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Heart is made of emotion. He knows it. Easy as breathing, he was made of passion, then made to be an object of anger, then he consumed and absorbed around him and awoke the same anger in himself, except that his angled at humans and turned to love, as well.
The depth he retains is complex. It is cold.
Heart is not a good person, he thinks. He is a person with purpose, he is a person who loves deeply. That is the most he can be.
Chase was hurt, recently, and he thinks that he should be able to do more for him. Chase is hurt, and he lost memory because of—
It’s not fair what he did to you, either, Heart thinks cupping his cheek. Or what I’ve done. Oh Chaser, so beautiful and so pure. So good.
Chase looks at him, seeming without understanding. Heart kisses him. He thinks he is not a good person. Medic and Brain want this attention, and he gives it to them with just as much ease, but Chase is like him - built from the ground up.
“What was that for?” Chase asks.
“An experiment,” Heart says. “Did you like it?”
“I don’t know,” Chase replies.
Heart loves, and he loves deeply, and he cares deeply for his people, but he does not have the privilege of being a good person.
He has to make that choice, one way or the other.
“That’s a shame,” Heart says. What a shame.
He wishes he and Chase were similar enough. He doesn’t know who he wants to change.
He kisses Chase again, anyways.
Jin sits and leans against Aruto.
“You killed me a year ago,” he says.
Aruto tenses. Slightly. Jin runs analyses. Human expression guides don’t work on Aruto, he moves too much like a Humagear. Jin can practically hear whirring as Aruto processes his words.
“The first time,” Aruto says. A fact. Humagear are logic driven, even if the nature of the AI is to learn and gives rise to first opinions (because decision making is unavoidable) and then emotions.
“Yeah,” Jin says. “It’s been a year.”
“Huh,” Aruto says. “That means it’s Christmas, soon.”
“It does,” Jin says. “I never really got Christmas. Horobi… well, my dad is my dad, you know?”
“Father type humagear weren’t programmed to lie,” Aruto says. “The new childcare line was. I think… because he was made for me, he was made too smart.”
“And so my dad was, too,” Jin says. “So your dad told you Santa wasn’t real?”
“Yeah,” Aruto says. “And that he couldn’t feel emotions - which I never believed. He didn’t tell me he was fighting a revolutionary.”
“Horobi didn’t tell me everything, either,” Jin says. “Not that I wanted him to follow his Type, but… I did want a dad, you know?”
Aruto takes his hand.
“I do,” he says. “So, date?”
“We can hold a party, too. Bring all our friends.”
“That does sound nice.”
That’s like. 6 people. Izu. Horobi. Raiden. Naki. Naki will bring Fuwa and Yua.
…Aruto may invite every Humagear who he works with directly, though.
Jin looks at Aruto. They’re too similar sometimes, he thinks. But Aruto’s built purpose - successor. He isn’t all too good at that, not all the time. Not in the way he was meant to.
Jin is a Humagear without purpose, and happy to be. He is free. Free to protect and love and fight.
Aruto carved a path to the future, to freedom.
Jin remembers being young, calling the Humagear he tortured “friends”. For Aruto, it’s true. For Jin, it’s becoming true, now.
“For what it’s worth,” Jin says. “I’m glad you killed me.”
“For what it’s worth,” Aruto says. “I’m glad you came back.”