Chapter 3
Skull Fortress is no longer quiet. While I have been distracted, searching for what I cannot find, there has been something growing in the hushed corridors and stilled hangers. It fills me with unease as I drift in and out of my shadows, trying to find the source.
I don't have to search long.
"I'll crush him!"
I still and turn toward the voice. It's the loudest I've heard in the last few weeks, and that worries me. I emerge to the sound of a loud clang—Guts Man, denting the wall.
Cut Man winces, glancing nervously over his shoulder. He relaxes slightly when he sees it's only me. I nod back, unsure my presence is any comfort. It rarely is.
"I know, big guy," Cut Man says, turning back to Guts Man and patting him on the arm. "But until Wily gives the go-ahead, we're stuck here."
Guts Man snarls, pounding his fist into his palm. "He's dead. I swear it!"
Guts Man's personality lent him his temper, but this was different. This was a deeper anger, one I'm not sure how to handle. I glance questioningly at Cut Man.
"Mega Man," Cut Man says quietly. "He's talking about Mega Man."
I suck in a slow breath, hiding my surprise. I should have seen this coming. I did not. "I see."
"He killed Proto Man!" Guts Man roared. "He deserves to pay."
Cut Man gives me a pleading look, but I have nothing to say. Mega Man did not kill his brother, but Guts Man cannot know that for his own good. But where has that left those grieving?
"It's okay to be angry." Elec Man enters the room, arm crossed. His voice is calm. "I know you're frustrated, Guts, but you're not the only one. The longer Wily stalls, the more frustrating it is."
He pauses then, giving me a sharp look. Expecting a response.
I'm not Skull Man. I don't have any insight to give. I don't know how to fix this.
"It does no good to hurt yourself out of anger," I say finally. "Elec Man is right."
Guts Man folds his massive arms, his look of fury mixing with confusion. "We can't just do nothing!"
"It won't be like this forever," Elec Man replies. "Wily will make his move soon."
That is a threat, though not one Guts Man understands. His shoulders slump.
"Fine," he says. "I'll wait for Wily. But I won't like it!"
"That's fair," Elec Man says evenly. "None of us do."
Cut Man wraps his arms around Guts Man's large hand. "C'mon, buddy. Let's go visit Fire Man."
I watch the two companions leave, but the unease remains. The sharpness in Elec Man's gaze does not ease.
"He's not the only one who feels that way," Elec Man says flatly. "Wily will have plenty of volunteers when he finally chooses his revenge."
"That was probably inevitable," I mutter.
Elec Man's expression never wavers. "We were not built to grieve, Shadow Man," he says. "Yet we do. What happens to Mega Man when grief turns to revenge?"
"I don't know," I say.
"You can do something," Elec Man says urgently. "We can't just let this explode."
"I—" I can't tell him there's nothing I can do. I can't tell him there was never anything I could have done to change any of this. I've never done anything that ever made a difference in the end.
I don't have the answers I need.
I mumble something that could be an affirmative and slip away before Elec Man can protest. There are too many shadows to choose from, too many paths to take. Which one can answer my questions? Which offers a solution, and not more problems?
Light's home is brightly lit. There is little space for shadow, yet I slip in where I can, wary of the robotic dog. But the metal creature is out of sight and so is the good doctor. Mega Man, unarmored, sits on his living room couch, unenthusiastically watching his sister play a video game. Of the three siblings, I've the least experience with Roll, though I've seen enough to know she leans toward Ring Man's perspective on things.
She would not, I know, be thrilled so see me.
"C'mon, Mega," Roll says, nudging her brother. "It's just a little COD."
"I get enough war games in real life," Mega Man mutters. "I'd rather watch you play."
Roll sighs, and I know the source of her frustration. I do not watch the Lights so often—I know the answers I seek are not here—but I know how she feels. Mega Man has not been himself, his smile forced, his personality withdrawn. He knows the truth as much as I do, yet it brings him no comfort.
We were not built to grieve, Elec Man said, and I know in that statement, I had been excluded. Know one knows what I was built to do, me least of all. But is Mega Man grieving? Is his guilt a phantom, or the manifestation of something deeper?
In Mega Man's nightmares, his brother's death is real.
I could warn them, but I have no details to give. Nothing but the dread of the inevitable, of what I can't foresee. There are no answers in grief. Elec Man was wrong.
There's nothing I can do.