Reload [Nier: Automata Fanfic]

Chapter 5

Septem

(His name meant seven. He hated it.)

9S walks, mind blank except for the information concerning a certain boy circling in his head. Over and over again.

Septem. Male. 7 years old. 

(He was adopted a year before 9S came into this world.)

He walks and walks. Feet heavy as lead and mouth dry as a desert. He swallows, feeling an incoming dizzy spell.

From Victoria Orphanage.

(He wasn't transferred to another orphanage.)

He focuses on breathing, but the world still warps. His eyes grow heavy and he starts feeling sick.

Septem is a quiet and smart child. He's always reading something and you can never see him without a book. He's kind and polite, albeit a little awkward. We were worried at first that he wouldn't make any friends, but that proved to be unnecessary as he got along well with his peers.

Peers, 9S thinks to himself, that has to be his group of friends, right? Where were they now? Who are they?

(Too many questions.)

"Nines?"

What did it even matter if 9S didn't know all these things?

"Hello? Nines?"

Logically, nothing. But... something just didn't feel right if he didn't know.

"Um..."

As if he was missing the big picture.

"Nines!"

9S yelps. "Ahh!" Heart jumping and senses clicking back into place. Awareness flooded into him and along came embarrassment as Ventuna's face, perfectly alike to Operator 21O's, came into vision. Her two red-headed friends were frowning in the background. 9S' thought processing engine gracious supplied him with an eloquent thought: oh no.

"Are you okay, Nines?" Ventuna's eyebrows were furrowed and her arms were crossed. An identical picture. It was as if 9S was staring at Operator 21O. Her hair was even styled the same way...

9S blinked hard to prevent himself from being swayed into another daze. He'll ponder on the past later when he's alone.

"You've been out of it all day," Ventuna says and it feels as if her words held something else in them other than concern. Suspicion? Is Ventuna the type of person to even be suspicious of others? Or perhaps that's just 9S' memories filling in the gaps. Operator 21O wore suspicion beautifully and often. As well as bemusement. 9S couldn't remember a time in which she didn't express them.

(He could. It was when her eyes were a blazing crimson and her weapon drawn out, pointing towards him.

9S couldn't help but scream.)

"It's... okay if you're not feeling well," Popola says in her usual soft manner. Her eyes, in comparison to Devola's, were slightly droopy and she held a lazy atmosphere.

Devola, however, sighs and 9S could hear mock disappointment. "Just when we thought we could hang out with 'Tuna's," She started to imitate Ventuna's voice,"adorable, intelligent little brother."

"... 'Tuna?" 9S couldn't help but mutter.

"That's what you're focusing on?!" Ventuna yells, face as red as the twins' hairs.

He couldn't help it if he was being completely honest with himself. Ventuna was nothing like a fish and so the nickname was... Was...

9S snorted.