"You've been hurt by unspeakable pain and sadness;

Don't say things like 'I can't laugh' or 'I hate people'.

There's meaning in everything that happens in this unseen future;

So stay as you are for now, I know there'll be a time when you realize it"

-UVERworld, "D-technolife"

It was funny how much could change with the push of a button.

"Understood, we will try to move him. Please do your best Nori-san" Another push of the button and the conversation died with a blip. Unfortunately, this was not one of those button pushes which brought about a difference. Granted, that button push had been not to long before anyway. Not too terribly important at the time either, Blues observed offhandedly. Should have been nothing more than a standard report in.

Of course, it seemed that now hadn't been. He had been apprehensive at best of the peace –When in fact he knew that things were far from peaceful between his own operator and the two other humans that he preferred to associate with, he still chose to take the quiet at face value and accept the false calm with the mind that he was a program and under no expectations to indicate an understanding higher than what data could prove- And now, it seemed that even this had been shattered; Unfortunate, but unpreventable. Events such as the guerillas of Port-o-caldo –for that was what the newscasters were naming it, so who was he to claim otherwise- were events that seldom were left buried for long.

And here was the question, who would ask first? Who would breach the subject that no one wanted to address? Laika already knew. Searchman would not question because he was a soldier, his operator his superior, and so he would discern the information when, and only when, it was handed to him. His own operator, Enzan, would not ask –if nothing more than to nurse the wounded pride that had been torn from the moment he'd looked away from the video feed- Rockman held too many questions, held too much shock –such an optimist about the whole matter…if not a little out of it at times…- it was disbelief mostly, he hadn't quite planned on this matter truly coming back to bite them in the ass, thought about it, talked about it, yes. But truly believed it…?

Netto was Netto.

Which left him alone without a valid excuse; If he'd really wanted to, he could have convinced himself that he too should follow in the footsteps of his operator, but it wasn't worth the effort. Socially awkward? What was that? His programming detailed no such thing.

"Laika-san?" years of judging his own operator by body language alone allowed the navi the knowledge that the green haired soldier had barely bitten back a sigh; more years of experience told him that pressing would not be the way to progress either. So he waited.

"There is a disturbance on the reception floor. The call to hospital security described it as a 'large man yelling about Hikari Netto'. He is surrounded by civilians and it's highly possible he has a weapon" a pause to allow proper digestion of the facts presented, then the good news –however small and uncomforting- was given. "Nori-san went to assist" a nod from the crimson navi even as Rockman shuddered from within Blues's peripheral vision. It wasn't surprising that he wasn't taking this well.

"We're going to move Netto, just in case this is only a distraction" he refrained from snorting, barely. 'Just in case' unlikely; Laika knew as well as he did that there was little doubt the disturbance was only a distraction. If nothing else, there were two men still remaining. It was unlikely that one would stay behind and allow the other all the…fun.

It took only two steps to bring the green-haired one to Netto's immediate bedside. For his part, the object of this operation seemed to be dead-set on winning a staring contest with the ceiling. Now came the hard part. How to move an unwilling participant…? –because Blues was not as optimistic/naïve/in denial as Rockman. He knew that Netto was in no mindset to be successfully coaxed into cooperation with a threat to his life- Laika spent all of thirty seconds staring awkwardly between his hands and the brunette's bed-ridden form before his blue eyes met with Enzan's.

"Help me get him up" and that was that. It wasn't so much forgiveness as it was a chance to kind-of, sort-of make things right. Whatever the case, Blues was proud to observe his operator pausing only momentarily before moving to assist Laika.

It seemed that Enzan-sama was growing up.

Head throbbing, mouth dry, pins and needles all up his arm…the list went on; Although, the sensation of actually recognizing these feelings was odd to say the least. Perhaps it was off track, but still, he wondered whether or not this was a good thing. Vaguely, a notion within the back of his mind dictated to him that, no, he should not have been living at this point in time.

But where had that come from? He wasn't suicidal…was he?

This of course was followed quickly by a once over of who exactly he was. Was he truly seeking death? More importantly, was he dead?-this would kind of make the former question irrelevant, so it was rather significant- It would be nice to remember the answer to such a thing. It would be nicer to remember if living was a happy prospect or not, so that he could react accordingly when the answer to the previous question became answerable.

Suddenly aware that he had such things, brown eyes snapped open. His torso –which also had abruptly made its presence known- attempted to follow in their stead by sitting upright, only to falter mid-crunch and bring the body crashing back downwards onto a white sheet.

