Mable: The final chapter. I would like to thank silverVOID and The First for their kind reviews, 27's Fury for encouragement of the idea, and xXBroken-Wings-ForeverXx for support as well. I don't own 9, Enjoy!

Finding the Way

Chapter Four: Found

It was morning by time the rain slowed enough that One and Two managed to get to the library, find Seven, and then all three headed back to the sanctuary. They were all exhausted from a night out in the weather and, in Seven and One's case, quite annoyed. All were soaking wet as they rose in the bucket lift and entered the quiet Sanctuary still confused. "Where exactly did Nine say he was going?" The leader asked and the Warrior shook her head, "He didn't. He just left and said he'd be back." Two nodded, "I have a feeling that Nine could find him. Perhaps they just got caught in the storm."

One scoffed, "Yes, we have not been through that excuse previously." He looked around, "Everything seems normal. Perhaps leaving Eight in charge was not an entire catastrophe." Seven shrugged and started down the hall, "I'm going to check on Three and Four." At this time Two decided to check on Six to make sure Eight didn't do anything to disturb him. One was about to enter his room and collapse on his bed when Two came rushing back, a horrible déjà vu passed over One. "Six isn't in his room!"

Two spoke and immediately One spun and entered Eight's room, angry, and assuming the guard did something to drive the artist off. "I told you not to touch Six! Can you not listen to a single order you nearly illiterate-!?" He grabbed Eight's blanket and ripped it down. Perhaps it wouldn't be as strange if Six wasn't under the blankets with Eight, slowly looking up almost fearfully, not nearly as fearful as Eight looked. One paused, dropped the blanket, and turned to leave. Exiting the room he turned to Two, "I found him."

That was the end of it and the two entered the throne room. One immediately dropped on his throne and Two leaned against the armrest, "You don't think that beast-?" The leader immediately interrupted him, "Certainly not. Don't concern yourself with it." The Inventor sighed pitifully, "I know, perhaps not, but you and I should have looked more last night before it rained."

The leader gave an accusing look, "It wasn't I who said 'we need to stop'." Two nodded, "Yes, yes, I know." He spoke quietly like a child who had been reprimanded. One briefly paused before reaching over to rest his hand on Two's. Before he could speak he found himself aware of a new noise. Looking over he could clearly see that the bucket lift was lowering…

Five awoke only to feel rather warm and realize he was pressing into something warm. Pleased, he tucked in more, and only then realized that he could smell that scent, the same one coating Nine's bed. That was when he realized what the warm cloth he was pressing into actually was. It was Nine himself, who was clutching onto his friend as much as his friend was clutching onto him. Five sat up abruptly and managed to accidently awake Nine as well who also pulled away, a bit more subtly than the nerve-wracked healer.

"Feeling better?" Nine asked with a smile and Five nodded meekly, "Y-Yes." His leg still ached dully, but it felt a bit better than last night and Nine looked out, "The rain died down a little. Maybe we should try to get back to the others." The healer nodded again, somewhat relieved at this, and stood shakily. Nine helped him and the two began to walk towards the Sanctuary slowly. Five was quite aware of Nine's grasp on him and knew that he was taking advantage of his friend's kind gesture completely.

He stayed quiet as they crossed the still soaked surroundings. Everything was muddy and every footstep sunk into the mud a bit. It caused Five to still struggle and Nine coaxed him on, feeling incredibly guilty, and finally their home was in sight. It wasn't until they stepped into the large house that surrounded the New Sanctuary that they really felt home though, and safe. Nine insisted that Five sat down as he went over to lower the bucket lift. This gave the healer the opportunity to simply stare at Nine without risk of being caught.

Five wanted to laugh now at this bizarre change of events. First Nine disappeared and Five went to save him, then suddenly Five had to be saved by Nine. Bizarre but Five was more than pleased to be saved by Nine. The lift stopped at the bottom and the healer limped over without any help. Once in the lift they began to rise when Five had to speak, "I'm really sorry… I-I worried everyone because I wasn't thinking."

