It was deep into the night on Earth when Pod 042 and 153 received the communication from Pod 007, immediately they shot up from the place they were resting, and flew towards Luna and Clover to wake them up.
"Alert, emergency communication from Pod 007." they both chirped in unison as loud as they could.
The Scanner boy turned around, pulling a pillow over his head. "Five more minutes, Pod." he whined, while the girl at his side rubbed her eyes.
"What's wrong?" she yawned, they hadn't been sleeping for long.
"Emergency communication from Pod 007." 042 repeated, as did 153 right after him.
"Emergency?" Clover mumbled.
Wait…
An emergency communication?
Did something happen to the group on the blue planet?
He shot up from the bed, pulling up his shorts as soon as he realized the weight of the words. "We've got to wake the others." but even before he said anything his partner was already picking up his shirt and covering herself with it.
Enough to look decent at least.
"Let's go." she nodded, as they both shot out from their room, followed by their Pods.
As soon as they went outside they started calling out the rest of their friends, Clover who was yelling as loud as he could, while Luna knocked at their doors to make themselves heard.
It didn't take long for the first faces to show themselves.
Including some elements as scantily dressed as the YoRHa couple was, like a certain Gunner type and the woman she loved to argue.
"I will not ask about this…" Gerbera looked at the two, almost facepalming at the sight, but then again Clover and Luna weren't looking any better.
"Oh shut up you." Dahlia growled, earning just a chuckle.
Guess they should have expected the couple to light the fires even in the bedroom, actually it was a wonder the two women didn't do it sooner, even when they weren't together, but argued like a married couple.
But this wasn't the object of interest here, though Gerbera and a few others would have wanted to know more.
Those two were as dense as they were interesting.
"What's wrong?" Rose asked as the rest of the group arrived, she too was rubbing her eyes like many others.
Being woken up in the middle of the night wasn't nice, even for an android.
But this was important.
"The Pods received an emergency communication." Luna replied. "Do we know the context?" she shook her head at the Resistance's Leader question.
"Not yet."
And emergency…
Right a few days after the encounter with the Admiral…
They really, really hoped it wasn't another of those communications, but the worry was there.
Because they could have found themselves in more trouble…
"Hopefully it is not more bad news…" Lily said, holding her arms close to her body, she shook slightly at the thought, Daisy put a hand around her shoulders for comfort.
Amaryllis did the same thing with Freesia, sensing her distress, while Sunny held Olivia by the waist.
Their friends could have been hurt…
Or worse.
"Only one way to know." Luna sighed before urging Pod 042 to talk.
Or rather, to broadcast the message Robin and the others sent them though Pod 007 that was so important.
The voice of the Commander came through the speakers of 042 and 153.
"This is a message with the utmost priority. We are happy to announce that we finally found the island we were looking for."
They…
"They found the island!" Amaryllis was the first to shout, taking Freesia in her arms and twirling her around out of happiness.
A chorus of cheerful yells joined her right after, people hugging each other and jumping around, barely containing their joy.
Or rather, not containing it at all.
That was what they waited to hear!
That was what they wanted to hear!
"They finally made it." even Rose couldn't help but smile brightly at the news.
"We want you to know that we got to the island safely, and encountered no enemies in our path."
That was also great news.
No more encounters with unwanted people, for the time being at least.
And hopefully no more of them before they reunited, easier to handle a group of five, especially one by one, than a much bigger and stronger group of people all together.
Marine cowards…
"The island seems big and suitable for life for both of us androids and machines, as would be for the humans we rescued, there doesn't seem to be any other life here but vegetation and some animals, mostly birds." White began explaining.
"We found out that indeed the island has a lot of minerals that for us could be a real treasure, and also it seems to be protected from a natural phenomenon that we are still investigating, but I'd describe it as an illusionary fog for those that try to get to this place, and I believe it can be used at our advantage. We're sending you the pictures we collected with the aid of Pod 007."
With that both 042 and 153 began showing the pictures collected of the island.
How it looked from above and among the fog, showing that it wasn't there from the place itself, explaining how it appeared like an illusion.
Certainly enchanting.
They shared the grasslands, the small but thick forest, the tiny lake in the middle and it's water that seemed to sparkle, and even the pictures 007 managed to get from underwater of the various minerals and gems.
Iron, copper, silver, gold and all those treasures that would certainly be useful.
Not just for their bodies, but also for trading with people of other islands too.
The island was big enough for them to live, but also for the humans to be able to grow and cultivate the land for food, and to raise animals.
