Once things were cleared up, with 21O realizing that A2 wasn't by any means a threat for Robin, the group of YoRHa made their way to the hideout in the Commercial Facility, this time probably once and for all.

"You should see how many things she got, old items, research papers, books, everything." 9S kept blabbing on the things Robin found, she'd promised that once she and A2 had their room at the camp, he'd be allowed to sort through them.

And apparently saying he was excited about it was an understatement.

"I am still an archeologist, it's what I do." she replied with a chuckle, looking around, making a 360 on herself holding her arms out. "And there are still so many mysteries to solve and things to find."

"Sounds like you've got a plan for the future." A2 replied, glad to see Robin so excited and passionate about what she loved.

"Well we have all the time we want, and no one to tell us not to do something. We can do anything we desire." her gaze turned to the sky. "We are free, like pirates."

Sort of, but they had no restrictions anymore, no repercussions, they could do all they desired without fear of being killed, or reset and forget, or both.

No more pain, no more deaths, no more killing loved ones.

In a way, she felt even more free than she'd ever been back on her planet, probably because there was no longer the threat of someone coming for her head when she least expected it. It was almost hard to imagine she'd been doing just that for years while she'd been here, hadn't it been reality.

"Pirates?" 21O raised an eyebrow at that. "I've always known they were a bad thing." but Robin wasn't a bad person though, a bit cold, but she had a good heart, no?

"I didn't become one by choice." Robin sighed. "Yes, usually pirates are bad, they steal and kill and everything. I've done that too…"

Immediately sensing distress A2 was at her side, taking her hand.

The ability of this woman to know when she needed support was unreal… but she supposed it also went the other way around too.

She thought herself lucky to have such a caring person at her side.

"That's where a lot of my experience comes from." in killing of course, and she was rather ashamed of it, but did she have a choice? Other people decided how her life was meant to be for her all those years ago.

"But among us there are also people with big dreams, for them being pirates means freedom to go wherever they want. And more than that too."

She remembered that she still had the posters, so she'll show what she meant to 21O soon. Hoping she'd understand, but she was positive she would.

A2 didn't trust her back then, and she still did believe her words after all.

"You have a dream too?" the blonde asked, receiving a nod.

More than one actually, besides the duty of continuing to live on and try to solve the mystery of the void century for her people, all she had wanted was to find someone that like Saul had promised her, would protect and love her.

But… for as weird as this turned out, she felt that this second dream had been realized already. She'd lived years and years yearning for someone that would at least respect her, back on her planet, she found no such thing in humans.

Androids however, be their programming or whatever else, they were different, even if made in human image, it seemed they picked up the better aspects of humanity better than humans themselves.

Little she cared if they were made to be that way, even if she was being selfish, she didn't want them to be any other way.

Humans were selfish after all. She was no exception.

"It's more of a duty, 21O." once again the blonde frowned at her, probably none of this was making any sense to her, she had yet to know her past. Even though 21O had been so kind with her, she could feel herself fearing her judgment a bit.

Upon gazing ahead she could see the facility right ahead of them, on the other side of the bridge. Soon she'll know everything.

It'll be easier to just show her.

So as soon as they stepped in the little hideout, while she heard 9S fussing over their Operator and showing her the artifacts she'd collected with glee, she went once more to get her bag from where she left it.

At least there was no longer need to hide it, as she had placed it on the ragged couch instead of under it this time, after the last visit when she brought 2B and 9S here for the first time.

It seemed that the blonde noticed, as she walked over at her side.

"That was your bag." she remembered it, she'd been the one to take it to her room in the Bunker, before meeting Robin for the very first time in the Commander's room.

She'd always wondered what was in it, but never had the courage to ask, out of duty and of respect she just left herself with doubts. Especially since knowing the contents brought both 9S and 2B to be executed and reset.

From none other than Robin herself.

