#may your day be filled with sweet Arthur and darling Cath!

[wlwinry]

are you satisfied with your care?

Happy birthday, @mercurialvoid! Here’s some Arthur & Cath BH6 AU angst (wow, there’s a sentence I never thought I’d say, lol) for you!

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Cath could sense Arthur’s worry--neurotransmitter levels fluctuating, indicates hope and fear, elevated pulse--as they carefully guided the pod towards the shining light (four waited on the outside, four brilliant minds that his creator had loved and their boy did too, four minds that had helped stop them when Arthur’s grief drove him mad, four minds that wanted them to come home) of the portal. The world they were in now contained no life, nowhere for Cath to follow the purpose Merlin had crafted for them, but the one beyond that light...the humans there needed him, needed Arthur--and one of them needed the girl in the pod so that their own grief and rage could cease.

Bartra Liones had killed their creator, and Cath had known the beginnings of rage then--but then again, Cath could see more than humans could, and they had seen fury and cold grief and rage, like an untreated wound left to fester. And they had seen Arthur, so furious, so broken, so close to letting his desire for justice turn to revenge, to letting it consume him...but their boy was better than the man who let Merlin Pendragon die to achieve his twisted ambition. Their boy had overcome grief and loss, and had a family waiting for him on the other side.

Their boy, Cath knew even as he followed Arthur’s instructions to the letter, navigating the field of debris from Ludociel’s shining building-turned-battleground, would survive. They would make sure of it, so that the warm feeling that he had come to know as love would not turn to loss and hurt.

“Almost there!” Arthur cheered, one gauntlet-covered hand pumping in the strangely thick air (toxicity: negative, but the air of this strange, colorful world of clouds and mist still was undoubtedly harder to breathe, they’d have to run scans over him once they were out), violet eyes shining as he turned to beam at Cath. That warm feeling flared in their chest once more, and they let gratitude for Merlin’s choice to code them with a capacity for empathy, for emotion and protection, consume them.

Cath was still thanking her as they reached for one of her secret protocols, the words Code: Camelot flashing across their scanner as they turned, shielding both the front of the pod and Arthur as a large piece of debris slammed across their back. It ripped away the armor their boy had so painstakingly crafted for him, and they drifted for a moment as the sensation of shock washed through him. Arthur’s scream drew them back, though, and they let their scanner flicker back on to see him, poised to jump off the pod and reach for him.

(Outside the world of the portal, a vortex was forming as it spun to a close, sucking everything into it. Four heroes hid behind a slam of concrete, one rising as pale gold laser-induced plasma flickered around her hands, the others turning to follow as their own tech--tech useless in this situation--spun around them, the realization that two of their own might not make it out of this alive settling over them.)

Cath ran through the codes Arthur had instilled in them, sending power flickering through to the thrusters. Arthur’s neurotransmitter levels were dropping and rising wildly as their boy sucked in panicked breath after panicked breath. “My thrusters are inoperable.”

“J-just grab my hand!” 

The wild energy levels coming from the portal were climbing; it was closing, and if Arthur was left here--

“Cath, I want you to promise me something.” Merlin’s eyes, bloodshot and tired, found his scanner. Cath tilted their head as she fiddled with a line of code, working on a second chip to add to his healthcare directive. “I...I don’t know, but I have this feeling--I don’t think I have a lot of time left, y’know?” She was rambling now, coding faster and faster; they scanned her quickly, but other than exhaustion, she seemed to be in peak health. 

“I am afraid I do not.”

There was a soft, watery chuckle. “Yeah...I figured. Sorry for asking, darling.” She patted their arm tiredly. “But if--if this feeling I have is right...then I want you to keep Arthur safe. Don’t let him join me for a long, long time.”

Arthur Pendragon, younger brother of his creator, brilliant but wayward, a child genius whose mind raced like lightning and whose tongue could match even Zeldris Asmodei’s. Merlin had coded protection of Arthur deeply into them, and it seemed like she would do anything to keep him safe.

“Arthur Pendragon will remain safe in my care. He will not face death until it comes for him naturally.” For all humans had to die--at least, until some great marvel of science changed that. They ran a swift search, but found nothing but mortality. So he will die, too, someday.