Breathe in, breathe out…

"Ow" he croaked to anyone that would listen. And listeners there were, for in an instant it seemed there was a whole ward of nurses to surround him, each with their own tidbit of advice, ranging from 'Please hold still Hikari-san' all the way to 'LAY DOWN BEFORE YOU HURT YOURSELF!'. It was far from a pleasant experience.

"What-?" with all the vocals of a bullfrog, the plea had barely made its way past his open mouth before what he assumed was supposed to be a comforting hand was placed on his forehead and it was possible to make out a murmured 'be quiet please'. Vocal chords spent, he had no choice but to fall back to the sheets and attempt to glare at the hand still resting on his features.

Of course, that still didn't answer his question. A suspicious blank was being pulled as he tried to dredge together the exact circumstances to why he was here. Vague ideas would be nice even. Anything? No? Ah. Just his luck it seemed.

"Rockman…?" it was the first name that came to mind and his mouth spit it out accordingly. For a moment he hovered over the question if it was his name, but then released it on the grounds that there was no face to place with the rather odd designation. He wanted to believe that if and when murmured his name, he would at least be able to remember that it was his.

"Enzan…?" another title, still no face; and for that matter, no more tidbits from the nurses fussing over him. Had they even heard him? Geeze…his only possible sources of information and they just wouldn't spit anything out. At this point, he was willing to take anything, so long as it at least cleared up a few questions.

"The poor boy…"

"Not another word" of course. Because any indication as to why he was a poor boy would be just too convenient, wouldn't it? Of course. He suppressed the urge to thrash out within the white sheets, armed only with the knowledge that so far he'd been unable to even sit up. This sucked. Really, it did. So did the knowledge that even if he tried to get up, there was no one but the nurses to push him back down.

Would have been nice to see someone other than them, he wished idly. He wondered where they –although, who they were still eluded him at the moment- were. Was there something more pressing to the point where it usurped seeing him…whoever he was and wherever the visiting would have taken place.

Dammit he hated this.

He was glad that Netto wasn't speaking. Otherwise he would have never heard the end of it. With the brunette now deposited bridal-style in his arms, Laika jogged as well as he could down the hallways, trying to avoid jostling his cargo and at the same time keep up with Enzan. It was a far from happy balance, but one that was necessary all the same.

"We're taking the stairs" a frown tugged at the corners of the soldier's mouth, though Enzan knew before he even turned around that clarification was needed. "They can't get the copter here for a good ten minutes; we're not wasting time"

"I didn't say anything" he muttered, even though they both knew that he'd been thinking about it. "The elevator is too easy to stop from outside" he added quickly, as if it should have proven his stance on the matter. Declining to comment –as this was probably the most they'd spoken in a couple days, and he really didn't need to ruin it- Enzan merely continued on to the emergency door.

They were getting out of here. Or at least, Netto was. Over the course of political negotiations with Port-o-Caldo, along with attempts to contact the rebellion from which Mars and Ares originated, the brunette had become far too important a witness –a self inflicted mute witness, but a witness all the same- …for governmental compensation pay.

And so, while the civilians below dealt with a possibly armed hostile, they were here trying to evacuate a single boy who may or may not have been under any threat in the first place. He hated orders like this. Really, he did. Frowning, Laika merely shifted the body that he held and continued up the staircase. Despite any frustration to the situation at hand, there was nothing he could do.

"Laika?" an eyebrow rose. What? What could it possibly be now? "Are you coming or not?" a pause to observe, and then, indeed, it seemed that he had slowed considerably.

"I'm coming" he assented. "Although, I wish that Hikari would stop acting like a vegetable; you'd think that he wanted to die" another pause for that to digest. An even longer pause as Enzan fought to hide his grimace and Rockman all but fainted. The green haired one attempted a cough to cover the awkward pause, only to have it die in his throat along with a possible apology. "Let's keep moving" Laika finally broke the silence with. There were no arguments to that.

"We've got four floors left" the blue navi tried. Really, Laika mused to himself, this was a tactic that the post-duty counselors would try. Change the subject and hope it all passes. He hadn't known that Rockman had had the proper denial drive to complete such a method. He would have been impressed if any notion to do so hadn't been drowned out for a complete pity to the state. He'd just begun to believe that the navi was stronger than this too… –he refused to include Netto in this statement, because doing so would indicate that it was possible he would forgive the brunette for this…this…lacking? Lacking of will, of courage, of maturity…of something that would indicate he was fine. No, he would not forgive…- he had just begun to think that perhaps there was something worth respecting, only for it to crumble pitifully.

Perhaps he'd really meant those words.

