A2 felt unreasonably tense as soon as she took the first step into the camp, Robin was just at her side, holding her at the waist again, aiding her to not tire herself too much since her fuel filter was working against her, and denying her energy.

Her presence should have helped, yet, she could feel her motors wanting to freeze up from the tension, hadn't been her companion keeping her moving.

She didn't know if she would have had the courage to even think to go to the camp, hadn't Robin been here.

She should have been ecstatic to see Anemone again, but a part of her conscience had her hesitate in doing so. Deep down she was afraid of her judgment for what happened at Mount Ka'ala, and Anemone would have had all the rights to be mad at her for dragging the Resistance, her family, into the madness their mission had been.

Maybe she should have listened to Number 21 and just continued the mission with just them four, and embraced the inevitable death.

Now, both her companions and Anemone's were gone, she made more victims than what they should have been.

So then why as soon as she laid her eyes upon her old companion, she found her legs moving on their own towards her, walking, no, running to the android she dreaded, and yet she was so indescribably happy to see?

Why did Anemone's arms, cold like the android she was, feel like the warmest of the things, wrapped around her?

Why did it feel so right?

It felt… like home…

A2 could have cried, but held herself back from doing so. Anemone… she didn't hate her…

"Number 2, it's good to see you again."

The frames she had seen from 2B and 9S' Pods when they were looking for her weren't lying about her state though, she was looking absolutely and utterly miserable. But at least she was still here, and partially she also had to thank 26E as well.

She was grateful that the woman decided to lean against a wall, far from them but still observing, but the tiny smile on her face told Anemone that she was all but angry, or even jealous.

At least she hoped the E type wasn't jealous. She wouldn't want to incur the wrath of an assassin.

Who knew how much time she and Number 2 spent together, what they did and said. Who knew what kind of relationship they had?

Well, from a distance they looked like a couple, and she was positive other people could say the same thing.

Regardless, she offered her aid, and also a place to stay for them both, now that 2B was unfortunately sadly gone, and that 9S left to who knew where.

As much as she felt bad for the poor boy she couldn't force him to stay here.

Number 2 also made things clear that the boy in question was not friendly towards her, but at least she did clarify the cause of his partner's death. Anemone had dared to guess it had been the virus, given how YoRHa had been apparently wiped out from it, but assuming and knowing are different things.

Also knowing that Number 2 most likely didn't have a choice in the matter.

"So… you and 26E…" she started, leaning against her desk, where Number 2 decided to sit on as well. "Are you like… a thing?"

"What? No." why would Anemone think such a thing?

"Too bad, you two look good together."

"She saved my life, that's all." Anemone however didn't miss the fond look Number 2 gave in the direction of the other android.

"It was a bit rough, she'd been ordered to kill me, but decided to spare me. I still don't know how she managed to convince me into meeting her again, nor how she fooled White faking her death and convincing her I had defeated her."

Anemone raised an eyebrow, Number 2, defeated? Maybe years ago, when she was still the unsure and unwilling to fight android she'd been, but now she looked like anything but the way she was.

White's fault, she reminded herself.

"So we met again, she told me her story, and I told her mine."

"She knows about the mission?" Number 2 nodded. "Everything."

Anemone knew that 26E had been labeled curious as a Scanner, but to even risk her life only to find out about Number 2's past… seemed a little too crazy to think about.

But she hadn't been there to see and know what they told each other, maybe there was way more to it than what she's being told.

"She saved me again at the forest castle, with 2B and 9S, and left YoRHa for me. I was afraid she'd regret it but… I think I have seen a side of her that others haven't. She is… nice, sweet and gentle. Since then we've been working together and… surviving. We're often separated, but we always come back for the other." A2 willingly kept the part with the encounter with Adam out, she did not want to think about it.

"You know what I think? You're definitely in love, Number 2." and A2 couldn't help at the blush forming on her cheeks.

"I am not." but her face was feeling hotter than when she overheated after B Mode.

Anemone placed a hand on her shoulder, and smiled. "There's nothing wrong with it. If anything, you deserve a bit of happiness, after all the wrongs that have been done to you that not even I know half of them."

But Number 2 didn't seem convinced, and seeing her so hesitant and shy Anemone could see the old her again, she was still there.

"I… I don't know if I'm capable of giving love anymore." and also there was Number 4 too… was she going to forget her if she allowed herself to fall for someone else?

"Sure you are. Look, I don't know exactly what you went through, and how much you've been hurt because of it, but Number 2, I have seen the way you look at her just now, you're smiling at her with your eyes, and also I have seen how she never tears her eyes off you too."

A2 averted her eyes elsewhere. "I never noticed."

Giving Anemone credit, A2 did know that she got used to Robin's presence perhaps even too quickly though, given her status of Executioner. However she wondered when that started changing… perhaps when she'd been so close to losing her that she realized just how important she was to her…

"But I did, and I am sure others will tell you the same. I'd say that if you can, then go for it." but still Number 2 was not convinced, and again, Anemone knew just why.

