Human After All

Ethylon groaned while Beau looked down at the last of his stitches that were dissolving into his flesh. The last of the black material fell into his skin, stitching it together and making it seem like it wasn't even there just a few seconds ago. However, there was a small white scar that Beau could already tell he hated. Just the thought of somebody seeing the scar made him sick. Then he laughed. Who was going to see the scar since their execution would be so carefully planned out within the day?

He looked up at the camera in the corner of the room. The red light was blinking, but Beau had nothing to worry about. Joshua was a loyal bot. He would never go against his master's orders, especially when it was practically Beau's last wish. Joshua would obey it with his last breath.

That heart wrenching feeling came back to Beau when he remembered that Joshua would be deactivated, Leighlan as well. It was astonishing at how the Capital could just throw away citizens of their society like they were trash. It didn't show confidence in his government in the slightest.

Ethylon sat up, looking around the room before he found himself staring at Beau with a grimace on his face.

"This room's pretty dreary." He remarked. Beau laughed.

"Do you expect kitten farts and sunshine?"

Ethylon shook his head with an empty laugh. "Nice to see you again, Beau."

"Ditto. Under these circumstances, it'd be nice to see anybody human." Beau said, pushing himself off of the bed and falling on the hard cement floor. He hissed before pushing the pain away from mind so he could talk with Ethylon. Maybe they would have a human conversation before it came time for them to be executed.

"Well, let's see." Ethylon said.

"See what?"

"What they've given you so far." Ethylon nodded at Beau's chest which he was unknowingly covering. Beau pulled his arm away from the scar on his chest. Then Ethylon moved his gave from Beau's chest so he could glance at the scars on his cheek.

"Did they whip you?" Ethylon asked. He slipped his own shirt off, although it was practically nothing at this point. He turned slightly so Beau could stare at the gaping scars in his back, along with a few burn marks. "They whipped me a lot. You may think it hurts like a motherfucker when they're doing it, but it's really sad when you look at yourself in the mirror and still see what they have done to you."

Beau nodded, turning his back just a bit to show massacred flesh on his shoulder.

"He only hit me a few times. He made sure they hurt though." Beau said uneasily, scrunching his nose up when he touched the mutilated flesh that would easily disgust him for the rest of his life. Well, as short lived as it was going to be.

"Yeah, they do hurt a lot." Ethylon said.

The talking subsided for a few minutes as Beau picked at the flaky, dried blood on his chest. He licked his thumb and cleaned the flesh that was lost somewhere beneath all of the blood. Ethylon sighed.

"You think we're gonna die in here, don't you?" Ethylon asked quietly. Beau nodded as the thoughts of Joshua being deactivated came back to mind. He gritted his teeth as he imagined Joshua crying, and, well, Beau couldn't do anything. He didn't realize it, but his hand was clenched in a fist at his side. He was getting angry without even being taunted by the sailors.

"Well, we're not." Ethylon continued, turning to face the door where Mr. Rager usually came through. Beau shifted uncomfortably as he eyed the camera in the corner of the room, the red light blinking at the side of it. He wondered who would be watching this. The president? The citizens in the Capital? How many of them would be laughing as Beau and Ethylon were slowly tortured?

"What are you talking about?" Beau sighed. Ethylon shut his eyes sleepily, laying himself down on the ground with a sigh of content.

"You'll see."



Joshua never thought he had been so uncomfortable in his life. His clothes were caked with soot and ash that came from the wood stove in the corner of the room. His hair was greasy, tangled and all-in-all a mess. He had never hated the sight of himself so much. Especially when Mr. Rager came in with a mirror to taunt him even more.

Although Joshua thought of how broken, how beat up his master looked compared to him, and he just felt fortunate that the sailors were being as nice as they were to him. Joshua cringed at the thought of Beau being hit. He wondered if the skin would scar, not that it would matter much to him. Scars or no scars, Joshua loved his master with everything he had, and he would never give that away for some little marks and scuffles on his face. He would sooner wish to be deactivated than to ever leave his master with sadness.

Joshua rolled over on the stiff bed underneath his delicate body, scratching himself on the edge of the blanket. He yearned to roll over and look at the screen where his master was waiting, but Beau told him not to.... Perhaps... breaking the rules this once wouldn't hurt? Joshua pushed the thought away from his mind. Obeying Beau was the first thing that mattered. Everything else was obsolete.

The door opened while a black haired nurse came into the room. She brought in a cart covered with facial cleansers, moisturizers and other creams. She turned to Joshua with a soft smile on her face.

"Hello! I'm Amy. The sailors have sent me in to clean you up, for execution." She murmured the last part, but allowed herself to smile slightly.

Joshua nodded, sitting himself up on the bed. He kept his gaze glued to the ground while the woman rolled the cart over to his side.

"Please look up." She said. He avoided even looking at the screen, locking his eyes with hers. She pulled out a few towels. "Oh, your beautiful little face is just so messy. Dearie, don't they clean you up?" Joshua responded with the shake of his head. She then stared at his messy locks of hair. "Oh, this just won't do. I may have to take you out of the room for clean-up."

Joshua nodded again. She clicked her tongue slightly.

"Don't you speak? You seem so human! I'm sure you have a beautiful voice. What's your name?"

Joshua smiled shyly, covering his cheeks.

"Joshua." He replied quietly. Amy smiled, wiping away more dirt and soot from his face. She giggled, although she really didn't seem too happy. Perhaps it was the fact that Joshua would be deactivated in the next few hours that set her off, but she just wanted to take the bot and run.

