//5-AE: INhale/EXhale

She couldn't help it. The memories of the dark room and the feeling of her only company being the iron shackles on her wrists and ankles were still all too fresh in her mind. The men at the casino had brought out their weapons when she was dragged into the familiar looking room, and everything went red. Whether that effect was from the thoughts of EDGE's torture chamber suddenly resurfacing or from the blood she had showered the room with, 5-AE was still unsure. She couldn't go back. She tried to keep her calm front up in 4-HN's presence, but with her newly found emotions already askew, that had proved impossible.

When 4-HN saw her acting so vulnerable, he had tried to help her. She knew this, but in that moment, she couldn't seem to collect her thoughts. She had swatted his hand away. He even looked hurt. Of course, that wasn't enough. 5-AE needed somewhere for the blame to go other than herself. Her pent up frustration and fear flowed out all at once, taking form in her venomous words towards 4-HN. The android who tried to help her now looked crushed as he stood over her. He had directed his face away from her suddenly after she said all of those things. Was he hiding some emotion he didn't want her to see? Was he angry with her?

These thoughts flashed in and out of 5-AE's head. Under the mental mess she was in, they were nothing more than white noise. The main focus of her mind was a long chain of brief feelings and words. Her body wouldn't stop trembling. 'Scared. Scared. Scared. Fear. Alone. Scared. Confused. Fear.' She made an attempt at coherent thought. 'I'm going to be alone again. He hates me. It's my fault.' She decided the raw emotions were better.

The only pauses between the thundering sound of her core pulsing in her own ears was when she involuntarily sucked in ragged breaths of air. 'I hurt him.' A few more frantic breaths. 'He's going to leave me. I got him into trouble and then snapped at him.' The trembling wouldn't stop. Nothing felt real. This would never end.

"I'm here," 4-HN's voice filled the previously silent air. He reached out his hand again.

"I'm here." The words he had spoken nearly three years ago. In that dark chamber at EDGE, everything was fuzzy. Only the pain remained. Everything else was so insignificant compared to it. It was the only thing that existed there. Then, suddenly, a softly spoken sentence opened a hole in the void. A new sensation. She was unable to even activate her thermal view in the pitch black room, rendering her sight completely useless. She was, however, able to feel. Something in her hand. Another hand. Her own? Had she inadvertently managed to break one of her hands free from the shackles? No, she realized. Another person's hand. Or, more precisely, another android's. The people at EDGE had made a point to show that there was a distinct difference. "I'm here," the voice came again. It was...familiar? The hand gripped more tightly. 4-HN.

When he changed the sentence, now asking, "How are you doing?" She had then snapped back to a state in which coherent thought was a possibility. She understood enough that she couldn't show the sorry state she was in to her new partner. She let him take her hand.

"I am neither happy nor sad," she replied. "I only know that when I am finally released from this chamber, I will be free."

A now very different 5-AE from those few years ago looked at 4-HN now, the wildness in her eyes slowly regressing.

"How are you doing?" He said, like he had so many times before.

"Fine," she was finally able to reply. Inhale. 'I'm going to be fine,' she thought.

Exhale.

She was no longer breathing against her own will.