Chapter 67: Epilogue
"…and the first Mars habitat has reached 60% completion," an android informed Alexander through a screen.
"Well done, give my compliments to the builders," he said, pleased by the progress.
"Of course sir, thank you. Glory to Mankind!"
Alexander held back the urge to roll his eyes. Breaking the androids out of millennia of ingrained habits was hard work, and he had many more years ahead of him before he succeeded.
"Quite. Have a good day, Head Architect Mossy," Alexander replied, and disconnected the call.
He sighed a bit, feeling tired after the video-call update.
Mars was being converted into a brand-new habitat for humanity, though it was somewhat slow going. For some reason, the alien menace spent some time on Mars, and seeded it with Machine Lifeforms. Perhaps they'd wanted to terraform it, before their own creations betrayed them? A handful of alien motherships had been found buried in craters near Olympus Mons, but no Machine Lifeforms had survived the centuries of neglect up there, leaving it free to be claimed by the Terran Republic.
To turn Mars somewhat livable, icy comets were redirected to the red planet to provide liquid water, and modified plankton-like lifeforms was placed inside the ice and water to start the production of oxygen and nitrogen. Meanwhile, the atmosphere was being thickened and laced with specialized maso-enhanced particles to mimic a magnetic field and help prevent the ionizing radiation from flash-frying any organic matter that was planned to be placed up there.
At the same time, subterranean structures were being constructed to accommodate humanity. To compensate for the lower gravity, gene-mods would be given to all humans who would eventually live there, and gravity generators would help keep their feet on the ground as if they were standing on Earth.
It would take centuries before the surface of Mars could allow humans to breathe on it unaided, but that was fine for Alexander. They were in no rush.
As he was thinking about that, Alexander took a moment to look at himself in the reflection of the surface of his polished desk.
It had been eleven years since the Siege of New Babylon and the end of the war, and he hadn't changed much, at least physically. A bit taller, with a more defined jawline and facial features. He looked to be in his early twenties.
The only major difference was the flecks of silver in his eyes, now. The once vibrant emerald irises had veins of silver running through them. They had been there ever since the battle against Purple Athena.
Emil claimed they were a side effect of pushing himself too far during the duel. Aside from looking pretty, Alexander could now see maso. It'd taken a bit to adjust to that. Seeing endless ribbons of white energy flowing around everything on Earth was a bit weird. Only when he left the planet and walked around on the orbital or lunar bases did it stop bothering him. Even then, he could always tell where the nearest source of maso was. Like a compass built directly into his brain.
Maso was strange, and it didn't exist anywhere else in the universe except for Earth, as far as they could tell. Plans were being made to seed Mars and the Moon with maso so as to facilitate their growth on those worlds. The mysterious energy source was too valuable to be abandoned, and so after consulting with Emil, Popola, and Devolva, had agreed to let them try and see what they could do.
As he thought about that, Alexander leaned back in his chair, thinking back on everything he and the rest of them had accomplished in the last couple of years.
'It's honestly humbling,' he mused to himself.
YoRHa and the Terran Army were gone, folded into the Terran Parliament, which was the new global government of the Terran Republic established in the wake of the 15th Machine War. It had been tricky to find a proper system, so Alexander had to dip into history to find one that'd work for the new world order they were trying to create.
The Terran Republic was a direct representative democracy. Any adult human – or equivalent for android and Machine – could run for office, and all citizens could also vote for who they wanted. Term limits were set up, varying from stints of seven to ten years depending on the post being run for, with no more than five terms total.
Humans were going to live well past three-hundred years old if the Healers were correct, and the artificial citizens of the Republic had no known lifespan. That meant a way to prevent somebody from staying in power for too long was vital.
There were other checks and balances, with legislative and judicial branches set up in a fusion of the old Western model, and there were a lot of rules and regulations for corporations as well. It was a social-capitalist economic system, with every citizen earning enough money in a universal basic income from the state to afford the basics of living as well as simple goods and services. Healthcare, clean water and electricity were free, and food was cheap. There would be no homeless or starving people in Alexander's new world. Of course, there was nothing stopping you from getting a job if you wanted extra spending money to afford nicer things, and anyone could pursue hobbies if they wished.
It would be a while before any other humans besides himself could participate in the government, though. Another decade at least, as the age of adulthood for humans had been raised to 21. Some wanted it to be increased to 25 to take into account the increased human lifespan, but Alexander would wait and see what the current batch of humans were like before making a vote of his own.
As the First and Last Human, his word and opinion held a lot of weight amongst the population.
