Chapter Text
/**
* Open Audio Logs
*
August 6, 11945: The tower, created by the machine lifeforms, was destroyed. On its collapse, all my functions ceased.
September 19, 11945: I woke up. 2B was next to me. I had apparently been asleep for a long time. It seems it was 2B that woke me, but she didn’t say either way.
October 22, 11945: With the Bunker fallen, there was no way to conduct maintenance on YoRHa units. We aren't compatible with the parts used by members of the Resistance. So, we needed to find another solution. I told 2B we should try tracking down every transporter we could find. YoRha parts should be stored in them after all.
October 25, 11945: After investigating the surrounding areas, we gathered our things. The future looks dark. But hey, at least I got to travel with 2B. And that was more than enough for me.
*
* Close Audio Logs
*/
—
“Hey, look. There’s a building over there.” 2B said.
9S looked up. It was the remains of a surprisingly intact manor. It extended across the landscape. Gray stone weathered by the elements with plantlife clinging to its walls where they had forced themselves through the mortar. Humans that lived in such large buildings were considered wealthy or prominent in the society of the past.
“Let’s go.” 2B said and she started towards it.
9S nods and begins to follow after her. He notices, then, the irregularity in 2B’s steps. He had logged the slight inconsistency earlier but it is only now, watching her, seeing that the irregularity has become more pronounced, that he realizes that 2B’s black box must be damaged in some way.
9S grits his teeth. He can’t tell her. A black box can’t be easily fixed, even if they had the tools to do so. With the Bunker gone, he and 2B were already working to scavenge parts. That's what they were currently doing. After all they had been through. After all she suffered. Revived by their Pods when they both should be dead, data deleted and never to be uploaded into another unit frame. Now this? Another thing threatens her life and he can do nothing about it other than hope it doesn’t get worse.
—
9S and 2B were now running across the sand towards a location pin mapped by the Pods. As they have been scavenging the transporters they have been finding bits of messages and parts of memories of the old world. They had been strange and disjointed but, after finding enough, the pair had decoded that they were all part of a cipher leading to a place called Eden. Supposedly, it is an underground YoRHa facility where the latest technological developments and classified information was being stored.
Both 2B and 9S considered it a possible trap, left by whoever planted that cipher. But, even if it was a trap, there was still a high possibility of something being in the place of this so-called ‘Eden’. Something that might help 2B. They had to go, 2B’s functions had been steadily worsening. Her fingers now shook as her drive systems started to deteriorate.If they didn’t fix this she could-. 9S didn’t want to think about that.
The two finally come to the location pinpoint. Directly where the cipher indicated Eden would be was a spiral staircase descending to blackness.
“Well, we’re here.” 9S said. He looked over the lip into the dark below. The opening was about 2 meters in diameter. Sand scuffed by his boots fell in and onto the already covered stairs.
He looked back to 2B, “That goes down for a while.”
“Pod, scan the area.” she said.
“Affirmative.”
Pod 042 circled the area around the staircase briefly before descending into the depths. 9S and 2B watching it descend.
After a minute Pod 152 sounded, “Report: No immediate threats sighted. Structure indicated to be alien in origin. Structure is disk shaped, 3 kilometers in diameter. Pod 042 ascending.”
9S looks over to 2B as Pod 042 exits the stairwell.
“Let’s be careful 2B.” she nods in affirmation then starts down the stairs. 9S takes one more look around the empty sandy wastes around them, then starts in after her.
The stairwell darkened the farther they descended from the natural light of the surface. Each step had less and less sand coating it. The enclosed space echoed each step either of them took and highlighted the whirring of the pods' flight units that normally blended into the background of his senses.
9S could only stare pensively at 2B’s back. He should really be in front of her. That way, if something went wrong and she fell, he could catch her or at the very least dampen her fall.
2B stopped, “9S, look at this” she said, pointing to the wall just ahead of them.
“What is that?” he questioned.
The wall ahead had organic patterns in its surface that pulsed with a weak light. He looked around 2B to further down the stairs. The patterns only increased in density and the light they emitted in random pulses increased in brightness until they lit the entire stairwell in dull strobing light.
