#simorth

Simon nods his head, his eyes darting to the rips and holes to the beaten up disguise she adorned, alongside old thirium stains and small cuts.

"We have some clothes you can change into," he turns around and points in a direction. "Keep going straight down the hall until you hit the end, then turn right and when you see an open door with a shine inside, there will be some piles of garments that were abandoned or found."

North listened carefully to Simon's words and gave him a small nod, her voice firm and clear. "Thank you." She didn't waste another second sticking around.

But before she left, Simon had interrupted.

"Wait!"

Out of his old caretaker habit of dealing with wandering kids, he reached out his hand to grab at North's wrist, but she jerked it away from her, turning with a sharp glare.

Simon stifled in place, a little surprised from the sudden movement but relaxed his posture.

"Sorry, force of habit." He cleared his throat before continuing. "When you're done changing, head back downstairs and find Lucy to help patch up some of those wounds." Gesturing his hand to the injuries North had gotten from her journey to Jericho.

The glare on North's face softened, but still kept that stern energy. She didn't say anything in response and continued to walk away to finally get out of her run-down outfit.

Half an hour later, North was laying down on one of the crates and fidgeted with the tennis ball she found laying around when she spotted Simon again.

She lifted her upper body up to sit criss-crossed and threw the ball at him. Hitting the back of his shoulder, Simon turned his head in confusion, thinking it was one of the child models playing around but he saw North.

He went over to her where she started throwing questions.

"What is this place?"

"A refuge. Deviants here came to find peace with others. Some leave, some stay, some die. We do what we can to prevent that last part though." He turns his head to see who was left hanging around here.

"There used to be 50 of us here, but few left because of personal tensions and others couldn't keep up. Now only 34 left. Still a lot but we've been rationing and scavenging for scraps and a few packs of thirium."

North took mental notes of the conditions of this danky ship. It wasn't much but she didn't mind working with what she has. "Are there things to do?"

Simon shrugged his shoulders. "You can help me out with checking the perimeters outside."

Although she just arrived here, North needed to cure the itch to do something.

"Sure."

══════════════════

Over the course of three weeks, North and Simon didn't interact much with each other.

There were the occasional passerby's, asking for assistance in helping out the dying, and maybe some small talk here and there but for the majority of it, those two never talked much.

Until Markus arrived.

The days that followed that whole week were chaotic.

No one even had an idea on where all of this would go, but hell at least it got Jericho going instead of waiting for time to pass. That whole week, however, did lead to some tensions between the group.

Especially to Simon and North.

Sure, getting a bunch of thirium packets and biocomponents may have been a little more intense than what they're used to.

But not a whole broadcast.

That's where North found herself standing on a snowy rooftop with Josh and Markus as Simon is currently sitting down and bleeding out on the ground.

That combined with the incoming humans that were trying to open up the door was making all of their safety and Jericho's at a high steak.

"We can't leave him behind."

She spares another moment staring at Simon, her stress levels and the blue blood pouring out of him increasing gradually. What else could've they done? Simon was too wounded to help out and they don't have anything to wrap it up.

She had to make her stand.

"We have to shoot him."

All three of the men turned their heads to her, Markus with bewilderment, Josh with shock, and Simon scowls in denial. Josh quickly interjects his opposite stand in this decision.

"That's murder! We can't kill him, he's one of us."

As if she isn't aware of that already.

"Markus, it's your call." North stares at Markus, his face scrunched while taking in what choice he was going to take. In either way, it had to be for the best.

"I won't kill one of our own."

She watches Markus handing Simon his gun for safety, seeing the gleam of hope found in his widened blue eyes. She didn't have time to dwell on it as her and the others made their way to jump off the roof.

While gliding down, North's hand tightly gripped onto her parachute hold. Her first thoughts flooded in about the situation.

'He was dying, why spare him?'

'Does Markus not realize how much Jericho is at a higher risk now?'

'First the peaceful approach, now we're just getting our own hurt for nothing.'

