A2 moved crouched through the underbrush, wary of every branch or twig that might announce her presence. She made the effort to stick to more dense clusters of the forest when able. The rumblings around her suggested that many machines were gathering, and although none of them seemed interested with hunting down surviving androids, at least for the moment, A2 felt that keeping out of sight would be for the best, especially with everything else that had been on her mind beside survival.

The lone android began to hear strange sounds as she moved closer to the site, the most prominent of which was a sort of hum with interchanging pitches that blurred the lines between soothing and insufferable. Accompanying the hum was a beeping that kept a consistent interval, and the rustling of metallic bodies settling in the brush, all of which meshed with the scent of smoke and crackling embers to create an air that was above all else, unsettling.

A2 estimated that there were about seventy meters to go, for that was where the machines seemed to be coming to rest. More and more embers filled the air as she moved closer, the brush becoming denser near the impact site. She took out her standard-issue YoRHa blade and carved, praying that the sound of cutting woods and leaves would pass as just another machine shuffling through. She had to see what this was, more compelled than ever towards it; she pondered for a moment if 9S's curiosity had rubbed off on her. Something big shuffled behind her. She couldn't make it out through the thick leaves. The lone android cut faster, and faster, until with one final yank of dense brush, she toppled into a sudden unexpected clearing a near hundred meters in diameter.

And there were about three dozen machines crowded within it, glistening in the minor forest fire, and that was just counting the ones large enough or high enough in the air to see.

They turned to face her with strange, dark violet eyes, something A2 had never seen. A voice, so powerful as if intended to cause an organic life form's innards to collapse, thundered out from everywhere.

"A lone droplet, come to play in the inferno."

Nines took the lead upon exiting the camp. It seemed that weird lapse in the camp had passed, for he was acting much more like she'd expected, stopping every few strides to inspect whatever debris from the Tower they had just stepped over. As she watched Nines with masked glee, 2B found herself listening for that weird song Emil would play on his constant routing of the ruins all those months ago, a lifetime ago, before that somber snow-touched wind would bring her back to the present. Emil was long gone, along with Commander White, 6O, 21O, Pascal, Engels, and so on. As 2B lowered her gaze upon the reminder that the goofy song wouldn't come, she realized that it all had yet to fully sink in. Thank goodness for that dark veil covering the upper half of her visage; 2B had no idea what she'd say if Nines had seen the momentary sadness in her eyes and asked her about it. She didn't feel anywhere near ready to discuss everything. Hell, she wasn't sure she even knew how to.

All that mattered was that Jackass, A2, and the rest who remained were okay. She and Nines would see to that.

9S leapt onto the roof of a building from one of the vines that had been cut in two by debris. A large boulder-like chunk akin to crystallized silicon, the material that the Tower had been constructed of, rested on the roof that was now half-collapsed. Both androids minded their footing. Nines was soon on top of the towering boulder, peering down at it for a closer look before setting his sight on the distant skyline. 2B remained down on the concrete while patiently awaiting Nines' next move. He made a graceful jump and grabbed onto Pod-153 to hover down into the grass, landing in the centimeter of snow with a slight patter. 2B followed suit, and he continued, though not in the direction of the desert.

"Wrong way," she said. He kept going. "Nines, wrong way."

"Hm?" He half-turned to glimpse at her.

"We told Anemone we'd do a sweep of the desert, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Right!" He readjusted his route for a time, but upon passing through that crater that had led to the destroyed alien ship, which had been filled halfway with even more debris, 9S once again veered towards the bridge over that valley where 2B had met her end in her past life, the wrong way.

"9S!" said 2B, a slight bit of annoyance seeping through her words. She let out a short breath. "Want me to take point?"

"Huh?" 9S faced her with two innocent dull blue eyes, glimpsing towards the way they'd come, and then back the way he was going. "Weird, I could've sworn…"

"It's okay," 2B interrupted. "Just follow me." She attributed his behavior to the warped terrain. The Tower had done a number on the city ruins, enough that she herself had had difficulty navigating just a few days ago. That had to be it. She gave herself about two minutes before looking back, and her efforts to suppress her concern with this hypothesis were proven futile. Nines was a small figure in the distance. He hadn't moved three steps before stopping again, staring at the valley.

2B sprinted and leapt her way over all the debris and snowy grass, stopping at 9S's side. She looked at him for a moment before speaking again.

"9S."

He just kept staring.

