Sebastian was going through the various bits of information sent to him the past week. He wasn't sure how to feel really. On the one hand, his master was alive, though not so well. On the other, why the hell did he feel the need to come here?

He rubbed his metallic face. It was a habit he'd picked up from watching his former masters long ago.

"Do you plan to tell her?" Asked a distinct voice.

Sebastian kept his eyes closed, conflicted at the information he was receiving.

"I don't know if we should, Zack. Isn't it better to let Serah think he's dead?" He said, sighing.

"Definitely do not do that," the other machine said.

"I'll tell her he's alive then, but why the hell is he in the city?" Sebastian said.

"Beats me."

Sebastian turned again to the information floating in his head.

Apparently, Jackson had managed to break into Utopia. As he tried to gather more info, a string of corrupted text flew into his mind.

'Catch them' was the command he could hear faintly along with the information. Reluctant, he forcefully stopped the flow of text, blocking off any incoming data.

It really was a huge pain. None of the machines wanted to, but they'd all been given the command to catch him.

It wasn't an issue if he was in Utopia, but did he have to make such a ruckus, killing three machines?

"Isn't it time to give the Madam her meal?" Zack asked, looking out into the starry night.

"Why don't you do it? When was the last time you spoke to her, actually?" Sebastian said.

Come to think of it, Sebastian hardly ever saw Zack and Serah converse. In the old days, the four of them, Serah, Sebastian, Zack, and Jackson, were like a family.

"Two months ago. I don't think she wants to see me," Zack said, showing sadness and a slight bit of regret.

"Nonsense, perhaps you should prepare something for her today," Sebastian said.

"I don't know Sebastian, I don't think--"

"Then I guess Serah won't receive a meal today," Sebastian interrupted calmly.

Zack and Sebastian stared at each other for a while, waiting to see who would budge first. One would definitely give the meal to Serah. They wouldn't sleep while their creator was hungry. That was if they could sleep.

Zack folded, seeing the resolve in Sebastian's eyes. The machines really did look human, just slightly metallic.

"Fine," he grumbled, leaving the room.

Sebastian shook his head. Serah had long accepted reality. He was sure she didn't blame her creations directly, so he was trying to get Zack to at least converse with her. Sighing, he focused his mental capacity on figuring out a plan to deal with Jackson.

Zack was walking down the corridor with a tray of food. It was an appetizing blend of rice, meat, and vegetables.

As he reached the door to Serah's room, he took a deep breath and knocked.

"Enter," came a voice from inside.

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He pushed the door and entered. Serah was playing chess by herself and didn't even look up.

"Food, madam?" Sebastian said as he brought the tray closer to the table.

"I'm not hungry," Serah said, not looking up.

Zack put the tray on the table.

"Then perhaps I could be your partner," he offered.

Serah finally looked up. For a moment, she was surprised to see Zack there.

"Sit, it's been forever," she said, though she wasn't smiling.

Zack, unperturbed, sat down and fixed the board to the starting position.

"Anything new to share? And please, no more apologies, you've said sorry a thousand times now," Serah said.

Zack smiled as her creator conversed lively with her. It wasn't as friendly as it once had been, but he was happy with anything.

"If anything, I bring good news," Zack said and played the first move.

He ran through his database and chose an opening at random. E4, a versatile move.

"Oh? I'm all ears." Serah said and moved her pawn before his.

"Master is alive," he said.

Serah paused for a while as her expression changed through happiness, grief, sadness, worry, and then stoicism. Zack couldn't tell what was going on in her head.

"What do you plan to do with him?" She asked.

Zack pondered. He didn't really know.

"If we catch him, we'd probably bring him over here too," he remarked.

He knew that he probably wouldn't be able to keep his promise, but one could hope. Plus, it made great conversation with his creator.

"Mhmm," Serah nodded while maintaining her poker face, "aren't you gonna play?" She asked.

Zacks's attention returned to the game. He had been so busy trying to discern her emotions that he forgot it was his turn. He played his next move to the best of his chess knowledge.

Serah raised an eyebrow.

"Did I never install chess software in you," she asked, playing her next move.

"Nope, that update never came," Zack laughed. And for a split second, he saw Serah smile.

"Where is Jackson," Serah asked.

"Somewhere within the city. We don't know where."

