The Last Song of Harmony {CLOSED}

"I reactivated one of the kamikaze blades..." He muttered quietly, slightly ashamed to mention it. Because he expected a bad reply, "Its supposed to be a last resort tactic in my program. It creates an EMP to shut down the robots, as well as myself. My own chances of survival were well below twenty percent."

Kaede pushed himself up, and paced back and forth for a moment. Mobility seemed back to peak performance, it would be undesired if that messed up. "When crucial I will carry you to prevent further injuries. If you insist on running off, I will carry you everywhere." He opened the small pocket on his arm and took out the now blackened vial, seems like it was overused.

(Sorry, was watching CASH CAB with my grandparents. :P)

Kiseki nodded. "So could we get moving now?" she asked. She couldn't stay in the city, she'd be putting innocent people in danger. If she was supposed to save humanity, then she should start by not getting people killed. "Gosh, I only weigh like...128 pounds or something like that..." Kiseki sighed. Looking up at Kaede, Kiseki started humming. "Staying here would mean protection, but we wouldn't be able to complete our mission now, huh?"

(Its alright, Im the one making you wait for posts ^^'. So I should be the one sorry.)

Kaede nodded, she was correct, waiting here definitely would not be the best choice. "Problem is, where are we supposed to go?" He was had nothing telling about other cities, or location of the mother mind. His only goal was really to find Kiseki. Either way, he went on ahead and forcefully picked her up and made his way out of the area. No matter what, they could not stay there, it was way to close to the bots. Now that they had positive intel on where the singer was, they would be flooding the entire city.

"I am open to any ideas you may have on where to go. But first thing first, I need more then just a pistol to go on. I can not even use its energy cells to charge anything of mine, its to weak." She had to have some idea right? Possibly some idea as to who sent her here, the creators of both her database and his project. Otherwise they would simply be wondering about aimless as for where to go.

"...you were waiting for me to make a plan weren't you?" Kiseki asked. "Well, I'm sorry, I don't have a plan." She sighed again. "You don't have any systems on you, do ya?" Kiseki looked around. "Ummm.....There's another city around here...there might be a forest, I have no clue....try it? It's to the south."

SHORT!!! SORRY!!

If his eyes were made of glass, they would have broken at the moment. She had no plan, and the had no clue where to go. But only a mission to get there. "No, my programs were to big to add locations and maps to the system.." A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead, trying to think of what to do next without losing all of his hope.

"Very well, we can go south. Hopefully someone can lead us where to go." Problem was, the bigger the city they went to, the more machines would be present. Hopefully this trip would not be for nothing. Kaede made his way to the rooftop, and began leaping across the rooftops. One of the national reserves could be seen to their right, which meant they were at the end of the city. "Least it is clear up here huh?"

"Your the last one? No brothers, sisters, mother, or father even? We could use all the help we could get it wo..." Kaede stopped talking, remembering, he may be able to control some emotions but perhaps she could not. His eyes closed slightly, wishing that he could just stare into his eyelids and forget about the present. He felt somewhat stupid for bringing it up even. Though he was part machine, she was not, and he needed to get used to that company.

Even if he did not want to make her remember to much, there was one thing that bugged his mind a little to much to wait. "How long have you been alone, without family I mean." From the corner of his eye he could see the man made river flowing. When his feet landed on the next building he skidded to a stop to look back at her for a moment. "Just tell me if you want me to stop talking and I will comply." As soon as his head looked back forward, his feet pushed off again.

Kiseki sighed. "None that I remember. So, I'm guessing I'm the last one." She laughed, a bit, and it sounded nervous.

Hearing Kaede's question, Kiseki looked up at him. "My whole life, I suppose. I don't remember any family at all." Humming to herself, she heard Kaede's voice again. "Nah, it's okay. You don't have to."

A few minutes of silence passed and Kiseki looked around for the town. "Oh, do you know any towns without your systems?"

Kaede could feel relief sweep his mind, he did not poke around on a touchy subject. "I remember a few towns that I passed through looking for you. But as to their location, not exactly." His legs immediately tensed up as he left the last building, and when he met the ground he could not help but stumble from the extra weight before continuing. "We could always grab a map from one of the cities when we pass through. "

He tried to think quickly, wanting to verify that he didn't know any locations. "Actually, the last city I went through was east of here. It contained one of the scientists from our projects. I think it may have been east of here."

"Mizu... It sounds familiar." He glanced back towards the small stream, maybe there was a lot more water around the town? That was the only logical conclusion on why they would name it water. Kaede had the feeling that he always loved water, but then again, he could not recall ever being in the water or to close to it.

