A somewhat shorter chapter, but important. I wonder if you'll be able to understand why it is important?

Sun loved his job of looking after the young children at the Daycare. Of course, he was made for it, so it naturally made him happy. Moon, however, had become rather indifferent about most things, even the children. To Sun, most children were a delight, with only the occasional trouble maker. To Moon, he could not care less whether they were there or not. To both of them, however, there was one child that they were most interested in above all the rest.

Rodney was a seven-year-old boy with tawny hair and green eyes. He was quiet and kept to himself, never bothering to engage with any of the other children or most of the toys. He could almost always be found sitting in a fetal position in the shadow under the ramp that led up to part of a play pen. Today was no different.

"Helloooo little prince!" Sun said as he popped his head down over the edge of the ramp to look at Rodney upside-down.

The child did not react much to his sudden appearance. He was sitting in his typical position, hugging his legs close to him while resting his chin on his knees. He glanced at Sun with his eyes. "Hello," he said quietly.

"How are you today, Rodney?"

"I'm fine."

"Well, um, that's good!" Sun knew something was bothering him. There was always something bothering him. He could just never get Rodney to tell him what it was. Sun retreated from Rodney's line of sight and returned shortly after with a toy fire truck. "Look! It's the fire truck you like! Wanna play with it?"

"No thanks."

Sun sighed and retreated again, returning with a ball. He dropped down and moved to sit in front of Rodney a couple of feet, crossing his legs and holding up the ball. "Rodney."

Rodney stared dully at the ball for a while, blinking. Finally, he lifted his head and moved to mirror the way Sun was sitting before opening his hands out.

"Oh? Ball it is then." Sun bounced the ball over to him and watched him catch it. He opened his hands for him to return it. "Rodney? What do you do at home for fun?"

"For fun?" Rodney bounced the ball to him then shrugged. "Nothing."

"Nothing?" Sun found it hard to believe that a child his age did nothing at home. He bounced the ball. "Really nothing?"

Rodney caught it. "Nothing fun." Before Sun could ask again, Rodney asked, "What do you do when we're all gone?"

Sun knew he was trying to avoid the subject, but he decided to indulge him since he was finally interacting instead of sitting alone. "Oh, well, first I clean everything in the Daycare and tidy it all up." He bounced the ball back. "Then the lights turn off."

"I thought you were scared of the dark?"

"I'm not scared of the dark! I just…Er, well… I'm not myself in the dark."

"Are you talking about Moon?" They continued to bounce the ball between each other while they talked.

"Yes," Sun replied. Rodney had never met Moon, but it was unsurprising that he knew about him considering he was still featured in advertisements and gift shop toys; not to mention the golden statue in the Daycare lobby featuring Moon and himself.

"Why doesn't he ever come out when we're here?"

"Um, well… Moon has…not been himself lately. It's for the best…"

"You sound sad."

Sun was a little surprised by this remark. "Well, so do you! You always do! And you never tell me why."

"…I think I'd get in trouble if I told you," he said at last.

"With who?"

"My dad."

"I see…" Sun eyed the sweater Rodney wore. There was never a day that Rodney did not wear either a sweater, long-sleeves, or both. He never wore shorts either, only pants. "Rodney. If you ever want to tell me… I'll listen."

Rodney stopped. He was about to bounce the ball back, but he stopped and squeezed it while directing his gaze to the floor. "…I don't want to play anymore."

"Oh, okay." He wondered if Rodney was mad at him.

…

Lea let out a yawn and stretched, reaching over to grab her phone and check the time. It was almost 2:00 in the afternoon. She laid there for a while longer, listening to the birds outside. Her house was empty and quiet, so the sound of a distressed bird crying outside was very audible. Curious, she got up and went to the backyard, finding a small robin flailing in the grass. She went over to look and saw that its right wing was snared by thin metal wire, cutting into the flesh and bleeding a little. "Poor thing. How'd you end up like that?"

She left to go back inside and returned a minute later with a soft towel that she used to carefully pick it up. The little robin had its beak open, breathing heavily. Its feathers were out of place, it was thin, and it seemed exhausted. Lea brought it inside to her garage and set to work trying to free it from the wire. A few times, it pecked her fingers, causing her to pull her hand away.

"Knock it off. I'm trying to help you."

Finally, she managed to get the tip of the cutters beneath the wire and snipped it. There was an immediate release of pressure for the bird, and it stopped struggling to look curiously at what she was doing. Lea carefully removed the wire before cleaning the cuts and gently testing its wing.

