Mega man Battle Network: Virus mutations

Chapter 25: Fearing.



*Our noonday report is looking worse then this morning, most of the viewing area is feeling the effects of these storm squalls so lets get right into our severe weather watch with Doppler 5000. An updated severe thunderstorm warning in effect for the following counties until 2:15...*



Enzan stumbled forward nearly blind through the darkness and fell against the concrete wall, gasping desperately to fill the starved void air, breathing seemed to no longer have no effect while he was moving. ‘Fuck…’ He cursed to himself, his chest burned with the need for air making it too painful to keep walking, the world felt as if it was tilting back and forth in a disorienting manner, he grew dizzy having the air supply to his brain slowly being squeezed off until it was non-existent. The flooded water now felt like freezing cold shackles around his legs chained to growing weights he continuously had to drag forward. His weakened legs were strained beyond their limits to the point where his muscles ached unbearably by simply standing. “Unn!” He let out a sharp yelp of pain and his legs gave way, sending him tumbling to his knees and surrounding his entire waist with the cold water. “Fuck!”



He could barely see his hands in front of his face, anything beyond a few inches was simply darkness, his only guide, and means of sanity at this point, was the faint glow of an exit sign running on back up power. When he first saw that faint aura he immediately came to love whatever being created the law making them mandatory. He loved it so much because he’d grown fearfully lost, he loved it because it was his way out of this personal hell, and if he got out of here now, under his own power, he could save himself from just be some scared young fool who was weak and far to prideful to realize he shouldn’t have undertook this task in the first place. That, however, had been 10 minutes ago, and he seemed no closer to it now then before.



He was starting to panic.



The darkness began to play tricks on him, creating anxiety in his mind without doing anything at all. The sound of the water became a hunting soundtrack to this personal hell, the feel of it’s icy grip numbing his legs and his ever weakening muscles made him continuously lose track of just how high the water was. It’s motions threatened to over take him and sweep him off his feet. The worst of it was undoubtedly the fact that he was alone, each moment in isolation made the completely irrational fear grow stronger and his panic worsen. He’d never get out of here, he’s too weak, he’d drown, no one will ever hear him down here, no one will find him in the dark…



“Damnit!” He fell back against the wall, gasping feverously to catch his breath, to make the world stop tilting, but he still couldn’t breath and he began to grow sick. A nauseous feeling began to rise in his stomach and he clinched his eyes shut. He could feel the space growing smaller and tighter, walls were closing him! He felt anxious, something much deeper then the impending paranoia, he felt claustrophobic, he felt...Enzan stopped in mid step, he froze completely, an almost shocked look came to his face. '!!' He gasped and clinched his chest, his eyes widening, like the air had been snatched from his lungs, from the room. He could feel his heart pounding wildly in his chest, so fast and hard he feared it would damage itself. The faint light began to grow farther away. Leaving him alone in the water and silent author of his fears surrounding him. This was even worse then the hospital…



The light of the exit sign was eclipsed for a split second and Enzan flinched, becoming immediately terrified. “!!” He reached out for something to grab a hold of and pull himself up but there was nothing. The slosh of the water grew an attribute to it, there was now the sound of something pushing through it in a rhythm, something *moving*. The light of the exit sign was obstructed for another split second as something moved in front of it and Enzan’s heart began to pound harder, pushing blood through his ears so fast the entire earth seem to scream at him with a dull roar. ‘What the fuck is that!?’



He reached out again for something to take hold of, about to call out to whatever invisible being there was, ‘!!’ But he flinched and his body froze with racing, indecisive thoughts when his hand suddenly brushed against something that wasn’t there before. “Who-” He barely had time to get a single word out before something decidedly solid pressed against his chest, his entire body shuttered and went cold and he could feel sweat seeping out of his skin. His throat tightened painfully and a his stomach churned, his heart jumped and for a brief moment he couldn’t breathe. He was in complete and total terror, and he froze, his mind racing with incomprehensible thoughts. He wished desperately that he hadn’t froze at the moment.



The thing pressing against his chest could immediately be distinguished as a hand when it grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked him off the ground. Enzan’s hands immediately darted up and grabbed on to who’s or whatever’s arm had seized him, he felt his cell phone slip out of his pocket. “!!” With his rationale returning to him he reached down in the darkness and in possibly the luckiest catch to date he managed to snatch the phone out of the air, flip it open and utilize the back lit screen as an improvised flashlight. He flinched when the offending being was illuminated and he found himself face to face with Zero. “Z-Zero!?”



