Mega man Battle Network: Virus mutations

Chapter 26: The weather part 1



*This is your severe weather watch team interrupting this program to bring you up to speed with what’s going on. Lets get right into it and take a look out side with Doppler 5000. Just one look on the map sums it up, These areas in red represent

an extreme severity and as you can see there are quite a few of them. As long as that tropical air that’s been hanging over us like it has is there there’s a possibly for rain and severe weather, and it looks like this one is gonna be a big one. Chances are if your watching this you can see the strength of these storms for yourself, there are widespread reports of flooding, it’s very dangerous to be on the roads in certain areas. Look at all of these lighting strikes, especially in these southern counties, were also getting reports of high wind speeds and hail in some places so be careful of that. What I really want to bring your attention to is these areas, we’re picking up quite a bit of rotation so if your in these counties take shelter immediately. Don’t even sit here and watch this news cast, go to the lowest levels of your homes. Let see if I can Zoom in…Doppler 5000 storm cast showing street level now, with the first squall I can see the cell showing rotation approaching emarry road and stark, so if your in one of those areas.*





It was 6 am. ‘The sun should be rising.’ He thought to himself. It was a thing he didn’t know for sure because he didn’t have any windows in his office, it was hard to have windows when your offices was in the middle of the building.



Tadashi leaned back at in his chair and stared at the computer screen, it’s glow was the brightest illumination in the room, making everything else seem dim in comparison. The keyboard rested in his lap, sitting upright for hours at a time began to take a toll on his back, he blamed it on his growing age. His desk was scattered in disorganized clutter where it normally would have been neat, he blamed it on the long hours he worked. The pages of Megaman’s and Zero’s logs were half sticking out of a folder on the edge of his desk, other papers and binders with his own notes stacked on top. He was no longer using them, he wasn’t focusing on it all together.



Instead he spent most of his time searching the internet for instances of new infections, because if it happened somewhere, news of it would always make it’s way to the internet. It was fruitless thus far and had long become boring and tedious, and it was times like this when Zero used to be here to keep him company, it was a lot less boring when you were bored together. It was stoically quite, a sound he’d gotten used to. Tadashi’s vision began to blur and he clinched his eyes shut, he blamed it on the lack of coffee. Habitually he reached up to remove his glasses and begin cleaning them with his shirt as if they had anything to do with it, then he rubbed his eyes and replaced them.



‘Doesn’t look like I’m gonna find him today…’ Tadashi let his head fall backwards and his eyes close, the keyboard sagged on his lap and his hands fell on to the armrest. He was so tired, the immature urge to sleep off the entire day was strong, but he knew if he fell asleep here he’d have to get up a few hours later anyway. ‘Do I…really wanna find him?’ Tadashi thought to himself, a doubt that only could have crept in during complete excursion. Of course he wanted to see Zero again, to be able to find some way to fix him, but at this point those notions were wishful thinking. A part of him wanted Zero to stay gone, so they wouldn’t have to face the enviable stand off that was coming.

His mind might have been able to dream in that notion had they not been under a time limit, he’d seemed to have lost the ability to imagine things outside the realm of possibility, he found himself imagining things that seemed possible to reach. A virus either mutates or it’s destroyed, and he knew soon enough Zero (The self-sustaining virus he was) would change and then nothing could be done to stop him. They had a limited window, anything and everything they could do at the moment had to be done in the allotted time.



The world was distinctive, it was hard, cold, calculating. “Zero…” Tadashi sighed.



! - ! - !

! - ! - !



Megaman took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair, easing slowly until both front legs were off the ground and the back pressed against the wall. The hospital room was bleakly depressing, the window reminded him vaguely of going through a carwash, the intense rain made it impossible to make out any recognizable image. Merely a dim light washed through from the over cast sky, making little more the shadowy out lines visible in the room. The rain and wind were obscenely loud, a harsh pounding, like thousands of coins falling, with a haunting howl seeming coming from all sides.



Megaman hadn’t been feeling particularly well, his body hot and lagging energy, he felt heavy, but at the same time light headed. With the added noise of the storm outside, it was impossible for him to sleep now. ‘Man, and there wasn’t a drop of rain this week either, now this.’ The previous week had yielded the string of storms to a heat wave, temperatures reached in the 90s. And now this torrential down pour of rain had come on in the late hours. Megaman had trouble sleeping ever since, Lan, however, could sleep through anything it seemed. Megaman watched his shadowy form, laying on his stomach on top of the covers, stretched out sloppily, IV lines hanging from his arms.



‘Lan…’ Megaman smiled, Lan always took up a lot of room when he slept, Megaman always found himself slipping out of Lan’s way because it was always easier then vying for space. And eventually he just curled into a ball and slept that way, and he found it comfortable, which instantly made it a habit. ‘Oh man…’ Megaman clinched his eyes shut and planted his hands on his forehead, he felt like a small fire had been lit under his skin, and the headache continued to pulse so intensely that it was hard to focus on anything else. He shouldn’t have been having headaches, ever. He also should have been able to turn off sensory receptors for touch, and equivocally pain, he’d never been able to do anything like that. Even now he was barely able to use all of his strength, after weeks of pushing himself, enduring disorientation, dizziness, nausea, even memory loss.



He wondered vaguely if this was how the rest of his existence would be. He never was feeling completely right at any one moment. “…” Megaman eased the chair back down on to the ground and stood up, with slow, creeping steps he moved towards the door, hoping not to disturb Lan while he slept. He was always sleeping lately, most hours of the day he was unconscious, a side effect from the treatment he presumed. Megaman slowly pulled the door open.



“Where are you going?”



Megaman flinched when he heard the sudden voice and looked back. “Nowhere, just a walk.”



“Un…alright.” Lan rolled over on to his side and pulled the covers over his head.



Megaman didn’t understand how he could stand the heat. “Aren’t you hot?” Megaman would think such an action would be suffocating.



“I’m freezing.” Lan moaned.



Megaman would have wondered if it was just him if those few seniors he had that were still working told him the temperature was 70 degrees in side of the room. And even greater internally. “…” Maybe Lan really did need that rest. “I’ll be back soon, ok.” He shut the door behind him. And from there he began wondering, his body seemed to draw him towards cooler places and eventually he made his way down to the first floor and froze right in front of an air duct blowing cold air. He might have stood there all day had he not realized he was only in the way of people moving about the lobby. So inevitably he moved on, wondering his way towards the glass panes of the front entrance. “Man it’s really pouring out there.” He said to himself, leaning against the wall and watching the rain pound down outside. He was curious. “I bet it’s cold out there, with all that rain…”



The worst that could happen was that he’d get wet.



And did he ever. From the moment he step out side of the towering building he was soaked in the down pour of cold drops, his blue hair was drenched and became matted against his face. His clothes became soaked and heavier, his shirt clung to him while his pants hung with a weight. The air was warm and muggy, nearly negating the effect of the cold drops, nearly. When he was in the rain he didn’t feel so bad, the cold drops made him tense every time they made contact with his overheated skin, it seemed to wake him up a bit, stirring an energy inside of him. The world was sharper and more distinctive and he was no longer dizzy or disoriented. The headache persisted though.



Thunder rumbled loudly in the skies above, irritating his ears. But he didn’t care. Megaman wiped the water from his eyes, he recovered so much energy by moving around like this that he began to wonder how long he could run for. He remembered a time when he couldn’t go very far with out nearly passing out, he’d come a long way since then.



So he took off, sprinting headfirst as fast as he could. The world washed past him in a wet blur, the colors were dulled from the harsh rains falling through the sky, water pelted him faster then ever. He smiled, pushing wet hair out of his face. “Heh…” He didn’t feel dizzy or tired or disoriented at all, he wanted to see how long this would last, how far he could go. Lighting flashed, illuminating dark surrounds with a sudden and fleeting flare of light, a heart beat of deathly silence was followed by an uproarious roll of thunder.



