Mega man Battle Network: Virus mutations

Chapter 6 part 1: Comforter

Getting off the island was fairly easy, the whole possess was amazingly simple. Physically maybe, emotionally and mentally this had been a split of heaven and hell all rolled in to one.

It’s low, and when the situation seemed to be looking up, it got low again, but this time things seemed to be again looking up, with a downside. It was mentally exhausting, this whole week had been tiering.

Lan was torn between overwhelming joy and depression, should he be happy or sad? Megaman has a body, a real, live body, and he was saved, even after Lan had lost hope of his best friend's survival. But Every time he looked at Megaman he thought of Zero, and now when he thought of Zero's death, then he thought of how Megaman looked when he was infected. How much pain he was in, the feelings of imminent death, how he was slowly slipping away, and Zero's complete self loathing. ... Zero started all of this, and it looked as if he resolved it too.

If Zero was still mad at himself for what ‘he’ did to Megaman, or at lest what he thought he did, Lan just hoped that he felt like he set things right. Lan sighed and rubbed the back of his head in a nervous habit, he'd thought about this so much that he was starting to get the two of them confused.

! - ! - !

Lan returned to the train station with Megaman following behind him like a lost puppy, and he definitely was lost. Right now he felt so confused that he barely knew which was way was up. He still hadn't gotten a feel for his new body, Lan even had to help him walk after their hastily escape had left him too dizzy and disoriented to move. Lan had brought he got a ticket for him and managed to help him back to his cabin, noting how heavy he was.

After a trip that seemed longer then it actually was, Lan burst through the door of the small room that lay on the center of the train. Megaman slumped heavily with his arm wrapped weightily around Lan's shoulders, trying his best to hold himself up as best he could but ended up staggering so low that he was at about Lan's height.

“God, your a so heavy.” Lan held Megaman with both arms wrapped around his waist, it took all of his strength to do so. By the time he took the few, short steps to the couch like seat embedded in the wall coming to the end of trip, he was so tired that he couldn't even stand. “Whoaa...!”

Lan lost his balance, and Megaman, who never had any in the first place, both were sent tumbling forward. Megaman landed on his back, the air forceably being knocked out of his gasping lungs when Lan landed on top of him.

A silence followed.

Every other sound was aloud to filter though into the silence, the muffled buzz of the last call sounding from an intercom in the station, the pounding of heavy rain hammering on the exterior of the train and sheeting in distorted waves down the window. Neither of them had thought to turn on the light upon entry, the only light was the distorted orange glow of the ones illuminating the station terminal this train was docked in.

That heavy orange light retreated from where it flooded the window past the sheets of water rolled away as the train picked up speed with one last blow of it's horn and buzz of the intercom. It was replaced by the dimmer light of the moon shining oddly above, frequently inhibited by passing clouds during which time the room was completely dark.

Lan lifted his dripping wet head from Megaman's soaked chest, inhaling deep humid breaths. “Are you ok?”

Megaman lifted his head up from the seat, leaving a small wet spot behind. “Yeah.”

Still to fatigued to think about moving after such a exerting task, Lan dropped his head back down on Megaman's chest, both of them laying silent again in the darkness. Lights flickered through the window from obstruction of the moon's light from things the train passed by.

This should have been a perfect moment, but Lan wasn’t feeling much like it.

“Lan? Who was Zero?” Megaman finally asked, seeing that Lan was obviously sad about him, whoever he was.

Lan titled his head upward towards Megaman as he wrapped his arms around the former Navi. He rested his head on Megaman’s shoulder and tried to explain it in as much detail as possible without thinking about it more then he had to. Every time he did he started to get depressed and his stomach began to hurt.

“Zero was the virus that infected you…”

“Huh?”

“Well...I shouldn’t say that.” Lan corrected himself. He gently pushed himself upward until he could rest his head on Megaman's shoulder. From their he could easily look Megaman directly in the eyes. “After I uploaded you... he started forming off of all the data that was infected by that virus in you.”

Lan closed his eyes and lowered his head, his voice growing subtly softer. “That’s where he came from. “He was….really just like you, only... different. He didn’t know anything about himself except that he was a virus.

I know he felt kinda……He was really guilty and angry at himself was a virus. That’s why he did what he did….” Lan’s voice trailed off thoughtfully, pausing to piece a thought together for himself.