"You're thinking of Number 4, aren't you?"

"You knew about us?" a frown.

"Well you two weren't that smooth in hiding your relationship." she just shrugged. "Look, just because 26E is at your side now, it doesn't mean you'll forget what you had with her. But as much as we can desire it, those times are gone, there's no sense in living in the past, you will always remember her, but maybe it is time to move on."

She too wished that she could have spent more time knowing Number 21 too, and to hope that things could have gone differently. She still dreamed about the woman sometimes too.

"I understand you know… Number 21 and I… we spent a night together, before that day... I spent so much time thinking if things could have gone differently, if I could have done anything else that hadn't been putting a bullet in her brain, but at least I hope that I left something good. I wanted to show her that no matter what use someone of her kind might have had, that it didn't matter what she'd been created for, that she was still worth to be loved…"

Taking Number 2's hands into hers she added more. "Same goes to you, and also to 26E. We are still alive for a reason, neither Number 4, nor 21 would want to put ourselves down because they're gone, heck, I don't think even someone like Number 16 would have, or any of my Resistance comrades. If you've got a chance to be happy, then take it, right away. No excuses."

Again, Number 2 hesitated, but her hands closed around Anemone's. "Same goes to you though."

Anemone gave a small chuckle. "We can only hope one of us may get lucky then." but she had a good idea on which one was the luckier one at the moment.

Feeling that the conversation was over, A2 motioned for Robin to join them. She wanted to give them privacy so they could catch up.

"I thought you'd be talking for a few hours at the very least." was the first thing the woman said with a small smile on her face.

"I'm afraid I do not have all this time though, don't I?"

Right, the filter problem, and A2 was right, they were running out of time. "You wouldn't happen to have a spare filter here, right?"

Much to their displeasure, Anemone shook her head. "Usually Pascal makes them but…"

Pascal? The machine of before?

What a shot of luck they came in to save him just in time then. He should be willing to help since they owed him a favor, right?

"You've been working with a machine!?" Robin had not been prepared for A2's outburst, especially after they got to know that said machine was 2B's friend, but again, the scars of what those things did to A2 ran deep.

And she was one of the only two people that knew just how deep they went too.

"I know it is hard for you to understand, but he and his village never did anything wrong to us." luckily, Anemone knew how to handle the situation better than her.

Some strays in the machines then? Robin wondered what they were like. But like any group had its divergents, machines could too.

Hadn't she been similar too? With all the time she'd been wanted back on her home planet, and also when she deserted YoRHa?

"So I assume we will need to head to this village and ask him then." A2's growl was a sign that she was all but pleased with the outcome.

"If it annoys you so much I can go alone." Robin offered.

"What? No way I'm leaving you to walk alone into a group of machines." A2 shook her head harder than ever, she was not letting Robin walk in a nest of those damned things by herself, no matter how pacific or helpful Anemone claimed they were.

She trusted her friend's judgment, not the machines though.

"I can handle myself, you know?" she gave her a small grin, but the way A2 worried for her was adorable, and not at all unwelcomed.

But she couldn't help but wonder if this overprotectiveness of hers was somehow her own fault. A2 did see Adam almost kill her after all, and she recalled full well how distressed she was after she woke up, wanting nothing more to lay at her side until she recovered.

And then again just a while ago, with the whole incident with the infected androids and the ravine.

Was she unconsciously hurting her with her own carelessness?

Was it right for her to keep doing so?

What if one day it all ended like it always did.

With the people around her dead by her hand and herself still alive and self-loathing harder than ever. She wasn't even sure if she could take this loss at all, but wasn't she just an emotionless freak? Should be as easy as ever, no?

YoRHa was gone already too, the only thing she ever truly felt accepted in, the only thing she ever felt part of…

She was not going to let her own curse fall upon A2 as well.

Should she have to take an extreme solution to avoid that happening, she would with no hesitation. Better her than A2.

She was done with dooming people with her mere presence, and especially, she didn't want to see A2 fall victim to her negligence. She had joined her cause to protect her, and she'd become something too precious to see her die, just because her name was Nico Robin.

The Devil's Child.

"Let's just go." with a roll of her eyes, A2 took her arm and dragged her along, not having much of a choice but to head to the machine village.

2B reassured her multiple times that Pascal and his friends weren't a threat, at all, but she still didn't trust to send Robin alone in such a place, especially not after almost losing her just a short while ago.

What in hell was she thinking by throwing herself in the ravine like she did? It had been a desperate situation, but there could have been another choice that didn't involve Robin hurting herself, right?

Her self-harming tendencies were getting a little on her nerves, but A2 didn't dare point fingers when she was just the same way.

