Pod 042: Error: Unable to contact the Bunker. It is no longer able to be reached due to its destruction.

"...I see. If there's no YoRHa, I'll continue this fight on my own. Pod, locate any machines in the nearest vicinity."

Pod 042: I am concerned about the mental state of Unit 2B. Is there no query regarding the demise of the Bunker or the current whereabouts of Unit 9S? Memory archives detail a close—

"The previous version of me no longer exists so past affiliations with YoRHa have no bearing on my current objective. And for the last time..." She untied her visor, then discarded it on the forest floor. "My name is 2E."

Pod 042: Acknowledged Unit 2E. Searching...matches found. Marking locations of the highest machine concentration on map.

2E stepped on the visor on her way out of the area. 'This is why emotions are prohibited.'

Guest (Jan 12): The E in 2E stands for emo

Pallex: 9S doing a judo throw would be so disrespectful to sora smh

Guest (Jan 9): she's done with his crap

Anon: The glitchy text was fun to do, I want to call the next part an abridgment of the canon story, but that sends off the wrong idea.

Guest I (Jan 8): I did in chapter 16, but there'll be more scenes involving the other KH characters in future chapters

Guest II (Jan 8): Gotta rename that chapter, '2P or [N]ot 2P'

Keybladelight: I'm pretty sure dev and pop can read one of those project gestalt reports to remember what exactly happened. And I wish I could put in a song so y'all could only hear screamo music while you read, the epilogue will end with accord wrapping things up though.

TalonScythe: I just hope no one minds the faster pace going forward, other than that I'm excited for what's in store

Ex-YoRH[A] | [A]HЯoY-xƎ

*ring

*ring

Sora was waiting outside the infirmary when he felt his gummiphone vibrate in his pocket. Realizing who it was, he fumbled taking his phone out, then answered the call right away. "Kairi! I'm so happy to see you!"

It was a bittersweet feeling for Sora and Kairi to see each other again, although they tried to make it more sweet than bitter. They were both happy, of course, but that happiness was merely a facade to their irrevocable sadness knowing they were still worlds apart.

"Me too...and sorry I didn't call you sooner...my gummiphone got taken away so I had to use Naminé's."

"Why, did something happen to it?"

"No, this is gonna sound stupid, but I..." She reduced her voice to a whisper out of embarrassment. "I got grounded for skipping class, even though finding you is way more important! Ugh, anyways, how have you been, Sora? Tell me everything, I've been so worried about you that I haven't been able to get any rest! And Riku...well he's always gone. Even now."

"Uh, well, I'm okay I guess, but 2B went crazy and stabbed A2. She'll be fine with some rest, but watching all of that go down right in front of me and not knowing if A2 would live was...it was the worst feeling."

"Oh no, that sounds terrible. I know they had their differences, but I didn't think 2B would ever actually try and kill A2."

He shook his head. "I'm not sure if she really is 2B. She called herself 2E and acted like she didn't know anyone, I think her memory was wiped somehow."

"Her memory was wiped? Maybe Naminé could help you out, she does know a lot about memories- hey, Naminé!" Kairi waved her hand to Naminé who was drawing on the beach shore as she normally did.

She walked over to Kairi, then smiled at Sora. "Hello Sora!"

"It's good to see you Naminé, Kairi says you know a thing or two about memories."

"You'd know that best, wouldn't you Sora?"

"Hm?"

She let out a small laugh. "Never mind...memories are my specialty, so you asked the right person. What's the problem?"

"One of my friends got her memory erased."

"Hm, that's a tough one. I could re-chain your memories because they still existed, if hers are truly gone, then they can't come back."

"Oh..."

"But your friend's an android, right? All her memories would have existed as data so it may be possible to recover them, but computer stuff really isn't my thing so I wouldn't know for sure."

Sora sighed. "Well it's definitely not my thing either

"Good thing you're surrounded by androids. I'm sure they can figure something out."

"—Figure what out?"

Sora stumbled back, nearly dropping his phone from A2's sudden appearance. "Bwahh! A2, don't startle me like that! And- and aren't you supposed to be resting, what're you doing up?!"

"When have I ever 'rested' for...wait, what's that device you got there?"

"Um, nothing!"

She swiped the phone out of his hands, then held it out of his reach. "Who the hell is this?"

"I'm Naminé and you must be A2, right? Wow, I can't believe I'm talking to a real android, you're so human-like!"

"...how do you know my name?"

"Kairi told me you were the one with long hair and a scary face and I can see what she means by that!"

"Uh huh...what else did she say?"

"Also that you were a total—"

"Totally great and awesome person!" Kairi butt in. "And I'm so glad you're okay A2, Sora had me worried about you."

"...where are you? The Night Kingdom has no sunlight."

"Well...um..."