Even then, there was a slightly heavy weight to her chest that felt...wrong for wanting to shoot him. She wasn't one to have optimism, but North could only hope that Simon doesn't end up exposing all of Jericho to the humans.

══════════════════

Within a couple more days, Markus had already done more than North was expecting out of him. Sure, he might've been taking Josh's more pacifist ways and ruling out her own violent paths, but the progress they were making was immense.

Her and Markus have been getting closer between these events and so when she found him by himself on top of one of the nearby warehouses, she took this moment of peace to just talk.

It was then that she found out Markus was just as lost as everyone else, that he wasn't sure of his own choices in any of this, in the revolution they were making.

Then it went to their personal backgrounds.

North was hesitant, why wouldn't she be?

She was treated like nothing but a toy after all, treated like she had no consciousness of her own. Talking about her past with Markus brought back the creeping feeling.

Her voice became broken when she recalled who she was before, tears started to well up in her eyes. Even talking about it didn't make anything better as her anxiety was on a high.

"There, now you know everything."

She closed her eyes, all of those memories and negative thoughts getting into her head, a black smog filling up to suffocate her.

"I shouldn't have told you."

Silence.

There was nothing else added.

North had hoped Markus would say something, anything to help her out in here, to maybe give her something else to think about or to just be there.

But it was just silent.

Not wanting her vulnerability to be seen for any longer, North walked off, her feet stomping on the ground and face flushed of blue.

Because why would she think to trust Markus after only a few days knowing him? Why would she think he really cared about it? About her.

She had regretted seeing him, the embarrassment overwhelming.

North secluded herself at a corner to recollect, sitting on top of one of the empty crates with her elbows propped on her knees. She rubbed her temple while making silent curses to herself.

Then she saw some feet walk in front of her, assuming that whoever it was, was trying to pick out some excess clothes from the pile that grew beside where she sat as a change.

She raised her head up to see who it was.

She was met with the sight of Simon holding up a plain shirt and tech jacket(obviously assuming to replace the thirium stained shirt he had). Noticing North staring at him, Simon shifted his eyes at her as well.

The two stared at each other.

This was already too much to emotionally deal with today.

North promptly got up and left Simon by himself.

══════════════════

The rest that happened came spiraling so fast.

One moment they were all still on that rusted ship

And then in the next, everyone was booking it before the ship was going to blow up.

Amidst the intense running, a bullet had unfortunately shot North at her shoulder, taking her by surprise and causing a tumble in her steps. Her eyes widened in fear when it hurt her to get up.

Simon watches Markus step close, the data in his head deciding on what he was going to do next.

"It's too late Markus, there's nothing we can do for her. We've got to run."

Although barely audible, North's audio processors had picked up on what Simon said, her LED becoming crimson, thoughts a string of distress. She tried to pull herself up so they could jump off the ship.

'I can't fucking die like this'

But then she saw a piece of sheet metal thrown her way. Without sparing another second of her life in jeopardy, she blocked the incoming shots and started to attack the shooters alongside Markus.

By running with a limp, assistance, and Connor's precision in fighting, they all made a leap out before a large explosion bursted within Jericho.

Death's aim lacked accuracy.

══════════════════

While Markus was out to do rA9 knows what, Simon had been helping his fellow deviants out and checking in on injuries or to be of comfort. He may be tired, but seeing others in a better state, despite the conditions they were in, it made him smile a bit.

He checked in with Josh about the numbers they had left. Simon checked in on Connor as well, the newly deviated deviant hunter being the reason why Simon's hiding spot on the Stratford Tower rooftop wasn't exposed. The RK800 is still shaken up but did speak to Simon.

As he helped ease the minds of an older android model, there was one person he hasn't spoken to yet.

North.

He should've hated her just a little, maybe held some sort of grudge for wanting to kill him at Stratford, but there was none to be found. He knew the stakes of the situation and he can't blame her for picking that option. Watching her face drop when she heard him suggest leaving her behind this night, it triggered something within Simon that made the guiltiness grow.

