"I Pray (Roll's Tears)": a Mega Man cartoon short story.
"Mega Man" and all characters therein: copyright 1987-2011, Capcom.
"Mega Man", the cartoon series: Copyright 1994-1997, Ruby Spears Entertainment.

This story is rated "T" for descriptions of a robot "bleeding" oil.

A note: In my stories, robots can cry tears. The reasoning: they blink their eyelids, so obviously, they must be lubricating their eyes. And, thanks to a
slight design flaw, whenever
an advanced robot like Mega Man or Roll becomes upset, the eye lubrication despenser system tends to overwork, creating
"tears" to form. Dr. Light, viewing this as a very human trait, decides to leave this be.

Another note: My inspiration for this story was the final image we see in the Mega Man Complete Works art book, illustrated by Keiji Inafune himself.
I just imaged what this scene would have been like if it was in the cartoon universe and a little darker.

Also, before we begin, please forgive me for my constant usage of elipse's in this story.


This story is told from Roll's first person perspective and narrated by her.
And also, as pointed out above, this story takes place inside of the Ruby Spears Mega Man cartoon universe.


The following takes place after the run of the Mega Man cartoon series.


The year is 20X3


I stand here beside my inventor... my father, Dr. Thomas Light, clasping my hands together below my chin... and I pray.
When I pray, I say nothing, at least not vocally. I pray with my thoughts.
Dr. Light always looks at me funny when I pray. I'm sure he wonders wether or not a robot like me believes in God.
I believe something had to have helped us all get through the past two years... I now pray that same something, whatever it is, gets us through tonight.

Mega Man, my brother... my hero, went out alone to fight Dr. Wily's robots again.
Like so many times before, I volunteered to help him. I can handle myself well in a fight and I know I can be a good robo hero too...
not as good as him though... but still, I've lost count how many times I played a big part in saving the world along with him. Mega even told me he was wrong about me... that I'm a good partner.
But, tonight, he begged me to stay here at the lab, because Wily had created a new vehicle of mass destruction. It looked like a tank... bigger than a SkullTank, but not as big as his Robo-Spider last year.
Like usual, I argued that I should be out there with him, kicking butt just like always.
Mega said it was "too dangerous", just like he always does, and told me to stay home where it's safe.
I eventually gave up and let him leave alone with only Rush backing him up... now I wish I hadn't listened to him. I wish I'd gone.
Maybe I could have stopped this from happening and we'd all be celebrating right now.

Mega stopped Wily... he stopped him good. But, like always, Wily got away. But, Mega himself... he's not doing too well.
He was too busy fighting Dr. Wily's other robots when Wily got in a lucky shot with his tank.
I always tried to block out the possibilty of something bad like this happening to Mega.
It just couldn't happen, because he's everybody's hero... and he's mine too.
But, he's been my hero since before he was Mega Man...

I remember back when my brother was just plain old Rock.
When Dr. Wily had kidnapped us right in front of our father Dr. Light and took us to his horrible fortress in the badlands, I thought we were going to die.
Sure, I put on a brave face, but when Wily almost drilled into my brother's memory core, I was scared for him, so I had to create a distraction.
I called Wily "Dr. Denthead"... that got his attention and he left Rock alone... but then he was about to drill into my own memory core. Just before his drill could touch me, I heard Rock shout "Wait! Stop!"
Rock told him a lie about Dr. Light constructing super warrior bots and Wily bought it. It bought him enough time to take down both him and that creep brother of his, ProtoMan...
I refuse to call ProtoMan my brother. He's no brother of mine.
I couldn't believe Rock told a lie just to save me. From that moment on, he became my hero.
When he became Mega Man, not only was he still my hero, but now he looked like one.
He inspired me to be more than just a housekeeping bot... I wanted to be like him.
And over the past two years, Mega has (sometimes) allowed me to do just that. Sometimes, I got myself hurt out there, but if I could do it all over again, I would, no matter how much it hurt... Just so I could be with my hero... my brother.

