"I honestly thought White would have been more difficult to get information from." instead she had complied without resistance.

"Perhaps she too is tired of keeping secrets." Robin shrugged.

She and A2 were in their room, with the human taking out her posters, like she did so many times in the past month or so, staring down at her young reflection with glaring eyes.

"Somehow I doubt she is doing this to please us."

And that comment about how sorry she was for the pain she had inflicted upon them… A2 didn't know what to make of it, but sure as hell she was not going to accept it. Saying sorry now in this situation when you've already done all this damage was the easy way out.

She was not going to forgive her, she couldn't.

The others could think what they wanted, they each had their own opinions and stories to tell on the matter, but she didn't earn any forgiveness just for saying two damn words that anyone could be able to say.

They didn't change what she put all of them through.

By killing her friends, sacrificing them like toys, and then hunting her down for surviving that day, like Robin said to tie loose ends, and finish what she started.

Then there was the whole situation with 2B and 9S, she hadn't forgotten how much 2B's memories ripped her chest from the inside out when she saw them. All for the sake of keeping a lie still alive.

9S died nearly fifty times for it damn it!

And then Robin, who now they knew was here to be a test unit, just like she and her friends were, and to be sacrificed all the same, even after such loyal service.

Council or not, White was still the one giving orders, she could have opposed, couldn't she? But watching things unfold and obeying like a good little puppet was the easier way, no need to lift a finger and get her hands dirty, when others could do so and die in her place.

Pretty much almost the entirety of YoRHa at this point, minus the very same androids standing in this camp today.

"Anemone has everyone rallied for the announcement." she heard Robin say with a heavy sigh, her eyes still not looking away from those posters.

"You don't have to do this, you know?" she placed a hand on her shoulder, however the human shook her head.

"I have to. These people deserve to know the truth, all of it, including who I am." even if it may end up being outcasted once again.

But she was so goddamn tired of hiding behind lies and masks. For once she just wanted to be honest with her feelings and with her past, but she couldn't do that, if she couldn't speak freely in fear of the people around her hearing something they weren't supposed to.

"Just… I need to ask you not to try and act in my defense." because she knew A2 would, if someone got aggressive, or worse.

She could end up being hurt because of her.

"You know well you can't ask that from me."

All Robin did was to give a small bitter laugh. "It was worth the try."

Of course A2 wouldn't listen, not when it came to protecting her, but then again, wouldn't she do the same thing?

Without more words spoken, she took her belongings, her bag that was brought from her home planet, and headed outside. Making a small reminder to ask White why she would allow her to keep her stuff around, when she knew well it could have resulted in unwanted curiosity.

Well it did once, she would never forget that first mission she was given, and once again it all came around killing 9S.

She sighed, all of this was so tiring.

With the corner of her eye she could spot White near Anemone, 2B not much further away, watching their former Commander with wary eyes, 9S sat at her side, a screen before him, ready to display any data found that would be used as proof.

On the other side of the camp near the exit there were the two Operators, she had requested the presence of Pascal and Emil as well, and they were waiting for them. They too shouldn't be left in the dark.

The twins instead just quietly waited in their tent, not wanting to mingle with so many people at once, still afraid of some kind of hostility thrown at them. It hadn't happened again since Anemone threatened to take measures when the Resistance didn't want Devola to reunite with her sister, but it didn't mean it couldn't still happen.

But today perhaps it wouldn't be directed at them.

For this very reason, and for the way the people of the Resistance acted towards the twins, Robin was expecting something bad to happen. She hoped not to be right, but she was never one to think positive.

As soon as the last guests arrived, Robin took her place besides Anemone and White, feeling all those eyes pointed towards them. But it was too late to back out now.

As decided, the Resistance Leader would speak first.

With a deep breath, she began talking.

"People of the Resistance, and fellow allies, today we have called you to share some news about our beloved humans." the we was referred to both White and Robin, since they were there to speak about the same matter, though Anemone felt even more tense at the prospect of what they would say.

