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Sprout found himself in the room where previously two had entered. Him and his beloved, his everything.
The room was quiet. except those breathers and the sound of a quiet buzz from a certain toon being passed through the cold air. It was a small space, but big enough to fit coldness inbetween of him and her.
Drops of some liquid can be heard falling. It gave the cold and dried atmosphere even more, dreadnes. Subtle but there. Why that, he thought. Well he did still got his beloved by his side.
His one and only, she was there for him when situations got messy, when he had to work through something. She helped him. Even just her presence calmed him, knowing that as long as he got her by his side everything would be alright.
She was his beam, she'd never leave him.
He never could explain it, but even if she only was there, laying a short look at him, he was convinced that this meant something. Something good in the future and he was sure this feeling would never be proven wrong.
A tug at his arm made him flinch, the cold sensation wirring something inside in him. Sure he knew who it was by his side. The only other survivor of this whole mess. His beloved.
Looking down at her with so much love, that it could -just maybe, fix their situation.
But he knew it couldn't.
Seeing Vees expression would normally bring him to start teasing her, at least in public. This was a different look though, one she didn't show all that often - if even at all.
She was brave, strong, smart and holding up, just like him.
Remembering their situation, he snaps back.
He can't pretend everything is fine, they both -he and her were failing. Not with each other but literally.
Feeling the same liquid that was leaking from the ceiling, now pooling underneath him.
It wasn't his own. He isn't THAT fragile, but someone else is.
Sprouts eyes slided in a panicked motion over to her, notecing he had started crying uncouncessly. She's going to die, than, be reborn as one of those twisted creatures. And than she would try to tear him to pieces, just like all of them.
How could she?
Deep down he knew, it wasn't her fault. Nothing that happened just now was hers.
Even that she got damaged badly wasn't. It was his fault. He dragged her, so much so that it over got her capacity. He's such a moron. He out of all toons? He was caring, he should understand such thing as a capacity. Still he did this, to HER out of all toons.
Vees fingers twitched and her body budged while giving sprout a pain filled smile. A smile like she always used to, but those used to be without all that pain.
She looked like she could fall apart right there and now. Next to him. So weak, yet she keeps that deceiving smile on her. Her reassurance never faltering. But the pit of ichor -her ichor, was only growing and the liquid that had reached him began to loose it's once held warmth. As if telling him that he's losing time and his previous loved one.
Even if Sprout were able to somehow get them to safety, he'd still be stuck with the fact that he doesn't know anything about machinery. He's so useless, he couldn't even remember one bit of Vees Blueprints.
Feeling the for him now normalised heat to leave him suddenly.
Vee wasn't leaning on him in a comfortable position -where they would've normally melted into each others embrace already, but was half a meter from him now. Lying on the floor -oh the cold cold floor, holding her stomach.
She was in pain, in big one at that. He could tell.
His instincts kicked in, rushing to her side. One moment he was laying against the wall, the other he was next to her pained form. Hands looming over her, trying to figure out how to act.
---
He was an idiot, she thought. A big one at that, but one that she loved dearly. Knowing that all those precious memories would be forgotten soon. She smiled -not because she was happy, but because it was a goodbye.
When he looked at her with the ghost of his eyes blankly and started to cry big uncontrollable tears, she knew that even this wouldn't help. Neither her nor him. Now she felt stupid herself, she didn't notice that his absent look wasn't of comtenplation, but of worry -of denial.
She made it worse. The smile didn't work like it used to. The feeling tensing up in her stomach made her unable to think straight.
Looking down to her legs, she remembered the ichor pond beneath them. It grew a lot, since the last time she had thrown a look down. Its and sprouts warmth were comforting, even if she started to feel lighter by the second.
If she could've been ably to breathe, she'd say it had gotten harder.
Now laying on the floor shivering like a loser. She would die, become one of her formal friends. Be useful again, even if that meant tearing every toon in her way apart. She'd be fine with doing it to anyone after a while, anyone but Sprout.
If he were to ever get hurt by her she would do the unthinkable to herself. She would have become more of an monster than she already would've been.
From the ground she could not see much, but if she guessed she would say sprout was sitting in front of her, panicking.
Most of the times she couldn't read facial expressions that good, but Sprout made it weirdly easy. He was expressive, never hiding his displease with others. Only if it didn't make the other sad or unhappy. But right now he's way to panicked to keep this up.
"I'm sorry" Vee got out, her words almost faltering through all those glitches. She was more than embarrassed or sad. Everything and nothing at the same time.
Sprout stopped moving momentarily, to stunned to speak or even react to that. Out of everything she could have muttered, she chose 'I'm sorry'?!
"What" he replied, there was no way she thought that any of this was her fault. Right?
This time weaker, "I'm sorry" came out of her damaged voicebox.
Her head started to drop to the floor. Just before it collided, Sprout had her head cought in his arm. His other arm pulling her close through her thin waist, grip tight. Not enough to break anything of her though.
The fragile body now placed on his lap, she leaned her TV like head on his chest. A sad, almost hurt look implanted on her screen. If she could, she would've cried. Sprout knew.
Knowing she's going to die without ever shedding a tear, have eaten or drunken, split his heart into millions of peaces.
He never asked how she felt about a lot of stuff. Now he knows he will never have the chance to ask ever again.