That's when the lift suddenly stopped, the crank clicking into place and holding the bucket suspended, half-way to their destination. Nine was silent, standing there looking the other way, and Five suddenly thought he upset him. "Nine?" He hated how his normally deep and soothing voice sounded so lowly. Nine turned back slowly. "Five… I…" He was distressed and looked to be struggling, "I think I want to tell you why I left with Seven… It's important." He stepped closer, "Recently, Five, I've been feeling… Feeling really…" He gestured to his zipper, "Like there's emptiness inside."

This sounded strangely familiar and the healer nodded as he felt his pulse speed up. "It involved Seven… Sort of… So I had to…" He paused and then looked upwards as he heard footsteps. Soon Two could be seen looking down, immediately smiling, "Nine! Five!" He looked thrilled and beckoned them up. Nine quickly whispered out, "We'll talk about it later." Five felt a massive cold lump in his insides as soon as Seven was brought into the conversation.

It diminished a bit upon seeing Two's warm smile, but nothing made it go, and he wanted Nine's answers. As soon as he was in the New Sanctuary, the others suddenly seemed to awake, perhaps by Two's elated words as he embraced his apprentice. He soon noticed that Five was leaning strange and ushered the healer into the workshop to take a look at his wounded leg.

Nine was left in the throne room briefly until Seven approached, "Next time," She grew serious, "Trudge through the rain." Nine laughed lightly and Seven revealed a smile before it began to waver as she noticed how he was acting, "Is something wrong?" Nine looked around and noticed One speaking to Six and Eight with the Twins following Five and Two, so they were basically in private. "I wanted to tell Five about… The truth about us… But I'm afraid he'll take it bad."

"Nine, we talked about this before." Seven encouraged, "Eventually it has to come out. He has to know and you want to tell him what we've been doing." She nodded as though she agreed with herself, "It would be best." Nine nodded as well and then pulled away to follow Two and Five. Knowing what he had to do now. Looking into the workshop he saw that Two was insisting Five rested on the medical cot and could hear him speaking, "The pain isn't going to stop unless you stay off of it for a bit. Just rest for now, you need it."

Five agreed with a smile and Two went to usher Three and Four, who were nearby, out of the room. He passed by Nine who asked, "Two… I really need to talk to Five. Can I…?" Two nodded with a chuckle, "He could use a good friend right now, Nine. I have a feeling you are what he needs." Then he was gone and Nine felt even guiltier. He knew what he was about to tell Five could cause their friendship to crumble, but had to do it. He knocked on the doorframe to catch Five's attention.

Of course, Five was eager to speak with Nine, but hid it well. "Nine, hey. Two said I had to stop walking for a while." Nine crossed over to the bed and sat on a stool that Two previously occupied, "Yeah, I heard." Then he perked, "Remember when the bucket lift pulley broke and hit you in the head? Two kept telling you to rest and you were delusional and wouldn't stay in bed." Five chuckled a bit, though not remembering from much other than Two telling him the story after the fact of when it occurred.

That's when Nine suddenly looked at the floor and went serious. "Five… About what I was trying to say earlier…. There's something I've been keeping from you…" Nine paused and looked up at Five who was nearly trembling in nervousness. "Seven and I have been doing something for a while that seems a little strange but… We've been meeting secretly. But I need her."

It was as though Five was slowly being crushed, drawn out, as Nine still continued, "The truth is… The reason we're meeting… We talk about these feelings I've been having recently and Seven told me that I'm…" He cut off, looked at the floor, he didn't want to speak. Meanwhile Five's mental voice was begging, "Please no. Please don't say it. Please no." But Nine continued anyway, taking Five's hand. "This is why I've been acting so weird lately, Five. We're close and I thought it would upset you. I was so afraid to tell you… Seven said that…. Five… I'm in love-"

"Creator, no."

"-with you."

"I knew it- the way you always looked at her-it-I…" Five's beginning rambles were cut short as he took in Nine's words, "You… you what?" Nine's head was in his hands and he couldn't look at the one eyed Stitchpunk. "I'm sorry, Five. I knew you'd be upset. Seven kept telling me that I had to tell you, but I knew that you would be mad, I'm sorry. This whole thing, you getting hurt, getting lost, it was all because of me."

