AN: Hooray! I didn’t take two weeks like I thought I would. However, some quality may be lost due to my hurrying, so if there are spelling and grammar errors, I apologise. I’m doing one quick sweep and that’s it. If I have time, I might go over it again later and alter it appropriately. You guys really kept me pushing onward to finish this, so thank you so much! Much appreciation to BlazingMidnightRain, Flame05, SageofAges729, InLuvWithMicky, Ataokoloinona, DragonRider-Xankira, Hoarding Consequence and Shi-P-Dream! You guys are seriously the best! And partially off topic, but I’d like to say Tendonitis can die in a fire. My dominant arm is killing me, making typing a massive pain. And I also wrote a quick post-chapter note airing a few thoughts on this chapter that will likely bore you. Anyway, let’s go!

Chapter Twelve

Esther had slept badly; she kept dreaming of Dietrich over and over, taunting her from afar. Her eyes felt gritty no matter how much she rubbed them.

She needed to distract herself from these terrible feelings swirling in her stomach. To say Dietrich had rattled her was an understatement. So she got washed and dressed while trying to sing to herself, but she couldn’t think of any songs and returned to the memory of Dietrich smiling at her.

A knock on the door while she finished drying her hair made her jump. She moved over to the door and cracked it open.

“May I speak with you, Esther?”

Esther sighed and opened the door.

“What brings you here, Tres?” she groused, letting him through and shutting the door. Tres moved off to the side and faced her.

“You asked me to aid you on my origins. Since our mission here is finished, we have some free time until tomorrow to indulge your request.”

Esther finally brightened a little. She’d completely forgotten…

She gave her first smile in what felt like forever.

“Of course,” she said, her smile fading, “Tres… look, I’m sorry about yesterday. I was pretty upset.”

Tres shook his head.

“It does not matter. You were distraught. Dietrich von Lohengrin is an expert manipulator. His profile lists psychological torture as enjoyment for him. It also claims he has a particular interest in you, Esther.”

Esther’s mouth fell open.

“In me?!”

He nodded.

“Yes. He confirmed it himself when he came here after learning of your involvement,” he said and Esther sighed.

“Why haven’t I seen this profile?”

“You are not cleared. Though an AX member, you are new and relatively untested. Information within AX largely operates on a need to know basis and must go through Lady Caterina first,” Tres explained. Esther could feel that stone of uneasiness in her heart again. Things were too secretive in AX and she didn’t like it.

“I should have been told,” she said. How was she supposed to prepare for such situations if she didn’t know what was going on?

Tres didn’t have an answer for her, remaining silent. Esther headed for the door.

“Come on,” she said, “I want to see where you were created. You know the location, right?” Anything to take her mind off of Dietrich.

“I do.”

Esther opened the door.

“Then let’s go.”

“It will be difficult getting inside,” Tres said in a low voice. They were huddled together, crouching on an outcrop of rocks. Below, a large facility stretched out before them, patrolling guards littered all around. Professor Garibaldi, Tres’ creator, appeared to get a lot of funding back in the day. She reflected it probably wasn’t going to help them find information quickly.

“I’ve already seen ten armed guards on our way here. Maybe we should just forget about this,” Esther whispered. Her limbs felt shaky at the thought of all the sneaking they were going to have to do to get past the security detail.

“I have scanned the building. There is no-one inside. The security is just to preserve the laboratory. I do not know whether this is considered Albion or Vatican property, as my creator worked for the Vatican while overseeing this facility. It was part of his research for them.”

“I thought you knew nothing about this place?”

“I made some of my own enquiries,” was all he said. Esther glanced at him, but he was looking over at the laboratory roof.

“Hm. So, how are we going to get in? Do you think we should time the guard’s patrols? We might be able to slip in through that main door--- Hey, what are you doing?” she hissed. Tres had stood up, staring at the roof. He lifted his arm as she hopped up and his hand fell to reveal some kind of projectile.

