Y/N and A2 were silent for most of the journey to the village which was apparently inhabited by friendly machines that detested fighting of any kind as Vick, a machine which came from this village walked ahead of them, leading them towards it.

Y/N's traveling companion was not a fan of this idea and she wasn't hesitant to voice her mind about Vick's offer when he offered to take them to his village. It took the human a few minutes to convice her to give this try. He wasn't sure if going with Vick was a good idea either but if it meant finding an exit from this forest, then it was worth a shot.

The human had to admit that he was suprised a bit, because Vick was leading him and A2 through the same path that he and his android companion were planning to take before they came across him. The friendly machine led them to a large gate which was not too far from a huge castle. The gate was shut open and all three of them were greeted by the sight of a more forested area.

They stepped into a forested area as Vick made sure to shut the gate behind them, to prevent anyone else from entering this path. They started walking along the path, which for most of the time was just walking up the hill. It eventually led them to the three platforms. Vick leaped himself into the air and easily made his way over these platforms as Y/N bit his lips, knowing that it will take him a bit longer to get there.

"What's wrong?" Vick asked as he turned around and looked down at Y/N and A2, "Why are you not coming?"

"Just wait a minute or two, Vick." Y/N told him, "It may take me a bit longer to get up there than it took you."

"Really?" Vick asked, the tone of his voice was telling Y/N that the machine was confused by his answer, "It was a long time since I saw an android that would have trouble with it. You must be a really old model."

"You're not wrong about that." Y/N nodded in confirmation, deciding to go along with what Vick just said, not really wanting to think of a different explanation.

"Okay." Vick said, "Then, I'll wait for you up here."

Y/N turned his gaze away from the machine and turned it towards A2 who pressed her hands together and held them down, waiting for the human to place his feet on them. He placed his right feet on her hands, asking her, "Still having seconds thoughts about this?"

"Yes." A2's answer was exactly the one Y/N excepted to get from her as she helped him to climb into the first platform, "I might be putting you in danger by following this machine. What if he is trying to lead us into a trap?"

"Have you ever seen a machine pull of a trick like that just to lead you into a trap?" Y/N asked her in return as A2 easily made her way into the first platform, joining her human ward on it.

The android didn't respond to his words right after. At first she wanted to be done with getting her traveling companion over these platforms. She pressed her hands together, once again and she and Y/N repeated this action two more times, and it was just a matter of a moment or two before both of them found themselves standing on the top.

"You're up here." Vick said as he started walking in the direction of his village again, which was pretty visible from this spot, "Follow me, my friends. We're very close to the village now."

"No." A2 shook her head in response to Y/N 's earlier question as if she didn't even heard what Vick just said to them, following the machine along with Y/N who walked right next to her, "But those dammed machines keep evolving. Just stay away from the fight if this will turn out to be a trap. I don't want to put you in the same situation as earlier. "

"Don't dwell on it. What happened back there was an accident." Y/N told her as he gave her a quick pat on her shoulder, "I don't blame for you it. I trust you."

He gave her a small smile and proceeded to follow Vick into his village, walking past A2 who stopped where she stood for a second when she heard him say these words to her. Her human ward wasn't with her only because sticking with her was his only and best option now. He was with her because he trusted her. He actually trusted her...

She was taken away from her thoughts when she heard Vick ask Y/N, "Is everything alright with your friend?"

"Uh?" Y/N said in response as he turned around to see A2 just standing, "Are you okay, A2?"

"Yes." A2 quickly answered, approaching them.

"Are you sure?" Y/N wanted to be sure as A2 walked past him and Vick, "You seemed..."

A2 quickly cut him off, "I'm fine."

"If you say so." Y/N said, starting to follow her, "Just wanted to be sure."

The human made sure to take a good look at the place in front of him. He could easily say that it was the largest treehouse he has ever seen in his life. A huge tree was standing right in the middle of the village as two wooden platforms which were creating two floors were surrounding it. A few small buildings, probably houses was the other thing he could spot about this village.

They didn't walk for long. About a minute passed before they found themselves in front of a ladder which was leading to the upper level of the village. Vick didn't had much trouble with getting himself on the upper level as he simply leaped himself upwards and landed right where he wanted to with a loud thud.

He turned himself around and glanced down at Y/N and A2, "I'll go get Pascal. I'll join you again in a moment."

He disappeared from their view right after as he headed out to get Pascal. Y/N turned to look at A2 who moved towards the ladder and started climbing up it. The human didn't waste anytime and started climbing up the ladder shorty after, making sure to keep his head down, not wanting to go through the same awkward situation as he did when he and A2 were climbing up the same ladder for the first time.