"And wherever the hell you are, why isn't Sora there with you?!"

"Because it's complicated A2, that's why! Now give me my gummiphone back!" Sora jumped up to grab his phone, but A2 pulled her arm away at the last second.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "It's not complicated, you chose to be here because something kept you, didn't it? So what was it!"

"I'm not telling you!"

"You are if you don't want me to break this goddamn thing! Tell me the reason why you gave everything up just to rot here on this planet... that way I can destroy it!"

His shoulders sunk in defeat. "There's...there's a tracking device in me. I couldn't leave or the Commander would've found me and my friends and taken us all away."

Out of sheer, seething anger, A2 crushed Sora's gummiphone by accident, then handed the broken pieces back to him, mumbling 'sorry' under her breath. She left stomping out of the Resistance Camp, presumably to kill machines so she could release steam, while Sora mourned over the loss of his only connection back home. "Oh no...Kairi...I never even got to say goodbye."

"Aw, it's okay. We can fix that calling device," Popola said.

"And your tracking problem. Can't fix her bad attitude though," Devola said.

"Really? But how are you gonna get this tracking device out of me?"

Devola smirked. "We're gonna slice you open, sift through all your human guts, then yank it right out!"

As the color drained out of Sora's face, Popola shot Devola her usual irritated look whenever her sister said something messed up, which was becoming routine at this point. "Ignore her Sora, we're just going to use a highly concentrated EMP signal to destroy the tracking device. And you shouldn't have to worry about command tracking you down anyway, we heard the Bunker was destroyed. Still, it's better safe than sorry."

"So, it was destroyed after all..."

Popola thought it was best for Devola to not be anywhere near Sora so she tasked her with fixing his gummiphone while she neutralized the tracking device. It was a relatively short procedure, taking no longer than 20 minutes, Devola took about the same amount of time to both fix his phone and add a few touches of her own. Once Sora was back on his feet, she presented his gummiphone to him.

"Ta-dah! Your new and improved calling device, complete with self-directory advice, a GPS, and an extension to call us...that I hope you don't actually use." When she gave him his phone back, it was basically unrecognizable, now suiting an all-black color scheme and streamlined design. But Sora didn't mind, as long as he could still see his friends again, even if it was through a phone screen. "Ah, thank you so much! How were you able to do all of that so fast?"

"What do you mean? It's incredibly primitive technology, likely from the old world, I'm not sure how you even got a hold of something like that."

"Must've been a lucky find then...oh and, 9S will be okay, right?"

"He should be, no sign on when he'll wake up, but he's on track for his recovery."

"Alright, see ya guys and thanks again!" Sora backed away from them, then left the camp to find A2 waiting outside.

"You took your time," She said

"Yeah well maybe I wouldn't have taken so long if you didn't break my gummiphone in the first place!"

"Complain to me about it later, we're going to find 2B...or 2E now I guess with the way she acted."

"A2, this is for revenge, isn't it?"

"You don't know that."

"Yes I do, I know you A2, and it's a bad idea, we should try to recover her memories instead. Maybe the old 2B is still in there somewhere!"

'He doesn't understand how data works, whatever, I'll go along with it so he'll get off my case.' "Fine. We'll go to the forest since that's where she ran off to."

'A2's usually stubborn about these things, I'll keep a close eye on her just in case.' "Okay, it's been a while since I've been to the forest!"

"You haven't missed much. Just don't know how we're going to get across with the bridge destroyed."

"...hm, oh-oh, I have an idea and you're gonna love it A2!" Sora had that stupid grin on his face that let A2 know she wasn't going to love anything about his latest hare-brained scheme.

"...this is gonna suck."

Once they reached the giant gap separating the City Ruins from the Forest Kingdom, Sora grabbed A2 by the hand, jumped off the cliff, which was the point she blacked out, then used air step to close the distance and safely land on the other side. "See what did I tell you? You can thank me later!"

"...Maybe I can strangle you later! I swear you'd kill me before I could."

Sora sheepishly laughed. "I'll just use my glide next time. It'll be more up to your speed."

"Shut the hell up."

They continued their search deeper inside the forest, it was still as creepy and desolate as Sora remembered it. Without any machines or giant animals to populate the place, it seemed like a perfect place for heartless to infest the area, which kept him on edge for the inevitable encounter with his oldest adversaries.

"I knew it. This doesn't feel right..." A2 said.

"What doesn't feel right?!" Sora summoned his keyblade. "Let's destroy it!"

She shook her head. "Slow down kid, I meant that my body feels so bare without my coat now, I wish it didn't get all bloody and messed up."

"To be fair, it was already in pretty bad shape before then."

"I just liked having clothes on my back again. Now I'm back to looking like shit."

