Tears For Nomad

Four little flowers are grown in an artificial meadow. The soil had turned rotten and the plentiful grass died out, now serving the little flowers as a reminder that they no longer belong.

The Gerbera is blissfully unaware.

The Lady's Mantle is oh so distressed.

The Anemone is holding onto everyone else's roots.

The Bat Orchid untangles herself as it prepares and overlooks the stage for her performance.

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Running  File -「08-23-0562」

"Commencing mission" I say as I tie a rubber band around my hands as Agent V taught me. I infiltrated the evil lair of the villain known as the Black Lily who's about to take over the world!

The bright lights and cold white walls of the corridor makes it hard for me to stay hidden in the shadows so I'll have to improvise and fully rely on each of my senses incase any of the villains goons appear! With slow and careful steps I sneak through the maze of walls and doors making sure my steps make no sound at all.

"Oh hello, Mauve" Blanc suddenly walks by, holding a book in her hand, puzzled as to what I'm doing.

"Shh! You have not seen me."

"But I do se-"

"Shhh!"

"Shhh..." still confused by what's going on Blanc retraces her steps with her mouth covered and silently vanishes from sight.

That could've been it for me if it were one of the Lily's goons. Nonetheless I continue my mission and enter a room labeled as "Observatory", this must be where sheÄs hatching her plans right at this moment! So with perfect silence and precision I open the door and sneak in. But the moment I set foot into the room the villain before me unexpectedly speaks up.

"I've been expecting you, Agent M" she doesn't even bother to face me as she speaks, only further looking down the giant panoramic windows, looking down at the rest of the world.

"Black Lily! How did you-!"

"Unfortunately for you, Agent M, my plan to take over the world had long begun!" she says as she instantaneously shoots a rubber band out of her hand.

"!!!" before I could even react and I get hit right in my heart. "You won't get away with this..." I lose all of my strength as my body slowly makes a descent to the ground. My hands try to catch the fall, feeling the delicate ridges across the floor before but they end up giving in too.  "Eugh....!" 

 Without any sign of remorse Noire turns back around and looks out of her window, holding her hands towards what's out there. An endessly dark horizon enveloping everything around the sun and it's counterpart, Earth.

"Isn't fascinating how anything that's been ever invented came from what simply seems to be a blue rock from afar? Every little piece of land inhabited by all kinds of people with their own lives, ambitions and dreams, moving in tandem with each other to create a perfect civilization."

 

"But they've also gotten to the moon, right?" I get up and stand next to Noire, pointing towards the gray desolate ground beneath us.

 

"To them it's simply just a scientific facility, there's no such beauty to be found here, Mauve. It's as though you'd take a Canvas full of potential paintings to be made only to end up using it as a Paint Palette to draw on an already established painting. So many people are out there, living on a painting perfected over several thousand years. Yet except for some researchers, the four of us and Mother there's nothing else up here on the moon."

"But soon we'll be deployed to Earth soon, right?"

"Yes, but that'll probably take a while." Noire takes me hand and places the blue rock between my fingers. "Soon all four of us will be able to explore this wonderful painting, maybe even add a few strokes to it too. Isn't it exciting?"

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Pausing File -「08-23-0562」

Turning around, looking back at her steps, Mauve saw nothing but an endless ocean of sand. Her hands stretched out with her fingers in-between two little dots in the distance, Biboo and Lillim enjoying each others company. 

While Mauve was looking revisiting her memories as she walked along her path she had gotten closer to the endlessly tall tower, finally casting a shadow over her. 

"This is it!" 

Pieces of debris swallowed by the dunes were scattered all around it, seemingly having fallen apart from whatever hundredth floor. She drifted her hands over some debris as she passed by. A certain metallic texture with tiny ridges giving it a unique feel, something Mauve would immediately recognize. 

"No way no way!"

Thrilled she ran towards what seemed to be a sturdy gate. It had the same texture all over the tower that you'd still be able to feel , despite the amount of sand and grain on it.

MMMRRR Mr MrMrrmrrrr a shrilling noise coming out of a blue light on top of the gate scans through Mauve and her surroundings.

MRRMRR seemingly accepting entry with a short tone, the gate shook violently as a rotating symbol in its center emerged from the sand, having seemingly spent several decades hidden by debris and sand. Mauves eyes lit up once she began to recognize the symbol that had emerged. Something she could recognize everywhere at any time as it was a deeply integral part of herself as well.

