The Bond

A few weeks passed while Amir, Sylk, and Cass got used to each other’s presence. 

Sylk and Cassidy would go to school, and Amir would stay home to clean or watch television. He was careful not to step too close to the windows and to keep the curtains closed. Cameras were everywhere in this city, and every police station had facial recognition technology these days.

Sylk would bring home gifts for Amir every now and then. He was really interested in drawing and music, so she would get him markers, paints, pens, and little instruments. Even Cass became softer to Amir as time went on. It was like Cass was angry at himself for wanting to help something, but eventually he stopped trying to fight against it. He grew closer to Amir by the minute.

One day, Sylk, Cass, and Amir were baking cupcakes for a charity event at their college. The entire kitchen was a mess. Batter had spilled onto the counters and walls. Even with a presence who could read off the recipe word by word, they seemed to be doing every step wrong.

“Wait, did we preheat the oven?” Sylk asked. Cass and Amir looked at each other, both thinking that the other did already.

Sylk laughed. “Okay, unless we’re going to try and poison our entire class, I think we should call it quits for now and start over tomorrow.”

“Agreed,” Cass nodded. Today they were Cassidy, because she’d just gotten back from class. Cassidy was studious and nerdy. The perfect character for a university setting.

She felt a buzzing in her pocket, so Cassidy excused herself. “Sorry guys, I’m getting a call, it’s probably mom again.”

Cassidy walked out of the kitchen and into her bedroom for a bit of privacy. The room was small. Her and Sylk needed big closets in their bedroom space. They both had sizable wardrobes for different reasons, so they had intentionally found an apartment that had large closets.

When she took the phone from her pocket, she saw the caller ID and just about stopped in her tracks. It was Mina.

What could she do? Just ignore it? No.

Cassidy clicked the green button and waited. She didn’t say hello, only listened. A few seconds ticked by.

“Uh, hey. What’s your name today?” Mina asked, her voice like an arrow piercing into Cassidy’s backside.

“Cassidy.” Her voice came out in a squeak. She sat down on her bed and nervously fiddled with her orange hair. Orange hair, green eyes, and two moles on her cheek. Every one of Cass’s characters was planned out to the last detail.

“Cassidy, I know you probably hate me right now, but I need to ask for a favor.”

Her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water as she tried to formulate a response. “I don’t hate you, Mina.”

“Really? Because the favor I’m going to ask is awful and unfair, but I really don’t have anyone else I can ask at the moment. My family has a lot of expectations for me, as you know.”

“What do you need?”

“My aunt is getting married. Again. Crazy, huh? She’s got to be on her fourth husband by now. Anyways, the wedding is in a couple of days and I don’t have a date. Could you pretend to be my date for her wedding? You know, just so my family can get off my back.”

Emotions that she didn't know she was capable of feeling flooded through Cassidy like a tidal wave. Everything she had suppressed for so long came pouring out onto the surface. Cassidy covered her mouth with her hand, trying to stifle the sounds of her sobbing. Soulless she was, but it still hurt to be asked this kind of question. How could she be so cruel? How could Mina manage to hurt someone so deeply, even one who rarely felt anything?

Did Mina ever see the ring that Cassidy set up in her wine glass? The restaurant never called Cassidy back about it, and Mina never mentioned the attempted proposal. It was probably forgotten in her cup and picked up by a lucky waiter who pawned it off.

“Yeah, Mina…” Cassidy said shakily.

“Yeah?”

“Yes, I’ll come and be your pretend-date. Just send me the details, okay?”

“Can you come as Castiel?” Mina asked.

Cassidy didn’t think her heart could drop any further than the rock bottom that it was at now. “What do you mean?” People didn’t just request a character out of Cassidy. Mina had never done this before, or Sylk, or anyone else who knew about Cass’s behavior.

“I mean that you should be Castiel. I think he’s good for a wedding environment. Is that okay?”

Sylk knocked on the bedroom door. “Is everything all right in there?”

“Is that Sylk? Tell her I said hi! I miss her.” Mina said through the phone.

“Everything is alright! Okay Mina, I’ll tell her. Talk to you later.” Before she could change her mind, Cassidy hung up the phone. She threw it to the far side of the room, and it banged onto the wall violently. Sylk knocked again.

Cassidy stumbled to the door, opened it, and fell into Sylk’s arms.

“Shh shh shh it’s alright,” Sylk didn’t even ask what was wrong, she just comforted Cassidy without question. Amir hugged Cassidy as well, making it into one big group hug. Even though he was a robot, his presence was warm.

“S-Sorry Syl, I know…I know you said that you can’t always be the one responsible when I'm-”

“That’s not what I meant, Cass. I’m always here if you need my help. I only want you to have other pillars of support that aren't just me. Don’t think for a second that you can’t ask me for help, okay? I’m always gonna be here.”

