Number 21 sat in a corner, still with Number 2 wrapped around her, and Number 4 sitting close by. The twins had fixed her hands in mere minutes, though no skin could be applied to them yet, because the main supplies were at the camp, they made sure they had been bandaged thoroughly so no sand or particles could get in.
She could have done it herself, but after that moment of weakness and lack of lucidity she felt that she may do more harm to herself than good, and Number 16 wouldn't be pleased about it.
Especially after that talk.
Besides, the twins knew their job as healers way better than the others here, she witnessed it first hand when she aided them in bringing the others back.
They were such important elements.
She'd heard their story of anger and abuse against them, though unsure why that happened, and nobody here knew either, but she also knew that Anemone had a much bigger heart than those people, to take them in, and in her way to try and protect them.
Another thing she had experienced first hand.
She wanted to know the truth about their story if possible though, part of her being Scanner to be curious, and she wasn't the only one.
The group could count a smart archeologist that she had heard rivaled them in information gathering, but who said they had to compete?
Dahlia's words from before resurfaced, she couldn't fight, and relied on hacking, however… she could still find useful information, no? Even if in the future their targets may no longer be made of metal.
Number 16 was right, she still had talents she could use.
Even with another Scanner around, she may still be able to reach where 9S didn't.
Maybe not everything was lost to the wind.
And on the topic…
"What happened while I was absent?" she didn't really like to recall the moment that had just transpired, so much she was embarrassed by her behavior, and her lack of calmness.
But curiosity won over it.
It was her nature, though she wasn't as obvious as 9S was about it.
She liked to collect information discreetly, and perhaps that could be considered a skill by itself. Robin had used it for survival after all, as far as she'd been told.
"We were just trying to plan our next move." Rose replied, looking over at the group. "When we feel rested enough we should head back to camp and get ourselves properly fixed, before anything else."
Right, the previous fight had left some of them, particularly a few YoRHa with heavy, but thankfully not life threatening wounds, that would be better to be repaired sooner than later.
"Emil was also telling us about what he remembered, and about his friends."
He did speak about remembering things while the Scanner was holding him, maybe he could finally shed some light on the mystery he was.
"I saw them when… well I think I died, at least for a little while, and they talked to me." but then the magic contained in Robin's sword pulled him back to life, all on its own.
Even overriding the woman's mind and taking over to do so.
And speaking of the former human not from Earth, he had something to ask her too.
"They said you came here to take me with you, away from this planet, is that true?"
The woman nodded, patting his head as he rolled over to her, with her remaining hand.
"That is true. I thought that since this planet has caused all of you so much pain, that maybe it was time to change, and perhaps I am a bit homesick too." she had a bitter smile as she said that.
Ohara may no longer exist, however the ocean was still where she fit best.
Though she couldn't say the time she spent here was wasted, not at all if she had to be honest.
She had made a dream of hers come true, though in its own weird way.
But here sat the family she had searched for twenty years.
Her family…
"Don't act like you also didn't suffer." A2 resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She hated when Robin downplayed her own feelings, as if she still felt less worthy than them.
Perhaps she did it unconsciously, out of years long habits.
But there was no need for that anymore, and she'll make sure to let her know as many times as it will take.
"The plan would be to use the remaining machine technology to build a bridge between the planets, if possible, in order to take with us all the people that wish to leave, and still maintain contact with those who don't want to, and wish to stay."
As Number 21 moved her newly repaired hands to display a screen and show the projects they had been working on, the screens flickered for a moment, before disappearing, and her left hand short circuited.
She made a small yelp when it happened.
Her own fault after all.
"You okay?" Number 4 reached over to lay a hand on her arm, and the Scanner could feel Number 2's arm hold her just a bit tighter.
"I must have damaged an internal sensor." she spoke with much shame. Neither she nor the twins noticed, and even so, it wasn't fixable right now.
Those things were what made Scanners what they were good at, without their inner sensors that emitted electrical impulses, and allowed them to manipulate hard light and hack into things, it was hard to do anything.
Served her right for being such an idiot.
Though Number 16 looked at her with worry in her eyes, she stayed silent, but in her mind Number 21 could still hear her calling that, in her mocking and playful manner.
"You were right, Number 16, I am an idiot." she chuckled, and the Gunner did the same. "I told you so."
The exchange was met with a disapproving stare from Anemone, but other than that she didn't do anything more, while Number 16 simply shrugged it off, not worried in the slightest.
"I should have known better." someone made to be smart shouldn't do such dumb things.
At that moment, Emil decided to roll over to them, bumping against her other arm.
"I'm sorry to hear you're feeling sad."
She was about to tell him it wasn't his fault, but he didn't give her the chance to speak.