He did not understand how those brown eyes could continue to stare blankly upward, devoid of even the understanding that they had possessed a few days before. Then, Netto had still heard, still paid attention, still made miniature movements which would relay the tiniest of mood swings and assure Laika that sooner or later someone would break Hikari out of it and things would return to a relative normal.

Now, of course, he wasn't so sure. He had doubted for a long while if the words 'give up' were truly in Hikari Netto's vocabulary, and just as he had finally begun to convince himself –and perhaps…a begrudging slice of respect to be swallowed with the assurance- the brat had to go and pull this whole guilt business. –because, he would convince himself that, in terms of skill, Netto was still a brat and nothing but- He suddenly had the urge to punch the boy.

"Laika-san?" and perhaps the brunette would never know how much he owed Searchman for breaking his operator out of that particular train of thought. Inner musings –while working only! Be true to yourself whenever you can! The counselor had told him- were dangerous for a soldier. They made orders that much more difficult to follow, unfortunately.

"Yes?" he addressed the PET without taking his eyes off the ever-winding staircase –left right, left right, keep marching on- He didn't quite trust Enzan enough not to stop short and sending them all tumbling if the green-haired one so much as turned away to even look at his navi. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

"I'm sorry. You just appeared to be distracted for a moment…it's nothing" the proverbial nail had been hit right on the head it seemed. If he hadn't known better –and hadn't spent hours pouring over data from cross fusion records to prove otherwise- he would have sworn that Searchman was reading his mind. But as it was, that was –more than likely- impossible and improbable.

"One floor" filtered in the hopeful tenor of Rock. Perhaps he believed the helicopter would arrive early. Maybe he thought that the assault was solely originating from the bottom floor. Possibly, he believed that if he ignored it all and just focused on being transported up the stairs, it would all go away. At this rate, Laika was disappointed to admit, he would end up about as responsive as his operator.

'Too much thinking, keep moving; I can contemplate the psychological impact of this when I'm enroute to Sharro again' Indeed, it was looking up, both literally and figuratively. Enzan had just reached the door to the roof. A few more moments brought him and his cargo to the same place and then…they were out. A light drizzle pattered a few drops of water onto the unprotected form of the soldier every few moments, but it was nothing to worry about, hopefully. He still made a note to call in and make sure the pilot was aware of this and that it would be no hindrance.

"Too easy" he heard Enzan murmur.

"Indeed" Laika then did what no soldier should have ever done. He froze.

When it came back to him, it came back with the force of a brick wall.

The nurse had done nothing more than offer him a drink, an innocent looking bottle of water. Where it should have allowed him a reprieve from possessing the vocals of a bullfrog, all that the brunette could manage was to listen to the crashing of the waves that had suddenly presented themselves to him. It didn't even take a moment for the barrage of memories to replace themselves correctly. Shortly after, he leaned to the side and retched. The boy's stomach empty, all he could really do was dry heave; though it was the thought that truly counted.

"No…" But the nurse was already reaching for him, more than likely armed with a washcloth and words meant –though not succeeding- to comfort.

"It's not fair!" with strength he didn't know he possessed, he flung himself upwards again, curtly ignoring the pain on his chest to focus more on the jolt as his wildly swinging elbow connected with something or other and pushed it back. The other arm followed quickly, striking what could have been a bedside table and more than possibly sending it tumbling to the floor.

"Dammit Rock!" one leg kicked out, flinging the sheets upwards only to have them fall back down and tangle themselves around the brother limb which wasn't so much up to the task. Still, the unharmed appendage thrashed about like a caught fish in a net, unwilling to succumb to be gutted. –or in this case, perhaps just to be sedated- Hands were beginning to grab for him again, and this time he consciously shoved them away, far more content to flail about.

"Dammit Enzan!" but they were persistent. As one arm tore its way free from its captors, only more hands seemed to take their place holding the limb down. His good leg lashed about all the same, uncaring as it jarred its broken counterpart along with anything else within striking range. If a someone or two lost the ability to have children because of their proximity to his feet, it wasn't his fault.

"Dammit!" The brunette strained upward, and held his own against the hands for all of three seconds before he was pushed back down and held fast. No matter, his lower body did more than enough squirming for him as he pushed off his good leg, almost managing to twist over to lie on his stomach. Back cracking wetly, he had just enough time to clamp his pillow between his teeth before he was rolled back over into the waiting hands.

"Dammit!" the pillow flew like a bullet as he whipped his head around, striking someone or other in the face and causing them to wheel backwards and upset a chair in the process. With one side of captors distracted, the wriggling boy managed to free an arm –thankfully not his shredded one, as the nurses were beginning to hold so tight now that he was sure their grip could rip the skin off his already torn arm- It flailed anew, trying in vain to push the rest of the body up so that he could get away from here and demand an explanation.

