There was a bustle as many medics rushed past Doctor Julien to get in the body of water that was nearby their summer vacation home, cleverly disguised as a tree. The forest had yet to succumb to frozen wastes, which would ultimately show how the scientist would feel after they got his son out of the waters. Clinging to life, they put the boy on a simple stretcher and carried him to the car-based ambulance and put him in the back, having just enough room to not have to bend his limbs.
He should have listened to his gut to not allow his child to go swimming in the water. Walking up to a medical professional scribbling something on a notepad, he bit his lower lip, "Will he be alright?"
The man sighed and started moving to the driver's side of the pure-white van with the red cross on the side, "I'm not sure, but he needs medical attention…" before the paramedic in the back closed the door he looked expectantly at the brunet, who realized he should get in and follow along this way.
Getting in, the man nearly cried at the state of his son and barely felt the backdoor close and the vehicle go into motion to the hospital. The phone Julien had kept around the lab-like home was only to be used as an emergency, which was sadly today.
The blond nearby him glanced between the blue-tinted boy on the stretcher, shivering every so often and subconsciously clutching the dry sheets then at the father who couldn't look at what he felt was his fault. Opening his mouth to give a condolence, the paramedic then closed it as they reached the hospital and focused on rushing the boy out after the doors were opened, finding the scientist offered to carry the other side and they made their way to a free room, but when they got the teenager to his hospital bed they told him to wait outside until they were done fixing him up to the room's accommodations. Not wanting to get kicked out completely for arguing, the man found a seat by itself. He then looked up to find a kindly nurse walking over and handing him a clipboard for filling out information.
He nodded and silently scribbled out answers with the attached pen, hoping his child was fine. A doctor waved him in as he handed the information back to the nurse and he made his way into the room and noticed his son was barely keeping his eyes open, but probably from some sedating medications. The young doctor shook his head slightly, "The water was too cold for him I'm afraid. I have a feeling the pneumonia may kill him if not his poor heart condition." Noticing the tears welling up in the father, he moved his side swept bangs that were obviously already held by hairspray, "Now, I'd advise you to talk to him while you can, you never know what is to happen…"
Then as the opposing continued his rehearsed speech that he gave to every soul who had a loved one or friend that was on death's door, the scientific doctor felt his mind wander. He couldn't help but wonder if he could somehow recreate his son, so he would continue his life on as he very well pleased. Though he could never learn cloning and was much better with mechanics when it came to realistic creatures, yet making an android sounded risky and insane when given an actual thought. The doctor then realized his speech was going to waste and walked out slowly, leaving Julien the ability to get access to sit next to his son's bedside in an uncomfortable plastic folding chair.
"Dad, I'm confused… what happened? One minute I'm swimming, the next… I'm here," the boy slurred and tired speech surprised them both a bit, but neither said anything about it. They both knew the ending of this certain story anyways. "Can you make me a robot?" The younger brunet always had a tick for robotics and anything of the sort. Earning a nod from his father, he leaned up slowly, blinking to get used to the light pouring in, "Can you name him… Zane? That's a cool name."
The man leaned forward to lay the teenager back down, "Of course, Daniel, but please don't force yourself to do this. I want you to…" live… "Stay awake as long as possible."
There was a slight roll of the glazing eyes of the younger Julien as he smiled gently, "Make him blond too…" he inputted again randomly, then sobbed and gave a shaking cough of a breath, "I love you, Dad."
Julien felt his world fall apart and could feel hot tears staining clear trails down his face as he spoke softly, "I love you too," hugging the boy under him until the arms returning the sentiment slacked and slowly slid back onto the bed. Gingerly pushing himself back up, he noticed the sheets weren't covering the adolescent up enough and he took it upon himself to pull them up over the slack arms and frozen chest so it tucked under the sharp chin gently. He played pretend that his son was merely sleeping and leaned down to kiss the boy on his cheek, feeling the heat leaving already. It was if he was no longer part of this world either and abruptly walked out, turning it to a dash surprisingly quick for a man of nearly fifty.
There were two truly beautiful things in his life that went terribly wrong in his life now. First he looses the trust of his colleagues at the lab he originally worked at for coming up with outlandish ideas too often, and then a baby randomly shows up at his actual home, screeching and wrapped in a blanket with a note pinned to it begging to take care of it… ending up failing whoever wrote it.
~~
"I'm nearly done with Zane now, Daniel," Doctor Julien told the nearly empty room as he put the finishing touches on the new prototype he was sure would work. "I wish you'd be here to see him, I made sure you two looked similar so I could have a start-over. Isn't that wonderful?" Maybe he was still put together fine, but every so often the thread holding together his fabric of life together was broken somewhere in the seams.
The android whirred to life as the scientist poked and prodded the metal control panel a few more times with the tweezers in random places. Then as the humanoid looked around, it hardly seemed to notice the close of the chest and the pure-white kimono pulled close at the finish. The teenager tilted the head back and forth to get used to being awake for the first time. Not able to speak yet, it held out a hand abruptly to touch the other's wrinkling face curiously.
"Hello there, Zane, I am Doctor Julien," the sentence may take work, but as he stood them both up opposite from each other, he noticed the boy also had identical build to Daniel.
'This is ridiculous, he'll never learn how to say-' "Zane," repeated the robotic humanoid easily, pointing to himself, then pointed to the scientist and smiled warmly, "Father."
It made the man burst into tears as he hugged the nearly identical heighted boy to him. He figures his mumblings must have reached the other's ears somehow through all those days of hard work, hardly taking a break for his deceased son. He eventually went back for the inevitable funeral that the relative had planned after hearing the scientific doctor having a somewhat meltdown and walking out without claiming his son a right for burial.
They didn't allow him to go back to that same lake though; that taunted and laughed at Doctor Julien often in its own way. Why else would he make sure to have Zane resistant to water… no matter what altitude?
He could've hopped into the water that eventually grew cooler as the forest slowly turned into the wintery abyss it was known as a bit past his passing time. He wanted to get swallowed by the sea, much like his son's fight for life did. The sad thing was he wasn't sure whether to be jealous or be glad he lived to an older age. Either way he suffered internally, yet he always had Zane to help soften the idea of this life and remind him that there was always something to live for.