Reprise

by Kraven Ergeist

9S and 2B find themselves reliving their first mission together, with no recollection of how they got there or why, but with every reason in the world to make sure things turn out better this time. But second chances don't always work out any better than they did the first time around, and soon our heroes will discover that in some cases, fate will not be denied.

14. Recursion 20

Nier Automata Fan Fiction

Reprise

By Kraven Ergeist

Recursion 16 (Redux)

---

"This is Command. YoRHa squadron, come in."

2B had just disembarked from her Ho229 flight unit at the entrance to the desert region when the previous recursion had abruptly ended, leaving her somewhat staggered when she found herself once again in her cockpit speeding towards the factory. She recovered quickly enough, as the nagging suspicion in the back of her head had been expecting to be yanked out of the timeline at any moment. She was also somewhat disheartened how little progress she and her partner had seemingly made before being reset, which did little to improve her mood. Although if the stiff manner in which she replied to her commanding officer as she did at the start of every recursion was drawing any undue suspicion, it did not show.

"2B here," she replied robotically. "All units have penetrated the stratosphere. Autopilot systems green across the board."

She kept her speech curt and minimal, as she always did. In previous recursions, she had toyed with the possibility of altering her responses to see how her flight team might respond differently, but right now, she felt no pressing urge to say much of anything to anyone. She wasn't sure if 9S had encountered A2 or if A2 had simply decided to act on her own, but at that moment she honestly did not care which course of action had led to the termination of the last recursion – the end result was the same as far as she was concerned. As if the time loop had not been a great enough obstacle to overcome, now she was up against someone who effectively had her finger on the world's reset button at every waking moment of the simulation. It was absolutely maddening to have to fight someone who could send you back to the starting position of the battle in which you first had to fly through a gauntlet of repetitive challenges before even returning to the mission that really mattered. She knew that she had been signing up for an utterly Sisyphean challenge when she'd last confronted A2 about the underground combat arenas, but she knew that the mental toil it would take to rise up to such a challenge would tax her to the limit of her faculties, and as such, she had no mental budget for any other distractions of any kind.

Which was why she almost snapped at her partner when he called her up on their secure comm channel a few moments later.

"2B?" 9S' face appeared on the holo-screen before her.

2B's fingers squeezed tightly on the control yokes in her hands, her teeth gritting in tension.

"What is it?" she barked impatiently.

9S winced slightly at her tone.

"Sorry, sorry," he said softly, his hands raised in a diplomatic gesture. "I should have guessed that last reset would have come as a shock to you."

2B schooled her emotions back into a semblance of diplomacy, mentally chastising herself for taking out her irritation on 9S.

"It's fine," she said flatly, though it was plain to both androids that she did not mean it in the slightest.

9S seemed to take that in stride however.

"Okay," he said, his disposition improving somewhat. "Well, the good news is, I think I've reached an understanding with A2."

2B's eyebrows shot up at that, doubt flooding immediately through her mind as she took her flight unit through a series of maneuvers, briefly sounding off to her team before switching back to her secure frequency with 9S.

"Really?" she asked suspiciously, dodging the long range laser blast intended for her wingman. "Why did the last recursion reset then?"

9S winced, visibly scratching his head through the screen.

"She…kind of had a time bomb that went off while I was hacking her," he admitted apologetically.

2B was pretty sure she didn't have any actual arteries or veins running through her body, so she wasn't entirely sure what precisely was causing her eyebrow to twitch at that exact moment. Whatever it was though was also causing an immense throbbing sensation in her forehead that somehow only A2 thus far had been able to bring out in her.

"And that constitutes your idea of an understanding?" she asked plainly, fighting down the sense of agitation quelling in her chest.

9S shrugged helplessly. "We had a lot of time to talk while I was hacking her, relatively speaking. By the time the timer went off, it was too late to do anything about the bomb, but she said she was willing to discuss things in the next recursion. I was going to contact her to set up a meeting point, but I wanted to check in with you first and give you an update."

2B mused uncomfortably, momentarily distracted as she watched her captain get shot down with a familiar dispassionate ache in her chest as she robotically went through the next few beats of her scripted actions performed for the sake of YoRHa command. She supposed that finding a diplomatic solution with A2 really was the best case scenario to this whole debacle, but she had given A2 quite a few chances by this point to take her word at face value. At every turn, it seemed that the other combat unit was deliberately hiding things from her, despite 2B's continued attempts at bridging the gap between them. The more she mulled things over, the more it seemed like A2 was just stringing them along more and more, dropping just enough hints and concessions to keep the two of them going without ever giving everything away. And given how little she knew of A2's abilities, particularly her hacking capabilities, 2B's well-honed danger sense was telling her to treat any further attempt at parlay with extreme caution.

"Very well, 9S," 2B allowed, noncommittally. "Let's meet with A2 and see what she has to say."

"Roger that," 9S replied, before patching the call through.

It didn't take long for A2's face to appear on a second holo-screen before 2B's flight unit.

"Hey guys," she said casually, as though she hadn't spent the last few recursions playing cat and mouse with them. "I…guess we should meet up somewhere we can talk. Should I wait for you at the hideout again?"

To 2B's surprise, 9S seemed to have a different meeting point in mind.

"How about we meet at Pascal's village instead this time?" he asked in a knowing tone.

A2's eyes widened at that. "Pascal's village? Why there?"

2B studied 9S' face, equally confused as he replied. The set to 9S' jaw brooked no argument, however.

"Neutral territory," he summarized succinctly. "Unless that's a problem for you?"

A2 let out a great sigh, hanging her head in defeat.

"I guess not…" she allowed, her voice bitter and agitated. "See you there, I guess…"

The call ended, and 2B fixed 9S with a questioning look.

"Any particular reason why we want to talk at Pascal's village?" she asked.

"Because this involves him too," he said simply. "He's one of the few other entities who knows about the time loop, so he can offer insight that we might lack. And regardless, any decision we make will impact him too, and he's helped us up until this point, so he's earned that much consideration at least. Besides…"

The smirk on 9S' face was one of utter delight.

"Being there will put A2 on edge," he grinned. "And that's its own reward."

2B couldn't help but smile at that, though it was momentarily soured by seeing her last wing-mate crash and burn as she was compelled once again to report in to her superiors about the dire state of their mission.

Once she had closed the line off with command, she connected once again with 9S.

"Roger that then, 9S," she replied. "See you at the rendezvous point."

The two flight units converged upon each other a few moments later, and as 9S got to work disconnecting them from the YoRHa network, the two units flew in synchronous formation towards the city ruins and the entrance to Pascal's village.

After dismounting and wandering through the gate, which was still open per their last communication with the pacifist machine, the two androids found themselves once again in the hidden machine village, watching as robots frolicked and danced around without a care in the world, seemingly not a one of them aware that they were simply background programs in an infinitely complex computer simulation.

Well, all save one at least.

"Welcome," Pascal greeted the two androids from his customary vantage point atop the tree-top catwalk. "Your friend arrived just a few moments ago. She's waiting for you in the guest room."

2B and 9S exchanged wary glances as they were escorted through the pacifist village to a spare room – the same room that the two of them had spent a considerable amount of time in during a previous recursion – where they found A2 leaning against one of the walls, arms crossed and anxiously tapping her finger across her arm.

"Alert," Pod 042 announced in its usual fashion. "Rogue YoRHa unit detected."

The androids just ignored the alert. For a moment, the three of them simply stared at one another, none of them willing to break the awkward silence first. Not only was their alliance still on shaky ground, but the pacifist village seemed to have some significance to A2, and this room in particular also had quite a bit of significance to 2B and 9S as well. All in all, it made for a very uncomfortable situation, and 2B began to seriously wonder at the wisdom of using this location as their meeting point at this juncture.

As if sensing the tension in the room, Pascal politely stepped outside.

"I'll be back with some refreshments," he said, closing the door behind them.

2B arched an eyebrow inside her mask as Pascal departed.

"Refreshments?" she asked out loud to no one in particular.

"Hypothesis," Pod 042 chimed in helpfully. "The machine life form known as Pascal is preparing beverages to share with units 2B and 9S."

Even 9S thought that seemed a little strange.

"Why?" he asked. "Androids can absorb water from the air. We don't need to drink anything. Neither do machines for that matter."

"There are many human customs revolving around a host providing nourishment to their guest," Pod 153 expounded. "The role of guest and host establishes a relationship of mutual benefit and trust. Proposal: Units 9S and 2B should partake of Pascal's refreshments when he returns in order to facilitate friendly relations."

2B just shook her head. She wasn't entirely sure what manner of beverage a machine like Pascal would think to serve a trio of androids, nor was she sure whether he was simply being hospitable or if he could tell that the three of them could use some privacy. Either way, she was glad she wouldn't have to worry about him while they worked things out with A2.

As the small talk died down, A2 glanced around the room, as if checking for any eavesdroppers. But save for their two pods, the three of them were alone.

"Boy, this place sure brings back memories, doesn't it?" she said with a knowing smirk.

2B merely blinked in confusion at that remark, and when 9S visibly flinched, 2B was left even more confused at A2's turn of phrase.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded, glancing between her partner and A2.

A2 threw a playful glance over to 9S.

"You want to tell her or should I?" she asked blithely.

For an instant, 2B's imagination got the better of her, and that suspicious little voice in the back of her head began to wonder whether 9S and A2 had some kind of history together that 2B wasn't privy to. She dismissed the thought, however – 9S would have behaved entirely differently around A2 if that were the case, and he wouldn't have been able to hide anything like that from her for this long even if he'd tried. She knew him too well, and had even seen his innermost thoughts when she had tried to hack him. Moreover, like her, his memories had been reset so many times, even before the time loop, that even if anything had happened between him and A2 at some point in one of their past lives, there was little to no chance he would even remember it now.

9S let out a sigh as he turned to give 2B a helpless look.

"So apparently…A2 has all of your memories."

2B felt several of her processors go through a hard reset in her brain case. That had not been where she had been expecting this conversation to be going in the slightest. If A2 had all of 2B's memories, then there was practically no way for 2B to keep anything secret from A2. Though she supposed that it actually might explain why A2 was so fixated on them and why she always acted so cagey around her. What she couldn't get her head around though was just what purpose such an arrangement would serve.

"How?" 2B demanded simply. "Why?"

