When the next day came, the first thing A2 heard was a lot of noise outside Pascal's little shack, the second thing she noticed was the rather heavy weight on one of her arms, and looking down she found her companion's still sleeping form on it.
Right, they went to sleep this way, with her holding Robin in her arms for once, but in that moment, the woman needed love way more than A2 did.
Which she'd been more than willing to provide.
She did not expect her to be still asleep, Robin was always the one that woke up first, didn't even sleep much unless it was necessary. Nightmares, she told her once and also old habits of needing to be vigilant to not be caught, Robin had explained, A2 could relate all too well, as she used to do the exact same thing too.
Before this whole thing happened of course, and before the former human almost died in her arms. A2 had been terrified to let her go since then, and after what Robin told her the day before, she'd possibly been even more scared that she'd run from her.
She'd been so happy and thankful that her words managed to get through her enough to stay, and be willing to give a chance to learn what being cared for felt.
Robin repeated to her many times that she'd been worth saving, but A2 hadn't been the only one that deserved it, and she could only curse herself for realizing it so late, letting herself be spoiled with attention without giving back anything in return, until she almost lost it all again.
The other woman never asked anything from her, but Robin had to be spoiled the same way. They were alike, she said it so many times, so what went one way, had to go the other too.
But before that, she had to know what the hell dared to wake her up, and that probably could wake Robin up too. Poor thing needed all the rest she could get after what she'd been through, and also, hadn't Pascal said no one would bother them? Not that she trusted the machine much, but he did make her the filter after all, that she supposed she could give him a chance to prove himself worthy of her trust.
As if on cue, his voice could be heard just outside the door.
"You can't go in there, they need to rest." there was his voice, alongside many others that sounded younger complaining about it.
The kids, of course.
Bloody things got attached to her when while waiting for Robin to return, she'd asked if she could give back the favor to Pascal, and for them she got rid of that Goliath infesting their playground, or whatever it was.
That had been why she resorted to climbing the tree, where she could sit and talk with 2B in peace too, without curious ears around. At least the offer of the flower had been kind of cute, and helpful in calming Robin down a little more.
Were the children looking for her again? Or Robin? Or both?
Before she could answer any question, she felt movement at her side, meaning those machines woke up her sleeping companion. As she expected, and only served on making A2 even more annoyed about it.
Though the sight of Robin rubbing her eyes like a small child herself was kind of adorable. A2 hadn't actually seen her do these simple acts before now, and she hoped to be able to see more.
"What is going on?" the black haired woman asked, her voice small from just exiting rest mode.
"I don't know, the kids are making noise for some reason." A2 shrugged as she sat up, and her companion followed her in doing so too.
"Guess we'll have to find out." Robin replied, as she stood and lightly stretched, making sure everything was in working order.
A2 just rolled her eyes at the comment, just watching from the makeshift bed as the other woman made her way to the door, effectively revealing the presence of the machine children on the other side, and Pascal.
"Oh they woke you two up, didn't they? I'm sorry, the children refused to listen, I tried to explain to them you needed sleep, but they wanted to tell you good morning."
Only now Robin realized it passed a full day since… well since she argued with A2, and since she refused to let her leave and to acknowledge anything that she said as wrong, or giving her fault for anything…
Could she truly allow herself to stay without hurting her? A2 was stubborn, and she should have known she would not have let her run away like that, but she still doubted herself, and until she could prove that she too could change, then she wouldn't fully have faith that she wasn't made just to harm people.
Not yet, but A2 had proved her wrong in so many things before, maybe she was right this time too. She had a habit of doing that, and always straight to the point too.
But years and years spent feeling and being told of being the worth scum that existed, and that her life was a sin were hard to change all of a sudden.
She could still hear all those people calling out to her if she forced her memory a bit. After all, if there was any hope to forget any of it, now she had no such option anymore.
However she decided to focus on the machines before her, instead of getting lost in thought.
"That is very kind of them." she gave them a small smile, which only seemed to make the kids even more energetic, as they crowded around her, while some even walked in Pascal's shack and dragged out A2 from it.
With a lot of protests on her side of course.
"Big sis, pretty eyed lady, play with us!" they cheered around them.
"I already said no!" A2 almost growled, she did not want to spend time around machines more than necessary, hostile or not.
Robin however seemed to have other ideas, as she heard her talk with Pascal, about the kids needing toys and being bored, but that to gather materials and such, they would have to venture out far to the Amusement Park.