He got no response, the hand clinching his collar was suddenly replaced by one around his neck. A tight palm pressed into his throat cut off his air and his free hand instinctively reached up and tried to pry it away. “Z…” He cursed his legs for hanging there weak and idle as they were, they were useless to him. He clinched his fist, cell phone and all, and began punching Zero as hard as he could, sending forceful strikes to the side of Zero’s face. It seemed to have no effect at first, and Enzan frantically began punching harder and faster, it was 10 strikes before Zero was knocked off balance, and 12 before Zero’s grip loosened and Enzan fell into the water, hard. Water splashed up all around him and before he knew it water covered his face and began flooding into his mouth, he couldn’t control the sudden streak of panic that flooded him. For a few, terrifying seconds he was completely submerged having no air to begin with, it seemed like an eternity before he could put his hands behind him and sit upright. The pain in his lungs grew to intense proportions as he coughed out the water he’d inhaled and in a sharp and rough gasp. The watery tunnels echoed loudly with his struggles for air.



“Zero…” He lifted his cell phone and shined it around in the darkness, looking around for the now embodied virus. He was nearly petrified, though at the same time he was comforted in a familiarity, knowing and recognizing who it was that was doing this was far better then a stranger. That being said, he had a reasonable and ominous certainty that he was probably going to die down here . “You probably don’t even know who I am anymore do you?” He asked, though gained no response. He was saddened at this, and grew tenser.



A strong arm sudden wrapped around his neck from behind, “!!” Enzan’s eyes widened in terror. His body was draw up and a loud, wet turmoil of struggling, the echoing splashes was deafening in his ears. His cellphone dropped from his hands and the world was shrouded in unknown, uncertain vial of darkness. One hand tried desperately to loosen Zero’s am while the other sent sharp elbows into Zero’s side. To no avail it seemed, Zero was unfazed by it.



He couldn’t help but think of how horrible a death suffocation was. It was slow, every second felt like hours, it was painful, his body panicked completely independent of his mind and struggled, constantly trying to breath when there was no air to draw from. He began to wish it simply over. He had no chance of breaking Zero’s hold but yet he still the panic stricken Enzan struggled, wasting away his air.



The bright light of a flashlight seemed to appear out of nowhere, so bright and intense he had to clinch his eyes shut. For a moment he thought he was dying. He wanted to call out to the source for help, to scream it as loud as he could, but Zero’s strength wouldn’t allow a peep out of him. “Enzan!” Megaman’s voice echoed loudly and the fear dissipated from Enzan, the boy’s head raced with thoughts beckoning, pleading to Megaman. He could hear the former navi’s steps sloshing towards him and then something fly past his head, Megaman’s fist apparently, and crash into Zero’s face. He felt Zero fall backwards and his arm slip away from his neck, Enzan gasped desperately before his body crashed into the icy grip of the water for a second time, it felt as if ice was squeezing his body and he struggled frantically to get his head above it.



“Enzan? Are you aright?” Megaman knelt down beside him and pulled him upright, Enzan clinched his chest and began heaving convulsively, he couldn’t move let alone speak. “Just calm down and try to-!” A sharp kick crashed in to Megaman’s back and he was sent sliding forward, sliding through the water and sending waves slapping audibly into the walls. Megaman climbed to his feet and looked around curtly in the darkness, as if he could see with out the flashlight. He heard the loud drizzle of water dripping off of Zero’s clothing right in front of him and instinctively drew his fist back and struck. He felt his fist strike Zero’s chest and threw another blind punch towards where his head of had to be.



Zero heard the punch pushing through the air and immediately leaned backwards evasively, then he quickly reached out and grabbed hold of Megaman’s fist. He pulled Megaman forward and drove his knee into Megaman’s stomach, knocking an audible burst of air out of Megaman with one sharp tug. Megaman stumbled forward and Zero wrapped both arms around Megaman’s waist, with his strength he easily lifted Megaman and slammed him into the ground, throwing a wave of water upward in one, massive splash. As he often did, Zero grabbed Megaman’s neck with one hand and began pounding into him with the other fist, a move adapted from Blues.



