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"Tsukasa, Tsukasa, please-"
Rui gritted his teeth as he dragged the bulky robot across the concrete. The metal screeched as it made contact against the floor, causing Rui to wince in pain at the dissonant noise.
"I can't.. move." Tsukasa's voice came out as distorted and glitched. Something was messing with his systems, and he didn't know what. "Ju-just leave me, Rui."
Rui shook his head, desperate to take Tsukasa with him. "I can't do that," He hissed, "I can't leave you!"
"I'm not real." Tsukasa argued gently. "I am only your creation."
"That's why I can't leave you!" Rui cried out. "I can't just leave you here to die!"
He felt Tsukasa's arm twitch. It was getting hotter. Distant screams and and cries echoed through the burning earth, people running desperately to catch up to the ship that was bound to leave at any moment. Officers and military members shot their flare guns, calling out for the civilians to hurry, go faster, quick, before the stars destroy us all-
The stars.
The stars.
When Rui first created Tsukasa, it was all because of a question Mizuki had asked him one day.
"What if the stars were real people?" They had offered to the inventor. "What do you think they'd look like? Act like?"
And thus, from that harmless suggestion, the boy Tsukasa was born. Originally, Rui would have named him something star related, but after taking a good look at the blueprints for his design, he decided that 'a name like 'Tsukasa' would fit him far more. And it did, it fit perfectly.
Tsukasa was one of Rui's best inventions. He was so real- so sentient and human for a being made from scraps of metal, for a being whose brain was made from copper wires, circuit boards, and endless lines of code.
Rui had created Tsukasa's personality. At first, he thought the stars- or, the sun, would be boastful, loud, egotistical- yet still caring and kind. But as Tsukasa grew, he learned from the experiences around him. He changed, he became more empathetic, more understanding. His hardships and struggles were so.. authentic. Rui had no idea how Tsukasa was able to grow this much, but he had.
Sometimes, even Rui forgot that Tsukasa was simply a measly robot, rather than a real human being. Everything about him was just that genuine.
And now...
The world was at its end. Maybe not the universe as a whole, but.. the earth.
Humans had to leave. For every second they stayed, the ground trembled and shifted, the tectonic plates below breaking and crumbling and melting. The oceans would rise, flood the lands and engulf the earth in a deep, endless sea. The heat would slowly kill the plants, leaving the land dry and barren in its last moments before being submerged underneath the violent, crashing waves.
Rui looked around him. Buildings were collapsing, cracking and rumbling as debris and cement crashed onto the ground. It was a miracle that Rui and Tsukasa had managed to stay safe for so long.
But if they didn't hurry...
"R-Rui." Tsukasa spoke up once more. "You don't have to- do this."
"I- I have to," Rui shook his head. A mother running past with her child shot him a strange look. Everyone around him seemed to, in fact. Imagine seeing a lonely little inventor, desperately dragging his malfunctioning creation towards a rocket that was surely to leave without him at this rate.
Tsukasa's arm twitched again. Rui gripped it tighter. "I can't leave you, Tsukasa. I don't care if you're human or not. You mean so much to me- you've done so much for me than any other person ever has."
Tsukasa's arm kept on twitching. "Not- not a person," He reminded him. "Robot-"
"I don't CARE! That's just what I said..!!"
Mustering his strength, Tsukasa managed to shake his head.
"N-no-" He hissed. It sounded like he was forcing out his words- it sounded like he was in pain. Rui's heart felt like shattering right then and there. "M-my head."
"You're- what..?"
For a split second, Rui paused. What did Tsukasa mean-
"Leave my body." Tsukasa instructed. "Take- Take.. Take the ch-chip."
With a gasp, Rui stopped in his tracks.
The chip inside Tsukasa's head. It held his brain, his sentience, his code. Everything about him was inside.
If Rui left his body here, but took the chip- he could rebuild Tsukasa. He could just remake the body.
Was he... willing to do that-?
"Do it." Tsukasa urged. "It will be okay.."
Rui looked down at Tsukasa, inhaling sharply-
"..Ok."
He set Tsukasa's body down on the floor, taking off his bag and reaching inside. He had to be quick, or else he would be trampled to death by all the people running around him. The more dirty looks he received, the smaller he felt- but Rui had a goal. He had to save Tsukasa, he had to take him with him. By any means necessary.
"This won't hurt, right?"
Tsukasa's reply was garbled static. The inventor wiped a drop of sweat from his forehead. It was getting hotter. Something was coming.
He pried open the back of Tsukasa's head, pushing away the tufts of hair to dig through his skull. More garbled static came out of Tsukasa- Rui didn't know what it meant. He recalled that whenever Tsukasa would hit his arm against a counter or trip or anything.. he would always let out a strange, distorted static as a response.
The more Rui sifted through the wires upon wires and circuits upon circuits to look for the chip, the louder the static became. Rui gritted his teeth; he wasn't liking the implications.
Finally, he felt his knuckles brush against a familiar object. It was the chip.
He quickly tore it out, and the static roared-
Then died down in an instant.
Rui inhaled shakily.
"...Tsukasa?"
...There was no response. Tsukasa's body lay limp on the ground.
Essentially... Rui had just killed him. He just killed Tsukasa.
He knew that.. it wasn't really death. It wasn't actually murder or whatever, since Rui was going to rebuild him anyway, but..
"Move out of the way, weirdo!"
He felt a leg kick him, knocking the inventor down... and sending the chip flying out of his hands. It clattered onto the floor, followed by a sickening CRUNCH.
"NO-!!"
Rui screamed, scrambling to scoop the chip back into his hands. His breaths were heavy and ragged, his heart pounding at a faster rate than he had ever felt it pump before as he searched the ground for the chip.
Finally, when he found it, Rui brought it upwards, close to his face in order to inspect the damage. He ended up taking note of how his hands were trembling first, instead of the state of the chip.
Oh, thank god it wasn't too broken. Rui could.. he could still fix it. It shouldn't be hard, right? Tsukasa was.. he was fine.
Rui stood up, zipping his bag closed.
Now that he didn't have to worry about... Tsukasa's body..
Rui looked back at the limp robot behind him one last time.
"..You'll be okay," He whispered. "I'll.. I'll keep you safe, Tsukasa."
With Tsukasa's chip enclosed within the confines of his tightly gripped palm, Rui begin sprinting towards the ship before it could close its doors for the final time.
All of a sudden, a loud, booming CRACK and a rumble sent the inventor hurrying, panic overtaking his mind. But for one last time, he looked behind him-
And beneath the rocks and rubble, an outstretched arm and a familiar tuft of peach blond hair stood out amongst the pools of blood.