I was fighting, fighting for my life. All I have ever done is fight. Fighting was the first thing I remember doing and with my flimsy, human body, I couldn't do much. Oh how I wish I was one of those strange androids I see battling the machines. That would make everything so much easier. Fighting was the first thing I remember and it was the last thing I remembered. The crimson gleam of a robotic eye and the downward swing of a rusted metal fist still lingered prominently in my mind.
-----
Something poked at my side.
"What is it? An android?" Came a feminine voice close to my ear.
"I don't know." A seemingly boyish male?
"If it is an android, why can I not repair it?" More poking. "It's squishy."
"Oh no. 2B, it's moving." 2B? What sort of name is that? I stirred, pushing my arm behind my back, it scraping against the cold grass beneath me. I opened my eyes slowly, a mystic, almost holographic blue light filling my vision. I jumped back slightly, a girl coming into view. Those were her eyes? The girl watched me with a single eyebrow raised and an 'o' shaped mouth, that or which she seemed to have a small spot of darker skin beside. A beauty mark? She is incredibly pretty...
"Oh, sorry for startling you." The girl said. I turned my shaky gaze to the boy, who was positioned far from me, holding the handle of what seemed to be a katana tightly.
"2B... be careful..." The boy said. I couldn't see his expression, as the upper half of his face was shielded by a black blindfold, his pristine, white hair, which was the same colour as the females, falling loosely over the top. He seemed to clench his jaw after he noticed I was staring. "What is it?"
"I don't know." The girl watched me intently, before she suddenly jumped, as though realizing something and slid her blindfold on too.
"Um... who are you?" I managed to squeak, keeping my voice barely audible.
"We are YoRHa units, androids." The girl stated, watching me now with the blindfold covering her eyes, however possible that is.
"What are your names...?"
"I am YoRHa unit 2B, and this is my partner, YoRHa unit 9S." What strange names... what strange people... androids... aren't they the ones I've been hearing about? "If you don't mind me asking but, what are you?"
"2B! Don't be so insensitive!"
"I-I'm a human..?"
"A human?" 9S repeated, approaching me quickly, crouching beside 2B. "But I thought that all remaining humans were deployed to the bunker?"
"Bunker..?" I repeated, managing to sit myself up properly, despite the searing pain in my left temple. "Wait... what happened before I you found me?"
"I saw a body and was hoping to repair it, but there was a hostile Machine close to you, so we took it out. Are you... bleeding?" 2B decided to lay her cold fingers onto my forehead, the area burned under the contact, yet her touch seemed almost... human.
"Ah!" I let out a hiss of pain before 2B brought her gloved hand back. Now that I took notice, the two of them were wearing clothes that I had never seen before. 2B seemed to adorn herself in a black dress, an opening at one side, probably allowing fluid movement, a white leotard peeking out. The dress sleeves reached down to her elbows and then dispersed into what resembled feathers, white gloved then covered the rest of her arm, leaving her slender fingers bare. Thigh high black boots surprised me, I didn't think it was possible to fight in heels. Her chin length colourless hair wavered in the wind, an onyx headband wrapping around her skull
Then there was the boy, 9S. He was shorter that 2B, around a head or so, he sport a black coat, which seemed too large for his petite body, his hands shielded by loose fitting leather gloves. Knee length shorts ran down from under the coat, followed by a pair of black buckled boots, leaving half of his leg showing. The synthetic skin seemed so realistic...
"Pod. What did humans use to heal themselves?" 2B asked, a small square machine popped out from behind her and began hovering.
"Humans used to use items such as bandages and medicine to heal. The android, 2B, has no use for such items." It spoke in an obvious robotic tone. 2B turned slightly on the spot the face the boy, he nodded in silent acknowledgment, producing a small square devise and fiddling with it.
"Er... Why are you wearing blindfolds, can you see?" I brought myself to sit up straight, my back aching with the strain. I could still hear the faint clanging of metal in the far distance.
"Do you mean our visors?" 2B held her fabric away from her face slightly, emphasizing the object.
"Yeah... What do they do?"
"They show us the statistics of the Machines as well as our own. They help us fight better and more aggressively."
"So it shows, like, your HP and stuff?" I managed to sit myself upright, playing with my thumb. The atmosphere here seemed almost awkward.
"H...P?"
"Are you guys sentient? Can you feel human emotions? What does an android body feel like?" 2B seemed shocked with my barrage of questions, as she shifted back slightly.
"...Emotions are prohibited." She replaced her calm tone with a stern one, commanding respect.
"The marker's set, 2B, we should get going." The girl nodded, quickly scooping me up, holding my head close to her chest. I could feel my face heat, in constrast to her cold body. She seemed to be poking my skin lightly.
"What are you... doing?" I asked, my hair waving into my face as the girl ran faster than I ever could.
"I've never seen, nor touched a real human before... it's interesting."
"So... about my questions-"
"No questions." After what seemed like less than a few minutes, she set me down against a tree, the grass ticking my skin. I watched the androids scan the area, picking up small items, inspecting a strange flower. The two conversed before splitting up, 9S ascending up the broken escalator and 2B approached me. She sat beside me, leaning against the tree, watching the patches of grass and concrete ahead of us. She said nothing.
"So... 2B is it?" She turned slighty to face me, she seemed to tilt her head. "You look like you've got something on your mind?"
"Oh... its nothing, I should stop filling my head with pointless chatter..."
"So you can think!" I caught myself smiling brightly, ghosting my eyes over her features, hoping to see a change.
"...What?"
"Nevermind, I've just heard alot about the bunker andriods... I never thought I would see one for myself!"
"Heard from who? More humans?"
"No, a Machine names Pascal, he runs a small village in the forest-"
"I know."
