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Cecilia had arrived early to get everything set up, had gathered food and drink for what she had been told to be a time consuming meeting. No one told Cecilia who would be in attendance.
The door opened.
“You dorks are early, I made sure to get us some snacks and stuff. No coffee though, you’ll have to get that nasty stuff yourself.” Cecilia had chuckled, not even looking over her shoulder.
“Has it really been so long you’ve forgotten how to behave, CEL1A?”
Cecilia had frozen on the spot. Had gone stock still, eyes wide and ‘pulse’ quickening.
If she were human, she would most assuredly be the shade of a sheet.
Sure enough, there they were. Staring at her with disapproval, a few with disgust.
“…Justice doesn’t mind. I behave how I please.” The automaton tried to keep her tone neutral, hands folded in front of her as she fully turned to them.
“So you are broken? We told Lady Bloodflame to contact us if any issues arose…” The head of her m- her former Master’s puzzled, rubbing their chin in thought.
“I- I’m not broken, if anything I was fixed when ‘Liz made you turn back on my autonomy.” Cecilia protested, brow furrowed.
“Liz? You dare to call Lady Bloodflame something so… Diminutive? Have you lost all respect for your betters?” Another hissed, sounding… Angry.
“She’s fine with me calling her that, she’s my friend, all of them are. Now if you’ll excuse me, I will go get them.” Cecilia huffed, arms crossed as she started to leave, only to be blocked off by the cruelest of her former masters.
“How can someone be friends with an inanimate object?” They sneered, stepping closer.
Cecilia stepped back on impulse. Silently cursed her weakness.
“You probably shouldn’t talk to m-me like that in front of her, you’ll make her mad…” Cecilia tried to reason, suddenly feeling… Small.
Why did she have to pick to be early for once? She- She needed the others-
“You should watch your tongue before I request you for maintenance to remove it.”
…
“Is- Is that a threat?” Cecilia asked incredulously.
“Calling that a threat would indicate there’s something of value to lose. We already made another automaton, we could make a third.” The cruel one chuckled darkly.
…So she had doomed another to the hell she had known when she left. That… Didn’t feel great.
“Justice values me and m-my thoughts, and allows me to act independently. I’m-”
Don’t say it don’t say it they’ll get mad don’t say it-
“I’m not your p-property anymore, act like it.” Cecilia tried to say firmly, but her voice shook with fear.
Silence for several moments.
“...I wonder if the console commands still work, if you’re so independent.”
“Wait- W-Wait no-”
Cecilia lurched, grasping at her head as an icy cold ran over her entire body, a familiar cold that made her want to dry heave from how sick with fear she felt.
> RUN_COMMAND: CEL1A_TOGGLE_AUTONOMY
[ERROR]: Access Denied.
“Did- Did you just try to-”
“Hmpf, I guess they would want you functional… Let’s make this meeting more bearable shall we?”
> RUN_COMMAND: CEL1A_TOGGLE_SPEECH
> Command Acknowledged
> Disabling speech…
Cecilia flinched physically as she felt her tongue grow leadened in her mouth, her voice box shutting down-
“Y-You bastar-” Her voice abruptly cut off, only for fear to render her silent anyways at what she just said.
Immediately found her back against the wall from how quickly the cruelest one stormed towards her.
“What did you just call me, puppet?!” They growled, raising their hand-
The loud clang of flesh against porcelain followed by porcelain against the wall.
Pain receptors screamed at her.
Cecilia had been slapped across the face. So hard that it slammed her head against the wall and nearly dented her facial plate.
She idly pressed a hand to her stinging cheek, stumbling and staring with wide eyes, a familiar fear in her ‘heart.’
They grabbed her by the winding key, holding her still and keeping her from scrambling away, from running off to find safety with the others-
“Remember this moment whenever you dare to think of yourself as anything more than a puppet built for servitude. You were created to serve us, and you are nothing outside of that. Do. You. Understand.” The cruelest glowered at her, so close she could feel their breath.
Cecillia didn’t move. She was too afraid.
They raised their hand again.
Cecilia nodded frantically.
“Yes what?” They huffed, gripping the key so tight it made her head feel as though a pike was going through it.
> RUN_COMMAND: CELIA_SPEECH: ‘Without you I am nothing.’
> Command Acknowledged.
“Without you….I am nothing…” CEL1A’s voice was utter monotone, speaking without her consent, mouth and tongue moving on its own, saying words she didn’t want to say.
Like a puppet.
A plaything.
…
She was crying.
“You’ve had your fun, stop before you do enough damage to upset Lady Bloodflame. It wouldn’t do to break the captain’s things.” The leader said calmly, utterly unfeeling for the shaking automaton.
With that, the cruelest of the bunch finally stepped away, leaving her shaking against the wall, tears falling down her face and chest jumping with silent gasps for air and equally silent whimpers and sobs.
“We need to do something about it as well.” One of her former masters gestured towards the automaton’s shaking form.