"This isn't right!" sensing that he was tiring, the hands finally managed to clamp down onto his thrashing legs, pinning the healthy one and causing the broken one to be jolted to the point where it just refused to continue cooperating and promptly fell limp. Only one arm left…

"Netto-kun, please…!" And the lapse was all they needed. As the brunette whipped his head around to catch a glimpse of the program, a waiting syringe promptly located the proper pathway on an outstretched arm and quickly entered its contents into his bloodstream. Still, the brunette was a tad too distracted by the appearance of his navi to fully react with the rebellion that had been expected of him.

"Rock…you…!" the staff backed up, their job done, even as the brunette struggled to reach an arm out towards the PET. Features softening, the program assumed that some form of comfort –however futile it may be from a hologram- was being sought, and made his way forward to try and make it marginally better.

This, of course, was put on hold as the brunette sluggishly swiped at him. For a moment, Rock presumed that his operator wasn't quite thinking so clearly and that he had believed the program to be a solid object. But this too was shot down as the blue navi slowly realized that Netto was…glaring at him…

"I…hate…" the sedatives already worming through his systems, the boy fought to move his mouth properly. It twitched once, then twice, trying to relay the last word left within. Almost…so close, so very close…one syllable and…!

"…you" spent, Hikari Netto promptly succumbed to the medication and left Rockman alone to ponder.

More than likely they'd been followed. It was the only plausible explanation he could come up with. Their pursuers had probably waited at the bottom of the staircase, just out of view, and patiently lingered until he and Laika had entered the shaft. The man downstairs had been a distraction, of course, and they were now trapped like rats smoked out of their hole and into a corner.

Ares grinned. Mars looked ready to kill. This was not pleasant.

He managed to overhear Laika hissing something or other to his PET, to which he could just make out Searchman's reply of 'five minutes'. Far from comforting; Vaguely, he wished that he was allowed to carry at least something other than a PET when he was on duty. Just because he was a net-savor didn't mean that…

But, Enzan supposed, such things were better to think about when there wasn't a threat to his health in the nearby vicinity.

"You're both alive" a statement. Stalling was looking good, especially if their opponents were armed and they weren't. Five minutes; the clock was ticking especially slow today.

"We are"

"And we're pissed as hell" Ares cracked his knuckles to accent his fact, grinning ear to ear as something or other, most likely a very gory something, made its way across his train of thought. Maybe they would be lucky and the shorter of the two would spend the whole five minutes fantasizing and weighing the pros and cons of each and every way to extract his wrath.

Or maybe Mars would elbow him in the side and nod forward.

As the pair each took a step forward, Enzan and Laika both took a step backwards. The latter shot what might have been an apprehensive glance to the unresponsive cargo in his arms. A quick glance to the dual haired teen assured the soldier that his back could now be considered watched. Maybe they were still technically at odds, but now of all times was not really the best moment to be remembering that much.

"Dimensional area?" it was offered by Searchman, and a small blip from Blues's PET substituted for agreement on the matter. Laika let out a low sigh, eyes glancing skyward for a moment so quick that Enzan wasn't quite sure it had even happened. Nonetheless, the message was clear. The helicopter would not be able to make it though. This wasn't even counting the difficulty of obtaining a proper degree of sanctioned action to be able to use crossfusion.

Rogue navis were one thing. Humans –no matter what they had done, they were still humans and still considered…higher- were another all together. The answer went unvoiced. –Along with the fact that he was glad, no matter what, that for the moment the decision was out of his hands and there was no threat of a life being ended by his judgment-

"I'm giving you five seconds" and with that Enzan dashed forward, curtly ignoring the voice in the back of his mind that rather smugly told him this was something Netto would do. An angry buzzing rose to a fever in his ears, pushing out all other sound with the rush of what he could label as adrenaline. Just focus on his face. Fingers curled into a fist at his side…It was like a netbattle. Focus. The fist lashed out from the side…Focus focus focus…!

And was deftly caught in Mars's open palm.

Somewhere, Enzan remembered that he never had been all that great at the martial arts. Particularly against people larger than him. Things were so much easier with a navi's programming –ignoring the part, of course, where it was made clear that he was human and was not supposed to be programmed in the first place- For a brief moment it was just him at the mercy of a larger man who wanted to kill him. Yes, nothing odd there at all.

"Ha!" Laika's knee came out of no where, nailing the large man in the gut while his arm had been occupied targeting Enzan's face. He must have been reacting far too slow for the soldier's liking, as before he really had a chance to register the change of positions, a hand had grabbed the base of his collar and dragged him back a good meter.

