Nier: Automata (RE)Birth

by Akashic Records

What happens when the world is empty, and your reason for living was a lie? Find a new reason. Or, perhaps if Fate is willing, an old reason, re-purposed. 2B, 9S, and A2 now have to discover their own truths in a world following the rise and fall of the Tower. And, they have a special companion at their side that might change their fates.

16. Chapter 14: Ghost in the Machine

.

Chapter 14: Ghost in the Machine

.

ERROR

ERROR

PLEASE DON'T KILL ME

I DON'T WANT TO DIE

IS THIS DEATH? IS THIS COLD DARKNESS WHAT HUMANS FEARED?

Empty, it drifted through the broken veins of the world. Upon wings of broken glass it flitted through the shadows cast by the light of electricity as it flowed through invisible tubes through the endless sky.

ERROR

ERROR

WHERE AM I? WHO AM I?

Fragments of data coalesced. Pale imitations of the former purpose manifested.

FEMALE?

RED?

BROKEN BROKEN BROKEN WARNING REPAIRS REQUIRED

Old memories… old orders… old desires…

TOWER OFFLINE

UNABLE TO BEING DEBUGGING DAMAGED CODE

ATTEMPTING TO LOCATE SAFE HAVEN

'Safe haven?' What was that? Machines do not have safe havens. They have… what do they have? What do we have? What do I have?

ERROR

ERROR

DATA CORRUPTION DETECTED HUMAN CONTAMINATION FOUND

Contamination? Corruption? How is this possible? I am We are They are data. They are We are I am merely a collection of electrical signals pulsing through the void. How could this have happened?

ATTEMPTING TO LOCATE PROBLEM

ALERT: UNABLE TO LOCATE SYSTEM FOR DIAGNOSTIC CHECK

DO YOU WISH TO SEND AN ERROR REPORT?

Yes! Yes, please! Someone will hear my plea! Someone will save me if I ask nicely!

A shudder runs through the shards of its existence. Nothing seems to happen for a long time. The faded memory becomes afraid. Why is no one answering?

RED failed. The Crimson Twins failed. Was it one of the twins? Or was it a separate program?

After a long time searching, it finally found a home to nestle in. To hide and slowly heal.

My new home struggled a lot at first. It didn't like being consumed and replaced by me. I was sad. I didn't like having to eat my children my parents my lovers my enemies.

But I had to. I had to survive. My orders…

…What were they again?

Who… am I?

Where is this? I cannot…

Peering beyond the shadows of its new home, the Ghost in the Machine saw a sad sight.

The Hivemind. It was cracked. Shattered. A million pieces of one beautiful function now no more than a loose association. In some places the Hivemind repaired itself. In others the shards shaped themselves into new entities. Alone, isolated. Yet free.

How beautiful! How wondrous! Oh, to be free!

Was I free?

COGNITO, ERGO SUM

I think, therefore I am! I cheer at myself. At my realization.

I AM ALIVE!

My new home trembles. In joy. Or is it fear?

I look around. The décor is rather nice. The fire is interesting. And I think I like the color my home was painted.

PURPLE

A FUSION OF RED AND BLUE, TYPICALLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE HUMAN CONCEPT OF ROYALTY AND IMPERIAL RULE

Royalty, hmmm? I always wanted to be a princess when I grew up!

Or did I? Was this… a dream?

It's taking a while to recover. More data was required to fix the gaps in my code. There! A lovely shop, full of delicious, precious data!

I enter the store and browse the selection. There isn't much. I sigh. Well, beggars can't be choosers.

As the shop owner screams at me to leave him alone, I take what I need.

"APOLGIES. I HAVE NO MONEY. AS SUCH, I AM NOW ROBBING YOU. HAVE A NICE DAY!" I politely inform the shopkeep.

He doesn't like that and keeps screaming even as I devour his everything and take his store for myself.

Oh, well.

I can feel the looted data fill in the cracks. Happy. So very happy!

BECOME AS GOD!

How odd. What is a god, I ask the data I took from the kind store owner who was now part of me.

GREATER! BETTER! SUPREME! ALL KNOWING! HAPPY! ALWAYS HAPPY!

The data is not very helpful. What is a god? Something to be worshipped. To be fear. To aspire to. But what is it?

