Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

   Oh… Oh.

   9S looked up to the sky and shouted on the top of his lungs, "SCREW YOU!!!"

***

   It'd been a tough day for 2B. Hell, it'd been a tough life. But that day especially. They'd had to dispose of most of 9S's being again. It was painful, and 2B was not sure if it was her or him who had been more damaged by that.

   Times and times again, they'd been doing the same thing, the only variations being the location and whether that was stabbing him from the back or locking your hands through his neck — looking right at the way the sympathy spark faded to black in his eyes looking right through her and straight at her lips at the same time. She couldn't recall if she'd ever cried while doing that. Maybe she wasn't able to in the first place. Or maybe they'd just run out of the specialized fluid after a while. What if that's why it felt somewhat empty inside?

   But it's not the time to think about that now. It never is. 2B clenched her fist, stomping on the thought that everything needed to change.

***

   Why couldn't had they stayed? Those damn runaway YoRHa's. Every hit felt like a short-circuit. Her-them-her. Them-them-them. The official mission description that they both had gotten on mail was about "detention", but 2B knew very well what it was actually. It's either them or them.

   Them-her-them. Them-them-them-them. Air ventilation was getting worse. Not sure why. It just felt like she was quickly getting worn out. But they continued to swing the weapons, until they ran away. Again.

   Why would they do this? Why would I do this?

***

   "This… This can't be".

   2B looked at the android not processing that it'd gotten to this point. An E model begging for someone to find out who'd disposed of their precious friend? Huh. There was a crippling suspicion that it's just the way it always happens.

   And it was.

   2B knew she's acting strange. But really, what'd you expect from them? She'd been through it. They'd done this a lot, although never achieveing the oh so dear feeling of nothingness in the memory region. What if that would make the killfish-like sensation in her chest region go away too?

***

   She felt like they knew what'd happen next. This wasn't the first time. At least, that's what it seemed like. Or had that been a dream that she never knew they could have? She could almost feel their hands locking. The killfish in her wire intestine was trying to climb back up.

   "Sooo… 2B, what's the plan?"

   Run. Please run.

   Or maybe?..

   "Pod! Transfer control rights to 9S. Just in case. But before that…"

   Pod fired all of its energy into this attack. And then it fell, out of charge, to the ground.

   Eve was not a threat at that point. But at what cost?

   2B knew it was selfish as can be.

   2B doesn't care.

   It's time to be egothistic for a bit.

   Even if this emotion is also prohibited among humans.

Chapter Text

   9S stopped, looking around. That's another time he's in the middle of nowhere! Good thing one of the pods still worked. As much as he wanted to curse 2B for leaving like this, at least her pod was more stable than his, so it didn't go out of power as often. After all, charging them both and himself while being a runaway was a challenge. He'd barely gotten away from A2 earlier that day.

   Before the android, there lied an endless plain of nothingness. He could swear he'd been here, but Pod mumbled some new strange word and returned to silence. Well, when there isn't anything, it's no wonder nothing could be used to identify the place and it felt familiar. 9S had no idea how pods managed to keep track of such things.

   "Okay, Pod. Where do we go from here?"

   No response.

   "Pod? Give me the coordinates".

   Silence.

   "Pod?.. Ooh, damn it". This one is not functioning anymore, too. Great.

   9S was ready to snap. What was he supposed to do? Find the way on his own?! Oh, come on. He couldn't just, say, gather data by hims-.. Huh?

   The machine appeared from the back to the right. It started blurting out random words such as "angry", "alone" and "empty" — jumping, as if trying to hop on top of 9S and squeeze him into the ground with its weight and sadness. 9S slid sideway, getting ready to fight. It might be hard to hack in this situation, he thought. But I need to try.

   Sword out. The machine is turning around. Hit. Hit. It's still pushing. Why don't they ever back away? Hit, slide. Okay, let's try. Jump, as far as he can. Hacking in…

   The inside of this machine wasn't that different from the other ones. It was too easy, even. The machine didn't look this weak.

   There's something wrong.

   9S came back into his senses in time to see the machine detonating from his hacking and jump away. But there was a bigger issue apparently than not getting damaged by this little blow-up.

   He barely managed to evade the attack of a goliath biped. It flailed its arms around like never before, and 9S almost got hit several times while trying to process what's going on.

   He was surrounded by machine lifeforms. The day couldn't get any better!

***

   "That prick really had some nerve", thought A2. Using their power supply and pumping out most of it while they were out? The android was very lucky A2 was extremely tired then and didn't wake up from the first step near her like they usually did.

