Summary: My only regret about not finishing Heaven's Door (yet, if ever) was not fully realizing in story how gay Leilani and Ray were for each other. And yes, they were, it was in my notes. After two years, here's something to rectify that. MAJOR time skip and spoilers for Heaven's Door and its maybe sequel: Leilani is 18, and Ray is “mostly” stable. Rated T for some slightly obvious reasons, title stolen from the Whethan & Dua Lipa song 'High'.
Rating: T
Word count: 2,427 words
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Four years. Four years in a prison for a crime she did and did not commit.
Her trial had been cut short by a small, teensy little uprising that she hadn't been aware of at first. Her friends, however misguided, did not want her in that jail anymore so they fought to make a statement. They were defeated by someone whose maker she had no respect for. It was his fault she had been in prison for four years, wasn't it? It was his fault that her mother died during the Trinity Disaster, wasn't it?
Thankfully for her, the youngest of his creations had sympathy for her and now she was home. She could pretend nothing had changed -that these past four years were unadventurous and spent with friends and family- but that would have meant ignoring what he had done to her. How he messed up her life. How he couldn't look truth and cold facts in the face to publicly proclaim 'Yes, I was wrong about everything. I'll take the blame, if only this once at the hands of a young innocent.' But he never did and he never will; that was how Doctor William Blackwell worked.
A small growl emitted from the 18 year old's lips as she sliced her apple. She wasn't particularly hungry at this hour, but she skipped out on breakfast and lunch so she figured she had to eat something before she ultimately skipped out on dinner too. As she finished cutting the apple and was about to place the knife in the dishwasher, the young woman heard a sound. Something, or someone, was walking across her roof.
She ignored it, just like everything else that has happened to her so far.
Eventually, the noise did die down as Leilani made her way back to her room. The sliced apples on a plate that she ended up sitting on her bedstand. What nearly startled her this time was another knock, this one coming from the balcony door. Leilani raised an eyebrow and went to the door. She didn't even flinch when she opened the door to a red and orange robot with dark tan skin. The robot did not look pleased, maybe even uncanny to the wrong eye: to the world, this was Ray, the Vermillion Destroyer, but to Leilani that robot was as good as a girlfriend to her.
“There are reporters everywhere outside this prison.” the robot replied in a dark voice. “It's as if they're waiting for a reason to convict you again.”
“Don't act so surprised.” the human yawned as she moved to her bed to sit. “You're the one that started that little revolution.”
Ray let out a small growl, following Leilani before standing right in front of her and looking her in the eye.
“I'll never forget it.” Ray vowed before pulling Leilani in for a fierce kiss.
. . .
The trial had been put on a permanent hold once Ray had stolen the young woman. In the glory of the moment, Ray had listened to Leilani's suggestion of going to Maine, and it wasn't until after when the two knew they were safe that the robot took a good look at the young woman. They were the only ones in that safe house, after all, and there was nothing else to do but stew upon their decisions and watch them unfold. What Ray hadn't counted on was the human aging process.
“You've changed.” Ray noted, the idea sounding a bit idiotic out loud. Of course humans change!
“Four years in juvie will do that to you.” Leilani retorted.
“No. Not that.” Ray hissed. “Your physical appearance has changed...”
The human raised a questioning eyebrow. “What of it?” she inquired.
Ray said nothing to retaliate, instead moving closer to the human. Leilani's skin seemed more… soft, inviting even. Without realizing it, Ray ran a curious hand down the side of Leilani's face. The human closed her eyes and held her breath; for what was something she didn't want to contemplate at the moment, not if Ray wasn't aware of what she was doing, anyway. There was no way that Ray could tell that the moment had become tense. Could she? Whatever the case, Ray could feel Lei's body clench. Weird… that never seemed to happen before.
“Do I scare you now?” the robot questioned, tilting her head rather methodically.
