39. What a Wonderful World

"No, I haven't found her."
"Not here either..."
"Where on earth could she have gone..."
"Shouldn't she be dead by now?"
"Even so, we at least need to find her body to perform repairs. Her memory backup is still intact inside. We can't reach the bunker, and this world..."
Amidst the ruins,
the resistance members raised their heads.
The stars in the night sky were dazzlingly bright,
something they had never seen before.
Where was this place?
"Leader... what should we do?"
"Let's go back. As long as their bodies are still inside, we'll find them sooner or later."

A few days later.
"We still can't find them."
"Can the bunker still not be reached?"
"No one is responding at headquarters. All signals have vanished..."

A few more days passed.
"Damn it... what on earth are these monsters!"
"Everyone, evacuate the camp temporarily!"
"What about them?"
"For now... abandon the search."

The resistance camp was destroyed by the monsters.
They walked out into the open.
The sky was overcast, with a light drizzle falling.
Day and night alternated in a confusing blur.
Gradually, some began to suspect that this was no longer their old world.
This was a new world.
"Everyone, I found a truck! And it works!"
"Three hundred meters ahead, there's a highway three hundred meters ahead!"
"What?"
"Hey, look, this yellow bird runs so fast!"

Another day passed.
Overcast skies.
Light drizzle.
A large truck carrying over twenty resistance members sped along the highway.
Along the way, they saw no more machine lifeforms.
"I've never seen a highway maintained this well..." said the resistance member driving the vehicle.
"Hmm..." Emil stayed on the roof of the truck, setting out with the resistance members, taking in the surrounding environment, the orderly highway, and the fine drizzle from the sky. Everything seemed as though it had appeared in his memories once, though that was over a thousand years ago.
The ponytail-wearing girl in the passenger seat tapped her companion driving the truck: "There are 'people' ahead!"
"I see them."
By the side of the highway, two girls raised their thumbs.
The truck carrying the androids pulled over to the roadside.
The leader Anemone poked her head out of the window: "Who are you..."

The long-haired girl smiled and said, "Excuse me, can we hitch a ride?"
"We have quite a few people in our truck already."
"It doesn't matter, as long as you don't mind."
"Hop on in," Anemone said, looking at the hitchhikers. "Three of you in the back, one in the front... As for that red prey... dog, you go stay on the roof with Emil."
Beside Emil was a crimson hound, or rather a ferocious beast, but Emil was thrilled to have a chatting partner: "My name is Emil, what's your name?!"
In the driver's cab, the long-haired girl squeezed into the middle seat, apologizing gratefully to the person next to her.
"Sorry to be such a bother to everyone..."
"It's nothing," the ponytail girl smiled and shook her head.
The long-haired girl nodded and said, "Let's introduce ourselves, my name is Tifa, and you?"
The truck sped down the highway.
Ahead lay a boundless expanse.
Not far from a junction they had just driven past,
a white-haired girl leaned against a Chocobo, sitting on the ground and peacefully gazing at the sky.
"Constellations, dark clouds, rain, night, day."
"Just what kind of place is this?"
She stroked the Chocobo's soft feathers, the loneliness and seriousness that usually lingered on her face fading significantly. Deep within her grey-blue eyes was a gentleness that had vanished many years ago.
Only the cruel, battle-forged resolve in her eyes had not yet completely receded.
The Chocobo let out a soft cry: "Kweh!"
"I don't understand..." she smiled. She hadn't smiled like this in a world full of machine lifeforms for a very long time. The Bunker and the YoRHa squadron, combat and revenge, everything had come to a full stop with the disappearance of that giant dragon.
The Chocobo nuzzled closer, affectionately rubbing its head against her hair.
"Kweh!"
"Alright, let me guess," she stroked the Chocobo and asked, "Are you trying to ask what my name is?"
"My name is..."
"My name is A2."
"Please treat me well from now on."
A2 looked up at the sky. The light drizzle had ceased.
The dark clouds had dissipated as well.
The light of dawn shone upon her white hair, making it look as though it were gilded with gold.
"Though I don't know where this is, this world... seems quite beautiful."

...

In the Nier universe,
within the same parallel space-time,
across the vast, tranquil land, beneath the desolate urban ruins,
inside a towering white structure.

[Year 11942]
[January 29th]
[A "human (player)" from an unknown world has entered the tower]
[Through hacking, they interfered with our system]
[Records of the Flower of Deicide were ingested and reconstructed by them]
[The Flower of Deicide, an entity of destruction, does not merely spread toxins; the means by which it destroys the world include unknown methods yet unrecorded]
[To ensure the operation of the world]
[We retrieved records of Tokyo, Japan from the year 2003. According to information logs, the transfer caused by the first spatial distortion originated from that era]
[Extracting this information]
[Reshaped the spatial rift for teleportation, transferring the unformed Flower of Deicide along with it to another world]
[However...]
[The petals had already scattered across this urban landscape]
[We had no choice but to transfer them as well, including the sky containing trace amounts of toxins]
[Transferred entities: 1 human, 37 resistance "members", 3 YoRHa androids, 112 machine lifeforms, a total of 229 buildings, 5,100 hectares of land. The underground world, free of toxin intrusion, did not require transfer]
[May that world weather the crisis]
[Yet... only a true dragon can destroy the Flower of Deicide]

[Year 11942]
[January 30th]
[An anomalous signal has been detected]
[It may be returning]
[Initiate Protocol Two: manufacture a new dragon in an attempt to eliminate the returning Flower of Deicide]
[Initiating...]
[Initiation unnecessary...]
[Abnormal energy has vanished]
[......]
[......]
[They escaped the cycle]
[Why?]
[Who initiated the Flower of Deicide?]
[Who destroyed the Flower of Deicide?]
[Who... on earth was it?]

...

Li Nuo opened his eyes.
He had already returned to the train.
"That was a close call."
[You have successfully subjugated a key NPC]
[Please resolve her legacy issue first; otherwise, rewards for all players cannot be calculated]
The system interface popped up in front of him. Li Nuo stared at the text and instinctively scratched the corner of his eye, forgetting he was still wearing the [Mask of Emil].
"Legacy issue?"
[NieR: Automata, Important NPC, YoRHa No. 2 Type B]
[1. Release her to return to her original world]
[2. Retain her current abilities but reduce her to a pixie devoid of higher cognitive functions]
[3. Make her a player, bind her as a "permanent" teammate, and unlock the "Special Friend" relationship]

...
...

Note 1: A2, one of the three protagonists of NieR: Automata.
Note 2: Tifa, Jerusalem.
Note 3: The White Tower, also known as [The Tower], an entity formed from the collective consciousness of machine lifeforms in NieR: Automata, storing human historical data within.