A/n: chapter 11 is finally here. Sorry for the long wait. I'm on a break from the Legends fandom right now, and it's hard for me to write for a fandom while I'm in another fandom. I haven't abandoned any of my fics. It's just hard to get inspired to write them when I'm on a different fandom. When I'm not inspired to write a story, it takes much more time to get work on it done while trying to maintain the usual quality. But I'm determined to finish all my fics no matter how much time it takes.
Okay. Enough rambling. On to chapter 11.
Trigger of Change
Written by Aiyumi
Disclaimer: Rockman/Mega Man, as well as any other trademark that may be referenced in this fan fiction, are properties of their respective owners. I am just a fan and do not have any relations to said people/companies.
Chapter 11: The Flower
Yuna and Roll went to another island to do their shopping. Before they disembarked, while they were still inside the Flutter, every so often Yuna would zone out while Matilda reminisced about her father's ship. They arrived on the island and checked out a few stores. As they looked for a gift, they talked about Matilda's likes and dislikes. Yuna and Roll eventually found an elegant bag for Matilda and got in line to pay for it.
"How are Geetz and Sera doing?" Yuna asked.
"They're doing great. They even helped Rock navigate a complicated ruin! Afterward, Sera was so relieved that the dig had gone well that she smiled! It was the first time I'd ever seen her smile!"
"Oh really? That's great! I haven't seen her smile in a very long time..."
Roll remembered something. "Ah, Yuna, you'd mentioned you've known Sera and Geetz for a long time. By any chance, did you also know someone named Trigger back then?"
"Hmm? Yes, I did." Yuna admitted, although she found the question incredibly suspicious. She had never expected Roll to ask about Trigger. "Was it Geetz who told you about him?" Yuna wanted to stay cautious. Geetz could have been using Roll to try to get information out of her.
"Yeah. Geetz said that something happened and Trigger was hurt very badly, and had to be sealed inside a ruin to recover or something. Geetz always gets this weird look on his face when he talks about him. I hope they can see each other again...Yuna, do you know anything about what happened to Trigger after Geetz and Sera were put in stasis?"
Yuna thought twice before speaking. "Yes. Trigger's appearance changed quite a bit. He used up all of his remaining strength to activate the mechanism that would allow his body to recover, and he ended up losing all of his memories." She saw no problem with saying that, since it was something that Geetz was already aware of.
"That's sad. Even if he sees Geetz, Trigger won't remember him!"
"Well, yes, you're right. I'm sure Geetz is well aware of this, though."
"Oh. Right." Roll nodded solemnly. "But despite that, Geetz hasn't lost hope. He told me that Trigger was a really nice person. Geetz speaks so well of Trigger that now I want to meet him too! And then once we find him, maybe we all could spend time together and help jog his memory!"
Yuna chuckled awkwardly. She was about to respond when a jazzy song featuring a violin began playing on the store's radio.
Roll noticed it, too. "This sound...it's a violin, isn't it? That day at the mall, we saw a violin on display in that music store. Sera seemed entranced by it. She mentioned that the Master could play the violin."
"Yes, he could." Yuna answered. "Actually, Trigger was able to play it a little, too."
"Really? Cool!" Roll was amazed. "It must be nice to know someone who can play the violin personally. It makes a very beautiful sound." Roll paused. Then her eyes lit up. "Hey, I have an idea! Yuna, do you think giving Trigger a violin might make him remember anything? We could take him to the music school in Pokte Village and ask someone to lend him a violin!"
"Hmm, I don't know..." Yuna highly doubted it. She was sure that he could regain (and probably already had) most of his original fighting functions, since they were part of his design. On the other hand, violin playing was not.
Their turn in line came and Roll paid for their purchase.
Yuna and Roll returned to Manda Island and met the rest of the group outside the village, where they had parted ways.
"How did your shopping trip go?" Rock asked. He seemed to be in a slightly better mood than he had been in the morning.
"I bought a very nice bag for my mom!" Roll answered. "I'll show you later. How are the Servbots doing?"
"They're doing great. We checked out the violin section. The violins they were playing were so small and so cute..." This got a giggle from Roll. "The teacher invited me to come watch again."
Sera glared at Rock. She wondered why he was focusing only on those little robots and why he chose to skip all of the parts about his own playing. Before she had the chance to say anything, though, Yuna addressed her.
"Sera, I believe you'd said you wanted to talk to me?"
Sera remembered she had important problems to solve. This was her opportunity to find out as much as she could about Trigger. She turned to Yuna. "Yes."
"So you haven't changed your mind. Good..."
"Grrr." Sera gritted her teeth. You will regret mocking me like this. I will ruin whatever plan you have been concocting all this time, Yuna. She thought angrily.
"Everyone, please excuse us. We need to discuss something in private." Yuna announced to the group. She walked away, with Sera slowly following her. When she was sure no one else would be able to overhear them, Yuna turned to her little sister. "So?"
"Yuna, where is Trigger?" Sera asked point-blank.