“No.” Leilani immediately declared. She hesitated for a moment, but she then added, “But I… I'd really like it if you… if you'd...”
“What?” Ray now demanded. She was standing even closer to the young woman now- the thing wasn't even sure if she was breathing anymore.
“I… I want you to… to touch me.”
“Am I not doing that already?” Ray growled, not seeing the point. Leilani's cheeks flushed such a deep shade of red that the robot wondered if it was normal. In feeling the increasing pulse rate of the human, it was likely that the answer was 'no.'
“In… intimately.” the young woman finally said. “I want you to… to touch me, intimately. Like… Like a kiss.”
“A kiss?”
Leilani swallowed back dry saliva as she gave a small nod. Ray cocked a curious eyebrow at this suggestion. The robot knew what kisses were, of course, first introduced to the concept four years prior by Leilani herself. Hmm… Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss…
Taking the decision to heart, Ray leaned forward just slightly and pressed her lips against the human's. They both immediately reeled backwards in surprise at the shock that passed through them. But Ray wasn't finished her investigation of the matter yet, she pulled Leilani into another kiss and pushed past that initial shock. Holding them there for quite some time, Ray pulled them away after some seconds had passed. She had learned what she wanted from the kiss, and it had left her… underwhelmed.
“You taste… different.” observed the Vermillion Destroyer in some way to say something about the current situation.
“That's because I'm not made out of xels.” Leilani teased. Ray growled before going in for a much deeper kiss this time. The taste of this young woman… it was indescribable. Not as filling as a xel, of course, but it seemed so much more alluring…
With each passing moment Ray was craving more and more of this woman. Her hands firmly griped at Leilani's waist, bringing her closer to Ray herself. The human retaliated by wrapping her arms around Ray's neck- she liked this, but it wasn't enough. There must have been something, anything, to make this growing desire be fulfilled. But what?
“Raychel...” Leilani gasped when she had the breath to do so. Hearing her name through the young woman's lips caused the robot to immediate freeze. That tone… It was different. It was new.
“What?”
Leilani, in between excited gasps, questioned to the robot, “Do you… do you know what lust is?”
. . .
Ray watched as Lei softly slept on her bed, properly tired from their… activities. The Vermillion Destroyer titled her head at the human; Leilani laid in such a way that made Ray notice her more womanly figure again. The thought of touching the human's rib and sliding her hand down to the hip made Ray flinch. Instead, the android got off of the human's bed and did the most menial thing she never would have considered doing otherwise; getting the mail.
Such an odd activity this was- thankfully the mail box was near the front door and not across the street, not that the Blaise family had much in way of neighbors in this area; not even paparazzi seemed to venture that far. As she went back inside, Ray looked at the mail to see what was delivered: a paid magazine for robotic creations showcased at the Battle Colosseum, some small adverts for local food joints, and a letter addressed to Leilani herself. Ray took an interest in this letter, now taking a closer look at the sender address.
SANDA Technologies, United States of America Division
Pleasanton California
She hadn't been aware of it, but Ray had stormed back to Leilani's bedroom. With the letter being crushed in one hand, Ray shook the human awake.
“Hmm…?” the flower slurred as she finally came to. “What's wrong?”
The Vermillion Destroyer did not answer directly, instead she presented the letter to Leilani. The human attempted to sit up, but opted against it, and took the letter from the robot. The first thing she noticed was the sender, a grimace painted itself on her face before she opened the letter. As she read its contents, her expression changed to a softer one but it still held some amount of disgust. Once she was done reading, she carelessly tossed the letter aside and flopped back on her bed.
“Magnus is fighting in the Colosseum soon.” she explained to Ray. “Sanda wants me to come for the match.”
“Why?” the robot immediately questioned.
“I don't know.” the human said, rolling over to her side. “Because it's been six months since the trial? Because he wants to see how the crowd will react when a child convict makes a public appearance? It's not like I have a choice- it's part of the sentence that the jury hath wrought upon me.”
