Long time no see everyone! Sorry about the long delay. The two weeks from august 15th to august 28th was football camp. I literally had football stuff to do 24/7 so i had asolutely no time to write. HOWEVER, that time is obviously come and gone, so now i shall continue writing as i always do. Again sorry for the delay and that i had no real way of letting you all know.
Anyway, here is the eleventh installment of Love Knows No Limit.
story
"talking"
thinking
Emphasis
LOUD
(me talking)
Enjoy!
Love Knows No Limit
By: Flashgunner
Ch. 11: Missing Your Other Half
Faith. It is a powerful thing. Something that can drive an individual to stand firm and strong even against the most powerful storms and unrelenting obstacles. But at the same time, faith is fragile… Something that can easily be broken when the powerful beliefs do not lead to their intended destination.
Maylu's faith in Lan was strong and resolved, even after Chaud brought the news that the search for him had been terminated, but going on almost two months and there was still no sign of his return. Maylu's faith was beginning to crumble. The Undernet was a cruel and unforgiving place. Lan knew better than to stay there long should he ever have to go… But the wait was becoming unbearable, and the others were beginning to worry that if Lan failed to show, she would do something rash.
But beyond all the trials Maylu and Roll have recently been facing, the world was picking up the pieces and licking its wounds. The internet lockdown was officially released, causing a mass data flow from navis all over the world frantically moving back onto the net. Scilab reported many broken records in terms of login numbers and received data inputs.
Scilab itself was back up and bustling again, working on new ways to tighten security and restoring the damaged net to its former glory. The best Scilab scientists and professors were put on the job, Yuuichiro headed the efforts of course, but he received a large amount of help from Albert Wily, the former rival of Yuuichiro's father Tadashi. The old robotics specialist had recently finished his required hours of service put upon him by the grand jury of Electopia. Now free from custody and having repaid the world three times over for his past sins with massive enhancements to world technology and defense mechanisms, he offered to work at scilab under observation of security. When Yuuichiro protested about keeping him under watch, Wily himself told him not to worry.
"Despite all I've done to make up for the damage I caused in the past, I cannot erase what I have done. They have every right to keep an eye on me, and should I refuse, there is nothing to stop people from suspecting me of mischief again."
Wisdom that comes from old age. The kind of wisdom that Tadashi Hikari had as well. It was something Yuuichiro could never argue with. But that was a little over two years ago. Wily had played a major part in keeping the net defense systems running during the war, and followed up by doing an almost flawless job at reconstructing the damaged parts of the Den area internet. With that project logged and filed, he was ready to move on and assist the repairs to the rest of the net all around Electopia, and if need be, beyond the borders.
"Dr. Wily… are you in there?" Yuuichiro spoke into the speaker outside the office door at the end of the Scilab basement's main hallway.
"Is that Tadashi's boy?" A voice came through the speaker in response. Yuuichiro sighed.
"Yes it's me."
"Well come on in!" The speaker clicked off before Yuuichiro could reply. He grabbed the doorknob and let himself into the office. "What brings you all the way down here?" A voice came from the back of the room before Yuuichiro could even step through the door. The room was large, much larger than the typical Scilab office. The walls were littered with servers and other machines that Yuuichiro had never seen before. Most of them were hardwired towards workstations with contraptions Wily had been working on as well as net devices. However most of it was low tech and not up to date.
"How you manage to make so many advances in technology with such old tools at your disposal is mindboggling." Yuuichiro joked as he scanned the plethora of old equipment that littered the room.
"I prefer to keep things old fashioned." The swivel chair behind the old wooden desk at the end of the room swung around to reveal the old engineer in all his glory, the thinning, grey, spiked hair, the equally prickled moustache, and the metallic eyepiece with a dark blue lens in one of his eyes. In front of him was an ancient cube computer monitor.
"You could at least upgrade you communications…" The son of Tadashi began as he approached and scanned his eyes over the only monitor he had ever seen that wasn't flat-screen. I can never get a hold of you; always have to come down to the "dungeon". Yuuichiro made the quote-on-quote motion with his fingers as he said it. Wily laughed heartily.
"You could always call me." He pointed to an old fashioned zero to nine, star, pound number pad base telephone that wasn't even cordless. Yuuichiro gave him a look riddled with the words "you're kidding right?", but when he saw the look on Wily's face he could tell the old man was pulling his leg.
"Heh, no one has used those things for almost half a century… but I can see you've tried to get it to work… He spied an implanted cord from the base of the phone leading to one of the old servers.
"Yep... still no luck with it though… the tech is much too old to run with even these old net boxes… but hey, I used to berate your father over this old phone, it's like an old trinket to me now… but anyway, I assume you came down here for a reason?" He folded his hands upon his desk, awaiting an answer.