“I have a plan,” was all he said and fired the thing from his arm. Esther watched, mouth agape, as the thing Tres fired shot towards the roof, rope flying behind it, and struck the wall of the roof exit. Tres tugged on the rope, ensuring it was safe before turning around to load the other end back into his arm, and firing it into a nearby rock.

‘That is something I shouldn’t have to see up close,’ Esther thought as Tres’ hand slotted back into place. She was getting flashbacks to the other hand firing a missile over her shoulder.

“This should hold our weight,” he said, testing the rope again.

“W-wait, how are we getting down from this high?” Esther nervously asked, peering over the edge. It was a sizable drop.

“I will slide down. You shall hold on to me.”

Esther paused, looking at Tres. He had wrapped a hand around the rope, and held the other one out towards her. Studying his expression had become a habit, despite being unable to gauge much from it. Currently, he had his usual infuriatingly blank expression. She was beginning to think she was deluding herself though, because she could have swore there was something in his eyes beckoning her.

Suddenly, she felt a rush of nervousness that had nothing to do with the drop. Esther swallowed and approached Tres. She stepped onto his heavy boots, not wanting to dangle, and carefully wrapped her arms around his torso.

She squeezed her eyes shut as she felt Tres move to the edge of the precipice. Then her heart jumped when Tres wrapped his free hand around her waist and there was the sensation of them careening down the rope. Wind rushed in Esther’s ears as they went down. She bit her lip to stop herself from shrieking and alerting the guards to their prescence.

Then they came to a sudden halt. When she opened her eyes, she found he’d released her and they had made it to the roof.

“You may let go now, Esther.”

But she couldn’t. She’d frozen in place. Her heart was pounding. Tres walked over to the projectile lodged in the wall, Esther still attached to him, and pulled it out. He then fired it into the rock the other end of the rope was attached.

“We must make sure we leave as little evidence of our intrusion as possible,” he explained.

He paused, looking down at her.

“Esther, it is all right,” he tried to comfort her.

Shakily, Esther let go and stepped off, quickly sitting on the ground.

“Sorry, I just need a minute. I’m not too fond of heights,” she told Tres, rubbing her jellified legs.

“I shall open the door,” he said, strolling around the corner.

‘I shouldn’t have got him to do this,’ she thought, ‘Look where prying into Abel’s past got me, and now this. We’re breaking into a guarded facility! What is wrong with me?’

She stood up and followed Tres around the corner. He’d pried the door open and was waiting for her.

“Tres… maybe we shouldn’t do this. I don’t want us to get into trouble. If Albion or the Vatican find out…”

“You are concerned about being caught?”

Esther paced about, nerves getting the better of her.

“I don’t know. I… why are you helping me?” she asked.

“Because you asked me to.” He looked perfectly serious.

Esther sighed, but managed a faint smile.

“I’ll never understand you, Tres. Come on, then.”

They went inside to find a long staircase. At the bottom was another door Tres had to open with brute strength and they went through.

“Where should we go?” Esther whispered.

“There is no need to whisper,” Tres said, “The guards cannot hear us. I do not know the inside of this facility. We should do a thorough sweep to ensure we do not miss anything.”

Esther looked around. All that was before them was a series of corridors; nothing to indicate how the laboratory was divided up, if it was at all.

“We should split up,” Esther decided. As much as she preferred to stick close to Tres, it was the only sensible option, given the size of the facility and the time they had.

“Affirmative. It is the most logical solution. And I can track you, if necessary,” he answered.

Esther began walking down the north corridor, her mind on other matters.

“Okay,” she said offhandedly, and Tres watched her for several moments before choosing the eastern corridor.

Esther had come to the conclusion that she didn’t fully understand herself, and it was frustrating her. While sifting through useless papers, opening filing cabinets and the myriads of cubby holes each room she encountered possessed, she had got nowhere. How had she managed to find the only offices in a laboratory?

