01: Life Given

The first thing she saw as she woke was the blue metal floor. Confused, she shook her head slightly, feeling as if this were familiar somehow. It took her a moment to realise that it was indeed. Irked, she still couldn't place from where. Life felt, in her heart, to be something foreign, something that wasn't natural. She didn't really notice much around her in those first moments, otherwise she would have recalled sooner her previous brush with life through recognition of her 'maker'.

Robbie Rotten walked away from the human-like doll to find more material. Making this doll as human as possible was proving to be more difficult that he initially imagined. These were the moments he wished he had an assistant for his work, at which he mentally berated himself. That was the exact reason for what he was doing at the present moment, so why wish it whilst accomplishing it?

As he continually questioned himself with rhetoric meanderings, he never did notice the doll stand upright and fully take in her surroundings.

Rottenella: she remembered her name, and she remembered her previous life the moment she looked upward and saw the pipes and machines all around her. She started at a sound behind her, and turned quickly to see what it was. Robbie was currently throwing things around, looking for something obviously, and making quite the mess in the process. She tilted her head watching him, wondering exactly why she was brought back. She was a dancer from a music box, whatever need could he have of her?

Still watching his feet as we walked away from the pile of parts, Robbie made his way back to where he was working on Rottenella. It wasn't until he was standing before her that he noticed she was awake, aware, and watching every move he made. This being unexpected, he jumped back slightly, lost his footing, and presently fell to the floor in a heap.

"I meant to do that," Was all he could say as he quickly recovered and stood again. His mishap made the doll giggle a bit. "What are you laughing at?" He snarled at her, crouching down to her level and pinning her under his gaze seriously.

For a moment, she didn't know how to respond. She didn't even know she could speak, for she had never tried. But as Robbie kept staring at her, she realised she could, indeed, speak.

"I- you- funny." It wasn't a complete sentence or even a solid statement, but he understood it nonetheless.

"You think I'm funny? Funny joke-ha-ha, or funny in-a-good-way?"

"Funny in-a-good-way funny."

He scrutinised her for a moment before smiling, patting her head, and saying nonchalantly, "I'm a genius." What was said next, however, surprised him more than anything.

"Are you my father?"

Robbie didn't think that giving her a heart, brain, and every other essential organ a human had would put such thoughts into his doll's head. He didn't want a daughter, he hated children. He wanted an assistant, someone to help him, not love him. So he answered with a short, "No."

"Then are you my mother?" This wasn't something he expected. Her first question must have been because of his gender. But this one must be, he thought, her desperation.

"You don't have any parents." He thought that would do, this whole thing over with, and he could finish her in relative peace so that they could start the next part of his plan. But, like was common practice in Robbie's career of villainy, it backfired.

Collapsing onto the ground, she began crying uncontrollably. "I have no parents," Was the mantra she kept repeating to herself, the pain unabashedly shown on her face. Wholly taken by surprise, Robbie didn't know what to do; this was something he had never encountered before.

Just as Robbie was about to say something to try and comfort her with, a blur of blue shot out into his main living area and, to Robbie's great annoyance, Sportacus was kneeling beside Rottenella, his hand on her shoulder for comfort. After hearing her words, the above average hero looked up at his nemesis.

"What? I told her what she wanted to know. Just because I made her real doesn't make me her father. I'm not the person who made the music box she came from, and I don't know where it came from, I just found it in here one day!"

Sportacus looked back at Rottenella. "It's going to be okay," Was all he could think of saying.

"No, it's not," She said between her tears. "I'm a nobody." She sniffled. "If he isn't my father," she pointed to Robbie, "than what am I to do; doesn't everyone have to have parents?"

"Whoever said that?"

"You named me once," She shot back, taking both men off guard. "And how else am I supposed to know where I fit in the world. Something tells me that I need someone to love me, aren't that what parents are for?"

