Chapter Text
???
Your memory is hazy, but you remember lots of things before the fall of Eirdu. But there's something you will always remember.
Your little siblings, a sister and brother.
Your parents were never very active in your lives. Your father left when the twins were born, and your mother did too when the twins were about.. four. Leaving you, an eleven-year-old, to pick up the slack.
It wasn't easy, but you managed to scrap by. Between the odd jobs you did, working part time as an electronic music maker, and your work as Adrean, you managed to get by.
Even with your hectic life, you always made sure to have time for your siblings. Teaching your little sister the guitar and showing your little brother the ropes of programming computers.
Once you had graduated, and you could focus full time on your job, you did what you could to make sure your little brother and sister could live comfortably. The Dennies would slowly come in.
When you learned your siblings were like you, able to connect to the digital world, you were ecstatic.
Everything was okay. Everything was great.
And then it wasn't.
"Ehn-nah! Ehu-na! (Master! It's time to wake up!)"
Your eyes fluttered open with a soft grunt. Muscles aching and bones protesting, you slowly stood up from the makeshift bed.
The air was stagnant, yet still managed to reek of ash and dust. Everything was still.
"Nah-eh! (Master is awake! Get their items!)" A commanding voice demanded, followed by affirmative "ehs!" from several others. The sounds of bouncing footsteps echoes through your home, an abandoned storage container.
"Good morning, Sol and Luna," you greeted, voice a bit scratchy. Your vision focused and you looked down.
Standing before you were two little robots, known as Bangboos. Two of the many you had accumulated.
The one named Sol was golden in color, with its eyes a bright white. She wore a silver hoodie with sun motifs littered all over it, and a silver chain necklace with a circle locket on it.
The one named Luna was silver in color, with its eyes a bright yellow. He wore a golden hoodie with moon motifs littered all over it, and a golden chain necklace with a circle locket on it.
Some more Bangboos soon arrived. They were ones you had rescued; merchants that nearly got corrupted, just poor ones abandoned because their previous caretakers couldn't bother to care for them, and ones who has gotten lost and never had anyone care enough to come find them.
They offered you your tech sleeves. You don't remember how you made them, but you do remember how they allow you to wield electricity and fight off the monsters in this.. space you're trapped in.
"How is Ious?" You finally ask as you adjusted the sleeves.
At Sol's and Luna's wilting, you sighed.
".. we can't keep this up." You checked your ether levels, nodded, and then began to walk through the storage container. "We need to get Ious out. It's our only hope."
"Eh-ah.. (Plus, we're running out of sedatives..)" Luna lamented as the gaggle of Bangboos followed you.
Soon, the group of you came upon a barely active Bangboo. Ious.
Ious had a black body with mismatched colored ears, the left side being white, with blue coloring on the inside of both. Each ear was adorned with a large bolt. It wore an blue scarf and a white jacket-like covering on its body. It had purple-red eyes and a red "tail". The lettering on its jacket and scarf was worn and faded, nigh impossible to read. But you were there was an 02 on its scarf..
You had no clue where it came from. But it'd called you "big sis" when it first met you before powering down.
You stared down at it, clenching your hands.
"Eh? (Master?)" Sol placed a small hand on your leg, looking up at you with worry.
"You guys are the only ones that can leave this place," you muttered.
"Nah-ehua! (The Hollow!)" A Bangboo behind you piped up.
"The Hollow." You nodded. After rubbing your head, you spoke, "you're all going to leave, and find who made Ious."
There was a riot of noise, all the Bangboos protesting, but you held up your hand to silence them. "The exit isn't wide enough for me to get through," you reminded them. "This.. this is our best shot."
You'd been surviving in this Hollow for years. You could survive however long it took your Bangboos to get help for Ious and get you out of here.
It took lots of convincing, but your Bangboos soon agreed, all of them, even Sol and Luna, who you'd had the longest.
Some sneaking later, avoiding many monsters ('Etherals', your Bangboos would remind you) before you'd reached the only exit to this Hollow. Hidden behind concrete walls you couldn't smash, and a hole only your Bangboos could squeeze through.
"Be safe," you whispered as you gave each of them a hug.
You stopped before Ious, who was being helped by Sol and Luna. You then knelt down and gently kissed its head. "I hope you find who you're looking for."
You watched, counting them as they leaped through.
Leaving you all alone. Like you had been for a long, long time before Sol and Luna had shown up.
Knees feeling weak, you slowly slumped to the ground and closed your eyes, resting the side of your head against the concrete wall.
You closed your eyes.
.. a nap sounded nice.
Random Play, Sixth Street
New Eirdu
"You want to what?" is the first words out of Belle's mouth as she stared at Nicole.
She stood with Wise in the middle of Random Play, the moonlight pouring in through the window on the door. It was after hours, but the Cunning Hares had managed to weasel their way in with enticing information of a new Hollow.
Now, Belle was typically all for it. It was the part of being a Proxy after all, rebuilding what she and Wise had made as Phaethon.
("You guys are Phaethon, and I'm Adrean." Belle can barely remember the sound of their voice. But that doesn't make the ache in her heart hurt any less. In fact, it just grows. "The light and the dark. Neat, right?")
But they'd been so busy lately..
"I promise, Manager, it's great!" Billy spoke up, waving his hands energetically as he did his best to assuage the doubts of Wise and Belle. "Nicole really did find a great Hollow!"
Belle placed her hands on her hips and Wise crossed his arms, both not entirely convinced.
Anby was the next to speak up, "there's been reports of a Hollow being discovered."
"It would've been on the news, then." Wise frowned.
"No, it's an undiscovered companion Hollow." Nicole smirked, and that grabbed the Proxies' attention.
