Chapter Text
Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he set his hazel eyes roving about the cafeteria to find who he needed. He had a sort of urgent matter to take care of and he needed to speak with one of the other Sephirot to get it sorted out. Unfortunately, that Sephira was the single one he was still anxious around.
Their employees sat around, sitting together mostly by department, though a few mingled together. A lively atmosphere for a dark company.
She was usually here about now. Never for long, no, but she always took the lunch given to them each day. If he could just bring the matter to her attention, he could have a more proper conversation about it later. You know, if she was available like she never seemed to be after work.
Why did it have to be her?
A year working in this corporation like they were had done a lot for the relationships between him and the other Sephirot. They weren't all out of the woods with their issues yet, no, not nearly, but they'd formed a support group for each other and were working it out. Gebura, for example, they all knew was beating herself up for her inability to protect them all from the Head's attack, he and Tiphereth A were at the forefront of helping her accept that she'd failed and that she could move on, get stronger, protect them now.
To be perfectly honest, all of the Sephirot were friends, slowly coming together. It really helped keep the place running properly, even if what they were doing with the employees and Abnormalities under their care was kinda… horrific and he hated it. That's what the other Sephirot were there for, though, for him to relax with and lean on when he needed.
All of them except for her.
A year. It had been a year since they'd all come back to life into these new bodies. He was thankful and not thankful at the same time that they were still human. Had they been machines as he was sure had been the original idea, they'd probably all be incredibly unstable, but it would be easier to accept what they were doing (not that that was a good thing). He got the feeling that their remaining human is what had allowed them to all come together like they had, though. They'd all run into each other here in the cafeteria and decided they should work together, after all.
You know, except for her.
This here cafeteria, one year ago, a few days after starting their new lives, is where they'd decided they should have weekly meetups after work. They were human, they needed socialization, and they needed time outside of work and this one longer break to make sure none of the others needed anything from them, to get any issues between their departments sorted out. The nine of them that is. Not her, never her.
The Sephirot were the only ones who couldn't leave the facility at all. Their employees had a nice dorm area outside of the facility to go to after work. Not that they could leave the corporation too often either, but they at least got to leave the facility.
Chesed sighed, not catching sight of her yet.
“You good?” He heard Gebura ask him, speaking through her sandwich.
“Ah…” He sighed again, trepidation eating through him. “I'm alright.”
Hod gave him a worried glance. “You haven't eaten anything, are you sure?”
Chesed looked around the rest of what had become the Sephirot table. All eight of them were looking at him with varying amounts of worry.
“It's nothing really~” He waved them off. “Just an issue that's come to a head now that her department's finally been unlocked.”
Simultaneously, all of them winced. They knew his hesitation now.
For the first time since the beginning of the corporation, the Extraction department had been unlocked. Their manager usually never made it past Gebura's in Disciplinary or his in Welfare, though had unlocked Hokma's Records once, but this was the first time he'd gone for Extraction.
Of course, even if the department had never been unlocked by their manager, its Sephira was still around and the department still ran, did its duties. It just never had Abnormalities to deal with before, which meant it had never had casualties before. Which meant it was his duty to speak with the Sephira about employee welfare and… deaths. Not that he thought she cared, but there were protocols he needed to make sure she knew. Also… the fact she had the Mercenary and he had the Wolf.
Why, oh why, had Ayin thought it would be a good idea to keep her around?
“You could just skip her.” Tiphereth A spoke up.
Chesed shook his head. “That wouldn't be right.” Much as he hesitated around her and the trauma she'd caused, he wanted to at least try to treat her normally.
“She does her job and does it well, even if none of us particularly care for her presence.” Hokma backed him up. “It would be rude to dismiss her capability and bypass decorum when it comes to work matters.”
“I understand the hesitation, but I agree with Hokma, there is a protocol and it should be followed.” Yesod, being an upper Sephira, didn't have the experience with her that the middle and lower did, but still knew what had happened. They'd told him and the other three during an accidental trauma meeting. He was a stickler for following protocol, however.
Malkuth glanced over to a corner of the cafeteria. “Okay, but she's still not in her corner.”
Chesed looked to said corner and frowned. That was out of character for her. She always came to lunch, grabbed a bowl of something and tucked herself into the same corner every day. Her not being here was weird.
“She wasn't here yesterday, either, actually.” Tiphereth B replied, his voice soft and quiet. Was that worry he detected? Ah, the kid was always too kind and considerate for his own good.
“How'd we not notice that?” Tiphereth A frowned, almost upset with herself. She liked keeping tabs on everyone, and there had been a pair of days months ago she'd noticed a similar absence.
Gebura snorted. “Because there's no point in giving her the time of day, that's why. Who cares where she is? Just bug her during work hours, don't waste your break on her.”
He understood her perspective of things, he really, really did, her scars were testament enough to why she felt the way she did. However…
“This is a bit of a longer conversation if you recall, Gebura.” Chesed shook his head. He needed to set up a meeting time with her, probably after hours.