"Ah yes… we're holding a meeting in about an hour to discuss the restoration of the Electopian internet. The heads of Intralabs and Cynet from the capital city will be there. We'll need to work with them to have the right amount of man power for this job." As he finished, Wily gave a nod. "And maybe you should at least put E-mail on your system so it's easier to relay information to you." He added at the end to purposely be a wise guy. Wily smirked.
"But if I did that no one would ever come visit me down here!" He purposely tried to sound like a forgotten old man, earning a few laughs from Yuuichiro.
"Alright, I need to get back to work." Yuuichiro stated suddenly, and not very eagerly. Wily raised an eyebrow as Yuuichiro turned away and called out to him before he could exit.
"Yuuichiro." The said scientist stopped in his tracks and turned his head around. "Are you alright?"
"Um…"
"Come clean with me."
"Well… I'm…" Yuuichiro turned away.
"It's about your son… isn't it?" Wily hit a bull's-eye as Yuuichiro tightened his grip on the doorknob.
"Yes… it is…"
"You should take some time off… I know we are trying to restore the net, but I'm sure your family is going through a rough time. You need to think of yourself and your wife."
"I… yes, I know… but right now we should finish this task and then…" Wily couldn't see the tears forming in Yuuichiro's eyes. "Then I'll see about taking some time…" With that, the distraught scientist left the office and closed the door behind him.
Wily kept his eyes on the door. Such an unfortunate way for things to turn out… seventeen years of work down the drain… I may have had a son of my own… but Regal would have never looked at me as a son would to a father… Yuuichiro worked so hard to support his family, only to lose his most prized result from that work… it must be unbearable…
Suddenly a shrill ring sounded from beside him. He perked up instantly and looked around until his eyes fell on the old phone beside him.
It was ringing.
"What in the world?" Wily kept his eyes on the ancient tech as it rang two more times, and then reached for it, stopping as he wrapped his hand around it. After concluding that he was indeed not imagining the strange event, he lifted the phone off the base and slowly brought it to his ear. "H…Hello?"
"…"
"Yes… this is Albert Wily…Who in the world is this… and how did you…"
"…"
"You used the…?" His eyes traced the cord that reached towards the servers that lined the wall. "Okay… but… who is this… and how did you manage to find me?"
"…"
"Wait… what…? You're… who…? WHAT!"
…
…
Two weeks later at Alpha High…
"Maylu! No! That's stupid!" Yai slammed her hands down on the lunch table in front of her. "Being determined is one thing, but being overzealous is completely different!" Dex was leaning away from the two of them, hoping to avoid bringing too much attention to their table.
"It isn't stupid Yai… I know Lan is out there, and the only reason he hasn't come back yet is because he's physically unable to. That's why I'm planning on going to the Undernet to help him." She made no effort to shoot back at Yai, stating her plan of action flatly and straight forward in attempt to prove her resolve.
"God dammit Maylu…" Yai sat back down in her seat and rubbed her forehead beneath her newly grown out bangs. "I was worried this would happen… you're starting to lose yourself with this idea that Lan's just taking his time on returning to us…" She was stopped as a large hand grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her out of her seat. She traced the hand to Dex who looked back at Maylu and said,
"One moment…" He dragged Yai a good distance away, passed a few other lunch tables and to the wall of the cafeteria before she yanked her shoulder free and glared at him.
"This better be good Dex." She huffed as she crossed her arms angrily. He sighed, running a hand through his front-hawk hair.
"Look, I'm not trying to stop you from telling her what's right and wrong… it's just… she needs to figure it out herself. If we keep telling her that Lan's gone, plain and simple, she'll keep denying it."
"But she wants to go to the Undernet and look for him! If we don't do something she's going get herself killed!" She yelled back. Dex held a finger to his lips to remind her to keep her voice down. "Sorry…"
"Don't worry about that, I'll make sure she doesn't throw herself to the wolves…" He pointed to his eye patch with his thumb. "The last thing we need is her suffering something like this… or worse." He assured her. Yai let her shoulders droop and looked towards the floor. "But… I'll be completely honest with you… if worst comes to worst, I will drill it into her, because I don't like seeing her like this just as you don't… If she gets any worse, I will lay it on good and thick for her… just, don't worry much about it, I'll bite the bullet if need be…" He finished. Yai continued to look down.
"This… sucks…" She said out of nowhere.
"Hm…? Oh… because of Lan?"
"Yeah… I just… can't feel happy when he's not here… he was the life of our group…" She sighed as Dex scratched the back of his head.