Megaman didn’t need air, strangling wasn’t nearly as effective on him, and neither was holding him under water. The pummeling, however, worked just fine. His first instincts should have been to block, or to strike back, but they were strangely and suddenly absent, he could only stare blankly with wide blue eyes through the darkness at the source of a tugging on his mind, on his entire being. He couldn’t see it, but rather felt it was there, like a phantom pain that was spread over every part of his body, an ache from a part of him that was no longer attached, or more aptly, he was no longer attached too. He barely realized that Zero’s punches had stopped coming, and the virus was still, while firmly retaining his hold. ‘Z…ero…’



Enzan fumbled around blindly in the darkness, his hands padding the ground under the water until his hands brushed against something better then his cellphone, a flashlight. He pulled it out of the water and turned it on, sweeping it quickly over his surroundings. Zero was right in front of him, holding down Megaman, only neither of them were moving, the only thing holding Megaman down was Zero’s weight on top of him. Something that could have easily been lifted off, but instead Megaman was just laying there, even under the distortion of the water he could see that Megaman was only staring at him. “Megaman what the hell are you doing! Get up!”



Enzan’s voice was like a sharp jolt that stirred Megaman from a sleep, “!!” He sat sharply upright and pushed Zero off, scrambling to his feet like a frightened child scurrying away from something fearful. He didn’t understand it.



“Megaman? What’s wrong with you?” Enzan pulled himself back against a wall, trying to lift himself up to his feet in futility, his legs were too weak and the pain was too strong, the weight of the water made the nearly impossible quite impossible. ‘Goddamnit!’ His only fear now was spawned out of his helplessness.



“I-I don’t know.” Megaman stammered, “He touched me and I started to feel all weird…I-I feel strange just being near him.” The blinding light was blocked by Zero’s form in a split second, Megaman knew he should have told himself to react only the command never seemed to get there, only a sharp punch from Zero. He barely felt the punch itself over the resounding phantom pain that resonated through his body and the sudden feeling of complete disconnect, the only way to feel right again it seemed was to attach himself to what ever was pulling at him. “Zero…”



“Megaman! Snap out of it!” Enzan shouted, knowing Megaman was his only lifeline at this point.



Megaman rushed forward and rammed into Zero hard enough to push him off a step, then threw a sharp elbow to side of his face. “Un…” Megaman stumbled backward, clinching his head in pain. Touching him seemed to have the same effect, at a lower intensity. To much contact with Zero, being struck or other wise, threw him completely out of it. Megaman froze, he stood there and stared at the shadowy silhouette of Zero against the flash light, biologically, carnally wanting to be connected.



And when Megaman froze, Zero stopped too, only he seemed to be pre-occupied with something, not dazed like Megaman. Enzan didn’t understand it, but he was starting to get an idea. ‘What is Zero doing to him?’ “Megaman! Megaman! Hey, wake up!” Megaman seemed to come out of it for a brief moment, but his eyes grew wonton and he fell right back into it. “Damnit!” Enzan tried desperately again to move, but his legs were only met with pain.



“!!” Megaman flinched at the fierce obscenity and his eyes grew sharp again. Zero immediately moved, sloshing ominously through the water with quick, calculated steps, he grabbed Megaman by the neck with both hands, his face cold and blank as he threw Megaman easily aside with his strength.



Megaman’s body crashed roughly into Enzan, smashing the boy between himself and the wall hard enough to draw blood and sending them both sliding down below the water’s surface.



The sound of rolling thunder echoed in the distance. The only way thunder could be heard down here was if there was an opening… Zero turned towards the faint sound and began moving towards it, his steps growing quieter in the water with each new one he took.



The flashlight smashed and the light flickered away, leaving Enzan to struggle under the dark water pinned beneath Megaman. For the countless time Enzan was sent into a panic when his head was suddenly surrounded and water rushed into his nose, mouth and ears with the pain in his head radiating through out his entire body. He nearly passed out from the blow, and though he managed to remain conscious he couldn’t stop himself from taking a breath only for his lungs to be flooded with water. “!!” He felt Megaman’s hand grab on to his arm and he was pulled sharply out of the water, coughing and spewing forth all of the water from his lungs in a violent, disorienting confusion.



“Enzan, are you all right?” Megaman sat Enzan up against the wall and held on to his shoulders to keep him from slipping back down, wishing he could see his face, maybe that would offer some clue as to what he should do next.