A2 clapped her hands together. "Both excellent questions, but you haven't heard the best part yet. When we say all of your memories, we really do mean all of them – past, present and future. You and 9S have been through this time loop several times already. And each and every version of 2B that existed in this time loop before you – I've got them all stored right up here."

A2 tapped her temple lightly to illustrate her point. 2B, for her part, felt her knees quivering, and she stumbled awkwardly into one of the clunky wrought-iron chairs, with 9S kneeling beside her to put a hand on her shoulder.

This felt like the biggest slap to the face she could have ever received. She had seen the backup copies of her and 9S from some of the previous recursions, but this was orders of magnitude greater. Intellectually she understood that she was just data, and could ultimately be replaced by an identical copy if need be. She knew that when it came to their memory data, the machines could start each recursion with the data from any given set. So it only followed that they might have restarted the whole process before this point. And she would have no way of knowing. To the machines, she was little more than a pawn in their game, and she had long since accepted that. But to be given proof that she was simply one of multitudes, the latest in a line of failed experiments, was something else entirely.

Worse yet, now she suddenly found herself on the receiving end of the same dynamic shared between her and 9S all too long ago. Having to watch 9S reawaken with a fresh set of eyes every time she completed her mission had felt like nothing less than a curse, but now A2 must have been looking at her from the exact same perspective. To A2, the two of them must have appeared like little more than babes fumbling in the darkness, with A2 herself having born witness to her previous experiences time and time again. The shoe was finally on the other foot now, and 2B just wasn't sure how she was supposed to even respond to this revelation.

"2B…" 9S said in a conciliatory tone, taking her hand in his and squeezing her shoulder with the other, a look of concern on his face.

A2 stood up from her leaning position and began to pace about the tiny room, feigning a casual air, but keeping her gaze off of the other two to give them a modicum of space to recompose themselves.

"Well, I don't know for sure that it's all of them, but there's at least a few versions up here," she mused, resting her arms against the windowsill as she cast her eyes out over the glimmering green forest. "Anyway, as for the why and how – the how is pretty self-explanatory, given that last tidbit. But for the why…I can only assume it's because they couldn't get a complete copy of A2's memories. So they had to borrow other memories from a compatible template."

2B looked up from the floor, holding onto 9S' hand like a lifeline.

"And I was the logical choice," she said in a bitter tone, fixing A2 with a probing glare. "How many versions of me do you have?"

A2's expression remained neutral.

"Hard to say for sure," she admitted. "The first few recursions all start out pretty much the same way, so they all kind of blend together. There's quite a bit of branching though, so I'd guess…maybe six or eight distinct memory pathways? Some of the details get kind of fuzzy toward the end. Most of them go on for at least twenty or thirty recursions, but some of them end rather abruptly before they even get that far. There's also a lot of gaps, where I'm assuming you stumbled onto something that the machines didn't want us to know, so they likely erased those parts."

9S perked up at that.

"No sign of our, uh…little friend in any of those branching pathways?" he asked.

"No such luck," A2 shook her head gravely. "Just the underground coliseums. And what comes after them."

2B could guess that they were probably referring to Emil without mentioning him out loud, but at the moment, she was still trying to come to grips with the implication that A2 was effectively a walking conglomeration of all of her past lives within the time loop.

"I suppose this is why you always seem so ready to second guess anything 9S or I do then," she said in a challenging voice. "Were I in your position, watching my past self going through her life, I'd be doing the exact same thing."

"Pretty much," A2 shrugged, turning to lean her back against the windowsill to face the other two again. "Don't take it so hard though – I was in your position once upon a time, after all. And you'll be in my position soon enough at this rate."

2B nodded sagely. She had always suspected that her baseline memories had been directly copied from A2 before the time loop, so in a way, this was just one more thing that brought the two of them closer together. She sincerely hoped that A2 felt the same way, and if her willingness to meet up with them was any indication, then she thought there was a good chance she did.

"So what did 9S do or say in the last recursion to change your mind?" 2B asked in a tired voice.

A2 crossed her arms. "I haven't changed my mind. I still don't want you guys going down to those fight pits. But we're not going to get anywhere by fighting about it like this. We'd just be delaying the inevitable and prolonging a bad situation while doing so."

If A2 had been hoping to make them feel guilty and play on their sympathies with that statement, it wasn't working. 2B was about to open her mouth to inquire further, but that's when there was a knock at the door.

"It's me," Pascal's voice sounded as the door gently swung open, revealing the clunky looking robot bearing a wooden tray laden with tin cups and three steel canteens, each of different size and shape. "I wasn't sure what you might like, so I brought a little of everything."

The three androids stared blankly at the machine as he set the tray down on the rusty metal table at the center of the room, and they finally got a good look at the contents of the metal jugs.

"What's in these?" 9S asked curiously.

Before Pascal could reply, his pod chimed in, responding to its partner's spoken inquiry.

"Analysis," Pod 153 said, producing a scanner module to take a reading of the three containers. "The first vessel contains purified freshwater, which has been filtered and distilled so it contains less than five parts per billion of sedimentary contaminants, and is completely safe for consumption by androids. The second vessel contains a distilled form of petroleum oil, which has been refined into a state suitable for machine consumption. The third vessel contains fractionally crystalized ethanol, commonly referred to as 'moonshine,' and is not considered suitable for consumption by either machine or android."

No sooner had the words left the Pod's speakers when A2 promptly sat down across from 2B and reached for the third canteen.

"Dibs," she called out, before hastily pouring the beverage into one of the tin mugs.

2B and 9S both rolled their eyes beneath their masks, before helping themselves to the water jug. They didn't technically need to hydrate this way, but it was still possible, if inefficient. And they were trying to maintain friendly relations with Pascal in any case, so it did not seem worth turning down the offer and risk offending him, if their pods' summary of the situation were to be believed.

"Anyway, yes," Pascal chimed in timidly after being interrupted. "Please enjoy."

9S spoke up as Pascal began to turn away.

"Are you…going to be joining us, Pascal?" he asked, pouring himself a drink.

2B and A2 both threw him an odd look at that. Pascal, in response, raised his clunky claw-like hands in protest.

"Oh, I wouldn't wish to impose on your conversation," he said diffidently.

Before 2B and A2 could demand what he was doing, 9S had already pulled out a chair for their host to sit in.

"It's no imposition," he assured the machine life form. "We actually have something we'd like to discuss with you."

Pascal seemed only too delighted to oblige him after that.

"Oh, well in that case…" the machine said, waddling over to sit down in the proffered chair with a squeaky clunk.

A2 was giving 9S a frustrated look, which he was pointedly ignoring. Instead, his gaze went back and forth between Pascal and 2B, who silently mouthed the words 'we do?' back at him.

9S only gave her a sly smirk, and 2B nodded in understanding. 9S had another plan, and his plans were usually worth listening to when he had them.

"So…" Pascal poured a cup of the crude oil for himself, "What did you wish to speak with me about?"

9S brought his own cup to his lips. "Pascal…you knew A2 back in the original timeline, correct?"

A2 tensed visibly at that, though Pascal didn't seem to notice.

"Why yes, I did," Pascal said jovially. "She saved my life and came to this village's defense in our most desperate hour. I'm truly grateful to her."

2B heard the dull thud of a boot impacting against a shin under the table, which Pascal also didn't seem to notice. 9S flinched slightly but otherwise did not react. A2, for her part, was giving him a murderous glare.

"And…" 9S cleared his throat after the momentary distraction of A2 kicking him under the table, "I seem to recall you mentioning that you don't have any memories after a certain point?"

Pascal blinked, looking somewhat distressed by the question. "That is also correct. I…don't remember what happened after the other machines attacked us at the factory. I had assumed that we must have been defeated, only…"

Pascal reached up to clutch the sides of his head with his metal pincers, just as he had the last time this subject had come up. He looked like he was trying hard to remember something that just wouldn't come to him.

In the moment provided by Pascal's distracted state, A2 leaned over to fix her deadly gaze on 9S.

"What are you doing?!" she hissed under her breath, clenching her tin mug hard enough to dent it.

9S seemed completely unfazed by her anger, which was impressive to 2B, as even she was feeling somewhat anxious around the other attacker unit's steadily worsening disposition.

"I'm guessing none of my previous versions ever pulled something like this?" he whispered, a mischievous grin on his face.

A2's anger only seemed to grow as she stood up out of her chair and reached over to seize him by the lapel of his jacket.

"You cheeky little…" she gritted her teeth.

2B would have intervened at that point, but Pascal finally seemed to notice the other two androids talking.

"Oh, is something wrong?" he asked politely.

A2 gingerly released 9S' collar, slowly withdrawing and returning to her seat.

"Nothing…" she said with strained cordiality, her entire face twitching in irritation. "Nothing at all…"

Pascal still looked concerned, though for a different reason it seemed, as his eyes fell to the cup in A2's hands.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" he exclaimed in distress. "Your cup seems to have broken! I knew I shouldn't have used this old set, but it was all I had on hand. Here, let me pour you a new one…"

2B looked down and noticed that A2's grip on her tin mug had tightened to the point of it crumpling like an empty can, its contents spilling out all over the table. Pascal hurriedly removed the ruined container before replacing it with a new one, a fresh serving of moonshine filling it to the brim.

A2 grabbed it and downed it in a single gulp.

"So is this your big plan then, 9S?" she said, face growing red from the drink. "Get me to talk things out with Pascal? And that'll just magically convince me that I should simply let you guys do whatever you want?"

2B felt somewhat confused by all this, to say nothing of Pascal.

"I…" the machine said nervously, glancing back and forth between the two of them. "I don't understand. What…?"

"I don't know what you're talking about A2," 9S replied in a challenging tone. "I was just asking Pascal about his memories. Since he's aware of the time loop, it seems like a relevant topic, don't you think?"

A2 crossed her arms, an unamused scowl on her face.

"You're really going to make me spell all this out for you, aren't you?" she demanded testily.

9S flashed a smile over to 2B. "It'd be a nice change of pace."

2B saw in an instant what he was doing, and for some reason, she couldn't shake the feeling that something like this had happened before. Only 9S hadn't been there the last time, she was certain of it. The memory was unclear, but somehow she knew that she had grilled A2 on this subject once already. She just couldn't remember when exactly. And for some reason, she remembered fighting a machine bunny statue afterwards, but that was probably unrelated.

The attacker unit let out a long breath, before fixing her gaze squarely on 9S.

"Fine," she grumbled in a low steady tone. "You want to know the big secret? Here it is…"

She crossed her arms, closing her eyes in contemplation.

