"Now, open your eyes," came a voice somewhere near. My eyes flickered open quietly and I saw a man with blond hair and blue eyes sitting in front of me with a smile upon his face. I didn't understand why he was smiling or what for. What is a smile anyway? What causes one?
"Good morning," he told me.
"Good morning," I replied.
"Do you know who I am?" he questioned, the puzzling smile still upon his face.
"You are my professor," I said. He stood up and looked down on me.
"Is the system working properly?"
"No problem."
"Then your name is..."
oOoOo
I was a robot made my a lonely scientist. To say how it was done... a "miracle". I was perfectly made, moving and speaking. I was a "miracle" to say the least. But I was still missing just one thing. One thing that couldn't be made. That thing is called a "heart". A program.
I was made by my professor, a genius man, in a bacteria-free laboratory. He used to smile at me with that puzzling smile of his. In the beginning, when I was new to this lab, he was always excited and seemed extremely happy whenever he saw me, showing a smiled so wide and emotions in his eyes I could never fathom. I never understood what that meant, and it seemed as if, over the years, his smiles faltered. "I want to teach and share with you, the happiness and sadness of mankind," he would say. "That is my wish." As a robot, I never understood.
He tried to teach me this through voice and music. He would sing songs that usually involved "happiness" or "love". His words while singing always came out with many different emotions attached. Yet whenever I sang the same words, they were flat and unemotional. I wanted to know what this was, why I couldn't sing like he could. I wanted what the humans had. A "heart" and feelings that could be noticed and accepted by the outside world.
He always seemed so happy and smiling, but sometimes, when he wasn't aware that I was operating, I saw him with a wet face. The source of the wetness was his eyes. Tears, they were called, I knew that.
His tall figure was not facing me. He had his eyes focused on the computer with glowing red words of "error". He was startled as I tugged gently on his lab coat and pointed to the sheet music. His eyes turned sad and he suddenly embraced me tightly, as if he wanted someone to comfort him. "I can see my reflection in your empty eyes. What does that existence mean to you?" he cried, the wetness seeping into my shirt.
I was an immortal being. I could withstand plagues and old age. But that was only me. My professor could not say the same. For him, time was not infinite. But right then I didn't understand yet.
"Why do you cry?" I asked.
A few hundred years passed before me, left alone by the world. The once bacteria-free laboratory withering, faltering, and dying as well. I, the robot of miracle, wanted to make a wish. I wanted to know the thing that man was working on, 'til the end of his life. For the rest of his life, making for me a "heart".
"Don't ever open this system" he told me. "It might be too much for you."
Hundreds of years with no one by my side. A blank stare always upon my face. I didn't understand. As the world turned and changed around me, twigs growing into enormous trees and my professor getting thinner, I didn't know what I was supposed to do, what to feel. What was the program, the "heart" that I yearned for?
I defied his warning. The old computer, still operating just as I, lit up with the bright light of my professor's work. Tapping a few keys at a time, the keys I watched him tap so many years ago. I placed my hand on the screen and waited for the program to upload.
I gasped, my heart awaking and slowly starting to pound deep inside my chest. Now it began to move, the miracle accelerating. I closed my eyes as the feelings, the "heart", began to take over. Water leaked from my eyes and I held up my hands in front of me, the drops of water gently falling onto them. Why won't my tears stop? My heart beat came alive and accelerated. I looked at my hands, the shaking getting worse. Why am I trembling? I grabbed at my chest, the overwhelming feelings pouring into me. Is this my desired "heart"?
One hand clutching at my chest, my heartbeat still increasing, it felt like it would burst from my body. I remember when that man gave me flowers and took me outside, trying to explain "happiness" and "enjoyment". I didn't understand back then. Because of these lost feelings and this program, I now know how to feel joyful. I know how to feel sad. A wonder, a heart; infinite. Somehow they all feel painful. How deep and touching they are...
I ran outside and felt the warm breeze against my face. The flowers on the ground, how pretty they where. I ran around everywhere, letting the happiness I found resonate within me. This is what he wanted me to feel. The things he could not explain. The joyful things he knew, the sorrowful things he knew. Everything was so deep and painful.
I then began to realize the reason I was born. Surely it's lonely by ones self. Yes, that day, that time. In all those memories the "heart" that lived was overflowing. I remembered the time he gave me those flowers. He was so happy but I didn't understand his "happiness" or his "heart". Then I smiled, looking back and realizing his happiness, his smile, and his "heart".
Finally, I can sing this. These real and true words, I am dedicating them to you. My heart and my world, they are all for you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
For bringing me into this world, for letting me experience the joys in this world.
Thank you.
Thank you.
For the happy days you spent with me by my side.
Thank you.
Thank you.
For everything you gave me.
The first miracle was that you gave me life. The second miracle was the time we spent together.
I ran all over the field outside of the run-down lab that day. Picking flowers and throwing them all over the place where you gave me life. Here. I give these flowers to you. All of these flowers, these feelings I hadn't known. I will give them to you. I will sing forever, for all eternity. Thank you. Thank you. Now I can stay with you forever in this place where you gave me life. Together with you, thank you.
"A message is... being received...! The source is...from the future," the stoic voice of the computer told the blond professor.
"For me?" he asked himself.
It reached across a few hundred years, this message. A singing voice from an angel of the future, a song sung straight from her heart. A shape began to emerge from near the professor's chair. A shape of the robot he could not give a heart to. But this one was different. As she sang her thank you's out to him, the emotions shone through.
She opened her eyes and his reflection was no longer in the emptiness.. She collapsed into tears and hugged his legs close to her. Her love and appreciation shone through her heart more than anything he had ever witnessed before
His smile grew and he knelt down in front of her. The tears of happiness streamed down both of their faces as they hugged each other to themselves.
The first miracle was that you were born. The second miracle was time we spent together. The third miracle was a truly sincere heart from the future.
The fourth miracle isn't needed. The fourth they didn't need.
He held her hand and kissed her as passionately as they both possibly could. He tried to hold on as tightly as he was able to but the time from the future was limited and she faded away. The look she held, though, when she left, was enough for him to be happy and the tears of joy flooded painfully hard. She had grasped her heart and was thankful for everything he had ever given her.
oOoOo
The third miracle was that two miracles had occurred at the same time. One was a sudden communication from the future, another one was a program modification. Her song corrected her own mind. It was a correction that became a chance that she obtained a "heart". His life ended. He gave her the inheritance of solitude. And, he entrusted her the key to the miracle.
The program was exactly a miracle. The robot that obtained the "heart" kept running. She sang all of her feelings. But the miracle lasted only a moment. The "heart" was too much for her to withstand. And at the end, the machine shortened and was never to move again. However, at the very last moment, her face still held a beautiful smile. And she looked like... she truly did look like...
An angel.
"Thank you.
"Father."
oOoOo
This is a song fic, believe it or not. You can listen to it here:
http: / / www. Youtube. Com /watch?v=MKv7cw_Z1P4&feature=related
(just take out the spaces)
Just to warn you, the real song is in a foreign language, so there are subtitles :)