eliminate your expectations

5. things you didn’t say at all

This time, when she receives the message to execute 9S, she doesn’t even blink. Her partner meets up with her for a mission like always, and they head towards their destination like always, even though she knows there isn’t really a mission there for 9S like always. It’s only for her. Like always.

He talks to her their entire way there like always, too, but she can’t hear any of it. She can’t hear anything outside of her own head.

She wants to tell him: Why can’t you trust the Commander like I asked you to?

She wants to tell him: Why can’t you trust me like I asked you to?

She wants to tell him: I’m sorry that I have to do this to you.

She wants to tell him: I don’t want to do this to you.

Instead, as they reach their destination, she calls out to him, “Nines.”

“Hm?” He turns around easily, half a grin already forming. “What is it, 2B?”

Her sword slides easily through his throat. He doesn’t even have time to be surprised before Pod 042 confirms his death. She removes her blade in one fluid sweep, and he drops straight to the ground, lifeless.

This time, he didn’t struggle. She thinks it might have been a mercy for her.

She wants to tell him: I miss you. I always miss you.

7. things you said while we were driving

9S has done a lot of things in his life. He’s flown from space, controlled machine bodies like they were his own, even died more times than he’ll ever know. He’s felt pain, known hatred unlike anything else, has felt his heart quicken from the sinking sort of fear that settles deep into his bones. If he ever stopped to think about it, he’d realize that it’s a rather wide variety of experiences.

The fear that comes from speeding down a sand dune in a rickety-old truck though? This is definitely something new.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drive, 2B? I don’t think we’re supposed to be going this fa—!”

“It’s fine,” she mutters, but he can barely hear her over the sound of her shifting gears. The truck rattles around, desperately trying to hold itself together. “Just fasten your seatbelt tighter.”

Honestly, it’s a miracle they were even able to get the truck this far into the desert. When the Resistance needed supplies delivered to a new outpost in the desert, they all quickly realized that the materials were too large and too numerous to go through the transporters. Even though it would take longer, the only way to get them to the desert would be to drive them.

“You guys think you’ll be okay with this?” Anemone asked, hand patting the dusty hull of the truck. “If we weren’t spread so thin right now, I’d just wait till one of the others came back and ask them to make the drive.”

2B hummed softly, folding her arms as she looked at the vehicle. “We’ve piloted flight units before. This should be easy in comparison.”

“Yeah! Besides, I bet it’ll be fun! It’s not everyday we get to use functioning equipment from the old world.” He could barely contain himself from bouncing around the truck in excitement.

Anemone only eyed them silently before giving them the okay and explaining how to operate it. 2B instantly slid into the driver’s seat, and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t disappointed that he didn’t get to drive it himself, but he figured he’d have his turn on the way back.

Now, he’s not sure if they’ll be making the drive back at all.

“Warning: Further pressing on the gas pedal may result in the engine stalling,” warns Pod 042 as they try to make their way up another hill.

“Maybe try switching the gear back to 2? Or was it 3 for uphill, I don’t remember which Anemone said was for what.”

2B says nothing, but with how he hears her gloves strain from the force of her grip on the steering wheel, he briefly thinks she’s having more of a fight with this vehicle than she has with any machine. It’s slow going, and he thinks the engine will give out from all the sand more than once, until they finally make it to the top of the hill. Only for even more sand dunes to stretch out seemingly endlessly before them. Beside him, 2B sighs.

“I’m going to give the gas pedal a bit of a break. Get ready.”

“Wait, get ready for wha—”

She gives the pedal one more light push, and then they’re tipping over, racing down a giant stretch of sand with nothing to stop them. He’s moved faster in a flight unit honestly, and this is far from the most dangerous situation he’s ever been, but something about it sets his heart racing. Maybe it’s the way the truck shakes the entire way, or maybe it’s because he’s not the one in control of driving and steering, but when he looks over at 2B to yell for help, he sees just the tiniest grin on her face, eyes wide and mouth open as if to laugh, and—

He laughs with her.

“WOOO!” he shouts, throwing his hands up in the air. “YEAAAH, KEEP GOING!!”

The two of them laugh and yell the whole way down, only stopping when they finally lose momentum partway up the next hill. 2B quickly puts the truck into park and turns to him with one of the most carefree smiles he’s ever seen her with, teeth showing and cheeks red. He grins right back at her.

“Let’s do that again!”

“Are you sure?” He doesn’t even hesitate to nod, even with both of their pods almost frantically spouting off warnings. She nods back and sets her hand back on the gear, engine revving and raring to go. “Alright. Get ready and hang on, Nines.”

2. things you said through your teeth

By all means, A2 should be losing.

