An uncomfortable silence permeated between the two women, the gentle hum of the generators the only sound. A piercing shriek tore through Leah's brain, like a howling wind during a terrible storm, her mind unwilling to accept what A2 had just told her. Leah's hands gripped the blanket tightly, her knuckles turning as white as the sheets. Emerald green eyes, unfocused and distant, stared disbelieving into sad gray-blue ones. A2 merely looked on, her eye's conveying her deep sympathy toward Leah.
9000 years. She had been asleep for over 9000 years.
Leah swallowed loudly, her mouth feeling uncomfortably dry. Words had utterly escaped her. How could this have happened? There is no way they would have left them in there for that long. Was the technology even supposed to last that long? Come to think of it, where is everyone else?
Why hadn't she noticed that yet? Did everyone leave already? Or were they even in the same time as her? Were her and A2 the only ones here? The many happenings after she had woken up had distracted her immensely, but to not have noticed any of these oddities? To let her excitement get the best of her. It upset her greatly.
Question after question rocked through Leah's brain like an endless cacophony of noise, threatening to drown her. She needed to get out of her head. She couldn't keep asking questions to herself that she couldn't answer. She needed to ask them to someone. And there was only one other person with her.
The pale figure of A2, as well as the rest of the world, slowly came back into focus for Leah. Her frazzled mind tried to find a focal point, something to focus on to help clear her thoughts, to help center her back to reality. Staring into A2's captivating eyes, Leah managed to get a temporary grasp on herself. Taking steady breaths to calm herself, Leah decided to address her questions to her new companion.
"A2?" The silver-haired woman stood at attention at the sudden utterance of her name, nodding almost imperceptibly to let Leah know she had heard her. "Where is everyone else?"
A2 averted her gaze the second the question left Leah's lips, a pained expression marring her beautiful face. Leah's hand shot up, wanting badly to comfort the long-haired maiden, desperately wishing she could take away her pain. Her hand hovered in mid-air, unsure of whether or not she should touch her. They hardly know each other. What would she even say? A2 had done so much for her in just the short time they've been together, but she couldn't even give her the tiniest bit of comfort. Leah dropped her hand back into her lap, her eyes screwed shut in frustration.
'I'm pathetic.'
"They.." A soft voice, clearly still struggling with speaking English, brought Leah out of her temporary bout of self-loathing, her gaze fixated back on the long-haired woman. A2's gray-blue orbs were peering into her own, overwhelming pain swimming on their crystalline surface. A gloved hand was clenched tightly at A2's side. "They are gone."
Leah's stomach bottomed out when she heard A2's response. Gone. That one simple word shook Leah to the core. All her fear piled up in her mind, scared that they would all be revealed to be true.
"What…What do you mean gone?" Leah asked for clarification, her lips trembling. Biting down roughly on her bottom lip, the brown-haired girl painfully awaited the taller woman's response.
"They are all…." A2 hesitated, her face scrunched up at horrid memory, "Dead."
Leah thought her heart stopped then and there. Blood was rushing through her ears causing her mind to be fogged up by a dreadful white noise. Darkness started creeping in from the edges of her vision, the world slowly fading away before her. At that moment, something inside Leah broke.
Tears burst unbidden, like a dam bursting after a severe thunderstorm. Slender fingers dug roughly into her scalp, pressing painfully into her skull, trying desperately to push out the screams in her mind. Leah pulled at large clumps of hair, pain coursing at where the roots connected to the head. Curling up into a ball, Leah began rocking back and forth, gasping painfully for air.
"Nononononononono." Leah cried out in dismay, shaking her head back and forth in a vain attempt to rid herself of her horrible thoughts. Flashes of all the people's faces she saw that day, their smiles of hope and relief, ran through her mind in rapid succession. All of them, gone. "How, how, why?!"
"How could this have happened?!" A small fist slammed repeatedly into her leg, hoping the pain would help distract her. Each horrible thought, every new face flashing in her mind, led to a harder and harder strikes to her leg. Hot tears flowed like a waterfall down her cheeks as her thoughts spiraled further and further down.
