VICEROY: I'm so sorry to everyone who was reading this that I took so loooooonnnnngggg. With my chapters. But it should be fairly constant now... I promise.
A Tender Fantasy Christmas part # 7
Bass was the first to open his eyes the next morning. He blinked, squinting in the brightness of the morning sunshine, pouring in through the window. He quietly tried to sit up, groaning as his stiff joints ached in protest, over the ruff treatment they'd been receiving the past few days.
He turned his head to look down at the figure laying next to him, smiling as his gaze fell on the peaceful sleeping face.
"Blues.." he whispered. The other boy did not answer, save for the steady sound of his breathing.
"Hmmm" A smile crept onto Bass's face. Leaning over his slumbering companion, he brought his lips down to touch lightly against Blues own.
There was a startled snort, then a groan as Blues, half awake grabbed the pillow from behind his head and flopped it on top of his face.
Bass sighed, flipping back the covers at the foot of the bed, he began to tickle Blues toes.
"Hmm..zzz Forte.zzz" A muffled response came from under the pillow, as Blues hauled his feet
up and back under the covers. "Zzzzz..go..way.zz"
Bass laughed leaning in close. "Rise and shine Sleeping Beauty" he whispered in Blues ear.
THACK!
This earned him a pillow smacked into his face. He looked to see Blues giving him an evil smirk.
"Ok, if that's how it's gonna be!" He laughed again, grabbing his own pillow and pinning Blues to the bed.
***********************************************************************
In another part of the house, the sun's golden rays had awoken another early riser.
Rock, yawned as he crawled out of bed. He gazed out his window for a moment to the bright, almost blinding snow, before heading downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast.
As he walked pass Dr. Light's lab on his way he heard a voice call to him.
"Merry Christmas Rock," Dr. Light greeted his son, as he came out of the lab. "Are you ready to open your gifts?"
"Gifts?" Rock asked staring stupidly at the Doctor.
"Yes..." Light gave him a confused look. Today is Christmas...remember?"
"OH!!!" Rock cried he turned and ran back upstairs.
"Rock, where are you going?"
"I....I forgot something"
"What about your gifts?"
"Later"
Dr. Light looked on in amazement // They were so excited last night .....what's going on?" //
********************
Rock dashed quickly up the steps. Turning the corner sharply , he dashed into his sisters room.
"Roll !!" He cried bouncing on top of her bed .
"Accckk...Rock !!" She yelped , pulling the blankets up closer around her. "What are you doing...? . Get out of my room !!" she gave him her death glare.
"I'm sorry Roll, but Dad's up already....and Bass and the others are still here" Rock explained.
"What..? I thought they were going to leave early this morning "
"I guess nobody set the alarm" Rock gave a shrug. " I think their still asleep"
"Unnn.." Roll groaned, getting out of bed. "Rock, you go and wake everybody up....and I'll keep Dad busy so Bass, and the others can get away" she stated grabbing a bow from her dresser, she tied her back quickly.
"Ok" Rock nodded.
"Good. Let's go" Rock and Roll quickly went their separate ways. Rock, quietly to his brothers room and Roll, cheerful bounding downstairs, to greet her Father.
"Good morning Dad, Merry Christmas!!!" She beamed enthusiastically.
*********************************
"Blues, it's Rock,....come on wake up will ya !" Rock hissed standing outside of his brothers room. "Blues, Come on !!!" he cried, knocking on the door again. He was getting impatient. Blues wasn't a heavy sleeper. "Blues wake up will ya.....Roll can't keep Dad busy forever...ya know..........Blues.........BLUES !!!!!!!!..................................UUNNNGHH!!!!!"
Rock growled, twisting the knob and pushing it open.
"Blues...I.................(....!...)" His bright blue eyes stared in amazement at what he saw. Aside from robots being sprawled everywhere, there was a rather large lump in his brother's bed, covered by the green comforter.
"Rock?" the lump asked. It began to shake, and as the comforter slid off, it revealed the source of the voice. A large blonde boy, stared at him.
Rock blinked his mouth still hanging open. // Bass was laying in his brothers bed.//
"Rock..." a second voice piped in, as the comforter was thrown to the ground.
Rock groaned covering his eyes with his hands.