‘Why? Why does this matter so much to me?’

With a sigh, she proceeded to the next room. The events of the last few days had put her off kilter, and it was producing questions she couldn’t answer.

‘Liar.’

Correction: didn’t like to answer. The moment Esther started thinking about her motivations for essentially badgering Tres into helping her find out about himself, she got a sick feeling in her stomach. She’d kept telling herself it was for the best to pull away the veil, but now, so close to answers, her hand was faltering.

Tres’ words from when they spoke on the airship several days ago were going in circles around her mind.

‘“…you may simply prove that I am nothing but a machine. What will you do then?”’

Esther knew she’d kind of dodged the issue at the time. ‘I just know’ wasn’t really a proper answer.

So what was it? Belief? A hunch?

‘It’s hope.’

“No…” Esther whispered. Hope was a wonderful thing, but in this case, it was folly.

Hope meant she wanted him not to be an android; that she wanted…

“No!” she snapped, shaking her head. Esther realised she was beginning to panic, her breaths quickening, and tried to get a hold of herself.

“I just want to find out the truth,” she told herself firmly, and set about finishing her exploration of the room she was in. When she came up with nothing, she left and realised it was the last room on her corridor and began walking back to the crossroad she’d left Tres at. Her mind was still in some disarray, but mostly under control.

By the time she reached the crossroads, she could hear the faint march of Tres. Sure enough, he turned up a minute later.

“That was good timing,” she blithely commented and Tres shook his head.

“I tracked your movements and followed you back to this location. Your corridor was much shorter than mine. I did not finish analysing the evidence.”

Esther’s eyebrows rose.

“Evidence? You found something?” The note of hope in her voice made her mentally cringe.

“Negative; nothing beyond a few mentions of the Killing Doll project I was a product of. It was information I was already aware of. But there could be more.”

Esther nodded.

“Then, let’s go. How long have we been here, though?” Esther asked.

“Approximately one hour and fifty three minutes,” Tres replied.

‘That long, huh?’

A tight smile appeared on Esther’s face.

“We better get moving, then,” she said, and followed Tres.

There were only three rooms Tres hadn’t got to explore on his corridor, and they had yielded nothing. This new area they were in, the western corridor, seemed more ‘science-y’ (it was the only word she could think to describe it) than her corridor had been. Old gurneys, trays of tools, tiled rooms… it was all ominous.

“Tres… this is eerie. I… I don’t think we should be here,” Esther whispered, hovering by the door of another room that looked more like a morgue than a lab. The room felt noticeable colder, making Esther shiver slightly.

“We are in no danger,” Tres asserted, heading to a nearby metal container. Four lined the walls. Esther finally pulled herself together. They were there now, so it would be silly not to look, she decided.

“What are these?” Esther wondered, running her hand along the metal containers. They were rectangular and very cold to the touch.

“I do not know,” Tres said, and began examining one of the containers.

Esther looked at the one she’d gravitated to. They were nondescript, just cold hunks of metal. Then something caught her eye. At the bottom of the box was a placard.

“Hey, Tres, come look at this,” Esther said, waving him over, “I can’t quite make this out, but I think its some sort of writing.”

Tres crouched and stared at the placard.

“Analysing…”

Tres looked like he was staring into space. Esther fidgeted, tugging at her sleeves in an attempt to keep her hands warm. She jumped when Tres suddenly stood.

“I have filled in the unsalvageable parts. From that process, it reads ‘Lieutenant Colonel’.”

Esther frowned.

“And what’s that? The police?”

Tres shook his head.

“It is an Albion army ranking. There is an insignia beside it that matches the rank.”

Esther began to realise what the metal container was and shrieked, backing away. Tres watched her with a slight frown.

“What is wrong?”

Esther shakily pointed.

“Th-there’s a body in there. I think there’s a b-body,” she said. The size of the boxes, the low temperatures…

Tres looked at the container.