Merlin choked out a laugh, her fingers stilling for the first time that night. “Thanks, Cath.”

“Is there anything more you need of me?”

“No, darling. I’m satisfied with my care.”

Merlin’s first and only order, the one favor she’d begged from them.

Cath’s true purpose, the one they’d chosen so long ago.

I will get you home.

They took Arthur’s hand--so small, so human, able to bruise and heal and break again--and let themselves be pulled over to the pod, swiveling the cat-like ears Merlin had created for him (”He’s gonna get a kick out of this,” they recalled her saying gleefully as she added the tail and red patches). “There is still a way I can get you both to safety,” they told Arthur, even as they braced the arm still covered by a gauntlet against the back of the pod and letting the one operational hammerfist flare to life. One order, one final command to deactivate...one chance to get him home.

And they would. “I cannot deactivate until you say you are satisfied with your care.”’

Arthur shook his head wildly, neurotransmitter levels suddenly plummeting as understanding gripped him despite the confusion in his eyes. “N-no, nonono, wait, what--what about you?”

“You are my patient.”

“C-Cath--”

“Your health is my only concern.” 

“Cath, s-stop, I’m gonna figure out a way to get us out of here, both of us, just please--”

And Cath believed that he would, that Arthur Pendragon would find a way drag himself out of the place humans called hell, that there would be another way out and that Arthur would find it, somehow. But time was of the essence, time was what they needed, and time was the one thing they didn’t have. “I cannot deactivate until you say you are satisfied with your care.”

“No!” Arthur grabbed at their shoulders desperately, eyes overbright--tears, Cath realized. Tears. “I’ll think of something, just hold on, I’m not--I’m n-not gonna leave you here!”

“There is no time.” Cath let grief wash over them as tears started spilling down his cheeks. I’m sorry. “Are you satisfied with your care?”

A sob made their boy’s shoulders shake, and he shook his head again. “P-please, no--I can’t--I c-can’t lose you, too.” Arthur’s eyes were wild with grief, with loss and denial...but no anger.

Cath almost missed the anger, because they could see where Arthur would go without it--deeper into himself, into the shadows, until he would end up joining them and Merlin long before his time. “Arthur.” They let their scanner drift shut, picturing Merlin’s face when they’d promised to protect him, the relief and joy that had been there. “I will always be with you.”

His violet eyes widened, hands trembling as he sucked in a shaky breath, before throwing his arms around them. Cath let their scanner--their eyes--drift shut as they carefully removed their healthcare chip, opening their fingers just enough to curl them back around it. If anyone can bring me back, it will be you. They gently wrapped their free hand around Arthur’s back as another silent sob trembled through him. But even if you cannot, know that Merlin and I will be with you, always.

Arthur drew back at last, still shaking, still crying, but with a small smile on his face now. “I--” he choked out, shuffling back a bit. “I’m satisfied with my care.”

Deactivation command given. Beginning unit shutdown in three, two, one...

Cath closed their eyes and pushed the last of his code into the gauntlet Arthur Pendragon had crafted for him, sending their boy off to a world that needed him.

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“Ow?”

Reactivation command given. Beginning unit startup in three, two, one...

Cath was in the lab--Merlin’s lab--Arthur’s lab?--again, their scanner blinking to life as line after line of shining code dissolved into the place they’d been born (and...reborn?). Violet eyes, warm and hopeful and shining like stars, glowed as they blinked. “I am Cath--your personal healthcare companion.” A shaky laugh, a brilliant smile, and then--

“Hello, Arthur.”

Arthur Pendragon rushed forward with a choked noise, neurotransmitter levels shooting upwards as he threw him arms around them, pulling them into a hug. Cath blinked again, before wrapping their arms around their boy and closing their eyes.

If they were human, they thought, they would’ve been smiling--smiling and crying.

(A brilliant, mischievous laugh echoed through the air, soft enough that both might have imagined it--but the shadow of the golden-eyed woman was seen by no-one as she melted away.)

#nnt #nanatsu no taizai #big hero 6 au #cath #arthur pendragon #merlin #happy birthday abel!! #hope you like <3 #may your day be filled with sweet Arthur and darling Cath!