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One sat at the foot of her bed, staring vacantly into the darkness. She held a glass of booze in one hand and the other, with nothing to clasp itself, instead rested beside her. Moonlight shined through the western-style house's window and with it was carried a message, a familiar note that was produced; it was the one desolation plays to keep its instrument in tune.
Her clothes were different tonight, as they usually are on cool and dry summer nights like this one. A blue vest with white sleeves and a matching blue dress were what One wore, and around her shirt's collar was a black ribbon. They fluttered gently in the wind, and her waist-length, emerald-green hair (the same color as her eyes) did the same.
Tonight was a very strange night for One, indeed, for it was the first night she'd spent in her house since that strange girl and her friends entered Paradise a few days prior. It's not like they were important anymore; the bodies were currently being safely disposed of, and the girl was out of One's sight and mind. But that's a story for another time.
It had also been a week since One came here herself, and in doing so ended the objects' competition once and for all. Did she regret doing it? Of course she did. One hated killing, something that you'd know if you payed attention to the beginning of TPOT 24.
She knew now that it was all done for herself, that she was the problem. One knew now that her feelings about Three were never genuine. She never actually wanted to save her, did she? She never actually cared about anyone other than herself, did she? As these thoughts raced through her mind, One became enraged and tried to shoo them off, but it was no use.
GRRRR!!
She threw her martini to the floor, shattering it and spilling her drink all over in the process. But, in a few seconds, One cleaned it up using her powers, powers that were strengthened thanks to the moon. Taking on this new life and form was already exciting enough, opening the door to One's first proper friendships, but the power that came with it was the most fun part. Even after becoming more selfless and caring for the people and world around her, One still wanted power, and the surge of it that came during the night felt orgasmic.
But her mind circled back to the thoughts she had before, of what Pencil had asked her in the EXIT.
"Think of all the damage you've caused. Have you really done the right thing? Were you really that nice?"
One shifted to the center of the bed, now spread out across it. She took a deep breath, and decided to do some digging; digging through her mind.
"Sure. A little reminiscing can't hurt."
One's mind flashed to a random point in time. It was just another sunny day on the algebraliens' planet, and everyone was playing with each-other as usually. Two and Eight were talking, Five, Three and X were playing catch, and Four was... well, he was doing whatever he did. Meanwhile, One found herself sleeping underneath a tree, the same one she was under when she first came into existence. The air was fresh and the spring breeze blew, accompanying the chatter of the other numbers in the distance.
She heard someone coming. Who could this possibly be? From what One could remember everyone hated her, so... what the heck was this about?
"One, get up."
It was Six. She kicked One awake and stared at her, waiting for her eyes to open. Once they did, Six pointed over to where Fourteen and Ten were.
"Apologize to Fourteen for what you did to him!"
"W...wh-which is...?"
"Oh, don't act like you don't remember. You tripped him and Zero! And then later, when they were minding their own business, you cane over and yelled at them like it was their fault!"
Of course, One had no recollection of this, this being a memory and all, but she could see why it got on people's nerves. She used to do this sort of thing all the time; nagging at people for the littlest things, stealing, twisting arguments in her favor... it was the norm for One to be a bitch like this.
She sprung up from her nap spot and traded places with Six, backing her into the tree and putting an evil smirk on her face.
"I guess I'm the only one here with a spine, huh? Shit happens, Six. Sometimes you just gotta DEAL with it!"
One kicked Six against the tree before she ran off. In the distance, Three heard the commotion and left her game to help.
"Hey, hey, you alright? Ah - don't say anything, I know exactly what you need. I got you, buddy!", chimed Three as she pulled out a bandage from her bag and applied it to Six.
Suddenly, one memory shifted to another. This time it was of her and Three, and they were at the Equation Playground with Four and X. Looks like the latter two just got done with some kind of lesson and were celebrating...
"Yeah, and it's lucky, too!", cheered Four. They both watched them dance, and scoffed. "Ya don't have to rub it in," yelled One, "plus... 7's actually a really unlucky number in most places!"
"Hey, can't you see we're having fun? It's just a harmless joke."
One, still lost in her thoughts, had no idea why this one came up. It didn't seem too important, or too unimportant. Then she noticed the elephant in the room: Three was there with her! Standing right next to her and reciprocating her feelings! That had to mean something, right?
