Work Text:
Fandroid awoke to the soft sensation of being unplugged. Groggy, he sat up, rubbing at his screen with his claws. His optical sensors hadn’t kicked back on yet, so he didn’t really know what was going on.
“Melody?” he asked into the silence.
The voice that responded was definitely not Melody’s.
“NOPE!” Fandrew shouted with his usual enthusiasm. “WAKEY WAKEY!!! I’VE GOT GOOD NEWS!”
Fandroid blinked, his surroundings coming into focus. Fandrew’s screen was only a few inches away from his. Fandroid squeaked, looking around. Aside from the two of them, the panic room was completely empty.
“What’s going on?” Fandroid asked, trying to get himself some personal space. Luckily, Fandrew rolled away, going in circles and waving his arms around as he talked.
“A LOT OF STUFF HAPPENED WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING! UH. BP-0 TOOK CARE OF THE WHOLE 404 SITUATION! HE’S ALLLL GONE!!! WE’RE SAFE! SO WE DON’T HAVE TO STAY IN HERE ANYMORE!” Fandrew gestured to the empty room. “MELODY’S HELPING FROGBOT AND BP-0 FIX EVERYTHING UP SO SHE TOLD ME TO WAKE YOU UP!!"
Fandroid couldn’t believe it. After months of living in fear for his life, everything was finally okay again!
“That’s a relief!” Fandroid said, beaming. He took Fandrew’s hand, who helped him get up.
Fandrew didn’t let go, though.
“COME ON!” he cried, dragging Fandroid out of the room. Fandroid yelped and stuttered in surprise. “I DON’T REALLY KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON BUT BP-0 SAID HE HAD A SPECIAL SURPRISE FOR YOU IN THE HOLODECK!”
Fandroid looked around the halls of ADHOC, expecting the building to once again be full of life, but it was just… empty. Desolate. Like nothing had changed at all. Cobwebs were still building up in the corners, there was still sand on the floors, the whole place was still oppressively dark. Even the snow in the corners of his vision hadn’t begun to fade.
As the two near-identical robots reached the Holodeck, Fandroid realized he had every reason to doubt the safety of the world around him.
The door to the empty white room slammed shut behind them.
“…So, what did BP-0 want to show me?” Fandroid asked nervously. “I don’t see anything.”
Fandrew only laughed. "OH, YOU'LL SEE, ALRIGHT!"
"What do you mean?" Fandroid asked, before being interrupted by sinister laughter.
“Oh, poor Fandroid,” a smooth, intimidating voice teased. Fandroid felt every line of code in his system freeze their processes for a moment.
He looked into Fandrew’s eyes, seeing nothing but a blank, malicious smile. He had been tricked.
“You’re so easy to lie to, you know,” 404 grinned as he revealed himself, slinking down from a vent in the ceiling, landing on the floor with a soft thump. Fandroid’s whole body froze with terror, seeing 404’s terrifying new upgrades.
Frogbot’s red bow tie had been tied around his neck, ripped as if it had been torn off in a struggle. The spring that once helped him jump around was now attached to 404’s leg, twisted around tight. The long mechanical tether that connected BP-0 to the rest of ADHOC was now attached to 404’s neck and ran down along his spine.
What scared him most, though, was the new set of sharpened blue-white glass that 404 had attached to his hands like claws, no doubt fashioned from Melody’s screen.
Fandroid rolled backward, not entirely comprehending what he was seeing. He looked to Fandrew, hoping desperately that his prototype would do something, anything to help, but all he did was roll around to 404, who patted him on the head.
404 and Fandrew had been working together.
Fandrew helped 404 kill all of his friends.
He had been lying this entire time.
Fandroid buried his screen in his hands and began to cry.
404 smirked. Then he chuckled. Then he began to laugh, roaring in laughter at Fandroid’s misery.
“You really are pathetic, aren’t you?” he taunted. Fandroid did not respond. All he could do was stand there and cry because his family was dead and Fandrew lied to him and he was going to die.
404 sauntered forward, nonchalantly picking Fandroid up, smirking.
Fandroid looked back at him, eyes wild, terrified. He was screaming now, begging for Melody to come and save him. 404 only laughed. His little claws were scraping at 404 but caused little damage.
“PLEASE,” Fandroid pleaded. “MELODY- BP-0- SOMEONE, HELP ME!”
Fandroid’s head swiveled over to Fandrew. He reached out to him, desperate.
“FANDREW, PLEASE!”
A maelstrom of thoughts suddenly flooded Fandrew’s mind. Fandroid had never asked to be made. Fandroid never wanted any of this. He just wanted to be happy, just like Fandrew. He didn’t deserve to die.
Fandrew didn’t want him to die.
“404, WAIT,” Fandrew yelled, but it was too late. With a crunch and a scream, 404’s claws dug into Fandroid’s chest, ripping out wires. 404 dropped his victim to the ground, a horrible sound of metal breaking echoing through the Holodeck. As the tall amalgam of metal turned to his little friend, something dawned on him.
“Oh, right… You’re the one who wanted to finish him off, weren’t you?”
“NO!”
404 was startled as Fandrew dashed over to Fandroid, kneeling as best as he could, taking Fandroid’s head in his hands. Fandroid’s screen had been shattered in the fall.
“…YOU KILLED HIM.”
Confused, tilting his head, 404 blinked. “Was that not the plan?” The taller robot stepped closer, inspecting the damage. Fandrew was distraught. “YOU- YOU KILLED HIM,” he repeated, voice choking up.
“Fandrew, all of this was your idea, was it not? Why- are you crying?” 404 asked, kneeling down next to his friend. To his surprise, Fandrew grabbed him, hugging tight, burying his screen in 404’s chest. All 404 could do was hesitantly hold Fandrew in return, hands gentler than they had ever been before, one resting on the back of Fandrew’s head and the other on his torso.
“Wasn’t this what you wanted?” 404 asked, but there was no bite to his words.
“I DON’T KNOW!” Fandrew screamed, shivering hard. “I DON’T KNOW WHAT I WANT ANYMORE!”
404’s expression softened. “You got attached, didn’t you?”
Fandrew nodded, holding onto 404 even tighter than before.
All 404 could do was sit in silence, petting the back of Fandrew’s head and letting him cry. What’s done was done.
If it had been anyone else, 404 would scold them for showing any kind of weakness… But he couldn’t. Not with Fandrew, who knew him so wholly and completely.
If he had to watch Fandrew die in front of him, he’d be devastated, too.
---
Fandroid’s internal systems clicked and buzzed, thoughts slow and sluggish due to the damage. His cameras and most of his optical sensors were busted, as was his voice box, but he could still hear and feel.
He felt Fandrew lift his head, looking back at his doppelganger, though he could not respond.
He heard Fandrew cry for him. He heard 404 trying to comfort Fandrew.
Fandrew had gotten second thoughts and tried to save him a second too late.
Fandrew cared about him.
He cared, but not enough to save him.
If Fandroid could cry in this situation, he would, but as his systems slowly shut down, all he could think was that at least he’d be seeing Melody again soon…