Mega made it back to the lab alive... barely.
Rush jetted him into the lab and Mega was barely able to stay upright, his head was hanging down.
His beautiful blue armor was now scorched black and blown apart, exposing his circuits inside. I looked down and saw oil dripping off of Rush's back... my brother was bleeding.
I gasped when I saw him... he never looked this bad after a battle.
As soon as he stepped off of Rush, he began falling to the cold, unforgiving titanium floor of the lab... and for the first time ever... I was the one who was there to catch him.
Usually, I'm the one who ends up in some sort of trouble and he's the one catching me.
I felt something warm and wet soaking into one of my pants legs and the front of my blouse... I looked down and saw that it was his oil... his blood, landing on me.
I almost started sobbing when he looked up at me with luckluster eyes... dying eyes.
But, I managed to keep it in... just like he always managed to keep it in when he was around us after that no good ProtoCreep stabbed us all in the back last year...

After Election Day last year, when ProtoMan pretended to be on our side, Mega always let on that he was fine, that ProtoMan's lies about wanting to be a part of our family didn't bother him too much... but I know the truth.
In the days after ProtoMan's betrayal, I spied on my brother when he thought he was alone, because he wasn't acting right... I expected him to be angry, ready to blast ProtoMan to bits the next time he'd see him... but, that's not what I heard him do... instead, I heard him cry his heart out... every single night, he cried because his no-good brother wounded him.
Mega never knew it, but I was crying with him.
I wanted so bad to give him a hug, to assure him he still has a real family here. A family that loves him unconditionally. But, I was affraid to intrude on him when he cried. I felt bad enough eavesdropping on him already.
Everyday I asked him if he wanted to talk to me about it, but he always said he was fine... he lied... whenever Dr. Light asked though, that's when Mega would talk about whatever was wrong with him.
I wasn't a part of those conversations. He didn't feel comfortable talking about ProtoMan around me.
It's funny, Mega never lets me in on his feelings... but I always open up to him when something's bothering me.
I wish that one day, he would trust me with his feelings and his pain... pain that I know he feels.
I want to help him... if he survives to give me the chance...

Dr. Light and I helped Mega up on the operation table in the lab and Dr. Light quickly plugged an emergency energy regulator into a port on Mega's torso. Dr. Light couldn't find the opening in Mega's armor that covered the port at first, because it was charred black.
He then told Mega he would have to shut him down for now so he could fix him... Dr. Light always knew how painful it could be for a robot to be repaired when he or she was awake, so he always wanted to make sure we felt no pain when we were fixed-up.
I pulled Mega's blue helmet off his head, letting his unruly brown hair show.
Again, he looked up at me with those weakened eyes and said he was sorry for ruining my clothes with his blood... or oil.
I told him it was okay, that I wasn't angry about it... clothes are replaceable, family isn't.
As he spoke, I could tell he was trying so hard to hide the pain he was in... I could hear it in his voice... he was hurting so bad.
I couldn't keep my sadness in anymore and I started bawling my eyes out and could feel my eye lubrication fluid start to leak out from underneith my eyelids and run down my face.
Dr. Light told me once that these are called Tears. He says robots like Mega and I aren't supposed to shed tears, but he never wants to fix it, because it makes us more human.
I apologized profusely to Mega for not being there to help and promised I would be there next time... if there will be a next time.
Mega just smiled half-way, still trying to hide his pain, and tried assureing me, "Don't worry, sis... I promise, I'll be fine. I'm in good hands."
It was the first time I had seen a genuine smile on my brother's face since... ProtoMan.
Dr. Light shuts Mega down and that charming smile of his disappears and his kind, soulful blue eyes close.
I pray I will see those eyes and that smile again.
I pray to God... or whatever force of good in this galaxy that's listening... that my brother will wake up just like he promised...