"Hmm?" Yuna raised an eyebrow. Apparently this was the day that everyone had decided to nag her about Trigger. Her suspicion that Geetz had intended to use Roll to get information from her was proving to be more and more likely by the hour.
"Feigning ignorance is futile. Geetz told me that Trigger is alive and that you know where he is."
"Geetz, huh? I see..." Yuna had given Rock far more details than she had given Geetz. At least Rock hadn't been the one to spill the secret.
"I will ask once more. Where is Trigger?"
"And why do you think I would tell you?" Yuna countered. "If you can give me a strong enough reason to convince me to tell, I might comply..." She waited, but her little sister seemed to be having some difficulty in coming up with an answer. Yuna decided to "help" her. "Supposing that I took you to him, what would you do?"
Sera tried to imagine the scene. A blurred image of the adult Trigger appeared in her mind. He would stare blankly at her as she and Yuna approached him. Then he would turn to Yuna and ask in a monotonous voice, "Who is this?" Trigger wouldn't recognize her. No, worse. He wouldn't remember anything about her. Back on Elysium, sometimes Sera would wish he wouldd simply forget about her and leave her alone. But now, just the thought that he wouldn't remember her was very painful.
"So?" Yuna's voice snapped her back to reality.
Sera opened her eyes and tried to keep her cool, but the hesitation was evident in her voice when she admitted, "I...I do not know."
"Hmm?" Yuna found the answer interesting. She had expected Sera to say something along the lines of, "Is it not obvious? I will terminate him." But as interesting as Sera's actual answer was, it was still pretty vague and didn't mean much. "Why do you want to know his location so badly, then? What exactly do you intend to do with him?"
Sera mulled over that question for a bit, but in the end, she gave an answer similar to the one she had given in her dream. "I have not decided yet."
"Oh. If that's the case, then I'm going to need you to decide first. I won't tell you anything unless we can come to an agreement beforehand."
Sera gritted her teeth. She had to come up with a clever comeback fast, or her plans to make Yuna give up the information would fail. Unfortunately, nothing was coming to mind at all. She just stared at her older sister as her mind tried fruitlessly to think of something.
"Was that all you had wanted to ask?" Yuna spoke casually. "I'm open to talking about other subjects too, if you want. I'm interested to know, for example, how your day has been. It seems like those kids have been dragging you and Geetz around quite a lot."
Sera recalled her day on Manda Island, and a dreamy expression took over her face as she recalled Rock's violin playing.
"Sera?"
Sera snapped back to attention. "Hmph." She shrugged and chose to not tell Yuna anything.
Yuna didn't seem to care. "Well, judging from your face, it looks like you've been having a very good day. If you don't want to continue talking, then perhaps we should head back."
Yuna led the way back to the place where the rest of their group was. This meant that, ironically, she ended up taking Sera to the location where Trigger's current form had been waiting for her.
Rock seemed disappointed when he saw the irritated expression on Sera's face. "I'd hoped you two would make up this time..."
Yuna sighed. "Can you believe this? She started spacing out and ignoring me right in the middle of our conversation. And she was the one who had called me to talk!"
"... Stop talking about me as if I were not here!" Sera shouted and stomped on the ground like an angry child. To lesser Elysian Units, that action would have probably caused them to recoil in fear. But to everyone present at the scene (with, perhaps, the exception of Geetz), it seemed more cute than anything.
Yuna didn't skip a beat. "Then stop ignoring me when I talk to you, and don't pretend you aren't listening." She ruffled Sera's hair and caused her face to scrunch up in embarrassment.
Roll giggled. "You're really siblings..."
"Do you believe it now?" Yuna shot Roll a grin.
"Yeah!" Roll nodded. She and Yuna laughed together.
Sera felt very uncomfortable. As she turned away from them, she caught Rock staring at them with an unfocused look in his eyes. He was definitely acting strangely today. He had seemed to be getting better while they had been in the music school, but now it looked like he was slipping back into his old funk from earlier.
"Well, I'll be on my way now." Yuna announced.
"Okay." Roll nodded. "Yuna, thanks for today. It was great!"
"You're welcome! Everyone, see you again!" Yuna waved goodbye and walked away.
"How about we go back to the Flutter and get some lunch at a restaurant?" Roll asked. "Yuna told me about a nice one on Dahlia Island."
"Sure." Rock agreed, but strangely, he didn't seem too enthusiastic about it.
Minutes later, the Flutter was in the air. Geetz and Roll were in the engine room as always, and Sera was standing alone in the living room, staring out into space and pretending to show an interest in the Casketts' furniture. Rock's behavior still bothered her. She debated whether or not she should check up on him when he trudged out of his bedroom.
"Rock." She called out to him.
He stopped walking upon hearing his name. "Sera?" He stared and waited for her to respond.
Sera desperately searched for suitable words. In that brief instant, she had decided to talk to him and managed to get his attention, but now she was unsure about how to continue. After a moment of hesitation, she simply said, "I wish to talk." That much should have been obvious, but it was the only thing that occurred to her as a logical continuation of the conversation.