Then all of a sudden he felt like his body hit a wall.



Megaman slowed down, quickly grabbing on to a signpost to stop himself. A wash of new feelings came on to him suddenly, he started to feel foggy, like a part of his mind started to go numb. “Whoa…” He had to stop, his wasn’t right, this wasn’t the type of thing that happened to him during physical excursion. He looked around. Water pooled in the sides of the streets, no longer draining into the gutters. The traffic strained to dismal levels, pedestrians were non-existent, everything was empty. Hauntingly empty.



Suddenly he felt a pulling in his head, an urging, an incompleteness. “No way…” Megaman looked around frantically, “It must be-“ Megaman turned around and flinched when he found himself face to face with Zero, his eyes met with cold, haunting blue eyes, wide and seemingly unaffected by the wind and rain. “Z-Zero!?” He froze, he didn’t know what to do, should he try to subdue him? Or should he try and see if he would respond? “Zero, are you-“



He couldn’t finish before two strong hands shot out and wrapped around his neck and lifted him off of his feet. That being a sufficient answer for his question, Megaman’s hands immediately reached up and clinched on to Zero’s wrists, trying to pry him off. But it was to no avail, he could feel Zero’s grip struggling under his own but the virus held steady, and his touch was starting elicit strange reactions from Megaman. “!!” Megaman’s eyes widened in fear when he felt the pull on his mind grow stronger and his body grow weaker. ‘Get off! Get off! Get off!’ Megaman drew his knees up and sent his feet plowing into Zero’s chest, knocking him back and sending him stumbling to the ground. Megaman caught himself and landed on his feet. ‘What am I suppose to do?’ He staggered backwards until his back fell against a telephone poll, the muscle tensing sensation of driving rain pelting him with cold drops began to numb away until he couldn’t feel it anymore, only a cool sense of uncomfortable wetness and the weight of his clothing hanging off of him. He was frozen with uncertainty and fear, what was he supposed to do!?



A sharp flash of lighting and a window shattering crash of thunder echoed in the sky over head, making him flinch and jarring him back to life. He blinked and saw Zero coming right at him. “!!” Megaman pushed off the pole and slipped to the side just as the virus’s fist struck the metal post where his head had been with a loud clang. Megaman slipped past Zero’s side behind his back, wrapped his arms around his waist and easily lifted Zero off the ground, then slammed him down on his side on the concrete, a splash of water erupted from the ground. Megaman tried to hold him there, but Zero threw his elbow into the side of Megaman’s face, stunning him enough to slip on to his back and kick Megaman in the chest. A phantom pain radiated through out his entire body like a shock wave, making him cry out in a sudden pain, he became disoriented, he lost his balance and fell against the pole, sliding down to the ground.



It was becoming hard to focus, every second he could feel Zero deteriorating his focus, his will, his mind, like a…like a…virus. Suddenly he felt a sharp kick to his chest that smashed him against the pole and left him slumping to the ground, clinching his chest. “Unna” Damnit! He couldn’t even focus! The phantom pain that resulted from the contact was unbearable. He felt like pain coming from places he didn’t even have, giving him an even sense that he’d been ripped out of something larger. Zero climbed on top of him, clasping both of Megaman’s hands and pinning them above his head. “…” The first thing to leave him them was the driving, fearing instinct to fight back, to get away from this thing that was dulling him. But it was gone, as if a veil of fog had covered it up. “… …” His body went limp and his struggling ceased before it had a chance to begin, he lay there, staring up at Zero, the driving rain fell into his eyes and blurred his vision but he didn’t notice it at all. He was…lost…drifting, he couldn’t feel his body anymore, he was falling asleep, he was being drawn towards Zero head first.



Lighting flashed in his half lidded eyes like an alarm and thunder roared over head, startling him back into awareness. “!!” Megaman flinched and threw his head into Zero’s, sending a pounding crash of pain running through their heads. A wave of phantom pain shuttered through Megaman’s body and the world felt clear and distinct again. The water that had run into his eyes that he hadn’t noticed before now where an irritant, forcing him to clinch his eyes shut, the moment he was able to wrench his hands free he clamped them over eyes and began rubbing them. “Zero!” Megaman sat up right and pushed Zero off of him, crawling backwards and stumbling on to his feet. “Come on! Wake up in there!” Megaman pleaded.



Zero rolled on to his stomach and pushed himself up. The sound of rain was continuous, a sense scattering pounding, the ripples and imprints of each drop pounding into the accumulated water on the ground was a constant sight, the world was covered in a haze, the rain and dark clouds made it hard to see more then halfway down the street. Megaman felt lost, he forgot where he was for a moment. Zero charged at him, his expression and his presences was cold and calculating, Megaman wasn’t sure if it was the thought clouding effect of Zero’s presence but all of the familiarity he usually had for Zero was gone, he felt as though this were a stranger. Zero sent a swift punch to Megaman’s head, Megaman slipped backwards and evaded it, Zero stepped forward with one long stride and threw another hard blow. Megaman crouched underneath and moved forward, throwing a series of hard punches into Zero’s stomach, ‘Unn!’ With each contact a pain came from the place where he’d touched Zero, the phantom pains that came over him were piercing, like being cut by a blade.



Zero’s body keeled forward from the blow with a sharp, voiceless cough, before the third blow could come he reached down and grabbed Megaman’s neck and threw his knee into the former navi’s stomach. “!” Megaman fell to his knees, his body racked the piercing pain. ‘Damnit Zero…I don’t wanna…’ Megaman cried out with a sharp growl and sent a sharp punch upwards into Zero’s chest, hard enough to echo a sharp, wet, pound in the air. He pushed past the pain, grabbing a hold of Zero’s head and driving his own upwards into Zero as he stood. Zero was knocked on to his back. “Unnnnn!” Megaman clinched the top of his head and staggered backwards, his head felt as though a something had been cut off. The entire world was shut off for him, he couldn’t hear anything, he was staring strait forward but his mind didn’t seem to comprehend the images his eyes were giving him. “…”



Zero slowly climbed to his feet, cold, wide, green eyes fixated on the immobilized Megaman. He moved towards him, almost in a stalking manner. He grabbed on to Megaman’s shoulder’s softly, he didn’t attack, he didn’t move, he didn’t seem to be outwardly doing anything. But Megaman’s symptoms grew substantially worse almost immediately, his head felt as though it was encased in a block of concrete, his thoughts were non-existent, the only thing that remained was this pulling over his entire being.



Thunder crashed distantly, shaking windows, but to Megaman it was a low and distant clap, everything was…’No…No…’ Megaman slowly shook his head, his eyes clinched shut, ‘I gotta…I gotta…’ Even inside his head he was stammering. ‘Wake… up…wake-‘ Megaman willed his body to move and he pushed backwards, stumbling a few steps away from Zero. “S-Stop it!” He shouted, prying his eyes open and lunging forward blindly, and threw a punch into the side of his jaw. Zero stamped his foot back with a loud, high splash and stopped himself from faltering. He reached out for Megaman but Megaman speared forward, slipping under his arms and throwing himself into Zero, driving both of them to the ground. “Zero!” He screamed at the top of his lungs, planting one hand on his Zero’s forehead to hold him down and then he began pounding into his face with a fury of quick, strong blows. “Come back! Just come back!” Every blow sent his mind reeling from the phantom pain it elicited, but he didn’t care, he was desperate, in a frenzy. He didn’t like this, he hated how Zero made him feel, he hated how lifeless Zero was, he wanted him back, he wanted him back so badly it hurt. “Just stop it!”



He got to strike 10 before the pain became too much to over come and he screamed in agony falling backwards off of Zero and on to his back in the accumulated water that had gathered on top of the ground. It was freezing.