Whatever Lan was thinking about, it made his embrace tighten fretfully. Megaman wrapped his arms around Lan, a worried expression coming on to his face. “What did he do?”

“He sacrificed himself so that I could get to you. He also did something I'm not really sure of so that we could get out of that place….” Lan sighed, staring past Megaman at the blurry light of the window. “I don’t know, I think the reason I got attached to him so much was that he was just like you. He was you, and losing him felt like I was losing you.” Lan closed his eyes to the distorted light just as a cloud passed over the moon and hole room became dark.

He listened intently to the rain out side, his mind couldn't help but muse on how seemed that every time it rained, he would think of Megaman. That premise was now replaced by Zero, not that that was a bad thing.

Megaman gently ran his hands through Lan’s damp hair that matted it self to the edges of his blue head band, still in disbelief about all of this... Not so much disbelief as it was confusion. His mind, his thoughts, his memories, all of them were still fragmented making him disoriented while everything came together and into place. Everything was so scrambled that parts of other memories would show up during another, or when he thought, occasionally other threads of thought would get jumbled in.

He his body was perfectly correct down to the Millimeter, making him taller then Lan by just under a foot. The only problem was that he couldn't use this body correctly yet, he was still getting used to it, everything was calibrating itself to his every attempt at movement. His eyes, his ears, his noise, his sense of touch, everything was easily overwhelmed when he tried to use them in a normal extent, which was why he was dizzy right now from all of the running and couldn't really move.

Nothing was completely set right, leaving Megaman's new body to figure itself out and leaving him helpless for the moment. But it didn't matter to him. Everything, the nauseous dizziness, the scattered mind that made thinking hard, the inability to move correctly, it was all worth it. Simply because right now he could feel Lan, he was holding his smaller, cold, wet body in his arms and for the first time he was actually able to comfort Lan.

And if that meant a disorderedly obscured existence, for how ever long this would last, Megaman happy to have it.

“Don’t worry about him...” Megaman said comfortingly, if Lan was so worried about Zero then Megaman would do his best to comfort him. “He could have found someway to survive.” He told him.

More then half of Megaman was still infected by this virus, one of the reasons this calibration was taking so long. That half of him that had been stripped away in which Zero constructed himself from he could feel on some level that he wasn’t sure of.

“…” Lan wasn’t so sure.

The usually optimistic Lan Haikari couldn’t find the strength to be optimistic now, he was menially too tired .

“Mmm….Well, I may not be Zero, or I may be--Haven’t figured that out yet--but you won’t lose me.” Megaman spoke with a hint of happiness in his voice as he gently ran his fingers through the wet strands of Lan's hair.

The cloud shrouding the moon finally passed, allowing it's blue light to shine in distorted shadows through the window. The room illuminated dimly, it was the brightest in the area underneath the window, shrouding Megaman and Lan in the light and the shadows of cascading rain that came with it.

Megaman smiled warmly down at Lan, his green eyes glimmering with contentment. “Sometimes, you just have to look at the situation in front of you instead of the one behind you.”

“Yeah.” Lan looked up at him with eyes saturated in a forlorn sense of happiness, A gaze which quickly shifted from a few seconds to a few moments.

A small smile appeared almost unwillingly on his face. He was touching Megaman, that fact couldn’t be stressed enough for either of them. Zero was right, he would be happy later, at lest somewhat. He was still sad over him, but he was starting to feel better, that sinking pain in his stomach had even left him.

“Thanks Megaman.” Lan shift lightly, rolling so that he was laying on his back, his hands holding on to Megaman's wrapped around him. “What a day!” Lan sighed exasperatedly, he closed his eyes, feeling inanely joyful in his current position.

“Hmm, you can say that again.” Megaman agreed, quite a finale for 6 days of utter hell.

“What time is it?” Lan asked, laying his head across Megaman’s shoulder.

“Midnight” Megaman said.

Midnight? As in 12 am Midnight?...Lan had just realized what he had done, when he found out it was much later then he expected.. “Oh man, I just left town and didn’t tell anyone. My mom is going to kill me! And my Dad is supposed to be coming home tonight….” Lan said worriedly.

“Your father?” Megaman looked down questioningly, he didn't know anything about that...On second thought maybe he did and just didn't realize it yet. He was still confused.