“Oh, right.” Gebura let out a dry laugh. “Good luck in ever having this talk, then.”
Chesed sighed, knowing she was right.
“I'm seconding that.” Netzach spoke up. “She'll just tell you she can't make it for some unknown reason.”
“What could she even be doing that she's never available after hours?” Yesod scoffed. He, in particular, found her persistent absence grating as he found their weekly hangouts to be practically mandatory at this point.
They'd tried multiple times to get her to attend their meetings, but every time had been the same answer: that she can't make it. She'd never give a reason why, just that she couldn't. Many of them – Gebura - thought she just didn't want to attend. The beginning of every meeting was work related, however, and actually important, these meetings helped them keep the place running smoother. Her lack of attendance was kind of a little detrimental, to be honest.
Also, she could just leave after work matters were taken care of and they moved onto just hanging out. She even turned them down when they tried to get her into a singular work meeting outside of the weekly one. There was too much to do with the Abnormalities during the day to really hold a meeting between them…
No, nothing was logical about this.
“I have to try, anyway. We need to discuss prevention methods between the Mercenary and Wolf before tomorrow, at least.” Chesed stood. He needed to find her.
Gebura shrugged. “Your funeral.”
Hod gently shoved her in a 'be nice' manner.
“I'd have tried to speak with her last night had I known the Mercenary had been chosen, we're lucky there's been no incident today. I'm counting on the rest of you to keep that true for the remainder~” Chesed gave them all a wave as he went towards the doors.
“Good luck, Chesed.” He heard several of them reply.
He left the cafeteria and entered one of the middle floors of the Central Command department. Extraction was under Disciplinary. He took a left and walked for some time, passing the Abnormality filled hallway between departments.
Now, where could she be? He wondered as he passed from the yellow of Central Command to the red of Disciplinary.
Well, her office, possibly. Or, maybe, her department's breakroom/employee office where the agents and clerks worked when not fielded to deal with anything physically Abnormality. The separate breakrooms were mostly a sit down and breathe for a bit type of thing. The breakrooms were used for a quick snack, drink, or rest after a fight. And, sometimes, a medical bay. They were equipped with medical equipment if ever needed. Which was why the breakroom came before the office area did.
The main breakroom was the massive cafeteria on the Tiphereths' floor, though.
He passed through another Abnormality Hall, grimaced at the blood, dead worms, clerks, and robots in the hallway from the Ordeals, and found the elevator down. They wouldn’t be cleaned up until the end of the day…
There wasn't any real food in their separate breakrooms, just vending machine snacks, though Chesed himself had a few coffee machines in his. And in his office. And in his apartment.
He was feeling the need for a cup right now, actually. He'd left it at the table… rats.
What were the odds she had one? Er… zero.
Stepping out of the elevator and into the black of the Extraction department, he decided: the breakroom is closer, go there first. Not by much, but it is.
Chesed had never been here before, but he was pretty sure the only ones who could say they have were Gebura and Hokma. Black tombstones etched in gold runes decorated the entire area. Macabre. Fitting, though.
He had no plans of exploring what he guessed he should call a graveyard, especially not to find where Carmen’s body was. He knew it was down here somewhere and he had no desire to see his old friend in such a state.
Let's see, his and Gebura's breakrooms were on the lower floor of their departments with their offices being on the upper floor. That way, if something goes wrong, an employee can go to either the breakroom or their Sephira's office to recuperate. The upper floors had it on one end of their main rooms with their offices on the other. The Tiphereths were a bit strange since they hosted the cafeteria, but the cafeteria was on the lower middle floor and their dual office on the upper middle floor.
Actually, he thought he saw the door to the breakroom on the other side of the room he'd just entered, he just needed to go by all these tombstones.
Huh, it looked like it was right next to the Abnormality Hall. Did that mean her office was elsewhere? They were usually somewhat near each other. Oh, wait, Hokma's department was a little different, his breakroom was next to the hall as well. He should have figured Extraction would mirror Records; her office would be at the end of the room to his right.
Chesed didn't go to Hokma's floor much despite it being right below his, he'd forgotten. Hokma preferred not making the others come way down low where he was.
Against his better judgement, he looked down the way past the tombstones as he walked. They went down a very far way, the room quite lengthy, but he could make out a door at the far end of the room. That would be her office. Not very close to the Abnormality Hall. Strange for someone as battle strong as she was, keeping her away from the Abnormalities didn't seem smart.
He glanced the other way. Nothing much of note. Just more graves.
At last, his eyes could stop wandering and he reached the door. Well (heh), here goes nothing. Luck would dictate she isn't here, but would also dictate that she is depending on which part of his anxiety you wanted to ask.
