Reload [Nier: Automata Fanfic]

Chapter 1

Silence.

"Pod 153!" His voice cracked– his voice isn't supposed to crack, there is no possible way for his voice to crack since he is not programmed for it–

An error due to the virus?

9S knows that isn't the case. His voice box doesn't feel like it's malfunctioning. It was a simple bump in his vocal systems– which shouldn't be possible– so if it was the virus breaking down his vocal systems then it would have done a lot more damage than a simple crack.

9S remembers an old ritual humans used to do. They would pinch themselves which would somehow determine whether the situation they were in was real or not by feeling pain. 9S pinches himself and pain travel through his sensors and into his brain circuit.

He laughs quietly. His Android body wouldn't be able to sense such minor damage like pinching. 9S is extremely knowledgeable– it is in his coding to be so– so 9S knows for a fact that the skin he felt was much more malleable- much softer than his artificial skin was.

9S wraps his arms around his legs and rocks back and forth. He isn't dreaming– Androids can't dream– meaning that everything around him is 100% real.

No no no no– He can't– This can't be–

He stands once again, rampaging through the room. There has to be something in here that could prove him wrong because he can't be human. It was impossible.

He opens a drawer and finds a pair of scissors.

scissorsˈsɪzəz/noun

        an instrument used for cutting cloth, paper, and other material, consisting of two blades laid one on top of the other and fastened in the middle so as to allow them to be opened and closed by a thumb and finger inserted through rings on the end of their handles.

Yes. Yes. He knows. Humans used them. Humans were also so incredibly fragile that even such a small item could damage them. 9S picks it up. He feels no fear. Old curiosity seeps into his bones like it always does. He's curious, he's always been.

Humans were long dead before they created his model. Before they created him. What were humans like when they were injured? They bled, 9S' mind supplied. They bled but 9S never had the chance to observe it up close and now he will be able to.

Assuming he was inhabiting a human body, that is.

He lifts the blade and–

"Nines? Hey–" 9S whips around, heart beating out of control. He looks up to see a girl, she was slightly taller than he was and had short blonde hair.  9S couldn't believe what he was seeing. Apparently, she couldn't either. "Nines– what-what are you doing?"

His eyes fall on the scissors on his hands that were aimed for his finger. He was going to make a small cut, nothing major. He's fought in a war, he can handle a cut. He shrugs in what he hopes looks casual.

How was he supposed to act? The girl was– is Operator 21O. She looked like her, albeit a lot younger and less stern. Speaking of appearances, he doesn't even know what he looks like. Operator 21O shakes her head but the concerned expression doesn't leave her face. "Nines?" That was another thing that bewildered him. She was calling him Nines!

"Uh, Operator 21O, can you please–"

She frowns, "What are you talking about, Nines? What's an Operator 21O?"

9S feels cold. "Um. Sorry, I was, uh," His eyes scanned the room once more. There had to be something he could use. He spots a book on the ground. In haste, he picks it up and waves it slightly. "I– I was reading! I kinda got too into it."