Chapter Text
“Stars are bright tonight”, he wondered aloud and then pointed to a section of the sky in particular, “you see that one? I read in a book I found recently that you don’t see it all the year from this planet. That’s kinda crazy, huh?”.
She nodded in agreement as she picked out the star in particular. It was a bright blue dot in the sky that, indeed, she didn’t remember seeing a few months ago. “So… It just randomly shows up every now and then?”, she asked.
He chuckled as his hand wrapped around hers tighter, “oh, no Uzi. It’s just a season thing. Or a planet passes through between us and it. I don’t really remember”.
“The robo-hell do you mean a season thing?”.
“Seasons! You know, like the changing temperature and stuff”, he motioned with his free hand around them, “Copper-9 has them! That’s what the books say, anyway”.
She shrugged, “N, I wouldn’t trust everything the humans wrote. They have all these books about how robots and humans could live peacefully with each other and look at what actually happened. Gone. Poof. Wasn’t even our hand really that did it”. Her arms crossed as she scowled, “should’ve been our work after what they put our kind through”.
It was then the annoying presence inside her made itself known. Her tail came out on its own so the mouth on the end of it could say, “they were… tasty. At least”. N visibly jumped at this as his own tail straightened out in alarm.
Uzi sighed. “Back into the void with you”, she pressed the appendage into herself. The organic matter re-assimilated with her internals as the head tried to keep out of her grasp. Unfortunately for it, Uzi’s grasp was tight. Almost too tight. She cursed herself for allowing it a way to communicate.
“Stars, pretty. Wouldn’t you like to know how they taste, too? Knowing smirk”, Uzi forced the mouth closed with her hands as the appendage continued to disappear into her form.
“Shut. Up”, she spat out. Practically bristling at the sight, she focused on making it go away. Maybe a little too hard, because when N set a hand on her shoulder, she practically jumped. “Dude! I’m just making it go away!”.
He nodded, “yeah, I know. Just don’t let it get into your head, alright? Not worth those thoughts and all”.
“Yeah…”, she breathed. The appendage finally disappeared. “At least it’s just my tail”, she said, “even if its got access to my poison”.
“Hey, look at me”, he said, hands directing her towards his face, “don’t get caught up over this. You’re still you, never forget that”. He motioned to the stars, “as apparent as the stars we see and all that. What I see is what I get. You know. A star and all. Is that good?”.
She blushed, madly. “Shut! Up! Don’t get sappy with me!”.
He chuckled, “oh, sure. It’s just so fun to—“.
“Shuddup!”, she fumed, “don’t!”.
“O-Oh, really? What if I told you that you were the cutest, most sappiest drone ever?”.
“I’d fucking kill you!”, she fumed.
The foreign voice replied from her own mouth, artificial texture and all, “would you like help wi—“.
“Shut up!”, she fumed as she put a hand over her mouth, waiting a few moments to be sure she had control again. Huh, seems she went away. Uzi’s shoulders slumped with relief as she uncovered her mouth. With her normal amount of limbs and control back, she looked at N cautiously. “Hey, uh. You don’t mind tha—“.
He shook his head, “I don’t, and I’m sorry. I don’t want you to have to live with this”.
“No, it’s– It’s fine, N. I can handle it. I just let my guard down, so it got through”. Her hands raised in front of her, hoping he’d calm down.
N sighed, “I hate that you have to deal with—“.
“It’s ok”, she said, “I’m dealing with it. Pretty good I might add considering I didn’t get the patch”.
A yellow brow raised, “are you really? Cuz, I hate seeing you—“.
“I do. I’m fine”, she said with a smile on her face. What she showed him through that smile couldn’t be further from the truth. Things weren’t like they used to, for better and for worse. This last month that proved that much...
Something felt off when she woke up that first time. Naturally, she figured she wouldn’t feel great after what happened, yet still. It was as though her limbs weren’t her own, or they felt like they had afterimages. Just… some odd feeling happening. She’d look at her hands and they didn’t feel like they were there.
Oh, but no matter that. It’s, like, totally whatever and all. She was a god now after disposing of the previous one. Her body’s just super powerful now and stuff.
