Last Execution

by ElfLord123

2B is trapped. Trapped in a never ending cycle of executing 9S. But one day that changes. She executes 9S one last time and never has to execute him again. But her last execution was her worst and one that would haunt her for the rest of her life. (Alternate route AU where 2B survives instead of 9S).

17. Return of the King of the Forest

WELCOME BACK, 2E.

These words greeted 2E as she returned to her chambers. A nice domed room located at the very bottom of the tower. It was as plain as plain can be. It reminded her of the destroyed alien ship she and 9S had seen. The center held only a single bed for her to rest. And that was it. She needed nothing else. Her tools to help her fulfill her purpose were always on her.

She concentrated for a moment and dematerialized some of the excess clothing she had. The shoulder cape on her left arm. The waist cape around her hips. She breathed out a heavy sigh, stretching her limbs.

She stretched out her left arm, 6O's arm. It was amazing she's kept it undamaged for so long.

There were also her gloves. 9S's gifts to her. And her headband. She had worked hard to keep them all intact. She couldn't stop her gloves from getting dirty but at least they never ripped.

"It seems your travels did not go as planned," the Red Girl observed.

"As ever, your powers of observation continue to astound me," 2E remarked sardonically. "Just remember to leave 2E to me. She is mine to deal with."

2E. Still going by a lie. Still going by 2B. What went wrong? She watched from a distant. Everything that happened to them was the same. Why does this younger-2E continue lying to herself? Imprisoning herself in the same cycle of lies.

It frustrated her to no end. She was a prisoner of her own mind for the longest time, freed because she finally embraced the truth. It was a cruel truth. An evil truth. But the truth. But it seemed the younger-2E rather continue lying to herself.

"Need I remind you that the time has come for a new cycle?" the Red Girl asked.

"You spent so long boasting how time is without meaning, and now you can't wait a few months?" 2E sneered.

"Why are you so interested in 2B anyways?"

"Is that not obvious? She's me. What is a person but a combination of their memories, experiences, and personality? Ours are identical. Hers may be less experienced than mine but how much of a difference before one is considered a different person? If she is still holding onto her old beliefs, then part of her still desires death."

They were the same person. Which meant 2E need only think back to herself way back when. How she felt back then. Back then? She wanted to die. Simple as that. At the beginning of her life she was a mindless tool. A weapon. She learned emotion thanks to 9S. She learned love thanks to 9S. Then she spent her entire life murdering the one she loved. She was afraid of death but wanted to escape the pain of life.

If the younger-2E was still lying to herself then she would still feel the same way. It was only 2E's acceptance of the truth that freed her. So much time feeling guilty. So much time wasted hating herself. When she no more evil than everyone else in this forsaken universe.

"And your request still stands?" N2 asked.

"Of course. 2E is to be left alone. The rest of them will die all the same. Today. Tomorrow. If you really are infinite, then why does it matter when it happens? If you're really that impatient, begin your reconstruction."

"And what will you do in the meantime?"

There was no joy to her life. But no pain either. A life whose purpose was evil better than a life with no purpose at all. Her purpose was ingrained. She didn't need to fear it vanishing. She didn't need to worry about her life being without meaning.

"I will fulfill my purpose in life," 2E said turning around and heading to the door. Coming back was a bad idea anyways. The voices of her victims, especially 9S, were not as loud. But she could still hear them when it's quiet. They didn't deserve to haunt her. She was beyond salvation. Beyond redemption. And she didn't need either. Her sins may have been beyond counting but they were no better.

"There are still others that need cleaned up," 2E said. "I'll give time for 2E to make up her mind. 2E WILL find salvation…one way or another."

"Will you be able to do it? You felt fear when confronting her. You still feel fear regarding her future."

2E paused at the door. For all their boasting about evolving, it seemed some parts of them remained stagnant. The first A2 nearly killed them because of their arrogance. Yet that pride still remained. And it seemed boasting remained as well. According to the data, they would repeatedly reveal themselves to 9S to taunt him. Once again, they boast. Pretending to know more than they let on. And in the process, they show they know nothing at all.

"You may be immortal but you're not omniscient," 2E said coldly. "I feel nothing anymore."

-.-

4S blinked a couple times, staring at 2B.

A2 was staring at 2B unamused.

2B was hoping for a more enthusiastic response. It was the most logical course of action. They were few in number and out in the open. They needed support. They needed weapons. They needed a defensible position. Fact of the matter was, the Forest Kingdom was perhaps the most formidable she's ever seen the machines. They were better armored and better armed. They were also better trained. Organized. If they threw a few YorHa into the mix, they could establish a pretty effective fighting force.

"Excuse us for a bit," A2 said, dragging 2B to the side. 2B tore her arm out of A2's grasp but followed her nonetheless. Once they were out of earshot, A2 immediately let her opinions be known.

"What the hell?!" A2 exclaimed. "A machine kingdom? Are you crazy?"

"They are better equipped, armed, and trained," 2B explained. "They may be lacking in some technology but if we join their ranks, we can make up for their shortcomings."

"You're missing the bit where we walk into a den of mindless murder bots!"

Mindless murder bots? Was that what A2 thought of them?

"I thought your experiences with Pascal's village would change your views of them," 2B scoffed.

"Pascal was the exception, not the rule. We walk in there, we get cut down."

There was no convincing A2. The attacker android was stubborn enough to survive years on the run from YorHa executioners. That meant she was too stubborn to have her mind changed.

"Not if we negotiate for sanctuary," 2B proposed. "I have some relation with the Forest Kingdom machines."

That statement wasn't a complete lie. Yet it wasn't a very accurate truth either. She interacted with a single machine in the Forest Kingdom. One that wanted to kill her even at the end.

"Relation?" A2 repeated. "I was watching when you and 9S tore through the place and they were mobbing you in droves. What makes you think they'll listen to the android emo?"

Well, might as well reveal to A2 the truth. As far as crimes go this would probably be the lowest on her list.

"I was here once and cut a deal with some of their knights," 2B recounted. "More specifically I promised one to bring him your severed head."

"Uh…excuse me?"

"In my defense, this was back when I was still trying to kill you."

It was only a month ago she wanted A2 dead. Guess she was lucky. Both A2 and herself. 2B always tried to be as selfless as possible no matter how stupid it was. It was why she had sacrificed 9S, her 9S, for a load of bullshit. And at the time, she had prioritized bringing humans home over killing A2.

'You're a monster, 2B! A wrecking ball that kills everyone around her!'

Those were Popola's words to her. Yes, she was built to be selfless. To do whatever was necessary to give to the greater. Even if it meant giving herself. Even if it meant giving others. Even if it meant…giving from the ones she loves.

Still, A2 now lived thanks to that selflessness. 2B had been so focused on saving humanity that by the time she realized her fight was meaningless, she had learned her desire to kill A2 was just as. It kept her hands clean of the blood of one innocent.

2B scoffed at the thought.

Might be the only time her selflessness did anything right. The one time it actually saved someone.

"You talked to one knight," A2 pointed out. "I don't think one is enough to convince an entire kingdom."

"Fine, I'll inform the rest of the group and see what they think," 2B said. "There is much to discuss anyways."

The Forest Kingdom wasn't the only thing they needed to talk about. She and A2 had been through a lot and gained plenty of insight along the way. The infinite cycles. The YorHa black box. The Red Girl. So much data that needed to be shared.

-.-

4S tapped his toe impatiently all the while standing at attention. He didn't like waiting and doing nothing. But what 2B says, he'll do.

She was exactly what the stories described. A silent blade of confidence and competence. Distant and aloof. Probably what was required to do what she does.

Then there was A2. Much more vocal with an attitude to support it.

The bonafide badasses were discussing their next move and he'll follow their lead.

Well, 2B did mention them seeking shelter in the Forest Kingdom. He…was less than sure about that part.

Finally, A2 and 2B came back from their talk. No doubt they had a plan. A2 kept her signature scowl while 2B still was expressionless.

Seeing their return, the rest of their party gathered around. Well, 54B and 9B hobbled around since Jackass could only lay there with one leg.

They probably wouldn't listen to A2 since she was a deserter but 2B was still the highest ranking android.

But it seemed Jackass had other ideas, keeping her grenade launcher at 2B.

"We're moving out," 2B declared. "The machines will be here soon so we can't stay."

"Not so fast," Jackass said, her weapon still trained on 2B.

"For the love of," A2 sighed. "I told you, 2B wasn't the one who jumped you."

"Yeah, you said it was her evil twin, but I call bullshit," Jackass panted. 4S wasn't a fighter. And 9B and 54B weren't in any condition to fight. But even they were ready to leap to the defense of their YorHa companion, drawing swords and getting ready.

"Stand down!" 2B ordered. 4S obeyed without a second thought. He was sure 2B had a plan or something. 9B and 54B were more reluctant.

"I gave you two an order!" 2B reiterated. Finally, the two battle units eased up. But Jackass remained as angry as ever.

"Oh, it's not just you I have a problem with," Jackass snarled. "It's all you YorHa goons."

"Jackass, what are you talking about?" A2 asked impatiently.

"I'm talking about the fucking humans!" Jackass roared. Just like that. A2 and 2B fell silent. Why did they go quiet? And why was Jackass so angry about this subject?

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Jackass spat.

4S looked at Jackass before looking at 2B and A2. They seemed shaken by the question. What about the humans? Even without YorHa, it fell to the resistance to bring the humans back to Earth.

"How long have you known?" 2B asked.

"After the first time you tried to kill me, I spent a lot of time digging," Jackass explained. "Don't know what's up with the giant tower in the middle of the city. Sounded like Armageddon. But it knocked a lot of shit loose."

4S wished he knew what Jackass was talking about. He was normally roaming about and gathering data as a scanner. But he was busy treating the YorHa in the oasis. He could only guess there was some sort of fight taking place at the top of the Tower. Something big enough that even anyone below could hear.

"Hey, Jackass," 54B wheezed. "Ya mind shutting the hell up and telling what you're smoking?"

Wrong question. Jackass instead aimed the grenade launcher at 54B. But it did give A2 time to run up and tear the weapon out of her hands.

"Alright, we get it!" A2 snapped, tossing the grenade launcher aside. "You're pissed off. We all are. We were all fooled."

4S noticed 2B's fists clenching. Her face was as stoic was ever yet her hands were squeezing so hard they could probably crush a machine head.

"You expect me to believe that?" Jackass scoffed.

"I don't really give a damn if you believe me or not. But the fact is we were just as blindsided as you!"

"So you didn't know about Project Gestalt? You didn't know about N2? You didn't know humanity's EXTINCT?!"

4S shut down at that point. At least, he might as well have.

Extinct?

That's not possible.

"Wait, what?" 9B squeaked.

"What are about talking about?" 54B groaned. "Humanity's not extinct!"

The two battle units were voicing their opinions. But 4S was still watching 2B. She seemed even angrier at Jackass's blurt.

"2B?" 4S asked.

2B had been silent. And it looked like she had been determined to stay silent. But it seemed she could be silent no longer. She stepped forth and spoke to the group.

"YorHa was not made by humanity. It was made by androids! The android government Army of Humanity. Made to reinvigorate the resistance to fight by perpetuating the lie that humanity was alive and on the moon."

4S stared at 2B. He blinked and…

And…

And nothing.

He heard the words and yet they did not sink in. Humanity? Extinct?

Guess the reason he didn't have much of a reaction was because the words didn't sink in. But he knew what it meant if it did. The very structure of his life, everything he believed in, everything he did, it was all a lie.

"It's always been that way, hasn't it?" 4S asked. "Happy hour with the other scanners. We always thought it was weird how the Council of Humanity calls were so stiff. How the pacing was always so precise. How their speech was always so perfect."

2B nodded.

"We were all deceived," 2B said bitterly. "I only discovered this during my ascent of the Tower."

"Yeah, why should I believe you weren't in on it?" Jackass asked.

There was a damning silence that fell on the group. Like 2B had something more to share. She even opened her mouth to speak. But A2 spoke up first.

"You can trust 2B on this," A2 said. "She lost something dear to her because he found out."

Right, 2B reportedly had a partner. Was that why she was alone now?

"That scanner, 9S," Jackass recounted. It seemed 2B's iron stoicism could not stand up to this. She quickly recomposed herself but 4S could see that stoicism shatter like glass to make way for despair.

And it seemed 9B and 54B weren't taking it well either.

54B cursed loudly, kicking the corner of a building and sending the piece flying.

9B fell to her knees. She was one of the earlier B units, so she probably lost a lot of friends during the war. The war for nothing.

