So I've been on a Nier binge lately and noticed the rather abysmally low amount of Nier Automata stories. I actually came up with this idea in the midst of a really bad depressive episode and wonder how someone who is clinically depressed react to robots and androids striving to understand what it is and means to be human. Here's hoping I can deliver atleast my interpretation of how it would go. I hope you all enjoy this.

What would the world look like in the future? Say a hundred years? Two hundred? Five? A thousand?

It's an age old question that has always been asked as the Earth was ever-changing. Man-made or otherwise, the world will continue to change for better or for worse.

For a time, a minuscule amount of time really, humans believed that they could dictate that change. Create a path of our design to suit our needs and desires.

What will the world look like in the future?

Waylon Soares stared out at the long dead carcass of what once was a great, beautiful city. Which exact city, he couldn't be sure of that but it didn't matter anymore. From metropolises like this to humble little towns, it was all the same. Rundown buildings overtaken by nature reasserting her dominance many, many years ago. Skyscrapers that shuddered and crumbled with every strong wind teetering over the thin line between a monument to past civilizations or just another crumpled heap of metal, concrete and lost memories.

In a way, it was amazing. He had finally found an answer to a question that people have always wondered.

What would a world without humans look like?

Waylon swung his legs as they dangled over the edge of the building he currently found himself on. No doubt, a rather precarious place to be seated but the view it provides was breathtaking. As far as he could see, the remnants of civilization stuck out like the bones of a dead animal half-buried in a desert. And it was quiet. God, was it quiet. A city like this, you would have heard for miles. Not anymore.

He didn't really mind the silence though. He always preferred to be a nice quiet place and not bothered by anyone. A little bit of social anxiety would do that. Despite that, this was not what he had in mind.

His hand unconsciously moved towards his chest and wrapped around a stone chiseled into an arrowhead. The piece was connected to a string of brown, red, dark green beads. A gift from a relative from... He wasn't even sure how long ago that was since there no current calendar. Squeezing the piece, Waylon took a deep breath and sighed. For once in his life, he truly wished he wasn't alone.

He wasn't even sure how he ended up here in the first place. He just remembered waking up one day and the world being like this. He didn't even remember much of his past life. Somethings he did know like the time period and maybe some family though not their faces but other than that, nothing. It was pretty awesome at first, running around, exploring, doing all kinds of stupid things without anyone telling him what he could and couldn't do. It didn't last, it couldn't last. He could have so much fun before he had to wake up and wonder: Where is everyone and what happened? Wandering through a few different towns did not offer any answers whatsoever atleast not until he reached the bigger cities. It didn't take a genius to know that some serious fighting went down at some point. Craters from bombs dotted the streets occasionally and bullet holes and slash marks could be seen almost everywhere. SkyNet had finally taken over he guessed.

As if to punctuate this point, a large metal object flew through the air past where he was sitting. The object sort of reminded him of an old toy robot, sort of like a chubbier verson of the Iron Giant or an old 40's robot toy though the lack of arms and the circular base were clearly where the differences began to become apparent. And that wasn't the only type either. There were humanoid ones, both large and small, ones that resembled animals such as moose or massive dinosaurs and giants that were more in line with the Iron Giant theme. More often than not they were unarmed (relatively speaking) but some did carry around crude swords or spears. He had been observing them for about two weeks now and after a small incident involving him trying to say hello that almost ended with him being turned into paste he could say with certainty that they weren't all that found of strangers. He found it was in his best interest to just avoid the all together. Interesting experience, regardless.

Given how close that one bot came, it was high time to make like a banana and get the hell out of dodge. Scooting back from the ledge, Waylon got to his feet and made sure his bag was secure and snug against him. Sadly, most of the stairs were out but somehow the elevator shaft and ladder was okay. While the building wasn't the tallest, it was still a guaranteed and swift death if he slipped and fell which meant he would need to be careful while going down the shaft.

Coming to the shaft, Waylon peeked over and almost immediately got a little woozy. It didn't hepp that it was almost entirely pitch black inside with only the barest amount of light slipping in from any other elevator doors that happened to be open. Vertigo was such a pain in the ass.

"All right, all right. just don't look down is all." Slowly, he gotten onto the ladder and began climbing down. Only fifteen floors till the bottom. Going up was so much easier since at least some floors still had stair access and he wouldn't have to use much energy. Going down though meant he had to take the ladder whole way and since he wasn't wearing gloves, he couldn't just slide down.

It was like the reverse of MGS: Snack Eater.

"What a thrill..."

In the interest of time

"...still in a dreeeeeeaammm, SNAKE EATEEEEEEEERRRR."

Waylon practically collapsed on the ground once he reached the bottom. His arms and legs burned from exertion and his chest heaved up and down as he fought to regain his breath. Honestly, for a moment he contemplated whether it was even worth going up the building in the first place.

"Who am I kidding, it was totally worth it. Need to invest in more rope though." Sluggishly, he raised his arm up to his face and checked the time.

2:34 pm

"I'm gonna just lay here a second. Got plenty of time left in the day." He huffed as he arm flopped back to his side. He knew he had to get back up and look for food but a quick nap wouldn't hurt right? It was nice and cool in the shaft so it would be fine, right?

The repeating crack of automatic weapons fire woke up Waylon from his nap. Rushing to his feet, he looked around frantically and was slightly relieved to see he was still in the elevator shaft. Still, the gunfire sounded really close. Outside of the building closetime though it definitely getting further away. He had seen robots with guns roaming about like the flyer from earlier but those were way to big to sound like what he was hearing outside. His short stint in the military taught him that much atleast.

