NieR Automata: Life's Meaning

A familiarly sweet fragrance embraced Apex's senses as he awoke. Lavender, roses, and daises. The smell, a mix of so many different flowers, was one he often caught wind of near Popola and Devola.

Cracking open his eyes, an unfamiliar ceiling of wood greeted him. Shifting around -he'd been laid in a proper bed, covered by sheets and supported by a number of pillows- he locked eyes with Devola who sat at the bedside in a wood chair.

"Popola! He's awake!" She called out as he tried to rise. That ended in failure, a groan leaving him as his body gave out on him and fell back into the comfort of the bed. Devola was at his side in a flash, her eyes aglow just as they had been before his bout of unconsciousness, removing the seats and helping him prop up against the headboard. "How did you feel? Any dizziness, soreness, or-" She listed of a laundry list of symptoms, far more distraught than him despite the fact he was the one who'd passed out.

"I'm fine, just fine." He forced out, ignoring the dry soreness of his throat. Other than that, his limbs felt like lead, his stomach aflame, and his mind clouded by a daze. Nothing new to him. "Just hungry." He assured her though she didn't appear convinced. "Is Popola okay?"

"She's-"

"You're the one who's important here." Popola herself said, stepping into the candlelit room with a metal tray in her hands. Steam rose from the bowl placed on it, the rich smell of meat mingling with the room's flowery scent and drawing a desperate growl from his stomach.

Whatever that was smelt far better than any food he managed to whip up.

Popola joined her sister at the bedside, giving the tray to Devola, while she readied a spoonful of what appeared to be soup, holding it in front of his mouth. He made an attempt to grab the spoon himself but his shaky arms barely made it up halfway. In the end, he relented and allowed her to feed him, a task she didn't appear to be bothered doing. In fact, they looked downright eager. Both of them stared at him as he ate, their glowing eyes unnerving with how little they blinked.

Just as its smell suggested, the warm soup outclassed everything he'd eaten since awakening. The meat was tender and the vegetables included within added a element of sweetness to balance things how. After surviving off of the most basic meals that spoonful was downright heavenly.

With every spoonful that Devola fed him, more of his strength returned. By the time of the final bite, his hunger was undeniably still present but it felt like he'd be fine...for the next hour or two. Man, his stomach must be some kind of black hole posing as a stomach.

"That was great." He said, stretching out his arms.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it. I was not sure if it would be good enough; We've never had a reason to use any of the culinary knowledge we were programmed with." Popola said with a smile. Talk about starting off strong; she'd all but confirmed them to be machines with that statement.

"Amazing…" Devola muttered, her glowing eyes focused not on his face the various bruises and scrapes that the two had bandaged up along his arms. Despite the fact that the wounds were covered, those glowing eyes of hers were allowing her to see his healing be carried out in real time. "Our scans say you're human but according to our information they didn't have the ability to heal as quickly as you."

"Scans?" He questioned.

Her eyes snapped back to him and glow of both of the sisters eyes faded away, their heads bowed to him. "I'm sorry. I know we shouldn't have scanned you without permission but you were hurt and-and we just wanted to make sure you were okay but we didn't have many of the supplies needed to take care of a human."

Well, with the way things were now there wasn't much need for subtlety. "Humans aren't extinct are they?" He questioned, deciding to tear off the proverbial band-aid as it were.

"No, of course not!" Devola blurted out.

"All of you are supposed to be on the moon, hiding away from the machines and their leaders until they've been dealt with and earth deemed safe." Popola said, giving a more detailed explanation. "That's what we thought at least." Their bows somehow deepened to the point he was surprised they hadn't fallen over and hit the ground. "This is all my fault. We are supposed to take care of you but you had to protect us."

"Its fine." Apex waved it off. Despite the meal clearing his head, it felt as though he'd fallen into a deeper daze. Humans were on the moon? Shocking but it was good to know they hadn't been completely wiped out.

Popola and Devola slowly raised their heads, staring at him. Waiting for something. Just as he had questions he wanted answered, they probably had plenty for him.

-Route A, No. 009-

The machines, the mechanical army that currently laid siege to the entire planet, were headed by aliens…yeah, that wasn't an easy pill to swallow.

The Resistance, the twins, and anyone else he encountered that appeared human, were actually androids: artificial beings created by humanity during the onset of the White Chlorination Syndrome to aid them. Not as hard of a pill to swallow given the AI inside of his head. If creating something as intelligent as Navi was possible then the next logical step was to give AIs like her bodies so they could accomplish a wider array of tasks.

The two sides had been waging a war for thousands of years over the course of which surviving humans established a colony on the moon, none left on earth due to the oppressive advance of the machine army.

Out on the front porch of the twins' cabin, Apex stared up into the clear skies, the glare of the sun present as always. Apparently the alien invasion caused the earth to become tidally locked, leaving this half of the planet to bath in the rays of the sun while the other half was shrouded in darkness. The androids called that half of the planet the Kingdom of Night.

