NieR Automata: Life's Meaning

Apex leaped from out of the trees, skidding to a stop in front of the cabin. Devola, who'd been chopping firewood on a stump beside the porch's steps, dropped the old axe in her hands and rushed over to him, looking him over for any injuries. He gave her nod and her eyes took on that intense glow. After a thorough examination of him, a sigh of relief slipped free of her, the glow fading.

"Didn't I already tell you that you don't need my permission to scan me, Devola?" He said with a shake of his head.

"I know but…" She trailed off. For one reason or another, others didn't take kindly to the twins suddenly scanning them. Despite the truth of being thrown on the table, the twins were still relatively vague about what it was that caused the other androids to treat them so harshly and he didn't press the matter.

"I know you two just want to make sure I'm okay, so don't worry about it." He assured her. "If you think something's wrong or just want to be sure, do what you think is best." He didn't want her or Popola to start walking on eggshells around him, or worse, treating him in anyway similar to those back at the Resistance Camp. "Alright?"

Devola smiled and nodded, before noticing the wrapped layers of fur beneath his left arm.

"Soap. I didn't really have anything else worth bringing from the cave." He explained as he walked past her. The two had been adamant about him not going there or at least taking one of them with him. He had to remind them that whatever data they had on humans didn't entirely apply to him and he'd already been surviving on his own for quite some time. One trip wasn't going to kill him as long as he didn't do anything stupid.

"What's with the wood?" He asked as she fell in beside him.

"Popola said we should prepare as much as we can for you." He raised an eyebrow but as he stepped into the cabin, the meaning behind her words became clear.

He'd entered the cabins a handful of times to help them move boxes but he noticed the differences quickly. The sizable main room had more candles lit to compensate for the fact that more curtains blocked out sunlight. The once empty fireplace was stocked with wood and Popola was over in the kitchen area, the wood fueled stove running as she stirred a pot.

Like Devola she stopped what she was doing to head over to him. Unlike Devola she took his words to heart, eyes aglow and scanning him before he could give her permission.

"You didn't run into any machines?" She asked, voice full of concern despite his lack of injuries.

"Not a one." He said. The benefits of traveling by tree; the flying machines were few and far between and there was so much foliage to lose them among that they weren't a real danger to him.

"Good, I'm glad." She nodded and after carrying out one more scan just for good measure, she headed back to the stove. "I'm making more of the soup from before. It'll be done soon."

He couldn't help but perk up at the mention of food, the taste of this morning's meal still lingering on his tongue. If living here meant a constant stream of food that he could actually enjoy rather than stuff himself full of just to avoid starvation, he had definitely made the right choice. Though-

Apex looked around at the lamps around the room. "This place doesn't have power?" He asked.

"At some point it did. We've done our best to repair what we could since we started living here but the wiring was so old and neither of us had any need for it." Popola said. "If we had a power source and the right materials, I'm sure we could get the power on again if that is something you want."

Parts huh? That sounded like a visit to the city ruins might be in store for them.

'If I may master, there are plenty of parts just outside.' Navi interjected. 'The machines must hold a significant power source to remain operational for so long without any maintenance. With the twins scanning capabilities my estimations project a fifty percent chance that their parts could be successfully repurposed to create a suitable generator.'

Right. They hadn't gotten around to clearing out all the machines he'd disabled. Fifty percent wasn't great but it could be worse.

"Do you two have any experience with scrapping the parts of those machines?" He asked, both the twins turning to look his way.

-Route A, No. 010-

As it turned out, they did. Not enough to be confident in his plan but they knew their way around the parts. It'd taken a little convincing to get them to go along with it.

"Pass me a core." Devola asked from below a hunk of rusty dark green machinery they'd been throwing together for the past few hours. Popola kneeled down and rolled a circular metal ball to her sister before standing back up and returning to her work on the wiring running along the side of the contraption. While they got their hands dirty with the more technical work, their eyes aglow the whole time, Apex acted as both muscle and look out.

He sat on top of their truck, his left arm morphed into a black mass and keeping the hefty patchwork of metal in the air while he kept an eye on the forest line around them. Devola and Popola had been shocked to see the abilities he told them about but weren't as bothered by the messy sight as he expected, throwing themselves fully into their work.

Talk about trust. He wasn't so sure he'd want to be in Devola's position but she'd crawled beneath the metal without a second thought, completely confident that he wouldn't drop it.

Because they were friends or because she perceived him as human? He got the feeling that he'd be asking himself that question a lot.

Either way, the last thing he wanted was for them to get hurt, so he banished those thoughts and focused up. He was use to reshaping his limbs and enhancing himself; controlling an entirely new extension of himself was new. Popola checked in on him often, asking if he needed a break but he powered through thanks to the hearty meal she'd prepared for him. Unlike this morning, she anticipated his hunger and made enough for him to be full of energy. He was still hungry but that was to be expected.

Satisfying his stomach might be more difficult than figuring the mystery of humanity's history.

"I'm done up here, Devola." Popola said.

"Then, I'll just twist this and-" The machine hummed to life, overpowering Devola's words. A crimson glow was visible between its metal plating. And sparks of electricity.