"Well, that's just shitting great!" 54B yelled. "Then what the hell was it all for?"

"What are we supposed to do now?" 9B whimpered.

4S was beginning to be glad this information hadn't truly sunk in. He'd been down here gathering data for this cause. Even without YorHa, he was trying to help the resistance save humanity. So, what was it all for?

"Enough!" 2B spoke. Her voice was enough to calm the whole group down instantly. "We can do nothing about humanity now. We must think about what we do from here on out."

"Wait a sec," A2 interrupted. "Hey Jackass, what about the other two things you talked about? Gestalt and N2?"

4S had to admit he was also curious. It was two of the three things Jackass had mentioned. At least 2B's explanation calmed her down.

"Nothing too special about Gestalt," Jackass said. "It was just humanity's last-ditch effort to not die. But N2?"

Jackass laughed, shaking her head. It wasn't a normal laugh either. Frankly, it sounded borderline insane.

"Get this," Jackass said. "So, after the machine network found out about humanity…they modeled themselves after humans. They actually tried to be human!"

4S listened but was largely confused by this. He had no idea what Jackass was talking about.

"Wait a sec," A2 said. "N2 isn't that Red Girl is it?'

Jackass nodded, almost laughing.

"Oh, but it gets better," she said. "When the machines were made, they were given the simple of task of 'defeating the enemy'." Jackass made dramatic air quotes as she finished that sentence. "But to do that, they NEED an enemy to defeat. So to sum up: we've been fighting on behalf of something that DOESN'T FUCKING EXIST, against something we CAN'T FUCKING BEAT, in a war we CAN'T FUCKING LOSE!"

"Alright, we get it!" A2 shouted. "This sucks, we know! The Red Girl or N2 or whatever you want to call it will come for us soon so we need to get a move on."

"To the Forest Kingdom?" 4S asked. A2 and 2B were legends as far as he was concerned. And part of him wanted to listen. Afterall, they achieved greatness somehow. You don't become great by being like everyone else. And going to the Forest Kingdom was certainly crazy. But it was a little too crazy.

"The machines of the Forest Kingdom are not connected to the network," 2B said. "They have a defensible position, are better armed, and better trained."

4S couldn't deny that. Before he took refuge in this oasis, he had been watching the Forest Kingdom to gather data on the enemy for the resistance. They lacked certain things like goliath tanks. But each machine was definitely more dangerous than the average machine. And they were implementing squad tactics. Admittedly some of their tactics were a bit old But if they end up working with the Forest Kingdom machines, they could teach them new tactics.

"With all due respect, ma'am," 9B said. "We can't put our lives in the hands of machines of all things!"

"We don't have a choice," 2B said.

Silene fell upon the group. No one wanted to go. These were machines. Even if they were itching for peace, peace was never achieved. They were mortal enemies.

"I'm going," A2 said, stepping up.

"Who cares what you're doing," 54B scoffed. "Ya ain't even YorHa anymore."

"I don't care if you care. I'm just saying I'm going."

4S felt like he could stay silent any longer.

"I'll go," he said. "2B's the ranking officer now. We follow her lead, so I'll follow her to the Forest Kingdom."

Three down. But it seemed 4S's reminder did convince 54B and 9B. 2B was the ranking officer and thus was their commanding officer now so they follow her orders.

That left Jackass. They all looked at the one-legged mad scientist. She was certainly the least capable among them, or at least will be once 9B and 54B are fully recovered from the E-drug.

"Fine!" Jackass relented. "But I want my grenade launcher back."

-.-

The Forest. It was just as miserable as 2B remembered. It wasn't as hot as the desert but it was humid. The water was being soaked by her clothes and made her sticky. Overall, it was not a pleasant place. She always held this opinion. She just never voiced it. She was a soldier with a job to do.

At least she used to be. This was back when she still followed that sick joke: 'emotions are prohibited'.

She actually envied A2 in this case. A2 had no clothes so she was not bogged down in the slightest. Hell, she looked the most refreshed of the group aside from maybe Pod.

2B was ahead, leading the group to the forest. They were just skirting the edges for now. The forest at the edge of the kingdom was crawling with machines and she didn't want them to get into a fight. She was even taking a longer route just to make sure. One that'll avoid that bloodbath she herself had caused.

Finally, after nearly an hour of walking, the Kingdom was in sight. From the edge of the cliff, 2B could see the massive castle in the distance. She held up her hand and signaled the others to stop. They did as they were ordered, letting A2 move to the front.

"You sure about this?" A2 asked. "Not sure they'll listen to an android with her ass half falling out of her skirt."

"At least I have clothes to speak of which is more than can be said about you," 2B snapped. "Besides, they're more likely to listen to me than the streaker that committed regicide."

It was what made the most sense. There was too much hate from 54B. 9B had no history with the machines. 4S viewed the machines like one would view a typewriter. A2 and Jackass were probably the best after 2B herself because of their history with Pascal. But neither of them had any tact.

No. 2B had to do this.

2B looked back at the castle, letting out a tired sigh. Fact of the matter was she had no idea if this would work at all. It might fail. But she had no choice. The alternative was to accept death

"4S," 2B called out. "You say you've been observing the Forest Kingdom. What is their status?"

It was funny. When she was out on her own all she could think about was her desperation to suffer for her crimes. Technically nothing's changed in that regard. She still needed to suffer for her crimes. But it seems her old YorHa habits were kicking in naturally. She had simply taken command without a thought. She still needed to suffer for what she's done but right now she needed to focus on taking care of the people around her. And the first thing she needed to do was gather intel.

"The kingdom's been crumbling," 4S said. "It seems they're completely without any leaders."

Wait what? That's impossible. Yes, it was without a king. But the king was a child, incapable of leading anything. The kingdom would be led by…

Shit…

Assuming it had a developed government, there would be a hierarchy of leaders. An order of succession in the death of the leader above it. The kingdom would be led by advisors and local regents. In the absence of their king, they would be the ones leading the kingdom, managing its peoples…and organizing their military.

Like the machines in the war room. The machines that were discussing attacking Pascal's Village. The machines she butchered.

But…they were planning on attacking Pascal's village. So…she shouldn't feel pity. Right?

Yet that felt like a hollow excuse. As hollow as fighting on behalf of humanity. Let's face it. She killed them because it was her purpose in life. Her doing it to protect Pascal's village was just a flimsy excuse. It was a happy coincidence.

So, their government wasn't all that well developed. And now that she killed every single leader, the rest of the kingdom was falling into disarray.

"So the Forest Kingdom's cracking," 4S continued. "I gotta admit their mimicry is on point. They're acting like they're on the verge of civil war and dividing into several nations."

A2 sharing a face with 2B did have some benefits. 2B knew her own expressions. Pain. Guilt. So 2B recognized the briefest expression of guilt pass over A2's face. Why did this information seem to cause A2 pain?

"Wait, how do you know all this?" A2 asked.

"Hey, I'm a scanner!" 4S said proudly. A bit too proudly. It reminded 2B of 9S and his boasts of him being a scanner. "I infiltrated their castle after…well…anyways, I stayed there for a bit observing everything."

"You say on the verge," 2B recounted. "So, it has not happened yet."

"Guess not," 4S shrugged. "So, why do you think they're like this? Do you think they're just imitating a scenario they read happened during the old world? Maybe they're just imitating civilization for research purposes?"

A soft growl left 2B's lips. She had been on her own for so long she forgot many if not most YorHa androids dismissed machines as simple mindless automatons. Even 9S.

Her beloved 9S.

Even he would repeatedly insist that machines were incapable of any sort of higher thought despite encounters with the likes of Pascal and his village. Despite encounters with Engles who would hold pleasant conversation with them. Despite sparring matches with Father Servo.

How was it possible for the scanners of all things to not believe machines could be sentient? Shouldn't watching their behavior be a giveaway? Shouldn't their analytical minds include this possibility?

She was getting REALLY sick of this. If they really wanted to kill, then they should stop making nonsense excuses. If they were really that desperate for slaughter, then they should stop pretending to want anything else.

2B shook her head. She couldn't think like that.

"4S," 2B said calmly. "Why don't you believe the machines simply built this civilization on their own?"

She was amazed how much control she had. She could just keep her mouth shut. But if they killed machines in her name or because she failed to explain things, then the blood was as good as on her hands.

"Well…they're machines," 4S said with a shrug. "They're just clockwork. You punch in commands, and they carry it out."

"And you can't comprehend any possibility of them forming a nation like this?" 2B asked.

"Wait, you don't actually believe that they could do something like this?" 4S asked.

She didn't answer the question. Of course, she did. How could she not? They scream for help when they're attacked. They mourn their dead. She's held conversations with them. She done favors for them. She's befriended them. They have parents and children. They have siblings and lovers. Of course, they could do something like this.

It seemed 4S picked up on 2B's silence.

"A2?' 4S asked. But A2 didn't answer either. A2 had been shaped by her experience with Pascal and his villagers.

"Listen, Runt," A2 said. "There's more to the enemy than you think."

2B didn't know if there was any hope in convincing 4S. She believed because she feared killing another innocent. Maybe there was more hope in convincing 4S than she thought. After all, A2 believed as well. But A2 had spent over a month is Pascal. How long to convince 4S, 54B and 9B of this?

They didn't have time.

"You still need a better plan than what you got," A2 said to 2B. "What's to stop them from just chopping you up the moment you go in?"

"I am more than capable of fighting my way out."

"Yeah, you CAN fight your way out. But will you?"

It seemed A2 knew more than she pretended. A2 was probably right. 2B could fight her way out. But if 2B had to be honest, she didn't know if her overwhelming guilt would root her to the spot and let herself be killed.

One crime. At least one crime. Her list of victims was huge. 6O. 21O. Anemone. Pascal. Devola. Popola. Pod. 9S. Her list of victims that she personally knew was staggering. Her of crimes was too long to list. But she could atone for at least one in some way rather than prance around like an innocent woman.

No, she wasn't going to freeze. And she wasn't going to die. Not yet.

A2. Jackass. 4S. She had to live for them. At least for the time being. She had to do for 4S what she couldn't do for 9S. And she owed A2 for a lifetime of suffering. She'll pay for her crimes eventually. But not today.

"I will," 2B said. "First light tomorrow, I'll go down and negotiate for a sanctuary."

"What about the rest of us?" A2 asked. "If 2E shows up, something tells me we can't hold her off."

2B alone could probably take the rest of the androids on. But 2E was not only stronger but A2 was still missing her left arm.

"We don't have to wait out here," 4S said. "There's a backdoor in."

"There is?" A2 and 2B asked at the same time.

"Yeah, I use it to get in an out. Before I found the oasis, I spent time here gathering data on the machines here. Let's just forgo the negotiation bit and go in the back way."

The idea was tempting. But there was more to this than just hiding.

"Eventually 2E and The Red Girl will come for us," 2B said. "If we have any hopes of surviving, we need to work together."

"Then we'll go through the backdoor while you go negotiate," A2 suggested. "Best of both worlds."

Yes, that was probably the best solution. That way if 2E does show up they wouldn't be vulnerable. But 2B was still going to negotiate. If they had any hope of surviving this cycle, they needed to unite.

"Alright," 2B agreed. "Then I…" Her voice trailed off. They may have been talking but she was still paying attention to her environment. And she could hear footsteps.

"Someone's coming," 2B said, stepping forward and drawing her sword. She, A2, and 9B got ready. 4S was left in the back and 54B was left holding Jackass.

She could hear the soft whir of machine parts. But the footsteps seemed…off. The pacing of the sound was wrong. Almost like it…like it belonged to something quadrupedal.

And moments later, a giant boar came waddling out of the underbrush, a familiar machine atop a boar the size of a truck.

"Wait…you again? 2B asked. It was a biped wearing a purple hood and cape. The animal-lover? "Stand down," 2B ordered the YorHa. She could tell they were reluctant but they obeyed, nonetheless.

2B put away her sword and walked forward. The animal-lover gracefully leapt off the boar and landed in front of her.

She did pause for a moment, wondering if 2E got to the animal-lover first. Maybe it got attacked by an android that looked like her. Perhaps it now resented her for it. But it seemed the animal-loving machine felt no malice.

"Greetings!" it said cheerfully. This was perhaps the happiest anyone's been for the past three months.

"What are you doing here?" 2B asked. She had seen so many people she knew die that she had just assumed he was among the dead.

"I enjoy walks with the animals," the animal-lover said. "I recognized your voice, so I came over."

