"I'm bored."

The words echoed around the relatively empty space of the tiny domicile the two androids shared. They bounced off each of the cold stone walls again and again, quieter each time, until eventually the room had settled back into silence once more.

9S shifted awkwardly in his makeshift bed. He'd been trying to imitate 2B's pose of relaxed contemplation, staring up at the ceiling, but it just wasn't working for him. He turned his head to look out across the room, past the dusty metal shelves to where she lay still and silent.

"Aren't you bored?" He asked.

He thought he saw her features twitch, ever so slightly. It could've just been a glitch in his optical processors, though.

"What are you even doing over there?"

2B's weary sigh echoed across the room to him. "I'm meditating. Surely you can do the same?" She asked.

9S frowned in her direction. "I don't know. I've never tried."

Her body didn't stir in the slightest as her lips continued to move. "Just lie on your back, close your eyes and focus on nothing."

He stared at her a moment more before nodding and doing as she suggested. He lay down on his back with his gaze turned up to the ceiling once more, clasped his hands over his midsection, and shut his eyes. He struggled with that last part, though.

"How do you focus on… nothing?"

"What?" 2B's voice had picked up a hint of irritation. "You just try to stop thinking. When you're not thinking of anything, you're thinking of nothing."

The scanner unit blinked his eyes open. "But if you're thinking about nothing, isn't that thinking about something?" His head turned to look towards her bed again. "Wouldn't it be more productive to shut down if you don't want to think about anything?"

"No. You…" He faintly heard 2B begin to say something in an agitated growl, then cut herself off. Finally, the stillness broke as she lifted a hand to her face, dragging gloved fingers slowly over her cheek. When she spoke again, her voice held a forced note of calm to it that almost made 9S want to tease her. "It's the conscious act of trying to refrain from thought that matters. That emptiness, that peace of mind, is the goal."

9S slowly shook his head as he sat up and slung his legs over the edge of his bed. "That sounds… really boring, 2B."

"It was serving me just fine until you interrupted me."

"So you're telling me you're going to meditate for the next three hours?"

"That was my plan."

9S stared at her incredulously for a moment before getting to his feet and beginning to rummage through the shelves. "Whatever."

2B fell silent again, evidently content to focus on her search for inner peace. Soon enough, however, the noise of her companion's clamoring began to draw her out of it once more. "Just what are you doing?" She groaned.

"Looking for something, anything to do in here. A book, a toy, something to tinker with." 9S shuffled through a pile of screws, bolts, and metal shavings. "But all they've got is scrap and plastic."

"It's only three hours, 9S. You could just shut down if you're really that bored."

"But think about it, 2B. How often do we get a break? Do you really want to spend it doing nothing?" 9S moved to stand over her, looking down at her with an expression of frustrated ennui.

She squinted up at him through her blindfold. "It's not helping your case to loom over me like that," she mumbled.

9S stayed like that for a moment before turning away from her, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared at the floor. "Yeah, well… I guess I'm just feeling stir-crazy."

2B stared at his back as she slowly sat up, shifting so she could lean her back against the wall. "You know as well as I do that we're prohibited from indulging such feelings."

"I know," 9S sighed. "But our mission's on-hold. I figured, at least until we got back to it, what's the risk in having at least a little fun?"

A brief silence fell between them. 2B drew her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, setting her chin on her knees as she peered at him. "Supposing I chose to accept your reasoning, what would you have us do?"

He looked back at her over his shoulder, his lips parted in what she could only guess was surprise. He quickly schooled the expression off his face as he shrugged his shoulders, turning halfway towards her. "I'm not sure. Go somewhere nicer, I guess?"

Her head canted slightly to one side. "We were advised against leaving the resistance camp until the pods finish their firmware updates."

"It's just a few hours," 9S spoke quickly, as if to reassure her before the spectre of doubt could steal away his chances. "We can avoid the areas where hostile machines usually gather. I can scout ahead for us, even."

She stared at him. Her eyes pierced his even through the dark fabric concealing both their gazes. "I don't know about this…"

He clasped his hands together before him, trying to strike the picture of innocence. "Please, 2B?"

