Ducking my head under a tree branch, gravel and dirt crunched under my boots as I followed the small narrow dirt path between the small grass field and along the large river after Lilac and I had followed the stream. Originally, I had planned on just crossing it seeing as how Lilac said the Resistance camp was in that direction and I would've had to cross anyways to get back to my place.

Unfortunately, the river is larger than I had originally thought. Deeper too, at least at a glance it looked that way, but I wasn't willing to find out how deep it is, and neither was Lilac. So for now we were walking alongside it hoping to find a way to get across.

Turning my head to glance at Lilac, I sighed when I saw she wasn't by my side and was trailing a few feet behind me, walking at a meager pace while staring at the palms of her hands with a frown. Slowing my pace down so she could catch up, I waited until she was by my side again before I started walking again.

Looking at her, Lilac's appearance was still pretty disheveled, despite her earlier attempts to fix her hair and clothes. Her uniform was wrinkled and her short hair was still a curly mess from the rain yesterday, much to her annoyance. So now she had the hood of her cape pulled over her head. She was also still a little quiet from her outburst earlier, only saying a few words here and there unless prompted. But I was glad to see some hints that she seemed to be doing a bit better than before. That, and she was much more awake and alert.

Or at least she had been, at the moment she was focused on her hands, more specifically, the cuts on them. She wore a small frown on her face and her eyes were narrowed as she poked and prodded at them.

I couldn't help but frown and then sigh through my nose when she picked at one of the large cuts on her right hand again, her face scrunching up into a tiny grimace in response before she went right back picking at it.

"Lilac." My frown deepened when she didn't respond to me saying her name, so I stepped closer to her. "Lilac!" I said her name louder while grabbing her shoulder, making us come to a stop. Lilac jumped in response and sluggishly raised her head to look at me.

"Huh!?" She blinked her eyes at me before she followed my disappointed gaze to her hands, where a finger was flicking at the cut. "Ah…" Lilac at least had the decency to look embarrassed as she hid her hands from view behind her back. "Sorry…" She mumbled with a sheepish look while her eyes looked anywhere but me.

"...Lilac." She winced at my disapproving tone and she wilted under my stare, shying away from me as she stared down at her boots like a scolded child. Sighing, I closed my eyes and shook my head. "If you're going to keep picking at those, then at least let me wrap your hands up in something." I told her in an exasperated tone, a small bit of worry seeping in as well.

Lilac's eyes widened as she brought her hands up and waved them in front of her while shaking her head. "N-No, it's fine! You don't have to!" She exclaimed before grabbing her rifle. "I'll… I'll stop messing with them…" She mumbled as gripped the rifle in her hands, a small grunt of discomfort coming from her as the wooden handguard dug into the palm of her left hand.

I stared at her for a moment in silence as I chewed on my cheek in thought before I slowly nodded my head at her with a hum. "Alright kid, but if I see you picking at them again…" Lilac sucked in a deep breath and stood up taller. Quickly nodding her head at the warning. Satisfied that she was taking this seriously, I let go of her shoulder and continued down the dirt path. Lilac quickly catching up to walk by my side.

The trees and vegetation then started to clear up as we neared the edge of the miniature forest. Pushing some vines out of my way, I found myself staring out at a large open plain of dirt and gravel. Along with what almost looked like a boat graveyard at the remains of a concrete dock. The husks of fishing boat hulls resting on the ground as their hulls turned into rust

There was a quiet hum from Lilac before she let out a tiny gasp before she grabbed my shoulder and started roughly shaking me. "Hey look!" Lilac exclaimed. Turning to her, I saw her pointing ahead of us.

Following to where she was pointing, I blinked in surprise when I saw a tall building laying on its side at a tilt. The lower half having been destroyed on one side at the bottom, causing it to topple over and land on the other side and crash down on the roof of a building across the river. Allowing the building to sit above the water.

Reaching up, I cupped my chin through my scarf with a hum. "At least we won't have to swim to get across." I looked over at Lilac. "Unless if you want to swim that is." I said with a serious tone and teasing smile that was hidden behind my scarf.

