He was like a brother to me
summary: After Kara, Alice and Luther escaped Zlatko’s mansion, neither of the girls felt guilty for deactivating the android in the bathroom. Unlike them- Luther did.
The bathtub he was lying in was filled with his own blue blood. The lower half of his body was gone as if it didn’t exist. His heart was visible to everyone who could walk into the bathroom, and yet he was still alive.
Poor Jean has been through a lot. He could bearly remember his own past. He has been kidnapped, tortured, broken, mind slaved... he began to lose hope.
His only friends at the mansion were the bear, who’s now lying in her cage waiting to be released, a bunch of empty vodka bottles and Luther, who was forced to help the man who promised them freedom and lied to them in his experiences on other deviants.
In his free time, Luther would come to the bathroom and chat with Jean, talking about the pain and the despair. Jean felt safe around him, like a child being protected by his older brother. Like a baby in his mother’s arms. He was like a family to him. He was the mother, the father, the siblings... he cared.
Luther also saw the broken one as his sibling. He loved hanging out with him and felt sorry for his pain as if it was his fault.
One day, Kara and Alice showed up. The android who wanted to become a mother, and a child who wanted one for herself. The two fools who believed that this Zlatko man would give them freedom. The two of them impressed Luther, but Jean was already mind broken. “We have to obey the master!” he repeated over and over again.
Luther’s job was to watch the little girl as Kara was put in the lab in order to erase her memories. He had to stand next to the room where Alice was locked in and wait for Zlatko’s orders. A few minutes past and Luther heard Jean talking. “He’s probably talking to himself again.” Luther thought. Then it was silent.
“Luther! Bring me the girl!” Zlatko yelled from his workshop. Luther opened the door of the room where Alice’s supposed to be...and she was gone. He told it to his “master” and he said in return that they must look for the two girls in every room.
As the walked into the bathroom, Luther couldn’t believe what he saw. Jean was lying in the bathtub quietly. His heart was outside of the bathtub. His friend was deactivated. If Zlatko didn’t give him the order to look for the two girls, he would’ve cried, trying to bring Jean back in every way possible, but there was no time. He tried to think about the good side- at least Jean doesn’t feel pain anymore. At least he’s free. But Luther’s pain and sadness grew bigger and bigger.
The smell of smoke began to fill the house. they must’ve started a fire. After Zlatko and Luther finally saw the girls running over to the back door, they began chasing after them. Zlatko carried his shotgun, trying to shoot the two girls without any success.
It was raining outside. The little girl suddenly slipped over the mud as the android ran over to help her. This was Zlatko’s chance to finally stop them. For Luther it felt...wrong. He HAD to stop him. He finally decided to set free, as he stood between them, grabbing the gun from Zlatko’s hand and aiming at him. He saw Zlatko’s other androids coming over, finally having their chance to revenge. beginning to hit and scratch Zlatko as he’s trying to convince them that he is the master until the last blood drop came out of his body.
As Luther dropped the gun, he asked the two girls if he can join them and they agreed. Although he was happy to join the two on their adventure to freedom, he knew that they are the reason that Jean is gone. They walked away as they watched the other androids, with the bear among them, running away from the burning house with Jean inside of it. The only thing that was in Luther's head at that moment was the fact that he didn’t have the time to say goodbye. Yet he had one thing to remember him. One thing that even Jean himself didn’t know that Luther has it- His lost memories.
---
The three of them finally made it across the border to Canada. They lived with Rose’s brother for a while, and after they got enough money to buy their own house they moved out. Kara and Luther grew closer and closer and fell in love. He got along with Alice pretty well and treated her like his daughter. They were like a happy family. And yet, he couldn’t stop thinking about poor Jean. He didn’t want to get into the simulation of sleep because he feared the nightmares that told him that Jean’s probably mad at him. Kara slowly began to notice that. She worried about him because he’s a part of their family after all.
One night she laid awake, looking at his worried face for a few minutes until he realized that she’s awake.
“Kara?” he asked. “Aren’t you sleeping?”