"Broken," she said grimly. "Hm. Hold on little guy."

Lea pulled out a first-aid kit and began using the bandages to wrap the robin's wing in place. Preventing it from flapping its wing around would allow the wing to heal sooner and in the correct position.

"Guess I'll have to make a run to the pet store to get you some food. Let's see… robins like insects and seeds… Okay."

After making sure the little bird was nice and cozy in a small box lined with the towel, she went back to her room to get dressed for a quick trip to the pet store.

…

During the days where arts and crafts was just a "draw a picture" kind of day, Sun found that some children had very…impressive imaginations.

"Oh, look at that," he said in his cheery voice as he examined a picture a five-year-old girl had handed him. It was mainly just a black ball of scribbles with what he assumed was a face. It had pointy teeth, ears – or maybe horns? -, a long dash for a body, sticks for legs, and something protruding from the back end. "It's a…uh…" He titled his head heavily. He had learned long ago that incorrectly guessing would often offend children and result in them being upset. But asking sometimes had the same effect as well. "Um… Why don't you tell me about it?! The color choice, the details, the, um, proportions!"

"It's a cat," the little girl told him.

"It's a – OH! Oh, yes, yes! I see! I mean, of course it is! It's got, um, cat…features… Yes. I-Is this your cat?"

"No. It's a cat that lives outside on my street. His name is Tom."

"Tom? Oh! You must live on the same street as Leanne!"

"Who's that?"

"Oh, um, she's a friend. She works here, actually. At night."

"I sleep at night."

"As you should." Sun promptly handed her back the "cat" drawing and ushered her away before accepting the next paper to review.

"That looked like something a chicken would draw if you tied a crayon to its foot and chopped off its head," Moon said in the back of Sun's mind.

Sun ignored his scathing review and looked at the next child's drawing. She had drawn an entire scene with flowers, butterflies, and a rainbow that was a bit too wide. "Oh, how lovely! Very nice!"

One of the five-year-old boys ran up to him. "Can I put mine in the shredder?" he asked with a bit too much excitement.

"What?! No! We aren't allowed by the security desk anyway!"

"But I wanna use the shredder!"

"No, no, no! Bad!" Sun took his paper and turned it to look at the drawing. It looked like the boy simply took a red crayon and rapidly colored back and forth across the whole paper in wide motions before deciding it was done. "…"

"…Put it in the shredder."

Sun agreed with Moon about that one but would not express this aloud. Instead, he ushered the boy away with the others to go play.

The last one to approach him was Rodney, who had taken his paper and colors and gone to hide in his usual spot. If there was one thing Sun knew Rodney would never turn down, it was the chance to draw a picture. For a boy his age, Rodney's drawings were quite impressive, but sometimes there were small details about them that confused or bothered Sun. Today was no different as Rodney handed him a drawing of what appeared to be a bedroom. The boy had drawn the bed, dresser, doorway, and shut closet door. In the doorway was an angry-looking figure holding something in one hand that looked jagged and sharp, perhaps even broken, with red on its edges. There were red splotches across the paper, leading from the figure to the closet door.

"Um, Rodney…" Sun studied the drawing, unsure of what to ask first. "…Who is this person in the picture?"

"My dad," he replied calmly.

"I see. And, um, is this your dad's bedroom?"

"No. It's mine. I'm hiding in the closet." He pointed at the drawing.

"H-Hiding?" Sun was surprised. "What are you…" He trailed off as he looked over the drawing some more. His dad was angrily standing in the door to Rodney's room while holding a broken object scribbled with red… Blood? A bloody broken object with spots of blood leading to the closet. "…I…I see. Do you mind if I hold on to this?"

Rodney stared at the paper for a while before directing his stare up at Sun and inhaling very slowly. It was a long time before he finally answered. "Okay."

In the late afternoon, it was time to start tidying up. Sun picked up a toy and caught sight of someone. He glanced back to see Abby still at her desk, focused on something with the monitors. All of the children had gone, aside from one.

"He's late again?" Sun asked as he joined Rodney beneath the ramp.

Rodney only shrugged. "I'd rather stay here anyway."

"I'd rather not…" Sun muttered to himself. The lights were supposed to get turned off in an hour. That is, if Abby would remember after finishing her report. He knew that Moon liked Rodney, but he was still afraid to have him encounter his counterpart. He spoke up, "Why don't you want to go home?"

Rodney shrugged again, this time not saying anything with it.

