Chapter Text
Uzi
"Alright let's see what this thing can do!". Uzi is outside near the Murder Drone's spire, testing out a new weapon she created. She had no idea what it did; she slapped it together haphazardly with scrap parts earlier that night in hopes of stumbling upon some kind of super-weapon again. Uzi aimed the vaguely weapon-shaped device at a test dummy she had set up; a human skeleton propped up on a scrap metal pole. She activated the device, laughing somewhat maniacally as she did so, and it began to charge. But it was immediately clear something was wrong: The device gave off a violent red glow along with the sounds of frying electronics. "No-n-no-no-no Not again!". Uzi panicked and tried to throw the imminent explosion away from her, but it was too late; the device let out a sudden burst of energy, and the whole world faded to black.
ERROR: SUDDEN LOSS OF POWER; ATTEMPTING REBOOT;
Uzi woke up alertly and tried to deduce what had just happened. As she stood up however, something was immediately wrong: The snow, which was usually just a thin layer on the ground, came all the way up past her knees. Confused, Uzi looked around for more clues as to what was going on. But when she looked up, she audibly gasped at what she saw. The desolate buildings around Uzi loomed over her like mountains, and even her makeshift target dummy stood like a skyscraper before her. What the... Uzi couldn't believe what she was seeing. She fell backwards into the snow, overwhelmed by the situation, and sunk into it until she was completely covered. Uzi desperately flailed to free herself, and managed to get back on her feet. What did that thing do? Well duh it shrank me, idiot. But how? Am I going to stuck like this forever!? God how will I tell dad? Or N? Or— "Focus dammit! This is not the time!" Uzi blurted out loud. "Okay I need to do something; I can't just sit here stranded in the snow. But where do I go? Where can I even go?" She thought for a moment. As she looked around, something caught her eye. The spire of the Murder Drones camp called to her like a beacon. "Oh Right! N was there when I left. Hopefully he still is." Not sure what I'll do if he's not though. "I should be able to fly there easily." Uzi tried to spread her wings, but they could barely move, frozen and frostbitten from her fall into the snow. "Oh come on." Uzi exclaimed as she realized, much to her dismay, that she would have to walk the whole (to her) more than a kilometer on foot, through the deep snow. Uzi let out a deep sigh when she tried to take her first step; the powdery snow acted more liquid than solid and thus it was like wading through deep water, she could with great difficulty move her legs through it.
Progress was incredibly slow, especially with her frequent faceplants into the snow, both from fatigue, and just clumsiness. This certainly wasn't helped by the fact she kept looking around at her surroundings instead of in front of her, both paranoid that something might happen, and in awe of just how strange everything looked from her new perspective.
Some ways into her trek, Uzi came across a tiny area devoid of snow. "Ugh finally I can take a break" She sat down on the ground and rested for a moment. "Wait a minute this is a footprint. Probably one of mine as well." God if someone could just step on me at this size and I would just be— She quickly repressed that train of thought there. "Sigh, I should keep moving."
She, much more uneasily now, continued walking through her own footsteps, still having to wade through the areas in between, as they led the way into the spire; well technically they led the opposite way, out to where Uzi had her incident.
Eventually she reached the entrance. This place always freaks me out. She looked at the walls of dead worker drones. I swear I can recognize some of those faces. As she looked inside, N was nowhere to be seen. He better just be in the landing pod. With her goal in sight, Uzi had a second wind and moved faster than ever before, especially since the snow inside was just a little thinner than it was outside, now just a little below her knees. It was something so insignificant that she had never noticed before, but now it made all the difference.
Not too long after she reached the landing pod, well the base of it at least. "Ugh, why does the door have to so high up? Hopefully these stupid wings decide to work again." She spread her wings one more time, and though they were still frostbitten, she fought through the pain. She flew higher and higher, as did her anticipation to finally be done with this journey, and be reunited with N. I still don't know if he's there though. And if he's not, what do I even do? Look for him? What if he went out looking for me also and we never— "Shut up stupid... Brain!"
She held her breath as she could see more and more of the cabin, until— She finally could see a familiar yellow glow "Oh thank god he's still here." But things changed slightly once she got a better look. "Or thank N's laziness rather" He was asleep in his chair. "Guess I'll have to wake him up then." Uzi herself was getting tired from being on the move non-stop for nearly an hour at this point, but it didn't matter anymore; all that mattered to her now was getting to N. It didn't take long for her to fly the rest of the way, and finally she touched down right on N's shoulder. "Now to wake the sleeping giant."
N
"N!" Did I hear something? Probably nothing. "N wake up!". But I don't wanna. "N WAKE UP RIGHT NOW YOU IDIOT!"
N woke up with a jolt. "Okay okay I'm awake!" He looked around but didn't see anyone. "Uzi?" He was confused, until suddenly something flew into his field of view, and he yelped out of surprise. And just a moment later: "Wh-w-WHAT?!"