"It's true… Lan had a very odd knack for always making people feel good, not to mention secure…" They both looked back to Maylu, who was leaning forward on the table, one elbow on it, with her hand supporting her head by her cheek. She was staring up to the ceiling and hadn't touched her food.
"And it's making her change completely…" Yai hugged herself. "Without him she's not even herself… like half of her is missing…"
"Hm…" Dex put his hands on his waist. "Hopefully she'll get over that soon… I'm not saying she should just forget about him… but she needs to get on with her life… and by the way… is she not carrying her pet?" Yai's eyes opened wide. She didn't even notice.
"She isn't! Where is Roll?"
…
…
Roll had been left at home. Maylu's mind was in such a tizzy that she sometimes forgot to do things linked with her own life. Sometimes it was a simple thing, like brushing her hair in the morning or forgetting homework on her desk, but today she had left her Pet at home, meaning Roll was abandoned as well. However there was a visitor within her home that benefitted from this mistake…
"So you see… after talking with her friends and to Yuuichiro Hikari, it has been determined that this would be the best course of action…" Maylu's mother sat listening to the visitor from across the table. "So if you get a chance, perhaps when she's unaware… could you retrieve her Pet?"
"Actually…" Mrs. Sakurai began as she brushed a few strands of long brown hair behind her ears. "She left it here this morning…"
"She went to school without her Pet?" The visitor questioned in bewilderment.
"At least she's in school at the moment… shouldn't you be too?" She shot him a motherly look.
"I was sent here as an official, and because I actually know her… My business in regards to my job comes before school." He replied.
"You said your name was… Chaud? Now that you mention it I have heard her speak you before…" She turned her head towards the stairs. "But if you say my daughter is in danger of her own feelings… then I will cooperate… one moment, I'll go get Roll…" She rose from her seat and made her way through the kitchen and to the stairs. Chaud leaned back in his chair, losing himself in his own thoughts.
I personally do not wish to stop her from doing what she pleases… she already managed to cut through our security to find us during the war… making her and Roll a formidable team at locating people… but this is just too much of a risk… We've already lost Hikari… I will make sure they are spared of losing anyone else… His eyes caught movement and he looked up to see Mrs. Sakurai approaching with a pink Pet.
"Here she is…" Maylu's mother handed the Pet to him. Chaud took it in his hand and checked the screen. Roll was sitting at a cyber-table, with what seemed to be multiple screenshot files strewn all over it. Mouse was sitting beside the chair, dome down.
"Wow… has that little pet of hers even given up on turning her around?" He commented.
"We've tried everything… even Maylu has trouble getting through to her. Without Megaman she's been a complete wreck…" Mrs. Sakurai sighed and leaned against the kitchen counter.
"All the more reason for us to do this… With Roll in this vulnerable state, pressure from Maylu could cause more psychological damage…" Chaud grabbed his Pet and drew out the auxiliary cord from the back, shifting the plug head to resemble that of a subchip, he inserted it into the subchip slot on Maylu's pet.
"But if I know my daughter, she'll be stubborn and try to find a way past it…"
"No need to worry about that… this security lock was designed by Yuuichiro Hikari himself… She may have been able to break through common security walls, but not this." He entered a few commands in his Pet and gave Protoman a nod. The crimson navi disappeared in a flash of red light.
"And when she finds out its hopeless… what if she becomes unstable? She's already not been herself; I fear it could get much worse." Mrs. Sakurai continued to worry like all good mothers do, but Chaud gave her a straight forward answer.
"Have her see a psychiatrist… and when I say that I mean sooner rather than later. I hate to say it, but right now she's a lost cause… I've spoken with her friends and they've had no luck getting her to accept the truth… same goes for someone else…" He finished while shifting his view to Roll's Pet.
…
…
Protoman touched down within Roll's Pet. After a quick glance around he set his eyes on Roll. He walked towards her with his orders pressed to the front of his mind as always. Inform Roll on his task and then set up the connection breaker. As neared her he focused on the ground to avoid stepping on any of the stray files that littered the floor. He noticed something as he walked, the files were all pictures, and every picture contained Megaman, or her and Megaman. Being the highly trained official he was, he did not waver at the sight, despite seeing the face of a former rival and reliable comrade. He stopped in front of the pink navi, whose head was down on the table, buried between her arms that lay crossed upon it. Reaching a hand forward he touched her shoulder.