"Why am I still alive?!" A wretched scream tore through the sobbing girl's throat, her voice breaking sharply from the strain. Banging her head against her knees, Leah curled deeper into herself, gripping her legs painfully tight. Her tears started coming faster, soaking into her jeans, eyes clenched painfully shut. All Leah could see and hear was all the lives that were lost.
How many people had passed away? Twenty? More? All those lives, their hopes and dreams, no different from her own, lost to deaths cruel hand. Why was she allowed to live when everyone else was gone? Mothers. Children. People of actual value. Gone. While her worthless self remains.
Did the rest of humanity even still exist? Leah remembered clearly the devastation the White Chlorination Syndrome was wreaking on the human population. Scientists around the world had created many different plans to, hopefully, keep humanity alive. Cryo Freeze. Space Travel. Even the mysterious Gestalt program. Did any of them even work? Was it that she was just dealt a lucky hand?
"Why couldn't I have just died?" A sentence, so horrible and so sad, drifted past her lips at nary a whisper. Leah was afraid of death. What person wasn't? But to live like this? In a world and time she couldn't even fathom. With the knowledge, the responsibility, of all those lost souls. To carry their hopes and dreams on her small shoulders. It broke her.
Leah's eyes widened, her tears momentarily forgotten, as she felt a gentle warmth envelop her.
A2 had no idea what was going on, let alone what to do.
It had pained her to inform Leah of the horrible fate that befell the other humans. The former YoRHa android was still dealing with the knowledge herself, her black box aching every time she remembered finding all those bodies. She couldn't imagine what a human, let alone one who had met these people, would be going through. Despite knowing this, A2 was still surprised by the girl's reaction.
Her eyes were the first thing A2 noticed. The complete lack of light behind them, like a candle being snuffed out, disturbed A2. It reminded her too much of what her own looked like in the past before she had found her in her pod. To watch the one who brought light back into her life lose hers, made A2's core ache in a way she had never felt before.
The combat android had to watch on helplessly as the girl began spiraling out of control, curling herself into a protective fetal position. A2 wanted to do something, to take the pain away, to help ease her suffering.
But how was she supposed to do that? All her life, A2 had spent it in preparation for war. To fight machines, to bring glory back to mankind. In the end, she had even failed that. Watching helplessly as all of her comrades, her friends, died for a pointless cause. Once again she was failing, with an actual human in front of her.
'Faster!' A2 screamed at her processors, pushing them to their limit. Her body was frozen in place, all of her computing being used on installing a library of humanities languages. This made it impossible for her to move toward and talk to the devastated girl, let alone help her. 'Install faster dammit!'
A2 couldn't leave her like this! It wasn't right! This cheerful girl, who just moments ago was bouncing around in her seat like a child awaiting a treat. One whose eyes lit up at the simple, badly pronounced, utterance of her name. Who smiled so earnestly and joyfully it made A2 black box soar. So full of light and laughter. The silver-haired android could not let that light fade. She had to protect it. Protect her. To make the light shine again.
A light twitch of her hand pulled A2 out of her thoughts, the combat android staring at it in wonder. The language program has been installed. She could move again! A2 turned her gaze back to the sobbing girl, prepared to help her when she froze up again.
How exactly was she going to do that? She had never done this before. Not for any of her android comrades, let alone the possible last human on earth! Shit, A2 hasn't had the best grasp of her own emotions over the years.
During the Pearl Harbor Descent, she had felt so much fear. Thrust into a leadership role she was not prepared for, watching her comrades, friends, die. For years all she had felt was anger and hate, a painful thirst for vengeance toward machines and YoRHa. Her first glimpse of true happiness revealed itself when she found the lone surviving human, who was currently falling into a pit of despair. And A2 was going to drag her out.
A2 gasped when the girl suddenly began beating up her own body, words of pure anguish and sorrow tearing out of her throat. Words that were so horribly sad. Words she had said to herself countless times before. Cursing her existence while greater androids, like No. 1 and Rose, had lost their lives so A2 could live. Their memories, and her brand of stubbornness, was what kept her going. Kept her alive to find a miracle.
