Salvation | nier: automata reader insert

.𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞

There's a feeling that settles deep within her chest at the mere thought of the human girl. 2B doesn't know what to call the sensation, but it fills her being with an odd lightness she cannot put into words.

Lightly colored blue eyes which lie obscured under a pitch-black blindfold, rest on the girl seated before her. [name]'s gaze is colored a vibrant [eye color] that shimmers slightly under the bright light of the sun. 2B believes the girl is akin to what she could imagine an angel being, her halo of [hair color] hair falling in silk waves around her shoulders as a kind smile graces her delicate features.

It was then that she recognizes the lightness in her chest as the sense of serenity.

"Thank you," The girl says as her gaze nervously falls away from 2B's and in favor of her knitted fingers. "I'm glad you and 9S were the ones to find me."

The world seemingly falls away with those words of spoken gratitude. 2B never thought much of the various gestures of appreciation she'd received from the androids she assisted. To her, she was content with helping in any way she could even if she didn't look the type to bother with such a thing. Yet, to hear them from a human. . . it felt utterly relieving.

Her life was dedicated to protecting the secret of mankind's extinction, lying to her fellow androids and watching as they gave their lives for a truly lost cause. For years on end, she witnessed them fight through hoards of machines for their creators whom they've never once seen and only heard, convinced that one day the machine war would end and the humans would return home. To some, it felt hopeless and many had begun to think their lives were being wasted on beings whose existence was questionable.

It frustrated 2B to know the truth. To know that there wasn't anything worth fighting for because their creators were dead. Long gone and unable to return back to the world that still carried their remnants. That knowledge alone would be enough to break any hopeful spirit, which is why 2B tried her hardest to rid herself of any faith she might have had in an ideal future.

Yet, despite the efforts she placed in keeping herself safe from ever thinking of a brighter future, the human seated before her wickedly reignited that persistent thought of foolishly believing in something. Her words, which may have seemed meaningless to her, were everything to 2B.

It was almost like an unspoken apology for the suffering she endured until [name]'s discovery. 2B felt as if she were reprieved of all the harm she caused and it filled her again with that sense of encompassing peace.

'What if. . .'

She was all that was left of 2B's hope in the desolate world she deemed irreparable long ago. She was the one who could easily breathe life back into the barren city. With her at 2B's side, there was no telling what kind of fate the world may yet hold. There was no need to feel so desperately helpless anymore and finally, 2B would be allowed to have the one thing she desired most.

To be free.

Free from the burden of having to keep a secret so heavy, free from the responsibility of having to take the life of the one person she held dearest to her, and finally free of the perpetual cycle of life and death.

Hope so easily clawed its way into her chest, wrapping its tendrils where her heart should be and pulling so mercilessly she thought she would die. Her hope was both so scary and relieving, the conflict of it all made her want to oust it once more just so she could make sense of it. It was dangerous to hope, she knew that much; to feel like there was something more out there for her that didn't involve reliving the same nightmare over and over again.

She desperately wanted to welcome it, to embrace all of its ugliness and hurt it would eventually bring in order to feel somewhat closer to the light [name] unknowingly shined with. Her humanity was precious and so very fragile. Even with the lightest of touch, 2B feared she would break it and once again fall into the abyss of menacing black.

Hope was so very frightening, yet she couldn't will herself to turn away from it.

The smile that picks up at the ends of her lips and is displayed fully for the girl that stares up at her, is one that 2B doesn't dare to fight. Even without her knowing it, [name] is the answer to 2B's silent prayers; a gift she couldn't imagine coming any sooner and one she wished to preserve until the end of time.

The girl stares curiously at 2B, her head tilting along with her puzzled expression. There is only a moment of unique wonder that crosses her features, one 2B remembered once seeing 9S make when he found something interesting. She finds the expression endearing and it only makes it clear to her the ways that humans both differed and held similarities to androids. It was only until the [hair color] haired girl finally mirrored the smile, her own being vastly brighter in comparison to 2B's, that the silver-haired android realized yet another thing.

[name] was her future and in her, 2B finally found happiness.

'What if there was something more for me than this never-ending despair?'