For now, Alexander was content to let White be the first President of the Terran Republic. Though he'd heard rumors that Sebastian was considering running for office someday in the distant future.
"Sir Alexander?" his secretary inquired, her voice coming in the from intercom system in his office. "Your three o'clock appointment is here."
"Send them in, Lacy," Alexander requested. A2 walked into his office, giving him a faint smile.
"Ready to go, son?" she asked. "Or is the big and important boss and director of the Stellar Development Bureau too busy?"
"Hey, mom," Alexander said, standing up from his desk while rolling his eyes at the mention of his job title. "And yes, I am ready, I just finished my final meeting for the day."
A2 nodded, pleased, and together they left the building, Alexander waving farewell to his secretary, a P-type who preferred to go by 'Lacy' instead of her numeral designation. He gave her the day off, got into an elevator, and a little bit later left the building and stepped out into the streets of New Babylon.
The sun was shining, as it tended to do. Alexander wasn't sure when they'd finally fix the damn planet's broken rotation, but he wasn't holding out much hope for it to change anytime soon.
Still, it was nice and warm out, and let Alexander admire the sights of the sprawling metropolis that had sprung up in the wake of the war.
'You would never be able tell this whole area used to be nothing but trenches just a few years back,' Alexander mused. The city had grown rapidly, pushing out and reclaiming the landscape that had been reduced to churned up, trench-strewn mud during the war. Paved streets and shining buildings replaced old bunkers, and there was grass and plant life growing everywhere, carefully tended to by androids and Machines alike.
Not wanting to create a desolate concrete jungle, the city's designers incorporated all sorts of plants to create a stunning mosaic of greenery. Flowering vines clung to the sides of buildings, and were entwined around lampposts, pillars, and support beams. Planters full of flowers hung from balconies and windows. Trees and bushes full of fruits and berries were growing along the sidewalks, providing a healthy snack to anyone who wanted one as they passed by. Numerous solar panels lined the roofs, and there were even animal trails that went underneath the streets to allow small critters to cross the roads without risk of being run over!
From the old human literature he'd read about, this sort of style was called 'Solar Punk,' where science and nature lived in sustainable harmony. It was quite beautiful, in Alexander's opinion.
Though as beautiful as it was, there was a sense of loneliness as he and his mother walked through the streets. Much of the city was still empty. Tens of thousands of androids lived and worked within it along with thousands of young humans, but there was room for many more.
New Babylon was not the only city to be raised from the ashes of the old world in the wake of the war, either. Nova Rome in Europe, Qilin in China, Alexandria in the former United States of America, and Noire City in Antarctica, near the rebuilt Port Maw.
Five cities, and many more to come, hopefully. The population of humans, androids and Machines was steadily increasing after all. The former finally reaching one million as of last month while the androids and Machines had reached seventy-eight and four million, respectively.
After a few minutes of walking, they reached the entrance to a park, which was even more full of greenery. Here, though, topiary bushes and trees had been shaped into the forms of animals, with a nice big lake for ducks and ornamental fish in the middle that had a winding jogging path around it.
Eleven people were waiting for Alexander and A2 near the entrance, seven of which were much shorter than the rest. Even more so than 9S!
Within the group, a little girl with golden blonde hair perked up and broke ranks, darting towards him when she spotted him and A2 arriving.
"Uncle Alex!" the little girl exclaimed, rushing over to him. "I'm so glad to see you!"
"Hey, Aurora," Alexander greeted, bending down and picking up the ten-year-old into his arms, causing her to giggle.
"Put me down! I'm a big girl, now!" she said, though she wasn't protesting the treatment very hard.
"If you insist," Alexander replied, setting her back onto the ground. He smiled as she took his hand into her own, and pulled him over to the rest of the group.
"Hey there, everyone," he greeted.
"Hi, Uncle Alex!" the other kids replied.
Alexander couldn't keep the big, dumb grin off of his face as he looked over the seven children.
Standing between 9S and 2B was their son, Aurelius, Aurora's twin brother, who also had very bright, almost golden, blond hair. Clinging onto 2B's hand was a young child, only five years old, with her thumb in her mouth, sucking it as she stared up with wide eyes at Alexander. Little Stella had been a surprise, but what exactly had 9S or 2B been expecting when they 'forgot' they still had the reproduction modules installed during their five year anniversary?
Next was Lily, the shy, silver haired daughter of 6O. She stood close to her mother, but was also holding tightly onto 9S's hand. She was a total daddy's girl, and Alexander knew the S-type couldn't refuse her.
Then, there was Hestia, daughter of 21O, standing nearby her own mother, and trying to look like she was too cool to care that Alexander was there, but the way she kept glancing over was very cute and gave the game away. Her black hair had been styled into twintails.