That had been her very first assigned mission, to kill the people she'd been closest to. A test of loyalty the Commander had called it, to see if she truly was being faithful to them, their purpose, and to her role.

Which brought the question, why hasn't she seen other humans yet? The machines were dealt with, as far as she'd been told.

Unless there was more to it she had yet to know, and this time she'll ask about it.

She watched as Robin took out two posters, one of a younger version of herself, and the second of another woman that, besides the hair color, looked the exact same as her, even the eyes, though the name on the poster indicated she was a totally different person.

Or somewhat of a different person, because 21O didn't miss how the surnames matched.

And also how Robin had been telling the truth about the whole piracy thing, since she'd proven to be a wanted person, but seeing the picture of a child over her name unnerved her, and not a little bit.

Who would go as far as harming a child?

"I know you love knowing about families." Robin started, gently touching the poster of the white haired woman with her thumb.

"She was my mother."

Of course she would have been, 21O didn't know why she somehow expected otherwise.

Had she been caring so much about Robin that she forgot that she was supposed to have parents already? How dared she go as far as calling herself a potential mother figure to the woman.

"Is she…" the black haired woman shook her head. "No, she died long ago. I didn't even know her at all, she left me when I was two, to chase a dream, alongside many other fellow archeologists."

So that's where she got the passion for history then. It ran in the family.

"There are some forbidden stones back in my world, and also a whole century of blank history, and those should be the key to finding out. Problem is, the World Government wishes to keep things hidden." she explains, then she shook her head again, as if trying to shove away some bad memory.

"They'd go as far as to destroy an entire island to keep their secrets, with no regards for anyone, an entire population, exterminated."

A2 looked over to her as Robin talked, taking a few steps closer, watching, waiting to see if she needed support again, as the other two busied themselves with the relics, chatting quietly to themselves not to bother.

Robin kept mostly neutral, but the way her shoulders shook told her she was all but fine.

"How? Why?" 21O asked mostly in disbelief, and in horror.

"I don't know, something to hide has always been my hypothesis, as there are documents that say that the Government was born just at the end of those years. But with no evidence, no one would listen to a normal person, much less a criminal."

To 21O sounded a lot like something coming from the Commander, but again, androids were made in human image, so it didn't exclude them from repeating the same cruel actions.

To kill whoever finds out secrets.

"Robin was wanted for surviving that day." A2 spoke, deciding to lend a hand even without the other woman asking for it.

If she could lighten the tale for her she would.

She knew that story like each and every one of the damaged parts of her body, from all the times she heard it by now.

And it still made her blood boil each and every time, as to how Robin had been treated by humans, humans like her, she reminded herself. Made her want nothing more than to skewer the heads of those Government people like she'd done to the Forest King. Now she'd have an actual reason other than personal revenge to kill someone.

"But how could they do this to a child?" 21O looked at Robin, who refused to meet her eyes. "Aren't humans supposed to protect and love their young ones?"

"Those humans never bothered to look past those 79 millions on a piece of paper. Actually, I was an easy prey." the way the black haired human spoke was bitter, resigned even, it spoke of repressed anger.

"So I started taking shelter from criminals, like me, and when the situation got dire, I'd run and let them die. Run and kill, run and kill, and again, for years and years, that was how I got my name. In reality I was just trying to survive, chasing a dream and carrying the legacy of my people on my shoulders."

Something White never bothered to check was the reason why she was that much famous, and perhaps, it had been good of her, if she hadn't, then probably she wouldn't have met all these people that became so important to her.

Especially not A2.

Had White known about her past as a survivor, she probably would not have sent her to face another survivor. It had been what allowed them to bond so tightly from the beginning, even as enemies.

In the end it was better this way.

"And you lived like that until we abducted you?" a nod was what 21O got this time.

"How long?" how long had she lived that way? Before being thrown from one madness to the other…

Robin put a hand to her chin in thought. "I think I was about 24 when I died…"

So much older than what 21O expected, she thought the woman could have been in her twenties, she looked way younger than what she actually was. And now she'd get to look that way for as long as her android body kept her going.