It was a full moment before Enzan could respond again, his throat felt as if it had been scraped raw, his chest burned so intensely he could have mistook it for fire, and his head pulsed with pain in time with his pounding heartbeat. “I’ll live.” He said, biting back all of the pain as best he could, just as he always did. “Zero?” His body trembled from the cold and his voice was breathy, it shook so much he could barley get a word out from the shivering.



“He’s gone.”



“W-what…about you, are.. you ok?”



“Yeah, now.” Megaman replied with an apologetic tone, “I don’t know what happened to me.”



“We.. c-can…figure that out later.” The only thing more driving then the pain was his now complete association with this place with fear, his hours down here were enough to give rise to a new fear of the dark. ‘I…actually thought I was gonna die down here…’ Enzan could almost laugh at himself for feeling this way. Now that his legs were too weak to move and the water felt like icy knives pricing every inch of his body, he simply wanted nothing more then to get out of this place.



“Your right…” Megaman wrapped his arms around Enzan and felt how cold he was, but when he thought about it he supposed he was no help either. “You can’t walk can you?”



Megaman could feel Enzan’s icy stare even though he couldn’t see it. “No.” He uttered resentfully.



“Alright then.” Megaman turned around and lead Enzan’s arms to his neck.



Enzan instinctively held only, though not with out a small, silent pause to morn the passing of his pride. Megaman slipped his arms underneath Enzan’s legs and stood seamlessly, carrying Enzan on his back towards the faint exit light. Enzan closed his eyes and laid his head weakly on to Megaman’s back, hoping to draw what warmth he could beyond the wet clothing, there was none it seemed. But there was a small comfort in holding on to something, it settled the nauseating anxiety he closed his eyes and shut out the darkness that had been playing tricks on him for longer then he cared to admit. He didn’t care that it was dark behind his eyelids, at lest this couldn’t make him see things. “Why’d you come down here?”



“I was going after Zero. He’d locked Tadashi in the incubation room, and since I hadn’t seen him, this was the only other way he could have went.”



“Oh.”



It wasn’t long before wet steps turned into dripping ones on dry floors and he opened his eyes again, through the exit doorway lay a now dysfunctional elevator and stairs beside it. ‘I forgot the elevator wasn’t working.’ He softly sighed to himself, watching Megaman ascend the dark stairs, his footsteps echoing. ‘I wouldn’t have made it this far…’ They came up in the production wing, Enzan could see the shadowy form of Tadashi sitting against the wall, curiously cleaning his glasses with his shirt. Enzan laughed a little at this, old habits die hard it would seem, especially the nervous ones



“What?” Megaman asked curiously.”



“Nothing.”



Megaman eased Enzan down beside Tadashi, then sat down himself. Tadashi could feel the cold radiating off of him, he could hear Enzan’s shivering breathes and water dripping from his clothes. “Enzan what happened to you? Are you alright?” Tadashi pulled Enzan forward off the wall and pulled off his shirt, the wet fabric stuck to his skin and separated with an audible sound, falling to the ground with a weight. Then he hurriedly pulled off his suit coat rested it on to Enzan’s shoulders.



“I ran i-in to Zero.” He said. He sat there idle and complacent as Tadashi rubbed his torso vigorously, he could feel a heat slowly develop in the spots he touched. “I’m alright… B-but, I don’t-t know about Megaman.”



Tadashi glanced curiously over his shoulder. “Megaman?”



“I’m fine now, It’s just that when I was around him… I felt really strange, I couldn’t focus enough to fight him.” Megaman said.



“Lack of focus-“ Enzan took in a deep breath and his voice normalized. “—Is the least of your problems. When Zero touched him he completely froze, while he was being pounded into the ground.”



“Hmm…” Tadashi paused thoughtfully, only to realize he didn’t have time to try to figure it out here, not that he could have. “We can figure that out later, we have to find Zero again, and *you* have to go back to the hospital Enzan.”



“What? Why?” He asked defensively.



“I was trying to call you, but I guess Zero was causing too much interference.” Tadashi started. “Lan call me, he said he’d been started on a treatment that would break up the substance degrading his lungs, he really wanted to find you.”



Enzan stared blankly in to the darkness in disbelief. “…Hn…” How could he argue with that?



“I guess there’s nothing left to do here.” Tadashi stood up and clinched his shoulder, rotating it weakly. “What a morning.”



! - ! - !

! - ! - !