“Do you think it’s alive?” he asked 2B.
“I don’t know.” she said then started down further. 9S followed. He made sure to catalog the strange occurrence, detailing the patterns of the lights.
It wasn’t long after that the stairs stopped and they entered a hall. It was more spacious than the stairwell. He couldn’t tell yet how long it went for but the walls were about 4 meters apart with the ceiling about 3 meters. The blinking lights from the patterns still lit the walls but they were interrupted on occasion by objects that stood in front of them. 9S noted that their dark silhouette resembled trees with grand roots spreading from a robust trunk.
“Pod,” 2B said “activate lights.”
“Affirmative.” Pod042 responded. It clicked and a beam of light shone brightly onto the walls.
“What!” 9S gasped. 2B took a slight step back.
The beam illuminated tentacled creatures. Large heads with empty sockets accentuated with white bared teeth. They were tacked to the walls with spears like some macabre showcase.
9S squinted, “They kinda look like demented Emil’s, but worse. Don’t they 2B?”
Pod152 beeped, “Hypothesis: Lifeforms resemble the recorded appearance of the aliens. Could this be some of their remnants?”
“I guess,” said 9S. He sighed and leaned away from the remanence they were looking at. “Weird to see them like this in their own ship.”
“Let’s just keep going.” 2B said.
“Okay.” 9S nodded and they continued down the hallway, being careful not to step on any of the tentacles that lay across the floor. Just in case.
At the end of the hall was a YoRHa transporter. It was at a dead end, surrounded by walls. There was nowhere else it led.
“There’s no way they would have installed a transporter in a place like this.” 9S said “The machines must have replicated it.”
Suddenly, the transporter beeped. Both took a step back in caution, startled.
The doors slowly slid open. Bright, white light poured from the doorway. Brighter than the Pod’s. Both 9S and 2B were forced to squint as their eyes adjusted from the dim dark of the hall. Beyond the door lay a pure white human city in ruins.
They gasped, shocked. 9S had never seen anything like this. Even the Ark’s Tower, for all its blank white and rigid geometry or mimicked proportions could not hold a candle to the brilliance of the ruins.
2B took a couple careful steps through the door, into the city. 9S was quick to follow her. When nothing happened they continued deeper into the ruins. Most of the buildings were collapsed, rubble on the floor. A few walls remained standing but that was it. It was completely silent, almost as if the ruins absorbed it all. Deadined it to nothing.
9S looked to 2B. Her breath hung in the air, visible like icy clouds. Suddenly, her heartbeat quickened and her breaths became more shallow.
“9S, they’re coming.” she announced, quickly looking up. 9S looked up with her. Lights blinked on the ceiling. Machines, and they were now descending with blades drawn. There must have been hundreds of them.
Quickly, they both drew their swords.
“Pods! Cover fire!” 2B shouted.
“Affirmative.” sounded both pods. Then the machines were on them.
The pods gave cover with the rapid firing of their built in guns as 2B and 9S cut down every oncoming machine they could put blade to. She cut elegantly but with brutality. Dodging anything coming at her then using a machine she just stabbed as a launch board to get deeper into the frey.
9S hung back. He used his Pod’s fire and his sword to defend himself while quickhacking swaths of machines into self-destructing, often taking their fellows with them.
They were both proficient at this, the slaughter of machines. They were built for it after all.
In no time at all, the last machine was destroyed. The ruins returned to its white silence, the ground now covered in the broken remains of their enemies.
“Are you okay?” 9S asked.
She nodded, “Yes. Let’s continue.”
As they pressed on, they came across transporters at regular intervals. Every time they accessed a new transporter, new memories of the old world entered their minds: Project Gestalt, Replicants, Yonah, White Chlorination Syndrome, the Red Dragon. Neither 2B or 9S knew what these ment. Searching the database also drew up nothing.
With each transporter, the further they went and the more the landscape changed. The rubble and debris slowly gave way to smooth walls and floors of a texture 9S remembered, but couldn’t place where. The corridors narrowed, the ceiling closed in, until it all conjoined into one circular door.