So they too could live without issues, once they built everything.
"Last thing, we are sending the coordinates of the island so you may finally reach us. After all this time, the wait is over, we are hoping to reunite with all of you soon."
With that White ended the message.
"So are we." it was Rose that said it, but the enthusiasm was almost tangible in the group.
They truly couldn't wait to see their friends again.
"They really made it, and the place looks so beautiful!" Sunny beamed, taking sight of all the land. "Do you think we could grow flowers too?"
"Most likely." Olivia replied, knowing well how her fellow Operator loved those frail beauties.
Of course she would want to experiment in growing them.
"Do you think humans will help me do that?" the blonde Battler nodded. "I am sure they have knowledge beyond what we have on this."
"And beyond what the books Robin gave me."
Right, she had asked long ago if she had any books about gardening to the human, after seeing her collection she wondered if she found any. Long ago one day at the Bunker, Sunny had the opportunity to speak to her and found out she too liked flowers.
Robin had been more than happy to let her borrow the books, as long as she didn't ruin them.
Why would she ruin something so precious though?
She had read them in her spare time to keep busy, but also because she was curious.
"Maybe we could try growing Lunar Tears there too." Emil floated to them, happily swinging from side to side.
"It'd be nice to bring a piece of Earth with us, it may give a feeling of familiarity." Rose nodded. "Since it will be a new place for all of us."
And they were not coming back either.
She didn't say it but her words implied it.
They were going to leave Earth behind forever.
After all this time… that day was almost here…
Their prayers had been answered.
"What else could we do there?" Margaret asked, turning to Gerbera who was more expert on this than them.
"Well we've got to build a place to stay for us, and places for the humans. Houses they call them."
A house for all of them?
"White and I already talked it out a few times, we haven't made any projects because we had yet to see the island in its entirety, but one thing I know she wants to do is a tower similar to the machine one." Rose stated, earning confused glances.
"Why use machine technology?" Amaryllis tilted her head.
"Not actually machine technology, more like copying its design, to act as a substitute Bunker. But also since Robin's planet is aquatic for the most part, I'd imagine traveling is exclusively done by ship, something we will also have to adapt to, and said tower can act as a lighthouse as well, for us and for travelers that eventually will end up there."
That made sense.
But…
"Aren't we supposed to hide?" Freesia asked.
"From the Marine and the Government? Sure, but think about all the people that may be in need of help."
"I think I understand both sides. With our technology we can easily check what kind of ships end up close to the island within a certain perimeter, in that way we can check if they may be hostile or not beforehand." not to mention, Scanner types like him were already able to use instruments to detect machines in a similar way.
It was just a matter of building something similar on water instead of land.
"And with that illusory mist we can see things that come to our place before they can try anything." Gerbera assumed.
"The tower will be used for this too, White wants to watch out in case of Marines, I would assume now more than before given what happened."
"So basically a watchtower, a lighthouse and a Bunker all in one." Clover said and Rose nodded.
"And I assume that we would need to help with that." Freesia sighed, she didn't truly want to stay in another Bunker-like structure, after all the memories.
"Actually no, White said that there's no need for you YoRHa to be there, not your group in particular. She's aware of this, and doesn't want to force any of you to stay there if you don't want to, but you're welcome to."
"How thoughtful…" Lycoris commented. "Though… Cattleya did say that the Commander truly regretted her actions…"
She'd never lie to them.
Well she did once, about the virus, but anyone could assume that she didn't want them to worry for her.
Had she said something, probably they wouldn't have gotten as far as they did during their mission, because virus or not, she'd been the only one that could hack that damn elevator.
There wasn't another way.
But that had been the only instance.
And all seemed to point in direction that White was trying to make up for her past too…
Perhaps it would be time to try and be more mellow to her.
She did earn it.
And Lycoris was sure that Freesia and Amaryllis already did, as did Cattleya, she was the one that still stood on her position the hardest.
"She did save Robin too, in her own way." the rogue admitted.
Had White gone through with the request the Marine wanted from her, Robin would not have been the person she was now, and she would have had no memories of her home.
Not just her planet, but mostly the place she was born.
That today no longer existed.
They wanted to… cancel every trace of Ohara once and for all, not only its people, but the whole memory of it.
And White didn't allow them to.
She didn't know, she'd been naive, curious and selfish in wanting to get to know an actual human, but it was that same desperation that all androids shared to meet their creators that saved the person that existed before Robin became an android.
Her past had been what stopped the human from killing her, the day they met.