“Some how I didn’t think it would be so dark when all the power was turned off.” Enzan slipped his arm from around Megaman’s shoulder and allowed the former navi to ease him down to a chair. Even though it was so dark he could barely see, there was still a familiarity about the control room, where he spent most of his time on the island. “I guess I forgot.” Damn memory.



Megaman sat down in a chair beside him, placing his elbows on the table in front of a lifeless computer and resting his head in his hands. “So, are you going to come back?”



“Yeah, sure.” Enzan said dismissativly. “I don’t really have a choice at his point.”



“Hn.”



“Megaman.” Enzan closed his eyes and slumped down in the chair, clinching his arms across his chest hoping to build warmth. “I think I know what’s wrong with you, I think Lan’s dad figured it out too.”



Megaman looked over towards him curiously. “Really? What?”



“You don’t have any idea by now?” Enzan said with a bit of astonishment, he could tell from Megaman’s silence that he hadn’t. “It’s Zero.” He said simply. “I guess it was because you haven’t been around him as much as I have, but all of your glitches happen at the same time as Zero’s.”



“How do you know that?” Megaman asked.



“Your always with Lan, and he tells me about all the stuff that happens to you. The time frames match perfectly, every time something weird happens to Zero, something happens to you. Know why?”



“Because I’m infected…” Megaman realized, and an entire universe of ideas began to open up to him.



“It’s more then that, Zero was formed from all that infected data of yours, a sizable part of him is you, and a big part of you is him. It would make sense for you to share some of the same cycles of flaws.” Enzan told him. “The thing is now you have 2 problems. The first is that you were never fixed, Lan’s biggest oversight was thinking processing you into a body would some how help that. And the second is…well I’m pretty sure Zero’s trying to control you, since your infected.”



“…” Megaman didn’t respond, he lost himself in his thoughts…”You think he’ll be able too?”



The sound of the door opening could be heard clearly, followed by the glare of a flashlight shining in their eyes. “I’ve been looking for you Enzan.” A voice called out, clearly relieved that his search was over. It was one of the many engineers that were now roaming around, confounded about how their late shift had turned into this complete mess in the dark, and idly (or simply sleeping) waiting for some kind of explanation, or a chance to figure it out on their own. The search for truth required power, and a clear line of vision.



“Who hasn’t.” Enzan lifted his head and glared into the light balefully, and the man on the other side quickly turned off the light.



“Are you alright? What happened to you?”



“The basement is flooded.” Enzan said. “Where’s the construction crew, is the fire marshal still here?”



“I suppose I can all and find out where all of the crews are, and the Fire marshal is still here. He’s not happy though.”



Enzan silently cursed to himself, feeling that the inspections would never finish at this rate, and if they didn’t finish the construction would eventually come to a grinding halt, and nothing would ever get done. “Damnit…What’d you wanna tell me?”



“The Zero unit you were looking for, he’s gone.” The man said.



“What do you mean he’s gone?” Enzan asked skeptically, “How could you guys know that, you can’t see anything?”



“Some guys outside trying to fix the pipes spotted him in one of the cargo boats, they couldn’t get to him.”



“How long ago?” Enzan asked nervously, hoping that Zero could be still reached.



“They just told me a few minutes ago.” The man said. “It’s not a long ride to shore, he’s probably gone by now.”



“Damnit!” Enzan clinched his forehead, he felt his headache growing worse and remembered the blood trickling down the back of his neck wasn’t sweat.. From what he’d heard from Tadashi and Blues, it was clear that Zero was using the body specifically to get off the island, and he was controlling the 201102 virus himself. “Alright, turn the power back on.” He knew Zero, and he knew there was a limit to his range, so it should be safe to turn everything back on again, with the firewall in place. “Just make sure you turn on the systems controlling the firewall first.”



“Yeah.” The man nodded, completely unseen. “There’s another thing I needed to tell you, it’s your father, he wants to talk to you. He says he’s on his way here.”



Enzan rolled his eyes, he knew what this was about, with everything that’s happened he’d have to be in a coma not know what this was about. The man of course wanted to discuss all of these incidents as well as his future running this project, it didn’t look good for him. That was stress he didn’t need right now. “Tell him not to bother, I have to go back to the hospital.” Enzan was determined to put this off as long as possible, or at lest until he could get Zero under control. “Get those inspections finished, that’s priority. The first shift guys should be here by now so everyone on third shift can go home.”