"H-Hey N" said the Uzi-looking thing.
"Uzi?!" N was shocked, this thing hovering in front of his face like a bug was certainly Uzi, but she couldn't have been more than 15cm tall. "What happened?!"
"Uh, do you remember that thing-y that I was building earlier?"
Earlier that night, Uzi had snuck out to the spire, saying that she was looking for some spare parts to use for something she was making. N tried to ask what it was and why she built it, but she wouldn't give a clear answer.
"Yeah?"
"Well I tried turning it on, it blew up, and now I'm like this!" Uzi sounded frustrated.
N put his palm out so Uzi could land on it, and she seemed to understand. It would be rude to have her keep flying like that.
"Thanks." She said as she landed and subsequently sat down on N's palm. She sighed and looked somewhat exhausted.
Now that Uzi was there, N could really appreciate just how small she was, only a little taller than his fingers, and barely weighing a thing. And using his high definition, 32k optical sensors, he could determine that she was indeed, quite adorable like this.
"Wait how long ago did this happen?" N asked, concerned.
Uzi checked her non-existent watch. "An hour ago"
"It took you that long to get here?" N said, more concerned.
"Yeah that stupid snow is torture to walk through. I swear I will find a way to melt it all." Uzi said half-jokingly.
"Sigh, Uzi I'm so sorry."
"Hmm? What do you—"
"I should've looked for you after you didn't come back!"
"But weren't you asleep the whole time?"
"Exactly! I shouldn't have been."
"N, you don't have to deprive yourself of sleep just to check up on me." Uzi said assertively.
"It was just a nap anyway."
"Well... Look, it's my fault for building that stupid thing in the first place."
"Fine." N agreed reluctantly, mostly just because he was tired of arguing. "Wait why did you build it anyway?"
"Uhhh—" She looked somewhat embarrassed "Using the solver-thing freaks me out ever since the uhh... that happened. I-I just... wanted a way to feel strong without it."
N simply looked around, not knowing what to say. When he looked back at Uzi, her eyes were closed, and it looked as though she was falling asleep.
Finally Uzi curled up into a (very) little ball on N's hand, and fully fell asleep. Awwww.
Uzi
Uzi woke up feeling refreshed, free from the fatigue caused by that stupid snow. She sat upright and stretched while taking in her surroundings. She was still in N's palm, and even though it was cold, hard metal, she still found it comfy.
Suddenly Uzi was pulled downwards as she was rising upwards.
"Good Morning!" Said the massive voice from above. N now held Uzi at around eye level, with a big stupid smile on his face. His presence was slightly overwhelming at this distance.
"Morning?! I was asleep for that long?!"
"I'm just kidding."—He checked his non-existent watch—"It's only been half an hour."
"Y'know you could've just put me down somewhere; you didn't have to sit here and hold me the whole time."
"I didn't want to disturb your sleep!"
Uzi narrowed her eyes at N, staring directly into his robo-soul "You just like holding me don't you!"
"NO!— Er um, maybe?" N looked embarrassed, and Uzi swore she could see him blush a little.
Uzi narrowed her eyes further— barely open at this point— and let out an accusatory "Uh huh."
"What! Y-y-you... You-just-look-really-adorable-like-this-okay!" N blurted out.
Uzi had to stand up for this one: "Grrrr, if you call me adorable one more time, I will tear your arm off and blow you up with it!!"
"Okay, okay!" N somehow looked like he had taken her threat seriously. His sudden movements caused Uzi to lose her balance and fall over backwards, and she let out a light yelp.
"AHH, I'm so sorry!" N exclaimed.
Uzi sat up and laughed, "It's okay.".
N joined in laughing, and they both continued for far too long, though they weren't 100% sure why.
After they had both calmed down, the tone quickly shifted: "So uhhh... do you think you're stuck like this forever... or?"
Uzi thought for a minute. "I mean I hope not, but I don't have a clue how that stupid hunk of metal shrank me in the first place, so... I don't know." Uzi felt a sense of dread descend upon her.
N must've noticed, as he moved his other hand closer and gave Uzi a light backrub with his pointer finger.
Maybe this isn't so bad.
"Even if we don't figure that out, I'm sure things will turn out alright." N said supportively.
Uzi paused for a moment. "I guess you're right."
"Wait where's V?" Uzi said, changing the subject.
"She went out to uhh... grab some lunch."— N removed his hand to check his non-existent watch— "She should be back—"
"Wait she's doing WHAT?!"
N quickly backpedaled: "No not like that! Let's just say we've... left some stuff behind in the past."
Uzi just stared at him, still a little confused.
"And as I was saying, she should be back right around—"
N was interrupted by a large thud coming from outside.
"Oh! That must be her! Let's go fill her in on what's going on, shall we?" N made towards the door.
"No-n-no-no-no we are not doing that!" Uzi yelled, stopping N in his tracks.