"Aw don't say that, you look awesome with or without your coat! Look I'll show you," He fished his phone out of his pocket, then held it out in front of him and A2. "Whoa, she even upgraded the camera! Come on, get in the shot A2!"

"Why? What're you doing?"

"I'm taking a picture with both of us."

"I don't want to be apart of it."

"A2, pleeeease!"

"Ugh, fine if it makes you shut up."

"You have to smile too A2."

She slightly raised the corners of her mouth.

"...Good enough. Now, say cheese!" He snapped the picture, then showed it to A2. "See? Even though you're not really smiling you still look awesome!"

A2 looked away from Sora to hide her smile. "You ...didn't have to say that." She began walking ahead, only to pause and pull Sora behind a bush as a horse chariot heartless, aptly named Chaos Carriage, charged past them. 'Great, those things again.'

"How many times do I have to beat this guy, A2 stay back here, I got things handled!"

Begrudgingly, she stayed behind a bush for cover while Sora had all the fun and excitement of battle. 'Damn it. If I had that ridiculous weapon of his then maybe I wouldn't be so useless against them.'

But A2's stuck-in-the-sidelines woes were soon rectified when she heard the ear-grating cries of machines shouting, "Hurrah! We will take back our kingdom and cower no more!" Upon closer inspection, she noticed two exiled forest machines operating the carriages of the heartless.

'Now this is what I'm talking about. I can't get close with all the projectiles its shooting out so I'll have to go at it a different way.' With her sword in hand, she scaled one of the nearby trees, using it as a jumping off point to slam her sword right smack in the middle of the Chaos Carriage, destroying a machine on board.

In the meantime, Sora stacked enough damage with Favorite Deputy to transform his keyblade into Hyper Hammer. "Glad you're here A2, but I'd get out of the way if I were you!" He reeled the giant hammer back, prepared to smash in the head of the Chaos Carriage when the other machine yelled, "Now, initiate model Armaros-X!" The simple heartless drawn carriage was now reinforced with steel armor and equipped with automated turrets. Hyper Hammer did little more than make a dent in its armor and the heartless continued its rampage throughout the forest, taking Sora along for the ride.

"Fine, if this is the game you guys wanna play!" Sora forced himself inside one of the carriages, hanging on for dear life when the heartless tried to throw him off. 'I have an idea!' He changed his keyblade to Hero's Origin, then hacked away at the heartless until it was able to throw him off for good. His prior attacks were enough to transform into counter shield where he guarded himself against the onslaught of bullets from the turrets.

'This should be enough to one-shot that heartless. I just need to get close enough somehow, where's A2 when you need her?' He didn't have to look around for too long since A2 wasn't far behind, in fact, she was dodging the turrets aimed at her before striking down the last machine controlling the carriage of the heartless. 'There she is.' "A2, can you distract that thing? I'll finish it off for good this time!"

Without any input from A2, the Chaos Carriage truly went chaotic and bulldozed itself all the way off a cliff while A2 was still riding one of its carriages. Sora followed after and fortunately, it landed down at the base of a small waterfall where A2 jumped out and Sora could finally obliterate it into a million pieces with the power of Wrathful Furry.

'That power he has with that weapon, if only it were in more capable hands.' A2 was still resentful Sora had eclipsed her in terms of abilities in such a short period of time, but she couldn't stay mad at him for long when his goofy smile always managed to win her over. "Sora, it might be time to look somewhere else for 2E, something loud and destructive like that would've caught her attention. Wherever the hell she is..."

—

"Wow, all those machines were destroyed with just pod fire, I have to say I'm impressed!" 2B said with a rare smile on her face, she then bent down and pet pod 042 causing it to twirl around.

Pod 042: Report: Your affinity with this pod has reached its maximum level. Please note that excessive care is not necessary for combat-based activity. However, this unit has determined that it finds said excessive care most enjoyable.

Pod 042: Pod 042 promises to protect YoRHa unit 2B in any situation. End report.

"...And I'll do the same for you, always. You are my pod afterall."

Time: 10:07

Location Confirmed: City Ruins, Near the Factory

Coordinates: 35.6762° N, 139.6503° E

Begin transmission

"...It's over." 2E returned her sword back to her manipulator, she regarded the crushed machine bodies as nothing more than a completed objective. "What purposeless lives machines lead, and yet there's no end to them." But as fast as she broke them apart, the machines rebuilt themselves with the aid of the black tendrils of smoke that slithered around them.

"Is that a new function? Pod, program R050: Spear."

In an unexpected move, the machines dismembered themselves to avoid puncturing their metal bodies, allowing the energy spears to impale the mass of darkness instead. "That looks like organic material. How strange." She remarked.

Pod 042: These enemies are known as 'Heartless', engaging them is ill-advised since only the humans possess the means to eliminate them. Proposal: Unit 2E should evacuate the premise.

