Roxanne felt completely numb after Metro Man had returned her to the sanctuary that was her loft apartment. The man of strength, power and speed had taken his time carrying her above the city and the two of them had remained quiet throughout the entire flight. This was no great surprise, what they had just witnessed would surely leave neither of them for the rest of their lives.

He finally landed on the balcony and set her down, and she thanked him in a soft mumble as her feet finally touched the ground. Lifting a hand she busied with her hair, something normal, before giving out a choked sound and shook her head. "I just-just can't believe it." she finally admitted, the first words she had spoken since being spoken down to by the fish who had been cradling his dead companion. "This is happening, isn't it?" she asked, lifting her gaze to the man in gold and white. "I'm not having some, some lurid dream? When I wake up, I... I'll probably be kidnapped all over again and he'll be there with his spikes and, and his… his lasers..."

Metro Man pursed his lips together and looked very uncomfortable, since he wasn't sure what to feel at this moment. Megamind was dead, that should be reason for celebration for anyonebut did anyone ever understand the mutual respect and understanding that he and Megamind shared? There was an unspoken connection that ran deeper than him being the good guy, and Megamind the villain. Both of them had been babies once, sent away from their native homes in hopes of finding a new one to live out their lives in peace. Megamind and Metro Man had been 'rivals' since forever ago, but now that he was gone... it felt as though he had just lost his best friend.

"It's not, Roxy." he said solemnly. "It's happening."

"No," Roxanne whispered, pressing her nails to her lips and shutting her eyes. "No, no... h-he was always just, just a problem! A nuisance! How many of my dates had he ruined? How many of my dresses have been ripped on his devices of death? W-why did..." she choked again, shaking her head and grabbed at her hair in an effort to stop the shaking. "Minion said he loved me."

"He did..." Metro Man said carefully.

"Was that true?" she asked quietly.

"I don't... I don't know, Roxy." he answered. "You got to admit this city is... uh... was ripe for young women of power to kidnap but he always chose you. There was never anybody else. Did he ever... ever give any indication he felt something towards you?" he asked.

"I don't know!" Roxanne answered exasperatedly. "He, he'd just flaunt around as if he was the greatest guy in the world even if he lost to you every single time! I used to, to bring him down and insult everything about him yet he kept trying to get the upper hand no matter what, to, to intimidate me and..." Roxanne felt as though she had suddenly been struck over the head with a baseball bat. How could she have not seen it? The blue alien's eyes had always been readable, yet how could she have not noticed the look of a man who was trying to impress the girl he liked? Had all those spikes, lasers, and death machines been an attempt to finally have her sit up and admit to how impressive he was? It wasn't just a grab for an ego stroke at all... he had lovedher.

"Roxy?" Metro Man asked, since the woman suddenly went white as a ghost.

"All those years." she whispered quietly, hands clasped over her heart that felt like it was going to shatter into a million pieces and pierce her flesh. "I never... I never saw it. How couldn't I see it? Why didn't I see it?" she asked desperately.

"Roxanne it's not your fault." he reached out and grasped her shoulder, "Don't blame yourself for what happened, you know it isn't right to do that."

"It ismy fault!" Roxanne answered, voice quaking. "If, if I had noticed anything worth noticing he wouldn't have, have continued trying to fight you, he could have stopped and we could have..."

"Did you feel anything for him in return?"

She stopped at the question, an uneasy look on her face. Megamind had been a constant thorn in her side since the first time he had kidnapped her. The blue alien would send his Hench fish out to capture her, and how many times had she woken up with a smelly bag over her head? Megamind had entered her life like a grand performer waiting for applause but she had never given it to him. To be honest, once, the idea of him not kidnapping her made her feel uncertain of herself. He had become such a constant in her life, even if a constant annoyance, she didn't know how to feel now that she knew he would never appear before her in a swiveling chair or surrounded by black smoke.

Her heart was hurting like it had when previous boyfriends' had broken it off with her, and yet it was ten times different at the same time. She felt guilty for not feeling the same for him, for not having the answer 'yes' straight away to the question posed to her, and it made her feel sick.

Roxanne burst into tears, and covered her eyes as her grime covered face became streaked with tears. Seconds later Metro Man's arms were around her, pulling her to him for a comforting embrace. She let out a terrible, mournful wail as she dug her nails into his chest and racked from the uncontrollable sobs escaping her. The last time she had ever cried like this had been when she had learned about her father's death years ago. She had cried until she had thrown up, and she knew the same was happening all over again but she knew better than to fight the tears and the sadness. It was all a part of grieving, wasn't it?

At least, she hoped it was.

The body lay sprawled on the floor, neck twisted in a horribly painful position, and the Brain Bots hung around it like a bunch of curious toddlers. One of them lifted its eye stalk to see the mechanical back of Minion's body, and bowged sadly. A few of the other Brain Bots, the lone survivors of the horrendous explosion that had ripped the life of Megamind from them, hovered over to the familiar shape of the fish and nuzzled against his fur.

"It's okay." Minion whispered back, though his voice was devoid of any true emotion or ways to tell how he felt. "We'll be gone soon."

