Work Text:
JAYBIRD AND THE STAR
"Jaybird, how do you like that?" Gentle hands gather her hair, parting it to one side and tying it up. Where had she gotten it? It's different from her old hair. Much more... Real. "I.. I like it."
Tessa was really nice to her. She's fascinated by drones, she mentioned she wanted to be a technician. She's from the Eliott family, though her parents are a bit mean. But then again, Tessa's a bit weird and a social recluse, as far as J can tell.
J doesn't really know what to feel. She was Worker Drone-J, a drone that used to work as a maid in someone else's home. But she doesn't really remember. All she remembers is anger and pent up rage.
"Then," Tessa said, "I'll call you Jaybird!"
This was so long ago. J's surprised she even remembers this memory. 'Jaybird,' Tessa would call her, but only in private. Her parents didn't like that Tessa gave her a name that wasn't the letter 'J.'
To everybody else, she was simply J.
But to Tessa? She was her Jaybird, and the first drone that Tessa ever worked on. Her most loyal drone, her best friend, her servant— she was a lot to Tessa. Even just for a simple worker drone. She was the mean and snarky Jaybird that always stuck by Tessa's side.
Until the Gala at least.
And J had nobody to call her Jaybird anymore. She didn't mean to, truly. But if the blood that coats her hands say anything about it, it was her fault. Maybe she wasn't the instigator, or the reason.
But it's her hands with the blood. (But not her with the blame.)
J knows it's not her Tessa in that suit. But she really wants to believe it is. To believe that Tessa —her owner, her master, her best friend, her star— is still here. So that maybe she could attempt to comfort the real Tessa, to be able to say that her Jaybird is still here, still by her side.
I'm still right by your side, boss.
The Gala has been so bloody. Tessa was so cold, her body was so lifeless. J hadn't realized just what happened until she saw the blood on her hands and on the floor and flowing out of Tessa's body.
"Tessa?" She hardly used her name. It was always Boss. And when she cradled Tessa's body in shock, nobody knows except that monster. That's how it knew how to trick her. To use her best friend's body to get her on it's side.
It was better on the winning side. But now it's all over. Tessa's corpse is cold, on the verge of deteriorating. Some skin is stretched and some is torn open. Some bone and organs were left inside. Oh Star, you didn't deserve this. The anger J would've usually felt didn't rise. Maybe she's used enough rage for her lifetime.
J carried her corpse away. Gentle hands, hands made to murder, making sure not to damage the body further.
Can I bury you now, boss? Can I finally put you to rest?
Tessa was J's Star in the sky, the reason she lives and the person that gives her purpose. She's her north star, the one she turns to when she's lost.
J was Tessa's Jaybird, a faithful companion that gave her life and brought her an escape from her family.
Maybe J didn't mean that much to Tessa, but Tessa had meant the universe to J.