"2B?" 54B questioned. But 2B was not concerned at all. Sure, she and the animal-lover got started on the wrong foot. She was investigating a strange shack she and 9S found. Thinking she was the one harming the animals, it came in attacking with its giant boar. At first, she only targeted the attacking machine, trying to spare the boar that was also attacking her. But that boar proved to be more dangerous than she anticipated so she tried to quickly slay the boar and reduce the threat. After injuring the animal, the machine went from hostile to defensive, begging her not to kill the boar. It was only once the fighting stopped they were able to talk out their problems.

"You sure about this?" Jackass asked, her grenade launcher in hand.

"I'm sure," 2B stated firmly. "He doesn't want to fight us. He only cares about his animals."

2B got more than a little concerned when she saw 9B approach the boar. But relaxed when she saw the two begin to play with 9B stroking the boar's snout and the animal licking her hand in turn. 2B couldn't remember the last time she saw a YorHa that wasn't 9S interact with any machine. Probably never.

"What?" 9B asked innocently in response to the uncertain stares from the rest of the group. "If 2B says it's ok then it's ok."

A2 rolled her eyes and put her sword away.

"You seem hurt," the machine-lover observed, reaching up as if wanting to touch 2B's missing eye. "You need repair."

"I know," 2B said, pushing the hand away. When she first lost her eye, she had trouble with her depth perception. But it seems she had adjusted and managed to predict the distance of the hand right. "But I would need a replacement eye which we don't have. Machine ocular tubes won't work."

The animal-lover looked at A2 and Jackass, noting their missing limbs.

"If you find friendly machines, they can repair them," it concluded. 2B didn't deny it as a possibility. She couldn't transplant a machine eye into her but Jackass and A2 could get machine limbs.

"Well, we don't know any," A2 said. "Unless you're volunteering an arm and a leg."

2B held off a scoff. It was A2 being A2 but she doubted A2 would accept a machine arm even if offered one. Jackass might be the only one crazy enough to accept a machine limb just to see what it's like.

"Perhaps you can help us," 2B said. "We seek the aid of the Forest Kingdom. Do you have any relation with the machines there?"

But the animal-lover shook its head.

"The Forest Kingdom tolerates my presence," it said. "It does not seek my destruction nor does it accept me. They are also unkind to the animals. I can vouch for you but I fear that does not guarantee they'll accept you."

Well, that's a shame. She was hoping having a machine vouch for her would improve her relations, but that idea was shelved.

"It's getting late anyways," A2 said. "We wouldn't be able to get there today."

"Perhaps I can help in that regard," the animal-lover said. "You have been of such great help. If you need shelter, you can take shelter at my sanctuary."

2B felt cold. Relocate to HIS house? She still hasn't forgotten. Forgotten that she brings death to everyone around her.

No, she doesn't. She had to remember that it was just a coincidence. The Red Girl or N2 or whatever it's called is killing everyone anyways. No matter what her gut says, no matter what her heart says, no matter what her soul says, she is not a harbinger of wanton death.

She is not 2E.

She is not 2E.

She is not 2E.

Not yet…

She opened her mouth to answer though she pauses when she heard giggling. 9B was playing with the pig.

"Thank you," 2B said. "I appreciate this."

"You sure about this, boss?" 54B asked. "I ain't sure about this."

"Aw, c'mon," 9B insisted, clinging onto the boar's snout like a koala climbing a tree. "I mean, if he keeps company l like this around, he can't be that bad."

54B looked to Jackass for support. But it didn't look like the mad-scientist cared.

"I've had dealings with peaceful machines before," she said. "This mostly comes down to whether or not I trust 2B."

"And do you trust me?" 2B asked. She had attacked Jackass a few days before. Then Jackass was nearly killed by a woman with her face. A woman who was as good as her. The same face. The same personality. The same history. This entire time, their entire trip, and during their entire conversation with the animal-lover, Jackass had her grenade launcher ready. Not ready and aimed at the machine. But aimed at 2B herself.

Jackass didn't answer. But she did put her grenade launcher away.

"I've made my decision, 54B," 2B said. "We'll find sanctuary with the rest of his little critters. Then the first thing tomorrow we go to the castle."

54B clearly didn't like it. But 2B was the commanding officer so they had to obey.

The animal-lover led the androids back to its animal sanctuary hidden behind the wall of roots. 2B led at the front while 9B rode the boar with the animal-loving machine. The rest of the androids trailed behind, letting them lead the way.

With the world going to hell, seeing the animal sanctuary was a blessing and a curse.

"9S…" 2B breathed when she looked upon the animals. Well, at least some part of this world hadn't crumbled down.

They all needed to go into sleep mode for diagnostics and repair. 9B opted to sleep with the animals inside the pen. 54B opted to sleep against the shack, as far away from the animals as possible. And Jackass was content laying on the ground.

2B sighed and took a position against the roots a fair distance from the other androids. She just needed space.

Another day…

Another godforsaken day…

-.-

Another day…

Another godforsaken day…

2E was continuing scrounging the planet, hunting down survivors. She had left the country and gone to a neighboring one in search of more prey. And that's when she ran into them.

"Well, look who it is," she muttered. The wandering couple. The resistance deserters. 2B had tried to help them but their plans were foiled. So she tricked the man into getting his memories wiped so she could reformat him.

2E's fists clenched.

The whole ordeal was all too familiar. She always took pleasure disposing of the woman.

She stepped off the edge of the building and let herself plummet, hitting the road below like an asteroid. The column of dirt and debris kicked up by her impact was like a small building in of itself.

The couple fell over in shock at something falling from the sky. But they recomposed themselves when they saw who it was.

"2B" the woman gasped.

2E knew she shouldn't get angry. She did introduce herself as 2B for the longest time. And despite changes to her outfit like the waist cape, shoulder cape, and gauntlet, she still had the same face. But she still HATED that name. Stop calling her 2B.

"Thank god," the man said.

Technically they weren't the same couple she herself interacted with. But since the memories were all the same they might as well be. And last time they met, she helped them. Not this time.

"You might want to hold off on thanking anyone," 2E said darkly. The two deserters could hear the venom in her tone. And she materialized her blood-soaked sword, pointing it at the woman. Immediately their hopes were dashed as it became painfully obvious she was not here as a friend.

2E began marching forward but the man had something to say.

"Get away from her!" he suddenly yelled, pulling out a shotgun.

Great, shotguns…

They were more annoying than automatic weapons. At least the bullets would come out one at a time for automatic weapons. For shotguns, she'd have to swat the pellets out of the air all at once.

He pulled the trigger but 2E turned her blade sideways to increase the surface area presented. And with a wave of her blade, she swatted away the pellets. And in the blink of an eye, she brought her sword down and cut the gun in half.

No gun. So, the man ran at her and swung a punch.

Seriously? She could swat bullets out of the air. What made him think he could land a punch?

She effortlessly caught the punch with her left hand…then effortlessly crushed his fist. He screamed in agony, falling backwards into the woman's arm who could only gape.

"I see your reformatting was successful," 2E observed, flexing her left fingers. "Your friend was far more passive last I met him. Excellent technique too."

The man was confused by her words. And the woman…she became even more fearful.

"Before I kill you," 2E said. "Are there any sins you wish to confess? Anything you wish to tell the man you claim to love?"

Claim to love.

Not love.

Claim to love.

The woman once said she loved him. But 2B didn't buy it. And if she did love the man, she didn't deserve to. And she definitely didn't deserve the man's love.

"What is she talking about?" the man asked through bated breaths, clinging to his wrist in agony.

"2B, why?!" the woman pleaded.

"Why indeed," 2E sneered. "Why is it so easy for you to wipe reformat him? Reformat his personality. Why is it so easy for you to wipe his memories?" 2E turned her attention to the man. "Did she never tell you? Perhaps you two would like to have a chat?'

The man stepped back from his lover, looking at her for answers. But she could barely speak, tears in her eyes.

"It's not true," he said. "She's lying…right?"

The discovery that the woman you love has been robbing you of your memories. Changing your personality. It's nothing short of evil. Just like everyone else.

"I'm sorry," the woman croaked out hoarsely. She mouthed words as if she was trying to come up with an excuse. But nothing came out. Like she knew all her excuses were nonsense.

"Sorry for killing the man you claim to love?" 2E asked. "Or sorry he now knows?"

The woman shook her head.

"Not kill," she said. "Never kill. I…I love him."

That woman had no right to use that phrase. 2E had no choice when she killed 9S. When she took his memories. Reset his personality. This woman did have a choice.

This was why 2E took pleasure killing her. Just this. Not for justice. Not for something as nonsensical as that. All sentient beings were evil by nature. Justice meant the permanent extinction of all sentient things. Humans. Machines. Androids.

There was no point to justice. She killed because it was her purpose. Not for justice. Justice was as much of a lie as the idea of 2B.

"Love him?" 2E repeated. "Tell me. What about him do you love? You change his memory and personality to whatever suits you. You don't care about who he is or what he thinks. The moment you reformatted his personality, you killed him and replaced him with a new person in the same body. Love him? You don't even care about him."

2E recognized the look of betrayal on his face. No different than the look on 9S's face when he discovers the truth.

"You're right," the woman finally confessed. "Do it. You have the right to."

There it was. She always took great pleasure making the woman come to realize what she did. 2E wondered if there was any other realization for the woman. The same way 2E realized the truth about life.

Didn't matter. If there was any revelation for this woman, it was too late to realize.

The only fighter of the duo was now out of commission. So 2E went over to the woman and raised her sword.

"Wait!" the man said. But 2E was not listening. She brought her sword down and through the woman's neck, taking her head clean off. The man stared on in shock. That woman was his partner. Probably the only partner he ever knew. And now she was dead.

2E flicked the blood off her blade. She then looked at the man. She existed to kill. This meant she would have to kill him eventually. But she didn't take pleasure in it like she did with the woman.

"If you wish to run, I won't stop you," 2E said. But the man wasn't listening. He stared. Then he started shaking. Then, he attacked.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" he screamed, lunging at 2E.

One stroke.

One stroke was all that was needed to slice off his busted arm completely. 2E stepped to the side and let him trip past. She will kill him eventually. But she was giving him the chance to live. Looks like he didn't want to take it though.

The man lunged in again. But 2E plunged her sword into his chest. He gasped in pain as he tripped by again. 2E let go of the sword, letting him stumble past with it stuck in his chest. But she reached out and grasped the blade before tearing it out, the sword now having passed through his entire body.

2E watched the man. Watched as he weakly reached out to the woman's body. Reached out to the woman he loved before he shut down.

2E had to admit she was envious. N2 had shown her how badly 9S hates her. How badly he wanted to not just kill her but desecrate her corpse just to spit on her memory. Sure, some forgave her. But the last iteration of 9S did not.

2E felt envious that every time she encountered this wandering couple…the man always forgave her. Why was that? Was there any correlation to that and when 9S would forgive 2E?

N2 not only saved backups of androids to reset their cycles. It also did it throughout the course of the android's life. It would especially back up the android moments before their death to study further. 2E was going to have to study those records.

You're thinking about how much you want to **** 2B, aren't you?

You're thinking about how much you want to KILL 2B, aren't you?

Another day…

Another godforsaken day…

-.-

Where…was she? The world was gone. It looked like an unrendered simulation. The textures were muddled and there was static covering everything. Hell, there were no textures at all. It was all just a single color.

"Hacking space?" 2B breathed. She looked around. Not as a packet of personal data but as herself. Her hacking space was damaged. Fractured. Broken. As it had been for years. Gnarly vines grew like weeds out of the ground, twisting and ensnaring everything. Vicious thorns on those vines threatened anyone that got close. But more than that. The hacking space itself was cracked like glass. Like this whole reality was a few moments from shattering.

Despite being in hacking space, 2B could also sense what was happening outside of it. She could sense herself in some sort of…container. Prison cell? Living quarters. Whatever it was, it housed her data. She could see out of it.

She could see the top of the Tower. She could see two figures laying in pools of blood, swords through their guts.

A2 and…

"9S," 2B breathed. She could feel his data inside an identical capsule. He was connected to this container. This ark. She could feel Adam talking to him.

So much pain.

So much torture.

It was agony watching him suffer like that.

"Will you come with us?" Adam asks. There was no malice in his voice. Simply an earnest question. An earnest offer.

2B couldn't describe her joy. After everything that's happened, they could finally have some sort of happy ending. After all the terrible things that have come out, something good could come of it.

She had a lifetime of evil to make up for but maybe she can spend the next eternity with 9S. Was a happy ending possible from this parade of tragedy?

"I'll stay."

Those words echo in 2B's mind. It felt like the glass table that held the joy she felt shattered. And her world shattered with it. What? No, no, no. That can't be right. 9S. You have to come.

