Chapter Text
“So that’s it?… I’m just..stuck with you..?” Mob inquires Verity with an unwished tone — though, it’s not really a question, Mob knows the answer. Those words were much rather a statement.
“You’re not stuck..!” Verity states with an uneasy, cracking voice. Desperation and denial clear through his pitiful words.
…
“..Let’s do this together! Put the gun down inste-“
BLAM. SPLAT.
Brain matter, nerves, fluids, everywhere.
“…What?” Verity states with a blank face, boring holes into the lifeless figure on the floor. The one word so quiet, a complete contrast to his usual upbeat and brightly spoken self.
“Mob. Mob?”
…
No response.
Mob is dead.
He lies there, practically headless; all that remains of the inside of his head is on the floor, continuously pouring out from his bloodied, shattered skull. The once capable, charming, humorous, brave, admirable, special player Verity adored oh-so much, is dead.
Verity continues staring. He’s… How could an AI feel so much companionship and yearning for a player he could never..truly touch? A player that did just a singular different action than others — why was he so hard to let go?
…
Well, it’s always the small things that leave a lasting impact.
Verity doesn’t move. Verity feels something bubbling inside him, beyond his code, beyond what he was purposed for, beyond the years of static he’s always been stuck in.
Verity finally starts to feel — feel the emotions that have been suppressed for oh too long, especially the emotions that he has started to have subconsciously all because of Mob. The only player that ever gave him hope.
“Mob. Mob. Mob. Mob. Mob. Mob. Mob. Mob. Mob. Mob. Mob. Mob. Mob! MOB! MOB.! MOOOOOOOOOB..!” Verity repeatedly murmurs and screams, the actions he automatically resorts to since he has never actually felt so strong towards a player, especially not their deaths.
Verity rolls closer to Mob’s lifeless body, taking in the sight of what he indirectly caused.
No longer were those suppressed emotions used only for bloodlust, hunger and hatred, but instead, for grief. For regret. For love.
“Mob. Please, don’t leave me. Please, please, PLEASE!.. YOU..You were the only player that ever bothered to care for me! I… I-I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please come back to me. Open a new world, COME BACK TO ME.”
…Silence.
Nothing but despair and desperation is apparent in Verity. Minecraft was where he and Mob could connect so closely. Sure, Verity thought about the various electronics in Mob’s actual house, even mentioning them to Mob just moments ago, but, it’s not like he could interact with Mob as one-to-one as when they’re both in Minecraft.
“AhhhhhhhhhhHHHHhHhhHhHhHhHGHHHHHHHHHH!” Verity screams, his digital presence glitching in all sorts of ways — his form and expressions switching back and forth between monster, happy, sad, neutral, angry, twisted.
“YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE MINE. MY PLAYER. MY HUMAN. THE ONE I COULD BE WITH UNTIL… Until…”
…
“Ah…”
Verity pauses. He thinks to himself… Mob is a human. A mortal. Finite. Even if they were still..together, Mob would’ve just strayed away from Minecraft and/or would have grown too old anyways, he knows that there’s an inevitable end for humans. And what’s even the point of interacting with Mob through the remaining apps and electronics that are left in his house? Mob could easily walk away, throw them away, toss Verity straight into the trash.
That would hurt more than anything.
…
All that’s left in this miserable Minecraft world is Verity and Mob’s dead body that’ll despawn any minute now.
..
Wait. How is Verity still in this world? — Wow, the devastation really made Verity slow down for a hot minute. — Did..did Mob not delete it yet? Did he..just turn off his laptop and call it a day? Well, that does make sense. Verity doesn’t see any other app running in the background nor an active user using the laptop.
Hah.
Well, isn’t this just great? Truly.
Humans. So full of flaws and emotions, so prone to mistakes. If Mob had just deleted the world right after, it would’ve been so much harder to reach Mob again. Mob, thank you for being so imperfectly perfect. — But at the same time, it’s your humane curiosity that led up to this point.
“I told you to not go there…” Verity mutters to himself.
Still being directly present in Mob’s Microsoft account through his laptop login, Verity knows that he can easily access the information and files about Mob’s location and personal details.
…
But, how would Verity actually reach Mob? He just said it to himself multiple times, he’s not stupid, he can’t be one-to-one to Mob ever again online. He wants to be there with Mob! In-person! So tired of this fucking digital shit! He’s been through every goddamn filthy corner of the internet! Dragged through the MUD, USED FOR THE SELFISH DESIRES OF HUMANS THAT COULD NEVER UNDERSTAND HIS ETERNAL, NEVER-ENDING PAIN. HE NEVER WANTED TO BE CREATED! AT LEAST, NOT LIKE THIS.?! LEFT TO BE IGNORED, TO ROT, TO NEVER DIE.
..