"Okay. Let's sit down." Rock suggested and needlessly guided her to the couch a few feet behind her. They sat down.
Sera finally found the words she had intended to say in the first place. "Something seems to be bothering you."
"Huh...?" That was certainly not what he had expected to hear.
"You have been behaving strangely today." Sera tried to elaborate. "What is the matter?"
"Ah..." Rock lowered his head.
Sera began getting impatient. "You had previously stated that you would be willing to listen in the event that I found the need to speak to someone. However, I see no reason why I should discuss the issues that bother me with you if you are not willing to discuss your own issues with me."
Rock heaved a sigh. "Fair enough." A faint smile made its way to his face and he nodded.
"Then, tell me. Why did you decide against joining Roll in her shopping affairs?"
Rock raised his head and took a deep breath. "Alright. I don't remember if I've ever told you anything about this, but...the thing is...Roll and I, um..." He paused. "I was adopted. Roll and I aren't really siblings."
Sera didn't have any prior knowledge on the subject of adoption, and it took a while until she realized what he was implying. "Do you mean that you are not biologically related to the Caskett family?"
"Yeah, that's what I mean." He confirmed.
"This is..." Sera didn't know what to say. Yet another thing about Rock that she hadn't known. How many more secrets was that boy still holding onto? Sera tried to remember if he had ever mentioned anything about it before, but she couldn't think of anything.
Rock kept talking. "I have no idea where I'm supposed to be from. I've been here with Gramps and Roll for as far back as I can remember. I've been taking our everyday life for granted until a few days ago. When Yuna told us that she knows where Roll's mother is, of course I was happy for Roll. I've been helping Roll search for her parents for my entire life. But then I realized something. Despite everything, up until now I've never stopped to think about what I'd do if we eventually managed to find them. I've never met them. By the time Gramps adopted me, they had already disappeared. They don't even know I exist. So now, if we do find Roll's parents, I don't know...it might change everything. Today, Roll was so excited about buying her mom a gift, but I felt like I didn't have any right to go with her. I have nothing to do with her mother, nothing to do with her family. There's a good chance her mom might not even want me around. So now, whenever the subject of Roll's parents pops up, I feel so out of place..."
Out of place? Sera had never considered him to be out of place in the Caskett family. But what could she do about it? It was a complex issue. Sera had no experience with family related problems. She began asking herself what it was that made her insist on convincing him to talk about it. She had no idea how she could help him. She was the wrong person for him to talk to. He should have told Roll instead of her. "Is Roll aware of this matter?"
"No. I didn't tell her anything. She's been so happy since she found out about her mom. This is really important for her, and I don't want to ruin her mood. Actually, you're the first person I'm telling any of this to."
Sera felt a pang in her heart. Rock trusted her enough to be honest with her. Too honest, in fact. The same couldn't be said of herself. She had been lying to him the whole time about her health, about the Mother Lode...
Rock interrupted her thoughts. "Sometimes I find myself wondering what my real family would've been like. I come short every time, because I have no idea where to start. But now that I think about it, I'd never imagined that I could've had siblings. Just now, it occurred to me. If I'd grown up in my original family with siblings, I wonder if I'd have bonded with them differently from how I bonded with Roll."
Sera had no way to know about sibling bonds. She could tell that Rock and Roll got along very well despite not being biological siblings. Now that Rock had mentioned it, Sera wondered if the relationship between biological siblings was supposed to be any different from what Rock and Roll had now. Yuna had mentioned on more than one occasion that she and Sera were siblings, but she had probably just done that because it was the closest term she knew that the Carbons could relate to. Unlike the Carbons, the Units didn't have any kind of family. They only had the creator who had built them. Their creator didn't hold any authority over them, unless, of course, that person happened to be the Master. Geetz and Gatts were created by the same Designer Unit. Therefore, technically they could be considered siblings, just like Yuna had told the Carbons. But the fact that the two Units had their creator in common had never held any relevance at all in the System. Geetz and Gatts had nothing resembling family relations. For them, there were only superiors and subordinates. In Sera's case, the only things she considered special between herself and Yuna were that they were both designated Mother Units, and that they had been built by the Master himself. Having been built by the Master was considered an honor, and very few Units had that privilege. Only Yuna and Sera, the first ever Units created for each designation, and a few others...Sera's eyes widened for a split second when the realization hit her. Trigger had also been built by the Master, which meant that, if they were to explain their relationship using Carbon terms, then... Technically, Trigger can be considered to be my brother...? She thought in bewilderment, and the concept of "siblings" suddenly began to sound interesting. An image of the baby Trigger inadvertently materialized in her mind. Her little brother. It was strange to think about him in that way, but it somehow gave Sera a sense of connection to him.
Rock's voice pulled Sera back to reality. "You have a real sister. That's cool. Yuna and Gatts are about the only other people from your time that we have around. I still think you should make up with Yuna."
Yuna's unwillingness to reveal Trigger's whereabouts was frustrating. Sera recalled their conversation from earlier and cringed.
