Rebecca peeked out after rubbing her eyes and spotted her siblings right before they turned a corner and she sighed. Then, instead of running to her Dad in response to the message she got, she went back into her room and curled up on her bed, wirelessly locking her door.
She’d just be a bother to X right now, he was busy. She was fine. Or would be at the very least.
X closed the door behind him as his daughter allowed him in, moving mutely between the space of her room. It felt huge and empty, yet cramped, with the weight of so much pain accompanying them on their shoulders. He was mindful of the violin- a precious, beautiful thing- as he sat down beside her.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner, Rebs.”
The hunter is gentle as he approaches the other reploid, carefully looping an arm around her middle and drawing her into a hug. Asimov knows that they both need it- anything to quell the disasters of yesterday…
“I’m here for you now. It’s going to be okay…”
As soon as he sat down on her bed next to her, she stiffened and looked at the floor, sending a message in response.
‘it’s okay, you had more important things to worry about, dad.’
When he wrapped an arm around her for a hug, she twitched before burying her face in his shoulder. She had no more tears to cry right now, but the choked noises she was making couldn’t be mistaken for anything but.
‘he’s gone…’
She sent him, her shoulders shaking. All she could do right now was cling to him like an upset child.
The startled squeak Rebecca let out would never be mentioned again, but as soon as she realized who it was, she immediately scooped him up for cuddles!!
A sigh slowly escaped Zero once Rebecca began to speak again, a tiny smile cracking across his scarred face. He gently continued brushing her hair with his fingers, voice coming through much softer now that he had her attention. “Y’did fine little Berry, combat isn’t a one time adjustment.” He was hoping to placate her in this moment, and was struggling to find certain words, “You…You made it to the end at least, that’s better than X can say.” He was spouting nonsense, but he hoped she might laugh at least.
That was a fairly sporadic fight, nothing Zero wasn’t used to, but it escalated quickly so it didn’t surprise him that she had frozen up. He was simply worried that she’d been struck too hard or something.
She quietly listened to what Zero said, nodding quietly as shaky hands grasped onto his own.
“Y-Yeah…”
She didn’t seem that hurt, but she lowered her head, swallowing dryly as she looked at the cracked ground for a moment, cycling in air. She was calming down now, especially since Zero was helping.
There was a twist of shame in her stomach though, she should have been better, she shouldn’t have frozen up.
But she knew she couldn’t have helped it. She absently squeezed Zero’s hands and leaned into the touch.
“M’okay now…”
“I can see wonderful hot dudes and I ain’t complaining.”
Rebecca nodded, trying to stay as still as possible as X lifted the rubble, letting her get free and cradle her damaged hand to her chest. There were wires sparking a bit in her damaged palm and fingers, though not so much that they’d set her shirt on fire by accident.
“Th-Thank you…”
She looked up at him, tears at the edge of her sapphire eyes before she managed to get herself to her feet. She wobbled a bit before having to steady herself and recalibrate her motor systems, before she spoke again.
“D-Dad, what happened…? An attack? It was s-so sudden…”
So sudden that she hadn’t had any time before the ceiling had almost collapsed on her. Only the instincts honed by her training so far had saved her life.
“I think we can just stick with soap for now.” Step one was to get rid of any grime that was bogging the girl down. Step two could be to get her smelling pretty.
Dakota gestured for Rebecca to follow her inside before pointing at the counter. “There are some towels there, and you can use any stall you want. I’ll be outside making sure no one tries to enter while you’re in here, so you don’t have to worry about anyone else coming in, okay?”
Giving her what she hoped was a comforting smile, Dakota pointed back at the door. “I’ll be right out there so if you need anything you can just call for me. It’s Dakota, in case you forgot.” Because lords knew that Dakota wouldn’t have been able to remember a stranger’s name if her whole world had just been turned upside down.
“I’ve sent for someone to bring a change of clothing for you. It might not fit… perfectly, but when you’re done you don’t have to put your dirty clothing back on.”
A nod, coupled with “take as much time as you like” were her final words before stepping back outside.
“Dakota…”
She tested out the name before nodding a bit before actually placing her dirty clothes to the side. She absently stood there for a moment before going over to one of the stalls, with a rag to clean herself with the soap.
Her mind stumbled a moment as she looked at the knobs and tried to figure out how to turn the damn thing on. That took a moment or so before the water came on and startled her before the water streamed down.
It was warm.
She took the soap off the little shelf and made suds with the rag, not seeming to care that there were clumps of sand already falling from her choppy hair and off her back.
Then she started to wash herself, taking her time so she could get all the crap off of her. The water here was just as warm as home-
…
The hand holding the rag trembled before she crouched down, burying her face in her knees as she whimpered. She could never go home now.
“…I’m sorry that I couldn’t be good…”
She couldn’t be what he wanted. She could never go home, it was no longer her home. She couldn’t cry right now though, she cried herself out on X and Zero earlier that day.
Back in the Game 
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