"Why couldn't I have just died?
Words, spoken as soft as a summers breeze, tore through A2's mind like a rifle blast. At that moment, as the lone android bore witness to a lonely girl's loss, her mind and her core united in a single cause. Her body moved without thinking, relying on an instinct she didn't know she had, her battle-damaged arms encircled the girls smaller form, pressing herself as close as she could into her side.
All A2 wanted, was to save her.
Leah sat stunned for a long time, a light sniffling sound the only indication that she was still breathing. A soft weight was pressed up against her side, tender, yet strong, arms encompassing her slight frame. Silky silver hair danced in front of her eyes, swaying back and forth like swans gliding across a moonlit lake. Her head lifted slightly off of her knees, emerald eyes peeking out from behind messy bangs.
"A2?" Leah flinched slightly at the sound of her voice, her words coming out in a hoarse rasp. The grip on her body tightened slightly, Leah's heart jolting in glee. Her head tilted slightly toward her silent companion, resting the side of her head against A2's chest. Despite their close proximity, Leah didn't feel a single ounce of embarrassment. She felt…content.
"Please don't say that." Tilting her head slightly, trying to get a better look at A2, Leah locked eyes again with her unwitting savior. Confusion crossed her tear-streaked face, noting the complete lack of an accent in A2's speech.
"Please don't say you want to die." Leah cringed at the heartbroken tone in A2's voice, pressing deeper into the silver-haired woman's chest. Why did A2 care so much about her? They had only just met. And yet she has treated her with more love and care than she had ever felt before in her life. Sure her parents loved her, but they had always been a bit standoffish emotionally. But this complete stranger was holding her like she was the most precious gift on earth.
Shame coursed through her body as she thought about how she had been acting. She didn't mean to make A2 worry. A2 knew that everyone else was dead. She must have seen all those dead bodies. Dealt with that suffering all alone. And yet here she was, comforting her while she broke down. She shouldn't be adding to her burden.
'I'm such an idiot.' Lightly shaking her head, her brown hair softly ruffling against A2's chest, Leah chastised herself for her behavior.
Her past may have been gone. All the people she knew and the world she had lived in, gone. But she wasn't alone. A2 was here, by her side. They knew basically nothing about each other, and yet Leah could feel a special bond forming with the enigmatic beauty. A2 had done so much for in such a short time that Leah wasn't sure she'd be able to repay her. But she sure as hell was going to try.
"I'm sorry." Sighing softly, Leah delicately grabbed one of the arms that were encircling her, afraid that the slightest touch would cause A2 to disappear as if she were a dream. Despite having just sworn to comfort and be strong for A2, Leah wanted to be selfish for just a little bit longer.
Warmth.
In her all to short life, A2 had never felt it before. The only experience she could draw from were from fabricated memories of a loving grandmother. In her memories, her grandmother would smile at her so tenderly, stroking her small tuft of silver hair, cooing gentle words of reassurance. It gave her an understanding of what it meant to feel the comfort of another person, the belief that everything was going to be ok. But it paled in comparison to what she was feeling now.
The former YoRHa android sat on the edge of the bed, acutely aware of all of the human's smallest twitches and movements. From the rising and falling of her chest during every ragged intake of air to the little hiccups that would involuntarily rock her tiny frame. Tiny tear droplets splashed onto her bare thighs, like a miniature rainfall. A2 ran her fingers through the girl's soft brown locks, imitating what her grandmother had always done to make her feel better.
A2 knew she was doing this to hopefully make the distraught girl feel better, but she couldn't help being lulled into her own sense of contentment. Feeling another person's body closely pressed to her own made A2's black box 'flutter', making all of her pain and worry wash away. That all that existed at that moment was the here and now. She would have to be careful not to get addicted to it.
