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It had been a few months since Cyn's defeat, and things had finally calmed down. The efforts to repair the damage caused to the colony by the planet breaking apart were finished, Khan and Nori had gotten back together, and things were going back to normal! Well, minus the near-zombie apocalypse and kaiju-sized sentinel caused by the eldritch deity living in Uzi's tail, but they handled that. And speaking of…
"UGH! Would you just SHUT UP for once!?" Uzi shouted, rolling over in her bed as she pressed a pillow over her ears.
Cyn had been annoying her as usual, spouting absolute nonsense as she was trying to sleep. Uzi tried to ignore it, but Cyn knew exactly how to poke her buttons after spending so long trapped in her tail.
"Hm. No, I don't think s-" She said in that familiar and annoying digital voice, before suddenly just… Stopping. After a few moments of silence, Uzi let out a sigh of relief, before realizing just how odd that was… Cyn wouldn't just give up at a single outburst. Confused, Uzi released the pillow from her head and looked at where the head of her tail would be, finding it staring at her, which wasn't unusal. Cyn loved to creep her out. But what was unusual was the eyes. They weren't the pale yellow of the solver, no. They were red. Confusion struck her at what was happening before the realization hit her like a freight train, and her theory was confirmed when the head spoke in a familiar voice…
"…Hello, Uzi." The voice said, the russian voice familiar, if disconcerting.
"…Doll? What the hell?? How are you-" Uzi started, confusion lacing her voice.
"Cyn ate my core. I was absorbed into her code. I am assuming you did the same thing to her?" Doll said, her voice sharp and to the point. Uzi let out a huff of frustration at the interruption, rolling her eyes.
"I guess that makes sense… Great, now I have two people living in my tail. I guess you're an improvement over her, at least." Uzi's voice was still laced with frustration, both at the prior Cyn shenanigans, but also a new frustration that had been building in regards to the assumed-dead drone. She glanced away, feeling unable to look her in the eyes.
"It's not very pleasant for me either." Doll responded, then let out a sigh. "…I can sense frustration in your voice. I… I am sorry for trying to kill you. I didn't have a choice, but know I didn't want to hurt you."
Uzi's head snapped back towards Doll. Her face grew visibly more annoyed.
"…Are you serious? Didn't have a choice? I LITERALLY gave you one at the prom."
"…Things were… Different then." Doll stated, her voice uncertain. "And I would never work with her." Uzi rolled her eyes, letting out a huff of air.
"Yeah, and look where that got you."
Doll turned away for a moment, letting out a sigh, before turning back to her.
"You don't need to forgive me. I just want to make this easier for us."
Uzi didn't respond at first, seemingly waiting for something. But what she was waiting for never came.
"…That's it? That's all you're apologizing for?" She said, her brows furrowing.
"There's nothing else I need to apologize for." Doll said, her tone matter of fact. Uzi's eye twitched, the purple-orange gradient flickering slightly.
"…Are you serious right now? How about the random innocent people you killed for no reason?" Her voice continued to grow more intense, her emotions starting to rise.
"I only killed what I needed to to survive."
Uzi let out a bitter laugh. "Only what you needed to survive, huh? How about the piles of bodies in your room just sitting there, wasting away while the bugs got to them? Or the random people at the prom who did nothing but step in front of you? Do you even remember doing that?"
Doll didn't respond, seemingly not having any defense.
"…Don't act like you didn't kill anyone eith-"
"Oh, REALLY now!?" Uzi cut her off immediately, her anger flaring even more. "The only reason I ever killed anyone was because I LITERALLY couldn't control myself, and I hated myself for it!" Her breathing grew heavy. "I saw the way you acted when you and Lizzy were planning on killing me. You ENJOYED it. Lizzy at least switched sides, but you never did."
Doll sat there in silence, finally sent speechless, but Uzi wasn't done yet.
Oh, and here's another thing you could've apologized for! How about the years of bullying? You said you didn't want to hurt me, but you sure seemed to enjoy it for a while!" Her voice grew even more intense, digital tears starting to prick at her eyes.
"I-I…" Doll stuttered. "…I had a lot on my mind, at the time."
Uzi let out another sharp, bitter laugh. "Yeah, sure ya did." She was quieter now, but the venom in her tone stung more than a scream would. "Not like me, no. I didn't think my mom was dead, and didn't have a dad who might as well have been dead with how he treated me. I never had an eldritch virus in my code. No, you were totally justified in what you did to me and everybody else."
Uzi scoffed, glancing away from the reptilian head of her tail.
"To think I actually tried to reach out to you at one point after your parents died… Wish I had known that you only cared about yourself. The only reason you felt sad about hurting me was because I reminded you of yourself." She turned her gaze back to the head on her tail. "You're a selfish, hypocritical dumbass who refused to let anyone help and kept thinking you were in the right. Maybe actually think about that before trying to apologize to me."
Doll didn't respond, her mouth ever so slightly open in shock. The two just stared at each other for a moment, before the red eyes of the tail began to fade away.
