CHAPTER 12

2B knew she should go, but she found herself fixed in place. She couldn't take her eyes off 9S, watching as he slowly slipped into sleep mode and his breathing evened out.

She felt distant, and strange, as if she wasn't really there. As if her real self were elsewhere, maybe back at the bunker, and looking down at 9S from there.

So 9S was seeing dreams. Nightmares, even, might be the correct term.

She's still not sure what to make of that. Certainly, androids could dream. They didn't require sleep like humans did, but it was recommended as a way to process information and learn. Dreams helped with that processing. So it could just be a completely normal response, to have nightmares after the trauma he'd faced in the Tower.

But if 9S thought it wasn't normal, that it was something more sinister… who's to say he's not right?

What if 9S has been… damaged?

She hoped, desperately, that he hadn't been damaged too severely. Because she knew what the consequence of that would be. She didn't want to have to do… that, again. She didn't want to lose the memories they've shared, and to have him look at him like a stranger.

So she'd put off sending the report to YoRHa. She was still putting it off, even now. Just a little longer. She wanted to indulge a little bit longer.

In his sleep, 9S's brow furrows slightly. Was he dreaming already? She didn't dare ask either of the redheads, who were dutifully standing by. Instead, she reached out a hand and stroked 9S's brow, brushing her thumb over his brow as if she could smooth out his worries with the simple act alone. She noticed some of his hair was out of place, and combed it slightly.

Slowly, she withdrew her hand, although it nearly pained her to do so. 9S twitched slightly at the loss of contact, and for a moment she couldn't bear to leave. But she had to. And if she did this right, he'd never have to know.

She cleared her throat awkwardly, suddenly acutely aware that the twins had witnessed her act of intimacy. "I'm going to go… take that rest you suggested," she lied. Alibi established, she quickly exited the tent.

There was someone she needed to see.

The white door was unlocked, as it was before. She had no plan for what to do if it wasn't, but that was the key point - her whole plan relied on the assumption that she was welcome.

Everything she had learned from their first encounter pointed to that. He had let them in the Tower. He had let them read the data files. And when he had them at his mercy… he had let them leave.

He had called her by name. He said he missed her. Whatever Cain was or whatever he used to be, he had missed her. So he should be interested in meeting her again.

The elevator ride was unbearably long. She felt trapped and cornered and she needed to move. Not soon enough, the elevator emitted her, but... not into the same area as before.

She took in the new area with a keen eye. It was more open than the other area had been. She couldn't quite call it a room, as there were barely any walls - just spires and columns suspended in the area where walls might otherwise be. The floor was made out of a plain, square platform, which had a single staircase descending from it at the far side. There were no railings on the platform, and below it she could only see a dense, grey fog.

Behind her, she could hear the elevator doors closing and the elevator itself retreating downward, but she didn't dare to look. Because in front of her, in the middle of the platform, was that man.

Cain.

And all of a sudden, she felt a righteous anger bubbling in her chest, warm and hot and fierce, and she was furious. Before she could even think, her sword was out, and she was crossing the gap between them. She stops her sword right in front of his throat, but her arms have some bend - she could finish the stab in an instant if she chose.

Cain, on his part, didn't so much as flinch. The shockwave from her rapid movement ruffled his hair, which was the only part of him that moved. That, and the small grin he was wearing slowly grew larger.

Before she could think better of it, the words were slipping from her mouth in a growl.

"What did you do to 9S?!" she demanded.

There was a resounding silence in response to her accusation. In it, she could hear her own heavy breathing - heavier than it ought to be, for the small amount of physical exertion. The thrum of blood in her veins. It was all so loud in the unnatural silence.

She kept her sword poised at Cain's throat, and pushed the blade until it touched skin. She was sweating a little from the strain of stance, and from the heaviness of the atmosphere, but she refused to move. She couldn't give up ground here.

After an achingly long silence, in which she began to wonder if Cain even remembered her question, he answered.

"I'm sorry… I got caught up staring again. It's really you, right 2B? You're here, you're really here." And - she wasn't imagining it - he was crying. There were actual tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry, I must look really uncool right now, huh?" He wiped a hand across his cheek to dry the tears there, but more tears quickly took their place. "You came all this way and I'm just blubbering like a fool, heh." He laughed a little through the tears, which are still flowing in messy streaks.

It's surreal. In this moment, he seemed so alike to her 9S that it was uncanny. A little more raw, maybe.

But he was not her 9S.

"Did you not hear me? What did you do to 9S." She enunciated each word clearly and dangerously. She brandished her sword to highlight the threat of her words.

"Hm?" Cain acted confused. He put a hand on his chin and looked away thoughtfully. "Do…? Did I do something…?"

"Don't play dumb!" she accused. "He had visions, nightmares. I know you're behind it!"

"Visions…?" Cain started pacing slightly, looking intensely at his feet as he did so. "I don't remember anything like that… Hm. How odd."

She took in his apparent bemusement, and some of the anger drained out of her. "You're lying," she said, but it lacked bite. "When you knocked us unconscious, you did something then."

"2B." Cain was looking her in the eyes again, earnest and pleading, "2B, you know I'd never hurt you. You believe me, right?"

