It is always so odd to see a Reploid with the appearance of a 20-something human adult act and move around their world as if they are newborn children with a curiosity wider than the sky itself. Humans will always look down on this behavior, even if it is exhibited in other humans; it it simply just how we function. I, for one, have always found it rewarding to teach a Reploid whose mentality mismatches their physical appearance, and it is one of the reasons why I pursue this type of work. The process fascinates me more than their own fascination when they learn something new. He was my last project for a variety of reasons, but he wasn't meant for me and the one I loved- he was built to protect them...

-Ciel Roch-Roru, taken from a note dated April 29th

. . .

Girouette.

That was his name, but he didn't know much else.

"-an you hear me?" a female voice faded in within his internal speaker system. His hearing, in other words. "If you can, please, open your eyes."

Open... his eyes...? Did he even have eyes...?

As Girouette figured out where his eyes were located, the feeling of a warm something slipped into what he assumed was his hand. Another hand, by the feel of it squeezed his own with anticipation.

"Come on you idiot," the female voice told him in a tone that was anxious but loving, "You can do it. I know you can."

I must see her, Girouette thought to himself, whoever she is, she is counting on me.

Slowly, Girouette was able to open his artificial eyelids to see a whole new spectrum of color. The colors swirled and danced as they arranged themselves into patterns and shapes that formed the environment around him. The patterns and shapes adjusted and formed into the appearance of a woman with blonde hair tied behind her in a high ponytail. Her blue eyes looked at him with a burning anxiousness and curiosity. For awhile, Girouette simply stared at her with his own blue eyes in wonder; she was the first human he had ever seen, and he found her quite beautiful.

"Are you... my... mother...?" Girouette asked in a soft voice that cracked a bit from new experience. The woman's face flushed a light red color.

"I suppose you could think that." she told him. "I did create you."

Girouette looked around the room a bit and came to terms that he was in a lab of some sorts. The woman was not dressed in an outfit that would have suggested such- maybe she was comfortable enough here to not feel obligated to? Or maybe she didn't have permission to be here...

"Do I... have a father?" Girouette asked, his eyes returned to stare into the woman's eyes. This question made the woman shift uncomfortably, as if the thought hurt her in some way.

"I guess... in some way you do, yes." she eventually said. "You were created with the living Reploid DNA of a fallen hero- much of his appearance and personality is now yours. You're not him, per se, but there are many similarities."

"What do I look like?" Girouette then asked with a new found burning curiosity. The woman looked at him with a side smile that was almost sad, but she helped him get up and guided him toward a full length mirror. That was when Girouette saw himself for the first time; he had long blonde hair that hung down his back like a cape, lightly tanned skin that seemed to highlight his bright blue eyes. He was currently dressed in a long white medical smock that hung loose and lifelessly against his body like a dull curtain.

The woman that created him looked back at him as he looked at himself in the mirror. She looked as if she was about to cry. Girouette could see her from the corner of the mirror's reflection and wondered why she was getting so upset- did the Reploid that shared most of his appearance mean a lot to her?

"What is this?" Girouette asked as he noticed a red triangle in the center of his forehead. He touched it out of curiosity and found that it was smoother than the rest of his forehead- his skin was simulated to feel like the skin that a human would have, but the triangle was as smooth as a triangular cut ruby.

"A common Reploid aesthetic." the woman claimed, her sorrowful look turning into one a bit more angered. "It denotes you as a Reploid. Without it, you would be considered illegal, and illegal Reploids are to be scrapped upon discovery."

Girouette turned to face the woman with a confused look.

"Why?" he asked, meaning no harm. "Is there something wrong with illegal Reploids?"

"I'd love to say no," the woman said to him as she shook her head, "But it depends on what the Reploid was made for, and who made them. Without a mark similar to the one you have, no one would know the difference, and if a Reploid was created without that marker and destined to kill... well... let's just say that there's a high possibility that there would be little the world could do to stop them."

Girouette thought about the idea for a moment, then nodded to show that he understood. Soon a silence filled between them as the flow of conversation started lack and wind down. Girouette then realized something that he hadn't thought to do earlier and felt that now was the time to do it.

"Hello ma'am," he told the woman with a nod, "My name is Girouette."

For a moment, the woman stared at him with a little bit of surprise before giving him a light smile. She then said to him with a warm and rather happy tone,

"Hello Girouette, you can call me Ciel."