A plain white space had been what awaited him, as Emil's head rolled forward, in search of… anything.
"Emil!"
This voice…
Turning around he was met with a scantily dressed woman with white hair and brown eyes, she was just as he remembered her.
"Kainé!" he called after her, rushing over as fast as his head would roll.
She caught him and pulled him in her lap, only now he could spot other figures behind her, Nier and his sister Yonah, and floating above them, none other than Grimoire Weiss.
"I missed you all so much…"
Unable to hold his emotions, he let himself go in a cry.
He couldn't believe he had forgotten them for so long… because he was too busy running from the pain of having lost them forever.
It only took thousands of years to finally have his memory back.
"We missed you too." the voice of the man he had admired reached him.
"But…"
They were finally all together again, weren't they?
What else there could have been?
"What is happening?" A2 cried out in alarm as what she supposed was magic flowed out from Robin's weapons, around her and Emil both.
Number 21, who previously had been holding Emil had been pushed back from the force of the energy, her body colliding with Daisy's, but other than the soreness of the impact, that caused her to release the head, nothing else had happened to her.
"You don't know?" Number 16 barked at her ex-captain, more unnerved from the situation than she would admit.
It was rather creeped out from the reaction of the human woman, who sat motionless before Emil, her eyes… they were completely white, as if she wasn't in there at all.
And all that magic…
They hadn't known her weapons were magical too.
But perhaps neither did she, recalling how she had never figured out the source of the strange glow they emitted.
"We've never seen anything like this before." 9S admitted, as much as it both scared and excited him to see it.
He was curious to know more, but not if it hurt a comrade.
And a friend that despite everything, even when he wasn't himself, had still tried not to harm him out of respect for the woman he loved, and that she taught, despite his intentions being less than noble.
He attempted pulling screens and hacking into her, trying to see how her systems were holding, to try and make sense of this, but they told him nothing of use.
Even 6O, now their healer had come over to look, to see if she could do anything about it, but despite an evident and prominent fatigue, probably partially given from the fight of before too, there wasn't much else.
Her consciousness still appeared where it should have been, despite the evident fact Robin was hardly in herself in this very moment.
At least the influx of magic didn't seem to be causing her any kind of physical harm, even for how hard it whirled around her body.
Something as odd but at the same time so familiar to the twins, but even so, they had no idea how to aid the human in this situation, despite their best efforts.
Perhaps it must have been something locked behind memories they no longer had.
And that never like right now they wished they did.
"There's nothing else we can do but wait, and see what happens." even though Rose's tone was calm, she was just as unnerved as the others.
This was so strange and new, they feared for their comrade's safety. But hopefully she would be okay, whatever was happening to her.
"What do you mean we can't stay together!?" after all this time…
"Because your place is not with us." it angered him how calm even Kainé was being, when usually she would have yelled too.
What happened? What changed?
Was he too late?
"I thought we were friends…" he whined, not caring how pathetic he was sounding.
"We know, but so are they, right?" he didn't need to guess who these people Nier was talking about were.
All the androids that had come to get him.
And had aided him save the world from the clones he had created, without fear of them, without him asking to do anything.
But because they wanted to.
"They love you too."
But even so, why did he have to choose between them?
This was so cruel.
"They've come to give you a chance to live a normal life, Emil."
"A normal life?" what was Weiss talking about?
"That woman, the one that was a human like you, you know she comes from far away. She, and them all, wish for a new and better life away from this planet that has caused all of them too much pain." he explained.
How he knew was another thing entirely.
"That was why they came to find you today, fought for you, so you could have the chance to never fight again." the book continued.
"How?"
"How do I know?" it was Kainè that interjected then. "You don't remember?"
"She holds what remains of my sword."
"And its magic is my magic." Weiss finished the sentence. "We are in communication, even if she doesn't realize, nor knows about it, yet."
Because Emil would tell her, right?
"We know all of her, everything she's been through, her hopes, and her dreams, and the ones of those she cares about."
An odd relationship, but one day someone who would find the weapons again, that would be worthy to hold them in their hands had to arrive. And honestly, they wouldn't have asked for better.
They had hidden them in the temple in the desert, shielded with magic, so they may not be used for evil, and only who they deemed worthy could pass through the buried unscathed, and claim the weapons for themselves.
"Perhaps you should show her, and them all the truth. They deserve to know, even them."
The two red haired twins, the two androids that had been in charge to supervise their village, in the end they were just as guilty as each other.
Perhaps they had been more guilty than them.
They, just like all androids, were under orders and hardly knew any better.
Their actions only caused them to be hated, while they had been seen as saviors, when they had been the one that doomed humanity for good.
They, as humans, or at least replicas, had to know better than those who were created to protect them, and didn't.
And then all the Devola and Popola models were destroyed and scrapped, hunted down like animals for things they didn't commit, only because one set of twins clashed with the will of a group of friends.
"So what should I do?"
This was a lot to take in, but they were right.
