Work Text:
The sound of pen gliding on paper filled the office room as Netzach sat in his office-chair doing paper work. He groaned, his head was spinning and he slammed the pen on the table, sighing loudly. God, the one day Acia decided to do Abnormality work was the one day where Netzach had a raging headache and had the strongest urge to kill himself. He growled out to himself, picking back up the pen- just to throw it across the room in a blind fit of rage. If you asked him, he couldn't tell you why he was angry. He grabbed at his arms - hyperventilating - his chest hurt, his whole body ached. He was so-so-so stupid, right? Always relying on others for comfort, reaching out at the most minor inconveniences? He was a terrible boyfriend to Acia - not only because he'll never be an actual man - she probably just feels bad for him. His organs ached. He wanted it all to stop.
He grunted as he sobbed pathetically into his arms, he gripped his arms tighter as he wailed. He would probably have to check his arms later, he was gripping pretty hard and he didn't want to reopen any old cuts on his arms. He lifted his head off his arms, glancing at his pill container containing his supply of enkephalin with blurry eyes. He'll just down a few, Acia would kill him if he had too many of them. He quickly grabbed the container and cracked it open, he shook a few pills onto his hand. Sighing, as put his hand to his mouth, titling his head back as he swallowed the pills dry. He winced at the feeling of the pills going down his throat. He grabbed the container and shook more pills out onto his hand. He shook as he swallowed more pills, his throat burned slightly from the amount he was swallowing without a proper lubricant to help ease the pills down. He looked around his desk, noticing a half empty glass bottle of beer, he shrugged as he grabbed the bottle, taking a big swig of the alcohol, he shook more pills onto his hand, taking more of them with the beer.
Then he got the most genius idea, he glanced around his office for any blunt object - anything to be able to crush pills. He sighed, nothing in the office would work extraordinarily well. He grabbed the now empty beer glass and decided to just use that. He shook a few pills onto his desk, he raised his arms and started bashing the pills into a fine dust with the glass bottle. After a few long moments of him bashing his desk repeatedly, the pills were a fine dust. He threw the glass bottle somewhere in his office - hearing it shatter somewhere. He snorted some of the enkephalin-dust, coughing and sputtering a bit as he wasn't used to it. How did God do this with no problems?? He wondered, snorting some more of the powder. After he was done his headache hadn't subsided - hell, it felt even worse right now. His vision was a bit blurry as he looked around his office for beer or water. He rubbed his temples solemnly while sighing, wings… maybe he shouldn't have done that. He got off of his chair and laid on the ground furrowing his eyebrows, maybe sleep will help this headache… he stretched out and curled into a ball as he drifted off to sleep.
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Acia knocked on Netzach's office door mumbling to herself about abnormalities and how stupid they are. Why did she volunteer to do Abno work today, jeez…. She then grumbled to herself about why Netzach wasn't letting her in, so much for being a “Gentleman”. “I'M COMING IN WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!!” She yelled loudly, some of the other employees walking by eyed her weirdly, mumbling things about her. She opened the door to office and immediately her face scrunched and contorted as the heavy smell of beer and medicine flooded her nostrils. She stepped into the room and closed the door. “Wings… it stinks in here…. Where the hell is he?” Acia squinted her eyes, his office pitch dark. She slammed her hand against the wall looking for the lightswitch. When she finally found it, she immediately flipped on the lights. She let her eyes adjust to the artificial light, it wasn't too bright as Netzach put light green sheets over the light panels, making the room a lime green tinge. Her eyes widened as she saw Netzach, he was under his desk, knocked out. She sprinted over to him, noticing the abundance of blood-enkephalin mix and glass on the floor, she grimaced slightly but ignored it. She picked him up to move him to the couch in his office. She put him down, putting his head on the armrest.
