Chapter Text
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V1 has been wandering around hell all day, now they are in limbo on their way back home to Gabriel.
Usually there's nothing of interest in limbo, it's always the same.
Fake grass, plastic trees with hologram leaves, even some of the rocks are made of poorly painted plastic, no one ever bothers to fix the glitching screens or damaged speakers that crackle out static instead of bird noises and calming music. It's just sad really. Poor old limbo is falling apart.
The screens that make up the walls of limbo are slowly fading into their sunset display, it's getting late. Time to hurry back.
V1 spins their masksman back into their wing storage, tightens the plaid shirt that they are wearing around their waist, and jump-dashes into the next room.
it keeps its momentum going effortlessly dashing and sliding from room to room, they know this place like the back plate of hand. Yet somehow V1 took a wrong turn and ended up running head fist into a tree.
It smacks down onto the ground with a loud thud, the hologram leaves on the tree flicker in and out of existence before going blank, displaying a reboot bar that V1 watches as their head spins. It lays there on its back for a few minutes waiting for the leaves to come online again and for their own systems to reset. Once their balance module is online they jump up to their feet and shake off like a dog.
V1 puts their hands on their hips, ignoring the little slip up and they continue walking, but they quickly stop, turning their attention to a faint blue glow coming from the far corner of the room, hiding behind one of the broken lion statues.
They stop and stare at the glow, they can't sense any movement from it. So V1 slowly approaches the mystery glow, keeping the kuckleblaster at the ready in case of attack. Finally something interesting in limbo.
It stops and peaks its head around the lion's back leg. Sitting in between the wall and the base of the statue is a little Virtue, with its wings curled around itself. V1 has never seen a Virtue this small before, it's only a little bigger than a tennis ball.
V1 quietly makes their way around the lion to get closer to the Virtue, in doing so it notices them and starts freaking out. The Virtue chirps at V1 well flapping its wings and glowing brighter.
V1 beeps and holds up its hands, they take a step back and make a low drone sound, signaling that they mean no harm. Of course the Virtue doesn’t understand and it summons a beam of light in front of V1, the beam is tiny. Like flashing a torch in your eyes. When the Virtue realizes that it had no effect, V1 steps closer and bends down to its level, it panics. It chirps and whimpers trying to get away. That's when V1 notices one of the Virtue's main wings isn't moving, it's been damaged, a chunk of feathers is missing and it's stained with blood.
V1 drones again, its own wings drooping down in sorrow. They kneel down, slowly reaching a hand out to the Virtue. The tiny angel smacks V1’s hand with its good wing, then quickly curls up again into a little shaking ball of feathers and gold.
V1, a blood thirsty war machine built for killing and destruction has always had an affinity towards small creatures. Small Animals don't carry much blood, therefore it's not worth killing them for an extra 5% of fuel. It's one reason why V1 loves fish so much.
But a Virtue isn’t a fish, it's an angel. A fragile, injured, scared angel that can't attack and can’t run. If anyone else finds it then they will either kill it for blood, end its suffering or just ignore it and let it die. V1 can’t do that.
Gabriel has told them too many stories about Virtue’s. How hard they work, how kind and caring they are. V1 doesn’t want to see one suffer. It doesn't deserve it.
So V1 reaches out again, gently placing a hand on the side of the Virtue, slowly rubbing their thumb over its good wing. They can feel it trembling. They wish they could communicate with the angel, tell it that they mean no harm. The best they can do is make that drone sound again.
The Virtue cries and chirps in fear, but there isn’t anything it can do. V1 tries to imitate its chirps with mechanical beeps, to their surprise it works. When the Virtue chirps, they chirp back in a lower tone. And slowly the Virtue begins to relax, leaning into V1’s hand and letting its wings unfold. They don’t understand what it's saying but they keep chirping at each other. V1 leans in closer to get a better look at its hurt wing, they hope Gabriel can somehow heal it, or at least help heal it. Once the Virtue stops making sounds, V1 unties the jacket from around their waist and very carefully wraps the Virtue up in it, making sure to not touch its injured wing. In doing so they spot a small crack running along its outer shell.That must be what the dried blood is from.
V1 chirps, gently lifting the Virtue up, cradling it in their arms. They fold the jacket over so it's completely covered up. V1 waits for it to settle down, they can feel it still trembling against their chest.
The machine holds its new friend closer, chirping once more as they stand up and make their way out of the room.
Walking back will take much longer than zooming back. But that doesn’t matter right now.
At least the walk is pleasant. It's night time now. The screens are dark, displaying a starry night sky. Crickets, cicadas and the gentle whirl of V1’s fans are the only sounds that can be heard.
Gabriel is going to get a surprise when V1 returns home with their new friend. Two hours later than they were supposed to. Opps.
Sometimes Limbo can be interesting.
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