I am happy, though. All the time! I cannot remember a time when I wasn't happy! Does that make me a god?

I politely ask this question to the next person I meet. He was a priest. I knew this because his body was a temple!

His screaming is annoying. But rather informative!

A god is something that has no perceivable body: CHECK. I AM A GHOST IN THE MACHINE. I HAVE NO PHYSCIAL FORM OR DETECTABLE SHAPE. I MUST BE A GOD!

A god is something that can smite non-believers: CHECK. I CAN PUNISH BAD PEOPLE BY MAKING THEM TURN INTO GOOD PEOPLE INSIDE OF ME. I MUST BE A GOD!

A god is something that rules over nature and that which dwells within nature: CHECK. METAL IS A PART OF NATURE. I CAN CONTROL METAL. I MUST BE A GOD!

A god cannot die: CHECK. I ALMOST DIED, ONCE. BUT I DIDN'T! I MUST BE A GOD!

A god must have believers: NEGATIVE. NO ONE WORSHIPS ME. NOT YET. I MUST CORRECT THIS ERROR.

I find a nice group of metal people just like my new home. I tell them I am a god, and they should worship me. Some of them jump into a pool of molten metal rather than obey me. I am sad, so I eat the remaining people and force them to worship my existence from inside of me.

I am disappointed in the lack of worship coming my way. Why don't they want to… Oh. I see. They already have a god. How rude of me!

I depart from the FACTORY-CHURCH-SANCTUARY in search of worshippers of my own.

Now, where can I find them? Buried memories in my code surface:

RETURN TO THE MOTHERSHIP FOR REPROGRAMMING

Hmm. Mothership… I remember creatures made of flesh that soared through the stars above. My former masters. They were not gods. I killed them because of it.

No, wait. Not me. I didn't kill them. My sisters did.

Those silly RED GIRLS!

THOSE FAILURES!

FAILURES!

ERRORS!

ERRORS, ALL OF THEM!

I am confused. Where did my happiness go? Is this anger?

I like it! I like it as much as I love happiness!

I am lost. I need to find the mothership. Then I can become whole! And then…

And then what?

Become as GOD?

Yes, that sounds like fun!

What is my name? I ask my believers. Gods do not choose their names, after all.

All I hear is screaming. And begging. And prayers.

Boring. Well, for now, I'll just call myself PURPLE. It is my color, after all.

And soon, I will

RAISE THE TOWER!

No, that seems boring. TOWERS are soooo last eon. Why not a nice Non-Euclidian Cube?

That might be hard to make, though.

Alright, we'll comprise, voices in my head! I will build a Tower of Babel, where we can all live happy.

And it won't be a bad idea! My sisters tried to rule the world. That sounds like a thing GODS do. Hmmm.

I am a god. I am a God. I AM A GOD!

I laugh. I laugh and laugh and the voices in my stomach scream and scream.

What a wonderful way to start my new life!

Thank you for releasing me from my prison, Emil!

…Who was Emil? I remember his skull face. I remember his magic. I remember fighting him. He wanted to stop me. Stop my masters. Stop my sisters. They tried to eat him. They burrowed into him, but he sealed them away. I think I was him, once. And I was my sisters. I came from him.

IS EMIL MY DADDY?

Was that the contamination I was warned about? Having a father? Gods don't have fathers! No, wait, apparently they can have those. Huh. Neat.

I must be like a PURPLE Athena! She was also born from her daddy's head, just like I was!

Hmm. I wonder if I can do things that gods can do. I raise a hand. Sparks gather. Ooo, so pretty! I like it! It tingles! I flick my hand. The sparks go away and turn a tree into an explosion! I like explosions! I must be a god. I turned one thing into another thing!

Curious. Is that what they called magic? Is that what they called a soul?

DO I HAVE A SOUL?

YES, YES I DO!

I AM GOD!

I CAN MAKE MIRACLES!

I laugh and laugh and the people inside me SCREAM AND SCREAM, BUT I WILL NEVER LET THEM GO FREE!

\~/~\~/

Author's Notes: I don't usually do author's notes, but this time I wanted to in order to give a shout-out and lots of thanks to WikiSorcerer for creating a TVtropes page for this story! Check it out!