Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Disney, or anything associated with it.
'A2'=thoughts
A2= Narration
A/N: This is probably coming out of left field, but I recently found out that Nier: Automata was getting an anime and I got inspired to write a short follow-up to the original Nier: Oblivion. This story picks up some time after the original one ended, please enjoy.
[O]ver and Out
"In the end, all humans will die..."
Pod 713: Target identified
"I told you to stop saying that out loud or you'll give my position away you piece of junk!"
Pod 713: That is an incorrect statement. The target is already aware of Unit A2's position due to the disregard of this pod's previous proposal to proceed in a stealthy manner.
"Shut UP! Oh great, now it's getting away!"
"That's the thing about living creatures. They're not made of parts and wires like us. So from the moment they're born, they live on knowing that their time will one day end..."
A2 jumped out of the pile of debris she was hiding behind and set her sights on the group of machines attempting to escape her. They were an assortment of small to medium biped machines who could run relatively fast so catching them all would prove to be a challenge, for a novice anyways. A2 had been in the machine hunting game so long that she knew just the strategy to employ to make quick worth of the stragglers.
Running up to the biggest one, A2 split the bulky machine down the middle with her Type-3 blade, effortlessly tearing through the tangled wires and reinforced metal like a hot knife through butter. Next, she pulled out a simple type-4O sword then threw it at an angle so that it would spin around and slice the heads off of the machines she could spot in her immediate peripheral vision.
She caught the sword in her hand when it came flying back around to her, then relied on her pod for the rest who had the sense to hide away from her. "Pod. Gun mode."
Her pod transformed into a sniper rifle for her to carry around. "There's still 3 more hiding in this abandoned building, where are they?"
Pod 713: Target 1 located: 50 meters from current position, 60 degrees west, 45 degrees north
*bang
"One down."
Pod 713: Target 2 and 3 located: 75 meters from current position, 70 degrees east, 13 degrees north
*bang-bang
"Alright. That's two for one."
"Even the brightest of them are bound to fade. I mean...that's the nature of their existence, isn't it?"
"Not bad, Pod. When you stop talking for more than five seconds, you're pretty good at your job."
Pod 713: This pod will take Unit A2's unwarranted comment as appreciation.
A2 and her pod were about the leave the abandoned building when the medium biped machine that she initially killed suddenly started moving again. The two halves her blade split apart put themselves back together and its machine core was powered up again by the darkness that still remained in the world.
This usually presented a nightmare scenario for any android, it certainly did for A2 many times in the past but ever since she was granted the power of a keyblade, she no longer feared the heartless. In fact, she actively sought them out because fighting against them reminded her of the time she spent with Sora.
"One day he would die and I would continue to live. Hell, as an android I could probably live a hundred human lifetimes or maybe even longer than that. I could live so long that my time with him would've only been a fraction of my existence."
For this reason, A2 only summoned Designed to End specifically to fight the heartless because it held special meaning to her and the rush of excitement when she did never got old to her.
Now, A2 had also been in the heartless hunting game long enough to know that the heartless machine she was up against was a weakling. A mean look would've caused the thing to give up its heart, that's why it scurried away into the machine for protection in the first place, so A2 decided she would toy around with it for fun.
'With these modifications I made it should be enough to produce those elemental commands Sora and the other humans could execute.' She pointed her keyblade at the heartless machine. "Okay, freeze that thing!"
"..."
A2 twisted her arm around. "That was...just a warm-up. Give it a few seconds, I...I think it needs to charge."
The heartless machine charged at A2, which she swiftly dodged, then she tried again for another blizzard spell. "Come on! How hard is it to get this stupid thing to work?!" She slammed her keyblade on the ground and of course that didn't do anything. "Tch, fine if I can't use the ice magic then light that thing up! Fire!"
Rather than the machine husk lighting on fire, A2's keyblade lit on fire instead. "Useless piece of shit!" She threw it across the building only for it to appear back in her hands again. "...Whatever, even if I can't do anything actually cool with it, it's still a good sword!"
This time the heartless machine shot a series of dark spheres at her and all A2 did was swing her keyblade and the shock wave it produced not only destroyed the spheres but the machine and the heartless in one go.
"Damn, anymore in the area, Pod?"
Pod 713: Negative.
A2s keyblade shattered into light. "The modifications I make to change its physical properties and damage output seem to work, but for some reason, I can't tap into its magic capabilities."
