Ciel—sole leader of the Resistance and no less than a genius, having worked on countless robots as a Reploid scientist back in her days as a Neo Arcadian citizen. She had many interesting features, be they aesthetic or intellectual. One of the most notable of the former category, Harpuia thought, were her eyes.
Ciel's eyes were a remarkable sort of cerulean blue, so deeply saturated with the color that they almost looked like sapphires, and they were always wide and alert, always seeking a being in need. They also had a depth that not even most humans could match—they were never devoid of emotion, never lacking that spark of hope that Ciel held onto with her life and soul.
Harpuia's encounters with the human had been plentiful before she had run away from Neo Arcadia. She was a very small human back then, he remembered, most likely only eight or nine years of age. And yet, they worked beside each other, almost as co-workers, Ciel possessing intelligence that not even fully-grown humans could match. After she had created a master for the Four Guardians, she continued to serve under Neo Arcadia, working alongside the older humans with no complaints. Her eyes had a youthful sparkle back then, the sparkle of boundless energy and determination, which somehow, Ciel had managed to keep even as she grew older.
Now, their encounters had been few and far between. Ciel had been present when the Resistance took him in after his defeat at the hands of Omega, and Harpuia was surprised to find that she had barely changed a bit—her eyes were still as hopeful and determined as they were all those years ago. In fact, he dared to say that she looked even more confident than he'd ever seen her, working against the very place she had been born from.
At the time, it made Harpuia angry, but as his views became more and more clear, and his sense of justice gave way to a new sort of fairness, he couldn't help but admire her. Against all odds, Ciel still swore to protect the people dear to her, and, above all else, to protect her beliefs at any cost.
Just like he did.
It had been a long time since that encounter at the Resistance base. Now, Harpuia had left the physical world for good, having been terminated by Omega's explosion, alongside his two colleages. Roaming free as a cyber-elf, Harpuia watched over the girl sometimes, and continued to be amazed. Even after Zero had perished, even after the very object of her determination was gone, never to return… Ciel somehow managed to become even more passionate, and worked tirelessly just as she had before. She had never lost hope, not for a second.
If that wasn't enough to make someone admirable, then Harpuia didn't know what did.
At first, when Harpuia realized he was a cyber elf, doomed to float without a purpose, he didn't know what to think. But, as his visits to watch the girl became more and more frequent, he knew what he had to do.
The best thing he could do in his current, virtually useless state, was to stay, unknown and unseen, at this girl's side. To be alongside the very same determination and hope that he once was… that was Harpuia's only wish.
For he knew, as long as he lived, that Ciel's eternal hope would never cease to occupy his thoughts.
