00 hadn’t been this excited in…. Well. Ever.

It was a strange feeling, one that they were attempting to quantify. It felt like they were prepared to vomit at all times, without any of the underlying feelings of dread. Strange. Strange indeed.

They didn’t know what had pushed them to the excursion. The outside world was typically a numb, dull thing to them. Their senses and stealth were so keen that they often catalouged information away without paying it much mind. This, however, was far from that. A scattered word here and there had sent him into the files of their origin. The Janus Project.

It was as impulsive as 00 could get, all things considered. Forgoing the papers to obfuscate their excursion was the easiest part of the mission. Procuring rations and mountain climbing equipment had been a tad more difficult, but it was nothing his sleight of hand and an assigned bag of holding could not fix. The hardest component of it all was convincing 03 to join him.

She was no stranger to breaking the rules. She was, however, methodical in the way she skirted under the radar. This idea, to her, was reckless. Foolish. Too far, with too much risk with a minimal reward. It had taken weeks to appeal to the more curious parts of her. Deep down, 00 knew the two of them were similar. She had just as many nagging questions about their origins as they did. They simply needed to be dug out, to make the icy hike worth it.

An encampment of changelings, deep within the Northland Mountains. However minimal the information was, it was something. A snippet of who they had been, before the Blue Order had made them weapons. It was miniscule. Extremely miniscule, which 03 never let him forget.

Her words of discouragement ran through his mind now, as he looked out at the ruins of what had once been a village.

Or more so, they yelled loudly in his ears as she stomped about the premises. It had been a long, arduous hike - even for the two of them. Their bodies were covered in a thin sheen of sweat beneath the thick clothing, musk and exhaustion clinging to their skin. The altitude lightened their heads and stole their air. Bitter cold and even more bitter feelings permeated the abandoned encampment.

“Nothing! Nothing here, and no one!” She screamed. Her skin shifted color in fury as it often did, losing control over her form. 03’s anger was a rare, explosive thing. It didn’t often surface - but when it did, property destruction and deep scratches often followed.

Such was the case as her fist drove into a dilapidated hut, sending it crashing to the ground. “You dragged us all the way out here to this god forsaken icy hellscape, for what??” She let out a roar of frustration, sending a dagger through an already shattered window. “For nothing! For nothing!”

00 stood numbly, waiting for something to change. They were an eerie stillness in contrast to her raging fury, eyes sweeping the landscape in disbelief. It had been here. They knew it. Something had been here. The risk couldn’t have all been for nothing. It couldn’t. It couldn’t be for nothing.

After a long moment, they spoke.

“There’s another encampment.”
“No.”
“It’s only a few miles up n-”
“Fuck you.”
Their face screwed up momentarily. She could get so unpleasant, when she was like this.
“It’s only a few miles up north.” They continued despite her complaints, shouldering on through her insults and ire.
“Haven’t we wasted enough time here??”
“--We’ve already come so far, it’s barely anything more–”
“They’ll have our necks for this.” She spat. “They’ll have your neck for this.”
“--And if there’s nothing there, I’ll let you wring my neck yourself.”

She stopped their squabbling, lips spreading in a thin unhappy line. Her gaze before through him, icy and merciless. They were sure she might go at their neck with a dagger right there, with the way she seemed to be willing them to burst into flames. Even so, they did not relent. Their gaze kept to hers - face stoic, fist clenched in desperation. What would it say, if their one and only venture of free will became such a disaster?

“... Please. Please, Three.” Their voice dropped to an uncharacteristic softness, an uncharacteristic… emotion. Desperation. They could see the discomfort it caused in her face. “I can’t go on without you.”

A moment passed, terrible in all its silence. A chill wind blew through the valley, making her shiver in either rage or cold. She walked toward them, closing the distance. She was so close, they could feel the rage rippling off her in waves. Seething, she spoke through gritted teeth. “You’re pathetic.” She hissed. Still, she walked past them towards the direction of the second camp. It was the closest they would get to her acquisition.

Taking a deep breath through their nose, 00 tamped down the budding feelings of their own fury and embarrassment. Casting one last look to the abandoned encampment that may have once been home, they wordlessly trudge after their sibling.

There was just as much to find at the top of a mountain as there was the bottom.