Reverie

The wind tugged at Proto Man's scarf as he stood, perched on the roof of some building near the edge of the city. From here, he had a good view of the cityscape spread out before him. The streets moved with traffic, glittering in the sunlight. It would be noisy at street level, but up here, at the moment, the sound of the wind was the only thing he could hear. He generally preferred it that way.

Proto Man was standing perfectly still. He couldn't do anything about the incessant distress alerts in his systems except ignore them, but the pain was usually only noticeable when he moved. Usually. Even then, he could ignore that too much of the time. He'd become very good at it. Still, no sense aggravating it when there was no need.

Dr. Light had been after him again to get repaired, the last time they'd spoken. It wasn't the first time his father had brought that up, of course. He'd probably keep begging Proto Man to let him fix him until the very end. Not that it would make a difference, in the end.

Proto Man had answered the same way he always did. "Thanks, but there's no need. I can look after myself."

"Don't talk like that," Dr. Light had pleaded. "You know as well as I do that you won't last much longer unless your systems are fixed." Proto Man had shrugged and turned to go. "Why won't you let me help you?"

"I have my reasons," he'd muttered. He'd been about to teleport out, but had stopped when Dr. Light insisted, "I don't want you to die. None of us do."

Proto Man had looked back at him. "Does Mega Man know about this… about me?"

Dr. Light had shook his head. "No, but if he did, he'd say the same-"

"Don't tell him," Proto Man had interrupted. "Please. At least not until after I'm gone." He'd then disappeared before Dr. Light had a chance to respond.

It was possibly more weakness than he cared to show, but he had to be sure. It would be hard enough on Mega Man when his brother was dead. Making him anticipate it was the last thing Proto Man wanted to do. Besides, if Mega Man found out, he was sure to join in pleading for Proto Man to let Dr. Light fix him. While Proto Man didn't really doubt the strength of his own resolve, that was one test he didn't want to put it to.

There had been a time when he'd assumed that Mega Man couldn't care that much about him. They'd never officially known each other, after all, and originally, his brother had encountered him as often as an enemy as a friend. That had changed after the Dark Man incident.

Truth be told, it hadn't bothered Proto Man that much that Dr. Wily had a knock-off running around framing him. It wasn't like he cared what anyone thought about him, after all. Besides, Mega Man would doubtless deal with it soon enough. It was when he realized that Mega Man wasn't dealing with it, that he was desperately near getting killed because he couldn't bring himself to fight back against what he thought was Proto Man, that he had intervened and broken the masquerade himself.

He hadn't stayed to talk, either then or shortly afterward when he'd helped Mega Man get himself and Dr. Light safely out of the collapsing fortress. When he'd quietly stopped near the house later to assure himself that they'd gotten back safely and seen Mega Man by himself at the edge of the yard, he'd been about to disappear again without calling attention to himself.

However, Mega Man had spotted him first, and called out. "Proto Man! Wait!"

Proto Man had turned back, partly in surprise. "I wasn't sure you knew my name."

"Of course I know who you are."

The change in phrasing wasn't lost on him. "Dr. Light told you." It wasn't a question.

Mega Man had nodded. "Did you think he wouldn't have? You're one of us, after all."

"I'm on my own now," Proto Man had asserted. He'd started to step away.

"Why do you always do that?" Proto Man had been surprised to hear that Mega Man's voice was upset. "Never talking? Always disappearing on me? Why don't you come back to stay?"

"I have no reason to," he'd answered, somewhat at a loss. "I chose to leave. Besides, why do you care?"

"I care because you're my brother. We're supposed to be allies…aren't we?" Mega Man had looked away. "And today, I thought that you'd…" His voice trailed off. He'd looked back, and Proto Man had been shocked at the raw emotion on his face. Had Dark Man's deception hurt him that badly?

Remembering the way Mega Man had nearly let Dark Man kill him before learning the truth, and the furious scream with which he'd attacked the revealed Wilybot even as Proto Man had left the scene, Proto Man had realized that he should have figured this out already. Obviously Mega Man did care, and deeply.

