[S]ayonara Memories (NieR: Automata)

Chapter V: Un[e]xpected Anomaly

2B couldn't help but notice the odd silence in the group.

After finishing the side-mission, her next agenda had been to deliver the oil to Pascal as per Anemone's request. It was during this moment that she had noticed the unnatural silence within their small party.

The most talkative of the group had been 9S and yet the male android had yet to speak since they had left the fields. Vee rarely spoke to them, 2B hypothesized that it might be due to how intimidating they must have been to her. Although, since their visit to the Resistance Camp, Vee had been more open and talkative, now-

What on earth could have happened?

This should be a good thing for 2B since she knew well enough how emotions should be prohibited during work and yet when she meant silence, she did not mean it to be like this.

Humans had a term for such silences... 9S once told her that it was called an 'awkward silence'.

Searching her database, the term 'awkward' meant feeling uncomfortable over something, either an embarrassing memory or a certain sensitive topic would be the cause. Coupled with 'silence' it would mean an 'uncomfortable quiet' due to either of the two she noted a while ago.

"Is something the matter? Although emotions are prohibited, I will make an exception to this due to the effects this may have in future battles should it be left unchecked." 2B, leaving no room to second-guess herself, immediately spoke up- the two androids in question flinching in surprise that she spoke.

"W-well nothing's the matter but-," 9S started but Vee had cut the android off by voicing her own dilemma, "I want to know, 2B. Do you hate me too?"

"Vee!"

"H-hate you?" 2B mused in surprise, the battle android herself wondering where this sprung from. Could it be the way she spoke? 9S always did tell her she had a rather authoritative and clipped tone to her.

"Because you and 9S can't seem to trust Pascal even when Anemone herself said they weren't like other machines. Even if we aren't the same, I consider Pascal a 'family' to me. I think humans did the same with their own too. So it made me wonder that if you hated Pascal, did it mean you hate me too?"

"I see. I do not hate Pascal nor do I hate you," 2B admitted, surprising the two androids before her, "But neither do I fully trust Pascal and possibly you. Regardless of what the resistance leader thinks, machines are machines before all else. They merely act on instinct inputted to them by their creators."

"Oh..." Vee 'dejectedly' said when 2B finished her sentence. The human movies made it look so easy to make friends but in truth, it wasn't. You didn't become friends off the bat and usually not all of them would easily welcome you as demonstrated by 2B and 9S being apprehensive of her and the machine village.

They were merely escorting her out of the need to fulfill a mission. In fact, weren't they opposed to her going with them in the first place? Did it mean that she was merely a 'companion out of necessity' just to get it over with as how humans who hated other humans coined it?

Vee didn't like that.

"Vee?" 9S called out when he noticed the android go silent. Now he was just feeling guilty. He didn't think that 2B would blatantly point it out that although they didn't hate the village, they still couldn't trust it. But then again, what did the scanner android expect?

9S should've known not to be too hard on Vee. After all, she had only been restarted recently and by the looks of things, she had lost a lot of memory data hence why she had an almost 'child-like' view to the two parties of this war.

If they were good to her and those around her, she would consider them 'friends' if they hurt her or those close to her then they were 'enemies' in her eyes. Is this possibly the result of having a human memory implanted in androids? 9S still considered it an enigma why such a feature was even put in the first place if it would cause problems like this.

What did they hope to achieve?

"Movies cannot be trusted," Vee only said with a murmur before walking ahead without looking up to the male android. 9S eyed her quizzically, wondering where such words had come from.

It's not like he could ask her now given their rather rocky relationship. 9S could only hope that they would get this finished and leave her with Pascal. It wasn't like she was meant to stick around with them given that she wasn't even a YoRHa android to begin with.

She was merely part of their quest and yet 9S couldn't help but feel guilty all the more when he thought of it that way. No matter how short their encounter was, Vee had somehow wormed her way into his circle of so-called 'friends'. Yes, he was apprehensive of fully trusting her but that didn't mean that he fully disliked her as well. She was somehow teetering in between the two sides and 9S knew that the longer she stayed with them, the more she would teeter to the side of 'friends'.

And he wasn't just the only one. Even 2B somehow considered her a somewhat 'companion' regardless of her previous statement to the android. Like 9S, she couldn't fully trust her and the village but that didn't mean she hated her. Vee reminded her too much of 9S and her operator 6O to fully hate her as Vee had stated. As much as emotions are forbidden, those two had already placed a very important shelf in the battle android's so-called mechanical 'heart'. It was no surprise why Vee would have one too even though 2B still didn't fully trust the little tag-along.

She could only glance at the two Pods accompanying their group, wondering what the Commander thought of Vee through the eyes of the small little helpers following them.

Clearly, no orders had been given as to what to do with an android 'raised' by machines. The Commander probably didn't see anything wrong with it given that even Pascal's village wasn't directed to be destroyed.

She probably considered the cause and effect of the order and realized that the cons outweighed the pros. If such were the case, then 2B could probably consider her inclusion to the circle. Mission briefings aside, Vee could probably tag along with them so long as she didn't stick her head out in places she shouldn't be sticking it out in.

It could be the 'selfishness' of 2B as well that made her consider such a possibility regardless of it providing no merit to the advancement of their mission. Although she didn't share the same enthusiasm and curiosity of a Scanner android, she still found Vee to be an odd android she wanted to keep close.

As likened to humans as they are, 2B knew that they were far from what their original creators were and yet Vee stood out oddly from the rest even amidst her childish behavior. She had that air of 'human-ness' to her, something 2B felt drawn to as she gave the silent android a quick glance.

It could be due to Pascal's tampering, but it was obvious Vee had lost a lot of internal memory that would have made her apprehensive or hostile towards machines. She accepted anyone so long as they posed no threat to her and her friends be it machine or android alike, a trait supposedly devoid from YoRHa androids like 2B and 9S.

In fact, 2B had noticed this same trait from Anemone as well, the resistance leader even going so far as to form an 'alliance' with Pascal as a form of 'commerce'. 2B would have never considered the possibility and yet here was the proof. Could it be a special system unique only to non-YoRHa androids?

What was meant to be achieved with such a feat? 2B and 9S were considered the newer models to 'combat' and 'study' machines. They weren't meant for anything more than that. So what made the other androids different?

What set them apart?

In this so-called 'war' they were playing with the machines, what could possibly be the purpose of an anomaly such as Vee?