A2 lay there for what felt like hours, the dull humming of the generators the accompanying soundtrack to her sorrow. Tears of pure anguish ran down her face, dropping like silent rainfall onto the cold concrete floor. A lifetime's worth of pent up sadness and pain were all being released at once. And once again she was all on her own.

How many times would she have to go through this? How many times can she be knocked down to rock bottom? But this…this was the cruelest prank of all. To lift her up to heights she could never have dreamed of reaching, to give her a glimpse of the heavens, just to drop her back down to where she was now. Surrounded by the death of hope.

Eventually, the tears subsided and A2 was prepared to leave it all behind. To return to her life of battles and vengeance. To being completely alone. She believed, if even for a short bit, that that life was behind her. She had hoped that she could walk side by side with humans, to learn from them, to protect them with every last fiber of her being until only her core remained. To know what it means to be loved.

But all that was gone. Buried forever in the depths of the earth.

A2 managed to lift herself back up to her feet with great effort, bracing herself on the chamber for leverage, her legs shaking a bit from emotional exhaustion. Her hand lingered a bit longer on the metal surface of the pod, a part of her not wanting to say goodbye. She gently ran her hand across the frost-covered glass and whispered a final heartbreaking "Farewell" before turning back toward the entrance. To return to the surface. Back to war.

A green flash in the corner of her eye stopped the combat android dead in her tracks, her back going rigid in shock. With eyes opened wide, A2 slowly turned back toward the pod she was about to abandon and took tentative, unsteady steps closer to it.

A strange light was gleaming from behind the thick layer of frost. A2 gingerly cleared away a strip of frost with trembling hands, her black box feeling like it was beating a mile a minute. A sign, situated at the top of the pod, was lit up with large green letters shining brilliantly.

"SYSTEM NORMAL"

"Don't…Don't do this to me." A2's voice came out in a strangled choke, her hands frantically wiping away the rest of the frost. "Not again."

Removing the last little bit of frost, the combat android took a shaky step back to stare at in awe the pod's occupant. Once again she could feel the familiar burning sting of tears, but this time they were tears of immeasurable joy. A girl, no older than twenty years of age, lay sleeping in the chamber, her body completely untouched by time.

The combat android's instincts were sent into hyperdrive as soon as she lay eyes upon the girl, her programming to protect screaming at her from the deepest part of her core. Her hands began frantically searching the outside of the chamber for some kind of mechanism to free her. A button, a lever, anything! They had have built one!

A2's eyes widened when her fingers curled around a latch on the side of the pod, her virtual heartbeat quickening its pace. Pulling on it firmly, but carefully, the Type A model lifted open the glass door, a cold mist seeping out of the cracks of the chamber's entrance with a sharp hiss. The mist billowed outward rapidly, obscuring A2's view who began waving her hand in front of her face to help disperse it. As the mist slowly dissipated, A2 finally got a clearer view of the pod's occupant.

The girl seemed to be a little shorter than her, or at least the best estimate she could make from the girl's reclined position. Short messy brown hair, the tips barely tickling her shoulders, framed gentle facial features, her soft pink lips upturned into a serene smile. She seemed to be wearing some strange blue pants with rips and tears, seemingly added at random, running up and down her legs. What practicality that could possibly provide she wouldn't hazard to guess. A cream-colored top with short sleeves adorned her torso, the soft-looking fabric rising and falling gently.

She was breathing.

"She's…alive." A gentle whisper escaped the Type A unit's lips as she gazed at the truly wondrous sight before her. Someone had survived. There was an honest to goodness living human right in front of her. And A2 was not going to let anything happen to her.

A2 brought her hand closer to the girl's face, marveling at her delicate features, painfully aware of how much her black skinless arms contrasted with the human's pink skin. Gently she ran the back of her hand across the sleeping girl's cheek, the tender gesture causing the pods occupant to murmur softly in her sleep. For the first time, in a long time, a genuine smile graced A2's lips.

The combat android swore then and there that she was going to make sure she lived, for as long as A2's body could still fight. Until nothing but her core remained and her body lay strewn into pieces. She wasn't going to do this for herself. Not for YoRHa. Not for the memory of a lost humanity. But for her. For the girl lying right here in front of her. For all of her fallen comrades and friends who had lost their lives so that A2 could be here today.

