[Sabre's POV]

...

I'm back in that weirdly furnished hospital room, the one that looks like a little kid's room.

Tiny me is sitting in front of Origin, who looks like he's playing with him. Alaric is standing nearby, talking to someone on the phone. A few minutes later, Alaric hangs up and walks over to Origin and tiny me.

"Who was that, Alaric?" Origin asks, placing in front of tiny me a teddy bear with a blue patch on its left arm and a pink patch on its side.

The plush is kind of big compared to tiny me, almost the same size, but tiny me latches onto it regardless and hugs it tight. Tiny me starts babbling to it soon enough.

"Oh, that was one of my friends." Alaric replies, sitting down next to Origin. "I've arranged with him and another friend for them to bring their sons over in two days."

"Why are they coming over?" Origin says, still watching tiny me as he plays with the teddy bear.

"Well, Sabre here will get lonely if he doesn't have any friends." Alaric answers. "Humans are a social species, so isolating them at a young age like his isn't really the best idea. Besides, my friends' sons have been excited to meet him. Whenever I visit my friends' houses, they always want to hear all about Sabre and how he's doing."

"But I'm here. Am I not a good friend for Sabre?" Origin says, and Alaric puts his hand on his shoulder.

"Oh, no no no, Origin. That's not what I'm meaning. You are something different, something closer than a friend." Alaric says. "I thought you've realized by now, given his nickname for you and how he acts towards you, but I'm very sure that Sabre sees you more as his brother."

Origin pauses, looking down at his hands. He looks... conflicted.

"I..." Origin starts. "I still do not know how to fe- process... that."

"Origin, I know what you were about to say." Alaric says, smiling. "You can just say that's how you feel, I know you have a wide range of emotions due to your partial sentience. I gave you that for a reason."

"I am not used to the idea that I am a mechanical being with... thoughts, and such other things." Origin says, staring at his hands now. "It seems... unnatural in me."

"Well, that's not a bad thing." Alaric says, taking his hand off Origin's shoulder. "In fact, unnatural can be as much of a good thing as natural. The only difference between them, really, is the context behind them."

Origin looks at Alaric, seeming a little confused.

"But... in my database of definitions of such things, 'natural' and 'unnatural' are the same as the concept of 'good' and 'evil'. This information clashes." Origin says, tilting his head a little. "I do not understand."

"Well, let me put it like this..." Alaric begins. "Those definitions are a way of thinking in a black-and-white mindset. The stereotypical or default ideas that everyone is taught in their first few years in the world. However, as everything grows and changes, people can start to realize throughout their lives that this way of thinking isn't really all that correct. After all, just black and white being all you can see becomes... depressing, after a little bit. People that choose this perception change are also choosing what colors to add to the picture of their viewpoint, changing the way they expect, think of, act, spend their time, and so much more. Those colors they are choosing represents what context they add into their mindset towards specific topics."

Origin listens confusedly yet still intently to Alaric, while tiny me is busy playing with the teddy bear, occasionally looking up at the two of them.

"Taking the idea of 'natural' and 'unnatural' for example of one of those topics." Alaric continues. "They're not actually the same as 'good' and 'evil', contrary to popular belief. Natural is only defined as 'something that occurs without intervention by an outside factor'. On the other hand, unnatural is defined as 'something that is out-of-place in the natural occurrences of things'. This is where context to either comes into play."

Alaric stops explaining for a second to catch tiny me as he falls over while trying to lean backwards, then he sits tiny me back up and turns his attention back to Origin. 

"Now, here's an example of context behind the 'natural' definition." Alaric says. "When you think of 'natural', you most likely think of something like a peaceful rainforest or some other similar environment, nothing causing the ways of the ecosystem to go into an imbalance. However, things are rarely like this in reality. Imagine a fungus, that had appeared naturally inside a woodland area, never having been introduced as something foreign. It has been there since the forest first grew. Although, this fungus is harmful; it causes the trees to wither, and infects animals, making them die of an incurable disease. One year, this fungus grows out of control, destroying the entire forest and leaving nothing in its wake. However, in doing so, it also destroys it's only way to keep itself alive. So, it too, dies out because of its unyielding rampage of infection."

Origin looks at Alaric like a student learning something new, beginning to understand the lesson being taught.

"Now, think of 'unnatural' and its associated scenarios." Alaric continues. "When you think of 'unnatural', you most likely think of scenarios involving destructive, invasive species in ecosystems they don't belong. Yet, 'unnatural' isn't really always bad, just like how 'natural' isn't always good. Think of a pond ecosystem, with all its fish, aquatic plants, and surrounding willow trees. This pond is full of different fish, however food runs low in the water due to a hostile species of fish hoarding the few sources to themselves, attacking any other creature that comes near it. They're much bigger and more combat-capable than any other creature in the pond. However, one day, a water lily seed is unnoticeably planted into the pond's underwater soil because of a wind carrying it from a nearby river that doesn't make any type of contact with the pond. This water lily grows into a beautiful plant, budding and creating more seeds that grow alongside it. Its blooms are able to serve as a new, plentiful food source for all the other creatures of the pond... except for the species of hostile fish that had been causing problems. This lily's roots send a new substance into the water, which only poisons the hostile fish species. The dead fish float to the surface, feeding the herons that frequent the pond, while all the other creatures live in peace with each other without any more conflict between them... thanks to the unintentional help of the foreign water lily."