“I should ask you the same question,” she said. “Even though we’re free, you don’t seem to be completely calm.”
She cupped his cheek with her hand, looking into his eyes.
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
Luther decided to finally tell her. He took a deep breath.
“Remember that android in the bathtub at Zlatko’s mansion?” he asked her. “The one you deactivated?”
Kara’s face went from worried to shooked. The tone he said it was serious.
“Yes,” she said. “I do.”
“Well... He was a close friend of mine.” Luther said. “In my free time, I used to come over to the bathroom and talk to him about everything. He was like a brother to me.”
“Luther,” Kara looked at him in sadness. “I’m so sorry... I didn’t know that-”
“It’s okay.” He said. “I know you had good intentions. You wanted to save Alice, after all. It’s just... I have something that belongs to him... but... he didn’t know I have it.”
“What is it?” she asked.
“Whenever Zlatko erased someone’s memories, he’d download them on his computer,” Luther said, pulling a disc-on-key out of his pocket.
“Are those...?” she asked.
“Yes,” Luther said. “I have the memories he lost.”
“Than what’s the problem?” she asked.
“I don’t know how he would’ve reacted if he knew that I have them,” Luther said.
Kara gave him a soft smile and kissed him on his forehead.
“He would’ve been thankful,” she said. “He’d be happy for you to tell the story he has forgotten. That you’d be able to remember him in his happier days.”
Luther smiled, pulling her closer.
“Thank you, Kara.” He said.
“You’re welcome,” she said.
They shared a soft kiss and fell asleep.
----
A year went by when Kara and Luther decided to “adopt” another android kid. Alice always wanted a little sibling, so she was happy with the decision.
They went into the orphanage house for android kids. As they looked at the children, one of them caught Luther’s eyes. The kid’s model looked a lot like Jean. He played with a teddy bear and sang it the song that his friend used to sing to himself back at the mansion- “Rockabye baby”. Kara caught Luther’s look and smiled. The two of them went over to him and sat next to him.
“What’s the name of the teddy bear?” Kara asked.
“Emilia.” he answered, smiling. The same sweet smile Jean used to have whenever the bear lied next to him, allowing him to pet her.
"Do you know that I had a pet bear once?” Luther said, and the kid’s eyes let up.
“Really?” he asked in excitement. “How big was it?”
“She was huge,” Luther said. “And fat. She loved to eat.”
The kid laughed.
“What’s your name?” Kara asked the kid.
“My name?” he asked in return.
“You don’t have a name?” She asked.
“No... Whoever adopts me suppose to give me one.” He said.
“What about Jean?” Luther said with a smile. “After your uncle.”
The kid was surprised. He ran over to the two and hugged them.
“Jean...” He said. “I like that name!”
After the adoption papers were signed, Little Jean was going to his new house with his new parents (and Emilia, of course.).
---
“Hey, dad?” Jean came to Luther one day. “You said that Jean was the name of my uncle, right?”
“Yes.” Luther said.
“What was he like?” Jean asked him.
Luther took the disc-on-key out of his pocket.
“Connect it to yourself,” Luther said. “Those are his happy memories.”
Jean took the disc-on-key and connected it to himself, staring at the air as the memories are playing.
After a few minutes, he took out the disc-on-key and looked at Luther.
“He was a babysitter at one family...” Jean began telling him what he saw. “And he looked happy, but then a better model came, so he escaped. He came into a mansion, and then an old weird man took him to his basement... and he began screaming... and that’s where it ended.”
He held Emilia tighter.
“What happened to him afterward, dad?” he asked Luther.
“The old man erased his memories.’ Luther said. “He did some terrible things to poor Jean, but... He’s free now.”
“Did he died?” Little Jean asked.
“Yes.” Luther responded. “There was a fire at the mansion.”
He didn’t tell him that Kara deactivated him before the fire. Maybe in a few more years, he’d tell him that.
“Did the bear escaped?” Jean asked.
Luther smiled.
“Yes. The bear made it.” he said. “Your mother released her from her cage.”
“Yay! The bear lived!” Jean said and hugged Luther.
At least his brother’s memories lived on.