Especially regarding the one she now knew had been a human.

A chorus of questions about if the humans would be returning soon elevated from the crowd, and with the corner of her eye, Robin could see the others awkwardly staring at her and looking between each other, knowing well what the truth was.

"The humans of the moon… won't be coming back to Earth."

The people around them asked themselves why, and if said humans hated them for taking so long in solving the war. Anemone gave White a look, urging her to speak up.

"The humans of the moon are dead." Robin didn't know how White managed to speak in such a cold and flat tone, and she knew how to do so as well, but in this situation? She didn't know if she could have kept the emotionless facade for long.

Why? And how? Were the most concerning questions they heard, once again leaving the androids to wonder if that happened because the war took so long to be over.

"Humanity was long dead, even before any of you had been created." The Commander's eyes wandered over to the twins' ones for a moment, knowing their faces and names well even if they had yet to introduce each other, the records YoRHa had on them already made them famous enough.

"So then what was our purpose here?" someone asked.

"Did we fight for nothing?"

White sighed, long and heavy. "We are unsure as to why someone would perpetuate this lie for this long. We, I, as Commander of the YoRHa forces am equally guilty of this crime."

Robin didn't fail to notice how White seemed to want to put the blame on herself, rather than putting the burden on the entire group of androids. Perhaps she did feel guilty after all.

"Upon the loss of morale in the android forces for not being able to solve this long standing war, as such, the Council of Humanity deemed the creation of Project YoRHa. We were designed to keep your forces fighting." White looked over to her ex soldiers. "For this reason they pre-planned our obsolescence to eventually make space for new generations of androids."

Her eyes wandered to A2 and 9S. "However the unexpected survival, and amount of strength and willpower of the few units remaining, has granted us an end to this war."

And they knew the Resistance was beyond grateful for them for it, but now, what meaning did the end of this all could have without humans?

"A war we fought, without our masters, both us androids and machines alike. Upon our research, YoRHa discovered that the alien forces that created who once was our enemy, the machines, were also long deceased too."

"Both factions fought a war without any reason to, obeying orders of their long dead creators, because none of us knew any better. We are all made to be weapons at the service of someone else, after all." Anemone spoke, knowing well neither androids nor machines were anything different than weapons with a purpose.

A useless purpose.

And the people of the Resistance shared that thought, even if during these 200 years they lived, they had found their own reasons for fighting. At least her old group did, and what they tried to do was to attempt to teach that to Number 2's group of friends.

She briefly wondered what they would say or do if they were here, hearing these words.

"We are unsure why the people of the council wished for us to keep fighting this war, I myself I'm unaware of this fact, and as clueless as everyone else. We can only make our own hypothesis." White put a hand to her chest, once again referring to herself, as the person in charge.

"So then the humans are all dead, and what are we still doing here?"

That was a good question, but there was something not correct in the statement.

"You said that all humans are dead, however, that is not entirely correct." White spared a brief glance to Robin, who nodded in return.

Ready or not she had to share the tale soon enough.

"We only stated that the humans that were on Earth, that had supposedly been living on the moon are dead, and that is true. However, humanity itself isn't entirely gone." green eyes allowed themselves a look at the sky. "There's a planet out there, close to Earth, that orbits around the same sun, and the same moon."

Sounds of incredulity and surprise came, but unlike them, Resistance androids had never been in space, on the Bunker, so they couldn't see the wonder that her home planet was. They didn't know it existed beyond the stars, exactly how the humans of her home, including her, had no idea the planet Earth was a thing either.

"So humans are still alive there? Why aren't they coming back?"

"Did they forget about us?"

"The humans of that planet are just as clueless as you are about the existence of each other's planet." Robin admitted, thinking that now it was her time to speak up. "The technology of that place is different from the one on Earth, less advanced, for the most part."

After all, there weren't many of the comforts that the humans on this planet had, as far as she read, and from the data provided from YoRHa. Hadn't she had that information installed in her now artificial brain, she would have never known half of the things of the Bunker, much less how to use them and how they worked.