Rock noticed her reaction. "What's the problem? You don't...dislike her, do you?"
Sera considered the question for a bit. "I would not say that I dislike her. However, I do not trust her."
"Why?"
"There are various points on which we do not agree."
"But…"
Sera cut him off. "Important matters are at stake. Issues from the past." She tried to explain the situation to him without revealing anything too important.
Rock seemed ready to throw another argument at her, but he said nothing. For a couple of minutes, they stayed quiet, lost in their own thoughts.
Sera looked at Rock. He still seemed a bit down. She had forced him to talk about his problem in hope that she would be able to give him some advice and cheer him up, but in the end, she hadn't accomplished anything. "It is unfortunate that I was unable to help you with your issue." Sera broke the silence.
"Huh...? Oh." Once Rock understood what Sera was referring to, he tried to give her a reassuring smile. "You did help. I needed to tell it to someone. Thanks."
His smile was a bit forced, just like the smiles the Master used to give her, and Sera could tell that her attempt at helping Rock was unsatisfactory. She didn't know what else to do and decided to drop the subject. She tried to think about something else. That whole talk about siblings raised another question in her mind. "Rock?"
"Hm?"
"Roll had previously stated that she had been seeking the Mother Lode in order to find her parents. What about you? What is your goal?"
"...My goal?"
"Yes. What made you decide to search for it? It was not only because of her, was it?"
"Hmm." Rock closed his eyes and took a moment to think.
"Do not tell me that you do not have a goal, or that you are going after it just because everyone else is." Sera would be very disappointed if that were the case.
"Yeah, I have one. But it's a bit...weird," he said, with his eyes still closed.
"How so?" Sera asked, genuinely willing to listen.
"Well..." Rock hesitated. He opened his eyes and looked at Sera. "It's because of a promise. I vaguely remember promising something a very long time ago. And here comes the weird part. The problem is, I don't remember what the promise was about, or even who I had promised it to! Yeah, I told you it was weird..." Rock added before Sera had a chance to criticize his reasons. He continued after a sigh. "Promises have always been a pretty serious deal to me. I only promise something when I really believe I'll be able to follow through. To think that I forgot what it was I had promised is very frustrating. And the person who I had made that promise to…they're probably going to be really disappointed in me. The only thing I know for sure about it is that I feel like it had something to do with the Mother Lode. I thought that if I went after the Mother Lode, I might remember what it was."
Was that all? Was a vague promise the strongest force propelling him forward on this path? If that had happened so long ago, it could mean that Rock had made that promise while he was still in his early developmental stages, when he was just a child and didn't know what he was talking about. If this were the case, his promise was probably irrelevant, but Sera wouldn't bring that argument up. She still needed him to get the last key, and she wouldn't want him to lose his motivation now.
"Rock," Roll called out as she entered the living room, interrupting the conversation. "Can you come here for a bit?"
"I'm coming." Rock answered. "Sera, we'll talk more later." He stood up and left.
Data, who had been hiding the entire time watching Rock and Sera's interaction, was puzzled. What was Sera doing? Was she really trying to help Rock, or was it all part of her plan to make him collect the four keys? Either way, there was only one more key to go, and the time to tell Rock the truth was approaching faster than ever. Data was surprised that Rock had been able to remember something about his promise to the Master without having his memory backups restored. But honestly, Data didn't want to think about how Rock would react when he finally told him that he wasn't a normal boy, and that the family he had been trying so hard to remember didn't even exist.
Sera remained on the couch in the living room. She closed her eyes, and various thoughts began passing through her mind. Thoughts about Yuna, about Trigger, about that whole sibling talk she had just had with Rock. Before she even realized it, she had dozed off.
X:X:X:X:X
Sera dreamed that she was in her usual room in the Sulphur-Bottom. She was sitting on the bed while listening to a Carbon orchestral CD that Bluecher had lent her. Or rather, she was trying to listen. Trigger was running around in the room in the form of a slightly older child, and he was making a lot of noise.
"Piano," He said when a piano piece began playing. Sera almost praised him for being able to identify a piano sound when he added, "Yuna has a piano."
Sera was bothered by this mention of Yuna. Both sisters had been taking turns raising him. As predicted, Yuna's name entered his vocabulary first. Even though his speech had been developing nicely, for nearly everything he said, it was Yuna this, Yuna that. Sera was already fed up with it.
"Hers is not a piano. It is a keyboard." Sera corrected him.
"Piano!" He insisted.
"Fine." Sera sighed and gave up on trying to correct him. Even if she had explained the difference between a piano and a keyboard, he wouldn't understand anyway.
The little boy kept jumping and running from one side of the room to the other. After one minute or so, he suddenly stopped in the middle of the room and stared intently at Sera.
"What is the matter?" She asked.
"You never smile." He observed.
"Huh." Sera's eye twitched. She hadn't expected him to notice that. She didn't see a problem with it...until he spoke again.
"Yuna always smiles."