He peeled the remaining pieces of partly melted, and torn, spandex from the lifeless blue body that was laying on the autopsy table before him. Megamind's lifeless eyes no longer stared without purpose, since Minion had done the right thing and shut his friends' eyelids for him. If you could ignore the horrible cave in of his head, and the blood and torn skin on his face you could almost force yourself to believe he was sleeping. Minion, however, could not. He finally removed the last piece of clothing from his friend and set it on the floor before having to physically grab the table to stop him from falling over entirely.

Another horrible racking sob left his tiny shuddering body and he shut his eyes tightly. How often in the last hour had he wished this was all a horrible, disgusting nightmare? The fish wasn't prone to them too often but sometimes he would have horrible dreams of waking up in a laboratory with scientists around him, and his friend nowhere to be seen. Those were sometimes the worst, since they felt so real. This, though, was reality.

"No, no... no, no..." he sobbed as he carefully lifted the alien's head in his hands before he cradled him all over again, the lifeless body like a toy in his massive hands. "Please. Please, please don't leave me alone, please." the fish begged despite knowing full too well it was too late to ask for such a thing. Some words just had to be said. "You can't leave me, w-we promised we'd always be together didn't we? You don't break promises with your best friend, you told me that...!" Minion's voice cracked and shook with emotions far stronger than he had ever felt before. "We could have had it all, Megamind," once he would never have called him by that title before. It wasn't allowed, he was an underling, wasn't he? It was only fair but now... now...

"Please Megmas. Please..."

The name only he knew, as well as Megamind. The name his parents had given him on his birth, a name that in their ancient language had meant knowledge. It had only been whispered between the two when Megamind was feeling especially down and miserable after a horrible day. Minion would come to him like this, offering comfort, and the assurance that 'one day, Megmas, everything will be good'. But nothing will ever be good again for the fish, not with the loss he was now carrying in his arms.

"Once there was a way... to get back h-homeward," Minion quietly began to sing as he carefully lifted Megamind up off of the gurney. "Once there was a way... t-to get back home... Sleep pretty darling, do not c-cry... and I will sing a lullaby." the large mechanical body turned and he carried the body of Megamind, that was now not as blue as it once had been, through past the other gurneys which had body bags and the high wall that bodies were kept cool in. He had a purpose for breaking into the funeral home, for violently lashing out at the curator who had been here and had pointed accusingly at the dead body of Megamind and had said that horrible thing... he had paid for his insolence with his life. "G-golden slumbers fill your eyes... smiles await you when you rise... sleep pretty darling do not c-cry... and I will sing a lullaby."

He entered into another room and stared solemnly at the furnace, the large cremator machine. Minion's lower lip shook but he continued moving, and continued to sing, a way to keep him grounded in the moment as to what he was just about to do. But it had what Megamind had wanted, when he died. Despite their childish antics at times, the aliens had known they wouldn't live forever and Megamind had told Minion how if he died first, he wanted to be cremated. What became of his ashes afterwards, though, he would leave up to Minion to decide. Be it scattering them on the air, over the ocean, or kept in a shelf somewhere he didn't care. Minion had told Megamind the exact same thing, but had requested his ashes not be scattered but kept close to the alien. Then the two had moved on from such depressing matters and had gone on at length about the new material that Minion was using for a new outfit. "Once there was a way... to get back h-homeward... once there was a way, to get back home..." Minion sang on, voice shaking, as he laid Megamind on the slab that would be taken into the machine that would cremate him. "Sleep pretty darling do not you cry... I'll sing a lullaby..."

The fish read the instructions on the door and followed through with them all, setting the temperature, making sure the fire was lit, and finally pressed the large red button. Around him, the Brain Bots hovered, not truly understanding what was going on or why Minion was so sad but they had the strong inclination that it was something very serious and sad. Otherwise, why would Minion be so sad? Minion stood there and watched as the slab slowly moved towards the door that would shut on him soon, and fought with the strong desire to throw himself onto the blue body and be taken in with him. What right did he have for life without him? They had been inseparable ever since the aliens had been young, and facing life without him felt... scary. "And in the end... t-the love you take, is equal to the love... y-you make."

The doors slid shut and Minion found himself standing there outside of the large machine, and he could hear the muffled roar of the fires as they did their job. Minion gripped his large metallic hands desperately against each other, and his whole body quivered as the Brain Bots continued to watch, curious. There was the strong desire in the fish to turn and run, but he couldn't do that, not now. How could he desert his friend now? It would be impossible to do so, now. Somebody could find his remains and who knows what they would do with them. No, he had an obligation to fulfill. He had ashes to collect... and he had a song to finish.

"Golden slumbers fill your eye, smiles awake you when you rise. Sleep little Megmas do not cry. I will sing a lullaby."

He continued to listen to the flames, his hands hanging by his sides in clenched, angry fists and he shut his eyes.

"The city will burn." He whispered quietly in the darkness, illuminated only by the light in the previous room flickering on and off as its globe began to die. "The city will pay."

And the light bulb died.

To be Continued