"Roll." He called out her name stoically. She twitched at his touch and let out a loud sniffle before turning her head to look at him. Protoman was glad his visor hid his eyes, because there wasn't a person or navi with a soul on the planet who could withstand it. Even the famous crimson soldier of the officials with a heart of stone would admit to the warmth that radiated from Roll and her presence. A smile from her could turn even the longest frowns upside-down… So seeing such a look of lost sorrow in her eyes was like being stabbed in the heart. "Ahem…" Protoman cleared his throat. "I bring word from Sir Chaud, we have decided that it would be best to…" He was cut off as she reached forward and grabbed him by the wrists.
"Have you found anything about Mega?" Protoman twitched at the sudden contact, and was forced to stare straight into the false hope that shined in her eyes. He sighed and slowly removed her hands from him.
"I'm sorry… but nothing has been found…" He paused, noticing the blank look he was receiving. Knowing that it was probably not the best thing to say, he quickly added extra. "…yet. We are still looking…" He lied. He bold-facedly lied to her, but what was he supposed to do? She caught him on the spot, and his usual sense of straight forward logic almost got the better of his common sense for the situation. "But…" He continued. "You might not agree with this, but it has been decreed by the high authorities and officials of Scilab that we place a link lock on your Pet and PC…" he paused knowing that she wouldn't like the next part. "Because we don't want you and your operator endangering yourselves by looking for Lan and Megaman yourselves…" Roll immediately gasped and scooted back slightly in her chair before leaning forward to grab hold of him again.
"What? NOO! You can't! We will find him if we need to… we will…!" Protoman caught her arms before she could grapple him again.
"I'm sorry… this isn't my decision and it wasn't Sir Chaud's… we are only following orders for your own safety…" He let go of her and watched her arms droop to her sides. "Things are already bad enough… With Lan and Megaman g… missing, we can't afford to have you two put yourselves in similar danger… this is for your own good…" Roll didn't move, nor did she reply. She sat completely still, staring right at Protoman with tear-filled eyes. He turned away from her without another word and proceeded with his orders, writing up a net-lock program and encrypting it to a Scilab restricted code. No matter how good Roll was at breaking through encryption, unless she had an official Scilab identification code she would not even be allowed to access it. When the lock was in place, Protoman put a hand to his ear. "Sir Chaud, objective complete… Very well, returning." He stole one more glance at Roll before teleporting back to his Pet.
…
…
"It's done…" Chaud commented as he handed the Pet back to Mrs. Sakurai. "Just go plug the Pet into her PC and the lock will transfer into her system as well."
"She's not going to take this well you know…" Mrs. Sakurai sighed as she eyed Roll's broken state on the Pet screen.
"I'm well aware of that… but it would be better for her to learn and accept the truth eventually, she's building up a lot of false hope, and it it goes on for too long, the results could be disastrous for her…" Chaud's words were harsh, but so was the reality that all of them had to accept.
"I understand…" She nodded in reluctant agreement. Chaud whipped his hands together and rose from his seat.
"Thank you for cooperating… this would've been difficult if I had to confront her personally… Now I need to get back to my duties…" He walked right to the door and left before Mrs. Sakurai could respond, but words were failing her, there was nothing to say to soften the blow of Lan being gone.
…
…
The day came to a close, and the students of Alpha High were pouring from the school gates, getting on with their lives with the pieces picked up from the war. Despite promising Yai that he would keep an eye on her, Dex had completely lost Maylu in the crowd.
"Dammit! Where did she go?" Dex stood on his tiptoes to get a good view above the crowd. Finding anyone else this way would be fruitless, but Maylu was always easy to spot because of her unique hair color. He spent the next ten minutes continuing his search, but eventually the crowd thinned to the point where only a few stragglers exited the grounds, one of which was Yai.
"Dex? Why are you still here?" She questioned. Dex sighed and pounded the wall with his hand.
"I lost track of Maylu…" He grumbled irritably. Yai's eyes widened.
"What? We need to find her! Quick, maybe she already went home!" Dex shook his head, stopping her from darting down the street.
"After the way we received her plan to go find Lan? I doubt she'll go somewhere where we can easily find and stop her…"
"But she left her Pet at home remember? She has to get Roll before she can do anything, so she has to be at her house! Maybe we can catch her before she tries anything!" Yai's recalling of their lunch hour made Dex perked up in realization.
"Hey, that's right! Come on let's go now!" He exclaimed, but was suddenly cut off by a familiar, silver haired figure.
"No need to worry." Chaud stood before them. Yai immediately stepped in front of Dex.
"Okay you, I know you aren't one for compassion but I know her! She's going to do something dangerous if we don't hurry so out of our way!" Chaud rolled his eyes.
"Don't be so impulsive… I've already made sure nothing will happen." He calmly explained. Dex and Yai simmered down upon hearing this and were both eager to know.
