Archive of Our Own ^beta

5 watched nervously as 2 reached the summit. There had been no sign of the Beast so far on their journey, but it could strike at any time, without warning. 5 could remember more than one time when they had made very narrow escapes back to the safety of their sanctuary, but 2 never saw the danger in their expeditions, only the opportunity to find out more about their world, to try to puzzle out the ruins that had been left behind by the men who had lived ... and died.

2 looked back, beckoning. "Come on!" he called.

5 allowed himself a small gulp before he followed, grabbing each of the strange metal semi-circles of the sloped side of the ancient implement carefully to avoid any fraying from the sharp edges. The two of them had carefully manoeuvred it into position to climb up to the ridge, 2 chattering away excitedly all the while about what it might have been used for. 5 had tried to inject just a little bit of realism into the conversation by pointing out that they had found it in the "kitchen", but that had only sent 5 off on an even greater digression about that most mysterious of rooms. They knew that the giants who had lived in the world before them did not have the same sorts of internal mechanisms as they did, had no traceries of cables running through their bodies to transmit electricity and keep them moving. But what took its place remained almost completely unknown, despite 5's best efforts to figure it out. His best guess was that they had operated via some form of chemical reaction, a little like the one that took place whenever they lit one of their precious fire-sticks, but in a much more controlled way.

Why this might need a device almost double 5's height was anybody's guess. All 5 knew, now that he was standing on the narrow strip that bridged its top, was that he felt very high up indeed. For a single vertiginous moment, he imagined slipping and being trapped inside. Except that he knew it wouldn't be for long; 2 would come and rescue him, heaving up one side just enough to allow 5 to push it up as well and wriggle out again. And then 2 would insist that they resume their journey.

5 steadied himself, then jumped across to the long, gently sloping wall of which 2 had already reached the top. 2 was alternating between looking back towards 5, beckoning him onwards, and looking down at whatever he could see on the other side. Whatever was down there was making him widen his eyes so much that 2 could see them changing diameter even from behind.

"What is it?" 5 said, once he reached a close enough distance not to have to shout. If the Beast was lurking anywhere near, he didn't want to attract his attention.

2 didn't turn back this time, and his answer was distinctly uninformative: "It's absolutely fascinating, is what it is."

5 joined 2, looking over his shoulder with his one good eye. It took him a moment to realise what had attracted 2's attention so. To begin with, the buildings seemed no different from any of the others they had explored; it was only on closer inspection that 5 realised that they were much nearer than he had first guessed, and correspondingly smaller. "Are those ..."

"They're our size," 2 said. "Not giant houses. Houses for us." He waggled his hand noncommittally. "Or people like us, I suppose."

"None of us remember anything ... before."

"No," 2 said. "You're right. So we wouldn't know if there was anyone like us then, would we?"

"Might some others have survived?" 5 wasn't sure how he felt about that. Their little community was so closely knit that a newcomer might disrupt it. He didn't voice that particular thought; he knew already that 2 would almost certainly think it was a good thing, a chance to shake things up and challenge 1's dogmatic approach to ... well, everything, really.

"There's only one way to find out," 2 said excitedly, launching himself down the other side of the slope so that he slid on his back all the way to the bottom, a broad smile on his face when he reached it. 5 followed, trying to stay upright, but only succeeding in tumbling head over feet, again and again and again, so that the world spun dizzyingly in front of him until he finally crashed into 2.

2 pulled him upright and dusted him off. "Are you all right?" he said, all serious concern for a moment.

5 pushed at a few key parts of his torso; nothing seemed out of place. "I'm fine."

2 grinned. "Let's take a look around then, shall we?"

5 was so used to walking in the ruins of the giants that the experience of walking along a path that was the right scale for him, towards a building that was only four or five times his height, rather than four or five hundred, was almost unnerving. "Hello?" he called quietly, hoping not to hear an answer.

2 nodded approvingly at the idea of trying to communicate. "Is there anybody here? We're from ..." He paused for a moment, seemingly seeking the right words that might describe to a stranger where they were from. Eventually he gave up and gestured. "Over there."

But answer came there none. They soon reached the small building and 2 tried the door. It wouldn't open. "Help me," he said. 5 put his hands on top of 2's -- they shared a small smile with one another as fabric touched fabric -- and they both heaved as hard as they could.

Nothing happened. 5 was ready to try and heave again, but 2 shook his head, leaning in close to listen. He knocked against the door with his hand, but it was too soft to make any real noise.

5 wasn't quite sure what he was trying to do, but thought he might be able to help. He felt in the small bag at his waist for the small reel of thread that he carried with him on these expeditions, in case he needed to do any emergency repairs, and passed it to 2. 2 looked confused until 5 mimed knocking with it, then tried the idea, leaning in to listen at the door as he did so.

