"Thanks for taking these along too, Emil." the twins reached for the two staffs, that now they knew human being took along with him, when he went to get the special flower.
Or fruit as Robin called it.
Overall an odd thing.
"I knew I had kept them for some reason." the two items weren't exactly theirs, or not of this specific set of twins, and neither of the one he knew, honestly he didn't remember where he found them, but as long as they worked.
But he sounded unsure of something. "You know… I used to be scared of you two…"
"That's only normal." Popola replied. "If I understand correctly, this other model of mine almost killed you, maybe even without memories your subconscious remembered."
"I recall that humans can't remember everything with time, and memories become confused, however even if they may not remember well enough, a trace is still left in their subconscious, a sign of trauma, so we really can't blame you for not liking us." she pointed out.
"Even androids have a subconscious, apparently, just look at those two." Devola motioned with her head at where 2B and 9S were standing, now that they were far from the group, and everyone was just waiting to get done with the chest so they could traverse the desert again.
In search of more mysteries, if there were any.
"No matter how many times he got reset, his feelings for her never faded, as far as what we could see and hear from their memories."
So it was legit that Emil was scared, even if it hadn't been them specifically.
"Not like we aren't used to this." Devola gave a bitter chuckle.
It wasn't like that now that the truth was out it would change the thousands of years of pain and abuse they lived through.
One more person disliking them was not new.
It was more new all the friends they had acquired since YoRHa showed up. Those people treated them well in their ignorance, but the change was welcomed.
And now it has turned into something bigger.
"Well, you aren't so bad though, you suffered a really big injustice for too much time…" Emil rolled over so he was leaning against Devola's leg. "And now it can only get better, no?"
"We can hope so, though this is good enough." Popola replied. "As long as the people around us keep being our friends."
Emil then rolled and rubbed his head against Popola too. "I'm sure they will."
At least he was optimistic.
Devola held a chest for Popola to place the odd pink flower in, before enchanting it with magic so it may not be opened through any other means.
Though the words and the motions of their staffs were something they hadn't done in so long, it still felt as familiar as ever. After all they never forgot, they just couldn't remember.
That subconscious thing may as well apply to them too.
Once done Devola handed the chest to Robin, while Popola carried Emil's head, so he wouldn't have to roll around and get even more dirty.
"We've got to get you a proper body." the human said as she took the chest from the redhead's hands. "And maybe a bath."
He perked up. "With a nice soap and many bubbles?"
"I'm sure you can ask 9S for it, I know he wouldn't mind." she chuckled. Scanners were known for being clean people, and for a moment Robin wondered if Number 21 was the same.
Perhaps yes, even more since she was a woman.
Women did love to feel clean, perhaps except A2, though she had managed to get her to take a bath anyways.
And she was looking better than ever.
"But first we've got to head in the desert, I'll put this away and then we can leave." she stared fondly at the chest.
The fruit that had helped her survive through years, but that also caused her so much pain, though indirectly. But in the end it was still hers.
And she wouldn't let anyone else get their hands on it, and she couldn't risk any kind of bad effects shouldn't it work on an android, after all they were still made of metal, their bodies weren't flesh and blood to begin with.
It wasn't a fruit changing them.
Also they didn't have too many resources to use as safety nets, to rebuild someone in case things got bad, not caused by intentional accidents.
But it was still precious to her.
"I don't get it, you don't want your old powers back? Why?" Dahlia asked in the middle of their trek in the desert.
She wasn't great or smart, she understood that the human wanted no risks of bad things happening to her, or any of them, she'd take seeing a friend being well any day, but why refuse more power?
"It's odd, but I feel that I don't need that anymore." she flexed her fingers in front of her.
"Those powers helped the person I used to be, but they also caused much pain, to me and to many people, even innocents." she sighed. "Well, to say the truth I didn't even change that much, not for the longest time at least."
She still had killed even more innocents, after all YoRHa soldiers had absolutely done nothing to her, but she, like them, had little choice but to answer orders.
In the end they were all wrong, in a way.
All she could do was to accept her mistakes and move on.
And try to change.
Being with A2 somehow granted her that, she made her somewhat of a better person.
