"Astro… go to bed..."
"I'll go to bed, when you go to sleep."
"Remember when we talked about boundaries and how cutting those boundaries made things creepy after awhile?"
"Yeah?"
"If you don't leave soon, I'm going to get nightmares."
"Sorry..." was what he said, what he meant was 'something is wrong with you and I want to help but I don't know how'. Uran was tired, but she didn't want to go to sleep with him staring at her either. The party had completely wiped her out- all she wanted to do was sleep now with the likely possibility that she would never wake up.
Downstairs the front door opened then closed, alerting the two that Professor O'Shay had finally come back home. Astro twitched for a moment, other programming hardwired to make him greet the professor but was resisted with the will to stay with Uran.
"Go greet him." Uran requested, her words slurring by a margin from her own exhaustion. "If you resist too much of your programing, you'll hurt something."
Astro nodded before taking a soft hold of Uran's hand to kiss it. "I'll be back." he promised as he slowly started to walk out of the room. The girl only nodded as her eyes finally felt heavy enough to close in peace. Offering a gentle smile, Astro closed the door behind him and darted down the stairs to greet Professor O'Shay.
"Good evening professor." the little android greeted cheerfully. "Did you have a successful day at the Ministry today?"
Almost absentmindedly, O'Shay nodded as he handed Astro his coat and hat. "Progress was made, but not as much as I would like." the professor told the android in a light tone. "How was your party by the way?"
"I believe it was rather grand for everyone." Astro smiled. "Many people thanked me for inviting them, and some others wanted to know when we'd have another party."
"That's sounds pretty exciting."
"But Uran… she's the only one hasn't told me how she felt about the party." Astro was silent for a moment before looking up at Professor O'Shay. "What happens to humans when their brains do not function the way they should? Because I think… no, I believe that there is something wrong with Uran's brain, but I can't figure out what. Can such an illness exist in humans?"
Professor O'Shay gave Astro an inquiring look as he took a seat on the armchair in the living room. Astro waited patiently as the professor prepared his answer, almost acting as if he was going to instruct a small child, not an advanced android.
"There are many diseases that could effect the human mind Astro." the professor finally said. "Alzheimer's disease, for example, takes place in typically older human brains that breaks down certain connections that talk to several important neurons that keeps the brain functioning. The side effects of this incurable disease can become moments of forgetfulness or changes in one's personality."
"But..." Astro started to say as his cognitive circuit started to process the information, "What about someone's Uran age? Uran a… a 14 year old that has never forgotten a thing; what kind of disease could make her lose a part of her personality and drive to do… well, anything?"
"Are you implying that you believe that Uran has depression?" Professor O'Shay questioned with a small raise of his eyebrow.
Depression? The word lulled around in Astro's mind for a moment as he thought about it. Yes, that sounded about right he supposed. The little android looked up at O'Shay and nodded, to which, almost immediately after, the professor started to laugh.
"I'm glad that you care about her Astro," O'Shay laughed, "But Uran is a teenager with very conflicting hormones running about her like chickens without their heads. I doubt very seriously that Uran has depression, and psychiatrist could tell us that."
Astro bit his lower lip in a small act of defiance and disagreement. There was no way that Professor O'Shay felt that way about the idea of Uran having depression- was it not hereditary if it was known her mother had some kind of depression-like symptoms before she finally died from overdose? Was there any doubt that Uran had already had some kind of history with depression-like episodes before her mother's passing, if not because of her mother's passing? No wonder suicide was the second biggest killer among Uran's age group; no one believed them when they sought help.
"I think I'm going to make sure Uran is asleep." Astro then decided out loud. "Good night professor."
"Good night Astro." O'Shay agreed with a nod.
Carefully, Astro made it back up to Uran's room and back to her bedside to find her fast asleep.
"Don't worry Uran," Astro whispered to her as he pulled some of her covers closer to her chin, "I'll give you back the open sky, and the sea. I'll… I'll open up the whole world for you if I need to because I made a promise. And I never, ever want to break one of my promises- especially not to you."
The little android then inched closer to his sister.
"No one is going to hurt you." he promised. "Nothing will ever happen to you under my watch, promise."
. . .
The next morning, Astro woke to the first snowflakes of the season. It was the first snowfall he had ever seen before so he looked out his window with wonder and excitement. After staring out the window for a rather long time, Astro remembered Uran and rushed to her room to tell her the news.
"Uran, it's snowing!" Astro elated as he shook her. "It's really coming down in those little flakes Professor O'Shay feared too! Come on Uran, wake up!"
But Uran didn't move. In fact, she hadn't even moved at all- if it wasn't for her chest slowly and steadily moving, he almost would have thought for a minute that she was…
"Uran, Uran wake up." Astro then said as he started to shake her harder in an attempt to get any other response out of her. "Uran… Uran please!"
She still didn't move, so Astro quickly tried to make his legs move to Professor O'Shay's room. His body was almost working autonomously as it pulled the still half asleep professor out of bed as Astro's voice box kept screaming the same words over and over again; "Professor O'Shay you need to come help Uran! Uran isn't waking up Professor! Professor O'Shay something is wrong with Uran, please come help!"
"Astro…?" Professor O'Shay slurred as the android succeeded in making the older man sit up in his bed. "What is wrong with you?"
"It's not me Professor, it's Uran!" Astro gasped frantically. "She's not responding!"
Professor O'Shay looked at Astro as he got up out of his bed. "What do you mean by 'not responding' Astro?" he asked as the two paced back to Uran's room. "Is she breathing?"
"Yes, but..." Astro started to say, but was cut off when they entered Uran's room so Professor O'Shay could get a better look at Uran. Astro watched as the professor did almost exactly the same he had done not that long before, albeit rougher.
"Astro call the hospital." Professor O'Shay then commanded in a still tone. "Tell them to get us an ambulance as soon as they can."
"Yessir." Astro agreed without being told twice. As he started to get to the phone, the professor stopped him with one last request;
"And call the Ministry of Science too Astro, tell them to ready the operating room for malfunctioning robots."