"Then you passed about 3 years with us…" the blonde reasoned. "You should be about 27 now."

Around nine times the amount that any of them got to live through.

And if three years already felt like a long time to be in the middle of this whole mad display of death and murder… they couldn't imagine living through that for so much longer, alone, and as a vulnerable human too.

However Robin smiled. "I'm not mad about that though."

Her different colored eyes looked at them all. "My journey brought me to meet all of you, and even more people that cared and loved me, even though I caused so much pain…"

"You were under orders." 21O interrupted her rather harshly, but she wanted to get her point across. "So were all the other E types, and everyone else. You had no other choice, none of us did."

"I did have a choice. I could have left sooner, I…"

"And risk losing your own self should someone have managed to kill you? To lose the memory of your people, and to lose your dreams?" the blonde glared at the woman. "You're too smart to not know about it."

"You stayed for us, because we gave you what you desired. Your words told me so."

"I still left you." 21O however shook her head. "Don't say that like it was an easy decision. If it was you would have escaped as soon as you woke up, you had the experience to do that."

"You stayed because you cared. I'd know."

With a sharp turn she looked up to Pod 007. "Please help me display something from my memory." she needed his aid now that she no longer could use screens herself, since she had the body of a Battler and no longer an Operator.

Holding a hand to the side of her head, she called those images forth.

There were multiple instances of conversations between 21O and Robin, mostly through the Pod itself, but they all had two things in common, some kind of thing the human found that she was showing to the blonde, and also, the bright smile she had when she spoke about it.

"Don't tell me that you didn't love telling me about these, you know I love history too, you wouldn't have done that if you didn't care about me." once again she called something forth. "I remember this too…"

There was when 21O watched the conversation on the day she left YoRHa, when she confronted the Commander, it was the end of it, when she had sorrowfully asked 9S to take care of their Operator.

"You knew you would have hurt me by leaving, yet, you still thought about me."

"As I did many times…" Robin admitted, holding an arm with the other.

"She always had a fond smile when she talked about you all." A2 interjected, feeling that she had to. "She never forgot any of you. It made me wonder if by meeting me I had ruined everything you had created, you know?"

"But looking at how things are now it's probably better this way, yes?"

"So much better." Robin nodded, as 21O did the same.

"It was a weird and somewhat cruel twist of fate, but at least we're still here, together." 9S decided to speak up, while 2B agreed with him, she seemed to be distracted from some kind of thought that she didn't voice, preferring to busy herself in collecting books.

Not wanting to make the situation even more serious, the group sat in silence, only the sound of shuffling items and papers could be heard. Once they felt they had enough items in hand, they threaded back towards the camp, slowly, not to break anything.

Once back, the twins and Anemone aided them in bringing the things inside, the Resistance Leader insisting on wanting to read the books sometimes, a thing that Robin granted, just because it was someone she trusted.

Anemone also demanded to tag along on the next trip back, not wanting to admit that she was more curious about what else the Executioner woman had found, now that she'd seen a glimpse of them.

So it was true that her skills in information gathering rivaled a Scanner's, and she wondered why, what was the reason for such a unit?

Someone supposed to kill people with too much information, but also someone that could gather data easily, and end up being on the other side of the situation. controversy at its finest.

But then again, little made actual sense when it came to YoRHa, just looking at A2 and what happened to her squad, as soon as they'd been made, and how everyone else had been made just to die after a set amount of time.

It disgusted her.

But she wouldn't blame Rose's decision to team up with the girls back then, it wasn't their fault that whoever made them treated them as nothing more but items.

If nothing, at least she was glad someone was still here, hadn't they taken those girls in, then maybe they wouldn't be in this position today. Maybe they would all still be fighting for survival.

Maybe they would all be dead instead.

