A/N: This is based off of Mega Man Recut by Black Russian, which is the best fanfiction ever and you should totally go read it. The first and last lines were directly lifted from MMR. This is also cross-posted on AO3.

Proto Man was making a valiant effort to hold his visor together, but it was now completely shattered, black pieces crumbling down, about to break apart...

He seemed… really scared, and Mega Man looked around, almost hoping that one of the Wily 'bots would come and put an end to this, but none did and Proto Man's visor had become a pile of shards at his feet.

It was up to him, then.

The laboratory walls crept in closer around them, shoving Proto Man closer to Mega Man, and the younger robot held out his hand to meet it. He pressed his hand to the wall, closed his eyes, and thought as deliberately as he could of the place he called home, and then thought of making it even better.

The walls moved back, expanding the room much further than the real lab actually went, making it cavernous. As Mega Man watched, the edges of the room became filled with various workstations. One Mega Man recognized as being Dr. Light's workstation from the real Light Labs. Another, with the metal band posters hanging on the walls above it, was obviously meant to be Roll's. The lab had expanded enough that all of her stuff from the basement fit just fine, and while the fine details were too blurry to make out, Mega Man knew the worktable held a half-finished new tool for her utility arm.

Between Roll and Light's set ups, a chemistry station came into existence. At the edges of one of Roll's posters was now a periodic table, and the station's L-shaped desk had a chemistry experiment brewing on one side and note-taking supplies on the other side. The whole area was orderly, as though the person who worked there had enough time to complete the experiment properly and neatly.

Mega Man started to step towards it, wondering what experiment was taking place and if this was supposed to be his, when he became distracted by the final set of objects to appear in the lab.

In the middle of the large room, a black jet fighter had sprang up. It clearly wasn't operational, missing a wing externally and likely having countless other modifications needing to be made internally. It would eventually be finished, Mega Man was sure; the sprawl of blurry airplane parts surrounding it spoke of a dedicated engineer.

All four workstations were far enough apart that their owners had space to do their own work, but close enough together that they could converse while they did so.

"What… what is this?" Proto Man asked, and when Mega Man turned his gaze to him, he noticed that Proto Man was back to his normal size, with his helmet intact once more. Proto Man was staring at the jet.

"I figured," Mega Man replied, "that if your fears could take over the dream, then, maybe, so could my hopes."

"This is what you hope for?" Proto Man scoffed. "All of us just sitting around inventing together?"

"Well… not just inventing," Mega Man defended. "I'm sure that that," he gestured to the jet, "will end up being used for some insanely dangerous aerial stunts and that that," he pointed at the incomplete utility arm add-on, "will probably be used in some kind of fight somewhere. But… but I won't have to fight, and you and Roll can fight only when you want to, and you won't want to fight…" The me that Mega Man left off made Proto Man wince.

"You know this is never going to happen, right?" Proto Man's voice seemed softer, almost, but still as uncompromising as ever. "There is no way I am ever returning to Dr. Light."

Mega Man laughed, quietly, and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah… evidence would suggest it would take at least my abrupt disappearance, 30 years of a dystopian future, and my abrupt reappearance for you to even consider changing sides."

Proto Man's deadpan stare was somehow both confused and unimpressed. "...What?"

"What I meant is," Mega Man plowed on, "that I know. That's why it's a dream, right?" He laughed again, a touch louder.

Proto Man smirked, folding his arms over his chest confidently. He glanced back to the center of the room. "That is a pretty nice jet there, bro. At least you're finally starting to figure me out."

A robed figure suddenly darted between them. Elec Man had tracked them down.