It was dark, darker than ever, all black around her, a void, absolute nothingness…
Then… a voice…
A cry.
"Is someone there?" she called out, her own words echoing in the empty space.
Again that same sound and then another, different… a different voice…
A laugh.
Not receiving an answer, she tried to walk towards the source of those sounds, wherever it led, because she couldn't see anything still. And it unnerved, and annoyed her to no end.
So she walked, then ran in one direction, long white hair whipping behind her.
Until she saw her, kneeled in the middle of all this darkness.
"Robin!" she called out.
But the woman didn't move one bit, hadn't she heard her?
She took a step forward, one carbon plated hand extended towards her, but as soon as her fingers brushed her hair there was the rattling of a chain, and only now she realized Robin had a collar around her neck.
Something pulled the human away, making her stumble and fall with a yelp.
And again, that laugh.
As the darkness dissipated around them she saw them all…
They were all just like Robin, held down by heavy chains, treated like puppets.
2B, 9S, the two Operators she'd come to know recently, even Anemone and the two twins.
Behind them there were dancing shadows, still chained the same way, of other people she used to know.
Of her comrades, and Anemone's ones too.
Number 4, Number 16, Number 21, Rose and the others…
And in the middle, one singular figure with blond hair dressed in white, with a wicked grin on her face.
"White!"
She rushed at her, lunging with her hands, trying to grab her neck and strangle the woman that once was her Commander,and yet, the more she tried, the more she found herself in the same place.
And again, that damn laugh… it was White making it!
She was making fun of her!
"Do you like it, Number 2?" White motioned at the array of bodies, people, around her.
None of them moved, chained down like marionettes…
"Your family is not yours, Number 2." with a hand, White reached for the chain holding Robin, limply dragging her, she stared ahead, different colored eyes staring blankly.
"She's mine." White grinned, holding Robin's chin with one hand, holding her face near the other woman's. "They're mine, all mine."
As if hypnotized, all the figures moved and settled around White, even her long deceased friends.
"You've never had anything. You're all alone."
A2 woke up with a start, it had been quite a while since she had nightmares… Goddamn White and her bloody face.
She was in her and Robin's room, blue eyes laying on the woman's sleeping form beneath her. Black hair sprawled on the pillow, eyes closed and lips slightly parted, she looked peaceful at least.
One of the woman's hands was still draped around her waist she noticed, the other loosely hanging off on her torso now that A2 moved away it was no longer holding her.
But as if Robin knew, even if asleep, she hadn't let go of her.
A2 let her head fall back on the woman's chest, listening to the hum of her black box, using her free hand to drape the covers back on top of them properly.
Robin's presence always had a calming effect on her, driving the nightmares away, for the most part, but even when she woke up scared and distressed, she was always here, every time.
Asleep or not, she didn't let go, she didn't stop being that grounding presence that had become a constant in her life by now.
A2 draped her arms around Robin, pausing only to leave a gentle caress to her cheek.
"I won't lose you to a liar…"
Not her, not anyone else. She had come so far to find another resemblance of family, after Rose and the others died, that wouldn't be just her and Anemone.
She swore not to let anyone take them away from her, not White and not any other enemy that may come their way.
Never again.
The next day arrived quicker than they would have wanted, but today, it was time to finally wake up White from her sleep. She rested too long already.
So here they were, with Robin holding White's body, taking it to the twin's room, they offered them to borrow the place as it was the furthest away from the camp, where no one would disturb or question what they would be doing.
But still the human had something to take off her chest first, something that hadn't been bothering her until this very time arrived.
Despite the time spent together, there was still something of her no one had yet seen.
And she knew it wasn't a pretty sight.
"I must warn you, depending on White herself, I may or may not be forced to resort to… more than unpleasant tactics."
Torture, she meant torture methods.
She wasn't willing to go that far but part of her did want to get White back for that one time in the Commander's room…
"But you won't be hurting her, right?" she knew 6O would say that.
During the past few days, 21O kept her word and made the other Operator aware of the things that had happened, though she hadn't shared the whole story with her, now 6O too knew the origins of Robin's name, and where she came from, so she understood that this was important.
Yet her fondness for White still persisted. Or perhaps she wasn't fond of violence.