The conflict eventually ended, but surely not because of the higher ups that were behind the creation of the YoRHa project, but for the sheer determination of their soldiers to keep fighting on, even when everything was lost.

She would only ever thank them for it. The people around her right now were proof of it.

Even that new blonde woman they just rescued. A2 seemed a little more at ease around her now, even with the fact of her being a number 21 personality.

Perhaps there was nothing to fear then.

Something that unnerved her though, was that strangely happy music she could hear from ahead of them, near the place they were headed at.

She watched Robin and the former Operator unit glance at each other in confusion, while 2B and 9S didn't look worried in the slightest, actually the opposite, as A2 just stayed quiet instead, but she too seemed serene.

"We're in luck, they haven't met Emil yet." 9S said, and 2B nodded at it.

"That strange thing that helped us that time?" A2 asked 2B, remembering the name from that weird head thing in that even weirder truck.

"Maybe we should show them that place too, since we're near. I promised A2 I would." 2B told 9S, the only one that knew what place she was talking about, A2 frowned but she did recall that she said something of sorts.

She'd just been too preoccupied from other things to care about it, until now.

"Who's Emil?" Robin frowned, but she assumed it had something to do with the noise they were hearing.

"You'll see." A2 replied. "He's just… weird."

Only that weird was an understatement.

They followed 2B and 9S on the other side of the bridge, where a truck sat, and on it there was some skull thing.

Robin had seen weird things in her life, but this was something else…

"Oh hi guys." and it talked too.

"Emil, remember that person you helped us carry the materials for? Here she is, my teacher." 2B introduced Robin to the talking head.

Even if a bit weirded out, she slightly bowed her head to it as a greeting. "Pleased to meet you, my name's Robin. Thank you for aiding them in rebuilding me."

"It was a pleasure." if possible, Emil grinned even harder. "Wow you have pretty eyes."

Something pretty much everyone noticed about her, at least here they didn't use it as a weapon to recognize and hunt her down. The compliments felt sincere.

"This is our Operator too, 21O." 9S introduced the blonde woman who only imitated Robin's gesture of before, but decided not to say anything.

"And this is my friend, Anemone. She leads the local Resistance." A2 placed a hand on the shorter woman's shoulder.

"We were wondering if we could take them to your special place, Emil. We feel that they should see it too." 9S explained, already moving towards the elevator nearby.

Something Robin had always been curious about, and what there could be under it, but being no hacker she had no idea how to activate the thing without its key.

"Sure thing. Make yourselves at home." his cheerful voice was rather contagious, and Robin couldn't help but smile.

It reminded her of a young child for some reason. And for how weird and mysterious he appeared to be, he may as well have been one at some point.

He was something unnatural for sure.

"Just… please catch me." she heard him mutter, before he wiggled his head out from the vehicle, just right in Robin's hands.

His head felt like the brittle bones of a corpse, like the many she'd found and scavenged in the past, yet he looked all but that he was about to break anytime soon. And also it puzzled her how he could attach himself to structures, such as the one he was inside just moments before.

What an odd creature.

"Thanks. Guess now I know how it feels to be tall." she smiled down at him, because out of all of them he did land in the hands of the tallest person.

"How about this then?" she took his head and held it about her own. "Tall enough?"

She heard him giggle from above her, the sound making him shake lightly in her hands. "Yeah."

In the meantime 9S had activated the elevator, it seemed that he and 2B had a key to it even, probably Emil gave it to them sometime in the past. Robin and the rest joined the couple in the elevator, as it descended downwards.

With the corner of her eye she could spot A2 holding a hand on her chest, and frowning, as if something was bothering her.

She didn't have time to ask, as when the doors opened again, she was met with one of the most beautiful views she'd ever seen.

A whole field of white flowers, lunar tears they were called, illuminating this underground cave, giving the ambient almost a mystical and magical vibe to it.