"Send what you need to my Pod, I'll go get them." now this A2 didn't like at all, because this had been the same excuse she used to try and run.
She was not falling for it again.
"We will, you mean." she said, clearing her throat to get their attention.
She almost expected Robin to argue, not to nod back at her, accepting her to tag along instead. A2 watched as the other woman walked ahead of her, towards the bridge that led to the park itself.
"Well then, let us be on our way."
She still didn't agree as to why she would indulge the wishes of the machine children, but as long as she didn't try to escape again anything was better than that. Didn't mean that A2 wanted to let her out of her sight, at least for a while, so she followed.
"Why the hell would you agree to help them? They're machines." the white haired android asked as soon as they were out of hearing range.
"Why not? We don't have much else to do, and they did help you." the former human replied with a shrug.
"Which I already took care of, I did kill that machine for Pascal and the kids like he asked me to." but again she was met with the same motion from her companion. "You did thank him, I didn't. I owe him for saving you."
Robin then sighed. "I guess a part of me just wants to do good things, you know?"
Well, if she put it that way, A2 did understand where the will to help was coming from, as if she wasn't the prime example of Robin's goodwill to change her destiny, and to cancel all the evil her name carried with it.
"And A2, this you may not understand, because you have your own reasons, you have been hurt a lot by them, but, I don't not hate machines like you do, they're no enemies of mine because human or not, this ain't my world. I was coerced into thinking that way from White, she put that into my brain so I would obey." she explained.
"I killed so many of them too… and just now I realize that maybe we're not that different. We both desire peace, don't we? At least some of them do, they must be as tired of fighting as we are."
At said question A2 looked away, because she knew Robin had a point in all of what she said. She was just too stubborn to accept it.
That and the images of her comrades dying were too painful for her to change ideas, ever.
But Robin wasn't from here, so for her, it all made sense. She looked so much like a true android that A2 forgot she hadn't been born as one.
This discourse had A2 voice a thought she had for quite a while, more or less since she found out the other woman's identity.
"Who knows what else White put in your head that wasn't there before?" who knew what else she did to hurt you? Who knew the true extent of her intentions, and all she did to subjugate the woman? Why did people have to keep hurting Robin?
"I don't know… androids can't forget, but for a human, their memories can become foggy, hard to remember, knowledge disappears, things change, and we can't control it. I don't recall all I knew before, if something was added, besides the obvious things, such as data to fill me in about this world and its technology, my world is rather… obsolete in comparison. And also combat data, I never used a sword before, or much of anything."
"Wait… you tell me you have never learned to use a weapon before?" but she was so strong and good with that glowing blade of hers, and also the two chains too. She did experience it first hand after all.
Robin shook her head. "Nothing, I'd keep a small pocket knife on me for emergencies and utility, but that's all." now it occurred to her that she never explained the concepts of Devil Fruits to A2 before, but perhaps another time.
It might be too hard for her to understand in a world so technological, to know that somewhere else in the galaxy there were powers that could be very well described as some kind of magic here.
And that probably could very well be magical for real.
Regardless, they walked down the path to the park, but when they arrived, the usual happy place had a rather eerie and frightening feeling to it, and with it being constantly in a state of twilight didn't help at all.
Robin hadn't been in this area too often, but she didn't recall the place being so… empty.
The usually joyful clown machines were now looking like husks of themselves, with red glowing eyes and pretty much dragging themselves around like zombies.
She did not like this one bit.
Upon arriving, she had also noticed the weird cylinder shaped structure floating on the bridge leading to the theater, so she suggested checking the thing out in case of danger.
"What is this thing?" she asked, hoping the Pods would have an answer.
"Unknown. Hypothesis: this structure seems to be of machine origin."
But she got nothing more than that.
Robin eyed the structure, feeling more and more uneasy the more she did, like something bad was inside of it, more than bad, actually awful. And she felt that it was familiar too.
She had to know.
"I want to try and find an entrance to this thing." though 007 alerted her there was none, she didn't listen.
Summoning her two gauntlets she latched the chain high, and then rewinded it back, so she could climb the thing. Once she had enough of a grip, she threw the remaining chain at A2, who held out her arm so it could wrap around it, and allowed Robin to pull her up in the air.
Unfortunately, the structure seemed sealed in all places, and also, the swaying of it up and down wasn't helping their balance either.
Still, Robin wanted to at least make it to the top, so she climbed, but as soon as her hands touched the edge and she moved to hoist herself over, something shocked her, and made her lose control and strength in her body, that paralyzed fell back down.