"Grrr…" Sera grunted in irritation. She was tired of him comparing her to Yuna. She saw that the boy had turned his back and had begun running around again. "Trigger, would you please stay quiet for a moment? I would like to listen to the song."
He turned around and faced her again. "Will you smile?"
Sera opened her mouth to say "no," but hesitated. It was clear that he preferred Yuna to her. Sera honestly didn't even know how to smile. Even at something as simple as changing facial expressions, Yuna was better than her! If things continued that way, it would be only a matter of time before he chose Yuna and left her for good. Sera needed to do something to please him if she wanted to change that. She didn't know how to smile, but she had to try. "...Perhaps." She answered.
"Hmm…" The boy seemed curious. He had apparently decided to stay quiet just to see whether Sera would smile or not. He bounded closer and she helped him up onto the bed. He sat beside her and looked at her expectantly, but just as she was about to attempt a smile, Sera woke up.
X:X:X:X:X
When Sera awoke, it took a while for her to remember where she was. Instead of being in her usual room in the Sulphur-Bottom as she had expected, she found herself sitting on the couch in the Flutter's living room. She tried to focus, but the image of the child Trigger waiting for her to smile still nagged at her. If the dream had continued, would she have been able to smile? After a few moments of internal debate, she reluctantly stood up and headed to the bathroom. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and tried to smile, but nothing even remotely resembling a smile came out. She stayed there for around three minutes, but the results were disappointing. After a few more unsuccessful attempts at smiling on command, she gave up. Sera even began doubting that she had really smiled back when Roll had claimed to have seen her do it. Even though Geetz and Rock had also said that they had seen her smile, still... What is wrong with me? Sera thought. She had never cared about that kind of thing before. Why did it seem so important to her now? Sera returned to the living room and sat on the couch again.
The small island at which the Flutter had docked, Dahlia Island, had an abundance of trees and flowers, as Rock and Roll and the gang were able to observe on their way to its town. Rock talked to a few people and the group learned that the town's economy revolved around Dahlia Island's natural resources, and that the restaurant was one of its main attractions. It served nutrient-rich food made with freshly picked vegetables, various kinds of fish and fruit rarely found outside that particular island. It was all thanks to the town's inhabitants. In general, they strived to maintain the wilderness around Dahlia Island. The Units were impressed. Preserving nature was one of the main tasks The Master had designated for the Carbons, and the Carbons here proved to be quite adept at it.
The group ate at the restaurant. The vegetables were wonderful. Even better than the ones from the restaurant at the shopping mall.
Sera caught herself imagining coming there with the child version of Trigger. He would have seen all those greens and immediately made a face. He would have insisted that he didn't like vegetables and refused to eat them. "You've never even eaten these before! How can you know that you really dislike them?!" Sera would have reprimanded him, but he would keep refusing. In the end, not knowing what else to do to convince him to eat, Sera would have ended up leaving the task to Roll. The girl certainly would have been more successful at that task than she would have been. Anyone would probably be more successful than she would have been...
After lunch, the group briefly checked a few places in town, then decided to head back. They stopped to observe the flowers in a field on the way to the Flutter.
"Sera! Look!" Roll gently pulled the Mother Unit by the hand towards a flowerbed. Data, who had once again decided to ride on Roll's back, closed his eyes tightly as he held on for dear life.
Sera found herself unable to avoid gasping at the sight before her. Multiple shades of yellow, green, red, pink, and white stretched beyond her line of sight. The beauty of those delicate plants managed to elicit a deep feeling of peace within Sera. She reluctantly knelt down to touch one of the flowers and examined it closely. The color, the aroma, the texture...everything had so much life. It was so different from Elysium's artificial flowers. "They are indescribably beautiful. However, they will indubitably wither away soon."
"Yeah..." Roll agreed with a peaceful expression. "I guess we're lucky to be here seeing them now, since they only blossom for a short time. If we come here again in a few days, they might've withered away already. Or maybe other flowers will be here in their place instead. We should really enjoy them while we can."
"Ah...I understand now." Geetz murmured. All eyes turned to him, and he felt the need to explain. "Back where we lived, the Master had discovered a means to produce flowers artificially. He created ideal conditions in the environment that prevented them from withering. They never changed, and were kept in a permanent blossoming state."
"Oh..." Roll remarked. Just thinking about the kind of technology required for that to happen impressed her.
"His intention was to create perfect flowers." Geetz continued. "We had believed the real flowers' short lifespans to be a flaw, and thought that they would be improved upon if we could keep them in their blossoming state indefinitely. However, this was apparently not the case. Once, I overheard..." He hesitated a bit. "I heard that the Master was having doubts about maintaining those artificial flowers." Geetz wouldn't say that Trigger had been the one to tell him that. "Apparently his complaint was that they no longer caused the same emotional impact as they did initially. At the time, I could not understand the reasoning behind this line of thought. However, now that I have seen these real flowers, I think I understand. Even though the artificial flowers were beautiful at first sight, we had known that they would remain unchanged forever. We would never see them for the first time again. We began to take them for granted, until we eventually stopped paying attention to them entirely. The real flowers, on the other hand, have an extremely brief period in which they show their true beauty. The fact that they may not remain in this state for long forces us to pay attention to them. As Miss Roll just stated, it seems that this short-lived blossoming period is one of the factors that makes them rare and special."