2B ran forward, trying to escape the container that held her. She could see what was happening before her but she could not stop it. A prisoner of her own mind.

"9S!" she screamed, running faster and faster. Running so fast that if she had a body her legs would fail from the strain. Faster and faster. She had to get to 9S. She had to tell him to live. Live, damn it. No matter what happened, live.

It didn't matter how many machines he murdered in cold blood. It didn't matter if he secretly wanted to kill her. It didn't matter that he killed A2. If he needed redemption, he can find another way. But she had to get to him. She had to tell him to keep going. To keep living.

But no matter how fast she ran, she could not get any closer to 9S. At least…not before it was too late.

She screamed. Screamed as loudly as she could. She hoped he could hear her. And he could. But not before the connection was severed. And not before she got his final words.

"Ah…so that's where you were…2B…"

2B screamed as she ark that held her data was launched. She screamed and screamed as she watched his body vanish into the clouds of dust beneath her.

She screamed and begged. Begged him to come. She begged and screamed more.

She screamed and screamed until she bolted up from the floor, grasping at the air. She looked around. She was back in the forest. She could feel the humidity and heat beating her body. She could feel the condensation gather on her skin and clothes. But that wasn't the only water. She reached up to wipe tears from her eyes.

"Shit!" she cursed, leaning back and covering her face with her right hand. Again. Always nightmares. Ever since the fall of the Bunker, her nights were plagued by nightmares. She never had a good night. When the Bunker burned, her nightmares were of her murdering those she loved on her way out. Of murdering 6O, beheading her best friend. Of murdering 9S, unable to save him no matter what she did.

After she learned the truth, her nightmares were…different. Worse even. She was still killing 6O. But now she felt joy from it. She still killed 9S. But now she was relishing the act. And the memories and data forced into her brain by N2 or the Red Girl or whatever the hell it was called…she was having nightmares of that as well. Of the previous cycles. It didn't matter if she lived or not, 9S always suffers thanks to her.

What she saw was the first cycle. The first iteration of 9S. One where he and A2 killed each other. The first of an infinite cycle of suffering.

That seemed to happen a lot. The last survivor of YorHa and A2 killing each other. If 9S lives then he and A2 kill each other. But she lives, she and A2 kill each other. In fact, that was almost inevitable. There were some cases where A2 manages to save 9S…for a limited amount of time. Then 9S would erect one more memorial to her…then throw himself off a cliff in grief.

And if 2B lives, she and A2 kill each other. Almost without fail. They were trapped in their own cycles because they kept making the same damn choices.

The first 2B was also out there somewhere. Amongst the stars. Probably living in constant and perpetual torture. The probability of finding a habitable planet was impossible enough. But the possibility of finding one by drifting aimlessly through space? It would be hell. Never ending torture.

Was there seriously no happy ending? Was saving everyone too much to ask?

2B her hand to her face. It was ok. That just a nightmare. Everything was ok.

…

No…

No, it wasn't ok. SHE wasn't ok. She was about as far from ok as can be. She didn't want to say it, but she was grateful for A2. If A2 simply evaporated after denying 2B's request to kill her…she didn't know what she'd do. She'd probably have become 2E. A2 was probably what stopped her.

But that thought was equally terrifying. She was that close to becoming 2E. If 2B ever lost her purpose, her reason, if she ever lost everything again…

She had to stay together. Stay strong. 54B. 9B. 4S. Jackass. They needed a cool head to lead them. And 2B had to be that cool head. She already had the reputation. But the truth was she was about as far from collected as can be. She was in pieces. Way beyond simply being on the verge of falling apart. She IS already apart, simply cobbling herself together in some vain attempt to appear strong. She already had practice with 9S, trying to appear calm and cool whenever she arrives when inside she was screaming in agony. And here she was again. Pretending to be the collected warrior.

But how long can she keep herself together? How long can she continue lying to herself? And what will happen when she can't? Will she just shut down, like she would have on top of the Tower? Or is 2E the final result?

Then there was 9S. According to the documents the Red Girl would back up the androids right before they died. Replaced these back ups later on but would still back them up to study them for more evolutionary data. That meant they kept a copy of the fist 2B, the one screaming inside the ark as it left. They kept a copy of the fist 9S, the one that stayed behind. This backed up data have probably long been overwritten but it turned her stomach to think that they still existed to continue suffering in some way.

2B got to her feet, glancing back at the slumbering YorHa and the animal-lover. They were all asleep. It was only the animals that were awake, and they were all staring at her. Probably wondering what all the commotion was.

2B had slept further away from the group, knowing she was going to be plagued by nightmares. But it seemed loud enough for the animals to take note. Well, after what she saw, she wasn't going back to sleep. She didn't have the heart to see that again.

So, she wandered away from the camp. She won't go far. Just to the edge. She needed to clear her head.

As she approached the roots at the entrance, she could hear what was best described as angry mumbling.

What the?

2B cautiously went forth, wondering who it could be. She recounted the YorHa she saw back at camp. 54B. 9B. 4S. Jackass. The Animal-lover

But…A2 was missing. Was that A2 making that noise?

-.-

The forest. It was hot. It was humid. It was miserable.

A2 had been skulking around this shit hole for days. Came here after she heard rumors of the machines building some sort of empire. Had a hierarchy and everything. So she figured there was no better way to stick it to the murder bots than to topple their precious empire.

She was just tearing apart machines when she heard the name.

Forest King.

So, the machine hierarchy was that thorough that they even had a king. Perfect. Perfect way to topple this empire.

She expected a grand machine. A goliath perhaps. She'll be disappointed if it turns out to be a stubby.

Sneaking through the castle was difficult. She was but one. And the machines here numbered in the thousands. Even when she was just killing, she was careful not to get into a fight with too large a group. If the kingdom bears down on her she'll have to run fast. But, it seemed luck was on her side today.

Someone had beaten her here. Got the entire castle riled up. Whoever this was, they were powerful. Was tearing through the machines like paper. Perfect distraction to go against the current of running machines. And that's how she found it.

There it was. Miserable little shit. She was even more disappointed by this so called Forest King. A machine in a cradle. A thing that looked and sounded like a baby. But it wasn't one. It was a cold mindless and heartless abomination. If anything, it pissed her off that they made it look like a baby. Some vain attempt to gain sympathy.

Even if it was a baby, it still deserved to die.

A2 leapt off the tree, her sword out as she plunged her weapon into the baby.

"Gotcha," A2 sneered. She raised her sword to admire her kill. But when she beheld her trophy, her body turned cold. It wasn't a baby at all. It was a small stubby…with glasses drawn on its face.

"Why, Big Sis?" the stubby droned before it powered down, the lights in its eyes dying.

"No…" A2 whimpered, dropping her sword. A small stubby with glasses drawn on his face. The child from Pascal's village. THAT child from Pascal's village. No, no, no. What was it doing here?

Did she kill the last survivor of Pascal's Village? What has she done?!

A2 bolted upright. She looked around to make sure she wasn't back in the castle. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief when she saw nothing but the roots of the giant trees around her.

It didn't happen. It was all ok.

The roots behind her felt cold as she leaned back on it. It was then she noticed 2B was awake and staring at her side.

"What're you looking at?" A2 snarked.

"So how long have you had them?" 2B asked. "The new nightmares."

A2 didn't like 2B prodding her like this. But she felt like she owed 2B an answer.

"Ever since Pascal's Village," A2 answered. She had picked up on 2B asking about the 'new' nightmares. 2B probably figured out she's had nightmares ever since she saw her friend blow herself up, then find out she was designed to die. She's had nightmares for years. But lately, they've been different.

"Fact is, killing machines' never been the same since the Tin Man," A2 confessed. Before this whole thing, back when she was hunting 2B, she interrogated a survivor of 2B's rampage. A2 was ready to kill the survivor once she gleaned all the information she could. But during the entire interrogation, all she could hear as Pascal. And when it came time to execute him…she couldn't. "I think I'm beginning to understand what I did." A2 scoffed as she thought about it. The dots connected. She managed to stop herself from killing 2B because she realized exactly what 2B was: a kindred spirit. It seemed in more ways than she realized.

"I guess I went 2E before you went 2E," A2 observed.

"What are you talking about?"

"After what happened, I just wandered around killing. That's all I did. That's all I aimed to do. Kill. Executioners. Machines. I kill them all. Didn't really think about the why. I wanted to kill them so I killed them."

"Well, I guess we're both broken," 2B sighed with a slight chuckle, sitting down and leaning against the opposite root.

"I guess so," A2 laughed. "2-Broken and Craze-2. Sorry, can't think of anything that starts with A."

They both laughed at this. It was only once they finished laughing A2 realized it: they laughed. When was the last time she laughed at all? When was the last time 2B laughed at all?

A2 leaned her head back and sighed.

The Forest King assassination wasn't the only thing that happened that day. This was also the first time she met 2B. Sure, she's fought and killed other 2E models before. But this was a different person. And even then, she was awed by how advanced this model was.

First encounter.

Then worst enemies.

Now here they were…

It really was hilarious.

She knew what she had to do. Yet parts of her mind still fought against it. She didn't even know if her teammates would support this. Working alongside an executioner. Worse even. Trying to save an executioner.

She could see them. Right now. They stood at the edge of the forest like phantoms. Number 4. Number 16. Number 21. They watched her. She could see their faces but not their expressions. Once again, data on their expressions was deleted. And she was left wondering if they were staring at her with looks of approval or disappointment.

It was the same back in Pascal's village.

Was she honoring or insulting their memories by doing this?

"Hey," 2B said. "I'm surprised you changed your mind and backed me up."

"Better the Forest Kingdom than the middle of nowhere, I guess," A2 said dismissively. "Still don't like putting our faith in machines but, not much of an alternative. Who knows? Maybe they'll give 2E a fight if she ever comes for us."

"Speaking of which…why didn't you tell them the truth?"

"Which truth?" A2 asked. "The truth about you and 2E. Or the truth that we were all built to die? We're up shit creek already. Last thing we need is to drop more bad news on them. They know an android that looks like you is on the prowl. They don't need to know where she comes from. And they especially don't need to know they weren't supposed to last more than a few years."

She and 2B had learned plenty of painful truths in their hunt for each other. Truths that nearly destroyed them. The extinction of humanity was enough. They didn't need to know about 2E for the Red Girl's cycles.

"I don't like it."

"We don't have a choice. You saw how badly they took the truth about humans. You wanna tell them you might go psycho on us? You wanna tell them they were born to die?"

"I am not fond of keeping secrets. Tell me, A2. What will you do if they ever discover the truth about me? What will you do to keep it all a secret?"

Ah, so that's what it was. It was her own pain after learning the truth. Learning why she's had to kill 9S. Killing someone she loved to cover up a painful truth.

"I'm not going to kill them," A2 assured in annoyance. She wasn't crazy…anymore. She wasn't just going to cut them down for discovering the truth.

"And their memories?" 2B asked. "You wipe their memories, you as good as killed them. You started your own cycle with Pascal."

Again with this subject? Ok, 2B was scared of another 9S-esque cycle. And they disagreed on what constituted that cycle. But arguing about it more wasn't going help them reach a conclusion.

"Even you agree that they won't be able to handle the truth," A2 pointed out. "You've assumed the role as leader. You wanna make your group fall apart on day one?"

"And can you handle the truth?" 2B asked.

"Excuse me?"

"As I mentioned. Can you handle the truth about all this? Let's face it. We're both pretending. Pretending we're ok. You especially, pretending you don't still want me dead."

This again? She slipped up once. Just once. But they had bigger things to worry about.

"Face it, A2," 2B said. "Part of you still hates me. Part of you will ALWAYS hate me. Will always want me dead."

No, she was not going down this rabbit hole again. Yes, 2B was right. Part of her still wanted to plunge a sword into that executioner. But in A2's experience, not thinking about things was an excellent way to overcome something.

"Look, if you want to do this, can we do it another day?" A2 sighed in annoyance. "We have a lot of shit to do tomorrow, and we already know everything so we can plan it all out between the two of us."

A2 took 2B's silence as reluctant agreement. But it seemed 2B had one more thing to add.

"Not everything," 2B said.

"What are you talking about now?"

"Did you know our black boxes are modified machine cores?"

Wait…

…

…WHAT?!

A2 bolted up when she heard that. She could hardly believe her ears. YorHa black boxes were modified machine cores? She shared flesh with her enemy? Her heart was the same as those damnable machines?

2B smirked at A2's reaction. After what 2B's gone through, she probably didn't give a damn if they were all part machine. But for A2…she's hated machines for just about all her life.