"We may not know each other well yet, but I want you to know that I really felt safe while you were holding me." and if he got it right… "And I think you're really brave to stay by your friend's side even if you can't fight. You must trust them a lot, maybe I should do the same."
This left the Scanner at a loss of words.
"Well, isn't he the voice of truth." with a smile, Number 4 picked Emil up so he sat in her lap.
"Only that Number 21 thinks too much." and also too much in a negative manner, when it came to herself, Number 16 knew and had seen it, and the conversation and actions of before only confirmed it.
"You know he is right, Number 21." Number 2 spoke in a soft and affectious voice, never stopping holding her.
So then…
"Is that why you trusted me?" with such an important task like keeping Emil safe?
"I have always trusted you, we all do. I know you'd do anything to save someone, even if it cost your own life, after all, hasn't it already happened?" a glance to Lily was all the confirmation anyone needed, as the girl smiled at her once savior.
"Yeah it has." and she was still so grateful for it.
Even if most of them had died after, hadn't she been saved, she wouldn't have had the courage to stay back and cover them with her newfound ability.
That had saved them today too.
All thanks to Number 21 who put her life on the line for her.
"Tell me, Nico Robin, there are many different humans in your world, right?" Rose asked, receiving a nod from the human android. "I would say so."
Even if most of the ones she met had a thing in common, wanting to kill her, but that was beside the point right now, she kind of knew where Rose wanted to get to.
"We androids are made in human image, therefore like them, have different personalities and talents, even going beyond our original purpose, but for all of us one thing is the same, and it's not the strength of your body, your fighting abilities, nor intelligence." the Resistance Leader placed a hand on her chest.
"But the goodness of your heart. That is what makes you strong." then, she directed her gaze to the Scanner, staring at her in the eyes.
"Number 21, please do not doubt your strength ever again. We wouldn't be here today, if your intelligence hadn't kept our data alive in that server, and for making the backdoor allowing Number 2 and Anemone to find us."
Rose wouldn't say it in front of the others, to not offend them, since they were all good people in their own right, but perhaps the Scanner here had one of the purest hearts among them here.
None of them here were saints by any means, most of the time they made mistakes out of ignorance or need to survive, however some of them still were more innocent than other elements.
The way Number 21 always wanted to help and save people, even when she barely knew them, was remarkable. A trait that wasn't always common, even between the androids of the Resistance.
Usually bonds like these formed after years, not after days, or even just hours.
Perhaps, the fact she was not fit for combat drew out this part of her personality even more than the others, for this precise reason.
Because she knew weakness, and dependency from those around her.
She understood those in need.
She did not have to doubt herself ever again, none of them had to.
No more tears on what it had been, but eyes set on the future that awaited them beyond the stars.
"I want all of you to remember these words, and burn them in your memory. Having doubts is totally normal, and you shouldn't be ashamed of it, but here, we are a family, both the old ones…" she looked at her fellow Resistance members but also at the four YoRHa they rescued years ago. "And our new friends."
"You're not here for a fact of usefulness, or for a purpose, you're here because fate decided we were meant to create bonds with each other. Doesn't matter what happens, you are all meant to stay, as long as you keep on living. That is all I ask."
Rose had seen this kind of thing too many times in her long life, usually she solved them directly with the person involved, but she saw doubts in the eyes of these new units, she felt the ones of their resident human weighing in her own mind as if they were her own.
So she had the need to speak up to everyone for once.
Their friendship had to be the only thing to keep them together, nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else.
If she understood something, YoRHa soldiers had this conviction in their head that if they weren't useful, they'd be discarded, and it was especially true for the prototypes, furtherly emphasized from everything that happened to them.
Being left alone and behind on their own, sacrificed and used to create better models based on their actions.
And the only survivor hunted like a rat.
Then there was the whole backdoor in the Bunker, the ordeal that killed everyone or almost.
Again to make space for newer models, like Robin was supposed to be one.
Yet sacrificed all the same had she been tied to the server.
Planned obsolescence.
Most cruel thing that could happen to artificial beings with them.
But not anymore. Nothing would happen to any of them again, she swore on it, as Captain and as Leader of this family.
And she knew the other people here shared the feeling.
They just had to find their own determination, their own reason to keep going.
She just hoped she helped give them one.
Her eyes laid on a figure sitting alone in a corner, perhaps she needed more convincing, and she'll make sure of it.
"If we're good enough, I'd suggest going back to camp to get properly repaired, and some proper rest." they sat here for a while already, performing minor fixes wherever possible, and chatting with Emil while Number 16 looked for Number 21.
Possibly those two must be the most tired, but neither seemed to show many signs of tiredness.
"Emil spoke to us a bit about his friends, and about magic, he says our human's weapons are also magical."
