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The sound of crickets chirping pierced the silent night. A gentle breeze passed over the landscape, noiselessly gliding from the bushes to the shrubs, and through the manor in the distance. Limbo was a peaceful yet insidious place.
Limbo.
A layer of faux peace. The resting place of souls too far gone to be saved, but teetering on the edge of eternal condemnation.
Also, the layer you chose to remain at.
Isolation sucked, but you figured that life would only get worse as you travelled down the layers.
When you were sentenced to Limbo, you were handed three glowing skulls and told that they would unlock the gates to the rest of Hell, should you wish to leave.
You never did. Rather, you opted to hide the skulls away, out of sight, out of mind.
You sat under one of the trees bordering the pavement to the manor.
Typically, you'd be sitting alone, doing nothing but staring up at the holographic sky as it noiselessly taunted and laughed at your misfortune of never knowing the one true God.
You had been sitting under the trees and staring up at the sky every night for who knows how long. Months? Years? Decades? To you, day and night had slowly blended into a perfect symphony whose beginning and end you couldn't distinguish.
Today, you were also staring up at the holographic sky.
But you weren't alone. You hadn't been alone in quite a while.
A borderline-intense light illuminated your resting spot, the whirring of mechanisms piercing through the silent night as your companion walked over to you.
You looked up at it, shielding your eyes from the harsh glare. It looked back down at you, its optics devoid of emotion as it observed you.
You gestured at the plastic grass beside you. "Have a seat, will you, V2?"
"I do not require rest. Nevertheless," the robot stated, "I will do so if that is what you wish."
With a few soft clicks from its joints, it sat down next to you, its legs crossed beneath it. Its optic light dimmed as it entered an idle state, simply relaxing next to you under Limbo's starry sky.
That was your companion's name. V2.
You had expected to be alone forever, as was supposed to be your punishment in this eternal damnation. You had no clue how exactly it got down, but you did remember your first encounter with it.
You looked across the dining hall.
The refectory table you sat at the head of was empty, the wooden chairs before you collecting dust and neatly arranged in perfect, even intervals for inhabitants that would never arrive.
You had just finished your meal for the day. Heaven knows how the food kept resupplying itself in the pantry.
You had eaten an omelette with a bowl of white rice, with a side of vegetables and chicken. A meal you've eaten countless times.
The rice was bland. The vegetables left a bitter aftertaste in your mouth. The chicken tasted of plastic, and the omelette tasted of sadness and depression.
As per usual.
While you rinsed the plates, you heard a window shatter from the courtyard.
The courtyard also happened to be the connecting area from the manor to the gates of Hell.
Your blood froze. Had a Husk somehow climbed its way up from one of the lower layers? Perhaps Hell sent one of its grotesque creations after you for its amusement?
You grabbed the nearest thing that could double as a good-enough weapon. A fork. You figured that it probably wouldn't help much in a fight, but it was better than nothing. Besides, to you, death was better than eternal isolation.
The moment you entered the courtyard, however, you froze, dumbfounded by the sight before you. A short distance away from you, slumped down on the pavement's concrete tiles, was a humanoid robot. Its plating was red in colour, and it had a camera for a head with a singular yellow lens as its eye. On its back were eight wing blades, canary in colour. Its wings' dim glow lit up the space around it by just a little. Its lens was flickering, the light within dying out.
"Insufficient blood. Pulse failure. Shutdown imminent. Insufficient blood. Pulse failure. Shutdown imminent. Insufficient blood. Pulse failure. Shutdown imminent."
It droned on and on, its damaged vocal interface lowering in pitch and producing a faint staticky noise as the last bits of its energy died out.
You panicked. You didn't want to watch anything perish before you, even if it was just a machine. Thankfully, you knew the basic inner workings of some machines.
Upon taking the robot inside the manor, you were relieved to see that its mechanisms weren't too much of an issue. Your limited technical knowledge allowed you to fix up its voice box, most of its screwed-up wiring, and readjust some dislocated circuits.
When you reattached its wing module, however, it never switched back on. Confused, you gave it a once-over. Its circuits were in place, its hardware was no longer damaged, and its limbs seemed to be working perfectly fine.
That's when you realised it lacked the fuel it needed to sustain itself.
