Well, I know you're all mad about a long lack of updates, and the fact my muse is dead. Summer has come and gone once more. Since Widower is done(I'm not even going to bother waiting for Stream anymore. Who knows what they're doin now) and since Lines of Reality is plotless and has been discontinued, I slowly made these for your reading pleasure.

Disclaimer: I don't own Megaman. Capcom does.

These are dedicated to Charlow, especially the one with Roll and Dark. Happy birthday, this is the second time we've celebrated it together.

Also, Ohohen had said something a long time ago( I forget what it was) and it was generally the inspiration for Gray. Thank you.

Something she had to live with,

Something that was faded,

Something that wouldn't go away,

Something that defied tradition,

Something that couldn't be broken,

These are the stories that aren't told in fairy tales.

The Problem of Having To Live With It

Maylu Sakurai was smart. She pushed herself to the limits, had to learn what was taught, and had to study that information until she could recite it from memory. Maylu read a lot too. Whether it be a book assigned in class or a manga of her choice, she read it, forgeting the world around her for a brief, too short, moment.

The moments where all the real world's problems were forgotten never came when she read historical fictions. All she got were moments to reflect and make conclusions.

The world hadn't changed that much from 100X or 5X when it came to the people who lived on it.

People were still cruel. Not all people, but many. They lied, cheated, stole, murdered...the list of sins humanity had committed could go on for much longer, possibly forever. It wasn't surprising that Duo was ready to damn their planet into nothingness.

Humans also stood up for what or who they believed in. Maylu could somewhat bitterly remember at least ten times Lan had to come and save her or Megaman had to rescue Roll. When Roll was captured by Plantman, when she was falling to her impending doom, the numerous virus attavks when he was just a novice Net-Savior. At times the only things Maylu could do to repay Lan for watching out for her were fib when he and Megaman had to go delete darkloids or clean up the classroom in his absence.

Maylu Sakurai was strong. Not strong enough to protect herself it seemed, but strong enough to guard others from harm. Maylu had been told she was a voice of reason, questioning what others did, showing them that they were walking into trouble. She and Roll made a tough team, somewhat above average, not in Lan or Chaud's league, but they could hold their own. Well, in most situations they should have been able too, but, fate was cruel.

Maylu Sakurai tried until she couldn't try any more. Oh, how she tried to not get herself into situations she couldn't get out of. But god seemingly didn't like her or he had extremly bad aim when throwing curveballs, because whenever she had picked herself up from the last event that had her silently watching as lives were destroyed, including her own dented existance, another came out of nowhere and knocked her off her feet.

Maylu Sakurai had had enough. After a particularly bad day where she couldn't get a break, she finally waved a white flag, asking god to let her surrender as those well aimed curveballs flew overhead. God didn't notice her and life kept on going.

Maylu Sakurai watched and listened. She watched Lan run off and heard him return. She, in all her watching and listening glory, realized that she wasn't as sad as she once was when Lan first became a net-savior. In fact, every day Lan cancelled, she was a little less dissapointed for a little less longer than the last time. Maylu wasn't sure if she was okay with that, but she could live with it.

Maylu Sakurai had a good life. She had a lot of friends, the greatest net-navi she could wish for, most of the things she wanted, and a lovely house. Her parents were away a lot on business trips, and she did get a bit lonely because her house wasn't a home, but so many people had it worse than she did. This made it all the more confusing when she started crying for no real reason.

Maylu Sakurai loved. She loved until it was impossible to love more. She loved Roll, her parents, her friends, and she even loved her material possessions to a certain degreee. In return for the simple adoration she cast to her beloved ones, she was cared for and loved by everyone she loved, maybe not as much care was sent to her as she sent to them, but she was still loved and thought of fondly. Once again, she could live with it.

Maylu Sakurai ignored the real world sometimes. She focused on the problems the characters in fiction or movies delt with. Ignoring reality was a hidden talent she wasn't willing to proudly show the world she possessed.

Then in the middle of the night, she would cry again. The tears would land on her pillows in steady moonlight timted streams. She was okay she told herself. She was fine. She didn't have the weight of the world on her shoulders. She wasn't Lan, and she wasn't Chaud either.