At least her ability to kill and be violent had a more noble meaning, than just surviving or mere and cold revenge.
They both did.
"Might sound odd, since I'm pretty much willing to return home, but I do want to cut ties with the old me, if it makes sense." and refusing her old powers was a way to do that.
Reminded her of the heartless person she was.
But like Rose once told her, she wasn't the cold blooded assassin by choice, and with them she didn't need to be, she was free to finally be herself. If the need arose, her former ability to kill would always be there, what changed was the reason why.
Also…
"And much like you, I mean to grow stronger to protect those I care about by myself." the whole situation with Number 21 reminded her that she needed no special power but just the will to do things.
She too wanted to use her own strength and the help of the people around her to do that.
To achieve something for someone else instead for herself, and with her own two hands, instead of many ones she could make because she ate a weird fruit.
Having that power almost felt like a privilege, in a way.
When anyone else here didn't, well, some had a few abilities others didn't, like Lily's Gravity Wave, or 21O's newfound electric barrier, or even Berserk Mode that the old YoRHas had, they made them strong, but had pretty big downsides and drawbacks in comparison to a Devil Fruit.
Where if you didn't touch water you'd be fine.
Her former powers felt… like having them would put too much of a distance between herself and them, she'd be out of their league, and in the end she was still inwardly scared of being shunned away for being different…
It was something she experienced since she'd been a child, and that she absolutely did not want to feel again.
Not with the only people that ever accepted her.
"My old powers were strong and very dangerous, could you imagine the strength of an android multiplied with how many copies of my arms and hands I could make? Also well… this power has been useful to me to survive but… has also caused me much pain too. The isolation… and the whole bullying…" she shook her head.
"I don't want any of that anymore." she admitted.
Like she said, she wanted to cut ties with her past, and be another person, like she'd been born twice.
And matter of fact she metaphorically did.
"Right, sorry I asked." Dahlia apologized… wait…
"You apologized?" Anemone frowned, what the hell had gotten into this woman?
"Yes, you have a problem with that?" again she was immediately back to her old and snarky self.
But still…
"You never apologize on your own accord." Gerbera pointed out.
"Well I did, shut up."
The one time she actually said something thoughtful…
"I would assume that Dahlia may have learned something from our exchange yesterday." it was Number 21 that spoke up, since she had been the victim of her thoughtless words the day before.
Though she couldn't say they were all that thoughtless, for as blunt as they were, Dahlia's words were a show of worry and love for her teammates and friends.
Much like some black haired Gunner she knew.
But if one could show tact, the other could too, and this was proof of it.
"I would like to believe this apology was meant to not hurt Robin's feelings." she concluded her thought.
"I didn't mean to hurt yours either…" Dahlia quietly mumbled. "I know, I understand what you were trying to do, but I was being irrational."
"And oddly emotional." Number 16 pointed out. Though she knew well the Scanner wasn't as cold as she appeared to be.
The redhead nodded. "I know you meant it as caring for me, just that words aren't the best way you're able to express yourself with."
And still, that had been a moment of weakness too.
She wasn't being herself, that was why they affected her so hard, normally she knew they wouldn't have.
Probably.
"There's no need to say that out loud." another small snarky remark, Dahlia was still her after all.
"I take no offense over something you weren't supposed to know, nor curiosity. But for now I stand by my decision, after all, it's been years since my old body died, and for as odd as this sounds, I feel more comfortable in this skin than my previous one." Robin said, trying to reassure the woman.
She did not particularly love her old body for more than that reason.
Her old skin had been touched and corrupted from too many people that used and abused it.
She was not proud of the marks that were left on it, nor the things she had to do.
And now that she actually had a person that sincerely loved her she no longer wanted to feel dirty and shameful like that anymore.
The brief exchange she had with White could not even compare to the many men and women that put their hands on her, if she thought of it hard enough, what the Commander had her do almost felt pleasant.
Almost.
She still was ashamed of it, but in a way her body still remained clean of any touch, in fact it had been the opposite way around, even though White had been in charge.
As an archeologist, her job was to discover the past of other people, but perhaps the old her should remain buried where she was. The only thing she could do was to take her experience, and to use it to make sure nothing like that happened ever again.
