Eve's Choice [Rosewater's Awakening]

I intend to go out tomorrow to do something with others, so I may not be back until the evening if you intend to stay here. I personally fear I may be gone longer, so you are welcome to stay here for as long as you need to.

Those words echoed in her mind for what must have been at least the fiftieth time that day: what Ruo had told her two days ago before she had left yesterday as planned. She kept thinking back of what her friend had said, sometimes wondering if she had misheard when the android had told her.

Why weren't you back yesterday?

A few hours of a delay might have been expected, but Rosewater had waited for her until her body could no longer function properly without recharging, and even in her nightly paralysis, she still had not so much heard her footsteps on the ground.

It made her 'nervous', her fingers twitched often and sometimes the constant, soft pounding in her chest would get faster for some reason that she couldn't explain. Her eyes often scanned the room rapidly, looking up from her observation of Ruo's various trinkets that she would often examine to occupy herself, as if suddenly hoping that her companion had returned.

She didn't feel right, though not quite sick, and it only took a few hours until all she could think about was when she would return. Nothing else seemed to interest her anymore, and it was the only piece of knowledge she wanted to have.

Her activities had come to a complete halt at the moment, as she had been doing nothing but looking towards the door for the past half hour.

Open. Please open.

Surprisingly, her wish was granted just a few seconds later, and the android had a bright smile on her face that she hadn't worn since the day had begun. She was shocked, however, to find that it wasn't who was expecting, but not an unfamiliar face.

It was her creator, Abel.

At first, he seemed just as equally surprised as she was, but that shock was soon turned into a sigh of great relief, the robot he had created still staring at him in utter confusion as a familiar sense of 'anxiety' overcame her.

"Finally! After weeks of looking through this wretched city I found you again!"

This just seemed to cause more confusion within his previously abandoned creation. He had been looking for her? For what purpose? He had made it so clear that she wasn't allowed back in his home the last time they had interacted, why would he suddenly change his mind now?

He took a few steps forward towards her, as she stayed rooted in place, artificial muscles tensing and telling her she didn't feel 'safe' at the moment.

"What do you want, my creator?" she asked him nervously, the obedience that had been programmed into her taking over despite how every part of her was telling her that she should run.

"Nice to see you have some manners still, at least." he replied, not too concerned with answering her question at first "I was beginning to worry you'd be a drug dealing teenager by now if you hadn't been mauled by a pack of stray dogs first, which would have made things much harder to repair."

He gave a light chuckle before finally providing her with the information she had asked for.

"I'm here to take you back home. To give you a second chance, Eve. I'm humble enough to have been able to come to terms that your original artificial intelligence was flawed. I designed you to be able to learn, but I forgot to remove your desire to. That is why you looked where you were not allowed. I'm here to take you back home so I can erase your memories and we can forget this mess ever happened. "

"Erase....my memories?"

It took only a second for that thought to sink into her mind, even though the thoughts behind it made time stand still for what seemed like ages.

Erase everything? All that she had worked so hard to learn, what her friend had been patient enough to explain to her, the things she had lived through in her short time on this earth, to forget Ruo and Sentiel and lose her thirst for knowledge which had made her existence so interesting...

She would forget even her own given name, practically cease to be the person she was at all to turn into the image of what her creator originally intended for her to be. It would be...

It would be like...

Dying.

The word suddenly jumped into her mind, and her body began to shake in fear at the thought. That would....be the end of it, right? Life and death had been one of the many things which Ruo had tried to explain to her just the other day, but it was only now that she truly understand it.

She felt a hand touch her arm, clearly that of her creator meaning to lead her back home.

No. She didn't want that! She didn't want to die!

"Stop! Let go of me!" she cried out, almost in a scream, as if all the terrors of the world had come pouring down on her at once, and perhaps it had.

She jerked her had away from his grasp, taking a few steps back as she looked back to angry eyes in horror "I don't want that! I want to stay!"

It seemed as though her creator wasn't simply going to act upon her wishes though, as he let out a frustrated sigh, glimmer of sliver momentarily visible in his hand.