// Correction, Bass was laying in his brother's bed...........on top of his brother"
"Ever hear of knocking?" Blues snapped.
"Obviously you have" Rock replied gesturing to their current position.
"Ahem...this isn't what it looks like.." Blues said, sitting up and pushing Bass off him.
"Ya...we....we.. Were just.." Bass glanced at the carpet with a sudden interest.
Blues gave an irritated sigh "Is there something you want?" he asked turning back to Rock.
"Yes" Rock said, becoming serious once more. "Dad's downstairs with Roll. She's distracting him, but I don't know how long she'll be able to keep it up. Bass and the others better hurry and get away while they can."
"Rock!" Blues cried "Forte, and the others can stay awhile longer"
"But ...I thought" Rock backed away a little, at his brothers look.
"We just have to be careful that's all" Blues said.
"No Blues," Bass cut in getting off the bed. "Rock is right, we must leave...."
"But your still ill, and the others are tired" Blues argued. "You can stay in here and.........and.." he stopped when he realized he didn't have any real plan of salvation for Bass and his fellow robots.
"You...you can stay," he insisted weekly.
"Blues,...thank you. You've been very kind to us and we are grateful......but........we can't live in your room forever. Wily would eventually find us......I'm sorry" Bass took the smaller boy in his arms, giving him a last crushing embrace before turning to the others.
"Come on guys.....it's time to face the music"
Rock watched sadly, as the robots quickly got up and suited in their armor. He could sense a dread running through the group, could feel it in the very air of the room. And when he looked into their eyes, a desperate fear shone back to greet him.
"Quietly people" Bass whispered as he slid out onto the sill. The other robots nodded, as they followed behind. First Zero, then Flash, Quick and Centaur.
Elec, stopped on the sill for a moment, turning to where Blues and Rock stood. He gave them a smile as he crawled out on to the rooftop " Thank you for giving us the best Christmas we could have ever dreamed of" he said. And then he to was gone.
Their departure was quick and silent as they slid down the roof from Blues bedroom window, and dashed into the forest near the house.
Blues and Rock stood by the window. Rock watched as the last of the robots disappeared through the pines and into the forest beyond. Rock looked over at his brother, reading the sorrow etched on the older robot's face. He felt a hand fall onto his shoulder and give him a gentle squeeze.
A tear slid down Blues cheek as he pulled Rock into a hug. "Merry Christmas Rock," He whispered.
***********************************************************
"So Dad, are you all excited about Christmas?!!" Roll exclaimed. Throwing her hands up and jumping about in the living room.
"Ha..ha..yes Roll," he smiled back at his daughter. "But..." he added with a frown, "I'm afraid we seem to be the only ones,"
"Really?" Roll asked.
"I don't know what's come over Blues, what with the way he was acting last night. And now this morning Rock, was acting funny to" Light continued, rubbing his beard.
"Oh....really?" Roll cringed , she didn't like where this was going .
"Maybe I should have a talk with them see if everything is alright" Light said getting up from the table.
"NO!" Roll, cried dashing in front of him. "Ah....I mean come on Dad, you know how Blues is....and Rock he....he probably just forgot to wrap a gift or something. I'm sure they'll be down soon. "She assured him giving a glance towards the stairs.
"Hmmm..I suppose your right" Dr. Light agreed.
"Why don't you have a seat in the lounge and I'll get some breakfast made huh?"
"Ha ha ha ," he chuckled, and Roll smiled she loved the warm cheerful sound of her father's laughter. "Ok, Roll..ha ha you win" Dr Light smiled as he walked off towards the lounge.
*********************************
In the lounge Dr. Light made himself comfortable in the old green armchair. Leaning back into the comfortable worn velvet. He smiled as he gazed up at the Christmas tree, and the gifs underneath, sparkling in the morning sunshine. His eyes moved over to the old player piano near the fire place.
// Soon we'll be playing songs over there //
Blues would play a wonderful melody and Rock and Roll would let their voices fill the room with song. He walked over to the old instrument, letting his fingers skip across the keys.
// perhaps later we might go caroling // Dr. Light mused looking out the window to the beautiful snow covered fields by the house.
