Chapter Twenty: Dark Matter

Several Months Earlier

"No armor in the house," Roll said, her arms crossed. "It's one of the rules."

It wasn't—Mega sometimes wore his armor for days at a time when in the middle of yet another Wily mess—and he could tell Proto Man knew it, his head tilted, half-smiling at Roll. Mega expected him to refuse. It was clear that's what Roll was geared up for, itching for a fight that would reveal their brother's true motivation for turning traitor to Wily.

Instead, Proto dismissed his armor with a shrug.

He didn't look like what Mega expected. Mega wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it wasn't this. Though his hair was more red than brown, combed forward instead of back, he otherwise could have been Mega's mirror image. Wearing a cheap pair of sunglasses, his clothes worn but clean, Proto Man looked… normal. Like someone you would pass on the street. Like he wasn't the right-hand of an evil man hellbent on taking over the world.

Roll glanced back at Mega, but all he could do was shrug. Proto had called her bluff, and it wasn't worth starting a fight over. Not until he could figure out what his brother was up to. Proto had put up a pretty good show, defending Mitchell Deacon from Wily's goons at the parade, but Mega wasn't fooled one bit by that or his little speech about missing his little brother.

But Mr. Deacon had been impressed, and Dr. Light had been… not convinced, Mega thought. Hopeful. Like maybe if there was good in Proto Man, it would justify all those years of believing there was good in Wily.

Maybe. They never talked about it. Proto Man certainly wasn't going to tell.

Roll didn't move, so Proto stepped around her, smiling sideways at Mega. "You don't treat all your houseguests like this, do you?"

"Most of our houseguests haven't repeatedly tried to kill me," Mega said.

Proto raised his eyebrows, but he didn't seem too bothered. "I'll keep that in mind."

Dr. Light entered the room, saving them from the rest of that conversation, and Proto did something strange. He stiffened and shifted away from Dr. Light, ever so slightly, so that he could see where the scientist was at all times. It wasn't enough to make Mega dwell on it, but a long time later, when he lies awake at night, he'll finally realize what it was.

Fear.

But it didn't occur to Mega then. It didn't occur to him that his brother could ever be afraid of anything, and he forgot about it almost immediately.

"Why don't you give Proto Man a tour of the house?" Dr. Light suggested.

Roll gave him a doubtful look. All Mega did was fold his arms tight. With a sigh, Roll plastered a pleasant look on her face and led Proto away. His brother glanced back at him once, but Mega had no interest in playing this game.

"Do you really think that ethics program just happened to kick in at such a convenient time?" Mega asked, once the two were out of the room.

Dr. Light sighed. "I understand how you feel, Mega. I do. But I believe in second chances."

"You gave Dr. Wily plenty of second chances," Mega pointed out. "And he only used it to stab you in the back."

Dr. Light winced, and Mega realized he went too far. But his father waved off his apology before he could give it, smiling sadly. "If I let Wily destroy my ability to believe in the good of others, I would lose a part of myself that I would never get back."

Mega frowned. "I understand, but he's Proto Man."

"I'm not asking you to ignore your instincts," Dr. Light replied, clasping Mega's shoulder. "You have every reason to distrust your brother. You should do what you think is right. All I suggest is consider that there could be good in your brother too."

Mega left the conversation dissatisfied, and found his siblings in the library. Roll was holding a book like she was about to bash Proto over the head with it. Proto was grinning. This was his natural environment, about to start a fight or in the middle of one.

"No fighting in the house is also one of the rules," Mega said dryly, crossing his arms.

Roll put the book down, looking guilty. "He started it," she muttered.

"Your house rules are boring," Proto replied. "You can't tell me all you do is sit around and not blow things up. Video games don't count."

Roll hissed. "I'll blow you up, you—"

"Sis, why don't you go help Dr. Light make dinner?" Mega said, cutting her off. This wasn't a fight that could go on for hours, and he was already tired. "I'll keep an eye on our guest."

"Gladly," Roll muttered, storming out of the room. Mega would have vastly preferred to go with her. Instead he remained, crossing his arms tighter as he watched Proto Man.

Proto kept up his cool act, plucking a book from the shelf and examining it with disinterest. "I'm still just a guest, huh?"

"Not to get all preachy, Proto Man, but a single good deed doesn't make up for a lifetime of bad," Mega replied. "And I prefer the company of family I can trust."

Something crossed his brother's face at that—he wasn't quite as able to hide his expression without the helmet as he could with it, Mega noted with interest—but he quickly smoothed it away before Mega could read it.

"Can't start making up for it if you don't give me a chance first," he pointed out, returning the book back to its place on the shelf.

"What do you think this is?"

"Forced comradery on the guise making sure I don't get any of my evil Wily germs on your stuff?" Proto said, rolling his eyes. Mega could tell he did because of the way his eyebrows arched, something also usually masked by his helmet.