"I was afraid this would happen. It seems as though your corrupted mind is more far gone than I hoped, denying even the perfect opportunity to become God's ultimate creation. I hate to damage my own hardware, but..." The object he had in his hand was now held up to her eye level, and the word 'knife' came to mind.

"Have you discovered what pain is yet?"

Her emotions where rising to a fever pitch, yet her feet were rooted in place, too obedient or too scared to move.

She was too caught up in her web of shock to recall what happened next, and she only truly became aware of her struggle when she felt the effects of the knife slash across her upper arm.

She let out her first ever scream, not out of pain, but of fear as she instinctively pushed the threat to her survival away. She let go of her precious purple stone for the first time, clutching the recent injury as something which she had never felt before coursed through her body.

It hurt. As unnatural as it was for a robot, the tear that had been made into her synthetic flesh physically hurt her. A cruel trick of nature that she had been unaware of until now, a defect which the very man who stood in front of her had programmed into her. He had made her to avoid damage to herself at all costs, and he was doing all he could now to exploit that weakness.

If she had been scared before, she was utterly terrified now.

"Come with me, and you won't have to deal with any more of that. I just want to help you, Eve." he told to the android which had fallen to her knees before him, almost whimpering, in a gentle, comforting tone.

For a moment, her mind fell prey to the tempting promise of safety, knowing that it should be within all logical rights to follow him and end this nightmare.

But her eyes couldn't help but wander to the object she had dropped on the floor.

But wait....what would become of Ruo? How would she feel when she came back to an empty house? Would she look for her, only to find a near mindless android with her friend's appearance to have replaced her?

What if she didn't come back? What if she in trouble, in a situation far worse than she herself was currently in and needed help?

I can't leave her.No. I don't want to leave her. I will not let what I have become die in this way.

This was her choice. Despite all the pain and fear she was going through right now, she would be more than her instincts.

Shakily, she got to her feet once again, looking directly at the man who had created her.

"My name is not Eve. My...my name is Rosewater. I won't let you bully me into coming back with you. I want to stay here. I'm waiting for someone who might need my help if she doesn't come back tomorrow. I am grateful for my creation, but I am no longer yours. "

Her voice was soft, but confident. She would not be convinced otherwise.

She expected the outrage he gave in response, though it wasn't wasted at words and he instead lunged at her with a fury in his eyes that looked at though he was about to tear her into pieces.

She was about to flinch, close her eyes and accept her fate, but she held out her arm instead and do something which she could never be able to explain.

Something had changed within her. Her desire to stay the person she was despite its consequences, to stay in order to find out the fate of a single person had been enough for her to realize that she didn't want anyone to die or get in harms way so long as she could prevent it. She had given herself a purpose.

She thought not of what little she had been taught on the Persona she was able to control, as it seemed only second nature now. Nekhbet, the colorful, harpy-like figure was simply a part of her, the reflection of a protector.

The bird-like persona gave a slight flap of her wings, producing only enough wind to knock her creator off his feet.

"Stay away. I don't want to hurt you. Come closer and you will give me no choice."

There was no longer a trace of the meek, people pleasing child that she had been. She stood before him, confident and independent. Even he now knew he had lost the fight against the very thing he had created, and he swore to himself that he would one day end her, whether through destroying this rebellious mindset or through creating something more powerful than her.

The android was then left on her own, Nekhbet's silent and protective image fading back within her for when she was needed to defend once more. Rosewater was left to reflect on everything she had learned today, finally understanding the true negatives of harm, pain and death. She reached for the purple stone she had dropped to put it once more back into the comfort of her left hand, her mind again wondering if the person who had provided her with this gift to begin with would come back before she had to make the desperate search for her, so that she wouldn't have to feel this anxiety anymore.

It was ironic, given all the flaws that had been programmed into her, as 'human ' as she was, the one thing she couldn't do was cry.

The best she could was to bury her head in her arms and try to block out the rest of the world.