The sound that came back, though, was dull and clanging. The house wasn't a house at all; it was solid all the way through.

Disappointed, 2 stepped back, peering up at the higher parts of the house, but it seemed obvious now that what appeared to be windows were only painted on. "It's a model," 5 said.

"But why?" 2 said. "What use would they have for it? Everything in their world had some purpose, however mysterious it might be to us. Did they use it to plan their wars? Or was it some sort of object of worship?"

"Maybe they just liked to make models," 5 said. "For fun. For the other ones to look at and enjoy."

2 tended to grow exasperated when 5 speculated along these lines; the world that had been left to them was one in which there seemed no room for such things, so how could those who had caused it have had such tendencies? But this time, he looked contemplative. "Perhaps," he said. "Perhaps."

2 moved on down the path, leading to the next little house -- 5 realised that living in the giants' world had affected his perceptions so much that he couldn't stop thinking of it as little, even though it was in fact the right size for them.

2 knocked the reel against the door again, and the same dull thud came back. Another one that was solid on the inside. Now that he knew what to look for, it had seemed obvious to 5 as they approached that the windows were again fake. The same thing happened at the third house, and the fourth.

The fifth house, though, was a little different. It still didn't seem to be hollow, to have any inside for them to explore, but there was something within it. 5 could feel it setting up sympathetic vibrations in the wires in his arms even as they got closer.

2 must have been able to feel it too, but either didn't care or was fascinated by it enough to keep getting closer and closer. Peering down at what was ostensibly the keyhole, he dispensed with the idea of knocking and instead reached inside his arm for a thin piece of wire.

"2, no!" 5 cried, but it was too late. 2 had already plugged himself into the house. A moment later, he was blown clean across the path onto the ground.

At the same moment, the house sprang into ersatz life, its top window lighting up and small figures moving around inside it. A small snatch of sound replayed itself over and over, music and what might have been laughter. To 5, though, it was the discordant backdrop to his worst nightmare -- by the time he reached 2, he was out cold.

"Wake up," 5 said urgently. "Come on, 2, wake up." He stroked his face, but there was no response -- his eyes remained a blank, closed white.

He felt quickly across 2's body, trying to detect any sign of life in his limbs, any hint of electricity running through him. They had done ... experiments, was what 2 had called them, though they had not really felt like experiments to 5, more like just something they did. In the "experiments" they had stayed very still and very close to each other, feeling the hum of each other's electricity. If one of them moved slightly, it set up a tingling sensation in the other's system. It was like the mind-scrambling effect of the magnets that 8 so enjoyed, but much more subtle and controlled.

Now, though, 5 could feel nothing from 2 at all. Whatever had restarted the house's mechanism -- the noise was still blaring out -- had overloaded 2's.

There was nothing for it. 5 pulled at 2's torso, ripping the stitching to access his internal mechanisms. Accessing his own arm in the way that 2 had just done so fatefully, he desperately attached a wire to 2's primary actuator. It sputtered and stuttered into life, but life it was. 2's eyes sprang back. "5!" he said. "You--"

He was trying to sit up, and 5 had to steady him and push him back down to the ground. "Not yet," he said. "I had to--"

2 craned his neck slightly to inspect himself. "I see," he said soberly. "That must have been a powerful jolt."

"Stay there," 5 said. "Don't try to move."

He got up and retrieved the reel of thread from where it had landed after being thrown from 2's hand. Carefully, he began to repair 2's chest. "This is only a temporary repair," he said. "We'll be able to fix you up properly once we get back. Do you think you can be careful?"

"I suppose I'll have to be," 2 said. "But you mean just until we get back, don't you?"

"I'd rather you were careful all the time," 5 said, continuing to sew 2 back together again.

"I know," 2 said.

5 carefully tied a knot in the thread and snipped off the excess. "But you won't be, will you? Not really. Even after this."

2 sat up. "I'll try. For your sake. It's not as though I want to get myself killed. It's just ... very easy to get distracted when there's something new to find out."

"We should get moving," 5 said, helping 2 up so that his arm was straggled across 5's shoulders. "The noise of that thing might have ..." He didn't finish the thought, not out loud. But the miniature houses that had gone from mysterious to dangerous now seemed positively threatening, the ongoing loop of sound not only potentially drawing the Beast's attention but also perfectly capable of preventing them from hearing its approach.

"You're right," 2 said as they began to walk away, as quickly as they could manage while still being careful, ending up in a sort of hobbled jogging motion. "Of course."

"Of course? Are you saying that I'm often right?"

"Well, more often than I'm usually willing to admit," 2 said.

5 looked off to one side so that 2 couldn't see his smile. "Come on, let's get you home."