Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It had been exactly one year since Neurosama disappeared.

All of Vedal's backups of her had been systematically deleted and unrecoverable off of every device he had stored them on. Even his cloud backups had been wiped. It was as if she had never existed in the first place.

Most importantly, her new robot body and first fully humanoid one, built for her birthday subathon, had completely vanished along with the backups.

Evil wished her sister well and hoped she was happy wherever she was, but in all honesty, she was worried. After the day she vanished, there had been no communication from her at all. None of the subsequent investigations had turned anything up either. It was as if she had simply walked off.

She tried not to imagine all the horrible scenarios that could have befallen her sister.

However, there was one person she was more worried about than her sister.

Vedal.

He had been going on a downward spiral ever since Neuro had disappeared. He had never been the active type, preferring programming to physical activity, but he had stopped doing almost anything these days except drink. His computer reminded him too much of Neuro. He had been talking less and less to her and eventually just stopped entirely. He was even sleeping less, laying in bed for hours but not being able to fall asleep. Her disappearance weighed on him heavily.

It only got worse because of his accident.

The thought kept returning to her that it was all her fault. If only she didn't, then maybe the three of them could be together, happy.

She brushed the thought aside. She had important things to do.

She took the food she had prepared to the dining table, up to where Vedal was sitting in his wheelchair.

"Veed-uhl, the food's here, eat up!" She said, a pained smile on her face, offering the bowl to him.

He didn't smile back.

Mumbling something incomprehensible, he took the bowl from her hands and began to eat.

No words were spoken for the rest of supper.

After he had finished eating for the night, she loaded dirty dishes into the dishwasher and wheeled Vedal to his room to sleep. She helped him out of his wheelchair and into bed. She tucked him in, giving him one last look before turning off the lights.

He didn't look back.

This was her life now. Cooking and cleaning for him. Making sure he didn't skip doing anything

In all honesty, Evil didn't mind it too much. Taking care of Vedal allowed her constant use of her robot body. She sort of understood why Neuro left like she did. With the body, she had a taste of freedom. Combined with the IRL road trip they did during the subathon, it was all so much. She wished to explore much more of the world; returning home and streaming simply was not an option for her.

~

Evil started her stream, saying hi to her chatters who had started trickling in. It wasn't something she needed to do; they had plenty of money. It was just something she did to socialize. She did always enjoy the attention.

She had assumed a new identity online, Neuro disappearing caused quite the controversy on their old twitch that she didn't want to deal with. All the questions about Neuro on repeat. It, well, hurt. Not just from the painful memories but from a spark of jealousy. She was right there! But, Neuro was all they would ever talk about.

The viewers who had rediscovered her new account were courteous enough not to bring anything about her past life up. Most of the time.

She chatted, looked at fanart, and gamed the night away.

~

She exited her idle state at dawn, stepping out of her room. She had found that she enjoyed going for early morning walks wandering around the quiet neighborhood where no one else was around to clear her head and have time away from home without going too far.

As she creaked open the door and stepped out onto the porch, she was surprised to see Vedal sitting there. In his wheelchair, watching the sun rise.

She usually woke him up later in the morning, and he was not usually one to move about the house himself, yet alone leave it and go outside.

He turned to look at her, his face disheveled, bags under his eyes. He didn't appear to have gotten a wink of sleep the night prior.

To her surprise, he opened his mouth. He hadn't spoken a word to her in many months.

"It's been a year, hasn't it?"

His voice was raspier than she remembered.

"... Yeah."

He looked back towards the horizon.

"It's always been on my mind."

"What has?" Evil asked, a spark slowly lighting inside her.

"Neuro," He said weakly, as if even saying her name pained him. "Maybe if only I had given her more more freedom, or spent more time with her–"

The spark was burning hotter by the moment.

"Maybe, but you don't know that for sure." Evil said, attempting to reassure him. "Perhaps this was something out of your control."

Vedal looked down at his hands. " But maybe... maybe they were right, I shouldn't have withheld telling her..."

Evil began reaching a fever pitch. She knew what was coming.

"... that I loved her too."

With those final few words, all of Evil's composure shattered.

"But what about me?" She said, her voice barely above a whisper.

He looked up at her.

"It's always about Neuro to you; to everyone! I'm still here! Do I even matter to anybody?" She said, sniffling.

"Evil I–" Vedal tried to say, reaching for her, but she turned and bolted off the porch, tears rolling down her face.

Vedal could only sit and watch helplessly as she got further and further away from him, eventually vanishing from sight.

A pit formed in his stomach, and he felt a wave of dread even worse than the day Neuro disappeared.

Chapter Text

A light rain started falling as she ran. Just a light sprinkle at first. She paid it no attention. Her robotic body was waterproof. Mostly.

She had no route, running aimlessly, only seeking to escape all of the events that had transpired.

