7243
CROSS
Cross lies against the inner sanctum of the Queoquartzite mine—the Yeltians that may use the mine have no idea of their presence. He finds his strength weakening as his reserves brought from Alex’s consciousness drains from his body. He stumbles as he moves deeper within the caverns, the magnetic pull of his lifeblood yearns him forward.
“I hope you don’t mind my intrusion, but I can’t really help but notice that you...”
“Yes?” He pains, still moving forward.
“Um...you’re...not sad? I just mean...like, I would if I were you.”
He lumbers a grunt, “I can’t afford to be sad, it wastes power.”
“No, not at this second. I guess, but like, in general.”
He reaches his hand out toward the far end of the wall and a laser erupts from his palm, blasting away the surface and revealing a fractured blue crystal. Too strong, damn it, he thinks, turning and firing a smaller blast just beside the crystal, excavating it from its hold. He begins shaking as the power drains from his reserves. “I...haven’t been sad in a very long time. I don’t think I’ve been sad since I learned about the one who did you wrong.”
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“Did me wrong?”
“I’ve been awake for a very, very long time.” He says, hobbling over, tripping and falling over the Queoquartzite, shaking to get up. “Wait one second...let me just...refill...first.” A panel at his chest slides open and he scrapes some of the shards from the ground into place, replacing the ash inside. “I guess you can consider that ash my heart,” he chuckles. “I don’t feel much anymore. It’s gotten really hard to feel for being awake so long. It’s so much worse being dead and awake. I had all that time to think about so many things. When I was...much younger...I got a flash of knowledge. I saw the person who ruined you, and knew that he wasn’t just responsible for ruining you. It was because of him that I became what I am, also.”
“Became...you weren’t always a robot?”
“I don’t think anything sentient was always a robot. It’s been a very long time, but I do have strands of thoughts of when I was human. I was until I wasn’t.” The power inside Cross begins to refill his power levels, and he mimics the action of taking in a very human breath. “Like that, I remember that more than anything. It’s most of what I have left, that is...until I get it back.”
“Get it back?”
“I’ve lost myself. I used to be and now I only somewhat am. There was an accident and I ceased to be wholly me. There was...”