It needed blood, as did all machines. You wanted to slap yourself for your temporary idiocy.
You looked over at the fork you brought with you from the dining hall. It lay on the counter beside you, the smooth metal gleaming in the dim moonlight.
Your gaze shifted over to your arm.
It would suffice.
It had been a long time since then. You had grown attached to V2, and it felt the same towards you.
As you gazed upwards, looking out at all the fake specks of light being a cheap mimicry of stars in the night sky, V2 looked at you, its optics betraying a smidge of confusion.
"We both know that the sky here in Limbo is a mere imitation. Why do you still admire that false mockery of a sight?"
You forced yourself to tear your eyes away from the hypnotic view. "Well, when you're stuck in this place for so long, the only thing that interests you is the sky. Look up for yourself, V2...see how the stars twinkle up above."
You gestured upwards. Its lens followed the direction you were pointing in.
For a few long moments, V2 remained silent as it viewed. It silently admired the moon. It admired the stars. It admired everything you could see and everything you could not. A quiet click sounded from just behind its lens as it took a snapshot.
You turned your head back up towards where the heavens lay; out of reach but still there somewhere. "It's actually relaxing to stargaze here. I know that the sky is a lie, but over here, I don't need to worry about light pollution. I don't have to worry about the vehicles on the roads honking and screeching. No disturbances. No interruptions. Just...peace."
"I was not made to stargaze, but for civilian and home defence. Nevertheless, I can see where you are coming from."
As you looked on, you heard a quiet sigh from next to you. You looked towards V2, legs drawn up to its chest and camera-head resting on its knees.
"Something's the matter, V2?" You quipped.
In response, a soft groan crackled from V2's voice box. "I am now reminded of how I failed. My purpose was to protect humans. I have failed in that task. Mankind is dead. I am left without an objective..."
A soft whir came from its inner workings as it turned its head towards you.
"...except to protect you. I suppose that provides me with a purpose."
With a hum, you placed a hand on the top of V2's head and stroked its plating lovingly.
V2 tensed up. Even after all the time you spent showing it affection, that emotion was still not properly registered in its database. It was not programmed to love. It was programmed to carry out its job and nothing more. The best it had was some basic knowledge about human behaviour, but that was standard, built-in knowledge for just about any machine made after the Final War's beginning.
Still, you wanted to teach it how to love as you loved it. It was working. Slowly. But at least there was progress.
Eventually, V2 relaxed, its shoulders slumping slightly. You scooted over to it to better hug it, pressing a light kiss on the side of its head in the process.
"...you know I may not be here forever, right? You're a lot more durable than I am. If something happens to me, I'm a goner."
With a bit of hesitation, it rested its head against your shoulder, relaxing against you as you lightly rubbed its plating.
"I know. The fragile nature of humans persists, even within the afterlife. I fear losing you. I do not wish to lose you. Losing you means losing my purpose."
The hood over its lens lowered slightly in dejection.
You were all V2 had, and V2 was all you had.
You shifted your hand to lightly caress the panels in between V2's actual chassis and its wing modules. V2 pressed its head more firmly against your shoulder, its lens now fully closed in comfort. "...for now, let us enjoy the present we are in...my treasure." It murmured.
You stilled your movements, your hand idly resting on its back panel as you processed what it just called you.
Before today, it had never affectionately referred to you. Until now, it had used your name and your name alone.
"...V2, did you just-"
"I wish to fully understand how to love you back while we are still together. Allow me to try." V2's lens opened back up, its light now dim as it stared back at you.
Your eyes softened.
"Then I'll guide you, V2. I love you."
V2 readjusted itself and lightly pulled you against its frame. The warmth of its chassis was a welcoming comfort against the soft nighttime breeze.
Its arm loosely wrapped around you, holding you close as it rested its head on top of yours.
"Am I doing this right, my dear?"
"Better than I could have asked for, V2."
You gazed up at the sky. V2 did too.
The rest of the night was silent, save for the constant thrum of V2's hardware.
Maybe it was replaying all the memories the two of you had shared in its processing unit. Perhaps it was adding new information to its database. Or it was doing all the necessary calculations to figure out what the future may be like.
But no words needed to be exchanged between the two of you to know that you each loved the other.