In the corner of her eye she could spot A2 in the same situation as her.
Thankfully the Pods caught them before they could get hurt from falling on the bridge, or from falling in the water.
"It seems that thing doesn't want to let us in." she commented, picking herself up and flexing her arms and legs to see if her circuits recovered from the shock.
Though she could swear she saw something black and blonde with the corner of her eye, that seemed a little too familiar. But she couldn't quite place it as she spotted it for a mere fraction. But she had a gut feeling it had to be someone she knew.
She could retry climbing again, and try to get a better look, but something to her it would have the exact same result as before.
Whatever that structure was, or who was in it, did not want neither her nor A2 near it. Or androids probably.
"I'd say to leave it be, I do not want to get shocked again." A2 commented as she headed in the direction they came from. "Besides, you wanted to aid the kids, no?"
"Yeah…" she still had a bad feeling about what she saw, but it couldn't be helped at the moment.
Robin did follow A2 in the area of what once was a ferris wheel though, hoping that structure wouldn't be a problem, despite the ominous feeling it emanated.
It took them little time to find the materials for the slide the kids wanted, however Robin could spot A2 looking at the sky before her. But she couldn't ask why as she answered her first.
"You know… I'd like to see an actual sunset. I bet it is a beautiful sight." she said. "I've never seen the night sky either."
Robin was so used to living here that she forgot there was no actual rotation of this planet, so the sun never set, and it was ever night, and areas like this one were forever painted in red.
But she did know sunsets and starry skies though, seen plenty through her life, and dawns too. However she didn't realize she actually missed seeing them until A2 brought it up right now.
"Have you ever thought of wanting to go back home? Back on your planet I mean."
"I technically don't have a home." her island was blown up after all. "But… I'm not actually sure… I never asked myself this question before."
"But I guess I do feel a bit nostalgic, now that you mentioned it."
"You must have seen a lot of things we androids never got to experience, like the night sky. I've seen stars from the Bunker but it is not quite the same thing as watching the sun set in the distance, and seeing it rise too I assume." A2 just shrugged, but Robin could tell these words meant more.
Spoke of her desire to witness normal things that here, on Earth, would never be possible.
"I have barely seen clouds, and rain and storms are so rare here, I don't know snow either."
But Robin did, even if those things were usually unpleasant, she did miss the cold feeling of drops of rain and snowflakes falling down on her. She missed traveling on a boat and smelling the salty air and watching waves rock against the ship she might have been on.
She missed her old life, no, she missed all of these things that became ordinary, without her
realizing she did miss them until they had been taken away for so long.
She missed this part of her human life…
But there was no way to return by now, it was too late. Her option could have been YoRHa, the same people that took her here must have known, but the Bunker but it was a pile of metal and ashes now.
"I know it's stupid, and pretty much impossible, but would you return to your home planet if you could?"
That had to be the hardest question she'd been asked. On one hand she missed the call of the sea, and of the unknown, but on the other hand, would she be ready to abandon everything?
Would she be ready to abandon the very few people that still lived here? The same ones that ever gave her something good in her whole life? Would she be ready to leave A2 here?
She supposed not. Especially not after what happened after she left all the rest of the people she loved she left at the Bunker, and then lost them all before she could even say how thankful she'd been for all they did for her without knowing it.
A stray thought went to the woman that had been at her side since she'd been here, and that she'd never see again… 21O.
Her mind flashed that blur she saw before, but she refused to believe a machine creation could be close to her.
And then she still had A2, the woman that refused to leave her side no matter what she did or said, that never judged, that had forgiven her.
Then there were still the twins that saved her life more than once, Anemone, the respectful leader of the Resistance, and now Pascal and the kids were rather nice to be around too…
If she'd been alone then she would have accepted immediately, but…
"I wouldn't, not if it meant abandoning you, and what little I have left here. You androids have given me too much to just leave you all behind." she replied, but A2 had one more question.
"And if I wanted to come along? Would you take me with you? And the others too?"
"I don't think changing life for you all could be so easy, but I wouldn't stop any of you from following me, especially not you, A2." Robin gave her a small smile, though this was all just a dream that would never be reality.
A2 walked over to take Robin's hands into hers. "You'd show me all those things I said too?"
"All the times you want, until you grow tired of them."
But at the moment they couldn't do more than return to Pascal's village and to the waiting children, to help build the slide they so much wanted, and hope to not have other days like these for as long as possible.
This was all nothing more than wishful thinking, but as long as it kept them going then so be it.