I'm not beat up by this yet; you can't tell me to regret;

In the dark since the day we met; fire help me to forget!

-Florence and the Machine (Which Witch)

. . .

Fear the child who never speaks, for she thinks of things not all men can handle.

. . .

From the moment we are born, we are destined to die. Some of us are lucky enough to not even make it out of the womb.

Some times I wonder… I wonder what would have happened to my brother and me if we were to be born human. Would we have died within the womb? Would we still be tied to the demon that takes form as Biometal W? Could we have lived in a dull, human world where the Game of Destiny didn't seem to exist and we had nothing else to die but keep living until we died? Some times I wonder… I wonder what it would take to be a human, if only… if only for a tiny chance in time.

Master Albert insists that being human is nothing what it seems to be. They are all cheaters, and liars, and sinners cursed to spread nothing but sadness against the earth. Why else would their God abandon them although they were in need of help? But, I have learned that Master Albert is a man who feels his morals were pushed onto him by an unforgiving force- and for the longest time, I believed him. I believed humans were evil creatures with no hope and that they must burn for the crimes they have committed against the very land they destroyed to create better societies for themselves. I believed that humans had no other place to go then down, down into Hell where their Maker with punish them with the upmost anger and distain. However, where there is a Hell, there is an equal and opposite Heaven that would provide hope to the ones who preserved the land, and stood for what they believed in.

At first, I thought that she was going to be just like any other human. I thought she was the archetype of every human female I have either come in contact with or have heard about before. She wasn't. She surprised me. She… she was like a colorful light, and I was the insect attracted to its splendor.

But I was not attracted to her.

I did not fawn after her with romantic or sexual attraction, hoping that perhaps the feeling was mutual.

No. Even if I did feel that way at some point, there was no reason for it. Being a Reploid designed before the Sage Trinity passed the notion of Reploid lifespans, I knew and fully acknowledged that human and Reploid relations were taboo. I found it as another curse placed upon the humans; doomed to place their affections on creatures that would eventually surpass them in worldly endeavors. The way I saw her was with the same curiosities as a biochemist studying a rare cell with a short lifespan. She was a fascination to study, but she was never something that would stay for long.

I never quite found out what my brother thought of her. She took to the Sage Trinity as if they were her uncles; she and Master Mikhail took an instant shine to each other- laughing, joking, having pleasant conversations about the world and who they had met on their travels. It was because he was once a Reploid, I'm sure, and she was a human that once had very good relations with a Reploid- it helped her see Reploids in a light that not all humans are capable of seeing. Between her and Master Thomas, it took some time for them to even have enough liking in either of them to have a small chat over how cold the coffee was that morning. Their relationship was boring to watch and duller than an endless rain.

But we all knew what Master Albert thought of her; she was his pet. She was the expensive little Louis Vuitton handbag draped over his arm any time he went out for a big gala. He knew how to make her look stunning, and in turn she boasted his ego with enough attention to flood the earth twice over. I suppose, if I were to ever choose a chance to be jealous of her, I would choose the times when she made every member of the Sage Trinity remember their earthly desires and lust. I do not think Master Albert loved her, not truly -and perhaps the feeling was mutual- but there was something that always seemed to spark between them when she was dressed as sweetly as a china doll on display. An odd feeling used to brew inside of me as I watched her flaunt around, almost unknowingly attracting those of both human and Reploid origin, with all the freedom of the world. He never gave us that kind of freedom. Ever. There were times when we were expected to clean up nicely and stand pretty in front of an enormous crowd as the Sage Trinity delivered a long boring speech on the same issues as before.

She did it better.

She was always better.

She was free too.

She was born a free human without needing another to watch over them, keeping them contained for a purpose that was never addressed or clearly understood. She didn't have to live a life believing that there was nothing more to the world than pain and suffering. She would never have to go through a Game designed to do more harm than good. She would never know, never understand, the way it feels to… to…

I…

I wonder what she did with our picture. I wonder if she still has it. I wonder if… I wonder if she likes me…