"I shouldn't have to remind you of all the things you've done the last few times you've been in our home, brother," Mega snapped. He was irritated now, stuck in the exact situation he had been trying to avoid. He couldn't blame Roll for losing her temper so quickly.

"So you don't want me in your house, fine," Proto replied, a little tension slipping into his tone. "Let's go for a walk or something. Spend some time together. We finally have the chance to do that, you know?"

Mega could think of a thousand ways that could go poorly, half of them involving ambushes, and only tightened his arms.

"All right, fine, you're not in the mood now," Proto said easily. "Come to the park with me tomorrow, and we'll talk then."

"Why would I do that?" Mega said sharply.

"Look, I'm trying my best here," Proto said, as irritated as Mega was now. "Just give me a chance, all right? I just want to talk."

"Fine," Mega said, turning to leave. "I'll meet you in the park, but you'd better be on your best behavior until then. Got it?"

"C'mon, Mega," Proto said, sounding frustrated. "Would it kill you to believe in me, just once?"

Mega paused, turning back to glance at Proto Man. "Honestly? It just might."

Proto said nothing to that, his expression falling, but Mega didn't pay any attention to it. He didn't dwell on it when Proto Man proved to be the liar he always was. He didn't even once consider that maybe his brother could have been reaching out after all.

Not then.

Now

It's well into the night, and again, Mega can't sleep.

It's been a week since Kalinka and her father were reunited, and Kalinka's declaration that she would not return to Russia without saving Proto Man had not gone well. Kalinka was a whirlwind of pure will, but her father was more than a match for her. It was instantly obvious where she got it from.

Mega managed to defuse it (once he got over his shock much shouting their argument entailed) by backing Kalinka up, but that had only confused the matter, stunning everyone into silence.

"Why?" Dr. Cossack had asked. He didn't have to say anything more.

It was an understandable question. Mega had made his position on his brother clear, over and over. He did not save Proto Man from his certain death when he could have. He should have. He didn't. The weight of everything he's done—and didn't do—hung heavy in the question.

"I don't know if I believe my brother can change," Mega admitted slowly. "There's a lot I haven't forgiven him for. I'm not sure… if I can. Not yet."

He paused, glancing over at his family. Roll looked torn, her arms folded tight as she chewed her lip. Dr. Light, as always, looked nothing but sympathetic.

"But I do believe in Kalinka," Mega continued. "And if she sees good in my brother, I'm willing to give him a chance."

It wasn't that easy. It was never going to be. The argument spiralled over the days the Cossacks stayed with them (there wasn't much room for guests, but they made do). Mega had no plan to offer, no solutions. Just Kalinka's fervent insistence that something was wrong, and the sinking feeling he had deep in his circuits that she was right.

He still can't sleep.

With a sigh, Mega rolls off the couch. He'd given up his room to Ivan and Alexei, though they insisted they didn't need it. Dr. Cossack and Dimitri took the spare. Kalinka is supposed to be rooming with Roll, but as Mega wanders the house, he hears his sister's voice coming from the kitchen and drifts closer to it.

"Don't take this the wrong way," Roll says. "But Proto Man has always been manipulative. I know you mean it when you say he's your friend, but… how do you know?"

Mega lingers outside the kitchen, not sure he's meant to overhear this conversation, not able to step away.

"Oh, he tried," Kalinka replies. "But it wasn't hard to figure out what he was trying to hide with it."

"I have a hard time believing he's hiding anything," Roll says, scoffing, but there's a hitch in her voice as she does, echoed by a twitch in Mega's chest. They both remember the security video. They both remember Proto Man's face when Wily hit him.

"My father likes to bury himself in his work," Kalinka replies. "But I know what it really is. It's grief, I think, and fear. Ivan's anger is just his way of trying to hide that he feels like he let us all down when Wily took him. Alexei is very good at pretending he has nothing to hide, but everyone does. Your brother… isn't a good person. I know this. I don't think I'm a good person either."

"Kalinka," Roll interjects, but she doesn't seem to know what to say.

"But," Kalinka continues. "I think I can become a better person, if I try. I have people who believe in me, and I don't want to let them down."

"What if he doesn't want to try?" Roll asks quietly.

Kalinka doesn't answer at first, the silence stretching. Mega leans against the wall, the question echoing in his head.

"I know how you feel," Kalinka says finally. "You and your brother have offered him your hand multiple times, and he's rejected you. He's been mocking. He's been cruel. But he doesn't have to be that person. He just… doesn't know how to stop, I think."

Roll sighs. "What if he doesn't want to stop, Kalinka? What if he never changes?"