Reluctantly removing her hand from the girl's cheek, the girl uttering a tiny whine in protest at the lost contact, the former YoRHa android carefully positioned her arms underneath the human's legs and head and gently lifted her out of the pod. Holding her close in her arms, noting how light she was, A2 could feel a tremendous amount of joy course through her core. If it was her programming or something else she didn't care. It felt positively wonderful.

A2 decided to bring her over to the Medical Tent to give her a better place to rest and to check her over in case the long cryo sleep had done any damage to her nervous system. Getting a firm, but tender, grip on her body A2 started walking over to the tent.

The rhythmic bounce of A2's walking, and the echoing clacks of her heels on the concrete, caused the dozing girl in her arms to stir. The waking girl's head rolled over and snuggled into A2's chest, giving the android a clearer view of the girl's face. Her eyelids fluttered open slowly, two dazzling orbs of glittering emerald stared up into A2's own gray-blue ones. A2 did something then, that she had not done since the 14th Machine War. She smiled.

Leah felt like her body was floating, a strange yet comforting heat surrounding her. An unnatural chill was coursing through her frame making her burrow herself closer to the soothing warmth. Despite her desperate want to remain asleep and enjoy the warmth some more, Leah could feel her eyes slowly open. She awoke to the view of two crystalline pools of gray-blue.

A beautiful woman was staring down at her, a positively radiant smile on her lips. Leah could feel the heat instantly spread to her cheeks as she gawked at this woman's beauty. Long silver hair(did she dye it?) flowed like sparkling snow drifts down way past her shoulders, some errant tips of hair tickling Leah's face. The woman's face was strangely covered in a lot of dirt, a charming mole managing to peek out near her chin. Even through the dirt, the sparkle of her eyes shone through, her mind feeling like it was drowning a sea of lustrous silver.

Leah was jolted out of her reverie when the mystery woman lightly placed her on a soft bed. Whipping her head back and forth, Leah noted the various medical tools and machines surrounding the area. If she remembered correctly, this was the medical tent she got checked out at before going into Cryosleep. But it seemed in much worse shape than last time she was here. All the sheets and pillowcases were stained a sickly yellow, several vials of chemicals had formed a coating of some kind of slime inside, and thick layers of dust covered everything.

A series of clangs, and the sound of someone rummaging through cupboards, diverted Leah's attention away from the strange state of the area and toward the mysterious woman who had been carrying her just moments ago. The silver-haired woman was currently scouring the various drawers and cupboards, but for what exactly Leah didn't know.

The mystery woman currently had her back turned toward Leah, her body outstretched reaching for something up on a higher shelf, which gave her a chance to get a better look at her new companion.

Even with the heels, which oddly seemed like they were attached directly to her feet, she appeared to only be a bit taller than herself. The stockings she was wearing had a strange design, parts of the left one being partially see-through. They seemed to fit very tightly, the fabric looking almost painted on to her thick thighs. Lifting her gaze a little higher Leah's face broke out into a painfully bright blush.

'Why is she wearing those?!' Leah's mind screamed loudly at her as she got a glimpse at the woman's pants. Or the almost complete lack of them. With her being in a stretched out position, her long hair had shifted to the side giving Leah an unobstructed view of the strangers back.

The pants(underwear?!) the silver-haired woman was wearing were just on the borderline of complete indecency, making Leah feel very flustered. They hugged her, admittedly wide, hips and butt very snugly. Leah tried her best not to ogle her too much but she was making it extremely hard. This woman was gorgeous.

Unfortunately for the recently awoken girl, the very moment that she was staring at this stranger's butt was the exact same moment the owner of said derriere decided to turn back around. Leah's eyes shot back to the silver-haired woman's face that she felt she would suffer from whiplash, her cheeks heating up with white-hot guilt. She couldn't believe the first thing she does after waking up from a god knows how long, cryo sleep was to leer at a stranger. A very beautiful stranger. But even so, it still made her feel bad.

Heavy clicking of heels on concrete shifted Leah's thoughts back to the approaching woman. Her soot-covered face was trying to present her with a pleasant expression, but Leah noticed a hint of frustration in her eyes. Maybe she hadn't found what she was looking for. In her gloved hands though was a slightly cleaner blanket, the dark black material of the gloves standing out from the sheets white.