"Keep your guard up." A2 told him the moment he climbed up the ladder to the first floor of the village.

Y/N responded with an assuring nod of his head, only a second before they started heading in the direction in which Vick went a few moments ago. They only managed to take a few steps forward before they heard that something was coming towards them. They immediately realized that it was a machine, but not just one. A few them.

They quickly got their answer when they saw a group of a least a dozen of the smaller machines heading their way. A2 quickly got herself in a defensive position in front of Y/N, and was ready to draw one of her blades out as Y/N's eyes noticed something about eyes of the machines approaching him. All of the machines he came across since his awakening had yellow eyes which were turning red the moment they spotted him and A2, but strangely these machines eyes were remaining pure green.

"Hi!" The first machine spoke up and Y/N furrowed his brows in confusion because the machine that just spoke to him and A2 actually sounded like a child?! A human boy to be exact.

It was followed by another machine speaking up, "Who are you?"

And another one, "Uncle Vick told us that you came with him!"

"Your clothes are so weird, mister android!" One of them giggled, pointing at Y/N's clothes.

"I like your hair, android lady! It's pretty!" A machine with a flower over it's head that was sounding like a little girl yelled out, pointing at A2's long hair.

The children sounding machines continued to speak to the newcomers in their village at the same time. It was just a matter of seconds before neither Y/N or A2 could understand what they were saying to them. The human sighed, waiting for them to stop as the android scoffed and glared at them, clearly irritated by them.

"Alright, children." It was when a feminine voice spoke up, causing the children sounding machines to stop talking. Y/N and A2 looked in the direction of the voice to see Vick who was standing next to an unknown machine. The human made sure to eye the machine standing next to Vick because he hasn't seen a machine that looked like that before, "How about we'll give our guests a little space?"

"How about you let me and uncle Pascal talk with them and you can talk with them once we'll done?" Vick offered.

The children machines all voiced their understanding of Vick's words before turning away from Y/N and A2, beginning to walk away from them. Y/N, A2 and the two machines watched them leave for a moment before they disappeared from their view.

"I'm sorry if they made you feel uncomfortable." The machine who Y/N assumed to be the Pascal that Vick spoke of said to him and A2, "They get very excited when an android visits our village, especially when it is one they haven't seen before."

"Yeah. I can tell." Y/N gave them a quick nod of his head as A2 crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, annoyed frown remaining on her face, "I assume that you're the Pascal that Vick told us about?"

"Yes. It's me." Pascal confirmed Y/N's assumptions, "You must be the androids that came in Vick's aid when he needed help. I want to tell you that I'm really grateful for what you did."

"Don't mention it." Y/N told him, "Vick was crying out for help and we did what we thought was right."

Pascal gave the human a small nod of his head as he turned his attention to A2. He eyed her for a second before asking, "I'm sorry for asking this out of the sudden but are you with YoRHa?"

Y/N's eyes snapped open at his question, knowing that his traveling companion was not going to like this question as A2's expression quickly turned into a glare as she snapped, with the anger evident in her voice, looking like she was seconds away from drawing out one of her blades, "No! I'm not with them! Not anymore!"

The human quickly reacted to that. He placed his hand on A2's shoulder, intending to calm her down a bit, "A2, calm down. He had no idea."

A2 turned her gaze away from Pascal and looked at Y/N. She pointed ahead of herself, "I'll be over there once you'll be done talking with them."

"I'm sorry." Pascal said to Y/N  as A2 walked past them and stopped a few meters in front of them, making sure to keep an eye on her human ward, "Is this something I said that made her upset?"

"Don't worry about it. She reacted very similiar when I asked her why she left YoRHa." Y/N assured the friendly machine, lying a bit because A2 didn't snap at him like that when he asked her why she left YoRHa, "We've been traveling together only for a week. I don't want to force this information out of her."

"Oh, I see." Pascal said in understanding, "Our village has already formed an alliance with the Resistance, and I'm hoping to form one with YoRHa too. She's the first YoRHa android to ever come to our village and I was hoping that it might the chance I've been waiting for."

Y/N just gave the friendly machine a silent nod of his head, not really knowing how to reply to what Pascal just said. He asked him a few seconds later, "...How often are you visited by other androids?"

"From time to time." Pascal answered, "Sometimes it is when an android wants to stay here for some time. Sometimes it is when Anemone is lacking a part or some materials and is sending someone to my village."