"Have you ever been to Siberia?" Kalinka asks, sounding like she was weighing her words carefully. "It's cold, for one, and isolated. There are villages, true, and cities if you travel far enough, but it's a lonely place. My father moved us there to be safe, but sometimes—sometimes I think he was running away. The world can't hurt you if you keep it away, but the loneliness that comes from it… I think that hurts more."

She pauses, but Roll says nothing.

"You and Mega Man have always had each other, and Dr. Light is a very good man. Proto Man never had any of that," Kalinka says.

"And he's never wanted it," Roll says sharply.

"I don't think that's true," Kalinka replies. "But it hurts to want something you think you can't have. It's easier to pretend you never wanted it to begin with."

"You say that, but Proto Man's never wanted me," Roll says. She sounds bitter, but she's trying to hold it back. Mega winces.

"And that hurts your feelings," Kalinka replies softly.

Roll sighs. "Yeah, I guess."

"Have you ever told him that?" Kalinka asks.

"No," Roll says hotly. "Why would I? He'd only use it against me."

"He might," Kalinka says. "But you already built that wall. It's hard to tear it down, on both sides."

"You're a smart kid, Kali," Roll says wryly, after a pause.

"I spent a lot of time listening to Alexei growing up," Kalinka replies. "But much to his dismay, I'm much better at telling his advice to other people than using it myself."

Silence follows, and Mega moves into the kitchen at last. "Shouldn't you two be sleeping?"

Roll jumps, looking guilty, but Kalinka does not seem surprised at his entrance.

"It's my fault," she says. "I can't sleep."

Mega smiles. "Neither can I. I didn't mean to eavesdrop—"

"But you did," Roll says, rolling her eyes.

"But I did," Mega admits. "And I know you've been asked this a million times, Kalinka, but… do you really think he can do it? Do you think Proto Man can change?"

"I think," Kalinka says thoughtfully. "It's very difficult to step through a door when you've been told your whole life there's nothing but walls. But if we can get him to recognize there is a door, and if he has the right motivation… he just has to realize he can."

"Harder than it sounds," Roll mutters.

"Yeah," Mega says, sighing. "You two should really sleep, okay? We'll find a way to figure it out."

Kalinka frowns deeply, but she sighs. "Okay. I am wasting my time, staring at shadows. Maybe it will work better for you."

Roll shoots Mega a puzzled look at that, but he only shrugs. The two of them leave, and Mega waits for the sound of Roll's door before examining the kitchen more closely. Nothing looks out of place. A little dark, but it was night, and all the shadows seem to be in the right places.

"You didn't want to talk in front of Kalinka," he says, testing.

Shadow Man slips free from the least suspicious-looking corner, and it takes everything Mega has not to jump. He's carrying a plain-looking messenger bag, and the sight of it makes Mega's circuits twist for reasons he can't explain.

"She has been through much," he answers, meeting Mega's eyes. "I have no desire to add to her worry."

Mega freezes. "It's bad," he says quietly. "Isn't it?"

Instead of answering, Shadow Man leans against the table, folding his arms, his eyes slipping away to stare at nothing.

"You must get him out," he says, his expression tight. "I cannot advise you on what happens after you do. I should not know how you plan to do it, just to be safe. But you have to get him away from Wily. It might already be too late."

The sinking feeling Mega has been feeling all week turns solid, weighing him down. "What has Wily done?" he asks, his voice a near whisper. "Is Proto—"

"He's alive," Shadow Man says. "He's hurt. I can't—I cannot help him, Mega Man. He can't be repaired physically. The girl can help him, maybe. You. Your sister. I've done all I can."

Shadow Man digs into the bag and holds out a folder of papers. "Dr. Wily has tied Proto Man's hands. He can no longer leave on his own."

Mega flips through the pages, more and more frantic by the second. The electro-bomb in itself wasn't as dangerous as it sounds; easy to disrupt, if someone was careful. But with someone to control it with a trigger, something to turn it on to full power...

"This—this could kill Proto Man," he says. "Wily wouldn't, he needs my brother. He—"

"Wily tells himself that," Shadow Man says quietly. "He believes it, I'm sure."

"Do you?" Mega asks, afraid of the answer.

Shadow Man holds out his hand. It takes Mega a moment to realize he wants Mega to return the gesture, and he cautiously does, laying his hand over Shadow Man's palm. Shadow Man takes something from the bag, seeming to hesitate before he places it in Mega's hand.

It's the broken wreckage of a robotic eye. Mega stares at it, frozen, unable to accept at first what he's seeing. Most of it had been crudely damaged, but the iris is still mostly intact.

It's his brother's exact shade of brown.

Mega looks up at Shadow Man in wordless horror, but the Robot Master is already slipping back into his shadows, pausing to turn his head.

"Help Proto Man," Shadow Man says. "Please. You're the only one who can."