Don’t do it don’t touch me leave me alone stop it stop it-
> RUN_COMMAND: DISABLE_EMOTIONS
> Command Acknowledged
Her tears stopped. Her chest stilled. Her shaking ceased.
Cecilia still felt utterly terrified. But her body stopped responding. She- She couldn’t move, she-
…Wiped away her tears without her consent. Found herself assuming a calm collected position, hands folded in front of her and expression blank.
She felt utter fear.
The door opened.
“Ah, I see you’re early, apologies for the-”
Elizabeth’s voice. She cut herself off the moment her eyes landed on Cecilia standing with her back to the wall, and… Eerily still.
Unnaturally still.
“Ceci?” Elizabeth’s immediate reaction was concern, making her way over to the automaton. She could hear the cruelest of her former master’s uttering the nickname with disbelief.
Cecilia immediately pointed to her mouth and shook her head, eying the masters.
Her arm stopped moving mid-gesture, moving back to its original place without her permission.
…
Elizabeth tapped on her arm in a familiar pattern.
Are you okay?
Cecilia tapped back.
SOS
Elizabeth frowned, slowly moving to take the automaton’s hand in her own, giving it a squeeze. A familiar gesture, a silent question of just how bad it was.
…She couldn’t squeeze back if she wanted to.
Elizabeth’s expression shifted from concern to anger. Not like that of her masters, no.
Elizabeth’s anger did not scare her. She felt no fear whatsoever. If anything it made her feel safer, knowing that Elizabeth knew something was wrong and was here to protect her.
“What exactly did you do to her while I was gone? Don’t lie, I can tell something’s wrong.” Elizabeth turned back to them, a protective arm around her shoulders.
“CEL1A got mouthy, we simply disabled her speech.” The cruelest master shrugged.
Elizabeth’s eyes widened, then narrowed in anger.
“Undo that. Now. She is not yours, you already relinquished any right to control her long ago.” Elizabeth said firmly, holding the automaton with gentle reverence.
Silence.
“...Alright then. I’m cancelling this meeting and am going to fix her myself. You may be well respected, but that gives you no right to toggle on and off my friend’s basic functions because you feel like it. She’s a person, as much as you hate to admit that.” Elizabeth huffed, guiding the eerily calm automaton out of the room.
“And you are NEVER allowed to be alone with her again. LEAVE!” Elizabeth shouted over her shoulder, slamming the door behind her and not bothering to listen to their response.
“...Come on ‘love, let’s get you somewhere quieter.” Elizabeth softened immediately, gently coaxing the automaton to her room. She was still forced to remain emotionless and still, but the fear was steadily leaving her for real…
“I already told Gigi not to attend since I was sure they would be awful to her, and… I was going to tell you as well, but I suppose I didn’t.” Elizabeth spoke softly as they entered the smaller girl’s room, guiding her to sit on her bed.
“I’ll enable your speech again, then you can tell me what else they disabled so I can fix it.” Elizabeth nodded, stepping over to the small console she had installed in her room for check-ups and repairs.
> Request to run command: CELIA_TOGGLE_SPEECH
> Processing…
> Request granted. Running CELIA_TOGGLE_SPEECH…
> Enabling speech…
Cecilia gasped as she felt her voice return to her, voice a small, weak thing after all that had happened.
“...They…Disabled emotions…” Cecilia rasped, the leadened feeling in her tongue steadily receding.
“Those bastards…” Elizabeth growled under her breath, turning back to the console.
> Request to run command: ENABLE_EMOTIONS
> Processing…
> Request granted. Running ENABLE_EMOTIONS…
…
> [STATEMENT]: Thank you
>_You’re welcome, love.
Cecilia’s next gasp was more of a shudder, hand immediately holding her still-stinging cheek, chest heaving and tears immediately falling down her cheeks.
In an instant Elizabeth was there, cradling the girl to her chest and whispering soft reassurances as the Automaton trembled in her hold.
“T-They- T-They hit m-me- M-Made me say I was n-nothing without them… I was s-so scared…” Cecilia sobbed out, gripping onto the queen like a lifeline.
“They are never welcome in here again, and if they dare to show their faces, I’ll happily add them to the lock-up list. I think what they’ve done to you over the centuries qualifies as a crime anyways.” Elizabeth sighed, soothingly rubbing her back with one hand as the other gently ran through her fluffy white hair.
“Y-You could do that?” The automaton warbled, gasping for air between sobs.
“I’ve risen above their ranking and am nearly the final authority on who deserves justice at this point, so yes. They have a history of cruelty, if they do anything else, it’s on sight.” Elizabeth nodded, gently cradling the automaton.
“So… You’re safe, ‘love. Cross my heart and hope to die, I will never let them touch you again.” Elizabeth whispered, pressing a gentle kiss to the crown of the automaton’s head…
…
Cecilia just held her all the tighter and cried.
But… Scars don’t fade with just a few kind words. These things take time, and leave quite the nasty mark.
And this one… Was an especially nasty mark.
But that’s a story for a later date.
Right now, in the arms of a queen, the Automaton felt safe, felt loved.
And that’s all that mattered.