"Back in the original timeline," A2 said slowly, "Pascal…asked me to erase his memories."

2B and 9S both tensed at that, but nowhere near as much as Pascal himself.

"I did?" he spoke out in disbelief, his whole body seeming to shudder involuntarily. "That…doesn't sound like something I'd do…"

2B nodded her head, the truth slowly becoming clear to her. Suddenly A2's hesitation at being anywhere near Pascal was making a lot more sense. If A2 had been involved in removing Pascal's memories, then her mere presence might very well trigger their return. Certainly even talking about it like this presented a risk of a memory relapse. This was a risky move that 9S was making, and it was small wonder that A2 seemed so cross with him for it.

"Seeing as how Pascal doesn't seem to recall this happening," 9S pointed out, "I'm guessing you went through with this request?"

At A2's nod, Pascal seemed to grow only more concerned.

"But…but what reason could I have possibly had to want to have my memories erased?" he asked in a helpless voice.

A2 turned a fierce gaze back to the clunky looking machine.

"Pascal, you…you pleaded with me to erase your memories for you," she said sympathetically. "You told me that if I wouldn't do it, that I should kill you instead! And it looks like that memory wipe has somehow carried over into this simulation. I'm not sure why you seem to recall everything leading up to that point, but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. In any case, why would I try to make you remember something that you were trying so hard to forget?"

Pascal rose to his feet, planting his robotic hands on the table.

"Because that was then!" he implored. "This is now! Clearly whatever I was trying to forget hasn't happened yet, or I would be asking you to erase my memories once again! But now that reality seems to be looping back on itself, there might be something I could do to change things!"

2B shot a glance in 9S' direction, and he only smiled and nodded at her. This was his plan, 2B realized. Use someone from A2's past to convince her that the future could be changed. It was an inelegant and circuitous pathway towards achieving this goal, but 2B had to admit that it had a certain devious brilliance to it. It also had a very high probability of backfiring, given that A2 and Pascal were both still such unknown quantities.

"I don't think you're going to be able to change what happened, Pascal," A2 cautioned, gently. "Those events might be set in stone for all we know. And there's a good chance we'll be going through a bunch more recursions after this one, so anything you do to prevent it from happening will just have to be repeated ad nauseum."

Pascal stamped a big heavy foot, shaking the entire tree house.

"I don't care, A2!" he said insistently. "I still have to know!"

2B shared a curious look with 9S, and he simply shrugged in return. Neither of them had ever seen Pascal so worked up about anything before.

A2 let out a ragged breath, clearly unhappy with the situation.

"Okay, okay, fine…" A2 blurted, grabbing her mug and shoving it towards Pascal. "Hit me with another one then, cause I am not telling this story sober."

2B and 9S exchanged a worried glance. It sounded like this story would not be having a happy ending at all. Pascal, for his part, simply nodded nervously.

"A-Alright…" he said, obligingly refilling her cup, before sitting back down.

A2 took another long sip from the tin mug, downing half of its contents, before setting it down and taking a long deep breath.

"I received the call out of the blue," she said slowly. "You were terrified, begging me for help. I ran straight to the village, only to find it in flames, with machines going berserk and devouring each other like rabid animals."

Pascal nodded slowly, nervousness in his voice. "Yes, I remember. I fled to the factory with the children, who were mercifully unaffected by whatever had possessed the other villagers."

A2 kept her voice level. "Right. Anyway, after I mopped things up in the village, I found you and the kids hiding in the factory, just before another huge swarm of machines began to attack."

"And I'll be forever in your debt, A2," Pascal said softly, "After you rushed out to fend them all off for us."

A2 slowly shook her head. "Well, don't give me too much of the credit. Remember, you managed to hack into a derelict goliath unit and use that to fight off the brunt of the attack yourself."

9S whistled in appreciation. "Wow, Pascal. You hacked a goliath all by yourself?"

Pascal somehow managed to appear sheepish. "We older models have a few good points going for us – one of which being we're much more compatible with archaic machinery like the Engels."

A2's expression had in no way softened from the light-hearted exchange.

"You were a real terror to be sure," A2 said, hanging her head, her cheeks glowing red now from the alcohol in her system. "After the fight, though…you and I returned to the factory. And that's when we realized what had happened. The children of your village, who we had been fighting to protect that whole time…had all taken their own lives."

Pascal's eyes widened in shock, releasing a sudden intake of breath. "Wh-what?!"

2B and 9S exchanged worried glances. This story was getting worse and worse.

"You said that you'd taught them to feel fear as a means to instill in them the value of self-preservation or something like that," A2 went on, her voice not slurring so much as it was dampening, losing its near constantly sharp edge. "But without knowing how to process that fear, they killed themselves as a way to escape it. They were so scared that they couldn't see any other way out."

Pascal rose to his feet, backing away from the table, his hands once again clutching the side of his head. "Oh my…oh my god…oh god!"

A2 nodded sadly, finishing the rest of her drink.

"Yeah," she muttered somberly, her eyes hidden behind her hair. "That was about your reaction back then too."

2B and 9S both tensed in response to Pascal's agitated state, not knowing what to say in response to the machine's distress. Neither of them felt like they knew Pascal well enough to offer any words of comfort from such a revelation – to say nothing of their own reaction to the news, which was alarming enough on its own.

"How can that be true?!" Pascal asked in a panicked voice. "I don't remember anything like that happening!"

A2 winced in response to Pascal's words.

"That's…when it happened, Pascal…" she said gravely. "With your village all but burned to the ground and the children you'd raised all gone, you…you turned to me and said…"

A2 shuddered at the memory, drawing in a trembling breath, eyes shut tightly.

"…You said that you didn't want to live with the memory of what had happened…" she finally said, shame and sorrow lacing her every word. "You told me that I should either erase your memories...or kill you. And so I…"

A2 swallowed, but couldn't seem to finish her sentence. Pascal dropped to his knees, still clutching his head as he shook with despair. 9S suddenly looked a lot less comfortable with the situation than he had been moments before, and when he turned to glance back at 2B, she fixed him with a pained expression that she hoped reflected her unease and uncertainty as to whether this plan of his was really for the best if this was to be its outcome.

9S didn't seem to have a ready answer for her, but Pascal did eventually rise to his feet.

"I…I have to stop this from happening!" he said hurriedly, turning to the door. "If I can give them a new program to follow, teach them all how to properly manage their fear, I might just…"

Pascal made it halfway to the door before A2 caught his arm with a raised hand.

"It won't do any good, Pascal," she said, equal parts sympathy and caution in her voice. "It's already happened in the original timeline. These are…the rest of these machines are…"

Pascal turned to stare back at A2. Not a one of them had ever seen the machine glare before, but in that moment, Pascal seemed to be glaring.

"Are what?" he demanded in agitation. "Not real? Are you saying I should let them all die because they're not real, A2?!"

A2 winced again, hanging her head in remorse, but she did not release her grip.

"Pascal…" she whispered.

2B felt a pang of guilt strike her at those words. She had been thinking the exact same thing as A2, truth be told. Even if Pascal found a way to save any of the villagers, he would simply have to repeat the process if any of the androids reset the recursion again. He would essentially be subscribing to an endless toil that had no definitive ending, nor was there any guarantee that it would be worth the effort even if it did end. In many ways, Pascal was now as trapped and helpless in this time loop as the three androids were. Before he had simply been going through the motions without so much as a care as to what happened outside his little village. But now they had roped him into their existential struggle without giving him any kind of warning. Pascal now had a serious stake in how this time loop ended, and there was no going back for him at this point.

How he must hate them all right now.

"It doesn't matter…" Pascal shook his head. "It doesn't matter if this world might not be real – it feels real to me! Shouldn't that mean it's worth trying to save?"

A2 winced at that. "I…don't think this world can be saved, Pascal."

"I…I don't believe that…" Pascal said, yanking his hand away from A2, though he didn't make a move for the door again. "I'll find a way to save them. No matter what you say."

A2 was fixing him with a look of pained sadness. "Pascal, I…I never figured out how to say this before, but…"

She slowly rose to her feet, putting both of her hands on the machine's shoulders.

"I'm sorry," she said, leaning her head down to peer at his glowing white eyes. "Truly…I'm sorry…"

Pascal hung his head, letting out a series of soft weeping sounds, his arms coming up to pull A2 closer to him. A2 let out a breath, throwing a stern glance towards 2B, who nodded and gestured to 9S that the two of them should leave the room to A2 and the machine. 9S looked like he was suppressing a guilty expression and quickly nodded in understanding as he and 2B hurried out of the room and out onto the wooden catwalk surrounding the tree-top grove.

2B released a sigh of relief at escaping from the awkward scene that had transpired inside. While she sympathized with Pascal's plight and did not envy A2 the position she had been in before or now, having a front row seat to such a display was far more than she was comfortable dealing with. She had to admit that she was making progress when it came to dealing with emotions, both in herself and in others. But if she had needed to help someone like Pascal, who was her polar opposite in so many ways, she was more than certain that she could have only made the situation far worse than it was. Just as she had with Operator 6O's romantic woes, only far worse in all likelihood.

"Well…" 9S crossed his arms as the two of them idly strolled along the suspended wooden walkway, "That went better than expected, I think…"

2B threw him an incredulous look, though the effect was somewhat lessened by her YoRHa mask. "And in what way could that whole exchange have gone any worse? How did you expect that encounter to play out exactly? Was all of that drama really necessary, 9S?"

9S winced a bit at her accusatory tone but remained resolute as they both walked.

"It was a bit of a gamble, I admit," he said sheepishly. "And even in a best case scenario, that whole confrontation was bound to be pretty messy. Still, A2 needs to understand that knowing the future doesn't mean you get to play god. If anything, I think it means you should be even more deferential to the whims of chance and probability. And luckily for us, it seems that Pascal believes in that sentiment as much as we do."

2B frowned. She agreed that A2's whole mindset of being akin to some all-knowing savior with knowledge about the future was fundamentally flawed, but she felt a surprising amount of guilt for roping Pascal into this. She wouldn't have thought herself capable of feeling guilty for the pain caused to a machine, but Pascal was one of the few entities in this time loop who could relate to her and 9S' experience in it, and that made him a peer to her whether she admitted it or not.

"Pascal did not deserve this," 2B said firmly, a look of disappointment on her face.