"Nines!" She shook a firm hand on his shoulder again.

At last, he met her gaze. "Did you say something?"

2B tilted her head, her hand still on his shoulder. "Huh?"

"Over there." Nines gestured towards the ruined bridge. "Was that you?"

She glimpsed towards where he was pointing, at a loss for words.

"If it wasn't you," 9S continued, "at least tell me you heard it."

2B stared at him, still unsure of how to reply as she tried to comprehend what the hell he was talking about. Something had been amiss from the moment he'd woken up, and whatever it was, she was getting to the bottom of it right here, right now.

"Okay. Nines, I need you to sit down." 2B rested both hands on his respective shoulders and guided him to sit against one of the trees that still stood. "Pod, scan for anything in the area, machines, wildlife, anything."

"Scanning." Pod-042 did a sweeping scan in a radius around them with a focus on the area that 9S had pointed towards. 2B didn't see anything, but she wanted to be sure. "Scan complete. Units 2B and 9S are the only contacts in a one hundred meter radius. Recommend tending to-"

"Thank you, pod," replied 2B as she turned back to 9S. "Alright, Nines, now I need you to tell me what's going on."

9S looked up from where he'd been seated into 2B's cloaked eyes. She was knelt over him, both hands still resting on his shoulders. "Wh-what do you mean?"

"I mean the way you've been acting since you woke up." She paused for a moment, but he still seemed to not understand. "You've been distant, unresponsive, and haven't been making sense. You're not yourself. I need you to talk to me here, so I can find out what's wrong and fix it."

9S blinked, like he was still lost. His trembling hand came up to gently grab 2B's wrist. "Y-you mean it's just me?"

2B shook her head, confused once again. "What are you talking about?!"

"The voice!" He gestured out towards the distance. "I thought you were hearing it too!"

"What voice? What are you…" 2B released Nines' shoulders before silently looking to the pods.

"Hypothesis: 9S is suffering from ailments of the mind," said Pod-042.

"Ailments of the mind?" questioned 2B. "Like internal? Head trauma? Decapitation? Is something damaged?!"

"Negative. Units 2B and 9S were constructed with parts that went through thorough troubleshooting and analyzing," chimed in Pod-153.

"Affirmative," confirmed Pod-042. "This unit speaks of ailments of the mind."

2B stared at the pod's figure as it floated against the sun-lit sky.

"Analysis: Records of humanity have referenced anomalies in certain individuals concerning the brain. Some humans developed symptoms resulting from abnormal behaviors in the brain due to genetics, trauma, or nothing in particular. These symptoms manifested in different ways with limited consistency from one individual to another, some examples being hallucinations, self-loathing, violent outbursts, social distancing, or self-termination. Efforts were made to group similar sets of symptoms between individuals into separate diagnoses in order to gain further understanding towards possible solutions."

2B remained quiet for a moment, unsure if the pod was done talking. "But we're not human. Is there any record of this ever happening with androids?"

"Confirmation: There have been some possible cases among several units of different designations." Pod-153 was the one who replied. "Inquiry: Does unit 2B recall the E-class that yourself and unit 9S assisted with memory restoration?"

That day flashed before 2B's eyes. A sudden dread washed over her, and she had to place a hand on the trunk of the tree for balance. All she could do was nod.

"Analysis: That unit's state and speech patterns following memory restoration suggested an anomalous state of crisis similar to what humans would refer to as 'mania' or 'madness.'"

"Further data on that unit's personality and the long-term aftermath of their memory restoration would be required to determine if this in fact was the case," continued Pod-042, "but other priorities at the time made collection of said data impossible, the same of which is true for most other catalogued cases. It is worth noting, however, that this was never unique to humanity. Select species of animals showed signs of similar anomalous symptoms, such as the canine described in records as 'man's best friend,' and also-"

"Alright, enough." 2B raised a hand in protest, turning to look again at 9S. His eyes were closed, and his head rested on the trunk, swaying left and right along its wooden exterior. "How do we fix it?"

"Explanation: This is not the kind of illness that can be fixed or cured like physical ailments," said Pod-042. "Ailments of the mind were a lifelong struggle for humanity. Those who made peace with their ailments used methods as inconsistent as the very symptoms themselves, examples being repeated self-reflection, companionship, structural upkeep, expression, enlightenment-"

"Heh. Humans sure were strange creatures, weren't they, 2B?"