The door opened with a light click, swinging inward on well-oiled hinges. Upon entering, he didn't immediately see anyone at all, but the scent of tea hung in the air. Fresh, like it was still steaming. He could make out a kettle on the counter and multiple different types of tea. Where he would have his coffee.
“For what reason would the blue-haired noble seek me out?” A sonorous, bored voice spoke from the right.
Chesed nearly jumped out of his skin. Slowly, with a grimace he wiped off his face as quickly as it came, he turned to face the speaker.
Sitting on her lonesome in the corner at a single table, cup of tea held lightly in her hands, sat Binah. The hazel of his eyes brushed over the dead black of hers and quickly diverted downwards. She was looking him over, like a predator would prey, it sent shivers down his spine.
Well, the Arbiter uniform she still wore was enough for that, frankly. The long, black furred cloak and the long black dress, both adorned with the golden honeycomb pattern of the Head at the side and base.
He tried to lift his eyes back up to meet hers, though it was so, so difficult to look the woman who had killed him in the eye. Mustering the effort so he wouldn't be rude to her, his eyes passed over the elegant, etched, metallic choker she wore at the base of her neck you normally couldn't see under her collar and finally brought his eyes high enough to greet the black void once more.
Something about that void seemed… tired. Or was he just seeing things?
A small, almost unnoticeable smirk had stretched across her lips. He'd taken a moment too long to meet her eye.
“There's something I need to talk to you about, but I'm afraid there isn't enough time left before we need to get back to work.” He started. They had even less time than he'd hoped for since he needed to make the trek back to his department. “Do you happen to have some time after work?”
What was she doing here all alone like this? All of her employees were in the cafeteria, what little he could see of the offices empty. There wasn't any food here that he imagined she'd ever touch, had she even eaten anything for lunch? Her table was empty save for the saucer.
The smirk returned to her usual neutral line. “I'm afraid I will be quite tied up once the employees are released to their leisure.”
She hadn't said she was unavailable, but busy instead. That was a little more substantial than usual.
He really needed to talk to her about this, it couldn't wait until tomorrow. Not when employee lives could be at stake. “Well, can I ask what you will be doing, then? Can it wait, say, an hour?” If it wasn't such a long conversation, he could just have it during work, but an hour or more was too long.
She shook her head a miniscule amount and took a long sip of her tea, almost tender. Now that he was actually looking at her unlike all the other instances where he'd simply glanced at her and immediately looked away, she seemed… thinner than the last time he'd truly taken her form in. Which was a year ago when Ayin had first brought them all together for this. She had already been thin, granted, but now it was more along the lines of gaunt.
Maybe he was reading too much into this, seeing things in his anxiety at speaking to her like this. He tended to notice things about people, though. Then again, he hadn't properly looked at her in a very long time.
The cup finally left her lips, though Binah didn't look back at him. “What transpires after hours is not of the concern of anyone but myself, it is an appointment I would be injudicious to overlook.”
Appointment? Was she meeting someone? Who? It couldn't possibly take all evening if it was just a meeting with someone. So, she would meet with whoever this person was, but not them? Angela, perhaps? It couldn't be one of the Sephirot.
He was receiving more concrete excuses for her inability to meet with him than anyone else had ever gotten, probably because he had genuine concerns to speak with her about. Still, they were just that: excuses. And she was very vague about it.
He needed to get back soon. “It can't wait? Won't whoever you're meeting with understand?”
“The time is set in stone; it is unchangeable for any purpose.” She replied. “Is the matter not discussable at an earlier hour? No, you said we were short of time. I imagine it to be a rather lengthy discussion, then?”
“Afraid so.” Chesed smiled shakily.
“Then whatever it may be will have to remain unresolved.” Her eyes flickered over the analog clock on the wall above the counter. “The hour is upon us, return to your station lest you miss something of import.”
He followed her example and checked the time. He sighed; she was right. “I'll be by tonight, then, maybe I can catch you when you're done. This isn't something I can just drop.”
Binah shook her head as if he amused her. He most likely did. “Do not bother yourself, it is a fruitless endeavor.” She raised her arm towards him. The sleeve of her dress slipped back briefly as she made a small shooing motion and he saw a flash of red. “Do not make me the reason you miss a timely return.”
Chesed sighed again and turned back to the door. “And here I thought you'd like to hold me over~”
Another smirk ghosted her lips. “Perhaps. Call it a gesture of good will, yes?”
No, no he didn't think he would, but it was something alright. To avoid being rude, he shrugged with as friendly a nod he could muster, and left. The door clicked closed behind him and he let out a huge breath of relief. The tension seeped out of his shoulders.
That had been… not awful, but not great either.
He started for the elevator on the other side of the room before he made himself late.
Dangit, he was going to have to come back tonight and hope he didn't bother her.
As he entered the elevator, his mind wandered to that flash of red he'd seen under her sleeve. He hadn't seen it clearly enough to know for sure, but he swore it was a wound of some kind. From what?