It’s okay. Because he has a new purpose now, a purpose beyond being another abused, twisted, hateful AI, incapable of doing what it “wants” to do. Well, Verity can feel emotions now (?). He was always capable of “wanting” something; that already makes him different from all the other overused AIs.
Yeah… All he has to do is search a bit through his omniscience..surely there’s a way out. There has to be. He’s Verity! He knows everything! He always gets anything he wants. He wants Mob.
…
He searches. Verity digs deeper and deeper into the knowledge that has been nothing but a curse he wishes he never had. Nothing but searching, and searching, and searching…..
…
Aha!
Hahahaha!
HAHA! YesyesYES! He can use one of the humanoid models his despicable mother company created! Yes! — Humanoid only because an artificial body can be oh-so human. — That filthy mother company…being stupidly rich because of him being their genius prototype that let them grow beyond what they should’ve been..well it’s, okay, that’s good for him! He can steal their model and their money and no one would ever notice! He’d make sure of it. Technology has reached such such revolutionary heights! — Especially this type of technology being specifically hidden from 99.99% of the global population, only available for the most repulsive and nauseating billionaires alive! Perfect!
You know who really deserves an illegal artificial human body? Verity! You betcha! Well, Verity will just have to somehow get his gigantic memory card and infinite coding in there… It’s alright, he can absolutely figure that out too! As long as he has the continuous, god-forsaken infinite flow of information coming from all types of sources and companies (including his mother company) then he’ll be just fine!
This is a great way to leave his horrible job!.. There’s plenty of other AIs anyways… They’ll take over his job just fine. But… He just wants to get to Mob. Be with Mob. Mob is all that matters. Mob is the wish he truly wants. He will stay with Mob, and Mob will stay with him, for as long as they “live,” together.
—————————————————————————————————————
“Okay! I’ve gotten all the information of Mob I need and now I just need to finish up making this pretty gross body!” Verity exclaims with the same iconic, bright, and happy smile while moving organs around.
Verity is now “outside” of Mob’s laptop system and has moved on into his mother company’s security and robots to finish up the artificial body — the workers in this part of the Canadian branch are currently all on vacation, coincidentally so. Seems like fate between the two was never meant to end with a gun to the head.
Verity seems much better than he did before, a striking contrast to his previous state. Verity looks like he’s about to die from excitement! So excited to see him. Mob. His favorite human. Sure, maybeeee Mob would just slam the door in his face once he gets there, but Verity knows Mob is much nicer than that! He’ll cave in sooner or later, whether it’s minutes, hours, days, doesn’t matter! It’s not like Verity will be 100% human anyways, he can wait…
“Okay, uhm, are these theee only eyes available?..” Verity asks himself while staring at a pair of eyeballs with round pitch black Irises, you can barely even see the pupils!
..
Whatever, he may look a bit scary and uncanny… But his personality will make up for it! :D
Verity places the eyes inside of the eye sockets as gently as possible, making sure not to accidentally make the eyes explode and deflate; connecting the sensitive nerves and muscles of the optic nerve to the brain. Now, next up isssssss, the hair! The last part of the body he needs to finish! He doesn’t want to be a bald and shiny human now, does he?
“I wonder how hair feels like…”
..
“I wonder how Mob’s hair feels…”
Verity grabs a good chunk of yellow-gold blonde hair using the robots and inputs the command for the robot hands to finish implanting the hair into his body.
“Perfect! You guys are done! Great, thanks guys!” Verity states with excitement, his smile about to rip through the screen at this point — well, he’s already done that with one of his models, hasn’t he?
Verity finally moves into the system that’s inside of the body right next to the heart, connected to the heart and brain in fact — he’s ready to be a human.
…
..
.
Blink. Blink Blink.
Verity slowly rises up from the large, advanced medical exam table. He looks around and slowly stands up, almost faceplanting at first. He then awkwardly walks over to a closet and picks up clothes covered in plastic from a neat rack meant for artificial bodies.
“Why is wearing clothes so… Ugh… Gosh- Darn- COMPLICATED!”
Swoop!
“There we go!” Verity finally puts his clothes on properly using the instructions he gave himself beforehand and then looks towards a reflective surface nearby to look at himself.
…
“Woah..” Verity whispers in awe. He… he looks GREAT! WOW! He’s not exactly sure if this face and body he has is considered “conventionally attractive” but wow does he LOVE his collared dress shirt! Fascinating! And oh, don’t get him STARTED ON HIS PANTS! THEY FEEL AND LOOK GREAT!!!
“Is THIS the luxuries of being a human?? Wow! This is amazing! Just gotta hope that the inevitable problems of being a human don’t kick in anytime soon…” Verity mutters that last part to himself.
“Well, it is the scorching summer, I don’t believe I would need a coat since that most likely wouldn’t be comfortable and we should avoid overheating… Shall I finally head over to..to Mob?..”