"Anemone? She leads the Resistance?" Y/N wanted to know, recalling Vick mentioning this Anemone before. He also recalled that A2 mentioned the Resistance to him, but didn't recall her telling him where it was.

"Yes." Pascal confirmed.

"Good to know. I'm new to these parts and I'm not really that familiar with the surroundings, yet." Y/N explained, "Where's Anemone's camp?"

"It is actually not too far from there. It shouldn't take you long get there, if you will want to visit it." Pascal assured him, "It's in the city."

"The city?" Y/N began, "Me and my traveling companion just travel around, and when we entered the forest, the entrance which we used to get there shut down. We came here because I thought that this village can lead us back to the city."

"There is a path out of our village that is leading into the forest." Pascal explained as Y/N could feel a small smile forming on his lips. Coming to this village may have been worth a shot, after all, "I can tell you in which direction you should head when you'll be heading out."

"Thanks." Y/N smiled at him, "That would be great."

"It's the least I can do..." Pascal paused for a second, "I'm sorry, I don't know actually know your name."

"You can call me Y/N." The human introduced himself to the friendly machine.

"Alright, Y/N." Pascal began, "I can show you the direction right now to the city right now if you want to, but before you'll go, I'd like to suggest looking around my village. I know that the idea of machines that detest fighting of any kind and want nothing but a peaceful existence may seem weird, even unreal to you and your friend, but I can assure you that you'll change your mind if you look around and see for yourself."

"I can show you around the village if you want to." Vick added right after Pascal finished speaking.

"I'll think about it, but at first..." Y/N said, turning to look at A2, "Let me talk with my traveling companion about it."

"Of course. Take all the time you need." Vick said in understanding as Y/N walked past him and Pascal and made his way over to A2.

"I have some good news." He told his android companion who looked at him, waiting for him to say what he meant by that, "There is a path out of this village that will take us straight to the city. Pascal told me that he'll show us which way we should head once we'll be heading out of this village, but, before you'll say anything about going to him, there's one more thing..."

"That thing is?" A2 wanted to know.

"Vick offered to give us a trip around the village." Y/N explained. He was about to add something more but A2 answered to his words before he had a chance to do so.

"Fine." His android companion sighed, seeing that her human ward actually wanted to take a look around this village. She looked over his shoulder and saw Vick walk over to them, "Make this quick."

"Don't worry." Vick assured her, "I'll make this as quick as I can."

The friendly machine walked past him, beginning the trip around the village. Y/N folowed him as A2 walked right next to her human ward, eyeing her surroudings suspiciously. The trip around the village lasted about a little over an hour. It went exactly as Y/N excepted it to go. For most of the trip, Vick showed them small houses where the machines must have live in and introduced him and A2 to some of his friends from the village.

As Vick proceeded to show Y/N and A2 around his village, the human had to admit that the thing that suprised him the most was a group of machines that formed a family. He didn't know why but he couldn't help but chuckle when a machine which took the role of father had a suit painted all over his body. One of the other machines that Vick introduced him and A2 to was a machine with a make up over her face that kept talking to herself about some other machine named "Jean-Paul".

The trip around the village ended next to the ladder which was leading to the ground level where Y/N and A2 saw the children machines that approached them not long after they entered this village. Y/N thanked Vick for giving him and A2 a trip around his village, for which Vick responded that it was nothing before walking away from them to do his own thing.

Y/N started climbing down the ladder to the ground level a few seconds after Vick walked away from him and A2, intending to have a talk with the children sounding machines. These machines seemed to be very excited when he and A2 entered their village, so he thought that he could talk with them for a few minutes before setting off.

The moment he set his feet on the ground, he instantly earned attention of the children machines who stopped what they were doing and looked at him. He returned their gaze and slowly took a few steps forward, making his way over to them.

"Mister, can you tell us a story?" A little girl sounding machine that stood out the most from the crowd asked him. She was larger than the other children machines he has seen so far and had a pink ribbon over head. She wasn't the only machine with a ribbon in the crowd. A small machine with blue ribbon was standing next to her.

Y/N titled his head, not excepting to hear this request, "A story?..."

"Yes!" One of the machines confirmed.

The human was silent for a few moments because he had never received a request like this before. He knew he could have just say one, but on the other hand, coming up with a story to tell shouldn't be too hard for him. He had seen a lot of movies, TV shows, and read a lot of stories. He surely could think of something to tell them.

"Let it be something cool!" Another machine spoke up, taking him away from his thoughts.

Third one followed, "Do you know a story that has awesome fights?"