Five wanted to do something but could only stare with his mouth dropping open. It was a mix of shock and pure elation as he hoped this wasn't some delusion from the pain. The feeling of shock diminished as he saw Nine stand to leave, "I'm sorry, Five." He softly whispered a last time before attempting to leave. Five's reflexes kicked in and he practically threw himself off the table to stop him, managing to grab his wrist. "Wait!" Nine froze up and Five attempted to try to lift himself back onto the table from which he was dangling off of.

Once done, he realized he had to say something, and tried to figure out the words. Thankfully Nine was waiting patiently beside him, patient enough, but Five wondered if he was as nervous as he once was. "Nine… Do you know why I didn't… Didn't want you to go with Seven? It wasn't because I was worried about you getting hurt- not that I wasn't afraid for you- but I was more afraid about how much time you were spending with Seven." He admitted almost pitifully, "I always thought you liked her."

"I thought I did at first." Nine admitted, equally as pitiful, "I swore I did. Then I only did because I told myself I did. Then I started to realize I was lying to myself. Then I realized exactly what was going on." Silence took over and Five decided to say something. However, whatever he meant to say changed, and somehow it turned into a blunt admission. "I love you too."

Nine stared as though he never fathomed Five would say it, like Five did, while Five stood there slightly taken aback by his own words. "Really?" Nine asked further and Five nodded shyly. Apparently Nine was much quicker than Five because suddenly he took the healer's breath as his mouth latched against his friend's. Five didn't pull away, but took a bit to respond. It was very new to them, both of them, so it was a clumsy action, but it felt so good that it didn't matter how awkward they could possibly look. Five was completely resting against Nine, which the male didn't mind with the healer being hurt, and they continued to mouth each other.

Eventually they broke apart, shaky, and with Five being absolutely nervous, "Nine…" He murmured softly. It was all he could say and he found himself smiling, Nine smiled as well, "You need to rest." He insisted, "You look exhausted." In reality Five felt close to going unconscious and sat down on the cot before managing to lie down. As Nine turned away, Five stopped him again, "Stay with me. Please." Apparently Nine wanted to do so because Five swore he nearly leapt in bed with him.

Immediately they were tangled in each other's arms and Five felt absolutely fulfilled. All those nights he had dreamed of this and now it was finally occurring; it was what he wanted most. Nine loved him, proving it with every pet and cuddle. They were content and would spend many more days as such, Five knew it. Then he finally fell asleep and knew Nine wouldn't leave his side, and Nine didn't.

"I can't believe he walked in like that." Two other Stitchpunks were also sharing a bed, laying there horrified, being Eight and Six. Eight sort of stared at the ceiling, "I'm going to hear it later." Six clenched the cloth of the blanket which he previously locked in his hands, "It's my fault. I'm sorry." The guard seemed adamant, "It's my room so it's my fault. One always blames everything on me anyway."

The artist loosened his grip on the blankets as to not accidently leak a little leftover ink on the cloth, "It's still my fault." He said pitifully. Then Eight shrugged, "It was worth it." The comment surprised Six who looked over in alarm, "It was?" Eight nodded, "Yeah. It was." There was a brief pause and Six nervously attempted to speak, "Do you think that… Maybe…"

"Yeah?" Eight coaxed and Six finished, "I don't… I didn't have nightmares when I was with you so… Maybe we could do it again, tonight?" Eight paused briefly before speaking, "Sure. I've got nothing better to do tonight." The Artist found himself smiling and slid closer to the other. Suddenly he was feeling a lot better about being close to Eight, he couldn't wait until that night, and secretly, neither could Eight.

Mable: I know everything was a little hard, but I am completely magnet-high on Valium, because I have to get a tooth extraction done tomorrow and I can barely even think straight. A promise was a promise, though, so I uploaded tonight. I hope everyone enjoyed and continues reading my fics! Thank you for reading!