Why did she cry again? Oh yeah, she didn't know why. She just wept silent tears in the darkness of her room while Roll was asleep and when she should have been dreaming of happier times.

Maylu seriously wondered if she had done something in a previous life. Or maybe she was insane? She was a perfectly happy person. She was healthy, smart, and pretty, or so she was told. She only knew of the problems the world faced. She didn't fight with them. She tried once, but it failed. Oh had it failed. Failed, failed, failed, failed, and failed once again.

What was wrong with her? She should be happy. Not should be happy, was happy, is what she had to tell herself on more than one occasion. If Maylu Sakurai was happy, why was she breaking a little more each day?

"Are you okay?"

Maylu Sakurai made people worry. Roll worried for her, friends worried for her, maybe her parents noticed an odd behavior? Wishful thinking she mused once. And they called her out on her change, concerned for her. But their rewards for their well intentioned questions were smiles and lies produced by a facade that had fooled a good portion of her world. It wasn't the truth and it was unnerving.

"Yes."

Maylu Sakurai was a liar. She even lied to herself, saying that everything would be okay. In truth, it was harder to keep going on each day. She needed people, her friends that were everywhere but where she was. She needed her parents, not aunts or uncles, but her living breathing parents.

It was a dull pounding in her heart. The ache she'd been feeling for so long. It just came up in a giant wave and engulfed her.

She once heard that admitting you have a problem was the first step in recovery.

She had a problem, but she didn't know what it was yet. Many moons would pass before she did, but she reacted surprisingly calm when the answer decided to ponk her on the head one morning.

Maylu Sakurai was miserable and lonely and after realizing that, she breathed a sigh of relief and the world kept going while she lived on seeking help for a problem that she shouldn't have been dealing with.

The Problem of Being Gray

Telsa wasn't a sentimental woman, she would crush evrything that was in her way for a glimse of power. She had in the past too and would probably do the same in the near future as well. That's why, when looking at old photographs and she hasn't the slightest clue where they're from, she notices something.

The photographs she's taken or have had taken of her are faded, faded to a bland gray without any diferent characteristics to seperate them. Well, in her mind the scenery is still vibrant and colorful, but the people are an intirely different matter.

Different in the bad way. Is there any other way to be different?

There weren't friends from school, maybe they were, the lines were blurred and the shapes shapeless. Maybe they were just random photos, she tried and failed to recognize anything that would spark a memory, something, anything to give her a clue. Nothing came to mind.

Telsa hated pictures, she was thirty and had every right to. The damn mess her beloved father had left her, the company she unfortunatly had to call her own, took away the beauty she once treasured, and she noticed. Of course, it was one thing for her to notice, and another thing all together for people, strangers, or even ghosts from the past to notice.

It wasn't pretty when you commented on Telsa's looks in a negative manor. There was hell to pay and it was given rather happily, in threats and misery and sparks flying from the gray-green eyes she was rather proud of. There was too much brown and blue in the world.

The world was faded, a jagged woman's opinion. In truth, the world hadn't faded over the years, probably got brighter and brighter until it outshone the sun and stars and the moon as well.

Telsa sometimes hated the world. No, no, she hated the perople who lived on it. They were the faded ones, the ones who didn't glisten. In her opinion, she had dimmed down just a shade as well.

She would never know what others thought though, what others looked at when she saw a world that was starting to turn gray. You can't see the exact same thing as someone else, couldn't tell what they were really thinking.

Damn, it might have been the one thing that creeped her out.

The Problem of a Wandering Thought

Once again Yai sighed and leaned back into her father's plush chair as her thoughts wandered from the game she was making in her father's office and on to her friends and that book they were prattling on and on about. It was kinda ironic how she wasn't the one prattling, but after experiencing it from the other side, she didn't want to go back.

Yai's thoughts were banished to the depths of her mind. The game was complete, but missing something. She wasn't sure if she could send it out for mass production and know it didn't fit her standards. Yai sat back up and started typing on the keyboard once again allowing her thoughts to wander.