9S frowned, shaking his head. "No, he didn't. Neither do any of us, but I should have figured that the reason A2 was so reluctant to visit him was due to something so tragic. Still…would it have been better to leave him ignorant? It's not like his troubles would have been any less real had A2 not revealed them. Had we played out the time loop all the way to the end, chances are the exact same thing would have happened to him and his village. And in that case, we – or at least A2 – would have been far more guilty of letting it happen, knowing she might have done something about it."

2B's expression turned sour. "And so we forced her hand."

9S shook his head dismissively. "Only after she forced ours."

2B might have said more, but she saw A2 emerging from the guest room with Pascal walking sedately behind her. She made eye contact with the other android, neither of them saying anything as they watched Pascal make his way down to the forest floor to be with his fellow villagers. As she watched, she saw the other machines within the village all climb down the ladders and began crowding around their leader, and without speaking, placed their arms together into a collective group hug.

It was a sight that looked especially odd to behold, particularly when the one local goliath biped machine crouched down to envelop the entire crowd in a mechanical embrace. The three androids watched the bizarre scene with a mixture of fascination and awkwardness, before A2 leaned over to 2B to speak softly so as not to disturb the machines.

"He's going to do what he can to prepare for the coming disaster…" A2 explained, shaking her head in a mixture of disbelief and awe. "I was so sure that telling him about his lost memories would shatter him and destroy any resolve that he had to continue. But it's had the exact opposite effect. He's more motivated than ever to protect his people. I mean, he'll still probably fail, but…damn it, I just don't have the heart to try to stop him anymore."

2B nodded her head in approval. "People need something to fight for, it seems. Even if it's a fleeting hope, any hope is better than no hope at all."

A2 nodded, closing her eyes tightly as she drew in a deep breath, tilting her head back in resignation. It looked like a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders, and her whole body seemed noticeably less tense. When she turned her eyes back to the other two androids, 2B wouldn't have exactly called the look on her face 'serene,' but it came pretty close.

"Well…the desert zone should be open by this point," she said in a bittersweet tone. "If you're going to the underground fighting pits, you should start at the Trial of Sand first."

2B raised an eyebrow at that. Had 9S' plan been that effective?

"A2?" she asked curiously.

A2 shook her head warily. "Go. I'm not going to try to stop you. Just…"

She turned her gaze squarely on 9S, who returned hers with a stern expression of his own, which was aided by the YoRHa mask that still concealed his eyes.

"If you happen to run into another A2 on the other side of…wherever you end up…" A2's expression turned hopeful "…Give her a chance for me, would you?"

2B blinked in confusion, and she suspected that 9S might be doing the same.

"You're not coming with us?" he asked, daftly.

A2 sighed, smiling. "Can't. As soon as I see him, the machines will know how to find him. I can't risk that happening. Besides, you two are the primary test subjects of this simulation. I'm just the hanger-on who came along for the ride. You should be the ones who see him."

2B nodded slowly. She had a feeling she knew exactly who 'he' was.

"Godspeed, A2," she said, reaching out a hand to the other android.

A2 smirked and batted her hand away.

"Oh, come on now!" A2 said with a laugh, pulling 2B into the most ferocious embrace she'd ever experienced.

"Hnngh!" 2B let out a choked sound, certain that her frame would rupture within the other android's grip. "A-A2!"

"Don't be so dramatic, 2B," A2 grunted through the embrace. "You'll see me again. You two haven't gotten rid of me just yet."

2B finally managed to free herself from the crushing embrace, letting out a breath of amusement.

"Were it so easy…" she said with a smile.

A2 turned her sights on 9S, a smug smile on her lips.

"Pretty ballsy move back there, 9S," she said, cocking her head as she approached him. "You're lucky you're so damn cute."

9S straightened his back, seemingly in preparation for a similar bear hug to the one 2B received. Instead, A2 seized him by the collar and planted a quick but firm kiss on his lips.

2B was far too stunned to react at all, as was 9S it seemed.

"Bwah!" 9S stammered as he pulled himself free from the kiss, arms raised and face flushed. "Wh-what was that?!"

A2 just smiled back at him, a devilish look in her eyes.

"Just something to remember you by," she said, before throwing a wink towards 2B. "Knock 'em dead, you two."

Before either of them could think of anything else to say, A2 turned towards the village exit leading out to the forest, and strode calmly out of sight.

2B stared blankly at the other android as she disappeared, shaking her head incredulously.

"And she calls me dramatic," she sighed.

9S was staring bashfully between 2B and A2's retreating form, completely red-faced as he brushed his fingers over his lips.

"2-2B, I…" he stammered helplessly.

"Warning," Pod 153 reported earnestly. "Unit 9S' biorhythms have begun to fluctuate at-"

"Not now, Pod!" 9S squawked back at the unhelpful support unit.

2B raised a hand, putting a halt to their rambling.

"Don't worry about it, 9S," she said somberly, turning to look back at him. "She's got all my memories, after all. It only makes sense that she'd feel the same way about you as I do."

9S was sweating and 2B genuinely felt sorry for him being in such an awkward position.

"I mean, I guess…" he said distantly.

2B had to turn her head away and cover her mouth with a fist to stifle the amused smirk on her face. She didn't want to make 9S feel any more uncomfortable than he already was, but she just couldn't prevent the delighted smile from creeping across her lips at how much he was struggling to maintain his composure. She knew she ought to be saying more to put his mind at ease, but she would be lying if she said that she wasn't experiencing a palpable feeling of delight at his foundering.

If 9S had been put into this situation by any other android, even someone she more or less trusted, like one of their YoRHa operators or even the commander, she doubted she would have been quite so nonchalant about one of them planting a kiss on her partner's lips right in front of her like that. But A2 was…different. Or, more precisely, she was the same – she and 2B shared so much in common that 2B didn't even have to guess at just what feelings were going through the other android's mind. And now with the revelation that A2 was essentially a copy of 2B – just as 2B herself had originally been a copy of A2 – it didn't make much sense for her to feel any sort of jealousy over the issue. She might as well feel resentment towards her own past self for being so awkward about calling him 'Nines' or for martyring herself to save his life. In fact, 2B now had more or less living proof that her feelings for 9S would endure well into her own future. A2 was, in every sense but literally, 2B's own past and future self, displaced in time.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that A2 wasn't simply a copy or even the equivalent of a clone or a twin sister to 2B. In a very real sense, she was 2B. A2 had literally lived and felt every moment of 2B's prior experience, and was ostensibly composed of memories of every alternate or parallel version of 2B that had ever existed within this time loop up until this point. Everything about this fact put so much of A2's behavior into perspective and made everything about her just seem to fit so well to 2B, that she couldn't help but believe it to be true. It was a profound feeling, once 2B's mind could get around just how strange it was. It was as if 2B herself had gone back in time to pass on advice to her past self, and then gone into the future to see just how she might turn out, all wrapped up within the same person. And 2B was getting to meet this version of herself from an outside perspective. In a way, it was 2B herself who was the oddity in this equation by comparison, with only her own singular linear path of experience to consider.

So if A2 wanted to flirt with her partner or make ovations towards him like this, that didn't really bother 2B. She knew 9S well enough to know he was far too reticent to respond in kind without 2B's go-ahead. Moreover, she knew A2 well enough – simply because she knew herself well enough – to know that her doing so was its own form of self-actualization for her. 9S was, after all, the focal point around which 2B defined her humanity. So it only stood to reason that he would, at least in part, be something similar to A2. And if her intention was for A2 to open up to them and embrace the two of them as friends and allies who were worth sharing herself with, this could only be a good thing.

And of course, there was also the naughty little voice in the back of her mind that was imagining just how much 9S' mind would be utterly blown away at the possibility of the two of them inviting him to share in some illicit dalliance together. That thought alone was simply too delicious to discard out of hand.

Suppressing another mischievous giggle under her breath, 2B cleared her throat and turned to face her partner.

"Well, I always said you two needed to work things out," she said, feigning naiveté.

9S just kicked at the wooden catwalk beneath his feet nervously, Pascal and his villagers still embracing down below them.

"I don't know…" he muttered, looking away, his cheeks still a little red. "In the last recursion, she told me that she wanted to be friends. But from the way she's acting, it kind of seems like she wants to be more than that…"

2B pretended to mull that over for a bit.

"Hmm," she said simply. "I see. And how would you feel about that?"

9S threw his arms out wide, staring aghast at her.

"How am I supposed to feel about it?" he asked incredulously. "She may have all of your memories and emotions, but she's still a completely different person than you! And even if I could ever feel that way about A2 as her own person, I…I could never betray you like that, 2B!"

2B had expected a response like that, and so her reply was immediate.

"And how exactly would that be a betrayal to me, 9S?" she asked candidly. "Do you think I'm the sort of android who would insist that you have no other partners besides me?"

9S looked like he was already at a loss for words, and 2B couldn't help but smile. She had always prided herself by being as blunt and to-the-point as possible, and she had thought that 9S had grown accustomed to this aspect of her nature, but she was somewhat pleased to find that she could still surprise him with her forwardness.

"I…I mean…" he stammered, sounding completely stunned. "Well…when you put it like that, uh…no, I guess, but…"

"And, as a copy of me," 2B interrupted him, expounding further. "Don't you think A2 might have a similar view on the matter?"

9S scratched at his hair in consternation, looking like he was trying to reach into his own head to make his brain work faster in order to keep up with the conversation.

"I…suppose that makes sense…" 9S admitted, utterly dumbfounded. "But…isn't that just how relationships are supposed to work? I mean, I always thought…in all the historical documents about human coupling…"

2B shook her head dismissively, a frown on her face.

"You and I are already breaking the rules by being together at all," she said adamantly. "I'm not about to sign up for another set of arbitrary rules now. Even if YoRHa or the machines or anyone else tried to force the issue, I couldn't imagine leaving you at this point. So what makes you think I would feel any different if you got involved with A2? Even if she had a problem with it – which I highly doubt – there's no way in hell that I'd just walk away over something like that."

9S' eyes widened in shock.

"I…I just…" he muttered, casting his eyes downward. "I can't imagine feeling this way about anyone else…"

2B's lips curved into a smile.

"I saw the face you made when A2 kissed you," she smirked. "It looked to me like you were imagining quite a few things about her."

9S' cheeks blazed a brilliant red as he took a step back, holding up his hands.

"Sh–she just caught me off guard, okay?" he stammered in embarrassment. "It doesn't mean I like her like that!"