And of course there was his own 'sister,' Cleopatra, the oldest of the group, though technically she was only a year older than the twins. She liked to be the leader of the little group, but was easily distracted and sometimes it ended up being the other kids who had to chase her down in order to stop her from running off and doing something silly.
Her own black hair had been cut short and styled in the Ancient Egyptian haircut her namesake had been depicted as wearing.
She ran over and grabbed Alexander's other hand as soon as he reached them, pouting at Aurora for running ahead. Aurora just stuck her tongue out teasingly at Cleopatra.
"Hey there, Cleo. Good to see you, too," Alexander said with a grin. "Have you been good for Aunt 2B and Uncle Nines?"
Since White was running the Republic, it was decided that Cleopatra would alternate between staying with him and staying with her 'cousins.' She didn't mind, though.
"Yeah! I've been good! Right, Aurelius?" Cleopatra asked, turning to look at the other twin. He looked from her to his own sister, and decided to lie.
"Absolutely," he replied. "Cleo hasn't tried to put me in a dress in weeks."
Alexander felt a bit of pity towards Aurelius. He was the only boy in the group, and that meant his cousins and half-siblings had him twisted around their fingers.
"9S? Is Cleo telling the truth?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at the S-type.
"She and Aurora chased Aurelius around yesterday trying to put his hair into pigtails," he drawled, and Aurora and Cleopatra pouted up at him while Aurelius shot him a relieved smile.
"Well, now that we're all here, shall we go?" 21O inquired. Everyone nodded, some more excitedly than others, and they walked into the park.
Alexander bought all of the kids ice cream from a vendor who was passing by, and everyone enjoyed the nice summer day while strolling through the park.
He watched as Cleo tried to catch some ducklings at the lake, forcing Hestia and Aurora to try and save her when a bunch of annoyed waterfowl got upset at her bothering the cute yellow babies and chased her around. Aurelius got splashed when he laughed at them, while Lily and Stella quietly fed the fish off to the side.
And after drying off, they made their way to a section of the park that was a short distance away from the water.
Here, large monuments of steel and marble had been raised, and even the ground itself was paved in concrete.
And in the middle a large white sphere, floating an inch above the small stone pedestal that had been built underneath it. This was the cocoon that had formed around Blue and Purple Athena all those years ago, though it had changed over the past few years.
The purple maso had, over the course of a decade, bleached of color, turning bone white. Not a speck of dirt marred the surface, and on particularly sunny days it was hard to look directly at the sphere as the sunlight reflected off of its whiteness, refracting into scintillating waves of rainbow light, as if it's shone through a prism that bathed the surroundings.
It was honestly beautiful, and since nobody had found a way to move it, they had decided to just leave it where it was and make it into the central feature of a memorial park that was filled with statues and steles inscribed with the names of the Terran Army androids and Machines who'd given their lives to hold off Purple Athena and the Neo-Machines long enough for Alexander to recover from his fight with the Neo-Dragon and issue his challenge.
The young man always felt a bit embarrassed by the praise and propaganda heaped onto him in the aftermath, but he understood why it was done. The androids and Machines needed something to rally around and believe in.
And so Alexander had let himself became the symbol for hope and the future that they wanted. It was why he chose to work in the Stellar Development Bureau. Well, that, and it was space! Who didn't want to help build spaceships and space stations and orbital forges and habitats? Sure, it could be boring and most of it involved budget meetings, discussing updates, and assigning new names for random chunks of rock, but it was fulfilling.
'In fact, everyone got really busy after the war,' Alexander thought to himself.
Emil had started working on restoring the Node with the PODs as well as continuing to research maso.
Popola and Devolva had, with a few other survivors of their fellow models, chosen to help raise the newborn humans to make up for their sense of guilt for failing the last generation of mankind.
A2 hadn't really done anything different. She chose to wander around, beating up feral Machines whenever they popped up, clearing out the wilderness and making it safe for civilization again.
Jaqueline and Hatchet were still sickeningly in love with each other, and both were running scientific endeavors. Jaqueline was making new inventions, some of which didn't explode in her face, and Hatchet was developing new android frames.
Sebastian had gotten into law. He was working with the P-types to develop laws for the Republic and was becoming a lawyer. Alexander liked to think he had inspired that in his 'cousin.'
White, of course, was running things. It was hard work, but she enjoyed it. Anemone was mayor of New Babylon, her experience running a Resistance Camp apparently translating well to running a city. Pascal had gone on to build a new Gear Town, now dubbed Gear City, and was cheerfully helping to integrate the surviving Machines into a world that had changed significantly.