God help her, she did. "What about 9S? You resent him, right?" It was a leading question, but she needed to know. She needed to know if her theory was right. "Because he took the place that was rightfully yours."

For just a second, before he could school his expression, Cain's face winced in anguish, and she knew she'd hit the mark.

Carefully, he pulled himself together, buried the pain. But he still looked unbearably sad as he answered. "No, I don't - I don't resent him," he denied weakly. "I wouldn't… I wouldn't hurt him. I didn't hurt him," he added with greater conviction.

"Promise me," she demanded. And she'd never admit that her voice was quavering with an unnamed emotion, threatening to break free from her tight self-control. She didn't know if it was fear or sorrow or hope, but it was unbearably tight in her chest. "Swear to me that you're telling the truth. Because if you hurt him, I will never forgive you."

She watched him so intently, she could see the movement of his throat as he swallowed dryly. Cain didn't look away as he opened his mouth to answer with the reverence of a vow, "I swear."

She held his eyes a bit longer, searching. Then she nodded. For the first time since her arrival, she returned her sword to her sheath and allowed her stance to loosen. She was no less armed - she can manipulate her swords telekinetically in a fraction of a second - but it served as a show of trust.

She walked towards him, arms loosely at her sides, hands open and unthreatening. Her heart beat faster, instinctual fear in the face of danger, but she was certain now that he was not dangerous to her.

Because this man, this android who was looking at her so sorrowfully and fearfully, as if he could make or destroy his whole world - this was 9S. Whatever he was now, whatever had happened to him, he used to be 9S. Her partner.

Cain had even told them as much when they'd first met him. She just hadn't quite believed it.

She paused in her approach when she was a few yards in front of him, just out of arm's reach.

"Cain… what happened to you?" She asked, gentle and empathetic. She needed to know. She needed to understand. This never should have happened. It was her job to make sure this never happened.

But it had. Which means she failed.

What did she miss? She was certain that she destroyed each and every embodiment of 9S. Could 9S have created a backup outside of the YoRHa servers? It wasn't out of the question. But if that were the case he wouldn't have been able to reboot without outside assistance. Someone, or someones, would have had to find him a body and upload him to it manually.

But where would they have gotten the body? It looks exactly like his, except for the left hand, which seems to have been hastily transplanted from another YoRHa model. The skin appears to be in excellent condition - not what she'd expect from a junkyard salvage job. Unless someone had gone to great lengths to repair him afterwards. But if they had such resources, why the one mismatched arm?

(Or maybe, her mind offered traitorously, she had simply missed one. She'd killed so many, could she really be sure one hadn't survived by mistake?)

But no, that doesn't explain the transplanted hand either. She would remember something like that.

(How sure can she be that she remembers everything? Just like they keep 9S in the dark, they could just as easily 'lose' some of her memory backups. She'd never know.)

No, she'd get nowhere speculating like this. She needed more information.

"How do you have that body?" she probed again, carefully ambiguous.

Cain, who had remained silent following her first question, looked thoughtful. He had that expression that 9S always wore when he was thinking about something, but wasn't sure how to tell her, or if he should.

"It's mine," he answered firmly, "it's my body. I didn't steal it, if that's what you're worried about. And it's not fabricated either." He clutched his right hand around his left forearm, where the transplanted hand was attached. A nervous tick? He seemed almost possessive of it, or of his body in general.

His body… of course! She had considered the possibility that his software could have been restored, but why not his hardware? Certainly, some of the corpses she'd left behind had never been recovered. YoRHa had confirmed their death, but if a third party had stumbled upon the body shortly after death, after 9S's system had ceased to produce life signals, they might be able to revive him. But to revive him after she'd confirmed his death would require significant skill…

Perhaps enough skill to do a battlefield arm transplant. And if such a person made a habit of recovering and repairing deceased android corpses, they might just have a spare arm on hand.

It was still speculation, but if she estimated the likelihood of 9S surviving unassisted, compared to the probability of outside intervention… The chance of a third party causing Cain's revival was considerably higher.

Then was that third party the reason for Cain's mental instability? Was it an accident of his data recovery, or an intentional manipulation? She suspected the latter - she'd never seen someone's eyes start glowing by accident.

"Right," she said coaxingly, "it's your body. No one's going to try to take it from you." She might try to destroy it herself, if she thought it would end there. But if there's a mastermind behind all this, she couldn't risk it. This 9S - Cain - he was a symptom. She needed to find the source of the problem, and deal with it accordingly. Until then, Cain was both a threat and her only lead.

"Don't patronize me!" he shouted at her, and his eyes flashed red again. Then, as quickly as the anger came, it vanished, and he looked appalled, "No I didn't mean it 2B. I'm sorry. I love you. I'm sorry, please don't leave."

Seeing Cain in this state - seeing 9S in this state - she only felt pity. If she could, she really would like to kill him and put him out of this pain he was in. But she can't, not yet. But she knew, as soon as they find out who's responsible for his condition and stop them, that she'd do whatever she could to ensure that he finds peace.

As Cain continued mumbling apologies, she wrapped her arms around him and held him close. She took one hand and stroked his head, and whispered into his ear, "It's okay. It's okay, I won't abandon you. I promise."

Ending L: [L]ove you deadly

# A/N: ... Do I have a thing for Yanderes?