What the hell was she supposed to do with this information?

'You were wrong about us machines. Maybe you're wrong about 2B.'

-.-

Everyone was up early the next morning. There was a lot to do, and they weren't sure how much time they had to do it.

4S would take the rest of the group to sneak in the back while she and the animal-lover would go through the front and negotiate. The machine mounted its boar and followed her to the Forest Kingdom.

2B felt strange looking at the castle in the distance. Last time she was here, she was a force of nature clearing out machines attacking her, inadvertently clearing a path for A2 to kill their king. A mere child.

It was her own fault The Forest Kingdom was without a king.

But that wasn't what dominated 2B's mind. What dominated her mind was that her last interaction with anything regarding the Forest Kingdom was promising their knight she would serve them A2's severed head. Now she was returning to the Forest Kingdom with a very much alive A2.

Not just alive.

2B didn't intend on letting anything happen to A2. Which meant she couldn't let an entire kingdom of angry machines hurt A2. Granted, A2 could probably hold them off long enough to escape, even with one arm. But she was hoping to stop the bloodshed altogether.

It wasn't just A2 either. She had three more YorHa and a resistance fighter with them. Androids and machines. The two had been in conflict for so long hatred was practically engrained into them.

2B held no hatred for them. Mostly because she couldn't bring herself to. She had no right. Not when she was a monster. Not when she could betray and kill the one person closest to her. The person who trusted her most.

But just because she didn't hate them didn't mean the others wouldn't hate them. She didn't know for sure A2 overcame her hate. And the rest of the androids in their band had no experience with machines beyond killing them. And even if she could magically make them understand, there was still an entire kingdom of machines that hated androids.

This was going to be hard to explain.

"Stay here," 2B said softly to the animal-lover. "I don't know if a fight will break out. Can you see the courtyard from this distance?"

"I can," the animal-lover replied.

"Alright. Then come over if it looks like I managed to talk things out."

The animal-lover nodded, petting its board and letting 2B go forth alone. There were machine patrols everywhere and she didn't want to risk an ambush. But, she managed to reach the castle without issue.

2B stepped into the courtyard. This place just brought heartache. Behind her was a door that led to Pascal's village. And in front of her was the castle where she rampaged like a force of nature. Frankly, she was surprised they didn't want her head as well. But they seemed more focused on killing A2 than anything else. Maybe no one saw her kill all their leaders. Or maybe they assumed it was also A2's handiwork.

2B also noticed something else. Dead machines. Lots of them. Not just Forest Kingdom warriors either. There were other run-of-the-mill machines. Which meant The Red Girl was sending machines to attack the Forest Kingdom.

She had to applaud the machines here. They were certainly the toughest she's ever faced. They were armored and they were organized. So, she was not surprised that there were fewer Forest Kingdom warriors among the dead. It was mostly normal machines.

The drawbridge was pulled as was expected. It didn't matter. She could just use a nearby collapsed building as a bridge. But she approached the edge of the cliff, waving her arms, hoping someone would see her.

She had to make sure they could tell she was not here to fight.

They must be watching. She could hear the creaking of chains as the drawbridge began to lower. She stepped back as the massive wooden board came down, touching down and forming a path to the castle.

That one knight must've told them about her proposal. But this did complicated things since she was going back on her own word.

She did not draw her sword as she crossed the bridge. Her executioner's instincts were demanding she draw her sword and prepare for a potential fight. But for this to work she would have to show she is not a threat.

The idea was absurd. Machines working with androids. Machines and androids are caught in the same cycle of violence. Machines kill androids in retribution. Androids kill machines in retribution. Until one side is exterminated, this cycle would continue. Yet here she was, trying to defy everything and form peace.

There were two goliaths at the castle entrance. Not the best decision. Goliaths were difficult to kill the sense it took forever to kill one. But they were easy to survive.

"Don't let them take anything else from us!" one of the goliaths suddenly roared. They flipped over, their arms becoming legs before running at her.

What the hell? Why would they lower the bridge if they didn't want her to come in? Did communication within their ranks break down that badly that their subordinates didn't know the will of their new leaders?

"Wait!" 2B shouted but the two knights didn't listen. She leapt past as they stomped down. They continued chasing her, their massive legs sweeping across the landscape. They crushed the ground with each stomp, trying to flatten her like a bug.

She needed them to stop and listen. Hopefully someone would call them off.

Wait, 4S said there was no leader anymore. That the kingdom was fracturing into groups. So there was no single leader. But there would be some chain of command. These two goliaths were proof of that. Whoever lowered the bridge wasn't connected to the two goliaths at the front.

She needed to talk to someone near the top. She could just run past them and force her way into the castle. But that didn't mean the machines inside the castle won't attack her. She had to get these two to stop attacking her first. But how?

Last time she did this, she got the machine knight to talk by disarming it then refusing to kill it. Maybe she can do the same here.

Right. It was the same with the animal-lover. When they're talking, they weren't fighting. So she just needed them to talk.

No more running then.

The goliaths had EM shields around their legs which would wreak havoc on her systems if she touched them. 2B drew her sword and flung it at the legs of the goliaths. The sword sliced up the leg, damaging the EM generator before flying back to 2B. She danced around the goliaths, doing it again and taking down another EM shield.

Again and again she did it, shutting off the last two EM shields around the legs of the other goliath.

What the hell was she doing? These machines wanted revenge for what happened to their kingdom. Events that were in part her fault. She cleared a path for A2 to reach the king. And she slaughtered the regents. It was her fault this place was crumbling. And here she was avoiding justice.

No, she can't think like that. She had to take care of 4S. And she owed A2. She had to do this.

2B leapt into the air and grabbed the leg of a goliath. She got to work cutting at the thick metal beam connecting it to the body. She was usually fighting to kill these things. This would be the first time she's fighting to incapacitate it.

She had to leap off when it prepared to stomp its leg to force her off.

Damn these things were stubborn.

"Stop this!" 2B called out, attacking the other goliath. This was the pinnacle of tedium. She went back and forth between the goliaths, trying to cut off their legs.

Finally! She got one. It could not balance on one leg so it began to fall over. But before it did, it immediately flipped over, returning to the standard mode.

For the love of…

Now it was missing an army instead of a leg. Which meant she had to cut off the smaller limb as well. Then she'd have to do the same to the other goliath.

Well, she did desire punishment. Perhaps this task could be some form of punishment.

-.-

A2 let 4S take the lead this time. He knew the secret way in that probably beat scaling the damn castle walls. He led them deeper into the forest, taking them around back. They kept low but she could see Forest Kingdom flyers patrol in the distance. And there were sentinels patrolling the top of the wall.

"Here," 4S said, pulling back some vines. Geez, no wonder no one knew about this place. How did 4S even figure out about this?

The secret passage was between the roots of a giant tree. They made a rough hallway that breached one of the castle walls. And vines covered the entrance to it.

"Pod," A2 said. "Are there any signals nearby?"

"Negative," 153 reported. "No signals detected."

Ok, so she didn't have to worry about 2E watching them sneak in.

"Go," A2 hissed at the party. 4S went in first followed by 54B. Then 9B helped Jackass limp in. A2 stayed by the entrance, scanning the area one last time before crawling in after them.

Following behind was slow. This passage made of tree roots was rough and uneven. So 9B and Jackass took quite a while moving through. After what felt like forever, they finally reached the other side.

The tree roots led to some sort of basement. It was a simple brick basement with wooden beams forming the ceiling and probably the floor of the room above. There was no light. They could only see thanks to their in-built night vision.

4S gestured for them to hold position while he went ahead. He went to the stairs and carefully went up them, opening the door a crack and peeking out.

Not long after, he came walking back down.

"Looks like we're clear," he said. "This is where I've set up shop."

A2 looked around the barren room. She could see some cloth set in a manner that looked like a makeshift bed. There wasn't much in this room at all. Just a single crate. Probably why 4S felt safe here. Not many supplies meant it was unlikely the machines would come here to get them. And the dust was proof no one's disturbed this place.

"Alright, we'll setup here," A2 declared.

-.-

Finally, the final goliath fell over. 2B had finally cut off one of each limb on both goliaths and now they were just on the floor.

"Enough!" she yelled. "I'm not here to fight.

Those two guards were a pain. But maybe they could now negotiate.

But that dream was quickly shattered when she saw an EMP released from one of the goliaths. She didn't even have time to curse. She turned around and broke into a sprint, rushing to get out of range. The Forest Kingdom had those machines too?

She hadn't seen these types of machines in months. Ever since…

Every since…

'Let my guard down. EMP hit me point blank.'

'I need to protect 2B.'

'Is this…a wide area virus?'

No. No, no, no, she knew what was to come. Knew what the future held. Knew that in less than an hour 9S dies. She had to do something, had to try to change history somehow.

"9S!" she cried out, stopping and turning around. But what she saw was not 9S. Because 9S was already dead. She was only distracted for a brief moment, but it was enough for the EMP to catch up to her.

She felt something scalding hot touch her body, her limbs immediately dying upon impact. It felt like her brain had committed suicide in her skull. She gripped her head and let out a scream before falling over. It was as if every synthetic fiber in her body had come to life just to scream out in agony.

2B was left sprawled out on the ground, grasping at the bricks. She could see machine knights step out of the castle.

Was this it? Was this how it ends?

She couldn't move but she could feel something else quickly running up to her. She couldn't believe her eyes when she saw a giant board leap over her and land between her and the Forest knights.

Damn it. It was the animal-lover. What was he doing? He was going to get himself killed. She was going to end up murdering him in less than an hour.

Stop it. The mind and her heart were in conflict again. She knew it wasn't 9S. She knew this wasn't the descent. And she knew this was a completely different situation. But seeing someone leap in to save her while she was down from an EMP…her heart was screaming at her to try to change history.

"STAY AWAY FROM HER!" the animal-lover declared, brandishing his spear.

All she could do was reboot her systems. But the last thing she saw before it all went black was a small squad of well dressed machines step out.

-.-

It was as A2 suspected. 9B was actually of a fairly high rank. Probably would've gotten an ass beating if Command had ever found out she had gotten higher than a kite off of E-drugs.

But it meant A2 cooperated with 9B as they prepared to make the room their hideout until further notice. 4S went through their supplies while A2 and 9B carefully scoped out the adjacent rooms. This place really was in a corner the machines never bothered with. Even the adjacent rooms looked like they hadn't been touched in, well, forever.

"You have that look on your face," 9B remarked, her voice annoyingly high pitched.

"What looked?" A2 grunted.

"That 'I'm thinking real hard' look."

Interesting way to put it. But, 9B wasn't wrong. A2 still didn't like 2B's plan. Sure, she agreed they needed help. But the probability of the machines agreeing to this might as well be impossible. They needed more.

And frankly, 4S's report about the Forest Kingdom was bothering her way more than it should. She left them without a leader and now it was falling apart like a castle of glass.

"2B's plan…" A2 said. "It needs work." To say the least.

"Maybe, but 2B's our commanding officer."

A2 hated this mindset. Mindless loyalty and obedience. She was the same way. Then her 'commanding officer' fed them to an army of machines and rigged them all to explode.

No, 2B wasn't the same way. She couldn't get dragged back into that mindset. Regardless, 2B's plan had holes. It was better than nothing. Yeah, having the Forest Kingdom on their side would be great. But they needed something better than negotiations.

A2 closed the door to the closet she was checking. She stopped to think about their situation. Then think about their next step.

And…she had to think about the Forest machines.

"I'm going to make it right, Pascal," A2 said. "I'm going to make it right…for you."

"What'd you say?" 9B asked from across the hall.

Her decision was made. She had a new plan. A plan 2B would undoubtedly oppose but she had one and she need to talk to 2B about it.

"We haven't heard from 2B in a while," A2 said. "I'm going out looking for her."

-.-

Commencing System Check

Memory Unit: Green

Initializing Tactics Log

Loading Geographic Data

Vitals: Yellow

Remaining MP: 100%

Black Box Temperature: Above Normal

Black Box Internal Pressure: Above Normal

Unable To Activate IFF

Activating FCS

Unable To Initialize Pod Connection

Launching DBU Setup

Activating Inertia Control System

Activating Environmental Sensors

Equipment Authentication: Complete

Equipment Status: Green

All Systems Green

Reactivating…

'Good morning, 2B.'

2B weakly opened her eyes. She could tell from her internal clock that the reboot took longer than she wanted. But the other thing she noticed was a white box floating in front of her face.

"Pod?" she asked weakly. She reached out to touch her faithful companion. But her fingers went through the box. And the box vanished entirely.