Never again she'd suffer being different for being motherless, fatherless, with an uncaring family that drove her to acquire some odd powers because they let her go hungry, and then used them to their advantage so they wouldn't do anything by themselves again.
She was an android now, just like them all.
Despite everything, they didn't let her feel all too different, even if she'd been human and even if she came from another planet and world entirely.
Because she was their friend, now she understood.
Never again she'd be used and abused by people that wanted her body, her services and the money on her head when they were done.
Obeying YoRHa's orders couldn't compare to having to submit to every twisted desire of ugly pirate pigs, even for as much as she disliked authority and military, she'd rather be a YoRHa soldier of them than submitting to pirates, or surrendering to marines.
They never did anything wrong to her after all, all victims of a twisted system, it was what drove them together.
It was why she understood them so well.
In the end they were soldiers that didn't choose to do and be what they were, but had no other choice and didn't know any better.
Perhaps it was why she never truly despised White as hard and as much as she hated the World Government and the Marines, and who was at the top of both organizations.
It was why adapting to being a soldier herself hadn't been as hard as it should have been.
Never again will she be alone against the world because she dared to survive a tragedy, no, because a person decided to allow her to survive, then forgot to take responsibility for this act.
She remembered his face well… that Marine Admiral…
But not even he would take her family away from her now that she finally found one.
She'll be strong, for them.
As they will be for her.
The wind whipped sand in her face as she went to collect the YoRHa Blade stuck in a machine corpse she had slain, as she and her companions of this mission collected themselves after the battle.
It hadn't been too hard but these machines appearing out of nowhere from under the sand had been rather annoying to deal with.
Still, they managed to kill the group with little injuries.
The closest call had been when the machines had started to target their weaponless Scanner, as if they had realized he could point where they were before they could sneak to them.
So she called for the team to reinforce their efforts to protect him.
It worked, and thankfully no one had been reluctant in following the suggestion, even though she hadn't been appointed as squad captain.
She would never be.
The woman had even complimented her for her quick thinking, while others simply were left jealous that a newer model was smarter than they were.
Robin gathered that as fear of being replaced from more advanced androids.
A legit fear, honestly.
She was still clueless as to what her role consisted besides… kill.
Suddenly she felt the wind around her much louder, and yet… the wind didn't change…
That was… odd…
She had to ask their Scanner if anything had changed, to make sure nothing had changed, and he even offered to check on her, but she was sure she wasn't going crazy.
Even her own Pod reassured her everything was in working order.
So then why?
Again she felt that… whisper? She didn't even know what to call it but…
Was it calling her?
When she expressed the will to stay despite the captain's order to leave since the mission was done, she heard her current companions speculating whether or not she was beginning to suffer from the curse of the E types.
Was she? She didn't know.
Confused would have been the best term to describe what she was feeling.
And still they let her be, since her types were supposed to be able to handle anything even alone, so it eased worries.
She had proven to be capable too.
So time to solve the mystery, or to find out if she truly was beginning to suffer like her other types.
Once again, the sounds picked up, and she turned, in the direction of a cave leading further below in the desert, she knew it was there, never had a chance to see it though.
As if this… voice was calling her, drawing her somewhere…
And she followed it.
She felt that she had to follow it, like her instinct as an archeologist was itching to be let out.
It led her through the deepest part of the cave, below where streams of sands flowed, and to fallen pillars.
Following them she had found an entrance of what looked like a temple, the structure and the multiple large rooms hinted at it, and right now the sand had eaten most of it. But being careful, the voices led her even below, balancing on whatever was left of the place. She had to lower her visor from her eyes to make sure they weren't playing tricks on her.
There in the middle of the room stood a pedestal, protected from some kind of odd energy there were two weapons.
A sword and a pair of gauntlets.
Only then, the voices grew stronger, and she wobbled on her feet as her brain fogged.
What was happening?
As if drawn from a stronger force, her legs moved forward on their own, and before she realized it she was standing before the two weapons, as her arm raised itself and came in contact with the barrier and…
Nothing happened…
No pain, nothing at all.
And then her hand went through it, until it was laying on the hilt of the sword.
Only then the barrier dissolved and so did the fog in her mind, as she felt herself coming back from unconsciousness.