"Idiot…! That was something…!" exactly what he'd been thinking? Yes. Unwilling to finish his sentence, the green-haired one frowned and looked back to the large two men. Like Enzan, he'd realized that some things were better left unsaid –or preferably, he mused, some were just better left completely forgotten. It would have saved a lot of trouble, not to mention put guidance counselors out of a job-

"Suddenly I'm glad I passed basic training" Digressing must have been the only way he could think to avoid the topic. Enzan didn't blame him. Despite the fact that they were 'guarding' him, it was now pathetically easy to ignore the brunette left sprawled behind them. Out of sight, out of mind.

The rest was a blur.

The dual haired teen could, at one point, distinctly remember Laika being the first to charge forward. No, no, another voice would chide in the back of his mind as he narrowly avoided a knife stabbing towards his abdomen, it had been one of the large men. Grunting as a large fist smacked against his rib cage instead, the net savor became sure of it. Right; now that he'd covered that, he would struggle to…

"Laika…!" too little too late; Attention was suddenly snapped back to the present like an elastic band as a baseball-sized fist slammed into the soldier's cheek. The struggle had not lasted long. With Enzan's attention diverted, a fist to the gut brought him crashing to the ground just as Blues struggled to cry out in warning.

"Enzan-sama!" drowsily, he attempted to pull together his now muddled train of thought, choosing to focus on his navi's voice as an anchor to consciousness. He flinched instinctively as a brown boot loomed overhead –because at the moment, pride and reputation had taken a back seat to self preservation- but let it pass as the footware did the same, instead carrying on to continue moving its owner forward.

That hadn't worked well at all.

Netto made no sound as he was lifted up by the scruff of his collar, made no move to acknowledge the fact that he was in any different a position than he had been a moment or two before. Would a dimensional area be warranted now? When the life of another human was in danger? On the scale of a government's morals, did Netto's life balance out with that of two murderers? –on his own conscience, did a friend's indirect death equal out with the lack of blood on his hands?-

Ares was downright cackling by this point, as it was becoming increasingly obvious that he'd lost it somewhere across the course of events. He was yelling something or other, crying out about how Netto should have been begging for his life or…a nap sounded good right about now. Yes it…

"Enzan-sama…" the anchor re-cast, he managed to look up once more, frowning and trying to prop himself up as the shorter of the two continued to go on about something or other that really wasn't all that important to him. If he kept this up then…

Dammit. The other one looked like he could read minds. He'd begun yelling as well, and the dual-haired teen could pick up the gist of the argument. Something along the lines of 'get it over with'. There was a sigh, resignation, and then the glint of a drawn knife.

"Netto…!" The rest descended into a blur as the world suddenly became a myriad of horribly clashing hues. A pillar of blue light suddenly launched upward from directly underneath the shorter of the assailants, separating him from his target. Netto fell to the ground in an unresponsive heap, while his savior, now in corporeal form, stood protectively over his limp form.

"Rockman!" One shot, no time to even yell, the plasma was fired, a hole was created and Ares dropped to the ground. Second shot, time enough to smile in acceptance, the attack tore itself loose, Mars had a gap to match his accomplice, and he too was suddenly face down on the hospital roof.

The choice was out of his hands. Enzan was glad.

It began with anger.

Pure rage, directed at one who he'd never considered possibly needing of his wrath. It boiled, burned and bubbled within, threatening to claw its way out of every pore, pressuring itself within him, building itself up even as the moments wore on and no suitable outlet made itself known.

Maybe it was childish. Maybe it wasn't. But whatever the case, he gave in and decided that they would know how much he hated them at the moment. The oldest trick in the book, possibly overused and yet still so golden…he just would not talk to them. For how long even he didn't know –indeed, such things never lasted forever, even his muddled mind could grasp that much- And yet, he refused to breech to topic with himself, instead choosing to believe that he would and could continue this on until things were made "right".

Of course, this was assuming that he ever figured out how things could ever be right.

Lips clamped shut, forehead furrowed, fists clenched to the point where his knuckles turned white, in a brilliant mockery of childish temper tantrums and the like he held his stance, refusing to 'lighten up'; if he'd cared to admit it, he would have noted that this was a personality quirk that he'd always hated to see in other people. But, he didn't care to admit it, and so, the pretense continued on.