"Wha...!" Light's brow furrowed as he noticed several sets of foot prints heading from the house into the fields. He looked up to the forest to see the retreating figure of a black armored robot disappear around the trees. "Hmmm" Light pondered this, noting that the prints came from directly above Blues bedroom. He grinned, "So that's what they were up to" it all made sense now.
"Dad!" Roll said as she hopped in front of him.
"Oh..hello Roll," he smiled not letting on he'd seen anything.
" I got your tea. Here ya go just the way you like it"
"Thank you Roll," Light replied, taking the steaming cup from her hand and settling back down into his chair.
Roll glanced cautiously out the window. // Phew, good their gone //
"Roll why don't you go and wake Rock, and Blues, up" Light suggested, though he guessed now that they'd probably been up for awhile anyway. " it's getting late, tell them to hurry so we can have breakfast together."
"Right..good idea" Roll answered, turning on her heel she dashed up the stairs.
"Rock, Blues, get yer butts out of bed!!"
"Coming " Rocks voice answered
"Be right there" Blues answered shortly after.
Meanwhile in the lounge Dr. Light gave a knowing smile.
******************************
The fortress stood towering above them all as they watched from the edge of the forest.
Bass looked back to the solemn faces of his group before turning round and pushing forward, towards the ominous steel door of the building.
Elec, watched as Bass knocked on the cold metal, and was greeted by a robot boy ,of about 16, wearing gold and bronze armor. He stood aside to let Bass and the others past. Elec, stole a glance as the boy was bathed in the sunlight. He wasn't wearing his helmet. Elec, could see he had short brown hair with a skunk strip down the center, and wide amber eyes that shone with fear.
"Bass, your back...your alive" the boy gasped.
"Yes..Star" Bass whispered, not willing to meet the other robots frightened gaze.
"You've been injured.." Star noted as he took in their rough appearance.
None of the group answered him, and his eyes darted nervously for a moment. "Wily...he.....he's...very upset....." Star stammered,
".....................I know" Bass replied lifelessly, walking down the hall to the basement.
"What should I tell him?' Star asked.
He stopped at the entrance squeezing his eyes shut, he clenched his teeth together and without turning muttered " you........you may tell him that we have returned...............that we failed" with that the black bot trudged down the dark stairway to the basement lair.
*****************************************************
Elec, looked around as he descended the stairs. The familiar gloom of the basement once more surrounding him. He made his way over to the small cold mat that was his space and laid down. His breath formed in small clouds before his face and he shivered. He had enjoyed the warmth of Dr. Lights home so much he'd almost forgotten how cold the cellar was.
He shook again, trying to gain back some heat.
Then all at once there was a warmth by his side. He turned to it's source.
"Elec,.." Metal's soft voice sang in his ears, he couldn't help but smile.
"Oh Metal," He cried sitting up and embracing the smaller boy . "I missed you so much"
Metal smiled returning his embrace, and cuddling closer to him. " I was so worried Elec, I saw the news report on T.V" he said brushing his hand over a scratch on his friends, cheek. His brows knit together with concern, as he pushed the red locks out of Elec,'s face, to reveal more nasty scratches and bruises . "What happened to you?" he asked, his soft grey eyes gazing into Elec's deep green ones.
"It's a long story Metal," Elec , yawned. Metal nodded, he could see his friend was exhausted.
"Ok, you can tell me after you've rested then" he laid back down beside, his weary companion
"Yesss" Elec, promised, snuggling close once again. He felt his eyes going heavy and he began to drift off.
BAM!!
Suddenly the basement door was thrown open.
Elec, and Metal shot up clutching each other as they gazed up in fear.
Other Robots cringed on their mats of stood frozen in terror at the sight before them.
Wily stood at the top of the stairs, and he was seething.
Elec, noticed several weapons hanging from the man's lab coat. All of them looked painful to experience.
There was a thunderous crack of the whip Wily had been holding in his right hand, and all the robots were still.
He gave the occupants of the basement an icy glare before locking his sights on his intended victim, and curling his lips up in an evil and twisted grin, crack the whip into the thin air, where it boomed again with malice.
"BASS !!!" he roared. And as all eyes , watched.
He took a step forward.................
To Be Continued ...............
Hmmm I'm wondering if I should have a happy ending or a sad one. What do you think?