Peaceful Night

They walked for hours; at this point, in the far distance, the sun started to set behind the metropolis city of Shilo. The metal sheet stretched so far and wide that it would cover them for most likely another couple of hours the next day. It was a smart way to protect citizens from strikes on factories, which is why they are so far away.

"Hino, let's rest for today; the sun is setting, and we can continue the next day and reach the city soon after." K4 stops walking and stands on the warm metal sheet, which took in heat; the air was also warm from the heat transfer of the metal sheet.

Hino puts down his bag on the floor. "I will get the tent going; you get the fire." Hino grabs the tent and starts unfolding its compact form into the original house form. He starts by attaching the bag on the inside of the tent due to there being no place to nail down the tent.

K4, on the other hand, got the lighter and wood they stored to start a small fire; they were very resourceful with the campfire size, making sure to only burn one piece of wood or two at max. Hino would just wear more layers on top of his trench coat; K4, on the other hand, didn't need the heat.

"Where did you put the meat?" K4 calls out to Hino, who is busy finalising the tent. The sun has fully set now, and there is a shiver of cold now around them. The night sky doesn't have many lights compared to the usual due to the metropolis polluting the light levels, yet it is still a magnificent sight to behold, knowing they won't get attacked within the walls.

Hino walks over to the bag and starts searching for the meat they picked up. "Go finish the tent." K4 doesn't rebel and walks over to the tent, noticing the mistakes Hino made.

"Seems like someone forgot how to properly make a tent without dirt..." Her tone suggested a joking manner, but Hino wasn't having it.

He turns to meet her while finally getting the meat in his hand. "Seems your lens could spot a secret laboratory but not a bag of meat. What's the point of that ability if you starve yourself..." K4 scoffs at his comment.

"War robots don't need food like you do; the sunlight alone is plenty. Your comebacks have run short once again." She erupts in mild laughter at his failure to win at another snappy contest.

Hino, having the meat in his hand, gets a stick and penetrates the meat to stick it over the fire. They both weren't sure what the meat was, but it was determined safe from the looks of it. K4, on the other hand, was fixing the tent up from his mistakes, making sure the strong wind won't carry it off with them inside.

K4 steps out of the tent, seeing Hino with layers on top of his trenchcoat like usual, sitting next to him. They both embrace the warmth of the campfire on this quiet night. They haven't had a chance of peace in a while now with all the things they had going on, but now it was just rest on their minds.

"Are we reaching our journey's end soon?" Hino looks into K4's eyes.

K4 gives back a weak smile, her face giving an expression of relief and exhaustion from all the failed rewinds before. "Maybe soon. This is our only chance; my rewinds ran out."

"Those rewinds of yours, were they sad?" Hino poses the question.

K4's brows lift, and her face jolts. "What do you mean by sad? I just lost a couple of people. I don't care about humanity. I mentioned it before when we met, Ox."

"Doesn't that mean you lost me already a couple of times? I died in front of you, didn't I?"

K4 lets out a saddened expression, her face dropping and her lens closing in. "Just a couple... Sacrificing myself for you, Ox, and Jumper as well now; it's something I'm willing to do even at the cost of my own life."

"Why don't we flee...?" Hino looks at K4, suggesting their end could be now; they could just survive the attack on a shilo and hope the underground provides them some sort of protection.

She looks back at him a bit disappointed. "I can't do that, Hino. I was given the ability to save everyone; I failed already four times, so why should I give up?"

"Maybe you're right, but these people would save you at the cost of their own lives." He looks into the fire; the flame burnt with passion that night; it danced like a circus and consumed the air with a smoke that lifts itself into the sky.

K4 also looks into the fire. "I know they wouldn't, but just because everyone else won't doesn't mean I shouldn't." Her mindset was really well defined; she didn't care if others didn't do what she did, knowing that they were humans after all.

"I wouldn't do it either." His words were dull, emotionless and full of an empty void that couldn't be repaired. Deep down, K4 understood this choice; her understanding of humans has far surpassed any historic philosopher or psychologist.

Turning her head towards Hino, the warmth of the fire hitting her right cheek now, "I know that too well as well; you are just a selfish person by nature. You have no family because of me, and the revolt stripped you of a normal life. I don't expect anything from you."

Hino smiles weakly. "You make me sound like a lost cause... Give me a bit of credit for at least coming out with you in every rewind." He continues staring at the fire, ignoring K4's looks of bewilderment.

"You are happy to go back to Ox and live out a normal life once we're done here." Her words spoke of an opportunity he never had, a chance at building something he cared about.

His eyes falter with his resolve, "It's too late for that. Let's be companions till the end of our journey this time!" The excitement gave K4 a different outlook on how Hino thinks; she was fully expecting him to betray her goal.

'Sometimes you surprise me for a human. Even if I called you selfish, you are still a good kid raised by a good family, even if I killed them early... regretfully...'

With their chatter lasting five minutes, Hino's meat seemed to be cooked due to exposure to the heat from the campfire; the tenderness and texture were something that soothed his appetite after such an eventful search for files.

As Hino ate, K4 decided to stay silent, letting him enjoy his alone time for once, even if it was for a brief moment that was allowed. He ate the food rather quickly, taking it in around a quick minute of night's time. With a full stomach and their words said, Hino started to head into the camp.

"I will see you tomorrow, K4." He enters the tent, zipping it up; the rustling of the tent could be heard within, but it wasn't noticeable to K4, who stopped after ten minutes, suggesting Hino was asleep.

"Our journey will end soon, won't it, Pandorium?" She stares behind the campfire's flame. A burning red-haired girl with those same yellow eyes and white robes stood behind the flame, choosing to hide herself.

Pandemonium responds, "Once you end your story here and maybe survive my invasion, then you will see everything differently. Until then, let us meet another time. Enjoy the night!" The flame covered her for a split second out of K4's lens sight; the next moment, within a split second, pandemonium was never seen again.

K4, having her own peaceful night, decided to lie down on the metal sheet of Shilo. The campfire gave her a feeling of warmth, and due to her robotic nature, the coldness of the night wasn't felt by her sensors.

'Even if I don't save them all, I still enjoyed it all. Thank you, Natalia, for making me. Even if I did kill you after all... you still forgave me.' K4 starts closing her lens; her metallic back connects to the metallic sheet of Shilo and enters her mind space.

The black void within her mind space started to construct the console she needed to use once again after such a big period of time. "Time to shut myself off again." The console reacted upon her touch, disconnecting her body, making her oblivious to the sounds outside her reach.

The sound of vehicles, helicopters and cars with trucks all being deployed driving at fast speeds across the metal sheet, only having one destination, which was to track down and neutralise the infiltrators of Shilo, those being Hino and K4