Doing so was relatively easy, he stared at the ceiling, stared at the TV, stared at the cardboard food, stared at whatever he could, so long as it was not Rock. He would make sure that his navi knew how mad he was. He would make sure his friend knew that lives had been lost. And even though he refused to go so far as to admit it, he could and would make his partner suffer in the process. –The scary part being, of course, that he could no longer discern whether or not that was a good thing-

It was somewhere around this time that part of his mind began to fight back with the fact that the blame did not rest solely on Rockman and Enzan. It was somewhere around the time that he ignored his father for the second or third time, -what to do about the others? He'd wondered for a while. And then, he'd finally just shaken his head and decided that he'd speak again when he was good and ready and not before…- and sometime around when he had completely and utterly destroyed what few beliefs Enzan held when it came to him, Hikari Netto.

He realized –remembered more like- that it was his fault too.

Day one of this revelation brought nothing but anxious rustling within the hospital bed and the sudden impossibility of finding a comfortable spot within the sheets. Day two gave him nothing but time to contemplate this further, bringing what little spirit he still possessed to what could have been a lifetime low. Day three brought an unwelcome presence in the form of Laika, which merely reminded him of what it had taken to even attempt saving them; A feat that he himself had been incapable of. Day four a blur of what might have been his life as questions were suddenly re-fired in the hopes of acquiring answers. Day five left him alone to ponder these questions.

And so, on day six, it would come down to a single question.

Why had he survived?

He was going to have to thank Meijin-san later. It was nice that at least some people didn't ask an insane amount of questions.

Breathing heavily, –true, he had no need, but it was more a habit than anything else, and he didn't particularly feel like giving up what little he could link to humanity- Rockman struggled to steady himself and put a halt to the quaking which seemed to be wracking over his form. Now, perhaps, would be a good time to do a bit of overriding on his reaction matrix.

He wanted to say that he hadn't known how easily plasma would rip through a human. Wanted to and couldn't.

Still not quite sure what he was supposed to make of the incredulous stares he was receiving from Enzan and Laika, the navi shakily managed to dismiss his buster and allowed both hands to drop to his sides. Something told him that perhaps he should have been a little more distressed, or a tad more shocked. The best he could manage was restraining himself from kicking the bodies.

Maybe the two other humans saw this in his eyes as he began to make his way to his operator. Maybe they noticed that something was…off within his reaction matrix. Maybe; but whatever the case, it didn't matter so long as they didn't act. Boots padding with obvious purpose across the hospital roof, it was suddenly no longer a chore to keep his face straight and refrain from dashing to the brunette's side. Netto was fine, he had convinced himself. There had been no harm done, nothing more than a few, now meaningless, threats. Not that the brunette had cared anyway. No, nothing to be worrying about.

He was now to the point where ignoring Enzan and Laika's reactions was far easier and hassle-free than actually addressing them. –Really, a voice in the back of his mind added, why were they so surprised? Would not Blues and Searchman do the same for their respective operators? Maybe they had not considered that tidbit of insight yet- So he continued on. Three more steps forward and there he was. After that, it was only a matter of squatting down to near eye-level and he was suddenly capable of communicating with his operator.

"Netto-kun, oi, Netto-kun…" nothing; It was predictable, but still unwelcome. The program frowned all the same, but moved on to patting the boy's cheek -firmly ignoring the urge to slap him until his face was black and blue...What was that about?- It wasn't as if he was unconscious, but still, the taps did nothing to shake the boy into some state of cooperation.

"Netto-kun…!" this was ridiculous, something or other in the back of his AI began. Hadn't he been standing by this whole time, supporting, waiting, believing… -because, once those…men…were gone, things should have gone back to normal, correct? Netto should have sprung upwards, laughing and joking and…- …but that was what he'd been programmed for, he supposed. He, as the obedient program and faithful friend, was to contently wait until things righted themselves.

"Get up"

…Or maybe not.

It was an order, not to be confused with a request. As the moments ticked by and no compliance could be found, something that might have been known as a growl welled up within the navi's throat. Green eyes furrowed, an already tight mouth fell into an even firmer frown and gloved hands grasped at the shoulders of his operator.

"Hikari Netto!" shaking did no good. –Tempting though it was, he did not throttle him- He was…frustrated. Yes. Angry? Maybe. It was hard to tell. No matter what state of mind, his operator consistently possessed the ability to warp the emotions of those around him to a point where they were indiscernible. He should have been used to it, should have been immune to it. Up until now, he had believed that he was.

Rock was faintly aware of the fact that he was glaring.

"Up" the navy one barked. It didn't matter that this was Netto-kun, didn't matter that he was really not in the state to be forced to his feet…the brunette was going to stand goddammit and…! "I said get up!" fists ensnared in the bundle of fabric below the brunette's collar, the navi abruptly lurched upward; bringing his operator to eye level. It wasn't quite what he'd wanted, but it'd do.