Rather unpleasant if she had to admit.
But in her hand now there was a black blade with red glowing runes on it.
Then she reached out for the gauntlets too, feeling that whatever had been that had drawn her here, had wanted her to get these weapons.
She hadn't known yet how much of a big ally they would become for her.
And neither what they truly were, and never found out what had been the driving force that took over her that time.
At least until now…
"So this is where you found the weapons then?" she nodded at Number 21's question, as she too much similarly to her analyzed the structure of the place.
Robin could see her type stuff on her screens as she walked around.
She was almost jealous she couldn't do so herself, though she did have a Pod to do that for her and record all she wanted.
"This is where we left them." Emil spoke, deciding to let himself be carried from the only other boy between them.
"But this isn't all we did, would you please take your sword and place the tip of the blade against my head, Robin?"
An odd request, but this wasn't the weirdest thing they had seen or heard in these past couple of days, so she complied immediately. The blade glowed, reacting to Emil's magic flowing through it, and again that brain fog reached her…
Only to disappear a moment later.
But somehow she knew something had changed.
At least now she knew that dizziness and that feeling of losing consciousness momentarily was caused by magic.
She felt different, somehow.
"Now, do you see that wall at the end of the room? Use the spell I just taught you on it."
A spell? Emil just taught her a spell?
Was she able to use magic now?
She could feel the weapon whispering to her again, as she held it in her hand.
Foreign words floated in her mind and made their way through her mouth, as she moved her arm and the sword in a circular motion, and a magical orb like the ones Emil's clones were throwing at them appeared before her.
And then flicking the sword forward she shot the orb on the wall.
But it didn't break.
Instead, it glowed with magical energy, as words appeared on it in what she assumed was what she heard being chaos language.
She secretly had been studying it a little with the aid of her Pod.
But she was far from being able to read it yet, so she had 007 read it for her.
We are the guardians of the sealed vessels.
Chosen one, if you wish to partake in our trials and acquire our knowledge, lay your hand on these words and we'll reveal ourselves.
You must defeat all of us or perish trying.
Do you accept our challenge?
A message left for her?
"Well, you said you wanted to become stronger, no?" Number 16 pointed out with a shrug.
"Yes but… I said with my own strength…"
"It's not like these guardians are giving it these spells for free, or whatever they are, you still need to fight them." well, the Gunner did have a point.
She would have to fight these things to gain their power in the end.
"You wouldn't mind if I did?" she frowned, a bit afraid to put too much difference between herself and them.
And to end up feeling lonely because of it.
"Does it matter?" Rose asked. "We already have people who have abilities of their own, like Lily and now 21O too, the twins and Emil already know how to use magic too, one more person wouldn't change anything. It'd just make you stronger if you wish."
Right, she wouldn't be the only one.
But fear took over rationality.
"All right then, I will fight them."
"Ah no way in hell you're doing this alone." A2 interjected. "You are not doing this by herself."
And her words found the approval of the others too.
Robin sighed. "Of course you'd say that." and there was no winning with her when she decided something, she was too stubborn and would follow her to the end of the world.
"Then let's see…"
Without wasting more time, she laid her hand on the ancient writings, light illuminated them and five different beams shot out in the air and away from them.
Except one that lead further below.
Pod 007 displayed the other locations on the map, and Rose pointed to one specifically.
"For as inviting as this one is, I feel this one is what we should worry about first." she motioned to the location in the middle of the city.
Exactly where the Tower was.
Quite the problem indeed, since they were supposed to make use of its technology and what was left of it.
"I was thinking we could have divided ourselves in two groups, and while you YoRHa dealt with these guardians, we would start working on the project that would take us to outer space, but with this thing in the middle it may be difficult."
And she was right.
"All right then we'll do that, seems like the biggest problem." and they could always return here after.
And it was the better decision.
It was why Rose was such a good captain.
"In the rush of what happened, I almost forgot that Jackass has a surprise for 6O." White stated.
Well, it had happened a lot, they forgot to tell.
"A surprise for me?" the blonde perked up.
But she had no idea what it could have been though, or why Jackass would make something for her.
"Well then let us find out."