The impact with the ground was not the most pleasant thing, as Robin's legs sparked with electricity, sending ripples of pain all over her body, as she absorbed the combined weight of herself and A2 both, coming down from a height she was not built to handle.
But to hell if she let A2 get hurt further. She too would have not been able to avoid damage from the fall, and one of her legs was already in bad shape.
Pod 007 would have been useless too, it was built to handle only her own weight and only to glide a little, both of them would have been too much.
No, she had made the right choice.
Strangely A2 didn't complain about being held, perhaps knowing well the situation called for it, but her eyes did not betray her feelings of worry.
"I'm fine. Let's leave before they decide to chase us." she said, ignoring the momentary numb pain of her legs as she darted through the bushes towards their hideout. She could assess the damage and rest after, when they would be safe.
She didn't slow her pace until the commercial facility was in plain view, and only when 007 confirmed the signals of 2E and 9S were out of range that she relaxed a little.
It was then that A2 decided to speak up.
"I can walk you know?" she asked, a little on the awkward side, she never had anyone carrying her like this before, and wasn't sure how to react.
Besides she was still an independent android, though she had to admit, this did not feel all that unpleasant. Robin's grip on her back and on her legs was steady and secure, it made A2 feel safe.
"I know, but I'd rather you not force yourself too hard." besides A2 hardly weighed anything, made Robin wonder why, but looking at her state of disrepair it was kind of easy to have an answer.
A2 must have lost a part of her components over the years.
The white haired android didn't press further, but Robin felt her relax a bit more against her chest as she walked. She felt herself smile seeing that A2 trusted her enough to do this, and she didn't mind one bit.
Once again in their safe space, Robin laid A2 down on the ragged couch, inspecting the damage of her leg.
As far as she could tell, the skin was torn open from her thigh to her knee, there were holes and cracks in the metal beneath it, but it didn't look like anything beyond had received any damage.
Which meant that either A2 got really lucky, or that 2E was slacking off on her duty for some reason, and that said fight hadn't been entirely serious.
Well, no point to dwell now, what was done was done, there was no going back.
With a generous dose of stanching gel the wound should close, maybe she could add some bandages to keep everything steady, just for precaution.
As she went to look for their supplies, she heard A2 talk again.
"You didn't have to do all that for me." after all, what worth was an old and murderous android?
Had she forced Robin to betray YoRHa? To leave the people that cared for her, by telling her backstory? Because she had pity? Because she knew she was in trouble somehow? That they were coming after her?
"A2, I didn't do anything I didn't want to do." she stated.
"If you believe you somehow tricked me into leaving then let me tell you you're wrong. Though I suspect this will be the words White will use to convince her soldiers."
"Why save me then?" A2 frowned.
"Because I thought it was the right thing. White didn't have the right to sacrifice you before, and surely she does not have the right now." she explained. "I am done with people that have to suffer because of the actions of others, A2. I hate the World Government and the Navy for what they did to my island, and then had the guts to blame it on the people who died, and myself, to justify themselves. This is exactly what White is doing with you too, and I am so tired of protecting her."
Well, that made a lot of sense, now that A2 thought about it. They truly were two mirrors after all.
"I am glad you trusted me enough to tell me your story, but don't believe it had been the only reason I left, okay? I had been thinking about it for a long time, hearing your words helped me finally make a final decision that I am ashamed to not have made sooner."
Finding what she needed, she approached the other android again, crouching down before her.
"White has done things to androids I care about, and even me, for far too long. I have been a fool to believe her, but I was scared and confused in a place I didn't know, so I did what I do best, adapt. In time, I got too complacent with having finally somewhere to stay, and someone that cared for me that I just didn't want to let go. I eluded myself with this false sense of happiness, I cared for the people around me, but I was never truly happy, because in the end, all I was doing was just hurting them all." she shook her head.
"Meeting you reminded me that I was a different person, A2, I am a pirate, and pirates live free. You gave me the way to seek my freedom back."
All A2 could say was…
"I can't make you happy." she had disappointed too many people before, she did not want to disappoint her too.
"Let me decide that." mismatched eyes stared into blue ones, a look of determination in them.
"A reject like me doesn't deserve love."
"We're both rejects, A2. It is what allowed us to bond, and I refuse to see someone become another me." alone, unloved, afraid of the world around her, framed, wanted, furious and vengeful.
It was not a life she would wish to anyone. Like her, A2 didn't choose to be in this situation, she ended up being into it because she too had been only guilty of surviving a tragedy she wasn't meant to.
There would not be another Nico Robin in A2. She refused to let her be so lonely if she could help it.
"You're too late."
Stubborn as ever, Robin shook her head again. "I don't think so."
Not until they both kept living.
Taking off her gloves, she poured the gel on A2's wound, she went silent again, and Robin let her think. She was sure this situation was quite overwhelming for her still, and her betrayal on YoRHa only added more thoughts in the mix.