She'd been so close to this gorgeous place all along and she had no idea it was even here…

"What is this place?" someone behind her asked, judging from the voice it must have been Anemone.

"I'm not sure… I can't remember well… but I know this place was important to someone I knew…" Emil muttered, still perched on Robin's head. "Actually…"

He didn't get to say more, as a small sniffle was heard, and then more of them. Turning around there was A2, her eyes open wide, hands clutching her chest, and tears were falling on her face.

Yet she stood still, almost petrified.

"Why are you crying?" 2B asked first, as they all moved closer to her.

"I… I don't know…" A2 moved to wipe her eyes, as if she hadn't noticed she'd been crying until 2B mentioned it.

"I feel weird… as if I've been here many times before…" yet this was the very first time she saw this place, so why? Why did her chest ache so much? Why was there this feeling of longing?

"I was just about to say, that you remind me of that person I knew, somehow." Emil spoke, rolling down from his perch and into A2's arms. "I don't exactly remember her name, but she was very kind, though she was rough at the edges."

That sounded like A2 for sure, but who could be this other person?

"Could it be…" Anemone looked at her old friend, hand on her chin, deep in thought. "Could it be your false memories?"

It may have made sense, that she remembered something not hers, all older androids had them.

"I'm not too sure…"

"What are false memories?" Emil asked, curious.

"They're memories of humans, they were programmed into our brains, said to help us develop emotions that would be useful in battle. We have them, yet they do not belong to us." something Anemone no longer thought about for centuries, they were never of any use to her.

"Maybe that person is the same one you knew, Emil." there was no other hypothesis that Robin could make about it. A2 remembered the place, even though she'd never been here, and he said she reminded him of someone he knew.

"We know well that fate has a weird way to bring people together after all." and with that she hinted at her own self, to her past, and to the other's past too. She had said these words many times before too, and still stood by them now.

"Perhaps one day we'll solve the mystery." she was still an archaeologist, if there was anyone capable of it, it was her.

The group sat in silence for a while, just standing around as the flowers illuminated their bodies with their eerie light, until 2B decided to crouch and actually pick one of the flowers out.

"I want to take this to 6O." she muttered. Her Operator was no longer here, but she could have sent her this in the sea where the Bunker fell, where she must be resting. "I think she would have loved this place."

And Robin knew what she meant, given how much the bubbly Operator was fond of cute things and of flowers in particular. One time she had managed to sneak in an old book about them, and had invited the woman to check it out.

Even though the two weren't very close, she still knew her through 2B, and through 21O as well. She had the feeling that even though she wouldn't admit it, 21O felt something for 6O, the serious Operator often spoke as to how the other one would help her ease the pain she had to face, whenever 9S was killed and reset.

There had to be some kind of feelings involved, at least on one side.

As if on cue, she heard 21O speak softly. "Yes, she would have."

Yes, that would have been a good idea, but Robin felt that she had an even better one, if it was possible.

"We should check out the remains of the Bunker. Maybe we can find something, or someone we could save." she said, looking at them all with the most serious face she could make, because she was indeed willing to go through with this.

"But the Bunker fell into the ocean." 9S said. He saw its sunken form the last time he'd been in the flooded city.

"I still think it's worth a try, we said we'd look for survivors no? That's the best place we can start from."

"But how would we get to it? We can't swim." as far as A2 knew, androids just sank in the water like anchors, and even though they were in no risk of immediate danger of dying if they did, it still didn't help them in this case.

Should they just try and cross the sea by walking on its bottom?

"I suppose we could try and get there with a ship, if we still have any after the attack of the Goliath." Anemone mused. "Like she said, it is worth the try, should we find nothing at least we made an attempt."

Besides the more people they could take back the better, as much as she was jealous her companions would never come back, YoRHas were just victims of cruelty, as far as she was concerned. And more survivors was always better than less too.

"I'll go back to the camp and see what I can do. I'll let you know if there's anything we can use."