2B was trembling. Everything the pods had caught her up with suggested that Nines had already gone through something like this in the aftermath of her death. She couldn't make sense of it, of the world with all its twists, turns, riddles, of everything they'd been through still haunting them. Hell, she was regretting looking to the pods for guidance. Why couldn't all this darkness just go away?

How the hell did humans live like this?

"Alert:" Pod-042 flew down towards 2B's front. "Contact, ninety-five meters away and moving fast."

"What?" 2B glimpsed around, but saw nothing. "Pod, run another-"

"Seventy meters, from above. YoRHa ID detected, but route and speed suggests attack run."

She looked up and around. Still nothing.

"Fifty meters. Recommendation: Tactical retreat and evaluation."

Before Pod-042 finished speaking, a ball-shaped object plopped into the grass not three steps away. A red light began blinking with a series of beeps.

2B grabbed 9S by the wrist and leapt away just before the bomb detonated, sending earth and dirt flying. Branches detached from the tree and scattered with the explosion. Through the smoking rubble, 2B saw a sizable figure jump from the roof of the nearest building, firing a missile at its apex. She pulled 9S close and activated Pod-042's shield program. It held, but the debris obscured their vision. 9S kept staring into space. He was in no state to fight.

The debris cleared around the shield to reveal their foe. The android was encased in bronze machine plating and parts, the typical sort found on most foes, but the appendages and outer framing were that of a YoRHa flight unit, all bolted together to form some monstrosity of a battle suit. Her head and upper torso were still visible, untarnished.

"Jackass!" 2B stepped between Nines and the newcomer. "What are you doing?"

"Giving you lying YoRHa trash what you deserve." Jackass charged, cutting through the dome with the flight unit's blade. 2B dodged the blade's tip by a hair, but in doing so toppled right into 9S. The damned thing's weapons were operational. 2B had gathered that Jackass was skilled with tinkering, but to resuscitate the weaponry of a destroyed flight unit and then stitch it all together with the husks of machines was more than she could have imagined the drifter android being capable of. What the hell was driving her?

As the shield blinked out of existence, 2B twisted away from 9S and regained her footing. She grabbed her companion by the collar with both hands and chucked him up into the crumbling second story of the closest skyscraper. He shouted as he flew, coming to rest with a crashing thump. Pod-153 zipped his way. 2B prayed that there weren't any hostile machine remnants garrisoned inside. They hadn't seen the slightest hint of such throughout the whole city, so she convinced herself he would be safe.

With that, 2B focused all of her attention on Jackass. The beam sword flickered a bit, causing the enraged android to yell out a curse. She primed devices on her shoulders that seemed to be the remains of two pods, and a flurry of white bullets roared towards 2B. She blocked the opening volley with her blade, but was soon forced to dash out of the way. As the suit kept firing, Jackass raised the left appendage and shot another missile. 2B leapt over the hail of bullets and air dashed out of the explosive's path, crying out as it detonated against the skyscraper she'd tossed Nines into. Luckily, it packed way less of a punch compared to the bomb Jackass had opened with. The structure still stood. 2B refocused on the battle at hand. Flight units were incapable of firing automatic rounds vertically, and for all the touching up she'd done, it seemed the techie android hadn't restored the actual flight module with what she'd cobbled together. Aerial attacks were the way to go. 2B redirected her trajectory of avoidance and grappled onto Jackass' back. She prepared to strike, but her sword wouldn't materialize.

Jackass reared the appendages up to grab 2B tight. She tried to crush the YoRHa android, but 2B's resistance was too strong, so Jackass ploughed her into the snow instead. 2B was thrown into the ground with such force that her impact kicked up grass, leaving a trail of vacant earth in her rolling stead. She suppressed all thought of the grazing pain and was quick to rise, but Jackass had begun firing another volley her way, and two shots struck true into 2B's torso. She groaned, clenching her teeth as she moved once again in avoidance.

"Pod!"

"Scan complete," said Pod-042 just as 2B began to voice for assistance. "Unit Jackass has fashioned a YoRHa identification module into the combat suit and has somehow made the combat restriction external only. Exact location cannot be pinpointed. Retaliation is impossible."

"What?!" 2B kept moving, mindful to remain between her foe and where Nines had come to rest. "Damn it! DAMN IT!" She glimpsed up at where she'd tossed him. Chances were low that 9S would participate in this fight, which meant he couldn't hack in to fry her identification circuit like he did before. What was she to do?!

