[S]ayonara Memories (NieR: Automata)

Chapter VII: Choic[e]s

"Welcome back, Vee. Did you enjoy your visit to the camp?" The flag-bearing machine asked her the moment all three of them had entered the village.

Vee could only pass it a faint smile while nodding, reminding herself that it'd be better off not letting them know the truth.

From in front of her, 9S and 2B noted this behavior- finding it peculiar that she wouldn't dare warn them of the two YoRHa's plan should they be ordered to.

"It's because I didn't want them to worry." Vee's voice pierced through their thoughts while she waved a quick farewell to the machine they passed.

"How so?" 2B couldn't help but voice out her curiosity to which the young android turned to them, her eyes shining in an unnatural shade of blue.

"Wouldn't it be better to die not knowing why you died? I suppose a part in me wants them to at least die in peace... Would you both at least grant us that kind of ending?"

Neither of the two YoRHa androids replied to that simple request. Vee assumed their silence meant 'yes' and that a reply was no longer necessary.

They were too 'uptight', that Vee was sure.

--*--

Pascal noticed them enter his line of sight, Vee immediately rushing to his side with a slight bounce in her step.

"Ah, Vee. I see you've returned. How did it go?" The moment Pascal had decided to ask how her day went, Vee immediately paused and a frown graced her robotic face, eyes cast down as if avoiding him.

"Vee? Is something the matter?"

The android nodded her head to assure her guardian she was 'fine' before taking her leave with a small smile and 'I'll tell you later' in her wake.

It was a 'typical' move Vee did when she was upset. Pascal knew Vee never had it in her to lie to him so she mostly just kept it to herself when she couldn't afford to tell him the truth. Whatever happened back at the village, Pascal would never know unless Vee herself willingly told him.

In her room, Vee silently closed the door behind her; a sigh escaping her lips at her brush-in with Pascal. While it's true that she did have fun at the camp, the looming sentence placed upon this village and her by the androids was what kept Vee from fully enjoying her day.

She shouldn't be blaming 2B and 9S. They were merely following orders and Vee knew that these androids were different in a way. They were like ants that followed one order from their Queen. It was something they couldn't resist, Vee knew that. 2B and 9S made it a point to remind her at how vastly different they were from a regular android like her.

Yet for something as sophisticated as them, why is it that they couldn't be as free-willed as her? Not that Vee was sure if she had any free-will herself but if she could make 'human-like' decisions as Pascal once told her then didn't it mean that she was capable of such a freedom?

Seeing as 2B and 9S were newer models as compared to her, she assumed they would take a more 'human-like' approach to this idea of 'slaughter' than she did and yet-

Maybe they had it removed?

Because if androids were more human then they'd end up deviating from the orders set upon them. Vee didn't want to think badly of her creators but she couldn't help but find fault in their decisions for the androids.

To humans- were they really nothing more but tools to eradicate machines from Earth?

*Rumble*

Vee didn't have the time to dwell too much into the matter though before the entire room began to shake, the sudden movement causing her to lose balance. A loud explosion in the distance resounded not long after which prompted her to leave her room in a 'flight of panic' to find Pascal.

--*--

"I knew it! This was a trap!" She overheard 9S accuse when she arrived at the scene, the sight of Pascal defending their side enough to make the android sprint to his side.

"Pascal! What on earth is going on?"

"Oh, Vee!" Pascal seemed relieved to see her safe, "I do not know but it looks like they have sent something to Earth..." He tried to explain before 9S intervened with an accusatory look on his face.

"Don't lie! You set us up just to trick us into thinking machines could be trusted!"

"Wait-," Vee interjected, clearly upset that they were accusing them of committing such an act, "Everyone in this village has long since been disconnected from the Network. They wouldn't have known if something as big as whatever this is would be happening so please don't blame them."

"How can we be sure that your words are to be trusted? He was the one that started you, he might as well had the chance to mess with your circuits."

"Pascal isn't the kind to do that! I believe you're the ones clearly being controlled and not me," Vee raised her voice, the first that Pascal has ever heard since she had been restarted.

Even 9S was surprised by her abrupt change in behavior, the shy android currently nowhere to be found. His scans detected no anomaly of a logic virus in her system which he found all the more strange.

She felt 'human' in a way and it somewhat unnerved him that such an anomaly occurred in the midst of machines.

In the end, it was 2B who decided to end the stand-off; ordering her partner to follow protocol and proceed to the source of the explosion.

The two YoRHa units immediately left the area after the order of 2B from their command was issued, their mechanical side kicking in when they ignored all other distractions as if they had been deemed insignificant as compared to the looming threat that descended upon them.

It was a 'painful' sight to watch for Vee. Wondering if it could be considered a 'saving act' when Pascal had separated her from the Network. To have no sense of will to your actions, it was almost like being forced to be a puppet and Vee didn't 'like' that restriction placed upon her.

"Help! Help!" Mother Machine's metallic voice rang loud amidst the commotion, both Pascal and Vee turning to her 'frantically' running to them.

"My son! My son! He has run outside of the village! It's all my fault!" She wailed causing Vee to 'worriedly' run to the poor mother's side.

If she had still been connected to the Network, chances are that she would have ignored this due to how the system would consider this of less importance. Vee would like to think otherwise. She was not bound to such restrictions and, as such, took it upon herself to help her village.

She wasn't going to be like 9S and 2B. She wasn't about to let her codes dictate her and look away from someone in need.

"Don't worry. I'm sure he didn't go far, I'll get him for you!" She reassured Mother Machine before sprinting off, Pascal's voice to stop her going unheard.

Whatever had transpired back in the Android camp had somehow changed Vee. Pascal never had the chance to discuss it with the YoRHa units, the fact that Vee- upon her return- had been seized by something that required her to act in a way as if she wanted to 'prove a point'.

It was almost like an 'impulse', a trait clearly possessed by all androids and machines, yet Vee was the only one using it in a more 'human' like approach.

It had become clear to Pascal that, as he watched Vee vanish from his sight, Vee was an android capable of something far larger than he had originally had in mind.