Pod 713: The keyblade was made to accommodate the unique attributes of a human. Unit A2 is android in nature, perhaps these two realities are incompatible with one another and thus Unit A2 is unable to unlock the true potential of the keyblade.
"What?"
Pod 713: The keyblade may not be suitable for an android.
"...Maybe you're right. I guess there's no real way of knowing since he's not around to say otherwise."
"Sora would die one day, so eventually I had to get used to him not being around. That's the harsh reality of the world, it's stupid for an android to feel any other way, but...no matter what I tell myself, I still can't help but miss him. Maybe something's wrong with me."
A2 scavaged the machine for a specific processor in its head, then uploaded it to her database. "That's the part Dev wanted, let's start heading back to the camp." She was about to leave the abandoned building when she spotted a heartless slipping outside. She threw her keyblade at it, but it missed so now she was back on the hunt.
This heartless was surprisingly fast and agile, dodging her blade each time she caught up to it, but A2 was relentless, especially when it came to heartless and chased it across the City Ruins.
Pod 713: Warning: Unit A2 is approaching the site of the collapsed tower, it is a highly dangerous area and this Pod advises against any further pursuit of this heartless.
Of course Pod 713 knew A2 wasn't going to listen, androids were compelled to finish an objective to its completion and A2 was particularly wired to not stop until her enemies were destroyed.
"Don't worry. It'll be quick," A2 reassured her pod, little did she know that she was in grave danger.
Following the collapse of the Tower, so too fell the machine network and the deadly logic virus that wiped out nearly the entirety of YoRHa androids. What made the site so dangerous wasn't the threat of the machines, but the threat of the heartless who had found their home within the crystallized silicon and carbon and turned it into a deposit of darkness.
Unsurprisingly, A2 had found herself at the collapsed Tower quite often. Sometimes she would look for trouble out of boredom, other times 9S would ask for her protection so he could attempt to determine the area, but each time she went would be more dangerous than the last.
"At least a human's memory would fade as they grew closer to death, but I can recall the entirety of the time we spent together as if it happened a moment ago..."
As A2 went deeper inside in search of the heartless, she began to hear a lone voice calling out to her. "Find me," It said, "Find me", "Find me".
"You hear that too, right?" A2 asked.
Pod 713: Affirmative. It originates from a machine lifeform.
"Find it."
Pod 713: ...Target acquired, marking location on map.
Soon, A2 found the voice belonged to a detached machine head on the ground, its eyes blinking on and off.
"Are you happy, A2?" The machine head asked.
She reached for the hilt of her sword. "How the hell do you know my name?!"
"Are you happy?" It repeated.
"Why are you asking me that?!"
"No...you're not happy, but I can change that. The world you dream of can be yours."
"Why the fuck would I trust what a machine head says? I should kill you right now!"
"I'm not a machine. I'm a friend, but you can kill me if you don't trust me. Just know that one day there will come a time when you slay the last heartless and destroy the last machine. What will you do then A2?"
"...What are you talking about?"
Pod 713: This pod recommends Unit A2 cease all communication with this machine lifeform and evacuate the premise immediately. Further analysis shows that this machine is unusual and thus its behavior cannot be predicted.
"No, I should take this thing to that scanner android. If it knows my name, this could be a sign of something more dangerous to come." But once A2 reached out to grab the machine head everything went black.
"It's a cruel fate to be so close to someone and yet so far away."
Commencing System Check . . .
Memory Unit: Green
Initializing Tactics Log
Loading Geographic Data
Vitals: Green
Remaining MP: 100%
Black Box Temperature: Normal
Black Box Internal Pressure: Normal
Activating IFF
Activating FCS
Initializing Pod Connection
Launching DBU Setup
Activating Inertia Control System
Activating Environmental Sensors
Equipment Authentication: Complete
Equipment Status: Green
All Systems Green
Combat Preparations Complete_
When A2 powered back on, she was sitting on an empty patch of grass in the middle of the City Ruins. "What the- wasn't I at the Tower just now?" She looked around. "This is definitely where the Tower was, but it's gone suddenly..."
Pod 042: Unit A2 appears to be confused. Do you need further instruction on your current objective?
"Huh? Wait, how come you don't look like garbage anymore? And...is your voice different?"
Pod 042: I am your tactical support unit model 042, does that clear up any confusion?