Lilac went stiff at that and quickly lowered her arm while taking a few hasty steps away from me while giving me a quick wary glare before looking away. "You're the one who'd be going for a swim..." She grumbled, but I was happy to see the twitch of her lips which formed into a small smile that she tried to hide by scrunching up her shoulders.

Chuckling, I patted her on the back as I walked forward, a small huff coming from Lilac as she caught up with me. And I watched in amusement as she walked past me with a little haste in her step towards the building. Probably wanting to get there before I did, so we wouldn't attempt to swim over.

Looking out to the river as I walked. A few more boats sat slightly under the water, along with their cargo scattered along the bank, some having been opened and looted while others remained untouched.

Though my feet then slowly came to a stop when something caught my eye. Stopping in place and squinting my eyes. I found myself looking at something strange. In the middle of the river on a little island of land with a tree, were two dead Machine lifeforms. Both of them the small biped types.

One had a black scorch mark on top of its head, its eyes completely shattered. While the other didn't have any signs of visible damage on it. Staring at the scorch mark on the first one. I could only guess it must have been struck by lightning last night while it and the other were sitting in the water. With the latter having probably been killed via electrocution from proximity.

The odd thing that caught my eye, however. Was how they were leaning against each other. Their hands clasped together between them as they sat against the small tree. A frown tugged at my lips as I stared at the machines' connected hands.

A quiet grunt left me when a hand touched my shoulder and I jerked back to see a worried Lilac looking up at me. She frowned at my reaction as she slowly retracted her hand. "...You okay?" She asked before glancing over at the two dead machines. "I... I've been trying to get your attention for about a minute now."

With a sigh, I pinched my brow and rubbed it with a quiet groan. "I'm fine, kid. I was just…" I trailed off with a sigh as I didn't really have an answer for her.

But Lilac seemed to understand as she slowly nodded her head. Turning her head down as she kicked a few pebbles. "...It's weird isn't it?"

I lowered my hand and glanced at her with a raised brow and hummed. Which she took as a cue to explain.

"We've been getting a few reports of machines who have been… acting really strange for the past few years around here. And I don't mean the ones that wander around staring at nothing." She said, a complicated look appearing on her face. "There been a few cases of them... trying to mimic what humans did."

My brow furrowed at her words while my thoughts briefly went back to that stubby from earlier. The machine that was looking for its… 'brother', all of things. As if the damn thing could even understand what a sibling is. "...Is that common around here?" I asked her with a grumble, a frown marring my face.

"Ah… kind of?" Lilac frowned as she scratched her cheek, shifting from one foot to the other while avoiding my gaze. "The majority of machine lifeforms around here still act like normal and will attack androids. A few years ago, pretty much all the machines were all hostile around here. But as time passes, we've seen more of them starting to act oddly."

Saying nothing in response, I turned and looked back at the two machines for a moment. My gaze lingering on them before I shook my head and walked past Lilac. "Come on, let's go through that building before I decide we just swim over." I grumbled aloud, getting a panicked squawk from Lilac. As she quickly ran past me towards the building.

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"Head straight across, then take a left into the third alley…" I mumbled to myself, repeating the instructions Lilac had given me before she had hopped her way up back to the rooftops to scout ahead.

My eyes were firmly locked onto a small group of stubbies that were patrolling down the road. And from this far, it wasn't hard to see the glow of their red eyes. Slowly inching my way forward, I hugged the front walls of buildings on the street before quickly ducking into an alleyway that wasn't blocked with junk or trees.

My footsteps reverberated off the walls of the buildings in the alleyway as I ran through it before coming to a stop at the end of it and crouching down behind a dumpster to catch my breath.

"Damn it all… There's way too many out here." I grumbled to myself. Even worse was the fact the majority of the machines in this area were the normal ones. Instead of the pretty much brain dead machines that wandered around doing nothing.

My attention was drawn upward when I heard a quiet whistle and saw Lilac peeking over a rooftop as she waved at me before jumping down. Lilac landed with a quiet oomph in front of me. Standing up, she adjusted her olive green hood with a huff, so it wasn't covering her eyes when she looked at me with a relieved smile before leaning against a dumpster with an annoyed pout.

