I am A.A. A puppet. A homunculus with no will, and no heart. I never thought. I never wished. Just did what I was told. Then my master was killed, and I lost it all. Waking in a dungeon full of monsters before finally seeing the sky, I learned to feel. All with the help of three people. A human named Bell Cranel, Ais Wallenstein. And a strange Goddess named Hestia.
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Rusty Angel (MementoMori/ DanMachi)
- Thread starter Stimpak Medic
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Prologue: A Slight Glitch in The System
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Stimpak Medic
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Prologue: A Slight Glitch in The System
A tiny frail girl with skin and short rough hair whiter than dry bone walked barefoot down the cold metal hallways of an underground facility. The only thing she wore was an oversized white jacket that hung down to her knees. Even just the collar of the jacket almost was wider than her. Her wide eyes were dull and red. There was little light in them, and her movements were almost entirely mechanical. Each step the exact same as the one before it.
Atop her head, floating as if suspended directly above her was a large cog. It was thin, and about the width of her thin face as it slowly rotated clockwise. It looked to be of dull iron. Floating behind her, as if they were tiny metal wings, seven blades on each side spread in a crude imitation of what must have been those of an angel.
She stopped before an open door, bowing and asking the room's inhabitant if she could enter with a light, airy, feeble voice.
"I am Experimental homunculus, serial number 30682: A.A.
A puppet that, from birth, was used in endless experimentations, and disposed of when broken.
A tool that has no will, nor heart of its own.
That is what I am."
But one day, the professor said she would raise me as a human—an experiment to give a puppet a heart. The days that followed were nothing like what I was used to.
I read books, and had long talks with the professor.
Slowly, I gained knowledge, and my heartbeat grew stronger.
When I asked the professor what the sky was, she laughed and said, "It'd be nice if you could go see it one day."
I am a puppet. I have no emotions, nor desires.
But...
I started thinking about how I wanted to go see the sky.
"Let's go see the sky." The professor said suddenly one day.
"Let's run away from this place and go see the world."
As a puppet, I have no right to refuse. I must obey the professor. But...
"Where should we go? What should we do?" The more the professor asks, the more something within me swells.
"Tomorrow's the day, Little A. Aren't you excited?"
To the professor's words, I gave a small nod... even if I couldn't comprehend what being "excited" meant.
Then the day came to go see the sky.
The professor...never came.
She appeared three days later. She was with someone people called the Pope.
This is the first time someone other than the professor has come.
I don't understand why, but... Something doesn't feel right...
As I stand there silently, the professor looks at me and smiles.
"I'm sorry, Little A." The professor apologized.
She was smiling, but also...crying?
Why...are you apologizing?
Why are you crying?
Why are you smiling?
I didn't understand anything. Not the professor's feelings,
Not my feelings... Nothing. Frozen in place, I watch as the Pope readies her spear.
"The last emotion this heartless puppet needs to be complete...is despair." The professor says to me, her smile and tears...They spark somethin within me.
Then, the Pope thrusts her spear... into the professor.
The professor collapsed in a pool of blood.
To me, the professor was my everything. She made me. She gave me knowledge.
Everything was her doing. But, that professor...has died.
I'm sure dying is something "sad," but...Ahh... It's no use.
I don't feel anything. There aren't any tears in my eyes.
And yet, I can't see anything anymore. I can't hear anything anymore.
My legs are shaking so much I can't stand anymore.
My chest hurts so much... I can't...think of anything...
Professor, what...is this? Why...do I feel...?
Professor... Hey, Professor... Uuuuo... Uuuuuou...
Professor, Professor... Professor...
Professor...? Professor, Professor, Professor...
Professor Professor Professor Professor
Professor Professor Professor...
AAAAHHHH!
After I shout for the first time, overwhelmed by the torrent of emotions within me...I lose all that kept me whole, spiraling to the darkness. Then, all is silent again.
When my eyes open, I am no longer in the lab. The professor is dead...My reason to live. Gone.
It is dark here. Cold and dark. No. It is not cold. At least. My body senses the air is mildly warm, and the dirt and stone around me is warm as well.
This cold...It's coming from within..
What is this I'm sensing now? Is this what emotions are? I feel them for the first time. Tears. They fall from my eyes..
Was this what the professor felt as she died? Am I dead? Is this the Underworld I had read about?
I'm so confused.
Is this freedom? Can I chose where to go? What to do?
Should I cross the line and make my own commands? Or do I wait here for a new master?
Even as I think this, the tears keep falling. Now that the professor is no longer around to fix my heart. What do I do?
I'm so confused.
There are small glowing rocks in the wall, as well as glowing moss that faintly pulses a bluish green glow.