Alaric turns back to Origin, smiling at him. Origin looks like he understands the messages in the stories. Then, Alaric picks up tiny me as he runs over to him, still hugging the teddy bear.

"Dada!" Tiny me squeals as Alaric picks him up, giggling. Alaric takes on an even brighter smile and holds tiny me in his arms as he finishes his explanation to Origin.

"So you see, you shouldn't let the default ideas of the world control your view of the world." Alaric says. "You should always determine the context of what's in front of you. One last example here is my little boy Sabre."

"Wait, Sabre can be an example of these ideas?" Origin asks, looking a little surprised.

"Yes, he can, and you as well." Alaric replies. "In Sabre's case, most people would think of a father modifying his baby boy's body with mechanics and turning him into an unnatural human cyborg as an act of pure evil. However, what they fail to see just by not bothering to ask why, is that I'm trying to save his life from his mysterious condition by replacing his affected organs with perfectly functioning ones made of metal while it's in its early stages. This way, when he's older, he won't have to deal with the complications of his condition when it's further along... and he'll get to live a full life rather than die young. Even if it's not normal, well... just because something is completely unnatural, even if it's not hurting anyone or anything, does that really mean it doesn't deserve a chance to live?"

"...And me?" Origin asks.

"You may be considered unnatural, given your partial sentience..." Alaric says. "But what people fail to understand is that I made you that way with very good purpose. I made you not only so I can understand how a robotic body that exactly mirrors a human's will work, but also so you can take perfect care of Sabre without needing orders or programming. You can almost act completely on your own, if it wasn't for the restrictions you need."

Alaric and Origin stay silent for a minute, watching as tiny me plays with the teddy bear while Alaric holds him. Then, Origin looks at Alaric.

"Why do I have those restrictions, exactly?" Origin asks. "Am I... dangerous, in some way?"

Alaric looks back at Origin, at first surprised, but then almost a little somber.

"No, no you aren't Origin..." Alaric sighs. "Rather than protecting others from you, like you guessed, it's more protecting you from others..."

Origin looks like he's about to ask something else, when tiny me starts coughing. They both panic at first, but not even a minute later and the coughing stops. They then look shocked.

"It... it stopped on its own...?" Origin mumbles. "But that's never happened before..."

Alaric smiles and hugs tiny me, and I see some small tears pricking the edges of his eyes.

"That is some extremely good progress..." Alaric says.

Tiny me then starts reaching for a box on the floor next to Alaric, and Alaric pulls tiny me back from the hug and looks at him as he keeps reaching.

"Hm... he's hungry again..." Alaric mumbles.

Alaric then hands tiny me to Origin, and gets up. He then gets up, handing the box to Origin.

"Go ahead and give him some, I need to check something." Alaric says. "He already has his teeth in, so he shouldn't have any problem with those."

"Alright Alaric." Origin says, getting tiny me into a more comfortable hold while he reaches into the box.

Alaric leaves the room, and Origin takes two little things that look like tiny cakes out of the box. Origin hands them to tiny me, and tiny me immediately takes one and quickly eats it, already reaching for the second as he finishes the first. Same thing happens, and tiny me starts reaching for the box again.

"Oh, um, okay." Origin mumbles, and he takes two more of the tiny cakes out of the box.

This happens again as soon as tiny me finishes the other two cakes. Just as tiny me finishes the sixth, he stops for a second and then yawns, snuggling into Origin as he leans back. I swear, I heard Origin say a quiet 'Aww" sound.

The moment is abruptly interrupted as now-awake tiny me and Origin hear Alaric coming back down the hallway, having a quiet debate with a scientist. Well... Alaric is being quiet, the scientist seems to disregard volume control.

"You need to tell me and the rest of your team about these things, I don't want Sabre to have entirely different health complications in the future due to something caused by his alterations." Alaric says.

We see Alaric and the scientist stop in front of the doorway to the room Origin and I are in, Alaric standing in front of the doorframe.

"Look, it was turning out fine, I was going to make some changes the next time we were working on that specific part of his adjustments." The scientist says, a bit loudly. "It's a minor issue, it could wait."

"This 'minor issue' could lead to major other issues, Auryn." Alaric continues. "He's a toddler, for crying out loud. It's very likely his body won't be able to handle what the bioreactor demands with this strange bug with it. Not to mention how it could impact the next surgeries."