9S put his hand out in front of it, giving it a rudimentary hack, and it opened. Inside was a messy replica of the Command Center of the Bunker. Cables snaked every which way and only grew in amount and messiness the deeper the two ventured, like a forest of weirs.
“Huh,” 9S said, crouching down by a tangled bundle “some of these are damaged.”
2B looked over his shoulder, “Looks like something attacked it. Some of those look like teeth marks.”
“Well that’s concerning.” he responded.
Going further, they reached an atrium of some kind. The cables spread across the walls and a few snaked their way along the floor to the middle of the room. In the center, a single flight unit was waiting, the cables connected to the bottom. It was made from white plaster, an obvious fake.
The flight unit beeped and whirred after they entered. A recorded voice began to play:
“Repent. Repent for your sins.” it said in a clear and steady voice.
“2B.” 9S warned.
2B drew her sword. Cables sprung from the flight unit.
“Repent. Repent. Repent. Repent. ” the voice chanted.
Cables now filled the room, connecting with the ones that lined the walls and writhing as if they were living. They networked themselves, forming webs like blood vessels that pulsed as more and more formed and congealed in the center until it formed the figure of… a Colossus.
9S had never seen one before but the new memories acquired from the transports indicated that it was a creature known as a shade. This one in particular had terrorized the old world, bringing pain and suffering with it.
Its head split and cracked open to create a mouth. It flung its head back and shook the ground with a roar. Machine arms burst out from behind knots of cables. They squeeze their bodies through the gaps and tumble to the ground, weapons drawn.
The pods take aim and start firing, disabling a few of the smaller ones immediately.
“Damn it!” 2B grunts as the Colossus flings itself at her. Her sword tings as she deflects its blunt arm and she uses the momentum to roll and gain distance.
“2B! You focus on that thing, I’ll take the machines!” 9S shouts to her. He had already caused some to self-destruct but with the limited area of the room he had to be careful not to hurt 2B or himself when they blew up. Well, he thought, we’ll just have to do this the hard way, stabbing his sword into the head on one machine, skewing the one behind it as well.
He made his way systematically through the horde. Damn them! There’s so many and I can’t just hack the Colossus 2B’s fighting. 9S just hoped she didn’t get hurt. He trusted her abilities, unlike him she was made for combat. But with her deteriorating state due to her damaged black box he was worried.
Die! Just die already! Die faster! He slashed and stabbed frantically at the remaining machines.
“Pod! Go support 2B.” he grunted. He couldn't help her himself this time. He wasn’t capable enough physically to go toe to toe with that juggernaut like she was, flipping and parrying all of it blunt attacks, striking openings quickly and with precision.
“Affirmative.” Pod152 responded as it moved to join Pod042 in its barrage of bullets hailing the Colossus. It screamed in response to the new attacker, distracting itself for 2B to cut off its calf. Stability lost, it thundered to the ground and 2B was quick to use that to her own advantage.
2B delivered a flurry of slashes to its body before raising her sword and impaling it through its head. With one final roar, it went limp to the ground and started to dissolve into the air.
9S stabs through the last machine just after. He’s breathing heavily but still turns to jog back next to 2B, looking her over for damage. She was bent over, breathing heavily and leaning her weight into her sword embedded into the ground; her tremors had gotten worse.
9S reached out to touch her arm but before he made contact 2B took a deep breath in, straightened her back, and breathed out. The shaking decreased and she turned to look at him and nod.
“Come on.” she said and made her way to the far side of the room. The cables had been cut from the wall during the fight, revealing a door that had been underneath them.
9S moved to follow her as she put her weight into the door and mustered it, slowly creaking open.
On the other side was a grand room. Far walls and a high ceiling highlighted the strange darkness that was so different from everything they had seen since entering the old world ruins.
“What is this?” 9S wondered.
In the middle of the room, over a hundred YoRHa models lay strewn about. All were dead with varying levels of damage done to the chassis, some even missing limbs or parts of their face. Most were facing a black sphere in the center of the room. The sphere stood ten meters in height. Its once smooth surface was now cracked, broken.
The Pods moved about the room scanning everything, taking special care with the fallen YoRHa.