Maybe…

"Pod!" 2B struggled to speak between avoiding projectiles. "Pods are c-capable of hacking, correct?"

"Affirmative." Pod-042 dodged a stray projectile. "Explanation: This unit's protocol has been rewritten. I can hack in and destroy your identification circuit, but it will take longer than the specialized scanner model. Unit 2B is just to ask. Inquiry: Would unit 2B-"

"What?!" 2B suppressed that flare of frustration. "D-do it, damn it! Fry it!"

"Acknowledged."

2B felt the wave of another presence in her circuits. It was different from when 9S did it, most notably in the time it took; Nines got rid of the circuit almost instantly, but it had now been three seconds since Pod-042 dove in, and she still couldn't attack. It didn't just feel different, it was detrimental. 2B felt herself moving slower, growing lethargic. It must have had something to do with the structural and systematic differences between androids and pods. She couldn't debate that now, though, not with Jackass still raining fire upon her. 2B struggled to keep out of harm's way, but as the seconds ticked by, her eyes grew heavier. A projectile blasted through her right shoulder, and another grazed her hand. The environment started to drain of color. All 2B could see was another spherical object, blinking red with a beeping sound. Another bomb. Jackass must have noticed how slow she was moving. She was still fast enough to avoid the automatic fire, but no way could she escape the radius of the coming explosion. 2B glimpsed back towards the skyscraper, a tear in her eye as she awaited the end. It was for the best. Even after all they'd been through, the suffering they'd endured, the world still hated them. They had no place in it. This was their curse. Everything that lives is destined to end, and for 2B and Nines, that time was long past overdue.

"Identification circuit fried and removed." 2B felt her old, non-lethargic self return as the environment colored again.

Time to retaliate.

She kicked the bomb away towards the crater where the Tower once stood. Again, 2B leapt into the air, avoiding a three-missile volley with grace as the blade materialized in her grasp. She grappled onto the combat suit, holding tight. When the appendages once again went for her, 2B brought down as much force as she could muster on the right side. Jackass cried out in agony as the appendage, and half of her arm, plummeted to the ground in a storm of sparks and blood. Next, 2B shifted focus to the other appendage, the one that the bombs were fastened to. She yanked it off with her hands to avoid a premature detonation, tossing it to the side as her sword re-materialized in her free hand to carve at the lower torso of the suit. The plates fell apart with her strikes, revealing the power source: five machine cores, wired together in a circular shape, four of the outer cores attached to each respective appendage with the center one reserved for the inner components. 2B reached inside and effortlessly tore the device out, causing the suit to fall limp. She leapt off with a tuck-and-roll as the makeshift monstrosity toppled onto its back. Jackass tried to move, but could only groan in pain. She was trapped.

2B whipped debris off her weapon, allowing the blade to vanish in a barrage of particles. She turned towards Jackass and approached, resting one of her heeled shoes just beneath the defeated android's throat. Blood was pooling out onto the snow from her stump of an arm.

"Go ahead, do it!" shrieked Jackass with a fury in her voice that 2B could never have imagined. "I-I'm already dead. End it! Now!"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" 2B tried to keep her rage in check. "You help me with Nines, and now you're trying to kill us? What the hell is going on, Jackass?!"

"Oh, don't play dumb!" She spit out a hunk of metal. "I looked through everything, everything in the data banks of that damned structure! All that time you spent, being all helpful and cooperative, pretending to care about all the shit we've been through promising a brighter future, glory to mankind, GLORY TO MANKIND!" Jackass shifted in place as if trying to escape. "All the while feeding us LIES! 'Higher-ups of YoRHa' my ASS! You spent all that time up in that damned hunk of junk in orbit, how could you possibly not have known? Did it give you pleasure to lead us on like a damned moose chasing after a scrap of plant?!"

2B had grown tired of almost everyone around her not making any damned sense. Her patience was reserved for 9S, not Jackass. "I don't know what the hell this is all about, and I don't care." 2B stepped back and settled her shoe in the soil. "Anemone sent us to find you, and here you are, so you have two choices." She stepped to where Jackass' head rested and kneeled down to look her in the upside-down eye. "You can either make peace with us and come along back to the camp where we'll all forget this ever happened, or you can lay here and rust away bit by bit until you're dead and gone." 2B moved to stand up straight and walked to the grounded android's left side. "What's it going to be?"

