Title: Growing Up
Summary: She will let go, but she will never forget.
Elize considered Teepo as her first friend. It didn't matter that he was just a doll to everyone else. She cared for him all the same. But when she found out that Teepo was actually a mechanism that could voice out her thoughts, she was crushed. It never occurred to her that he wasn't a living being. To discover all his actions and words were just figments of her imagination wasn't something she wanted to know.
No, that still didn't change her opinion of Teepo. He was always there for her and made life at the lab so much more bearable. He did have his own individuality. It was true that his thought process was based on her own, but he has said things that she never realized herself, so that gave him his own personality. He was cheery, honest, loud, and friendly.
He was simply Teepo, and that was enough for her.
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But she also wanted others to accept him, too.
People considered her a young girl right now, making it perfectly acceptable for holding a doll everywhere she went. She was afraid that when she grew up, everyone will laugh at her for still holding onto Teepo. When she told Jude about this, he simply gave her a reassuring smile.
"Don't worry. We won't laugh," he said.
"Really?" Elize asked, surprised.
"Of course. Teepo is important to you, isn't he? Why would we laugh at that?"
"…T-thank you." She averted her gaze to the ground because she was getting teary-eyed.
Hearing those words made her happier than Jude could ever know.
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When Elize learned about Teepo's and that her parents were dead, she couldn't accept the truth and couldn't help acting in self-pity either. Milla's cold words seemed so cruel to her, and she hated Leia even though she was trying to comfort her.
She hated the world at the time.
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Later, after another argument with the group, she finally snapped out of her resentment. She never intended to hurt anyone's feelings. She looked at Teepo.
She knew what she must do in the end.
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Their journey was finally over. Elize stared at Teepo's unmoving body in the box. She closed the lid carefully on top. It was for the best to seal him away. She needed to move on. She needed to open up more and let go of the need to use Teepo to do that for her. She no longer relied on Teepo, but she would never forget the memories she shared with him.
She was growing up.