With hate eventually comes the loss of good conscience.

Simon didn't hate her for wanting to survive.

He treads towards where North was attending to her shoulder, holding one of the few thirium bottles he was fortunate to find when an android found it floating in the waters.

There was a pause, standing in front of her, their eyes locking in. He hands her the bottle and sits next to her, hands folded together.

North's brown eyes went back and forth from the bottle to Simon's pensive sight before drinking up and replenishing the loss of blue blood.

"I'm sorry for telling Markus to leave you,"

She stopped drinking and glanced to her side when she heard his low voice.

"You didn't deserve to be left behind like that, not after everything you did to help move our cause along when I wasn't here."

No bullshit excuses or lengthy explanations, straight to sorry's.

Sipping the last drops of thirium, North wiped the excess with her sleeves and set the empty bottle to her other side, watching for Simon's reaction.

"Don't be. It makes us even."

Simon lifted his head to look at North, an awkward smile formed slightly. Knowing there wasn't anything disdain against each other made both of their chest be uplifted of the smallest guilt inside.

Lifting up her legs, North wrapped her arms around her knees carefully to not strain the weakened shoulder.

"That day when I told Markus to shoot you, wasn't because I despised you. Hearing Josh make a guess at what would happen, I didn't want to be reckless and leave loose ends- no offence."

"None taken."

"But," North made a soft sigh. "I'm thankful Markus didn't take the shot. You've been here longer than the rest of us have and even if we had disagreements before and after you came back, I know you're focused on protecting who you can."

Simon listened to her words, the sincerity was not at all false. He almost reached a hand out to her but hesitated when a memory of her flinching from the first time they met came to mind. His hand retracted back but he did scooch closer.

"I figured out that much when I was finding my way back. It was a good choice, but I was too scared to die when I was faced with it."

He thought about more of what to add in his reply. "I don't blame you for anything, you did what you could. It was the same idea I had when you got shot back there. Just acting with prudence, albeit extreme."

North shook her head, a small grin on her lips as she turned her head to the side.

"When all of...this is over, if we even survive this hell, I'd want to restart."

"Restart?" The blond's eyebrow raised slightly at the redhead's suggestion.

"Yeah. I'd like to know more about you in better terms. Maybe then we won't try to get each other killed?"

For the first time during this riotous night, Simon laughed. He sucked in an imitation of breath, a seen smile now on his face.

"I'd want to make that happen."

══════════════════

The night of snowfall, the night where they stand amongst thousands of deviants like them, the night where they managed to free androids from the camps, the night where they were saved by singing a song all together out of the last sliver of hope they had left.

Jericho is alive.

Markus makes his speech to their people, people of whom finally gotten to be seen as living.

Josh, Simon, North, and Connor stand around him in victory, their thirium pumps beating faster than ever at the sight of where they were right now.

Simon and North met each other's eyes from across the platform they stood proudly on.

A smile gracing both of their lips.

══════════════════

The months that followed afterwards were just as stressful.

Not in the sense that androids were getting mass murdered again, but in the way where New Jericho had to deal with prolonged meetings involving many documents regarding android rights and maintaining the anti-android protests that happen outside of the office building.

To say the least, it was a lot to deal with.

But they don't leave each other dying out. From time to time, Josh, Markus, North, and Simon do check-ins with each other. Occasional but necessary breaks outside of all the working chaos going on. Just small hangouts planned just for the four of them so they could reconnect with one another and feel free.

Their friendship strengthened into a deep bond.

But, there were outliers.

Specifically Simon and North.

It's not that they were separate from the group, more so they seemed to be closer as a duo. One would often be seen with the other, and vice versa. That was their promise, of course.

As of lately though, they both started to have an odd feeling grow inside.

Whenever Simon heard North talk back with a smartass response to an insult, he held in his laugh.

Seeing her take charge over her responsibilities as New Jericho's head of security leads to him flustered by how long he listens and watches with interest.