"An undiscovered companion Hollow?" Belle's eyes shine with intrigue. "Then how did you find it?"
"Billy nearly fell into it," Anby exposed, making her friend vehemently deny that with a dramatic wave of his arms. "There was a crack in the road, and I had to grab him."
WhIle Belle laughed, Wise steered the conversation back to the topic at hand. "Billy nearly fell into it? How?"
"You remember Ballet Twins Road?" Nicole smiled. "There was an opening to one, about fourteen miles north. We were scoping it out, it's not a particularly large one. If I had to guess.. it's probably from a bigger Hollow and then broke off."
"Is that even possible?" Wise frowned as he placed a hand on his chin.
"Who cares?" Billy shrugged. "It's just another place for us to-"
CRASH!
Everyone's heads whipped to the staircase, eyes wide. There, at the bottom, was.. Eous?
"Eous?" Belle's eyes widened. "Buddy, why are you out of your charging station-"
The Bangboo scrambled to his feet, and with speed that did not match the size of his feet, ran over to the door and began trying open it. Whatever was making the Bangboo act up was clearly messing with his logical functions, as Eous was just repeatedly slamming his tiny fists against the door without really.. pushing it.
"Woah, woah!" Wise's eyes widened. "Eous, what's gotten into you?"
The Bangboo answered so quickly that it just sounded like a bunch of garbled noise. Eous seemed quite frantic, really, banging his fists against the door.
"Uh, Proxy?" Nicole winced. "I think your Bangboo is malfunctioning.."
"I don't know what's wrong with him." Belle frowned as she rushed to Eous, trying to shepherd the little machine away from the door. "He's never acted like this before!"
Eous, however, refused to listen to Belle. Bangboo 18 and 6 were now watching their companion with clear worry in their digital gazes.
Belle eventually managed to pick Eous up, even as the little robot continued to flail around, waving his arms around wildly and speaking so fast the Proxies and Cunning Hares were having extreme trouble knowing what he was saying. Then, in an incredible burst of strength, Eous launched himself from Belle's arms and barreled through the door, running down the street.
Everyone was silent for several seconds before Belle and Wise broke into a panic.
"EOUS!"
The twins bolted out after the Bangboo. After the Cunning Hares all shared a look, they rushed out after the twins.
Eous was unusually fast as he ran down Sixth Street, tiny legs moving so fast they were like a blur. As he rounded the corner and briefly stared at the entrance to the metro system, he decided screw it and bolted to it.
"What is Eous doing?!" Belle wheezed as she rounded the corner with Wise. "Oh, I'm not made for this-"
"I've got 'im!" Nekomata called with a toothy grin. The cat Thiren crouched, leaped into the air and dived down, capturing Eous just before he reached the stairs to the station.
"Hoo boy-" Wise muttered as he came to a stop, panting softly. "Thanks, Nekomata."
Everyone took the time to catch their breaths, with Nicole muttering "didn't think I'd get my weekly steps in on one night.."
Belle took some more breaths before going over to Eous and Nekomata, and gently taking the Bangboo from the Thiren's hands. The Bangboo was now deflated and defeated, clearly realizing that he was not going to be completing whatever little mission had him losing his mind.
"Hey, Fairy?" The Proxy sighed, a small bit of blue glow appearing in her eyes. "Do you think you could run a diagnostic on Eous?"
I already have, Master, the AI replied, echoing in Belle's (and Wise's) mind. Eous is operating at complete functionality.
Both twins pulled a face, and as Wise relayed what Fairy had said, Belle prodded. "That.. can't be right, Fairy. Eous freaked out outta nowhere. There's got to be something wrong."
Fairy was quiet, something odd for the (admittedly quite sassy) AI. Belle frowned and went to ask again before Fairy spoke, I do not think it would be a good idea to tell you, Master. My calculations at this time inform me that you will not believe what I may have to say.
That just made Belle.. more confused. "O..kay? Could I get a hint then?"
Fairy was quiet again before she replied, it was not a glitch, Master. It was a protocol.
That made the blue-haired Proxy frown. A protocol? She thought as she glanced, watching the Cunning Hares leaves through the station. What sort of protocol would make Eous act that way?
"You alright, Belle?" Wise's worried tone broke her out of her thoughts, and she rubbed her forehead.
"I'm trying to figure out what Fairy meant," she grumbled. "A protocol? What sort of protocol would make Eous act like that?"
Her brother hummed thoughtfully as they looked down at the now very sleepy Bangboo. It was quite, aside from the nightly insects.
Protocol, what protocol.. Belle bit her lip as she thought.
("Look!" they had laughed gently as they showed the computer to the young twins. Their bright smile, always a beacon of comfort. "See that? It's a connection program. It'll link the two up.")
She blinked away tears that formed.
"Let's.. head back," she murmured, and if Wise heard the crack in her voice, he did not speak of it. And she did not speak of the pained look in his eyes.
And neither spoke of Eous's downtrodden expression.
Ballet Twins Road
Broken Road
From the cracks in a road, a gaggle of Bangboos slowly all crawled out. Sol and Luna heaved Ious out behind them.
"Euh-ah? Ne-ah nah! (What do we do? We don't even know where Ious used to live! Much less any nearby charging stations.)" A Bangboo dressed up like a construction worker waved her arms.
"Nuh-ah. Neh heh na. (Calm down, calm down. We're all fully charged, we just need to walk for a while and find a station.)" Luna calmed the worries with a wave of his tiny hand.
With nods and sounds of confirmation, the group of Bangboos took off on their adventure, sticking to the shadows.
As they walked, Sol could not help but wonder. They'd never been able to access Ious memories or logs because of how it was constantly on the brink. She could only hope they'd finally figure something out.
While the group walked, none noticed the curious pair of violet eyes watching them from around the corner.