4

Did they plan on salvaging him? Did they plan on ripping him apart until there was nothing left? It was in that moment that Jeongguk realized he never fully grasped the question he had been whispering into the void for years. What did rescue entail? What did he want it to mean? He wanted—he wanted to feel important, to be of some purpose again. The likelihood of that happening was—minimal. Perhaps nonexistent.

            i don’t want to be hurt anymore

He waited anxiously as the stranger started to examine him, waiting for their gloved hands to violate him as he had been before. There was some small part of him that wished he was so broken that they would leave him be. Decades of wanting to be found and suddenly he wanted anything but. It was almost ironic. He just didn’t want to be turned into something he wasn’t. If he was going to die he would rather it be from his power cells dying than to have his own existence torn from him.

            please go away

Then, they stopped abruptly. Perhaps they had sensed his cries for mercy and decided to grant a derelict android his dying wish. Not that he had ever been so lucky, but some part of him dared to hope. He watched the stranger pull out something from their bag, a scanner. Jeongguk winced as the green light blanketed him from head to toe, uncovering all of his defects in a matter of seconds. He felt—powerless. He was powerless. And that scared him more than anything else.

goawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoaway

“Don’t be afraid, I’m not going to hurt you.”

Jeongguk’s mind stilled for a moment.

Why should I believe you? The last person who said that—

            r e m o v e  i t

—lied to me.

Jeongguk couldn’t recall much, his memory was just as faulty as the rest of him. Still, he had flashes of moments, fragments of his past that bled together over the course of several years. What little he could recall—terrified him. He could remember his body failing him, he could hear a harsh voice hurling insulting words, he felt regret, anger, sorrow, fear. Those were his memories. That’s all he had.

How could he possibly hope for anything more when his entire life was painted with despair?

“Hope—it’s a terrifying thing, Jeongguk.”

            yes, yes it is

“Don’t let it scare you, fear is temporary.”

            are you sure?

“Yes, because hope is eternal.”

            … okay

Maybe—maybe he could afford to take one more chance.

            h e l p  m e

He couldn’t speak, so his retinal display was the only way for him to ask for help. A message that only he could see, a request that would inevitably fall on deaf ears. Still—he had to try something.

            p l e a s e

“I’m going to get you out of there.”

Perhaps he had a voice after all.

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