I cannot stay here. I have made up my mind. I have to find something. Someone. I have to find a way back to the professor. So strange of me to be longing to return to the lab now that the professor is gone...yet I have nowhere else to go.
I hear something nearby.
I think it's a scream. Shortly after, a bellow of something deeper.
The sounds are getting closer.
Moments later, a human comes running towards me. It looks to be a boy as described in some of the books that I have read. He has white hair, red eyes, and a small body similar to mine. He is taller than me though.
He looks scared.
"Run!" He shouts to me as he sprints past me.
He seems to be trying to lose his pursuer, a very large muscular creature with the head of a bull. It seems to be a mythical creature from one of the books that I read. The Minotaur. A bizarre tale of Gods and Mortals.
The minotaur slows down upon seeing me, seemingly deciding on which target would make for a better death.
"Stop." I say, but the Minotaur ignores my words, raising it's fist the size of my head, and pulling it back.
Oh well.
My wings, as they were called by the professor, spring to action, flashing from their space behind me on my back to the front, dicing the minotaur into small chunks with a slight flash.
They return to my back, now steeped in minotaur blood.
This is the first time that I have killed someone, or, something. It is less intense than I thought it would be. In the professor's books, the descriptions of killing can be described as passionate and fiery...But all that I feel is sorrow. Professor.. I miss you so much.
I turn to the boy who has stopped,. He is watching me with nervous but awestruck eyes. I start and ask him a question.
"Where is this...And who are you?" I ask, taking a breath in between questions. Talking to a stranger other than the professor. It is hard.
With this newfound ability to channel my sensations, I realize that communicating with strangers can be scary too. I'm used to doing just what I'm told, not making my own decisions or asking questions.
So silly of me to be thinking that I can do anything without the professor.
As I am speaking with the boy, I hear another person coming to a halt behind me.
Light footsteps. Very fast. Likely a fighter or someone powerful perhaps as powerful as the professor? No. Nobody is as strong as her.
"This is the fifth floor?" The young boy says. His tone sounds incredulous, as if it was obvious. Almost as if to ask how I did not know it. Then he seems to regain his senses and bows to me.
"Where were my manners? I'm Bell. Thank you for saving me!" He bows deeply many more times.
My heart thumps. What is this feeling? It feels warm, like when I was with the professor.. Yet also not.
Is this what kindness feels like?
I don't know, but it feels good. A small part of me wants more of it.
"Nice...to meet you, Bell." I say, giving him a respectful bow, as I have done thousands of times for the professor. This is comfortable. Just get my orders, and it will feel comfortable again. I don't need to think.
I don't want to think.
A tiny frail girl with skin and short rough hair whiter than dry bone walked barefoot down the cold metal hallways of an underground facility. The only thing she wore was an oversized white jacket that hung down to her knees. Even just the collar of the jacket almost was wider than her. Her wide eyes were dull and red. There was little light in them, and her movements were almost entirely mechanical. Each step the exact same as the one before it.
Atop her head, floating as if suspended directly above her was a large cog. It was thin, and about the width of her thin face as it slowly rotated clockwise. It looked to be of dull iron. Floating behind her, as if they were tiny metal wings, seven blades on each side spread in a crude imitation of what must have been those of an angel.
She stopped before an open door, bowing and asking the room's inhabitant if she could enter with a light, airy, feeble voice.
"I am Experimental homunculus, serial number 30682: A.A.
A puppet that, from birth, was used in endless experimentations, and disposed of when broken.
A tool that has no will, nor heart of its own.
That is what I am."
But one day, the professor said she would raise me as a human—an experiment to give a puppet a heart. The days that followed were nothing like what I was used to.
I read books, and had long talks with the professor.
Slowly, I gained knowledge, and my heartbeat grew stronger.
When I asked the professor what the sky was, she laughed and said, "It'd be nice if you could go see it one day."
I am a puppet. I have no emotions, nor desires.
But...
I started thinking about how I wanted to go see the sky.
"Let's go see the sky." The professor said suddenly one day.
"Let's run away from this place and go see the world."
As a puppet, I have no right to refuse. I must obey the professor. But...
"Where should we go? What should we do?" The more the professor asks, the more something within me swells.
"Tomorrow's the day, Little A. Aren't you excited?"
To the professor's words, I gave a small nod... even if I couldn't comprehend what being "excited" meant.
Then the day came to go see the sky.
The professor...never came.
She appeared three days later. She was with someone people called the Pope.
This is the first time someone other than the professor has come.
I don't understand why, but... Something doesn't feel right...
As I stand there silently, the professor looks at me and smiles.
"I'm sorry, Little A." The professor apologized.