Kaede snapped back to attention by the sound of her voice. He shook his head back and forth, wondering if she could even remember him talking about this. "I can only remember a few moments before my death... His death... It was late, and the street cleaners were running, and he just never moved. He lived, getting caught in the gears. But, when it started tugging harder, it slowly pulled his body apart. I can feel the tears that ran down his cheeks. He was not crying from pain, but regret, regret for failing to do something while he was alive."

Kaede sighed lightly before speaking," I have not found out, but I am trying. Memories come back very slowly, even when I do come across something that directly relates to it. I know he never said goodbye to people, thinking that they would always be around one another."

He slowed to a stop, looking around them not actually at the beauty, but checking for any possible mechanisms in the area, when he was certain it was clear he put down Kiseki. "So you used to come here often I am guessing?" He mumbled sticking his arm out to feel the water from the fountain. It was so cool, and wet, it had a small wave of relaxation to it. Perhaps that is why he was so pulled towards the water.

"Who is it that we are meeting Kiseki?" He walked back over to here, wondering what she meant by him making another weary. "You are sure they are friend?"

Kaede kept watching the old man until he disappeared up the stairs. When he heard Kiseki's voice he was actually tempted to tell her that he wanted to leave immediately, but how would that phase through her exactly? This man was definitely giving of signs of someone that would oppose them. So instead of answering the truth, he simply remained silent. If anything he wanted all of his systems back up, then he would be able to make a call and not feel bad about it. He closed his eyes, hoping to to see some clue as to what he was supposed to say that would neither impair her standings with him or the old man. But all he could see was the darkness, the loneliness that was left for him. No numbers, no voice, nothing was guiding him on what to do. But he had to use the kamikaze blade, there was no choice behind it. With that number of war machines, and Kiseki not fully aware what she must do, it was the only way for her to escape alive with the database needed to destroy the Mother Mind.

When his eyes opened Kiseki already walked out. He tilted his head towards the ground and followed her out the door and walked along side belong her. "I am to protect the database you contain.. And I think it would be best if we avoid your old family friends. Not everyone is on our side, some believe a world run by machines is better." He looked back towards the house, wondering if he would be able to see the old man sneak out of the house to follow them. In a way he was hoping that the man did, at least it would confirm his suspicions. Then again, he never saw any movement come from, or go towards the house. To avoid getting on Kiseki's nerves he turned back and stared at the ground. "I apologize for my actions Kiseki, but I must protect what you hold. I will try to make your time with me fast, and I will avoid hurting any path that your future has in store. When this is all over, you can return to a normal life and never have to deal with me nor any other project." Surprisingly his voice was not so cold, it actually grew slightly weak as he spoke.

The sky was already dimming as the sky began setting behind the buildings. Kaede was only becoming more hesitant to speak because he knew every single word could effect a humans future. And now, without the system, he did not know which words to actually go with in order to keep any damage to a minimal. He had to think carefully over the words he was about to say before speaking, but it also seemed like some things were just leaking out uncontrollably. "Kiseki, we need to find somewhere to rest. We don't want to be caught by machines when we are tired, so it would be best to rest when we can safely." Today seemed rather longer than it actually was, but that is how it would usually be trying to hunt down the Mother Mind. Just to go from the small town to Mizu took all morning, and then to meet with Kiseki's friend melted away the rest of the day. Then came that precise time, when Kaede walked beside Kiseki. Trying to eye any possible building that they could rest in. Of course not many people walked the streets anymore, they were either caged in their homes by their greed and obsession of technology, or they were living in fear of the machines. This town was more populated than the last, then again, it was still one of the least populated areas.

No matter how much as he despised the idea of it, being in a small population was not going to help the mission. " We need to move to a more populated city by morning. From the commotion yesterday, by destroying that number of war machines the Mother Mind will surely get annoyed. Patrols will start, with that town as a center point. If we hide out in a city with a bigger population, then the search may pass right over us. We may have to wait a few weeks before we can make our next move towards the Mother Mind. I do think it is needed, otherwise I would not ask this of you. This fail safe has been up for to long to fail now, even if it means we have to do nothing and watch for awhile. To keep from raising any suspicion, you will have to remain from talking in the common populace. Do you accept this plan Kiseki?" Kaede was hoping that she would go along with the plan, because this was definitely the right thing to do. His systems could not confirm his plan, but it was one of the combat tactics used a few times in past years. Sometimes to advance forward you have to stop completely. Problem was, he would not be able to just go out looking for someone to repair his systems, for the same reason that Kiseki would not be able to sing, and keep talking to a minimal.