But it was true that A2's story helped in finalizing a thought she had for a while, or from the beginning she should say, but again, with time she allowed the comfort of having a room, and people that appreciated her and it got the best of her. That was, until she met her mirror match, A2.
She began having doubts again, and then, White decided that she could be confident enough to use and abuse a human she was supposed to protect and admire, without any consequence.
A2's story on her first and only mission only dealt the final blow on the chains that were put on her, and the situation of before at the castle, had been the perfect way to make her move, to break the hold once and for all.
As much as she was attached to her Executioner students, the person she regretted leaving the most was 21O.
She couldn't imagine how hard it would be on the blonde android that literally took her hand and guided her in this journey to accept. The whole situation with 9S caused her enough distress, but hopefully with time she would understand.
Or she would become yet one more person that hated her on the list, and Robin wouldn't blame her for it.
"What are you doing?" A2 asked her when she had started tearing away the sleeves of her dress.
"We don't have any bandages I'm afraid, these will have to do."
A2 didn't look too happy that she had ruined her vest for her, but she let her use the cloth to wrap her wound and secure it.
"It's okay, really. This is not a problem, besides, androids don't feel cold, no?" the saying got a tiny smile out of the white haired woman, that was good enough.
"What about your own legs though?" Robin looked down at where A2 was pointing, only noticing now that her tights were full of holes, probably from climbing the castle.
"I don't think the damage was as bad as yours, doesn't look like anything my own nanobots can't solve with a bit of rest." there was just a bit of numbness left, but nothing else.
"I may have to get rid of another part of my uniform though. What a shame." she said the last words in a mocking way, not really caring to need or wear YoRHa clothing, now that she didn't belong with them anymore.
They would do for now, but she could get something different she would have. Would help with not being recognized too.
A2 could use some clothing herself as well. Giving her a lecture for two sleeves when she was sitting here pretty much naked. She was lucky the black plating looked like clothing and covered what was truly important.
"And this?" she looked at the piece of cloth that A2 was dangling in front of her eyes. The blindfold.
"I think it may still be useful in case of an emergency." she took it in her hand, but instead of wrapping it around her head and over her eyes, she wrapped it on her neck like a tiny scarf.
A2 raised an eyebrow at her, confused at the action. "Well, you did tell me not to cover my eyes anymore."
"That I did. Never seen any like yours either." not that she had seen too many, given that YoRHa androids always had their own eyes covered, but the little she saw only looked like the standard blue she too had.
Though her own had started to become a little gray from the weariness of time.
"You saw my mother's poster, and mine, we had the same ones. White didn't like my left eye though, she wanted me to have both eyes blue at one point, I refused of course." her brown eye would not be replaced by any other color. "Some kind of safety protocol if anyone ever came to see my eyes, besides 21O."
"Sounds like White." A2 nodded. "You mentioned this Number 21 before, who is she?"
Couldn't be the Number 21 she knew, as much as A2 wished she would. But maybe not everything of her had been lost with her death.
Also she didn't know what O types consisted of, and what was their role.
"She is my Operator, mine and 9S'. Well, it would be more correct to say she was my own one. Anyways she is the person that guided me on my missions, and more than that in my case, I'd be lost if it wasn't for her help and guidance." A2 watched Robin's sad yet fond smile when she talked about the woman.
She must have been truly important to her.
A2 tried to ignore the gnawing guilt in her chest that it was knowing she had separated the two. She wouldn't accept Robin's words when she said it hadn't been because of her she left, she knew she had a part in it, and she was responsible for it.
"She's the only other person besides White, and now you, that knows of my former human identity. But you're the only one that knows my story, 21O knows it wasn't pleasant, and White plainly ignores it."
"She sounds like a good person. Like… Number 21, the Scanner I knew." feeling there was more, Robin stayed silent.
"Number 21 was very serious, but she was very motherly and kind, she always knew what to do. Having someone as smart as her brought comfort to us."
"Sounds like not all of her was lost." Robin gave it a small smile.
"For what it's worth, I am glad she ended up watching over a person like you."
Robin frowned. "I have no credit for this."
"What I mean is… you're a kind person, despite everything that has been done wrong to you in your life, this and your previous, you still saved and wish to help a good for nothing like me. I don't know how someone can still be good, even when they have received so much cruelty."
Robin placed her hand on top of A2's one, her real hand not covered from any glove this time.
"I don't know myself how it happens, but A2, don't underestimate yourself. There is good in you too."
"The old Number 2 is dead, Robin." but she was having none of it.
"Buried deep within you, but definitely not gone."
"How can you say that?" confused and defiant, A2 almost yelled that question.
There was nothing of her old self anymore, she was just an android that knew nothing else but to kill and hurt, there was no love left in her.
