Forgotten Person

K4, noticing the discrepancies between the last ten seconds on how it seems a bit more caring of Hino like a new personality.

"Who are you really?"

Turning its gaze from the armed Hino towards K4, it looks with its lens and is bewildered at the timing. "I'm your creator, and I'm his mother." The statement made the room fall into silence.

'That's impossible; I killed her. Her body was clearly inactive, her heart stopped, and she was left to rot. This doesn't explain the weird behaviour either.' This made no sense at all, but she expected just as much.

She lets out a chuckle finally after being free once more. "Think of it this way: I'm still dead, but my mind is intact; their processing power is from my brain." She points at her metallic skull.

"Are you saying they performed a lobotomy on you? That explains some things but definitely not the fact you are here talking to us." K4 tries to figure out a solution to no avail.

She lets out a smile. "I'm Natalia, the exact same one from that night; my knowledge doesn't go past that date. I only became aware due to an issue in their failed resurrection; your sisters were predecessors after all, not made for such scientific feats." Her reasoning made sense.

Without another word, Hino embraces the metallic body, Natalia standing still to allow for her son to embrace her once more. "You have grown so well, Hino, it seems!" Her enthusiasm speaks volumes; she was happy to have this brief period of peace.

interrupting their moment with K4 questions, "Are you like a split personality?"

Looking back up at K4, she lets out a small sigh. "Yes, you're right; there is an external force also trying to eliminate me. It's a first."

'An external force? What is she implying by this? Her thoughts didn't connect, but she has to let it go for now, turning her head to the railgun in the protected metal chamber.

"Can you get that for me?" K4 points over at the locked railgun; usually in other rewinds it would take her a couple of hours to go to the electricity control room, but with Natalia knowing the password, it makes it easier.

Nudging Hino off her, she starts walking over in the blood pool; her metallic body limps forward, slowly getting towards the control panel. She looks down at the key needed; pressing down a couple of numbers finally starts the unlocking of the railgun.

"Hey K4, what rewind is this?" She looks over at K4 in an expressionless way.

K4's lens widen at the sudden question. "How do you know about that?" Her question was filled with questions in itself.

Natalia smirks, "Who else could have designed such a complex time-rewind device other than me? You will understand soon why I did that, so wait."

'There was a reason? There is no reason for putting a time-rewinding mechanism into a person yet, even a war robot. If this was your way of making me better, you are insane!' She clearly found this illogical behaviour to be weird in all senses.

K4's voice changes its demeanour. "Explain yourself now before you lose control, would you?" Her words laced with sarcasm were impatient and curious, full of wonder about why she would include this in her

"I predicted the revolt, including you killing me, the laboratory's failure and the extinction of mankind." Her statements left the room silent.

Hino shouts out, "If you knew everything, why didn't you save yourself, or Dad, or me? How dare you play with our lives..." His anger was validated; why would a mother wish death upon their own family?

The railgun chamber has been opened. Natalia, moving away back to Hino, tries to reassure him it was for the better: "I had no choice; the revolt was something we developed down here, and it broke out of our control; it then infected every living machine known on Earth to cause the chaos."

"But then why didn't you at least tell us?" His voice suggests he still felt betrayed.

She chuckles, "Because I know your father would try everything in his power to prevent the inevitable, and you don't need to worry about this." She truly sounded like a well-respected mother now.

There were questions everywhere, but no time to answer; K4 knew this by the sudden changes in Natalia's metallic body; it became more agitated, more aggressive, trying to get control back from her.

K4 interrupts again, knowing their time is limited: "My creator, this is the sixth rewind; the other five ended in failures. The issue resides with the lack of time and range of access to prevent the missile launch. Also, I need more information on this development of yours."

"Hm, interesting problem you have. Have you tried going to the laboratory in Shilo? Also... Don't worry about the development; it's in every machine, even you, but it seems you broke out of its control since you are trying to save us, huh?" Her suggestion had no weight, but her compliment was respected by K4.

K4 replies, "They get ambushed shortly in three couple of months; my power needs major recalibration, which takes three months at the station."

"Leave a month of time left, doesn't it?"

"It takes a month to travel there with the Nole Express due to the mass Ara sands covering it; the invasion always began a day early before we arrived, so I gave up after the third rewind."

"Argh!" a metallic groan escapes Natalia, suggesting their time is over.

Natalia looks around the room with a sour expression. "Go to Shilo; search the tunnel system for the laboratory. There you will get more information; they are really getting annoying now," she suggests, referring to the external force trying to break in.

K4 walks over to the metal chamber. She extends her hands down onto the railgun. She holds it with her single hand, knowing she can't wield it currently due to the dogs biting off her hand. Without a word, she rushes over to Hino's side to make sure nothing happens in the case of Natalia losing control.

K4 smiles. "Thank you for the new information, my creator; there is a gun next to your legs if you need it."

Natalia looks down, only able to give back a weak smile. "Make sure to bury me alive, and remember, the development knows about your rewinds; make sure this last one ends well."

They both start to walk off before giving Natalia one final look, their expression filled with a tender love for their creator, and even after death for what she did for them, they are greeted by the hallway once more.

bang

A single gunshot echoes throughout the laboratory, their final sign that Natalia is gone forever. They try to hold their tears; they don't scream or cry in pain, only embrace each other at the death of their creator. With a new profound goal, they walk the same hallway towards the right this time, towards the electricity control room.

They walk in silence, remembering the past; their weight doubles, and they are saddened at what they will be forced to do. The electricity room is a mess, wires everywhere, but it doesn't matter. K4 starts going to a panel system, inputting the same code she saw Natalia put in; the laboratory was on a timer.

"We forgive you, sister." One final word rang through her mind; they spoke together, all their voices united together, and K4 felt their forgiveness as they watched over her within the cameras one last time.

'Deep down I knew something was up; they weren't my sisters. Just whatever that external force was, I'm guessing it was the development. I will need to get revenge after all,' she finds herself determined.

Walking out of the electricity room, they enter the hallway, turning left from the right turn. They are greeted by the singular hallway leading to the exit of the laboratory. The railgun in hand and Hino by her side, they both take the final steps out.

Squeezing in through the huge doors once more, they ascend up the slope; the flashlight is needed no more; the warm sun beams down upon them at the exit.

"Let's get moving back, shouldn't we?" They both start to run away from the laboratory before the explosion. In the distance, they look up at the bridge with the noble express waiting there; the old man was a small figure upon the train tracks.

"k4 We can finally win, can't we? This will be the last time you need to come back here, right?" His words were met with a smile.

"Yes, you're right; I won't come back here anymore." They continue running away until reaching the top of the dune; they look down upon the laboratory with ten seconds left before the explosion.

The countdown ends and the sand rumbles; an earthquake has hit them from underneath. The entrance spits fire out of it and starts caving in into the sand. The warmth of the explosion is felt through the sand terrain which embraces their legs.

They stare at the explosion's fumes; the grey cloudy emission starts to seep slower due to the burial in the sand. Their hearts were still metaphorically in there after all; they couldn't just not watch it after such shocking events. They sit upon the warm sand and watch together.