Sun sighed and thought for a moment. He was going to show Rodney's drawing to Abby when she was not busy, in hopes that she would report it. When he glanced back at the boy, he noticed that the right sleeve of his sweater was dark, as if it were wet. "Oh, did you spill something?"

"Huh?" Rodney looked up at him.

Sun grabbed Rodney's hand to move his arm so he could get a better look. It was then that he processed that the wet area of the sleeve was a dark red in color. "Hm? Is this…blood?" He was surprised when Rodney suddenly yanked his arm away from him and held it close to his chest. "Rodney! You're hurt!"

"No!" he shouted quickly.

Sun flinched.

Rodney suddenly looked fearful.

"But you are! You need first-aid right away!"

Before he could further protest, Sun sprung out from beneath the ramp and hurried to retrieve the first-aid kit on the wall near the security desk. Abby glanced at him twice. "Huh? What are you doing with that?"

"Rodney is hurt!"

"Rodney is – Wait, a kid's still here?" She was instantly on her feet. "Dude, why didn't you say so sooner?!" She was going to follow him, but she figured that he could handle any injury that did not require a hospital. Instead, she grabbed the phone on the desk and dialed the number to Mr. Stanley's office.

When Sun returned to Rodney, he found the boy huddled up tightly as far back against the underside of the ramp as he could possibly be. He was clutching his injured arm tightly to his chest and looking frightened and sad. "I'm fine!" he said as soon as Sun came into his view.

"Rodney…" He sat down on the floor across from him. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to help." He winced, feeling something odd inside as he was reminded of Lea and himself. "I… It's okay, Rodney." He held out his hand.

Rodney knew that the Daycare attendant was not trying to harm him. He was not afraid of Sun. However, he was afraid of letting him – or anyone – see the injury on his arm. His dad would be angry with him again. Still, it hurt and the blood was getting itchy and cold on his sleeve. After a long debate, he crawled out to where Sun was sitting and gingerly placed his right hand in his.

Sun was relieved and happy that Rodney trusted him enough to let him take care of him. He wondered if this was how Lea felt about him and Moon. Carefully, he rolled up the sleeve of Rodney's sweater and found a blood-soaked old rag wrapped around his forearm. He took a moment to loosen the knot so he could remove it.

He wondered how long the rag had been there as he took it. Parts of it were stained with old blood while most of it was dripping with fresh blood. Placing it aside, Sun examined Rodney's arm. There were gashes in his arm like he had been slashed by something sharp and jagged. The drawing came to mind. Glass? With all the blood, it was difficult to see the extent of the damage, so he set to work cleaning it.

Rodney watched intently with a slightly furrowed brow. Every now and then he would wince and let out a sharp sound of pain as the cleaning solution stung his cuts. Each time, Sun would follow with a hasty apology.

After managing to clean his arm, Sun took a moment to look over the injuries. They were still oozing a bit of fresh blood, but not too much. Some of the cuts were a bit too deep and might need a few stitches. For those, he placed bandages called butterfly closures to hold them shut as best as possible. Luckily, nothing appeared to be infected. After setting the closures, he took some dry gauze and a roll of bandaging and began to firmly wrap Rodney's arm. "There," he said when he had finished.

Rodney examined his bandaged arm. It felt much better now. "Thanks, Sunny…"

"Rodney? Um… Did your… How did you get hurt?"

"…"

"Did your father hurt you?"

"…Yes," he said very quietly.

"Hey." They both jumped at the sound of Abby's voice and looked at her. "You okay kid?

Rodney did not reply, so Sun did for him. "His arm is injured with several cuts and gashes. I've treated them for now." He glanced at Rodney for a moment. "He said that his father hurt him."

Abby seemed to bristle at that. "Ah. Well, I gotta take him to the boss's office anyway."

"Right…" Sun knew that she would have Mr. Stanley contact the police. "Oh! Here. This is a drawing he made earlier."

She took the folded paper and opened it. The corner of her mouth twitched as she bit her cheek. "Right. Uh, hey, Rodney. I need you to come with me now, okay? We're just going to go sit in my boss's office for a while."

Sun nodded encouragingly to Rodney when he looked at him. "Don't worry. Abigail will take care of you. Um, here!" He grabbed a nearby ball and gave it to him. "So you can have something to play with!"

Rodney took the ball, stood up to join Abby, then looked back at Sun for a while before following her away. He knew that Sun was a robot, but he was still Rodney's favorite person. He was afraid that he might not ever see him again.

"Are you hungry?" Abby asked as they walked towards the big double doors near the desk. "Uh, I have a burrito if you want it?"