"Stupid machines." She groaned irritably as she leaned up and tapped the dumpster with her foot. "There's way more out here than there was yesterday."

"Hmm, I noticed…" I mumbled with a tired and small smile before frowning as I stood up. "Are we still gonna be able to get past them?"

Lilac pushed herself off the dumpster and nodded her head with a smile. "Of course! Since you've made it this far, you should have no problems the rest of the way." Raising her arm, she pointed to the other end of the alley. "Once you leave the alley, make a right until you get to an intersection and then turn left into a small walkway with a bunch of shops."

"Got it… Stay safe alright."

Lilac pouted and huffed as she turned away with a frown. "You said that already…" She grumbled to herself before walking to the end of the alley. Peeking around the corners, Lilac took a deep breath before breaking out into a sprint across the street. Jumping onto the roof of a destroyed car and launching herself up onto the rooftop of the building on the other side of the street.

Once she was out of sight, I stepped out of the alley following the buildings until I found the pathway Lilac had mentioned. Leading down a narrow path between rows of shops, just as she described. And with how many there are. I can only assume this area was built as a recreation of a commercial district. Or at least an attempt on the androids part.

Wetting my lips, I held my breath when I got to the end of the pathway and peeked my head out to look down at both ends of the street. Seeing no signs of any machines, I slowly stepped out and walked down the sidewalk. Keeping my head on a constant swivel.

A loud thump followed by the ground shaking made me freeze in place and look around just as another thump filled the air. A rattling sound caught my attention and I turned to look at the large glass windows behind me. The windows settled before they started shaking again before I heard another thump. A grimace made its way onto my face when I realized they were footsteps, and what the only possible thing out here that could be making them.

"You have gotta be kidding me! Of all the things we run into, it just has to be a goddamn goliath biped!?" I groaned, stepping out into the street to try to see if I could spot Lilac on the rooftops.

"Damn it Lilac, where are you?" I murmured with a bit of worry as I started running down the street. My eyes still scanning the rooftops for any sign of her.

A loud crash followed by gunfire made my head snap forward. The sound originating from down the street and around the corner. I waited for a tense few seconds before Lilac came running into view, huffing and puffing as she looked behind her, turning from the intersection and sprinting down the street I was on.

"Lilac!" I shouted, making her head snap forward, her eyes immediately zeroed in on me. Relief visible in them as she ran up to me. I quickly reached out and caught her by the shoulders as she stumbled to a stop in front of me.

"H-Hey!" She said before leaning forward, resting her hands on her knees as she sucked in a huge gulp of air before looking me in the eye. "We need to hide, now!" She flinched when there was a loud crash and the sound of twisting metal. Looking behind her, the remains of a car came flying through the air where she had just come from. Crashing into the second story of one of the buildings on the street corner.

Looking all around the street, I focused on one of the buildings across from us. "Come on, in here!" I hissed, tightening my grip on her shoulders and pulling her along, making her grunt as she stumbled before she caught her footing.

Quickly throwing the wooden door open of the building, I pushed Lilac in past me before entering. Lilac looked back at me as I closed the door before taking a look around the building. My eyes straining to adjust from the brightness outside to the dark interior.

Squinting my eyes, I managed to make out a few tables in the middle of the room, one of which was laying on its side in the far back. Turning to Lilac, I gestured for her to follow as I quickly made my way over to it. "Come on, come on!"

Lilac looked back at the door with worry for a few seconds before following me.

Sitting myself down with a groan, Lilac did the same and sat down right next to me. Her back pressed against the turned over table, clinging onto her rifle as she held it close to her chest. Lilac took a deep breath before looking up at me. "W-What do we do?" She whispered. Her eyes were wide as she looked up at me.

"Just stay put and keep quiet. We'll be fine."

Lilac frowned at me. She held a look in her eyes like she wanted to suggest we do something else, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she stayed silent before slowly nodding her head as she glanced at the floor, taking a quiet breath and holding it.