"It's not doing anything right now, I don't see why you're making such a big deal out of it!" The scientist exclaims.

Origin and tiny me both flinch at the sudden loud voice, and Alaric notices this. He turns back to the scientist, now with a little anger in his tone.

"Hey, do not yell in front of my son." Alaric says firmly.

"Oh, which you talking about?!" The scientist yells. "The tin can or your lab rat?!"

Alaric has a look of calm rage in an instant, the entire hall falling silent. The scientist quickly realizes what he's said and tries to backtrack.

"Sir, I-" The scientist begins, but Alaric interrupts.

"Get out, Auryn." He says, a cold anger lining his voice.

"S-Sir-"

"I said, GET OUT, Auryn." Alaric says, raising his voice, but never yelling.

The scientist quickly leaves. Alaric then turns back to tiny me and Origin, and walks over to both of them.

"I'm sorry, Origin. I wish you didn't have to hear that." Alaric says.

"It's alright, it wasn't your fault." Origin softly smiles. "What happened?"

Alaric sighs, and buries his face in his hand.

"I had noticed a change in Sabre's behavior since the bioreactor and heart assist were put in, and it turns out that the bioreactor connected to his stomach isn't just taking some of the biomatter from what Sabre normally eats, it's requiring its own quantity." Alaric begins. "However, that extra biomatter requirement is adding much more to the amount of food Sabre needs. That's causing an issue because Sabre's body will most likely not be able to handle that increase all that well, unable to adjust his metabolism to make it work. Auryn was the only one that noticed it, yet he didn't think it was important and told no one, thinking he could just fix it later the next time the scientists and surgeons needed to check on the bioreactor... which was in seven months."

"I see..." Origin says, sounding concerned. "Is it... Is it a bad thing that I let Sabre have six of those little pastries that were in the box, then?"

"No, we'll just have to deal with it for now until we can fix it." Alaric says. "He still needs that intake so he doesn't risk the bioreactor not getting enough to convert into power. We have no idea what'll happen if we cut it back while this is an issue."

Alaric looks up at Origin, calming down.

"Let's... let's just not think about that for now." Alaric says. "Why don't you tell me about that book you recently became interested in that you wanted to tell me about this morning."

I hear Origin already excitedly spouting off about the story of the book, as tiny me closes his eyes and falls asleep.

—————————————————————————————————————

I'm woken up by the sound of lightning, and I wake up and look out the window just in time to see Orange Steve walk into the house.

Our friends from the village gave us the ingredients for the medicine I needed yesterday, and I've been feeling better since then. While I'm still sick, it's not nearly as bad. Orange says I might even be better by tomorrow.

I climb out of the bed and head downstairs to greet Orange, although I stay wrapped in my green blanket, as I'm still shaking a bit. Orange immediately picks me up and pulls me into a hug as I walk over to him.

"Hey buddy!" Orange exclaims happily. "How you feeling?"

"Better, I don't have a headache anymore." I answer, and Orange puts me down.

"Oh, I found something for ya while I was out!" Orange smiles, taking off his backpack and reach into it.

"You- you did?" I say, confused. "But I didn't ask for anything."

Orange stops for a second and looks at me.

"...Have you never gotten a gift before?" He asks.

"You got me a gift?!" I exclaim, excitedly rushing over to Orange. "No, I haven't! I only read about other people getting them in stories! What is it, what is it?!"

Orange smiles and continues digging through the backpack.

"Well, while I was out looking for supplies, I wandered past the remains of an abandoned toy store." Orange says. "I figured 'Oh what the heck, there might be something cool even though it's centuries old'. So I went in and looked around for a while, and as I guessed the vast majority of the place was overgrown and broken, but then I looked in something that looked like an office!"

Orange then pulls out a medium sized plush out of the backpack and hands it to me. I look at it with wonder as I feel the soft fabric.

"I found this little guy sitting there on a desk, completely untouched!" Orange says. "I dunno how it was there or how it wasn't destroyed or overgrown like everything else, but hey, it's pretty freakin cool so I'm not gonna question it."

I examine the plush, still moving my hands over the really soft, fluffy material. It's a teddy bear with a light brown color, like how cocoa apparently looks, with a light blue patch on its shoulder and a pink patch on its side. It looks... strangely familiar.

I hug the teddy bear happily, really excited to have something like this. I've never really had a toy before when I was little... I had always been a little jealous of the kids in the shelter I was in before it got destroyed, because they all had one except me, but those toys were from either a dead parent or sibling of theirs so I never did or said anything.

"Thank you so much, Orange! I love it!" I exclaim, looking up at my robot friend.

"No problem, little buddy!" Orange smiles back.

Orange Steve then tells me about more things he found while out of the Hub, and I listen as I hug my new little plush close.