But of course, it was too good to be true. Three was only upset that One was upset. "You can't be taking everything personally like that, One," she scolded, "or someone's going to get hurt someday."
One walked away, sulking once more in her self-inflicted loneliness. She saw Two taking a nap of their own, under another tree, and tried to talk to them. But, instead of doing the nice thing and leaving them be...
"HEY!! WAKE UP, TWO!", One screamed, startling Two and snapping them out of their daze. They didn't want to take their chances with this lunatic, so Two got out of there and decided to stay with Eight for now. One watched as they walked away, and overheard Two say something that shook her.
"Gosh, that One's a whole new level of mean! I bet she doesn't have even a shred of respect or niceness at all in that hollow body of hers..."
One started hyperventilating, as if waking up from a bad dream, and eventually that's exactly what happened, her waking up from this nightmare of a trip in a cold sweat.
One found herself back in her bedroom once again, her vest drenched in sweat. She tried calming herself down, but even then, One was still confused. Why was she so upset? It didn't seem all that bad, what she did.
Okay, maybe Pencil had a point. I was definitely mildly annoying, maybe a little bossy, but I can't remember doing anything that terrible to those guys!
But then, One considered the following: maybe all those moments remembered were just parts of a greater whole. Maybe... no, it was certain. Those parts added up. One couldn't remember a single nice thing she did or a favor, a job, anything she may have done for someone. She helped herself, yes, but when did she ever care for others?
This was something One had to accept. It was all true. Even when people did give her the time of day, One had to go mess it up for everybody. She took everything personally, never had genuine feelings or had happiness for others. She hated all of them, all of the algebraliens that were in her life and on the planet with her. But she could never understand why until now. It was because One was never like them at all, and she never would.
What Two said about her was true, as you may or may not know; she was a hollow, empty shell of a being, a CAGE without a SOUL. Only a week ago was that void filled, and yet One still held onto her old ways somewhat. What happened a few hours ago, that was for herself too, wasn't it? It's her world, her body. One couldn't let anyone take it away from her, she wasn't going to. Was she really fighting for the safety of others, or was it all for herself?.. The line was too blury to know for sure. One didn't want to know the answer, as much as it would help to.
The One-lings were scattered about the rest of the house and cleaned up the wreckage. The blood, the sweat, the dolls - god, there were so many dolls - were all getting wiped down and disposed of themselves. As much as One hated her old self and all the memories attached to it, it was nice to have these little guys around to help out. One of them heard what sounded like sobbing coming from One's room.
"Dude, is that One in there?", one of them asked. "Nah, One, that couldn't be her. That's more of a One thing." They went back to work and switched the topic to something else, which was music to One's pointy, depressed ears.
With her head rested on her pillow, One sat on her bed curled up in the fetal position, crying softly.
I... I-I can help! I can do things for people, I can do things for my friends! I have those, right? I'm... I'm a good person...
But One knew that wasn't right. She wasn't a good person at all, far from it. She's lucky that Leafy was wrong, that she didn't end up alone, but at the same time she sure did end up sad. There was no justification for her heinous, evil deeds that One commited in the old days of the world. She deserved her self-loathing, her hatred for being this way, and if she could've said one more thing to Three that's what it would've been; that she hated herself.
One buried her head in her legs, choosing not to adjust the hair in her eyes. It could be more dark this way, more fitting for the place she was in. There was a part of her that liked this, didn't it? Being alone. It's all she ever knew. She started telling herself something, whispering...
Your old world's already gone, One.
Two. Gaty. Donut. Leafy. Three. They're gone, One. They can't hurt you anymore. You can't hurt them anymore, either. It's better that way.
Focus on the present. Focus on yourself. I mean, e-everyone gets to be a little selfish, right? Just keep telling yourself that.
Let's turn our back to the sun. Focus on the moon. Let's bid farewell to the days gone by. Let's focus on the present.
Let's smile again.
Because no matter what happens, you can change. You can get better. Matter of fact, heheh, you already have!
No matter what anyone says, you can turn yourself around. That doesn't mean you should forget what happened before, though.
It's always going to be a part of you; you have to learn from it. So always remember your actions. Learn from them.
You just have to keep telling yourself that.
"Don't forget."
And maybe, just maybe...
The dark clouds will be driven away.