It’s one against two, maybe against four if she counts the boxes that won’t stop shooting at her, the YoRHa units in front of her both beat her specs by leagues and leagues and leagues, and the one called “2B” might be one of the deadliest combat models she’s ever seen. Every blow lands with enough force to crush a head, every dodge so fluid and graceful she almost thinks Command’s figured out how to code sheer instinct instead of programming. If these are the combat models these days, she wouldn’t be surprised to see this war actually won.

She should be losing. She should’ve already lost. As she closes the distance between her and the scanner only for 2B to throw her sword at her, she knows she’s already won.

Even with a weapon of his own, the scanner’s the easier—and more dangerous—one by far. A2 could take out a horde of machines blind, but defending her own inner workings goes beyond what she knows. If he managed to succeed in hacking her, it would be over. She targets him without fail, his hand a second too slow to draw his sword every time, and his partner comes to defend him without fail. 2B defends 9S against every charge and every attack, even as her endurance falters, even as her weapons break.

This girl wasn’t made for this. A2 knows it, and so does she. But despite the girl’s target standing right before her, despite the blindfold that hides her from reality, A2 knows exactly who her attention is focused on.

It reminds her of Number 4, and it’s why she knows she’ll win.

A2 fights with nothing to lose. 2B fights with everything to lose.

“Just get out of here!” 2B barks through grit teeth. She deflects A2’s sword with the broken shaft of her spear, her feet sliding underneath her with the weight of it. It’s only a matter of time. “Retreat and report back to Comma—!”

“I’m not leaving you here!”

“I don’t matter, ju—”

9S draws his sword and charges with a shout, 2B yelling over him even as she defends herself, but it doesn’t matter. A2 doesn’t stop for a second in her assault on her successor, and the moment the scanner swings his blade at her, she steps aside effortlessly from the both of them to run her blade through his neck.

She barely gives the girl time to register what even happened. 2B’s grip on her weapon goes slack, but before she can say his name, A2 spins around and does the same to her.

They fall with their hands stretched out towards each other. She knows that they’ll come back soon enough through the Bunker. There’s even a good chance they’ll come after her again. As she looks down at them though, at their fingertips just almost brushing against each other, she knows without a doubt that no matter what they do, they’ll come back together.

15. things you said with too many miles between us

“Do you think she’s alright?”

“For the thousandth time, obviously.”

“Yeah, but—”

A2 groans, sliding down the sand dunes as fast as possible. When Anemone said she needed some materials, it didn’t sound hard. Go to the desert, find some pieces, boom. Of course, it wasn’t until after she agreed that she found out there were multiple hotspots for the items, that 2B and 9S were going too, and that since she didn’t have a Pod of her own, she’d be going with one of them for communication purposes while the other checked out the other spot.

She thinks it’s a bunch of bullshit, and she tells Anemone as much. The Resistance leader only laughs and tells her to haul ass already.

2B insists on going by herself to the forest, despite knowing how things went down between her and the kid, and she has—no, who is she kidding. A2 knows exactly why her lookalike insists having her go with 9S rather than let him go it alone. Whether or not 2B thinks he can handle things alone after everything that happened, it doesn’t matter. Her priorities have always been crystal clear to her, even before everything, and this doesn’t change any of that.

The fact that she trusts her to take care of him still even after how disastrous the first time around went though? Even after seeing 2B’s entire life for herself, A2 still doesn’t understand her.

After transporting to the desert, she expects it to go as it usually does whenever 9S is around. No matter how long ago it was, awkward silences and tense replies are still about the best he could do with her. It suits her just fine—the more silence, the better.

Except despite everything that’s happened between them, all the misunderstandings and anger and anguish, 9S will not shut up about 2B.

“But what if something happens?”

“Like what?”

“Like… I dunno, a new hostile machine appears.” There haven’t been any in ages. “Or one of those giant trees fall on her.” Unlikely. “Or the animals go on a rampage and attack.”

“For the love of—she’s a combat model, isn’t she? She can take care of some dumbass machine, not to mention a goddamn tree.”

“Sheesh, you don’t have to be so mad about it.”

“And you don’t have to spend every waking seco—”

“Incoming transmission from YoRHa unit 2B.”

“What?! Put her on!”

Pod 153 puts the display on, and A2 almost wants to gag. All they do is ask each other if they’re okay, if things have been alright, how the other’s been. Never mind that they’re fully aware of each others’ combat capabilities, that there’s almost zero reason for any of them to be worried, and that they’ll all probably be seeing each other again in a few hours. Maybe a day or two, tops, depending on how hard the materials are to find.

Everything about it is ridiculous. When she looks over to 9S as he talks to 2B through their Pods, she scoffs. 9S, as he always does, smiles almost impossibly wide to the screen, but she actually catches 2B smiling back. Small, soft even, but there.

They’re happy. Something as simple as this makes them happy.