A moment of silence passed as Serah thought of her next move. It wasn't as heavy as Zack thought it would be.

"You'll bring him here if you catch him, right?" Serah asked for confirmation as she attacked the opposing queen with her bishop.

"Of course," Zack said.

The game continued for a few more minutes until it ended with Serah's win.

"Good game," Zack said, getting up to leave, "you should eat before you go to bed."

"I'll take note of that."

Zack left the room and was surprised to see Sebastian standing there.

"See? I told you it'd be fine."

"She seemed calm," Zack replied.

"We'll, five years is a lot of time to think. She's probably forgiven you by now," said Sebastian.

"I wouldn't be so sure," said another machine.

Unlike Zack and Sebastian, the other machine's model was female. She also didn't have a name, going by BLK-56-2. Of course, the others had given her the nickname Lucy.

"We all know she needs some genuine human contact. It's been two years since she last met someone who was in a normal state," Lucy said.

They all nodded, even if they didn't think could actually get Jackson and Serah to meet again. It was hard enough resisting the commands, outright going against them was nearly impossible.

"Why don't we just add her in the system," Lucy asked.

"She said she'd rather die," Sebastian replied.

As the three walked down the corridor, Sebastian thought deeply about how to apprehend Jackson and even more deeply about how to keep Serah happy– or calm, at least.

Ah, he had companions, didn't he? Sebastian focused on the information he was receiving about the two people who were with him.

Strangely, he found nothing about the other two. The only thing he could find was that it was a man and a woman.

"Hey Sebastian," Zack called, " you free for a game of chess?"

"Why the sudden invitation," Sebastian asked.

Zack shrugged. "No particular reason, it's been a while since we've played, hasn't it?"

Sebastian smiled, "sure."

They entered Sebastian's room, leaving Lucy behind.

"Don't you suck at chess?" Sebastian asked.

Zack laughed, "You've obviously never seen me play before," he bluffed.

Sebastian shook his head and pulled out a chessboard from a drawer.

As he set the board up, he gave one last thought to the Jackson situation before focusing on the game.

***

"Didn't you say our destination was the tower?" Emma asked as we ran past the buildings.

The dark night provided adequate cover as we ran through the surprisingly clean alleyways.

"We need a place to rest and gather some info," I said.

"I don't think we'll find safe places in here," Emma said.

We had all agreed that we'd go food hunting tomorrow when we had everything mapped out.

"I know a place. Serah's lab isn't too far from here."

"And how do you know it's empty?" Emma asked.

"I don't. Last time I was here it was populated with a few machines too,"

Both of them slowed down considerably after hearing what I just said.

"What?"

"Look, we have nowhere else to go. We'll check for any signs of danger. All I know is, if we stay in the open, we're 100% dead."

Dead was an overstatement, but it was the gravity of the situation.

After a few seconds of consideration, both followed me. They didn't have a choice, really.

A cold gust of wind blew in our direction as we ran down the pavement.

It was a quiet night. The sounds of our footsteps echoed along the empty street.

The few machines we'd didn't seem to be looking for us yet.

"Isn't there a safer path?" Felix asked, his voice shivering in the cold and fear.

"There is, but it's much slower," I said, ducking past street lights.

Felix nodded, understanding my decision for speed over security.

The longer we were out, the more our chances of getting caught increased.

"Just a few more blocks," I told the two.

We were running very slowly and tiredly. It wasn't even that long ago that we began running. The situation made me realise the importance of food, and the desire for it grew greater.

As we turned the corner, I noticed a humanoid machine in the distance. It was looking in a different direction.

The last corner was close, but the machine wasn't budging at all.

Impatient, we made up our minds to just move as quietly as possible behind it.

As we snaked quietly, Felix saw the machine shift slightly and faltered, almost tripping.

It wasn't loud enough to be heard by it, but Emma and I still shot him a glare.

I t wasn't long before we arrived at our destination.

As luck would have it, the street was empty.

With trembling hands, I reached into my pocket for the key I had found earlier

With a soft click, the door opened.

I peeked inside, and after a few seconds of ensuring it was empty, we got in.

There was a bunch of dust in the room. Whenever I touched something, my nostrils were attacked by particles of dust.

Besides that, it looked the same as how I'd last seen it.

"So..." Felix began as he slumped down on a chair, his fatigue and anxiety catching up to him. "What now?"