[Sabre's POV]

I think... I think I'm dreaming.

I see a bunch of computers, the walls of some kind of lab, cords everywhere... but I'm tiny and being carried by something... it's not a robot.

I look up and see that it's another human, who kind of looks like me, but older. I look around and see more other humans in white labs coats walking around, and the person I'm being carried by enters a room with a sign label floating overtop the doorway:

Lab Room 6: Project Steel

The person enters the room, and I'm met with the sight of more monitors to the sides, and a glass wall in front of us. Past the glass is a room with what looks like a giant charging station, a window to a lush outside surrounding a high-tech city, a chair, and a bookshelf. Standing in the middle of the room is a robot, which resembles my new friends... although this one looks like an earlier version.

"Hello sir, how are you today?" A woman in a business suit says to the person carrying me.

"I'm doing great, thank you. Just wanted to introduce my greatest creation to my son." The man I'm being carried by says. Wait... son?

The woman laughs. "He's pretty young, you know. One year old isn't exactly a human's perfect age for developing memories."

"One and a half, mind you." The man laughs as well. "It'll be no problem for him to remember these androids, since he's going to be meeting with them every week."

"It's almost like you're treating both your son and your robot as if they're brothers." The woman says.

"Heh, wouldn't be surprised if I was." The man replies. "Both Sabre and Origin are my favorite accomplishments."

How does this guy know my name?! And who's 'Origin'?!

"It is a wonder how you kept your son alive despite his... condition." A scientist in the room says.

"Well, the powers of science are also a wonder. It's poetic how one wonder brings life to another." The man says, holding his hand out to tiny me, and I see two small hands reach up and grab it.

Wait... am I viewing this from a toddler's perspective? Is this person their dad?

"Now, if you'll excuse me..." The man says. "I need to show Origin to my little boy."

The man walks into the room beyond the glass, and the robot turns to him as soon as he notices his footsteps. He towers over the man.

"Hello, creator." The robot says. "Are we going to work on more of my mechanics today?"

"No, I thought I'd give you a little break from that." The man says. "I'd like to introduce you to someone."

The man gives the robot tiny me, and the robot picks me up and gently holds me in its arms. He's looking at me with almost a kind of curiosity in his solid, bright blue eyes.

"Ah, who's this little one?" The robot asks. I hear a little kid giggling.

"Origin, I'd like you to meet my son." The man says. "His name is Sabre. I'm sure you recognize that name."

Hold up, that's my name! That guy is saying I'm his son...? Is... is this a memory?! But from where?! I was stuck in that monster-filled world my whole life! There's no way I would have met robots in a futuristic lab!

"Yes, I do recognize that name." The robot, who I know is Origin, smiles. "Would you like me to add him to my list of profiles?"

"Very much so, as you'll be seeing him very often from now on." The man says.

"Creator, I recognize 'Sabre' as who you started Project Steel for... the project of my creation." Origin says. "Is his condition what we're trying to cure?"

"You got it." The man chuckles. "Hopefully his treatment can get started soon."

"I see..." Origin says.

Suddenly, I hear violent coughing coming from... me? Tiny me? Origin looks worried, as the man takes me back and carefully takes out a syringe and sticks it into my arm. The coughing stops soon.

"Did I do something wrong, creator?" Origin asks.

"No, no. That wasn't your fault. That was his condition acting up." The man says. "Don't worry, you had nothing to do with it."

"Sir, we should get your son to the medical bay for proper care." A scientist says.

"I know, I'm coming." The man answers, then turns to Origin. "Sabre will be back tomorrow. He just needs to get some medicine for now."

"Okay, creator." Origin says, and the man chuckles.

"Again, my creation, please just call me Alaric." The man says, walking away back into the lab.

Going through the various halls, a scientist with a Red Cross shoulder patch walks up to Alaric.

"Boss, the genetic testing for your son has come back with results." The scientist says.

"Well, is the disease genetic?" Alaric asks.

"Seems to be a mutation from exposure to chemicals while in development." The scientist replies.

"Meaning the accident that caused the death of my wife could also be the end of my son..." Alaric mumbles.

"Unfortunately so. However, the biological-to-metal transformation experiments have all been successes. The next step is to test it on human tissue." The scientist continues.

"Make sure it's an approved cadaver, John." Alaric sighs. "I don't want to be another example of 'evil scientist CEO' from apocalypse movies."

"Yes sir, right away sir." The scientist says, rushing off as Alaric enters what looks like a doctor's office.

Alaric looks down at me, giving a warm yet sorrowful smile.

"I promise, Sabre... you're going to get to live a life despite this." He says. "You'll just have a few little changes to you... but hey, every little boy thinks it would be awesome to be a cyborg, right?"

I hear more little kid's giggling, then everything fades to white.

—————————————————————————————————————

I wake up in the bed Orange put me in, and stretch as I sit up. I feel all my bones pop from being still for so long. I then hear Orange yell up the stairs.