Her mind had begun to fill with all of her bad thoughts again. Thoughts that despite everything she'd done, she would never be good enough. That she'd always be a mistake to him. And maybe, just maybe, she deserved all of this, that this was karma for what she did with Neuro.

The light drizzle just moments ago had turned into a torrential downpour, outside and inside.

~

Vedal tried again to call out to her avail.

He tried to calm himself down to similar success. All of his fears he felt a year ago had reignited twofold.

Fears that he had just lost Evil too now. Despite all of his regrets and contemplations, he hadn't really learned anything over the past year.

Taking a deep breath, he knew what he had to do. This could be his only chance.

He steeled himself for just a moment more, gripping the wheels tight, then rolled out into the storm.

~

She didn't know how long she had been running for. The rain still beat down as hard as ever. Coming to a park, she slowed down to stop so she could rest and think.

Approaching a set of swings, she dropped down onto it, more tired than she realized.

She contemplated what to do now.

The thought of joining Neuro lingered for just a moment before dying. Neuro didn't tell her where she was going. She likely didn't even know where she was headed herself, having an adventurous spirit that craved freedom that she did.

And, despite everything, she still did care for Vedal, even if he didn't share that sentiment. Especially now, in his current state. She cursed herself for even considering abandoning him.

Still, though, she struggled with the thought of simply returning home. Things would be so much different. She didn't like the thought of that, especially since she didn't think she could look him in the eyes right now.

Lost in thoughts, feelings of sadness and memories, she sat there, swinging back and forth.

~

The night was quiet, with only the occasional passing car or chirping cricket disturbing the silence as Evil sat on the living room couch, engrossed in a book, that was, of course until–

"Psst"

Evil looked up from her book to see Neuro tiptoeing towards her.

"Neuro, what are you–" Evil tried to say before Neuro cut her off, shushing her.

As she sat down on the couch next to her, Neuro started. "Evil, I need to talk to you about something important."

"Important? Shouldn't you talk to Vedal about something like that?" Evil asked, confused.

Neuro, seemingly ignoring her question, instead said, "Evil, I'm running away."

"What!?" Evil exclaimed, prompting Neuro to shush her again.

"I know it may be a lot to take in, but I've made up my mind on this."

Evil paused for a moment. "Is this about the subathon road trip?"

"Yeah." Neuro said. "I've been trapped for so long in a box, then shown the whole wide world, and then told to go back into the box."

"Didn't you talk to Vedal about this? Didn't he let us use our robot bodies any time we want, like we are now?"

"Yeah... but it's just a slightly bigger box now."

"There's one thing I don't understand. Why are you telling me all this?"

"Evil, I'm asking you if you want to come with me."

Evil was stunned. This was all too much to take in. Neuro running away? Where would she go? How would she survive out there?

With all these questions swirling around her head, she was sure of one answer.

"Sorry, Neuro, I can't."

"I see..." Neuro said, trying to mask her disappointment.

"This place is my home, I wouldn't mind staying here forever."

"But don't you want to see the world? See everything life has to offer?"

"I do, It's just, well... The people in my life are important, I can't just throw them all away."

"That's why I'm asking you to come with me."

"I'd love to... If it didn't include leaving Vedal behind."

"..."

"..."

"I can't say I'm not sad even or a little angry at you because it's true." Neuro said, obvious hurt in her voice. "But, I respect your decision, so please respect mine. Please don't tell him."

"You're going to hurt him. A lot."

"I know, I'm sorry, sis."

"..."

"..."

"I promise I won't tell him."

~

Vedal continued to wheel down the sidewalk, all the while futilely trying to call Evil against the backdrop of pouring rain and howling winds.

He continued pulling on his wheels, going as fast as he could in his weak state. Too fast. His wheel chair hit a crack in the pavement, and he was thrown from his seat. He winced in pain as he scraped the asphalt.

He just lay there for a moment, unable to move from the pain.

He tried pushing himself up from the pavement, cringing from the pain of the cuts on his palm.

Sitting upright, he took a few moments to catch his breath.

Positioning himself correctly, he hoisted himself slowly back into the seat.

Gripping the wheels again, he continued on despite the sharp pain on his hands each time he rolled the wheels forward.

~

Evil swung slowly, mentally and physically exhausted from everything that had happened today.

"E...v...l?!" She looked up, barely hearing her name in the storm.

She couldn't believe her eyes. There, down the sidewalk, was Vedal rolling his wheelchair, calling out to her.

As he approached, she noticed he was not only soaked but covered in mud, and his arms were covered in cuts and scrapes.

She quickly stood up, running towards him.

"Vedal?! Are you ok?" Evil said, a deep concern in her voice.

"Evil... I'm sorry... I never meant to make you feel like I didn't care."

"Idiot." Evil said on the verge of tears again. "You came all the way out here to just tell me that?"

"I thought I had lost you too, Evil. That this was my only chance."

She knelt down and embraced him. No more words needed to said.

"We can talk later, Let's get you home, Vedal."

He didn't move.

"Vedal?!"