"Yeah, he told me stuff about you and I was so exited!"
"You remind me of 9S."
"2B! Up here!" 9S's voice bellowed from above us, I attempted to search for his vessel while 2B ran up the stairs. "I found the stuff we were looking for, I've never seen this before..."
"Okay, get it down to the human Nine...ez"
"What did you say?!"
"Get it down to the human 9S."
"No, you said it again!"
"Said what?"
"Nines!"
"This is irrelevant to the mission." 2B's heels tapped against the metal floor, as the footsteps volume incresed, I could feel a nervous feeling brewing in the pit of my stomach.
"We found a few things for you!" 9S cheerfully yelled as he barreled towards me, bandages, plasters and painkillers in his hands. He laid them beside me and 2B cautiously approached.
"What is it going to do to the human?" She held her own hand, watching 9S.
"I have a name y'know?"
"You do?"
"Mhm, Rei, nice to meet you." I smiled towards 2B, however her stolid expression refused to faulter.
"You can call me Nines if you like!" 9S was the one to return my grin.
"Is that what 2B refuses to call you?" I asked, picking up the box of unopened paracetamol.
"I don't refuse to call him anything, 9S is a fine name." 2B added, seemingly getting defensive.
"Yeah, but it's too formal, don't ya think?" 9S turned his head slightly to face her, a condescending smirk causing his right cheek to rise.
"Formalities are not a problem." 2B folded her arms.
"So are you two, a thing, or what?" I asked, causing the two to flich.
"Wha- no!"
"...We cannot feel human attraction." 9S decided to scooch towards me, placing the sticky surface of the plaster to my head.
"She's lying~" He wispered, a smile on his features, implying that I should know something obvious.
"So you guys do have genders!"
"What? Of course we do! We're modeled exactly as our creators, the only sure way you could tell us apart would be to break us open and find our wires."
"So do you bleed?"
"If we're struck hard enough, yes."
"What pumps your blood? Do you have a heart? What about a brain? Or a liver? Lungs?"
"Uh... 2B?"
"Maybe you're more like 9S than 9S..." She mumbled, watching the door or the shopping centre. Now that I took a look around, the greenery had climbed the wall more sice last time I was here. The escalator had rusted further and grass was penatrating the surface of the broken concrete. It had changed quite a bit since last time. "I'm going to scout the perimiter, make sure the Machines are eliminated." 2B took her leave out of the door, drawing her smaller sword and gaining speed by the second.
"She totally likes you."
"What?"
"She's so flustered around you! C'mon, don't tell me that you don't notice anything!"
"I thought that's just how female androids acted..?"
"You know, she is basically like a human girl, except if she wanted to, she could kill you instantly."
"I'll keep that in mind..." After a few minutes, my injuries were covered in bandages, luckily, I could just about ignore the mild pain. Just then, 2B reentered, something whiter than her hair perched beneath the strands.
"Hey 2B, what's that in your hair?" 9S asked, pointing to the flower, he obviously knew what it was.
"I saw this flower and remembered... Operater 6O said that a flower.. would look nice... on me..." Throughout the sentence, 2B had lowered her voice to around a whisper, avoiding eye contact with 9S, who seemed to think this was out of character for her, instead, she watched me. "Do you... like it?"
"Yeah, I think it really suits you." I handed her a grin and she gave me a small smile, pink rising in her cheeks. I didn't know androids could blush..?
"Hey 2B, what's that pink stuff on your cheeks?" 9S stood to her side, their height difference now obvious.
"It's nothing..."
"YoHRa unit 2B's pulse rate incresed rapidly as soon as the human gave her a complemen-"
"Shut up!" 2B interupted the pod. 9S held in a laugh. 2B was flustered, it was cute. She balled her hand into a fist. "Stop it."
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" 9S held his hands up in surrender, still laughing his robotic ass off. I couldn't help but smile. "It's just so strange to see you fussing about how you look, not to mention how flustered you are!"
"I'm not fussing and I'm not flustered."
"Mhm, sure. See what I was talking about Rei?" He smiled towards me, his hands still raised. 2B continued to glare at 9S, her face now almost entirely red.
"Stop it!" She yelled, covering her face with her hands.
"Okay, 9S stop teasing her." I shook my head, smiling. "The flower looks nice, it realy does 2B."
"...Thank you..."
"2B showing gratitude?! Why don't you do that with me? What happened to 'Emotions are prohibited?!'"
"9S. Shut up, before I punch you." 9S flinched.
"Ah, okay, I'm sorry..." I chuckled at the obvious chemistry these two have, 9S turned slightly to face me. "What did I tell you? Terrifying." He muttered, 2B continued her glare, before softening her gaze as she met mine.
"I took out most of the hostile Machines nearby, we shoukd be safe for now." I nodded my head one, lowering my back down to the grass, it tickling me cheek. I watched the room, a glass dome allowing me to watch the birds fly overhead. Then, rusling to my right, 2B laid down beside me, 9S to my left. "Is this what humans do to relax?"
"Some of us, yeah. What about androids? What do you guys do?"
"It can vary..."
"I like reading, and practicing my hacking in the arcade!" 9S added, holding his hands upwards, as though he was trying to grab the birds out of the sky. "2B likes to destroy things."
"Don't phrase it like that."
"Okay, she likes to train." 2B huffed, placing her hands behind her head. I closed my eyes. More shuffling to 2B's side, then it stopped, she breathed slowly. I turned slightly, now watching her. She had removed her blindfold--visor, placed it to the side, and had her eyes closed. I swear she seemed happy. I returned into my previous position, my stomach feeling flowery. I could feel myself drop into slumber, like I was falling off of a cliff.