2B felt a wave of amusement arise at the look on 9S' face. There was something so satisfying about pulling the rug out from under him like this. The two of them had never really discussed the rules of their peculiar relationship, and it seemed that they had been operating under the assumption that there wasn't anything to discuss. They had both been partners since before either of them could remember, and there hadn't ever really been anyone else in the picture who had ever offset that balance. Apart from A2 herself of course, but her involvement had always been an antagonistic one. The possibility of her relationship to either of them being friendly, let alone romantic, had been nigh unthinkable until only recently.

2B pulled the YoRHa visor from her face to gaze at him with earnest eyes.

"9S…" she said softly, her heart on full display. "If I'm the only one who makes you feel this way, then I'm more than happy to return those feelings to you. But that doesn't change the way A2 feels about you. And I don't want to be the reason for you breaking her heart."

There it was. 2B may have been the younger of the two combat models, but she still felt responsible for her sister in arms, given all that they shared. In particular, since it was her memories swimming around in A2's head that seemed to be causing all of these latent emotions to manifest, 2B could hardly claim innocence in this predicament. 2B had always been a loner, never showing a single care for what others thought, save for 9S. But the truth was, she only cared too much. 9S may have worn his caring and good-natured heart on his sleeve, but 2B had always kept those feelings repressed. Being with 9S…it had taught her the value of embracing those feelings. And over the course of this time loop, those feelings had made her realize, among many other things, that there was more to being an android than simply existing for one singular goal.

She was happy with 9S, and she was grateful to have him in her life. But just as 9S wanted to save his fellow YoRHa members, so too did 2B wish to do right by the people that mattered to her as well. A2 may have had all of 2B's memories, but 2B was also originally a copy of A2. The two of them were so inextricably linked that she couldn't help but feel a kinship for her. And as much as she would have liked to keep 9S all to herself, she was all too familiar with the fear of losing him as well. And she would never wish that fear upon anyone, least of all A2. It may have been a childish, foolish desire, but if 2B was being honest with herself, then she had to admit that what she truly wanted was a future in which all three of them could be happy.

9S' cheeks were still red as he was no doubt processing what 2B was suggesting.

"I don't…want to break her heart either…" he said softly, before fixing his gaze on her. "But 2B…you'll always be the most important person in my life. And, well…I do like A2, but…there are just so many complicated feelings there."

2B smiled sweetly back at him. "I know. And if you're not ready to forgive and forget…"

"It's not that," he shook his head somberly. "It's just that…well…I still don't know if I really trust her yet. Honestly…I'm a little surprised that you would trust her enough to consider this. I mean, how am I supposed to consider any type of romantic relationship with A2 when a part of me still isn't a hundred percent convinced that she's not secretly planning to either kill us or sell us out to the machines or something?"

2B had to try exceptionally hard not to roll her eyes at that.

"I have to believe we're beyond such concerns with A2 by this point, 9S," she said, a somewhat sour grimace in her voice. "A2 can be…annoying…even obnoxious sometimes…but I've never considered her to be any kind of real threat to either of us. At absolute worst, she was only ever an obstacle and an inconvenience for us, but I'd like to believe we're beyond that point as well."

9S looked unconvinced, and 2B had to remind herself that 9S was still dealing with a significant amount of trauma caused by A2, and no matter how much he reconciled with A2, that trauma would never fully go away.

"Even so…" he said grumpily, "She's got to start opening up more before I can even begin to think of her like that."

2B nodded, pleased with how maturely he had reached this resolution, as 9S looked up at her, a confused look on his face.

"And besides…" he said shyly, "I still would have thought that you would want the two of us to be…well…exclusive, I guess…"

2B's heart went out to him at that. Of course, he hadn't assumed the two of them were monogamous out of his own self-interest – it had been entirely out of consideration for her. That thought alone was enough to, as Operator 6O would put it, make her swoon.

"If it was with anyone besides A2, I might feel differently…" 2B said, reaching up to take him by the shoulders, giving his arms a reassuring squeeze. "But when it comes to A2, I guess…there's so much of myself in her that…I just…want her to be happy too. Maybe that's selfish of me…but…"

9S rested his arms around her waist, smiling tenderly at her.

"I don't think that's selfish, 2B," he assured her. "Wanting someone else to be happy could never be selfish."

2B's smile softened as she leaned in to kiss him. She just couldn't help herself. He was just too sweet not to kiss.

"I want what you want, 9S," she whispered as their lips parted, her own cheeks feeling somewhat flushed at the direction the conversation was going. "I always have. So tell me…do you want the two of us to be exclusive? Because my feelings for you won't change, regardless of anything that happens between you and A2."

9S' face went beet red once again. "I…I don't know, 2B, I…I just…don't know…"

2B let out a sigh as he sputtered out again, cutting off his bewildered musings with another kiss.

Too sweet. Just too sweet.

"How about this then?" she said after finally releasing his lips. "Why don't we discuss things with A2 the next time we meet her, and we'll see how she feels about all this? For all we know, we might have completely missed the mark on her intentions."

9S swallowed hard, looking away shyly.

"That's…a good point…" he said, letting out a nervous laugh. "I guess we should talk to her first…"

2B smiled as she looked at him. He still had not removed his YoRHa mask, so he must still be feeling rather uneasy about all this, and she could hardly blame him for that. But she knew that she needed to express her feelings to him clearly, or he would likely spend the rest of the time loop spinning his wheels.

One thing she knew for certain, however - the three of them might just be the last androids in existence, for whatever that was worth in this god forsaken simulation. Their connection to one another was the most important thing they all shared. They needed to do whatever they could to strengthen that connection, and she simply could not justify denying A2 the type of connection that she clearly desired as much as 2B herself did.

2B tied her own YoRHa mask back around her face, signaling her readiness to leave.

"Either way, consider this my blessing, 9S," she said decisively. "If you and A2 should be so inclined, then you should feel free to pursue whatever kind of relationship you both want. All I ever wanted was for you both to get along. So as long as you're not trying to kill each other, then anything else you two do has my approval. I'm not at all worried that she's going to try to steal you away from me or something. So if there's room in your heart for both of us, then I'm perfectly willing to share."

9S chewed on his lip, looking like he wanted to flee the village. "Are…are you sure, 2B? You're not just…compromising on our relationship to earn A2's favor? Or mine? Cause if I've given you any indication that I'm losing interest, then I can assure you-"

2B interrupted him with another kiss.

"I'm sure, 9S," she reassured him, giving his shoulder a squeeze. "You've made your feelings perfectly clear on the matter. And you've more than earned my faith in you by now. Believe me, if it was still just the two of us in here, I wouldn't even be making this suggestion. But this isn't about you and me. It's about A2, and how she fits into our lives. And like it or not, she's a part of me, just as I'm a part of her. So if you can find it in your heart to let her in, even if only as a friend if not something more, than I would take it as a personal favor to me if you did."

9S' face was still burning as 2B turned towards the walkway out towards the city ruins. She hoped that she had not pushed too hard on the matter. The more she thought about it, the more right it felt, but also the more selfish she felt for wishing for it. And while 9S' feelings for 2B would never again be in doubt in her mind, he had thus far demonstrated no such interest in A2 as anything more than a friendly rival and grudging ally. She didn't want 9S to think that accepting A2 was a condition of 2B's love and affection, but a part of her couldn't help but feel that his feelings towards A2 were, at least in part, a reflection of his feelings on 2B herself.

For all intents and purposes, A2 was essentially another side of 2B, a personification of all of her most repressed, innermost impulses and feelings that she never allowed to surface, literally given form. Given another set of circumstances, 2B could have turned out exactly like A2. And while even 2B had to admit that it was at least a little unreasonable for her to expect 9S to love every version of her that could have possibly existed – especially a version that had literally killed her in a past life – a part of her couldn't help but hope that he could.

"Anyway, give it some thought," she pronounced, leaving 9S to stew over the conundrum on his own, as he inevitably would. "In the meantime, let's get going. The underground combat arenas are open to us. We shouldn't waste this chance."

9S nodded absently and followed after her as she hurried out towards the city ruins.

"R-Right!" he called after her, still a bundle of nerves but following her command all the same.

God, she loved him so much, she thought with a smile.

They moved at a quick pace once they both mounted up on a pair of wild boar, making their way towards the desert region. Jackass was nowhere to be seen, but sure enough, the entrance to the desert was already blasted open – either because opening Pascal's village automatically jumped them ahead in the timeline, or because A2 had already called ahead and convinced Jackass to open the path on her own. 2B couldn't say for sure.

A part of her also worried that the Trial of Sand might not be open just yet – they had needed to acquire some sort of mysterious letter granting them access the first time around. But a quick glance in their inventory revealed that the letter was indeed already in their possession, just as all of their previous items from the original timeline.

Not for the first time, she wondered whether the machines might actually have wanted the two of them to venture into these coliseums after all. As Adam had made clear in their first encounter, every single one of their items, weapons, and other pieces of equipment could have been taken away at any point by their captors. The question was, was the presence of these items an intentional addition or a mere oversight on the machines' part? Or Adam's? After all, his presence had been fairly scarce lately – not that she was complaining. Still, no news was not necessarily good news in this case. The fact remained that, without realizing it, the two of them could very well have been doing exactly what the machines wanted.

On the other hand, 2B's instincts kept seeming to point her in the direction of the machines not entirely having a specific goal for them in mind. Her encounter with the girl in red had indicated that they seemed convinced that the androids' entire existence was ultimately in vain and doomed to failure. So in a sense, doing literally anything at all seemed to be a good way to prove them wrong. But 2B also couldn't escape the feeling that maybe, just maybe, the machines simply wanted to see exactly where her and 9S' path would take them, even if only out of sheer curiosity.

If that were the case, 2B just couldn't fathom a compelling enough reason not to continue. She was, after all, just as keen on finding out herself. She seemed to recall thinking very differently at some point, and she couldn't remember exactly what had changed her mind. But the more she thought about it, the more she was convinced that her best course of action was to see this through to the end.

"There it is!" 9S called out to her, snapping her out of her reverie, as they neared the desert elevator guarded by a masked machine.

2B nodded and dismounted, shaking her head to clear the lethargy brought on by the desert heat. As much as she appreciated the style of the black silk dress assigned to her by YoRHa, she had to admit that it was not the most efficient uniform for regulating her internal temperature in such a climate.