She'd been like that until… well until they met. Somehow Robin had managed to dissuade her from her own self-destructive behavior, now that she had someone else to focus on, and she'd noticed just now too…

Perhaps Anemone had been correct in her assumptions.

Which worried her.

Because she knew androids, and she also knew what Robin truly was and had been. What if her feelings were just her code making her act this way?

The trip was spent in relative silence from both sides, aside from small and occasional coughs from A2's part, but she couldn't help it, if sand just had to get into places it shouldn't have.

In moments like these she wished she'd taken better care of her old body, or at the very least to have covered it with some actual clothing, the scrap of her old uniform could not be described as such. Since she couldn't trust anyone with repairs but herself, and also she didn't trust anyone to not sell her out to YoRHa.

She couldn't rely on anyone but herself.

Before Robin came into her life that was. Though A2 did feel that she'd been slacking in pulling her own weight more times than not. That the other woman had to look after her, and assure their survival more times than she could reciprocate.

She was knowledgeable, she had, unfortunately she'd add, more experience in this whole kind of ordeal, but still it didn't mean that she should let her do all the work.

She didn't want to be a burden, again.

When they arrived at the small village, there was a giant tree with small houses and platforms all around it. Robin felt a pang in her chest, she did not like how this place made her feel.

At all.

A2 pulled at her arm again, hoping it'd distract Robin. One thing she learned to recognize in the woman was that distant look in her eyes she had whenever she'd get lost in memories of the past, unpleasant memories of course. To the point it made A2 doubt she ever had any positive ones at times.

Her eyes would just stare into the void before her, glossy and unfocused, and A2 despised that look of sadness with all her might.

She loved her eyes, the look, the alluring different coloring, and loved to see them shine when she smiled.

Okay, maybe she was indeed crushing a little too hard… just when she scolded 2B for admiring Robin so much, and here she was doing the exact same thing.

"Let's just find Pascal, shall we?" perhaps focusing on the machine would distract them both enough from their own thoughts.

It didn't take them long to find him, even among machines his form was rather peculiar, less round and slimmer. He seemed rather surprised to see them both into his village, but regardless he greeted them just as happily as he'd been when they saved him.

"A2 and 26E, isn't it? What can I do for you?"

Before either could ask how he knew the names 2B interjected for him. "9S asked for information about you two after you ran away at the forest castle, he knows your names and faces."

Since A2 didn't want to talk, Robin had to do so for her. "Anemone let us know you can make fuel filters for androids, we were wondering if you could make one for A2. Hers got damaged, sand got into it."

The white haired android looked at her with a disapproving frown, not happy that she'd shared so many details, but she only replied with a shrug.

The machine nodded, for once giving them good news. "I most certainly can, I'd need a few materials though, if you'd be willing to provide them, I can make you the filter."

"Just say what you need, I'll get it." the black haired woman instructed her Pod to take the list of materials needed.

"I'm coming with you." but as soon as she said so, A2 stumbled forward into her companion. So much for wanting to not be a dead weight…

Stupid damned body of hers…

Robin caught her with ease, the situation reminding her the first time they actually got to know each other better, when she brought the poor wounded A2 into what turned into their home base, all those months ago.

Well, much had changed since then, and yet, Robin didn't feel that she changed at all.

And she was damn tired of A2 being hurt, this had to stop, she was here to protect her!

Once again this reminded her that perhaps, she was the problem all along.

She was never meant for good things anyways, her childhood, even before the destruction of her home island happened, told her just that.

Monsters weren't meant to be loved.

Didn't help that this place, with this giant tree, reminded her so much of the tree of knowledge too. The place she'd first tasted a little bit of kindness and happiness, between the archeologists, Professor Clover and all the books she so much loved.

"I'm going alone this time." and her tone didn't leave room for arguments, as much as she knew A2 hated this, it was for her own good.

She was causing her more grief by staying than not.

"Please take care of her." she told Pascal, but mostly, with a brush of her hand, she touched the hilt of Virtuous Contract hovering on A2's back, she wanted to tell 2B to do so.

To look after her when she couldn't.

With those words, she rushed towards the forest area, not wanting to linger any further.

Meanwhile A2 watched her leave sitting on the platform where Pascal was, the machine stood next to her but didn't do or say a thing. She stared in that direction for long lost in thought, she could not shake off the feeling that Robin had something bad in her mind ever since they saw each other again in the desert.

She had no idea if it had been brewing for a longer time though. She could only guess.

Robin was someone that listened to other people's feelings more often than she'd tell her own, and right now, she was absolutely keeping A2 in the dark about something for some reason.

"She's hiding something." even 2B had noticed, she'd become more observant and perceptive in this little time, looking at how the two acted around each other and alone. Not that she had much better things to do, but at least she thought she'd get to know them better, A2 in particular.

"I know." the other white haired android whispered, not wanting to be heard from anyone.

And she was determined to find out what it was, should she force the truth out, just like when she did when she found the posters.

From what was Robin running from?