A/N: Hello there! Long time no see! I've been struggling to actually get my muses to cooperate with me, so I'm very sorry for the lack of content recently! I've gotten some OK ideas lately though, so hopefully those develop into something I can publish here eventually. Regardless though, thank you for all the reviews and favorites thus far!

To be honest, this was a very selfish thing to do, especially for her. Ciel had a duty to fulfill, and above all, a promise to keep. She did not have, no, would never have, the luxury of being selfish. But, she was at the point where she could no longer stand it anymore.

Just this once, she would allow herself to be selfish, childish even.

At first, it began as only a shell of him, a poorly-made counterfeit. The more sleep she lost combined with the effort she poured into it, however, the more it seemed to resemble his personality, albeit with its own imperfections. She had known from the start it would never be him, nothing could ever suffice to replace him, but that had hardly served as a deterrent. After all, she had originally invented the concept of biometals to serve as a line of defense against any that might emerge to harm the Guardians, and this idea would never bear fruit if there were never prototypes.

At least, thats what she used to justify her actions. Finding his cyberelf was beyond her, and she doubted she ever would, given the way he had died. So, this would have to do. Even then, it would serve to fill the void, even if slightly.

She did not have the resources to provide it with a proper body, although she doubted it would be necessary in the first place, given its ultimate purpose. Nevertheless, she felt somewhat guilty, and decided to at least build it a shell that somewhat resembled it's predecessor.

With all the proper protocols in place, and all the necessary final touches made to it's AI, it was finally finished. Deciding it wasn't very proper, or polite for that matter, to continue calling it… well, it, she settled on naming it Model Z. Fitting, she thought, considering who it was made to resemble.

Upon it's first boot-up of it's life, Model Z took to it's new and initial surrounds with mild interest, almost lazily floating around the room to inspect everything, including Ciel. After it had finished, with the biometal practically flinging itself into her open hand, she began their first conversation with the more routine questions, with it answering with as much eloquence and enthusiasm as the original, much to her initial amusement.

In that regard, she had succeeded, at least.

However, there was a point where the counterfeit and the original diverged.

It would come to develop it's own preferences and quirks, although they were still strikingly similar to the original, but it did not contain the others soul, only Ciel's attempt at replicating it. To her credit, she had been almost spot on. Almost.

But a replication could never hope to perfectly imitate the original; she had learned her lesson in that in the past. Still, Model Z almost immediately took up post as her emotional anchor, as the original had, among various other "jobs." She told it her dislikes and likes, her worries, her regrets, along with some things she had not even told Alouette and perhaps never would. It took them all without a single complaint, only listening and silently giving her comfort and understanding.

Sooner than she had realized, it had also taken up the mantle as her protector, taking up position near her shoulders when not begrudgingly enjoying the swing of her gait from the depths of her various pockets.

Eventually though, as she had come to realize, someone would be a match for her creation along with it's siblings, and it would have to take to the field. That someone had come in the form of Girouette, and it could not have been a more perfect fit.

They had gotten along from the start, practically twins at that. Prairie had joked she had both looked and sounded like a mother watching her child leave the nest when they had been dispatched on their first mission together, hard pressed to keep her composure.

While she had known it would come to this, that didn't stop the void from slowly and surely returning, the all-encompassing ache haunting her every action, despite her best efforts.

She had a promise to keep, and she could not afford to let her lingering emotions from the past hinder her.

She could however, afford to be selfish, but just the once.