“You're not going alone.”
Lei looked over at Ray. The robot had been firm in saying so, and although Leilani wasn't going to go alone anyway, the request had been genuine.
“You can't enter the Colosseum.” Lei reminded the Vermillion Destroyer.
“I'm aware.” came the prudent answer. At this, the human cocked an eyebrow in skepticism.
And just as she suspected, Ray started to backpedal on the idea once the day came. Sanda hadn't come yet, so the two hid themselves in an alleyway.
“I don't want you here.” Ray told the human with a growl. “We don't belong here.”
“Raychel,” Leilani softly purred, knowing this game all too well by now, “You know why I'm here and what it means to Magnus. You're not my only android friend you know...”
Ray gave another growl before forcing the human into an assertive kiss. With that last bit of defiance, the Vermillion Destroyer dashed out of sight. Leilani let out a sigh before adjusting herself a bit more to be scrutinized by the spectators in the colosseum today. Her head held high and a blank expression, Leilani entered the colosseum.
Ray knew her usual place in the Colosseum- high above everyone else in the rafters where only the birds tended to roost. From here, Ray could soak up any loose xel that came off the contestants. But most importantly, she could keep tabs on her flower as well. From here she could see all the nasty stares Leilani received from the other spectators; some even paid more attention to the flower than on the match itself. Justifiably so, but they did not stare because they found her as fascinating as Ray found her. They stared because they believed she was a public menace.
“And now the bot you've all been waiting for!” the announcer boomed over the speakers, “Mighty Number 9, BECK!!”
At the same time, both Ray and Leilani got an awful shock of disgust. Small and timid, said Mighty Number walked out into the main colosseum, waving at the crowd and blushing at the mere sight of so many spectators in the stands. Then Ray's processors froze when she realized that the Predator had located and stared directly at the flower in the stands. She could even see, so perfectly well, that the two had made direct eye contact and held it for an uncomfortable amount of time. The Predator's face paled; he knew. He knew what his family had done to the flower's life.
Beck shook his head, remembering where he was and what he was about to do, and allowed the match to continue on. He won the fight -no surprise from either Ray or Leilani- as waved at everyone as they cheered praise and threw various things at his feet. One thing in particular, a bouquet of roses, was caught by Beck and for a moment, he stood there as if he had never encountered a bouquet before. Beck looked back up at the stands before slowly starting to work his way over to the spectators.
The Vermillion Destroyer watched with increasing fury as the Predator made his way toward the flower, making his intent known by the paling in his face. What stopped the robot from doing down to destroy the Predator herself was Leilani's own frosty attitude toward the approaching Mighty Number.
Once he was close enough, Beck humbly offered the bouquet to Leilani. With his head bowed he tried to give an apology, but the spectators near the two had gotten louder- some were mad that he was giving the bouquet to her, others just wanted Beck's attention. Leilani refused the bouquet but Beck kept insisting she take them; his eyes held a desperate need to apologize, but hers were frosty and unwavering.
Perhaps knowing this made Leilani finally accept the bouquet; it wasn't Beck they were mad at, after all. The youngest Mighty Number gave her a small bow of thanks and quickly made his way out of the stands. When the crowd was allowed to leave the stands, Leilani tossed the flowers in the nearest trash receptacle, not caring in the slightest on who saw her. Ray looked on with a certain glee- she vowed that the next time she and the flower met up, she was going to give her gratitude quite generously.
Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long.
Leilani had to talk with Sanda after the match, but once she was finished with him she returned to the alleyway where Ray had been waiting. Immediately, the robot pinned the flower to the wall.
“He tried to apologize…” Ray mumbled as she buried herself in Lei's neck. “But you didn't listen.”
“Nope.”
“He thought he could make it better?” continued to bot, now trailing her lips across the human's collarbone for a certain spot.
“Never.” Leilani murmured, fidgeting slightly to help Ray.