"How would you know that?" the question was spoken with a rather aggressive tone. Clearly some of the androids were annoyed, and impatient.

This kind of information was hard to digest for anyone.

"We mentioned our planned obsolescence, the council had already begun experimenting with the creation of the new models. Us androids have human feelings and behavior as foundation, and upon discovering that actual humans still live, blissful and ignorant, they thought they could manipulate that fact." White's hands clenched at her sides.

Even if they weren't from Earth, those people were still humans, how could the androids of the council think to do whatever they wanted with them, just because they simply ignored their existence? Weren't they supposed to have respect too?

"I am unsure as to how many specimens were made, if they're alive, if they're not, but there is one single specimen within us YoRHa types, that I personally had a hand in creating."

At the reveal the people of the Resistance looked over to the YoRHas present in the camp, trying to figure out who it could be, and if this person was between them too.

"This person is a woman, her name, you may have already heard it, is Nico Robin. And she's right next to me."

There was no need for White to gesture towards her, though she did anyway. Her name had been spoken many, many times around the camp, since A2 walked in the camp for the first time in years. She had never, ever, used her YoRHa name.

Again, surprise elevated from the crowd, from the corner in their tent, she could spot Devola and Popola looking at her, their eyes shining with tears. Right, they had been here when humanity died, and apparently they had a hand in it too, or the others of their models did.

Who knew what they thought of her now?

"I always thought you were different." she heard Devola whisper, and Robin was curious to know why she thought that way.

However, it wasn't what she wanted to know at the moment, actually, as she looked over to the people of the Resistance, she could see awe and admiration, and it was just the reaction she feared.

She didn't want any of this, she was not the kind of human they believed she was!

"A human is between us!"

Every little thing, every single word of praise just felt… wrong…

The people of the Resistance crowded around her, a chaos of voices mixed together, but all she heard was her black box thumping hard in her chest.

As soon as the first hand reached out to touch her, something snapped.

"Stop this!" she yelled, the androids around her recoiling at the reaction, stepping away from her, finally giving her space to breathe.

"I don't want to be treated like some kind of goddess or savior, and neither as some superior being. I am not… the kind of human you think I am."

This was the best time to tell who she truly was, now that their attention was fully turned on herself only, and no one else.

"Humans are far from the perfect kind of beings you think they are, they're selfish, and most of them just think for their own self, others are perfectly capable of evil things too, that would go as far as to kill their own similars."

These androids, and their dedications for humans, it was not correct to deceive them any longer. Humans were not gods to be worshiped, far from that actually.

But their greed and their giant ego allowed them to create people like these that believed in such lies. This ended today, with whatever result it would bring on her, but they were here to open their eyes and tell the truth, all of it, so no one may have to be fooled again.

"I was… an evil person. I was a pirate, I stole things, I killed people, I did many deplorable things, and my role within YoRHa was little different. I ended the lives of many people, and I do not deserve nor want your praise."

Never did and never will.

"I was a wanted criminal, my head was worth 79 millions, one of the highest bounties in the part of the world I was born in." little others in the West Blue surpassed her, the rest were nameless pirates she used for her own gain.

"Now you know, so I ask you, here and now, to cast your judgment. Whatever it will be, I won't oppose it."

The group around her scattered around murmuring to each other, debating whether to believe her or not, between who still refused to treat her in a negative manner, and who instead wanted her head. Nothing truly new.

She closed her eyes, not wanting to see the reaction of the people who stood at her side by now, she was sure they wouldn't approve of this choice, they had long forgiven her, but the androids of the Resistance were different.

A2's hands were long clenched at her sides, her lips in a snarl and eyes glaring daggers. Why in the damn hell did Robin still think she deserved this treatment? Why did she think she still deserved to be hated, and to pay for it? Hadn't they done enough of a good job in reassuring her she was worth the life she had, no matter what her past had been?

She never cared to point fingers for the way any of them acted, she'd always been nice and understanding, so then why couldn't she accept that she was worth the same? That she deserved to be loved?