“I-i'll be right back…” She said self-consciously, forgetting that he's knocked out cold. She sprinted out of the room cursing to herself as she pushed through the other employees of Lob. Corp. . She banged on Yesod’s door first- The head of the information department. “Yesod! Open up, I know you're in there! It's an emergency- it- it's Netzach…. Please….” She shouted loudly. Yesod opened the door, Acia nearly toppled inside his office, the comforting purple light of his office flowed out into the hallway. “Acia? What do you need at this hour…. Is Netzach ok? What happened?” He asked curiously, he brushed his purple hair to the side of his face, sighing.
“P-please- Yesod- He- He's knocked out… I-I don't know what to do-” She rambled on, her voice wavering and shaking. His eyes widened, a small hiss escaping his mouth. “Fine. Bring me to his office.” She thanked him over and over again, they both sprinted to Netzach's office, the door still wide open from when Acia initially barged out of the room. Yesod gasped loudly when he saw Netzach on the couch, he coughed as the heavy stench of Enkephalin flooded his senses, his eyes watering. Acia stood next to Yesod, lightly stroking Netzach's cold face. Yesod put two fingers up to Netzach's neck, trying to find his pulse, when he couldn't find it he sighed.
“Acia… I don't think he's coming back… he's dead…” Yesod said softly, he put his hand on Acia's back, trying to comfort her. “No…nononono….. He- He can't be dead… I-” Acia responded, her voice shaky as she tried to conceal her tears. She buried her head on Netzach's lifeless chest, silently hoping and praying, she'll hear the smallest heartbeat- just anything to let her know he's still alive - that this was all a sick, twisted joke he was playing on her. Yesod coughed awkwardly as he watched her sob onto Netzach's chest, he let out a quiet hiss through his teeth. God- he really misses his bed… maybe if he's quiet enough he can leave without alerting Acia, snakes are quiet, right?
“W-wait… Yesod-” Acia mumbled meekly, looking up at Yesod with blurry, teary eyes. Welp, There goes his plans. “Yes Acia? What do you require now?” He said, trying not to sound too disinterested. “Can you stay- just- just for a bit longer…?” She said quietly, looking at him with pleading eyes. Yesod let out a sigh through his nose, grumbling to himself before he nodded slowly. After a few hours, Acia was knocked out - sleeping - she would shake every now and then, but ultimately, she was sleeping. Yesod was slumped against a wall of the Office, his eyes were extremely heavy and he couldn't stop yawning. He got up from the wall, stretching a bit, he glanced at the sleeping figure of Acia, and the lifeless body of Netzach. He sighed and walked out, shutting the office door behind him. (nonchalant king over here)
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Acia stirred around in her sleep before finally waking up, her eyelids fluttering open. She groaned as she sat up, stretching, her back popping a bit, the artificial light burning her eyes a bit. She glanced at the couch, Netzach still laying there, and cupped his cold face with her hand, giving his cheek a light peck. At least he's at peace now, she thought to herself, she stood up dusting off her uniform. She grumbled as she was gonna have to inform Angela about this. She took a deep breath, walking to the office door, glancing back at the couch and walking out into the hallways of the safety department. The other employees would eye her weird as she walked by, whispering about her, Acia would furrow her eyebrows as she walked into the elevator, pressing the button to go up. As the elevator went up, making a mechanical humming noise, she inhaled deeply, the elevator stopping with a loud clunking sound. She stepped out of the elevator and walked through the hallway towards the main room of the facility.
She fixed up her suit a bit more before knocking on the door of the meeting room, where Angela had to be. She knocked on the metal door a few times, before it opened on its own, letting Acia into the room. She gasped as she walked into the large meeting room, the front wall adorned with hundreds of monitors, and a giant meeting table in the middle, Angela sitting in a chair on one of the far ends of the table, the two of them locking eyes.
“Come take a seat, Acia.” Angela said, in a slight robotic voice. Acia sat to the nearest chair next to Angela, she guessed the A.I already knew why she was here. “What brings you here?” Angela asked, it was more of a rhetorical question, as she already knew why. Acia fidgeted with her nails, her voice was stuck in her throat, trying not to tear up. “I-It's Netzach- well- more about who's going to be the head of the Safety branch… now that he's gone” She said, her voice wavering as she tried to not tear up. Angela sighed deeply, and rubbed her temples with a groan. “Can you give me a recap of what you did before and after you found him? I'm…. curious.” Angela asked, rolling her eyes a bit, Acia nodding slowly.