“I'll kill anyone that gets near you.”
Leilani let out a gasp as Ray bit into her neck. The rush of pain mixed with adoration made the young woman moan. Regaining her composure as the Vermillion Destroyer lapped up the blood, Leilani replied with a soft, rather dark tone, “Good.”
Summary: In which Beck and Lei have a day out together, and ask some rather uncomfortable questions.
Rating: K
Word Count: 2,131
I know I've only met you once or twice,
But maybe you can help me out.
'Cause I don't really want some good advice,
Just some help to shed my doubts.
-Jaws, Magnet (Even Johansen)
. . .
Beck was not ready for this. He thought he was, and he even looked ready for it, but once he stepped up to the Ladan-Blaise front door, he knew that he was so, so not ready for this. With his hand shaking, Beck reached for the doorbell and gave it a ring. The wait for someone to answer the door seemed like years, although it only took a good three minutes. At first, the person who answered the door only opened it at the tiniest bit.
“Who is it?” the voice asked. Beck immediately recognized it as the voice of Leilani Blaise, 19 year old robotic genius and child convict, now currently under the supervision of SANDA Technologies and Doctor Soichiro Sanda himself.
“I-it's me, Beck.” the little robot said. “I'm here to pick up Leilani Blaise.”
Weighing her options a bit, Leilani stepped out into full view, allowing Beck to see what she was wearing in full; she had on a light blue tunic dress paired with dark washed capri pants. Her hair had been pulled back into a loose ponytail, and wore no makeup- the lack of said makeup made her eyes look sunken in and her eyes almost lifeless.
“You look awful.” Beck told her without even considering his words.
“Been fighting a cold.” Leilani mused. “I've been enjoying a cocktail of NyQuil and sleeping pills for the past two weeks.”
Leilani smirked. “It's not.” she even retorted. With a small chuckle, she started to head back inside the house. “Let me get my shoes. I'm pretty much ready when you are.”
“What about Ray?” Beck questioned, trying to still get a peak at the human as she decided on her footwear by the door.
“Sleeping.” Leilani insisted as she chose a pair of Grecian-style sandals. “Still trying to work on a new energy source that doesn't reject every xel replacement I give her. It's an uphill battle for both of us.”
Beck gave a small nod despite her not being able to see it. Once her shoes were properly on her feet, Leilani came out side- making sure that she locked the door behind her. Awkwardly, Beck gestured for her to go first for the limo waiting for them and the human didn't act twice on the idea.
“Where is Sanda taking me today?” Leilani mused as they left the Ladan-Blaise drivelane.
“No where.” Beck told her, trying to sound bold but only sounding nervous. “I thought it would a be a good idea if we just… spent the day together. I-is that okay?”
Leilani looked at him. “Where are we going?” she then asked- her tone flat and incredibly unamused. Her expression was the most horrifying part; her eyes should have shot daggers right into Beck's artificial heart and killed him right there.
“A-a cafe.” he quickly told her. “It's a little far out from here, b-but I think you'd like it.”
To the bot's relief, Leilani looked away from him to look out the window. She said nothing further to him, and at the moment, Beck believed it was a sign of approval. But it also welcomed a bitter silence between the two of them that the bot couldn't handle. He couldn't help but look over at her before turning away again, because staring was rude, and he really didn't want to step on her toes today. And there was still so many questions that were stuck in his mind that he needed to ask. And what better time to start with them than now? R-right…?
“Do you…” Beck started, faltered, but tried to press on anyway, “Do you think that if we… if we had met before… Before...”
“Before Seismic impaled my mother?” Leilani cut in, saying exactly what Beck didn't want to.
Beck looked down at his toes before agreeing. “Y-yeah. Do you think we would have been… friends?”
Leilani was silent for a long time- making Beck fear that she had shut him out. She hadn't, she was just considering her answer. “I… I don't know.” she finally admitted. “I have no idea Beck.”
