Or if they don't know, I bet they'll have fun researching just for you."
"They'd probably try to study me in my sleep too, just for good measure."
"Bold of you to assume they hadn't already done that tonight," 7 said mischievously. "Who knows what they would've done next if I hadn't shooed them away. No doubt terrible and scholarly things."
9 let out a huff of laughter that fell into an honest and humored groan, and 7 stifled her own amusement with a hand over her mouth.
The rain was falling down in fewer numbers now. Almost a trickle from the clouds. Almost as quiet as their presence in the world...
but just loud enough for it to still feel real and good.
9's face fell a little as a new thought came into his head.
Well. Not a 'new' thought, but... one he hadn't known what to do with.
He still didn't to be honest.
"Speaking of... doing the next thing," 9 began. "What are we going to do? Now that everything is... over," he fumbled, not sure why he had said any of that. Should he have said any of that?
What were the last stitchpunks going to do now that they were truly the last things alive in the Emptiness?
"... M' not sure," 7 said quietly. She pulled her heels in closer and turned to stare into the dwindling rain and dawning grey sky. "What were you thinking of?" she asked.
"I don't know. That's... kind of why I wanted to ask you. Because I know I said earlier that the world is what we make it, but I don't think I understand what that means exactly? I know we can now go anywhere and do anything and be anything we want to be without fear of something bigger trying to get us, but- what do we do now? What should we do next?"
9 knew in his heart that he wanted to see the world heal from it's scars and for life to come back and for all of them to live and to thrive and exist... to become the best of what humanity had tried to be, to fulfill all the noble aspirations and dreams the Scientist must have envisioned them to become...
But all of that sounded so far away, even if it sounded so good to him. Too good to be true. Too true to be anything but real. Real enough so he wanted to do it right now. Make something to be proud of. Be someone he'd be proud of. Become something his friends could be proud of. But...
"What can we do now?" 9 whispered.
He had no idea where to start. What could you do when you were such a small person in such a big and dead world...?
"... How about we focus on one thing at a time," 7 suggested slowly.
"Like what?" 9 asked, filled with too much awe and responsibility to think any deeper then he already had.
7 lifted her head with that calm assurety that seemed to crown her more than that bird skull and feathers ever had. She smiled.
"We go back to the library. And we'll ask the twins if there's anything they'd like to do when it's bright enough to see everything."
"... that's it?" 9 asked, a little surprised that she didn't seem to have a bigger checklist than that. Especially since he felt they should do so much more than that. The world was so big-
"For now," 7 said, easily cutting into 9's thoughts. "Tomorrow we can do something more. But today, I think going back to the library is a good start. We'll figure out the rest later if we've got time for it."
If they had time for it.
9 was certain they'd have more than enough time to do anything they wanted.
Maybe not today. But... she was right. Go back to the library and see if there was anything they could do there. See if 3 and 4 wanted to do anything. Then figure out what to do the next day.
As a long-term plan it was basically nothing.
But as something active they could do right then, right now...?
9 let out sigh, stress and greatness leaving like a heavy weight off his chest, with peace and relief entering in his body like air-filled lungs.
"Okay. That sounds good to me." And he meant it.
A far-away purring of thunder caught his hearing, and the two stitchpunks looked up to see the dark sky becoming outlined with a golden glow. A tip of a building ahead of them was brushed with speckles of ruined and pale light. Dark shapes become more defined than before. The impression of raindrops still on the walls, almost indistinguishable from pockmarks and scars of the war they hadn't been a part of.
The rain had stopped. 9 hadn't noticed when, but the Emptiness was once again quiet, bar for the chimes of fallen rain dripping on metal and pavement and puddles. A gush of cold wind pushed through his body and made his zipper swing stiffly against his chest.
The air still smelt cold and damp. And even if the world outside still wasn't inviting them, he felt more confident that they could make themselves welcome and make something good of this dead and silent place.
But until then...