It took a moment for Rock to realize this was exactly how Ares had been holding Netto up not a minute before. If he'd been human –how many times he'd pondered/wished that, no one knew- he would have quite surely thrown up. As it was, the program just managed to keep his internal calibration online and his legs functioning properly.

Still…momentarily freezing in place, the navi was suddenly torn between dropping his partner in favor of a serious self-assessment, or continuing on until he managed…something. –to jabber away in such fluid conversation, just being able to talk, hearing him obsess over the stupidest things…was that enough motivation?- Settling for halfway, Rock's face softened into what could be taken either as an apology or regret. It didn't really help that he himself wasn't completely sure on the matter. Although, the importance of knowing which it was slowly waning as Netto remained unmoved.

Which brought Rockman back to square one; again the wave of indignation rose. Teeth clenched, fists tightened to the point where even his blunt fingertips were beginning to dig into his skin, he tugged at the emotion's leash, offering short strings of override coding in the hopes of disabling the rising urge to forgo the shaking-in of sense and just start punching.

He had more control than that…right?

Maybe he would have if Netto had not chosen that moment to speak again for the first time since that initial bedside scuffle.

"You sh…" eyes didn't meet, no matter how much one party wished otherwise. "…s-should have…" brown remained glassed over and out of it, while green searched eagerly for any abrupt sign of change within the unmoved eyes. This is it, those eyes told the leash, it's over now…! They assured the taunt and frayed line of binary keeping a particular section of AI in check. Netto-kun is speaking! It's over! Everything will be…

"…let me die" …just fine. Utter silence. It took a moment, but suddenly, the green eyes were no longer so eager to glance into their brown counterparts. Struck speechless, the navi could do nothing than grasp at incoherent wisps of thought, sending his AI and emotion matrix into a brief system freeze. As it struggled to force itself online, only one sub-folder of codes managed anything that could be counted as a successful command execution.

With that one final tug, the leash snapped.

As if let go from an elastic band, Rock's forearm flew forward with all the force his data-based form possessed, striking Netto clear across the face. The punch carried itself on into its follow-through even as the green eyes squeezed themselves shut and tried in vain to convince the memory banks that it had never happened in the first place. –human flesh was such soft business, maybe his form had been modeled after a human, but in no way was punching a human the same as punching a navi- It didn't matter that the impression of the brunette's flesh across his knuckles was forever burned into his mind, he didn't want it…!

"What the hell-" the errant arm was drawn back and fisted along with the other under Netto's collar. An odd voice in the back of his logic sectors questioned as to why the heck he hadn't continued the beating just as another voice from the basics of his programming demanded to know why he had just punched –an injured no less- Netto clear across the face. Teeth still grit, he ignored both ends of his AI and abruptly used his curled hands to draw the brunette forward so that they were now forehead to forehead.

"-was that supposed to mean!?" the brown eyes remained out of focus, though it did not go unnoticed by Rockman as those same eyes slowly drew themselves upward and away from the scene literally right before him. The term 'furious' was beginning to find itself obsolete in describing the navi.

"You don't understand" the hollow words matched their hollow speaker. It had been nothing more than a whisper this time and had been barely audible the first, but the effect was still the same Now that he had open his mouth to respond, Netto was grasping at straws and he knew it. Rock knew it. Silence was a much stronger foe than hurried excuses could ever be –somewhere in his AI he acknowledged the fact that Netto too had this knowledge locked away somewhere. That much alone was enough for even the tiniest of sudden hope-

"Don't understand what?" a pause to further grind his data-based forehead against his operator's natural one. "Why you're being so difficult?" fingers continued to tighten their grip within the hospital shirt, "Why you're moping?" shouting again, the internal systems had long since given up trying to repair the leash and had decided to let it all just run its course. "Why you're feeling so damn sorry for yourself when you could have been helping out?" a pause to refrain from throwing the human body to the ground –just because he was angry did not mean that he needed to be hearing the brunette scream in pain-

"No" Rockman spat. "I don't"

Something caught. The anger that had abruptly boiled over in the navi was burning clearly, and like a wildfire it had continued moving until it had found somewhere else to effectively take root and burn. And somewhere, a flame which had once been so bright, –which had just recently become nothing more than a pinprick instead of a bonfire- slowly began to burn once more.

"Shut up!" another arm flew out, this one bare of any protective gear and instead clothed with nothing more than a flimsy hospital gown. It too struck its target clear across the face, although the attacker made no motion to shut his eyes and deny as the first had.

"You didn't see them die!" something in Rock recognized the rekindled fire. Something in his programming realized that Netto had suddenly regained a part that the navi had long considered lost to the morbid halls of the hospital. Something in his programming told him that the hard part was over now and he could just quit it and give in.