"I'm sorry." The apology from the girl in her arms, slightly muffled by her chest, pulled the combat android out of her contemplation. A hand, so small and gentle, gripped onto the exposed exoskeleton of her battle-damaged arm. Small pinpricks of electricity coursed through her where the girls' fingertips came into contact with her skin. A2 chin rested atop the shorter girl's head, the fluffy brown hair caressing her pale cheeks.
"Don't apologize." A2 was surprised by the softness of her voice, years of war had shaped her to be more harsh and rough. But right now, what this heartbroken girl needed was care. "I know how hard it must be."
"No." The combat model android blinked in confusion at the girl's sudden outburst, leaning back to get a better look at her. Deviant bloodshot eyes stared into her own perplexed blue ones, a dull flame beginning to grow in their emerald gaze. Flushed cheeks were pulled taut, her pink lips turned down into a grim frown. "I shouldn't make you have to deal with my burdens. I'm sorry for relying on you so much."
A2 wanted to protest, to tell her this was what she was made to do, to be her shield. That she would take all her hardships and make them her own. Anything to make her smile again. The fire in the girls' eyes though gave her pause. It reminded her of her comrades back in YoRHa, of Rose and her fellow resistance members, when they headed off to their last battle. A look of pure resolve.
"I'll be ok." The shorter girl slowly disentangled herself from her grasp, the silver-haired android immediately missing her warmth. Getting back to her feet, her heels clicking softly on the concrete, A2 turned back to the girl seated on the bed. A thin smile was spread on her lips, a few remaining tears trailing down her rosy cheeks, as she smiled sadly up at her. "It'll be hard, but I'll be ok."
Removing herself from A2's arms had been much harder than she thought. The thought of just staying there for the rest of her life was sorely tempting. But Leah had made a promise to herself and to A2. And she was intent on keeping it.
Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, her feet dangling several inches off the floor, Leah stared into twin concerned orbs of striking gray-blue. Doing her best to give the concerned woman a reassuring smile, though Leah was worried it came off more sad than comforting. Steeling her nerves, the girl out of time took hold of A2's wrist, preparing herself for what was to come.
"I'd like to see everyone."
A pained expression crossed A2's features at the mention of the deceased people. Leah felt guilty at bringing back painful memories, but she had to do this. She had to see them for herself. To say goodbye and make sure they are never forgotten.
"Okay." Smiling appreciatively at the taller woman, Leah gave her arm a small squeeze before letting go. Sliding a little farther forward, Leah placed her feet on the ground, testing out her legs. They have technically not been used in 9000 years. "Can you stand?"
The answer to A2's question came rather quickly, when as soon as Leah began lifting herself into a standing position did she feel her legs quiver and give out. Luckily for the brown-haired girl, A2's reflexes were extremely quick and she caught her with ease, holding her safely in her arms.
"I guess not." Leah laughed nervously, feeling quite embarrassed that after her big show of bravado she couldn't even walk. Hanging her head slightly, Leah couldn't help but chuckle. "I'm quite pathetic aren't I?"
"Here." Leah felt herself being shifted around, A2's strong arms lifting her body as if it was made of feathers. The silver-haired woman draped Leah's arm across her shoulder and placed a firm hand on her hip. Blushing lightly, the shorter girl gazed into A2's eyes, confusion written plainly on her face. "I'll help you walk."
"I guess that's a fair compromise." Gripping A2's shoulder tightly, she began taking her first tentative steps after her long sleep. Her legs wobbled uncomfortably every time she placed her foot back on the ground, but A2 held her steady. Turning her head, Leah gave the taller woman a grateful smile. "Thank you."
The only response she got was an almost imperceptible nod, but Leah noticed the slight curling in the corner of her mouth. Giggling internally, Leah decided it was best to not to point it out and returned her focus back to the task at hand.
The odd pair stumbled stiffly out of the medical tent and into the dimly lit research facility. Leah's mind wandered back to when she first laid eyes on the vast caverns' immense structural setup. It's technical brilliance hand been breathtaking. What laid before now seemed like she was looking into the reflection of a smashed mirror.