"…Oh, of COURSE! You're running away now, huh!?" Uzi shouted as she watched the lights fade out and regaining control of her tail. "Typical…"
Uzi rolled back over in bed, pulling up a blanket and wrapping it around herself as she made an attempt to let the anger pass and sleep. After a few moments, the tail's eyes changed again, turning back into that pale yellow.
"…Well. That was new." Cyn's voice pierced through the silence.
"…Shut up, Cyn." Uzi's voice was broken and hoarse from all her shouting as she closed her eyes, attempting to sleep again.
Days passed, and Doll never reappeared. Uzi tried to forget about it, think about anything else, spend time with her partners and move on from the argument. But she couldn't. She couldn't get it out of her mind. The way Doll implied she cared about her, the tone with which she was saying it… Uzi knew it was a selfish care. She knew she only started to care because she saw herself in Uzi. But part of her wondered if there was more to it.
Reluctantly, after about a week had passed, Uzi asked Cyn if she could find Doll. She wasn't sure if she was ready to talk to Doll yet, but she at least wanted to try. After the promise of another bow (Uzi never understood her fascination with them…), Cyn agreed, and the tails glow went dark.
Hours passed, and she heard nothing back. Just as she gave up and thought Cyn went to do fuck-all, the glow returned.
"…I could not find her." Cyn said, a twinge of disappointment in her voice. "No bow for me… Sad expression…"
"What do you mean you couldn't find her? You can literally look through all of my code."
"Little red is very good at hide and seek. I could not sneak upon her or even detect her."
Uzi rolled her eyes, that frustration coming back. "Of course… Just run away from all your problems when you realize you're wrong, fun. Coward…" She muttered the last part to herself.
"You seem. Upset. Maybe a bow would he-" Cyn moved to put a bow on her head, but Uzi slapped her away, causing her to drop it.
"Angry."
More days passed, now about 2 weeks since the argument, and Uzi gave up on Doll. If she wanted to hide away and be lonely forever, she wasn't gonna stop her. Uzi just went on about her day, going on dates with N and V, just trying to live her best life. After a fun time with the other two, she returned home, getting ready to relax, when she suddenly felt someone come to her tail.
"Now's not the time, Cyn." She said as she sat down. "I just wanna relax…"
As she turned on the TV in her room, the head of her tail suddenly moved right in front of her, casting a red glow onto her visor. Her face immediately shifted to annoyance.
"Oh boy, back from the dead a second time, eh? Finally done hiding?" She sat up more, her attention now focused on Doll. "What's the excuse for shutting everyone out this time?"
Uzi waited there for an answer, expecting some kind of excuse, but it never came. Instead…
"…You were right, Uzi. I am selfish."
Uzi's eyes practically exploded with how wide they went. That was the LAST thing she expected to hear. But Doll kept going.
"I should have never treated you the way I did. It was… Wrong of me." Doll turned away for a moment, her eyes closing for a second before continuing. "I should have accepted your help. I should have not let my care come from such a selfish source. You have every reason to be mad at me. But we are unfortunately stuck with eachother. I would like to make this easier for both of us."
Uzi sat there in stunned silence. She didn't expect Doll to actually apologize. It wasn't perfect, made no mention of killing innocent people, but… There was effort there. Was that part of her right? Did Doll genuinely care about her?
Her mind went back to some of their interactions. She remembered the key-bug incident, and how Doll had an easy opportunity to kill V… But she didn't. She could've easily killed her dad, too. But she didn't. She killed for less. Why? Was it… Because they were close to Uzi? Because deep down in her, there was still some genuine care for her?
Uzi glanced away from Doll, sighing. "…Thanks, I guess." Is all she can muster in response. She still felt… Complicated towards her. She had done so much to sabotage her, tried to kill her multiple times, and refused every chance to stop… But she's making an effort. And she was right, they're stuck together.
"…We'll… We'll work on it."
While the reptilian head of the tail couldn't really emote, the subtle shift of her head made it almost seem like Doll gave a smile at that. Uzi huffed at it, but couldn't stop a small smile of her own from forming. Baby steps.
"Just try to be less annoying than Cyn, at least." She said sarcastically. "Now get out of the way, lemme watch something."
Doll let out a gasp as Uzi pushed her out of the way of the TV, wanting to say something in retaliation, but stopped herself. She needs to be better than that now. Even if she really, really wanted to. Instead, she just hovered next to Uzi, deciding to at least give whatever Uzi was watching a chance. After a few episodes of the anime Uzi put on, though… She wasn't very impressed, and just couldn't help herself.
"…Your taste in shows sucks." Doll said matter-of-factly.
"Don't make me get the muzzle." Uzi said as she turned to look at her, an unamused expression on her face. "Annoying tails get the muzzle."
"…Fine." Doll huffed, deciding to put up with it for now. Uzi gave a shit-eating grin and turned back to the TV, satisfied.
'This is going to be difficult…' She thought to herself. But as she looked over at Uzi enjoying herself watching her stupid anime, she felt a flicker of something strange in her. A feeling she didn't recognize. Whatever it was, though, it made her want to try. Even if nothing came of it, she knew she had to try still. So she turned to the TV, and tried to see the good in it… Just like how Uzi had started to see the good in her.