"Enlighten us then." Dex demanded.
"By order of the high ranking officials of Scilab, including Yuuichiro Hikari himself, I made a trip to the Sakurai residence in the early afternoon to place a high level security encrypted lock on her PC and Pet… Roll has pretty much been locked out of the internet, and as long as that fact remains, she cannot risk herself by using full synchro or traveling to the Undernet." He finished. Yai looked away, unsure of how to take this news.
"That seems a bit… harsh… don't you think?" She commented.
"But it's necessary. Believe me Yai, you guys aren't the only ones being affected by Lan's absence. I too, have lost something without him here, and I'm not about to watch someone else lose more than they already have. Even if I had not been ordered to do so I do believe I would have suggested this tactic eventually." Chaud turned sideways to them. "Until she can accept how things have turned out like we have, this is completely necessary, no matter how harsh it may seem."
…
…
Maylu burst through the door to her house, not even acknowledging her mother as she ran through the living room.
"Maylu…?" Her mother leaned out from behind the kitchen wall as she caught the sound of footsteps scampering up the stairs. Maylu dropped her backpack as soon as she entered her room and snatched Roll's Pet from her desk.
So far so good… Now I just need to find a place to plug into the net where no one can bother me… She decided to ponder the location as she made her escape. She heard the familiar pattern of her mother's feet thumping up the stairs and quickly diverted into the bathroom.
"Maylu is that you?" Her mother pushed the door open to Maylu's room and glanced around. With her mother distracted, Maylu slipped out of the bathroom and back down the stairs as quickly and quietly as she could.
All clear… She thought as she closed the front door behind her. Now where… She glanced in both directions down her street. My house is out of the question… Yai's and Dex's are out… the school security would find me… Higsby's shop is too public… Then her eyes fell on Lan's house. She blinked a few times, and then shook her head. Get real… Mrs. Hikari would definitely wonder why I'm waltzing into her home without Lan around… But she kept staring at the house. She kept contemplating the possible stupidity of the idea, but she suddenly noticed that the window to his room was open. His window…? His mother must have opened it to air out the house… She eyed the tree next to the house. The tree used to be so small that she and Lan could see each other from their rooms across yards, but the past few years the tree had grown immensely and now blocked that view. This may have been her lucky break though, because the tree seemed just tall enough that she could jump from the branches and make it to the window. It was a crazy and dangerous idea yes, but she was determined. So determined that she was unaware that Roll had been silent the whole time and more so unaware of the colossal let down she would receive should she succeed in this escapade.
She made it to the base of the tree and examined her makeshift ladder, unfortunately the branches were a bit out of her reach, but that didn't stop her, her eyes darted to the garbage bin sitting out against the house. The more ideas she got, the more dangerous the situation became. She seized the bin and flipped it upside down to use as a boost. She flinched slightly as she did so; taking into account that if there was actually any garbage in the container she just dumped it all out, but with a quick look and a sigh of relief there was no garbage in the bin. She stepped up, the bin wobbling uncontrollably as she did. It was about to take a dive, but she jumped up and grabbed hold of the lowest branch just as the bin toppled over.
"Ah!" She yelped as she felt her grip slipping. She made an extra effort and got her hands firmly on the branch, swaying herself side to side until she had enough momentum to swing her leg up onto the branch and pull the rest of herself up. "Okay!" She confidently cheered as she began making her way through the leaves and branches towards the top of the tree. Prickly twigs and sticks poked and scratched her as she ascended, but she paid absolutely no mind, she didn't care if she ruined her clothes at this point. As she reached the destined branch, she realized that the higher branches were not as thick nor did they seem as resilient, but she was so close. As she edged towards the window, the branch began to bend beneath her weight, causing her to freeze in fear of falling. She glanced down only once to see how far she would fall if she failed, but quickly brushed the image from her mind, refocusing on the open window. With one more step, there was a loud snap and the branched shifted downward. Without thinking Maylu pushed off her feet and leapt towards the window. The branch gave way as she jumped, taking away any hope for her safety should she miss. But she didn't. Her right hand slipped right off, but her left hand had a hold on the window sill.
"Oh god… oh god… this was NOT a good idea…" She said to herself despite the fact that her body was still struggling and crawling with no fear to get a good grip on the window. The edge of the window sill was painfully digging into her hand, but she disregarded it as she finally got hold with both hands. She pulled herself up and squeezed through the window, falling with a loud thud onto the floor of Lan's room. She lay on her back for a few moments staring straight up to the ceiling, panting to catch her breath. "I did it… I'm in…" She said to herself. Her eyes widened and she sat up quickly, scampering towards Lan's PC. There was some dust on it from years of no use, but she pressed the power button and grabbed Roll from the Pet pouch on her waist. As Lan's compute finished powering on, she drew the cord from her Pet and plugged it into the PC. "Let's go Roll! It's time to go find Lan and Megaman!" She called to her navi.