As the two of them wordlessly approached the machine guarding the elevator, it raised its torch to them as it acknowledged their presence.

"Come you here to challenge the trials?" it asked by way of greeting.

2B shot a quick glance to 9S, who simply nodded. So far this was no different from the original timeline.

"We do," he said in response.

The machine stepped to one side, allowing them to access the sliding doors embedded in the stone edifice.

"Then enter and be welcome," it said cordially.

2B nodded back to 9S as she strode up to the elevator, opening the doors with the press of a button, before strolling into the enclosed space with 9S following close behind her. The doors then slid closed, and she felt the gentle rumble of the elevator car descending into the Trial of Sand.

As the doors slid open, the stone hallway lined with torches that she had expected to find presided over by a slew of masked machines was instead utterly vacant of inhabitants. As she and 9S cautiously made their way through the hallway, everything about the layout and architecture of the arena lobby seemed to be the same as her combat data had recorded, save for it being utterly devoid of machines. Even the front desk was completely unattended as they approached it.

"Umm…hello?" 9S called out loud before 2B could stop him.

2B tensed as his voice echoed throughout the stone facility. She didn't like this at all. Everything about this situation was screaming 'trap!' to her danger senses, and she felt a shiver running down her spine that made her want to draw her sword. She ignored the urge for the time being, but she couldn't help but flinch when she suddenly heard the sound of a bell.

DING.

In an instant, the two of them both dropped into combat stances as their heads swiveled around looking for any obvious threats, but nothing about their surroundings seemed to have changed at all.

"What the…?" 9S blurted in response, hand on his sword.

2B's eyes flitted about in the dim lighting, before falling to a small service bell on the counter of the front desk that she had not noticed before.

"What's this…?" she asked out loud, approaching the strange shiny little metal object.

This bell had not been here in the original timeline, she was certain. Despite having never encountered anything like it in any of her missions, its function as a means of gaining someone's attention was readily apparent. But apart from the lack of occupants, the bell seemed to be the only thing out of place in the entire coliseum thus far.

"Umm…is someone there?" 9S called out again, apparently reaching the conclusion that, if they had heard a bell ringing, and if there was a bell to be rung, that it only followed that someone must be around to have rung it.

At his words, the sound of the bell filled the air once again.

DING.

2B and 9S both flinched again. She wasn't sure about 9S, but her eyes had not left the mysterious bell since the first ring, and she had definitely not seen anyone else around who could have touched it. There was not even anything so much as an air current that could have caused the bell to sound on its own. In spite of this, the ringing had definitely come from the direction of the desk.

"Umm…should we…press it?" 9S asked nervously under his breath.

2B let out a low sound of unease as she evaluated the situation. This whole fight pit felt like a trap. But they had come this far already, and there didn't seem to be anything else for them to do here. The gateway to the arena proper was barred tight, and she doubted her weapons could penetrate the door without also bringing the whole coliseum down on their heads. Their only other option at this point was to leave and try one of the other combat arenas on their map. But there was no guarantee that something wouldn't intervene along their path, and they had struggled so hard to reach even this point. And if a similar puzzle greeted them at any of the other coliseums, they would be in the exact same situation.

It seemed that their best option was to try their luck and see what happened, 2B thought, as she slowly reached out her hand and tapped the button at the top of the bell.

DING.

The moment the bell sounded, the metal grated door to the arena swung open, and the distant sound of a familiar jaunty tune could be heard playing from somewhere further inside.

"Hey, that's…" 9S gasped excitedly in recognition.

2B nodded and hurriedly made her way into the arena, marching up the stone stairs up to the stands as the combat floor came into view. There in the ring, whirring about in frantic chaotic circles, was Emil, riding around in his little makeshift sales cart. The same up-beat music they had heard from his cart back in the original timeline was playing now, its loud boisterous tune echoing off of the austere stone walls of the coliseum stands surrounding them, emanating from what 9S had earlier mentioned to be something called a 'jukebox,' one of many various and sundry items in the strange entity's vehicle.

"Oh, hey there, guys!" the excited little being called out to them. "You finally made it!"

2B and 9S exchanged wary glances between each other before slowly stepping down through the stands and up to the combat ring.

"Emil…" 9S called out in a guarded tone, kicking off their discussion while 2B remained silent as she continued to evaluate their surroundings. "Are you…are we…safe here?"

2B frowned as she contemplated 9S' opening query. It made sense, she decided – if their primary concern was whether the machines wanted them there or not, or if they were after Emil for some reason, the first thing they needed to establish was whether the machines might try to spring a trap on them now that they had found Emil.

Contrary to his behavior in the original timeline, Emil skidded to a halt and turned his cart to face the two of them of his own accord once they both jumped up onto the combat floor.

"As safe as I can make us," Emil assured them, sounding somewhat sheepish. "I can't give you a hundred percent guarantee that we won't be found, but this place we're in is technically separate from the simulation. Sorry I couldn't reach you guys sooner, by the way! I've been hiding down here ever since they purged the system. I don't actually know if you can even get back out into the simulation the way you came, to be honest."

That got the undivided attention of both androids.

"Wait, what?!" 9S demanded in stupefaction, stammering as he looked back and forth between Emil and 2B. "How is it even possible that this place could be separate from the rest of the simulation?! Are we stuck here or something now?! What even is this place?! And what exactly are you?!"

Emil actually skittered back on his wheels a little at 9S' outburst, and at the moment, 2B's senses were far too close to the edge to perceive any sudden movements as anything other than a potential threat, and her hand instinctively went for her sword.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Emil blurted in response. "Hold on you guys! You don't have to be afraid of me or anything! I'm not here to cause any trouble!"

Neither 2B nor 9S eased their stance at the assurance.

"If that's true, then we're going to need some answers, right off the bat," 9S stated plainly. "What…exactly…is this place? What are we? What are you? Have you been watching us this whole time somehow? What do the machines really want with us, and most of all, how do we get out of this simulation?"

Emil let out a helpless sigh. "I can't answer all of those questions, but I can answer a few of them, and maybe get you on the path to some of the rest. To start with, this place we're in is something like a pocket dimension. It's the same sort of interface as the simulation, but it was added later, so it runs on a slightly different set of rules. Watch…"

Emil turned around to face away from them, let out a quick grunt of effort before a 3D wireframe holographic image seemed to materialize standing on the floor right in front of him. The image appeared to be in the shape of a small stubby machine lifeform, and a moment later, the wireframe exterior of the machine phased out and was replaced by the machine's normal metal appearance.

2B and 9S took an instinctive step back with their hands on their swords, because suddenly there appeared to be a machine lifeform standing before them where there hadn't been anything previously – albeit standing completely inert.

"No need to worry!" Emil spun around to face them both. "I've got complete control over this area, and that lets me spawn and de-spawn various elements like machines. That means I can get rid of them just as easily too."

To illustrate his point, Emil turned back around to face his creation, letting out another grunt of effort, which caused the machine to quickly flicker back into a wireframe 3D model, before immediately vanishing a moment later.

"Pretty neat, huh?" Emil asked, turning back around to the two androids, sounding like little more than a kid seeking praise. "It looks like I can generate all kinds of things in here. I'm pretty sure I could make copies of every machine you've ever run across. Though I don't know if there's enough room in here for a goliath…"

2B and 9S were still in their combat stances, neither of them in any way ameliorated by Emil's little demonstration.

"So this whole area…" 9S breathed in a strained voice. "This place, and the rest of the world out there…all of it, it's…really just a computer simulation, right? It isn't real?"

Emil let out a grumble of uncertainty.

"It's…not really that simple, you guys," he said in a reassuring tone. "'Real' doesn't actually mean anything when you get right down to it. What's 'real' to you and what's 'real' to me might not be the same thing at all, but that doesn't make either of those things less real for each of us."

9S wrinkled his nose at that.

"That's just semantics!" he pointed out. "I'm talking about what physically exists within the realm of space and time! Matter with mass, weight, and density, that's bound by the laws of physics!"

Emil just made a helpless noise. "If that's your definition, then literally everything could either be real or not real, depending on how you look at it. Honestly, the laws of physics are just the phenomena that we can observe from our limited perspective. Who's to say whether they apply at every level of existence or not? Take dreams, for example. Dreams rarely seem to follow the laws of physics. But is a dream any less real than the person who dreams it? Dreams certainly seem real at the time, don't they? A dream couldn't exist unless the dreamer is capable of believing in what it shows them. And a dreamer definitely spends time within their dream. And the things they dream about always represent something real, even if they don't fully know what it is. And even all the little electrical signals in their brain that constitute the dream, or any 'real life' blood, sweat or tears that happen after waking up – those all have things like mass, weight and density, don't they? But none of it could have even existed if not for the dream. The same is true for the images and feelings we experience from books and other stories we tell ourselves – and yes, even simulations like this one."

9S looked like he was so fed up with Emil's explanation that his head was about to explode.

"What…?" he stammered in disbelief, seemingly unable to decide which logical fallacy to pick apart first. "That's…not…I can't even…!"

2B gritted her teeth, her patience for waxing philosophical reaching an abrupt end.

"Enough," she stated flatly, ceasing further discussion. "We've already established that none of us can ever be a hundred percent certain of what's real in this simulation. What we need to know is whether we can get out of it or not!"

Emil made an uncomfortable noise.

"I…don't really have an answer for that, to be honest," he muttered sorrowfully. "I know that there's a reality beyond this one, but I don't really know much about it, or how this reality exists in relation to it."

Emil's cart tipped forward slightly as Emil hung his head apologetically.

"I'm sorry, guys," he said. "I wish I could be more helpful…"

As 2B and 9S exchanged another puzzled glance between one another, Emil's voice perked up.

"But…I think I can help you better navigate this simulation now that you're here!" he exclaimed excitedly.

The two androids stiffened at Emil's sudden exuberance.

"What do you mean?" 9S asked, quizzically. "Like how we skip ahead in the timeline by triggering events before they would normally occur?"

Emil was growing more and more excited with every word.

"Sort of like that, but much more direct!" he said hurriedly. "See, because we're actually outside the simulation entirely at the moment, the way you get back into the simulation from here lets you jump in at whatever point in the timeline you want!"

For the first time since they had arrived at the Trial of Sand, 2B began to feel the smallest glimmer of hope.

"Whatever point we want?!" 9S asked in scarcely contained elation. "Like…anywhere within the timeline?"

Emil laughed a little at that.

