One Flower At A Time | Android 17 x Reader
It could be platonic or the start of romance if you squint.
Alt universe 17
talks of redemption and Guilt
Forgiveness
word count: 2408
One Flower At A Time
He felt the touch of smooth, warm fingers glide over the side of his face, the gentle pair of digits ever so softly moving the jet black strands that had obscured his face to the side.
At the recollection of human touch, he sat motionless, waiting for the person’s next movement, wanting to know just what was their intention with the ticklish graze, but another caress to his skin never came, and instead, he was left in wait.
Slowly, he opened his icy colored crystals, scanning in search of the mysterious person, the one whose warm touches had woken him from the darkness.
- The very one who dared touch him so openly like there wasn't anything to fear.
'As though they were unaware of what I'm capable of,' He thought to himself with wonder.
As he opened his eyes to the world, the blinding light of the sun’s rays made him squint, making his gaze fall to the ground instead of the overbearing brilliance. And while his eyes strayed from the heavens and fell over the earth, he saw nothing but splotchy colors of pinks, blues, and yellows.
An entire rainbow lay on the ground, the peppered assortment of colors, confusing him to a degree.
In his initial stun, he questioned whether or not he had been in the same reality that he, himself had succumbed to decay.
'Is this the same planet?' He thought with confusion, not recognizing any of the beauty because it'd all long been singed to hopeless ashes and unrepairable loss.
In his somewhat hazy search, he hoped to find another person besides his own, someone to answer his questions, but he hadn’t had luck.
At first, he found nothing, and just as he came to the assumption that he was alone in the strange earth of greenery, he recognized a lone figure.
It was far beyond his reach and he concluded that the person beyond his touch had to be the one that had reached for him first.
' Then It wasn’t just my imagination,' he thought with assurance.
It was a woman, that much he could guarantee.
She was dressed in a very simple dress, one that flared at the waist. It was patterned with small flowers here and there made with unprofessional stitches that were somewhat crewed, yet charming in that sense. It was modest, reaching down to her knees, just barely making it past them with little flared edges that were trimmed with white.
With filthy boots that looked worn and needed replacement, she continued to move, each movement seeming calculated as though done by routine.
She screamed of simplicity, almost melding with the background with how muted she seemed to be, and yet he couldn't take his eyes off of her.
He couldn't overlook her or find anything else more interesting than the woman turned away from him, not even the little petals of the small eye-catching flowers made him occasionally stray.
Granted, he could look away, but eventually, he found his way back to the woman.
Feeling his gaze on her, she turned to him, finally showing her face to the slumped man and gracing him with the sight of pretty (e/c) colored eyes.
And she gazed at him with an expression he couldn't quite place, one that was unreadable to him.
Perhaps because there was a lack of display to go from, or maybe it was just that he wasn’t used to being looked like that.
He was used to shock.
Wide eyes and gaping faces were a slight norm.
He knew it wasn't fear because he’d been so familiar with a terrorized look, he could note it a mile away. Moreover, the only other two he’d come to know were hate and anger, but even so, none fit the description.
what she showed him was none of the above, making him realize he had lost his touch with humanity far more than he had thought he did before, because, in truth, he knew nothing more than those few displays of emotions.
He had forgotten what it was like to be human. In fact, he had forgotten that at one point he had been one himself.
“I see you're finally awake,” she said in a mellowed voice, to which he said nothing back, staying quiet while stuck in his inner turmoil.
Instead, he let his eyes fall onto the blossoms at her feet, this time actually looking at them with clear eyes as each little-petaled face swayed with the soft breeze.
His fingers reached down, almost grazing a sky blue bud before quickly retracted his hand, suddenly afraid it would become singed, or rotted away.
Something told him that if he wasn't careful, he’d destroy everything, just like he had before.
And in one way or another, he’d lay waste to everything beautiful in his path.
“ Do you want to touch them ?” She asked smiling softly, nudging her head to the open space beside her.
“Because you are welcome to, just be mindful and don’t pick at them," She pleaded.
" - They’re all so fragile.” She continued on, saying so as though she understood what it was like to be so delicate.
‘They are fragile…’ he repeated in his head, staring down at the same little blue bud with wonder before his index suspended over the tiny life.
Slowly, he grazed a petal before he found it in himself to lift up his dour expression.
“Hey...would you mind coming here?” she then asked him.
He nodded silently before making his way to the small garden she had, soon sitting right beside her on the soil because, in his state of tattered clothes, it mattered little how much dirt laid on the ground beneath him.
Holding up a small pot, she brought it up to his face, practically shoving it towards him, and chuckling as she watched his eyes grow wide with surprise.
“Here, you should plant it somewhere,” she advised and said nothing beyond that.
Instead, she focused on her own activity which involved rounding up the soil with her bare hands, laying it over the freshly potted little yellow flowers in front of her.
He could feel his hands shake as he held the pot in his grasp, because in his hands he held the small life form.
In his destructive hands that had killed so many, and destroyed so much, there was a flicker of life, depending on him and his actions.
He couldn't shake the feeling of unease off of himself, nor the sinking of his stomach as he glared down at them, stunned at something so simple and small.
Seeing the confusion on his face, she tapped his shoulder, getting his attention away from the little plant and onto her instead.
“Just follow my lead, ok? ” she said pulling up the sides of her lips into a gentle smile as she spoke to him. “You just have to be careful,” she cautioned.
He took the advice and silently kneeled beside her, mimicking her actions with his own prolonged ones.