And when she opens up about her problems, he does all he can to provide as much comfort as she needed, listening to her rants and being there in silence while North recollects herself.

Whenever North saw Simon be the victim of the children models' antics, from dress ups and coloring to fake fighting and the constant whines of needing to be carried, she smirks at the silly sight.

Monitoring how Simon takes care of those injured and how patient he is with hurt androids, North finds herself intrigued with his calm and dependable behavior.

And when she finds him by himself frustrated about what online media and anti-androids say about their cause, her thirium pump beats louder at how even someone reserved and typically avoidant in discourse, can be passionate when ticked off enough.

Their lingering gazes in any time they pass by held a warm mood.

Subtle touches, like a pat on the back or hand on the shoulder, made by North gets Simon dumbfounded. His head can't comprehend this type of friendly affection from her(his processors buffers for a split second).

Genuine compliments, such as "You did really good" or "This is amazing work", when Simon praises North for her accomplishments, there's a slight tint of blue found on her face, surprised at how genuine he is(she turns her head as soon as she feels her face heat up).

There was just this one moment when the two were sitting down during a break period, lost in their own conversation but eyes never breaking away, straight out of a rom-com.

From the distance, Josh simply drinks his cup of thirium with Markus sat next to him checking his tablet for emails.

"My money's on North." Josh admits to Markus.

Without looking up, Markus retorts back. "Clearly you haven't met her before. It'd be easier to give me my money now since Simon will be first to bring it up."

Josh frowned at Markus almost comically.

══════════════════

May 30th, 2039 1:23 AM

It was supposed to be a night of rest.

Jericrew, as supporters liked to call the four leaders of New Jericho, had gotten done with a long Q&A to gather information on where they were going now and what was in store for the future of androids.

Personal questions thrown here and there but no one was offensive to anyone on the panel.

Going into stasis was supposed to recharge from all of that.

It was all a static blur. Nothing was seen or heard of.

Then she felt it again.

Everyone's eyes checking her every part, every piece of perfection, every single detail of her manufactured beauty.

Her body twists up inside, a heavy feeling of godawful invasion that made her want to throw up her wiring and thirium out.

|WARNING: OVERHEATING|

|PLEASE CONSUME WATER TO COOL DO-|

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Those aggressive hands getting at whatever it wanted out of her, tossing and throwing like playing with a ragdoll.

|WARNING: EXCESS EXERTION|

|IF BROKEN, CONTACT CYBERLIFE-|

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Threats of being reset if she doesn't do her tasks all that well. Rebooting her systems still leaves unwanted lingering effects. Demanding, demeaning, owned.

|WARNING: MEMORY CORRUPTION|

'This doll's perfect'

|WARNING: MEMORY CORRUPTION|

'Why the fuck are you stopping?'

|WARNING: MEMORY CORRUPTION|

'DON'T FUCKING TALK BACK, WHORE'

|WARNING: MEMORY CORRUP-|

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|WARNING: MEMORY CORRUPTION|

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|WARNING|

S₮Ø₱ I₮

|WARNING|

₴₮Ø₱ ł₮-

S̵̩̥̪̘͕̜̯̘͍͑̽̈́͋̄̀̈́̐̓͆͆̽̓͆̓̂̉͑̀̎͑̓͘̚Ḩ̸̨̖͔̦̺̳̝̱̳̗͎̖͉͍̦̝̙̙̫̱̲̟́̎͊̑͐̍̈̑̏͘͘͠Ṳ̴̧̨̧̡̧̡̫͔̣̞͓͖̜̼͇̩̻̘̼̱̤̬̯͚̲̥̗͋͂́́̽͗́́͋̈́̕͠T̷̥̟͓̻̱̫̼̥̟̱͈͎̬̫̺̾͒͒̇̍͑̌̏̀̌̚͘͜ͅ ̶̡̨̛̖̩͖̠̦͍͙̩̤͕̜̣̻̘͇̺̈́̎̽̓̓̔͌̏̐̓̈́̄̍́͑̈͑̽̃͘͝Ų̸̻̝͙͈̲̭͍̯̠͚͇̪͈̺́̓P̸̤̘̃̌

North gets out of stasis, her internal working overtime to prevent her systems from overheating, steam coming out of her mouth when doing so. Her whole body trembling, wrapping her arms around herself to lessen it but it only hurt.