A thick sheet of water dripped off of his head and his chest as Zero sat upright, seemingly unphased by the attacks on him. He slipped up off of the ground seamlessly, taking quick, calculated steps towards Megaman. With out hesitation he lifted his foot and stomped down on to Megaman’s chest. “NNAAA!” Megaman cried out with a sharp cough, feeling the air and water forced out of his lungs and a pounding pain bruise his chest. Zero stomped down on him again, this time pinning him there. “Unnna…” Megaman hugged his chest tightly enough to make his arms tremble, he rolled on to his side and out from underneath Zero’s foot, he inhaled and nearly got a mouthful of water.



Megaman realized at that moment he didn’t stand a chance, he had something working against him from the inside, a virus that ate away at him. His mind was deteriorating and his body ached terribly. With this force integrated into his very being everything was futile. The fear in him grew deeper, the tight, anxious feeling covered his entire abdomen and his breathing was harsh. He had to get out of here! Megaman rolled on to his stomach and staggered on his feet. With out another thought he turned and ran in the opposite direction. He never wanted to fight in the first place, this caught him off guard, he wasn’t ready for this, he wasn’t ready to face Zero like this again.



Zero stood there and watched Megaman for a second, then he seemed to realize he was retreating.



Megaman couldn’t see where he was going, the wind whipped a torrent of rain into his face, the storm draped the world in a wet, cloudy haze. His body was soaked, he could feel the cold pinpoints of rain making his muscles tense again, the farther he got away from Zero, the clear he felt. The pull on his body was lessened with each step. He wasn’t sure how far he got until he couldn’t go any farther. Finally Megaman stopped, he keeled over and pressed his hands against his knees, panting, gasping for air. He felt like he hadn’t breathed for the entire fight, maybe he hadn’t.



He was in front the lights of the hospital again. “…” Megaman fell to his knees and clinched his stomach, the rain slid down his face and dripped off of his nose and chin, the sidewalk and streets were bare. Horrible. He felt god awful, having to run away from him, he felt even worse because of what Zero had become and what Zero was doing to him. Why! Why did this have to happen to him! “Zero…” He pounded his fist against the ground and felt his eyes staring to burn with tears. Zero was like…a part of him, he was a part of him, they were both apart of each other! He felt as though he had lost a deep piece of himself, it hurt, it hurt like hell. He just wanted to have it back…



A sudden pull appeared on his mind. “!” Megaman stood up strait and looked around frantically for him, where was he? A stream of lighting shot down from the sky at a blinding speed and tremendous flash, after a void of tense silence thunder roared loudly over head like an explosion. He flinched and shuttered, he felt the pull shift to his side and turned around to see Zero coming towards him. “…Zero…” Megaman stood frozen and stared at him for a moment, a longing attribute coming to his eyes. “Damn…” He dropped his head, listening to the pounding rain like thousands of coins falling onto the concrete, feeling the rain stream in rivers down his shoulders. “Zero.” He watched the approaching Zero intently, “I wanna talk to him just one more time.” He said, he was speaking to himself but his voice was loud and desperate. “I just…wanna talk to him again.” He was mumbling to himself, he felt outside of himself, in awe of how desperate he was, it was too much for him in this moment seeing Zero like this.



Maybe it’s because he sensed what was coming, maybe it was the crushing dread of what he was certain was coming, what he’d known for a while. He didn’t think he could bare going through this until he just saw Zero, the real Zero one more time! “Zero!” He was ready to fight this time, he wanted to pound the life out Zero if it would just get him back for one second, he needed his friend back! Megaman’s entire body tensed, so tightly his body trembled. He bolted forward towards Zero but Zero’s pace didn’t change, golden eyes unphased by the wind and rain seemed to simply look past Megaman.



Maybe he’d never figure out what he was looking at.



“Hey! Hey!” Lan’s voice burst out from behind the hospital’s front doors, “No, wait!” Lan bolted out into the pounding rain, franticly he grabbed on to Megaman mid stride and pulled him to a stop. He coughed sharply. His breath was raspy and harsh, it was not as though he’d strained himself, it was more as though there was something in his lungs blocking his airway.



“L-Lan!?” Megaman looked down at the boy with statement, then back up at Zero. “What are you doing here?!”



“I was looking for you.” Lan let go and pushed Megaman back, immediately turning to Zero. “Zero! Wait!” Lan seemed to ignore all fear and ran towards Zero, his motives were unknown to Megaman, but he could guess.



Flashes of what happened to Enzan ran through his head, he couldn’t let that happen to Lan! “Lan! No!” Megaman immediately ran after him. “Stop!”



Lan didn’t listen. It was captivating, it was fearful and shocking and exciting to see Zero in a body, seeing him standing here before him tangibly. He had to talk to him, he had to try, just seeing him made him think he could. His voice was cut off by a sharp series of coughs. “Zero! Wait a minute, listen to me!”



“Lan no!” Megaman grabbed Lan and pulled him back sharply, holding him captive in his arms. “Stop, you can’t!”



Lighting flashed suddenly and startling as it streaked to the ground some place nearby it seemed, thunder crashed like a gun shot next to their ears. Lan struggled, his hands slipping across Megaman’s forearms as he tried to push against them. “No! wait! Zero! Please! Just listen to me! Please! I know you in there somewhere, just think! Think about me, think about Megaman, think about Blues!” Lan screamed, he coughed. “Your in there somewhere! Just-“



“Lan stop!” Megaman sharply yanked Lan back a few steps as Zero grew closer, he was constantly fighting Lan every step of the way. “He can’t hear you!” Megaman told him.



“Just let me try!” Lan’s breathing was worse now, it could be heard over the torrent rain in sharp wheezing like sounds. The water that soaked both of them was what gave Lan just the small slack he needed to slip out of Megaman’s arms. “Let me try!” He was crying by now, though it was masked by the rain. The thoughts of losing him the first time weighted over his chest and seemed to be slowly crushing his heart. He couldn’t lose his friend again, he had to try! “Zero!” He shouted, bolting off towards Zero at a full sprint.



“Lan! Stop, no!” Megaman ran desperately after him, knowing he had to stop him!



Lan got 5 feet before his steps came to a grinding halt sending him falling to his knees with a splash. “Un…”Lan clinched his chest and rolled over onto his side, clinching into a semi ball. He was out of breath…



“Lan!” Megaman dropped down in front of Lan and pulled him upright, “What’s wrong!?”



Lan tried to speak but he too out of breath to speak, he his breath was simply a series of heaves, interrupted by a sharp cough.



Before either of them knew it, Zero was standing over them. Megaman flinched, and Lan was to tired to notice. Oddly enough, he didn’t move, he paused for some reason. Zero looked down, his eyes still seemed to be looking past them. “S-Stop…trying to save me!”



“!!” Megaman flinched and began pulling Lan back, getting about a foot away before he could stop long enough to scoop Lan into his arms and stand.



By the time he looked up again, Zero was gone.



“….?” Megaman looked around protectively, and suspiciously. He felt the clouded pull that came with Zero’s presence slowly fading, he was really moving away? “What the…” He looked down at Lan again and remembered. “Oh man, Lan you shouldn’t have come out here.” Megaman bolted him off into the hospital.



! - ! - !



Enzan rubbed his eyes softly and groaned. He let his eyes roam inanely towards his arm where the tube was slowly releasing a clear liquid in his left arm. He found himself staring at it often, some how mesmerized by it in some way. “Damn, I hate this thing.” Enzan snorted, he lay listlessly in the bed, his shirt tossed aside laying on top of bare sheets in only his unbuttoned and unzipped pants. He was hot.



Hot was in understatement, he was blistering, he was boiling from the inside and bubbling up sweat. He felt a drop sliding down the side of his face, his entire body was matted and shinned with sweat, it didn’t seem to help cool him any, he was just wet. “Blues, what’s that temperature on?”



“It’s as low as it can go.” Blues told him. The P.E.T next to Enzan’s chest, connected to a panel in the wall so he could control devices in the room.