Since we were both brought online almost two years ago, I've shared a relationship with Mega that I view as more special than even being brother and sister.
Mega is my best friend... and he's the best best friend in the world.
Ever since I've known him, we've been almost inseperable. We do almost everything together.
I've gone with him on missions, met important people in the world with him and visited children in hospitals everywhere with him and witnessed him give these kids a reason to be happy, even if they don't have much longer to live.
And he has come with me to whatever movie I've gone to see - even tollerating the occasional zombie movie -, every rock concert I've attended
(and he's already promised to go with me to the midnight launch of Captain Fallout's new album) and even went with me to the mall whenever
Dr. Light would allow us to spend some money... he's such a gentleman, he always offers to carry my shopping bags... always.
Every time we go the mall now, I am reminded of one random act of kindness Mega showed to a total stranger... there was a human mother who didn't have enough money to buy her son a birthday gift and she was so upset... so Mega gave her some of his half of the money Dr. Light allowed him so she could buy the gift.
Mega didn't have to do that for some random person who he'd never met, but he did!
That's my brother... that's my why he's best friend.
It's the things like that that stick out to me when I think of Mega.
Last year, I chose to drop out of Dr. Light's university, because I was homesick...and I knew I would miss out on the chance to join in on tag teaming with Mega against Wily if I was still there. But, Mega knew I was kind of down about leaving the university, so one night he took me to go see "Kung Tai Ted 4: Ted vs. Aliens."
I don't know if he wanted to see it, but he did it out of the goodness of his heart only because he wanted make me feel better.
Of course, as always, we ended up getting into another battle with Wily later that night... I never got the chance to thank Mega for taking me...
I might never get the chance now.
I know he took me just because he wanted to see me happy... all he's ever wanted is to make people happy and he never asks for anything in
return, and I love him so much for that... but, he can't be happy himself anymore.
Over the past few months I've watched Mega act normal in public... but when he's home, he just looks so sad, like his heart is broken and he doesn't know how to put it back together again. And it breaks my heart to see him like this, because he's such a good person...

Damn you, ProtoMan!

I pray that Mega can be happy again, just like he used to be.

As I look down on my brother's now semi-lifeless body, I feel new tears running down my face as I think about all of the heartache he's gone through and how much he deserves so much better.
One of those tears lands on my left arm, my utility arm.
As I look upon him, I remember what Dr. Light told us soon after we were both brought online. He said that love is very important and that we should never go a day without telling eachother how much we love eachother.
Mega told me he loved me everyday... I did almost every day. But, some days, I didn't.
The only days where I didn't were when we got into arguments about me joining the team. He stressed that he didn't want to see me get hurt and that he couldn't live with himself if anything had ever happened to me... but at the time, I didn't know better and sometimes got angry with him.
There were times I thought he was jealous that a ladybot could outshine him in battle, and other times I accused him of his being too overprotective.
These arguments always ended the same: I would storm off to my room, slam the door and not talk to him for the rest of the night... but, the next morning, I always felt bad for being so angry at him, especially since he's been nothing but nice to me and treated me with respect.
I always told him how sorry I was and that I loved him.
I wish now that I could go back and not be mad whenever he told me a mission was "too dangerous".
I regret not telling Mega every single day that I love him, because I do, deeply.
I need one more chance to tell him how much I love him...
Oh, God, please don't let my brother die.

Dr. Light tells me that he is about to begin "operating" on my brother and maybe it would be best if Rush and I waited outside for a little while.
Before I go, I want to make sure I let Mega know just much much I appriciate him... just in case...

Again, I open my eyes, and feel the tears escaping as I look down upon you, Mega... and I pray for you.
I pray we can laugh about this tommorrow morning, just like almost every other mission we've been on together.
I pray that I can see that charming smile on your face again.
I even pray that you can tell me to stay home, that the mission is "Too Dangerous" for me again...
But, if we never see eachother again...
you're the best brother I could have ever asked for... you'll always be my hero... you're the best friend anybody could ever have...
I'm so proud to tell everybody I know that you are my brother. And I always will be.
You are the most selfless, honest, generous and kindest person I know... and you're a really good person too.
You're too good of a person to have to live like this... always fighting... always suffering.
One day you will see that everlasting peace you fight so hard for, I know you will.
And it will be beautiful... just like you are... just like your heart and soul.

I love you, Mega... now and forever.

Roll finally unclasps her hands and wipes the eye lubrication that has poured from her eyes as she cried.
With sadness still in her face and fresh "tears" welling up in her eyes, she leans down and kisses her brother on his forehead and tells him "I love you, Mega" one more time.
She didn't repeat her thoughts from her prayer, because she is sure he heard it anyway.
Before she can leave the lab, Dr. Light gives her a hug and assures, "I'm going to make sure he makes it out alive... all we can do is pray."
Roll nods and walks away with Rush, who is whimpering.

Dr. Light works on Mega, Roll stays right outside the lab door sitting on the floor, waiting for news of her brother's condition as Rush sits in her lap.

She prays the whole time.

The End.


Author's notes:
I admit, I got a little teary-eyed when writing this story. This is my first P.O.V. style story as well.
For those of you who noticed, yes "Kung Tai Ted" is a direct reference to Brad "The Cinema Snob" Jones.

Please send a review and tell me what you thought of this story. Feedback is much appriciated.