"Are you all right, Joshua? You seem to be avoiding that screen an awful lot." She turned slightly, only glancing at the TV screen where the two boys sat in the corner of the room. They were chattering quickly, and almost excitedly. They were most likely nervous. After all, their deaths would be coming soon.

"That's my master on the screen. The one with black hair." Joshua said. "He ordered me not to watch." He pushed a ratty piece of hair away from his forehead with a sigh so she could catch the hint that Joshua didn't wish to speak of it anymore. She didn't.

"But he can't see you, so what's the harm in taking a look at him?"

Joshua denied the thought, turning his attention to the fact that he had to obey his master. He had to, there was no choice in the matter. And if he didn't obey, what would happen?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing would happen if he disobeyed. A light went on in Joshua's head, and he took a glance at the screen in front of him. It seemed that his throat had gone dry in the past minute (but then again, it could have been dry and he hadn't noticed it earlier), and he was trembling in excitement. Perhaps he shouldn't disobey the order.... Beau was practically begging for him not to look, no matter what he heard, nor what the sailors said. What would happen?

When Joshua finally worked up enough gall to look at the screen, there was nothing there. Static at the most before the room came back into focus. Ethylon and Beau were being led out of the room through smoke and broken cement by a blonde woman. Joshua sat up while Amy gasped as she studied the screen. Joshua ran to the screen, pressing his hands against the screen where his master was pushing through rubble and dirt. He laughed, a ball forming in the back of his throat, and for the first time ever, tears pooled in the corner of his eyes. Joshua couldn't stop himself from laughing.

"Run, Beau, run!" He found himself shouting at the screen where his master and Ethylon were escaping the room, but not before Beau turned to the camera and blew a kiss. The tears in Joshua's eyes spilled over as there came loud shouts from the halls of the chambers. Sailors yelled at each other as Joshua imagined his master running away from this terrible place. If anything, Joshua wanted Beau to get away without him rather than die with him.

Ah, but I can't die, Joshua thought. I can be deactivated, since I'm only a robot. He found that he needed to correct himself more than usual. He wasn't human, obviously.

Joshua jumped as something of an air-siren went off in the halls. Everything was happening so fast; Amy was begging him to leave with her, sailors were shooting of bullets at absolutely nothing, the siren went off, the lights flashed on and off, there came a few explosions from the second floor. Joshua couldn't help be excited because his master was the one who started all this. Beau, the one that outsmarted them all, started this.

The lights flickered on and off before the room went pitch black. There may have been an another explosion, but Joshua found himself desperate for light. He felt a hand wrap around his wrist and pull him off of the ground before he was thrown into warm arms. There came a soft hum from the chest he was held in as fingers ran through his tangled hair. Joshua hadn't felt another human touch for nearly nine days. Although it seemed like nothing, it was a lifetime for Joshua. A lifetime without Beau.

"Joshua." The voice Joshua longed to hear was back. Joshua collapsed into the arms, falling into loud sobs of happiness and excitement as Beau intertwined his arms around Joshua's body, crushing him in a hug. Beau spun Joshua in his arms, pressing his lips to Joshua's cheek until the only thing shared between them was the sound of lips smacking. Joshua didn't make too many movements. He only held himself as close as possible to Beau's warm chest. The lack of contact made him feel like this moment was too precious to be lost.

"Oh master, I disobeyed your order." Joshua said solemnly. "I looked at the screen. I-I—"

"Shush!" Beau ordered. Joshua couldn't seem to stop. His lips were trembling as Beau ran his fingers through Joshua's hair and down his back with a smile on his face. "You're talking too much. Joshua, I missed you."

"Master, please don't leave me." Joshua pressed his forehead against Beau's. "I care for you too much to be away from you for too long."

"Never again." Beau nodded. He trailed kisses along Joshua's cheeks before realizing that their lips were moving together perfectly, as though they had never felt a kiss before. Joshua wrapped his arms around Beau's neck, standing on the tips of his toes while intensifying the embrace, as well as the kiss.

"I love you, too, master." Joshua said. "When you said you loved me, through the video, I was saying it back, over and over, master." Joshua's nose brushed against Beau's. "You couldn't hear me.... But master, I said it!"

"I—"

"Hey, lovebirds!" Ethylon shouted through the dust and smoke. "Hustle! The sailors are coming."

Beau lifted Joshua off of the ground with a smile on his face as they headed out of the door where Ethylon and a blonde haired beauty awaited them. Joshua only guessed it was who helped them, but when he saw the supple lips upon her flawless skin and the friendly eyes that stared back at her. Joshua gasped, almost fainting in his master's arms.

"Troia?"

"We'll explain it later. Run!" Ethylon said. Beau let Joshua out of his arms before he grabbed his bot by his shoulders.

"We're gonna have to run. I mean, run. But I won't leave you behind." Beau said. Ethylon shouted out cuss words before they automatically started sprinting down the hall. Joshua had grown so used to the fact that the were running almost all the time that he could stay beside his master without missing a beat.

It seemed that they couldn't stop turning; right, left, right, right, left, straight, right, left, down the stairs, left, left; and they just couldn't stop. Finally, Beau rested his hands on his knees while Ethylon fell against the wall. Troia did the same, while Joshua only rested his forehead against the wall.

"Lejend." Ethylon said. "We gotta find Lejend. And Leighlan and Jaydin."

"So what are we waiting for?" Beau smiled. A renewed sense of strength flooded through every vein in his body. Adrenaline rushed in and he couldn't wait to get them back.