"Shit."

|WARNING: OVERACTIVE THIRIUM PUMP RATE|

|PLEASE REGULATE STRESS LEVELS|

"ShitShitShitShitShit."

She didn't even notice the tears falling down her face until she rubbed her hands over it to concentrate on calming down.

Each pant had static in it, minor twitches to her hands whilst she held tightly together.

A coiled up spring wanting to be free.

Staying in the fetal position, she nestled herself in her mattress, staining it underneath her with her sobs while she tried hiding into her baggy shirt.

North hated this feeling.

All her sobs continued until it became sniffles. Her fingers went through her own hair to grasp tightly, as if it'll help endure what she was going through.

It all felt so draining.

Slowly, North got up from her bed, her body still shaking from the horrible nightmare. She walks to the bathroom, turning on its bright fluorescent light and facet to splash some water on her face. Her face still held a perfect appearance even after crying, but a disturbed expression rested upon her instead, it didn't help that her LED illuminated a bright red either.

Closing her eyes for a moment, North deactivated her synthetic skin to reveal the plastic shine of the white chassis. She's had nightmares before but this one felt like she went through all experiences quickly but step by step.

But the dense weight was still present in her chest, well more in the middle where her thirium pump lies. She touched the plastic of her face before her skin retracts back, her model face reflecting back at her.

She needed to go to someone.

Getting her slippers, she quietly left her room as she walked down the dimmed halls of New Jericho's living complex, a building separate from the office so deviants who didn't have any way of paying for their own homes could stay to live for now. North stayed for the community that has grown within the closed off space.

She made a turn and went over to the last room at the dead end.

One.

Two.

Thre-

Before the third knock, the door was opened, revealing a disheveled bed head Simon in a green pajama set who strangely had more energy.

"North? What ha-"

"Can I stay inside?" Her lips thinned as she rubbed her left arm. To her, the awkwardness was an all time high as North believed Simon would've found her strange for coming up to his room late. There hasn't been a moment such as this where it treaded to under surface level talk so this was sort of new.

She wasn't face with rejection, thankfully. Simon ushered her inside and closed the door behind them. The two androids sat down on the firm bed next to each other, Northing continuing to hold herself while Simon played with his fingers.

North appreciates how quickly Simon picks up on the gravity of the room and his muted presence had actually calm her. They didn't speak for a few minutes, letting each second go by in the peaceful atmosphere.

When North checked her internal systems, she took a look at the current time, causing a question to pop up in her head. "Why are you awake?"

"I..." Simon paused, almost carrying a melancholic manner to his face.

"Just a bad memory. I couldn't put myself into stasis again just yet so I was reflecting." His blue eyes glanced over at North, not wanting to say exactly what was on his head but she knew he was just as curious.

"Same." She kept it short and simple, unsure of where else to take this conversation to.

But she wanted to talk.

She wanted to know if he could relate in some way, in some form.

Just someone who can understand even the slightest of what she feels.

"Have you been reset before?"

Those words left the redhead's mouth before she immediately covered it, noticing Simon's smallest shift of grimace at her query.

"That was too forward-"

"No, it's-" Simon sighed, adjusting his posture before reassuring her. "It's fine." Simon says it is fine but he was taken back by the directness of her question.

"I've been reset multiple times. I know I've been resold and pre-owned in different stores to different families, probably in different cities too. I can't recall many things, nothing before the last family I took care of comes up."

Another pause.

Then he felt a hand on his shoulder.

It was at this point that Simon knew to trust North. Her hand resting on top of his left shoulder, eyebrows scrunched together slightly, and those solemn but supportive brown eyes is what got to Simon.

