Prodigy: New World

17) All is Explained

Zaine hesitated before speaking. "When Mom left, Seraphim wasn't the same. Mom used to spoil her, you know. The two really were that close. It's safe to say that Seraphim was Mom's favourite. 'My precious little angel', Mom used to call her."

"Angel..." Poppy echoed. "So that's why she called her daughter Seraphim. A seraph is an angel."

"I was lucky; when I was the only child, Mom and Dad got along pretty well." Zaine continued. "Clayton and Seraphim grew up witnessing their many disagreements. Eventually, Mom couldn't take anymore and left."

"Seraphim must have felt so betrayed." Poppy frowned. "To have been left behind by the mother who she loved so much..."

"That does confuse me." Hino admitted. "Why would your mother leave her children behind when it was her husband she had issues with? Even if she left you and Clayton, I would imagine that she would have at least taken Seraphim with her."

Zaine shrugged. "I don't know. It's not like you can ask her now. Anyway, after our mother left, Seraphim... changed. She still talked to Clayton, and sometimes to me, but she began to ignore our father."

"I assume that it got worse after the experiment with Clayton failed." Hino said.

Zaine nodded. "My father became interested in the idea of time travel. He thought that - maybe - he could use it to change Mom's mind about leaving."

"He wanted to undo his past mistakes," Hino sighed. "How pitiable. What next?"

"When the project was finished, he needed somebody to act as a test subject." Zaine continued. "Neither of us could go; we would be needed in the lab. Everybody else seemed too afraid to volunteer. The project was going nowhere... until Clayton volunteered."

"I guess he wanted his mother back as well." Poppy said. "As well as to make his sister happy..."

"We realized far too late that the idea of time travel was extremely flawed." Zaine muttered. "After Clayton's remains came back, my father swore off the project. He burnt all of the notes he had made. He had the machine scrapped. Nothing is left."

"Not even Clayton's remains?" Hino questioned.

Zaine shook his head. "No, we obviously kept them. We... We buried them. Outside. But that was the last nail in the coffin for Seraphim: she refused to associate with us after that."

"So... what about Gigabit?" Hino asked. "When it was still active, it mentioned that it was created by Dr. Delarosa."

"That's right." Zaine nodded. "He felt bad about everything that Seraphim was going through. He wanted some way of making her feel better, but he had no idea how. Until, one day, he got the idea to make a robot companion for her."

"That's so sweet." Poppy smiled.

"Well, he also had the idea that Seraphim wouldn't accept it if she knew that he had made it." Zaine shrugged. "That's why she was told that I had made it."

"Gigabit was... um, put out of action earlier." Hino admitted. "If we bring what remains, do you think you could fix it?"

"That depends on how much is left." Zaine replied. "But I'll certainly try."

"Thank you." Hino smiled. "We're going to need it."

-----

Hino brought the crumpled remains of Gigabit back to Zaine. The scientist had nearly fainted when he learned that Saito had stompted it to deactivation, but he quickly recovered. Within an hour and a half, a new Gigabit sat on the bench in front of the two.

Wiping sweat from his forehead, Zaine threw a screwdriver onto the table before him. "That should be everything." He sighed.

"Is the AI in there?" Hino asked. He didn't understand a whole lot about technology; although he knew what an AI was, he still used the term loosely.

Zaine nodded. "Yeah. All we have to do is switch it on." Zaine reached for a button located on the tail wing of the droid. Within seconds, the lights flashed yellow and the droid propelled into the air.

"Hello, hello!" The robot greeted cheerfully. "Boy, it sure is great to be alive again!"

"Save the talk, toy chopper." Hino interrupted. "It's great to have you back, but we need to move quickly. We're going to need your help in bringing Seraphim back to her senses!"

"Okay-dokey, sir!" Gigabit exclaimed. With the robot in tow, Hino moved forward to leave the room.

"Wait, Detective." Zaine began. "There's... something I need to talk to you about."

"Oh?" Hino frowed. "That's concerning."

Zaine hesitated. "At the end of this... I want you to make sure that Seraphim is okay. After this... she's going to need somewhere to stay. Someone to look after her."

"But... why?" Hino asked.

"I'll... I'll turn myself in to the police. For helping with the kidnapping plot." Zaine announced. "As for my dad, he'll confess to killing Clayton."

"Y-You will?" Hino stammered. "Do you have any other family members?"

"I'm afraid not." Zaine answered. "It's just Mom, Dad, me, Clayton and Seraphim. But with Mom and Clayton gone and me and Dad in prison... she'll be alone. We'll admit to whatever you want, but... just leave her out of it."

Hino was silent. For once, he didn't know how to properly respond. "I'll... I'll see what I can do." The detective muttered. "I'll search for someone to look after her."

Zaine smiled. "Thank you, Detective." He said. "If you need anything further from me, please don't hesitate to ask."

Hino paused before responding. "In that case, I'm going to need access to your living quarters." The detective said. "What, is there a key needed to get in? Perhaps some fancy code?"

"No, nothing like that." Zaine responded. "You just take the elevator to the sixth floor; the very top. Well, the stairs, in this situation."

Hino nodded and left the room, Gigabit humming as it followed. A plan was forming in his mind, a plan to finally close this case once and for all. A plan that would end things smoothly, without anybody getting hurt.

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o boi the end is coming

AceAttorneyFan over and out!