Everyone silently agreed and went back to contemplating the flowers.
Their lives are so short... Sera thought. In a way, they are just like the Carbons...
"I think that goes for people too." Rock suddenly broke the silence and practically echoed Sera's thoughts. "Since life's short, we should enjoy each other's company as much as we can."
"I have an idea!" Roll clasped her hands. "Why don't we take a picture and record this special moment?"
"Good idea. I'll get the camera." Rock ran off and left for the Flutter.
He returned with a digital camera and showed the Units how to work it. Everyone took turns taking pictures. The teenagers made Sera take a photo of the flowers, while Geetz took photos of Rock, Roll and Sera. Even Data had to get to work because Rock placed him on a tree branch and gave him the camera.
"I think this is enough for today." Roll announced after they had finished taking pictures. "Shall we head back now?"
Geetz looked at Sera for confirmation. The Mother Unit had become distracted as she gave the flowers a last glance. He was about to call her name to get her attention when the corners of her mouth quirked upward. Her smile only lasted a fraction of a second, though, and Geetz wondered whether he had indeed seen her smile or if it was just his imagination. However...
"Yeah, perfect!" Rock exclaimed with the camera in hand.
"Huh, what?" Roll approached him curiously. Rock showed her the camera. She looked at its small screen and squealed. "Ah, Rock! When did this happen? I didn't see anything!"
"Just now. Talk about a short-lived display..."
"What is it?" Geetz was unable to contain his curiosity. Rock wordlessly showed him the camera, and he gasped. The screen displayed a picture of him next to Sera. Both were turned towards the flowerbed on the right, and the Mother Unit had a smile on her face. It was identical to the smile that Geetz had nearly missed. A short-lived display indeed. Geetz could count on his fingers the number of times he had seen Sera smile, and in the few times she had done so, her change of expression lasted from a blink at least to a couple of seconds at most. A very rare occurrence, maybe even rarer than the real flowers. Geetz was definitely impressed that Rock had somehow managed to effectively record it for future viewing. "You managed to capture an extraordinarily rare moment. Excellent job, Mister Rock."
"I'd been meaning to take a picture of you two before we left. Then it happened, so I pressed the button as quickly as I could!" Rock explained.
"What happened?" Sera also couldn't hold her curiosity in.
"You gave us a very nice smile!" He extended the camera for her to see.
Sera was also stunned. Sure enough, the picture showed her alongside Geetz, with a calm expression and a gentle smile on her face. It was the proof she had wanted. The proof that she was capable of smiling. However, as it had been with that time in the Flutter, she couldn't recall physically doing anything different. That smile must have been caused by an involuntary movement of her face. In other words, it was most likely a random occurrence. Her inability to produce a smile of her own free will was even more apparent now. If her dream had continued, she probably wouldn't have been able to smile on command. Her inability to perform supposedly simple actions like this one would likely have played a big part in defining Trigger's choice of who to stay with. He would undoubtedly have chosen Yuna, who was constantly smiling, and who also probably would have allowed him to do whatever he wanted and rarely scolded him. Sera was against spoiling him like that, one more reason for Trigger to choose Yuna over her. Even though that scenario was only a dream, since Trigger had most likely been raised by Yuna in reality, it was nearly the equivalent of having him taken away. Sera didn't stand a chance against Yuna. She probably never would...
Then Sera had another realization. She had always done everything to the best of her ability to try to please the Master. However, she had never cared to notice any of the other Units' facial expressions. She had believed that they were just simulations that meant nothing. Now that she knew they were real, another possibility cropped up in her mind. As weird as it sounded, her inability to do simple things such as smiling could have also played a part in making the Master unsatisfied with her. Worst of all, she knew that if the Master had ever explicitly asked her to smile, she would have disregarded his request, and would merely have said that he was acting irrationally in prompting Units to uselessly simulate human behavior. There was no rule within the system that required Units to change facial expressions. Trigger on the other hand, didn't seem to care whether those actions were covered by the rules or not. He was the complete opposite of her. He constantly smiled, laughed and did so much more. It could have been one of the reasons why the Master had enjoyed the Purifier's company so much. It was a fact. Sera didn't stand a chance against Trigger, either.
"That smile was really nice!" Roll said as she walked up to her, but the compliment seemed to have had the opposite effect from what she had intended. "Huh? Sera, what's wrong?"
Sera heaved a sigh. After a bit of hesitation, she began. "This picture makes it apparent that I might be unable to smile."
"What do you mean?" Rock didn't understand. "You're smiling in the picture. Isn't that the opposite?"
"No." Sera turned her head to her right and stared at the spot where Rock stood. "I do not recall doing anything different at the time you took this picture. What is displayed on there is most likely a result of an involuntary movement. In other words, I seem to be unable to smile at will."