9 propped his hands behind him and leaned back, staring up at the hint of dawn's first light warmly. 7 comfortably by his side and the sure knowledge 3 and 4 would be with him and ready to help him do anything they wanted to do when the sun had come up again.
They could do this.
The future was theirs, just as much as the world would one day be something they could claim to be theirs too.
A heavy drop of rain slid down the bent pipe above the stitchpunks heads, before letting go and falling onto the cracked steps beneath them. Swallowed up by the pool of untold raindrops.
A promise of a new day that wouldn't be yesterday's horrors or struggle. Something new that would join hundreds to thousands of new days just for them.
"We've got time," 9 reassured himself.
"We've got time," echoed 7.
Dawn and storm clouds met, and the Emptiness stirred with invisible life and hope.
Dark. But ever brightening.
*****
When the sun had risen above the ruins of the city and the twins had woken up, groggy eyes shuttering like insects against a window, the stitchpunks started making their way back to the library again.
They took it slow. Skirting puddles and roof tiles the storm had knocked down the night before. Stopping to poke at objects that caught their interest. Gazing up at the grey clouds and telephone lines criss-crossing the sky like unfinished spiderwebs. Helping each other climb over the slippery ruins of homes and lives and history... Being together. All four of them.
Not feeling the need to hide in the desolate streets of the Emptiness felt strange. 9 thought this must be more natural than the fear he had felt when he first walked through the city. But he wondered if he'd ever forget what it was like being hunted by cruel machines or feeling like nowhere was truly safe for him to exist.
He wondered if the others were thinking the same thing too. The way 7 still perched on top of high places while she scouted ahead and waited for them to catch up to her and the way the twins still hid behind each other at every new sound made him think they wouldn't.
But maybe they would. They had time to find out, after all. Time to heal with the world.
They made it back to the library's entrance before the sun reached the middle of the sky, just as all the water and raindrops had all but vanished from sight. And as they climbed over the piles of books and the mess the war had left and the twins had made worse, 9 began to feel heavy again. The same kind of heaviness he dimly remembered feeling the night before.
He wasn't anxious or confused about it this time though. Not now when he thought he knew what to call the dull and wearisome load his body seemed to be carrying again.
While 3 and 4 were exploring the vast halls of the library, up-righting and moving piles of books to one side of the room alphabetically and another smaller pile they intended to study later, 9 sought out 7 and reached out to touch her arm to get her attention.
"I think I need to sleep for a little while," he said hesitantly. 7 gave a nod of understanding and patted his shoulder in return.
"Sounds good," she said and winked one of her optic eyes. "Rest well, 9. We'll still be here when you are ready to get up again. Don't worry about anything."
How could he worry knowing they would be nearby and that he was going to wake up again? 9 smiled and thanked 7. Then he slowly retraced his steps in an attempt to find some secluded place to rest by himself, away from the others.
The library was big - too big and tiring to explore it all today - but it didn't take long for him to find a dark room he felt sure would be good to sleep in. A little messy, but unlike some of the other places he had seen this one was mostly intact, except for a blown out chunk of ceiling that had smashed into the carpet.
Still. This would do fine for now.
9 burrowed himself under a pile of papers and books, knocked over from a tall bookshelf that leaned tiredly against a wall papered with abstract patterns of birds. He experimentally rolled to his side and tucked an arm under his head, twisting enough so his face wasn't pressed uncomfortably in anything. A page of a torn book pressed against the top of his body, and he pulled it up high against his shoulder and let the easy weight sit comfortably on him.
He could still hear 3 and 4 somewhere close by. Their muffled footsteps and activity assured him they would still be here when he was ready to join them again. And 7 had said so too.
She'd be there when he was done sleeping. Then they could figure out the next thing together.
So. With nothing else left to do, 9 closed his eyes and let the darkness hold him close.
Dreams of the future beckoned him deeper as he left the waking world and dove into the quietness and privacy of rest.
Wandering in sleep was a new experience he would grow to love in the upcoming weeks... But for now?
He was content that everything would be fine and waiting for him when they were ready to face the next step of their future. Whatever that looked like.