Note: This story takes place after Ending E of the game. Please be aware of possible spoilers if you have not completed this ending.
Forward: Long after the 14th Machine War has come to an end, A2 runs into an old enemy…
11980.04.10
Desert Zone: Pit Hallow
Wandering in the sweltering sun, dust and sand pelted my face and all that’s left of my skin. While aimlessly drifting wherever the wind blew, I found my way to the center of a large pit full of machine parts and scraps. The silence of that place seemed to calm my soul in a way, as though I could find rest–peace–among the fallen, their broken dreams shattered along with their failing bodies…
It was there, amidst the rubble, that I saw her, like a red nightmare come back to torment me.
“You…”
The tumultuous storm raging in my mind and body held still my tongue. I could find no other words, no biting curse that would best fit the single most evil being that took everything from me. Not but a few meters away, sat a small, little girl dressed purely in red. Her long, black locks softly brushed against her shoulders as she glanced at me.
“No2,” she said wistfully. There was a tinge of emotion in that childlike voice. How many times have I heard that voice in both waking and sleeping hours, incessantly haunting me for years, and still this voice sounded unknown to me.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” she said as tears began to stream down her round cheeks.
Tears. A Terminal… crying? Impossible, I thought as I gripped my blade. What sort of game is this?
“I thought you all had left this place,” I spat through clenched teeth. “Why are you still here?”
The little girl shook her head as if she didn’t possess the answer I sought. Again, impossible. The Terminals were the “living” embodiment of the Machine Network. From gaining access to the Server on the Bunker, they had access to all of humanity’s history as well as our own. Even during that first God-forsaken mission to Pearl Harbor, they were there…
So, then why? Why would she not know the answer to such a simple question?
Cold tears of pure fear rolled from her bright, unnatural eyes. “I don’t know…” she said, clenching the golden broach at her chest.
Unbelievable. This had to be some kind of joke–a trap to destroy me after all these painfully long years, alone…
“You don’t know,” I repeated with foaming indignation. “You, the ones with all the answers…”
An uncontrollable fit of laughter came over me. I couldn’t stop it. As unnatural as it felt coming out of my mouth, so did the Red Girl before me exude an uncanny demeanor of…
No, impossible.
It’s true that the Terminals have showed great ability to learn and grow beyond their initial programming–that was apparently the whole reason why they went on toying with us, mercilessly slaughtering us. We were just the sacrificial dolls in their grand story of “evolution”.
The little girl, shaking her head, attempted to speak as firmly as she could. “My connection to the Machine Network has been severed. All I know is that… I am a mere gift, to you. A gift for you to do as you please.”
A gift? Severed from the network? What sort of joke is this? It must be some sort of ploy to lower my guard. There must be other machines out there, planning on ambushing me.
As I anxiously scanned the surrounding area and both entrances into the pit, the only sound was the pathetic sobs of the Terminal girl.
“I remember it all as you do…” the little girl said, trying to wipe the tears from her face with the back of her hands. “They wanted me to experience the past through your eyes. I see “myself” through your eyes and tremble with the ferocity of your anger and pain. I feel it as if it were my own… and I understand. I understand that you need closure. I can’t erase what happened in the past, but at least I can give you this…”
She raised her hands to display a crude, jagged piece of metal. “This was excavated from the ruins of the server room on Mt. Kaʻala… I think maybe you’ll recognize it.”
My eyes grew wide with disbelief and horror. A solitary name slipped past my cracked lips, “No4…”
The Red Girl simply nodded. “If this is what you need to find solace, to finally put your soul at ease, then please…” Her voice suddenly cracked as tears continued to pour from her eyes. “Take my life…”
“No, no, no,” I said, shaking my head as I inadvertently took a step away. “You can quit playing this stupid game. We all know you “Terminals” can’t be killed. You taught me that…”
With this retort, the girl lowered her head as if the memory caused her pain. Then, slowly meeting my gaze once more, she said, “I remember. But unlike back then, I now have an entirely physical body.”
In shock, I watched as the girl raised the jagged blade to her own soft cheek, and as she increased the pressure against her skin, a stream of warm, artificial blood trickled out from underneath. Both hands holding the blade trembled as tears mixed with blood. Eventually, she lost hold on the blade and it fell to the ground with a feeble echo.
“Please,” she begged, holding out the bloodied blade in her hands, “forgive me…”
> Take the blade and avenge your fallen comrades.
> Refuse the blade and self-destruct, destroying you both.
> Refuse the blade and walk away, leaving the girl to rot there for all eternity.
> Refuse the blade and forgive the girl.
TO BE CONTINUED…