“Fuck!” He growled. It had to be freezing in here but he didn’t feel a hint of chill, it was…this damned liquid they were putting into him, what ever it was! He was groggy and tired and his eyes were starting to redden, he could even see a hint of yellow forming around the edges. After nearly a week of this medicine, with all the adjustments made to whatever they were giving him, he was reasonably close to saying that he felt worse now then before this treatment started. Before he got weak quickly, his legs started to hurt, and they gave way. Now he had those problem and a random assortment of more. His legs hurt all the time, he was always sleepy, right now he felt feverously hot, and flu like symptoms were starting to arise among other things. Not to mention a few panic attacks, he was hesitant to admit those.



“Are you alright?” Blues asked, a reluctant concern evident in his usually stoic voice.



“If I say no…” Enzan’s voice broke with a sharp yawn and a barely audible exhale, he wiped away the sweat on his forehead with his arm. “What are you gonna do?”



“Hn.” Blues snorted and rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”



Enzan was silent for a moment, staring down at the IV in his arm. “Are …*you* alright?”



Blues pried one eye open and glanced timidly at Enzan, immediately feeling embarrassed that Enzan needed to be concerned for him. “I’m fine.” He said, just like he always said.



Just like Enzan always said. And Enzan knew the thoughts and feelings hovering around in the back of his head behind the frustration and annoyance, Enzan knew he rarely gave as second thought to that question, just like Blues. “Hn…” He simply shrugged and accepted it, it was easier for Blues that way. “Damn, that thing can’t go any lower!? I burning up.” He grunted in frustration.



Blues sighed, “I’ll go get some one.” He said. “See, I’m not completely useless.”



Enzan smirked. “Guess not.”



Blues went through the connection, but almost immediately returned, much to Enzan’s surprise. Enzan lifted his head slightly. “What?”



“I’m not sure…But I think I just felt-“ Blues’ words were obstructed mid-sentence by a spontaneous generation of static and distortion. “That.”



“I won’t bother asking if you think it’s Zero.” Enzan’s voice was strained as he slowly sat upright, the ever present weakness in his legs made it harder for him. “But here? How in hell did he get here?” Enzan asked suspiciously.



“We know how he *got* here.” Blues retorted anxiously. “Why did he come *here*?”



“What the hell are you asking me for, he’s here someplace, go find out.” Enzan reached over to the side of his bed to a small night stand where a phone rested, he picked up the receiver and heard nothing but a dead silence. Then he pressed the nurse’s call button and got no response, not even a single beep. ‘He’s definitely in this room.’ Enzan began digging through the drawers of the night stand and quickly found his cellphone, he didn’t even bother to turn it on here.



“The last time I left you alone like this you nearly drowned.” Blues hesitated.



“Don’t worry, there’s no water around this time.” Enzan shot back. He slowly eased his legs over the side of the bed, and pushed himself on to his feet. “This is really dangerous…” Enzan said, watching his monitor screen begin to distort and flicker, the sight was… unsettling. “That interference around all this equipment the hospital uses, for all I know it could shut down somebody’s respirator or something. You…” Enzan’s eyes shifted away and his head lowered. “…have to stop him.”



“…Yeah.”



“Good luck.”



“Hn.”



“And…I’m sorry.” Enzan said reluctantly.



“…” Blues shifted once, and with a visible second of hesitation he left the P.E.T.



“Blues…” Enzan felt a sinking, stomach churning, throat tightening guilt. “Damnit!” He wished he could be with Blues in someway during this, Blues had to do something that would kill him inside, and Zero, he missed Zero, he wished desperately that it didn’t have to be this way for virus. He couldn’t even be there.



He could hate himself and fate all he wanted after this was over, right now he had to do something. Enzan picked up his cellphone and grabbed on to the rack holding his IV bag and left the room, leaning on the rack like a crutch. He stared down at his cellphone, following it like a map while he wondered farther down the hall with out looking up once to see where he was going. He could hear the calamity of the doctoral and nursing staff on this floor begin to calmly panic about the sudden malfunction of all of the instruments and equipment, the traffic and the noise started to grow at a rapid pace, but he all but tuned it out. Moving until he finally saw a single bar of signal strength reappear on the cell phone’s screen.



Then he called Tadashi next to the waiting room window, a good distance away from his room.



“Mr. Hikari.”



“Enzan? Where are you, I can barely hear you.”



“I’m still at the hospital, Zero’s here.”



Enzan could hear the man sigh on the other end. “Alright, I’m on my way.”



“Do you have a plan or something?” Enzan asked, just out of curiosity.



“Yeah. Go find Blues and bring-“



The call abruptly dropped, Enzan pried the phone from his ear and looked down at it in frustration, then out the window at the driving walls of rain that were sweeping across the city by means of strong winds. It was probably the storm’s doing. ‘Man it’s really bad out there…’



Where was Lan, and Megaman. He had to go tell them.



! - ! - !



Blues immediately froze the moment he got into the system, staring in awe at the red, hazy fog that was slowly devouring this world from the edges outward. He could see paths, directories covered in the haze, now impassable and all roads slowly, very slowly, closing. The air was hot and dry and the sky was a light pink, slowly turning blood red, he was filled with a familiar terror, in this place he felt as though he was walking into a ragging inferno and the building was collapsing around him, sealing all exits until he was trapped and devoured by the heat.



“Zero!” He called out, looking around aimlessly, desperately. “Where the hell are you!?



He heard a soft groan from the path on his left. “?” The road was half covered in the red fog as if it had spilled over from some invisible wall, “Damn…” He didn’t want to do this, he could see himself getting trapped. ‘Wouldn’t be the first time he nearly got me killed.’ He took a deep breath and a second of hesitation before he darted forward, slipping past the creeping fog and on to an open stretch of road behind it. “?!” Before he could even see it fully there was a ghost that appeared in a sudden ripple and darted through the air at him. He had little time to do anything but flinch and lift his sword in a half raised defense, it did no good, the transparent projection of Zero passed right through him, sword, armor and all, and slashed deep into him. “!!” Blues clinched his chest where the blow had come from and cringed, looking around for the offender only to find it had already disappeared.



It only added to his tension. He’d have to ask Tadashi what those thing were…eventually. Sometime long after this was all over maybe, maybe he’d never ask or want to talk about Zero at all… God this was hard, he hadn’t even found Zero yet and it was hard. Blues narrowed his trembling eyes and raced forward nearly blindly again. Damn this was hard, he didn’t want to move, he didn’t want to find Zero.



But nothing ever went his way it seemed, he inevitably, after 4 ghost attacks, stumbled across Zero.



Zero had fallen on his knees and was clinching his head, soft moans and whimpers of pain slipped out of his clinched mouth. Blues felt his heart pound and a cold chill descended his body through is veins, he wanted to run to him and grab him and hold him tightly. “Zero.” He knelt down beside him and laid his hand on Zero’s back, his first impulse being to ask if he was alright. He hated that impulse, it was always annoying as hell when someone asked him that, he wished he could just figure out something else to say at this point. “How…bad is it?”



“B-Blues?” Zero peaked an eye open and looked up at Blues, he smiled softly. “I…” He started to reach out and wrap his arms around him and hold him as tightly as he could. But he froze mid way and his arms recoiled and hugged his chest. His entire body ached.



Blues watched him for a second, then he closed his eyes and softly wrapped his arms around Zero, resting his head on Zero’s shoulder. “….I’m sorry…” He half mumbled.



Zero rested his head into Blues’ chest, he wanted to remain there forever, even with the pain. He wished time would just past them over, that he wouldn’t revert back to what he’d inevitably would. “…I love you…”



“I love you too.” Blues said. He felt like crying and he wanted to bang his head up against the wall for the swelling rush of depression that triggered the urge.



Zero wrapped his arms around Blue’s chest in a timid, weak embrace. His hands trembled and his grip was limp and lose, he was afraid to hold him, he was afraid to be near him, it was clear. But he wanted it so badly, he needed to touch him, to feel him, he missed him so strongly it became hard to breathe when he thought about it. “…You gotta…do it now.”