"…"
But there was no response.
"Roll?" Maylu pressed a few buttons on her Pet to display Roll. She was slumped in a cyber chair clutching Mouse in her arms tightly. "Roll!" She exclaimed, completely forgetting she was trying to stay hidden from Lan's mother. "Get up! Don't you want to find Megaman?" She questioned frantically.
"I want to… but… we can't…" The pink navi sobbed, tears becoming visible upon her face.
"What…? Why is…?" Maylu glanced around the Pet screen and noticed that the icon indicator for being plugged into a system or network was not present. Confused, she unplugged the cord and plugged it back in, repeating the process about five more times with the same results. "I don't understand! What's going on?"
"There's a lock on your Pet." Maylu spun around at the sound of another voice. Dex stood in the doorway to Lan's room with Haruka right behind him. Maylu quickly backed into the desk, almost losing her balance.
"Wha…what? How did you know… What do you mean…?" The hysterical questions fired from her rapidly, but Dex held up a hand to calm her down.
"First off, you weren't being very subtle about it; did you think no one would see you pull off that reckless stunt?" Dex commented, slightly annoyed at her tree climbing act. Maylu looked away from him. She didn't know what to do or what to say to defend herself, but it was true, she noticed how stupid it was when she almost fell two stories. "And what I said is what's a fact… there is a Scilab issued transmission lock on your Pet. Maylu's eyes widened and she seemed to pale.
"What…? You… you're joking right…?" Her expression was fearful and she felt short on breath. Dex turned to Haruka.
"Sorry about her breaking in… I need to talk to her in private, is that okay?" He asked politely.
"That's fine…" Haruka replied with an obvious dullness in her voice. Without another word she turned and left and Dex closed the door to Lan's room behind him. As he faced her, Maylu wobbled towards Lan's bed and plopped down, feeling overwhelmed and incredulous towards what Dex had just told her. Dex walked into the room and faced her.
"Maylu… this is for your own good, we can't have you running off to the Undernet and risking yourself for no reason…" He tried to explain calmly, but he knew well that Maylu would fight him on this. She suddenly regained some confidence and glared right at him.
"No reason? NO REASON! Dex in case you have forgotten, Lan is lost out there! If no one is going to look for him and give up then I need to go! Alone if necessary!" Dex sighed and rubbed his temples, it was clear what he had to do now, as much as he didn't want to. "Some friend you are if you aren't even worried about him! Lan would never leave you behind would he? Would Lan…"
"MAYLU! LAN IS DEAD!" Dex exploded while pounding his fist upon Lan's desk. Maylu's hardened expression broke instantly, her eyes became wide. Dex was staring straight at her with no sign of joking in his expression. "Maylu… you need to look at this from a logical perspective… Lan and Megaman fell deep into the uncharted reaches of the Undernet, where none have ever come out alive, and to top it off he was directly positioned in front of an explosion that had enough power to take out the entire Electopian military force. Even if he survived that… he would be severely injured and unable to protect himself from the horrors of what lurks down there…" Maylu's eyes were beginning to water, but Dex didn't let up. He couldn't stand watching her live a lie any longer, she had to accept reality. "I don't want to let go of Lan any more than you do… or Yai does… or hell even Chaud does… But you need to face the facts! Lan is gone, and you're doing nothing to help yourself deal with that… you're only making it worse…"
Maylu didn't say a word, and there was nothing else Dex needed to say. He knew there was nothing he could do to comfort her, he was there as an eye opener, not as a shoulder to cry on. He reluctantly watched as she slowly broke down and tears fell from her eyes. She didn't wail, nor did she scream out in agony. She just curled up into a ball on Lan's bed, clutching her knees tightly to her chest. Dex turned away, unable to take it anymore and exited the room. He made his way down the stairs and over to Haruka, sitting on the living room couch with the television on. She glanced at Dex briefly before turning back to the news.
"She's on his bed… needs some alone time." He stated simply, receiving a nod from Haruka. He sighed heavily, walked through the kitchen and out the front door into the Hikari's front yard. Waiting there for him was Chaud and clinging to his arm, Yai. Yai had her face dug into his shoulder and didn't look up as Dex approached, but Chaud spoke immediately.
"You know there was a reason I didn't completely lay it on about him…" He calmly argued.