The next minute was tense as the faint thumps of the machine got closer and closer to us, becoming louder as it slowly approached. The building shook with every step, with rattling noises coming from the cabinets on the walls, signaling the machine's very close presence. I flinched and went rigid as something pushed against my side. Looking down, Lilac was pressing herself firmly against me with a small grimace on her face, her eyes squeezed shut as she held her rifle in a tight grip.

My mouth opened and closed before I sighed quietly and left her be before leaning my head out from behind the table and stared out the small window on the door with bated breath as the goliath got closer and closer. It didn't take long for it to appear, its arms coming into view before I quickly ducked back behind the table with a quiet curse.

"Is it here?" Lilac asked in a quiet whisper, still pressed firmly against my side as she looked up at me.

Nodding my head silently, I pressed my finger over my scarf where my lips were. Lilac snapped her mouth shut and firmly pressed her lips together and gave me a nod in return.

I then winced when I realized the machine had stopped moving and was standing in front of the building we were hiding in. Its shadow blocking some of the sunlight in front of the door, almost bathing the whole room in darkness. For what felt like hours, the only sounds were our quiet breaths and idle creaking and groans coming from the Goliath outside.

Finally, it started moving again. Deep metallic groans came from it as it started walking, thankfully away from the building we were hiding in and down the street. Its footsteps began to fade as the building also stopped shaking.

Releasing a breath I didn't notice I was holding in, I let out a sigh of relief before slumping onto the floor. Pulling the end of my scarf down a bit, I wiped away the sweat that had collected on my face.

Lilac also blew out a held in breath as well and sank down onto the floor next to me, dropping her rifle onto her lap before cupping her face with both hands while letting out a loud exaggerated groan. "That. Sucked." She stated, her voice muffled by her hands.

Chuckling, I flicked the sweat off my hands and briefly rested my head against the table with a quiet sigh, my lack of sleep really starting to make itself known as exhaustion started to kick in. "That it did." I mumbled with an exhausted smile.

"...Do you think we should try and slip by it now?" Lilac asked, but as soon as the words left her mouth she jumped as there was a distant boom from outside. Along with what faintly sounded like something collapsing, in what I could only guess was the goliath destroying a building.

Shaking my head, I sat up and removed my pack and set it aside before settling back against the table with a grunt. "...Let's wait a few more minutes before leaving. Give that big bastard some time until it gains more distance away from us and hopefully loses interest."

Lilac released a grumbling sound from behind her hands as she shifted in place, her rifle gently clattering on the floor after it slid off her lap. "Hn, alright…"

I couldn't help but shake my head in silent amusement at her before I frowned and looked down at Lilac. "...You okay?" I asked with a gentle tone as I tried to look her over for any injuries.

Lilac went still at my question before I heard a quiet huff from her, her body relaxing. "...Mhm," Lilac nodded her head after a pause before removing her hands with a sigh and looked at me with a tired smile on her face as her hands fell to her sides. "I'm okay..."

"Good." My shoulders fell in silent relief before I turned my attention away from her and briefly took a look around the building we were in for the next few minutes. My eyes having finally adjusted to low lighting inside the building.

The building had quite a cozy feeling to it with its wooden walls and furniture, even if it was all pretty much decaying at this point. With just about everything in the building being covered in a thick layer of dust. Looking behind the counter, I was surprised to see cabinets full of coffee mugs and plates, at least the ones that hadn't fallen apart and were destroyed. Along with what looked like some coffee makers sitting on the countertops.

"Huh… Been a while since I've been to a place like this…" I murmured once I realized it was a cafe. One that had seen better days.

"What do you mean?" I blinked at Lilac's voice and looked back at her to see her looking up at me with a curious expression on her face.

"Hm?" I raised a brow at her.

Lilac looked away and started messing with her hood, wiping away a small patch of dirt off the tail end. "You mumbled something to yourself about being in a place like this."

"Oh… Yeah, it's… it's called a cafe." Sighing, I scratched at my chin and stared at the ceiling with a wistful expression. "It's been years since I've been to one. The last time I had visited one was all the way back in the Night Kingdom." Or at least one that was being well maintained by an android.