“O-ok well…lastnight I was working on Old Lady, as usual… w-when i was finished with working with her I went to the cafeteria to get some food for myself, knowing Netzach wouldn't want any and when I was done eating… I… I was going to his and I's office… w-when I knocked on the door he didn't say to come in or anything, so i gently opened the door to our office and I turned on the lights and- and… i saw him- he- he was - he was dead…” she paused for a second, to prevent herself to start sobbing uncontrolably. “I-I got Yesod to help but it- it was too late… I- I couldn't do anything… I'm sorry, Angela…” Acia spewed on, while Angela just nodded along. Angela inhaled deeply, contemplating on what to do.
“Hm. Well, you were the closest with Netzach, am I correct?”
“A-ah… yes, I was…”
“Well… We do need a head of the department than…” Angela mumbled to herself. She looked up at Acia.
“Would you…. Would you like to be the new head of the safety department? You won't necessarily be the new Sephirah of course, but you'll be in charge of the department. You will replace him, you will be at the Sephirah's meetings. It's up to you, Acia. He was expendable; everyone here is - including you.
Acia was taken aback at the proposal, she didn't know what to say - she didn't want to replace Netzach. Nonono, of course not, but taking the job… carrying on his legacy… It sounded like a dream to her. She looked up at Angela and nodded.
“I- Yes. Yes, I'll take the job… I'll carry his legacy through my name.”
“Then it's settled. You'll take the job. Thank you, Acia. We'll have his body out of the office, we'll provide you with a uniform tonight. You can have the rest of today - and only today - to mourn. There's a Sephirah meeting tonight as well, I expect you to be there; so you can introduce yourself to your new co-workers. ”
“Th-thank you Angela…” Acia thanked Angela, before getting up from the chair and exiting the meeting room, still a little shocked from the events that just unfolded. She made her way back to the safety department. She barely registered the elevator ride down, slightly disassociating. SHE was the new head of the team, the responsibility was on her now, she wouldn't want to let Netzach down. This was HER job now. When she got to the office door, she sighed, this is her office now, only hers; she unlocked the door and walked inside, shutting the door.
As she shut the door, she slumped down onto the floor, resting her head on her knees, sighing, she felt as if time was working against her. Everything was too much, why did she agree to taking the job; it was too much stress and work. She just wanted this stupid meeting to get over with already, it hadn't even begun yet and she was already stressing about it. What if the other Sephirot didn't like her? She knew Gebura didn't like her - she teased her too often. She found Tiphereth annoying, she didn't really know Chesed that much; but she liked him, he was cool: maybe she could have coffee with him later. She was scared of Binah, she was an ex-arbiter for wings-sake! She didn't really have an opinion on Hokmah - she really doesn't see him much, all she knows is that he is a fossil pretty much (more than she thought that). She grumbled and lifted her head, having a slight headache from all the thinking.
After a bit of sitting on the floor, she got up, glancing back at the couch, where he was - but, he wasn't there anymore. Guess they already got him taken care of. She looked at the desk where her new uniform laid, all folded up nicely; she should probably put that on, huh? She walked over to her desk, sitting in the chair, staring at the uniform, her eyes fixated on the clothing as if staring at it would magically make it go on her body.
After she finally got the suit on, she looked at herself in the mirror, the fabric hugged each one of her curves - although it made her chubby form more prominent - perfectly. The suit itself was a dark, dusty chestnut color: the undershirt was an off white cream color. She tucked the dress-shirt into her slacks, making her look more professional - as she wanted to make a good first impression on the sephirot. She fixed her striking lime green tie - which she was 99% sure was Netzach's old one,as it reeked heavily of booze, which she didn't mind - as it reminded her of him. She looked in the mirror, and smiled weakly, it was time for this stupid meeting.