Robin wasn't either, but it was what her life, actually both of her lives, came to revolve around. Sometimes she was still afraid to hurt someone without meaning to, so much it had become second nature.
She was so thankful for A2's presence for keeping her grounded to reality.
"This depends on her." she just replied, and yes, truly it was all up to White, and whether or not she would collaborate with them. And besides, their Pods could tell if she was attempting to lie too.
"You're not forced to see, you can stay outside with A2." actually it would have been best if no one saw that side of her at all, and she really hoped the former Commander would not bring that part of her to see light.
She was not particularly fond of it.
"Actually… I will join you." Robin frowned at A2's words, she thought she didn't want to be around White at all.
"I thought you didn't want to see her." Anemone voiced the same thought she had.
"I did, but I want to make sure she won't be fooling anyone with her lies any longer." A2's eyes held an intense glare, and Robin couldn't help but think there was something more behind this sudden change.
But she didn't ask, A2 was free to do what she wanted, she never meant to put any limits on her before, and surely she was not going to do so in this situation, so she just nodded.
"9S, I need you to aid me with a bit of hacking magic if she won't cooperate, to get the information out."
Somehow she couldn't think that he'd be displeased if it came to that.
"Well, it's an opportunity to get back at her for all the times she picked me apart the way she desired." though his voice sounded calm, there was barely restrained anger behind those words.
No one would blame him for that though, each of them was angry at White for one reason or the other anyways.
A mutual feeling that brought them together, even 6O.
Because for as kind as she was, she too had recognized White's faults in the hell that had been 2B's reason for existing, and for all the times 9S suffered, and all the tears 21O cried as well.
In the end, the will of not wanting to see the people she cared about being hurt, won over admiration, so that was why she stayed.
So here they were, as Robin lay White's body on the twin's bed, taking a chair and sitting at its side, waiting for 9S to work his magic and force her to wake up once and for all. White the rest just waited around, 2B at the Scanner's side, Anemone standing behind Robin herself, 6O and 21O a little further away, and A2 in the furthest corner possible, but alert and watching.
Robin felt more tense than she should have, such was the power of their former Commander, she could be intimidating even when asleep.
She took a breath to remind herself that it wasn't White the one in control here.
Once White's green eyes opened, she waited a moment, knowing well there was a bit of adjustment needed when coming back to life, but when those eyes laid upon her, she was sure that the woman understood the situation.
Or hoped she did.
"Good morning, White." she crossed her arms, keeping her voice steady and cold, not bothering to call her Commander either.
No YoRHa, no Commander needed.
"What's the meaning of this, 26E?" the glare Robin gave her was the angriest and most honest she could do.
How dared she still use that name?
"We ask the questions here." she said, White wasn't going to scare anyone any longer. "Also, that is not my proper name, isn't it?"
The blonde woman gave a sigh, but gave in nonetheless. "Right, Nico Robin."
The human gave her a small cold smile. "Good. Now let me explain the situation."
"We've found and reconstructed you, for one reason, do I need to voice that or you understand that yourself?"
No, she did, just by looking at the people in the room, and how hard they glared down on her. But she deserved it, she knew that much, so she didn't fight it.
"Answers."
The human gave a nod, her gaze cold and emotionless. It unnerved White to see such a side of this person, when she'd been nothing but kind and compliant to her demands. Had it been A2's influence on her that changed her personality?
Or was it something else?
Because she couldn't shake off the feeling that this kind of attitude was one that had been practiced for long. Looked like something the woman had done before.
And that terrified her a bit, to think that she awakened this side of the former human.
"I see you're not playing dumb this time." if possible, her eyes turned even more icy. "We will ask the questions, and depending on your compliance and answers we will decide how to act."
She didn't expect a gloved hand to reach out and take her chin, handling it none too gently.
"I must warn you, I know quite the number of methods of torture, and should you lie, we have a Scanner to extract the information directly from your brain." she let go. "But I do hope we won't have to resort to that."
"Is that clear?"
Not finding her voice, finding herself rather intimidated from this change of power, she just nodded back.
"Good. Now, let's start with the most curious case, we have found some documents about my creation, let's say, but I feel they are… incomplete." Robin began, turning her head towards Anemone.