Besides, what would the robots be shooting at anyways? There wasn't anyone left, right?

Waylon pulled himself out of the shaft and stayed close to the wall. The bottom floor was shaped like a giant atrium with two sets of stairs leading up to the second floor in the center of the room. His guess was that it may have been a high-end hotel in its heyday but that was besides the point. making his way through the massive room he could see out into the street a little bit, still sunny as can be. Waylon checked his watch.

8:47 pm

He didn't think he'd ever get used to no night ever again. Still, it made it easier to see what was happening outside. The steady rhythm of fire kept its tempo as he moved forward and the sound of metal on concrete started to get louder. Waylon dashed into cover near the front entrance as about six bots ran forward towards the noise and their unforseen foe.

Logic demanded that Waylon should get to safety while he still had the chance but curiosity begged to learn who the robots were fighting. Peeking out he could see the way behind the robots were clear of any immediate threats. He hesitated, he would be hard pressed if he got into trouble but he needed to know what was going on right now especially since his hidey hole wasn't too far from here.

"Ah, fuck it."

The further he traveled the more spent casings he found and the robots were already a good distance ahead so he wouldn't have to worry about getting too close, plus all their attention was focused on where the fire was coming from. Stepping out of the building, he hugged the wall as much as he could as he jogged forward. The gunshots were getting louder the closer he got and he could just barely make out some other noises. Voices?

"Bad idea, bad idea, bad fucking idea."

Despite his nervousness and apprehension, he continued trailing the bots down the road until the sound of fire was almost all he could really hear. What lay ahead was like something out of The Terminator.

Just past the robots was a small group of humans firing at the bots. All round them were robot corpses riddled with bullet holes but it looked like they were being overrun. Waylon nearly rushed in to help out but held himself back. Just how was he supposed to help out? He was unarmed (not including a piece of metal he was using as a knife) and didn't have a plan. Then there was the fact that he didn't know if these people were friendly. For all he knew they could shoot him as soon as he showed up. There so many risks involved. He should have just ran when he had the chance.

Damn the risks. There were people in danger and he would damned if he was just going to sit here and watch. He needed to be smart about it though. His life was depending on it after all.

A bone-chilling scream filled the air as a bot struck one of the humans with its crude sword. Blood sprayed from the wound and Waylon had to wonder in morbid curiosity how the man wasn't cut clean in half from the blow. Needless to say, he emptied the contents of his stomach behind car he was using as cover.

It was a slaughter. One by one, the humans were cut down by the robots until one remained. and yet he didn't move, he couldn't. Waylon had been scared many times in his life, usually over trivial things like asking permission for something or wanting to talk with someone he liked but this...

Watching people be cut down effortlessly like lambs to the slaughter was the first time he felt true, crippling fear. Shaking with terror behind the old vehicle, Waylon watched as a particularly large robot impaled the final human on a spear and lifted her up. The lifeless eyes seemed to appraise the woman like a cat would before it killed its meal before it whipped her off the spear back towards where Waylon was hiding.

Waylon ducked and covered his mouth, stifling a scream as the woman landed right next to him with a wet thud. His shoulders heaved up and down as he fought to control his breathing to no avail. How was he supposed to stay calm after seeing something like that?

He had to get out of there. He had to get out of there right now. Leave the city entirely.

"Help...me...please..."

His breath hitched and he became deathly still. slowly looking down towards the body he could see the woman was looking right at him and clutching her bloody abdomen.

Waylon wasn't sure how he stared at her, perhaps too long since she simply repeated the words weakly. Slowly lowering his hands from his mouth he crept around the car and saw that the robots were just meandering about as if the didn't just massacre a group of people.

"Okay, okay." Waylon repeated, mostly to himself rather than the girl. "Just hang on." Snaking his arms around her back and under her legs, he helped her up and grunted. She was certainly heavier than she looked. Thankfully, he didn't have to travel far. Moving as quickly and as quietly as he could, Waylon carried the poor woman away from the scene of the massacre.

"T-Thank...you." the woman croaked, her head lolling about until it settled against his chest.

"Don't thank me just yet. We're not safe yet." He stammered, glancing back to make sure the bots weren't following him. "You got a name?"

"Huh?" She tried to tilt her head up to look at him but didn't have the strength.

"Your name? I'm Waylon."

"I'm...Praia. My name is Praia." She whispered.

"All right, just wait Praia. Gonna get you fixed up in no time." He hoped his voice wasn't as frantic as he thought it sounded. Last thing he needed was for Praia to start freaking out because of him. "Just hold on."

The makeshift door to his humble abode flew across the floor as he kicked it open. Sweat dripped down his face as hurry hurried into the home with Praia. The place wasn't really much to look at considering it was just one room with a table in the center and a bunch of rolls for bedding in the corner but it worked. Lying her down on the table, Waylon grimaced as he saw the giant tear in her raggedy sweater that was stained red.

Praia groaned and tried to sit up prompting Waylon to gently ease her back down onto the table. "Don't. You have to stay down if I'm going to fix this."

"I'll be fine." Her voice was raspy but sounded a bit better than before, though not by much. "In my cargo pocket..."

Waylon immediately began checking the dirty pockets and pulled out a tube full of...something. He couldn't see inside but it felt almost like a type of gel. "Okay, uh, is this some sort of healing gel or something?"

Praia murmured something unintelligible but didn't move. Good enough answer for him. Slowly he lifted up her sweater and undershirt to reveal the wound. Now the last three weeks have been some of the weirdest and scariest in his entire life but what saw next only further added just how much he was out of place.

Slowly he looked towards the woman's(?) face with a look that was a mix between confusion and fear.

"Just what the hell are you?"