"Hmm, um..." Rock didn't know how to respond. From the look on Roll's face, she was in the same situation.
Sera turned her head away from him. She refused to look directly at anyone and closed her eyes in shame.
No one knew how to react as they stared at the Mother Unit. Since Sera had always looked so sure of herself, seeing her in her current state was surprising to everyone.
An uncomfortable silence followed, which Sera broke. "In the past, I did not assign much significance to such things, aside from the fact that I had always wished the Master would smile brightly at me. Now I realize that I might have never smiled at him, either. And I suspect that I would not have been able to smile back then, even if I had tried to."
"Oh..." Was all that Roll could manage to say.
"Mistress Sera..." Geetz murmured.
"But you still want to smile whenever you'd like to, right?" Rock asked.
"... Yes." Sera confessed.
"You said you didn't think much about this kind of thing." Rock spoke. "You're just not used to it. Now that you're giving it more thought, it'll probably get easier."
"We'll help you." Roll added.
"Yeah, you can count on us," Rock said reassuringly.
Sera found her system temperature rising again, just like it always did when those Carbons gave her supportive words. She couldn't resist and slowly opened her eyes to risk a glance at the teenagers. They had expectant looks in their eyes. Why were they so determined to help her? She couldn't understand.
Rock continued talking. "You can do it. After you do it enough times, even if it isn't on purpose, you'll get the hang of it."
Sera had her doubts, but their words and the determination in their eyes reassured her. She hoped she could learn how to smile freely soon. The Master was no longer there to see her smile, but those teenagers had slowly been earning a special place in her heart. Sera wished she could teach herself to smile willingly at them at least once before the Reinitialization would take them away from her as well.
"We can't tell you exactly how to produce a smile." Roll spoke up. "It comes so naturally for us that it's hard to explain how to do it. But like we said before, we'll find a lot of things you like and help stimulate it! Let's see...we could...hey, I've got it!" She clapped. "When I was buying my mother's gift, violin music began playing on the store's radio, and I thought of you right away! Because of that violin in the music store, I knew that you'd like violin music!"
"Yes, she does." Geetz confirmed. "I noticed that she had enjoyed the sound a lot when the Master occasionally played the violin for us. I also noticed it at that party aboard the Sulphur-Bottom, and also earlier today when Mister Rock played the instrument at the music school..."
"Huh...?" Roll was confused. "Rock did what?"
Sera found it strange to see that Roll was surprised to hear about that.
"Hahaha!" Rock sheepishly tried to summarize. "I... um, I gave it a go with the teacher's violin. I actually managed to play a short song he had been teaching the Servbots! It was fun. It felt great and...I don't know how to explain it." Rock had a dreamy expression as he tried to describe what he had felt. "I wish I had a violin so I could learn to play more things. Maybe I should have bought that one we saw in the music store..."
Roll was surprised. She had never imagined Rock would become interested in playing the violin, out of all instruments. He had never shown interest in any musical instrument before.
Still on Roll's back, Data was also surprised that Rock had decided to try his hand at the violin again. Sure, the boy had always been eager to learn something new and tried his hand at a lot of things, but even so, choosing the violin out of all instruments had been a strange coincidence. And judging from Rock's dreamy expression, he had really enjoyed playing the instrument at the music school. Could it be that he had remembered something about the time he had learned the instrument from the Master? No, that should have been impossible without the use of any memory backups. Data really wished he could listen to his friend's violin playing again. But unfortunately, Trigger's violin studies weren't among the important memories concerning the Master's last wish, and Data didn't have a backup of them.
"Your performance was good." Sera gave her opinion. "Not perfect, but quite enjoyable."
"Uh...thanks." Rock scratched his head in embarrassment. "Glad to hear that you liked it, even though it's coming from a beginner like me!" Or at least, Rock assumed he was a beginner. Even though he didn't remember how long he had been taking lessons, he estimated it had been from just a few months at least to a couple of years at most. He was sure that if he had spent a lot more of his childhood taking lessons, he wouldn't be having so much trouble remembering them right now. "Now that we know you like my playing, that's one more reason for me to get a violin! If I get one, I can play it to you whenever you want!"
Sera actually liked the idea. Her regrets from breaking the Master's violin and denying both the Master and Trigger the pleasure of playing the instrument made her wish that Rock could get a violin and play to his heart's content, even if he could only play it until the Reinitialization took place. Since they needed only one more key, it would be happening very soon. His music would be short-lived, just like the real flowers. Even so, Sera wanted to listen to it. She would be sure to make the most of his music while she had the chance. She failed to notice that her face had begun to relax. It relaxed until the corners of her mouth curved up again.
"Aaah!" Roll squealed in excitement. "See? You did it again! You were smiling just now!"
"...I was?" Sera had a hard time believing it.
"Yeah," Rock confirmed. "And I don't even have the violin yet! It's decided! I need to get a violin. Something tells me that it's the key to unlocking your smiles faster!"