However, upstairs, they hadn't quite gotten the leash back in working order.

"And how does that make you special? Does it give you pity rights?" foreheads still pressed together, brown eyes were suddenly meeting green. No longer directed towards some far off place, they focused on the here and now, namely stating his case.

"You didn't annoy a group of guys to the point of killing innocent kids!"

"And you didn't make the decision to save a thankless operator over a crowd of innocent children!" features momentarily softened, –not to catch the brunette off guard, really- the line on his rage momentarily pulled taunt again, the fisted hands began to slowly loosen themselves as green eyes allowed themselves to plead.

"It happened, Netto-kun. There's nothing we can do about it" for a moment it almost looked as if it worked. It was a nice wish, and probably would have saved Enzan and Laika's eardrums if it had gone through.

"You knew!" the brunette all but screeched. "You knew that if you went after me you wouldn't be able to save them! You knew! I thought I was doing the right thing, but you knew!" Whether this was meant to prove Rock's guilt or further Netto's reasons to be sorry for himself even the program didn't know. Somehow, the navy one couldn't find it in him to care what the statement had truly meant.

"I did" he assented. "And I don't take it back"

"You knew…" he continued without an apparent reason. The navi kept his frown, although now more out of disappointment than any form of anger, as the brunette leaned forward out of the already slack grip on his shirt. Smaller and bare fists purposelessly began to beat on the larger chest, as if they were supposed to convey the proper meaning of Netto's former statement.

This was…pathetic.

Originally, Rock had believed that this was something that would pass with time. As time had begun to pass, he had started on the theory that maybe he just needed someone to talk to. This had further evolved into the idea that all the brunette needed was a certain navi to set him straight.

And now, he realized that maybe he was wrong.

The leash was wound up, coiled, reinforced with steel link, and then promptly shoved in the farthest corner of the sub-folder he could possibly find. The wrath was used up, the message was sent, he was proud of the fact that he'd saved Netto's life goddammit and if the brunette didn't like it then there was nothing he could do about it. It was just…something he didn't have control over. He'd thought he had…but…well…that was life –existence, in his case-

He admitted that he was part of the problem.

He resigned himself to the rift that was sure to grow between them.

He accepted the fact that Netto valued other lives above his own.

He wondered if he would be replaced.

He prepared himself for the final punch to make contact across his features.

And he cried as Netto flung his arms around a spandex covered chest.

Rock loooooooooooooost it. Yay. (beware the long author's note below)

I'm sorry about the wait…I really am. (How dare Rowling kill Hedwig!) In other news, writing Blues was fun to say the least :P Laika…not so much. T'was harder than I thought to balance soldier with teenager. Ah well, I just wanted to cover as many people as I could before this is over (poor Searchman…I'm not sure if he'll make it…Next time then…!)

About the first 'scuffle'…I don't do fight scenes. My apologies. For those who believe that Enzan and Laika should have kicked butt, please remember that they're 15 or 16-ish here, and yes, while Laika managed to connect a hit while his opponent was off guard, they're still younger and not nearly as used to combat. (I somehow can't picture Laika on the front lines of any sort…I think he's really just a soldier of the net…clarification on that? Anyone?)

As to the 'interaction' between Netto and Rock. Three words. So glaringly OOC. Two more words. I know. Six last words. And I hate myself for it.

But honestly, please raise your hands if you really thought that the second Ares and Mars died Netto would bounce around laughing (if you didn't think I'd kill them off, then that's fine too…) I figured that desperate-ish situations make people/navis do desperate-ish things. Maybe I'm totally and completely wrong. Maybe this is far too much like a soap-opera and needs a major cut down on the angst. Maybe. Many maybes. Suggestions are DEFINITELY welcome to help combat this problem. –hint hint-

I also realize now that the whole reason to Netto's unwilling-ness is rather stupid and poorly thought-out and explained on my part. The fire metaphors are overused, etc etc…I really need to get to an English class don't I?

Once again, I would like to thank all the reviewers for support; a few times, in order to force myself to write, I had to visit the review page and remember there were at least 10 people who had liked it enough to comment. Those people, deserving of my thanks and praise (and therefore, by default, your thanks as well…) are Firehedgehog, miforever29, Necklace of Raindrops, Atreyu the Slayer, Random Irony, Yuki's Little Girl, lightningstar-Icy, beedolphin, Xstarlight-dragonX, and Ryoki-chan. Dank u zeer!

-throws out EmoNetto plushies for all reviewers- wonderfully OOC…limited time only…