My Idea Box

ORIGINAL IDEA: First Minutes of Life

It was dark, cold, and wet. Those were the first things she noticed as she came to. For a long moment, there was nothing else, except the feeling of weightlessness and the sound of his own breathing.

Then, there was something from the quiet. A sound of some kind. A shout, she thought. And at last, she opened her eyes.

Bubbles rose up and down, and through a transparent glass, she saw them. Computers beeping and blinking, people donned in white clothes, and oval-shaped tanks, identical to her own, lined up against the wall.

The darkness was gone, but the cold and wet remained. With them were questions: Where was she? What was going on? Who was she? What was she?

For the last one, she only knew she was just a body floating in a sloshing and slimy substance.

It is a healing pod, said a voice in her mind. You are in a healing pod.

The words were blunt and unemotional, as if she was supposed to know from the start. There was something strange, even unknown about them. Were they important? If so, why?

Again, that automatic part of her brain answered: You are not fully developed. You need to grow into a perfect being.

'Grow?' 'Perfect being?' None of the words made sense.

The shouting came back, cutting her away from the thoughts. The men in white ran back and forth, giving out commands that barely audible through the glass.

"... they're coming... do we do?"

"Disconnect the... from the tanks!"

"... won't survive!"

"Orders are..."

Moments passed, and the men in white went around their duties. While they played their computers, she barely noticed some of the tanks suddenly going dark. The bodies inside moved around a little before there was nothing.

Then, screams roared in her ears. Screams of the other people in the tanks as their lives went out. Her hands grabbed her ears, wanting to turn off the screams. She could not and suffered hearing the voices die one by one.

All of a sudden, through the cries, he managed to hear something. Before long, there was something else...

BOOM!

The tank, perhaps the entire room, shook, making her just barely look. Smoke filled every corner, covering the men in white with clouds of gray. First thing was shouting, then-

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Her back struck the glass of her pod, the side not broken and cracking from three burning marks.

Shots, her mind informed her. Plasma rounds, capable of melting any substance-

The melting glass interrupted as she slid through the sudden large hole in her pod. Her knees touched a cool floor made colder by the liquid once keeping her afloat. The same liquid fell off her gray suit and dripped down long dark hair. She also coughed a bit up when she took in her first breath of fresh, albeit smoky, air.

A voice cut through it. "She's loose! Somebody stop-!"

She felt her eyes widen, her skin tingle, and her lithe muscles tense from the body lying before her. It was one of the men in white, now stained black by the smoking hole in his test. Though she backed away, his screams and expression of abject horror-complete with an unmoving mouth-crowded in her mind.

Soon enough, another joined him. Then, another, and another, and another, and another. Each one with similar burning holes and lying before her. She saw their faces and still heard their screams, despite covering her ears as much as possible.

"N-no more!" she heard. "Please, no more!"

Even when the screams faded, the voice in her mind still spoke. Enemy nearby. Be ready to engage!

"N-no!"

Footsteps crowded her ears, as did the strange sounds of some kind of machinery. These weren't several men in white, but one. Her eyes trailed up the gray boots to see a man wearing some gray metal.

The strange voice did not explain the metal, only shout, Eliminate! Kill!

It took everything within her to not listen. She shuddered, wishing for everything to go quiet. The first voice denied her wish.

Stand! Fight!

"Stop! Leave me alone!" said the other voice.

No. It was her voice, so light and small. Somehow she heard herself.

Everything in her shuddered from the next word: OBEY!

She bent over. The word filled every bit of her senses, from her tingling skin to her ringing ears. Again and again it repeated.

OBEY! OBEY! OBEY! OBEY! OBEY! OBEY! OBEY! OBEY! OBEY! O–

"Hey," said a third voice, much deeper than her own. "Hey, are you alright?"

She blinked with wet eyes. The same eyes looked up those gray boots and metallic form. The face meeting her was as human as her own or as the others lying dead on the floor. Despite the huge scars–wait, were they scars?–there was a warmness to it. To him.

Still shaking, she said, "It hurts. I-it hurts so much…"

The figure knelt before her. He seemed so large, his scars more pronounced. The warmness shone through them all, as he holstered his gun. Even when his arms curled around her entire body, his embrace had been warm. "It's okay," he said. "You're safe."

His words were warm and strong too, so much so she believed them. She slid her trembling arms around his massive torso to return the hug, all while suppressing the urge to reach for his gun.

"Do you want out of here?"

She didn't question what the word 'want' meant. She nodded into his metal chest anyway, her face still wet. She didn't care if her legs were too weak or if he had to carry her out. She didn't look away at either the fading smoke or the bodies on the floor. She had seen and heard enough already, and the figure's metal form and footsteps were a welcomed change.

Accepting it, the voice in her mind slowly faded into nothing.

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AN: Just a snippet I had from an old story (a RWBY-AU-fanfic-turned-original-story) I had discarded a few years ago. Looking back, I think it's good I never actually published anything, given the writing for this bit. In fact, I had finished writing this bit only recently so I had some original story concepts for The Idea Box (if just to freshen things up from my fanfic ideas and whatnot), and even then, the writing feels kinda off. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy it for what it is. Thanks and take care.

-W.S.