"My friends spoke to me, the sword belonged to my friend Kainè, it had been infused with magic after we saved a person dear to us, and to avoid it ending up in the hands of more people that could use it for wrong reasons, we hid it away, sealing it with a magical barrier." that had been so long ago, he never thought anyone would actually manage to get it.
"I found the sword along with the gauntlets in the remains of a temple in the desert not much longer I was turned what I am now, I do recall a barrier of some kind, I felt… drawn to the weapons as if they were calling me, even before I saw them, like a voice carried from the wind."
She was not a stranger to weird things, but given the premises, she never thought this world had any magical elements, unlike her own.
Devil Fruits like hers could be defined as such, she thought.
Even if no one truly knew where they came from.
"I remember reaching for the weapons through the barrier, it never hurt me, and when they were in my hands it just disappeared."
She had yet to find an explanation to that, but perhaps it was time to find one.
Thanks to Emil.
"My friends must have sensed your good heart, and that their strength was needed in this world once more." and for that they needed someone to be the new hero.
Or the new destroyer.
The one that held the fate of the world in her hands.
"I doubt I used these weapons in a good way." at least not good enough.
Most she did was to kill.
And most she killed were innocents…
"We killed a lot of people too…" Emil admitted, out of ignorance, and belief that they were doing the right thing.
"What we did wasn't right, but it felt right to us, because we thought we were doing something good, and it must have been the same for you." he rolled over to her. "In the end we just wanted to protect those dear to us, and I know you want to."
Of course she did, even if it took her years to realize it.
However…
"Why choose specifically me then?" the others present here were equally worthy of that power, perhaps more than she had been.
"I don't know, but I can think of one thing, you're like them but still different no? It's because you once were something else." because once she was an actual human.
Well Nier hadn't been human, just a replica, and so had been Kainè, a mere recreation, but still once they had been actual human, and this new body Robin had was a mere replica of her old one.
And just like him, he was a human turned into a weapon, and neither had a choice in it.
Perhaps that was why he liked her so much.
They were similar.
Androids too, they were designed to be weapons, similar to humans much like Replicants had been made to be human shells.
There were a lot of similarities.
To think that the twins they had known could mask themselves as humans too, and for a long long time, said a lot.
It was all a big chain that tied them together.
"So we decided that this temple could be a good place to start looking for something more, perhaps there is nothing but it's worth the try." Rose nodded at Robin. "I had meant to return sometime in the future, this seems to be the perfect occasion."
She hadn't really had the opportunity to have a proper look at it either, between the missions, and the fact she'd been drawn directly to the weapons like a magnet.
But now it explained many things.
They had chosen her because she was the only not true android on Earth, and also well, given her former powers, maybe they sensed she was used to foreign stuff.
The abilities of the Hana Hana no Mi weren't exactly natural.
As was magic.
"Though I have no intention to have you cross the desert again in this condition, because with the damage sustained we could get even more from the sand." they had seen it from the problems it caused to Number 2's legs.
So back to the camp they went, for the time being.
But as they did, Rose hung back, pulling White with her, so they may talk in peace.
"Commander White, I do hope my speech was eloquent enough for you too."
But the woman was not convinced.
"I have no reason to stay, I caused them too much pain." under orders, yet still intentionally.
"This whole new trip, and our possibility to leave this planet are made possible even thanks to your knowledge." after all she had already been there once, even if not too long.
"I'm doing it so they have the possibility to live like I have never given them before, after everything is settled down, I will stay on Earth." away from them so she may no longer cause damage.
"Nonsense. If we deserve the possibility of a better life then so do you." Rose shook her head. "I understood that what you did was because you too believed it would be for good, and that you didn't want to hurt them, much less use them as sacrifices, not them and not us of the Resistance."
After all, hadn't she been part of a similar group too?
"They may not forgive you immediately, it may take time, but you still can fix things." she already felt there was way less hostility in the air.
And that was because White was putting herself out there much like them to realize this dream, she had shown to feel guilty for her previous actions, and was trying to be better.
"And besides, they still need someone that can lead them."
"They will never let me lead anything again." she wasn't sure she wanted to.
"Not if you're going to be the Commander that hurt them, and not the Commander you want to be, one that cares for her soldiers." Rose then spared a glance to the people walking ahead of them.
Very much pleased that the usual chatter picked up again, after what happened.
With the corner of her eyes she watched Number 21 give Number 16 her gloves back, with the Gunner smiling and playfully holding up her fist, with much to her surprise, the Scanner gently bumped with her own.
"People that didn't like each other can learn to do so, we can change, all of us, and they know there's this will in you too." those two had been the perfect example she could give at this moment.
"But you'll never know what will happen if you never try to achieve something."
Rose knew that in her heart, White wanted to be the person she'd been denied to be ever since she was made YoRHa's Commander.
But they were all free to be now.
Including her.
"YoRHa and the Resistance will rise again, better than before."