Chapter Text
She felt nothing.
She’s never felt anything.
For as long as she could remember, she never had the capability to experience emotions. She was a robot, after all.
Since the day her circuit boards were laser-cut meticulously by men in lab coats to the day that red-haired girl found her powered off in an abandoned lab, nothing but code flowed through her mind.
Even in the most heart-wrenching moments, she approached with a lethargic attitude. Everyone either saw her as sociopathic or apathetic towards others emotions, like she was merely an object—just an inanimate thing that’s only purpose was to make calculations and look pretty.
So why now—of all times, did she feel cold and empty inside?
Rei gently brushed her tangerine hair out of her eyes, looking up at the bright ball of fire in the sky. Its rays spread across the whole expanse of oranges and reds and whites as it sank into the horizon, like hundreds of tendrils reaching out to the city skyline.
Her gaze on the sun was locked into place, focusing on it descending into the ground. She knew the illumination of the massive orb would fry the motion trackers in her camera-eyes, but she didn’t mind it too much.
Watching the sunset was always her favorite part of the day. The way the sunbeams painted the sky with a dazzling gradient of orange and pink hues as they outlined the skyscrapers with a bright white glimmer of warmth was simply incredible to her.
Yet no matter how hot the sun was, its glory only brought temporary relief. After it melted below the ground, that overwhelming feeling of nothingness would weigh on her like a brick.
She was used to it by now, nobody ever wanted to hear what she had to say, and even strangers rarely apologized when they bumped into her.
So why?
Why does it still hurt so much?
Ever since the war began, she had been stuck in a lab. She was still a prototype of her final product, displayed on a metal pole that looked much like a perch for a bird. When the area had to evacuate due to its incredibly high radiation levels, she was left there.
Alone.
Many months later, a girl with raspberry red curls and a gas mask broke into the laboratory, searching for survivors, but..
The only things she found were rotting, mutated bodies, and the robotic girl.
When she was removed from the facility and powered on, they gave her a clean lab coat that they found in the background closet, numbered “00”.
The red haired girl introduced herself as Kasane Teto, an UTAUloid created many years before Rei. What she explained to her was that her inability to get radiation poisoning was innate, and she could be a major help to those affected by the war.
And now, here she was. Watching the sun set into darkness as her very own savior coughed up blood behind her, the exact same color as her vibrant curls.
The best thing she could do was enjoy the peaceful grace of the sky as the day came to an end, as there was no cure.
But this was only the beginning.