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"It is a narrow mind that cannot look at a thing from different points of view."
— George Eliot
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God wasn't real. Something that 0701 had known long before he found himself drenched in the blood of other children, exhaling shakily as his grip on the weapon loosened, his voice hoarse.
And if God wasn't real, then 0701 wouldn't burn in an eternal flame when he was disposed of.
Oddly enough, that was what calmed him down enough to walk back to the handlers, mute as he was manhandled back to the Correction room.
It was an inevitable consequence.
0629's head thumped onto the table for the nineteenth time, its forehead bruised as its face went downward again.
0701 let out a sigh.
Why couldn't 0629 just go away and leave him alone?
"Stop that." 0701 mumbled, his brow furrowing. 0629 only did it again, harder this time.
0701 elected to ignore it because 0629 was weird.
Really, really weird.
Why did he have to get assigned with 0629, of all Subjects? He'd be lucky if he wasn't dead by the time they got back.
The metallic scent of blood made him grimace as he wiped off his hands, trying to ignore the bodies on the ground and turned towards 0629 who stared at him a few feet away, positively drowning in blood, the only yellow to be seen in its weird corpse-like eyes.
He could've sworn 0629 had tapped his shoulder a few minutes ago, or maybe he was imagining it. The mini-shock he had gotten snapped him out of his thoughts.
That was weird. Why would 0629 do that?
0701 shook his head, beckoning it over, a bad-weird feeling coming over him when 0629 obediently trotted over and didn't even twitch when 0701 roughly wiped its face.
Weird, weird, weird.
He leaned down, his knees pressing against the wooden floor, the stench of alcohol embedding itself in his body as he realized what he'd done.
Glass shards coated his palms as his fingers trembled, picking up each and every piece before the smiling man, (he didn't know who the smiling man was, although the smiling man struck a weird feeling in him that he hadn't felt in forever.) woke up.
He didn't get far when a heavy hand thumped on his shoulder.
His head turned to the side.
The smiling man's face stared back at him through his fringe.
Oh.
0701 groggily woke up to a body tucking itself into his side, a warm presence in the otherwise cold cot.
Blinking rapidly, 0701 tried to make out who it was. It wasn't uncommon for the Subjects to crawl into his cot sometimes, although he was unsure why.
Maybe it was 1221? She-It was the newest Subject and was scheduled to leave soon. Although 1221 usually liked him to hum something, tapping him repeatedly until he did.
Maybe sh-it was too tired to remind him?
For some reason, the light breathing surrounding him slowed, the body pressed against him relaxing.
Weird.
0701's feet slowed as he caught sight of a black cat, watching as it crunched on a fish bone behind the restaurant.
His hand twitched in the direction of the cat. He wondered if its fur would be soft. Would his fingers sink into the fluff? Would it let him feed it? He wondered if it was a boy or a girl.
"0701." 0629 monotoned a few feet away, breaking through 0701's trance. 0629's feet kicked at the gravel on the ground, waiting for him to hurry up.
Oh. Right. They were on a mission.
He gave him a distracted nod, picking up his pace as he caught up to 0629, his gaze trailing after the cat, who now stared at him with amber eyes.
0701 suppressed a shiver and turned away.
Weird.
The cat reminded him of 0629. Maybe it was the eyes?
0629 was following him around. All the time. Constantly.
0701 was in the Bathing Rooms where he peeled off his uniform and prepared to use his fifteen seconds wisely? It was there, two Subjects ahead of him.
In the Training Room with The Subjects' Handler as they listened to orders? It was there, standing only three Subjects away.
Or, in the Cots as they systematically made their cots? It was there, waiting for him to finish up.
At assignments where they had to attempt to successfully interrogate a Traitor? It was there, fingers crackling with electricity if the Traitor refused to comply.
During Human Integration Training? It sat right next to him, staring at 0701 instead of paying attention to the big box about dinosaurs riding on a train. (0701 personally liked the green one.)
0629 was always there.
Always. There.
0701 wondered when 0629 would go away. Not really.
"Friendship is magic!" 1228 shot at him with a wink anytime it and 0701 passed.
It was weird and always made 0701 shiver in disgust. 1228 was a monster. It could strike 0701, and he would be dead before he realized it.
It made 0701 uneasy. What a weirdo.
0629 was beginning to pick that habit up as well, although that came in the form of repeating dictionary definitions daily. He-It kept flinging words around and acting fancy schmancy. It was annoying, but 0701 was not happy that sometimes 0629's eyes glittered with something near wonder.
0701 wasn't happy at all. Even if the imperceptible tug at his lips when 0629 jumped to him and started to recite definitions said otherwise.
Not at all.
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HPSC SECURE DATABASE | RECYCLING DIVISION
CLASSIFIED DOCUMENT | LEVEL 24 REQUIRED FOR CLEARANCE
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HPSC HANDLER LOG ENTRY # ██ : RECYCLING CONTRACT OF SUBJECT #1221 [ ███ ]
Subject #1221 [ ███ ]'s recycling contract with the [ ███ █████████ ] will be cleared when they agree to the Terms and Conditions of [ Contractual and Systemic Rules of Obedience during Contract Deals, Volume ██ ] If the party fails or refuses to abide by the Terms and Conditions of [ Contractual and Systemic Rules of Obedience during Contract Deals, Volume ██ ] The Opposing Party [ ███ █████████ ] will be disposed of by Subjects #1228, #0629, and #0701 (Deployed by order of Subjects with the most prospects)
TIMESTAMP: 20XX-7-5 // 06:07:38 JST