“Okay…” Cassidy knew it was a lie. Sylk wouldn’t always be there. She was leaving next semester, and she’d probably like it better when she realized how free she was when she wasn’t around Cassidy. Sylk would move out of the country, out of the United Districts of America and into Fransain or Greenland, and she’d thrive in the fashion community because Sylk was just that talented. She’d forget all about her weird little soulless college roommate.

When Cassidy was able to get herself together and explain why she was upset, Amir and Sylk were angry on her behalf. How could Mina ask something like that from her, especially given that Cassidy planned to propose? Amir commented about the social inappropriacy, some quote from a psychology book Cassidy had let him borrow. Sylk threatened to blast her on social media, but Cassidy convinced her not to. 

It was better this way. She could ask Mina to connect her with Amir’s old family to try and figure out why they wanted him back. After cursory research into the Medriago family, it seemed like they were ridiculously rich, so couldn’t they just buy another robot? It didn’t make sense, and they needed to know the answer because they needed to know the nature of how Amir got his soul.

As they were talking through the plan for the fake wedding date, Cassidy found herself laying in Amir’s lap while he was sitting on the couch. Sylk was sitting on the floor near them, a supportive hand on Cassidy’s arm. She’d never been so comfortable, so surrounded by people that she enjoyed the company of. Cassidy knew it was temporary, because all people were temporary, but she smiled in spite of herself.

At some point while she was drifting to sleep Cassidy realized that Sylk had called her Cass earlier, but it didn’t bother her this time.

𓆩♡𓆪

Castiel straightened the tie on his suit. He had drawn a very realistic-looking goatee on his face and he had on a wig that was very short, shorter than his real hair. He didn’t want to be Castiel today. In fact, he didn’t even want to be a man today. It hurt to be sentient, living, and breathing. He wanted to return to Cascadia, to become a beautiful feminine statue and exist in the world as a work of art.

However, the hover car was parked outside the wedding venue and there was no turning back now. Castiel thanked the driver in a higher pitched feminine voice, then he corrected himself by clearing his throat.

Mina was standing there, as radiant as ever and in a pastel pink dress. He got out of the car and walked towards her again, and the moment mirrored the last time he’d seen her. Her face lit up into a smile.

“Mina,” Castiel greeted simply. He offered his elbow, and she took it gracefully.

Castiel was quiet and had an air of mystery around him. On some nights, when he needed to make money, he would work as a bartender in a place that was a few floors down. Mina used to visit him and chat him up, sometimes pretending like they were meeting for the first time.

They walked into the church and Castiel remained quiet and collected while Mina showed him to her whole extended family like a trophy. At some point her parents greeted them and her mother shook his hand.

“Cass…?”

“Castiel,” Mina finished for her. Her mother didn’t quite understand Mina’s strange taste in romantic partner, but they were happy that their daughter wasn’t cheating on multiple people. When Castiel came over as different characters, each one done up very differently and with very distinct fashion styles, her parents thought Mina was dating around and breaking hearts.

They exchanged some small talk before Mina pulled Castiel onward to meet other people. She kept mentioning the fact that he was the first in his family to go to college, that he was a psychology major with the best grades in his class, and he was close to becoming valedictorian. It wasn’t a lie, but Castiel didn’t like how her family gauged his character based solely on his accomplishments and achievements.

When the wedding procession began, Mina and her plus one sat in their assigned seats, somewhere in the middle row.

Castiel tuned most of it out. He tried not to think about how easily this could’ve been Mina and Castiel’s wedding ceremony. When the bride and groom began saying their vows to each other, they kept making an emphasis on their unbreakable bond.

Then, it was done. Castiel could probably count the amount of words he’d said during this entire event on one hand. After the procession was over they began to play music so that everyone could dance, but Castiel’s social obligation was running on thin patience.

“Mina, I need to talk to you,” Castiel said. Mina frowned at him. “Can’t it wait? We’re almost done with the event, okay?”

“No, it needs to be now. Let’s go find a quiet balcony or something.”

Mina sighed, but she followed Castiel as he led her away from the wedding crowd. All of the balconies had too many people, so he instead led them to the staircase.

Once inside the stairwell, Mina said “It’s no use, every floor is being occupied by the wedding right now. We rented out the whole church today.”

“Then let’s talk here,” Castiel turned around and met Mina in her eyes. “What is this, Mina? What’s this farce we’re doing right now?”

Mina put an arm around herself shyly. “Well, the truth is that I haven’t told them yet.”

“What do you mean?”

“I haven’t told my parents that we broke up yet.”

Castiel took a step back and then slid to the ground to sit on the top of the staircase. “It’s been seven months, Mina. Over half a year.”

“I know, but…”

“But what? Did you think I’d realize I was wrong and come crawling back to you?”

“Well, not exactly. But you came with me today, didn’t you? Wasn’t it fun to be together like old times?”

“I didn’t come here today to try and win you back.”