"Nrgh!" Apex grunted, gritting his teeth as that electricity sparked, wild arcs striking at the blackened material of his transformed arm and racing up to his shoulder. He'd nearly dropped it right then and there but fought back against his instincts, his hold on the machine faltering only slightly. "Move!"

Devola heeded the order and rolled out from beneath the machinery. The moment she and Popola cleared away from it he dropped it, his tendril receding and shifting back into his arm, parts of its left burnt by the wild energy.

Apex dropped off the truck with a sigh, making sure to steer clear from what would hopefully be their generator in the days to come. If it actually worked a little burnt flesh was a small price to pay for the convenience of electricity.

"Are you okay?" Devola and Popola rushed him, checking him over and sprouting off countless apologies. Right. Maybe it was a small price to him but that's not how they saw it.

"Calm down, you two." He said while raising the arm that had been damaged. The burnt flesh was already regaining its color, the searing pain no more than a minor ache that'd soon be forgotten. "This was my idea in the first place. If someone had to get hurt getting it done, it should be me."

"But you're irreplaceable, Apex." Devola said.

"She's right. You're may be special, we're still wrapping our heads around that, but you shouldn't think like that. We don't want you to get hurt if we can avoid."

"Besides, it was our fault. I should've made sure everything was stable before fully inserting the core." Devola added on, her face furrowing in anger and frustration. Clearly all directed at herself.

Apex held back a sigh. As freeing as it was to be truthful with these two, he almost wished they still thought he was an android. They were complete pushovers even then but at least they weren't completely fumbling over themselves for him. Then again, with how they rolled over for everyone, would that have changed anything in the long run? Once he spent enough time with them, it 's likely they would've blamed themselves for anything bad that happened.

It's just who they were.

"Fine. I'll try my best to take less risks. In exchange I want you two to stop trying to blame yourselves for what I do." He said. If the two were going to be so blindly loyal to him, he might as well try to use that to help them. It was for their own good. "I get that you two want to watch over me and I won't stop you, but I'm not a baby. You don't have to make excuses for me." They looked at each other and he crossed his arms waiting for answer.

"If that is what you want, we will try." Popola said, Devola nodding along.

Good. Now he needed to check on Navi.

'You alright?' He mentally question.

'Yes, master.' Navi responded immediately. 'All damage has already been repaired.' It was good to know she was okay but how exactly did a machine inside his body go about repairing itself? With the nanomachines? 'Negative, master. As I am fully integrated into your nervous system, it is more accurate to consider me biomechanical in nature. As such, your body recognizes me as a natural part of its structure and repairs any damage I may sustain.'

Did that mean he could produce metal?

'Correct, though the energy expended in the process is far too much for you to make use of it on a wider scale as you are now.' Either way, it was an absolutely intriguing thing to hear. Definitely something to be tested in the future.

"How about we check if that got things working?" He asked once he noticed the two waiting on him. Popola had taken care of the wiring so in theory electricity should be running through the cabins.

Fingers crossed that theory matched reality.

-Route A, No. 010-

"So, you two don't plan on going back to the Resistance?" Apex questioned. He was seated on the couch across from the fireplace, Devola and Popola on either side of him. The cabin hadn't lost its floral scent but was now lit by the various lamps that'd been around the place. Said lamps flickered from time to time but that issue could be ironed out with time.

The fact that their makeshift generator worked at all was an achievement in of itself.

"No. Attending to you is far more important." Popola said, a certain degree of detachment to her usually kind voice.

"Once they realize we aren't around they'll just put others in charge of runs out to the forest's river and maintenance." Devola added with the slightest scoff. "It's dangerous work that most avoid but whatever team they send should be better equipped than we ever were."

"And they won't come looking for you? Doesn't just up and leaving make you deserters?" He asked.

This time, Devola actually scowled. "As if they'd care that much about-"

"Devola." Popola called out. Devola fell quiet and looked away from him. So one of the twins could actually get angry about their situation. Had Devola been hiding her true opinion for his sake? "What she means to say is that they're stretched too thin fighting the machines to bother with a search. We'll just be presumed destroyed."

Despite both willingly spending so much time in that camp, they held somewhat differing opinions on the matter. Or at least approached it differently.

"So long as you two are putting yourselves in a worse position for me." He said with a stretch, satisfied. Sure, he could stuff himself full of food to completely do away with any need for sleep, but today had been surprisingly productive and a night of rest sounded good right about now. Or a day of rest? The whole sun always up thing was still so bizarre to him. "Well, I'll make myself comfortable out here. I'll see you in the morning."

Popola tilted her head. "Why would you sleep out here? The bedroom is yours now."

"Come on. You two don't have to give up your bed for me. This couch is already better than sleeping on the floor of some cave."

"We want to." Devola corrected him. Both stared at him, ready to die on their hill.

"Well, you both need sleep too. The better sleep you get, the better you can look after me, right? So that bedroom is still yours." He countered.

"Letting you sleep out here would be a form of negligence. We will have failed in our duties if we allow it." Popola insisted.

Were they really about to mark the end of their first day together by arguing over who would take the bedroom? He wasn't sure if he should or shouldn't have seen that coming.