The silence returned after that. It felt worse than the first time.
“A part of me wants to say,” Leilani continued, as if she were speaking a thought now, “That as long as Trinity happened, then no. We wouldn't. It just… It just wouldn't have been possible.”
Beck gave a small nod. “I understand.” he agreed. This time, Beck turned to look at Leilani and didn't look away. He was lost in the thought of when he first saw her six years ago; Trinity had already rampaged through the country, so he hadn't even gotten the chance to meet Leilani when she was truly happy. The human girl had been smaller then, while he was still the same. Same height, same voice, same ability to assimilate fellow robots...
“I wish I had the ability to grow up.” Beck spoke in thought, not meaning to have said it out loud, “Or at least be a bit taller.”
That was when Leilani snapped her head around to look at Beck as if he were going insane.
“What did you just say?” she demanded, despite hearing him well enough. Beck didn't answer- her sudden reaction was surprised him, and he would be lying if he said that Leilani didn't look scary when she was scared.
To break the tension, the driver of the limo spoke to them saying, “We have arrived at our destination.”
Neither Beck or Leilani wanted to break the looks they were giving each other, but it was the robot who turned to the driver to say, “Th-thank you.” When Beck turned back, Leilani had already left the limousine. Nervous, Beck did the same and was easily relieved when he saw that the human was waiting for him at the cafe's entrance.
“Are you ready?” Beck asked Leilani when he was close enough to her.
“I assume you're buying?” the human then asked, looking down at him. “Or say you're buying but it's really coming from your creator's bank account?”
Beck threw a hand behind his head as he nervously chuckled. Knowing the truth, Leilani raised an eyebrow at Beck for a moment before giving an amused smirk.
. . .
At this hour, the cafe was all but empty; which was exactly what Beck had hoped for. He was able to find him and Leilani a spot that was still pretty out of the way- just in case someone really loud decided to come in.
“I'll get our food.” Beck offered once he made sure Leilani was comfortable. “What do you want?”
“Hot chocolate- extra cream with half a scoop of mini marshmallows.”
“Anything to eat?”
“Do they have any powdered coffee cakes here?”
Beck nodded.
“Then maybe two of those- it depends on how wide they made them.”
“Got it.” Beck agreed. “I'll be right back.”
It did not take long for Beck to get what Leilani requested and head back to their table. The human did not object to the homemade food, immediately digging in as if she hadn't had anything to eat in weeks. Beck patiently waited for the human to finish before he finally asked the question he had been dying to ask for the past year;
“Why did you take on a pseudonym before Doctor White and Doctor Sanda found you in Maine?”
For a horrifying moment, Leilani sat so still that Beck would have assumed he had taken Cryosphere's unnerving Cabbage Patch doll out for brunch instead of a human.
“Is that why you brought me here?” she then asked in a still, dark voice. “To know why I didn't want to be found after being falsely accused at such a tender age?”
“N-no!” Beck desperately tried to disagree. “I… I just want to know. W-when you were in hiding because Ray had abducted you-”
“Not the word I would have used,” Leilani lightly snickered, “But yeah?”
“When Ray hid you, you used the name Leila Ladan to keep everyone away from you for awhile. Why that name?”
Leilani absently circled her finger around the rim of her cup. She looked Beck in the eye when she told him in an emotionless tone, “Ladan was my mother's maiden name.”
For some reason, that wasn't the explanation Beck had been expected; no, no. This one was worse. He could feel himself shrink as he let out a small, “Oh...”
“And Leila,” Leilani went on, “It's only two letters off from my real name. It's a kinda bad pseudonym in retrospect- but it worked.”
“It was a nice name...” Beck tried to offer.
“Same I'll have no reason to ever need it again.” Leilani agreed with a humored snort.
“Can… can I call you Leila?” the little bot found himself asking. “A-as a nickname of course!”