"And there's a reason I did." Dex replied flatly. "Chaud, as serious and hard working as you might be, you have a problem putting the interests of your job over the interests of those it may affect… You may think it would've been a good idea to let her muse about her plans to save him until she figured it out… I tried to hold back at first, but I couldn't stand watching her play at false ideas and fabricate hope…" He glanced back towards the window to Lan's room. "The sooner she can get over it the better… not just for her, but for everyone…"
…
Up in Lan's room, Maylu stayed curled up on his bed, quivering slightly with tear droplets smearing her face. How could she have been so blind? To hear the harsh reality straight from Dex tore her to pieces, breaking down the resilient wall of confidence in Lan with a sledgehammer made of the cold hard truth. Who was she trying to fool? Herself? If the top scanners and searchers of Scilab and Electopia in general couldn't find Lan then how would she?
If such a thing were possible, she hugged herself tighter. Why did all of this have to happen? Why did the three mystery navis have to attack Netopia? Why did the crazy stand in president have to declare War? Why did Raika have to call for Netbattlers? Why did Lan have to accept? Why did he have to… die?
It was then and there that she could fully feel it. The feeling of Lan truly being gone. It felt horrible, she felt as though there was a giant hole in the center of her heart, a hole that could only be filled through means that now would never exist. She was torn in two, half of her was gone, the other half that completed her. Her tears stopped and she sat up on the bed, glancing around the room that would no longer be occupied. She stood up, eager to leave a place that she could never bring herself to walk through again. She left the room, went down the stairs, ignored Haruka, left the house, and walked right past the three conversing outside. She didn't stop to acknowledge them; the words they called to her didn't mean a thing. She continued on her path and didn't stop.
…
"Maylu! Maylu…" Yai tried one more time to no avail. "Was this a good idea Dex? She'll never be the same…"
"It was now or later… either way she'd end up like this." Dex shiftd his weight onto his opposite leg. "I just wish things could go back to the way they were… before the war…" Dex rubbed his shaved head discouragingly. Suddenly Chaud's Pet beeped with an e-mail tone.
"Hm? An E-mail?" He pulled his Pet from its pouch and examined the screen. "Protoman how did we receive an E-mail? Only Scilab has authorization to our Pet through video calling…"
"Let me look into it." Protoman disappeared and reappeared a second later. "Um…"
"Hm?" Chaud raised an eyebrow, wondering what the hell was going on. Now Dex and Yai's attention were on the Pet.
"Well… I don't know what to make of this… Chaud there's only one person who has authorization to E-mail you… and… well… that's…" Chaud's eyes widened.
"What? Who is he talking about?" Yai questioned quizzically. Chad didn't answer her; instead he frantically opened the E-mail and read it over not once, not twice, but three times.
"What does it say?" Dex tried to peek over Chaud's shoulder, but by the time he could actually see the Pet, Chaud quickly replaced it in his belt carrier and took off in a sprint towards the Metroline Station.
"This… ISN'T possible!" He yelled out as he ran.
"Hey wait!" Dex and Yai followed him. They made their way around the block and down a few more streets until the Metroline came into view. A figure stood outside the stairs, but they were too far away to tell who it was. As Chaud came to a stop in front of the person and the two others caught up, Dex stopped dead in his tracks and Yai fell to her knees, both in complete shock at what they were seeing. Chaud just stared.
"I…I don't believe it…" Was all he could say.
…
…
Maylu slowed to a walk as she entered the ACDC park. She glanced around at her surroundings, not a person in sight. The park used to be a place full of life, laughter, and love… but the once public centerpiece of the town had taken a backseat to people rebuilding their lives. Maylu had her best childhood memories in this park, and most of them included Lan. As much as she didn't want him on her mind, she couldn't deny the images of the past that reminded her of the life she once had.
She kept glancing around as if searching for a way to fill the gap within her soul. What she really wanted to see was the image she recently witnessed while within the boundaries of the park… the image of the boy and girl holding hands and playing together happily. But no matter how hard or carefully she looked, the image would not appear… in its place was an image of a girl sitting alone on the swing set, kicking her feet at the ground in hopes of starting her momentum, but she was unable to. She looked around for someone to give her a push, but there was no one around to help, she was alone.
Maylu stumbled back into a park bench and fell right onto it. Although she sat up straight, her head was down, tears once again falling from her eyes and streaking down her face. Her hand went to her skirt pocket and she pulled out the familiar blue bandana that he left her with when she last saw him in the flesh. She clutched it between her hands in her lap, tears dropping from her chin onto the old blue fabric.
At the edge of the park, Chaud walked up to the street corner and eyed Maylu on the bench a little ways away. Next to him was the person they ran into at the Metroline.