"Maybe," Sportacus whispered, "Just maybe you don't need parents, maybe you can still find your place in the world without them."

"Really?" She had stopped crying and was looking up at the two enemies expectantly. "How?"

"Go out into the world and find it for yourself."

"Hey!" Robbie interjected. "I made her human to have an assistant, not to have you going and putting ideas into her head. I have food, clothing, and shelter here for her and this is where she will stay!"

"All right," Sportacus stood up, "If that's the case, then I guess I'm done here. By the way, what is your name?" He looked back at Rottenella.

She was about to speak when Robbie took over. "I haven't decided yet. I named her once, but it doesn't suit her any more. I'll have to figure something else out."

This surprised the doll, who thought that she was stuck with her awful name from her first living incarnation. Smiling at Sportacus, she waved as he left, going back up the tube he came in from.

"Are you really going to rename me?" She spoke quietly after a moment, not wanted to make him any angrier than he already appeared to be. His face softened when she spoke, and he sat next to her on the floor.

"Forgive the blue sports elf, he doesn't know when to mind his own business. And yes, but I think you should pick your name. The one I gave you, whatever it was, I've forgotten."

"Rottenella." She gave a disgusted look at saying it.

"What?" Her memory of it surprised him.

"You named me Rottenella last time. You had me dance in a competition and I lost. I'm sorry about that you know." She looked down as she spoke.

"Don't be sorry. I tried cheating anyway, would have lost no matter what." He put a finger under her chin and lifted it just so. "Now, before that blue-suited blow-hard came in, I was going to ask you why you wanted parents."

"I don't really know why," She shook her head, dislodging his finger, and hanging it again, lower than before. "It was just this feeling I had, so I went with it."

"Well, I can't be your father. I'm not good with children. And I didn't make you to be a child. I made you to be a grown-up. I made you to be my equal."

"Why are you suddenly being nice to me? You were mean before."

"Something changed I guess." Now it was Robbie's turn to look down, slightly disquieted by her comment.

"I don't know what to do…" Her statement was whispered so softly, he almost missed it.

"Then let's get you something to eat and you can sleep on it. You don't have to make up your mind on anything yet. You've just awoken to a new existence, so I suppos you have some getting used to it to get over."

"Why are you being nice to me?" She repeated, that look of pure innocence taking over her features.

"Because…" He paused. Sighing, he continued slowly, "I don't really know. Something is telling me I should, so I am. Geniuses like myself do things their minds tell them without questioning it, it is the genius way!" He helped her stand up as he spoke, and as she tried standing on her own, she lost her balance easily. His reflexes weren't always so keen, but he immediately flayed out and caught her in his arms, pulling her closely to his body.

"Careful," Was all he could say as he let her go and held her by the shoulders to make sure she would stay standing this time. When he was sure she could stand, he let go and began walking toward his makeshift kitchen. She followed, dutifully, and was handed a plate with a piece of cake on it. She looked at him, puzzled, and put the plate down.

"Do you have anything else to eat?" He huffed, opening the refrigerator and handing her an apple. She smiled, took it in her hands, and began to devour it. For reasons unbeknownst to him, he also got her a glass of water. When she finished with the apple, she immediately took the glass and emptied it.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Since you're done, I'm going to go get something for you then."

"All right. Um… what am I to call you?" She asked as he was gathering up said clothing. As he came back, his arms were full of clothing of many colours and styles, shirts, skirts, and pants.

"My name is Robbie Rotten." He set the clothing down beside her as he spoke.

"What is all this for?"

"For you to wear. Unless you want to wear that ridiculous outfit you already have."

She looked down at herself. Her outfit was in simple shades of purple, and the tutu was as it should be; was it really so ridiculous? Well, if Robbie thought it was, then he must be right, right?

At this point, Robbie felt it was safe to go back and relax in his fluffy orange chair. The moment he opened his eyes however, he was greeted with the view of a young woman beginning to undress. Thankfully she had only just started to take her clothing off, but for a single moment, he couldn't think of what to do.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Changing into something from the pile. Isn't that what you wanted me to do?"