He was learning a lot of strange things today.

And he wasn't the only one.

"You two know I'm not just going to disappear, right?" He questioned as he looked down. Devola and Popola were seated on the steps on both sides of him, their stares impossible to ignore.

"It's just hard to believe that you were on earth all this time, completely overlooked by all of us. A real, breathing human so close." Devola said, the awe in her voice still present. He could tell they were holding themselves back for his sake.

"Go ahead." He said with a sigh.

"Are you sure?" Popola asked.

"Yep."

Encouraged by his approval they reached out. Caressing his face. Gently combing their fingers though his hair. Poking different parts of his chest. Occasionally, after asking for his permission, their eyes glowed as they scanned his body; according to them they could do on the fly x-rays, take stock of his vitals, and check his internals for any injuries.

In addition to having been built to take care of the maintenance of their fellow androids, their other directive was to play the part of caretaker for humans. Which explained why they were so eager to feed him earlier.

They finished off the examination with his hands, Popola interlocking her fingers with his right and Devola the left. They were utterly enamored by him. While he wasn't necessary against their sudden touchiness -artificial or not, they were still beautiful woman as far as he was concerned- he didn't like all that came with it. It was as if he went from their friend to being above them.

Hopefully that passed with time.

"Are you sure you don't want to go to the Resistance Camp? They'd protect you." Popola asked. Devola's fingers clenched tighter around his, her eyes dropping away. Neither of them were thrilled with the prospect of abandoning the cabin and possibly even being separated from him by the other androids but his safety came above all else.

While Devola's and Popola's devotion to humanity was something else, he wouldn't be so quick to assume it was shared. From their physical bodies to the personalities and everything in between, androids were near indistinguishable from humans; if he'd spent thousands of years fighting for some distant group of people that sat around in some presumably peaceful colony away from the merciless machines, he wouldn't have any love for one. Especially not one brought to them by the pariahs of the group.

Then again, they were still going out of their way to fight the machines rather than crawling in some dark hole and hiding themselves away.

"You two know that I'm not an ordinary human." Apex said. "Besides, It doesn't sound like The Resistance is in any state to be protecting me if they're struggling just to get by."

"What about YoRHa?" Devola suggested. "If we send out a message to them about you, the Council of Humanity will tell them to take you in."

YoRHa and the Council of Humanity; the most interesting parts of what they told him. YoRHa was an advanced group of machines recently rolled out by the Council of Humanity. Through them the humans on the moon managed to reestablish contact with the androids as well as begin aiding in battles against the machines by sending out squads of cutting-edge androids entirely built with combat in mind.

They had stations in space, ships, and all sorts of other resources. If anyone could protect a human from the machines it'd be them.

"Not now. Maybe in the future, but not now." He said.

Truth was, part of the reason he didn't want to go around telling every android he was a human was due to what they told him about humanity's history. Or rather, what they didn't tell him. Devola nor Popola made any mention of project Gestalt or replicants.

If humans had removed their souls from their bodies and successfully implanted them into the containers meant for them, wouldn't that be something the two were aware of if they were around since the time of the White Chlorination Syndrome? Either information was being covered up or Devola and Popola were keeping things from him.

He trusted the two, so he sincerely doubted they were omitting information but he had no way of truly confirming anything. Until he learned more about this Council of Humanity and YoRHa, he'd much rather fly beneath their radar and let others assume he was an android. Plus, if he was veering completely on the paranoid side, just because these two were willing to accept as human despite his alterations didn't mean everyone else.

If this Council of Humanity was created by the people in power who considered project APEX opposition to the government's own work back when society was intact, there was a real chance he'd be labeled a freak of nature despite how desperate the situation was. Parents tended to pass on their views to those who followed.

Most machines already attacked him, he didn't need androids joining.

'A wise decision, master.' Of course Navi was a fan of the approach.

"Then, please, stay with us." Devola said, now holding his hand with both of hers. "We may not be able to protect you as we should, but we can still help you."

"Yes, Devola is right. We have already allowed you to get hurt on our behalf. Let us do what we can to make up for it and fulfill our purpose."

They had nothing to make up for but he could tell that denying their request would crush them. And he hated the idea of making them feel anywhere close to how those at the resistance camp made them feel.

"Its your lives, live them how you want to." He said. Their faces lit up with such joy he found it hard to attach the word artificial to them in any way. It felt like they were more human than him, speaking of purpose and pursuing something so intently. "Are you sure you won't mind me staying here?"

"We would never mind." The two said together, all smiles. Yeah, that was a bit of a redundant question.

If nothing else, it looked like he'd be saying goodbye to sleeping in that dark cave. A shame -he'd grown a little attached to that area- but he wasn't about to complain about being able to live in a real house.