“…” Blues ran his hand up the back of Zero’s neck and slipped his fingers under the back of Zero’s helmet, prying the head armor off, listening to it fall to the ground and roll on to it’s side. Then he gently stroked the back of the virus’s neck with his thumb subconsciously, he could have been doing a million little things right now with out realizing it. He wanted to scream and yell at him for talking this way, for giving up, but…and Blues sincerely wanted to kill himself for thinking this, he felt a piece of him die at this very moment… he knew he might have to… “I hate you.”



“?” Zero lifted his head questioningly, he wasn’t sure if he’d heard what he just heard. “What…?”



“I hate you, you know that? You did this to me, you’re the reason I feel like hell…Maybe if you hadn’t have been so damn stupid. Maybe if you would have listened to me damnit!” He half shouted, his grip on Zero tightened, drawing questioning and confused looks from the virus.



“Blues?” Zero tried to say something, noticing the hold was starting to become painful.



“You spent all of your goddamn time hating yourself, killing yourself…For fuck’s sake, you should have let me protect you damnit!” Blues yelled, screamed at the top of lungs, his arms confined Zero with all of his strength, so tightly that they trembled, his entire body was trembling from tension.



It hurt, Zero stared up at him with confusion and uncertainty, unsure whether he should push him away or burry his head in deeper and see if Blues could suffocate him. He knew how pitiful his thoughts were, they weren’t half as pitiful as how he felt. Zero felt Blue’s arms crushing his own and bruising his muscles.



“Damn you! You should have just let me protect you, but no! You had to keep fighting me! Every step forward and you drag your self ten back! How the hell was I suppose to save you if you were fighting yourself!?” He screamed, the trembling through out his body growing more intense. “You just made me waste my time! Why did you keep coming back around! Why did you keep talking to me! Why did you make me feel like I was saving you If you were just gonna let things end up like this!?”



Zero had all but frozen, feeling the pain more intensely then ever, he was confused, and afraid. He didn’t care if Blues was hurting him, he wanted him to hurt him, he deserved for Blues to hurt him, he…needed Blues to hurt him. But what he was saying, the expression his face that seemed to be contorted in pain, the harsh, choked breathes and the pounding heart beating through Blues’ chest against his cheek. He scrambled to comprehend this, why was he doing all of this?! If he was gonna kill him just do it!…Why did it hurt so much to hear him talk like this… Zero tried to speak but he was abruptly cut off by a furious Blues.



“Fuck! Why didn’t you let me save you!” Blues’ voice cracked and a harsh sob broke out of his mouth. He broke down after that, burying his head into Zero’s neck, tears flooding his eyes. He couldn’t stop himself, it was as if he’d lost control of his body, as if some jolt had forced his body into a string of motions before he even realized they were happening. “Why did you make me feel this way?… You were dead damnit! I watched you die! I *felt* you die…Why the hell did make me think you were stay around?” He didn’t let go, he couldn’t let go, he couldn’t stop crying.



Zero didn’t move at first, then he closed his eyes and slowly hugged Blues’ back. “I’m…sorry…” He said softly.



“Don’t tell me that.”



“I guess I was always just meant to die..” Zero half whispered. “I didn’t want to hurt you, the last thing I wanted to do was hurt you. I guess…It would have been better if I had stayed away from everyone.”



Blues lifted his head, looking down at Zero with his eyes narrowed, trying his best to fight away the rest of the tears. He hated crying more then he ever imagined he would, and he hated himself for crying, especially in front of Zero. He was always strong in front of Zero, he had a sense of pride in that, that was who he was. And to be like this…“You really don’t know do you?” He said. “You keep talking like that, you are not a screw up ok, every bad thing is not because of you, it’s in spite of you. The only thing you did was to yourself.”



“Yeah…maybe I did.” Zero sighed. Maybe if he had of fought harder, or had he fought at all, if he had tried to dispel those feeling of resentment he had so strongly for himself, or tried to quell the two sides of him ripping each other apart, if he had tried to conjure up the will to live through the horrible pain… then maybe he wouldn’t be in this position.



“I don’t wanna do this…” Blues murmured softly, whispering. Then he spoke loudly, like one loud grief stricken sob. “I don’t wanna do this damnit!” More tears flooded down his eyes, he lived each moment in the feel of Zero’s warm skin and his body in his arms. It was all he thought about, at that moment Zero was his everything.



“I know you don’t…” Zero tilted his head upwards and felt himself starting to cry also. What had happened? He’d been set to die twice, he’d been ready, he’d been at peace with his fate, with what needed to take place. Now look at him, he was crying, he was watching his hands slowly lifting to Blues’ arms and clinching them tightly and he was powerless to stop them. He never wanted to let go, damnit he wanted to live! Damnit…he wanted to live… “I wish you didn’t have to…”



“Just….stay like this a little longer…” Blues whispered, closing his eyes and laying his head on Zero’s shoulder, he kissed his neck softly. “Please…”



Zero dropped his head, a sharp sniffle came and a something that almost sounded like a whimper, tears blurred his vision and fell into his lap. “I can’t…you know I can’t-.” Zero was cut off and he wished that he hadn’t been, he felt his throat tighten and his chest began to heave, it was hard enough trying to say it once, he didn’t think he had it in him to repeat it.



“Just try, for once of your life just try!”



“I wish I could…God, I wish I could!” Zero felt Blues’ hand stroking the back of his neck, it made him tremble, every touch sent him farther and father over the edge. Damn, he wished Blues’ would stop, he wished Blues’ would let him go, he wished Blues’ would stop crying, he was making this hard! How was he supposed to go to his death now? With all of these feelings flaring up inside of him hot and heavy, he began to feel afraid. Goddamnit, he was actually afraid to die now. He was full of doubt, he wanted to do so much, he wanted to spend more time with Blues, and Megaman, and Enzan…and Lan, he missed Lan so much. “You gotta do it now!”



“You bastard…” Blues lifted his head and looked over Zero with a hard glare. “I can’t do it, not with you… like this.” He couldn’t! He couldn’t just kill him like this, with him sitting here, crying, shaking, the self hating, idiotic, kind, energetic, depressed, loving, loyal, selfless, half-virus he’d groan to love more then his own life. How the hell could he just kill him? He’d never be able to live with himself at all, he’d never be able to bring himself to do this. It felt so impossible. “Damnit! Why the fuck to things have be like this!”



Zero took in a deep breath and quickly rubbed his eyes with forearm, his voice was hasty though riddled with grief. “I gotta go then.” He said, pulling away, out of the grasp of Blues’ arms suddenly.



“H-hey, wait a minute.” Blues scrambled to his feet at the same time Zero did, reaching out for his arm but missing. “What are you doing? Where are you going?”



“I-I don’t know.” Zero clinched his eyes shut and began walking forward at an increasingly growing pace. “I have to get out of here, I can’t be here if your not gonna do it.” He was terrified, damnit, why did he have to become afraid now!?



“But…” Blues’ steps slowly eased to a halt, he knew Zero was right, he couldn’t stay here, not in the hospital, making all kinds of problems with out even trying or even being full aware what effect his very presence was having on everything else. Maybe it was a self fulfilling prophecy, Blues thought, Zero had always said he was doing nothing but causing problems, he had been certain that just being around would make trouble. Maybe if…he hadn’t believed it so hard…



Zero’s wings stretched out and he paused for a brief second, looking back at Blues. “I…love you.”



Blues felt his throat choking again, he could barely speak. He felt like being selfish, he wanted Zero to stay no matter what it did at that moment. But no, he couldn’t do that, that was never him, he couldn’t do that sort of thing. “I…love you…too…”



And then he was gone.