Because she had felt the similarities.
Had she forgotten, then she'd be dead, Freesia knew it well.
Not to mention that this whole new life that was so much closer and within their reach, would not have been possible if Robin didn't remember her home planet, and her old life.
And obviously would not have offered them a way out of theirs either.
But thanks to her they could hope.
So yes, as much as she didn't like to admit it, White had done something good, and it had to be recognized.
"Of course she may call you there if she needs something, but honestly I have an idea myself." Rose put a hand to her chin.
"Wouldn't it be nice if we had a big home for all of us? We are used to living together by now, no? Of course, for everything we would need to collaborate with those humans the others saved, telling them who we are, and what we want, but I think saving them may work to our favor."
They had already expressed the will to help them, and they'd give them protection and a safe place.
A worth trade off.
And the fact they pretty much banned the presence of Marine and the World Government may be of help too, because she doubted those prisoners would trust those two organizations again.
Which was working in their favor too.
It said a lot that they were more willing to trust a well known criminal like Robin, because she helped them, rather than who claims to protect the innocents.
But do they?
Hard to believe with their actions.
"We would also need a pier for the ships to dock and to repair them, because I would assume we'd be traveling on the sea, and we can't use flight units." Gerbera pointed out.
It was true, they couldn't fly.
And right now not even YoRHa had many flight units, just the ones the group of the blue planet used to get there.
None other.
But maybe those with the right materials could be built in a decent number again.
"I would say we would need a medical structure as well, to heal patients for both humans and not." Popola spoke up for the first time since they were awoken, Devola at her side nodded.
"Then there should be fields for food, and stables for animals, right?" Daisy said with a huge smile on her face.
Given her false memories it was no secret that she may have been happy at the prospect of actually trying food, and maybe even learning how to cook.
That would have been a good pastime.
"I would like a place where we can train too." Dahlia put a hand around Lycoris that not surprisingly agreed with her.
"And a new village for us machines to stay in." even if he couldn't express it with his face, Pascal sounded really ecstatic at the idea of a new place to live for him and his machines.
It was so nice to see everyone full of joy and energy.
That… that had never happened before…
During the war…
Sure, there were some happier times but… none were ever just so hopeful.
There were always the hardships of getting through the day, after day, and after day.
Not knowing if you'd survive or not.
Wondering when they would die even, in some cases.
This was… something new.
And it was just amazing.
Rose felt her reactor beat loudly in her chest, and for once not out of sadness or fear.
She just couldn't stop smiling.
"Isn't this beautiful?" she just had to voice her thoughts.
"What's beautiful?" Lily asked back, tilting her head.
"This feeling."
She paused.
"All this joy, this hope, in so many years we've been alive we've never felt like this, haven't we? Every day we spent it was about making it to the day after, worrying we wouldn't, or that we'd lose a comrade, if not more, or that we'd just die off."
Even when they met those four YoRHa girls, there had been hope to finally do something good, but…
"It has always been about war, and survival. But now…" she closed her eyes. "Now we have the opportunity to live a life the way we want, doing what we want, in peace, with other beings and other people in a new place. To leave behind all the pain this world caused us."
"We never believed this day would come."
And yet, here it was.
Right before them.
So close.
They could feel it in their hands and heart.
All because of the existence of a single person that should never have come in contact with them and their world.
Heck, they may even end up thanking that Marine scientist for bringing her here, if only he didn't work with the Government.
But in the end Robin was here because of their plans.
And White had done the right thing, and in her own way watched over her.
"You're right." Dahlia smiled back at her, one of the few times she'd allow herself to be sentimental.
But this was a special occasion.
"It feels amazing, yes." Margaret put a hand around Gerbera and Dahlia's shoulders, as Daisy hugged Lily from behind her.
None of them could stop smiling.
And neither did the YoRHas.
Even if they had been alive for much less time, they too had known very well the meaning of suffering, and understood the weight of those words that Rose just said.
This had been even more true for people like Devola and Popola, who had lived above and beyond so much more than all of them combined. They could finally know what peace felt like too.
Emil too, he could meet humans again.
And the machines too.
After all, they too were curious about humans.
And also, all of them could finally be more than just mere weapons deployed for war.
"Regardless, try to rest up tonight. Tomorrow we will begin preparations for the trip, I will message the others and let them know we got the message."
Because they had to know how much joy it sparked hearing those words too.
"Make sure to not forget anything here, because remember, we have a long voyage ahead of us, and we are not coming back."