The man went off to relay Enzan’s words to those who it concerned, Tadashi entered the room just as the engineer left. “There really is no reason for us to remain here then.” Tadashi said, “I have the logs for Megaman and Zero, I can take them back to my office and see what I find.”

! - ! - !

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*Lan…*



*Lan…*



Lan had been reasonably certain he was dreaming when he heard that voice so he paid it no mind, his body was heavy and the bed beneath him was soft, he only wanted to sink into it’s hold and sleep. But the voice persisted, drawing him farther and father toward consciousness, “Mega…” He mumbled, his body that he once thought was heavy with sleep now felt more stiff then anything. His chest ached and it was hard to breath, as though there was something heavy weighting his lungs down. For a moment he thought someone was hitting him on the head, but it was a headache that felt oddly close to the surface. “Oww… What did they do to me…” He groaned, prying his eyes open. He was met by intensely bright lights, partially blocked by Megaman leaning over him with a curious expression on his face. “Megaman, it is you.”



“How are you doing Lan?” Megaman spoke softly, having gathered that Lan wasn’t exactly feeling well.



“I feel like crap…” He lifted his head and looked down at his arms, his eyes followed the clear IV line attached to his arm up to a bag hanging from a hook. It was about halfway empty giving him a vague indication of how long he’d been sleeping. “Your looking better.” Lan said with a small smile. An excitement began to grow inside him, filling him with an overjoyed energy he wanted to reach up and throw his arms around Megaman, but he was thrown off guard by just how much trouble he had moving his arms and thought better of it.



Megaman smiled and laughed softly, slowly wrapping his arms around Lan’s neck and laying a soft kiss on his forehead. “I missed you too.”



“What a day.” Lan closed his eyes and yawned, listening to the familiar sounds of rain pouring out side. “What’s with all the rain? It’s been raining for like a week.” He slowly lifted his arms off of the bed, raising them with steadily increments, but then it seemed that his arms reached there limits and could go no farther, even though they weren’t very high at all.



Megaman watched him, his questioning expression grew puzzled at the sight. “What are you trying to do?”



“I’m trying to stretch.” Lan stared up at the ceiling with frustration, “But I can’t move…Can you…uh…help me?”



“Yeah, sure.” Megaman nodded, he leaned over Lan and looked over him cautiously, fearing he might hurt him he moved slowly. Megaman wrapped his arms around Lan’s back and pulled him up with painstaking care, Lan hissed in pain, the tension in his muscles was forced to slacken. “Are you alright?”



“I feel a littler better now.” Lan arched his back, then bent forward, reliving more of the painful stiffness. “So…what about Zero?”



Megaman pressed a hand against Lan’s back for support as he softly pulled Lan’s arm as far as he could manage without hurting him. Then he began massaging Lan’s shoulders, working away the hard tautness that had locked the limb in place. “He’s gone, he got away, nobody knows where he is.”



“He’s just out there?” Lan’s voice jumped abruptly and he bit down on his bottom lip as Megaman pulled his arm that last bit above his head and he felt a somewhat painful pop before every thing relaxed. “Shouldn’t we-“



“I’m sure Enzan has people looking for him.”



“Zero…” Lan sighed. “I can’t believe this happened to him…All the times he kept saying it would happen to him…and it finally did.”



“…” Megaman began moving in massaging motions down Lan’s back.



Lan cringed, in his current state it felt stranger then favorable, but it got better as the knots were loosened and his flexibility increased. “I just wish I could see him again…”



“Yeah maybe.” Megaman tilted his head back and stared up at the ceiling thoughtfully.



Megaman finished and Lan thanked him, gratefully stretching out his legs and climbing out of bed. “Geez, what are they trying to do to me?” He grumbled, when he stood he felt as if all the blood began rushing away from his head, making his headache grow stronger and a sudden bout of dizziness come about, he immediately sat back down before he fell. “Where’s my dad, did he come back with you?” He clinched his head and let himself fall backwards on to the bed, hoping that this sudden spell would run it’s course quickly.



“He was here for a long time while you were asleep, I think he went to Enzan’s room.”



“Enzan’s here too?” Lan asked, he peeked one eye open and glanced over at Megaman, his interest enticed. “How is he?”



Megaman rubbed the back of his neck uneasily and turned his eyes to the window, “He’s gotten worse since he left, I think it’s the stress.”



