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Shuffling through the bustling crowd at the market, 2B tried to find a bit of breathing room for herself. She had slipped away from 9S for a moment, scouting out potential anniversary presents for him. The centennial of their marriage was only a month away and he deserved the perfect gift to commemorate it.
Even now she struggled to put into words just how much he meant to her. Every time she tried, all that came out was a swirling mess of bubbly emotion that overwhelmed her ability to speak coherently. It was why her gift was of the utmost importance. It needed to do the talking that she couldn’t.
One merchant looked especially promising: a machine selling all sorts of old-world electronics. 9S loved messing around with them; he was fascinated with ancient technology both as a way to better understand the past and as a form of entertainment.
Much to her disappointment, nothing stood out to her that he didn't already have and she left empty-handed. It was just another failed attempt in a long string of them all the while the days ticked ever closer to their anniversary.
Her little foray had taken longer than she expected and now she struggled to find her husband amidst the crowd. A flash of trademark white on black through the throng of shoppers and merchants alerted her to 9S’s location.
2B had to shove and force her way through the sea of androids and machines clogging the plaza to get to him.
“Nines,” she called out to him over the din of the crowd.
He did not react to her voice much to her confusion but she rationalized it as the crowd noise drowning her out. She continued to call out to him as she weaved through the crowd but to no avail.
When she finally broke through to find him fiddling with something by his lonesome. She placed her hand on his shoulder and lightly shook him.
“Nines, did you hear me?”
9S turned around to look at her but 2B could already tell something was deeply wrong. His gaze was not the one she had grown so used to. The warm familiarity he always regarded her with was gone. In its stead was nothing but blank confusion.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. Do I know you?”
2B felt like she had been slapped, recoiling from him. Her hands balled tightly into fists, her grip straining so hard that it hurt. Yet all 9S did was politely but impassionately stare at her despite her inner turmoil.
He had promised. He had promised never to forget her; to forget all the precious memories they shared. He promised her that on the rooftop where they woke up together. He promised at the altar. Every time they awoke together, he left for a mission, or even just because he fancied it would he promise to never forget her.
2B fought back a sob. She vaguely heard 9S asking her something but it all registered as static. Her world started to spin with the heavy toll her emotional turmoil was putting on her systems to the point of critical damage.
But he had promised...
2B woke up with a gasp. Her pulse pounded as she felt her vitals racing far higher than normal. Despite her agitated state, she felt freezing cold; a shiver rolled down the length of her body.
She forced herself to breathe, using every technique she knew to calm herself down. Hoping to banish the nightmare, 2B focused on her surroundings. Anything to not have that look burned into her mind's eye.
Her eyes soon adjusted to the soft light of her surroundings. She was in a familiar underground cavern filled with lunar tears: Emil’s special place.
Discarded clothes were strewn around the base of the shanty she was in, reminding her of how she had gotten here. She was cuddled up against 9S’s side, his arm wrapping underneath and around her to hold her close.
He was still asleep, thankfully. She didn't want her worries to inconvenience him, though she did take the liberty of placing her head against his chest, listening to the comforting white noise of his black box.
They had taken to coming here whenever they wanted to get away from everything for a while. And with Emil entrusting the secluded cavern to them, their visits became even more frequent as the two of them made sure to take good care of it for him.
2B kept the lunar tear field healthy and in good shape. It turned out that she had quite the green thumb and botany came naturally to her.
For his part, 9S had fixed up the cabin that stood in the middle of the field to make it more livable. He had put a mattress, pillows, and sheets down to cozy up the stiff wooden bed that was already there.
Various keepsakes now lined the walls and newly installed shelves of the renovated shack. Both of them had worked together to come up with all sorts of things to bring down here to liven it up, transforming it into their own.
2B loved it down here. She had had so many firsts with him in this isolated little cave, far away from her problems. So many special memories. Precious desires that she had kept hidden away until the war had ended and they were free, lest he lose them.
As much as she tried to distract herself, 2B thoughts would return to her nightmare. She could not help but fear the android next to her, the love of her life, would awake with that same haunting look she had seen far too many times.
Tears pricked at her eyes as she futilely tried to swallow her emotions. It made her feel so weak being so vulnerable to nothing but false images created by her subconscious. Logically, she knew this was her 9S and that his memories were intact. It had been several decades since the war and 9S had created backups just in case. Yet she could not help the way she felt. She never could.
All her worrying and shifting around must have awoken 9S as his hand began to softly run up and down the bare skin of her back. She found his eyes lazily staring at her with a comforting warmth.
His voice was still slurred from sleep as he gave her a simple, “Hey.”
2B didn’t respond to him, curling up closer to him and into herself.
He immediately recognized that something was off. Concern marred his features as he asked her, “What’s wrong?”
“It was just a dream,” she murmured, trying to convince herself of the lie.
“What kind of dream?”
She didn’t really feel like talking about it but he always found a way to loosen her up.
“You forgot me…”
9S shifted onto his side, pulling her closer to him and into his embrace. Thankfully, he understood what she meant without making her elaborate further. He was always good with that.
He brushed her bangs away from her forehead and lightly pressed a kiss against it. 2B let out a shuddering sigh as she basked in his touch. The thin walls holding back her emotions began to crumble under his affection; he had a superpower for turning her into a mushy puddle of emotions.
9S wiped away an errant tear with the pad of his thumb, whispering to her a soft, “I’m sorry.”
2B shook her head as more tears fell.
“I just feel stupid getting this upset about a dream,” she admitted with a drawn-out sigh.
“There’s nothing stupid about it, 2B. You’ve been through a lot. But think of it this way, the gap between each time grows wider, right?”
“Yeah…”
“That means you're getting better. Can you even remember the last time you thought about it?”
As an android, she should have perfect recall of everything stored in her memory. Despite this, she struggled to answer his question, much to his point.
“No.”
9S did not verbally answer her but his soft smile grew wider in response. He pressed another reverent kiss to her forehead before pulling her into his embrace once more.
She felt calmer already. His voice had a way of doing that. Even if all he talked about was his newest coding project, it would have helped. But of course, he knew exactly what to say too.
“If you're ever feeling worried about something, you can always tell me. I won’t judge you. I promise.”
A comfortable silence followed as 2B contemplated his words and enjoyed simply being in his presence.
When she finally did speak, her voice was barely above a whisper.
“Would you still love me if I was a worm?”
“Eh?”