"Children, I don't think you're letting our guest speak." Pascal told the children as he landed behind them. Y/N looked at the leader of this village in suprise. Pascal could fly? The children were silenced by Pascal and all looked at Y/N, awaiting his answer.

"I can tell you a story, but give me a moment, I need to pick which story should I tell you." He finally answered the question as the children machines gave him their own excited responses of understanding. A2 jumped down from the first floor of the village and landed on the ground level. She stopped and leaned against a ladder which Y/N used to get here.

Her traveling companion remained silent for a another few moments, attempting to figure out what story he should tell these machines now that he agreed to tell one to them. One of the stories that came through his mind was a story about a bounty hunter who never removed his helmet among the other people who saved a child with very special abilities during a job and ended up taking care of it? Or maybe a story about a man in an iron suit who became one of the Earth's greatest protectors, a man who in the end saved the universe?

"...I think I found one. It's a story about humans who returned to their home planet after spending almost one hundred years in the sky." Y/N declared after a moment of thought as the children machines around him seemed to get excited about this. He wasn't exactly sure about that. The human let out a small exhale before starting the story he was planning to tell them, "Once upon a time, there was a spacestation in the sky which was known the remains of humanity residing there as "The Ark."

"Why are they humans living up there?" One of the children machines spoke up, raising it's hand.

"Something terrible happened on the Earth in this story and the humans who were living on the Ark were lucky enough to be there when it happened." Y/N explained, "The Ark was dying, and the humans decided to send the bad children to their home planet, to see if it was habitable again. At the beginning, there was a hundred of them, well a hundred and one, because one of them sneaked his way in to look after his sister who he hasn't seen in long time because she was locked up with the bad children."

"Why was she locked up with them?" The same children machine from a moment ago asked another question.

"Did she do something wrong?" The other children machine asked.

"The Ark had very strick rules." Y/N began, deciding to cut the part was every crime was a death sentence to the criminal that reached adulthood, "Each family was allowed to have only one child. She was born as a second child and had to be hidden away by her family, when she was found, she was placed in the place where the Ark was placing bad children."

"Isn't it a bit too severe?" Pascal asked.

"It is." Y/N nodded in agreement, "But the humans residing on the Ark needed air to survive, and their home had limited amounts of it which was the reason why they send bad children to the Earth in the first place. They had to do everything they could to make sure that they will be able to live there for as long as it was possible."

"I assume that many humans weren't fond of these rules." Pascal stated.

"You're not wrong about that." Y/N nodded his head in confirmation, "After they landed on their home planet, The bad children were left all alone on it, with no parents, without anyone to watch over them, and they did what they wanted, but their fun unfortunely didn't last long."

"Why?" The confused machine asked him.

"Because the monsters, the humans who were living on the Earth all along came out of their hiding and attacked them." Y/N explained.

The children let out a suprised "What?" at the same time.

"I thought that the humans on the Ark were all that was left of humanity in this story." Pascal stated.

"This is what the bad children and the other people from the Ark thought, but they were wrong." Y/N told him, "People were living on the Earth for all this time."

"Why would they attack them? Wouldn't these humans be happy that they're not the only ones that survived?" The machine with a blue ribbon asked.

"Let's just say that the monsters didn't like when someone stepped into their territory and this where the bad children happened to land." Y/N explained.

"They were like those mean machines from the forest?" One of the machines pointed out.

"Something like that." Y/N nodded his head, having a chance to experience the hospitality of the machines from the forest not that long ago, "The bad children fought back, and as the time passed, they started to see that some of the monsters were just like them. Some of them even formed close relatioships with the monsters."

"Like the relationship between me and with my little sister?" The machine with blue ribbon asked him, gesturing towards a larger machine with pink ribbon.

Y/N eyed the two ribbon wearing machines in front of him. He wasn't this much suprised about machines forming families because Vick introduced him and A2 to a machine family while he was showing them the village, but on the other hand, he couldn't help but chuckle because of the fact that a smaller sister was considered big sister and the larger one was considered little sister.

"Something like that." He gave them a small nod of confirmation, "But when the rest of the Ark came down to the Earth, there were a few people among them that just made things worse. One of them almost started a war after his friends heavily worked to make peace with the monsters."

"Why would he want to start a war, even after his friends made peace?" Pascal asked.

"Let's just say he had some unpleasant experience with them after he landed on the Earth." Y/N explained, "But it didn't matter anyway, after all they did to survive, they found out that the Earth was hunted by an unstoppable monster..."

He paused for a second, excepting one of the machines to ask him a question, and it happened a few seconds later, "An unstoppable monster?"