He'd miss them a lot, like A2 had missed her friends, but he had new people too, it was just like what she had said before.
As long as he wouldn't forget them again, it should be all right, no?
"Show them the truth of the world, show them what it was, and do what is right, because we've done too much wrong."
The state of Earth was partially this way because of them.
And people suffered for it.
Androids were lied to, to fight for a humanity that was never there in the first place, and they hadn't known.
No one had known.
No one but him and he had forgotten, too much was the pain of his memories.
But now he had someone he felt that could understand him.
Wasn't it how A2 and the others ended up bonding, and became friends, despite being sworn enemies before?
If it worked for them it could work for him too, no?
They weren't alone anymore, and they wanted him not to be any longer either.
Perhaps he'd been too selfish in wishing for death instead of thinking it through…
"And Emil…" Kainé reached to pat his head.
"Don't you ever dare forget about us again."
It was sudden, but the entire influx of energy stopped in a mere second, and Robin fell forwards, unconscious.
She would have hit her head hadn't it been for A2 and Number 16 reaching for her and pulling her back, ending up in their lap instead. A2 glanced at Pod 007 a moment, but he didn't say anything if something bad happened to her, so she took it as a good sign.
The Gunner had a hand on the human's face, and she could feel small puffs of air coming from her mouth and nose.
"She's breathing." she announced, noticing the worried eyes of the others.
That was good.
"We can't see any signs of injury, besides the ones she sustained during the fight. It seems she just fainted, but her systems are already recovering." 6O said, checking her own screens.
Another good sign, however…
"For Emil I can't say though."
They still had no idea what had triggered this sudden magical energy to act up on its own.
He gave them the answer right away, as he made a noise, seeming like he had woken up from a long nap.
He was alive too.
So then…
"Her magic reacted to mine, gave me energy to live again." he answered, he had heard their concerns, but he was still very tired, he couldn't speak properly for a bit, even after coming back.
"Is she…" but Robin's hand reached for his head, barely grazing him with her fingertips.
She was trying to soothe his worries?
"I'm fine… I think…" she murmured slowly.
Though unsure what had gotten into her, she had to take her sword and then nothing, all dark, as if her consciousness had been pulled away from her body, a bit like when being hacked, but she saw no memory cyberspace this time.
Just nothing…
"You're awake, that has to count for something." Rose released a sigh of relief, as did many others.
"How did I…?" how did she trigger that magic in the first place?
"I saw my friends… those weapons, that sword was my friend's, coated in magic, it must have reacted to me dying, they didn't want me to…"
Something however was still bothering him, Robin could tell from the more somber tone than usual how to read his emotions, even if his face was pretty much just a mask of stone.
She had worn a figurative one for too long not to know.
"You won't forget them again." her voice was serious and stern as she arose to a sitting position, looking at him straight in the eyes.
"A wise woman once told me, that no one truly dies as long as someone remembers them." A2's eyes met Robin's for a second. She had told her when she'd been struggling with the death of her own friends.
Friends sometimes she still had a hard time believing they were here around her again.
But this was reality, a good one, after so much pain and suffering from them all.
"I have lived following those words ever since." things had changed, but it didn't mean that they were any less true.
And all the more important right now, for Emil.
Robin reached for her fallen sword, she had lost the grip on it when she had fainted, looking at it, it was no longer glowing even, which was… strange.
"It must have exhausted its energy, for now." Emil's head rolled over, bumping against her leg. "I don't know too much, maybe we should wait and see if it recharges."
Weiss did need time to recover if too much magic was used all at once, and he too, he recalled. Perhaps these weapons were the same.
"I think we should investigate about it." 9S offered, he'd been way too curious about it not to.
"Now it's not the time though." Rose's stern voice made itself heard. "We need to recover first, don't you agree?"
It had been a tiring battle, they were injured and in need of rest, other things could wait.
"The trek to the camp from here is long, but Jackass has one of her safehouses right at the entrance, we can stop there." Anemone offered, given her destructive nature and love for explosives, she had her have that place for her experiments.
So she wouldn't damage the camp.
And also it was useful to have someone surveying the desert, and the far part of the city ruins too.
Whether she liked it or not they needed that place right now.
"Pod, contact Jackass, tell her we're heading there." 007 acknowledged the order immediately. At least a warning was an act of courtesy.
They didn't expect to find her in the company of White, but at least she didn't complain, not that she could allow herself to do so, it was a bit of an emergency in this case.
Also she expressed interest in the whole magic thing, as usual she'd be interested in anything odd, that was so like her. It made things easier, though she wasn't allowed to touch Emil, they made that clear.
Mostly in fear she'd scare him, she'd be capable of that.
So, things settled, the Pods collected the severed limbs of 2B and Robin, to see if a restoration, or at least if they could be attached again temporarily, in wait for a proper fix.
The Battler was currently being carried from a very generous bubbly Attacker, since her sister of number seemed to be having trouble with her own legs. A simple guess could have been that sand got into it, and that Number 21 insisted she'd let her clean them thoroughly, and that she wouldn't have taken no for an answer.