Breathlessly he started. "Don-" he cought his breath again as he continued "Don't say that!You were never at fault for anything here." Grasping her by her now relaxing waist closer, noting that she'd gotten lighter.
His relaxation after the shock got met with yet again panic. This wasn't normal.
With a snap all of her relaxation left, swapped with her feeling her stomach clenching invard.
Seconds passed by as he realized what she did. She had pushed herself off of him, with all of her now rapidly demolishing power that was left in her body.
Vee slides a few inches before halting because of her heavy inner-works and the pit of sticky ichor beneath them.
She grasped her stomach once more -harder this time.
And than
-snap.
Her stomach snapped open, revealing her wire works and the many strings of ichor hidden in her.
She was so delicately crafted, but maybe delicacy made her this way. To much of it made her code all to confusing, even she herself couldn't understand all of it. If even just a fraction.
He knew she would've failed sooner or later either way, griping to that false hope.
Connie knew, he knew, even Glisten did.
With that same delicacy she was failing, even sooner than Dandy, than Pebble, than Shelly, than Astro. Oh how devastated she was when it got to our sweet Astro, she blamed it on herself the moment it happened. Vee most definitely does it now as well.
The exhausted, glitching look on the tvs screen made it the more clearer that she was almost done. How could she survive being literally split open. Of course she was done.
One last time he crawled over to her, his body's rapidly shaking betraying his rough face. Putting walls up as he got nearer to her. Because how could he show her he wasn't ready for whatever was going to unfold soon.
With gentle strokes he rubbed circles around Vees up-facing side of her head, while laying down on the side facing her.
His though face faltered imideatly after taking in her whole form. Thick tears started falling down his eyes, rolling along his oval shaped head, until it dropped on the sticky ichor, mixing with it.
He couldn't stop them.
He fucking couldn't!
But what could he do, he loves her.
So so much.
If he had to choose between her or anyone or anything else, she would be his option, always. Nothing could change his opinion, ever.
All he ever wanted was her, a life with her. Maybe they'd sleep in one room more often or would be seen more together in public. What if they would change their opinions on them, their relationship.
If they could have a child, like humans could they would have at least one. A daughter or a son, it didn't matter. As long as she was happy, happy with him or not.
Even if they could do it she wouldn't be able to substane something like this, she was only half of a toon after all. He wouldn't want to mess her up in any way after all.
She was perfect, perfect in every aspect.
Beautiful, unique, understanding, loving, caring and much more. Certainly he knew not everyone thought so, but he did, he believed deeply that she was that and much more deep down.
Not in a million years he thought would he lose her, not like this.
She's going to die, they will never be happy again. He will never have a talk with her or anything else they used to do. Never again...
Feeling a weak, shacking, but gentle touch on his cheek, wiping of his tears from one side. Doing the same on the other side by himself, he saw Vee again. Without the constant blur from his tears on his view, he saw her.
His stomach twisted as he locked his eyes onto hers. She had a grin displayed on her screen. One eye had it's lower lid twitched up by a little.
It was like her reassuring smile again, only that this time she had red tears coming from her eyes.
They looked unhinged, wrong, but still like something that releaved her. She wasn't holding them back ever, she couldn't imitate them anyway.
Unlike her attempt to cheer him up before this... this look gave him hope again. Fake one at that, but it said Sprout would be alright and whatever is going to happen any moment now will something he will overcome. In his way.
Small sparks formed in his eyes, he believed her look. He would trust it until he will be torn down by a twisted. Just like that he closed his eyes giving a small smile to the robot women in front if him.
Both moving one of their hand to each other, making them interlock. Their warmth radiating from them, Sprouts more than hers.
Than, the static stopped, her warmth now fully left her and she fell limb. His heart probably also stopped -maybe just for a few seconds, but it still did. If he opened his eyes he knew what he would be faced with.. and it hurt, just knowing that hurt deeply.
---
((Add on))
Maybe hours past in his mind, but when he finally heard her again it wasn't the same.
Sprouts heartbeat slowed to hard, pain inducing beats.
Her presence was filled with hurt, anxiety and something he couldn't put a finger on. Something she would never let out of her walls, unless they were alone. Body grown to an amount that now made her the towering form, in this room. Her gummy leg coverings were now to short to hide her actuall feeds design, like they used to. Her antennas stretched way to long to be neutral for her. It was as if the stress has gotten to her. Never in thousands of years would she be openly walking around like this, unless nothing more but her emotions and her body were left of her.
As he held his arms open for a hug that he knew will never come, he felt her now sharp fingers dug into his ichor filled flesh. It was painful, but looking at her was even more painful. Nothing could beat or even describe the pain he felt, when she, his world, crumbled and died.
Vee was someone who loved everything about space, always being fascinated by it. Maybe that's why she and Astro got along, they had that in common after all.
Sprouts baked goods could never have done anything to her, besides fascinating her by the design. So he had early on decided that he needed to get more creative outside of baking or cooking.
He'd spend hours on end to find something new to pleasantly surprise her with.
She always took him out of his comfort zone by default.
Sprout had a lot of reasons why to love her, but just the wish to impress her stated it all. He will eternally be thankful for this, getting to know her better along the way. Liking her, mutually even.
He loved that time, he LOVED HER. Vee.
"WHy D1Dn't y0u lEAvE B3RryB0yI??" Was the last thing he heard from her.
She was still in there, even if just a little.