Jackass chuckled with a shake of her head. "What's wrong, 2B, have you forgotten how to finish the job? I just wanted to do the both of us a favor; you know those two junkheads back at the oil field? I've already dealt with them. Wanna know how? I gave them more and more of that product you helped me develop until they couldn't take any more. I gave them exactly what they wanted, and they took it to the grave. I figured you'd love to die in battle, especially when taking your true designation into account, 2E. War is all you've known, and all you'll ever know as long as you stick with that oblivious why do you-"

2B's heel moved to the android's throat with such force that she started to choke, but her devious smile remained. "Touchy subject?" Jackass spoke between gags. "C'mon, we both know killing is all you're good for. Killing and lying." She coughed. "I for one have had enough of both, and lucky me, that's all that exists in the modern world! So go ahead. Kill me. Release me from this Hell. You know you want to, and I know I want you to."

2B clenched both of her fists, putting more weight onto Jackass' throat. The point of her heel pierced through her outer skin, but the anger started to recede. 2B slowly relaxed her hands and stepped off, breathing heavily as she recollected herself.

"Pft. What a shame." Jackass closed her eyes and further settled where she lay. "You want to keep fighting an impossible fight, that's fine by me. But I'm done. If you won't kill me, then by all means, let me rust away. It'll be a fun couple centuries staring at the sky. Hey, maybe a boar will shit on me once or twice! That oughta be great!" She shuffled in place. "Or you could ask 9S if he wants to kill me. From what I've gathered about the events that transpired around when the Tower collapsed, chances are he'd agree to it."

"Enough death."

Jackass looked towards 2B. "Uh, what?"

The former YoRHa android turned to face her. "There's been enough death." She silently beckoned Pod-042 to Jackass' stump and knelt down once again.

Jackass tried glimpsing over the bulky suit. "Hey, the hell are you doing? You going to kill me or what?!"

2B worked with Pod-042 for several minutes, and when she next stood up, they had covered the wound.

"Hey, that's the opposite of killing me!" Jackass struggled hard within the suit. "I want to die, and you just guaranteed it'd take even longer!"

2B stepped over the suit and pulled off the left leg appendage, careful not to damage Jackass further. She did the same for the right, and what remained of the torso, and soon Jackass was free.

"Uh. Wha?" She laid there for a moment, motionless in the debris.

"I don't know what's possessed you to do this, but I don't want to kill you." 2B spoke while faced away from Jackass. "Nor do I want you to waste away, so you're free. You can go back to Anemone if you want, or not. It doesn't matter to me." She glimpsed Jackass' way, watching as she rose to stand. "But know this: If you give me reason to believe that your presence would bring danger to Nines, or anyone at the camp, or hell, anywhere, I'll be there to stand between you and them. And that time, you won't be walking away." 2B moved towards 9S' location. "Goodbye, Jackass."

Jackass had been staring blankly at the black and white android. Without another word, she made her departure.

"Anemone." Pod-042's display flickered with the resistance leader's features as it hovered along with 2B. "We've located Jackass. Other than a lost arm, she's fine."

"Thank goodness," she replied with a sigh of relief. "God knows we've lost enough. Where was she?"

"The city ruins." 2B started her climb up the skyscraper's rubble. "She wasn't herself. Something had her on edge, but she should be okay now. If you see her, just be a bit wary. Let me know if she has any violent outbursts, and I'll do what I need to."

"Hm." Anemone nodded. "Not sure I fully understand, but don't worry, we'll keep an-" The leader suddenly screamed with two hands on her ears, gaze directed upward. 2B heard others shouting in the background.

"Anemone?! What's going on?"

"Nnnnnngh, what-" The video feed cut out as Anemone started to shriek. 2B stopped in her tracks as a wave of shadow spanned over the cityscape. She leapt from the building and turned her eyes to the sky in horror, a slight hum ringing in her head. Something was descending, large enough to cast a shadow over the foreseeable cityscape from what had to be several hundred meters above. The mere act of looking at the thing made 2B's head spin. She had to sit in the debris-ridden grass to avoid falling over. Was it the sight, or the sound? Or both? Just as the colossal form vanished over the horizon in the direction of the flooded city, 9S advanced from the building.

"2B!" He was laughing, almost uncontrollably.

2B looked his way, too weak to stand. "N-Nines?"

"It's come to show us… Show us the voice, what it means to have breath!"

His laughter blurred together with his speech, descending into madness. 2B watched as the color once again drained from her world.