"What? Why?"
She was literally just trying to kill me like a week ago. She could ABSOLUTELY take this opportunity while I'm vulnerable.
"Look let's just... keep this between you and me for now, okay?"
N looked down at Uzi and raised his other hand in protest, but before he could say anything—
The door swung open and a with it came a voice: "I'm baaaaack!", it was V.
Uzi was swung around abruptly as N moved his hands behind his back to hide her. Luckily V didn't seem to notice.
Uzi could hear what sounded like 2 heavy, metal objects being lowered onto the ground with a faint sloshing noise. Unfortunately she couldn't see what was going on.
"I see you got uhhh... quite the haul there?" N was doing a terrible job hiding the fact that he was hiding something.
"Uhh huh..."— V was very clearly suspicious but she continued— "I managed to clear out that whole spire, so you're going to have to find a new one when it's your turn."
"Umm... Great! You can... uhhh..."
"What are you hiding?" V said suddenly as Uzi could hear what definitely sounded like V pulling a sword on N.
"Nothing!"
Uzi continued to hear V approaching, and felt N tilting and stepping backwards.
"You're clearly holding something."
"Uhh... No?"
"Oh my robo-god just tell me!" V just sounded annoyed at this point.
N made random stuttering sounds trying to form an argument, but eventually he caved: "Okay-okay fine..."
N slowly brought his hand, with Uzi on it, out from behind his back. Uzi desperately didn't want to be seen like this by V, but there wasn't much she could do at this point. The most she could do was stand up, puff up her chest, and hope for the best.
N
N felt horrible giving away Uzi's secret, but V didn't really give him much of a choice. He brought his hand out from behind his back slowly to not freak out V, or Uzi for that matter; an uncomfortable "please-don't-kill-me" grin forming on his face as he did so.
As V looked down and saw Uzi, her eyes hollowed and she let out a confused "Wha-?". Uzi was just standing there, making much the same face that N was. V's expression quickly changed to something more annoyed and asked "What did you two idiots do?"
N was about to speak up, but Uzi opened her mouth first: "Ughh... Gun blew up, this happened, whatever."
V's expression became more annoyed as she stared at Uzi, but she eventually shook her head and said "Y'know what? I don't even wanna know."
There was an awkward silence that fell over the room as they all looked at each other confused until V spoke up: "Say, Uzi, with you being a little bug, I see no harm in you having some as well." She pointed at the 2 buckets of oil behind her with her thumb.
Uzi stared at the buckets for a second before saying "Uhhh. I'll pass."
V leaned in closer to Uzi, with N instinctually pulling his hand closer to his chest to protect her, and said rather threateningly "You really should y'know? Because if you go all 'murder-mode' again, then you're going to be dinner!"
N interrupted: "V you can't just—"
"Bite me!"
"Gladly" V said with a murderous look on her face. Uzi looked shocked, as she dropped the confidence act and assumed a somewhat defensive stance.
N stepped back and held Uzi close to his chest protectively before sternly saying "V! Cut that out!"
V pulled back and glared at N for a good few seconds before saying "Ughh, whatever"— She checked her watch (real one this time)— "I'm supposed to go hang with Lizzy now anyway." V walked over to the door and opened it before pausing and looking back "You two can get back to... whatever you were doing." V said with a hint of disgust in her voice, and facial expression. N and Uzi just stared at her confusedly until she hopped outside, closing the door behind her as she took off.
Uzi and N both stood silently for a minute, processing what had just happened. N looked down at Uzi, but she was just staring into space, probably deep in thought. He brought Uzi up closer to his head and let out an "Umm...", which seemed to snap her out of it.
"Oh uhh... How about we work on trying to figure out a way to get me back to normal. That would... probably be a good idea." Uzi's stance displayed some confidence, but mostly she just looked a little down.
It was kind of difficult for N to understand what she was saying, as she mumbled through most of it, but he eventually got it. "I mean, we don't have to do that now. Right?"
"Uhh... Yes!? I'm pretty sure V wants to kill me, so I'd rather not be so defenseless actually. Also being like this sucks."
"Ehh I wouldn't worry about V, I think she was just trying to scare you. And besides, I won't let anything happen to you! Promise!" N smiled warmly at Uzi.
Uzi sighed, "I guess, but I really don't wanna stay like this longer than I have to."
"Aww c'mon, this could be fun!"
"Fun for you maybe."
"Don't be such a downer! And besides, doesn't stargazing sound fun tonight? It's the first time in a while we've had clear skies like this so now's the perfect opportunity!"
Uzi paused for a minute. "Ughh, fine. But only because you want me to." Uzi said while gesturing accusatorily.Was I being too pushy? I feel so bad pushing her to do this. But she already agreed, so I guess it's too late. I hope she's not too mad at me...
N shook his head and put on his usual smile before finally replying with "Okay! Let's go then!"