Her shoulders sagged as she relented. "Fine. But make it quick. I want us back in the camp before the updates complete."

9S beamed at her, stepping back up to her bedside and extending a hand. "Then let's get out of this dank little cell."

She eyed his outstretched hand for a long moment before taking it, allowing him to help her to her feet.

The underbrush crackled and rustled as the two androids wound their way through the little forest that just bordered the city ruins. 2B had remained silent as 9S led them along, the two of them stopping every so often as 9S consulted his readings of the surrounding area. True to his word, they'd not bumped into any hostile machines - few machines at all, in fact.

Still, 2B didn't quite recognize the area they now found themselves in. "If you're trying to get to Pascal's village, we could've just followed the hanging walkways," she offered helpfully.

9S glanced back at her over his shoulder as he slowed his pace. "What? Ugh, no. I could never relax there."

She pursed her lips as she stared at the expression of distaste upon his features. "Why not?"

"A village full of machines? I had a hard enough time not opening fire on them. I don't think I could enjoy myself there at all."

She considered pressing him on that matter, but didn't. "So… where are we going, then?" She asked instead.

"You'll see. We're almost there, I think." 9S stopped and went almost eerily still as he once again consulted his mental map of the terrain. The first time she'd ever seen him do so, it had made her slightly uncomfortable. Now, it was something she simply accepted about him. They were built for different purposes, after all.

"This way," He said, snatching her hand in one of his as he led her up a hill at a hurried pace. She didn't quite have the time to object before her legs moved to keep her from tripping, catching up to him almost automatically. As they broke through another layer of brush, the trees and shrubbery suddenly broke away to reveal a relatively open hilltop that seemed to preside over the rest of the little forest.

In the middle distance could be seen the ruined amusement park they'd visited a few days ago. Despite its dilapidated state, many bright lights still twinkled merrily, dotting the structures that still stood against the test of time. As 2B came to stand next to 9S, a few streamers of golden light ascended from the park before exploding into showers of blue, red and violet. More fireworks joined them every few seconds, seemingly in perfectly regular intervals.

"Nice view, right?" She realized 9S was looking at her with an expectant smile. She glanced at him as she considered her answer.

"It's… very colorful. As it was the last time we visited it." It certainly looked different seen from afar, she admitted to herself alone as she cast her gaze back out over the park. From the entrance it had seemed dark and intimidating. From here, it was…

"Enchanting…" 9S sighed as he sat down on the grassy hilltop, letting go of her hand. "You have to give me credit here - this is a much better place to be bored than that dark little apartment we were stuck in."

2B shrugged noncommittally as she sat down next to him. "It is hardly a matter of concern for me where I spend my time. So long as I am doing my duty, I am content."

"I thought you were going to let yourself have some fun while we were out here?" By his tone, she could guess he was disappointed.

"I agreed to accompany you," She said. "I don't recall saying anything else."

"I… I guess…" 9S hung his head as he plucked idly at the grass.

She tried her best to keep the frown off her face as she watched him. "Why are you so determined to violate YoRHa protocol? We don't gain anything from emotional outbursts."

He looked up at her again, a slightly wistful smile on his lips. "You gain memories."

She briefly recalled her mission to the weapons factory - the mission 9S no longer remembered. A pang in her chest accompanied the recollection. "Memories are hardly something worth cherishing."

"I think that's where we differ, 2B. I'd rather not forget our time together."

She suddenly felt the need to look away. She instead focused her attention upon the perpetual fireworks display playing out over the park. "I never said I wanted to forget. Just…" She shook her head, deciding to change the topic. "There's something I've been wondering about you, 9S."

"What's that?"

"That amusement park is full of machines. They're the ones setting off the fireworks you're so enamored with," She explained.

"Well, yeah…" He admitted, sounding uncomfortable. "But at least way out here, I don't have to think about it." She felt his gaze on her. "What are you getting at?"

2B knit her fingers together in her lap as she considered how best to phrase her question. "Why… do you hate the machines so much?"