"Praimfaya." Y/N explained, "The death wave that destroys everything and everyone in it's path. Our characters searched for a way how to survive it and they eventually found bunker under the ground where the ancestors of the humans who were living on the Earth for all this time survived. But unfortunely, in the end, not everyone made it inside the bunker. Eight warriors. Six people from the Ark, and two monsters from the Earth, were forced to face Praimfaya alone."

"How they were separated from the rest?" A machine asked him, curiously.

"They were send on a mission to get their friend who stayed behind and bring her to the bunker, but after a while, they realized they were short on time." Y/N answered, "They could either return to the bunker and leave their friend behind, or proceed on their mission and save their friend."

"They decided to save their friend." Pascal finished what Y/N was about to say.

"Exactly." Y/N nodded in confirmation, "They fought, more than they ever have before, but it still wasn't enough, at least until one of them made a sacrifice and send her friends back to the sky, just moments before Praimfaya arrived at their position. She didn't die, though, because she had magic blood."

"Magic?!" A few of the children cried out at the same time, excitedly.

One of them raised a hand in the air, "Was she able to perform magic tricks?"

Y/N shook his head, "The magic blood thanks to which she survived was known as black blood. She injected herself with it when her and the others characters were searching for a way how to survive Praimfaya, before the bunker was discovered. The other characters didn't inject themselves with this type of blood, because they were sure that it was not going to work."

"They performed tests and they didn't end well?" Pascal assumed.

"You can say that." Y/N nodded his head in confirmation, before going back to the story, especially that he made it to the last part of the story, "The hero was left all alone. Everyone she loved, or cared about was gone. Either trapped under the ground, or lost in the sky. She thought was the last living person on the ground, but she was wrong, she found another person, a little girl who unlike her didn't had to inject herself with the black blood, but was born with it, and they lived happily ever after."

And with that, Y/N stopped talking as he had finished the story he was planning to tell. The entire area around him was engulfed by complete silence which was broken when one of the machines yelled out, "That was awesome!"

"Mister android, do you know more awesome stories like this one?" The other machine wanted to know.

"I think I can tell you one or two." Y/N nodded his head in response, with a small smile forming on his lips, "How about, the next time I'll tell you a story about a giant lizard who fights an evil three headed dragon over the dominance over the other monsters, and the only thing that the humans can do is to let them fight?"

All of the children machines in front of him gave him an excited response as Y/N shook his head with a smile after seeing how excited they got about the next story. He stepped away from them, and started making his way over to A2.

"You know you could have just said no." She pointed out as her human ward approached her.

"I know." Y/N answered with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Are we done with this?" A2 asked him, "Are we heading out now?"

"Yes." Y/N nodded his head in confirmation, as he turned around to look at Pascal who flied into the air and made his way over to the first floor of his village, next to the ladder, "Let's ask Pascal which way we should head to get back to the city."

A2 nodded her head in return and turned her gaze away from her human ward towards the ladder on which she was leaning on for these past several minutes. She placed her hands on it and started climbing her way up it as Y/N quickly followed her and it was just a matter of seconds before they found themselves standing in front of Pascal on the first floor of his village.

"Are you heading out now?" The machine asked the visitors in his village. When he received a nod of confirmation from Y/N, he asked, "What do you think about my village?"

"I actually enjoyed my time here." Y/N smiled at the leader of this village, "It was nice to come across some machines that are not trying to kill you the moment they set their gaze on you."

"It wasn't that bad." A2 spoke next when she saw Y/N glancing over at her from the corner of his eye, wondering if she was going to say something or not, "It was better than I thought it will be."

"I'm glad you enjoyed your time here." Pascal said, sounding happy in his mechanical voice as he held out something to the human and the android, "Before you leave, I'd like to ask you to do something. Can you take this to Anemone? It's a fuel filter she requested."

Y/N eyed the part in front of him before taking it from the friendly machine. He took his backpack off his back and unzipped it, before placing the fuel filter in it, "If we happen to be walking by the camp, we'll make sure to give it to her."

"Thank you." Pascal thanked Y/N with a small nod of his head before pointing at the path ahead of them, "If you want to get to the city, you just need to walk down this path and you should find yourself there in a few minutes. If you two will ever want to stop in our village, once again, we will always welcome you with open arms."

"Thanks." Y/N gave him a small smile and a nod of his head as he placed his backpack over his shoulders again, "We'll keep that in mind."

He gave Pascal one last small wave before turning away from the friendly machine along with A2. His android companion took the lead as they started walking in the direction that the machine gave them, hoping to find themselves in the city again.