It all started when she read that stupid book. She hadn't really been intrested in it, but her friends, jerks that they were, had forced it upon her. They thought it would make her think. It made her think why she didn't act like a three year old and kick them in the shins, and she told them this, but once again, her answer wasn't amusing nor was it what they were looking for.

No, this was a book that should have taught her how to look past the colors of the world and to quote her pal Kana "See past the colors that the rainbow doesn't show us. See the ruby sea, adore the saphire sky, lay in the soft emerald grass."

Why did she need to see pass the little rainbow that was her life? She liked having real rubies, saphires, and emeralds in her hands, not blades of grass.

Why couldn't her friends understand she wanted something stable, not their little light show. Until her new game came out on the shelves and she could see how the profits went, Yai couldn't afford to look at anything beyond that rainbow. Maybe later, maybe when she left her life and went back to Den-Tech for a vacation she could pause, reflect, and rinse.

One day, she wouldn't get the chance to look at the light show, she'd be in contol of her father's company. The downside to being the apple of her father's eye...Wait a minute.She'd be doing all this boring work all her life, she needed that light show. It was now or never, and now was leaving the station, quickly approaching the past...Inspiration.

She could add a little of this and another character and the game would be perfect. Eureka! Now, Yai decided it be a good idea to go on a picnic with her friends and see if the sky was red and the sea was emerald green while the grass was the saphire's dark blue.

Now who thought wandering thoughts were that bad.

The Problem of Getting Locked Up Without a Prince to Save You

When she had been younger and had escaped the boringly unpleasent lessons she had to suffer through, Pride had saw the jewels that belonged to her mother. They weren't in clear sight, you'd have to go into a well locked room to get your glimse of them. Pride knew her mother had worn these jewels the night she died, and being close to them made her feel closer to the woman she never met.

Her mother had been beautiful, and it was true Pride inherited her mother'ds pale skin and fair blue eyes. Not her raven hair though. Her mother wasn't royalty by blood, but she was a Queen and no one, not even a Queen by blood could disagree. Why did that car crash have to take her away. So very far away...

Her father was the Creamland's King. One day she would be Queen. Right now she was the little Princess. Doted upon and beloved by her people, Pride enjoyed slightly picture perfect begining years. If only mother hadn't passed away...nothing can be solved with what ifs and questions to answer questions. As Pride grew older, wiser in the ways of life, she was shielded from the real world, the one she actually wanted. Friendless and annoyed for her royal status and the rules and regulations that came with it, she occasionally wanted to verbally snap at evryone around her. Pride smartly bit her cheek and allowed her pesky bodyguards to follower her around for a good part of her life.

The one day, she and her bodyguards made a trip to Den Tech city. She had met Lan Hikari, and she had finally had a friend she so deperately wanted. That led up to more friendships, and possibly something else with a soldier from Sharro who, if tradition went as it should, she'd have never met or even felt something for.

Pride had always thought of herself as independent, a quick thinker on her feet. She wasn't like a Princess from a fairy tale. She wasn't trapped in a tower and a dragon was keeeping her from escaping.

Princess, how she loathed that title after she had discovered what the real world was like, Pride had a duty to honor, and she would, very gladly when her father passed away. It was just unfair, she could have what ever she wanted, but the one thing she yearned for was slightly out of reach and couldn't be give to her.

The realization came to her, after three, not one, not two, but three, meetings with delagates from other countries that had her crying for a headache medication. She was lacking freedom, that she already knew.

Princess Pride of Creamland wasn't one of those fairy tale princesses, she was just locked away and there wasn't a savior in sight.

The Problem of Smashing the Mirror

Her world was filled with too many goodbyes and too few hello agains. When he said goodbye, she believed she died a little more each time, and it was so infrequent, his return trips back to her, she mused when she was alone for the first time in quite awhile. No Net-Op, no Rush, no Dark...no Dark.

That was a common problem. Years ago, when Megaman became a Net-Savior, she didn't think anyone else could be gone longer that he, but fate had decided to prove her wrong. It proved her wrong by creating him, Dark Megaman, the one should end up falling for.