She was smiling, but also...crying?
Why...are you apologizing?
Why are you crying?
Why are you smiling?
I didn't understand anything. Not the professor's feelings,
Not my feelings... Nothing. Frozen in place, I watch as the Pope readies her spear.
"The last emotion this heartless puppet needs to be complete...is despair." The professor says to me, her smile and tears...They spark somethin within me.
Then, the Pope thrusts her spear... into the professor.
The professor collapsed in a pool of blood.
To me, the professor was my everything. She made me. She gave me knowledge.
Everything was her doing. But, that professor...has died.
I'm sure dying is something "sad," but...Ahh... It's no use.
I don't feel anything. There aren't any tears in my eyes.
And yet, I can't see anything anymore. I can't hear anything anymore.
My legs are shaking so much I can't stand anymore.
My chest hurts so much... I can't...think of anything...
Professor, what...is this? Why...do I feel...?
Professor... Hey, Professor... Uuuuo... Uuuuuou...
Professor, Professor... Professor...
Professor...? Professor, Professor, Professor...
Professor Professor Professor Professor
Professor Professor Professor...
AAAAHHHH!
After I shout for the first time, overwhelmed by the torrent of emotions within me...I lose all that kept me whole, spiraling to the darkness. Then, all is silent again.
When my eyes open, I am no longer in the lab. The professor is dead...My reason to live. Gone.
It is dark here. Cold and dark. No. It is not cold. At least. My body senses the air is mildly warm, and the dirt and stone around me is warm as well.
This cold...It's coming from within..
What is this I'm sensing now? Is this what emotions are? I feel them for the first time. Tears. They fall from my eyes..
Was this what the professor felt as she died? Am I dead? Is this the Underworld I had read about?
I'm so confused.
Is this freedom? Can I chose where to go? What to do?
Should I cross the line and make my own commands? Or do I wait here for a new master?
Even as I think this, the tears keep falling. Now that the professor is no longer around to fix my heart. What do I do?
I'm so confused.
There are small glowing rocks in the wall, as well as glowing moss that faintly pulses a bluish green glow.
I cannot stay here. I have made up my mind. I have to find something. Someone. I have to find a way back to the professor. So strange of me to be longing to return to the lab now that the professor is gone...yet I have nowhere else to go.
I hear something nearby.
I think it's a scream. Shortly after, a bellow of something deeper.
The sounds are getting closer.
Moments later, a human comes running towards me. It looks to be a boy as described in some of the books that I have read. He has white hair, red eyes, and a small body similar to mine. He is taller than me though.
He looks scared.
"Run!" He shouts to me as he sprints past me.
He seems to be trying to lose his pursuer, a very large muscular creature with the head of a bull. It seems to be a mythical creature from one of the books that I read. The Minotaur. A bizarre tale of Gods and Mortals.
The minotaur slows down upon seeing me, seemingly deciding on which target would make for a better death.
"Stop." I say, but the Minotaur ignores my words, raising it's fist the size of my head, and pulling it back.
Oh well.
My wings, as they were called by the professor, spring to action, flashing from their space behind me on my back to the front, dicing the minotaur into small chunks with a slight flash.
They return to my back, now steeped in minotaur blood.
This is the first time that I have killed someone, or, something. It is less intense than I thought it would be. In the professor's books, the descriptions of killing can be described as passionate and fiery...But all that I feel is sorrow. Professor.. I miss you so much.
I turn to the boy who has stopped,. He is watching me with nervous but awestruck eyes. I start and ask him a question.
"Where is this...And who are you?" I ask, taking a breath in between questions. Talking to a stranger other than the professor. It is hard.
With this newfound ability to channel my sensations, I realize that communicating with strangers can be scary too. I'm used to doing just what I'm told, not making my own decisions or asking questions.
So silly of me to be thinking that I can do anything without the professor.
As I am speaking with the boy, I hear another person coming to a halt behind me.
Light footsteps. Very fast. Likely a fighter or someone powerful perhaps as powerful as the professor? No. Nobody is as strong as her.
"This is the fifth floor?" The young boy says. His tone sounds incredulous, as if it was obvious. Almost as if to ask how I did not know it. Then he seems to regain his senses and bows to me.
"Where were my manners? I'm Bell. Thank you for saving me!" He bows deeply many more times.
My heart thumps. What is this feeling? It feels warm, like when I was with the professor.. Yet also not.
Is this what kindness feels like?
I don't know, but it feels good. A small part of me wants more of it.
"Nice...to meet you, Bell." I say, giving him a respectful bow, as I have done thousands of times for the professor. This is comfortable. Just get my orders, and it will feel comfortable again. I don't need to think.
I don't want to think.
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