Lilac pursed her lips with a curious hum as she sat up, pulling her legs up so she could rest her arms on her knees before she placed her head on top of them as she looked around the room before giving me her full attention when she spoke up again. "Do they have a lot of places like this back in the Night Kingdom?"

I had to pause for a moment as I tried to recall back that far, which wasn't easy because some of my memories of the Night Kingdom were starting to become sort of a blur nowadays. I was silent for a few seconds before slowly nodding my head as some of it started to come back to me. "There were a few, but it depended on where you were. Really, the only place you could find them really was in the civilian sectors, and those are only behind the front lines."

"You've been to one!" Lilac exclaimed, making me look at her as she leaned closer and peered up at me, her curiosity piqued. "A civilian sector?"

"Mhm, several." It had been a hell of a surprise to me back then. Going straight from interacting with only military model Androids who only really knew about fighting. To what was the closest to an actual functioning town filled with androids that were all pretty much the closest equivalent to civilians had been a slightly jarring experience for me the first time I ended up in one of those civilian sectors as their called.

They had been comforting in an odd way. Though slightly eerie at first, since all the Androids really did was maintain the buildings. They didn't really go shopping or have activities like humans did, except for a few outliers trying to mimic humanity.

After all, while they did maintain the towns and even the few cities the Androids had managed to build, they were still built to contribute to the war effort in some way. Either by working in factories or collecting resources to help build more androids or weapons.

"Hnn, lucky." Lilac grumbled half heartedly as she placed her head back down onto her arms with a sigh and smile. "Ever since I first heard about them, I've always wanted to visit one of those towns. Just to try and see how humans used to live when they were down here. When the earth was peaceful." Lilac said as she started playing with a strand of hair.

I leaned back with a hum and closed my eyes. "Well, if you ever get the chance to visit one. Just be prepared for the culture shock." I informed her.

"...Culture shock?" Lilac asked with a bemused tone.

"...Civilian sectors are mostly populated with Civilian models Lilac. They…" I frowned and sighed. "They aren't exactly like Military models." Something I had noticed during my travels in a few interactions between androids from the Army of Humanity and civilian model Androids, was that they didn't really seem to… mesh. Which likely came from the two groups being built with vastly different purposes in mind. Creating a clash between their personalities whenever they interacted with each other most of the time.

Though they weren't hostile to each other, far from it. Really, the only clash that would be likely to happen would be between the army and Resistance models.

"Hm? What do you mean? They can't be that different, are they? They're Androids just like us." Lilac said, sounding perplexed as she poked me in the arm.

"They are…" I said with a hesitant tone and I opened my left eye to glance at her. She stared back, a confused frown on her face. Looking away, I sighed and scratched my cheek with a complicated look on my face as I tried to think of what to say before I sighed again and closed my eye. "Ah… Never mind me, kid. It's nothing you really need to worry about."

"…Alright." Lilac murmured after a second. A deep contemplative sounding hum coming from her a few seconds after before she fell silent for the next several minutes.

I fell silent as well, a quiet yawn leaving me as I leaned back into the table using the next few minutes for some respite. And despite our current circumstance, I almost felt like nodding off for just a minute or two. Though my body's plan of catching a small bit of sleep was interrupted when I heard Lilac get up and she started poking me. Thankfully she wasn't poking my face like earlier and was being much more gentle about it.

Opening my eyes with a hum, I looked at Lilac to see her sitting up, picking her rifle up from the floor.

"You think enough time has passed for that goliath to be gone?" She asked, retracting her arm once she saw me looking at her.

Rubbing my eyes and letting out a quick yawn, I stretched my legs out before pushing myself off the floor and grabbing my backpack. "Yeah, we should be in the clear now. It'll be easy to sneak past the other machines while not having to worry about being crushed by that thing." I replied as she stood up as well and walked around the table and waited for me.

Taking a deep breath through my nose and shaking myself awake, I made my way over to the door before briefly pausing at it to see if I could hear the Goliath's footsteps. After a few seconds of nothing, I gave a nod over my shoulder to Lilac before opening the door and taking a step out.