"The Resistance's Leader would also like to know why I have a human name, unlike everyone else. Care to explain its origins?" she asked. "My fellow YoRHa are already aware, but they are equally curious about the rest."
"Right, of course." of course the human wanted to know herself first, as would everyone else. She didn't lie about defining hers the most curious case here, after all there was only a single one of her.
"This won't make much sense at first." she heard the human mutter to the old android, who just nodded, eager to know.
"About three years ago, the Council of Humanity gave an order to myself, to create a group of androids that would accompany me on a one and only mission. From the Bunker, sometimes for some time of the year, besides Earth, there is another planet that is visible from orbit, a bit further away, that rotates around the same sun, and has the very same moon as a satellite."
The look the others around her had, urged her to continue.
"The Council had studied that planet, before sending this special search party, and has confirmed the presence of human life."
"I thought you guys said that humans were extinct." Anemone looked around, trying to find confirmation in the people she knew.
"The humans belonging to this planet were, there are no humans on the moon, however, there are on this other planet." White stated, and it was true. "What does it have to do with Robin though?"
Unless… it couldn't be, right?
But she had a human name, and White called her by a full name too, not only Robin, but Nico Robin, a last name too, like humans…
But she was an android, she had an android body, she saw it with her eyes…
"This search party had the duty of finding one person specifically, and then communicating it to myself specifically once they had found her, to execute phase two of the plan. Who they wanted to find was a woman, a pirate, wanted for 79 millions, who was rumored to be an expert assassin and bounty hunter." White placed her green eyes on the human.
"The human's name was, and still is, Nico Robin."
Anemone looked at the woman that sat before her, then at everyone in the room, but none of them seemed shocked at all at the reveal. But the name, and the mention of the memories about being a pirate…
"We set up a strategy once we confirmed her location, and her involvement with a pirate crew. The team attacked the ship, and set it on fire, killing everyone but this woman, leaving her in a state of the brink of it." White then looked over to where 2B was standing. "The operation was led by our best E type unit."
Now it was 2B's turn, along with the rest to be unnerved from the reveal. "I… was there?"
Obviously she didn't recall a thing though, the first time she heard of Robin's humanity was when she'd been in A2's mind. Worst of all, she killed those humans too?
"All the units that participated were reset, so they may have never remembered it." including her.
White, as always, was the only exception to the rule.
"As for the human, we took her body, and through a cryogenic chamber that kept her in this state of death, yet not quite, we were able to transport her on the Bunker with us. Given this semi dead state, the brain was still active, as the human brain has a tendency to recall events that transpired in said human's life, we were able to take those memories and digitalize them, using a similar method as for pseudo memories that older units possess."
A scoff came from the furthest corner of the room, and only now White saw the presence of the android she probably dreaded the most to see. A2.
"You gave her back everything, except one memory." though the tone was furious and aggressive, the white haired woman didn't make a move towards White.
She didn't know whether to feel scared or relieved.
"The plan was for her to think that we had saved her, therefore the memory of her death was manipulated to avoid possible hostility towards us androids once she woke up."
"And then turned her into the unit we all came to know…" Anemone placed her eyes on Robin, who didn't move or contest any word that White said. None of them did.
"Is this true? You are from another world entirely?"
She didn't know how to feel as she watched the woman nod at her question. The only question was… why?
"If you don't believe me, I have my old wanted poster in my room, and… my mother's too…" Anemone didn't miss how softly Robin spoke those last words. But she didn't want proof, she didn't need it. "No, I believe you."
Had it been a few years ago, she would have been more skeptical, but after meeting Number 2 and her old companions, they had changed her ways of thinking, making her believe that even the impossible could happen, in this world of madness.
Besides, the woman was kind enough to bring Number 2 back to her, take care of her when no one else would. She had no reason to doubt someone that Number 2 herself trusted with her life.
"What I want to know now is why?" Robin asked. "The records we found, told that my true objective as a type E would be ultimately to end A2's life, but for as much as I am sure you would have liked me to cut all the loose ends you had with her, and the whole story about the Pearl Harbor Descent, I find it very unlikely to be the only reason of my presence here."