"Any-when, technically," he said with a quirk of his large bulbous head. "But yeah, any point contained within the established timeline, starting at the moment the factory mission begins, to the very last battle at the top of the machine tower. You can't jump to any point outside of that range, but the good news is that if you manage to reach me in any of the other combat arenas, it'll give me even more options to work with. All three of these underground fighting rings were added to the simulation after it was first created, so they all present me with different access points to exploit the system. But the functions only work from within each of the arenas, and they'll only affect you guys if you're in there with me when I change things, so we all have to get to them first in order to use each one."

2B and 9S just stared at each other for a moment. This was all sounding far too good to be true, which from 2B's experience usually meant that there was some sort of catch involved.

"Who are you, really?" she asked the childish entity before her. "Are you the same Emil that we met in the original timeline?"

Emil made a troubled noise.

"Well…yes and no," he admitted hesitantly, glancing between the two of them. "Even the Emil that you guys first met was a copy of the original, so in all likelihood, I'm probably just another copy too. But all of the copies share just about as much with the original Emil as any other copy. So I'm probably about as much Emil as any of them are, and I'm certainly as much Emil as you are 2B and you are 9S."

9S made an uncomfortable face.

"And…are we really 2B and 9S?" he asked pointedly.

Emil let out an impatient huff.

"See, that's what I'm trying to get at," he said, sounding annoyed. "Nobody can tell you that you are who you think you are. You just are. If you think that you're 9S, and you think that you're 2B, then that's all there is to it. In a world where nothing really matters, every perspective has equal weight. And the most important perspective when it comes to yourself…is your own."

2B shook her head. All this philosophizing was giving her a headache, and she was growing more and more anxious about this whole arrangement.

"Why are you trying to help us then?" she asked simply.

Emil remained still for a moment, as though considering. The little jukebox playing muffled music slowly faded to silence as his mind appeared to drift elsewhere before he lifted his gaze back to the two of them.

"I think because…you remind me of some friends I used to know…" he said, sadness filling his voice. "It may sound foolish, but I want to believe that maybe, just maybe, some part of them still lives on through you guys. So by helping you out…it makes me feel like I'm helping them out too, in a way…

Something in Emil's cart let out a whirr of mechanical strain, as it seemed that even this simulated body he'd found was beginning to degrade.

"I don't remember them very well, so I could be remembering it all wrong…" he told them, genuine emotion leaking through those cryptic words. "But those memories are important to me too, even if they're all broken to pieces. We may be imperfect and incomplete beings. We may not know who we really are, or what we're really here for. We may never reach our goals or find everything that we look for. But still…we're all that we have! And we shouldn't give up on each other, or ourselves, just because things don't always fit together the way we want. That's why, when I found you guys…I knew that I had to help."

9S shook his head in disbelief.

"How though?" he asked, incredulously. "How are you here? How have you managed to subvert the machines in their own simulation?"

"I don't know," Emil admitted. "I don't even really remember how I got here. Maybe it's because I was created using magic from the old world? Maybe what they called 'magic' was just a higher form of technology that even the machines don't understand? Either way, it seems like I can see things in here that no one else can, and interact with the simulation in ways that no one has been able to."

2B pursed her lips as another thought occurred to her.

"And how do we know this isn't all just another trap devised by the machines?" she asked skeptically. "You could just be another part of the simulation simply telling us all this and showing us whatever the machines want us to believe. How do we know that anything you've told us isn't a deception?"

"You don't," Emil admitted plainly. "You can't. You can't even really be sure that it's the machines specifically who are running this simulation in the first place. But whether it's God or aliens or some kid playing with puppets on strings, it doesn't really change what we have to do, does it? The goal, like most things in life, is to keep going for as long as you can, and to try to make the most of what you get out of it."

9S crossed his arms in frustration.

"And what if we want out?" he demanded in irritation.

Emil looked helplessly back at him.

"Then I guess you could…not keep going, then?" he offered helplessly. "Don't try to make the most of things? Just give up on everything? I mean…you could stay hidden in here with me for as long as you want, I guess. I certainly wouldn't mind the company. But I don't think any of the tools that I've unlocked in here can be much help in getting you out of the simulation itself – just to other parts of it. The best I can do is show you how they work, and let you guys figure out a plan from there."

2B nodded, turning to give her partner a confident smile.

"Let's try it, 9S," she said firmly. "We've got a lot more options now. If Emil's right, and we can re-enter the timeline at any point…"

9S scratched his head anxiously as he stepped around the arena.

"Which point would we go to, exactly?" he asked, sounding utterly lost. "There's so many places we haven't explored yet…"

2B brought her hand to her chin in thought. She wasn't as much of an expert on lateral thinking as 9S, but she did have a mind for strategy, and the strategist in her mind was pointing her in one direction.

"The very end of the timeline makes the most sense to me," she said, definitively. "Like A2 said, all we really need to do is play the time loop out to the very end and see what happens afterward. If it just resets at that point, that'll be one mystery solved. But if it doesn't? If there's something that occurs afterward that's not contained within our combat data? That seems like important information to find."

9S turned to look at her, yanking off his YoRHa visor to reveal a crestfallen expression on his face.

"But 2B…have you forgotten?" he asked wistfully. "At the very end of the timeline, when A2 and I are fighting at the top of the machine tower…you're already dead. Setting aside whether or not the time loop won't just reset automatically as soon as it registers this fact…you still won't be there. You won't get to experience anything, and I'll be left all alone."

"You won't be alone, 9S," she reassured him softly. "Pod 153 will be there. A2 will be there. And you can always reset the timeline again afterward and find me."

"But what if doing this makes it so that you don't come back somehow?" he asked anxiously. "What if you being absent from the time loop somehow becomes permanent? We don't know how any of the rules work in here!"

2B shook her head, throwing Emil an imploring look.

"Well?" she asked him. "Is there any risk of that?"

"There shouldn't be," he said, though his words lacked any confidence. "But to be fair, I've only used this function by myself. I don't know if it'll affect you guys any differently somehow."

9S shook his head anxiously.

"I've got another idea," he said succinctly. "Let's go back to the point right before the fall of YoRHa. If we know what's coming, especially if we have A2's help, then maybe there's a way that we can save you from the machine virus. If we can manage that, I think the timeline would play out very differently. And at very least, you'd be able to see what happens for yourself."

2B felt something wilting inside of her. 9S was still trying to save her, even after all this time. It would have been endearing in any other context, but here and now, it was interfering with their main goal.

"To what end though?" she asked, pulling off her own mask to fix him with a stern gaze. "All we'd be doing is giving ourselves a whole new set of challenges to face inside the time loop. The machine tower would still be a reality, and the timeline would still play out according to the machines' desires."

9S withered a little under her gaze, but otherwise stood firm in his position.

"The same thing is true of going to the very end of the timeline," he pointed out. "Just because we don't have any combat data telling us what happens doesn't mean that the machines won't still be calling all the shots for us. For all we know, the end of the time loop could put us in the middle of an apocalyptic hellscape."

"Wouldn't you rather find that out right away?" 2B challenged in return. "Or would you prefer finding out after fighting through all three resource recovery units and facing down every last obstacle the machine tower put before you? I know how tough those all were from your combat data you shared with me. I don't like the idea of you going through that all again."

Tears began to well up in 9S' eyes.

"At least you'd still be with me when it happened…" he said through the tears.

2B forced herself to break eye contact with her partner. She just couldn't face him when he got like this. 2B may have been a hardened warrior, but her heart grew softest where it concerned 9S. And when it came to his own heart breaking, hers unanimously broke right alongside it.

"There is one more option you might want to consider, guys," Emil chimed in.

The two androids looked at Emil, who had a holographic interface pulled up before him, not unlike the ones their Pods displayed for them when they managed their combat loadouts.

"What is it?" 2B prompted.

Emil's hologram displayed a cryptic array of code which appeared to be arranged in a collapsing outline pattern. She couldn't make sense of any of the symbols being depicted, but she did notice that a few of the highlighted portions on Emil's screen were grayed out.

"I found some schematics from when this simulation was first designed," he noted, sounding like a kid talking about their favorite toy. "Apparently there are a few parts that were still left in development when it began. One of the biggest areas is in the copied city underground. Apparently there's some kind of secret door that will take you into a replica of an ancient church, containing a whole bunch of incomplete and unused content. If there were ever going to be a way for you to break out of the simulation, this would be the first place I'd look."

2B and 9S both blinked in surprise.

"That's…certainly an option…" he admitted, dumbfounded.

2B nodded as well. "Sounds like a lead to me."

Emil let out a grumble of annoyance as he scrolled through his hologram.

"Hmm…looks like there's a problem though…" he mumbled, peering more closely at the hologram. "It's actually locked down pretty tightly. You won't be able to just walk up to it at any old point in the timeline that happens to let you into the copied city. I'll need to manipulate the code in the simulation itself to get you through the door, and I don't have that kind of access from here."

Emil let his hologram drift off to the side as he turned to face the other two androids.

"On the plus side, it you can get to the other two underground arenas, I think I'll be able to unlock the controls I need," he said, sounding excited. "I can install a backdoor protocol once we're there that will let me harness each node in sync with each other."

"Why do you need our help for this, exactly?" 9S asked, scratching his head. "You got to this place easily enough on your own."

"I can get there on my own using the backdoor method I found," Emil said hurriedly. "It's not exactly safe for me out there, now that the simulation's creators are looking for me, so I really have no other choice. But once I'm there, I can't do anything to help either of you guys unless you're there as well. And once you tap the bell at the front desk, these arenas become isolated from the rest of the simulation, and the only way for you two to get back out again is to use this backdoor method as well."

2B put her hands on her hips. "Seems you're not quite as all-powerful as you first appeared to be."

Emil almost seemed to blush at that.

"I-I never claimed to be all-powerful!" he stammered hurriedly. "I just know a few tricks, that's all! If you can get to the other two underground arenas, I can use the trail you leave to establish a connection between all three locations. Oh, and you need to reach them in the correct order – the one we're in now is first, and then the one in the forest, and lastly the one in the sunken city. Once all three protocols are installed, I should be able to get you into the copied church."

9S grumbled, crossing his arms in disdain. "So whatever point in the timeline we go to next, we'll have to make sure we can reach the forest zone after we're done."

2B nodded in understanding. So that was why A2 had advised them to come to the one in the desert first. The pieces were coming together in her mind, and once again, A2 clearly had access to more information than she let on.