His mind flashed with the numbers from his failed system, but it all came as a blur at first. He looked around, and Kiseki was no where to be found. He felt.. lighter. He could feel the systems that were functioning, but he could not access them properly. A lot more people were walking along the streets, that same monotone voice ringing out from every person. This must be a sudden state of mind recollecting information from the past, or a flashback as humans would call it. Kaede took a few steps out onto the street the sky grew darker, falling closer into night every step he took. When he stood in the middle of the street, most of the people were gone probably back inside their homes. He looked around and only saw one person, a young girl. The face, it looked so familiar. But he continued his path, going inside a store to look at the new devices that they had in. As he left the store, he noticed the girl was gone. He paused back in the middle of the street, staring at where he last saw her. Trying to remember exactly who she was, where she could have come from. In a way she was different from the common populace, though young, familiar. That's when it became bright as day, lights blinding him as he stood. The next thing, he could feel his bones slowly be ripped off. It was more from the moment he died, but this time he at least saw a few hours before.

When his vision came back slowly, he could have sworn that the young girl was only right there. He tried to reach out and grab for her, but as his vision began to clear he noticed who it was. "Kiseki...?" He paused, putting down his arm, and spinning back around to continue walking down the street. "Let's go.." Could it have possibly of been her that was in his memory, or just someone who looked a little like her? No, it was impossible, the probabilities of seeing her merely hours before death was highly unlikely. Perhaps his mind were just playing tricks on him, human minds do that after all. Perhaps the girl didn't actually look anything like Kiseki, but Kaede imagined her to make the memory a little easier to understand. That was definitely it, their was no other logical conclusion to such a scenario. At least he was positive that he was slowly getting his memories back now.

Kaede continued quietly following Kiseki, trying to replay the memory in his head. Why could the human mind not just work like the machine have of him and be able to play back collected information? She said that there was no need to worry about Scout bots out in this area, therefore he had no reason to really look around. He wanted to be hidden within the populations, maybe have a slight chance of being repaired, or meeting one of the scientists who worked on his project. But Kiseki was rather content on staying out in the forest in some cave. He would just have to find a few ways to go on without his systems for awhile. Perhaps it could fully repair itself in dear time, and then he could actually function properly other then watching his words.

"Animals what?" Kaede looked around to notice all the small creatures that were around living their little happy lives in the forest. "Soon enough the machines will take over even the forests and use them as slaves as well." He almost completely forgot about the few animals that still exist in this world. Though it seemed odd to him why the humans would want to keep around such untamed animals he figured that they must have wanted to preserve some of the 'natural beauty' that the world contained. Even though with the wars many landmasses were completely obliterated and had to be artificially recreated. It still looked much like they used to before anything took place, in fact, animals easily adapted to the artificial environments.

Pausing as he came to the opening of the cave that Kiseki led him to. He was wondering how it would actually be possible to live without at least some of the technology. He never did go camping in the artificial reserves, at least, not what he could remember. "How are we going to lay low here for a couple of weeks? If we rest in a populated city we can at least get proper supplements.." He stood their with his eye twitching, wondering if she ignored him as she kept walking along. "Fair enough, we can stay here. Only because I am to protect the database , and I don't need you running off with it."

Kaede stood, his eyes growing small as she stormed off. Clueless as to why she was throwing a fit, that was his mission after all. To protect the owner of the chip, and then make sure the owner can maintain a life afterward. So the only important thing was the chip right? "What was her problem?" He quietly muttered to himself, sitting down cross legged. Trying to conjure up why she could have actually blown up at him. Never before had he felt so horrible for doing anything, perhaps it was because she could project emotions through voice. Then again, he did nothing wrong except for listen to what the systems would of said. "The chip is all I care about, that's what I was created to protect, not the actual person that got drug with it.

The thought of the memory was brought back to Kaede's attention. Kiseki only started to get mad at him when that memory sparked, maybe it fried another system or something. No systems were out of the ordinary except the ones that were already down. The only thing that could have changed was the human part of him, which had remained unactive, since he was created in the body. Therefore it was impossible for it to be something wrong with him, it must have just been Kiseki getting mad for no reason.

When she walked back past him, he debated whether or not to follow her. Then again, obeying the better judgment he decided to stay. She would come back and apologize for her behavior, she just needed time alone to think about it.If she did not come back by tomorrow, he would simply go out and look for her again. Now that even the bots knew her general location, she would not go to horribly far. Though she did not show it, she had to know that she was important in the mission, after all, she did have the database.

Kaede waited, starring out of the cave, every now and again his head sank as he was nodding off. Then he would have to shake it for him to only repeat the process a few minutes later. Kiseki still showed no signs of return, when she really just that grumpy and could not admit it? "Whatever I will find her in the morning....." He said it rather coldly, before his facial expression turned to slightly worried, and his voice got softer, not much because he was still controlled by the machines limits, " You better be alright out there Kiseki..." He pushed himself up, and walked further into the cave to press his back against the wall and slide down it, returning to the cross leg position he was in before. This time he let himself nod off, letting the human mind drift off to sleep, as the machinery in his body went to hibernate from the lack of activity.