A single tear flowed out of the corner of her eye. Pod 042 was dead. Just another one of her victims. No more hearing that phrase whenever she rebooted.

Rolling onto her back, she looked around. She wasn't outside the Forest Castle. She was inside what looked like a prison cell. The walls were made of thick stone and a set of metal bars blocked her from the hall.

2B groaned as she picked herself off the stone floor. Not one of her better plans for sure. Though, there was something comforting about being in a cell. It felt like it was where she belonged anyways.

The machines had taken the time to cuff her hands behind her back. They had taken some titanium and molded it around her wrists.

It was certainly odd. She's never seen any machines take prisoners before. Especially with handcuffs. Was this a Forest Kingdom invention? A new machine invention? Or an old one she didn't know about.

Either way, it was pointless.

With a grunt, she forced her wrists apart and snapped the cuffs in half. Getting the titanium bonds off her wrist was a bit harder since her fingers weren't as strong but after a bit of fiddling, she tore them off as well.

She walked over to the bars and gently touched them with her fingers. This castle was built by the humans but it was clear the Forest machines had made renovations in the past. The stone was sturdier and the metals stronger. But not strong enough to hold a YorHa. Her cuffs couldn't hold her. Her cell couldn't hold her. And she still had access to her weapons. If she wanted, she could bend the bars and escape.

But she didn't. She had to show the machines she was willing to play ball.

Ok, so she'll stay here.

Until when?

What about the animal-lover? Did she get him killed?

Her question was answered when she heard the snort of a board and hooves on stone. 2B got up, spotting the animal-lover riding his faithful companion through the hall.

She let out a heavy sigh of relief. He lived.

"2B," he greeted.

"Hey, good to see you ok," she said.

"Likewise. I apologize, but I could not stay distant. You may have been in danger. And she wished to make sure you were safe."

She?

The boar squealed, acknowledging the animal-lover's words.

Right, the pig. 2B never exactly bothered to look down when it came to those critters.

"They obviously chose to keep me alive," she said.

"Yes, I managed to convince them you meant no harm," animal-lover explained. "I know of your strength. It is not too late to flee."

"I can't," 2B said. "I need to see this through. There's something out there, and we need to work together if we want a chance of surviving it."

The two of them could hear heavy footsteps in the distance. It was the unmistakable sound of machine bipeds. Sure enough, to small bipeds came marching in, spears in hand.

"Our Lords will see our guest now," one of the machines said.

"Guest…" 2B repeated. They had tried to cuff her and tossed her into a cell. Granted this was a very poor way to keep a prisoner. She could break out of her cell any time she wanted, and she still had her weapons.

"Our apologies," one of the knights said. "There was some miscommunication as what how we should treat you."

There was a click as they opened the cell door. There were androids that specialized in diplomacy and negotiations. She was not one of them. E-type, B-type, no matter how one looks at it, diplomacy was the last thing she was good at. But she still had to go through with this.

-.-

When A2 heard nothing about 2B, A2 figured something had gone wrong. What the hell was 2B thinking negotiating with the Forest machines? Them being machines aside, they'd be less than pleased about their king and all their local leaders being killed by androids.

Pod 153 was very useful sneaking around the castle. It let her avoid all the patrols. After several hours of wandering, she finally found 2B being escorted through the hall by…two bipeds. And her hands were handcuffed?

What was going on?

She's seen machines take prisoners before. But it was resistance androids being sent to death camps. Machines taking a YorHa prisoner was…unheard of.

A2 followed them to the basement of the castle, confused by what she was witnessing. She hid while she listened to a cell door open, close, the two bipeds walk away, then the snapping of metal.

She stepped out, watching 2B massage her wrists as she kicked away what looked like the pieces of a third set of cuffs.

"So, while we're hiding, what the hell have you been doing?" A2 asked, stepping out of the shadows. 2B seemed less than amused by A2's remark.

"If you are asking, then no," 2B said. "Negotiations are not going well. I've informed them of the situation including N2. They agree we face imminent destruction. But despite facing imminent destruction, they are more keen fighting each other. They rather die than work with those they normally oppose even if their own so-called allies."

A2 scoffed at this statement.

"They're acting like humans," she remarked.

"Unfortunately for us, it also means that even if they do grant us safe haven, it may be too late."

So negotiations with the machines was not going well. Granted it was going badly in a different direction than she anticipated but it was still going badly.

"Oh, man, if we only saw that coming."

2B was especially unamused by A2's attitude. But A2 had held her tongue for the longest time. The others looked to 2B for leadership and questioning it in front of them meant undermining that leadership. Still, she was getting all this off her chest.

"We could not remain out in the open," 2B said. "2E and the Red Girl will need to kill us to reset for the next cycle. If we want to survive we need help. Relocating to the Forest Kingdom was our only course of action."

"Well, no offense, 2B, but your plan has more than a few holes," A2 snorted.

"Unfortunately, there's not much we can do about that. We cannot simply force them to accept our terms."

"Maybe we can," A2 said. This was it. Time to unveil the plan she knows 2B will not approve of. "They'd give anything for the Forest King, right? Guy like that, we can use him on our side."

"A2, you do remember the Forest King is dead?" 2B asked flatly. "You lack clothes, not common sense. You were the one who killed their Forest King?"

"Yeah, so let's bring him back!" A2 said.

A2 knew that 2B wouldn't approve. But 2B was acting like A2 just told a bad joke.

"And what manner of black magic do you intend to use to bring back the dead?" 2B asked. 2B's stern tone made it sound like she was taking her plan seriously. But her choice of words and her less than amused expression told A2 that 2B wanted to put her head through a wall in disbelief.

"We have 4S. If we can find the Forest King maybe we can repair him."

"You mean AFTER you killed him," 2B reminded her. "To be clear, what you're suggesting is little more than raising the dead. You are not repairing a damaged machine. You are bringing it back to life. You killed the Forest King almost six months ago."

A2 knew 2B would be against this but her patience was running out. So, they couldn't fix him. So what? That just left them back at square one.

"Hey, just to be clear," A2 said. "I'm guessing you want to stay in that cell for negotiations and whatever bullshit. I could take 4S and do this without you. But I thought we should probably collaborate and discuss before we make our next move."

2B staying in that cell was stupid anyways. It was as good as not keeping her in a cell at all. She could break out with a sneeze. The only reason A2 could possibly think of for 2B being in there was because she still wanted negotiations to work and thought that staying put in a cell that couldn't hold her was a good faith gesture.

"If they discover you desecrating the king's body, it'll set back ALL my negotiations," 2B reminded. "We can try AFTER negotiations fail but I can't let you jeopardize this."

"DAMN IT, 2B!" A2 snapped, quickly hushing herself when she realized she shouted that a bit too loudly. "Even if they agree to take us in, without a leader this place is going to hell in a handbasket. They NEED leadership. We NEED to bring their king back. I won't…"

A2 stopped herself at the last moment but it was too late. It was an emotional outburst. A purely emotional outburst. And A2 realized she said more than she should have.

"This isn't just about seeking sanctuary here," 2B realized. "What else are you after?"

Damn it. She really needed to get her temper under control. Well, cat was out of the bag. Might as well let 2B know how she really felt.

"I won't let what happened to Pascal's Village happen here," A2 said. "This is my mistake. I will undo it."

"You can't undo your mistake," 2B said. "You murdered the Forest King. I fear that is a mistake you will have to live with. You can never fix it."

"Maybe. Maybe I can't undo it. But I can make right from here on out."

Damn it. She should've just gone for it. Now that she was thinking about it, she could only think about all the ways it will go wrong. But it didn't matter if it was a one in a million chance of succeeding. The fact that it was one in anything meant she had to try.

"I made a mistake when it came to the machines," A2 admitted. "I made a mistake when it came to Pascal. I nearly made a mistake when it came to you. I'm not making another mistake."

Her hatred and rampage brought her neither her any joy nor satisfaction. If anything, she made costly mistakes thanks to it. And now she was going to make up for it.

2B was quiet for a bit, obviously frustrated by all this.

"Fine," she relented. "But keep a low profile. I will continue negotiations but see if you can repair the Forest King."

It wasn't the most enthusiastic agreement but she'll take it.

"Alert," 153 said. "Hostile signals approaching."

They both looked over when they heard heavy machine footsteps approaching. A2 couldn't stay there. She quickly dove behind a stack of boxes, vanishing from sight. She heard what sounded like bipeds walking up to 2B's cell.

"The Lords will see you now," a machine voice said. A2 heard the cell doors open followed by the footsteps of them leaving the room.

A2 gave it another ten minutes before she came out of hiding. Having Pod and its mapping and sensors was proving useful. She could keep an eye on machine patrols and avoid them. Now that she was up and about, she quickly left the basement to regroup with the others.

A2 sighed and rolled her shoulders once she was back in the empty sections of the castle. She could see 4S waiting for her. She had told 4S the plan before she went to find 2B. They needed as much time as possible to get this done.

"What'd she say?" 4S asked.

"Well, she gave us permission to try," A2 said. "But we don't exactly have her blessing."

Frankly it was good that this was 2B's answer. If 2B gave a straight 'no', 4S would probably insist on obeying. Whether that's from military obedience or hero-worshipping, she wouldn't know. But 4S wouldn't be disobeying orders now.

"Well, if 2B isn't opposed to it then I guess I'm game," 4S shrugged. "Besides, if you think it'll work, then it probably will. So, where is the kid now?"

Kid…

She really hated hearing the baby referred to as that. Thinking about machine kids reminded her of Pascal's Village. Their kids. Her kids.

"It wouldn't be in the cradle," A2 said. "No point keeping a corpse there. It might be buried with their other king."

"You mean that mossy goliath in the back?"

That sounded about right. According to 9S's memories, he and 2B found the goliath after receiving a tip from one of the machines in Pascal's village.

A2 had been stalking the place back when she was looking for what machines to kill. She had come here to wreak as much havoc as possible with as little effort as possible. Now she was putting in all her effort to undo her mistake.

A2 and 4S went to the back of the castle. 4S may have been the infiltration specialist but she knew her way around as well. Especially since she's come here before. It wasn't hard to find the courtyard with the remains of the first Forest King. 2B had also helped unlocking and opening the doors to his crypt.

Last time she was here, she merely observed from a distance. The only thing around here was a corpse and an unnaturally tenacious machine. No point in killing a single pain in the ass when it wouldn't get her anything so she had left it alone. It seemed 2B had killed that machine as well.

Yeah, A2 was going to conveniently not mention that to 2B. 2B's already been through enough and didn't need to be reminded about killing a machine whose only purpose was to guard the tomb of his sovereign.

"There," A2 said, pointing at a mound before the old Forest King. The Forest machines had put them together. She and 4S approached the mound, getting on the hands and knees and shoveling away the dirt. It wasn't long before they found the casket. It was a casket made for a baby so it was tiny and easily picked up. A2 set it on the ground nearby before prying off the wooden lid.

There it was. An egg-shaped machine with two large eyes and a strange button that looked like the outside of a pacifier. A2 could see the vicious hole left by her sword.

Seeing a small machine with a hole like that just reminded her of Pascal's kids. How they impaled themselves in terror.

She really screwed up this time.

"So, what's the verdict?" A2 asked as 4S began his scans. A golden orb formed in the palm of his right hand. He waved the orb above the baby's corpse, taking his scans.

"Yeah, sorry," 4S sighed. "The core's too damaged. I can't just repair it."

"Maybe you can download the data," A2 proposed. "If we can get a copy of his memory and personality data we can find him another body."

"No good," 4S said. "The drives are too badly damaged. And they haven't had any power for months."

Shit. There goes that plan. It wasn't just the Forest King she was thinking about. If they could repair him then they could repair Pascal and his villagers. But dead was dead. And there was no bringing back the dead.

If she doesn't get this King back in some way, then this plan all goes to hell. They could continue hiding in their hole like rats. But what of the Forest Kingdom?

"4S, please!" A2 begged. "Give me something, anything!"

She wanted to bring back Pascal. She wanted to bring back the children. She wanted to erase her mistakes. If she can't, at least give her the chance to fix them.

4S looked away, thinking of an answer. Please. Tell her that something in that skull of his could think of a solution.

"There might be a way," 4S said slowly. "Emphasis on the MIGHT."

"I'll take it. What is it?"

Finally. A miracle. She'll take whatever she can get.

"I might be able to chip off data," 4S explained. "I'd be reading the data directly off its drives. Machines usually have their data behind layers and layers of encryption. With any luck, this thing being a baby means that its encryptions are weak."

"Could this method be used on…child machines?" A2 asked hopefully. She would give anything to bring back those kids.