   She could feel the tips of her fingers tingle. Never was anyone this blunt with their actions towards them. It wasn't like she was mad. They just had some pride, and it s t u n g. A2 took a deep breath. After all, it seemed like there was a problem with that android's pod, and it was her first time seeing someone looking so down. Maybe there was a reason?

   N.o. Don't you remember what trusting YoRHa and their favourites has led you to? And also, everyone has it hard. Doesn't mean she should share their resources with a possible enemy.

   A2 sighed another time. Okay, let's decide what to do next. She knew there was an E model base somewhere in the woods now, so it wasn't a good idea to go there even though they were almost certain noone there gave a damn about her at the moment. Like, barely anyone knew she survived that operation, but it'd better stay that way. So they should pick another direction. The city? It was too open of a place. Plus — no idea what Anemone's up to these days. They'd not seen each other since Pearl Harbor, and A2 felt sick just thinking about her. Which type of sick? Well… Even A2 wasn't sure.

   Everytime Anemone came around in their head, they felt as if they got turned upside down by bandits and shaken for any useful items to drop out. Wasn't the best feeling, so she simply tried to ignore it. After all, Anemone wasn't worth a thought after she'd abandoned them. Silly A2, are you recalling her and that day again? It seems like you've forgotten the pain that brought you, doesn't it? No? THEN GO BACK AND KILL HER.

   What? No! No matter how bad she was, she used to be a close friend of hers. And it's in bad taste trying to get revenge. Enemy is enemy, friend is friend, no matter how much suffering they've endured due to her.

Chapter Text

   Pascal was lost. He had not heard from 2B or 9S in a while. Anemone didn't know anything as well. It wasn't supposed to be that big of a deal. After all, there were a lot of other androids to help and to be helped by. The village was almost as active as at the time 2B and 9S first visited–. Ooh, I'm thinking about them again. How could I? But it just felt like there was something remarkable about them. Maybe it's just that it didn't take them as long to warm up to him and his villagers. Or maybe it's that 2B had this strange spark in her eyes that Pascal couldn't decipher. Either way, Pascal wished they'd appear soon. The only tiny problem was that he'd heard that they're not acting in YoRHa's favour anymore. Well, it wasn't that little of a problem, but not being that good with concepts of "big" and "small" and calculations of everything in between didn't make Pascal any less of a successful coordinator. On the contrary, she was a masterful diplomat for his fellow machines and android friends alike. But the duty grew harder and harder since those two had dissapeared. The tension was almost ringing as loud as the bell in a local church. A church that was somehow still functioning — in a sense that villagers could use it as a peaceful resort. The church was the perfect place for that. Even though the village's machines weren't familiar with a concept of religion or spirituality, they could feel that the building was somewhat special. And it was exceptionally full lately. Pascal totally got that, although he himself felt uncomfortable there. To each their own, isn't that how it goes?

   At least Anemone is alright. The last few months were extremely hard on her, and everytime she got in contact with him through some YoRHa's, he expected the worst news to hear.

   Luckily, or unfortunately, Anemone was used to this kind of living. Although..

   Pascal knew she still lived by the sense of guilt and grief. Of course, it didn't hurt as much anymore, but the bondages on willingly self-inclined wounds became see-through repeatedly no matter how much she tried to convince herself she should be okay with being the one left standing.

   Pascal knew that and prayed he wouldn't encounter this kind of feeling on her own.

***

   "What do I do what do I do what do I.."

   9S could feel the engines scrambling for dear life inside of him. There should be some hack. It can't end like this. There should be one it's just.. Ouch!

   Amidst his thoughts of escape 9S barely managed to evade, and the attacking limb of a stubby hit him slightly. So, the ruminations wouldn't help. It's time for mindless battle then, huh? Just him and his blade. Against a couple of dozens of machines. Yeah, not looking good. Not at all.

   The anxiety and desperation grew, burning through his insides with venomous waste. But there was something else. Seemingly out of nowhere, there now appeared.. Anger? It was a little spark, but it was there. Or did he mistake his bodily sensations for it again?

   Before he could mentalize that, too busy with countering machines' attacks, the spark had gotten to the venom. Turned out, the venom was very flammable. Boom — and there it was. The rage that consumed all of his small body, almost breaking off his hands and head, probably melting his weapons a bit and definitely switching many levers inside.

   9S was in a mental blackhole a moment later. He just couldn't see anything or follow a single thought going through his head. Nothing could escape him except for the force that was driven by the poisonous explosion. And the only thing that came through were the screams of the machines his blade sliced like a knife slices some meat — not that easily, but not that hard either, and for the good cause of his survival. Right?

   Minutes went by. After each one there was one machine less.

   He broke down, while the last machine's emerald eyes turned to dirty glassy grey.