A glance to her fellow YoRHa, told her that they shared the same feelings as her, all of them displaying anger in different measures. The twins looked worried, they loved Robin, she was their savior, and didn't want any harm to come to her.

Her eyes then met Anemone's, who seemed equally distressed as anyone else that had cared for the human. Oddly enough even White seemed to have somewhat of a conflicted expression on her face, not that A2 cared what she thought right now, it was her fault Robin was here.

While Pascal's and Emil's expressions were completely unreadable, but, A2 was sure they must not be pleased to see a friend this way, they were still good people too, she was sure they understood.

When the first click of a gun being cocked was heard, she just needed to spare a glance to her sister, to know they needed to act now.

Using their speed of YoRHa combat units, they placed themselves with A2 in front and 2B covering the back, holding their arms out, the gesture reminding Anemone to what she and Number 2 met, when she put herself in front of her companion before Number 16 could shoot Dahlia.

She hadn't changed much these years, and 2B was just as similar.

With the corner of her eye, she could see the others inching closer too, willing to protect Robin like they did. Unconsciously, Anemone herself took a step forward too.

"Wait!" she implored the people around them.

"A2 I told you not to…"

"Shut up!" she hissed back at Robin. "You said you wanted them to know the truth, so then why aren't you saying all of it?"

"People of the Resistance please listen, what she said is not the entire story, yes, she's a former criminal, that is true, but she hasn't become one by choice." she could see the people that drew their weapons stagger as she spoke.

"What she said about humans being cruel and killing their similars is also the truth, but she hasn't said that she had fallen victim of said cruelty herself too." A2 allowed herself a small grin, hearing 2B backing her up on this.

"The humans of her planet that are part of the government as the guilty ones, they took Robin's homeland and destroyed it for their own gain, that day there were no survivors but one, an eight years old child whose world had been destroyed, and on whose head those ones of the government put that horrible bounty." she gestured to the brown bag Robin left on Anemone's desk.

"There's a poster in there, if you don't believe it."

Wanting to be of help, Anemone herself opened the bag, taking the item in question, showing everyone that on it, there was indeed the face of a child, and not an adult, so very similar to the woman standing in the middle of them all right now, with the same name, and same peculiar eyes.

"You're all survivors of war, aren't you? So then what makes you different? We are all survivors no? We should understand each other, not harm one another, we would be no better than those people that ruined the life of a child, we would be no better than those people that created all of us, and had us fight for centuries."

Just as she hoped, the androids, ashamed of themselves, started putting away their guns once more. After all, weren't they all the same? Wasn't it what Robin taught her? That in the end it didn't matter who or what someone was, they were all similar to each other.

Humans, androids, machines, none of it mattered anymore. It never did.

"Just because our foundation is human behavior, we don't need to act exactly like them." Anemone finally gathered the courage to step forward. "Violence will resort to nothing, if not prove that we can be just as evil."

"We are capable of forgiveness, do not forget that. And here and now, the past of a person that has been nothing else but a valuable ally to us shouldn't matter."

After what seemed an eternally long moment, the crowd began to dissipate, many of them returning to their previous places, others blatantly leaving the camp all together. It would take time to settle.

Both A2 and 2B moved away from shielding Robin, but still keeping close to her, as the rest of their friends hurried over, including the twins, and even Pascal and Emil, as his head rolled over to their feet.

However…

A shot rang loud and clear in their direction, now that Robin was uncovered.

The next few seconds passed in a blur, there was a yelp and someone falling, while on the side of the camp Anemone stood over another figure, the man had a dent in his face made from none other than the Resistance Leader's fist, his still smoking gun fallen at few inches away.

"A2!" came Robin's distressed cry, as she took the body of the fallen woman in her arms. The twins were already fussing over to aid her, as the others moved in a circle around them for protection.

The shot had pierced her abdomen, she had stepped in to take the bullet in Robin's place…

"You damn fool…" A2 held a hand to her abdomen, Robin placing one of her own on top of it. "Why did you do it?"