What once had been a brightly lit room, with mechanical wonders stretching from wall to wall, was reduced to a shadowy ruin, like something out of a bad video game. Pieces of debris littered the floor from where the walls had begun to crumble, the occasional shifting of loose dirt echoing off the cavern walls. And the worst was still to come.
Two long lines of cryogenic chambers stretched down the middle of the room, just as they had been when she last saw them. Out of everything that was leftover, they withstood the test of time the best. Their metallic shells were as robust as ever, the glass doors not showing a single crack.
They were symbols of hope back then. Now they only housed the dead.
Disentangling herself from A2, the silver-haired woman uttering a sound of protest, Leah stumbled on unsteady feet toward the closest pod. The brown-haired girl barely managed to grab the edge of the chamber, her hands clumsily fumbling on its smooth surface. Frost covered it's glass doors, swaths of it wiped away by someone else's, most likely A2's, hand. Taking a deep breath to help calm her nerves, Leah peered through the glass.
Leah's hand flew up to her mouth, as she held back a choked sob. Blinking rapidly Leah tried to will away the fresh tears that were welling up in the corner of her eyes, a few stray drops rolling down her cheeks. Screwing her eyes shut, the brown-haired girl could feel her throat tighten, the acidic sensation of vomit burning her throat.
A child, no older than 8 years old, lay dead in the chamber. Rot covered his body from head to toe, his hands still crossed across his stomach, the innocent image belying the horrible fate that befell this child. A bright green Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shirt covered his chest, the aged fabric torn and frayed. Despite the tragic fate that befell him, he still had a smile on his face. Childlike innocence, corrupted by death.
"Oh god…" Leah wrenched herself away from the horrible sight, leaning heavily against the chamber as she took deep inhalations of air, her chest heaving heavily at every ragged breath. She could hear A2 approaching her, no doubt worried about her well being. "I'm so sorry."
Leah wanted to stop there. To ask A2 to get her the hell out of there, take her as far from this nightmare as possible. She didn't think she could handle anymore. Clenching her fist, Leah shook her head and stood back up.
No! She couldn't leave them. It wasn't right, for her to bury her head in the sand and pretend none of them existed. They were people. People who deserved to be remembered, not forgotten to time as nary of footnote to the universe. She was going to carry them with her as motivation to keep living. Nodding to A2, her emerald eyes burning with determination, Leah approached the next chamber.
Leah continued onward, walking from pod to pod, paying her respects to every one of the deceased victims. Despite how hard it was she did her best to memorize everything about them. To imprint their existence onto her soul, no matter how much she wanted to just curl up and cry she soldiered on.
A2 remained silent while she was giving her solemn goodbyes, the only evidence she was still there being from the clicking of her heels. Leah was grateful that she was there for her but still respecting her wish to do this alone. She was truly thankful that A2 was here with her, not sure how she could have handled this on her own. She isn't sure she would have even been alive if she hadn't shown up, which made her even more grateful.
Coming up to an empty pod, her pod, Leah looked over her shoulder, glancing at the other chambers. She had visited them all. There was no one left to mourn. All that was left to do was to say goodbye to the past. Lowering carefully to her knees, her tired legs almost causing her to fall on her butt, the brown-haired girl rested her forehead against the harsh, cold metal of her former resting place.
Memories flashed before her mind's eye. Moments she spent with her family: laughing, fighting, caring. A family trip to Japan where her mother embarrassed them by speaking Mandarin to their waiter. Her dad chastising her harshly for failing another class and her screaming back at him before running out the door. Watching her dad break down in the kitchen the day after her mother succumbed to the White Chlorination Syndrome. Hugging him tight as he left, for the last time, to join the Gestalt Program.
Leah's life had been short so far, only having started her second year of college when the world began falling into chaos. She still remembered her best friend back in grade school, her only friend really, and how she would make Leah always try the grossest food first. She still wasn't a fan of Durians to this day. High School was not a good time for her though, her friend distancing herself from her after becoming popular. Leah desperately tried to become popular herself, hoping that would bridge the gap between them which sadly it never did.