After a moment of hesitation, Proto Man had removed his helmet. It was the only time he'd ever deliberately chosen to look someone straight in the eyes, with no visor hiding his own. "I'm sorry about what happened," he'd said plainly. "Maybe I should have stepped in sooner. Look, I'm not the sort to stick around. I left this place because I want to be on my own, and I'm going to keep being on my own. But," he'd added, "there is one thing I can promise. When you do see me, I'll always be on your side."

Mega Man had nodded, and, after a few seconds, smiled at him. "Thanks, Proto Man. Then I'll always be glad to see you." Proto Man had given him a small smile in return, before putting his helmet back on and teleporting away.

He'd been helping his brother, sometimes in one way, sometimes in another, ever since then. But then, really, he'd helped him out before that. Even back when they'd first crossed paths, when Proto Man had been working for Dr. Wily and had been ordered to go get in Mega Man's way and make things difficult for him, he'd surreptitiously helped him out on the side. Of course, he'd known who he was fighting against, even though Mega Man clearly hadn't known who he was at the time. Luckily, it hadn't occurred to Dr. Wily that Proto Man would care.

Dr. Wily. It still gave Proto Man chills to remember waking up with the man standing over him. Of course, at the time, he hadn't recognized it as a bad thing. Indeed, he'd been pleasantly surprised to wake up at all. When he'd finally succumbed to the agony of his faulty reactor and collapsed, he'd thought that it was the end.

Instead, he'd woken on a table in an unfamiliar lab, with this mustached man by his side, glancing between him and the nearby computer screen. The pain had been gone, and the man was nodding in satisfaction as he muttered to himself. "New reactor compatible and functioning. Output 94%... for now. Good enough. Now then…"

"You repaired me?" Proto Man had asked slowly.

The man had glanced at him. "That's right." He'd acted as if the question were only a brief distraction.

Despite that, Protoman had questioned further, "Who are you?"

"My name is Dr. Wily." Clearly he didn't mind introducing himself.

Proto Man had sat up. He could feel that the inherent flaws, while no longer a prime influence, were still there, but this man had done the best he could, and more than could have been expected. "Then, Dr. Wily, I owe you my thanks… and repayment." Dr. Wily had looked over in some surprise at that. "Tell me what I can do in return."

"You're offering to work for me? I must say, I haven't heard that before."

Thinking he understood, Proto Man had explained, "I was on my own. I have no other obligations. There's no reason I can't devote my time to doing something for you."

Dr. Wily had still seemed nonplussed by this, but slowly he'd started to smile. "Well then, this could be interesting."

It had only been later, when Proto Man came to understand better who he was dealing with, that he realized what a narrow escape he'd had. If he hadn't happened to catch Dr. Wily's fancy with the offer, the mad doctor's next step would of course have been to reprogram him, as he normally did to any potentially useful robot he got his hands on. Luckily, Dr. Wily had been willing to give a voluntary recruit a try. Luckier still that by the time Proto Man had started to realize how little he cared for what the man was doing, he'd also recognized the wisdom of keeping silent about it- until he actually made his move and abandoned Dr. Wily's service, disrupting his current plan in the process.

He wouldn't forget that he'd been so dangerously, unknowingly close to a fate worse than death. Nor would he forget that the primary service required of him at the time had been to try and soften Mega Man, his own brother, up for Dr. Wily to kill him. It was a steep price for a few more years of life.

And there had never been any doubt that it was only a few more years. Completely fixing the problem was beyond Dr. Wily's skill, and again, like the first time, Proto Man's condition had slowly but steadily gotten worse. Now, after so much time had gone by, he knew he wouldn't last much longer.

Well, so be it. Yes, technically Dr. Light should be the one person he could implicitly trust, but he still couldn't bring himself to take the risk. The possible cost of letting someone repair him was too great to chance, and he had made peace with the fact of his own impending demise a long time ago.

The city spread beneath him. Beyond his current view, some miles outside the far edge, lived his family. Mega Man, who trusted that he would always be there when needed. Dr. Light, still hoping against hope that he'd change his mind and come back. But Proto Man stayed where he was, alone with the keening wind.