"Because you've forgiven me. You have decided to place your trust in this unknown Executioner that has tried to kill you like many others before, you believed my words, you followed me here when I could have lured you in a trap, and… you never doubted my humanity… even when I didn't believe in it anymore."
She had resigned in accepting she was fully a YoRHa, and at some point, she even wanted to forget her previous life existed, had White not deemed her knowledge too important to be sacrificed.
Knowledge in killing of course.
"My hands have a lot of blood on them, I told you and you've still taken my defenses, no one has ever done that, and I thank you for it." she sighed. "Humans are cruel and judgemental, they won't see beyond that piece of paper that is my wanted poster, you were better than them. That is why I don't want you to sell yourself short."
"I can't allow myself to judge who has killed for self defense, my hands also have murdered a lot of YoRHas of your type, I despise Executioners, but from the moment our swords met, I felt there was something different. You treated me with respect in that fight, and… I think that deep down I knew you were something else entirely, there was a sort of attraction and curiosity towards you that just wasn't there with anyone else of your type." maybe it had been her programming acting up, maybe it was trying to tell her all along.
She too was tied to love humans, but she couldn't understand why she'd have these feelings towards an android until she'd been told the truth, then it all made sense.
Still, she wouldn't let that cloud her judgment, though it had guided her choices at the beginning. She wouldn't admit that she'd been glad it brought the truth out, but she wouldn't go any further than to call Robin a potential ally, and nothing more.
Though a part of her longed to want her as a friend, she'd been alone for so long…
She didn't know what the other woman's feelings towards her were though, though she hoped they were positive, she didn't want to overstep her boundaries.
Just in case someone ended up getting hurt.
But she still had to ask…
"Are we some sort of allies then?" she whispered, feeling shy in asking such a thing, but Robin only smiled at her.
"Only if you'll have me, the choice is yours." it felt wrong to intrude in A2's life and purpose still, and she already did too much.
"I work alone, but…" Robin had left the choice to her, and she didn't want to disappoint. "I think I can make an exception if it's you."
The black haired former human had already helped her out twice already, and had given her a safe place, she had proven herself to be strong and reliable. And unlike the humans she mentioned, she was not judgemental.
A2 felt like she'd be safer with her around.
"Then, wherever you will go I will follow."
Robin smiled, glad that A2 didn't send her away after what she had given her, wanting nothing in return, and she never will ask, but she wouldn't have blamed her if she wanted to stay by herself.
She did have a habit of putting her nose into things she wasn't supposed to after all.
She guessed they were allies now, though… A2 did not know there was a person she could call a friend still.
"A2, you have an ally in me, but there is a friend of yours out there that I am sure would love to see you again."
A2 just frowned at her. "My friends are gone."
"No. Not all of them." she shook her head. "The Resistance Leader of this area sends her regards. It's Anemone."
The white haired android took her by the shoulders, a look of total disbelief on her face, but also of hope. "You're kidding, right?"
"I wouldn't lie to you about this. After you mentioned her I wanted to know if she was the same person, so I talked to her, she confirmed it."
A2 let her hands drop at her side. "Anemone… she's survived too…"
Then…
"Does she know?"
Robin nodded. "You two both thought were the only ones that survived, I just wanted to give you a bit of hope."
A2 almost didn't believe it, she was not alone, she was not the only one that remembered all of their fallen friends, Anemone shared her memories too. She had never found out what happened after she and Number 21 separated themselves from the rest, and just assumed she too had perished in the explosion when Number 4 sacrificed herself.
And here once again Robin had exposed herself for her sake so she would know, only to make her happy.
Out of pure emotion, she wrapped her arms around the other woman, falling down from the couch and into her lap. "Thank you…" she whispered against her shoulder.
"It was the least I could do."
Poor lonely thing she was, Robin thought as she held A2. She didn't quite expect this reaction, not that she'd actually reach out to her like this, she seemed shy on receiving contact from others, actual friendly contact. Though Robin assumed it was out of self defense, she too did the same thing.
This must have been big for her, and she was glad A2 trusted her this way.
"It's been a long day, you should rest." she felt A2 nod against her shoulder, but she didn't move, so Robin took her and carried her over to her cot. The other woman let her do so, but as soon as she tried to leave A2 took her arm.
"You need rest too."
And from the look she was being given, it didn't look like A2 was taking any other answer but watching her head to her own mattress and wait until she fell asleep.
"Fine, fine, you win." she said, a smile on her lips.
Robin hadn't been wrong about A2 though, there was affection and care for others in that woman, it was just buried under a lot of hate, because she'd been hurt so much and for so long.
Much like her own self, but if she could be kind then A2 could too, she just had to believe.
She didn't know if she made the right choice to leave YoRHa for her yet, but something told her she did.
Only time would tell though.