And Blues was alone, he felt like dying, he felt like falling to his knees, simply caving in and crying until the immense sorrow left him. But he didn’t, he did his best to hold himself together, he stood there, staring at the ground silently, trying his best to draw the strength and will to just move, to take his next breath. He would, he knew it would eventually come to him, if he just waited long enough.



! - ! - !

! - ! - !



“…Take a deep breath…”



Lan nodded and closed his eyes, feeling the physician’s hand supporting his back and the cold metal of a stethoscope pressing against his chest. He took in a deep breath and opened his eyes, trying to measure his status in the doctor’s eyes, he could draw nothing from it. He took in another deep breath, his eyes drifting around the room, he looked over at Megaman sitting anxiously in a chair beside the bed, watching the doctor watch him. He wondered if Megaman could catch a cold, the former navi was still damp from the rain and Lan could feel a chill, it was freezing in here…



“One more time.” The man said, Lan immediately began to grow annoyed, wishing the man would take this cold metal off of him. He shivered subtlety, where was the heat?! Lan closed his eyes and took in a deep breath ‘!!’ Then he keeled forward and coughed harshly enough to make his chest ache, it took him a half a minute to get it under control again. ‘Ow…’ Lan’s hand drifted to his chest and he studied the doctor’s face again, this time finding a clear disconcerting look on his face.



Each inhale he took was abnormally deep as though something was stuffed in the bottom of his lungs, his rib muscles retracted visibly with each one. “What?” Lan asked, he could tell the news wasn’t particularly good, “What is it?”



“It’s not a cold or the flu. It looks like you have a pneumonia.” The physician said. “All of that blood in your lungs must have caused it.”



Lan dropped his head and sighed with a sudden birth of frustration. “Aw come on…” he half muttered. “You can’t be serious.”



“I must warn you that this could cause some complications with your…current situation.”



“What do you mean complications?” Lan asked.



“Well… with your lungs in the state they’re in right now, this could deteriorate them even faster. How long have you been breathing like this?”



“I don’t know, a few days.” Lan shrugged, looking completely confounded. “So what’s going to happen to me?”



“Not anything necessarily.” The man tried to reassure him. “We’re just going to monitor you a little closer and we’ll let you know if there’s anything you should really worry about.”



“Yeah, sure.” Lan dropped his head, feeling nothing but awe and mild frustration at his constantly worsening condition. He wasn’t sure whether he should be afraid, or to simply let it go because he could do nothing about it anyway. He felt weak, so weak that sitting up made his muscles tremble with strain, he slowly eased himself back on to the bed and clinched his eyes shut, he was tired, he simply wanted to go to sleep. His thoughts radiated around how much he hated whatever cocktail of chemicals they had flowing through his veins, how was it possible for something to make him feel so horrible?



“I’m going to have to do a chest x-ray to be sure, and then I’ll let you know news from there.” The doctor said. A knock at the door came, and the doctor knowingly looked over his shoulder, “Tammy?” He called out, the door opened halfway and a young girl in blue scrubs peaked her head in. “Could you call radiology, I need to schedule a chest x-ray, high priority-“



“That’s what I came to tell you about r, there’s a major, *major* back up, it seems something’s wrong with the equipment…? Or something, and the computers, everything’s crazy up there. “



The physician gave her a quizzical look, then looked back at Lan. “Excuse me for a moment.” He said, lifting a finger for patience before leaving the room.



“Oh man…” Lan clinched his forehead with both hands, “I just can’t seem to catch a break.” He felt himself dip down in the bed softly as Megaman sat beside him, he could feel how close he was by the way his own body heat seemed to reflect back on to him.



“Don’t worry so much Lan.” Megaman said. “Nothing ever run’s completely smoothly.”



“You can say that again.” Lan sighed again. “You know what…I’m not worried this time, I just want to hurry up and get all this stuff over with. I’m sick of this hospital…” He missed his room, he missed his bed, he missed trying to sneak past his father in the living room…



The door peaked open slowly and Enzan stuck his head in, “Lan?” His expression immediately became relieved, he moved slowly, limping slightly, “Why the hell does you room have to be on the other side of the building.” He nearly collapsed into a chair, grasping deeply for air.



“Enzan?” Lan sat up right and pried his eyes open with visibly difficulty. “Are you ok?”



“I’m fine.” He waved his hand dismissativly. “Zero’s here, he’s in the system.”



Megaman and Lan glanced at each other and then back at Enzan. “We just ran into him outside.”



“Wonderful.” Enzan sank down in his chair and was still, trying to resist the urge to simply fall on to the floor and stop moving until his breath and strength returned to him. “That explains it then I guess.”



“That must be why all the nurse said of that equipment isn’t working.” Lan said, “Where’s Blues?”



“Fighting him right now…” Enzan’s expression took on a tent of anger and frustration at this. ‘Damnit! I should be there! But I can’t do anything, I can’t even see them.’ He’d never felt so utterly useless. “Your dad’s on his way, he says he has a plan. That’s all I could get out of him before the call dropped.” It was futile to try and call him again, with Zero in here and the storm outside.



Lan rubbed the back of his neck and looked up idly at the ceiling. “I don’t get it, he hasn’t infected anything else, this is the first time any of us have seen him in like a week, why would he come here?”



A silence followed, creating a heavy oppression on the room. The sound of rain pounding against the window seemed to grow louder, and a rumble of thunder could be heard echoing outside.



“I think I know why…” Megaman finally said, he crossed his legs and slumped forward, staring at his lap. “He’s looking for us to kill him…”



! - ! - !

! - ! - !



Tadashi wasn’t completely sure what to expect when he came down from the 10th floor where his office was and took his first step out of the front door. But he honestly could say he didn’t expect what he walked into. A violent stream of rain came pounding down from the sky on to him, bursting winds swept past him, feeling as though they would rip his clothing away, and sending the cold rain pounding into his face. He lifted his arm to his forehead to keep the rain from his eyes and keep his glasses from falling, he had to tilted his umbrella towards the winds. It was dark, even though it was near noon, even with the streetlights. He lifted his head and peered outward, testing how far his vision would reach.



The tall skyscraper was at the edge of two main roads, being downtown nearly every building was at a main road. He could just make out the street signs not more then 100 feet away for him, Stark, and Emarry rd. “Damnit…” He mumbled to himself as he looked down Stark, he could see a large pool water had accumulated there, he wasn’t quite sure how deep. Even the road right beside him, Emarry, was coated with a lest a few inches of muddy water. It seemed a month of nearly non-stop rain had taken it’s toll on the city’s sewer infrastructure.



Tadashi slipped his suitcase under his arm and began for the parking garage, the rain began pelting his side, a harsh, continuing wind sent ripples through his clothing and pushed them to the opposite side. “I keep losing things…where is my jacket.” He grumbled, his eyes idly watching the still water that covered the road. “Why do I always lose things when I-“



There was an intense flare of blue light that flooded everything around him, making him flinch. In a split second the light dimmed them pulsed brighter, a loud buzzing, sizzling, electrocuting sound. He turned in just enough time to see a bolt of lightning that was connected to a light pole fade and a rain of bright sparks falling to the ground along with a few power lines. “…” He stood up strait and looked around, watching with a quiet interest as the signs of local stops flickered and dimmed before going dark one by one, the streetlights in the area followed. “!!” Tadashi flinched again when he looked behind himself, expecting to continue gazing out upon the dark buildings but instead he found himself staring a soaking wet Zero in the face. “Z-Zero?”



“Tadashi…” Zero’s eyes were sullen and his head down cast, his body was slumped slightly, holding a depressing demeanor to it.



Tadashi closed his eyes and breathed a small sigh of relief. “What are you doing out here? It’s pouring!”



Zero looked at him with a small bit of pride in his eyes, “Even now your worried about me. You’re an amazing guy Tadashi…” Zero smiled faintly. “Why are you worried about me, you’re the one that could catch a cold.”



“All of this rain and wind, it has to be doing something to you.” Tadashi felt himself starting to softly smile also.