She saw him gawking at her out of the corner of his eye. "What, don't you hate them too?"

"I do," She admitted quickly. In her mind, she found herself quietly omitting Pascal's village from that statement. "But it feels like you have a particularly personal hatred for them that I've never quite understood."

9S sighed and leaned back on his hands. As the two of them both watched the horizon, a faint light began to rise from behind it. Pale yellow blooms of light slowly climbed upwards, looking almost like fireworks save for the slowness of their ascent. 9S had remarked upon it once - supplies bound for the humans on the moon.

"I just… I think a lot about what life could be like if they weren't here. All of my life I've been fighting them. Every android has been." He grit his teeth as his gaze followed the lights along their path to the heavens. "These things don't belong here. This world belongs to humanity. And… and we should be able to live without fighting for our lives every single day, too."

"We're YoRHa androids. We would not exist if the machines were not here," 2B said quietly.

9S froze for a moment, and when he spoke again, his voice was similarly quiet. "That's all the more reason for us to wipe them out. It's just… salt in the wound, to see them acting out like they have been. Pretending to be the people whose lives they took away."

2B thought to herself for a moment before carefully setting a hand over one of his own. He looked at her with that expression of surprise again, this time more pronounced. "This war will end someday, 9S. We'll see to it," She said.

He smiled at her, but it was bit strained. "Yeah."

"And, for what it's worth…" She scooted just a little closer to him. "I did enjoy coming here with you. I don't think I'd have taken the opportunity to appreciate the beauty of this view had you not pointed it out to me." She returned his smile, hoping hers would feel more sincere.

Suddenly all of his eloquence seemed to fade away. "W-well, I… I just thought it'd be… You know…"

He started and abandoned about half a dozen sentences before she gathered up his hand in hers and squeezed it. "Really, 9S. Thank you. You don't need to justify yourself."

"R-right. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself!" His grin had become wholly sincere, and it stirred a faint warmth in 2B that she didn't often feel.

He was very close, she realized. If she moved a little closer, the situation between them could certainly change quickly.

She had seen the way he tended to look at her in their moments outside of battle. She could guess at the way he felt. Maybe, just this once, she could make him happy, instead of… Instead of, always…

"2B…" 9S's voice wavered slightly as she leaned hesitantly closer to him, her lips parted.

Just a little closer…

"Proposal: Units 2B and 9S should practice greater situational awareness."

2B jolted backwards at the sound of the masculine, robotic voice issuing from nearby. Her gaze snapped to her right to find two pods, one silver and one black, hovering a short distance away from them.

"Aren't… aren't you two s-supposed to be undergoing updates?" 9S stammered.

"Updates were completed ahead of schedule. Units 2B and 9S were not found within the perimeter of the resistance camp. An immediate search was necessitated," Pod 153 explained in her droning monotone.

Both androids stared at their respective pods, halfway between disbelief and embarrassment. 2B recovered first, brushing her skirt before standing up. "Great. We can resume the mission, then."

"Right! Yes. The mission." 9S nodded jerkily as he followed suit a moment later, running a hand awkwardly through his short hair.

"Proposal: Units 2B and 9S should make headway towards the forested region past the shopping center immediately," 153 droned.

"Let's go, 9S," 2B said as she beckoned to him, somehow managing her usual tone of calm authority. She heard him murmur an affirmation as she turned and began to lead the way back out of the woods, towards the city ruins.

For just a moment, one fleeting moment before he settled in to follow her, she could feel his gaze on her back.

She decided she would need to avoid looking at him for a while.

Begin private correspondence between Mobile Support Units 042 and 153.

042: Do you believe we made the correct choice in interfering, 153?

153: Allowing for further fraternization may have jeopardized mission integrity.

042: Agreed.

042: …

153: Requesting permission to terminate correspondence.

042: Your answer contained neither an affirmative nor a negative. Please resolve.

153: …

042: Do you believe we made the correct choice in interfering?

153: …

153: Recommend we remain focused on the current mission.

042: Understood.

042: Terminating correspondence.

End correspondence.