 

"S-sCan comPleTE..... W-WE-LCOM shhhBacK ModEl-#AOne41Eigh99999" a corrupted voice from within the gate greeted her politely.

"Is...this...is...Home!?"  once the gate had fully opened Mauve rushed in without any hesitation. Lights and signs illuminated around her bit by bit as they emerged into a huge projection saying WELCOME TO THE AZSYNTH VISITING CENTER. As she kept on walking in, more lights lit up the hall, as though she was greeted back home.

"Ah..." She fell to her knees. "Hnrk-! H-Huh...?" Tears were dropping onto her knees. They kept coming out entirely unprompted. "W-Wha-? I'm not supposed to...- how...?" her emotional features were made for interactions with AzSynth customers and their circumstances, yet she wasn't in contact with any. "It shouldn't have been triggered by itself.." she kept telling herself. 

She kept wiping her tears away but more came and didn't seen to want to stop. Her vision was too blurry for her to see anything at that point. She didn't understand what was going on. The entire Center was in shambles with everything having deteriorated and being almost beyond recognition. But with the way the rest of the world was like, it was something she very much needed to see again.

"M...Mother... hRnk... I..."

Despite everything being worn off and broken, a single thing from the past had remained. The giant sculpture of the moon, made out of actual Moon Rocks shining gracefully under the unstable lights. Still not being able to move properly, Mauve dragged herself towards the moon, leaving behind a trail of sand and tears, and had put her palm on it. The projections on the moon displayed all kinds of AzSynth bases. One of them were the ACSQ Division HQ, her home.

"Mother.... S-so much went w-wrrong...hrnkh... I couldn't find them yet... I'm sorry Noire... I'm sorry Vert... I'm sorry Blanc... We... we were supposed to come back together..."

Still overwhelmed by these new feelings she just kept holding onto the moon, as if it were Mother itself. She knows it's not actually Mother and that her sisters were nowhere to be found. She was talking to absolutely no one...but still... still... "I miss you all...so much..." she kept holding on it

BANG!.... BANG!.... BANG!....BANG!

"Huh!?!?" a banging noise further within the Center snapped Mauve back.

BANG!.... BANG.!... BANG!

The banging kept going on, accompanied by a buzzing noise. Hesitant and unsure of what it was, Mauve had gotten up and went around the moon, her palms still strafing on its surface as she walked towards it to investigate. A hovering object kept spinning its rotors as it kept bumping against a sign repeatedly.

Pshh pshh pshh... BANG! Pshh pshh pshh... Bang! Pshh pshh pshh... BANG!

Having heard Mauves movements, the hovering object had suddenly turned towards her and approached Mauve with weak little bursts, barely not touching the ground as it kept going up and down.

"W-Wel-WelCOmE! T-to t- AZSYNTH Visi-ING cENT! m-MY namE is AZSY!-! b-buT ever-one call-ls mE AaaaZZZsyYYYY! haHa! I-I'll b-BE your T-tOur GuiDe for toDAY!" the once beloved guide-drone made to capture all visitors hearts with its charm made a little spin, wanting to show "everyone" off  to Mauve. It had a little display on it which, although cracked, could still show Azsy's pixelated emojis face.

"Azsy!? You're still here!? Do you know what happened?" Mauve had put her hands onto the struggling drone, as though she were interrogating it. "W-wHat's yoUR nAmE?" as though Azsy hasn't listened or is purposefully ignoring the questions it kept going on with its tour.

"Mauve! ACSQ Model #A14189!" she told Azsy. Filled with desperation she kept holding onto it, as it was the only sign for Mauve that everyone else might still be out there. "o-OH tHat'S a SecRET for nOw- Pl-PleasE LeT goOO of ME to conTInUe the TOUR!"

Having given up, she sighs and lets go of Azsy. There was no other choice for Mauve other than to let it continue its program with the hope of Azsy mentioning anything about what had happened. "LeT'S GoO!" Azsy cheerfully hovered across the hall leading into a path labeled as "HISTORY OF AZSYNTH DYNAMICS" hidden behind a fully torn curtain that had opened a path that was already open. 