“What could happen to me? But wouldn’t that be ironic, a virus catching a cold?” Zero’s laughed a dark laugh at this, and for a moment his eyes weren’t as wonton and sullen.



“I don’t know, maybe you’d rust.” Tadashi said, he took a few steps forward until he was face to face with Zero, then he lifted the umbrella up above both of their heads.



Zero closed his eyes and his smiled brightly. “Thanks.” He said, the he opened his eyes and a sheepish look came on to his face. He took special note of just how much higher Tadashi had to reach to cover both of them with the umbrella. “You are so short!”



Tadashi’s face grew an almost childish defensiveness to it, it reminded Zero of Lan. “I am not short, I’m a normal height for my weight.”



“But not for your age.” Zero responded with a playful snideness. Then he laughed, and it felt strange, he hadn’t laughed in so long, and to actually feel happy for a moment, at a time like this…



Tadashi adjusted his glasses. “That’s not funny.”



Zero lifted his hand and rested it on Tadashi’s head to simply emphasize the height difference between them. He buried his fingers into the wet brown strands, his smile becoming distant and forlorn when he looked at Tadashi.



Tadashi was annoyed at his actions at first, but those feelings quickly faded, his eyes drifted closed and his senses scattered in the rain. A silence developed between them, both became focused on the storm, the harsh winds that pushed against them, the driving winds partially blocked by the umbrella. Thunder burst from the dark sky like an explosion, making both of them flinch from the monstrous noise.



“Zero…” Tadashi sighed and fought himself not to look away. “What are you doing?” A question.



“…I’m not doing anything.” Zero said, he slowly and reluctantly removed his hands. “I’ve been trying. I’ve been trying to stay in control of myself but…I’m fading.” A shameful admission.



“You always were pessimistic.” Tadashi said with some audible frustration. “You-“



“That’s all there is to it Tadashi.” Zero cut him off, he had to speak loudly over the rain, but the sound reminiscent to thousands of scraps of metal falling to the ground was enough to drown out depression in his voice, and the instability. “Pretty soon there’s not gonna be anything left of me. You have to know that.” Depression.



“…” Tadashi looked away this time, his eyes focusing on the haze of rain pounding into the many puddles with wide ripples. “Why are you here?” The same question. probing deeper.



“What do you mean?”



“Why did you come *here*?” Tadashi asked, his voice lowered, Zero almost didn’t make it out over the rain.



“I came here…” Zero paused and looked down. “To see you I guess, I don’t know.” Muddled in confused feelings.



“Why didn’t you just leave? Just go somewhere…” As painful as it was, as heavily as that thought weighed on Tadashi, he genuinely wished Zero had just done so. It would be easier knowing he was alive somewhere even if he never got to see him again, easier then the alternative that was enviably coming. Tadashi watched the dark clouds illuminate with a flash of lightning, followed by a harsh burst of wind that made his body shutter and an eruption of thunder loud enough to send vibrations through his body. “You can’t want to die…” Tadashi just didn’t believe it anymore, not after everything that’s happened. It couldn’t be, not after the way he acted and spoke. “You can’t…” A blind shot at reaffirming his hopes.



Zero watched Tadashi begin to tremble slightly from the cold, and he began to wonder why he wasn’t wearing a jacket or something. Zero wrapped his arms around Tadashi and hugged him tightly, he knew he was wet but a wet body was better the none at all… But that wasn’t the reason he was doing this, he was keenly aware of it, it was just an excuse. “Your so forgetful Tadashi, It’s cold and wet out here, you could have at least worn a jacket. Where you in that much of a hurry?” Retreating from hope for the fearful certainty of it’s failure.



“Zero?” Tadashi didn’t move, he stood idle, holding the umbrella over their heads, staring over Zero’s shoulder at the almost fogy haze the mass of rain veiled the world in. “Your wet.” Allowing the retreat, wanting the retreat.



“Sorry about that…It’s just…” Zero clinched his eyes shut and fought back the tears burning in his eyes, he buried his face into Tadashi’s neck and basked in the warmth there, memorizing every detail. The way he felt, the way he smelt, how soft his hair was against he side of his face, the cool metal of his glasses, the way he had to bend down to adjust to their height difference. But he didn’t mind that, he loved Tadashi’s shortness. “I never got a chance to do this and I always wanted to.” Please Tadashi, Zero thought, don’t make him let go now. If he had any compassion at all for a person who slowly dieing inside their head then he would let him stay like this, at least for a little longer.



Tadashi dropped his briefcase, closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around Zero, letting his forehead rest on Zero’s shoulder. He never realized just how much taller Zero was then him until he did that. He wondered just what other things he never realized about Zero and struggled to think of them all in this moment. A small silence followed, the comfortable, sentimental gap was filled with the turmoil of the storm. The rain was a thousand loud whispers, the wind was cold howl, the thunder was explosive. Tadashi could hear the water that flooded the streets splashing against the curb.



Zero smiled that fake smile he always had, speaking with a laugh even when just smiling was a challenge. It was habit for him, to slip back into this way of acting so it wouldn’t seem as though all of this hurt so bad. To try and ease Tadashi. He did it with out thinking, it was almost a part of his personality. “I noticed you stopped saying you’d save me.” Distancing himself from hope he once believed.



Those words felt like a dagger in stomach. He’d been thinking about that constantly, it tormented him, echoing in his head with a horrible guilt eating inside of him. And when he heard Zero say that, something in him nearly broke. His arms clinched around Zero tighter, silently begging his forgiveness Tadashi stepped back and let go. ”I’m…so sorry.” He said, his voice becoming depressed in a way Zero had never heard, his head dropped and his eyes trembled, clearly wanting to look away despite Tadashi’s best attempts to fight the urge. “ I’m sorry.” Begging for forgiveness.



It was painful to watch Tadashi try to keep his composure, it hurt to see him so sad and it was even worse to know it was all for his sake. He felt ashamed, ashamed for being what he was more the ever now, because Tadashi had tried so reverently to change what he was, to save him from himself. He felt as though Tadashi had to hate him now, because there was nothing left of him but the virus, a thing only good for being despised. Zero reacted just about instinctively, his mask intensified, a small smile came to his face as he tried his best to remove some the depression and guilt from Tadashi. “Don’t feel so-“ He was quickly cut off.



Seeing Zero slip back into this defensive facade only made him feel worse. That was what Zero did, he hated himself and he hid himself. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Please forgive me…” Desperately trying to make Zero understand how sorry he was, how hard he’d tried, how hard this was for him to let go of his hope.



“Tadashi no, don’t do this!” Trying just as hard to dispel Tadashi’s guilt and sadness.



“I promised you. You have to know I don’t want to give up, I kept trying, I kept trying but there was nothing. I couldn’t find anything.” A soul crushing guilt



Tadashi felt his body trembling for another reason. This had to be the hardest thing he ever had to do, he’d tried as hard as he could to save his friend, but he couldn’t find anything. Damnit…he shouldn’t have made that promise. But he wanted to save him so badly, and he didn’t want Zero to give up on himself either.



“This isn’t your fault. There’s nothing you could have done, I wasn’t expecting you too.” Zero said desperately, wanted do badly to erase that look he saw on Tadashi’s face. It hurt, it hurt so much! He wished he had never had a life, he wished what freak accident had created him never occurred. Why was he born in the first place? He was fated to die from the beginning, a malicious worm like him couldn’t have possibly been part navi. When he thought about it, it was amazing he lived as long as he did. “I’m a virus, I always was, you can’t change that.” Embracing the defeat of one’s self .



Tadashi sighed, clinching his head with both hands. The umbrella was pulled back by the wind far enough to be ineffective and the both of them where pounded with cold drops of rain. “That doesn’t mean you have to die.” Tadashi said. “Why don’t you just leave, go some where, I know you don’t want to die…Why…Why do you keep coming back?” Desperately clinging to Zero’s life.



