RWBY||Defender of Remnant

Chapter 9: Painting the Town...

3rd Person POV

Vale

"Penny, I... I don't understand," Ruby said, stunned as she and Sincline stared at Penny, the orange-haired girl holding out her hands as sunlight glinted off her metallic palms.

She's like me, Sincline thought quietly, glancing down at his hands as he clenched his fists. That's why Ironwood wasn't surprised about what I was....

"Most girls are born," Penny explained, staring down at her hands as she wriggled her fingers. "But I was made... I'm the world's first synthetic person capable of generating an Aura." She looked down, staring at her boots sadly. "I'm not real."

Neither am I, Sincline thought quietly. At least... not in the way we both want. He could see it. He really could. The way she stared at her hands... it was the same way he had stared at his hands many times before in the Field, always wondering what it would be like to actually... live.

"Of course, you are," Ruby assured. Taking Penny's hands, she gently closed them back into fists. As she did, she glanced at Sincline, taking note of the barely hidden sadness behind his mask. "You think just because you've got nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts makes you any less than me?" she asked and turned her gaze to Sincline.

Letting go of Penny's hands, she crossed to Sincline and gently took his hand, the sudden contact catching him by surprise as he jerked his head up, his eyes meeting hers. "And that goes for you, too," she said gently, squeezing his hand.

Penny blinked, staring at the two in confusion. "Um... what?"

Staring at Ruby for a long moment, his expression unreadable, Sincline sighed and turned his gaze to the orange-haired girl. "The truth is... you're not the only synthetic 'person' she's met," he said. He closed his eyes, and his body flashed, his shimmering, wraith-like armor materializing around him in a burst of purple energy.

Eyes wide, Penny gaped at him in shock. "You're... you're like me?" she breathed. "How? The General said that I... that I was...?"

She looks so happy, Sincline thought quietly. She doesn't know... she doesn't know what she was made for. Not really. And at that moment, he made his decision.

"I was built by some... people with technology just as advanced as Atlas," Sincline replied carefully. He knew what he was: a weapon... but Penny didn't know. She deserved to believe she was different... at least until the illusion ended. Who knows? She hasn't done what I've done, killed who I've killed... she can be normal. "I was made to fight... and you were built to live."

Penny stared at him, awestruck. "Really?" she asked, and the shear hope in her voice tore at Sincline's chest.

Sincline nodded, his armor dispelling in a shower of purple fragments as he did so, and Ruby spoke up. "Trust me, you two," she said, causing the two 'synthetic humans' to turn toward her. "You're not like those things we saw back there. You both have a heart... and a soul! I can feel it!"

Smiling happily, Penny embraced both of them, and Sincline winced as he felt his ribs crack after positioning himself in such a way that prevented Ruby from taking the full brunt of the 'hug.' "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" Penny gushed. "You two have no idea how much this means to me!"

"No... problem," Sincline winced as multiple warnings flashed red across his HUD.

"I can see why your father would want to protect such a delicate flower," Ruby gasped, her face reddening from her position pressed against Sincline's chest. He would have been blushing, too... if he weren't trying to keep her from being crushed.