Leilani cocked an interested eyebrow. “You're a really weird robot, you know that? First you say you want to grow up, and now you want to give me a pet name? If I didn't know any better, I'd almost think you had a crush on me.”
There was a solid three seconds from the time the idea was said out loud to when the truth hit her. Color drained from Leilani's face before she marveled, “My god. You do have a crush on me, don't you?”
“Maybe it's guilt...” Beck mumbled, mostly to himself.
“You really don't know?”
Mighty Number Nine refused to look at the heiress of Blaise Factories and Company. Leilani ran a shaking hand through her hair, refusing to look away from the android sitting across from her. It made so much sense- and yet, it made things so, so much worse.
“Every day, I wonder what goes through your creator's head when he designs your AI.” she soon admitted. “And every day I just grow more horrified of what he could do if he actually thought his plans through. I love Raychel -we'd give our lives for each other- but I'm worried. She can lie to herself and I hate knowing that if something went wrong, that she'd… make herself...”
“I don't know if I've ever lied before.” Beck said, purposely not letting Leilani complete her thought. This did not help Leilani's perception of the situation at the moment.
“Beck, I don't think you understand; the Mighty Numbers are the most dangerous robots in the Battle Colosseum. The only way you guys lose is if you purposely throw the fight.”
Beck must have given her a funny look, because she continued.
“I've seen Pyrogen throw a fight before. Cryosphere, Dynatron, and Brandish are known to do it too.” She gave a small pause before looking Beck right in the eye. “You have too. That last match you had that Sanda made me oversee- you threw the match because you saw me in the audience. Didn't you?”
“I...” Beck faltered, but could find that he had no answer. “I did.”
Leilani stood a bit straighter before leaning closer to Beck, as if this next part of their conversation was top secret information. “You know what the most disturbing this is about you Mighty Numbers?”
“What?”
“If Raychel is attracted to me, and you apparently are too, does that mean the others are as well? And if that's the case, what does that mean of William Blackwell when Cryosphere was activated the same year I was born?” Leilani gave a rather unnerved sigh. “I think I'm just being paranoid. Or full of myself. Maybe both. But you Mighty Numbers… You're something else. You're your own identity. The Mighty Numbers as a whole, you guys… You're all so terrifying.”
Beck hung his head in shame, almost acknowledging that he knew how dangerous the Mighty Numbers could be had it not be for several laws and a decent morality system. With her pressing issues out in the open, Leilani relaxed a little before looking down at her empty cup.
“You know how only my dad can call me Leilai?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, there's only one person in this world that is allowed to call me Leila.”
“W-who's that?”
Leilani looked at Beck- it was an expression that was trying to be hard, but it was gentle instead. That was when the realization hit the bot.
“Y-you mean it? I can?!”
“Just promise me one thing.” the young woman then told him. “Never lie to me, Raychel, and -most importantly- yourself. On anything. Got it?”
“O-of course!” Beck eagerly agreed. “Anything you say!”
Ghost lazily sprawled out on the roof, the occupants of the building unaware of his presence. The sun had yet to make the world too hot. It was the perfect opportunity to get a little sunshine and a view of the city. People went about their lives below, conversations humming softly. The otherwise steady thrum of life was infrequently punctured by laughter or a honking car.
On the roof, the humming below was joined by purring, the pale Xelbot rolling into his other side. His long, fluffy tail flicked as he stretched back out. Mist gray eyes closed, the purring growing louder. Ghost was certainly enjoying the morning.
The feline was still for a few minutes longer before rolling onto his stomach and standing. He was hungry. It was time to hunt, be it for something from a street vendor or a fresh caught forest creature. But... Grilled fish sounded particularly appetizing, especially with some lemon and well seasoned...
Thoughts of breakfast were interrupted by someone approaching him. One ear turned towards the sound, before the rest of his head followed. He gave a small 'mrrrbp' sound of interest as he looked at his mystery rooftop companion.