Zero didn’t respond immediately, his eyes shifted away from Tadashi, looking at anything but the man. “Why’d you hide it from me?”



“?” Tadashi looked at him questioningly. Lightening flashed brightly, making him squint and tense in anticipation for the thunder he knew was coming. “Hide what?”



“I know you found something that could kill me, I know you did, that’s what you do. There’s no way in all that work you didn’t find a way to kill me.” Zero said almost resentfully. “Why didn’t you just do it!? You knew there was no way to save me, do you know what I went through! Do you know how horrible it feels to be doing all of this and not being able to stop yourself!? You…You let me have all of these feelings I have for you guys, just to end up like this. Why’d you put me through this…” Resentment.



Zero felt tears burning out of his eyes, mixing inconspicuously with the cold rain pelting his face. Blues…Tadashi… Maybe it he was a little angry at Tadashi for failing, for making him believe there was something that could be done for him. He’d invested a small part of himself in that hope, waiting for Tadashi to find something. He wouldn’t have been angry if Tadashi had found something that had failed, but to come with nothing at all?



Tadashi finally looked away, he couldn’t stand to look at him anymore, he couldn’t possibly talk about what he was going to talk about and look Zero in the eyes. “You have to understand what your asking me…It’s not that easy, you’re my friend, why would I possibly want to kill you?” Tadashi said sullenly. “Could you just kill Megaman or Blues?” A proportional relation.



“…”



“I don’t understand Zero…Why…why do you keep coming back? Why don’t you just leave, go somewhere you can’t do any harm….I don’t think I can go through with this.” Indecisive with fear and pain.



A silence followed between them, an awkward, painful gap filled with rain and thunder.



“…You know…” Zero tilted his head back and looked up at the sky. “I never understood it…you always got this distracted look on your face when it rained, and you always started looking out the window and you’d always seemed distracted by it.” His words seemed to come out of nowhere, Tadashi thought that he was simply avoiding things at first. “I always felt like you were hiding something.” Zero smiled. “I guess I knew you too well, you always were hiding something…” He paused for a moment, then looked back at Tadashi. The man had moved close to him again, holding an umbrella over his head with a particular care. The tears on Zero’s face were more apparent now. “I’ll tell you why I keep coming back if you tell me why you always zone out when it rains.” Morbid curiosity.



Tadashi stared at him, a clear indecision playing out on his face.



He always could talk to Zero, he always felt as though he could open up more when he was with him. Zero has probably seen more of him then just about anybody else. He trusted Zero in a way, he knew Zero wouldn’t hold anything against him, nothing he said or did could change the way Zero looked at him. He wondered what exactly went through that mind of his, what he thought about when he was by himself, what things he thought about deeply. Tadashi wished he could have had time to figure it out. “Your really going to make me do this?” A defensive reluctance.



“Yeah.” Zero nodded, “I want to know.” He wanted to know more about Tadashi, he always did. He was drowning here, struggling to take in as much as he could before he went down. Maybe it was pitiful, trying to live now that his life was over, why didn’t he ask this sooner? Why didn’t he do a lot of things…He felt ashamed of just how pitiful he was. The sincerity was clear in his eyes, he didn’t hope to accomplish anything in this, he simply was curious.



Tadashi sighed, his hands reached up and subtly readjusted his glasses. He felt the wind shift and the rain began to pelt his back, his shoulders and halfway down his chest was soaked, his clean white shirt cling to him and became half transparent, showing his t-shirt underneath almost clearly. “Well… Remember I told you about that time I was hit by a car?” He said. His hand drifted down from his glasses to his collar and began tugging on his tie, losing it with sharp pulls.



Zero nodded. “Yeah. I don’t think I could forget something like that.”



“Well, I didn’t tell you everything about that.”



Zero nodded again, he’d sensed that. “Yeah.”



Tadashi tilted his head upward and stared at the sky with a morbid fascination, one hand was working skillfully on unworking the buttons, a task that had had years of practice. “It was a day like this, I don’t remember too much of it…but it was raining really hard just like this.” He was stalling, he didn’t like stalling. “It was my father.”



Zero gave him an incredulous stare, “What? But...how?” A horrified astonishment.



Tadashi’s wet shirt hung open, swaying softly in the wind, Zero’s stare grew more puzzled. “I don’t know, drunk maybe, my memory is still a little sketchy for everything before and after that. If I remember correctly, from what I was told, I was knocked away a partially, he, however, ran into a pole behind me.” He said. “We were both in a coma for a while, by the time woke up he’d already died.” A silent remembrance.



“I’m sorry.” Zero said. He looked away.



“The only thing that makes me sure it actually happened is this…” Tadashi turned around and lifted up his t-shirt, reviling a large gash across his back. Long healed over with scar skin a different shade of pale pink the rest of his back, it had clearly stretched with his growth, it was oddly shaped, going broadly across his lower back and also stretching up from the center to the bottom of his right shoulder.



Zero froze, his eyes fixed on the old wound. His eyes lowered in a sullen gaze, he seemed to become entranced with it, watching the stray drops of rain that slipped past the umbrella on streams of wind and slid down his skin. “Tadashi…” Zero found his hand slowly reach out and did nothing to stop it as his fingers grazed softly across the skin. Zero could feel Tadashi tense, then slowly relax. “…” Zero pressed his hand against the center of the scar, in his lower back, “I’m sorry…” Residual guilt.



Tadashi would have chastised him for apologizing for something he had no control over, but this time he simply shrugged and watched the rain.



“Tadashi…” Zero moved slowly and cautiously, his entire demeanor was questioning, he wanted to do something but he was unsure of himself. His hands slowly slipped from where they were pressed on Tadashi’s back and wrapped them around his torso. Then he slowly pressed his forehead against the tip of the scar under his right shoulder.



Tadashi closed his eyes and felt him there, for a moment he could feel some of what Zero felt, the depression, the longing for something tangible to hold on to tightly, the loneliness, and empathy. Tadashi indulged himself despite his best attempts not to, he shouldn’t have let Zero hold on like this, it was just making it harder for the both of them. But he couldn’t fine the will to do anything about it, he was wet, he was cold, but still he couldn’t force himself to pull away.



He felt a warm wetness against his back, Tadashi didn’t have to look to know that Zero was crying, he could feel it in the way his body trembled against his back. “The strange thing is…” Tadashi opened his eyes, looking up thoughtfully. “If it wasn’t for the pole, I would have died and he would have lived, there was nothing behind that pole, he would have been fine…It was my father’s life or mine, and sometimes I find my self blaming myself for that.” Guilt.



“…” A stronger guilt.



“You can’t blame yourself for things you have control over Zero.” Tadashi told him. Finally he pulled away and Zero reluctantly released him, he turned around and looked in to his glowering eyes and over his slumping, depressed form. “None of this was your fault. No one is angry at you, no one blames you.” An attempt to relieve that guilt.



“…” Zero only nodded and looked away.



“…And thanks Zero.” Reverence.



“For what?”



“For letting me get to know you. “ Thankfulness.



Zero nearly broke out in to audible sobs, he clinched his eyes shut and bit down on his lip to quell the small cries threatening to break free from his tight throat. “Tadashi.” He couldn’t help himself, he threw his arms around the man and hugged him again, resting his head against Tadashi’s. “Thank you.” He said in a low, trembling voice. “For everything.” His last act was planting a small kiss on Tadashi’s forehead before he backed away, quickly rubbing his eyes to remove the rain and tears. “Your still short.” He said with sad smile.



Tadashi fixed his glasses and closed his eyes. “I ‘m not short, I’m a normal height for my weight.” Subtly reaching out one last time for Zero.



Zero gave him one last look, absorbing everything he could about this moment in a short glance, then he turned, and bolted off into the storm.



Tadashi could tell already that Zero was losing himself again, and he knew where Zero was going to end up.



“…Goodbye Zero.” Goodbye.



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