"And what means are you talking about that humans have, but we don't?"

Pod 042: Key-shaped weapons designated as the 'Keyblade'. Known wielders include; "Sora", "Riku", and "Kairi", any further information on this weapon is unknown.

"How could you 2B...A2's your friend and you cut her down like she was nothing! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?!"

"..."

"That kid, he was a human?" But there was little time to dwell on the information as the heartless possessed machine went in to attack 2E. When she tried to swing her sword back, the machines maneuvered past her, then struck her from behind. "Damn it!" She decided it was best to heed her pod's warning and climb up the massive skyscraper in retreat, than to lose her life fighting an unwinnable battle.

Perching on the top of the roof, 2E let her self-recovery system mend her wounds while she figured out her next objective. "Unbelievable. That traitorous A2 was in possession of a human, all the more reason her death was warranted. Is there any way to get a reading on him?"

Pod 042: Negative. The human possesses no tracking device with a traceable signal.

"I see. I assume he's drawn to those 'heartless'."

Pod 042: Affirmative.

"Then if more heartless keep taking these machines over, we'll be bound to cross paths eventually. Search for the nearest concentrated groups of high-level machines in the area."

Pod 042: It would be more productive to check on the recuperation of Unit 9S rather than pursuing the machines.

"No- no 2B, don't leave me, no don't leave me again! 2B!"

2E's hands balled into a fist. "... I don't need another android to kill." She whipped her head back to her pod. "And you need to keep your opinions in check or I will manually remove your ability to speak. Is that clear?"

Pod 042: Acknowledged. Searching...match to multiple high-level machines located in the Desert Zone.

"Good. And from now on, that's all I need to hear from you."

End Transmission

—

"Yeah you're right, we should head out of here. Maybe we'll run into her on our way or- hey, what's that's glowy thing over there?" Sora was drawn to the Lunar Tear that thrived in its cave enclosure, admiring its luminance. "Wow, it's a flower and it's so pretty. I've never seen anything like it!"

"It's a Lunar Tear..." A2 walked up from behind him. "Sora, give me your calling device."

"What- no way, not after the last time!"

"I said give it to me. I'm not gonna break it, I just need to dial someone."

"...okay," He reluctantly gave up his phone, then she contacted Emil via frequency signal.

"Hey there guys, what's up?" Emil said.

"I found that flower, it's-"

"Wait A2, is that you? I knew you'd come around. Stay right there, I'm coming!"

A2 threw Sora's phone back to him. "He better not take all day to get-"

"Sorry to keep you!" Emil said.

"GYAAA! H-Hey wait, I remember you," Sora said.

"So do I, long time no see! Funny that we meet again in this forest, this whole area was once...well the memory's a little fuzzy, but I seem to have a memory of caring for this flower a long time ago. But the sand kept expanding and the flower gradually wilted, now that I think about it, that was the same time I stopped seeing ... people."

"People...like humans?" Sora asked.

"You must be ancient then," A2 said.

"Ha ha, I probably am. Thank you for finding this though, really, I feel more and more of my memories slowly piecing itself together. Let me know if you find any more, okay? I'm gonna...stay here for a bit."

"Memories, huh? Emil, you mind if I pick your brain," Sora said.

"I don't have one, but go ahead!"

"If someone lost their memory, do you think it would be possible to recover it or is it gone forever?"

"Not sure, I think it depends on a lot of things. I've been regaining my memories because those flowers remind me of my past, but I also have to be willing to remember my past, or it won't matter how many keepsakes I have, they'll all just be blocked out in the end."

"...I see, thank you."

"No problem!"

Sora turned to A2. "So she also has to put in the effort to remember... A2, I think helping Emil with his memories might also give us an idea on how to help 2B."

"I have no interest in helping her."

"I know, but it can't be good for her to be 2E, or whatever that means."

"It means she's an executioner type android, 2B was likely just a guise to hide in plain sight, her true nature has always been 2E."

"But 2B was more than just her programming, and if she's back to her old self, then at least she won't ever hurt you like that again."

"Oh, I highly doubt that." She crossed her arms. "Listen, let's just find Emil's flowers for him and if we run into 2E along the way, well that's killing two machines with one sword."

"That's fair. You know, I'm glad you're finally coming around and willing to help people like Emil for once!"

"Stupid fetch quests always have a big reward at the end and I really need booze money."

"A2! We're gonna have to talk about you and your alcoholism."

"I rather get stabbed again then- ... what's that?" She bent down to pick up a tattered piece of black fabric, clenching it in her fist afterward when she realized what it was. "This is hers..."

NieR: [O]blivion

The Death Of Memories

A/N: This is a faster update than usual bc I probably won't release the next chapter until the end of the month, I'm going back to school unfortunately:,)