And then there was 2B, 9S, 6O and 21O. They'd formed a family unit and were raising their children in a loving environment. Since Emil barely used his old manor home outside of New Babylon anymore, he had given it to them as a wedding gift. It was big enough to hold all of them, and the extra space was good for guests. The O-types continued to do O-type work, just from home, now, and 9S still worked on restoring the lost legacy of mankind, sorting through old data and repairing broken digital archives. And 2B had become a housewife, her cooking skills greatly improved.
They had all moved on. But, looking back at it, Alexander was glad. They all deserved it, after everything they'd gone through.
"Unca Alex? Why do you look sad whenever we come here?" Little Stella asked, taking her thumb out of her mouth as she looked up at him.
Drawn from his thoughts, he looked down at her, trying to smile. "This is where I lost a dear friend of mine," he replied.
"Did she go away?" Stella wondered.
"Yes. But I believe she will be back someday," he replied.
"Oh. When will she be back?" the littlest child wondered.
"Dunno," he admitted. Stella then wobbled over and hugged him.
"Don't be sad. I'm here," she said quietly. Alexander patted her head fondly.
"Thank you," he whispered.
Not wanting to be left out, the rest of the children quickly encircled him in order to give hugs as well. A tiny laugh of joy escaped him, and Alexander spent some time patting heads and returning hugs.
"Tomorrow, it will have been eleven years since the duel," 2B mused. "Do you have any plans for it?"
"White wants me to do an interview or two. Like every year," Alexander shrugged. It was why he liked to come here the day before the official anniversary. The park got too crowded the day of.
A cracking sound broke the tranquil silence, and everyone tensed up, looking around for the source. To Alexander's shock, the orb was starting fracture, fissures crawling across the formerly unblemished surface.
"Everyone, get back!" Alexander ordered, conjuring a barrier around the site to contain whatever was about to happen.
A2 and 9S summoned their swords and took up positions beside him while 2B, 21O and 6O corralled and calmed the children.
To Alexander's immense relief the orb did not explode. Instead, it broke apart, crumbling away to dust, revealing a naked, female body curled up and floating in the fetal position.
She looked like Purple Athena, but slightly different. The hair, for one, was not completely straight, and instead was shorter and wavy. She was also taller and broader in the shoulders. Her bust and hips were also bigger, Alexander noted as she uncurled and set foot onto the pedestal, looking around with wide, awed eyes that shone a vibrant sapphire blue.
Alexander felt a tiny, desperate hope burn within his chest, and he lowered the barrier before hurrying over to the woman's side.
"Blue?" he asked, voice trembling slightly. She turned to him and smiled joyously.
"Alexander!" she exclaimed, hugging him. "I did it! I did it!"
"Y-you're alive!" he exclaimed, tears prickling his eyes. "You're really alive!"
"How?!" 9S demanded incredulously.
"Purple Athena had installed an auto-repair function, but not even she could restore something so thoroughly damaged. Her head – and by extension, her mind – was gone, erased. My mind, however, was intact. I also carried traces of Purple Athena's maso within me, so the repair spell targeted me, and used my body and mind as a template for restoration procedures."
Blue then tilted her head to the side. "However, some of Purple Athena's programming lingered within me due to her possession of my old body. It took some time to delete it all. I am sorry about that."
"No, it's fine, Blue. I'm just glad you're finally back," Alexander whispered, before reaching into a pocket and removing a blue ribbon. "I've been waiting to return this to you for a long time."
He tenderly placed it in her hair, before cupping her cheeks. "I've missed you."
"Me, too," Blue said. "And look! Now I finally have a human body!"
"I never cared about that," Alexander claimed. "You could have been a Goliath Biped for all it mattered, it was your mind and soul that I fell in love with."
"Oh," Blue blushed, looking at her feet while fidgeting with embarrassment. "I'm glad."
"Come on, Cassanova, let's get her some clothes," A2 suggested with a smirk, and Alexander blushed when he realized how close her was to Blue, and how naked she was as well.
"Y-yes, good idea!" he stammered. Blue giggled, then leaned over to kiss him. He heard 9S whistle and his sister shouting something that was probably teasing, but he didn't care.
Everything was finally alright.
&&&&&
Author's Note:
And that's that. The finale of Nier Automata (Re)Birth. Maybe there might be omakes. Maybe not. But whatever the case, I hope you've all enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.
I also have a new story up that will be replacing this one! It's called Quirky Row, and is a My Hero Academia x Saints Row crossover! Why not check it out?