As soon as I did though, my body immediately froze in place, the hair on the back of my neck rising while my body went taut as I found myself looking at a medium biped just a few feet from me. Its yellow optics staring into my eyes while it also stood completely frozen in the middle of the sidewalk.

"What's wrong?" I heard Lilac whisper behind me, her hand pressing against my back as I stood still in the doorway. My hand slowly began reaching back to grab my rifle, only to grab nothing as I grimaced while keeping my eyes on the machine.

"A-ah! Brother! Scary android." My eyes snapped towards the tinny voice below the medium biped and I found myself staring at a stubby from earlier. Its arm poking out from behind the medium biped as it pointed at me.

There was a gasp from Lilac before she hissed out a quiet curse and she managed to squeeze through between me and the doorway and placed herself in front of me. Quickly shouldering her rifle and aiming it at the two machines.

The medium biped reacted, and I grabbed onto Lilac to pull her out of the way of its attack. But I stopped in bewilderment when instead of attacking us, the machine placed itself in front of the stubby, its arms held out to its sides, shielding the smaller machine. The stubby stared at Lilac and I through the other machine's legs, opening and closing its hands as if it was nervous.

I stared long and hard at the stubby before tearing my gaze away from it to look at the medium biped, its head moving back and forth rapidly as it looked between me and Lilac. Not saying anything while it held its arms out.

We all found ourselves at a standstill, with no one really making any moves. Lilac was breathing harshly through her nose as she kept her rifle aimed at the medium bipeds head. While the only movement from the machines was their heads constantly looking back and forth between us. The machine's yellow eyes continued to look into mine as I glared back in bemusement while I tried to think of a way out of this situation.

Humming quietly to myself as I eyed the machine, I placed my hands on Lilac's shoulders, causing her to slightly tilt her head towards me as I slowly began walking us away from the two machines. She let me do so, her eyes looking forward again as we slowly inched our way back. "Steady now." I whispered to her while I kept my eyes locked onto the medium biped, watching for any reaction from it.

The medium biped's head followed us with every step, while its eyes started blinking on and off rapidly, something I had never really seen before, and put me on edge as I reached down and gripped the hilt of my knife.

Its eyes suddenly stopped blinking and returned to their normal yellow tint. Slowly, the medium biped began to move, slowly stepping to the side while I watched it with bated breath. It then reached down and gently grabbed the stubby's hand and began leading it away from us. Carefully making its way across the road and making sure the stubby was behind it the whole time.

Once on the other side of the street, the medium biped ushered the stubby into an alley before looking at me for a moment. Its eyes flickered again before it turned away and quickly stepped into the alley.

Letting go of Lilac's shoulders once the machines were gone, I took a look around us before stepping back and briefly resting my back against a wall while rubbing my temple with a groan.

That was too damn close. First a goliath and then that? What shit luck...

I was brought out of my thoughts when Lilac grabbed a hold of my arm and started insistently pulling on it as she kept her eyes out on the street, where the goliath had gone. "Come on! Let's get out of here now while we got the chance!" Lilac suggested with urgency as she briefly looked at me with worry, tugging on my arm harder and pulling me away from the building.

"Yeah... Alright. Let's get the hell out of here before we get any more surprises." Lilac let go of my arm now that I was moving and quickly took the lead again as we left, leading me through the streets in the direction of the Resistance camp.

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"Are you sure you'll be okay on your own?" Lilac asked him again. Holding her hands together in front of her chest as she shuffled from one foot to the other. As he checked over her pistol, pulling back the slide to check the chamber. She had originally wanted to give him her rifle, but he wouldn't accept it. So she made a compromise with him. Either he takes her pistol or she wouldn't let him leave. He had quickly taken the pistol from her.

He briefly shot her an amused and almost exasperated look at her question. "I'm sure Lilac." He said before going back to looking over the pistol.

They were standing in a cramp and narrow alley near the back of the Resistance camp, the large and tall buildings surrounding them on all sides. With the makeshift barricade walls just around the corner.

The man sighed and put the mag back into the pistol, clicking the safety on before storing it behind him.

