Nier Replicant: Shades of the Past

Chapter 2 - A Conversation about the Past

"How are we going to take all this gold?" Hyde asked more for himself than for me.

"We don't need it, we'll just take enough, and this place will be our gold stash. We will come here again when we need something." I replied.

"I guess you're right. Even so, how am I going to carry the gold? If I arrive at Seafront carrying all this in my hands, I won't get past the city gate."

"A gym bag should do."

"What is a gym?" Hyde asked.

"A place where people paid to exercise but never really went."

"Why would anyone pay to exercise? Can't you run a little bit every day?"

"I don't know. People are weird."

"We can agree on that."

I returned to Hyde's body and together we walked through the ruined city, if I remember correctly, there must be a store that sells supplements and gym products somewhere around here.

"It is still strange to see this city up close. I've always heard stories that I shouldn't come here, too many shadows for the SHADES to hide in and ambush you."

"It wasn't always like this; there was a time when SHADES didn't exist, only humans."

"Serious? It must have been great!"

"Not exactly, humans weren't a united people, just like they aren't today, but still, it wasn't so bad, that is until the disease came along."

"This disease, what happened exactly?"

"I can't remember... Something... Something fell from the sky... A while later a disease appeared... and then... monsters..."

"Your memory isn't the best, is it?"

"No, long time without a body."

"So SHAD... Do Gestalts need bodies? I've heard stories of you being monsters that wanted to steal our bodies, but it seems there's a bit of truth behind it."

"We need bodies to keep us stable and sane, too long without them and we go crazy, you should see the Seafront sewers."

"I think I noticed the difference, the SHAD... Gestalts that attacked us looked like clouds of smoke, whereas you look like a living shadow."

"This is the most notable difference between a stable and an unstable Gestalt."

We talked as we walked, we passed abandoned stores, broken windows, collapsed doors and condemned structure, rusty cars covered the streets of cracked asphalt with vegetation passing through the cracks, cracked cement sidewalks and rusted streetlights were beside us.

We saw the occasional animal such as a rabbit, wild boar, some birds landing in their nests.

Eventually we got to the store I told Hyde about and there we managed to find a bag that wasn't falling apart. On the way out Hyde stopped in front of the generic poster of a pumped up man and flexed his muscles, but was disappointed with the result.

"Some problem?" I asked.

"No, but do you think I can look like this someday?" Hyde pointed to the poster.

"This type of poster was used based on the ideal physical standards of the time, it takes a lot of work and determination to get to that point and even more to maintain it, and there was a whole problem with people dissatisfied with their bodies and doing it all to meet the standard that society has determined as acceptable, even if it harms themselves. I'm not saying people with the poster's physique are bad people or that no one should try to get to that point, if you want to be healthier, I don't see a problem with that, just don't overdo it."