"I couldn't let anyone hurt you…" the rogue spoke, her voice strained.

"What do you have to say!?" they heard Anemone scream from where she was, still with the person that shot Number 2. "What's the reason for this?" she asked, her mouth twisted in a snarl.

The man just simply gave a laugh. "A reason? Do you want a reason? I just bloody hate humans, they don't care about us, and neither does she."

The whole thing caused quite the commotion, so much that the rest of the camp hurried over once again.

"You are… a real idiot…" came A2's response, as she struggled to sit up, while the twins tried to hold her down. "Casting judgment when you know nothing… of her…"

"She taught me a lot… taught me to see that the world is not all black and white… that even despite our differences… people can learn to work together…"

"She taught me to be honest with my emotions, and prevented me from becoming a cruel person." 2B nodded down at A2, following her example.

"She taught me that curiosity is not a sin, and that we must always stand for our goals, even if it means facing death." after all, wasn't it why he, 9S, and all his other instances died all those times? Wasn't it why her home was destroyed?

"She gave me strength to become stronger for the people I loved. It isn't right of me to think so, but as her guide and Operator she's as precious to me as she was my own child." 21O spoke, holding a hand to her chest. It wasn't correct to call herself her mother, but that was how she felt, and nothing would change it.

"She's kind and thoughtful with the people around her, even if she sometimes hides her emotions. Just because someone doesn't show it, it doesn't mean they're uncaring." it was all just a matter of personal experiences, and personality, 6O knew it, being 2B's Operator.

"She's treated us with respect, and never looked down on us once, she should hate us, being a human, yet she's only been gentle." Devola joined the chorus of voices, speaking up for the both of them, knowing Popola felt just the same. "We're in debt with her for life."

"She aided us, even though we were enemies, she died trying to save us when she could have walked the other way and kept living." Pascal remembered well that day when the village was destroyed, and how much it hurt to see A2 walk to the refuge he found alone, when she lost her partner.

A sacrifice he still hated to think about for how much pain it brought upon the people that just wanted to help them. And for nothing.

"She doesn't mind if we're different, because she's a good person." Emil hadn't known her for long, but somehow her story resonated with him too well.

"She's not responsible for the sins she committed, and if you're so much willing to pin the blame of all the people she killed here, then I'm the one to blame, as Commander I gave the orders, she'd just been an excellent soldier and nothing else. Their blood is on my hands, not hers." they didn't expect White to try and defend her as well, A2 didn't.

Was she finally going to admit her crimes?

"She's always been a friend and an ally. The woman that was my captain before, loved to refer to us as a family, and now we have a new one, Number 2 and I, and that includes her. If someone is contrary, then you may as well leave right now and never come back."

Family…

She was part of their family…

What she had desired for twenty long years…

A bloodied hand came to rest on her cheek.

"Robin…" A2's voice was just a whisper, yet she was smiling. "You're crying…"

Crying? How… she hadn't even noticed…

How long had it been since she felt tears running down her face? The answer was way too long.

"I…"

No words came out, as she was enveloped in a tight hug, A2 held her arms around her as tight as she could manage, she could feel other arms holding her too.

"Just let it out… you've been holding that inside for too long…" A2 whispered in her ear, still not letting go, and if possible, holding her even closer, with little care for her wounds.

Not willing to fight back anymore, she did just what A2 said, letting twenty years of tears flow freely from her eyes, crying and sobbing into her lover's shoulder like her life depended on it. She could hear some of the others, her friends, and family, biting back tears of their own, some losing the battle.

It didn't matter how they looked in the face of these other androids around them, this was a moment for them.

And… for the first time in her life, Robin truly felt loved and wanted.

She was happy beyond reason.

The group stayed like that for however long it took for her to express twenty years of repressed feelings, so the twins may finally be able to properly look at A2's wounds, now that everything was solved.

But something was still missing.

As Robin's mismatched eyes scanned the camp, she noticed something…

White was gone…