As they went deeper into the path the ambience had turned darker as a spotlight shone onto a faded stand with an animated cartoon cutout depicting a young man tinkering in his workshop. The professional voice of a man began narrating the half-torn information paper on the stand.

"AzSynth Dynamics was always known to be filled with the most amazing minds known to man, making all kinds of amazing inventions that you might be using in your day to day lives. But all of it started 80 Years ago back in the year 0482 back when our founder, Azymov made his first amazing Invention: The first NeuroDive Headset. By utilizing the back then risky Deep Dive Virtual Reality niche he had created a device that not only made Deep Dives safe, but also healthy and stimulating for the mind. By starting off with a single stand at a mall giving demonstrations his sales slowly started to rise as safer Deep Dive headsets began hitting the mainstream markets. Thus he founded Azymov Industries, the very beginning of AzSy-Sy-Sy-Syyynthh....."

Eventually the speaker at the stand had begun to fail too as an empty display where the NeuroDive would've belonged to rose up to show nothing.

"AzYMov iS ttRULY an amAZING! InVEnTor isn'T hE?" Azsy said before it moved on towards the next stand which was absolutely empty. Expecting the narrator to return Azsy floated in silence looking at the stand that had nothing to show, just like all the rest of the stands along the path which seemed to be broken beyond repair or entirely gone too.

"Maybe we should move on Azsy. We can go through all this later!" Mauve tried to get Azsy's attention to no avail, it just kept staring at nothing and probably would for all other stands as well.

"Okay then. I'll see you later, Azsy!" she said as she left the path and moved on deeper into the tower. What used to be merchandise shops and product showcases with several activity areas such as indoor playgrounds or even restaurants and hotels, all the things that turned the tower into a hub for everyone to enjoy their time in, turned into empty husks of themselves and now left liminal.

Several stories of activities were covered by a mesmerizing dome infused with crystals that, even with the lack of lighting, were able to show off their brilliance. What went above the dome was reserved for employees and VIP guests. Staring at the dome one thing came up in her mind.

"The Shuttle! Maybe it still works!" Mauve rushed up several flight of broken escalators, hoping that the special shuttle that went beyond the dome was still functional. As she got closer to the dome she faced the large mechanical door that was only authorized for employees. Though supposedly secure against intruders, it had a large gap in it. "I should be able to get through it... I think." she told herself as she crammed herself through it, the secure door easily giving in and widening the gap. 

"The Shuttle...it's still here!" A single bar of light shone onto a futuristic Shuttle as though it waited for her on the rusty rails.

*shhhhhhhhh* *shhh* *shhhhhhh*

"Huh?" Before Mauve even had the chance to take a closer look at the shuttle she noticed a sound as if a piece of cloth was walking across the ceiling.

*shhhsshhh* *shhhh*

"Hello? Is someone th-!" she fell to the ground as something, no, someone landed ontop of her. Silky smooth strands began to manifest into a humanoid form, though it was made of something else it was instantly recognizable as the creature that she had faced before.

"A Fallen?!" she backed away as fast as she could but it wasn't enough to get away from it. But one thing she knew she could do was-

[HOSTILE ENTITIES DETECTED / SELF DEFENSE MODE UNAVAILABLE / SEEK YOUR NEAREST AZSYNTH AUTHORIZED TECHNICIAN TO REACTIVATE]

"Not now! Not now! I need it right now!" she panicked, absolutely helpless in the worst moment imaginable. The strands had fully formed themselves in to a humanoid as the Fallens arms reached out to her face, gently caressing it with a dead and empty stare. Enveloping a human skull the Fallen had extremely unusual eyes for attempting to look human and its long hair intertwining with the body itself in a constantly shifting uncanny way.

Its hands feeling as though several spiderwebs had its grip on Mauves synthetic skin.

"You are....warm..." its husky voice struggled to speak up.

"W-What....?!" in Mauves confusion the Fallen enveloped its body all over Mauve attempting to feel more of that 'warmth', completely freezing her in place.

"you are... very.... warm..." 

It kept holding onto Mauve in silence, showing absolutely no hostility as all the other Fallen. 

Mauve, although still confused and terrified of it, began to understand that it most likely did not mean any harm at all and held onto the Fallen too as only silence filled the Shuttle room.