He went to say something but blinked in surprise when she held out two more magazines for him to take, her eyes focusing on his chest while she frowned. When he didn't immediately grab them, her eyebrows scrunched together and she grunted while taking a step closer, pushing her arms out further towards him.

A quick amused breath left his nose and he gave her a weary smile as he took them from her. Lilac then plopped herself down on a piece of rubble next to them with a quiet huff, crossing her arms and glancing at the ground with a frown while he put the extra mags in the pockets on his thigh.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him turn his head down to look at her, a small frown on his face before he walked over and knelt down in front of her, making her look at him. His green eyes looked into hers with a soft expression. "Lilac, look. I know you're worried, and I appreciate that I really do." He smacked his hand against his chest. "But I'm not made of glass. And I know how to handle myself." He reassured her before he grinned. "I've spent years on my own, I think I'll be fine for a day or two."

His reassurances did very little to ease her worry as she kicked a piece of rubble and glowered at the ground. "...Fine." She sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat. While she picked at the damaged synthetic skin on her right hand anxiously.

His eyes flickered down to her hand, and instead of scolding her like earlier he reached forward with his hand and took her own into his grasp, and gently squeezed it. The warmth of his hand was surprisingly comforting. Which helped further ease the tension in her body as she glanced back at him.

"I'll be fine, Lilac, I promise." He said with a soothing tone before smiling. "Trust me, you'll either be seeing me in the camp tomorrow or at least the next day. After all, I now have something I have to return to you." He patted his waist where he had put her pistol.

Lilac looked down at her hand as she poked the inside of her cheek with her tongue in thought before looking back at him. "You sure you can't just come in now?"

He paused for a moment before he snorted and took on a tired expression. "I could, but then you'd probably have to explain to whoever's in charge why you're sneaking some unknown android into your camp through the back…" He then sighed and rubbed his eye with his other hand. "That and after earlier, I'd like to head back to my place and get some rest than deal with all that."

Lilac stared at him, not really finding any fault in his reasoning before she sighed and looked away with a frown and waited for a few seconds. "...Okay." She muttered. Making his smile widen, causing some of the damaged synthetic skin on his face to stretch and wrinkle.

"Attagirl." He said before he reached up and gently placed his other hand atop her head before gently running his hand back and forth through her hair. Making her jump at the odd and foreign feeling. Her breath hitched in her throat and her eyes widened at the strange and pleasant sensation that came from it before it suddenly was over. He then stood up, removing his hand from her head and letting go of her hand, leaving her sitting there in shock as the sensation in her nerve sensors faded away.

What was that!? Confusion filled Lilac's mind as her processor worked overtime while her hand slowly reached up and brushed the spot in her hair where he had done... Whatever he had done.

"Alright," Lilac was brought out of her thoughts by his voice and she looked up to see him adjusting his jacket and pulling his scarf back over his face. Lilac quickly hopped up from her seat as he gave her a nod. "I gotta get going." He gave her a light nudge with his arm, his eyes crinkled in a smile behind his scarf. "Take care alright? I'll see you soon." He said before turning around and walking down to the end of the alley.

Lilac chewed on her lip and clutched the sleeve of her shirt to keep herself from reaching out to grab onto him. She loosened her grip as soon as he reached the end of the buildings where he turned back and gave her a final wave goodbye, which she managed to eagerly return before he was gone, leaving her alone in the narrow alley.

Her arm was still waving even though he was gone before slowly coming to stop, to which it then flopped down to her side as she stared at where he had been with a frown.

"...Bye."

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There we go, chapter four. I thankfully had a bit of an easier time with this chapter than the last. Kinda had a bit of trouble with Lilac's little part for some reason. But I think got an okay result in the end.

And for anyone who's curious. The whole civilian sector thing is something I thought up, based on what Taro said during the dinner talk show. Where he mentions that the Androids are still running stores or something like them and that they're constantly restocking the shelves even with the war going on because they don't know any better. So I thought that would be something interesting to try and explore later on in the story.

(6/1) Alright! I've finished fixing up this chapter! At least to a degree that I'm happy with. It's still far from perfect, but overall I feel like it works better than before. Now I can start working on the next chapter when I'm able to sit my ass down and write it.