"What if one of us dies during this exploration?" 2B asked Emil. "Would we simply reset the time loop, same as always?"

"Technically," Emil said in confirmation. "If that were to happen though, you'd have to come back to this location in the desert and start the process all over again."

2B nodded, as another thought occurred to her.

"And we still don't know what A2 was so worried about," she pointed out. "Whatever we end up doing in these combat arenas, there's a chance it'll bring about some future that A2 would rather die than face. We need to be prepared for whatever that could be."

9S nodded. "Got it. So if we go back to keep 2B in the fight, we can call it short at any time by visiting the Underground Colosseum in the forest region to unlock more of Emil's functions. From there, we can jump to the end of the timeline, and if we're lucky, we might be able to reach the Gambler's Colosseum in the sunken city so that Emil can get us into this copied church."

2B rested her hands on her hips.

"I really think we should explore the end of the timeline first," she said insistently. "Either option has the potential to wind up fruitless, but if that one does, it should at least be over quickly."

"All this assumes that the machines will just let this happen as we go through this," 9S declared, turning to Emil. "We've already experienced them messing with our memories. If we start meddling like this, they might strike any memories we have of this ever happening, and we'd be back to square one."

Emil let out a sly chuckle.

"I was going to keep this a surprise until later, but…actually, that's the beauty of this whole thing," he said, pulling up his hologram again, expanding it to zoom in on the illegible code. "It's technically already happened!"

2B and 9S stared blankly at each other, and then at the holographic read-out. It made utterly no sense to 2B, and if 9S could parse anything more than her, he made no indication of it. One thing that did jump out at her now that Emil was zooming in on it, however, was 3 lines of code that were noticeably shorter than the rest, and conspicuously marked with red text:

TEST 15 – NO DATA FOUND

TEST 16 – NO DATA FOUND

TEST 17 – NO DATA FOUND

2B felt her heart skip a beat at that. If 'tests' were how the machines referred to each recursion, then…was it possible that she was looking at the very source of her missing memories? More importantly, she and 9S had decided on three different areas to explore entirely of their own volition, or so she believed. But if what she was seeing was true, then the decisions they'd been pondering this whole time about where to jump within the timeline had already been made for them.

"This is…" 9S took a step back, evidently reaching a similar conclusion. "We've…already done it? And what, we just…don't remember any of it?"

Emil nodded again, in his strange overexaggerated way that bobbed his entire cart forward and back.

"Yep!" he said excitedly. "So it's kind of like going back in time, in a way – except that this whole time loop means that you've been sort of going back in time over and over again already. It's complicated. But the good news is that the machines can't wipe your memories from these events anymore, because, well…they've done it already. Really all we're doing here is going back to retrieve those missing memories by reliving those events. And hey, since none of you remember doing this before, that probably means you made it through all three in one go! Otherwise it would have taken more than three tries, and we'd be looking at way more blank test files."

9S scratched his head in confusion. "So if all this has already happened, then can't we just…hack in and unlock those memories again?"

Emil sighed. "Well, except that they haven't happened to this version of you yet. In order to experience them firsthand, you'll have to go back in time to relive them yourself."

9S flopped down onto the floor. 2B wasn't entirely sure she grasped everything that was being said, but she almost felt compelled to drop down onto the floor right there beside him.

"Time travel," 9S blurted out in a deadpan voice, staring off into the distance. "You're talking about actual, literal time travel here."

Emil seemed far too easygoing, given the subject matter they were dealing with.

"Well, again, yes and no," he allowed. "It's not really as scary as you're making it out to be. You can think of it as kind of a ride, really. Cause no matter what happens, it was always going to happen, regardless of what you do. You'll just still have to do it in real time."

2B fixed her piercing gaze on Emil. She didn't know much about time travel, but she did know that she wasn't a fan of the idea of a predetermined fate that she could not escape from. And the only way Emil's proposition made any sense was if that were what was happening here.

"So free will really is all just an illusion then?" she demanded.

Emil sighed in exasperation.

"Free will isn't something you can sum up in two words like that," he said impatiently. "And it doesn't really apply to the space time continuum in this case. It'd be like…consciously trying to exist. You can't just…decide whether you exist or not, you know? You just exist. Cause if you don't, then by definition, you can't decide anything!"

9S was still sitting on the floor, staring intently at his own shoes as the wheels in his head appeared to spin as fast as they ever had. No doubt he was going over all the countless implications of what effect honest-to-god time travel might have on their current predicament.

"So…I'm guessing you can't tell us anything about what happens in these three missing recursions then, right?" he asked, shakily. "Because anything you tell us will allow us to change how things occurred in the past."

"Except if I did tell you, then that means I was always going to tell you, and whatever decision you made based on that information would have also always happened," Emil said, sounding far too smug with himself. "You see? It just keeps going around in an infinite spiral of causality that has no end. There's no point in trying to untangle it. This is why I was going to keep this all a surprise – there's just no sense in worrying about it."

2B rubbed her forehead. She was ready to just pick a destination at random simply to put this whole conversation out of her mind.

"Okay, okay," she stammered, turning back to Emil's hologram. "So you said we have to do these in order, right? So does this mean we're required to go back to Test 15?"

Emil shook his head, which he accomplished by wagging his cart back and forth.

"Again – yes and no," he said amiably. "There's technically nothing stopping you from picking whichever one you want to do first. You could even jump right to the third one if you wished. It's just that your memories will be even more jumbled if you do these out of order."

9S woozily climbed to his feet, joining 2B as she stared aghast at Emil's holographic menu.

"But you said we had to do them in order," he huffed. "If the whole point of doing the first two is to get to the other two arenas…"

Emil let out a groan of annoyance.

"Like I told you!" he grumbled childishly. "All three of them have already happened! The only thing that hasn't happened yet is you two remembering it. It'll make more sense if you do them in order still, so I highly recommend you start with the first one. But the choice is ultimately up to you."

9S hung his head in desperation.

"I can't decide which is worse…" he grunted under his breath. "Discovering the truth about YoRHa, or…this."

He turned his gaze up to 2B and fixed her with another of his withering looks.

"We've…completely lost control of our lives here, haven't we?" he asked, sounding utterly hopeless.

2B shook her head somberly, feeling much the same.

"I don't think we ever had control over them to begin with, 9S," she said, stepping over to him to wrap her arms comfortingly around him. "It's…still possible that this is all just an elaborate scenario created by the machines as a ruse, and that none of this time travel stuff is actually happening at all."

9S let out a resigned breath that might have been a laugh if it had any energy left in it.

"Never thought that possibility would ever be a comfort…" he said.

They stayed that way for a moment longer, taking some solace in each other's existence to help ground them in some sort of reality. They were androids. They were data. On some level, they always knew that their existence was fleeting, temperamental and derivative. Once upon a time, this fleeing existence had been devoted to humanity, allowing them to face down their machine enemies with defiance. But now that they knew that humanity had been gone for ages, they were now committed to the belief that their existence was for them to define for themselves, that whatever meaning they sought could be found on their terms.

2B just hoped that this resolve would last this next hurdle.

"If you…need some time to decide," Emil offered sympathetically, rolling his cart back a little bit, "Then take all the time you need. We've…literally got all the time in the world down here."

2B and 9S remained silent for a moment longer, before 2B felt his lips close upon hers. She let herself melt into the kiss, sinking more fully into his embrace as the warmth, the certainty, the calm quiet determination at the core of his being, all of it flowed through to her through that one single connection they shared. In that moment, she knew who she was. What she was.

She was 2B.

She was an android.

She was 9S' partner.

And that would always be enough for her.

"Let's go…" she breathed.

9S nodded, and they both parted to face Emil, save for a single hand each clasped in that of the other.

"We're ready," 9S announced, squeezing 2B's hand tightly in his.

Emil rolled back up to them and pulled up his hologram once again.

"Okay then!" he responded excitedly, filtering out the holographic screen of all other data noise, save for the three options they had to choose from. "Where will you go first?"

2B leaned in to peer at the choices presented.

- TEST 15 - Ch 17-10: The End

- TEST 16 - Ch 11-06: 2B's Final Moments

- TEST 17 - Ch XX-XX: The Copied Church

2B scowled a little at the subtext.

"Could you have maybe gone with a slightly less dramatic naming scheme?" she asked Emil bluntly.

"And what's with these letter and number codes?" 9S asked suspiciously. "They look like chapter markers in a book or something."

Emil wobbled back and forth in a nervous gesture.

"They weren't my idea, I swear!" he insisted.

2B rolled her eyes and shook her head. Dramatic subtext aside, she could at least deduce which choice was which. The first option would take them to the final battle between 9S and A2 at the top of the machine tower. Whether or not she would even be able to register anything that happened in this recursion seemed dubious at best. The second would take them to the fall of YoRHa moments before 2B's death. Whether or not 9S could actually save her life seemed, again, dubious at best. And the last one would take them…somewhere they've never been before. Somehow that prospect seemed most terrifying of all.

There were other tests listed in line with the three highlighted options, but they were all grayed out. Tests 01 through 14 she assumed were the recursions that occurred before their memories had been wiped, and there were even a few grayed out options that occurred afterward, covering Tests 18 through 21, which presumably included the one they were in this very moment. Some quick mental math told her that they were off by one, however.

"What happens in Test 21?" 9S asked Emil, no doubt reaching the same conclusion. "We should only be up to number 20 by my count. Did another one get wiped from our memory, or are we in Test 21 right now since we're technically outside the simulation? Or do the machines simply pre-load a slot for the next recursion each time?"

Emil seemed somewhat hesitant at that.

"That one…hasn't happened yet," he admitted sheepishly. "It represents the possibility of new futures. If you get through all three of the missing tests and decide to keep going, that's where you'll end up."

2B and 9S shared another brief look. That had a hopeful ring to it, if for nothing else than offering some small way out of the time paradox they had inadvertently found themselves in.

"Anyway, have you made your decision?" Emil asked cheerfully.

9S turned to look at 2B, giving her a smile.

"You choose, 2B," he said firmly. "I'll follow your lead. Always."

2B swallowed nervously and nodded, before reaching up to tap the holographic screen. And then all at once, her world disappeared in a brilliant flash of light.

---

Select memory:

The Final Battle [Go to Chapter 9 - Recursion 15]

The Fall of YoRHa [Go to Chapter 10 - Recursion 16]

The Copied Church [Go to Chapter 11 - Recursion 17]