And man did she fall. It wasn't just a crush, not just something to fill in the gaps of time until she found the one she should belong with, the one she would fit perfectly next to. It was a life altering discovery, a side of her she hadn't known she possessed. It was a little part of her that got locked up with Empress all those years ago. It was something slightly...Dark, wicked. Something a Net-Op who didn't understand would frown upon. Luckily, Roll had Maylu, and fortunately Maylu had realized that keeping Roll in the sheltered life she lead would just destroy her.

So she was allowed to do on with her business waiting for a surprise visit from a visitor who left her breathless and dizzy and just plain wonderful.

Of course, there was just one small problem that plagued their relationship. Megaman. Her boyfriend at the time, the one who's side she should have loyaly stayed at, the one who hadn't suspected a thing. With Megaman, it was safe, secure, something that was there for comfort.

The relationship between the two, it wasn't what she had thought it would be. Roll had pictured something akin to fairy tales, something that was picture-perfect, something untaintable.

What she got, however, was just seemingly perfect, but not right. Not right at all. And although he worked hard at their relationship, tried not to break any dates, any promises, it was inevitable. Once, towards the end, she could have sworn she had even seen a word whispered from his lips, someone's name who hadn't been mentioned in the year they were together.

Medi...

It had been months since she had heard of her once threatening rival. The scary thing was, there was no reaction, just a silent resignation that it was over. Of course it had been over a long time ago.

Roll and Dark just collided one day, when Rush had accidently tumbled into the UnderNet. After he hadn't returned for five minutes, she stepped in to go after her beloved puppy. As soon as she entered something slammed into her with such force, she thought she was being pushed back into the area she had just left. No, it was Dark Megaman, and he just looked at her, wondering what she was doing there. He must have thought he was cute, for he grabbed and kissed her. She had protest at the first kiss but by the end she was mewling for more. That was the first of many meetings, ones that after he had realeased her, weren't forgotten.

She wanted to have that feeling again, although her guilt and inner torment didn't allow her for a long while. She was Megaman's girlfriend, not Dark's, but the even just wouldn't leave her mind, every time she woke up, it came flowing back to her, and she realized that she couldn't stay with Megaman, not anymore.

It hurt though, betray one she thought she loved for a fleeting streak of purple, and Roll wouldn't admit the mirror image clone of her that hung onto Megaman's arm had to demolished.

But it had.

Roll snuck off one night to the looming darkness that was the UnderNet and looked for Dark. She had gotten herself backed into a corner and when she was mere inches from deletion, he and his bruising kisses were there to greet her.

Oh yes, it was over.

She had told Megaman everything, and he had been crushed. A white medical navi could be credited with picking up the pieces though and Roll was happy for them, slightly jealous that they were together more, but when she saw those red eyes of his, she realized how much greater she had it.

"Roll..."

Roll, net-navi to Maylu Sakurai shook herself out of her stupor and didn't mind losing the tranquil peace that surrounded her for him. When he called, she came, and if she got herself into to much trouble in the UnderNet she knew someone had her back.

Roll rushed to great him and didn't notice in the corner of her home page, there wers shards of glass, the colors of pink, green, and yellow.

Wow, that took a really long time to complete. The first one, The Problem of Having to Live With It, was the one I worked the longest on, while I did Wandering in one sitdown. Princees Pride gave me a many problems and I don't thnik it came out the way I wanted it to, although I did give a Raika mention in there, while Roll's at the end was the easiest and the one I enjoyed most although I barely have a good view of Dark Rockman's personality. The order of these from most beloved to least go like this: Roll/Mirror, Maylu/Living, Telsa/Gray, Pride/Locked, Yai/Wandering.

At first, Gray didn't have a character for it, but them I decided to change it around and Tlesa came into mind. I've never written anything for Telsa and after replaying the videogame she was in, I thought I didn't to do bad.

This will not be multi-chaptered, but if I read this through and she lots of gramatic errors in the near future, I'll revise this. That's all I'll do revise this fic. It's over and I'm out. I have another story in the workings and might have it out by Christmas Vacation.

ClampLover-November 29, 2006