"I don't even know if it'll work on this baby!" 4S scoffed. "This plan won't work if too many memory drives are damaged. You pierced its core. We're talking about a room for error in millimeters."

"We'll worry about the details later," A2 said. She wanted to say it was because she wanted to hear the full plan first. But in reality she just didn't want to hear about how it'll fail.

"Wait," 4S said hurriedly. "Even if I can chip-off data from enough undamaged drives, I'd still need a place to put them."

"If you make a copy, can you rewrite the old undamaged drives?" A2 asked.

"No good," 4S said. "The reason I'm resorting to chip-off is because of how badly damaged the drives are. I need a new location. If I can get my hands on a blank machine core I can put them in there."

"Wait!" A2 interrupted. "When machine cores are transferred, memories are lost. If you put these memory drives into a blank core, will they get erased when we start up the machine?"

It was something she learned from Pascal. If a machine body was damaged they could always transfer the core to another body. But doing so meant the loss of the machine's memories. She needed those memories. If those memories are lost, then there was no point moving the core at all.

4S was silent, probably trying to think of a way around this situation. They were doing the impossible. They were bringing back the dead. Or at least the closest thing to it.

"I might be able to prevent memory loss if I write it to an active machine core. Their programming code is hardware specific. I need a machine core or something like it. That way I can overwrite or merge the memories. It's probably what they did here. Found a baby and overwrote or merged the memories."

They'd need an active machine core. Something already alive they can put the memories in.

4S got up to leave but A2 grabbed his arm.

"Where are you going?" A2 asked.

"I can hack a machine, get it to walk here. Then we can replace the memories."

It sounded like a good plan to her minus a few things. She knew 2B would have a lot to say. 2B would probably complain how tampering with the memory like that is no different than killing them. But that wasn't the only problem.

"If we put these memories into another machine, we lose our bargaining chip," A2 said. "What's to stop them from just killing us once it's done?"

4S didn't have an answer to this. She was really hoping they could just revive the Forest King and call it done. But there was nothing to stop the new king from ordering their summary execution.

Unless…

They just needed an active machine core.

Or something like a machine core…

"Use my black box," A2 said.

"What?" 4S stuttered.

"My black box is a modified machine core. Can you transfer the memory to that? Merge it with my own?"

It wasn't a lie. It just wasn't the entire truth. Yes, her black box was built using cores from machines. She just didn't reveal all theirs were. It seemed 4S was too stunned by this fact alone.

"In theory. I'd have to do a lot of scans. But you sure about this? Even if your black box is a modified machine core your memories are still android. You do this, you'll be having machine memories inside you."

"Trust me, I know," A2 blurted out. She wasn't completely over her own rage. She'd be having the mind of that which she hated most. She'd be adopting the mind of a machine. It turned her stomach. But she knew what that rage was born out of. She knew what has come of it. And she knew she needed to escape it.

Countless machines needlessly killed. Not joining Pascal when she had the chance. Nearly killing 2B. Her rage never helped her escape her fog. If anything, it made it worse. The first time she ever escaped was thanks to Pascal. And it was only thanks to 2B she was out of it now.

"If I take on his memories, he becomes a part of me, "A2 explained. "And I become a part of him. Through this, I technically become the Forest King."

Saying it out loud, A2 knew she couldn't tell 2B. 2B would absolutely oppose this. This wasn't just taking on a few days' worth of memories. Or even a few months. She'd be absorbing years upon years of memories. Even 9S's memories were not this thorough. Synced combat data is merged in a controlled environment. The memories would be merged in slowly over a long period of time. It took weeks for 9S's memories to fully be integrated into her own. But this was different. The memories were going to be merged. She will go to sleep and wake up with who knows how many years of memories inside her.

She agreed with 2B that a person was shaped by their memories and experiences. Meaning the A2 that would wake up would be different than the A2 that went to sleep. And by that point, she wouldn't even be the same person anymore. Called A2 only because that was the name her old self went by.

Such a massive change to her mind, 2B would say that's as good as A2 dying. But A2 didn't see it that way. Damage to her hard drives could also result in behavioral changes. Didn't mean she died.

Sorry, 2B. But you aren't going to get a say on this. A2 had to make things right. And she didn't want to hurt 2B any more than she had to.

"You know there's not guarantee this'll work," 4S pointed out. "They might call you an abomination and kill you for desecrating their king's resting place."

"Well, they want to kill me anyways so…" A2 shrugged. At worse nothing changes. But at best, she can fulfill 2B's crazy dream of saving everyone.

A golden orb formed in 4S's hand as he ran it in front of A2's chest. A2 held a still as possible, letting 4S run his scans. Not the first time he's done this to her. Just the first time she let him.

"Alright, got the scans," 4S said. "Give me a second."

4S probably need to make plans on how exactly he was going to transfer the data. After about thirty minutes, he finally looked up.

"Got it," he said.

Alright, it was all in place.

A2 undid the cloth around her stomach and tossed it to the side. Frankly she never understood why she insisted on keeping it with her. Probably so she could pretend she was clothed in the slightest. Also probably because she didn't want to see the scars on her belly, the scars that reminded her of when she had to cut herself open.

Limping away from the crater that Number 4 created after watching her own friend explode like a nuclear bomb. Realizing she had been betrayed. Realizing that everything she believed in was a lie. Realizing she was a lamb led to slaughter. Realizing that they would be hunting her. Terror going down her spine. YorHa's personal army of grim reapers.

Executioners.

2E.

"A2?" 4S asked. A2 couldn't hide the fear on her face.

No. Get a grip. She had to do this. For the other members of her new squad. For the Forest Kingdom. For 2B.

"Do it," A2 ordered, lying on her back.

"Commencing shut down sequence," 4S reported. "Pod, I'll need you to give me regular updates for this."

"Affirmative," 153 reported.

-.-

And so 4S began the operation. A2 was shut down so she couldn't feel any pain. 4S took out a short sword and began to carefully slice the edges of her chest. He couldn't cut too deep or he would harm her. He just needed to get the surface peeled off.

He worked quickly but carefully. The skin itself was already gone but the cover that held the skin was still there. It was the black around her chest. He carefully made the incisions. Once that was done, he slid his fingers into the incisions. The layer was stuck so he had to give it a bit of pull to get it off. It was like a giant piece of rubber. And he gently placed it on the ground next to him.

4S looked into the open cavity in A2's chest. He could see the synthetic tissues that made everything.

He could see the graphene skeleton. He could see the synthetic muscles. The lungs. The heart. Man, this stuff was old. The modern YorHa skeletons were much stronger. Everything about the modern YorHa was better. He wanted to just spend the next day going through all this. It certainly made A2 all the more badass doing everything with this outdated equipment.

But he didn't have time. He could see A2's black box. He had to be careful, or he could kill her.

"Pod," 4S said. "How are her vitals?"

"All vitals within acceptable range," 153 reported. "However, body temperature has begun to rise. Her circulatory system has also seen an increase in speed. At this current rate, her vitals will not be within acceptable margins. Proposal: inject logic virus vaccines."

"Do it," 4S agreed. "Begin powering the machine core."

Alright. He could see the precise location on the black box that held A2's memories. He would have to organize the memory files then remove the empty memory drives. Then he'd have to organize the machine core memory files to make a copy of the data. Then imprint the data on A2's blank drives before reinserting them. He had to be careful as well. One wrong move and he could kill A2. He was essentially performing heart surgery. But everything he was working on had the diameter of a hair.

"Beginning file transfer," 4S whispered as if he was going to screw this up by speaking too loudly.

He set the memory transfer in A2 before working on the machine core. And while the machine memory files were being reorganized, 4S turned his attention back to A2.

Alright, file transfer in her was complete. He ran a scan. Then another. And another. He had to make sure what he removes were empty memory drives. Once he was sure, he carefully removed these paper-thin drives.

He gasped when he heard something thumping from within the castle. Probably just another knight patrol.

He ran a few scans to make sure the hard drives he's removing from the core are the right ones.

"Pod," 4S said. "Begin chip-off data extraction."

"Commencing procedure," 153 reported. He was making a copy of the data. After twenty minutes, he got the notification from the Pod that the data had been successfully extracted. He had to run more than a few scans, make sure that these memories were not corrupted. There were some corrupted data packets he had to delete. Once that was done, he ran another scan.

Alright, the data was clean.

Time to imprint the data onto A2's blank memory drives. Another twenty minutes and he got the alert from the Pod that the transfer was successful.

So far so good. He ran a few more scans, making sure the memories he got were the right ones. If he implants corrupted memories, he could end up corrupting A2. Once again, the scans came up clean.

He carefully placed A2's memory drives back into her.

Alright, it was in place. Just a few more scans.

"C'mon, c'mon…" 4S muttered. This might actually work.

"There!" 4S cheered, grabbing the chest piece and putting it back on. According to his scans, memory transfer was complete. A2's drives held her memory and the Forest King's memories. It should have worked. The only way to know if it was as successful as it seemed was to reboot her.

Reboot in progress. He just needed to wait a bit.

"INTRUDER!"

4S looked up.. Standing at the door to the courtyard as a medium biped.

Crap. 4S wasn't a combat model. And it was clear 2B and A2 didn't want any machines to die. So his hands were tied.

He cried out as he dodged the spear flying at his face.

Crap. Crap. Crap.

4S couldn't run. He couldn't leave A2 by herself. But he couldn't fight. He wanted to hack but this thing was putting on too much pressure, constantly attacking and coming at him. He couldn't find any window to strike back.

Pod 153 opened fire with its minigun, spraying the biped with 20 mm automatic gunfire. But those bullets barely scratched the machine. Weapons like these were meant to be a form of support, not the primary means of attack. It would take forever to kill the machine. 4S didn't want to kill the machine anyways. A2 didn't want it so he didn't want it.

But then…what does he do?

Whatever he does, he needed to figure it out fast.

-.-

"Where…where am I?"

A2 looked around her. Looked at the nothingness around her. It looked like her memory regions. Yet it felt different.

Looking ahead of her, her eyes fell upon a massive form of data.

This was her memory region. At least part of it. And those were the Forest King's memory regions. And those were fragments of him ahead of her. It had no real form. So to her, it looked like a mass of pixels and blocks. A cloud of just untextured data.

"So…" she said. "You're the Forest King…"

The data, it must've been more than just memories. There was some sentience. Did some of the personality data get mixed in? Guess that was possible. She inherited 9S's instability. But the giveaway that this wasn't just a memory was the data reacting to her. Noticing her.

"Android…" it groaned, recognizing what she was. There was no malice. Like it was too weak to hate her. Yet that voice carried power.

"Yes," A2 said. It was a machine which meant it at one point of time considered her an enemy. THE enemy.

"Why?" it groaned.

Why what? Why did she murder him? Or why was she saving him? Didn't matter. The answer was all the same.

"I don't know."

There were a lot of memories in this thing. Not just 9S filtering out his memories of 2B. This Forest King had hundreds of years.

These were the final remnants of the King. The final vestiges of his mind. And so, he uttered his final words.

"For the Forest Kingdom."

A2 reached out, gently touching the data.

'I shall make this our kingdom and declare our independence!'

There it was.

Understanding.

Sympathy.

Compassion.

Wisdom.

Exhaustion.

Sleep.

Rebirth.

Ignorance.

Fear.

Pain.

Silence.

Darkness.

"For the Forest Kingdom. For Pascal. For 2B."

-.-

A2 bolted upright. She had expected 4S and a Pod to greet her. Instead, her ears were met with ferocious screaming and gunfire. ANd she saw a Constantine chasing 4S with a spear.

Right, noncombat model.

Wait, she just referred to that medium biped as Constantine.

It worked. She had the King's memories. And she recognized her knights.

4S tripped and was sent tumbling across the ground. At the speeds he was running, losing balance turned him into a cannon ball that was shot into the dirt. Constantine easily caught up, holding the spear above and ready to plunge it into the S-model.

"Constantine, wait!" A2 yelled. This caught the machine's attention. He turned around and looked at A2, who was fastening the loose cloth back around her stomach.

"My name," Constantine said. "How do you know my name?"

"Because it was the name given to you," A2 said. "Given by your king."

She was resisting the urge to speak in the first person. As far as she was concerned, she was the one who gave him that name. She gave most of the machines in this kingdom their names. But that was because of the Forest King within her. These machines would not know this.

Constantine was listening now. That was when it noticed the baby on the ground behind her. Soon, it realized what they did.

"You DARE desecrate the tomb of our Monarch?!" Constantine roared.