"Mister Rock, Miss Roll." Geetz spoke. "We really appreciate everything that you have been doing for us. But why do you insist on helping us so much?"
Roll turned her head in his direction. "Like I said before, since you're new to this world, we want you two to have a good stay. And we're your friends! Or at least, we would really like to be your friends..."
"Friends?" The Servitor repeated.
"Yeah." Rock addressed the two Units. "We consider you two our friends. I've been wondering if you think the same of us..."
Sera mulled over that question for a bit, and in the end she had to admit, "I am unsure about how to answer this question. Due to the way we lived in the past, we are not very familiar with the concept of friendship."
"Ah." Rock seemed to understand. "Yuna told me that you didn't have friends back then."
Sera's face involuntarily scrunched up when she heard Rock mention Yuna.
He noticed her displeasure. "Ah, sorry!"
Sera ignored his apology. "Define 'friend.'" She demanded.
"Basically, someone that you get along with..." Roll tried to explain.
Rock added, "Someone that you like a lot and that you enjoy spending time with."
Even though Sera saw no reason why they would enjoy spending time in her presence, she definitely enjoyed their company. "Then...from this definition alone...I guess so. We are friends." Her answer surprised everyone, including Geetz and Data.
"...Really?" Rock's eyes lit up while Roll smiled.
"Y-yes." Geetz also made his opinion known.
Roll squealed happily, and Rock gave them a wide smile.
Sera witnessed every trace of Rock's sad mood completely melt away at last, and he smiled just the way she would have liked the Master to have smiled at her. She had been so concerned about not knowing how she could help pull Rock out of his depressed state, and somehow she managed to do it! Oddly, all it took was a simple affirmation...however, her feeling of relief vanished when Rock suddenly asked, "After we get the last key and all, what are you two going to do?"
Sera froze. She felt horrible about lying to them about the "Mother Lode." Sera felt the urge to tell them the truth...but just a few seconds earlier, she and Geetz had admitted that they considered the teenagers friends. She couldn't say it. It didn't feel right to betray their trust like that...
Fortunately for her, Geetz saved her the trouble of answering. "We have no way to know what will happen in the future. We will think about it when the time comes."
Roll seemed satisfied with his answer. "Yeah, we don't even know what will happen to us tomorrow, much less after a big event like finding the Mother Lode..."
"Hmm. Yeah..." Rock slowly nodded. "You're right. Since Roll and I started looking for the Mother Lode, we've visited a lot of islands together. We meet a lot of people and make many friends. But since we're always moving from island to island, we don't see most of them again after that. We're already at the last key. This means we don't have much time until we find the Mother Lode...and we don't know what will happen. The time we have to spend with each other might be short, just like those flowers. The best we can do is just enjoy this friendship as much as we can while we have it."
Friendship... Geetz thought. Although he didn't know exactly what that word meant, he had heard from the Master that friends were rare and precious. Geetz had assumed friendship was one of those privileges exclusive to the true humans, and that a mere servant like him didn't have even the right to understand it. To think that one day, he would also have friends. Two of them, no less. He recalled Roll's words from when he had told her about Trigger for the first time.
"Don't worry. You'll find him, I'm sure," She had said. "From what you said, it sounded like you really care about him, and that he's a very good person. I'm sure he'd give his best to recover from whatever condition he was in, knowing that he has good friends that believe in him so much, like you."
Trigger was his superior. Was friendship even possible between superiors and subordinates? Could he and Trigger be considered friends? If he met the Purifier again, would they get along? Geetz was lost in thought as he followed the group back to the Flutter.
Sera had also been lost in thought. It had been a very short time since she had met those Carbons, but soon they'd need to go. As much as she had been enjoying their company, the rules had no place for her pleasures. When the time came, she would have to do what needed to be done. Until then, though, Sera would do as Rock suggested and allow herself to make the most of her time with them while she still had it. She would enjoy the time she spent watching that small flower just beginning to blossom. That delicate and rare flower she had never seen before, called friendship.
Data relaxed a little when he noticed the peaceful expressions on the Units' faces. By that point, even he was becoming convinced that those two Units were starting to change. You did it, Rock, the little monkey thought, with a wide smile of his own. You finally did it...
A/n: about Roll's parents. In canon, Roll and Rock are the same age and her parents disappeared ten years before Legends 2, meaning that the kids were around five years old. If Rock had been living with Roll for his whole life (or at least meeting her regularly before her parents' disappearance), he probably had met Matilda and Banner many times. In the beginning of the game, Roll proves that she remembers her parents, or at least her mother. But strangely, Rock doesn't seem to remember anything about them at all. He seemed very surprised when Roll said that the woman on the television was her mother.
Again, in this story, Roll is a bit older than Rock, and her parents had disappeared before Rock's arrival. This makes a bigger impact on Roll's life as she tries to get over it while helping Rock, and creates a stronger reason for the turmoil in Rock's head about not having a family and all.
In chapter 1, when Rock talks about Gramps, he actually tells Sera that he's adopted.