AN: Hello, good-bye, I'm finishing this up at 6 in the morning after five hours of sleep. I apologize for any mistakes, but I'm going to be gone for a bit and wanted the chapter out before I leave. I may change some things around later.

A Dreamer in Moonlight

Chapter 1

Roll

"Dr. Light!" She called for the third time in the past five minutes. She jammed her hands onto her hips, staring sternly down into the entrance to the lab as if she were admonishing her father rather than the dim stairway. Either the man was so engrossed in something and really didn't notice her yells or he could hear her and was blatantly ignoring her.

Roll huffed short-temperedly, glancing over her shoulder at the plate of food growing cold on the table. No, she wouldn't have it: If the man had his way he'd never leave his lab. She was going to at least make him eat his meals upstairs.

She made up her mind and started down the stairs, careful not to trip on any wires at the landing. It was dim in the lab, lit blue only by computer screens. Roll hadn't been down here much lately; with her father's work on his newest creation reaching a fever pitch, good-tempered or not, he didn't take kindly to any distractions—like a bot frantically trying to clean dust off of his monitors. If she was particularly unlucky, and Dr. Light was particularly energetic she'd find herself leaning over her partially unfinished brother for upward of ten minutes while her father discussed his progress.

Yes, Roll had not been down here in a while, but she knew where her target was. She made her way directly to the slab where she and several of her brothers had been made—including her youngest brother. The housekeeping bot halted to take in the scene before her: Her father was passed out in his desk chair, his head resting on the space between X's left side and the edge of the table—there was quite a lot of room, given most Lightbots were bigger than Blues, Rock, herself, and X and had been created on that table—she would have been concerned if she couldn't hear Dr. Light's snoring from here.

Roll turned her attention to X then, satisfied that her father was sleeping and not ignoring her. The infant robot was offline, but it was really more of a doze than sleep. He could wake at any time it seemed: No wonder her father had remained down here rather than returning to his own bed to get a good rest. It would be a travesty if the child woke alone.

Well, there was no time to admire how adorable X was, or marvel at how he looked like an older Rock and Blues out together, there was dinner getting cold on the table. She stepped up behind Dr. Light and put a hand on his shoulder, "Dr. Light? There's dinner on the table…. Wake up, you can't keep sleeping like this, you'll hurt your back."

The doctor woke up with little reluctance, sitting up immediately and looking at X rather than her, as if he'd thought X had been the one speaking to him. But X wouldn't be speaking to anyone for quite a while now if her calculations were correct. Dr. Light glanced back at her, then rubbed at his eyes and uttered a great yawn.

"I'm late for dinner again? I'm sorry, Roll," he chuckled ruefully, as though amused by her annoyance. "I promise once we've got your brother situated I'll be timelier."

She nodded but looked a little skeptical, "Things won't be the same though. I certainly hope he will come when I call." All of the Lightbots except her seemed to like dallying until the last possible moment, especially when chores were involved. "And I hope he doesn't track mud like Rock."

Dr. Light chortled again as he made his way up the stairs, leaving Roll behind. She made no motion to follow him. "Well, Roll, it'll be up to you to teach him important things, just like Rock and I."

The Robot Master considered that even as her father disappeared from view. X was the first non-industrial Lightbot to be built in…since she and Rock were born, and even then they had purposes as assistants. X would be completely without motive or drives.

Important things…? She moved closer to the infant robot, leaning over him as best she could. He really did look like Rock, and there was no denying the…Blues-ness of him either. But she knew that underneath his eyelids his optics were green; X wasn't Rock, or Blues, he wouldn't be like any of them, and they were all determined to make sure of that.

"I'll teach you to cook," she told him suddenly, her expression serious and thoughtful. "And I'll teach you to clean. I know it doesn't sound very spectacular, but I can't teach you to fight, or defend yourself like Rock or Blues. Sometimes, when you can't be a big help it's good to do little things instead."

She leaned away then, and went back up the stairs without another word.