Her mastery over the dark force that was the Solver manifested as her digits extended in a three-fingered pose to toss her backpack off her and way over to the other side of her room, the purple sigil intersecting the item. Yellow-purple eyes took interest in her bed as she wandered over to it and unceremoniously flopped onto it. A sigh escaped her as the stress of the school day began to leave her. Oh, it felt so good to not be needed. To just focus on herself for a bit.
The desk called to her, but before she could answer its call a knock wa heard on her door. She groaned, “what?”.
The door slid open and at first she thought someone was pulling a prank on her until she finally recognized the small form of her mother on the floor. Oh, yeah. Mom’s back.
“Hey kid. Just checkin’ in on you. Figure since school’s over and stuff”, Nori said as her claws carried her in.
She blinked. “Yeah. It’s over for the day and stuff. Is that uh… all you wanna know?”.
Nori’s body and one of her claws drew in a bit briefly, her approximation of a shrug. “Oh, you know”, Nori tried, “Khan suggested I ask if you needed help on homework or something. Only been back, like, a week so I’m just trying to get into the motions around here”.
That caught Uzi’s attention, “dad said that?”.
Her body dipped to the floor briefly, “yep, figured I’d take him up on that. Didn’t know you had homework at this point. That’s pretty good. Good to see ”.
“Uh, mom”, Uzi’s brows narrowed in confusion, “I’ve had homework for, like, years now. I’m going to be graduating in like a year, anyway”. Her mom’s single eye hollowed out, a few tries at trying to say something escaping her. “Mom?”, Uzi asked at the display.
“I uh… Well, d-did you have homework that you need help with?”, Nori’s voice shook a bit.
Uzi shook her head, “no, I’ve always been able to do it on my own. I don’t need help”.
“Oh…”, Nori sighed, “alright kid. I’ll leave ya be”. Uzi wasn’t sure if she wanted to keep talking with her mom or not, the decision being made for her as Nori’s three-legged body slowly crawled out of her room, a swing of one claw using her Solver powers to close the door behind her. Uzi wasn’t sure what to make of that whole situation. Sure, it felt great that mom was back, but at the same time...
Nah, not gonna open that can of worms. Mom was back, that’s all that should matter.
Well, she had been planning on sneaking some time into some building plans. Her super cool… friend who happens to be a boy will love this! It was gonna be a little stupid, but he’ll love it.
Her pencil continued mapping out the circuits and wires she’d need to solder together for this to work. It’d need a container, and she’d have to source a speaker for it, and—
A knock at her door. She practically jumped at the sound as her pencil broke in her hand. “Ugh, again?”, she fumed at herself. How embarrassing! Thankfully she was alone so no one could see her being stupid.
“Coming”, she said, though instead opening it with a hand, it was with her powers again. Ah jeez, speak of the devil. She rolled up her plans and set them away as she tried to hide the fluster on her face.
N smiled, “hey Uzi! Just wanted to see how you were doing”. His tail wagged as he settled on her bed, “how was class?”.
She shrugged, “miserable, but whatever. I gave Rachael this crazy look and it shut her up real quick”. For added effect, she drew her lips back to show off her teeth.
“Aww!”, his own teeth bared in a happy smile, “guess she couldn’t handle how cool you are”.
Uzi’s hands shook, “d-don’t call me cute!”.
“I didn’t say you–“.
“Whatever!”, she fumed as she got up and settled beside him, “so hi, I guess”.
He gave her an affectionate pat on the back, “long day, huh?”.
“Could say that”, she leaned into him, fluster still evident on her face as her face narrowed.
His tail wrapped around her cautiously. He watched her as she reacted to it and when she didn’t protest it, he committed. Then, his arm joined it. She felt him give her a gentle squeeze, the action doing the opposite of its obviously intended effect. “Hey, can you tone it down?”, she asked.
“Oh”, he took his arm off her, “sorry. Should I have asked?”.
She huffed, “dude, we’re still getting used to this so like, I dunno. Don’t worry about it”.
“Alright”, he nodded, “yeah, I get that. I’m still working out this thing too. Like, I can just come over and your dad won’t throw a fit anymore? It’s pretty crazy”. He chuckled as he gave her an affectionate touch with his tail around her.
