Chapter Text
Three hours later, Vax is still on the floor and Mami out of view. He is able to see Maker leave and hears him call for Kitty to get rid of the mess outside. It’s quiet after that and the room has darkened.
Mami doesn’t retrieve him.
He doesn’t hear Mami moving at all.
Did Maker break him?
Vax shifts in place a little. He can’t do anything but wait for Mami. Or Maker, but he doesn’t think Maker will be back anytime soon.
It’s still quiet.
He settles into it. It’s better than the noise – the breaking and the hurting sounds that he shouldn’t know. He’s considering entering sleep mode when it happens.
He hears tapping. A lot of tapping. So much tapping he begins to think something else has broken inside him. He finds himself struggling to roll over and, after shuffling himself closer to the leg of the couch, he’s able to change his position to sitting again.
He’s not sure how he did that.
But he can see now.
The tapping is on the window. The outside is distorted – liquid is hitting the window and dripping down and it’s very dark. He doesn’t understand what’s happening.
He doesn’t know where the flash of light comes from.
It’s sudden and too bright and sends his fans spinning and then it’s gone so fast he isn’t sure if it happened.
The sound afterwards is so unexpected that error boxes flash across his screen.
It’s loud. Loud, loud, loud – the walls shake and the windows rattle and it’s dangerous. This is dangerous. He is in danger. Loud is danger— He will break. He will—
He needs to—
-love Mami
-love Mami
-love Mami
The outside roars again and his body jolts.
-RUNRUNRUNRUNRUN
He falls forward and his limbs go out to catch himself and suddenly he’s moving and he doesn’t know where or how he’s moving but he needs to—
-HIDEHIDEHIDEHIDEHIDE
Vax sees the striped fur
-love Mami
-HIDEHIDEHIDEHIDEHIDE
and takes shelter under red wings.
Mami’s feet are bare, presenting long, soft black fur with clawed tips. Vax clutches his leg and stays as still as he can.
Error
Error
He had moved.
Error
Error
He doesn’t want—He… How did he—?
Error
Error
Another flash of light and an explosion of sound. Lights inside the room and outside flicker and burst. Files holding memories are opened without him even thinking to do it.
Names of actions and expressions and people and things. Crawling and reaching and waving.
An explosion of knowledge that is just as jarring as the explosions outside.
This is wrong. Maker had taken these away.
He’s not supposed to be able to do this.
He’s broken. He’s—
Fingers brush gently up the back of his head and then lower to rest on his back.
The sky roars again and he pushes himself even closer to Mami’s leg. Mami’s wings flutter and shift to cover him more.
He’s not supposed to be doing this. Maker doesn’t want him to. He’s going to make Mami angry and Mami will hurt him or Maker will get upset and hurt Mami and it’s all his fault. He doesn’t mean for this to happen. He doesn’t want to be broken like this.
He doesn’t like the lights or the sound or the memories.
“It’s a storm.”
Vax flinches at Mami’s hoarse voice. He has his camera pushed against Mami’s leg so he can’t see his face. He’s still on the ground and Mami had been sitting on the couch, wings hanging off to the side where Vax now hides.
“It’s a storm,” Mami repeats. His voice cracks in the middle. He hasn’t spoken to Vax in so long. Vax moves his head and looks at Mami. He has hunched over on the sofa, fingers pinching his wing to lift it and look at him. “The sound is thunder. It’s just noise. It can’t hurt you.”
Vax can’t be hurt.
“Don’t be scared.”
Vax isn’t sure if he can be scared.
But he knows he’s not supposed to learn. Maker told him not to learn. The more he learns the more Mami would make Maker upset.
Still, the information repeats itself in his head.
Noise.
Thunder. It’s called thunder.
It’s just noise.
Slowly, he lets go of Mami’s leg.
Another flash and roar.
Vax clutches Mami’s leg again.
Mami’s hands gently scoop him up and push him against his bare stomach, readjusting his wings to blanket him in the dark.
Vax has messed up again, somehow.
Maker is going to be angry.