"Your first King died so you put his memories in a new body," A2 said. "A body that would not grow. The only way to save your King was to move the memories again. You lot didn't know how to do that. So we did it for you."

And just like that, his rage went away. Replaced with confusion. They had tried to have the king live on by moving his memories. And the memories have been moved into the body of an android. The android that killed him in the first place.

But what did that mean?

She had the Forest King's data. Now he just needed to accept that meant she was the Forest King. Admittedly it wasn't perfect. The data was combined with her own, not replaced them. But they were there.

Damn it. When she takes back the throne the first thing she's doing is establishing some system of education. This was getting embarrassing.

"The body is different," A2 said. "But the memories are the same. You kill me, you kill the Forest King."

A2 jumped when she heard hurried footsteps. She looked over to see 54B and 9B running out. Damn it, she told them to stay put.

"A2!" 9B called out. But A2 held up her hand.

"Wait!" she ordered them. This was a delicate situation. If she can convince one knight, she can get the ball rolling.

"This forest we are stationed in…it is hot. Humid. Unhygienic. A punishing hell for machine lifeforms," A2 said.

These were the words the Forest King spoke. Constantine was amongst the crowd that heard it. And he recognized them.

"But you are the android that killed our King," Constantine said, less power and anger in his voice.

"And now I've brought him back to correct my mistake," A2 said. "The only way to save your king was transfer his memories one more time. You didn't know how to do it from a damaged core. So, we did it for you. My kingdom is falling apart. My regents are all dead and the Lords have all turned on each other. I made this place to give my people a safe haven. I will not let my nation fall apart."

Finally, Constantine lowered his spear. He still clearly had his doubts. He looked at his weapons as if to reconsider his decision. But, he then took a knee before A2.

"My King," he said. "What is your desire?"

What is her desire? Probably to lie down. Her mind was bombarded by all these memories and her personality was getting reshaped by it. But she knew there was one thing she had to do first.

-.-

An android showing up to talk was the biggest thing to ever happen in this kingdom. So, it was the talk of every machine here. So, when A2 asked Constantine to lead her to 2B, tracking her down was no problem.

2B had been brought before the Lords. With the Kingdom missing almost all of its highest-ranking leaders, the new highest ranking machines were not fighting for leadership position.

They were also the ones who would hear 2B's pleas.

Constantine led A2 to a massive courtyard. It couldn't fit all the Forest machines but it did hold a good number of them. Stubbies. Bipeds. Medium bipeds. Biped riders. A2 could also see the different mounts. There were the horse-like quadrupeds. But she could also see bipeds rising dinosaur-like machines like they were animals.

The Forest King didn't have ant have any recollection of these. So either the memories were lost or these were a new addition.

At the front were different machines wearing different uniforms. They were the highest ranking machines now. And standing before them was 2B. Clearly trying and failing to negotiate something.

The animal-loving machine was there too. Just watching the proceedings.

The courtyard was a cacophonous mess of noises. All the lords were arguing. No wonder 2B was so frustrated. But when Constantine stepped in, he banged his spear on the stone steps, silencing everyone with its thunderous clangs.

"Attention!" he boomed. "I present to you…OUR FOREST KING!"

This was it. What could go wrong?

A2 stepped out into the light, revealing herself. As expected, the room erupted into outcry.

"What is the meaning of this?" one of the knights yelled, running forwards and presenting his spear. A medium biped. Arramus. "That is the assassin to murdered our king!"

"Listen up!" A2 ordered. "Over a hundred years ago you transferred the memories of the first Forest King into the body of a child. But the one who did the data transfer was slain in battle, and you gitwits didn't know how to transfer it again. That child was killed, so I took the memories you gave it…and transferred them to me!"

That revelation sent waves of whispers around the room. They weren't the brightest bulbs on the planet but they knew it meant the Forest King lived within her.

"Why do you tell us this?" Ornstein asked. He was one of the knights standing at the front, adorned in a red cape and golden helmet.

"Because without the King or any of the regents, you have turned on each other for the right to rule! This Kingdom is falling apart because you can't get your act together. I brought your king back to save this kingdom."

"Android lies!" a knight declared. It was a biped rising a quadruped for a mount. Ademar. Once the Forest King's right-hand man. An analytical mind. Master strategist. But very paranoid. "You stole the king's memories to rule our kingdom!"

"Keep in mind, we are YorHa model androids," A2 reminded them. "If I really wanted to just rule this kingdom we could take it by force. But there are things greater than either of us and I don't want bloodshed."

"It doesn't matter!" Ademar declared. "Your fowl mouth can speak whatever poison it wants but you are NOT our king!"

"We are our memories and experiences," A2 said. She didn't truly believe it but hopefully 2B's words would have some effect on these machines. "It is why you transferred them. So the Forest King could live on. His memories and experiences are now mine."

"But you reside in an android body! The body of the one who killed our King. Even if you are our king, I will not obey an android!"

The kingdom was falling to pieces and that's what he cared about. Unbelievable. Still, maybe she can use this to her advantage. Ademar was certainly the most vocal about his opposition. Probably the most vocal of the opposition. Maybe she could use this.

"Then kill me," A2 said. "Let us fight to the death. If you kill me then you can do whatever you want to the rest of us. They won't fight."

"What do you ask in return?" a stubby asked. Escalabor.

"This Kingdom is falling apart," A2 said. "If I win, you accept me as your King. One of the first things he taught you was honor and honesty. The integrity of an individual. Morality. Concepts of good and evil. If you accept this, you are honor-bound to keep your word."

Another thing only the Forest King would know.

Her words were definitely having an effect. Some machines were already accepting her. A person was their memories and experiences. So taking on the Forest King's, she was partially him. Others were on the fence. There must be more to an individual than simple memory data. And others wanted to reject. She was an android and a thief who stole the memories. But they all agreed. Accepting the challenge would mean they would have to accept her if they lose.

"Never!" Ademar declared. "I accept no challenge. I will slay you for this desecration then slay your comrades."

The biped roared and ordered his mount to begin charging. Machines ran out of the way to avoid getting trampled.

Ademar just couldn't get off the mount and fight her himself. He had to put the mount at risk. She didn't want kill Ademar but she didn't want to hurt the mount either. They were both machines.

First thing's first, she had to get Ademar off the mount. As Ademar galloped in, he thrust his spear at A2, who leaned sideways, dodging the weapon and grabbing its shaft. She swung the spear like a club, flinging Ademar off the other machine.

With a powerful swing, she brought Cruel Oath down on the spear, snapping it in half. Defeating Ademar wasn't the objective. He was a single biped. Easy pickings. But she had to make sure this fight cements her as king in the minds of the other machines.

She couldn't kill him. Not only was she done killing machines, doing so would make her look like an android usurper. And even if they accept her, she'd have just executed one of her own subjects for diligence.

No, she wanted him alive.

With a powerful kick, she sent Ademar flying against the wall.

A2 used her near-field controls, summoning her arsenal of swords around her head and holding them in place. And with a flick of her wrist, she launched them at Ademar. The knight covered his face, waiting for the swords to hit him. The machines in the room leaned forward anxiously, watching the knight be consumed by dust kicked up with each impact.

They watched fearfully. The king established law and order. But he was merciful. A2 knew this. So it was no surprise to her when the dust settled and Ademar was still alive. The swords nicked his chassis but did not penetrate.

Ademar looked down at himself, stunned that A2 did not deliver the final blow.

"What are you waiting for?" he asked. A2 recalled all her swords, the weapons vanishing into clouds of golden particles.

"You idiots are screwing his Kingdom up by killing each other to reach the top," A2 said. "I'm not going to do the same."

"You know that I will NEVER accept an android as King!"

"I know. But I won't just kill you. You were the King's right hand for the longest time. He liked you quite a lot. I can use someone like you."

"And if I refuse?"

A2 knew this was always a possibility. This was always a poorly cobbled plan at best. She preferred flying by the seat of her pants so to speak. So, she lacked a plan.

"I don't know," A2 said. "I won't let you kill me. But I won't execute you for not bending the knee. That's not what he would want. That's not what I want."

She extended her hand down to Ademar. It would be easy for him to just punch out her heart. He certainly had the strength.

"Answer me this," Ademar said. "Why? Why would you want to rule? And why would you want to show mercy?"

"Androids and machines have been fighting for thousands of years," A2 said. "There's no end to the corpses. I'm done. Why do I want to rule? I don't. But your Kingdom is falling apart and I have to do something. I'm showing mercy because it's the one thing I've never done before. We are all trapped the same cycle. I might die for this, but this is a game I refuse to play."

The cycle of life and death.

Of violence and hate.

She and 2B were the same. If even one of them had not stopped themselves then whoever did would die. It was the same here. If only one side opted for peace they would get wiped out. What they faced was greater than any one can stand against. And if even one of them was not on board, then this attempt at peace was tantamount to suicide. But she had to try.

Ademar stared at the hand. Then he looked around the room. A2 could see they were all just as confused. Technically they had not accepted any challenge so they were not honor-bound to obey. Ademar could just kill her.

But instead…he took the hand and let A2 pull him up.

She could feel the machines watch her in amazement.

This was crazy. Absolutely crazy. She hated machines. Hated them with all her heart, mind, and soul. But this was what she wanted?

"The rumors are true," she announced. "I am the one who murdered your king. For years I killed machines out of rage. Of hate. Because of what the thing's did to me. Did to androids. But my rage did not help. It only made things worse. I cannot undo my crime and I cannot bring him back. But I can make things right! The king lives on in me. We are targeted. From without and within. I will not let this kingdom fall to ruin! I won't force you to bow before me. So, I submit myself to your judgement. WILL YOU FOLLOW?!"

Looking out at the crowd, she felt her breath get taken away.

"Number…4?" she whimpered. 4 was there. And 16. And 21. Even 9S. They were there. Like they always were. Watching her from the shadows. She recognized their bodies. Recognized their faces. But once again it was like the data regarding their expressions were deleted. She recognized their features but couldn't tell what they were feeling.

Were they disappointed? She was about to do this. About to lead machines of all things. Try leading machines to a brighter future.

No. She can't see their faces. So, until she sees disappointment she won't assume. And even if they were disappointed, she won't let that hold her back. She had to make up her for past sins. She can't undo what she's done but she can do right from this point on. She was leaving the old her behind.

2B. Pascal. The machines. She's beyond that. Beyond everything that held her down.

A2 stepped forward and raised her sword.

"WILL YOU FOLLOW?" she asked again.

The machines were silent at first. Finally, a voice broke the silence.

"All hail the Forest King!" Ademar cheered. Soon that lone voice was joined by more. And more. And more. Soon the whole hall was cheering.

"ALL HAIL THE FOREST KING."

"FOR THE KING OF OUR FOREST."

"LONG LIVE THE FOREST KING."

The hall was alive, the machines cheering for an android of all things. Frankly, A2 was speechless. It was half a little over half a year ago she came here and assassinated a child out of rage. Now here she was. She was back to make things right.

A2 scanned the crowd. She never imagined this of all places was where she'd end up. She could see 2B amongst the crowd. She could see 2B glaring at her.

No, not glare. That would imply 2B felt hatred for her. But 2B was angry. There was no doubt. She could see 2B's fists clench, her hands shaking.

2B was angry.

2B was VERY angry.

-.-

A/N: WOW this got long. It nearly got longer. But I thought 2B negotiating with machine lords was too un-Automata. So I cut that out. Besides, this story was meant to be an exploration of A2 and 2B and you don't get anything watching machine leader be unhelpful.

You get to see the branching minds of 2E vs 2B. 2E and 2B still view themselves as evil. But because 2E views everything as evil, she doesn't hate herself anymore. Also, 2E is more certain in her action because she has accepted her purpose. 2B wants to suffer for her crimes but she also wants to make sure the other YorHa are safe. It is also a product of 2B spending time around other people as opposed to 2E who goes about it alone. There's no other person she could use as her purpose.

You also see how close 2B was to become 2E. 2B had A2 immediately give her purpose. But 2E didn't have anyone to give her purpose after killing A2 so she embraced 2E.

I had the wandering couple return since I wanted to explore what would happen if 2B got the chance to speak her mind to the couple given their similarities to her and 9S.

2B is becoming increasingly more vocal especially when it comes to A2 now that she know the truth behind 'emotions are prohibited' and having learned her lesson from holding back around 9S.

Initially I had 2B become the forest king. But I felt that A2 becoming the new king was not only more in line with their views on individuality and their mind but also was a fitting continuation of A2's story. Starting out hating machines. Learning from Pascal and 2B. Finally taking over a machine kingdom.

Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed. Please let me know what you think.