"...I thought my pod was model 713...042 is, wait, aren't you 2B's pod?"
Pod 042: Negative.
"Shit...am I on e-drugs again?"
Pod 042: Negative. Unit A2's systems are all stabilized and not indicative of any performance-altering substance use.
"Then what the actual fuck is going on?!"
"—A2!" Just when things couldn't get any stranger, 9S came running up to A2. "Sorry, that took so long! Now let's go find that human!"
"?-?-?"
"What do you look so confused for? Come on, usually you're on top of these things."
Tired of trying to make sense of whatever crazy situation she'd gotten herself into, A2 decided to just go along for the ride, thinking that wherever dream or trip she was in would come to an end eventually. "Right...so how do we find this 'human'?"
"Man A2, are you running on a low battery today or something? You were able to geo-tag 2B's black box signal before they could get away, remember?"
She rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, how could I forget?"
They followed the signal to the Desert Zone, fighting some machines along the way. A2 wasn't exactly expecting much for when they found the so-called 'human', thinking it would either be one of those dreams where she would wake up right at the best part of the human would actually turn out to be a machine. Needless to say, she didn't care about the mission they were on or 9S's endless talking.
"So A2, do you think the human does blah blah blah blah?"
'This scanner has a really punchable face.'
However, A2's disinterest in the situation suddenly changed when she saw Sora alongside 2B. Even if she was in a dream or a virtual reality simulation, she now had a reason to not want to wake up from it.
.
.
.
"Are her vitals all in the green?"
Pod 713: Affirmative. Unit A2's black box is still online, however, all motor and cognitive functions have been suspended.
"So you said she touched a machine head, collapsed, and hasn't woke up since?" 9S asked.
Pod 713: Affirmative.
"She's so foolish...how many times do I have to tell her to stay away from this area?" 2B bent down to get a closer look at A2's body and run diagnostics. "She doesn't appear to have sustained any physical injuries. It's likely an internal error, 9S, why don't you take a look inside."
"Already on it, 2B!"
[HACKING SYSTEM] - BOOTING SYSTEM
BEGIN HACKING
Unit 9S: "Alright...what're we looking at here?"
ERROR
Unit 9S: "What's going on? Everything's getting corrupted-"
ERROR-ERROR-ERROR
[ACCESS DENIED]
HACKING FAILED
"-Ah!" 9S was forced out of A2's mind. "This is bad! I think A2 has a virus!"
"That's impossible. The logic virus was eliminated when the Tower fell."
All of a sudden, A2 powered back on and she stood up from the ground. "Ha ha ha, it feels...nice to have a physical body again, even if it is an android one." Whatever voice came out of A2 was certainly not hers, but even more worrying was the dim red glare coming from her eyes, which was indicative of the logic virus.
"Are you serious?! We destroyed the machine network already!" 2B yelled.
"It is true you androids dealt a devastating blow to the machine network and if not for the darkness preserving remnants of the network, we likely wouldn't be having this conversation right—" 2B had heard enough talk and tried to stab 'A2' or whatever was controlling her at this point, but she used Designed to End to quickly block 2B's attack. "Don't you see android? Now that I possess the same unique abilities as that dreadful human boy, I've already won this game."
"Not if we stop you here and now! Pod, A110: Slow!" An energy field enclosed Red-A2 in a time vortex that slowed her movements, 2B swung Virtuous Treaty back. "...I have no choice but to kill you A2, I'm sorry." Just as 2B's blade was about to slice her in half, it was intercepted by a protective barrier employed by Pod 713.
Pod 713: This pod is programmed to protect Unit A2 and cannot allow Unit 2B to harm her.
To make matters worse, heartless were beginning to surround them, attracted to the keyblade.
"Don't worry 2B, I'll take care of the heartless. You do whatever you can to take A2 down," 9S said.
"Thanks!"
While Red-A2 had the body and weaponry of A2, she didn't have her extensive combative abilities just yet and was eclipsed by 2B in every way. If not for her pod providing constant firing support, she would've likely been done in by now, so she was looking for a way out of the fight. Fortunately for her, despite 9S's best efforts, the heartless weren't letting up so she decided to throw herself into the shadows and use the darkness as a cover to escape.
"She's not getting away! Pod, geo-tag her black box signal, we won't let the machines rise again!"
NieR: [O]blivion II
"Time Without End"