0 saw the disbelief in their eyes. It wasn't surprising to her. 5 told her they would react this way. She held the talisman close to her chest. She could see them all. They stood next to the four stitchpunks. She saw 8 smiling, something she'd only seen once on his face before. 5 and 6 stood near 3 and 4. And 1 was right next to her. He placed his hand on her shoulder and nodded at her.

2 was nowhere to be found. He never had been. His soul was lost forever to the world for some reason that was beyond 0's understanding.

With her free hand, 0 clutched the necklace made of bone. She often forgot it was there, protecting her.

"You're going to have to explain." 7 finally said.

"When the war was new," she began, "I thought my mission was to help the orphans get out and as far away from the war as possible. But each time I tried to escape with them something would happen. A bomb would explode near the child I rode or a stray bullet would knock me off.

"Each and every time I couldn't escape. Finally I started to tell them to get away, not to Haven because it was no longer safe but to go and explore and find a new Haven. Repopulate the earth. Save the human race." She paused to let it sink in and studied their faces.

Her eyes rested on 9, who watched the talisman in fear. "Then one day I found this on a dead Cat Beast. When I took it I saw and heard things nobody else had before. There was a voice inside and sometimes it would take form of the spirits trapped inside."

0 held the talisman up to the light. "The voice was a compilation of the spirits inside. They had one voice because they had one goal, to escape. It became cracked when a bullet hit the mirror and all the voices became lost and disoriented.

"I took it to the Scientist in hopes that he would fix it. Then he came. The man responsible for the destruction of everything. He wanted to execute the Scientist. He blamed the man who created you! I wasn't going to let that happen. And then it spoke to me again and asked if I wanted to purge the evil away and I said yes. It sucked away part of the Chancellor's soul leaving only a cowardly man who regretted his decision. The Scientist took it away from me and I never saw it again."

Almost immediately 9 asked, "Then how did you know it was here?"

"Somehow the spirit of 1, 5, 6, and 8 got trapped inside. They told me where to find it. I needed you four because I couldn't get out alone. I'm not all that good at fighting and I knew I needed help. I knew you guys wouldn't believe me if I told you I was going to raise your friends back."

"If you knew they were dead why did you ask us then?" 7 asked this time, keeping the Twins behind her.

"I needed to be sure. I am really sorry for deceiving you."

They looked like they pitied her. Why should they? 0 didn't understand.

9 approached slowly as if he were afraid that if he moved any faster she would run off. "You can't bring them back." He chose his words carefully.

"Y-Yeah I can. 1 said…" She looked at the cracked mirror of the talisman.

7 approached with the Twins when she realized 0 wasn't a threat. She had a motherly aura around her when she put her hand on 0's shoulder. "You can't, 0. They're dead. Their souls need to rest."

0 couldn't believe what she was hearing. Slowly the spirits disappeared. She stared up at 7.

"0, their souls should have peace. Please, allow them at least that. They can never come back."

Her body started to shake. When her legs gave out 3 and 4 caught her and set her down to sit slowly.

"But I…my mission…"

"Your mission was a success." 7 finished for her.

It wasn't a success, though. Her mission was to raise their friends back. She looked down at her feet. She wanted to cry. Arms wrapped around her in a tight and comforting embrace of 3 and 4.

She whispered, "Who will protect us? Who will inspire us? Who will guide us? Who will lead us? Who will guard us?" They were roles she set up for them in the beginning. She would whisper it every night to the lonely shell of 1 and whispered it still for as long as she was a stitchpunk.

"We will," 7 said but she didn't understand. Nobody understood.