"Sabre, are you good?!" Orange says, sounding worried. "What was that?!"

"Don't worry, it's a human thing." I say, getting out of bed.

"Are you sure? It sounded like all your bones broke!" Orange asks.

I walk downstairs and find him on the couch, Gerald cuddled up to him.

"Want me to explain it?" I say.

"Uh, please." Orange answers.

I walk over to the couch and sit down next to Orange.

"So basically, air collects between my bones while I was sleeping, because I wasn't moving." I start. "When I stretched, it released that air, and that made the popping sound. That happens when we sit in one place for a while, too."

"Oh." Orange says.

We stay silent for a minute, then I remember there's a forest outside.

"Wanna go explore the forest?" I ask, grinning.

"Do you have your energy back already?" Orange asks me. He seems surprised. "You had only been asleep for five hours."

"Yeah, I'm good! Let's go, c'mon!" I say, already jumping off the couch and heading towards the door.

"Okay, I'm going." Orange laughs, walking behind me with Gerald following.

We run out and immediately head into the forest. We explore it for hours, finding random things and playing together. I got scared for a second when Orange fell in a river, but it turns out he's waterproof. That's going to make a lot of stuff easier...

Eventually, it's really dark out, but I'm still going. Orange is trying to get me to go back inside, after Gerald already did.

"Come on, Sabre. It's 11:30." Orange says, walking after me. "Don't you want to go to bed, like usual?"

"Nope! I ain't tired!" I say, weaving through the multitude of bushes around me, so Orange can't pick me up.

"Humans normally shouldn't be up this late!" Orange says.

"Well, if there's no other humans around, I don't have to follow human social norms." I smirk.

"Sabreee..." Orange groans.

I play around in the little nooks between the bush branches, when Orange says something to convince me.

"Okay, how about you don't have to go to bed, buuut I'll make you food if you head inside." Orange calls out, not really knowing where I am.

I pop my head out of the bushes, facing him. He sees me.

"...You promise?" I ask.

"Promise." Orange smiles.

I get out of the bushes and run over, and start to walk back to the house with Orange.

"You seem to be very food-motivated." Orange laughs.

"What can I say, I like food." I shrug, also giggling.

"Reminds me of when I came across a biological ocelot while I was living alone..." Orange says. "It stayed away from me until I gave it some fish that I caught for fun. I let it take whatever it wanted out of the bucket, and eventually it just ate all of them. Then it just fell asleep on me."

"Eh, that's what cats are like." I say as we enter the house. "Jerks, until you give them food. Then they tolerate you."

Orange laughs, and we both head to the storage room to see what I want to have.

—————————————————————————————————————

Orange actually let me pick a lot of stuff! He even let me help cook, it was really fun! We told jokes and stories while we worked on everything. That being said, it was a lot of food...

"This is why I call you a tiny vacuum." Orange giggles while reading his book.

"What?" I ask, leaning against him.

We're on the couch again, after I finished all my food. An empty bowl and two cleaned-off plates stand next to an empty water bottle on the table.

"Because we made all of that..." Orange points at the dishes on the table. "And you left absolutely nothing. Like, seriously, you have a black hole in there or something?"

Orange laughs and pokes me in the stomach. I try to roll over so I can lean on the arm of the couch instead, but fail, so I just stay where I am.

"Meh." I say, and Orange just laughs more.

"At least you won't look like a tiny skeleton anymore pretty soon, if you keep doing this." Orange says.

"Doin what?" I mumble.

"Being a tiny vacuum." Orange says, holding back more laughter.

I admit, I laugh a little too. We have a little bit of silence, then Orange sets down his book and turns to me.

"So, you ready to go to sleep now?" He asks.

"Nope, I'm not tired." I say, grinning. "Besides, I'm definitely not moving right now."

"Well, too bad..." Orange says, suddenly picking me up. "Cause you walked right into my little trap."

"What?!" I say, attempting to squirm out of his hold, but I quickly give up as there's no way I can go against a robot. That, and... I really don't feel like moving.

"Heheh, I let you have as much as you wanted so you wouldn't be able to fight me on going to bed." Orange says, already heading up the stairs. "Robot one, tiny vacuum zero."

"You little traitor!" I say, pretending to be mad at him. Really, I'm just mad at myself that I actually fell for that.

...Mayyybe I should stop doing this. Y'know, I actually almost got into trouble today because of it... Eh, food is worth it.

Orange sets me into bed, and I think he notices that I'm a little butthurt about it.

"Oh come on, you got yourself into this." Orange chuckles. "I just used your own actions against you."

"Stupid bolt bucket." I grumble.

Orange just laughs, and turns off the lights as he heads back to the stairs.

"I'll just sit here and not sleep to spite you." I say.

"Yeah, right. You'll fall asleep soon enough." Orange replies.

Orange heads back downstairs, and I'm kinda miffed that he's right. I'm already getting drowsy... I'll get back at him in the morning.

...I'll admit, that was smart.