Annoyance began to creep into his mind as he realise that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't finished with this doll. Obviously she was missing something, since she was about ready to expose herself to the world without a care to the wind. Granted, he wasn't 'the world', but it was the principal of the issue. Rushing over, he grabbed her left arm and began dragging her behind him.

"Yes, I suppose that's what I wanted, but you just don't change in front of someone, especially someone who is male…" He stopped for a moment, looking down at her.

At that moment Robbie Rotten finally had a revelation, of sorts. A revelation that only could have come from such a circumstance as this, something that wasn't truly present elsewhere. He had, in part, created her, and now he alone, or so he felt, was responsible for her well-being, education, and any other need that might arise—just like a parent. Only, he knew, he could never be her parent. He wasn't someone who could handle children well, and on the times he had tried, he had failed. It was the reason she was created to appear almost as an adult, in his estimate around nineteen or twenty years. Now all he could wonder was whether or not he felt like her parent. He quickly shook that off. He wasn't her parent, couldn't be. He had just improved and enhanced someone else's creation. She wasn't really, completely, his making. Just his renovation.

"I have a room for you. A place where you will dress and sleep." Robbie opened the door to another metal-clad room. Inside was a comfortable looking bed, decked out in purple hues, and accentuated with fluffy orange pillows, much reminiscent of his chair in the main hall. She looked around for only a moment before running a few steps and launched herself onto the bed.

"This is wonderful! Thank you so much Robbie!" She cuddled herself into the pillows, hugging an orange one tightly in her arms. Sometime inside of him smiled.

"I'll go get your clothes then and you can change in here." As he went about doing just that, he couldn't stop thinking about her smile. It was, in his assessment, radiant.

While he was doing that for her, she laid there thinking, critically thinking. If she didn't have any parents, then who was she to look up to. With the mindset she had, for a teenager, she had to look up to someone and something inside her told her that Robbie wasn't the one. He was something different—something that made her stomach flutter.

When he returned, he unceremoniously dropped the clothes onto her bed, and turned abruptly, leaving and closing the door behind himself. She rose, then, and picked through the clothing left to her. Most of it was in her size, surprisingly, and eventually she decided on an outfit. Taking off her current attire was more difficult that she realised. There was a zipper in the back that she could not, no matter how she tried to twist her body around, reach. Carefully, she walked out into the main hall and came up behind Robbie, who was watching television and beginning to eat a piece of periwinkle cake.

"Excuse me Robbie…" Her voice was so startling to the tall man that he yelped, throwing his plate, cake and all, up into the air and behind where they were. It fell soundly to the floor, splattering on the blue metal, and the fork now embedded into the mush that was a piece of cake.

"Don't do that; don't come up behind me, scaring me like that! Now what do you-" In the course of yelling, he had stood and turned around to face her. Upon inspection he noticed something. "You're not dressed. Why aren't you dressed?"

"I can't get the zipper on the back undone. I've tried so very, very hard Robbie, but I just can't get it undone."

"And what do you want me to do about it?"

"Could you undo the zipper please?" This question did two things to the lanky man. First, it caused him to nearly faint. Secondly, it gave him a thought that he would rather had stayed wherever it came from. No matter what came to him mind, he knew there was no getting around this. He surely didn't want to bring anyone down into his home for any reason, having already been invaded by Sportakook once today already. So he did the only thing he really could—he walked over, took the handle of the zipper, and pulled it down as quickly as possible. Almost the second he reached the bottom of the dress, she whirled around.

"Thank you. That was very helpful," and spinning around again, holding her dress in place, she ran back to her room, shutting the door on her way.

"Well... That was different." Robbie then proceeded to get another piece of cake from his makeshift kitchen, plop back into his chair and continue to watch television.