Meanwhile the courageous and little Lily was being carried from Anemone, she was too tired from using the Gravity Wave yet another time, but she had saved them all, thanks to her and the red haired Scanner's quick thinking.
Scanner that was still carrying Emil's head, at his request even.
They just needed some downtime, and some fixes in order to work better, then once they got to camp, they could deal with the issues left better, since Devola and Popola had most of the equipment there, open for the others to use too.
And about them, Emil wasn't quite sure how to help them, part of him was scared of them, when Popola had almost killed him, swallowing him whole in that black hole, but again, it had been their fault if she was driven by grief for losing Devola.
The only person she could truly count on.
It seemed to be the same case here, as far as he heard, that this Devola here had deactivated herself to not feel the pain when Popola died.
Roles reversed, but same grief.
He supposed he should start by telling them the truth once they were healthy again.
"So I was thinking…" 6O's voice arose between the crowd, as she checked 21O's hands to make sure they didn't sustain any damage from the machine ability she had used.
Quite amazing if she had to be honest.
But this battle had the Healer question her ability to be useful to the group once again, when things like these happened. And she assumed that even if they left they could happen again in the future.
"Since we're meant to help people on your planet, this means there will be more fights, correct?" the question was directed towards Robin, but it sparked the interest of a certain red haired Scanner too.
Even though she pretended not to, as she worked on cleaning Number 2's legs, with her head low.
But 6O wasn't the only one that had those questions too.
She knew eventually this topic had to be faced, and she was glad she didn't need to initiate the conversation about it.
She didn't love to think about her inability to fight, at her uselessness…
And what could potentially come from it too…
"Well, for certain I don't have many friends, I'd say the opposite." Robin had way more enemies back home than possibly here.
Machines had never truly been an enemy, she killed because she had to, and like them, she didn't know any better.
Her first objective had always been survival after all, do what you're told and she'd be fine.
"Well I'm not too great at fighting, but I don't want to be a dead weight either…" the blonde fidgeted with her hands. "So I was wondering if I should… I don't know… learn?"
Did this mean that Number 21 did too?
She'd feel bad if this would force her into it too.
"I mean if you want to we can help, but you've gotta want it for yourself." 21O knew these same feelings, but at least she did have combat abilities now as a Battler.
She spared a worried glance to her predecessor, who was being silent in this whole conversation. She was sure she must have been feeling a similar way, but she was the least expressive about it.
It was bound to eat her from the inside.
Perhaps it was good they faced this topic now, before that happened.
"Does it mean Number 21 needs to do the same?" there it was, the question she wanted so much to avoid, coming from Dahlia herself.
"I mean, we taught Lily how to use a rifle, it shouldn't be too hard to teach you two as well."
That was true but…
"I don't want to…" the redhead murmured.
Despite all the issues, she did not feel like a fighter, never had and never will. She disliked violence, especially when unnecessary, and hated this whole war with all her might for
forcing her into a battlefield.
She wasn't strong, she was just a mere Scanner.
Just a scout.
"Why not? If I understood well, there won't be too many machines you can mess with your hacking either, can't hack a human." with no offense to Robin.
A2 saw her friend's hands clenched in anger at her sides, she placed a hand on her shoulder trying to comfort her. Just because she struggled in expressing emotions it didn't mean she had none.
She was just about to call out Dahlia on how it wasn't necessary that she'd learn to fight, it never had been, but Number 16 beat her to it.
"You can't force someone to do what you want!"
"Who the hell asked you!?"
There it was, the beginning of a fight.
Odd that the Gunner would take her defenses, but the Scanner didn't want to be the topic of grief in the group.
"I'm saying it for her, dumbass!"
"Me too, idiot!"
The two were pretty much face to face right now, glaring in each other's eyes.
"All I'm saying is that if she can't defend herself then she may as well be use…" Dahlia didn't finish the sentence, as the loud smack of a metallic hand collided with her cheek.
Upon witnessing that, Number 21 couldn't take to see this any longer, as she turned tail towards the door and sprinted away back in the desert.
"Number 21!" Anemone arose to run after her, but the hand of a still seething Gunner stopped her, as she still glared daggers at Dahlia for daring to say such a thing.
"Don't you ever dare say that again…" she growled at the fallen woman, before side stepping her she ran out, heading in the same direction the Scanner went.
Offending Number 21 wasn't easy, and Dahlia went too hard, it didn't matter if she meant good.
Words could hurt.
"You better hope they come back, and when they do, I expect a deep and sincere apology for this, Dahlia." Rose's tone didn't give time to argue.
They better hope Number 16 would manage to convince Number 21 not to run, because no one truly thought she wasn't useful.
No one ever did.
She spared a glance to the human.
But sometimes it was hard to convince someone of the opposite they have been feeling like for a very long time.
She just hoped that whatever the Gunner had in mind would work out fine.