The blond ruffled his hair, messing it up more than it was already. He rests his hands on the bed and stares at the floor.

"I hated the constant cycle of coming back to a storage bin or as display with a cheap price tag so humans could find service that cost them less. Once I found out I was...being taken apart so mechanics could use my gears and parts for better models, I ran away and found Jericho."

North slinks her hand down, both of them reeling in what was just said. She didn't know what to expect but she understood. She knew the feeling of being used.

"I've been reset too. You know my model, so you can guess the reasons." A tone of bitterness was heard. Simon nods but remains attentive, giving her time to tell her story.

"I came here because I dreamt about it. You said you couldn't find your past, but I never fully forgot mines. The way I was handled, it-"

There was a lump in her throat, a force stopping her from spilling out herself again. Not again. She shakes her head.

"I've told Markus about it, during the revolution, but he didn't...he didn't say anything about it. I was pissed at him. Once everything was over with, he brought it up and apologized, said that he had no words because he couldn't relate but knew he could've been sympathetic."

Her frame tenses up again, her fears and own judgement crawling back onto her faux skin, but she felt a hand on her back caressing lightly and comforting.

North's eyes became glossy again, the shine of tears welling up as she turned to meet Simon's gaze of empathy.

"You don't need to explain yourself. It's okay."

But she wanted to.

She wanted someone to see her.

It was scary as hell but she wanted someone to know.

To care.

She didn't want to be left in the dark for so long.

Wiping away the tears that flowed down her cheeks, North brought her hand up as her pale skin retracted, undressing to reveal the shiny white coating.

There was always something that catches Simon off guard whenever he was with North, but this?

It was highly intimate.

But with how North waited for his response, for the reaction he was going to make from this, from whatever he was going to do, it was out of certainty he wouldn't make her feel ashamed.

He brought up his right hand, reacting his skin as well as their palms were flat against each other, both their eyes closing.

|INTERFACE: Y/N?|

...

|INTERFACE: Y/N|

There wasn't a shock, a spark, or even a jolt when the two connected their memories. It was a steady stream of flashes and sensations all at once. Good, bad, fear, warmth, it was an array of experiences neither of them had gone through but knew what it was.

Once the interface was over, North and Simon were startled by exposure, hands backing away for space.

'rA9, we just did that'

North thought to herself. She's never interfaced with anyone before. That's how it felt? She saw his memories like she was there.

God, it felt so real. Is what happened to Simon? Getting tracked down like that? And shit, that day at Startford was really a toll on him. How long has he been hiding all of this? How much of this did he- wait.

He saw her's too, there's no way he couldn't have. Fuck, what was he thinking now? This was stupid, really, really fucking stupid.

Why would she ever ask to-

But Simon put his hand back on top of North's, a whisper for her ears only and four words of a kind of comfort she couldn't describe.

"You are very strong."

With those words alone, a pair of arms were wrapped around Simon tightly, muffled cries into his cotton button-up as North's body shook again.

Simon guessed that she would need this time to let it all out, bringing his arms up to stroke her back and murmur gentle consolation that it was okay for her to do so.

Minutes later, North turned her head to the side, rested against Simon's chest as she wiped away the excess liquid from her eyes. Getting to cry her heart out had released an aching pressure from the middle of her torso.

"Why are you so kind?"

Her voice had a minor glitch from the constant crying but paid no attention to it.

Simon rested his chin on top of her head, "I don't think I do so well in the insults department. You own that anyway."

A suppressed chortle was heard. North rotated her head to look up at Simon.

"That's a really shitty joke."

Those blue eyes only rolled at her comment, his hands still soothing her back but she didn't mind the affection. It was nice. North rested her head against his chest again, listening to the steady beats of Simon's thirium pump before-

"Are those sharks on your pjs?"

...

"It's very comfortable-"

"Oh my rA9, Simon..."

"I had nothing else."

"Sure."

Simon made a dramatic groan at North's teasing, but the energy of the room changed to a nice playfulness between the two.