After the first outburst, how much trouble he was about to be in seemed to seem less threating, he blamed it on fatigue and fading consciousness. “Yeah, I guess I forgot to say something.” Lan was far from sleepy, he was too excited to be, but something about his position was soothing. Lan found himself drifting closer and closer to sleep every moment.

The light faded for the final time as the train descended into an underground passage.

! - ! - !

Lan senses slowly began to awaken from unconsciousness, slowly pulling him out of his sleep, he felt like he was drifting to the surface of deep waters.

First thing he noticed was the sound of rain was gone 'It's...it's not raining...?' , they must have been back in Dentek because it was still raining in Eltgo. He felt the train still moving though, but it would only be 5 more minutes at the most until they arrived at the station.

He was surrounded by warmth, and found himself inexplicably comfortable. Before a word was uttered in his mind, Lan found himself wishing he never had to give this feeling up.

Lan opened his eyes, finding his back to Megaman’s chest and Megaman’s arms wrapped around him just as it was when he fell asleep. “Megaman.” Lan tilted his head back until the view of Megaman came into his sights. Megaman was asleep with his cheeks burred in Lan’s hair and a small smile across his face.

“Wow... he looks...” Lan closed his eyes, trying to burn that image into his mind. “I wish you knew how much I missed you.”

Lan had been in the habit of talking to himself.

“I don't think I could imagine my life with out you.” Lan stared up at the ceiling, shining with the flickering lights of the tunnel outside. “You have no idea how it feel to actually get to touch you...I wonder how it would feel to get to...kiss you...hmm.”

Lan rested his hands behind his head with a sheepish smile forming. “I think I’m going to like this new body of yours Megaman.” Lan said to himself, his voice was sleepy, accented by a small yawn.

“Yeah, I like it already.” Megaman replied drowsily. The sudden response was enough to make making Lan flinch, but an expecting Megaman lifted his head just enough to keep himself from from being hit. “Feeling a little lonely ne?” Megaman asked half jokingly.

“No.” Lan sounded a little unsure, but even more so annoyed at being scared. “Ok, I was a little when you left.” Lan admitted.

“Don’t worry, I’ll never leave you again. I promise.” Megaman said, kissing him on the forehead before nuzzling back in to his former position.

Lan could practically feel the joy. “You really like doing that huh?” Lan asked, happy to let him do it.

“More than you can imagine.”

Lan could even feel the smile on Megaman’s face grow larger.

But it quickly faded, followed by a heavy sigh. “Look’s like it’s time to go.” Megaman said disappointedly, he was hesitant to move.

The train was slowing to a stop, they could feel the momentum reducing. “Already?” Lan blinked. “I never thought I’d want to stay on this thing.” As much as he didn’t want to, Lan forced himself to sit up and pull away from Megaman.

Slowly standing up, he stretched his arms above his head, feeling his clothing had dyed into a mildly damp state. By the time he looked out the window the train had come to a complete stop at the station in Dentek, meaning it was time to go home.

...Not a very promising prospect considering both of his parent where probably worried and waiting for him. Not just one, both of them. How could he explain to them what he was doing? 'Awww...'

Megaman grabbed on to the edge of the seat and pushed himself up on to his feet. He still felt dizzy, but every second he got better, and while he was sleeping the fragmenting process of his mind moved quicker, so by now he had a sense of organization. He was able to walk if he didn't try and run, that range of movement just hadn't been calibrated yet. “Ready Lan?”

There was no stalling, the longer he waited, the worse it would probably be.

Lan nervously nodded and started a slow walk out of the room, his pace wasn't so much for Megaman's sake, but because of his own reluctance.

The two of the left the train, heading down the nearly empty train station. Their foot steeps echoed, only intensifying the empty feeling, as well as thee sense of lateness. Lan came to the glass doors at the head of the station, just before leaving he saw a clock on the wall.

“2:35! Oh man!” Lan tried not to think about it more then he had to.

! - !- !

! - !- !

“What was it like Megaman?” Lan asked, walking at a normal pace beside Megaman. They had the unfortunate luck of catching a very late storm, leaving them to make their way home in the rain. Dentek was really rainy this time of year.

“Well.” Megaman paused to think, trying to recall any of what happened to him after he left the PET. “I was asleep most of the time, Everything is kinda fuzzy other than that because of the virus.” He failed. There was a blank spot after that point to when he woke up again.