Leah stared dumbly at her as she walked over to her bedside, gracing her with another dazzling smile, before putting her hand on her shoulder and gently guiding her down into a reclined position. She carefully unfolded the blanket and spread it over Leah's body, tucking her in safely and securely. Staring up to her new caretaker in wonder, Leah couldn't help but admire her more.

Trying to avoid staring at her chest, the flustered girl decided to forgo starting there and instead glanced at her interesting choice for a top. A form-fitting sleeveless shirt hugged her upper body, the sides near her hips opening up to reveal even more skin. An intricate design was sewn at the hem of the shirt, a small window below it gave Leah a view that was uncomfortably close to the woman's groin. Why was this woman revealing so much skin?!

Said woman was currently bent over her, seemingly checking her over for something, making Leah feel intense amounts of embarrassment. Seeing this beautiful specimen so close to her was causing her an inordinate amount of distress. With her body so close, Leah had no idea where to affix her gaze. Anywhere she looked would inevitably lead her to stare at something inappropriate.

Though because of this, Leah did notice something odd about this silver-haired stranger. There seemed to be some kind of weird black lines running along different parts of her body, but were primarily located around her arms and upper chest. The fashion of this time, whenever it was, seemed very strange to her. Following that train of thought, Leah decided to ask a question she had been wanting to know.

"What year is it?"

The second the question left her lips the woman stopped her examination and completely froze to the spot. Her gray-blue eyes widened as if in a panic, a look of pure terror on her face, as she slowly turned her head to look into Leah's own confused green ones.

"What?" Leah questioned, a tiny hint of worry worming its way into her voice. The emotions that she saw in her eyes was very disconcerting. The long-haired stranger lifted herself back into an upright position, her posture seeming unnaturally stiff. "What's wrong?"

The silver-haired beauty raised up her arm pointing a finger at her ear, after which she swung her arm over and pointed at her mouth. Leah looked on in confusion at the woman's weird pantomime, a no-doubt very quizzical expression on her own face, until the stranger moved her arms into the shape of an X causing Leah to comprehend what was going. The woman then parted her delicate lips and began to speak.

Just like the stranger before her, Leah could not understand a word she was saying.

A2 was in distress.

She had not considered this possibility. It had been so long since her time in YoRHa that she had completely forgotten that Operator Units were necessary for translation of ancient human language. And her, as a lowly combat model, had a very rudimentary speech program. It was designed to help with cooperating with teammates and to better help complete her missions, not for research and definitively not for finding the possibly last living human on earth.

The girl stared at her, mouth agape, with a look of utter dismay. Clearly she had also grasped the fact that they could not communicate, at least not easily. Sending her processors into hyperdrive, A2 delved deep into her memory core. Digging through sub-file upon sub-file of her own programming, she desperately searched for any hidden or buried language processors.

There is just no way YoRHa hadn't built Attack Models without some kind of language program. What would the point have been if one of her kind had found humans? Would they have fumbled around with rudimentary sign language on an active battlefield? It just made no sense.

So A2 kept digging and digging, straining her programmings functions like never before. A2 had always considered herself, for lack of a better word, dumb. Complex situations and concepts that No.1 or Seed would talk to her about had always confused her greatly and she had even proven her lack of intellect during the Pearl Harbor Descent. She had watched her whole unit, and the friends she made in the resistance, die in front of her and she hadn't been able to think of a single way to save them. But she had made a silent promise to the girl lying in front of her and she sure as hell was not going to break that. Ever. Especially not at the very first hurdle.

A2's eyes widened when she stumbled upon a sub-folder labeled 'Human Languages'. There was one. There was a built-in language program. It had been deactivated to help streamline her combat processors, keeping all language options to a minimum. A wide smirk spread across her lips as she booted up the executable.

She had passed the first hurdle.

Leah sat up slowly, never taking her eyes off of the silver-haired woman standing by the side of her bed. The strangely dressed woman had completely frozen up on her, not uttering a single word and not moving a muscle. It was like she had become an extremely lifelike statue.

"Are you ok?" Leah smacked her forehead as soon as she had uttered that sentence.

'She can't understand you, you dumb ass.' Leah chastised herself mentally for her own stupidity but noticed that the woman had not reacted one bit to the sound of her voice. Not even at the resounding smack from slapping her forehead. It was like she had completely left her body.