They were in a calm silence, one that lasted for a few minutes before she spoke,
“Since The world is in ruins… I can only hope to fix what is left.” She said suddenly, making him stop completely.
“I'm hoping that whoever sees my flowers wonders how they got here.” She admitted to him.
“Maybe they’ll be such a surprise that they actually stop and just stare. They’ll stop and just look.” she murmured.
“ Moreover, I hope they wonder how something so small could survive in this world.” She continued, overjoyed with the idea, sounding elated with hope.
“Maybe it will inspire them,” she added with an amused sigh, almost like she kept a ticklish secret to her own throughout the speech.
“Maybe they will find hope, just like I did when I came across this area. “ she said gliding her finger at the over-dried, curled leaves on a wilted flower before her, her eyes glancing down at it with sympathy.
“This was just a meager patch of daisies before…” she mused, remembering how little the bunch had been. “ But every few days I walk here, and I plant more and more flowers.
“ I tend to them and make sure they live to see another day.” she added, “ I protect them, guarding what little I have in this world.” she continued on, sounding determined to continue her routine.
He stayed silent at her reasoning, eyeing her from the side with discretion, capturing her sight as a whole as she continued to move.
Both her hands and her small, subtle smile were in his interests now, and they felt strangely comforting.
They felt delicate, just like the existing blossoms that surrounded him.
Her (e/c) eyes then drew towards him as she felt the unmistakable sensation of his own gaze set upon her, and as they connected, he broke off the link.
He was quick to cower, a great swelling in his artificial heart forcing him to withdraw.
Without a word, and like nothing had happened, she trailed her gaze back down to her working hands.
Again, his blue eyes found their path back to her, but by the second time, She had become unconcerned by his wide-eyed attentiveness, continuing to look at the budding flowers, all with a bemused, loving look.
“What about the androids…” he asked suddenly, his voice painfully weak.
At the abrupt question, she suddenly stopped and took a soundless breath, the question seeming to momentarily stun her.
Her (e/c) colored eyes closed for only a few seconds as she captured her breath, her voice calm and certain,
“One day they will perish, as will I," she assured him. "It could be many years from now, but thier day will come,” she said with confidence.
“ One day it will be as if they never existed and On that same day, I will at least leave this beauty behind for a survivor...For people looking for something to hope for. “ she added.
“ I'd like to think of it that way.” She said offering him a smile, "that even if I come to die sooner than I anticipate, these flowers remain.”
Had more people like her existed before?
Was she just one among the many he had killed in cold blood?
‘ What have I done? ’ he thought to release a shaky breath, finding the image of the mysterious woman to be ethereal.
“Have you found your answers? ” she asked, making him stop. He stared at his dirt-filled hands and began to feel unease in his gut.
“What do you mean?” He asked, hoping to play the part of a fool, hoping she wouldn't know who he really was and let him stay just a while longer.
“The destruction, did you achieve what you had hoped?” She asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
there was a flash of hate in them, a flash of resentment and spite, but it quickly left as quickly as it had arrived.
It had been only an instant flash that was caused by reminiscence, but the wrathful glance struck him strongly.
“ - that’s what I mean.” she elaborated.
His head bowed in shame and shakenly, she gazed down at his hands as they fisted the dirt ground.
She would have never thought to have had the luck of facing one of them. It had always been a nightmare to her, but as she'd found him, beaten and defeated, she thought of what it meant.
Had it been fate?
How is it that he, the bringer of devastation and ruin have somehow found her sanctuary?
Stubbornly, she had decided that she would not flee. She would not leave behind what little joys she'd had for a bleak survival.
She would not allow him to take the last bit of life the world had to offer.
She wouldn't have left. Pathetically, she would have died, hoping that eventually, she would melt with the earth, her death serving for a continuation of life as it consumed her.
If she would die, she would have answers.
She would finally have a reason.
Fearfully, she looked down at his destructive hands, her glossy eyes refusing to let tears fall as she chose to stand her ground, not letting him know he'd ripped apart anyone else’s hope.
"I don't deserve to be here..." he started, and with that, the tension in her body melted.
"But I want to be," he admitted, finally looking up at her with eyes that showed true hurt.
“Why?” She breathed with confusion, truly stunned at his request.
“ why do you want to stay?” she asked raising her brows high.
She wanted an answer, a reason for his decision.
With a melting smile that was saddened and beat down, he looked towards her, barely forcing himself above a whisper, because he felt ashamed to have a request.
He felt it unfitting to ask anything of someone he'd taken so much from,
“Because when I die…I want to leave something good, something beautiful,” he said feeling his eyes sting.
He felt the rushing rivers come, threatening to fall, however, he wouldn't let a single drop escape, not even a spec knowing he was undeserving of such a display.
If he could do anything, it wouldn't be to wallow in pity but to find redemption if it existed.
“ I just want-“ Placing a finger to his lips, she gently eased his dark hair from his face, getting a clear look of him before giving him a genuine smile, one that tightly pulled at the muscles of her face.
“ Your eyes glisten. They're moistened with sadness,” she noted, matching the same look he wore, though, rather than guilt she felt a strange sense of understanding.
“Monsters do not feel a need for redemption, nor regret,” she told him while releasing a quiet breath that melted her features into a seldom smile.
'I see now, ' she thought with understanding, reasoning that perhaps there was a reason he'd somehow ended up with her.
'To bring something more,' she thought with an existing faith.
She watched him as he worked with diligence, a devotion to stretch out the beauty she tended to throughout lands that needed tenderness.
And she hoped that one day, he’d find the forgiveness in himself that he sought for, one flower at a time.