“Oh,” Mina fell silent for a moment, “Then uh… why did you agree to this?”

“I need a favor. Do you know anything about the Medriago family?”

Mina ran her hands through her hair, the blonde side. “Why are you asking about them all of a sudden?”

“You dragged me through this wedding even though it killed me, Mina. You should grant me a favor or two back.”

“It killed you? So, you felt uncomfortable? You felt sad? You felt emotions. In the end, you’re capable of feeling after all.”

“Yes. I can feel surface level emotions. Is that really such a surprise? After all, you’ve seen me laugh and cry. You seem to know me so well,” Castiel spat out the same words that Mina used against him when she broke up with him.

“I was right in the end, haha! You really do have the ability to feel love, you were just holding out on me throughout our relationship.”

Castiel leaned his head against the stair railing. “Why do you always feel the need to be right? Why are you obsessed with being on the moral high ground?” He muttered.

“What did you say, Cass?”

He snapped his head up. “It's Castiel. I’m Castiel today, as per your request.”

“You don’t have any right to get upset with me over that right now, Castiel. You basically strung me along for three years,” Mina leaned against the wall and ran her hand through her hair again, ‘“I was waiting for the moment that you’d admit that you could love, that you went against your nature and learned to love after all, but it never happened. Now you’re telling me after we broke up that it was the case. You only learned that you had a heart because you experienced it breaking. That’s not fair.”

“What’s not fair is that you’re convinced that I was the only one in the wrong in our relationship. You were the one obsessed with me in high school. Back then I didn’t go to school as just Cassidy, I changed out a lot and everyone knew me as the weird kid. There were rumors about me having DID, or that I was schizophrenic, and everyone thought I was crazy and avoided me. But you saw that as an opportunity to fulfill some kind of weird fantasy in your head about being the preppy cheerleader dating the edgy crazy kid. You made it a dream that you could fix me. That you could force me to learn to love you. You never loved me for who I was, you just wanted an interesting relationship dynamic because it looked like something straight out of a novel. Popular girl and weirdo. Rich girl and freak of nature. Emotional happy-go-lucky girl with the soulless quiet kid. Enemies to lovers. Call it whatever you want, but that’s what it was for three years. You only loved the idea of me, but you didn't know what to do when my condition became too real for you to handle.”

“Is that really how you thought of me? You thought I only sought you out because it looked like a television plot? You thought I was just a hopeless romantic with a savior complex?”

“Tell me if I’m wrong, Mina. I want to be wrong so bad. But then again, you thought this whole time that I was faking my emotionlessness. That I was playing up how unfeeling I was just to hurt you and pretend to not love you. The truth is that it’s hard for me to feel that deeply. It’s hard. I don’t know if I know what love feels like, but I know what it’s like to have a connection to someone and lose it suddenly, whether it was love or not.”

Mina bit her lip, trying to think of a good response. “I saw the wedding ring in the wine glass.”

Castiel put his head in his hands. “Yeah. What of it?”

“I don’t think we’re good for each other. We both have too much shit to figure out. You have a whole plethora of issues to work through, no offense, and no soulerist to help guide you. I need to stop assuming that I know what’s best for people and what they’re thinking… and I really shouldn’t have assumed you were faking everything. I know it was real. All of it was real, even if we don’t know for sure if it was love, we know that it was real. And a part of me really did hope that I would be the one to help you develop your emotions, but it wasn’t fair to impose that on you.”

Castiel nodded.

Mina stuck out her tongue. “Emotional maturity. Ew.” Castiel and Mina both fell into a fit of laughter, which let out a lot of tension.

“Okay, that really wasn't what I was here for,” Castiel said.

“Didn’t it feel cathartic though?”

“No, it-” Castiel stopped himself from denying his emotions again, “Well. Uh, yes. I suppose I feel a bit better. But anyways, do you recognize the Medriago family name?”

Mina wasn't expecting that question. “Medriago? Um.... I think I went to middle school with their daughter. Zoe? Zelle? She was a couple of grades above me. This was before I went to a public high school, when my parents wanted me to attend private schools early in my childhood. I didn't know them that well, but Medriago is an old, powerful name. They’re in the energy and electronics business. Their daughter mostly kept to herself.”

“Do they frequent any areas? Are your folks in any social circles with them?”

“Not really. My parents are well off, but they’re rich rich. Up there with politicians and astronauts and other big business owners. My parents are just in the medicine tech industry.”

Castiel sighed. Mina sat down next to him on the steps. “Is this info really important to you?”

“It would solve a big mystery in my life right now. I can’t tell you more than that.”

“Well, I guess I can try and do some sleuthing and keep you updated.”

“Thanks, Mina.” Castiel patted her on the shoulder before standing up. “You’re more than just your family, by the way. I feel like you're still trying to play by their rules, but I hope you find someone that you genuinely love, without expectation or prestige.”

Mina smiled. “You too, Castiel.”