Chapter Two

Seru

Rowan had woken the next morning to find the creature sitting on the couch, an open book under it's nose. It was reading. She watched for a moment, receiving only a casual glance in her direction before it returned its attention to the book.

"What are you?!" She exclaimed slowly before heading to the breakfast. The creature's eyes glittered as it laughed silently at her. Breakfast was a rushed affair with the creature eating a bowl of leafy salad, some scrambled eggs, sausages and toast. It followed that up with a liter of juice it drank from a bowl. Rowan stared at the creature as it returned to reading. It was Rowan's old school copy of Moby Dick.

"So, what do I call you?" She asked casually. The creature paused, turning its head to stare at her. It slipped off the creature and headed to the pile of books stacked unceremoniously next to the desk. The pile fell to the ground with a flourish of pages. The creature rummaged for a while before tearing out a page. Rowan frowned at the blatant destruction, but said nothing. The creature walked back to her and placed the piece of paper in front of her and stepped on it, one of its toes pointing at a highlighted word from the page of her old Japanese-English dictionary. She stared for a while, before looking the creature in the eyes. It nodded slowly and she read.

"Cell translates to Se-Ru. Noun, Biology. a usually microscopic structure containing nuclear and cytoplasmic material enclosed by a semipermeable membrane and, in plants, a cell wall; the basic structural unit of all organisms." The creature more or less nodded slowly. She stared at him for a long time.

"Seru." It stared at her for a while then nodded slowly. She smiled. "So your name is Seru." It nodded again. She reached out and touched his crest, felt his warmth and she grinned. "Pleasure to meet you." The creature clambered back on top of the couch, sitting next to Rowan and returned to reading.

Rowan found herself grow attached to Seru. He was stubborn, and had an insatiable appetite, but was never the less, intelligent and never tried to hurt her. Much like a cat, he would sleep most of the day, becoming more active in the evenings, although often he was awake, long enough to eat all the food Rowan had brought home, then returned to sleep. Rowan often commented on where he was putting it all away. He had a sense of humor, although not always in a good manner, but to his best quality, was that he would listen, whenever she told him about her life. It made her feel completely relieved to tell someone she could trust. He never spoke in return, and rarely ever used anything more then basic gestures to reply, but she never minded.

A year passed by. Rowan began studying part time. She had chosen biology as she had found it a fascinating subject. She kept working at the restaurant when she wasn't studying, and even managed to buy herself a capsule bike so she could get around. The only downside to Seru was she could not invite any of her college friends or work colleagues to her home because of Seru. She had spent the first few weeks trying to find out any information on what he was. At first she thought he was a rare species of insect, but he was warm blooded and sentient to a heavy level. She had asked him whether he was an extinct dinosaur or some thing along those lines. He had always answered no. Eventually she became frustrated and stopped trying to figure him out. He had always found her attempts amusing though. Being around him for so long, Rowan had learnt to read Seru's eyes, and could easily determine his moods from that.

It was about 18 months after he had chosen to stay with Rowan that he began to act a little odd. The first thing she noticed was when he stopped eating everything. By the end of the week, he wasn't eating at all. She became worried and he became lethargic. She couldn't take him to a vet. They would dissect him and he plainly refused to go. She tried to make him comfortable, keeping him warm and continued to try to feed him and give him water. It was on a Tuesday after Rowan had fallen asleep, sprawled on the couch, one arm around Seru when it finally happened. She woke to a strange sounds, a liquid shifting sound. She startled, rubbed her eyes and turned to Seru. Her heart skipped a beat and tears sprung to her eyes as she stared. His eyes were glassy and still, and he was staring blankly at her. She threw herself at him, and he felt cold and lifeless.

"Seru!" Nothing. He was gone. She hadn't felt this horribly since her mother's death when she was nine. It hit her suddenly, the grief and the pain, memories of her mother's death mixed with the new hurts from Seru's sudden death. Minutes passed, and she stopped suddenly, as she felt his shiver. He wasn't dead... She let him go, staring. He stared blankly back, distant and glassy. She stared a little closer, heard the sounds again, and saw the body shake. She stood up as his body fell to the floor. It shifted, legs splayed out at odd angles. The body shook once more, before with a sickening, almighty crack, his spine split apart. She yelled in shock, as a giant glowing form erupted from the split, slowly blending into the form of a humanoid. She stared, watching as the form hardened and the glow died away, reveling what Seru looked like as a humanoid. Taller then she was by far, outer leathery skin, orange leathery beak and the same pink slit eyes and head crest. Only now he was mottled green with orange ribbed armour. He had wings now and a long scorpion like tail.

He turned to her. His eyes narrowed slightly and his leathery beak parted and a raspy hissing sound escaped.

"Se... Seru?" She questioned, still shocked. He grinned at her.

"Yes." He said simply. She stared for what seemed an eternity.

"You... You changed..." She said, suddenly finding her throat constrict. He snickered.

"Yes, I evolved." He rasped. His eyes turned to his arms and hands as he held them up in front of himself. "It's been a while." he said absently to himself. He turned back to her confused expression. He gestured to the couch.

"Sit down, Rowan." He said. Her name sounded strange, foreign to her suddenly, but she did as he said. He stretched again, rolling his shoulders and head before he turned back to her.

"What... What are you?" Rowan had asked the question a hundred times before, but she had never wanted an answer quite like she did right then. His eyes narrowed again.

"I am a bio-mechanical android Rowan. I was created, by a human, Dr Gero." He said it simply and she stared at him, digesting the information slowly.

"Your..." She couldn't finish. He knelt down, bringing his gaze to hers, his tail flicking with impatience.

"I have to go Rowan. I thank you for your help." His eyes watched hers. Her hand found his though and she squeezed it for a moment before he turned, walking out the door.

She sat in silence for a long time, the silence deafening and the memories tragic. She stared at her hand. He had felt cold... His empty shell of the Seru she had known as her friend sat near her feet. She touched it and felt a tiny tear fall from her eyes. Something was horribly wrong and she felt the lead weight in her stomach. She felt guilty suddenly, and very alone.

A/N: The information from the Dictionary, was taken from Random House Unabridged Dictionary. © Random House, INC 2006.

Little bit of trivial information: In the manga, Cell says it takes 24 years for him to grow from a little fetus to his matured form. Add about 2 years of running around the future, plus the four years it takes for him to regrow into his mature form again... Cell is about 30! Yay for useless trivia.