Sitting there in uncomfortable silence, knees drawn close to her chest, Leah began talking to herself to help keep her thoughts occupied.

"I wonder what year it is." Leah stared listlessly at the white roof of the tent, her emerald eyes lazily watching the little dust motes dance through the air. It was 2049 when she had been frozen. She had completely forgotten to ask any of the scientists on what the estimated thawing time was. The idea of escaping the horrible world she lived in, to wake up in a world of splendor, had made her want to get the process started as quickly as possible. There had been nothing left for her then.

"Is everyone else still sleeping?" Leah tilted her head back to the catatonic stranger by her bedside, diverting her attention away from the dust ballet, directing the question directly at her silent companion. She knew she wasn't going to get a response. She just needed someone to talk to.

Leah quirked an eyebrow at the strange smirk that now adorned the long-haired woman's face. The left side of her mouth was upturned into a confident smile, drawing attention to the cute mole on her chin. Was she smiling like that before?

"You are really beautiful, you know that?" Despite knowing that the woman couldn't understand her, a light blush still dusted her cheeks at having admitted something so embarrassing directly to the person in question. Ever since she had woken up, Leah couldn't keep her eyes off of this captivating stranger. A gentle smile came to graced her lips as Leah laid back down into resting position, comfortably folding her arms over her stomach.

"I wonder what your name is." A soft sigh came out of her mouth as she dreamily stared at the tent's ceiling. She wanted to know more about this mysterious beauty. Where did she come from? How did she get her hair that long, let alone that color? Why was she here? Was she part of the researchers? She didn't remember seeing her. And why the hell is she wearing those clothes?! For now, Leah guessed, it would remain a mystery.

"Eh chu."

Leah sat bolt upright at the sudden utterance of words being spoken with such speed, she was worried she was going to give herself whiplash. That had not been her own voice. Eyes opened wide like saucers, Leah stiffly turned her head back to the once catatonic stranger.

"W-What did you say?" Sputtering in shock at the unexpected display of semi-intelligible speech from the woman next to her caused Leah to be left a stammering mess. Did-Did she suddenly know English?

"Mai n-nameh." The silver-haired woman's voice came out extremely soft, her delicate eyebrows furrowed in agitation. The strain of trying to pronounce words she had never known must have been frustrating her greatly. "Mai name ish A2."

A2. That was this beauties name. The name of the one who was the first person she saw after waking up. The name of the person whose gray-blue eyes she got lost in the very first second after she opened her eyes to this new world. The name of the one who cared for her so gently while wearing the most serene smile. That persons name was A2.

"You can understand me!" Leah sprung up into a kneeling position, a spark of pure adrenaline running down her spine. Her arms flung out, grabbing ahold of A2's gloved hands, and pulled her closer to her own body. Leah's emerald eyes were dancing with festive merriment, her whole body and mind enraptured by the simple fact that A2 could talk.

"Y-Yesh." Leah noticed the look of complete and utter shock on A2's face, the silver-haired woman obviously not expecting this kind of extreme reaction out of her. To be fair she didn't expect this from herself either. But this changed everything. They were no longer strangers stuck in a voiceless stalemate. They could communicate. She could learn about what happened. About where everyone was. About who A2 was.

"Oh my god, I have so many questions!" She knew she was yelling, but she couldn't help it. She was just so excited. Leah was dancing around in her bed, swaying A2's arms to and fro, bubbly giggles erupting from her chest. "Can you tell me what year it is? What year did I wake up in?"

Leah continued bouncing around in her seat as she eagerly awaited A2's response. Staring into those gorgeous eyes just excited her so much and left her in such a serene state that Leah could not possibly contain her giddiness.

Surprisingly, A2 released a heavy sigh, causing Leah's eyebrows to curl into a questioning arch. Taking a deep shuddering breath, A2 turned back to Leah. The cold steel gray in her eyes was glistening sadly with sorrow.

"It is 11945."

A/N: Hoo boy here we go. Things are happening now. Leah is back and her and A2 finally meet. Things are going to be interesting for the both of them from here on out. This chapter was the one I was most excited to get to because it's the one that gets the main plot rolling. Plus a little bit of happiness is allowed for the both of them don't you think?

Also want to give a big 'Thank You' to everyone who read and reviewed my story! It means a lot and has made me very happy! So thank you again!