So they knew about the Descent too then… seems that they shared a lot of information while White was still dead. This time, even Anemone glared at the mention of the mission, had she been there too?
"You are correct, I knew you were a smart individual." White allowed herself a praise that wasn't very well received though. "When some time ago we launched that all out attack on the machines, after the defeat of Adam and Eve, as you may have found out, we had a backdoor in the Bunker to allow them to destroy all of us. It's also the reason why I told 9S the secret about humanity, I never expected any of you to survive the virus."
She knew all of it, that day she'd been glad to finally die off, if she were to be honest.
She turned her gaze towards A2's glaring eyes.
"Your obsolescence was planned from the start, much like when the first squadron was sent on Earth. It was for the same reason."
The reason why A2's squad was sent on Earth was to see how they acted when placed in impossible situations, to collect data to make better androids, like 2B, so then…
"Nico Robin, you are… the first prototype of the next generation of androids."
Silence fell in the room, hard and heavy, everyone's eyes were the same as each other's, shocked and wide.
"But why me?" Robin asked, still not believing what she heard, but it made sense.
It was way too good of a reason to doubt it, knowing well how A2's squad ended up as well. The evidence was in this very room.
White gave a sigh. "I do not know why you were chosen specifically to be put under this process, I'm sorry."
"I will say what I know though. Upon discovering the existence of actual living humans on this other planet, the Council started experimenting as to how to implement that into androids, as our core is to be as close as possible to actual humans." she explained.
"So they started, with the aid of us YoRHa, taking people from the planet, to study a way to empower androids, I am not sure how many of those were made, but you, Nico Robin, are the only specimen belonging to the YoRHa android type. There is only one of you."
As it should, because humans were one and would always be.
Robin sat hunched over, a hand raking through her hair, White watched her as her chest ached, but the truth was finally out. Her green eyes stared as A2 made her way towards the human, placing a hand on her shoulder, completely ignoring her presence this time.
Even more curious was the fact the others followed with the gesture, closing in around the woman.
"You're still you, Robin. None of us is going to think any less of you." how soft those words that A2 spoke sounded.
White looked, realizing now how deep the bond between these people was, and here she was, potentially ruining it.
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry it went this way." she gave a sigh, looking at the entire group of people. "I mean it, for all of you."
She never meant to make anyone suffer this way. But she still was the one giving the orders anyways, so she was just as guilty as her superiors.
"Save the sorry act, it's unnecessary." again A2 glared at her, there was so much anger in those eyes, when she used to be so kind and naive back then.
How much she had ruined her…
"It's okay, A2, you don't need to accept the apology, but being mad about it won't make you feel better. Robin spoke, such an air of maturity this woman had.
Only now White realized… she didn't know much at all about this woman, besides her name. But asking would have been too personal, and especially, not now.
"The rest of the Resistance needs to know about all of this." Anemone spoke up, directly to White. "I intend to have you tell them about humanity once I gather them here."
"I will share what I know."
"Me too." it was the answer they didn't expect from Robin. "You?"
"There's much about me the people of this world don't know, and I had decided that, once this issue would be solved, I'd tell them, so they could cast their judgment."
So the time had finally come, to reveal that she wasn't the good person everyone claimed she was, and accept whatever decision the Resistance would have towards her. Even if it meant destroying every bond she formed so far.
Even if it meant going back being alone…
"Are you sure?" again, A2's hand reached her shoulder.
"I'm tired of lies, A2. I'll accept whatever it will be."
Anemone didn't understand what they were talking about, but she assumed it was something about the woman's past, now that she knew who and what she'd been. But not the kind of life she had lived.
"Do as you wish. I won't stop anyone from saying what they want to say, not you, nor anyone. But I will act in case of hostility."
But Robin shook her head. "Let them speak, whatever the result will be."
"I can't guarantee your safety this way." even if Anemone didn't know, she had the feeling there was something dark hiding under the mask.
Something dark that Robin no longer wanted to keep hidden now that the truth of her purpose here had been revealed.
"Then don't. This is something I need to do, so please do not hold anything back, not even you."
Anemone didn't ask any further, though in her heart, she was worried, truly worried that this would be a problem even bigger than the whole death of humanity from the sound of it.
She was not looking forward for the next step.