"There." Chaud Pointed. The person nodded and stepped into the park, walking towards Maylu. Chaud watched as he moved and lost himself in complex thought. There… there is absolutely no way… I don't understand how he could have… there has to be something in between the lines here… he's hiding something…
The person moved closer to Maylu, but she didn't move, not even when she could hear the quiet footsteps against the grass. She figured that it was just somebody passing through; she had enough to think about.
"Maylu?" Her eyes snapped open. That voice. She had heard that voice before. In fact she had heard it countless times in her life, probably more times than any other person. She had to be imagining it, it was just the trauma playing tricks on her, it had to be. "Um… Maylu? Earth to Maylu!" That cockiness, that lack of tact, that confident roll of the words. Was she imagining it? Suddenly the person reached out and put a finger to her chin, tilting her head up. She took in everything she saw and almost lost all her breath. That tall figure, the messy brown hair, the face with those deep brown eyes, the blue jeans and leather jacket from when he left, the scare between his eyes.
"Lan…?" She knew she was hallucinating now. She knew full well that Lan was dead. This was just something she would get over eventually. She looked away thinking the vision would cease, but she felt weight on her shoulders. She looked to see hands upon them and stared back up into his eyes.
"What's gotten into you?" He questioned with a disappointed look on his face. There was no mistaking it now. He was right there. He was really right there in front of her. She didn't care how, she didn't care if it seemed impossible, but then again, the impossible was something Lan was always known for.
"Is… is it really you…?" She stammered, still unsure how to react. Lan smiled and removed his hands from her shoulders placing them on his waist.
"Last time I checked I was really me!" That sealed it. Maylu couldn't doubt it at all now, that comment was just so LAN. She stood up from the bench, looking back down as she did so. "Aw common, I haven't seen you in so long, at least look at me..." He pleaded childishly. Maylu began to shake slightly. "Um, Maylu?" She suddenly pulled back her arm and slapped him across the face as hard as she could. It was so unexpected that Lan almost fell over. "YEEEOUCH!" He yelped while rubbing his cheek. "What was that for?" He was ready to argue, but he stopped when he saw her glaring at him with her eyes flowing like rivers.
"You… you…" She clenched her fists tightly. "You are such…. A JERK!" She yelled out. Lan backed away slightly as she yelled.
"Jeez Maylu… I didn't mean…" But that's as far as he got. She rushed at him and threw her arms around his waist, squeezing him as tightly as she could.
"You… friggin… jerk…" She choked out as she began to sob. "You… I hate you… why'd you have to…" Lan could only smile at her comments. He reached his arms around her, placing one hand on her back and the other behind her head, pulling her into a tight embrace.
"Yeah, I know… I'm an asshole… you don't have to remind me… but hey…" He tilted his head down to whisper into her ear. "I promised to come back didn't I? I was just running a little late… you know how I am with being on time." He joked. Maylu couldn't help but giggle at the comment, the first time she had laughed or smiled in a long time.
"Just…" She began. "Please, tell me right now I'm not dreaming… you are back right?" She pulled slightly away from him to look him in the eyes. "OW!" She suddenly yelped. "You pinched me!" She moved one hand to her back and shot him a confused look.
"Did you wake up?" He smiled. She continued to stare in bewilderment, but suddenly caught on and hugged him tightly again.
"Only you would be so childish… oh god… oh my god… you're actually here…"
"Heh…" He chuckled as she stuffed her face into his chest. He noticed a light blue color in his peripheral vision and glanced to his side to see his old lucky bandana swaying in the slight breeze from her hand. He smiled and turned his focus back to her.
Maylu couldn't believe how things suddenly turned out. The worst day of her life suddenly became the best day of her life. Lan had returned, once again defeating all odds.
But how did he do it? Dex and Yai didn't even bother to think about it, but Chaud wasn't so easily convinced. He was happy for Lan to be back, knowing that life could now really go back to the way it used to be. But he couldn't help but wonder exactly how Lan had managed to return. Not even Lan and his miracles could have saved him from the horrible circumstances he fell into. The longtime official made sure to look into it, but for the time being, Lan was home, and he didn't want to ruin that.
-Part 2 End-
-To be Continued in the final part of the story: "What Would You Do To Live Another Day?"-
Well now, just how in the world did Lan come back? There is absolutely no way he could have survived yet he did. There's something going on, but in reality, most of them dont care, because Lan is back. What an emotional rollercoaster for Maylu in one day huh?
Anyway, my normal schedual of about one chapter every 3 to 4 weeks shall continue from here on, again sorry for the delay.
As always, thank you so, SO much to all those who read and review my work. You are all the best.
Please read and review!
Flashgunner over and out!