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He wanted to cry, but he couldn’t. The tears merely wouldn’t come; robots couldn’t cry. Axis felt like he should be breathing hard with a heart pounding in his chest…But he didn’t have a heart, nor lungs.
Still. He grasped at his chest with his hands, hoping to feel…something. He scrabbled for something that wasn’t there and he knew right in that moment would never be. Axis was made for a purpose. He was made to capture and eliminate humans. He did his job as he was directed. He should feel proud.
Chujin had sort of tried to make him feel proud, but Axis saw through it. He saw how his creator clutched at his mouth upon seeing the gruesome scene, fighting to hold back vomit. The figure that lay on the ground was only a child. They may not have been “pure of heart”, but they were still a child, not much older than Kanako.
Were, at least. None of that mattered much when they didn’t have any more blood to bleed, when their cries were silenced for the final time. The faint light of their soul and of Axis's eyes as he looked up at Chujin were the only light in the small clearing.
Chujin had stood there for a moment, taking in the scene silently, horror clear upon his face. Axis felt strongly in that moment like he’d done something terribly wrong, somewhat like every time he went to see King Asgore only amplified to an illogical degree.
He’d just done what he was told. What his programming had commanded him to do, what he'd done without thought and without reason. He’d done his job well.
He’d done his job well.
Chujin finally took in a shaky breath, forcing himself to look away and approach Axis. “...You did well.” He said finally, in a tone unlike Axis had ever heard before.
It didn’t feel like Axis had done his job well. Logically, he had; the goal was to contain them and their soul. Still. He stared at the blood splatter on his face plate and felt like that was wrong. The assortment of injuries the child had was wrong. The fact that their eyes were still open, staring off into a sky they’d never see again was wrong.
“I…DID?” Axis had never once doubted Chujin before, and…He didn’t want to start now. His creator knew what was best for him, and…If this was what he desired to be done, then certainly Axis had done well.
The praise still didn’t feel deserved.
Several moments of silence passed. “Yes. I’ll have to make some adjustments after this is over, but…” He cleared his throat, notably avoiding looking at either Axis or the horrid scene that lay before him. “This is progress. Here.”
His creator handed him a container in which to contain their soul. “I need you to grab their soul and then…Hide the evidence of all of all of this.”
Axis didn’t respond at first. He felt a tad like something in him had short-circuited and prevented something that was supposed to be working from doing its job. If there was something broken in him, Chujin could fix it, as he always had.
Chujin could fix it. Axis would have to do his best to fix what there was to fix now.
Axis’s creator met his gaze for just a moment. He detected horror and shock in his eyes. A touch of disappointment that had never quite made its way into his voice. Perhaps a distant touch of anger. But just as quickly as Axis got his glance, Chujin was turning away, adjusting his glasses.
Axis did what he was told. “YES, CREATOR.”
Their soul was, surprisingly, ironically gently, placed into the container. It floated motionless, and while the thought was illogical, Axis couldn't fight the idea that it was watching him. Not saying a word at all by choice and not by it being physically impossible. Even now, when all the evidence was either burned or washed away, Axis still felt watched, and not how he normally was, being watched by the cameras in the steamworks. A little more like when Chujin showed him off and Axis would try his best despite how the King's eyes bored into him. Axis grasped at the heart on his front idly. He could feel the energy coming from within, trembling and uncertain and yet a miracle. That was what he was; a marvel of engineering from Chujin. He shouldn’t doubt that. He wouldn’t doubt Chujin.
In the end, it doesn't matter much. Chujin commands him to go charge and Axis listens, knowing well that tomorrow, this will be little more than a bad dream. But robots don’t dream, anyway.