“Huh...oh.” With a deep sigh Lan realized that he was standing in front of his home and had been for several minutes. That walk seemed shorter this time on foot then last time on skates, and most of the time he seemed to be moving on auto-pilot.

! - ! - !

Lan slowly opened the door, clutching the knob unnecessary tight, being as careful as he could manage not to make a sound when he did. 'It's all clear...' Lan crept slowly and quietly as possible, waiting for Megaman to pass through the door way before pushing it closed delicately until he heard that small click. He didn't think anything of it being unlocked.

Lan’s mind raced with thoughts as he took slow, silent steps through the living room, trying to think of excuses, would he get caught? Where were his parents? Things of that nature.

Treading past the table in the dark living room, he began to relax a little. Taking solace in the fact that his parents were probably upstairs sleep and by the time they found him he could think of a buyable excuse or lie, which ever came to mind first. 'Yeah, This wont be so bad...' Except for the fact that he was horrible at lying. 'I can do th--'

Apparently he became a little to careless, his hand brushed against the edge of the table making a small noise that froze him and Megaman in their tracks. 'It's nothing.' Lan reassured himself. This may have seemed like a simple ignorable thing, but it clearly wasn’t.

Which became an obvious fact when the light came on.

“!” Lan flinched and instinctively looked to the other side of the table where the light switch was located.

He found none other then Tadashi Hikari was waiting for him, Megaman knew him as his creator and Lan knew his as his father.

He had short brown hair and wore glass, still wearing a black suit from a meeting earlier that day. Which he rushed to catch a flight home from only to arrive and find that his son had gone missing. His mother was worried, but he knew better, which his why he still was wearing his suit instead of changing and sitting in this very spot, that his son had to be up to something.

“Lan.” Tadashi spoke in an voice that seemed to be saying 'almost-but-not-quite'. “I almost didn’t hear you come in.”

Lan silently cursed to himself, why did he have to be so clumsy. 'So close.’ he sighed, taking no comfort in the thought that he almost made it.

Tadashi looked at Lan, then at the person behind him, he was surprised to see the strong resemblance to Megaman. He began contemplating the possibly that that could be the real Netnavi, but dismissing it for the moment.

“Who is he?” Tadashi still managed to ask politely, oh man, Lan knew he was in for it.

Some how, Lan seemed surprised by his question. “That‘s Megaman, don‘t you recognize him?”

His father raised in eyebrow, he wouldn’t put it past Lan to get something like this to happen. “Uh…Hmm…” Tadashi looked over at Megaman who looked back at him nervously, rubbing his head. “I assume that’s what you’ve been doing?”

Lan nodded. This brought up a host of new questions.

“How?”

Lan cringed when he heard his father ask that, he knew it was coming, but still it wasn’t enough time to give a decent answer. Maybe the truth, surly he wouldn’t believe it, but it could buy him some time.

Lan reluctantly handed his father his PET, his eye averted. “Remember that virus that infected Megaman, well….” Maybe the truth wasn’t such a good idea after all, lying would be better. Definitely better. “The people who accidentally created it decided to give Megaman a body to test an anti-virus. It worked I think.” Lan said smiling nervously and rubbing his head.

Megaman looked at Lan, unable to believe that was the excuse he was giving, he could have come up with something better then that. When he realized the expression on his own face he quickly stopped, trying not to give Lan away.

But Tadashi still saw it and knew Lan was lying, honestly he knew Lan was lying before Megaman had given that look. But…Megaman was his best friend, and whatever Lan did, he had to give him credit for ingenuity. If he had the chance to save his best friends life, Tadashi would have taken it too.

With that in mind Tadashi cut a potentially long conversation short, seeing no need to continue. It was 3:30 in the morning, and everyone had to be tired. “Ok Lan, Your completely grounded for…” Tadashi watched as Lan became nervously anticipated. “For 1 day. Your mother was worried about you.”

Lan looked, completely confused by the punishment, while Megaman looked pleasantly surprised.

“Huh?…What about school?”

“Completely grounded, you can’t leave your room for 24 hours.”

Lan didn’t know if this was a good thing or a bad thing, he had the day off but….Well, he could see no downside to this, his Dad had let him off the hook, and gave him some time off so to speak... He did didn't he? Lan was thinking he may have missed something to this punishment. “Alright then.” Lan said, heading for his room before any stipulation could be added. Megaman silently followed.

“Oh, and I need to speak to Megaman.

! - ! - !