“Oh I know, dude. My cool new eye colors – and that’s colors plural – keep getting comments on them”, Uzi chuckled as she nudged him affectionately, “how do you feel dating the main character? Hmm?”.
He snorted, then broke out into laughter. She wasn’t sure if she should feel offended. After all, stuff like this happened a lot when she was younger. As he once again gave her an affectionate nudge, she realized he wasn’t laughing at her, but with her. Oh, such relief. His laughter was downright infectious and began to melt away her caution as she found herself able to laugh with him. It was a melody of his and her voices as they vocalized together, their voices fading to a stop as they calmed down.
“I’m really glad we found each other”, he said, “it feels really weird that life is like, normal now? Aside from dating a super cool girl and all that”.
“N!”, she blushed, “jeez!”.
“What?”, he sounded genuinely confused, causing her to pull back to look at him better. Confusion, and maybe hurt?
Ah, she slipped up again.
Her lips pressed together in frustration as she realized what needed to happen. Her hands gripped his face as she looked into his eyes, “hey, dude? It’s cool. It’s really cool that you see me that way… and totally like me and stuff”.
A blink. “I just thought you’d like me to talk about you that way since you talk about yourself like that”.
“I do!”, she practically hissed, her fluster apparent again, “you will make me explode if you keep complimenting me and stuff!”.
The look on his face vanished, replaced by that stupid smile she loved so much. “Ok. I’ll keep complimenting my super cool girlfriend then”, he smirked.
“N!”, Uzi’s hands gripped him tighter as he chuckled. There he goes saying the G-word. She wasn’t even at the point yet where saying that B-word felt natural, in comparison. It made her want to sulk in his comfort… perhaps as he called her his girlfriend again and–
“Hey, dude. You ok?”, he asked, breaking her out of her fantasy.
She practically bristled, “j-just thinking!”. She withdrew from him as her temper got the better of her again, arms folding as she looked elsewhere in her room.
“Hey”, he said, “did I, like, offend you or something? Cuz I’m sorry if I did”.
She practically jumped at the question, her arms flying open. As she looked back at him, her tail shot out involuntarily. “W-What? No! I’m just…”, her hands motioned nonsense as she tried to finish this, “I’m not… great at talking about my feelings or handling them and whatever! I say stupid things sometimes and just… I’m sorry”. She deflated as her tail slowly swayed behind her.
His gaze softened as he took it in. “Uzi, I get it. I’m not great at it either. So let’s get better, together”, he said with a smile playing on his lips.
Her own gaze followed his as he disarmed her, bringing her a sense of comfort. “Yeah, I guess I need to just get used to all this change”, she added with a smile, “with you”. He pulled her into a hug, which she gladly accepted.
The next day was an off-day from school, the first since the incident happened and school restarted. She could hear her parents talking in the living room, and it was definitely a strange thing to hear after so many years of silence in the home. Odd, but filled her with longing – not that she’d admit it to anyone ever and especially not her parents. That was a bridge she wasn’t sure if she was ready to cross yet.
As for now, maybe she’d just pop in to see how things were going.
The door slid open with apprehension. Her dual-toned eyes narrowed as she fought back how oddly nervous she was about… seeing family? Was that it? Was it just the idea that she had family now?
Her father said something and evidentially must have heard the door open as he wandered over to her room. “Uzi!”, he greeted her warmly, “oh, how nice to see you up this fine morning!”.
“She’s up?”, Nori’s voice came from deeper into the living room, Uzi being able to see her.
She nodded, “yeah I’m, like, just popping in here for a sec”. She hadn’t even taken a step in yet.
“Come on over and see your mom”, Nori said, “got a lot to catch up on”.
Khan nodded, “a lot. I’ve been telling your mom about what I can while you’ve been at school. Or off with your boyfriend”.
Uzi blushed furiously as she rushed past her dad for the couch, finding her mom sitting on one end of it. “Hey Uzi. Just telling your old man here about some of the music I’ve been listening to lately”, her mother said as she flexed a claw towards her.
Eh, might as well ask. “Like what?”.