A light blush dusted her cheeks when she remembered her first kiss. It wasn't until her first year of college that she had her first real relationship. Some boys had asked her out in high school, mostly just to make themselves feel better, but the relationships never lasted more than a week or two. She never really expected her first kiss to be with a girl though. But that's where she had found herself during her first year in college, in a relationship with one of her classmates. Sadly they only lasted till the end of that first year but it led to meaningful growth in her path to becoming her own person.
All those moments, both big and small, were what shaped her to who she was today. And it was time to say goodbye. To continue her growth in this new world. Getting back to her feet, Leah gave the chamber a gentle pat, sweeping her eyes over the other pods. A few more tears rolled down her puffy cheeks, as a wistful smile came to her lips.
"Farewell."
A caring hand rested on her shoulder giving it a light squeeze. Turning around Leah stared into the sympathetic face of A2, her eyes silently asking if she was ok. Placing her hand over A2's, Leah gave the silver-haired woman a small nod.
"I think I'm ready to go."
The only response she got was a quick nod of understanding, the taller woman turning on her heels and heading to the far end of the facility with Leah hurriedly walking after her. Leah's eyes widened dramatically when she saw the destroyed remains of the elevator. A crumpled heap of metal was a better way to describe it now.
"How are we supposed to get out?" Leah stammered nervously as she gawked at the only way out of the facility lying before her in a broken mess.
"We climb." Sputtering at A2's casual response she quickly followed after the stoic woman as she ducked into the smashed remains of the elevator car. Leah remembered how long it took to ride the elevator down to the facility back when it was still in decent condition and functioning. Climbing out seemed almost impossible even for the fittest of athletes, which she definitively was not.
A2 effortlessly clambered through the maintenance hatch and onto the roof of the elevator, extending her hand for Leah to take. Getting a firm grip on her gloved hands, Leah yelped as A2 pulled her up like she weighed nothing. Swaying a bit to get a footing on the uneven surface, Leah stared up into the seemingly endless darkness that was the elevator shaft.
"How are we supposed to climb out of this?!" Leah didn't mean to scream but a bit of panic was starting to set in. When she was told they would climb out she had been hoping there would be some kind of maintenance ladder but remembering how sure the head scientist had been about the condition of the elevator and this having been a secret research facility they probably didn't consider it necessary. This task had gone from improbable to impossible quickly.
"I'll carry you." Once again A2 managed to send Leah for a loop with just a couple of words. Carry her? How was she going to climb out of here while also carrying her? She knew A2 was strong, having carried her to the medical tent with little effort, but this was different. And yet A2 knelt in front of her, back facing her, and gestured for her to get on.
"Are…are you sure?" Leah wasn't trying to be difficult or seem ungrateful toward the silver-haired woman but she didn't want to make things harder for her.
"You can trust me." That simple response was enough to sway the brown-haired girl. Even though it sounded crazy, she did trust A2. Since she had woken up, A2 had been there to support and care for her and she was even willing to do so again. Smiling brightly, Leah carefully clambered onto A2's back, wrapping her arms tightly around her chest. An odd thought occurred to Leah as A2 lifted them back into a standing position.
"Oh, right. I never told you my name did I?"
Grabbing hold of a loose cable A2 shook her head to the negative, her silver hair tickling Leah's nose causing her to almost sneeze. Leah shook her head, giggling at her foolishness. I mean really, who forgets to introduce themselves. Squeezing A2 to let her know she's ready, Leah leaned in close and whispered into her ear.
"My name is Leah."
A/N: And we are finally leaving the facility. Leah really runs the gamut of emotions in this chapter but it's a lot she's had to deal with in a small amount of time. She has found the strength to keep going but something like this is not easily overcome. She still has some hard times ahead of her.
Sorry if this chapter took a bit longer to come out. Been busy with work and such but I try to write at least a little bit every day to at least keep the story alive. I had a little trouble writing this so I apologize for any bad sections.
Once again, thank you to anyone and everyone who gave my story a chance and I hope you enjoy what's to come!