“My scanners cannot penetrate the metal, so you may be right,” he observed.

‘Thanks, Tres. I feel so much better now.’

Esther swallowed and shuffled to Tres’ side.

“S-should we open it? What if we do find… a person?”

“We leave it alone. We should not disturb things.”

‘It’ and ‘things’ didn’t help calm Esther down.

“Let’s get this over with. We should never have come,” she said, taking deep breaths to try and maintain some order, and Tres examined the top of the container.

“There is a seam. Wait, I have found a button.”

There was a whooshing noise of escaping air. Cold air began to seep out of the lifting lid and Tres stood back.

The cold fog cleared to reveal frozen body. Esther gasped and covered her face, while Tres stared impassively.

“T-Tres… that’s…” she whispered, slowly lowering her hands to look at Tres. It was both the worst and best case scenario Esther could have imagined.

“Yes, it is me,” he confirmed, “Or what is left of the human me.”

His tone was scaring Esther. She gripped his arm.

“Tres… are you all right?”

Tres turned his head to look down at her. He registered, fear, worry… so much concern for him. He didn’t know how to react to such a display of emotion.

“I cannot put my feelings into words. There is little to say on the matter.”

Esther shook her head, ready to cry.

“You’re wrong! There’s… too much to say, if anything. That’s… that’s your body. That’s proof you were once a living person.”

Her hand shook as she pointed at Tres’ frozen body. Tres’ makers had made him look almost exactly as he had looked when he had been human. His hair was a little longer than originally, and Esther couldn’t see what eye colour he used to have, but he more or less looked the same. Height, build… they’d taken it all down.

“I wonder why they made you look so much like your old self, if they were planning to lie to you…” Esther murmured, and turned away. She couldn’t bear to look at the body anymore.

Tres observed his old form one last time before sealing the pod shut again.

“I do not know, Esther. We can only speculate.”

Esther put her face in her hands. It was too horrible to contemplate. She heard the sound of Tres’ footsteps draw close, then felt the warmth of his arms wrapping around her.

“There is no need to be upset,” he told her, “You are fine, and I am in perfect working order. That body is a remnant of the past I do not recall. Why does it affect you so?”

Esther drew in a shaky breath and moved her hands from her face to grip onto Tres. She looked up at him.

“I feel sad when someone I care about has been deceived, even if they aren’t. I feel almost like I’m being upset on your behalf. And angry. I mean, who goes and does this? Why?!”

Tres carefully patted her shoulder.

“If it bothers you so much, we could go and find out, Esther.”

‘Slowly, but surely, he’s starting to respond to things based on emotion rather than simply what his current orders are. Tres… are you finally starting to become human?’

“You know we can’t. We don’t have enough time. Our flight leaves tomorrow. Any records we find have to stay here. If we were caught…” She shuddered. Her mind was already panicking over how furious Caterina would be if she even found out they’d been here, let alone had any documents on them. There was nothing to be done.

“You are correct, if we follow orders. But we have already broken code of conduct one-zero-five. It pertains to the strict adherence of a mission objective with no deviation for personal matters that may occur during that time.”

Esther groaned. She could feel the heavy weight of regret on her body.

“So… we should search this place as best we can. If we can’t take anything, we should read as much as possible.”

She didn’t even want to think what else lay in wait.

AN: I made a few executive decisions with this chapter. I’m not entirely happy that they find Tres’ body first, but I felt the scene would drag on too long, so it was cut. There was going to be more in this chapter originally, but it fits better in the next chapter (some of the later chapters are currently being reworked as we speak due to some elements I’ve added). I really hope I haven’t gone too off the rails for people, but I planned this all so long ago – it was the core concept of this story. The discovering of his body were written out in February, when this story wasn’t really anything more than a collection of ideas for a story I never planned to write. But here were are, lol. Probably have just bored you all to death. Until next time – take care!