“I’ll bet.” Lan sat up again and pulled himself on to his feet. ”I’ll be back, I have to go check on him.” Lan, frustrated with it anyway, pulled the IV from his arm with a small wince of pain and blood, then slowly made his way out of the door into the hall. It took him a moment and a fair amount of steps before all the stiffness was gone from his legs and he could walk normally. He stopped at the nurse’s station to inquire Enzan’s room, hoping all the while no one would recognize him, especially without his IV. Luckily it seemed the nurse he talked to was different then the one that administered that god-awful cocktail of chemicals to him this morning and there was no incident.



Lan pulled the door open and peeked into room 504, he saw his father sitting in a chair beside the window, a folder in his lap and a pen being fidgeted nervously around in his hand. Lan assumed that he was supposed to be focusing on the whatever was in that folder, but instead he was staring out the window in some level of distraction Lan never could understand. He always did this when it rained. Enzan was asleep, the IV attached to his arm depleted a fourth. “Dad.” Lan slipped in and closed the door behind him.



Tadashi was startled by the sudden voice, he barely caught the folder slipping off of his lap before it hit the ground and quickly set it aside. “Lan?” Before he knew it Lan’s arms around his waist hugging him tightly, he smiled hugged him back. “Are you ok?”



It was easy to simply shrug and give Megaman a disseminative answer, it was common not to even give that question a second thought. It was different with his father, he felt the urge to spill out every thing he’d felt during his absence, the cold, hollowing worry and uncertainty he felt waiting, the fearful thoughts that ran through his head and distracted him when the doctor spoke to him, the sullen, groggy lag in his body that companied many distinct pains. But he didn’t, even though he wanted too, he knew it would just make him worry and would solve nothing. “I’m alright.” It might make him feel a lot better though.



He looked Lan over, studying everything about him from the stuporous attribute to his face to the way he swayed on his feet from time to time. “What are you doing up, what happened to your IV?”



Lan looked down at his arm, his mind racing for an excuse. “It got caught on something when I was leaving.” He said. “I accidentally pulled it out.”



“You need to-“



“I’ll just have somebody put it back later…and besides, I had to see you guys.”



Tadashi sighed, his hand thoughtlessly reaching up to adjust his glasses habitually. “I suppose it’ll be alright for you to stay for a little while, but not too long.”



“Yeah.” Lan nodded. His sat down on the edge of the bed and watched Enzan sleep with an interest he couldn’t describe, all he knew was that it was near impossible for him to take his eyes away. ‘Enzan…’ He wished he was awake. There were so many things he wanted to say to Enzan…what were they? When he tried to think them out he couldn’t find the words, only a melee of emotions running through his head that he couldn’t possibly articulate. Ok, maybe it was better Enzan was asleep, he’d just look like an idiot trying to talk to him. Maybe if there was a way to let him feel what he felt he wouldn’t need to think of anything to say. The worry, the anger, the sorrow, the fear.



Maybe the only thing he could express was his fears, he was scared of what was happening to Megaman, he was scared of what was happening to Zero, he was scared of what was happening to Enzan, he was terrified of what was happening to himself. Most of all it had to be the uncertainty that he was afraid of the most, he wasn’t sure if this treatment would work, he wasn’t sure what was wrong with Megaman, or Zero, and he was irked because he didn’t know what he could do about it. The fear might have been something he could speak outloud, but most of all he wished he could tell him about the ominous feeling he always had, that it would all end up badly.



He could imagine what Enzan would say to that.



He wish he had Enzan’s courage, or whatever it was that made him able easily take all of this. Ok, maybe it wasn’t easy for him, but Enzan certainly was fairing far better then he was. “Hey dad…”



Tadashi looked up “Yes Lan?”



“…Tell it to me strait, is there any other way to stop Zero then to kill him?” He asked sullenly. He wasn’t naïve, he’d been paying attention, he knew all the problems the ‘201102’ virus caused and was still causing, he remembered very well what had happened to Guttsman and Megaman and who knew how many other navies by now. Zero was a virus, Lan had much experience quarantining and deleting viruses, he feared that was the only answer to the problem.



“Honestly?” Tadashi leaned back in his seat and his eyes inanely drifted out of the window into the storm out side. “I’m not sure, but don’t worry, I am looking.”



Lan’s head sunk and he closed his eyes. “Alright.”



“Time to go back Lan, you can see Enzan later.”



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