“Oh, just some of the classics.”, Nori seemed to trace something out in the air with a claw, “got a nightcore playlist a mile long. Ha! And they said it’d never catch on, there’s so much of it out there”.
Uzi’s arms crossed as she reclined into the couch, “I mean, I listen to that stuff too. Big fan of anime intros with nightcore remixes”.
“Ah…”, Nori sighed happily as her single arched upwards, “like mother, like daughter”.
“Dude, almost too alike”, Uzi pointed out, “I thought you were dead, so I just swiped your style. Or something. Wasn’t hard since we have the same eye color and stuff”.
Khan joined them, though sitting on their armchair. “Well, not anymore after what happened at the end of the world”, Khan pointed out, “the yellow looks pretty good on you”.
“Oh. Thanks. Yeah, it makes me look pretty badass”, she smirked.
“I still don’t know why you felt like you had to eat the Solver to get rid of it”, Nori’s claws folded, “like seriously, do you know if you’re alright, Uzi?”.
Uzi huffed, “all it did was give me super cool eyes, that’s all”.
Khan’s eyes met hers with concern etched on his face. “Honey, you sure?”.
“Yes, I’m sure! I haven't heard any spooky Cyn voices or whatever”, she bristled.
“Uzi”, Nori’s voice was stern, “you are the new main host for the Solver. If anything happens, you tell us. Ok?”.
Uzi groaned. She’d been living with this inside her for the last week now. “Mom, I am painfully aware that weird stuff could happen at any time, but it hasn't happened. I think I'm good”.
“Don’t forget”, Nori waved a claw at her for effect, "you aren't the only one who knows this thing. You can always talk to me if something happens”.
She practically jumped at the fact that, yeah, mom had Cyn in her, too. Did she somehow just forget? It was one of the worst revelations she made that horrible night and it was... definitely a strong introduction to her mother as she watched her brutalize human beings on that tape. She definitely knew how that felt after Cyn nearly made her kill N and Nori. She shivered at the unpleasant memory, but it helped in unraveling that long, horrible night.
Now, if she could only figure out why N and V called it Cyn, but her mom called it the Solver. Was Cyn just another unfortunate drone caught up in all this, or had she never existed as N and them knew her to begin with?
“Uzi, I haven’t had time yet to catch up on everything”, her mother said with a guilty look in her eye, “but I want you know that. Ya know… I’m just worried about you. I know you’re strong, but we all just reconnected and I don’t want that to change. Ever”.
Her father let out an audible sigh as he leaned onto his upper legs, “oh, Nori…”.
“Mom…”, Uzi breathed, “that's… really nice”.
“S-So that’s why! From now on, we work as a team”, Nori’s voice tried sounding more chipper than somber, “you know, just be a normal cringe-y family and stuff. Happy, sappy, and we talk when things come up. Just a normal family who can rotate objects with their minds. Or something”.
It was enough to make Khan chuckle, “o-oh Nori! That’s the wife I remember!”.
“S-Shut up you stupid hunk of a man!”, Nori fumed, "I'm trying to make a good impression here!.
Woah, deja vu. It was enough to make her not want to be around N for a bit. Khan got up and placed himself between Uzi and Nori on the couch, his arms bringing the family together as Khan and Nori began to laugh together over themselves. Uzi stuck her tongue out at the sudden onslaught of parental attention. Ugh, gross! Keep your sappiness to yourselves!
However, their happy laughter went on and Khan managed out how much he loved the family being back together again, Nori adding in her own way. Two sets of laughter. Two. Something in Uzi broke and relished in having both parents back again. She wrapped an arm around Khan and Nori as she buried her face in her father’s jacket, too embarrassed of her feelings to let them know. Yet, know they did as Nori crawled between husband and daughter, finding a better spot for her small form in the trio. Khan and Uzi placed arms over Nori as the trio just stayed there happily.
It was so embarrassing! Yet, it was… comforting? Maybe? If she dug down past her facade, yeah. She felt disarmed, but not scared by how much she was beginning to realize that she didn’t need keep it up around this family. Her family.
Maybe this new life wouldn’t be so bad. She had a social life now and people who loved her. For this god, life could only look up from here. At least, she hoped so.