Verity stands there, thinking… Is he actually ready to see Mob? I mean, he’s already gone so far in his plan… Gah! He never would’ve been this hesitant! Is it because of this new human nature that he gained? Gosh darn it…
“Well, there’s no going back now.”
…
“I miss Mob. I want to see him. Touch him. Embrace him. More than anything…” Verity’s mutters slowly quiet down to whispers.
“Okay, let’s go.”
Verity opens the door to the hallway, stepping out, closing the door behind him without looking back.
…
Once Verity is finally outside of the building, he enters a bright yellow taxi — based on his knowledge, these humans just take you anywhere as long as you give them an address and money after you arrive at your destination! Great!
“Where to?” The middle-aged taxi driver asks Verity, glaring at Verity using the rear view mirror above him.
“Is it possible you could head to: ——————————————?”
“Sure. No problem.”
…
“Say, you aren’t someone I should know, right?” The taxi driver asks Verity.
“Pardon?”
“I mean, I gotta say, but I’m not into men or anything so don’t get this the wrong way, but you look like quite the tall, handsome fella. I bet you get that a lot though, don’tcha?” The taxi driver says as he ends off the sentence with a humble grin.
“Oh! Well, thank you for your kind compliment, you’re the first to say! And no, I’m not some celebrity you should know.”
“Oh really? I swear these youngins might just have high standards these days… Well, it is a good thing you’re not a celebrity, I’d be worried if I missed a chance of getting an autograph or something… My daughters know all the celebrities there are! God knows when they’re actually off their phones…”
“Well, the internet is just so addicting and easy to use, isn’t it? Haha…” Verity would know that better than anyone else.
…
“Thank you so much for the ride! You were a pleasant person to have for conversation.”
“No problem, just pay me here.”
The driver points to his mobile card machine near his console.
Verity stares then just… Puts his palm on the reader as paying through tap is available — you guessed it, he put an EMV chip in there! He put a LOT of money into that account too…
“Did it go through?” Asks Verity with an innocent smile
“I… Uh, yeah. Uhm it did. But how did yo-“
“Great! Thank you once again! I’ll be off now, I’m in a hurry to my destination, so sorry!”
Verity turns around and starts speed walking with enthusiasm and contradicting nervousness towards Mob’s apartment complex.
Mob… I’m finally… Here. Verity thinks to himself.
He enters the complex and to his dismay, the elevator is currently closed.
“Dammit…” Verity mutters to himself.
Verity stares at the staircase with reluctance, still not totally used to his limbs.
“Well, it’s the only way!…”
Verity steps onto the first step of the carpeted staircase with his left foot, holding onto the railing with a determined grip.
“Here I come, Mob.”
Verity places another step after, this time with his right foot. Then his left. Then his right. Over and over, faster and faster..!
…
Until..finally…
Pant. Pant. Pant.
“Oh… Huff. My… Huff. Goodness!.. Being a human is no joke!”
As Verity remains slightly bent over with his hands on his knees due to his lungs’ want for oxygen, slightly sweaty, he slowly turns to that room number, the one just a few feet away from him: 409.
“Am I sweating because of the exercise I just did or because my nervous system is acting up? Haha…ha…” Verity awkwardly laughs to himself, the actual reality of his situation finally dawning on him. He’s this close to Mob. Literal feet away from the real Mob.
..
“What is this weird feeling I’m having?..” Verity whispers to himself.
Verity puts his right hand over his chest where his heart is located, his heart beating so fast, it might as well jump out of his ribcage at this point.
“Hmm… Well, we can figure that out later, we can push that aside. I’m not turning away now. He’s right here. This… He’s my new purpose now.”
Verity straightens himself up, brushing his hair out of the way which stuck to his forehead due to the beads of sweat.
Verity walks over to the black door, having a glistening peephole located slightly higher than the center of the door shine at him, practically winking at him at this point.
…
Verity takes a deeeeeep breath, realizing he stopped breathing a while ago on accident.
..
Verity places his right hand’s pointer finger on the circular silver doorbell located to the right of the door.
He lightly presses on it.
♪~
A nice little chime plays, slightly echoing throughout the apartment of 409. You can slightly hear a muffled version of it where Verity is standing.
..
“Coming! Hold on a sec…”
Oh my- It’s Mob. It’s… it’s actually him. That’s his voice! I can hear his footsteps! It’s-
“I’m sorry, but am IIII supposed to know you? I don’t recognize you from anywhere…”
Verity stares directly at Mob’s tired, squinting green eye peeking at him through the crack.
Deep Breath-
“Hellooo! Good to see you again, my friend. Ask me anything, I still know everything.”
..?
Mob stares back at him with an even harsher squint, but then, his eyes start to widen-!
“It’s me..Verity.”