“This is either the alien ship’s power source or some kind of control mechanism.” 9S stated after the Pod’s sent their reports and getting a good look himself. “Whatever it is, it’s completely inoperative.”
“It’s a graveyard,” 2B said “It might have even existed before the bunker collapsed. YoRHa soldiers on the verge of death came here seeking salvation. They turned the crumbling husk of this alien ship into their church, a place where they could cling to something.”
9S muttered, “We’re not going to be able to repair your black box in a place like this.” and turned back to look at her.
“2B!” he shouted.
2B’s head hung, the tremors were back greater than ever. She was slowly failing her as she collapsed slowly to her knees, then the floor.
“2B! No!” 9S cried as he desperately rushed to her side.
He grabbed her from the floor, cradling her head and shoulders in his arms. She was limp, control of her body finally slipping from her grasp. Her eyes stayed locked ahead, looking past his face. Her lips moved one final time, then everything stopped.
9S couldn’t sense her black box.
9S
couldn’t
sense
her
black
box .
“No!
NO !
NO!NO! NO !NO!NO!NO! NO ! NO !NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO! NO !NO!NO!NO!NO!NO! NO !NO!NO!NO! NO !NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO! NO ! NO !NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO! NO !NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO! NO ! NO !NO!NO!NO!NO! NO !NO!NO!NO!NO!NO! NO !NO!NO!NO!NO!NO! NO ! NO !
NOT AGAIN !
DON’T TAKE HER FROM ME AGAIN !
NOT AGAIN! NOT AGAIN! NOT AGAIN! NOT AGAIN!
I CAN’T DO THIS AGAIN!
ANYTHING BUT THIS ! ”
9S couldn’t breathe.
9S couldn’t think.
9S’s eyes shook. His teeth grit. He desperately clutched the lifeless corpse of 2B to his chest.
He cursed the machines. He cursed YoRHa. He cursed humans. He cursed the gods. He cursed the universe. But, most importantly, he cursed himself.
How could he let this happen!
How could he be this weak!
The second time! This is the second time this has happened!
That she has died right in front of him, and he was just too fucking powerless to stop it!
It should have been him. Why couldn’t it have been him.
He screamed. He yelled. His throat ripped but he continued anyway.
Tears poured from his eyes. They clogged his nose and mouth until all he could do was just sit there, trying to breathe. Gasping for air as for a second time the world ripped 2B away from him.
“please.” he gasped. Curled up, his face pressed into her lifeless neck, wetting the fabric of her dress with his tears. He held her so tight it was like they could meld bodies.
“please.please.please.please.please.please.please.please.please.please.please.please.Please!
please don’t take her away from me again. i can’t be here without her again.
anything. i’ll do anything. i’ll give anything.
Just, please, don’t let this be her end.”
A whine filled the room.
9S looked up, startled by the sudden noise.
He scrambled back, still clutching 2B to his chest, only to trip under her weight and fall back. The sphere. That broken black sphere in the center of the holy grave whined and sputtered as it flashed with light, the bodies laying in heaps around it glowed from their chests with it.
“Report: Sensing anomalous signals. Energy spike recorded.” Pod152 chimed. 9S quickly glanced at the pod from the corner of his eye. Both Pod152 and Pod042 had gotten closer, hovering less than a meter away from him and 2B.
Anomalous signals was correct. 9S’s sensors were scrambled as a sudden and uncontrolled influx of reading burst through. His head rang with the noise of them going off in warning before he had to shut them off to prevent damage to himself from mental fry.
The sphere glowed and glowed until it wasn't black anymore but shining with the brightest of lights as it lit up the room. The glowing centers of the YoRHa corpses raised from their chests, condensing into one mass. Together they formed a tight ball the size of 9S’s fist before shooting past his arms, directly into 2B’s back. 9S gasped. He frantically looked over where the ball had entered her but saw nothing.
The whining had only gotten louder. The light emitted from the sphere became all encompassing. It hurt 9S’s eyes to even look at it anymore. He shut them tightly and thrust his face back into 2B’s neck.
Then, like a bomb going off, something burst and 9S was struck with an all encompassing white and a deafening noise,
before
everything
went
black.