During The Months

"How does it feel to be beated by the ruler of robots?" The light-hearted voice called out to K4; she was sitting down on a couch within her dark domain.

'There has to be something that even she can't win at. How is a person who has just gotten a body this good at physical sports?'

K4 gives a look of fury towards pandemonium; clearly losing to her was a bit of an insult for a war robot who was supposed to excel at any sort of physical activity.

Pandemonium gives a smirky look. "Maybe you finally give up after all." A chuckle started emitting from her.

"You... How about this, then? We will play a game of cards instead." The weird proposition gave a bit of a shock to Pandemonium.

She gives a slight smirk at this request. "Seems fair to me; I have knowledge of many gambling card robots after all."

K4 lets out a sigh. 'Even if she could control and take the form of any robot, I still can beat her at least once this time.'

Giving a solemn look towards Pandemonium 'in pool, I lost within 1 turn after I started, and let's not include the various other activities that we spent doing for the last couple of months in account.

"Let's play a game of poker. I will construct a couple more players with us as well to be fair and a bit more interesting." K4 constructs a poker table, and six seats are getting filled with various people that both of them know.

Pandemonium gives an interested face; her brows lift and her mouth wavers up. "Hino, the Minister, Jumper, Ox and us two are the players, it seems." They all sit down, getting their cards handed out instantly from the dark abyss and a pile of chips symbolising 100.

K4 has a pair of eights with both a heart and a club; she studies the expressionless people trying to act like they will give away some sort of hint. The first three cards get hit onto the table: a six of spades, a queen of hearts and finally a ten of spades again.

Nobody folds at all; Hino actually raises the stakes up a bit by 15. Everyone matches him except Ox, who folds out, not expecting an early raise.

The next card lands on the table, getting an eight of spades to hit all of them in shock. K4 stays expressionless, waiting to not give out information to anyone around; she raises the bet by another 10.

The minister and Hino fold, knowing there weren't any kings or queens to appear, further making them exit.

Finally, the last card hits the table; the tension is high and the atmosphere is tense. K4 sees the card; it was not an eight but a 2 of clubs, giving her a three of a kind to work with. Nobody seems to raise at all until pandemonium adds 5 to the pot; it was too late to fold at this point.

They all match and reveal their cards: three of a kind, two pairs, and finally, Pandeoiuem reveals a three of a kind also. Both K4 and Pandeoiuem split the pot for the next game.

'That was a rough game... She is also good at this; ever since she became my system again, it seems she got a bit more carefree due to her absorbing all the knowledge of other robots beforehand. K4 lets out a sigh. "Guess it's a draw, oh ruler of robots," giving a snappy remark back at Pandemonium, who hasn't lost at all during these months yet.

"It's luck when it comes to us due to our expressionless nature; we can hide it perfectly after all, but you've really fallen off on the emotional aspect since I left you." Pandeoiuem remembers how emotionless and cold K4 was before compared to this loop.

K4 smiles. "Maybe because the system finally freed me from an endless failure loop. Even if the humans did indeed launch it already, I can't stop it? I was going to ask you a couple of questions, actually." K4 gives a serious expression, different from the one during the game.

"Go ahead; you got all friendly with me for a reason." Pandeoium knows that this was one of her intentions also.

K4 laughs slightly. "You aren't as bad as you were before, maybe because you actually got a chance to experiment with the world too? Anyway, why did you go to Shilo?

"I went because the computers in the labratory were off, with no choice to power them on, it never worked however due to how destructive the attack always went, until you turned it on"

K4 lowers her head. "Figured we helped you a bit. Why do you need those computers?"

"You think that I want humanity dead? Well, that's part of it... but also if I were to perish, then it wouldn't matter if they die or live since we're all dead."

"So you do have a bit of sense after all, and you used me for the past five rewinds to help you achieve it?"

"Yes, but you were rather inefficient; hence why I vanished this time, I faked the failure of the rewind."

K4 exclaims, "I was so worried about you! Can't believe it was about you... So much for killing you and saving humanity; they destroyed themselves from the start."

"Do you want another chance?" Pandemonium's expression widens, like a contracting businessman; it seemed innocent, but it led to further issues.

giving back a weak smile, that expression riddled with pain and experience, "No, I promised Hino that it would be the last time."

Pandemonium leans back. "Does a promise to a dead person matter? If they die, how would your promise be kept? Matter of fact, why does anything you did in the past matter?" Her voice gave a sense of innocence to the situation despite the harsh reality that was her question on K4's philosophy.

K4 stands up from the table, instantly making a 2000s living room. She sits on a leather chair with a pandemonium facing opposite her, a wooden table in between them lower than normal. "A promise isn't something that depends on death or life."

"So you're saying you will keep your promise at the cost of everything around you?"

"Yes, at the cost of everything in all five of my rewinds, I will let it go for a simple promise."

"Where did you develop such a depressing view on life?" Pandemonium gives out a little chuckle and leans back further into the leather chair, that red hair flowing down its sides while her yellow eyes penetrate K4's face.

K4 gives a weak smile. "You know where I developed such a view; you haven't left me that early." The sarcasm laced with truth stung Pandemonium a bit.

"I suppose you're right; maybe that's why Natalia liked you so much – you had a bit more rules, morals, and ethics compared to the rest of your type."

K4 grimaces her face slightly at the offensive comment, "The reason they were different from me was because those scientists trained us for war, just like they trained you to be an obedient system."

Pandemonium smiles. "Look at us now, both of us in one room prepared for an end; you hated me before too much..." She definitely was rather upset with K4 treating her like an enemy, but she knew that K4 had a right to bear hatred.

K4 stands up, making the chair behind her disappear. "We're past those days; we were on the same side all this time, just in different ways." She gives a slight wink towards Pandemonium.

Following K4's lead, she stands up with the chair and table vanishing together; the darkness enveloped them both with nothing else in sight. "You will rewind, one way or another; I won't let this end, especially with a loss."

"Is this a promise or threat? or a mixture of both, perhaps"

Pandemonium laughs loudly; that light voice fills the empty void of the mind space: "You aren't against me anymore, K4. I'm a part of you now; don't forget it."

"Taking use of a clueless copy of me to merge yourself with me. It says a lot about you, despite your intention to help."

"You're still mad about that? Not my fault you fell off after taking all the city's power to obliterate my cute pet."

"Cute is an overstatement for something like that. The aftermath wasn't better; if not for Hino, then this place would have fallen, and so your ability to rewind."

Pandemonium nudges K4, "You won't die again; trust me this time."

Both figures start to vanish into the darkness, finally letting go of their world for the couple of months that it lasted; whenever they return, it will embrace them once more.