"No thanks…"

Sun watched them until they had closed the doors behind them. He tapped his fingers together slowly as he worried about the boy. He hoped he would be all right.

…

When Lea arrived at work later and began to head towards the Daycare, she came across Abby looking more tired than usual. "Hey," Lea greeted her. "What's up?"

"Ugh! I'm about to go find a place to take a nap while you work on the robots."

"Something interesting happen, or is this your normal whining?"

"Both. Had to bring a kid to the boss's office and wait for the police."

"Police?! What happened?!"

"Child abuse case. Kid's dad is a drunk asshole and apparently cut his arm open with a broken beer bottle. Cops took the kid while they investigate and deal with the dad."

"He cut the kid's arm?" Lea was appalled.

"Yep. The dad's the only parent he's got, but I think he's got relatives nearby. Maybe they'll take him."

"I hope so. The foster care system isn't that great around here."

"Yeah." Abby yawned then pointed at the black and silver box-like bag hanging over Lea's shoulder. "You brought something to eat this time?"

"Huh? Uh, no. This is… It's a bird."

"…Huh? Like…a live bird?"

"Yes."

Abby stared at her through droopy eyes and made a face. "Whatever. I'm going take a nap."

…

When Lea got to the Daycare, she found that Abby had forgotten to turn off the lights. This was unsurprising but still a little annoying. Though Mr. Stanley had decreed that Moon was not allowed out during hours of operation anymore, Lea still liked to let him roam freely when the place was closed for the night. Of course, only the Daycare was closed right now. The rest of the Pizzaplex would not be closed until midnight. Still, Lea found that Moon was a lot more cooperative when he was allowed the time to move around as himself. She was surprised to find that Sun was still cleaning up the place. It normally would not take him even the full hour between six and seven.

"Hey Sunshine."

"Hm? Oh, Lea!" He threw his arms up excitedly. "Hello!"

She smiled and went over to him. "How are you?" she asked as she used her free hand to pull his head down so she could give him a nuzzle.

He chuckled. "I'm great! Well, mostly…"

"What's wrong?"

"Ah, well, there was a bit of a situation today."

"Do you mean the kid Abby was telling me about?"

"Do you know what happened after they left the Daycare?" he asked eagerly.

"Abby told me she waited with him until the police arrived. They took him somewhere safe while they look into what's been going on with his dad. I'm sure they'll find the evidence they need and arrest the guy."

"What do you think will happen to Rodney then?"

"Hopefully his closest family members will be able and willing to take him in. Otherwise, he'll have to go into foster care."

"I see…" He noticed the new bag on her shoulder. "Hm? What's in there?"

"Oh, this? Actually, I brought it for you."

"Oh?"

She pulled the bag around to her front and lifted the top. Inside, snuggled up in a soft towel, was a dark colored bird with a bright orange belly and a pointed yellow beak.

"Is that a bird?!"

Lea chuckled. "Yeah. It's a robin. I found him in the yard with a broken wing. I figured you could look after him for me."

"Me? But I don't know how to care for birds, Lea. I was designed to look after human children."

"I know, but it won't be hard. I've already treated him. We just have to wait for his wing to heal. Until then, he needs a place to stay and someone to give him food and water. I don't have the time really. It's okay if you don't want to."

"Oh, but I do! It's just… Are you sure that I can?"

"Positive," she said with a smile and handed him the bag. "I even brought some food for him. Hold on." She pulled her backpack off to place it on the floor and retrieve a bag of food she had prepared for the robin.

While she did that, Sun stared down at the bird with curiosity. He had never seen a real live bird before. It cocked its head to look up at him with one eye. "It's so pretty…" he said softly.

"The bird? Yeah." Lea stood up straight. "He is pretty. You should see a cardinal."

"You keep calling it a 'he.' How can you tell?"

"Oh, well male robins have darker colors than females. It'd be easier to show you if there was a female around, but they're a little paler."

"How interesting!"

"Here. You can leave a small bowl of this for him. Just empty it and put fresh food every day. Same with water."

When Lea left, Sun took the robin up to his room and placed it and its makeshift nest on the table in the corner. The bird watched him place a bowl of food and a bowl of water nearby. After a few minutes, the robin stood up from its nest and hopped over to the food to peck through it. Sun watched its fast and twitchy movements with curiosity as it placed some things aside in preference of others. In his head, Moon was quietly observing as well, his curiosity peaked by the creature they had never seen before.

To be continued…